Kathua district
Encyclopedia
Kathua district is one of 22 administrative districts that comprise the state of Jammu and Kashmir
in India. It is surrounded by Jammu to the northwest, the Doda
and Udhampur
districts to the north, the state of Himachal Pradesh
to the east, Punjab to the south, and Pakistan
's working boundary to the west. Its terrain is diverse, consisting of rich agricultural areas along the Punjab/Kashmir border, plains sweeping eastward to the foothills of the Himalaya, and a mountainous Pahari region in the east.
Kathua district is divided into 8 blocks:Bani, Barnoti, Basholi, Billawar
, Duggan, Ghagwal, Hiranagar, Kathua and Lohai Malhar. It has approximately 587 villages.
The traditional language of Kathua is Dogri. The Pahari languages
are prevalent in the mountainous area of the east. The principal media of education are English
, Hindi
, and Urdu
.
In a Muslim
majority state, Kathua, like the Jammu region, is overwhelmingly Hindu
, Total Population is 550,084 (Census of India 2001), Hinduism practiced by 91%, Muslims 7% and Sikhs 2%.
A relatively safe regional pocket, Kathua was spared the decade-long insurrection sparked by the Khalistan
separatist movement in Punjab that ended in the early 1990s, just to its south, and the ongoing Terrorism in Kashmir
Valley further to the north, beginning in the 1980s.
of the Andotra
clan migrated from Hastinapur to Kathua nearly 2,000 years ago and settled here. The three hamlets of Taraf Tajwal, Taraf Manjali and Taraf Bhajwal were by the same account established by his three sons Teju, Kindal and Bhaju. Tracing their ancestry to these three are the groups now known respectively as Tajwalia, Bhajwalia and Khanwalia Rajputs, of the Andotra sub-caste. The conglomeration of these three hamlets was loosely called “Kathai” in earlier times which with the passage of time came to be called as Kathua.
Greek historians, who provide an insight into the ancient history of Jammu hills, prominently record the existence in this area of two powerful empires - Abhisara (present day Poonch
) and Kathaioi - at the time of invasion of India by Alexander. Strabo
describes Kathaioi as a mighty republic
of that era, located in the foothills along the Ravi River
. The topography of Kathaioi corresponds with the present day Kathua. Strabo describes the people of this republic as the epitome of bravery and courage, and records that they gave a tough fight to invading army of Alexander.
There are many places which commemorate a visit to Kathua Pandavas. Lord Krishna
is also said to have come to this area, in order to get back from Jamabant the same diamond which is now known as Koh-i-Noor
, part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom
.
A style of painting characterized by vigorous use of primary colours and a peculiar facial formula prevailed in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in the foothills of the Western Himalayas in the Jammu and Punjab States.
The earliest paintings in this style originated in Basohli from where the style spread to the Hill States
of Mankot, Nurpur
, Kulu, Mandi
, Suket
, Bilaspur
, Nalagarh
, Chamba
, Guler and Kangra
. The first mention of Basohli painting is in the annual report of the Archaeological Survey of India
published in 1921.
The district of Kathua is subdivided into four tehsils:
Kathua district has a population
of 615,711, roughly equal to the nation of Solomon Islands
or the US state of Vermont
. This gives it a ranking of 521st in India (out of a total of 640
).
The district has a population density of 232 PD/sqkm . Its population growth rate
over the decade 2001-2011 was 20.38 %. Kathua has a sex ratio
of 877 females
for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate
of 73.5 %.
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
in India. It is surrounded by Jammu to the northwest, the Doda
Doda
Doda is a town and a notified area committee in Doda district in Jammu & Kashmir of India.-Geography:Doda is located at . It has an average elevation of 1107 metres .-Demographics:...
and Udhampur
Udhampur
Udhampur is a city and a municipal council in Udhampur District in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the second lardest city of Duggardesh region and the fourth largest city in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It serves as the district capital and the Northern Command headquarter of the...
districts to the north, the state of Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is spread over , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east...
to the east, Punjab to the south, and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
's working boundary to the west. Its terrain is diverse, consisting of rich agricultural areas along the Punjab/Kashmir border, plains sweeping eastward to the foothills of the Himalaya, and a mountainous Pahari region in the east.
