Jalandhar

Kos Minar along Grand Trunk Road in Dakhini near Jalandhar, from Sher Shah Suri period

The history of Jalandhar District comprises three periods — ancient, medieval and modern.

The city may be named after Jalandhara, a Nath Guru, who was from here. . The city was founded by Devasya Verma as mentioned in Vedas. Other possibilities include that it was the capital of the kingdom of Lava, son of Rama or that the name derives from the vernacular term Jalandhar, meaning area inside the water, i.e., tract lying between the two rivers Satluj and Beas.[6] The whole of Punjab and the area of present Jalandhar District was part of the Indus Valley Civilization. Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are the sites where remains of the Indus Valley civilization have been found extensively. The archaeological explorations made during recent years have pushed the ancient times of Jalandhar District of Harappa period.

Jalandhar and the Doaba was conquered by the Ghaznavids during the reign of Ibrahim of Ghazni between 1058 and 1089.[7] It later formed part of the province of Lahore during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire. The 18th century saw upheaval in Jalandhar amidst an anarchy caused by the disintegration of the Mughals and power struggles involving Persians, Afghans and Sikhs. It was captured by the Faizullahpuria Misl in 1766, and in 1811 Maharaja Ranjit Singh incorporated it within the Sikh Empire.[8]

In 1849, following the annexation of the Punjab by the East India Company, the city of Jalandhar, written in English as Jullundur by Company officials, became the headquarters of the Division and District of the same name. In 1858 Company rule in India ended and the city became part of the British Raj. In the mid to late 19th century, the Punjab administration regarded Jullundur as too densely populated and farmed to capacity. This led to the district being a chief recruitment area for settlers to colonise the newly irrigated Punjab Canal Colonies in western Punjab.[9]

The Khilafat Movement started in the district in early 1920 to bring pressure on the government to change their policy towards Turkey. Mahatma Gandhi extended sympathy and support to this movement however in response the District was declared a 'Proclaimed Area' under the Seditious Meetings Act. In 1924, Pakistani general and military dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was born in the city.

Prior to the partition of India, Muslims were in plurality in Jalandhar. According to 1941 census, Muslims made up 45.2% of the population, compared to Hindus and Sikhs being 27.6% and 26.5% respectively.[10] Within a period of 10 years, from 1941 to 1951, Muslim population in Jalandhar reduced from 45.2% to 0.2%.[10]

The city has a humid subtropical climate with cool winters and long, hot summers. Summers last from April to June and winters from November to February. Temperatures in the summer vary from average highs of around 48 °C (118 °F) to average lows of around 25 °C (77 °F). Winter temperatures have highs of 19 °C (66 °F) to lows of −7 °C (19 °F). The climate is dry on the whole, except during the brief southwest monsoon season during July and August. The average annual rainfall is about 70 cm. In 2018, Jalandhar witnessed Heavy rainfall, with over 20% increase from average rainfall.[11] Since it is in the northern plains, it feels really cold during winters and very hot during summers.

Jalandhar has been selected in the second phase of the smart city project and 200 crores have been allocated to the municipal corporation for initializing the project.

Jalandhar exports goods like furniture and glass to neighboring cities, and is a global hub for the manufacture of sporting equipment. Jalandhar is famous for its sports industry and equipment manufactured in Jalandhar has been used in many international sporting games including Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, among others. It is also a hub for manufacturing of hand tools. Jalandhar is also famous for its leather industry, leather for footwear, leather goods, furniture being sold to export houses located at Delhi, Agra, Kanpur and other Indian cities. Together with hand tools it is a major production centre of industrial tool bags being used by workmen in America and Europe.

Many new malls and shopping complexes are being established at a very rapid pace and as such is also a hub of the NRI's many of whom are from the Jalandhar region.

• Gurudwara Dukh Niwaran Sahib
• Guru Ravidass Dham
• Devi talab mandir
• Nakodar Darbar Baba Murad Shah Ji
• Cantonment Church
• Dera Sachkand Ballan
• Gurudwara sahib ji
• Gurdwara Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar[15]
• Geeta Mandir Jalandhar

Interior of Viva Collage Mall, Jalandhar

View Of WonderLand's Water Park in the Evening

• Niku Park
• Prithvi's Planet
• Smmash
• Wonder Land[16]

Punjab Kesari header with the photos of its founders, Lala Jagat Narain and Romesh Chander.

Jag Bani

Doordarshan Kendra, Jalandhar is an Indian television station in Jalandhar, owned and operated by state-owned Doordarshan, the television network of Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India).[17] It was established in 1979 and produces and broadcasts the 24-hour Punjabi language TV channel, DD Punjabi, which was launched in 1998 and covers most of the state of Punjab, India.

The city is the region's headquarters for newspapers, national television and radio stations. These include Daily Ajit, Jagbani, Punjab Kesari, Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jagran, Hindustan Times, The Tribune, Truescoop News, Hind Samachar, etc.[18][19][20][21][22][23]

State-owned All India Radio has a local station in Jalandhar that transmits programs of mass interest. FM local radio stations include:

• Radio city 91.9 MHz
• BIG FM 92.7 92.7 MHz
• 94.3 FM-My Fm- 94.3 MHz
• Radio Mirchi 98.3 MHz
• All India Radio 102.7 MHz

The Municipal Corporation of Jalandhar claims that the city has over 800 hospitals, [24] that makes it the city with the highest number of hospitals in per capita in Asia. Three new Health Centres were set up in Jalandhar on 9 September 2020.[25]

Higher education institutions include

Look up Jalandhar in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jalandhar.

• Official website
• Jalandhar travel guide from Wikivoyage