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KDB Website "A 48 Kos Parikarma" containing a detailed about all the religious places/Temples
Kurukshetra is a great pilgrimage for millions of Hindus from all over the country who visit the land of Kurukshetra, the venue of the Mahabharata war and the birth place of the Bhagvad Gita, for its holy places. Building on its, historical and cultural traditions, the Kurukshetra city has developed upto a modern city having Kurukshetra University, Regional Engineering College, Ayurvedic Medical College, Science Museum (Panorma) etc.
Kurukshetra town lies in the North Eastern part of Haryana State and is about 160 Kilometers North of Delhi, 39 Kilometers North of Karnal and 40 Kilometers South of Ambala. It is at distance of about 6 kilometer from Pipli an important road junction on the National Highway No.1 popularly called the Grand Trunk Road.
Kurukshetra Railway Station, also called the Kurukshetra Junction is located on main Delhi-Ambala Railway line. There are two bus stands in Kurukshetra and one is at Pipli which is on the National Highway and easily accessible for the visitors coming from every corner of world.
Kurukshetra being the place of great historic and religious importance has been developed as a big tourist centre, where a number of visitors come daily. There is good facilities available for stay of tourists who come from distant places. Government has been providing stay facilities in its centre Parakit Motel Pipli, Neelkanthi Yatri Niwas Kurukshetra, Jyotisar Tourism Centre where deluxe type rooms are available ranging from Rs,.250/- per day to 1000/- per day. In addition, there are number of Government Guest houses like PWD Rest house Pipli, Youth Hostel Pipli, University Guest House, RECK guest house. As the Kurukshetra is religious town and during Solar Eclipse Fair lakhs of pilgrim used to come, a number of Voluntary Organization have constructed Dharamshalas which too have good and clean accomodation. Some of these are Krishan Dham Complex, Aggarwal Dharamshala, Gita Dham Ashram, Birla mandir, Gita Bhawan, Jat Dharamshala, Ror Dharamshala, Brahman Dharamshala, Jai Ram Vidya Peeth, Saini Samaj Dharamshala, etc. which provide accommodation on a very nominal charges and some of them free of cost.
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Mythologically, the name Kurukshetra applied to a circuit of about 80 miles (128 kms.) which includes a large number of holy places, temples and tanks, connected with the ancient Indian traditions and the Mahabharata war. It covers a wide area with the present Panipat and north-west corner of the Jind district in the south and eastern part of the Patiala district in the west, and the Saraswati and Yamuna rivers at its northern and eastern boundaries respectively. According to Manu, the tract between the old sacred rivers Saraswati and Drishadvati in Kurukshetra was known as Brahmavarta.
In the very first verse of the Bhagvad Gita,a Kurukshetra is described as Dharmakshetra, the field of righteousness. It is also known as Brajhmakshetra, the field of Brahma, the Creator. Nardak is another name for Kurukshetra, probably derived form nirdukh, without sorrow.
The Kurukshetra district is a tourist delight, and there are about 360 Tirthas of religious and historic importance. Out of these about 134 tirthas are being maintained by Kurukshetra Development Board, Kurukshetra which was established by the Hon'ble Former Prime Minister of India Sh. Gulzari Lal Nanda founder Chairman of the Board. The Tiraths can be accessed on Internet Webside of Kurukshetra Development Board
www.kurukshetradb.org . The foremost among the KURUKSHETRA tirthas are Brahmasarovar or Kurukshetra Tank, Sannihit Tank, Sthanesvra Mahadev Mandir, Jyotisar, Baan-ganga, Bhisam Kund (Narkatari) Chandrakupa, Nabhi Kamal, Bhadarkali Mandir, Arnai Temple, Prachi Tirath Pehowa, Saraswati Tirath Pehowa, Prithduk Tirath Pehowa, Rantuk Yaksh Bir pipli, Karan Ka Tila,etc.The town Pehowa derives its name from Prithu who was called the first king. He finds mention in the Rigveda as the son who performed the usual funeral ceremonies of his father & for 12 days after the cremation, he sat on the bank of the Saraswati offering water to all visitors. The place, therefore, came to be known as Prithudaka or Prithu's pool and the city which he afterwards built on the spot was called by the same name. It is an ancient place of pilgrimage. It is believed that Prajapati created the world and the four varanas of the Hindus at this place. The town contains two specially famous tanks, one sacred to Brahma and the other to the goddess Saraswati.
