Portal:Kurukshetra district
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Introduction
Kurukshetra district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in northern India. The town of Kurukshetra, a sacred place for the Hindus, is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district occupies an area of 1530.00 km². The district has a population of 964,655 (2011 census). This district is part of Ambala division. Kurukshetra is also the land of Srimad Bhagawad Gita. Jyotisar is the place in Kurukshetra where Krishna is believed to deliver the sermon of Gita to Arjuna in the Mahabharata.
Selected general articles
- Kurukshetra University is a university established on 11 January 1957 in Kurukshetra in the Indian state of Haryana, 160 kilometres (99 mi) from the capital, Delhi. It is a member of Association of Commonwealth Universities. The university was the idea of the then Punjab governor, Sir Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh, a Sanskrit scholar. The Department of Sanskrit was the first and the only department in the university when it was inaugurated by Bharat Ratna Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of the Indian Republic. Its campus is spread over 473 acres (1.91 km2). Read more...
Thanesar (sometimes called Thaneswar and, archaically, Sthanishvara) is a historic town and an important Hindu pilgrimage centre on the banks of the Ghaggar river in the state of Haryana in northern India. It is located in Kurukshetra district, approximately 160 km northwest of Delhi, and Kurukshetra’s urban area now merges with Thanesar.
Prabhakarvardhana was a ruler of Thanesar in the early seventh-century CE and was succeeded by his sons, Rajyavardhana and Harsha. Read more...- Shahabad Markanda (Hindi: शाहाबाद मारकंडा Urdu: شاہآباد مارکنڈا) is a town and a Municipal Committee in Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is situated on the left bank of the Markanda River, 20 KM south of Ambala Cantonment and 22 KM from the historical city Kurukshetra. The other names of the town are Shahabad (Hindi: शाहाबाद), Shahbad (Hindi: शाहबाद) or Shabad (Hindi: शबाद). Read more...
The Kurukshetra War, also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the Indian epic poem Mahabharata. The conflict arose from a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura in an Indian kingdom called Kuru. It involved a number of ancient kingdoms participating as allies of the rival groups.
The location of the battle is described as having occurred in Kurukshetra in north India. Despite only referring to these eighteen days, the war narrative forms more than a quarter of the book, suggesting its relative importance within the epic, which overall spans decades of the warring families. The narrative describes individual battles and deaths of various heroes of both sides, military formations, war diplomacy, meetings and discussions among the characters, and the weapons used. The chapters (parvas) dealing with the war (from chapter six to ten) are considered amongst the oldest in the entire Mahabharata.
The historicity of the war remains subject to scholarly discussions. Attempts have been made to assign a historical date to the Kurukshetra War. Suggested dates range from 5561 to around 950 BCE, while popular tradition holds that the war marks the transition to Kaliyuga and thus dates it to 3102 BCE. Read more...
Kurukshetra (
pronunciation (help·info)) is a city in the state of Haryana, India. It is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Holy Place"). It is also known as the "Land of the Bhagavad Gita". Kurukshetra lies at distance of 160 km from New Delhi and about 93 km from Chandigarh - city with the nearest airport.
According to the Puranas, Kurukshetra is a region named after King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and Pandavas, as depicted in epic Mahabharata. The importance of the place is attributed to the fact that the Kurukshetra War of the Mahabharata was fought on this land and the Bhagavad Gita was preached here during the war when Lord Krishna found Arjuna in a terrible dilemma. The population of Kurukshetra was 964,655 in 2016.
Before the establishment of a refugee camp named Kurukshetra in 1947, Thanesar was the name of the tehsil headquarters and the town. Thanesar or Sthaneswar is a historical town located adjacent to what is now the newly created Kurukshetra city. Thanesar derives its name from the word "Sthaneshwar", which means "Place of God". The Sthaneshwar Mahadev Temple, whose presiding deity is Lord Shiva, is believed to be the oldest temple in the vicinity. Local hearsay identifies the legendary "Kurukshetra" with a place near Thanesar. A few kilometers from Kurukshetra is the village known as Amin, where there are remnants of a fort which is believed to be Abhimanyu's. Read more...
Pehowa is a town and a municipal committee in Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. The Hindu genealogy registers at Peohwa, Haryana are kept here at the Pruthudak Tirath on the banks of Sarasvati river. Read more...- National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra (NIT Kurukshetra) is a public engineering institute located in Kurukshetra. In December 2008, it was accredited with the status of Institute of National Importance (INI). It is one of the 30 National Institutes of Technology established and administered by Government of India. It runs undergraduate and postgraduate in programme Engineering and Doctor of Philosophy programme in Engineering, Sciences and Humanities. Read more...
