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Saharanpur district | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of deoband | |
 Location of Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Uttar Pradesh |
| Division | Saharanpur |
| Headquarters | Saharanpur |
| Government | |
| • Lok Sabha constituencies | Saharanpur |
| • Vidhan Sabha constituencies | Saharanpur,Saharanpur nagar,Gangoh,Nakur,Deoband,Rampur Maniharan,Behat |
| Area | |
• Total | 3,860 km2 (1,490 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 3,466,382 |
| • Density | 898/km2 (2,330/sq mi) |
| Demographics | |
| • Literacy | 62.61%[1] |
| Time zone | UTC+05:30 (IST) |
| Vehicle registration | UP-11 |
| Airport | Sarsawa Airport |
| Website | saharanpur |
Saharanpur district is the northernmost of thedistricts of Uttar Pradeshstate, India. Bordering the states ofHaryana,Himachal Pradesh andUttarakhand, and close to the foothills ofShivalik range, it lies in the northern part of theDoab region.
The district headquarters are inSaharanpur, which is also the headquarters ofSaharanpur Division. Other principal towns areSarsawa,Behat,Deoband,Gangoh andRampur Maniharan.
Saharanpur is located at29°58′N77°33′E / 29.97°N 77.55°E /29.97; 77.55, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) south-southeast fromChandigarh and 170 kilometres (110 mi) north-northeast fromDelhi and 61 Km. South of Dehradun and about 70 Km. South East from the town of Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh. It has an average elevation of 284 metres (932 ft). It is bordered byYamunanagar andKarnal districts of Haryana to the west,Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh to the northwest,Dehradun district of Uttarakhand to the north,Haridwar district of Uttarakhand to the east andMuzaffarnagar andShamli districts to the south.
It is the northernmost district of Uttar Pradesh, bounded by theYamuna to the west. The northern border of the district is formed by the southern slopes of the Sivallik Hills. Below the Sivallik is the Bhabhar, and south of that, the Terai. The west of the district iskhadir land next to the Yamuna, generally composed of clayish soil, and produces two small tributaries of the Yamuna: the Budhi and Saindh.
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| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 728,601 | — |
| 1911 | 687,620 | −0.58% |
| 1921 | 653,460 | −0.51% |
| 1931 | 727,731 | +1.08% |
| 1941 | 822,231 | +1.23% |
| 1951 | 942,849 | +1.38% |
| 1961 | 1,132,537 | +1.85% |
| 1971 | 1,414,231 | +2.25% |
| 1981 | 1,821,543 | +2.56% |
| 1991 | 2,309,029 | +2.40% |
| 2001 | 2,896,863 | +2.29% |
| 2011 | 3,466,382 | +1.81% |
| source:[2] | ||
During the reign of Shamsu’d-DinIltutmish (r 1211–1236), the region became a part of theDelhi Sultanate. At that time, most of the area remained covered with forests and marshlands, through which the Paondhoi, Dhamola, and Ganda Nala rivers flowed. The climate was humid and malaria outbreaks were common.Muhammad bin Tughluq, the Sultan of Delhi (1325–1351), undertook a campaign in the northerndoab to crush the rebellion of theShivalik kings in 1340, when according to local tradition he learned of the presence of asufi saint on the banks of the Paondhoi River. After visiting the sage, he ordered that henceforth this region would be known as 'Shah-Haroonpur', after the Sufi SaintShah Haroon Chishti.[3] The simple but well-preserved tomb of this saint is situated in the oldest quarter of Saharanpur city, between the Mali Gate/Bazar Dinanath and Halwai Hatta. By the end of the 14th century, the power of the Sultanate had declined and it was attacked by EmperorTimur (1336–1405) of Central Asia. Timur had marched through the Saharanpur region in 1399 to sack Delhi and people of the region fought his army unsuccessfully. A weakened Sultanate was later conquered by the Central Asian Mogul kingBabur (1483–1531).
In the 16th century,Babur, aTimurid descendant ofTimur andGenghis Khan fromFergana Valley (modern-dayUzbekistan), invaded across theKhyber Pass and founded theMughal Empire, covering India, along with modern-dayAfghanistan, Pakistan andBangladesh[4]
During theMughal period,Akbar (1542–1605), Saharanpur became an administrative unit under the Province of Delhi. Akbar bestowed the feudaljagir of Saharanpur to the Mughal treasurer, Sah Ranveer Singh, a Hindu Rohilla who laid the foundations of the present-day city on the site of an army cantonment. The nearest settlements at that time wereShekhpura and Malhipur. Saharanpur was a walled city, with four gates: the Sarai Gate, the Mali Gate, the Buria Gate, and the Lakhi Gate. The city was divided into the neighbourhoods named Nakhasa Bazar, Shah Behlol, Rani Bazar and Lakhi Gate. The ruins of Shah Ran Veer Singh's old fort can still be seen in the Chaudharian locality of Saharanpur, not far from the better known 'Bada-Imam-bada'. He also built a largeJain temple in Muhallah/Toli Chaundhariyan,[5] it is now known as the 'Digamber-Jain Panchayati Mandir'.
Mughal emperors Akbar and laterShah Jehan (1592–1666) bestowed the administrativepargana of Sarwat on MuslimSayyid families. In 1633 one of them founded a city and named it and the surrounding regionMuzaffarnagar, in honour of his father, Sayyid Muzaffar Ali Khan. The Sayyids ruled the area until the 1739 invasion byNadir Shah. After his departure, anarchy prevailed across the entiredoab with the region ruled or ravaged in succession by Jats. Taking advantage of this anarchy, theRohillas took control of the entire trans-Gangetic region.
