History of Haryana

The earliest reference to 'Hariana' occurs in a Sanskrit inscription dated 1328 AD kept in Delhi Museum, which refers to this region as The heaven on earth, indicating that it was fertile and relatively peaceful at that time.

Palam Baoli Inscription of the time of Balban (A.D. 1280) provides its variant name as Hariyanaka.

The Vedic land of Haryana has been a cradle of Indian culture and civilization. Indian traditions regard this region as the matrix of creation of northern altar’ where Brahma performed the pristine sacrifice and created the universe. This theory of creation has been confirmed to a large extent by archaeological investigations carried out by Guy E. Pilgrim in 1915, who has established that 15 million years ago, early man lived in the Haryana Shivaliks. 

The Vamana Purana states that King Kuru ploughed the field of Kurukshetra with a golden ploughshare drawn by the Nandi of Lord Shiva and reclaimed an area of seven Kosas. 

Haryana is the region where, along the banks of the River Saraswati, Before the Mahabharat war, a battle of ten kings took place in the Kurukshetra region in the Saraswati valley, the Vedic Civilization began and matured. 

Pre-Harappan and Harappan culture- Excavations of following archeological sites have evidence of Harappan or Indus Valley Civilization in Haryana-

• Naurangabad and Mitathal in Bhiwani, 
• Kunal in Fatehabad, 
• Agroha and Rakhigarhi in Hisar, 
• Sites in Rukhi (Rohtak) and 
• Banawali in Sirsa  .

 Replete with myths, legends and vedic references, Haryana’s past is steeped in glory. It was on this soil that saint Ved Vyas wrote Mahabharata.It was here, 5,000 long years ago that Lord Krishna preached the gospel of duty to Arjuna at the on set of the great battle of Mahabharata.

Painted Grey Ware- B.B. Lal was the first to bring to light archaeological evidence for the pre-Buddha history of the region with his discovery of the Painted Grey Ware at Kurukshetra, Pehowa, Amin, Panipat, etc. He has associated this pottery with the Aryans of the Mahabharata period.

Prithudaka (Pehowa), Tilprastha (Tilput), Panprastha (Panipat) and Sonprastha (Sonipat) are mentioned in Mahabharata which Yudhishthira demanded from Duryodhana. 

Medieval History

Thanesar ( or Sthanishvara which means Place/Abode of God ) was the capital and seat of power of the Pushyabhuti dynasty(also known asVardhana dynasty), whose rulers conquered most of Aryavarta following the fall of the Gupta Empire. The Pushyabhuti emperor Prabhakarvardhana was a ruler of Thanesar in the early 7th-century CE. He was succeeded by his sons, Rajyavardhana and Harsha. 

Harsha, also known as Harshavardhana, consolidated a vast empire over much of North India by defeating independent kings that fragmented from the Later Guptas. he conquered much of North India, extended till Kamarupa, and eventually made Kannauj (in present Uttar Pradesh state) his capital, and ruled till 647 CE.

His biography Harshacharita ("Deeds of Harsha") written by Sanskrit poet Banabhatta

After Harsha death, the kingdom of his clansmen, the Pratiharas ruled over a vast region for quite a while from Harsha's adopted capital of Kannauj.

Prithviraj Chauhan established forts in Haryana at Taraori/Tarawadi and Hansi in the 12th century.The First Battle of Tarain was fought in 1191 between the Ghurids against the Chahamanas and their allies, near Tarain (modern Taraori in Haryana, India). The Chahamana king Prithiviraj Chauhan defeated the Ghurid king Mu'izz al-Din, But Muhammad Ghori has conquered these areas in the Second Battle of Tarain/Tarawadi( 1192) after defeating Prithviraj Chauhan. After his death, the Delhi Sultanate was established.

Battle	Description
1st Battle of Tarain	1191 AD at Tarawadi or Tarori
2nd Battle of Tarain	1192 AD at Tarawadi, Prithviraj Chauhan lost
3nd Battle of Tarain	1216 between Mamluk king Iltutmish of the Delhi Sultanate defeated and captured the former Ghurid general Taj al-Din Yildiz

Firoz Shah Tughlaq established a fort at Hisar in 1354 to further fortify the region, and also constructed canals or rajwahas as they were referred to in the Indo-Persian history.

