Paonta Sahib is an industrial town of

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several pea ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. It is located in the south of

Sirmaur district Sirmaur is the southernmost district of Himachal Pradesh, northern India. It is largely mountainous and rural, with 90% of its population living in villages. Some of its towns include the capital Nahan, Tuheri, Bhawan, Shamra, UchaTi ...

, on National Highway 72 ( New NH 7). Paonta Sahib is an important place of worship for

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

s, hosting a large Gurdwara named

Gurudwara Paonta Sahib ''Gurudwara Paonta Sahib'', is a noted ''Gurudwara'' in Paonta Sahib, District of Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh. This Gurdwara was built in memory of Guru Gobind Singh ji, the tenth guru of sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are pe ...

, on the banks of the river

Yamuna The Yamuna ( Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of B ...

. The river is the boundary between the states of

and

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

History

The town was founded by Sikh Guru Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. The

has linkages to the tenth Sikh Guru, Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji and the Sikh leader

Banda Singh Bahadur Banda Singh Bahadur (born Lachman Dev) (27 October 1670 – 9 June 1716), was a Sikh warrior and a commander of Khalsa army. At age 15, he left home to become an ascetic, and was given the name Madho Das Bairagi. He established a monastery ...

. Its original name was Paontika. In

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

language, ''Paon'' means "feet" and ''tika'' means "became stable". It is believed that Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji and his horse stopped at this place, and he decided to stay here. He lived here for four and a half years, having never stayed so long at any other place in his entire life. He wrote many Sikh religious books during the stay and moved to Anandpur Sahib to establish the Khalsa Panth. The Gurudwara houses a museum containing antiques and weapons used by Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Paonta Sahib is the birthplace of Sahibzada Ajit Singh Ji, the eldest son of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. PaontaSahib

Geography

Paonta Sahib is located at . It has an average elevation of 389 metres (1,276 feet). It is on the bank of the river Yamuna, the river being the boundary between the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It is situated near the towns of Nahan in Himachal Pradesh,

Yamunanagar Yamunanagar (), is a city and a municipal corporation in Yamunanagar district in the Indian state of Haryana. This town is known for the cluster of plywood units and paper industries. It provides timber to larger industries. The older tow ...

in Haryana,

Saharanpur Saharanpur is a city and a municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district. Saharanpur city's name was given after the Saint Shah Haroon Chishti. Saharanpur is declared a ...

Western Uttar Pradesh Western Uttar Pradesh is a region in India that comprises the western districts of Uttar Pradesh state, including the areas of Rohilkhand and those where Khariboli, Braj and Kannauji are spoken. The region has some demographic, economic and ...

and

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, district and is governed by the Dehr ...

in Uttarakhand. It is on the western extreme of the Doon Valley, which is at a distance of about 44 km from Dehradun. Kalesar National Park is 12 km from Paonta Sahib. Colonel Sher Jung National Park is around 7 km from the main town. Some luxury hotels to stay in Paonta Sahib are Hotel Guru Surbhi, Hotel Yamuna, and Hotel Paonta Valley, Hotel Rockwood and Resort, Hotel Grand Riviera, Hotel Royal Hilton, Hotel Silver Oak are few.

Climate

Paonta Sahib has a sub-tropical continental

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

climate characterised by a seasonal rhythm, hot summers, slightly cold winters, unreliable rainfall and great variation in temperature (1 °C to 40 °C). In winters, frost sometimes occurs during December and January. It also receives occasional winter rains from the western disturbance. Average temperatures: * Summer: Temperatures may rise to a maximum of 44 °C. The temperature generally remains 35 °C to 40 °C. * Autumn: The temperature may go to a maximum of 36 °C. The temperature usually remains between 16 °C and 27 °C in autumn. The lowest temperature may go to 13 °C. * Winter: Temperatures are cool and sometimes chilly. Average temperature in winters (November to February) remains at (max.) 2 °C to 7 °C and (min.) 0 °C to 5 °C. * Spring: The climate remains quite pleasant. The temperature remains (max.) 16 °C to 25 °C and (min.) 9 °C to 18 °C.

Demographics

As of the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Informatio ...

, Paonta Sahib had a population of 1,58,268 (urban 25,172/ rural 1,33,096). Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Paonta Sahib has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than National average of 74.04% (2011 figure).: male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 72%. In Paonta Sahib, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age. Paonta Sahib is a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

which has 13 wards. This council looks after the development of the city, maintenance of roads, streets, cleanliness etc. The election takes place every five years to elect ward members and a chairman.

Industries

Major industries are cement ( Cement Corporation of India in Rajban), power generation - renewable energy ( Power Group ), aviation ( Air Himalayas ), pharmaceutical ( Sun Pharmaceutical, Mankind Pharma Limited), textiles, and chemicals. Apart from these, Asia's biggest limestone marketJustification for Locating the Project , NIC
/ref> is located at Sataun. Apart, Pharma Industry includes Tirupati Medicare Limited, Tirupati Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Tirupati Wellness Pvt. Ltd. and Pontika Aerotech Limited, all 4 are part of 'The Tirupati Group' in Paonta Sahib on Nahan Road.

References

Cities and towns in Sirmaur district Sikh places

External links

* *{{cite web, url=https://hpsirmaur.nic.in/, title=District Sirmaur, Government of Himachal Pradesh - Dev Bhoomi, website=Hpsirmaur.nic.in, access-date=22 April 2019