Barnalaਬਰਨਾਲਾ

History

Barnala district was created in 2006, carved out of Sangrur, making it one of the youngest districts in Punjab. The town of Barnala itself is far older, a market town that served the surrounding countryside for generations before it became a district headquarters. After 1948 the area was part of the Patiala and East Punjab States Union, and its villages still carry the layout of the old canal colonies that made this plain fertile.

The district sits in the heart of Malwa, on flat alluvial land between the old princely territories. Its history is the quiet history of the Punjabi countryside: of wells giving way to tubewells, of cotton replacing coarse grains, and of market towns growing into small cities on the strength of the mandi trade.

Cotton and the mandis

Barnala is cotton country. Its fields grow long-staple cotton alongside wheat and paddy, and at harvest time the district's grain markets fill with trollies from hundreds of villages. Barnala city's mandi is among the busier procurement centres of southern Malwa, and the town has grown a cluster of small textile, ginning and agricultural-implement workshops around the trade.

Towns and villages

The district's main towns are Barnala, Tapa, Dhanaula and Bhadaur, each a mandi town serving its ring of villages. Handiaya, on the Barnala road, is known for its old gurdwara and annual fair. Village-level pages for Barnala district are being added to the Kosh.