Ahmad Shah Durrani, theAfghan ruler who invaded Northwestern and Northern India in the 1750s, conferred the territory of Saharanpur as Jagir on Rohilla chief Najaf Khan, who assumed the title of NawabNajeeb-ud-Daula and took up residence in Saharanpur in 1754,. He made Gaunsgarh his capital and tried to strengthen his position againstMaratha Empire attacks by entering an alliance with the HinduGurjar chieftain Manohar Singh. In 1759, Najeeb-ud-Daula issued a Deed of Agreement handing over 550 villages to Manohar Singh, who became the Raja ofLandaura.
In 1757, the Maratha army captured the Saharanpur region, which resulted in Najeeb-ud-Daula losing control of Saharanpur to the Maratha rulersRaghunath Rao andMalharao Holkar. The conflict between Rohillas and Marathas came to an end on 18 December 1788 with the arrest ofGhulam Qadir, the grandson of Najeeb-ud-Daula, who was defeated by the Maratha generalMahadaji Shinde. The most significant contribution of Nawab Ghulam Qadir to Saharanpur city is the Nawab Ganj area and the Ahmedabadi fortress therein, which still stands. The death of Ghulam Qadir put an end to the Rohilla administration in Saharanpur and it became the northernmost district of the Maratha Empire. Ghani Bahadur Banda was appointed its first Maratha governor. The Maratha Regime saw the construction of the Bhuteshwar Temple and Bagheshwar Temple in Saharanpur city. In 1803, following theSecond Anglo-Maratha War, when theBritish East India Company defeated the Maratha Empire, Saharanpur came under British suzerainty.[6]
Saharanpur was the home to the first armed rebellion against British rule inUttar Pradesh. In 1813 there was mass revolt by theHinduGujjars of Saharanpur against British rule, but it was quickly suppressed. In 1824. Raja Kunja Singh, formerly thetaluqdar of Kunja nearRoorkee, led an armed revolt againstEast India Company rule and established a quasi-independent state; however, after fierce battle the rebellion was quashed. It was found later by British authorities that theGujjars of surrounding districts were about to come to the aid of Kunja Singh, but by then he had been defeated.[7]
When India rebelled in 1857 against the foreign Company's occupation, now referred to as the First War of Indian Independence, the Saharanpur and the present-day Muzaffarnagar Districts were part of that uprising. The centre of freedom fighters' operations was Shamli, a small town in the Muzaffarnagar region which was liberated for some time. After the uprising failed, British retribution was severe. Death and destruction was particularly directed against the Muslims of the region, whom the British considered as the main instigators of the rebellion (even thoughHinduGurjars were the ones who had led the revolt ).[8] When social reconstruction started, the cultural and political history of Muslims began to revolve around Deoband and Aligarh.Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi andRashid Ahmad Gangohi, both proponents of the reformerShah Waliullah's ideology for social and political rejuvenation, established a school in Deoband in 1867. It found popularity and global recognition as theDarul Uloom Deoband. Its founders' mission was twofold: to raise and spread a team of scholars able to awaken the religious and social consciousness of Muslims through peaceful methods and to make efforts, through them, to educate Muslims in their faith and culture; and to bring about a feeling of nationalism and national unity by promoting the concept of Hindu-Muslim unity and a united India. Muslim scholars in the city of Saharanpur were active supporters of this ideology and went on to establish theMazahir Uloom theological seminary six months later.
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 241,612 | — |
| 1911 | 264,297 | +0.90% |
| 1921 | 261,915 | −0.09% |
| 1931 | 311,227 | +1.74% |
| 1941 | 359,218 | +1.44% |
| 1951 | 397,342 | +1.01% |
| 1961 | 498,034 | +2.28% |
| 1971 | 643,086 | +2.59% |
| 1981 | 854,377 | +2.88% |
| 1991 | 1,101,171 | +2.57% |
| 2001 | 1,378,881 | +2.27% |
| 2011 | 1,734,495 | +2.32% |
| source:[2] | ||
According to the2011 census the Saharanpur district had apopulation of 3,466,382,[9] roughly equal to the nation ofPanama[10] or the US state ofConnecticut.[11] This gives it a ranking of 92nd in India (out of a total of640).[9] The district has a population density of 939 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,430/sq mi) .[9] Itspopulation growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 19.59%.[9] Saharanpur has asex ratio of 887females for every 1000 males,[9] and aliteracy rate of 72.03%. 30.77% of the population lived in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 22.05% and 0.03% of the population respectively.[9]
| Religion | Percent | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hinduism | 56.74% | |||
| Islam | 41.95% | |||
| Sikhism | 0.54% | |||
| Other or not stated | 0.77% | |||
| Distribution of religions | ||||
Hinduism is followed by over 56% of people.Islam is the second-largest religion in the district with over 41.95% adherents. Sikhism is followed by 0.54% people. Hindus generally dominate rural areas while Muslims are majority in urban areas.[12]
| Tehsil | Hindus | Muslims | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
| Behat | 47.79% | 51.19% | 1.03% |
| Saharanpur | 51.35% | 46.78% | 1.87% |
| Nakur | 60.00% | 38.54% | 1.46% |
| Deoband | 59.80% | 39.77% | 0.43% |
| Rampur Maniharan | 79.24% | 20.19% | 0.57% |
At the time of the2011 Census of India, 80.90% of the population of the district spokeHindi and 18.57%Urdu as their first language.[13]
Panama 3,460,462 July 2011 est.
Connecticut 3,574,097
Places adjacent to Saharanpur district | |
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