History of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

History of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Formation of the District -

Before 14th November 1976 Ghaziabad was the Tehsil of District Meerut. The then chief minister Mr. N.D.Tiwari decalered Ghaziabad as a district on 14th November 1976, on the birth anniversary of Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehry, the first prime minister of India. From then Ghaziabad has moved forward leaps and bounds on the social, economic, agriculture and individual front. Ghaziabad, the headquarter of the district of the same name, lies on the Grand Trunk road about a mile east of the Hindon river in Lat. 280 40' North and Long. 770 25' East, 19 Kms. east of Delhi and 46 Kms. south-west of Meerut with which it is connected by a metalled road. Other roads lead north-wesr to Loni and Baghpat and east to Hapur and Garhmukteshwar. Buses run at freequent intervals from here to Delhi, Meerut,Aligarh,Bulandshahar, Moradabad, Lucknow and to other districts also. It is an important station on the Northern Railway where railway lines, from Delhi to Calcutta, Moradabad and Saharanpur meet, connecting it with many important cities of India. As it's boundary is adjacent to Delhi, it acts as the main entrance of Uttar Pradesh and that is why it is also called the GATEWAY OF U.P.

From Ghaziuddinnagar to Ghaziabad -

The place was founded in 1740 by the vizir, Ghazi-ud-din, who called it Ghaziuddinnagar after himself and built a spacious sarai consisting of 120 rooms of masonry with pointed arches.Only the gate , a few portions of the boundary wall and a massive pillar about fourteen feet in height remains now, the precincts now being inhabited. His masoleum still stands in the city but is in a bad state of preservation. The Jat raja, Surajmal, killed near the city by the Rohillas in 1763. An encounter between the freedom fighters and a small British force took place here in May, 1857, in which the former were defeated while trying to hold the Hindon. After the opening the railway line the name of the place was shortened to Ghaziabad.

Histrorical Importance of Ghaziabad -

From the historical cultural, mythological and archeological point of view Ghaziabad is a prosperous city. This has been proved from the resarch work and excavations done in the district. the excavation carried out at the mound of Kaseri  suitated on the bank of river Hindon, 2 km north from Mohan Nagar shows that civilization was developed here in 2500 B.C.

Garhmukteshwar which provides salavation to the people and the Pooth village situated on the banks of river Ganaga are associated with the Mahabharat period. Nearby is the Ahar region which was supposed to be the capital of Pandava's and Janamejay's Nag yagya site. The Loni fort is associated with Lavanasura of the Ramayana period. As per the Gazetteer the fort was named after Lavanasura (from Lavana it changed to Loni).

On the eastern border of the district is situated the village "KOT" which is associated with the famous emperor SamundraGupta, who performed the Aswamedha yagya here after destroying the fort and "Kot Kuljam" (princes of the Kot dynasty), which was an incident of great historical importance at that time.

Durng the region of Sultan Muhammad-bin -Tuglak in 1313 ,this entire region had become a huge battle field .sultan Nasiruddin who was famous for his simplicity and honesty spent his childhood in the Loni fort here.The attack of Taimur came on this fort and  the human massacre by him are well known references of history.The importance of Loni increased during the Mughal period as the Mughal King used to come here for hunting and pleasure trips.A Baage Ranap is a memorial of that period.

It is clear from the recent reaserches that seven wars were fought in this region.The Kot war in the fourth centuary was fought at Loni and the war between Taimur and the Indian warriors was fought at Surajpur.The Maratha-Mughal war,the war between the ruler of Bharatpur King Surajmal and Najib on the banks of the Hindon river,and the war in 1803 between Sir General Lake and the Royal Maratha army were fought here but the most important war was fought at the banks of river Hindon on 30-31 May,1857 with the British.This was the first war of independence and it brought Ghaziabad much of its glory.Infact during the 1857 war,the entire district witnessed scenes of this public war.The hero of Dadri,Martyr King Umrao Singh ,the great sacrificer of Mukimpur(Pilkhuwa),King Gulab Singh,fourteen Martyr of Dhaulana,Sahib Singh,Sumer Singh,Kitna Singh,Chandan Singh,Makhan Singh,Jiya Singh,Daulat Singh, Jiraj Singh, Durga Singh, Masahab Singh, Dalel Singh, Maharaj Singh, Wazir Singh and Lala Jhanku Mal Singhal were hanged by the british.Many villages of the district jumped into this war under the leadership of the immortal Martyr of Malagarh walidad Khan and sacrificed themselves and their belongings at the altar of motherland and made the entire region a holy one.People living here can be proud of the role played by the martyrs of this district for the independence of the country.

This land has given birth to many freedom fighters who played a leading role in the 1949 August revolution and also fought under the guidance of the father of the nation Mahatama Gandhi.This district has also provided its sons, who have sacrificed their life on differents frontiers for the defence of the country.Apart from this many villages and sub-urban areas of this  district name in store a number of places of fame and glory since the ancient colony of  money lenders at Dasna who lent money to the Kings,Muradnagar which was established by Murad Begamabad (presently Modinagar) the famous Maratha General Mahadjin's daughter Balabai's jagir Jalalabad,centre of the 1857 revolution Hapur,Royal elephant farm and latar Horse farm during the British period at Babugarh etc. are famous historical places of this area which occupy a dignified place in the history of this district.