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KARNAL

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 681 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KARNAL , a See also:

town and See also:district of See also:British See also:India, in the See also:Delhi See also:division of the See also:Punjab. The town is 7 M. from the right See also:bank of the See also:Jumna, with a railway station 76 m. N. of Delhi. Pop. (1901), 23,559. There are manufactures of See also:cotton See also:cloth and boots, besides considerable See also:local See also:trade and an See also:annual See also:horse See also:fair. The DISTRICT OF KARNAL stretches along the right bank of the Jumna, See also:north of Delhi. It is entirely an alluvial See also:plain, but is crossed by the See also:low uplift of the See also:watershed between the See also:Indian Ocean and the See also:Bay of See also:Bengal. See also:Area, 3153 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 883,225, showing an increase of nearly 3 % in the See also:decade. The See also:principal crops are millets, See also:wheat, See also:pulse, See also:rice, cotton and See also:sugar-See also:cane. There are several factories for ginning and pressing cotton.

The district is traversed by the Delhi-See also:

Umballa-Kalka railway, and also by the Western Jumna See also:canal. It suffered from See also:famine in 1896-1897, and again to some extent in 1899-1900. No district of India can boast of a more See also:ancient See also:history than Karnal, as almost every town or stream is connected with the legends of the Mahabharata. The town of Karnal itself is said to owe its See also:foundation to See also:Raja Karna, the mythical See also:champion of the Kauravas in the See also:great See also:war which forms the theme of the See also:national epic. See also:Panipat, in the See also:south of the district, is said to have been one of the pledges demanded from Duryodhana by Yudisthira as the See also:price of See also:peace in that famous conflict. In See also:historical times the plains of Panipat have three times proved the See also:theatre of battles which decided the See also:fate of Upper India. It was here that See also:Ibrahim See also:Lodi and his vast See also:host were defeated in 1526 by the See also:veteran See also:army of See also:Baber; in 1556 See also:Akbar reasserted the claims of his See also:family on the same battlefield against the See also:Hindu See also:general of the See also:house of Adil Shah, which had driven the heirs of Baber from the See also:throne for a brief See also:interval; and at Panipat too, on the 7th of See also:January 1761, the Ibfahratta See also:confederation was defeated by Ahmad Shah See also:Durani. During the troublous See also:period which then ensued the Sikhs managed to introduce them-selves, and in 1767 one of their chieftains, Desu Singh, appropriated the fort of See also:Kaithal, which had been built during the reign of Akbar. His descendants, the bhais of Kaithal, were reckoned amongst the most important Cis-See also:Sutlej princes. Different portions of this district have lapsed from See also:time to time into the hands of the British.

End of Article: KARNAL

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