Sirsa district is the largest district 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.

Sirsa Sirsa is a city and a municipal council in Sirsa district in the westernmost region of the Indian state of Haryana, bordering Punjab and Rajasthan. It is located in Thar desert. It is located 250 kilometres north-west of New Delhi and 260 kilome ...

is the district headquarters. It is located on

National Highway 9 Route 9, or Highway 9, may refer to: International * European route E09 * European route E009 Albania * SH-9 Road in Albania. Argentina * National Route 9 (Argentina), National Route 9 Australia New South Wales * A9 (Sydney) South Austra ...

and from the capital

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 ...

Etymology

The district is named after its headquarters, Sirsa. The name, Sirsa is derived from its ancient

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

name ''Sairishaka'', which is 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 ...

, the Ashtadhyayi and the

Divyavadana The ''Divyāvadāna'' or Divine narratives is a Sanskrit anthology of Buddhist avadana tales, many originating in Mūlasarvāstivādin vinaya texts. It may be dated to 2nd century CE. The stories themselves are therefore quite ancient and may be ...

. In ''Mahabharata'', Sairishaka is described as being taken by

Nakula In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, ''Nakula'' (Sanskrit: नकुल) was fourth of the five Pandava brothers. Nakula and Sahadeva were twins blessed to Madri, by Ashwini Kumaras, the divine physicians. Their parents Pandu and Madri - died earl ...

in his conquest of the western quarter. It must have been a flourishing city in the 5th century B.C. as it has been mentioned by Panini. There are a number of legends about the origin of the name of the town. Its ancient name was Sairishaka and from that it seems to have been corrupted to Sirsa. According to local tradition, an unknown king named Saras founded the town in the 7th century A.D. and built a fort. The material remains of an ancient fort can still be seen in the south-east of the present town. It is about 5 km in circumference. According to another tradition, the name has its origin from the sacred river

Sarasvati Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a god ...

which one flowed near it. During the medieval period, the town was known as Sarsuti. It has been mentioned as Sarsuti by a number of medieval historians. The derivation of name Sirsa, is also attributed to the abundance of siris trees (''

Albizia lebbeck ''Albizia lebbeck'' is a species of ''Albizia'', native to Indomalaya, New Guinea and Northern AustraliaUSDA (1994) and widely cultivated and naturalised in other tropical and subtropical regions. English names for it include Sirisa, Siris, lebbe ...

'' (

Benth George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

)) in the neighborhood of Sirsa which seems quite plausible for it finds some corroboration also in Panini and his commentator. In the ancient period, Sirsa was also known as Sirsapattan.However some local still believes that name may be derived from famous Sarsai Nath whose temple is there in the city.

History

In 1819, the territory occupied by the present district was taken over by the British and it became part of the North Western district of the Delhi territory. In 1820, the North Western district was bifurcated into Northern and Western districts and this territory became part of Western district, which was later renamed Haryana district. In 1837, it was separated from Haryana district and merged with newly formed

Bhattiana Bhattiana is a tract of land lying in the Indian states of Haryana and Punjab between Hisar and the Garra. It was named ''Bhattiana'' because of being ruled by Bhatti Rajputs. Origin of name This geographical area derives its name from the ...

district. In 1858, Bhattiana district was transferred to Punjab Province along with the rest of Haryana region and renamed Sirsa district. In 1884, Sirsa district was abolished, its two tehsils, Sirsa and Dabwali were merged to form Sirsa tehsil, which became part of

Hissar district Hisar district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana, India. Hisar city serves as the district headquarters. Hisar district has four sub-divisions that is, Hisar, Barwala, Hansi and Narnaud, each headed by an SDM. The district is also part of H ...

of Punjab Province. On 1 November 1966, it became part of newly formed state of Haryana. In 1968, Sirsa tehsil was again bifurcated to Sirsa and Dabwali tehsils. The present district was carved out on 1 September 1975 by amalgamating Sirsa and Dabwali tehsils of erstwhile Hissar district.

Economy

In 2006 the

Ministry of Panchayati Raj The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India. Ministry of Panchayati Raj looks into all matters relating to the Panchayati Raj and Panchayati Raj Institutions. It was created in May 2004. The ministry is headed by a m ...

named Sirsa one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the two districts in Haryana that used to receive funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Divisions

The district comprises five

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: Sirsa,

Dabwali Mandi Dabwali is a municipal committee town, near Sirsa City in Sirsa district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is located on the border of Haryana and Punjab. It is at a distance of 60 km from district headquarter Sirsa and 40 km ...

, Rania, Kalanwali and

Ellenabad Ellenabad, previously known as Kharial, is a City, developing city with a municipal committee, near Sirsa, Sirsa City in the Sirsa district of the state of Haryana, India. It is located to the south of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and serves as a po ...

. These tehsils are further sub-divided into 7 blocks: Baragudha, Dabwali, Ellenabad, Nathusary Chopta, Odhan, Rania and Sirsa. There are 5

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

constituencies in this district: Kalanwali, Dabwali, Rania, Sirsa and Ellenabad. All of these are part of Sirsa Lok Sabha constituency.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Sirsa 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 1,295,189, roughly equal to the nation of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

or the US state of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. This gives it a ranking of 378th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . As of the 2011 census, 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 15.99%, with 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 897

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 68.82%. Scheduled Castes make up 29.91% of the population.

