Jalandhar
Jalandhar, previously known as Jullundur, is an ancient city in Jalandhar District in the state of Punjab, India. It was the capital of Trigarttas (people living in the "land between three rivers": Ravi, Beas and Sutlej) in the times of Mahabharata war. It has an urban population of almost a million, and another million live in the rural areas outside the city.
Jalandhar is located at 31.33° N 75.58° E. It has an average elevation of 229 metres (751 feet). The city is located almost 375 km from Delhi, 142 km from Chandigarh and about 90 km from Amritsar. Jalandhar is named after Jalandhara, a demon king who lived in water as his name suggests Jal (water) and andhar (in). It was the capital of Punjab until 1953, when it was replaced by Chandigarh. Others say Jalandhar is derived from the fact that it is located between two rivers Jal and Andhar. During British occupation it was called Jullundur.
The earliest historical mention of Jalandhar occurs in the reign of Kanishka, the Kushan King of northern India in whose time, a council of Buddhist theologians was held near Jalandhar about 100 AD to collect and arrange the sacred writings of Buddhism and to bring about reconciliation between its various sects. This makes Jalandhar along with Multan the oldest surviving city of the Punjab region.
In the 7th Century, when the famous Chinese traveller and pilgrim Hiuen Tsang visited India during the reign of Harsha Vardhana, the Kingdom of Jalandhara or Trigartta was under the rule of Raja Utito (whom Alexender Cunningham identifies with the Rajput Raja Attar Chandra). The kingdom was said to have extended 167 miles (269 km) from east to west and 133 miles (214 km) from north to south, thus including the hill states of Chamba, Mandi and Suket (Himachal Pradesh) and Satadru or Sirhind in the plains. Raja Utito was a tributary of Harsh Vardhana. The Rajput Rajas appear to have continued to rule over the country right up to the 12th century, with occasional interruptions, but their capital was Jalandhar and Kangra formed an important stronghold.
