Hoshiarpurਹੁਸ਼ਿਆਰਪੁਰ

History

Hoshiarpur is among the oldest districts of Punjab, its headquarters town tracing back centuries as a market centre on the edge of the hills. The district's eastern edge rises into the Shivaliks, and its kandi belt, the semi-hilly tract below the hills, has its own distinct landscape of choes, seasonal streams, and terraced fields.

The Dholbaha valley in this district holds a remarkable cluster of ancient temples, some of the oldest stone temples in the region, going back to the Gurjara-Pratihara period. Dasuya, the district's old town, was a centre of the hill trade, where timber and goods came down from the mountains to the plains.

Woodcraft and the hills

Hoshiarpur city grew famous for its woodcraft, its artisans carving furniture and inlay work from the timber that came down from the Shivaliks. The craft survives in the city's old workshops, and Hoshiarpur furniture still carries a name across Punjab. The district's forests and the kandi's scrubland also made it a hunting ground of the old hill chiefs.

Doaba's migration belt

Like much of Doaba, Hoshiarpur district has sent generations abroad, and its villages show the signs: big houses, remittance-funded gurdwaras, and schools built by families in Canada, England and America. About 1.59 million people were counted here in 2011, spread across one of Punjab's larger districts at roughly 3,397 square kilometres.

The district's towns include Hoshiarpur, Dasuya, Mukerian, Garhshankar and Tanda, each a mandi and market town for its belt. Village-level pages for Hoshiarpur district are being added to the Kosh.