B A T A L A         H I S T O R Y
Batala Location of Batala in Punjab and India
Country	India
State	Punjab
District(s)	Gurdaspur
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Area • Elevation	• 249 m (817 ft)

Coordinates: 31°49′N 75°12′E / 31.82°N 75.2°E / 31.82; 75.2

Batala is a city in Gurdaspur district in the state Punjab of northwestern India. Batala, the largest city of Gurdaspur district was founded about the year 1465 CE, during the reign of Behlol Lodhi, by Raja Ram Deo.

History

Police District Batala was created on 19/04/1988 vide  Govt.No. trifurcation  No..1309-2H(1)/188/12258  Dated 17/04/1988 . Its border adjoins with  district  Hoshiarpur,Gurdaspur and police district Majitha. 33 Kms of Indo-Pak border falls in the jurisdiction of police district  Batala.  There are 528  villages in police district Batala.

                                 Batala  is an industrial town where various Iron/Steel items are manufactured  which are  sold through out the country and also exported abroad. In this city the  marriage  of Shri  Guru  Nanak  Dev Ji was solemnised. Every year a fair is  held  in  this  connection celebrating  marriage of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji symbolically. A famous Gurudwara kNo.wn  as "KANDH  SAHIB" where the marriage party of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji stayed is also  situated in the amidest of the city. An historic place at a distance of 5/6 Kms "ACHAL SAHIB MANDIR" is also on Batala-Jalandhar road where a fair is held annually.

                                Similarly, a Mandir of Shri Bawa Lal Ji is also located in village Dhianpur. A garden and a building exists on Batala-Jalandhar road which were constructed in the memory of the wife of Vir Hakikat Rai which is famous as "Sati Samadh". There is also a Gurudwara namely Chola  Sahib in memory of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji at Dera Baba Nanak. Qadian is  pilgrimage of Ahemdiya Community. There is an old temple of " Krishna and Radha Ji" in village  Kishan  Kot  of PS.Sri Hargobindpur which was constructed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The people  of village  were  hoNo.ured with UNESCO Asia Heritage Awards for conservation 2001  by  UNESCO INTECH (Indian National Pacific Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage).  

Batala ancient town replete with temples, gurudwaras connected with the marriage of Guru Nanak Dev situated on the Amritsar-Pathankot road. Batala, the largest town of Gurdaspur district was founded about the year 1465 CE, during the reign of Behlol Lodhi, by Raja Ram Deo, a Bhati Rajput, on a piece of land granted to him by Tatar Khan, Governor of Lahore. Akbar gave it in Jagir to Shamsher Khan, his foster brother, who greatly improved and beautified the town and built a magnificent tank, which still exists. Batala was held by Kanheya and Ramgarhia (sikh confederacies). Sher Singh, son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, built a number of buildings at Batala. After the annexation of the Punjab, Batala was made headquarters of the district (subsequently transferred to Gurdaspur).

The much truncated India's portion of present Punjab is divided into three natural regions; the Majha, the Doaba and the Malwa. Batala lies in the Majha region along with Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Pathonkot .Batala, a town of British India, in the Gurdaspur district of punjab, with a station on the branch of the north-western railway lies 24 KM. from Amritsar with a population of over 2 lakhs. It is an important centre of trade, with manufacturers of spare parts needed for manufacturing machinery works. In this city there are so many cast iron foundry in this city metal-flux is very well known unit for production of foundry flux. It is also known as "Birmingham Of Punjab"

From religious aspect, its a Sacred place of Sikhs as the marriage of the First Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Nanak Dev ji was held here and a Gurdwara named, Gurudwara Shri Kandh Sahib, as its remembrance has been constructed here and its also sacred place of Hindus because there is ancient Kali Devi temple in the heart of the city. There are many other famous personalities from Batala, one of which is Shiv Kumar Batalvi, the major personality of Batala is Mahasha Gokul Chand ji who is familiar due to his Jan sewa, you can also said that he is founder of modern Batala as his effort to construct colleges, Parks and Hospitals remarkable.

Monuments and Places in BATALA: One of the oldest towns in the province of Lahore in mediaeval times, Batala, located 38 km north-west of Amritsar on the Pathankot road, is home to 14 monuments of religious and historic importance.

Of these, five are mosques, two temples and two gurdwaras (rebuilt recently, preserving the old portions of the building). Three monuments are connected with Sikh history and two with the Mughal period.

Jal Mahal stands in the middle of the big tank of Shamsher Khan. Shamsher Khan (a eunuch) was an administrator (karori) of Batala during the regime of Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar.

Jal Mahal and the palace of Maharaja Sher Singh were built by the Maharaja (CE 1780-1839). The palace is under the control of the authorities of the local Baring Union Christian College. The administrative offices of the college are housed in it.

Jal Mahal is said to be under the control of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Jal Mahal (Baradari) and the palace of Maharaja Sher Singh were connected through a tunnel. According to some senior citizens Shamsher Khan Tank of Jal Mahal used to filled with water through the tunnel which was further connected by a long tunnel (canal) to the Beas near Kahnuwan. The remnants of the tunnel can be seen near Baring Christian College.

Maharaja Sher Singh used to hold meetings of his courtiers in Jal Mahal. The water reservoir was built by Shamsher Khan while the beautiful Baradari in the centre of the tank was constructed by Maharaja Sher Singh. It has a square room in the centre of a pavilion with a passage. The entry to the first floor is by a staircase with concave-shaped steps on the north-eastern canal. Jal Mahal has eight doors in the lower part of the building and four in the upper storey. The inner wall contained beautiful art glass carvings and wall paintings. However, major parts of the paintings have been erased or damaged. The roof of the pavilion has also fallen. The Municipal Council had provided a tubewell to fill up the tank till the eighties. All sides of the reservoir were lined with Nanakshahi bricks. However, with the passage of time the brick lining has been destroyed. Now a days, on one side of the tank is located a vridh ashram owned and managed by the Dainik Prarthana Sabha. There also exists Bhadr Kali Mandir and Shivala. The upper portion of Jal Mahal is in a dilapidated condition and the time is not far when this magnificent structure will pass into oblivion.

Locally known as Hazira, structure is near Baring College and was built by Shamsher Khan. The tomb stands on a raised platform surrounded by a low wall having bastions in the corners. The tomb is an octagonal structure crowned with a low dome. The spandrels of the arches have painted arabesque and geometrical designs.

The interior wall as well as the exterior of the tomb is richly adorned with paintings depicting floral, geometrical and calligraphic designs. The decoration is intact on the interior but on the exterior only its traces survive. Recently, the ASI had undertaken repairs. Preservation work has been done on its interior as well as exterior walls. The surroundings of this monuments, too, have been beautified.

The palace of Maharaja Sher Singh reminds one of the love of rich architectural structures by Sikh rulers. This beautiful building with mud plastering was known to be part of Anarkali which was initially built along with Baradari as an imitation of Shalimar Garden of Lahore. The remnants wall paintings and carvings can seen. However, the attitude of the authorities of the ASI and Baring Union College may lead to the fading away of the original design and structure of the building.

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