Kurukshetra, Karnal

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This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.

Kurukshetra

A sacred tract of the Hindus, lying between 29° 15' and 30° N. and 76° 20' and 77° E., in the Karnal District and the Jind State of the Punjab. According to the Mahabharata, which contains the oldest account of the tract, it lay between the SaraswatI and Drishadwati (now the Rakshi), being watered by seven or nine streams, including these two. It was also divided into seven or nine kins or forests. The circuit of Kurukshetra probably did not exceed 160 miles ; and it formed an irregular quadrilateral, its northern side extending from Ber at the junction of the Saraswati and Ghaggar to Thanesar, and its southern from Sinkh, south of Safidon, to Ram Rai, south-west of JInd.

The name, ' the field of Kuru,' is derived from Kuru, the ancestor of the Kauravas and Pandavas, between whom was fought the great conflict described in the Mahabharata ; but the tract was also called the Dharmakshetra or ' holy land,' and would appear to have been famous long before the time of the Kauravas, for at Thanesar Parasu Rama is said to have slain the Kshattriyas, and the lake of Sarvanavat on the skirts of Kurukshetra is alluded to in the Kig-A'eda in connexion with the legend of the horse-headed Dadhyanch. Nardak is another name for Kurukshetra, probably derived from nirdi/kh, ' without sorrow.' The Chinese pilgrim, Hiuen Tsiang, who visited it in the seventh century, calls it ' the field of happiness.' Kurukshetra contains, it is said, 360 places connected with these legends or with the cults of Siva and the Sun-god, which have long been places of pilgrimage. Of these the principal are Thanesar, Pehowa, Jind, Safidon, and Kaithal ; but numerous other sites preserve their ancient names and sanctity.