Garhmukteshwar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

?Garhmukteshwar Uttar Pradesh • India
Coordinates: (find coordinates)
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
District(s)	Ghaziabad
Population	33,432 (2001)

Garhmukteshwar (Hindi :गढ़मुक्तेश्वर) is a city and a municipal board in Ghaziabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.

[edit] Demographics

As of 2001 India census^[1], Garhmukteshwar had a population of 33,432. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Garhmukteshwar has an average literacy rate of 50%, lower than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 58%, and female literacy is 41%. In Garhmukteshwar, 17% of the population is under 6 years of age. Around five kilometres from Garhmukteshwar town, flows the holy river Ganga.

[edit] History

According to Thakur Deshraj^[2], during the period of Anangpal Garhwals were the rulers of Garhmukteshwar. One ancestor of Rajpal was Jat chieftain named Mukta Singh, who constructed the Garhmukteshwar fort. When Prithvi Raj Chauhan became the ruler of Delhi he attacked Garhmukteshwar. There was a severe war and Garhwals were able to repel the army of Prithvi Raj Chauhan but the circumstances of that time forced them to move out from there and migrated to Rajasthan.

At Talawdi when there was war between Muhammad Ghori and Prithvi Raj, Jats attacked the army of Mughals but they did not support Prithvi Raj because he had captured their state. Even one Jat warrior Puran Singh from Garhwal clan became General of the Army of Malkhan. Malkhan had become popular due to support of Puran Singh.

When Garhwals lost Garhmukteshwar, they came to Rajasthan and occupied Ker, Bhatiwar, Chhawsari etc near Jhunjhunu in 13th century. As per their bards when these people came to this place, Johiya, Mohiya Jats were the rulers of this area. Bhats have mentioned them as Tomars. When Muslim influence increased in this area they had wars with them as a result they moved from here to there. One of these groups moved to Kuloth, which was ruled by Chauhans. After a war they occupied Kuloth. Sardar Kurdaram who was a descendant of Garhwals of Kuloth had been tehsildar of Nawalgarh.

Garhmukteshwar has also been mentioned in the Bhagvat Purana and the Mahabharata. It is said that it was a part of the ancient city of Hastinapur (the capital of the Kauravas). There was an ancient fort here, which was repaired by a Maratha leader named Mir Bhawan. The name of the place is derived from the great temple of Mukteshwar Mahadeva, dedicated to the goddess Ganga who is worshipped here in four temples, two situated on a high cliff and two below it.