athuanearly 2,000 years ago.
His three sons established the three Hamlets of Taraf Tajwal, Taraf Manjali and Taraf Bhajwal. Their descendants are now called as Tajwalia, Bhajwalia and Khanwalia Rajputs of ANDOTRA sub-caste.
Prior to 1921, the Kathua district was known as the
Jasrota
Jasrota kingdom in the Himalayan foothills of India was founded in 1064 A.D at south-eastern Jammu between the Ravi and the Ujh rivers which ended in 1815. The remainants of Jasrota kingdom exists as ruined forts, restored temples, water bod ...
district. Between 1921–1931, the headquarters of the district was shifted to
Kathua
Kathua is a city and municipal council located in Kathua district of Jammu Division of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, near its border with Punjab, India and Himachal Pradesh. The city is headquarters of Kathua district and is ...
without any alteration in the area of governance.
Greek historians, who provide an insight into the ancient history of Jammu hills, prominently record the existence in this area of two powerful empires -
Abhisara
Abisares (or Abhisara; in Greek Ἀβισάρης), called Embisarus (Ἐμβίσαρος,) by Diodorus, was a king of Abhira descent whose territory lay in the river Hydaspes beyond the mountains. On his death in 325 Alexander appointed Abis ...
(present day
Poonch Poonch, sometimes also spelt Punchh, may refer to:
* Historical Poonch District, a district in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in British India, split in 1947 between:
** Poonch district, India
** Poonch Division, in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, ...
) and
Kathaioi - at the time of invasion of India by
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
.
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...
describes Kathaioi as a mighty
republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
of that era, located in the foothills along the
Ravi River
The Ravi River () is a transboundary river crossing northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of five rivers associated with the Punjab region.
Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the waters of the Ravi and two other rivers were ...
. The topography of Kathaioi corresponds with the present day Kathua. Strabo describes the people of this republic as the epitome of bravery and courage, and records that they gave a tough fight to invading army of Alexander.
There are many places which commemorate a visit to Kathua
by Pandavas. Lord
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
is also said to have come to this area, in order to get back from Jamawant the
Syamantaka
Syamantaka (Sanskrit: श्यामन्तक) is perhaps the most famous jewel featured in the Hindu scriptures, supposed to be blessed with magical powers. It is described to be a ruby. The jewel is described to protect its owner if they w ...
Mani.
Because of its close proximity to the Pakistan border, Kathua District has had a significant Indian Army presence since independence. The Army units were camped at Kathua during militancy in the state when the
ultras
Ultras are a type of association football fans who are renowned for their fanatical support. The term originated in Italy, but is used worldwide to describe predominantly organised fans of association football teams. The behavioural tende ...
(extremists) carried out attacks against government installations. Some of these ultras were
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; ur, ; literally ''Army of the Good'', translated as ''Army of the Righteous'', or ''Army of the Pure'' and alternatively spelled as ''Lashkar-e-Tayyiba'', ''Lashkar-e-Toiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Taiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Tayyeba'') ...
(LeT) and infiltration across the border from Pakistan was a major concern. There were many attacks in the region beginning in the late 1980s. Among them, in 2002, in March ten people were killed in an attack in Kathua at a temple, in May thirty-two people were killed in an attack on a bus and Army residential complex, in July twenty-nine people were killed in an attack near Qasim Nagar, in September twelve people were killed when ultras attacked a bus at Hiranagar Morh. In 2005, three terrorists attacked on army camp in front of District Hospital in Kathua killing two people. By 2008 the attacks had ceased.
But in 2013, ultras attacked a police station, killing four policemen and a civilian, stole a truck and then attacked an army camp in the neighboring Samba District.
Basohli Paintings
Basohli
Basohli (formerly Vishwasthali) is a town near Kathua in Kathua district in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is situated on the right bank of River Ravi at an altitude of 1876 ft. It was founded by Raja Bhupat Pal som ...
, a town of Kathua district, is widely known for its paintings. Immortalised by their artistic eminences and their connoisseur patrons, Basohli today is a metaphor for a vigorous, bold and imaginative artistic style, rich, stylish and unconventional.
