The town was once called Chhoti Kashi
By Ravinder Sud

HOSHIARPUR town is well known for its religious and educational activities in the northern India. The town was once called Chhoti Kashi, due to its renowned Brahmleen saints Hari Baba Ji and Swami Kathustha Nand. Besides, the place is also well known for Bhrigu Samhita, an ancient hand-written compilation on loose leaves by Maharishi Bhrigu Maharaj. Hundreds of persons, including politicians, businessmen, industrialists and film stars, from all over the world come to Hoshiarpur daily to know their past, present and future through these ancient astrological writings. There are eight families in the town which have parts of the Bhrigu Samhita with them. The V.V.R.I, one of the premier Indological Research Institute, has put Hoshiarpur on the scholarly map of the world.

There are two versions about foundation of Hoshiarpur and derivation of its name. According to the first, it is said to have been founded by Hargobind and Ram Chand Diwan who lived during the time of Mohammd-Bin-Tuglak. The second version ascribes the foundation of the town to one Hoshiar Khan, a resident of Bajwara, which was a suburb village of Hoshiarpur.

On account of its topographic conditions and lack of ineffective leadership, the town has remained backward in almost all fields except education even after a lapse of 50 years of Independence. The town is known for its ivory and brass inlay work not only in India but also abroad.

The town has a number of beautiful temples. The Shakti temple at Nai Abadi, the Baba Balak Nath temple at Sukhiabad, and the Hari Baba temple at Hari Nagar regularly hold religious congregations, sankirtan sammelans and bhandaras. A 40-foot-high statue of Lord Shiva, has been recently constructed by a devotee at the Baba Balak Nath temple complex.

The gaushala, located on the Hoshiarpur-Dasuya road, near Shivpuri, holds a lot of attraction not only for the inhabitants of Hoshiarpur but also for people in neighbouring districts of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh for its modern technology and healthy cows. The management has constructed concrete RCC sheds for the cows. Ceiling fans have also been provided in these sheds. A music system has been installed in these sheds and flute tunes are played regularly in the morning and evening for the cows. A 30-foot-high statue of Lord Krishna along with a cow on a 10-foot-high platform adorns the complex.

The management of the gaushala is constructing a vridh ashram (home for the aged). The first phase of the construction is in progress. The ashram will have 56 sets with all kinds of modern facilities to house 112 aged persons. There will also be a library, dispensary and recreation, physiotherapy and meditation centres. The environment will be made clean and beautiful. Landscaping will be done around the complex to provide scenic beauty to the inmates.

The main cremation ground of the town earlier known as Gujjar Ka Bagh, was set up in early forties by the late Gujjar Mal, a social worker. The ground was popular for its well-maintained lawns, fountains and arrangements for the cremation of bodies according to the rites of different communities. The place has lost its glory on account of mismanagement by the Municipal Council. A voluntary organisation has made another cremation ground at Bahadurpur locality. The Shri Ram Charit Manas Prachar Mandal, a religious and social organisation, has recently introduced a mortuary van for the transportation of bodies to the cremation ground from various parts of the town.

The Shish Mahal located in the Shish Mahal Bazaar also attracts visitors. A scene depicting the coronation of George V has been created with concrete statues in the building.

A centre of learning

HOSHIARPUR has the distinction of having the highest literacy rate in the state. The Arya Samaj, under the leadership of the late Ram Dass, Rala Ram, Lala Devi Chand and Balbir Singh, played a significant role in spreading education by opening a number of educational institutions in and around the city. There are five colleges in the town.

The well-known Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute was shifted from Lahore to Hoshiarpur soon after Partition. This institution restarted its research work under the scholarly leadership of the late Acharya Vishva Bandhu on November 2, 1947, at Sadhu Ashram, on the outskirts of the town. In 1957, Panjab University set up its department of manuscript transcription and research at the institute, with a view to transcribing manuscripts written in South Indian languages into Devanagari script.

The literature, which the institute brings out in Hindi, Punjabi, Sanskrit and English, based on Indological researches and general studies, aims at propagating the quintessence of the ancient and the modern wisdom of mankind towards development of an emotionally integrated and balanced personality. On the educational side, the institute has been running Prabhakar classes.

The institute’s library, which houses nearly one lakh printed books and papers and about 10,000 ancient manuscripts, including about 4,000 palm leaf manuscripts written in different South Indian languages, is the largest Indological reference unit in north-western India. Teachers and researchers come here from different parts of India and even abroad for doing research work. The reading room, attached to the library, is regularly provided with about 200 periodicals.

