Zira (India)

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Zira
State - District(s)	Punjab (India) - Firozpur
Area
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Population (2001) - Density	31,350 -

Zira is a city and a municipal council in Firozpur district in the Indian state of Punjab.

Sawan Mal School Zira

==History==

Zira was one of the two tehsils of Punjab, (the other one being Firozpur), that was part of a controversy during the partition of India. Sir Cyril Radcliffe created the boundary between India and Pakistan just days before the partition. A draft of the Award was supposedly sent to Evan Jenkins, the provincial governor of Punjab by George Abell, Lord Mountbatten’s private secretary, with a preliminary description of the Punjab boundary. This draft showed the Ferozepur and Zira tehsils being allotted to Pakistan.^[1]

The final version of the boundary however awarded the areas to India. This led Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, to proclaim that the Award of the Boundary Commission was unjust, incomprehensible and perverse. He, however, agreed to abide by it.^[2] The dispute was settled in 1960 as part of an agreement between the governments of India and Pakistan.^[3]

The neighbourhood of Zira (the headquarters of the tehsil of the same name), in which there are many deserted sites, had been for many years a waste, when in 1808 Sayad Ahmad Shah came from Gugera and founded Zira Khas. He was driven out by the Sikh Chief Mohar Singh, Niashanwalia, during whose rule nearly all the villages of this ilawa were located. Mohar Singh was, in turn driven out by Diwan Mohkam Chand, Ranjit Singh’s General, and the ilaqa was added to the Lahore Demense. It was afterwards divided into two portions, of which the eastern portion, which preserved the name, Zira, was made over to Sarbuland Khan, a servant of the Lahore Government, and the western portion, to which the name, ilaqa Ambarhar, was given was made an appenage of Kanwar Sher Singh, son of the Punjab sovereign. At a later date, Sher Singh obtained the possession of the whole ilaqa and abolished the subdivision of Ambarhar.[1]

As of 2001 India census,^GRIndia Zira had a population of 31,350. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Zira has an average literacy rate of 63%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 66%, and female literacy is 59%. In Zira, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

[edit] Trivia

Zira's population was 2,702 in 1853.[2]

The Municipality Committee, Zira, was constituted in 1876.[3]

Bar Association, Zira, was formed in 1930.[4]

The Jain Upasru Trust, Zira was founded in 1933.[5]

Jain Library, Zira was established in 1958.[6]

Government College, Zira was set up in 1971.[7]

[edit] Tourism

An ancient Jain Swetambara temple with ancient icons and wall paintings is located in Zira. The idols there are claimed to be more than 1200 years old. ^[4]

In 1896, A.D, Shri Vijayanand Suriji Maharaj, who was also a scholar poet and social reformer of his time, performed the holy 'partishthan' ceremony at this temple.

It is said that the temple is named after the 23rd Tirthankra Shri Parsavnathji Maharaj. The main idol is believed to be one of most sacred and ancient idols found anywhere.

Interestingly, all the Jain preceptors and Acharyas (teachers) were recluses and did not have a family or maintain a place of their own. o the native villagers here, it feels like any Temple or Gurudwara for worshipping everyday. he visits made by people from all backgrounds and faiths, makes it a place where devotees learn the first lesson of communal harmony every morning. [8]