Sirsa is a city and a municipal council in Sirsa district in the westernmost region of the state of Haryana, bordering Punjab and Rajasthan. It is located near the Thar Desert, 250 kilometres north-west of New Delhi and 260 kilometers south-west of the state capital Chandigarh. Sirsa's nearest cities include Hisar, Fatehabad, Ellenabad, Bhadra, Nohar, Mandi Dabwali and Hanumangarh. Its history dates back to the time of the Mahabharata. At one time, the Sarasvati River flowed in this area.
Name
Sirsa has been identified with two earlier names:
Sarsūti in medieval sources and
Śairīṣaka in ancient literature.
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The specific spelling Sarsūti, with the diacritic, is from The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. XXIII, p. 45. See here.
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The specific spelling Śairīṣaka is from Vettam Mani's Puranic Encyclopedia, p. 667. See here.
Sarsūti appears to come from the name of the
Sarasvati River, which once flowed near Sirsa. Ancient texts mentioning
Śairīṣaka include the
Mahabharata, where it is mentioned as one of the places conquered by
Nakula; the
Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini; and the
Divyavadana. The name
Śairīṣaka may be derived from the siris tree,
Albizia lebbeck, which is common in the area.
A few folk etymology also exist for the name. The name is derived from that of a mystic named Baba Sarsain Nath; however, there is no historical evidence to support this claim.
History
There are two adjacent archaeological mounds on the southwest side of present-day Sirsa, but archaeologists have not excavated them; therefore, the origins of the settlement at Sirsa remain unknown. However, some isolated discoveries have been made at the Sirsa mounds. The oldest find is a terracotta toy wheel, discovered in 1988, that archaeologists believe dates back to the Iron Age Painted Grey Ware culture ( 1200-600 BCE). Four terracotta figures, including three depicting women and one depicting a tree (possibly a
kalpataru motif), are dated to roughly the time of the
Maurya Empire and
Shunga Empire dynasties. Numerous copper coins of the
Yaudheya and
Kushan Empire periods have been found at Sirsa, along with various terracotta objects. These include a statue of the Buddha, a 0.6-m-tall sculpture of the goddess Ganga on
makara, a
mukhalinga depicting
Shiva, a figure of an elephant with a man and woman riding on top, and various others. Three gold coins from the
Gupta Empire (one depicting
Samudragupta and an unnamed queen consort, one depicting
Chandragupta II, and one of
Kumaragupta I) have also been found at Sirsa, along with numerous terracotta objects.
Another discovery from Sirsa is a stone slab inscribed in Sanskrit with a eulogy to a king. The king's name, along with most of the composition, is lost. This inscription is dated to the 5th or 6th century.
Another stone inscription found at the Sirsa mound dates back to the 9th century, during the reign of Mihira Bhoja. Although a large part is missing,
According to the Tarikh-i-Firishta, the Ghaznavid sultan Mas'ud I captured Sirsa during his campaign to conquer Hansi in 1037. His troops apparently encountered an abundance of sugar cane growing at Sirsa, which they used to fill the moat around the town's fortress to attack it.
The historian Hasan Nizami mentioned Sirsa (as Sarsuti) as the place where Prithviraj Chauhan was captured after the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192. From this point on, Sirsa came under Muslim control. It constituted an iqta, in this context meaning an administrative division, under the Delhi Sultanate. Ibn Battuta visited Sirsa in 1341, during the reign of the Delhi sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq; he mentioned that it produced a large amount of rice, some of which was exported to Delhi.
Sirsa is listed in the Ain-i-Akbari as a pargana under the sarkar of Hisar, producing a revenue of 4,361,368 dams for the imperial treasury and supplying a force of 5000 infantry and 500 cavalry.
Geography
Sirsa is located at .
It has an average elevation of 205
(672 feet).
Demographics
As of the 2011 Indian Census, Sirsa had a total population of 200,034, comprising 105,378 males and 94,656 females. The population within the 0 to 6-year age group is 22,804. The total number of literates in Sirsa was 144,225, which constituted 72.1% of the population, with a male literacy rate of 76.0% and a female literacy rate of 67.7%. The effective literacy rate of the 7+ population in Sirsa was 81.4%, with a male literacy rate of 86.2% and a female literacy rate of 76.0%. The
Scheduled Castes population was 42,967. Sirsa had 39,689 households in 2011.
Religion
City
Tehsil
Point of interest
Air Force station
Sirsa has an air base of the Indian Air Force named Sirsa Air Force Station, and this is one of the most important Air Force Stations in India, located near the
Pakistan border.
Dera Sacha Sauda
The non-governmental organization Dera Sacha Sauda, established in 1948 by ascetic Mastana Balochistani, has its headquarters in Sirsa.
Shri Tara Baba Kutiya (Tarakeswar Dham)
Shri Tara Baba Kutiya, also known as
Tarakeswar Dham, was constructed in the year 2003 with help from Sirsa MLA Gopal Goyal Kanda.
It is near Ramnagarian village on Haryana State Highway 23 (Sirsa-Ellenabad Road). It features a statue of
Shiva and an idol of Nandi.
Abubshahar Wildlife Sanctuary
Abubshahar Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the Sirsa district, which is the largest wildlife sanctuary of Haryana. Abubshaher Wildlife Sanctuary is also the birthplace of the black pheasant.
Yakuza E-Vehicles
Yakuza Electric Vehicles is one of the largest electric vehicle manufacturing facilities in Sirsa, Haryana.
External links