The archaeological museum in the library building contains a rich collection of sculptures, of the Harappan civilisation, relics, and paintings of archaeological importance from all over India. The museum, which attracts a large number of visitors, is a very valuable addition to the existing facilities available at the institute for studying Indian history and culture.

Government College, Hoshiarpur, is known for its alumni which includes Dr Manmohan Singh, former Finance Minister of India; Dr M.M. Puri, Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University; Gurbachan Jagat, Director-General of Police, J&K; S.N. Jerath, Inspector-General of Police, Rajasthan; Ashok Kundra, Secretary, Union Government; P. Ram, Secretary, Food and Supplies, Punjab; C.L. Bains, Financial Commissioner, Excise, Punjab; Sunil Arora, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Rajasthan; Sanjeev Arora, Secretary (Commerce), Embassy of India in Bonn, Germany; Rajeev Arora, Director, Industries, Haryana; Jagmohan Kang (IAS); Joginder Pal Sharma (IAS); Tuhin Kant Panday (IAS), Orissa cadre; Sudha Pandey, Deputy Commissioner, Income Tax; Hardeesh Randhawa, DIG, Punjab Police; Pardeep Dogra, Commandant, CRPF; K.K. Nayyar, Director, All India Radio; Surinder Kairon, former MP; and Upasna Singh, film actress.

The college holds eight postgraduation classes, viz mathematics, fine arts, English, economics, political science, history, Hindi and Punjabi. It has a beautiful complex which is being renovated now.

— R.S.

Poor sanitation, congested roads major irritants

ACCORDING to the 1991 census, Hoshiarpur town had a population of 1,22,258. But at present the population is more than 1,50,000. The town, situated within a radius of 35.89 square km, is surrounded by choes due to which it could not expand like other cities in Punjab.

Though the local municipal council has installed 41 tubewells in various localities to provide piped water, these cover only less than 70 per cent of the total population. With the advent of summer, the inhabitants are facing acute shortage of drinking water. The sewerage has been made available to about 60 per cent of the population. The haphazard lying of sewers in various localities frequently chokes the system.

The sanitary conditions of the town are also not satisfactory. Heaps of rubbish remain lying on roads for days together. The Ganda Nullah which passes through the main bazars and localities of the town is cleaned just once a year. The toilet blocks constructed in various localities for public are in a dilapidated condition and are not regularly cleaned. Garbage is dumped in a careless manner in the Bhangi choe bed adjoining the Dhobi Ghat, Nai Abadi, Garhi Gate, Gaushala Bazar bridge, Khanpuri Gate and the new Model Town areas.

There has been an alarming increase in traffic in this small and congested town. The main reason for traffic bottlenecks is the race for encroachments on municipal lands. The authorities have done nothing to check this malpractice. Heavy vehicles are allowed entry into the most congested of lanes and bylanes round the clock. Footpaths have been occupied by shopkeepers, hawkers and rehriwalas. Some shopkeepers have made slanting, concrete pavements on municipal roads which further decrease their width. Almost all two-wheeler auto mechanics are running their workshops on the main road, causing traffic hazards. Keeping in view the heavy rush of vehicular traffic in the town, the construction of a ring road around Hoshiarpur has begun. Due to non-availability of funds, the fourth phase of the construction has yet to start.

The bridge on the Bhangi choe, near the Gaushala Bazar, has been declared unsafe for vehicular traffic by the PWD authorities since long but their has been no move as yet to construct a new bridge.

There are 19 parks in the town which are not being maintained properly. The light-fitted fountains at Prabhat, Balmik and Laxmi Theatre chowks and at Green View Park also lie neglected. To make the town pollution free, the municipal council had prepared a scheme to shift all dairies of the town to the Khanpuri Gate area. But some persons made unauthorised houses there, for which the council approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court and won the case.

The illegal constructions however, have still not been demolished and the dairies continue to remain where they are.

The local terminus railway station has been completely neglected by the railway authorities.

Though with the industrialisation of the district, the rail traffic has increased manifold to all the major cities of the country from Hoshiarpur, no mail train has been introduced from this station.

Instead of providing basic and modern facilities to the passengers, the rail authorities have withdrawn some of the existing facilities at the station, causing a lot of inconvenience to travellers. The goods shed, located opposite to the platform, has been removed for reasons best known to the authorities. The waiting room for passengers of second class, situated opposite the station, has been demolished. The railway canteen has shut down too. Most of the street lights between the railway crossing on the Phagwara road and the old adda (Bharwain) are out of order. The entire building of the railway station is in need of repair. There is no boundary wall or fencing around the station due to which stray animals freely move there.

— R.S.

This feature was published on May 1, 1999