A style of painting characterized by vigorous use of primary colours and a peculiar facial formula prevailed in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in the foothills of the Western Himalayas in the Jammu and Punjab States.
The earliest paintings in this style originated in Basohli from where the style spread to the
Hill States
The Hill States of India were princely states lying in the northern border regions of the British Indian Empire.
History
During the colonial Raj period, two groups of princely states in direct relations with the Province of British Punja ...
of
Mankot
Mankot is a Village situated in Bageshwar district in the State of Uttarakhand, India. It is located at a distance of from Bageshwar on the National Highway 309A. Mankot is a medium-sized village with total 118 families residing.
History
Mank ...
,
Nurpur Nurpur may refer to:
* Nurpur, Fenchuganj, a village in Sylhet, Bangladesh
* Nurpur, Comilla, village in Comilla Bangladesh
* Nurpur, Himachal Pradesh, a city and municipal council in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India
* Nurpur, Jalandhar, a v ...
,
Kulu,
Mandi
Mandi may refer to:
Places
* Mandı, Azerbaijan
India
* Mandi, Jammu and Kashmir, a town on the Mandi River in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir
* Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, a city in Himachal Pradesh
** Mandi State, former princely sta ...
,
Suket,
Bilaspur,
Nalagarh
Nalagarh is a city and a municipal committee, near the city of Solan in Solan district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
Geography
Nalagarh is a gateway to Himachal Pradesh in North India, from Shimla, from Delhi and from Chandig ...
,
Chamba Chamba may refer to:
People
* Gilberto Chamba (born 1961), Ecuadorian serial killer
* Jessica Chamba (born 1981), European activist
Places Ghana
* Chamba, a town in the Northern Region
India
* Chamba (Vidhan Sabha constituency), Himachal Pradesh ...
,
Guler and
Kangra. The first mention of Basohli painting is in the annual report of 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 ...
published in 1921.
Administration
Kathua is divided into four subdivisions: Bani, Basohli, Billawar/Badnota, and Hiranagar. These sub-divisions are further divided into 11
tehsil
A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...
s:
* Kathua
* Hiranagar
* Billawar
* Basohli
*
Bani
Bani may refer to:
Places Africa
*Bani Department, a department in the Séno Province of Burkina Faso
*Bani, Bani, Séno, Burkina Faso
* Bani, Bourzanga, Bam, Burkina Faso
*Bani, Gnagna, Burkina Faso
* Bani, The Gambia
*Bani River, a tributary ...
* Nagri
* Marheen
* Dinga Amb
* Mahanpur
* Lohai Malhar
* Ramkote
Politics
Kathua District has five assembly constituencies: Bani, Basohli, Kathua, Billawar and Hiranagar (S.C).
Demographics
According to the
2011 census Kathua district has a
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
of 616,435, roughly equal to the nation of
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
or the US state of
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
.
This gives it a ranking of 521st in India (out of a total of
640). The district has a population density of .
Its
population growth rate
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...
over the decade 2001-2011 was 20.53%. Kathua has a
sex ratio
The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species devia ...
of 890
females
Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gametes than a male. Females a ...
for every 1000 males,
and a
literacy rate
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
of 73.09%.
At the time of the 2011 census, 81.92% of the population spoke
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 Prad ...
, 6.94%
Pahari, 3.50%
Gojri
Gojri (, ), also known as Gujari, Gujri, Gojari, or Gojri, is a variety of Rajasthani spoken by the Gurjars and other tribes of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In India, the language is mainly spoken in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, ...
, 2.01%
Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to:
* People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir
* Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley
* Kashmiri language, their language
People with the name
* Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...
, 1.86%
Punjabi and 1.03%
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
as their first language.
See also
*
Jasrota
Jasrota kingdom in the Himalayan foothills of India was founded in 1064 A.D at south-eastern Jammu between the Ravi and the Ujh rivers which ended in 1815. The remainants of Jasrota kingdom exists as ruined forts, restored temples, water bod ...
*
Jasrotia
References
External links
Kathua district, Official websiteKathua district on OpenStreetMap
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kathua District
Districts of Jammu and Kashmir