Phillaur is a town and 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, borough cou ...

as well as a

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...

Jalandhar district Jalandhar district is a district in Doaba region of the state of Punjab, India. The district headquarters is the city of Jalandhar. Before the Partition of India, Jalandhar was also the headquarters of the Jalandhar Division, with constituent ...

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 ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. The city is situated 20 km from

Ludhiana Ludhiana () is the most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab.164.100.161.224 http://164.100.161.224 › filesPDF Ludhiana State: Punjab Business & Industrial Centre, Tier 2 1 ... The city has an estima ...

, 45 km from

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

and 140 km from

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

. It is situated on the border of the

Doaba Doaba, also known as Bist Doab or the Jalandhar Doab, is the region of Punjab, India that lies between the Beas River and the Sutlej River. People of this region are given the demonym "Doabia". The dialect of Punjabi spoken in Doaba ...

and Puadh regions.This city was Founded by a Hindu Jat Maharaja Chaudhary Phul Rai Sanghera, during the 12-13th century to 1947 as Kingdom of Phulnagar, butthat later came to be known as Phillaur., during the 12-13th century to 1947 as Kingdom of Phulnagar, that later came to be known as Phillaur.

Overview

Phillaur is the railway junction on the border line of

Ludhiana Main Ludhiana () is the most populous city in the Indian state of Punjab.164.100.161.224 http://164.100.161.224 › filesPDF Ludhiana State: Punjab Business & Industrial Centre, Tier 2 1 ... The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 20 ...

and

Cantonment (older spelling: Ludhiana). It was a junction for

Lohian Khas Lohian Khas is a town and a nagar panchayat in Jalandhar district in the Indian state of Punjab. There were 11 wards in this town recently two more wards are constituted now currently 13 wards represent this town. A bus stand and railway station ...

and

Ferozepur Firozpur, (pronunciation: ɪroːzpʊr also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in the Firozpur District of Punjab, India. After the Partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan bor ...

. During the pre- partition days, it was the main

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

market of the Punjab Region. It is situated on the banks of River

Satluj The Sutlej River or the Satluj River is a major river in Asia, flowing through China, India and Pakistan, and is the longest of the five major rivers of the Punjab region. It is also known as ''Satadru''; and is the easternmost tributary of t ...

, the southernmost of the five rivers of the Punjab region. The timber that was cut in the higher regions of the Shivalik range was thrown into the River Satluj and then collected at Phillaur for further transportation. The dedicated railway line survives to this day but it is not functional. The town stands on the highway of tgr traditional

Grand Trunk Road Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It r ...

(G. T. Road or Sher Suri Marg, now National Highway 1 - NH. 1). The actual G. T. Road passes through Phillaur. The older route of the actual G. T. Road still survives along the railway bridge that connects the city to Ludhiana. This town was named by a Sanghera

Jat The Jat people (, ), also spelt Jaat and Jatt, are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, many Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in l ...

called ''Phul'' who had named it Phulnagar. However the Naru

Rajputs Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

, sent by Rai Shahr, occupied this town when Shahr's son Ratan Pal left

Mau Mau may refer to: Places Brazil * Maú River, an alternate name for the Ireng River Kenya * Mau Escarpment * Mau Forest India * Mau, Bhind, a town in Madhya Pradesh * Mau, Mawal, Pune district, Marahrashtra * Mau, Punjab, a village ...

and settled in Phillaur. During the reign of

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri (born Farid al-Din Khan; 1472 or 1486 – 22 May 1545), also known by his title Sultan Adil (), was the ruler of Bihar from 1530 to 1540, and Sultan of Hindustan from 1540 until his death in 1545. He defeated the Mughal Empire, ...

(1540-1545 A. D.), a

Sarai Sarai, Serai, or Saraj may refer to: Places * Sarai (city), a large medieval city, and the capital city of the Golden Horde * Saray-Jük, the ''Little Sarai'' of the Golden Horde Azerbaijan * Sarai Village, an old Turkic village in Absheron ...

(for trading and military purpose) was raised at Phillaur. The Sarai was again revived by the

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

Emperor

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 ...

(1627-1657 A. D.) and used as a Postal Center (Dak ghar) and Military camp. After the

Treaty of Amritsar A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

of 1809 between

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder and first maharaja of the Sikh Empire, in the northwest Indian subcontinent, ruling from 1801 until his death in 1839. Born to Maha Singh, the leader of the Sukerchakia M ...

and the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

, it became the border post of the

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the East India Company, Br ...

of Ranjit Singh. It was managed by Raja Dhanpat Rai who also acted as Ranjit Singh's

munshi During the Mughal Empire, ''Munshi'' () came to be used as a respected title for persons who achieved mastery over language and politics in the Indian subcontinent. Use in Bengal The surname "Munshi" ( Bengali: মুন্সি) is used by bot ...

for the lands across the River Satluj which were part of Ludhiana (made a military cantonment by the British in 1842). The Sarai was converted into a fort as an outpost. Presently, the fort is called Ranjit Singh Fort. It is now being used as a Police Training Academy. The Finger Print Bureau (1892) in the police academy is one of the oldest forensic institutions in the region. It is also the birthplace of the famous Pakistani poet Sher Muhammad Khan, better known by his pen name, Ibn-e-Insha.

Geography

Phillaur is located at . It has an average elevation of 234 metres (767 feet).

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 ...

, Phillaur had a population of 178,198. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Phillaur has an average literacy rate of 83.16%, higher than state average of 75.84 %. male literacy is 87.07%, and female literacy is 78.88%. In Phillaur, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Composition of ''Jai Jagdish Hare''

The popular Hindu hymn ''Jai Jagdish Hare'' was composed by a local scholar

Shardha Ram Phillauri Shardha Ram Phillauri (September 1837 Singh Bedi, Harmohinder. ''Shardha Ram Granthawali''. Nirmal Publisher. (A three-volume work by the dean and head of the Guru Nanak Dev University Hindi Department.) – 24 June 1881) was an Indian w ...

in Phillaur some time in the 1870s. The exact date is not known. Shardha Ram Phillauri also wrote what is generally considered to the first novel in Hindi. There is a memorial commemorating him.

Villages in Phillaur Tehsil

References

External links

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Jalandhar district