Village Hastsal is a
census town
In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteristics.
India
In India, a census town is one which is not statutorily notified and administered as a town, but nevertheless whose population ...
and village in
West district in the
India
India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
n
Union Territory
Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...
of
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
.
History
According to legend, this area was once submerged in water and elephants used to rest here. In
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
, elephants are known as "Hathi" and place is known as "Sthal"; hence, Hastsal - the resting place of elephants.
In the 17th century,
Mughal Emperor
The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...
Shahjahan
Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked th ...
had a hunting lodge in Hastsal. In 1650, he built the
Mini Qutub Minar close to his hunting lodge.
The Minar is a high
minaret
A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...
tower, locally popular as ''Hastsal ki Laat'' or the Hastsal Minaret. It is now situated at corner of Hastsal village and is popularly known as the ''Laat'' (Pillar). The minaret and hunting lodge, both still exist but lay abandoned and crumbling. The minaret closely resembles the
Qutub Minar
The Qutb Minar, also spelled Qutub Minar and Qutab Minar, is a minaret and victory tower comprising the Qutb complex, which lies at the site of Delhi's oldest fortified city, Lal Kot, founded by the Tomar Rajputs. It is a UNESCO World Heritage ...
in design.
Demographics
India
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
, Hastsal had a population of 176,877. Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. Hastsal has a good literacy rate of 83.71 %, male literacy is 90.51%, and female literacy is 75.84%. In Hastsal, 18% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Educational Institutes
Hastsal and adjoining regularized - unauthorized colonies such as Vikas Nagar has a large number of private schools that cater to the local population residing in these colonies.
References
External links
Hastsal Minar- 9 July 2010
Cities and towns in West Delhi district
{{Delhi-geo-stub