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 ...
n union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The Reasi district is bordered by
Udhampur district
Udhampur is a district in the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Covering an area of in the Himalayan mountains, the district has its headquarters in the town of Udhampur. The Northern Command headquarters of the Indian Army is lo ...
and
Ramban district
Ramban district is a district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, located in the lap of the Pir Panjal range. It was carved out as a separate district from erstwhile Doda district in 2007. It is located in the Jammu division. Th ...
in the east,
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 ...
in the south,
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 ...
in the west and by Kulgam district on the north. The Reasi and Rajouri tehsils formed a joint district called the "Reasi district" at the time of princely state's accession to India in 1947. As part of the reorganisation, the two tehsils were separated and Reasi was merged with the
Udhampur district
Udhampur is a district in the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Covering an area of in the Himalayan mountains, the district has its headquarters in the town of Udhampur. The Northern Command headquarters of the Indian Army is lo ...
. It again became a separate district in 2006.
Reasi
Reasi is a town and a notified area committee and tehsil in Reasi district of the Indian States and union territories of India, union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. Situated at the bank of River Chenab, It ...
is one of the oldest towns of the Jammu and Kashmir State. It was the seat of the erstwhile Bhimgarh State, said to have been established by Raja Bhim Dev sometime in the 8th century. It remained an independent principality till 1822, when Raja
Gulab Singh
Gulab Singh Jamwal (1792–1857) was the founder of Dogra dynasty and the first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, the largest princely state under the British Raj, which was created after the defeat of the Sikh Empire in t ...
the then Raja of
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 ...
hill region, under the
Sikh empire
The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established an empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahor ...
, consolidated the small states.
Geography
Reasi is located at a distance of 64 km from Jammu and is bounded by
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 ...
Gool-Gulabgarh in the north, Tehsil
Sunderbani
Sunderbani is a town and a notified area committee, about 70 km from Rajouri Town in Rajouri district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Geography
Sunderbani is located at . It has an average elevation of 633 metre ...
and
Kalakote
Kalakote is a town located in Rajouri district of Jammu region in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Kalakote is noted for its coal mines and has first Thermal Power Plant of North India. There is also tehsil, sub division, bloc ...
of District
Rajouri
Rajouri or Rajauri (; Pahari: 𑠤𑠬𑠑𑠶𑠤𑠮, راجوری; sa, राजपुर, ) is a city in Rajouri district in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is located about from Srinagar and from Jammu city on th ...
in the west, Tehsil
Udhampur
Udhampur (ˌʊd̪ʱəmpur) is a city and a municipal council in Udhampur district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters of Udhampur District. Named after Raja Udham Singh, it serves as the district capital ...
in the east, Tehsils Jammu and
Akhnoor
Akhnoor is a city and municipal committee, near city of Jammu in Jammu district of Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It lies 28 km away from Jammu city. Akhnoor is on the bank of the Chenab River, just before it enters the Pak ...
of District
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 ...
on the south. Climatically a major part of this Sub-Division falls in sub-tropical zone and the rest in
temperate zone
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
. Summers are generally warm and winters cold with snowfall on the high ridges.
Hindu sites
Major Hindu pilgrimage sites like
Vaishno Devi
Vaishno Devi (also known as Mata Rani, Trikuta, Ambe and Vaishnavi) is a manifestation of the Hindu Mother Goddess, Durga or Adi Shakti. The words "''Maa''" and "''Mata''" are commonly used in India for ''mother'', and thus are often heavily ...
, Shiv Khori, Baba Dhansar and Siyad Baba Waterfall are located in this district.
Access
Being far away from Jammu–Udhampur–Srinagar Highway 1-A and somewhat inaccessible due to the hilly area, economic progress in the mostly hilly region of Reasi has been rather slow. With the commissioning of Salal Hydroelectric Project at Dhyangarh near Reasi, the economic activity of the area has picked up considerably. Construction work of this project was started in 1970 by the National Hydro-Electric Power Corporation (
NHPC
NHPC Limited (erstwhile National Hydroelectric Power Corporation ) is an Indian government hydropower board under the ownership of Ministry of Power, Government of India that was incorporated in the year 1975 with an authorised capital ...
) and the project was commissioned in 1987 when the first stage of 345
Megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...
power station was completed and balance/the second stage of the project with 345 MW was commissioned in 1995 making the total generation to 690 MW. Power from this project flows to the Northern Grid from where it is distributed to the states of J&K,
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
,
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
,
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
and
Chandigarh
Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...
.
The Jammu–Srinagar–Baramulla Railway line which is under construction passes through the Reasi district. The Railway line up t Katra was inaugurated on 4 July 2014, by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra railway station
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra railway station (station code: SVDK) is a railway station on the Jammu Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla Railway Link in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It mainly serves for the town of Katra where the ...
