Sirsa district

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Sirsa (Hindi: स‍िरसा) is one of the districts of Haryana state, India, and Sirsa town is the district headquarters. Sirsa is located on National Highway - 10, 250 K.M. above from National Capital Delhi.

[edit] Origins of the District Name

The name of the district is derived from its headquarters Sirsa. It is said to be one of the oldest places of North India and its ancient name was Sairishaka, which finds mention in Mahabharata, Panini's Ashatadhayayi and Divyavadan. In Mahabharata, Sairishaka is described as being taken by Nakula in his conquest of the western quarter. It must have been a flourishing city in the 5th century B.C. as it has been mentioned by Panini.

There are a number of legends about the origin of the name of the town. As mentioned earlier, its ancient name was Sairishaka and from that it seems to have been corrupted to Sirsa. According to local tradition, an unknown king named Saras founded the town in 7th century A.D. and built a fort. The material remains of an ancient fort can still be seen in the South-East of the present town. It is about 5 kilometers in circuit. According to another tradition, the name has its origin from the sacred river Sarasvati which one flowed near it. During medieval period, the town was known as Sarsuti. It has been mentioned as Sarsuti by a number of medieval historians. The derivation of name Sirsa, is also attributed to the abundance of siris trees[Albizia lebbock (Benth)] in the neighborhood of Sirsa which seems quite plausible for it finds some corroboration also in Panini and his commentator. In ancient period, Sirsa was also known as Sirsapattan.

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	State of Haryana Haryana Topics \| History \| Politics
Capital	Chandigarh
Districts	Ambala \| Bhiwani \| Faridabad \| Fatehabad \| Gurgaon \| Hisar \| Jhajjar \| Jind \| Kaithal \| Karnal \| Kurukshetra \| Mahendragarh \| Mewat \| Panchkula \| Panipat \| Rewari \| Rohtak \| Sirsa \| Sonipat \| Yamuna Nagar
Tourist Places	Agroha \| Badkhal Lake \| Kalka \| Karna Lake \| Kurukshetra \| Morni Hills \| Pinjore \| Sultanpur Lake Bird Sanctuary \| Surajkund \| Tilyar Lake
Famous People	Kalpana Chawla \| Kapil Dev \| Lala Lajpat Rai \| Seth Chhaju Ram \| Sir Chhotu Ram \| Rao Tula Ram \| Mallika Sherawat \| Colonel Hoshiar Singh
Chief Ministers	Om Prakash Chautala \| Banarsi Das Gupta \| Bhupinder Singh Hooda \| Bansi Lal \| Bhajan Lal \| Devi Lal \| Birender Singh \| Hukam Singh