Sirsa district General information

Sirsa district is one of the districts of the state of Haryana with headquarters at Sirsa town. The district lies between 29 14 and 30 0 north latitude and 74 29 and 75 18 east longitudes, forming the extreme west corner of Haryana. It is bounded by the districts of Faridkot and Bathinda of Punjab in the north and north east, Ganga Nagar district of Rajasthan in the west and south and Hisar district in the east. Thus it touches the interstate boundaries on three sides and is connected with its own state only in the eastern side. Sirsa district has an area of 4,276 sq km. Other smaller towns are Dabwali, Ellenabad, Rori and Rania.

Sirsa district is divided into 3 sub-divisions and 4 tehsils. There are a total of 323 villages in the district out of which 313 are connected with paved roads.

HISTORY

In Mahabharata, Sairishaka is described as being taken by Nakula 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. As mentioned earlier, 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 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 kilometers in circuit. According to another tradition, the name has its origin from the sacred river Sarasvati which once flowed near it. During 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 lebbock (Benth)] in the neighborhood of Sirsa which seems quite plausible for it finds some corroboration also in Panini and his commentator. In ancient period, Sirsa was also known as Sirsapattan.

Sirsa seems to be in the administrative division of Hisar Feroza during Firuz Shah's reign. In the time of Akbar, Sirsa was one of the dasturs of Hisar Feroza Sarkar and much of its area lying in the present Sirsa district was covered by Mahals of Fatehabad, Bhattu, Bhangiwal (Darba), Sirsa, Bhatner (or Hanumangarh, Rajasthan) and Paniyana (Rajasthan). With the decline of the Mughal Empire, the track comprising Sirsa district came under the control of Marathas. The whole of Delhi Territory of which the tract formed part was ceded by the Marathas to the British in 1810. Sirsa was part of the outlying district of Delhi territory under the charge of an Assistant to the Resident. In 1819, the Delhi territory was divided into three districts - the Central which included Delhi, The Southern including Rewari, and the North-Western including Panipat, Hansi, Hisar, Sirsa and Rohta. In 1820, the latter was again sub-divided into Northern and Western and Sirsa alongwith Hansi, Hisar and Bhiwani formed Western district (Haryana district and later known Hisar district).

In 1837, Sirsa and Rania parganas were taken out of Haryana district and alongwith Guda and Malaut parganas were formed into a separate district called Bhattiana. The pargana of Darba from Hisar district and the small pargana of Rori confiscated from erstwhile princely state of Nabha were transferred to Bhattiana in 1838 and 1847 respectively. In 1844, Wattu pargana running upto Satluj was added in the Bhattiana district. The whole of the Delhi territory alongwith district of Bhattiana and Hisar was transferred to Punjab in 1858 and the dustrict of Bhattiana was renamed as Sirsa.

In 1861, 42 villages of Tibi tract of Rania pargana were transferred to the then state of Bikaner. The Sirsa district which comprised three tahsils of Sirsa, Dabwali and Fazilka was abolished in 1884 and Sirsa tahsil (consisting of 199 Villages) and 126 villages of Dabwali tahsil formed one tahsil and the same was merged in the Hisar district and the rest of the portion was transferred to the Firozpur district (Punjab). There was no change till the Independence of the country except that a village was transferred from Sirsa tahsil to the then state of Bikaner in 1906.

The entire area of the district was included in the new state of Haryana on November 1, 1966. In 1968, Sirsa tahsil was bifurcated into Sirsa and Dabwali tahsils. In 1974, three villages of Dabwali tahsil were transferred to Sirsa tahsil. On September 1, 1975, Sirsa and Dabwali tahsils were constituted into a separate Sirsa district with headquarters at Sirsa.

PLACES OF INTEREST

Dera Sacha Sauda (Shahpur Begu): Located on the Begu Road, the Dera was set-up by Shah Mastana a Saint in 1948. Dera is housed in a spacious building having 600 Rooms, A Hall and a big ground. There are arrangements for free kitchen (Langar).

Radha Swami Satsang Ghar (Sikander Pur): Though, the Main Dear is located at Byas (District Amritsar, Punjab), yet there is a vast Satsang Ghar at village Sikanderpur, at a distance of 5 KMs towards East from Sirsa city where a large Satsang is held every year in the month of March-April.

Ram Dev Mandir, Kagdana (Tehsil Sirsa): Ram Dev, A Saint of Rajasthan and the bagar, is worshipped in the district. Though there are many temples of Ram Dev, but the one at Kagdana in Sirsa Tehsil is the biggest. A fair attended by large number is held on Magh-Saudi-10 (Jan-Feb).

Dera Jiwan Nagar (Tehsil Sirsa): Loacated 30 KMs west of Sirsa, it is an important centre of Namdhari sect. Earlier known as chichal,the village was named Jiwan Nagar after Jeewan Kaur mother of late Partap Singh, a Namdhari Saint.

Hanuman Temple (Ram Nagria): The Temple is situated at a distance of 2 KMs in the West of the City.

Gurudwara Guru Gobind Singh, Chormar Khera (Tehsil Dabwali): Located 36 KMs from Sirsa on Delhi-Fazklika National Highway, the Gurudwara is said to be associated with Guru Gobind Singh, who stayed here for a night. It is spread over an area of 8 Acres and has tank with seperate enclosure for ladies. There is a small Museum and Library.

Dera Baba Sarsai Nath: Located outside Hisar Gate, the construction of the temple is assigned to the 13th Century. It was built by Sarsai Nath, a Saint of Nath sect, followers of Shiva who is said to have meditated here.

Saint Baba Bihari Samadhi: The Samidhi is situated in the Western part of Sirsa city in a beautiful Vatika and Temple where a Bhandra is held every year on 1st January.

Dera Sufi Saint Baba Bhuman: Deras of famous Sufi Saint Baba Bhuman Shah, belonging especially to Kamboj, are situated in the villages Mangala, Sangar Saristha and Mallewala. A Fair is held every year on the ocassion of Sakranti.

Tomb of Khawaja Pir: The Tomb is said to have been built in the 13th century, in the memory of Khawaja Abdul Shankar. He was one of those who accompanied Muhammed Ghuri to India and resided here. A Mosque was built adjoining the Tomb later during the 16th century. However, no remains of Tomb or Mosque are there. Guru Nanak Dev is said to have stayed here for 40 days at the Tomb along with his disciples Bala and Madana.

Jama Masjid: Located in the tows, it was built towards the close of the 19th century. It has two high Minarets which overlooked the town. small Masjid towards south of Jama Masjid built in the reign ofd Babar by Sheikh Yasaf of Hisar as per inscription.