. From Katra the Railway line traverses to Reasi-Banihal area with stations at Reasi, Salal A–Salal B, Surukot, Barala, Sangaldan, Kohli and Laole. The 1315 meters long railway bridge under construction over river
Chenab
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 ...
near Salal with a height of 383.10 meters from the river surface.
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 314,667, roughly equal to the nation of
The Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
. This gives it a ranking of 570th 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 27.06%. Reasi 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 for every 1000 males (which varies with religion), 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 59.42%.
Reasi
Reasi is a town and a notified area committee and tehsil in Reasi district of the Indian States and union territories of India, union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. Situated at the bank of River Chenab, It ...
has a population which is nearly evenly split between
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
and
Hindus
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 ...
. Reasi's population stands at 314,667 (2011), of whom 49.67% are
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
and 48.90% are
Hindus
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 ...
.
The main languages spoken in
Reasi
Reasi is a town and a notified area committee and tehsil in Reasi district of the Indian States and union territories of India, union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. Situated at the bank of River Chenab, It ...
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 ...
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 ...
and
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, ...
.
History
Bhimgarh Fort
An historical fort named as
Bhimgarh Fort
Bhimgarh Fort, generally known as the Reasi Fort, is near Reasi, a town approximately 64 km northwest of Jammu. The fort is on a hillock approximately 150 metres high. Initially, it was constructed of clay by Rajput king Bhimdev Rasyal Of Re ...
, but generally also known as ‘Reasi Fort’ is located in the town of
Reasi
Reasi is a town and a notified area committee and tehsil in Reasi district of the Indian States and union territories of India, union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. Situated at the bank of River Chenab, It ...
on a hillock approximately 150 meters high. As per local lore initially the fort was made of clay which later on was reconstructed with stone masonry and was generally used by the royal family for taking shelter during emergencies. Presently the fort is in the charge of the Department of Archaeology, J&K Government since 1989. Today the fort stands out as one of the important landmarks in the town. During the time this was damaged several times due to its age and natural violence. From time to the government understanding the importance of this fort has tried its best to reconstruct it. It's due to this fact that this fort is still standing in Reasi and it adds shine to the Reasi city.
Inside India
After the accession of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947, the Rajouri and Reasi tehsils of the former "Reasi district" were separated. Rajouri was merged with the Indian-administered
Poonch district, India
Poonch or Punch (''Prūntčh'' In Kashmiri) is a district in the Jammu Division of Jammu and Kashmir, India. With headquarters in the town of Poonch, it is bounded by the Line of Control (boundary between Indian and Pakistan administered Ka ...
and Reasi was merged with the
Udhampur district
Udhampur is a district in the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Covering an area of in the Himalayan mountains, the district has its headquarters in the town of Udhampur. The Northern Command headquarters of the Indian Army is lo ...
.
The people of this hilly area have long agitated for the restoration of the district status for Reasi. The Wazir Commission report, among other recommendations, proposed that it be upgraded to a district. Rishi Kumar Koushal, a prominent leader of the erstwhile
Jan Sangh
The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) (ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the pol ...
, now
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
, led the agitation to restore the district status in the late nineties.
Reasi was upgraded to district level in the year 2007 due to the constant efforts made by the people.
Director and actor Sumit Raina is also a resident of Reasi district.
Administration
Reasi district is one of the 10 districts in the J&K, which came in to existence on 1 April 2007. It is predominantly a hill district, which enjoys variable climatic conditions, ranging from sub-tropical to the semi-temperate. The district can be divided into 'hilly' and 'low-lying hilly' regions.
The district is divided into nine tehsils and 22 niabats. There are 12 development blocks with 147 panchayat halquas.
Bhimgarh Fort
Bhimgarh Fort, generally known as the Reasi Fort, is near Reasi, a town approximately 64 km northwest of Jammu. The fort is on a hillock approximately 150 metres high. Initially, it was constructed of clay by Rajput king Bhimdev Rasyal Of Re ...
*
Shivkhori
Shiv Khori, is a famous cave shrines of Hindus devoted to lord Shiva, situated in the Sangar village, Pouni, near Reasi town in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir in India.
Location
In Reasi district, there are many shrines such as Mata ...
*
Vaishno Devi Temple
The Vaishno Devi Temple also referred to as Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Temple and Vaishno Devi Bhavan is a prominent and widely revered Hindu temple dedicated to goddess Vaishno Devi. It is located in Katra, Reasi on the slopes of Trikuta Hills ...
*
Kalika Temple
Kalika may refer to:
* Kali, also known as Kalika, the Hindu goddess associated with universal energy
* Kālikā, a daughter of Daksha, Dakṣa
Places in Nepal
* Kalika, Chitwan, Bagmati Province
* Kalika, Sindhupalchok, Bagmati Province
* Kalika ...