The three famous battles of Panipat took place near the modern town of Panipat.

Battle	Description
1st Battle of Panipat 21 April 1526	Babur the ruler of Kabul defeated Ibrahim Lodi of the Delhi Sultanate
2nd Battle of Panipat November 5, 1556	Akbar's forces defeated Hem Chandra Vikramaditya also called Hemu, who belonged to Rewari in Haryana and who had won 22 battles during 1553-1556 before acceding to Delhi throne
3nd Battle of Panipat 14 January 1761	Afghan warlord Ahmad Shah Abdali and the Marathas under Sadashivrao Bhau of Pune. Ahmad Shah won

After the Third Battle of Panipat, the Marathas lost courage to go to their native place but many of the families resided at various places in Haryana like Kaithal, Assaundh, Karnal, Hansi, Bhiwani etc.

Suraj Mal was encouraged by the defeat of Marathas in the 3rd Battle of Panipat and sent his son Jawahar Singh to attack on Musavi Khan, the Mughal faujdar of Gurgaon and Rohtak. Along with areas under Musavi Khan, Suraj Mal also conquered the territories of Pataudi, Rewari and Bahadurgarh.

These incidents, on the other hand, alarmed Najibud-daula who attacked Suraj Mal and killed him in a battle near the river Hinden on December 25, 1763. His death was a great loss to the Jats in particular and Hindus in general.

Modern History

The period of instability in Haryana was ended by the establishment of the rule of East India company in 1803. But the people of Haryana revolted against the Britishers irrespective of caste and religion.

The Sikh chiefs of Ambala, Karnal and Thanesar were the first to oppose the company rule.

The Muslim Bhatti Rajputs of the western Haryana organized under the leadership of Zabita Khan of Sirsa and Rania and Khan Bahadur Khan of Fatehabad against Britishers.

In November, 1809 Col. Adams was sent with a big contingent to attacked Fatehabad, Sirsa and Rania and emerged victorious in all the battles during expedition.

The Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848-49) was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company and resulted in the Battle of Gujrat on 21 February 1849, at which the British defeated the Sikhs. As a result of this, on 2 April 1849 they declared Punjab as a new province of British India. This included most of Haryana, while the rest was ruled by the princely states of Loharu, Nabha, Jind and Patiala.

The state of Thanesar was confiscated by Britishers in 1850 and most of Sikh chiefs reduced to the position of ordinary Jagirdars. Then the British resorted to the methods of annexation and consolidation.

The bugle of the first war of independence in 1857 was sounded first by the people of Haryana at Ambala on 10th May, 1857, about nine hours before the outbreak at Meerut.

Important leaders of revolt of 1857 in Haryana includes-

• Rao Tula Ram in Ahirwal, 
• Gaffur Ali and Harsukh Rai in Palwal, 
• Dhanu Singh in Faridabad, 
• Nahar Singh in Ballabhgarh etc. 

Some most important battles were fought at Sirsa, Sonipat, Rohtak and Hissar.

The famous battle of Chormar was fought in Sirsa.

Indian National Movement in Haryana

In the first session of All India Congress at Bombay in 1885, Haryana was represented by young pleaders of Ambala, Lala Murlidhar and Munshi Jawala Prashad. 

The Congress party activities were boosted in the region after joining of Lala Lajpat Rai, who started his law practice in Hisar.

Like other provinces, the then Haryana witnessed a series of oppressive acts of Lord Curzon. Bal Mukund Gupta( prominent Hindi writer of Haryana) compared Curzon shahi with Nadir Shahi.

After the partition of Bengal, Swadeshi Movement gained momentum. 

The people were motivated to take up the cause of Swadeshi in big towns of Haryana. A Swadeshi Company was established at Ambala City under the aegis of Lala Murlidhar in which Beni Prasad and Lala Dwarka Das also took part.

Lord Minto became the new Viceroy of India after Curzon who increased the economic hardships. Some legislation like the Punjab Limitation Act, 1904; the Transfer of Property Act, 1904 and the Punjab pre-emption Act, 1905 were passed to weaken the position of money-lenders. It generated political discontent, especially among the Hindu commercial castes.

During the first World War in 1914, India being a part of the British empire was also dragged into the war activities. The people of Haryana helped the Government by providing recruits and by contributing money and material.

