Garhmukteshwar

Garhmukteshwar गढ़मुक्तेश्वर
City
Garhmukteshwar Location in Uttar Pradesh, India
Coordinates: 28°48′N 78°06′E / 28.800°N 78.100°E / 28.800; 78.100Coordinates: 28°48′N 78°06′E / 28.800°N 78.100°E / 28.800; 78.100
Country	India
State	Uttar Pradesh
District	Hapur
Named for	Mukteshwar Mahadev
Government
• Type	Municipal Board
• Body	Elected
• Municipal board Chairperson	Sangeta Purushottam
Languages
• Official	Hindi
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	245205
Telephone code	5731
Vehicle registration	UP-37
Website	http://www.nppgarhmukteshwar.com

Garhmukteshwar (also spelled Garhmukhteshwar) is a town and a municipal board in Hapur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.

Demographics

Garhmukteshwar had a population of almost 60000. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Garhmukteshwar has an average literacy rate of 82%, higher than the national average of 74%: male literacy is 88%, and female literacy is 76%. In Garhmukteshwar, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Location

Garhmukteshwar is situated on the National Highway 24 joining New Delhi with Lucknow. The town is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the Ganges River and around 100 kilometres (62 mi) from New Delhi, making it the closest major place of habitation to that river from India's capital city.

History

Garhmukteshwar derives its name from the great temple of Mukteshwar Mahadeva, dedicated to the goddess Ganga who is worshipped there in four temples, two situated on a high cliff and two below it. The town has 80 Sati Pillars, marking the spots where Hindu widows are said to have committed sati. The town also has a mosque, built by Gays-ud-din Balban, that bears an inscription in Arabic dating to 1283 A.D.

Garh Mukteshwar was part of Teerthwal Taga (Kaushik Tyagi) area who has a Sati Temple near Sanskrit Pathshala. The Teerthwal Tyagi were the owners of this tirth and therefore they were called Teerthwal having possession of Garh Mukteshwar, Tigri and 12 adjoining villages. Teerthwal Taga were originally Kaushik brahman from Pehrawar, near Bhiwani in Haryana, and set up the village Tigri along with the city of Gana Mukteshwar.

At Talawdi there was a war between Muhammad Ghori and Prithvi Raj. One Jat warrior Sanjeev Bhandari from Garhwal clan became General of the Army of Malkhan. Malkhan had become popular due to support of Puran Singh.

When Sanjeev Bhandari Garhwals lost Garhmukteshwar, they came to Rajasthan and occupied Ker, Bhatiwar, Chhawsari etc. near Jhunjhunu in the 13th century. As per their bards when these people came to this place, Johiya, Mohiya Rajputs 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.

At pre independence time it was under Meerut district area and Meerut has only two Tehsils one of them was Meerut Sadar Tehsil whereas otherwas Hapur Tehsil. Mahatma Gandhi once makes committee to silently capture Meerut Collector seat and Hapur Tehsil seat and makes Shri Chaudhary Raghuveer Narayan Tyagi (King of Asaurah Estate)as Collector and Atar singh as Tehsildar of Hapur tehsil. But the British force arrested all of them just before two days.

Anti-Muslim violence

Garhmukteshwar was the scene of major anti-Muslim violence in November 1946, at a time when various areas of British India were experiencing significant communal unrest as the partition of the country into India and Pakistan loomed. Gyanendra Pandey describes the place as "a metaphor for the atrocities of Partition; and Partition itself a metaphor for the kind of extraordinary genocidal violence that was not witnessed again in India, perhaps until 1984".^[1] A mela (fair) held 3 miles (4.8 km) from the town was attended by between 700,000 - 800,000 people and on 6 November 1946 there were a series of Hindu attacks on Muslim shopkeepers at the event, resulting in 46 deaths and a further 39 people injured. The assaults and also arson attacks continued on and off for several days at the mela, while the town of Garhmukteshwar itself witnessed a large number of anti-Muslim atrocities, including killings, arson and the destruction of the Muslim quarter. Official reports gave the Muslim death toll in the town as at least 214 people, and there were also some Hindu deaths in retaliatory attacks.^[2]

Official investigations into violence in Uttar Pradesh at that time note that there was a "desire for revenge" among both Hindus and Muslims, resulting from news of similar violence in Calcutta.^[2] Much of the violence was clearly organised in nature and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, an extremist Hindutva organisation, was frequently blamed.^[3]

Climate

Garhmukteshwar has a monsoon influenced humid subtropical climate characterised by very hot summers and cool winters. Summers last from early April to late June during and are extremely hot, with temperatures reaching 43 °C (109 °F).^[4] The monsoon arrives in late June and continues till the middle of September. Temperatures drop slightly, with plenty of cloud cover but with higher humidity. Temperatures rise again in October and the town then has a mild, dry winter season from late October to the middle of March^[4] Lowest temperature recorded is 0.5 °C (32.9 °F). Rainfall is about 80 cm to 100 cm per annum, which is suitable for growing crops. Most of the rainfall is received during the monsoon. Humidity varies from 30 to 100%.^[4] The town receives no snow.

Attractions

• The ancient Ganga Temple once had around 100 steps leading down to the river. 85 of these are still intact. Devotees from all around the country come to the temple to witness the Ganges and the white stone idol of Brahma.
• Mukteshwar Mahadev Temple is an ancient Shiva temple in the town. It has Shiva lingam in the temple which is believed to have been constructed by the sage Parshuram.
• Nahush Koop is a well whose water comes from the Ganges. King Nahush performed a yajna here.
• Meerabai ki Reti is a tourist destination located just opposite to the Mukteshwar temple. It is a sandy stretch of land where, according to folklore, Meerabai used to stay and offer prayers.
• Brijghat has many temples like as Vedant Mandir, Hanuman Mandir, Amrit Parisar.

Railways

There are two railways stations in the town, call Garhmukteshwar and Garhmukteshwar Bridge (Brijghat). They are on the Delhi-Moradabad line.

See also

• Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh
• Siyana
• Bulandshahr
• Gajraula
• Amroha
• Hastinapur
• Hapur

References