Malerkotlaਮਾਲੇਰਕੋਟਲਾ

History

Malerkotla became Punjab's twenty-third district in 2021, carved out of Sangrur as a single-tehsil district, the smallest in the state at roughly 684 square kilometres. The town itself is far older, the seat of a Muslim princely state whose rulers held this pocket of Malwa through the Sikh and British periods.

The town's defining story comes from 1705. When the younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh were sentenced to death at Sirhind, the Nawab of Malerkotla, Sher Mohammed Khan, rose in the court and protested the execution, saying it was against the tenets of Islam. Tradition holds that the Guru, hearing of this, blessed the town. The protest is remembered every year, and it gave Malerkotla its enduring identity as a town where communities stood by each other.

A town of harmony

Malerkotla is Punjab's only Muslim-majority town, and its old quarters mix mosques, temples and gurdwaras within walking distance of each other. The Eidgah, the Mubarak Manzil palace and the old bazaars give the town a character unlike any other in Malwa. During Partition, when violence swept the region, Malerkotla remained peaceful, a fact its residents still cite with pride.

The district today

The new district is largely rural, with about 430,000 people counted in 2011 within its current boundaries, growing wheat, paddy and vegetables for the Sangrur and Ludhiana mandis. Village-level pages for Malerkotla district are being added to the Kosh.