Hoshiarpur

Hoshiarpur is the name of a town and district located in the north-east part of the state of Punjab India. It falls in the Jalandhar Revenue Division and is situated in the Bist Doab, Doaba region of the State. The district is sub mountainous and stretches the length of River Beas in the north-west.
It lies between north latitude 30 degree-9 and 32 degree-05 and east longitude 75degree -32 and 76degree -12’.
It shares common boundaries with Kangra and Una districts of Himachal Pardesh in the north east, Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts (interspersed) in south-west and Gurdaspur district in the north-west.
At present, it has an area of 3198.2 sq. km. and a population,
as per 1991 Census, is 12,99,261 persons.
==Gurus History==
* 1595-1644 - The first five Sikh Gurus appear to have had non contact with the district. It was after the birth of Hargobing, the sixth Guru of the Sikhs in 1595 that the district of Hoshiarpur also became the centre of religious and military activities. Guru Hargobind is regarded as the first champion in arms who consolidated his army to save Sikhism from the wrath of the Mughals. He visited Mukerian in the Hoshiarpur District from where he recruited the able bodied persons for his army. In almost all the six battles which the Guru fought against the Mughals, the solidiers in the army from the district played a significient role in achieving victory for the Guru.
* 1664-1675 - After the death of Guru Harkishan, Tegh Bahadur was installed as the ninth Guru at the age of 43. He went to Kiratpur, the town founded by his father. An event of historic significance took place at Anandpur, the town founded by Gur Tegh Bahadur. Sher Afghan Khan, the viceroy in Kashmir, started killing Kashmiri Hindus who would not embrace Islam. They all approached Guru Tegh Bahadur who was then at Anandpur and related to him their tale of woe. The Guru saved the Hindus from the clutches of the Sher Afghan Khan. Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded at Delhi on 11 November 1675 and his headless body was taken away by a labana Sikh, Lakhi Shah and cremated it at the place where now stands Gurdwara Rakab Ganj. His head was taken by a faithful Sikh, Bhai Jaita, who carried it to Anandpur Sahib, where it was cremated and now Gurdwara Sis Ganj stands at this place.
* 1699 - Creation of Khalsa by Guru Gjobind Singh on Baisakhi day in 1699 at Anandpur Sahib to fight against the tyranny of the Mughals and to abolish caste system. The Guru initiated five Sikhs, among them one Sahib Singh, barber of village Nangal Shahidan belonged to Hoshiarpur District .
* 1701 - Jaijon in the Hoshiarpur District was once the seat of Jaswal Rajas. Raja Ram Singh took up his residence hare and build a fort in 1701, which was dismantled at the annexation by the British Government.
1707 	At the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the Punjab was divided into six Doabs. The Jalandhar Doab had 69 Mahals. In this Doab, the most important towns, falling in the Hoshiarpur District, were Sham Churasi, Tanda, Mukerian and Hoshiarpur.
* 1708-1711 - Banda Bahadur was commissioned by Guru Gobind Singh from Deccan to the Punjab in d1708 to punish those who had persecuted the Sikhs and executed his father and innocent children. Banda Bahadur used the Jalandhar Doab as the base from which he led expeditions against the Mughal forces. The Jalandhar Doab remained centre of his exploits till 
==After gurus==
* 1711 - As sirhind has been captured, and Banda was carrying his activities far and wide, the Sikhs in the Jalandhar Doab felt that their day of deliverance had arrived, They ousted the Muslim officials and in their place appointed the Sikhs, and sent a parvana to Shamas Khan, the Faujdar of the Jalandhar Doab, to effect certain reforms and hand over his treasures personally to the Khalsa. The Faujdar appealed to the Muslims of the Doab for a jehad against these infidels, and about one lakh Muslim collected and marched towards Sultanpur, the capital of the Doab where about seventy-five thousand Sikhs HAD COLLECTED. An urgent call at this juncture was sent to Banda in the Gangetic Doab and he soon joined them. The Sikhs retired to Rahon. The Muslims chased them, and the Sikhs were besieged. But in the darkness of the night, they escaped, and the next morning, seeing that Shamas Khan had retired to his capital, they attacked the Muslims in the fort suddenly and after a bloody battle, they drove them out on 12 October 1710. Cosequently, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur were captured by the Sikhs without much effort and they became now masters of the Jalandhar Doab. 
