Kotla Nihang Khan

Kotla Nihang Khan (Gurmukhi: ਕੋਟਲਾ ਨਿਹੰਗ ਖ਼ਾਨ, Shahmukhi: کوٹلہ نهنگ خاں) is a town located about 3 kilometers southeast of Ropar city in Punjab, India.[1][2] It is famed as the erstwhile principality of the seventeenth-century Pathan zamindar ruler, Nihang Khan, who was an associate of the tenth and final Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh.[2]

Kotla Nihang Khan is also a major archeological site associated with the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilization, dating to the 3300-1300 BCE period. Several underground structures, including a furnace dating to the Bronze Age, were unearthed here.[3] Kotla Nihang Khan's initial settlement has been dated to 2200 BCE based on analysis of excavated artifacts.[4] The excavated area here shows two distinct sectors: an eastern sector where pottery remains are indicative of Urban Harappan Culture, and a western sector where Urban Harappan artifacts are found mixed with Bara Ware. This is believed to indicate coexistence or a transition between the original Harappan inhabitants and the later Baran settlers at the settlement.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Radiocarbon and Indian archaeology, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1973, ... Kotla Nihang Khan is about 3 km to south-east of Ropar ...
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Surjit Singh Gandhi, History of Sikh Gurus Retold: 1606-1708 C, Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2007, ISBN 978-81-269-0858-5, ... the Guru met Nihang Khan, the Zamindar of Kotla Nihang Khan, a place in proximity to present-day Ropar city. Nihang Khan was so moved that he decided to dedicate his all in the cause of the Guru. This happened on the Amavas or Maghar 1745 Bk 1688 ...
  3. ↑ Shashi Asthana, Pre-Harappan cultures of India and the borderlands, Books & Books, 1985, ISBN 978-81-85016-13-9, ... similar to a furnace found at Kotla Nihang Khan, is located here. It is an overground oval structure built with the long axis of about 1 to 1.5 m ...
  4. ↑ Mohindar Singh Randhawa, A history of agriculture in India, Volume 1A History of Agriculture in India, Mohindar Singh Randhawa, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, 1980, ... The date of Kotla Nihang Khan is about 2200 bc (ii) Rupar and Other Sites The Nalagarh mound at Rupar on the Satluj was excavated by YD Sharma in 1953-56. In the lowest stratum, Harappan potteries, bronze implements ...
  5. ↑ Shadaksharappa Settar, Ravi Korisettar, Indian Archaeology in Retrospect: Prehistory, archaeology of South Asia, Indian Council of Historical Research, 2002, ISBN 978-81-7304-319-2, ... The mound at Kotla Nihang Khan is divided into two sectors: eastern and western. The eastern sector mainly has Urban Harappan pottery like the dish-on-stand, goblets with pointed base, shallow flat dish with flaring sides ... The western part has Urban Harappan elements mixed with Bara Ware from the lower levels. Sharma (1982: 141) thinks that ... initially, in Phase I, the Harappans occupied the eastern area, but with the advent of the Barans ...