Religion

Languages

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 ...

is the

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

of the district with Bagri and

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 Kharibo ...

as its major dialects. Punjabi is the additional official language.

Notable people from Sirsa district

Barinder Sran Barinder Sran (born 10 December 1992) is an Indian international cricketer. He is a left-arm medium-fast bowler who plays for Chandigarh in domestic cricket and Mumbai Indians in the IPL. He was a member of the Rajasthan Royals squad in the 20 ...

- Indian cricketer *

Devi Lal Chaudhary Devi Lal (born Devi Dayal; 25 September 1915 – 6 April 2001) was an Indian statesman who served as 6th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1991 in the governments of V. P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar. Also popularly known as ...

- former Deputy Prime Minister of India, Former

Chief Minister of Haryana The Chief Minister of Haryana is the chief executive of the Indian state of Haryana. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elect ...

Harpal Singh Harpal Singh (born 15 September 1981) is an English former professional footballer. During his career he played for various clubs including Leeds United, Stockport County, Sligo Rovers, Bohemians and Dundalk. Career Singh was born in Bradf ...

- Indian Hockey player *

Ganeshi Lal Ganeshi Lal (born 1 March 1941) is an Indian politician and the incumbent Governor of Odisha. Personal life Professor Ganeshi Lal was born in Sirsa, Haryana on 1 March 1941. With a brilliant educational career, he holds a degree in English H ...

- Governor of Odisha *

Gajendra Verma Gajendra Verma (born 20 April 1990) is an Indian singer, composer, lyricist and sound recordist. He came under the spotlight when he claimed that his song, titled "Emptiness", also known as "Tune Mere Jaana", which he had composed seven and a ...

- singer, composer, lyricist * Gopal Kanda - businessman and politician, member of the

Haryana Legislative Assembly The Haryana Legislative Assembly or the Haryana Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral state legislature of Haryana state in India. The seat of the Vidhan Sabha is at Chandigarh, the capital of the state. The Vidhan Sabha comprises 90 Members of L ...

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan (born 15 August 1967), known also as MSG, is the head of the Indian social group Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) since 1990. Prior to a 2017 rape conviction, he was a religious leader, actor, singer, writer, songwriter, ...

- third master of

Dera Sacha Sauda Dera Sacha Sauda ("Camp True-Deal"; colloquially DSS) is an Indian non-governmental organization described as a "religious cult" and "non-profit social welfare dera" that was established on 29 April 1948 by Mastana Balochistani, an ascetic f ...

, convicted

rapist Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, Abusive power and control, ...

Hari Singh Dilbar Hari Singh Dilbar (c. 1929 – 3 May 2017) was a well-known Indian Punjabi language writer and poet. Born around 1929 in Layallpur, British Punjab (present-day Faisalabad, Pakistan) Dilbar has been writing and reciting poems since 1943. Ear ...

- Punjabi language poet *

Jagdish Nehra Jagdish Nehra ( – 18 January 2023) was an Indian politician who served as Education and Irrigation Minister in Haryana and Chairman of Haryana Hindi Granth Academy. He took a number of steps to improve the standard of education in Haryana. H ...

- former Education and Irrigation Minister * Jaswinder Brar - Punjabi folk singer *

Maninder Buttar Maninderjeet Singh Buttar is an Indian singer and songwriter known for his work in Punjabi music. He is best known for songs "Yaari", "Sakhiyaan", "Ik Tera", "Pani Di Gal"and "Laare". Career His song ''Sakhiyaan'' has gathered a total of over ...

- Punjabi Singer * Manmohan Singh - Famous Director, cinematographer, singer in Hindi & Punjabi Movies. *

Om Prakash Chautala Om Prakash Chautala (born 1 January 1935) is an Indian politician from Haryana who served as a former Chief Minister of Haryana from Indian National Lok Dal and son of 6th Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal. Biography Chautala is the ...

- former

Rupinder Handa Rupinder Handa is an Indian playback singer. She has released four albums, including Return Of Rupinder Handa and many more Singles including Pind de gerhe. Discography References External links * Living people Indian women pop sin ...

- Punjabi Singer *

Sardara Singh Sardara Singh (born 15 July 1986), sometimes referred as Sardar Singh, is an Indian former professional field hockey player and captain of the Indian national team. He usually plays the center half position. Sardara became the youngest player t ...

- Former Indian Hockey team Captain *

Satwant Kaur Satwant Kaur is an Indian film and television actress who works in Indian films. She started her career through Punjabi music videos, television soap operas and telefilms in the earlier days and ended up appearing in the films. She is known for h ...

- Bollywood and Punjabi actress * Savita Punia - National Hockey player *

Sunil Grover Sunil Grover (born 3 August 1977) is an Indian actor and comedian from Mumbai. He came into limelight for his portrayal as Gutthi on television show '' Comedy Nights with Kapil'' but gained popularity for playing the role of Dr Mashoor Gulati ...

- comedian and actor * Vikram Singh - music producer - composer

References

External links

Sirsa District- Sirsa district official Government website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sirsa District Districts of Haryana Minority Concentrated Districts in India 1975 establishments in Haryana