Kurukshetra district is one of the 22 districts of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

state in northern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The town of Kurukshetra, a sacred place for the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

s, 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 Jyotisar, on the bank of Jyotisar Sarovar wetland, is a Hindu pilgrimage site in the city of Kurukshetra in Haryana state of India. In mythology, it is where Krishna delivered the sermon of ''Bhagavad Gita'' - the doctrine of ''Karma'' and ' ...

is the place in Kurukshetra where Krishna is believed to deliver the sermon of Gita to Arjuna in the Mahabharata.

Origin of name

The district derived its name from the ancient region of Kurukshetra, which literally means the land of the Kurus. It is believed that the

Kurukshetra war The Kurukshetra War ( sa, कुरुक्षेत्र युद्ध ), also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the ''Mahabharata ( sa, महाभारत )''. The conflict arose from a dynastic succession struggle be ...

described in the

Puranas Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

and the war was fought here and

Shri 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 of ...

preached the

Bhagavat Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' (c ...

Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...

on the battlefield before the war.

History

The district was carved out from the erstwhile

Karnal district Karnal district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in North India which constitutes the National Capital Region (NCR) of the country. The city of Karnal is a part of the National Capital Region (NCR) and is the administrative headq ...

in 1973. Later some parts of this district were transferred to

Kaithal Kaithal () is a city and municipal council in the Kaithal district of the Indian state of Haryana. Kaithal was previously a part of Karnal district and later, Kurukshetra district until 1 November 1989, when it became the headquarters of the K ...

and

Yamuna Nagar Yamunanagar (), is a city and a municipal corporation in Yamunanagar district in the Indian state of Haryana. This town is known for the cluster of plywood units and paper industries. It provides timber to larger industries. The older town is ...

districts at the time of their creation.

Sub-Divisions

The Kurukshetra district is headed by an IAS officer of the rank of Deputy Commissioner (DC) who is the chief executive officer of the district. The district is divided into 4 sub-divisions, each headed by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM): Shahabad,

Thanesar Thanesar city or old Kurukshetra city is a historic town and an important Hindu pilgrimage centre in Kurukshetra district of the state of Haryana in northern India. It is located in Kurukshetra district, approximately 160 km northwest of D ...

Ladwa Ladwa is a town and a municipal committee in Kurukshetra district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Haryana. In 2007, Ladwa (Vidhan Sabha constituency), Ladwa legislative assembly constituency was created comprising 126,70 ...

and Pehowa.

Revenue tehsils

The district has 4 revenue

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, namely, Thanesar, Pehowa, Shahabad and Ladwa and 2 sub-tehsils - Babain and Ismailabad.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Kurukshetra 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 964,655, roughly equal to the nation of

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

or the US state of

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. This gives it a ranking of 452nd 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 16.81%. Kurukshetra 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 889

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 ...

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 76.7%. Scheduled Castes make up 22.30% of the population.

Languages

At the time of the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, 65.81% of the population in the district spoke

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 ...

, 17.47% Punjabi and 15.22%

Haryanvi Haryanvi ( ' or '), also known as Bangru, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the state of Haryana in India, and to a lesser extent in Delhi. Haryanvi is considered to be part of the dialect group of Western Hindi, which also includes Kharib ...

as their first language..

Education

Kurukshetra University was established as a unitary residential university at Kurukshetra in 1956. The Regional Engineering College at Kurukshetra was established in 1963, which was later renamed as

National Institute of Technology The National Institutes of Technology (NITs) are the central government-owned-public technical institutes under the ownership of Ministry of Education, Government of India. They are governed by the National Institutes of Technology, Science ...

. Kurukshetra has recently got two reputed institutions in the form of

National Institute of Design The National Institutes of Design (NIDs) are a group of autonomous public design universities in India, with the primary institute, founded in 1961, in Ahmedabad, with extension campuses in Gandhinagar and Bengaluru. The other NIDs are loc ...

and

National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), formerly known as the DOEACC Society, is a society that offers Information Technology and Electronics training at different levels. It is an autonomous scientific society und ...

(''NIELIT''). Apart from these, the Institute of Hotel Management at

is also known.

Transport

Kurukshetra Junction railway station Kurukshetra Junction railway station is a junction station at the junction of Delhi–Kalka line and Kurukshetra–Jind branch line. It is located in the Indian state of Haryana. It serves Kurukshetra and Thanesar city. Signalling system: Th ...

is a

junction station ''Junction station'' usually refers to a railway station situated on or close to a junction where lines to several destinations diverge. The usual minimum is three incoming lines. At a station with platforms running from left to right, the minimum ...

at the junction of

Delhi–Kalka line The Delhi–Kalka line is a railway line connecting Delhi and . It connects to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Kalka–Shimla Railway. History The Delhi–Panipat–Ambala–Kalka line was opened in 1891. The -wide narrow-gauge Kalka–Shim ...

and Kurukshetra–Jind branch line. It is located in the Indian state of

. It serves Kurukshetra and

city.

Events

Gita Mahotsav

Kurukshetra is not just the land known as the land of Mahabharta; it is also known for the Philosophy of Life and Karma given to

by 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 ...

. For more than 2000 years now, Srimad Bhagawad Gita has emerged as the one scripture which is free from the tags of religions and communities. It is equally reverend all over the world for the message of Selfless Karma which is much relevant in all ages. Kurukshetra has been celebrating Gita Mahotsav (Gita Jayanti). For long it was known as Kurukshetra Utsav. In 2016, the Haryana Government decided to give it a global fervor and organised annual International Gita Mahotsav at Kurukshetra from 1 December to 11 December. The Gita Jayanti was celebrated on 10 December as per the traditional calendar. In 2016, over 01 Million people visited the events.

References

External links

Kurukshetra district government website

Official map of Haryana
showing the cities of Kurukshetra district, hosted on the official website of local government {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurukshetra District Districts of Haryana 1973 establishments in Haryana