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Sirsa District

Sirsa district
सिरसा ज़िला
ਸਿਰਸਾ ਜ਼ਿਲਾ
District of Haryana
Location of Sirsa district in Haryana
Location of Sirsa district in Haryana
Country India
State Haryana
Headquarters Sirsa
Tehsils 1. Sirsa, 2. Dabwali, 3. Rania, 4. Ellenabad
Government
 • Lok Sabha constituencies Sirsa (shared with Fatehabad district)
 • Assembly seats 5
Area
 • Total 4,277 km2 (1,651 sq mi)
Population (2001)
 • Total 1,116,649
 • Density 260/km2 (680/sq mi)
 • Urban 26.28%
Demographics
 • Literacy 60.55%
 • Sex ratio 999 (as per 2015)
Major highways NH 9
Website Official website

Sirsa district (Hindi: सिरसा ज़िला; Punjabi: ਸਿਰਸਾ ਜ਼ਿਲਾ) is the largest district of Haryana state, after the creation of charkhi dakhri out of bhiwani district. Sirsa is the district headquarters, and is located on National Highway 9 and 250 kilometres (160 mi) from the capital, Delhi.

The district is named after its headquarters, Sirsa. The name, Sirsa is derived from its ancient Sanskrit name Sairishaka, which is mentioned in the Mahabharata, the Ashtadhyayi and the Divyavadana. In Mahabharata, Sairishaka is described as being taken by Nakula in his conquest of the western quarter. It must have been a flourishing city in the 5th century B.C. as it has been mentioned by Panini.

There are a number of legends about the origin of the name of the town. Its ancient name was Sairishaka and from that it seems to have been corrupted to Sirsa. According to local tradition, an unknown king named Saras founded the town in the 7th century A.D. and built a fort. The material remains of an ancient fort can still be seen in the south-east of the present town. It is about 5 km in circumference. According to another tradition, the name has its origin from the sacred river Sarasvati which one flowed near it. During the medieval period, the town was known as Sarsuti. It has been mentioned as Sarsuti by a number of medieval historians. The derivation of name Sirsa, is also attributed to the abundance of siris trees (Albizia lebbeck (Benth)) in the neighborhood of Sirsa which seems quite plausible for it finds some corroboration also in Panini and his commentator. In the ancient period, Sirsa was also known as Sirsapattan.However some local still believes that name may be derived from famous Sarsai Nath whose temple is there in the city.


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