Kathua district is divided into 8 blocks:Bani, Barnoti, Basholi, Billawar
Billawar
Billawar is a town and a notified area committee in Kathua district in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, India.Billawar is Tehsil HQ. It is also known as BALAUR. Billawar was founded by Raja Bhopat Pal in 1598-1614 and it remained capital of Basohli Rajas. The descendants of the Royal family are known...
, Duggan, Ghagwal, Hiranagar, Kathua and Lohai Malhar. It has approximately 587 villages.
The traditional language of Kathua is Dogri. The Pahari languages
Pahari languages
The Pahari languages are a geographic group of Indic languages spoken in the lower ranges of the Himalayas, from Nepal in the east to the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir in the west.-Classification:The Pahari languages fall into three groups:*Eastern, consisting...
are prevalent in the mountainous area of the east. The principal media of education are English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, and Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
.
In a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
majority state, Kathua, like the Jammu region, is overwhelmingly Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
, Total Population is 550,084 (Census of India 2001), Hinduism practiced by 91%, Muslims 7% and Sikhs 2%.
A relatively safe regional pocket, Kathua was spared the decade-long insurrection sparked by the Khalistan
Khalistan
Khalistan refers to a global political secessionist movement to create a separate Sikh state, called Khālistān , carved out of parts mostly consisting of the Punjab region of India, depending on definition....
separatist movement in Punjab that ended in the early 1990s, just to its south, and the ongoing Terrorism in Kashmir
Terrorism in Kashmir
The insurgency in Kashmir has existed in various forms. Thousands of lives have been lost since 1989 due to the intensification of both the insurgency and the fight against it....
Valley further to the north, beginning in the 1980s.
History
Though there is no detailed and fully documented history of Kathua district, there is a tradition that Jodh Singh, a RajputRajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
of the Andotra
Andotra
The Andotra are Rajput clan found in the at state of Jammu and Kashmir in India.They were the Landlords or the Zamindars. They owned the lands and also farmed upon them...
clan migrated from Hastinapur to Kathua nearly 2,000 years ago and settled here. The three hamlets of Taraf Tajwal, Taraf Manjali and Taraf Bhajwal were by the same account established by his three sons Teju, Kindal and Bhaju. Tracing their ancestry to these three are the groups now known respectively as Tajwalia, Bhajwalia and Khanwalia Rajputs, of the Andotra sub-caste. The conglomeration of these three hamlets was loosely called “Kathai” in earlier times which with the passage of time came to be called as Kathua.
Greek historians, who provide an insight into the ancient history of Jammu hills, prominently record the existence in this area of two powerful empires - Abhisara (present day Poonch
Poonch
Poonch is a town and a municipal committee in Poonch District in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Based on the Mahābhārata evidence, and the evidence from 7th Chinese traveler Xuanzang, the districts of Poonch along with Rajauri and Abhisara had been under the sway of the Republican Kambojas...
) and Kathaioi - at the time of invasion of India by Alexander. Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
describes Kathaioi as a mighty republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
of that era, located in the foothills along the Ravi River
Ravi River
The Ravi is a trans-boundary river flowing through Northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of the six rivers of the Indus System in Punjab region ....
. The topography of Kathaioi corresponds with the present day Kathua. Strabo describes the people of this republic as the epitome of bravery and courage, and records that they gave a tough fight to invading army of Alexander.
There are many places which commemorate a visit to Kathua Pandavas. Lord Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
is also said to have come to this area, in order to get back from Jamabant the same diamond which is now known as Koh-i-Noor
Koh-i-Noor
The Kōh-i Nūr which means "Mountain of Light" in Persian, also spelled Koh-i-noor, Koh-e Noor or Koh-i-Nur, is a 105 carat diamond that was once the largest known diamond in the world. The Kōh-i Nūr originated in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India along with its double, the Darya-ye Noor...
, part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom
Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom
The collective term Crown Jewels denotes the regalia and vestments worn by the sovereign of the United Kingdom during the coronation ceremony and at other state functions...
.
Basohli Paintings
Basohli, a town of Kathua district, is widely known for its paintings. Immortalised by their artistic eminences and their connoisseur patrons, Basohli today is a metaphor for a vigorous, bold and imaginative artistic style, rich, stylish and unconventional.A style of painting characterized by vigorous use of primary colours and a peculiar facial formula prevailed in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in the foothills of the Western Himalayas in the Jammu and Punjab States.
