Hoshiarpur Districtਹੁਸ਼ਿਆਰਪੁਰ

Hoshiarpur district is a district in the Doaba region of Punjab, India, set between the Beas river and the Shivalik hills. It is known for ancient temple remains at Dholbaha, a centuries old wood inlay craft, citrus orchards in its Kandi belt and a strong tradition of migration that links its villages to the Punjabi diaspora.

Where is Hoshiarpur district?

Hoshiarpur district is in the north east of Punjab, in the Bist Doab tract of the Doaba region, the land that lies between the Beas and the Sutlej rivers. It falls in the Jalandhar revenue division. To the north east it borders the Kangra and Una districts of Himachal Pradesh, to the south west it meets Jalandhar and Kapurthala, and to the north west it meets Gurdaspur. The headquarters is the city of Hoshiarpur, which sits at 31.53 degrees north and 75.92 degrees east, a short distance from the Shivalik foothills. Administratively, Census 2011 counted four subdivisions, ten development blocks, ten towns and 1,419 villages in the district, of which 1,388 were inhabited. Its main towns include Hoshiarpur, Dasuya, Mukerian, Garhshankar and Tanda, each serving the villages and orchards around it.

History

People have lived in this hill foot country for a very long time. Archaeological exploration in the Shivalik foothills has found early Stone Age tools at Atbarapur, Rehmanpur and Takhni, and surface exploration has traced the district back to the Harappan period, the age of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Its best known ancient site is Dholbaha, north of Hoshiarpur city, where fossils, stone tools and fine sandstone sculptures have been found. The sculptures belong to the Gurjara Pratihara period, roughly 800 to 1100 AD, and point to a valley of temples and skilled stone carvers. Local tradition links Dasuya with the Mahabharata, as the seat of King Virata, where the Pandavas are said to have spent part of their exile.

In the medieval centuries the plains and the hills often had different rulers. The district administration history records that the plains probably came under Muslim rule after the fall of Jalandhar in 1088, while the hill chiefs held on in the Shivaliks. The country later formed part of the old Katoch kingdom of Jalandhar and was divided between the rajas of Datarpur and Jaswan, before Maharaja Ranjit Singh brought the tract between the Sutlej and the Beas under Lahore by 1818. After the First Anglo Sikh War, the district was annexed by the British in 1846, along with the rest of the Jalandhar Doab. Its map kept changing afterwards: Una went to Himachal Pradesh after state reorganisation, and Balachaur tehsil was transferred to the newly created Nawanshahr district, leaving the four subdivision district of today.

Geography and people

The district covers 3,386 square kilometres and divides into two roughly equal parts: hill country in the east and plain country in the west. The eastern side is the Kandi belt, a sub mountainous strip along the Shivaliks cut by choes, the seasonal torrents that rush down from the hills in the monsoon. The district site counts 39 such rivulets, and check dams built on them in recent decades have added ponds and greenery to a tract that was once dry and eroded. The Beas runs along the north west, with fertile lowland along its banks where rice is grown, while the Sutlej touches the southern edge. Average rainfall is 1,125 mm, and the hills and forest cover give the district a milder climate than most of Punjab.

Census 2011 counted 1,586,625 people, at a density of 469 people per square kilometre. About 78.9 percent lived in villages and 21.1 percent in towns. Literacy was 84.6 percent, with male literacy at 88.8 percent and female literacy at 80.3 percent, among the strongest figures in Punjab. The sex ratio was 961 females per 1,000 males, well above the state average. Hindus formed 63.07 percent of the population and Sikhs 33.92 percent, with small Muslim and Christian communities. Punjabi is the official and everyday language. Like the rest of Doaba, the district has a deep culture of migration: generations of its sons and daughters have settled in Canada, Britain, the United States and beyond, and their remittances, houses and family ties shape village life to this day.

Places of interest

Start at Dholbaha, where the remains of early medieval temples and their sculptures sit in a green valley below the Shivaliks, and where the Archaeological Museum displays fossils and Pleistocene era finds from the area. In Hoshiarpur city, the Sheesh Mahal, built in 1911 by Lala Hans Raj Jain, is covered inside and out with glass work and carries sculptures linked to the coronation of King George V. A short drive south east stands Bajwara Fort, a ruined fortress spread over six to seven acres, captured by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1825 and later used by the British as a prison after the 1857 revolt. Its two surviving bastions are fragile, so admire it from outside.

Faith sites draw visitors all year. The Kamahi Devi temple, dedicated to the goddess Kamakshi, is linked by tradition to the Pandavas. Gurdwara Garna Sahib at Bodal, in Dasuya tehsil, remembers Guru Hargobind Ji, and Gurdwara Harian Velan remembers Guru Har Rai Ji. The tomb of Shah Noor Jamal in Hoshiarpur city hosts an annual Urs in March that draws devotees of every community. For nature, the Takhni Rehmapur Wildlife Sanctuary protects dry deciduous forest in the Shivalik foothills, home to deer, wild boar, hare and rich birdlife, best explored on foot in the cooler months.

Economy and crafts

Farming is the backbone of the district. The Beas side flats grow rice, the plains grow wheat, maize and sugarcane, and the Kandi belt has turned increasingly to fruit. Hoshiarpur city is fondly called a city of mangoes, and citrus is the rising crop: the Citrus Estate at Bhunga, set up by the Punjab Department of Horticulture in 2007, trains and supports over 6,000 farmers across nearly 380 villages on about 1,900 hectares, promoting kinnow, sweet orange and tangerine as an alternative to thirsty paddy.

The craft the district is famous for is wood inlay. About 300 years ago Hoshiarpur was a centre of ivory bangle and comb making, and artisans began setting the discarded ivory offcuts into dark sheesham wood. Since ivory was banned, the inlayers have worked in acrylic, plastic, bronze and camel bone, cutting floral and geometric patterns into sheesham, teak and rosewood to make tables, screens, boxes and trays. Pieces from Hoshiarpur are still gifted to visiting dignitaries, and its workshops remain the best place in Punjab to watch the craft at close quarters. Education, small industry and remittance income from the diaspora round out the modern economy.

Getting there and today

Hoshiarpur is well connected. Its own railway station, code HSX and dating to 1905, links the city through Jalandhar to Delhi, Amritsar and Ferozepur, and the Bhagwan Valmiki Interstate Bus Terminal runs buses across Punjab and to Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh. The nearest airport is Adampur, about 25 km south west, and the international airport at Amritsar is about 125 km away. Roads climb from the city into the hills toward Una and Kangra, which is why travellers often call Hoshiarpur a gateway to Himachal.

Today the district balances three identities at once: a quiet administrative and education centre, a farming and orchard economy adapting to less water, and a homeland district for a worldwide diaspora that returns every winter. The best time to visit is November to February, when the choes are dry, the citrus is ripening and the Shivalik light is at its clearest.