2. Kurukshetra - A Cradle Of Secularism.
Kurukshetra besides being a seat of learning and knowledge for Hundus has also been a place of great interest for Sikhs. This land has become holier with the advent of all the Sikh Gurus who have visited this place from time to time. This place thus becomes one of the very few places ever visited by all the Sikh Gurus and it is in this background that Gurudwaras have been erected in the city to commemorate their visit, the most prominent among them being the Gurudwara 6th Patshahi. Hundreds of devotees visit the shrine every day whose architectural design is simply marvellous. It lies in the immediate vicinity of Sannehit Sarover and Sri Krishna Museum.
Visitors also pay their obeisance at the tomb of Sufi Saint Sheikh Chaheli. Its architectural beauty reminds hundreds of scholars and tourists visiting every day the splendour of the Taj.
Apart from the religious places already described above, the places of historical interest connected with the medieval period comprise an ancient fort and mounds, Sheikh Chehli's tomb and Madrasah, Pathar Masjid and Chini Masjid.
A few more sites of archaeological interest which have yielded various objects of antiquarian interest and a distinctive class of pottery known as the Painted Grey Ware which are
Raja Karan Ka Tila, Asthipura, Bhor Saidan, Bhagpura and Daulatpur etc .
Keeping its historical & cultural traditions, Kurukshetra city has developed into a modern town having Kurukshetra University, Regional Engineering College, Ayurvedic Medical College, Science Museum (Panorma) a number of Computer Training Institutes, Big Mandies etc.
A colossal building has been erected in this modern holy city with a cost of Rs.500 lacs and its tower can be seen from the Grand Trunk road, five km. away.
Archeological Sites
It is a small mound about 3 miles (5 kilometres) to the west and south-west of Thanesar. It is about 500 square feet (46.5 square metres) at the top 800 sq. feet (74 square metres) at the base with a height of 30to 40 feet (9 to 12 metres). Shreds of Painted Grey Ware and some other objects such as flesh-rubber, a terra-cotta reel, a mould for printing cloth, a human head, a double inkpot, a hollow terra-cotta rattle, an earthen chati (pot) having a line of trisula and wheel carved on it, one earthen pitcher ornamented round the shoulder and some pieces of glazed pottery of the Muslim period have been found here. There is also a large step-well of the Muslim period.
The site lies to the west of Thanesar and to the south of Aujas Ghat and marks the place where the bodies of the persons slain in the Mahabharata war are said to have bee cremated. Cunningham exvavated the mound which measures about 700 feet by 500 feet (213 metres by 152 metres)and found "an extensive platform of unbaked bricks still 364 feet (111 metres) in length. besides many remains of walls and fragments of terra-cotta sculptures.
About 8 miles (13 kilometres) to the west of Thanesar towards Pehowa lies the Bhurirava Tank. Tradition associates the Place with treacherous murder of Bhurirava by Arjuna during the
Mahabharata war. Bhurisrava was son of Somadaatta, Raja of Varanasi.The village is named Bhor after him. This small village is situated on an ancient mound. The houses are built of old large size bricks of 12 3/4" x 9 1/2 "x 2".Bhagwanpura, situated in the north-west of Ladwa on the right bank of the Saraswati river, is a prehistoric site which presents,for the first time, the overlap between the late Harappan and the Painted Grey Ware cultures which is of considerable significance, so far as the reconstruction of a continuous history of Haryana from the middle of the second millennium B.C. is concerned. Continuity on the tradition supported by characteristic finds in pottery type, painted designs, art of terra-cotta figurines and burials provides evidence of the two cultures here. The three phases of the structural activity of the Painted Grey Ware people are represented successively by the round or semi-circular thatched huts followed by, mud-walled houses and then by houses built with baked bricks. Curious oval-shaped structures meant for some religious functions have also bee discovered.
Daulatpur is another important archaeological site, situated on Thanesar-Ladwa road near Pipli crossing, where excavation have revealed a relationship between the late phase of the Harappan and Painted Grey Ware cultures. The structural activity of the period I is represented by walls of baked and half-baked bricks, osern, and mud cornbias.The antiquities of the period include: bangles, chisels, fishhook of copper, wheeled bird and animal figurines, beads, bangles and balls in terra-cotta: few steatite disc beads: bone points, shell bangles, etc. Period II is represented by three structural phases which yielded the Painted Grey Ware, coarse grey and red nd black slipped wares. Noteworthy finds include: terra-cotta humped bull figurine:vase-shape edaveousm ear-studs, discs, toy cartwheels and a piece of bone bangle. Period III yielded interesting terra-cotta sealings including a Yaudheya seal bearing a legend in Brahmi character and a bull figure. animal gurines, Besides, Painted Grey Ware has also been found from villages Jorasi Khurd,Morthali, Teora and Urnai.
