FARIDABAD, Haryana

Main Attraction: Surajkund Crafts Mela

Surajkund Crafts Mela is an annual fair celebrated in Faridabad District, Haryana. The festival showcases the art, craft and cuisines of India. The crafts persons from SAARC nations also participate in this Fair. The Mela is located at a distance of 8 km from south Delhi in the historic site of Surajkund.

The ancient Sun Temple stood here during AD 1000. The remains of the temple are still present here. The enchanting aura of the place won the heart of a Tomar chieftain Surajpal, a worshipper of the Sun god, who got a sun pool and an amphitheatre built here. The place was named after him. Surajkund was a simple tourist destination till 1987, when it was first organized. Later on it became a famous site which celebrated the centuries old crafts and traditions of India.

Brief History

The region, comprising the present Faridabad district, seems to have been under the influence of the rulers of Delhi. With the extension of Maurya Empire it can be presumed that the region was held under effective Maurya control. Its break-up resulted in paving inroads for foreign invaders like the Bactrians, Greeks, Parthians, Scythians and Kushanas.

The region also formed a part of Harsha’s empire in the first half of the seventh century and then of the Gurjara-Partiharas. The Tomaras also held this region till Visaladeva Chahamana conquered Delhi about A. D. 1156. In the time of Akbar (A.D. 1556-1605), the area covered by the present Faridabad district was contained in Subah of Delhi and Agra. During the flourishing times of the Mughal empire, the region was not in the limelight of history, but with its decay, mention of the old Gurgaon district (including the present Faridabad district) is again found in historical writings. During the period of Mughal Empire after the death of Aurangzeb, old Gurgaon district (including Faridabad district) was torn between several contending powers.

The exploits of Balram Jat, popularly called Balu, came to prominence in the fifties of the 18th century. Balu was the son of a petty revenue collector of Faridabad. Supported by his family connection with Badan Singh, the Jat Raja of Bharatpur, he extended his power by seizing the neighbouring villages and ousting their lawful owners and the local magistrates. He killed Murtaza Khan, the local Mughal Governor Officer at Faridabad who had once imprisoned of the ascendancy of the Bharatpur Chiefs with the Mughal Court. In 1739, Muhammad Shah, the Emperor, gave the titles of Naib Bakshi and Rao to Balu. When after Muhammad Shah’s death in 1748, Balu expelled the imperial outpost at Shamspur.

Safdar Jang, the Wazir of the new Mughal Emperor, Ahmed Shah, sent a force there which was boldly resisted by Balu. Thereupon, Safdar Jang himself marched against him. The Wazir had only reached Khizrabad when Balram in terror came and made his submission through the Maratha envoy. He was sent back to his home after a few days, on his promising to be the Wazir’s follower. He had built a mud fort in about 1740 and named it Ballabgarh and by taking the lease of the revenue collection of Palwal and Faridabad (which lay in the Nizam’s Jagir) soon made himself a district governor and noble (Rai) Then began a civil war. Ahmed Shah dismissed Safdar Jang and appointed Intizam-ud-daulah as new Wazir. Safdar Jang revolted and decided to try his strength. The Emperor was supported by Intizam-uddaulah and Mir Bakshi, Imad-ul-mulk. The Ruhelas led by Najib-ud-daulah as well as the Marathas joined the Emperor. In his struggle against the Emperor, Safdar Jang won over Suraj mal and Balu to his side. The civil war lasted for a year and a quarter at Sikri, 5 kilometres south of Ballabgarh, and with his jat allies put up a stout resistance. However, after having been defeated, he fled to Avadh in November, 1753. Imad-ul-mulk then tried to gain possession of the lost areas from the jats.