National Highway 65 (NH 65), (previously National Highway 9), is a National Highway in India. It runs along the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It starts at Pune and ends at Machilipatnam. Major cities on this route are Pune, Solapur, Hyderabad, Suryapet, Vijayawada and Machilipatnam. See its entire route List of National Highways in India by highway number#/maplink/65. Read more...
Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency (Hindi: कुरुक्षेत्र लोकसभा निर्वाचन क्षेत्र) is one of the 10 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Haryana state in northern India. This constituency covers the entire Kurukshetra and Kaithal districts and part of Yamunanagar district. Read more...
Harsha (c. 590–647 CE), also known as Harshavardhana, was an Indian emperor who ruled North India from 606 to 647 CE. He was a member of the Vardhana dynasty; and was the son of Prabhakarvardhana who defeated the Alchon Huna invaders, and the younger brother of Rajyavardhana, a king of Thanesar, present-day Haryana. At the height of Harsha's power, his Empire covered much of North and Northwestern India, extended East till Kamarupa, and South until Narmada River; and eventually made Kannauj (in present Uttar Pradesh state) his capital, and ruled till 647 CE. Harsha was defeated by the south Indian Emperor Pulakeshin II of the Chalukya dynasty, when Harsha tried to expand his Empire into the southern peninsula of India.
The peace and prosperity that prevailed made his court a centre of cosmopolitanism, attracting scholars, artists and religious visitors from far and wide. The Chinese traveller Xuanzang visited the court of Harsha and wrote a very favourable account of him, praising his justice and generosity. His biography Harshacharita ("Deeds of Harsha") written by Sanskrit poet Banabhatta, describes his association with Thanesar, besides mentioning the defence wall, a moat and the palace with a two-storied Dhavalagriha (white mansion). Read more...
The holy Banyan Tree, which is supposed to have witnessed Krishna delivering the sermon of Bhagavad Gita
Jyotisar is a town on the Kurukshetra-Pehowa road, in the Kurukshetra district of Haryana, India. It is at this place where Krishna delivered the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna to remove his confusion and dilemma and prepared him to face stronger and greater warriors like Bhishma and Karna in the Mahabharata War.
The banyan tree under which the Bhagavad Gita was delivered still stands.
'Jyoti' means light and 'Sar' means the core meaning. Hence the name of place is a reference to the 'core meaning of light' or ultimately of God. It is one of the most revered holy sites of the holy city of Kurukshetra. A Vat (Banyan tree) stands on a raised plinth. Local traditions say that this tree is an offshoot of the holy Banyan tree under which Lord Krishna delivered the sermon of Bhagavad Gita, the doctrine of Karma and Dharma to his wavering friend Arjuna. It is here that He showed his Virat rupa (Universal form). Read more...
Sannihit Sarovar is a sacred water reservoir in Thanesar in Kurukshetra district. It is believed to be the meeting point of seven sacred Sarasvatis. The sarovar, according to popular belief, contains sacred water. Bathing in the waters of the tank on the day of Amavasya (night of complete darkness) or on the day of an eclipse bestows blessings equivalent to performing the ashvamedh yajna.
Bathing in this sarovar is believed to offer peace to wandering and unhappy souls. Prayers and pind daan, a memorial service for the dead, is performed here. The Hindu genealogy registers at Kurukshetra, Haryana are kept here. Alongside the sarovar are small shrines dedicated to Lord Vishnu, Dhruv Narayan, Laxmi Narayan, Dhruv Bhagat, Sri Hanuman and Goddess Durga. The Sannihit Sarovar is believed to be the abode of Lord Vishnu.
Find it on Google Earth at 29° 57' 60" N 76° 50' 08 E Read more...- Ladwa is a town and a municipal committee in Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. In 2007, Ladwa legislative assembly constituency was created comprising 126,704 registered voters and come under Kurukshetra (Lok Sabha constituency). The Member of Parliament is Raj Kumar Saini & Member of the Legislative Assembly (India) is Pawan Saini. The most famous personality from Ladwa is Mannat Bansal Read more...
Brahma Sarovar is an ancient water pool sacred to Hinduism in Thanesar, in the state of Haryana in North India. Hinduism lays emphasis on taking bath for internal and external purity. Most religious sites have water pools or sarovar in or near the temple/gurdwara. The Hindu genealogy registers at Kurukshetra, Haryana are kept here. Read more...
Selected images
The Kurukshetra war depicted in a manuscript of the Mahabharata
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