Bathindaਬਠਿੰਡਾ

One of India's oldest forts

Bathinda's Qila Mubarak is among the oldest surviving forts in India, its mud-brick walls rising over the city for nearly two thousand years in local tradition. The fort is tied to the Bhatti Rajput chiefs from whom the city takes its name, and tradition holds that Razia Sultan, the Sultan of Delhi, was imprisoned here in 1240 after her defeat. Whatever the legends, the fort's great bastions have watched every power that ruled this plain, from the Ghaznavids to the Sikh misls.

The district around it is old Malwa: canal-irrigated plains where cotton has been the king crop for generations. Bathinda city grew as the mandi and railway junction for this belt, and its grain market remains one of the largest in the region.

Talwandi Sabo and the Damdami Bir

At Talwandi Sabo stands Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, one of the five takhts of Sikhism. Guru Gobind Singh stayed here for nearly a year in 1705 and 1706 after leaving Anandpur Sahib, and it was here that the Damdami Bir, the standard recension of the Guru Granth Sahib, was prepared. The town's gurdwaras draw pilgrims through the year, and the district's religious calendar turns around its fairs.

Power, refinery and AIIMS

Modern Bathinda is an energy and education hub. Thermal power stations ring the city, the Guru Gobind Singh refinery stands at Phullokhari nearby, and the arrival of AIIMS Bathinda and the Central University of Punjab has made the city a centre for students from across the region. The Rose Garden and the Chetak Park give the industrial city its breathing spaces.

The district's towns include Rampura Phul, Talwandi Sabo, Maur, Bhucho Mandi and Goniana, each tied to the cotton and grain trade. Village-level pages for Bathinda district are being added to the Kosh.