Imad’s chief agent, Aqibat Mahmud Khan, son of Murtaza Khan (who had been killed by Balu) opened the campaign of re-conquest of Faridabad side. Here the leading disturber of law and order was Balu. When Aqibat came with 500 Badakshis and 2,000 Maratha troopers and demanded revenue of the district and tribute due to the Emperor, Balu offered flight. Imad sent 7.000 more troops and 30 pieces of light artillery with rockets to Aqibat to match the guns of Ballabgarh. After some fighting Balu made his submission, saw Aqibat and agreed to pay the rent and tribute due from him. Then Aqibat advanced to Palwal, about 23 kilometres south of Ballabgarh, but found the peasants afraid to pay him rent lest Balu should demand it again. The revenue collector of the place, whom Balu had ousted, told Aqibat that unless he captured Ballabgarh and killed Balu, he would fail to get control over the administration of the area. A thanedar sent by him to Fatehgarh village was turned out at Balu’s bidding. Aqibat, therefore, marched back to a plain near Ballabgarh and asked Balu to come and settle the revenue demand. Balu arrived with his Diwan, one son and an escort of 250 men. Aqibat demanded payment. The jat chief replied defiantly, “I have not brought the money in my pocket. I only promised to pay the tribute after collecting the rent. If you want to wrest this tract from me, you will have to fight for it.” High words were exchanged and Balu in anger laid his hand on the hilt of his sword. But the Badakshis surrounding Aqibat’s palki fell upon Balu and slew him with his son, his Diwan and nine other men (November 29, 1753). The garrison of Ballabgarh kept up fire till midnight after which they evacuated the fort. Aqibat took possession of it with all its artillery and armament and gave up the other property within to plunder by his soldiers. The areas were then conferred upon lmad.

Aqibat quickly followed up this success in other directions. In the following week. he sacked the walled villages of Mithaul and Hathin (19 kilometres south and south-west of Palwal), where disobedient peasants had fought all day and had fled away at night. He also attacked the small mud forts of the jats around Palwal and brought them under his rule. Then after a visit to Delhi, he started (December, 27) again for Faridabad, taking Khandoji Holker and his troops to assist him in the campaign, But could not control this tract, as his soldiers refused to obey his agents, and the jats seized the opportunity to expel the outposts set up by him at Hathin and other newly conquered places. So he appealed to his master to come in person and Imad marched from Delhi to Ballabgarh.

Khandoji Holker, son of Malhar Rao Holker, had encamped at Hodal (27 kilometres south of Palwal) and sent detachments which plundered the Jat villages all around, even as far as Barsana (19 kilometres) and Nandgaon (27 kilometres) south of Hodal, ousting Jawahar Singh, Suraj Mal’ s son from these and establishing Maratha posts there (end of’ December, 1753). This strengthened Aqibat’s position and he sacked the Jat village of Ghangaula (14 kilometres south-west of Ballabgarh) belonging to a brother of Balu and planted his own thana there (January 5, 1754). On January 8, Imad advanced from Ballabgarh to Palwal and got into touch with Khandoji at Hodal. The fort of Ghasera (24 kilometres west of Palwal) had been wrested by Suraj Mal from Bahadur Singh Bar-Gujar, the Faujdar of Chakla Koli (Aligarh). On April 23, 1753, after that chieftain had slain his women and rushed to death in battle at the head of 25 desperate followers. Imad appointed Bahadur’s son, Fateh Singh, master of his father’s fort, which the Bharatpur garrison had evacuated in terror. Thus a mortal enemy of the Jats was planted there with orders to attack their hamlets around.

During his fourth invasion in 1756, Ahmed, Shah Abdali encountered Marathas at Faridabad, sacked and burnt the town. In 1757, Ahmed Shah Abdali marched down the west bank of the Yamuna, by way of Khizrabad and Badarpur, to a place about 10 kilometres south of Ballabgarh. His objectives were Suraj Mal’s strongholds of Kumher and Dig. At first he left Ballabgarh untaken in his rear. But as his foragers, spread over a vast area, approached this place, the Jat garrison attacked them, slaying and wounding many. Thereafter fort of Ballabgarh was attacked and captured. After the capture of Ballabgarh, Ahmed Shah Abdali set forth for Mathura still held by the Jats under Suraj Mal.

