BIJNOR, Uttar Pradesh

Main Attraction: BITHOOR MANDIR

During Dwapar era, the temple finds mention as one of the residential premises of the ‘Chachashri’ – Mahatma Bithoor of ‘Kauravas and Pandavas’ situated on the bank of river Ganga. The place is still known as ‘Bithoor Kuti’/ Bithoor Ashram. The ancient Bithoor mandir is being visited by numerous devotees every year. The tradition is that before the battle of Mahabharatha, the Lord Krishna had come from Mathura to Hastinapur in order to resolve the crises among the Kauravas and Pandavas. 

Dronacharya totally denied Lord Krishna to let even a pin-point piece of land to the Pandvas. Hence, Lord Krishna got annoyed went to Mahatma Bithoor’s Ashram and ate ‘bathua saag’ (a variety of green vegetable leaves) with him. During the historical Mahabharatha battle, the women and their children took shelter at Dhara Nagari within the close proximity of the Ashram and there they resided quite safe and sound. The remains of that ancient shelter house (‘Sharan Sthali’) may be visualized still in a dilapidated state.

Brief History

The origin of the district as described in Mahabharat and Puranas to the foundation to Raja Ben and described as Vena, a minor hero King of Northern India and though his name is less a household word than those of Rama, Vikramaditya and Salivahana, he has fairly familiar reputation as a Chakravarti or universal emperor. Names after him are castle mounds near Bijnor. In Bijnor, he is considered as contemporary of Rama. Mandawar in the Bijnor tahsil was identified by Vivien de St. Martin and General Cunningham with the Mo-ti-pu-lo or Matipura of Hiuen Tsang, the identification is open to the usual doubts though an attempt was made, without excavation, to recognize the objects described by Chinese pilgrim.

The kingdom of Mo-ti-pu-lo may certainly have included part of this district where Buddhism was flourishing. The Anna’s of Bijnor under the early muslim rulers of Delhi were to a large extent identical with the history of the country, known as katehr, which at the first seems to have been included in the Single Government of Budaun and afterwards had been divided between Budaun and Sambhal. Some account of Bijnor is found in the writings of the poet, Amir Khusro, who stated that when the Sultan quarreled with his son, Khizr Khan, in 1315 he sent him in disgrace to Amroha, adding that the prince might have the country between that town and the hills as hunting ground. Games were so numerous there “ten antelopes might had been killed with a single arrow.”

The emperor, in 1526 sent Zahid Khan to take charge of the district, but the power of the Afghans was yet unbroken, and the Mughal forces were compelled to evacuate Sambhal, which became one of the strong holds of the opposing party. But 1737 Ali Mohammed was a person of great importance, have acquired much fame and little of Nawab for his action in crushing the Barha Saiyeds in Muzaffar Nagar. He then proceeded to extend his authority and in 1742 defeated and killed Raja Harchand Khattri, the governor of Moradabad, thus acquiring total area of Sambhal and Amroha. Ali Mohammad there upon proceeded with his army to Daranagar on the bank of Ganga in this district and then arranged for a compromise with Mir Manu, to whom he gave his daughter in marriage with a large dowry, the result of this agreement being the retention of whole Sambhal by the Afghans. In the time of Akbar the district was included in the Sirkar of Sambhal in the subah of Delhi. In the beginning the district comprised seventeen parganas but frequent changes took place in its composition. When this portion was handed over to the East India Company by the Nawab Vizir of Avadh in 1801, the district formed part of the territorial division known as Rohilkhand and was under the charge of Collector.

The district first included in the vast area known as the Collectorate of Moradabad. A new district was formed in 1817 under the name of the northern division of Moradabad, with headquarters at Nagina. The first Collector was Bosanquet. He was succeeded by Halhed who shifted the headquarters to Bijnor in 1824. This was ostensibly done on the ground of the unhealthiness of Nagina but the real reason was the great distance from the Military station of Merrut. It was not, however, till 1837 that the old appellation was dropped altogether and the district became as Bijnor. The principal alterations in the area were affected by the transfer of Taluka Chandi from Garhwal to the district in 1842 and the relinquishment 1866 of villages lying between the foot hills and submon-tane road, while minor rectifications took place from time to time on the western border by the action of river Ganga.

The story of Mutiny in the Bijnor is in many ways remarkable. Brigadier Jones pushed on the main body and occupied Najibabad, where the Nawab’s hall of audience was destroyed. The fort of Pathargarh was found empty, save for a number of guns and large quantities ammunition and grain. Mr. Shakespeare, who had accompanied the force, at once resumed charge of the district, making Najibabad his headquarters, the tahsils and police posts were re-established and every effort was made to induce the Mohammedans to return to their peaceful avocations.

But the district was far from pacified and the rebels needed another severe lesson on 21st of April. Jones continued his advance, hearing that a force had taken up a position at Nagina. This victory, of which a detailed account could be found in the Comhill Magazine of January 1863, was decisive. Bijnor was occupied without opposition. After the capture Lucknow Sir Coliss Campbell directed a column to form at Roorkee and hence to march through Rohelkhand to Bareily, where another Rohilla Nawab exercised a precarious sway. This force was commanded by Brigadier Jones whose Second-in- Command was Colonel J. Code of the1st Punjab infantry.

On the 17th of April Column crossed the Ganga at Hardwar and Coke was sent on rapidly towards Nagal to meet the enemy who were known to be in strength in the forest. After covering four miles, Coke met with a strong body of rebels at Bhogniwala and having silenced this, let loose the multanis, whose repeated charges drove the enemy head long, causing them to abandon guns and baggage and to fly into the jungle with heavy loss. The history of Bijnor properly begins with its constitution as a separate charge, but as the present area was from the first inception of British rules treated more or less as a district subdivision. Since the mutiny and annals of Bijnor have been uneventful, save for the occurrence from time to time of famines, revisions of the land revenues.