* 1758 - Adina Beg, the Faujdar of Jalandhar Doab died at Khanpur, near Hoshiarpur and was buried there. After the death of Adina Beg, the Sikhs spread once again over the whole of Punjab. Jassa Singh Ramgarhia added to his possession some territories in the neighbour-hood of Hoshiarpur. Parganas of Maniwal, Urmur Tanda, Sarih and Miani in the Jalandhar Doab were occupied. Prithvi Singh, the ruler of Nurpur and Raja Singh, the ruler of Chamba accepted his overlordship. Jassa Singh Ramgarhia occupied Datarpur and Hajipur in tahsil Dasua in the Hoshiarpur.
* 1776 - The Ahluwalia chief invited the Sukarchakias, the Kanhayas and the Bhangis to his assistance, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia was defeated and fled to Hariana in the Hoshiarpur District.
* 1783 - Death of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia.
* 1796 - In this year, Sada Kaur, whose husband, Gurbaksh Singh Kanhaya had been killed in the battle with Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, attacked the Ramgarhia chief at Miani in the Hoshiarpur District with the aid of Ranjit Singh, her son-in-law.
* 1801 - Bajwara was held by Bhup Singh Faizullapuria, who was ousted in 1801 by Raja Sansar Chand.
* 1803 - Maharaja Ranjit Singh expelled Sansar Chand from Bajwara and checked his designs on Jalandhar.
* 1808-1811 - The power of Ramgarhia Misl was broken in 1808 and that of the Kanhaya Misl in 1811 by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
* 1815 - Jaijon was taken by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
==British Period==
* 1846 - The district was annexed by the British at the close of the First Anglo Sikh War. John Lawrence became the first Commissioner of the trans-Satluj States in March 1846, and the division was administered by him in direct correspondence with the Supreme Government until 1848, when the Commissioner was made subordinate to the Resident at Lahore.
* 1848 - When the Second Sikh War began in 1848, the Rajas of Jaswan, Kangra and Datarpur revolted against the British rule. John Lawrence who happened to be at Pathankot swept down the Dun rapidly with 500 men and 4 guns. The Raja of Datarpur was made prisoner without a blow, but the Jaswan Raja resisted and his two positions at Amb and Akarot (Himachal Pradesh) were attacked and carried with little loss. The Rajas were deported, their palaces were razed and their possession confiscated. Bedi Bikrama Singh of Una also Joined the insurgents and marched towards Hoshiarpur. He halted at Maili when heard about the defeat of Raja Jaswan and fled to the camp of Sher Singh. His possessions were confiscated, but at the end of the war he gave himself up and was allowed, to reside at Amritsar.
* 1851 - The Bedis, being the revered priestly class among the Sikhs were reluctant to offer their daughters to other sub-castes of Khatris. Before 1851, the police made strenuous efforts to uproot this evil (i.e. female infanticide), but in vain. In 1851, the Deputy Commissioner Gurdaspur brought to the notice of the Government that the Bedis killed their daughters and were known as Kureemars (daughter-slayers). As a result of this, all the Deputy Commissioners in the Province were asked to furnish information on the prevalence of this practice in their respective districts. The returns of the various districts of the Province, this practice was very much prevalent in Una and Garhshankar tahsils of the Hoshiarpur District.
* 1920-22 - Formation of shiromani Gurdawara Parbandhak Committee on 15 November 1920 for undertaking the management of Sikh shrines. As at other places of the Province, a big public meeting was organised at Hoshiarpur on 23 February 1921 under the auspices of the District Sikh League to protest the Nankana Sahib Holocast which occurred on 20 February. Gandhiji started the Non-cooperation Movement in alliance with Khilafat leaders to bring the Bring the British administration to a standstill and to compel it to grant freedom to the people of India. The programme included the boycott of the elections and legislatures, law courts, Government schools and colleges and foreign goodsand renunciation of government schools and colleges and foreign goods and renunciation of Government titles. Gandhiji was delighted to see hand-weaving cloth factories at Hoshiarpur. He congratulated the people of the city on establishing such factories. His message reached the craftsmen of the Province. Two spinning wheels made of ebony and skillfully designed were presented to him. Gandhiji was pleased to find Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Hariana ( Hoshiarpur District), as centres of the spinning wheel.
