Gazetteer Of The Ambala District 1892-93

· 1892 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1Chapter II

2History:

3Karly history.

4[Punjab Gazetteer,

5CHAPTER Ii.

6HISTORY.

7The antiquities and ancient history of Ambala, and €specially

8of the Kurukshetra or battle-field of the Pandavas and

9Kauravas and of the numerous traditions connected with it that

10centre in Thanesar, have been discussed very fully by General

11Cunningham in his Archeological Survey Reports 1, 245; II,

12212-281; X1V, 72-106. Ambdélaand its*neighbourhood are inti-

13mately connected with the earliest dawn of Indian history. The

14strip of country included between the Saraswati and Drishadvati

15(the Sarusti and the Ghaggar) is the “ Holy Land” ofthe Hindu

16faith, the first permanent home of Aryansin India, and the spot

17in which their religion took shape. Hence the sanctity, even

18in modern times, of the waters of the Sarusti, which atiracts

19worshippers frow all parts of India, even from Orissa and remote

20portions of Bengal. The towns of ThAnesar and Pehowa are

21the chief centres of attraction, but its whole bank is lined with

22shrines. At Thanesar as many as 100,000 persons have been

23known, even of late years, to assemble on the occasion of an

24eclipse ; and a tank, filled from the Sarusti, is yearly bathed

25in by double or treble that number. Nor has snbsequent

26history failed to supply food to keep alive the associations of

27remote antiquity. Thdnesar and its neighbourhood, the Kuruk-

28shetra, teem with traditions of the great conflict of the Panda-

29vas and Kauravas, and this fact, without doubt, has done

30much to stir up in the Hindu mind a lively desire to visit the

31sacred spots. The Mahabharata, recording as it does the exploits

32of these heroes of antiquity, has exercised, and still does exercise,

33an unbounded influence over the masses of the péople. It is

34always in their thoughts, and such religious ideas as they have

35are drawn exclusively from its pages. ‘The scenes therefore

36whereon the great drama was played out cannot fail to interest

37and attract them. Modern rules of sanitatién “have done much

38to render unpopular the fairs at which pilgrims congregate, and

39the numbers have of late years undoubtedly fallen off. Itis

40probable, however, that only idle lookers-on will be deterred by

41such measures, and Thanesar will always continue to be a resort

42of the faithful from all parts of India.* are

43The ramé Kurukshetra, or “ field of Kuru,” is derived from

44Kuru, father of Santanu, great-grandfather of the heroes of

45the Mahabharata. Kitru is said to have become an ascetic on

46the bank of the great holy lake to the south of Thanesar. The

47true limits of the holy tract cannot be ascertained with certainty.

48«* See account of the town of Thanesar iu Chapter VI.