Rewari

Early history

Rewari has Indus Valley Civilization sites and mines.

Sultunate era

c. 1910s portrayal of Hemu Vikramaditya

Hem Chandra Vikramaditya was educated and brought up in what is now Rewari. Hem Chandra had developed a cannon foundry in Rewari, laying the foundation of a metalwork industry in brass, copper sheets. He had supplied cannons and Gunpowder to Sher Shah Suri from 1535 onwards and was an adviser to the last ruler of Sur dynasty till 1553, Adil Shah Suri, when he became Prime Minister and Chief of Army. Hem Chandra had won 22 battles from Punjab to Delhi during 1553-56. He defeated Mughal king Akbar's forces at Agra and Delhi. Hem Chandra was coronated as a Vikramaditya king at Purana Quila in Delhi on 7 October 1556, reigned as king of Delhi for one month but lost to Akbar on 5 November 1556 at Panipat where he died.^[7] His haveli (house) still stands in the Qutubpur area of the city, which in his day was a village in its own right.^[8] His two-story haveli, with carved sandstone doorway, is made of local stone from Aravalli range, brunt-mud lakhori bricks and lime mortar. Walls are plastered with lime and painted with limewash. Roof has lakhouri bricks and stone slabs rested on timer beams. Doors and niches have stone lintels or brick arches in the local regional architecture. Over-hanging roof chhajja has stone brackets to anchor the stones.^[6]

Mughal era

Akbar made Rewari a sarkar under Delhi Subah. Aurangzeb attacked and recovered it from the rebels. it came under the control of Maratha Empire in 19th century before passing on to East India Company and later British Raj.^[6]

Mughhals granted the local rule to Nand Ram, Ahir leader of Bolni village in 17th century which lasted up to 19th century.^[9] A small Ahir principality was established there in the early century and ruled over the surrounding Ahirwal area.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

British colonial era

Delhi Gate, one of the four historic British period gates in Rewari

Rao Tula Ram, the ruler of Rewari, played a significant role in India's First War of Independence in 1857. His estate was confiscated by the British Raj and made a part of Gurgaon district of Punjab.

Post independence

It remained a part of Gurgaon district until reorganisation in 1972 saw it transferred to Mahendragarh district. Further changes, in 1989, led to the creation of the eponymous Rewari district.^[15]

How can a man die better,
Than facing fearful odds, 
For the ashes of his fathers, 
And temples of his gods.

Location

Rewari is adjacent to Rajasthan and, therefore, has dust storms in summer. Rugged hilly terrain of Aravali ranges as well as sandy dunes in the district affect the city's climate.^[18] Rewari forms a part of the National Capital Region.^[19]

Rewari is located at 28°11′N 76°37′E / 28.18°N 76.62°E / 28.18; 76.62.^[20] It has an average elevation of 245 metres (803 feet).

Climate

Rewari has a windy,cold The mean minimum and maximum temperature range from 0 °C to 46 °C during January (winter) and May–June (summer) respectively. The summer temperature can go up to 46 °C from May to July. Winter is from November to February and the temperature can fall to 2 °C in December and January.^[3][18] The temperature was recorded as 0 °C on 12 January 2012 and 31 January 2012^[21] and below zero (-0.5 °C) on 4 January 2018.^[22]

Rain falls from July to September. A little rain is experienced during winter also. Average annual rainfall in Rewari city is 553 millimetres (21.8 in).^[18] Rain-fed Sahibi River that originates in Rajasthan passes through Rewari and falls in Najafgarh lake in Delhi. Extremely heavy rains in 1978 flooded Sahibi (and Rewari) which in turn flooded Delhi. A barrage was then constructed at Masani village on junction of NH8 and NH71B to impound the water coming from Rajasthan. However, the barrage has hardly collected any water as the rains have not been heavy for the last 30 years and Rajasthan has built check-dams upstream on Sahibi. A canal has been constructed in 2009 to carry excess rain water to the barrage to recharge the ground drinking water for Rewari town. The canal takes off from the existing canal near the Kendriya Vidyalaya, Rewari.