Abdali’s second visit to the district was in 1760 during his fifth invasion of India. After his victory over Dattaji Sindhia at Barari Ghat, north of Delhi on January 9, Abdali skirting the city of Delhi, which was then without a ruler, instead of entering it, encamped at Khizrabad, south of Delhi, on January 14. Thirteen days later, he marched south through Gurgaon district to Dig (in Bharatpur) against Suraj Mal. Moving through Mewat, he reached Rewari on February 18, chasing in vain the Marathas under Malhar Rao Holker. Abdali then started for Delhi, reached Dhankot (32 km south west of Delhi) on February 27 and Khizrabad on February 29 without having achieved anything. Soon after he shifted to Aligarh. He remained there till he again marched towards north through the Doab, crossed the Yamuna and defeated the Marathas in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761.

Meanwhile, the Mewatis had been robbing the disturbed country around Mewat. For some years past, Suraj Mal had also been engaged in conquering that region and establishing his own administration there. He had seized Palwal on September 27, 1754, recovered Ballabgarh and in November, 1755 recovered Ghasera.

The district of Faridabad is conferred upon this name from the town Faridabad which is said to have been founded in A. D. 1707 by Shaikh Farid, treasurer of Jahangir, with the object of protecting the highway which passed through the town. Shaikh Farid built a fort, a tank and a mosque.

Later it came to be the headquarters of a pargana which was held in jagir by the Ballabgarh ruler. It was confiscated by the Government as the ruler took part in the 1857 Uprising.

The site for Faridabad township, covering an area of about 18.1 square kilometres on the western side of the Delhi-Mathura National Highway, was selected by the Government of India for rehabilitating the displaced persons migrating form the North-Western Frontier province and Dera Ghazi Khan district (now in Pakistan) consequent upon the partition of India in 1947. To start with, the control of this township was vested in the Faridabad Development Board, which functioned under the authority of the Government of India through the Ministry of Re-habilitation. It was not considered desirable that the Central government should retain a permanent enclave within the territory of the State Government and so the township was handed over to the Punjab Government.

Ballabgarh town, which is which is now merged in Faridabad Municipal Corporation, is about 48 kilometres away from Gurgaon to the east and at a distance of about 35 kilometres from Delhi to the south. Legend, however, fanciful, has it that the town was founded by Ballhab Singh, the son of a poverty stricken cultivator. His mother as usual carried a few pieces of dry bread and onions as a mid-day repast for her husband who was tilling a tiny patch. She put down the child whom she had also carried in her lap in the shade under a tree and took the food to her husband where he was working. When she returned, she found a black serpent hovering with its hood raised over the baby. As the men around rushed to kill the snake, a passing sadhu pleaded with them to desist, and prophesised the child would one day be a king. His words came true; Ballhab struck great fortune when two mules laden with gold mohurs strayed into the farm. This was the beginning of his rise. He and his successors ruled over 200 surrounding villages as fiefs of the Mughals for seven generations.

The fort in the town is said to have been built by Balram and possibly the name may be a corruption from Balramgarh. The township outside the fort precincts was laid out by “Raja Bahadur Singh of Ballabgarh. It still bears the trace of his careful planning-quadrangular market places, wells at cross roads, and a large garden which he named Dilkusha. A chhatri and a pakka tank were constructed by the widow of Anrudh Singh, Raja of Ballabagarh till 1818, in the memory of her deceased husband. The fort, the tank and the chhatri are still there. The inner part of the fort now houses the police station and the tahsil office. The last of this dynasty was Nahar Singh, a martyar of the great Uprising of 1857. A monument and Nahar Singh memorial park have been raised by the municipal committee on the outskirts of the town to mark the centenary of the event.