Hanumangarh district General information
Carved out from Sriganganagar district and formally Created on 12th day of July, 1994 as 31st district of Rajasthan state. Hanumangarh district, situated at 29° 5' to 30° 6' North and 74° 3' to 75º 3' east, shares its boundaries with Haryana state in the east, Sriganganagar district in the west, Punjab state in the North and Churu district in the South. The geographical area of the district is 9656.09 Sq. Km. The climate of the district is semi-dry, extremely hot during the summer and extremely cold during winter. The maximum average temperature remains 18° to 48° and minimum average is 2° to 28° celcius. The average rainfall during the year is 225 to 300 mm.
The Hanumangarh district also has a significant place in the ancient history. The remains found at Kalibanga [Pilibanga] in 1951 reveal that this area was a part of nearly 5000 years old "INDUS VALLEY" civilization. The remains of human skeleton, unknown scripts, stamps, coins, utensils, jewellary, toys, statues, wells, bathrooms, fort, streets, markets etc., found in excavation tell the story of well developed life style of our ancestors. Besides Kalibanga, more than 100 other places are also there in the district where evidences of this old civilization have been found. The remains found at these places have been kept at Museum at Kalibanga and National museum at Delhi.
Earlier, Hanumangarh was known as "BHATNER". In year 1805, emperor Soorat Singh of Bikaner captured BHATNER after defeating Bhatis and as the day of his victory was Tuesday (known as the day of god "Hanuman"), he named BHATNER as "HANUMANGARH".
History
'Hanumangarh' was the kingdom of 'Bhatti' Rajputs and hence its earlier name was 'Bhatner'. Later it was named as 'Shardulgarh' when Raja Shardul Singh won it. Since it was won on Tuesday, which is the ominous day for monkey-god Hanuman, it was rechristened as 'Hanumangarh' - the Fort of Hanuman Monkey-god. A 900 year old 'Bhatner' fort is situated in the middle of 'Hanumangarh Town'. The description of which can be found in 'Aaine-Akbari'. A famous 'Bhadrakali temple' is situated near the town on the banks of Ghaggar river. The area around Hanumangarh appears to be quite old. It has yielded a number of terracotta decorative tiles in the late Kushana style along with a number of coins. Two terracotta capitals at the depth of 15' from the top of the mound with stepped pyramids along their edges have been discovered.
Famous Fairs and Carnivals
Gogameri Mela Gogameri, around 120 km from district headquarter, is the place where this Mela begins on BHADAWA BADI 1 and continues till BHADAWA SUDI 11. Thousands of pilgrims from various states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal visit during the period to worship Gogaji "The god of snakes". Gogaji also known as Gogaji Chauhan, Gugga, Jahar Peer etc. Gogaji was born in Chauhan Rajput dynasty of Dadrewa village of Churu District in Rajasthan. History reveals that Gogaji was born some 900 years ago and was contemporary to Mamood Gaznabi. The beauty of this place is that the pilgrims from every caste and religion visit here to worship the Gogaji. Moreover, the temple has one Hindu Pujari and one Muslim Pujari, which is a great example of communal harmony.
Bhadrakali Mela The historical temple of MAA BHADRAKALI is situated 7 km from the district headquarter. The sixth emperor of Bikaner Maharaja Ram Singh said to have constructed this temple on Badshah Akbar's desire. Though pilgrims visit the temple through out the year but during the Mela days on Chaitra Sudi 8 and 9, thousands of pilgrims from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan visit the temple to worship MAA BHADRAKALI.
Pallu Mela Pallu, around 100 km from the district headquarter, surrounded by sand dunes is a place where MATA BRAHMANI Mela takes place during Navaratras.
Shila Mata Mela Shila Mata Mela takes place on every Thursday near Bus Stand, Hanumangarh Town. This 6' x 2.5' x 2' size stone is worshiped by Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. The Hindus-Sikhs call this Shila Mata and Muslims call it Shila Peer.
Ramdev Baba Mela, Ajeetpura Ramdev Baba Mela of Ajeetpura is also a major fair of the area. It takes place in Ajeetpura which is about 145 km far from distt. headquarter. It is to be held on the - shukla Dashmi of maagh month of Vikram Samvat. Baba Jhulewala mela of Ajeetpura is also famous in the area and in other states like [[Punjab (India)|Punjab,Haryana)Baba jhule wala was a famouse saint of the Area,