Air

The nearest airport is Indira Gandhi International Airport at Palam, New Delhi, 75 km away, for all domestic and international flights.

Railway

Rewari Railway Station

Rewari was first connected by a railway line in 1873 when the first metre gauge railway track in India became operational. This track was laid between Delhi and Ajmer.^[26] The gauge was converted to 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge in 1995 for one of the tracks.^[27] This allowed metre gauge trains from Rajasthan to continue up to Delhi Sarai Rohilla on the remaining track. The second track from Rewari to Delhi was converted to broad gauge in 2007^[28][29] as all the metre gauge tracks from Rewari to cities in Rajasthan had been converted to broad gauge by then. Thus all the railway tracks from Rewari have been converted to broad gauge obviating the need for change of trains at gauge-change stations such as Delhi and Ahmedabad.^[30]

Rewari is a major junction on the Indian railway network and is connected to the major cities of India by direct trains. Six railway lines branch out from it to Delhi, Ajmer via Narnaul and Ringas, Ajmer via Alwar, Loharu, Hisar and Jhajjar-Rohtak. The latest sixth line to Jhajjar and Rohtak was constructed in 2008-12 and commissioned in January 2013. A seventh line was planned from Khori near Rewari to Asaoti near Palwal for facilitating carriage of goods on Western Dedicated Freight Corridor but the plan was abandoned as the farmers resisted acquisition of their land. This dedicated freight railway line is now being laid from Alwar to Asaoti near Palwal.

Rewari railway station has electrified tracks as the Alwar-Rewari-Hisar and Rewari-Narnaul-Ringas-Phulera railway tracks have been electrified. Rewari-Delhi railway track has been almost electrified.^[31] These tracks have a high catenary with 7.45 m high OHE for double-stack containers. The electrical locomotives on these tracks will have a special pantograph for the high catenary. Electric trains (EMU) may run between Delhi and Rewari in 2019 after the track has been electrified.

The alignment of a new railway line of Rapid Regional Transit System (RRTS) from existing Nizamuddin station in New Delhi to Gurgaon-Manesar-Dharuhera-Rewari-Bawal-Shahjanpur-Alwar has been finalised. It will have a railway station east of Rewari at village Majra Gurdas.^[32]

Road

Rewari is connected by four national highways: NH 11 (starting from Delhi-Jaipur NH 48 and going to Narnaul-Jhunjhunu-Bikaner), NH 48 (former name NH 8 before renumbering of all national highways) (Delhi-Jaipur-Bombay-Pune-Bangalore), NH 352 (former name NH 71) (Narwana-Jind-Rohtak-Jhajjar-Rewari) and NH 919 (former name NH 71B) (Rewari-Dharuhera-Sohna-Palwal). While NH 48 has existed for five decades, NH 919 was a state highway declared NH a decade ago, NH 352 was newly constructed in 2011-13 and NH 11 was declared to start from Rewari only three years ago. A new bypass on NH 11 from east of Rewari city (starting at NH 48) to west of Rewari city (at Khori railway station) is being constructed to bypass the city.

State highways connect Rewari to all major towns in Haryana and adjacent districts of Rajasthan.

• SH-24 Rewari-Dahina-Kanina-Mahendragarh-Satnali-Loharu 92 km.
• SH-26 Gurgaon-Pataudi-Rewari 52 km.
• SH-15 Shahjahanpur-Rewari 21 km.

There are frequent bus services between Rewari and Delhi, as well as other towns of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.

Rewari metal work

Rewari is famous for its traditional metalwork, particularly brass work. The brass industry began around 1535, with the help of Portuguese. During the time of Hemu, cannons were cast in Rewari for the army of Sher Shah Suri.^[8]