Akhnoor is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and

municipal committee Municipal or local governance refers to the third tier of governance in India, at the level of the municipality or urban local body. History Municipal governance in India in its current form has existed since the year 1664. In 1664, Fort Ko ...

, near

Jammu Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi Ri ...

Jammu district Jammu district is the most populous of the districts in Jammu and Kashmir, India and is home to the winter capital (Jammu) of Jammu and Kashmir. The capital moves to Srinagar in the summer. Administrative divisions Jammu District has 7 Sub ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

union territory of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

. It lies 28 km away from

Jammu city Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of , ...

. Akhnoor is on the bank of the

Chenab River The Chenab River () is a major river that flows in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region. It is formed by the union of two headwaters, Chandra and Bhaga, which rise in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul regi ...

, just before it enters the

Pakistani Punjab Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

. Its border location gives it strategic significance. The Akhnoor area is divided into three administrative sub-divisions - Akhnoor,

Chowki Choura Chowki Choura, Akhnoor, is a Sub-Division in Jammu district in Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir, India. Located from Jammu, Chowki Choura is located in the foothills of the Himalayas. The town is located on the bed of Kali ...

and Khour; Seven Tehsils - Akhnoor Khaas, Chowki Choura, Maira Mandrian, Jourian, Kharah Balli, Khour & Pargwal.

History

The place is believed to be the ancient city of ''Virat Nagar'' mentioned in the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

however,

Bairat Viratnagar previously known as Bairat (IAST: ) or Bairath (IAST: ) is a town in northern Jaipur district of Rajasthan, India. History Ancient era According to Huen Tsang, visitor to China, Tonk was under Bairath State or Viratnagar pre ...

, a town in northern Jaipur district of Rajasthan is more established as the ancient ''Virat Nagar''. The place is one of the most important historical sites in Jammu and Kashmir. Excavations by the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexande ...

have established the fact that Akhnoor was one of the last bastion of the

Indus Valley civilization The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900&n ...

and Manda, Akhnoor is the northernmost site.

Terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

figures and other anthropological objects belonging to the later Indus period have been found during the excavations. Beyond Akhnoor, towards the upper hilly area that joins

Sivalik Hills The Sivalik Hills, also known as the Shivalik Hills and Churia Hills, are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River, spanning the northern parts of the Indi ...

, there has been no trace of any object that could show that Harappans moved any further beyond this town. Excavations at Ambaran-Pamberwan sites have proved that the place was a prominent abode of

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

during the Kushan period and

Gupta Gupta () is a common surname or last name of Indian origin. It is based on the Sanskrit word गोप्तृ ''goptṛ'', which means 'guardian' or 'protector'. According to historian R. C. Majumdar, the surname ''Gupta'' was adopted by se ...

period. Apart from an ancient an eight-spoke

Stupa A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumamb ...

(a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, made of high quality baked bricks and surrounded by stone pathways, meditation cells and rooms), life sized Terracotta busts of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

and coins belonging to those periods were also excavated from the sites. The

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

visited the place in August, 2012. Buddhist relics from the Pre-Kushan reign and silver caskets, gold and silver leaves, pearls, corals and three copper coins from the Gupta period are reported to be found. The location of the Stupas is such that it lies on the ancient routes from

Pataliputra Pataliputra (IAST: ), adjacent to modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE as a small fort () near the Ganges river.. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliputra at the ...

, in present-day

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

, in India to

Taxila Taxila or Takshashila (; sa, तक्षशिला; pi, ; , ; , ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and ...

now in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

Province,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Among other find of historical importance that indicates the place inhabited by people pre-dominantly belonging to

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

is the green coloured

Trimurti The Trimūrti (; Sanskrit: त्रिमूर्ति ', "three forms" or "trinity") are the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism, in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified as a triad of de ...

idol made up of a single stone at Ambarran Village.

Etymology

The town is believed to have been named Akhnoor by Mughal Emperor Jahangir who once visited the area and the fort on the advice of a saint when his eyes got infected while returning from Kashmir. Amazingly, Jahangir's eyes were fully cured by the fresh air of the town blowing over the Chenab. He called the town ''Aankho-ka-Noor'' (light of the eyes) and since then the place came to be known ''Akhnoor''. However a contrasting narrative as copied from the official site of Akhnoor goes like this:

Geography

Akhnoor is located at . It has an average elevation of . Akhnoor is located at the right bank of the mighty Chenab. Chenab enters plains at Kathar (Khadhandhara Valley) in Maira Mandrian tehsil of Akhnoor. On the north and east, the Shiwaliks, Kali Dhar and Trikuta range surround it. Akhnoor lies on National Highway 144A that runs between Jammu and Poonch, about 28 km away from Jammu. It connects with

Rajouri district Rajouri (or Rajauri) is a district of Jammu region in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The Line of Control lies to its west, Poonch to its north, the Reasi district to the east and the Jammu district to its south. Rajouri is f ...

on the north,

Reasi district Reasi district is a district of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The Reasi district is bordered by Udhampur district and Ramban district in the east, Jammu district in the south, Rajouri district in the west and by Kulgam distri ...

on the east and the

Chamb The Chamb (german: Chamb; cs, Kouba) is a river in the Czech Republic and in Germany. It is a right tributary of the Regen (river), Regen. The Chamb begins south of the Czech village of Kdyně, and flows some westward, crossing into Germany a ...

tehsil (

Pakistan-administered Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompass ...

) on the west. It has humid subtropical climate.

Demographics

India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, Akhnoor had a population of 11,225. Akhnoor is governed by Municipal Committee of Akhnoor having 13 wards. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Akhnoor has an average literacy rate of 78%, higher than the national average of 74%; with 56% of the males and 47% of females literate. The languages spoken are

Dogri Dogri (Name Dogra Akkhar: ; Devanagari: डोगरी; Nastaliq: ; ) is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India, with smaller groups of speakers in adjoining regions of western Himachal Prade ...

followed by Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi and English.

Religion

Hinduism is the largest religion in Akhnoor with 92.37% followers. Sikhism, Islam and Christianity are followed by 1.91%, 2.70% and 2.38% people respectively.

References

{{Municipalities of Jammu and Kashmir Cities and towns in Jammu district