The earliest paintings in this style originated in Basohli from where the style spread to the Hill States
Hill States
The term hill states means states in a hilly area. In particular it is used for two northern border regions of colonial British India.-Raj period Punjab:...
of Mankot, Nurpur
Nurpur
Nurpur is a city and a municipal council in Kangra district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It was formerly a Kingdom ruled by the Pathania clan of Rajputs, since the 11th century AD. The capital of the Kingdom was at Pathankot, now in Punjab....
, Kulu, Mandi
Mandi
-Places:*Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, a city in Himachal Pradesh, India* Mandi State, former princely state.*Mandi *Mandi district, a district in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India*Mandı, Azerbaijan...
, Suket
Suket
Suket is a census town in Kota district in the Indian state of Rajasthan.-Geography:Suket is located at . It has an average elevation of 320 metres .-Demographics:...
, Bilaspur
Kahlur
Kahlur , covering an area of 1173 km², and currently a part of Himachal Pradesh state, was one of the Princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. The state was founded in/around 697 by Kahal Chand. Kahal Chand had built a fort, which was named after him, and was called...
, Nalagarh
Nalagarh
#REDIRECT Target page nameNalagarh is a city and a municipal committee in Solan district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It was the seat of the eponymous princely state during the British Raj, and known in medieval period as the state of Hindur. It was founded by the Chandella Rajputs in...
, Chamba
Chamba
Chamba may refer to:*Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, city in Himachal Pradesh, India*Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh, India*Chamba State, princely state*Chamba, Uttarakhand, small town in Tehri-Garhwal district, Uttarakhand, India...
, Guler and Kangra
Kangra
Kangra is a city and a municipal council in Kangra district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Historically it was known as Nagarkot.-Demographics:...
. The first mention of Basohli painting is in the annual report of the Archaeological Survey of India
Archaeological Survey of India
The Archaeological Survey of India is a department of the Government of India, attached to the Ministry of Culture . The ASI is responsible for archaeological studies and the preservation of archaeological heritage of the country in accordance with the various acts of the Indian Parliament...
published in 1921.
Administration
Kathua district consists of 8 blocks: Billawar, Basholi, Bani, Duggan, Lohi Malhar, Kathua, Barnoti and Hiranagar. Each block consists of a number of panchayats.The district of Kathua is subdivided into four tehsils:
- Kathua Tehsil
- Hiranagar Tehsil
- Billawar Tehsil
- Basohli Tehsil
- Bani Tehsil
Politics
Kathua District has five assembly constituencies: Bani, Basohli, Kathua, Billawar and Hiranagar (S.C).Demographics
According to the 2011 census2011 census of India
The 15th Indian National census was conducted in two phases, houselisting and population enumeration. Houselisting phase began on April 1, 2010 and involved collection of information about all buildings...
Kathua district has a population
Demographics of India
The demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people , more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing...
of 615,711, roughly equal to the nation of Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
or the US state of Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
. This gives it a ranking of 521st in India (out of a total of 640
Districts of India
A district is an administrative division of an Indian state or territory. Districts are further subdivided, in some cases into Sub-Divisions, and otherwise directly into tehsils or talukas.District officials include:...
).
The district has a population density of 232 PD/sqkm . Its population growth rate
Family planning in India
Family planning in India is based on efforts largely sponsored by the Indian government. In the 1965-2009 period, contraceptive usage has more than tripled and the fertility rate has more than halved , but the national fertility rate is still high enough to cause long-term population growth...
over the decade 2001-2011 was 20.38 %. Kathua has a sex ratio
Sex ratio
Sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. The primary sex ratio is the ratio at the time of conception, secondary sex ratio is the ratio at time of birth, and tertiary sex ratio is the ratio of mature organisms....
of 877 females
Women in India
The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. From equal status with men in ancient times through the low points of the medieval period, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful...
for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate
Literacy in India
Literacy in India is key for socio-economic progress, and the Indian literacy rate grew to 74.04% in 2011 from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947. Although this was a greater than sixfold improvement, the level is well below the world average literacy rate of 84%, and India currently has the...
of 73.5 %.