Ghaddar movement gained momentum. Kanshi Ram of Ambala district was one of the architects of the Ghadar party in San Francisco with Lala Hardayal. As per historians view, Kanshi Ram was the first Haryanvi martyr in this phase of freedom movement.

Pt. Neki Ram Sharma of Haryana, evinced keen interest in Home Rule Agitation. After his arrest in July, 1918, during a public meeting at Birla Mandir Dharamshala in Delhi, the Home Rule Agitation petered out in Haryana.

In 1917 the Congress Party Committee was established at Rohtak and Chaudhary Chhotu Ram and Babu Shyam Lal were appointed as its president and secretary, respectively. In 1918 Congress session of Delhi, Pt. Neki Ram Sharma and Chaudhary Peeru Singh and Lala Daulat Ram participated in this session from Haryana.

On March 30, 1919, Mahatma Gandhi called for a hartal all over India. The whole of the Haryana State responded to the call and hartals were observed in Karnal, Rewari, Hodal, Rohtak, Sonipat etc.

The Punjab atrocities, discontentment over the Khilafat issue and the report of the Disorders Inquiry Committee on 26th May, 1920 had completely shaken the faith of the people. In Haryana, the impact of the Non-Cooperation Movement was very intensive and it had succeeded in creating an atmosphere of hostility against the Government. The movement was very intense in Ambala district of Haryana.

The Congress had not participated in the general elections of 1920. The dissidents, Chhotu Ram and Lal Chand, however, contested the elections and won. This resulted the emergence of Swarajists Party on sound footing. A branch of Swarajist Party was formed at Rohtak under the leadership of Sri Ram Sharma, whose local paper, the Haryana Tilak came to be regarded as the organ of the Congress in this region.

On 30th October, 1928, Lala Lajpat Rai was assaulted by the police when he was leading a peaceful procession against all white men ‘’Simon Commission’’, which resulted in his death. His death created a widespread resentment throughout the country including Haryana region. Pt. Neki Ram Sharma accused the commission for Lala Lajpat Rai's death.

During this time, branches of Naujawan Bharat Sabha were also set up in Haryana at Ambala, Karnal, Rohtak and Hissar. Its activities in Haryana were limited and insignificant as it was in Punjab. Its leaders in Haryana were more or less pro-Congress.

In Haryana on 8th and 9th March, 1929, Punjab Provincial Political Conference was held at Rohtak  and  presided by Dr. Satyapal . In the conference significant resolutions on Nehru Report and remission of land revenue were passed.

At Lahore session of Indian National Congress in 1929, for the first time the resolution of Complete Independence was passed. In Haryana there was bonfire of foreign cloth took place at Sonipat, people went about in Prabhat pheris in the morning singing national and patriotic songs and poems. The mutiny week was also celebrated in the region.

During Second World War, a Ahir company of Hyderabad Regiment raised a armed revolt under Zahir Khan. All these army men belonged to Haryana and they were under the spell of Arya Samaj and Congress party which was spearheading in the National Movement.

The British Government arrested following leaders for raising their voice in favour of Quit India Movement 

• Ch. Devi Lal, 
• Ram Dayal, 
• Hukum Chand, 
• Madan Gopal, 
• Sahib Ram, 
• Lekh Ram, 
• Jan Muhammad and 
• Pt. Pat Ram Verma. 

Chaudhary Devi Lal and Shri Mool Chand Jain are known as legendary freedom fighters from Haryana.

The people of Haryana played an important role as members of Indian National Army, raised by Hon'ble Subhash Chandra Bose. They believed in organized revolt. The INA was formed with the battle cry "Dilli chalo".

Post Independence

On 1 November, 1966 Haryana was constituted as a separate state with 7 districts, according to the partition plan of the then East Punjab. The seven districts were-

1. Rohtak, 
2. Jind, 
3. Hisar, 
4. Mahendragarh, 
5. Gurgaon, 
6. Karnal, 
7. Ambala.

• The partition was based on the linguistic demographics and was held after the recommendation of Sardar Hukam Singh the then Speaker of the Lok Sabha Parliamentary Committee. 
• The First Chief minister of Haryana is Pt. Bhagwat Dayal Sharma.
• The First Governor of Haryana is DharmaVir .

Now there are 22 districts in Haryana (For More about Districts-Check here)