The District Congress committee, Hoshiarpur arranged a public meeting at Hoshiarpur on 23 July 1920 in favour of Non-Co-operation Movement. It was attended by a large number of delegated from all over the district. A meeting of the district conference was held at Hoshiarpur non 30 and 31 October 1920. A large number of delegated and members from all parts of the district attended the conference. The people present at the conference signed in favour of swadeshi and foreign goods boycott and pledges were taken to remove begar and untouchability.
* 1921 - The Babbar Akali Movement was mainly concentrated in the Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar districts. In these two districts, the movement was regarded as an offshoot of the combined grievances of the Kamagata Maru incident, the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy, the Nankana Sahib tragedy and Guru Ka Bagh episode.
As at other places of the province, a big public meeting was organised at Hoshiarpur on 323 February 1921 under the auspices of the District Sikh League to protest against the Nankana Sahib Holocast, which occurred on 20 February. The delegates vehemently condemned the atrocities perpetrated by the British authorties.
* 1923 - In the last week of October 1923, Dhanna Singh, a Babbar Akali was arrested at Hoshiarpur carrying a bomb, but when he was about to be searched, the bomb which he was carrying apparently in his coat pocket exploded, resulting in his death.
==Religion==
Apparently, Hoshiarpur is one of the few districts in Punjab that have a Hindu majority. According to the 2001 census, from a total population of 1,480,736, 871,923 were Hindus (58.9%), 574,862 (38.8%) were Sikhs, 15,394 were Muslims (1%), 12,726 were Christians (0.85%).
==Climate==
The district has mild climate compared to other districts of the State. This is due to the abundance of hilly terrain on the one hand and sizeable forest covers thereon, on the other. Moreover, chain of check dams constructed recently on the choes under "Kandi Watershed Development Project" have appreciably enhanced water surface area in the district. This has made the summer hights quite pleasant.
The pattern of seasons in the district is similar to other districts of the state, except slight variations at the terminals and year may be divided into three main seasons. The summer season sets in April and lasts up to end of June, to be taken over by the rainy season when it becomes hot and sultry. The rainy season sets in July beginning and lasts up to September end. The winter season starts after the rains are over from October and lasts up to March end. May and June are the hottest months when mercury may cross 45 degree C on some days. It is pleasantly hot. The months of December, January and February are the months when winter is quite severe and mercury may however around 5 degree C and on some days it may touch O’C.
Rain
The total avg. rain falls in disst. is 1125 mm .Broadly speaking 75 percent of the rainfall is experienced in the period July to September, Whereas 15 Percent rainfall is experienced in the winter months of January and February are under the influence of western disturbances in the Persion Gulf. Hail storms may occur in the closing period of winter when there is quite a sizeable damage to fruit crops, especially the mango fruit for which this district is quite renowned in the State.
The District comprises four Sub-Divisions, ten Development Blocks, eight Municipal Councils and one Notified Area Committee, as per details given below:
==Administrative Divisions==
===SUB-DIVISIONS (4)===
 1. Hoshiarpur
 2. Dasuya
 3. Mukerian
 4. Garhshankar
===DEVELOPMENT BLOCKS (10)===
 1. Hoshiarpur-I
 2. Hoshiarpur-II
 3. Bhunga
 4. Tanda
 5. Dasuya
 6. Mukerian
 7. Talwara
 8. Hajipur
 9. Mahilpur
 10. Garhshankar
===MUNICIPAL COUNCILS (8)===
 1. Hoshiarpur
 2. Hariana
 3. Tanda
 4. Dasuya
 5. Mukerian
 6. Garhdiwala
 7. ShamChaurasi
 8. Garhshankar
===NOTIFIED AREA COMMITTEE (1)===
 1. Mahilpur
Category:Hoshiarpur
Category:Districts