Sirhind-Fategarh - kuchewar

Sirhind-Fategarh is a city and a municipal council in the Fatehgarh Sahib district in the Indianstate of Punjab.

Gurudwara Fatehgarh Sahib

Demographics
Etymology
History
Education Institutions in Sirhind-Fatehgarh Sahib
- University
- Engineering College
- General degree colleges
- Law College
- Polytechnic College
- Teacher Training College
- CISCE affiliated school
- Punjab School Education Board affiliated schools
- Central Board Of Secondary education (CBSE) affiliated schools
- Other
Historical and religious places in Sirhind-Fatehgarh Sahib
Gallery
See also
Further reading
References
External links

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Sirhind-Fatehgarh had a population of 60852. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Sirhind-Fatehgarh has an average literacy rate of 90%, higher than the national average of 74%: male literacy is 84%, and female literacy is 80%. In Sirhind-Fatehgarh, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Etymology

According to popular notion, the present name of the city, Sirhind, comes from ‘Sar-i hind’, meaning the Frontier of Hind, as Mughal saw it as the ‘gateway to Hindustan’. However, a 5th-century AD tribe ‘Sairindhas Aryans, which inhabited this area, might have also led to its present name.

History

Main article: History of Sirhind

Varahamihira (505 – 587) in his Sanskrit treatise, Brihat Samhita, mentions the city as ‘Satudar Desh’, later it was inhabited by a tribe of ‘Sairindhas Aryans, leading to its present name. According to Huan Tsang, the Chinese traveller who visited India during the seventh century, Sirhind was the capital of the district of Shitotulo, or Shatadru (the present day River Sutlej).

Entrance to the Ramgarh Fort near Sirhind

In 12th century, Sirhind came under the rule of the HinduChauhan Rajputs of Delhi.During the rule of Prithvi Raj Chauhan (1168–1192), the HinduRajput ruler of Delhi, it became his military outpost.

It further rose in glory during the Mughal Empire, when it became its provincial capital, controlling the Lahore-Delhi Highway, the Grand Trunk Road. During the Mughal era, Sirhind was the name for Malwa, since it was the area’s capital city. Sirhind was the headquarters of the Mughal administration in Eastern Punjab. Many European travellers describe its splendours, and it also developed into a center of cultural activity.

Ruins of Daulat Khana-E-Khas at Aam Khas Bagh’, built by most probably, Sultan hafiz Rakhna, during the reign of emperor Akbar

Sirhind was known for the dozens of saints, scholars, poets, historians, calligraphersand scribes who lived there. This city is mostly famous to Muslims for Great saint Imām-e-Rabbānī Shaykh Ahmad al-Farūqī al-Sirhindī (R.) (1564–1624). He was an Indian Islamic scholar of Arab origin, a Hanafi jurist, and a prominent member of the Naqshbandī Sufi order. A large number of buildings survive from this period, including the fort named ‘Aam Khas Bagh’; it is said that in its heyday, the city had 360 mosques, gardens, tombs, caravansarais and wells.

The two younger sons of the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, Baba Zorawar Singh (age 9) and Baba Fateh Singh (age 5) were executed by then governor, Wazir Khan, for their refusal to convert to Islam. Gurudwara Sri Fatehgarh Sahib is established at that place to commemorate them. Banda Singh Bahadur, in 1710, attacked and destroyed Sirhind and killed Wazir Khan in retribution for the executions of the Zorawar and Fateh Singh. The Sikhs then occupied Sirhind and appointed Bhai Baj Singh Ji to be the new governor.