Kurukshetra

A manuscript of Mahabharata depicting the war at Kurukshetra

According to the Puranas, ancient Hindu texts, the region is named after King Kuru of the Bharata dynasty, who is also the ancestor of Pandavas and Kauravas. These texts also tell that the battle of Mahabharata was fought on this land.

According to the Vamana Purana describes, King Kuru chose land at the banks of the now extinct Sarasvati River (believed to be dried up c. 1900 BCE)[5] for embedding spirituality with eight virtues: austerity (Tapas), truth (Satya), forgiveness (Kshama), kindness (Daya), purity (Shuddha), charity (Daana), devotion (Yajna), and conduct (Brahmacharya). Lord Vishnu was impressed with the acts of King Kuru and blessed him with two boons—first, that this land forever will be known as a Holy Land after his name as Kurukshetra (the land of Kuru); second that anyone dying on this land will go to heaven.

The land of Kurukshetra was situated between two rivers—the Sarasvati and the Drishadvati.

Kurukshetra reached the zenith of its progress during the reign of King Harsha, during which Chinese scholar Xuanzang visited Thanesar.

Kurukshetra was conquered by the Mauryan empire in the late 4th century BCE and subsequently became a center of Buddhism and Hinduism. The history of Kurkushetra is little-known in between the collapse of the Mauryans and the rise of the Kushans who conquered the region. After the decline of Kushan power in the region, Kurkushetra became independent only to become conquered by the Gupta empire in the early 4th century CE. Under Gupta rule, Kurukshetra experienced a cultural and religious revival and became a center for Hinduism. After the fall of the Gupta, the Pushyabhuti dynasty ruled over Kurukshetra.[6]

Civil war broke out when Harsha (of the Pushyabhuti dynasty) died without a successor in 647. A Kashmiri army briefly conquered Kurukshetra in 733 but were unable to establish dominion in the area. In 736, the Tomara dynasty was founded and they took over the region. Around the early 9th century, Kurukshetra lost its independence to Bengal. Mahmud of Ghazni sacked Kurukshetra in 1014 and Muslim raiders sacked it in 1034. Kurukshetra was incorporated into the Delhi Sultanate in 1206. Other than a short moment of independence from the result of a rebellion within the Sultanate in 1240, Kurukshetra was under the control of Delhi until 1388.[6]

Kurukshetra became independent once again after the steep decline of the Delhi Sultanate and the raids of Tamerlane near the region. The Sayyid dynasty incorporated Kurukshetra into their territory though the city likely enjoyed some autonomy. The area was much more firmly controlled under the subsequent Lodi dynasty. Some damages to Kurukshetra and its structures occurred during this period. Kurukshetra became part of the Mughal Empire after Babur quashed a local rebellion in 1526. Under Akbar, Kurukshetra once again became a spiritual center not only for Hindus but also for Sikhs and Muslims.[6]

Between the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Kurukshetra was controlled by the forces of the Maratha Empire until the British took over Delhi in 1803. In 1805, the British took Kurukshetra after defeating the Maratha forces in the Second Anglo-Maratha War, who were controlling the city. Since 1947, Kurukshetra has become a popular spiritual center and has seen much infrastructure, development, and restoration of old structures.[6]

Gita Jayanti has been celebrated in Kurukshetra for decades. For a long time, it was known as Kurukshetra Utsav. According to the Hindu calendar, the holiday comes on Mokshda Ekadashi in the month of Margshirsh.

In 2016, the government of Haryana decided to give the Gita Jayanti a global flavour and organised an International Gita Mahotsav at Kurukshetra from 1 to 11 December. The Gita Jayanti was celebrated on 10 December as dictated by the traditional calendar. Over 2 million people visited the event that year. Later, in 2017, Gita Jayanti was celebrated on 30 November as per the traditional calendar, and over 2.5 million people visited. The idea of celebrating International Gita Mahotsav came from Swami Gyananand (Founder of GIEO Gita). International Gita Mahotsav 2019 was organized from November 23, 2019 to December 10, 2019. The Haryana government spent over ₹8.94 crore for organising the event.[7]

In 2017, the government declared Kurukshetra a holy city and the sale, possession, and consumption of meat are banned within the limits of the Municipal Corporation due to its religious significance.[8]

The climate of the district varies as the temperature in summer reaches as high as 47 °C, and as low 1 °C in winter, with rains in July and August.

Kurukshetra is an important Hindu pilgrimage destination, and there are several pilgrimage sites surrounding the city. The Hindi phrase 48 kos parikrama refers to a roughly 90-km traditional circle (Parikrama) around the holy city (1 kos equals about 3.00 km or 1.91 miles), and a complete parikrama refers to a pilgrimage to all these sites on foot.[9][10]

• Kurukshetra University
  • University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Kurukshetra University
• National Institute of Design, Kurukshetra
• National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra
• Shri Krishna AYUSH University

• The Deputy Commissioner, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service, is in charge of the General Administration in the district. He is assisted by a number of officers belonging to Haryana Civil Service and other Haryana state services.
• The Superintendent of Police, an officer belonging to the Indian Police Service, is responsible for maintaining Law & Order and related issues in the district. He is assisted by the officers of the Haryana Police Service and other Haryana Police officials.
• The Deputy Conservator of Forests, an officer belonging to the Indian Forest Service, is responsible for the management of the Forests, Environment, and Wildlife in the district. He is assisted by the officers of the Haryana Forest Service and other Haryana Forest officials and Haryana Wildlife officials.
• Sectoral development is looked after by the district head/officer of each development department such as PWD, Health, Education, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Statistics, etc. These officers are from various Haryana state services.
• Shahbad, Ladwa, Pehowa, Babain, Ismailabad, and Jhansa are other towns in the district with significant populations.

Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' wrote an epic poem titled Kurukshetra, a narrative poem based on the Santi Parva of the Mahabharata. He wrote the poem when memories of the Second World War were fresh in his mind.[13]

• Sukhda Pritam
• Surinder Kaur

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kurukshetra.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Kurukshetra.

• Official website