KARNAL, Haryana

Main Attraction: National Dairy Research Institute

The National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal was originally started as Imperial Institute of Animal Husbandry and Dairying in 1923 at Bangalore. It was expanded and renamed as Imperial Dairy Institute in 1936 and was known as National Dairy Research Institute after independence in 1947. Subsequently, in 1955, NDRI headquarters was shifted to Karnal. Facilities at Bangalore were retained to function as a Regional Station to serve the Southern States. In 1989, status of Deemed University was conferred to the Institute for further strengthening the academic programmes for human resource development. In 1990, with the birth of "Pratham", the first IVF buffalo calf of the world, NDRI reached a significant milestone.

The National Dairy Research Institute as the premier Dairy Research Institution undertakes research, teaching and extension activities towards dairy development in the country. Being the National Institute, it conducts basic and applied research with the objective to enhance animal productivity and also to develop cost effective technologies for the benefit of the teeming millions. Further, the Institute provides high quality manpower to meet the human resource requirements for the overall dairy development in the country. The Institute also undertakes extension programmes for transferring the know how from the laboratory to the farmer's fields.

Brief History

The district is named after the town of Karnal which according to legends owes its name to Raja Karna who, although an elder brother of the Pandavas born to Kunti of God Sun before marriage, was a very close associate of Duryodhana and fought for him in the great Mahabharata war. A tank in the city also bears the name Karna Tal and a town gate is called Karna gate after him.

The history of the area in which the Karnal district lies can be traced back to ancient Aryan past. Of the five traditional divisions of India, the region comprising Karnal district lay mostly in Madhyadesha.

In the first two centuries of the Christian era, the tract was included in the Kushana empire. In the 3rd century Kushana power declined and the Yaudheyas representing an ancient Indo-Iranian clan rose to power and held sway over the region between Satluj and the Yamuna. In the first half of the 4th century Karnal area along with Haryana seems to have been annexed by the Gupta monarchs. The empire was shattered by the attack of Huns in about 510 A.D. and upto the end of the 6th century there was no settled rule in these parts. 

At the end of 6th century A.D., area was under the rule of Vardhanas of Thanesar. The 7th century was a period of eclecticism in religion. Buddhism was declining and Hinduism was again coming into its own. The region was under Kanauj rule under the Pala Emperor of Bengal (A.D.770-810). The authority of Mihira Bhoja (c.A.D. 836-85), the Pratihara ruler of Kanauj penetrated as far as Pehowa. At that time, the Tomara Rajputs descending from Raja Jaula, established themselves as rulers of this region in the middle of the 9th century.

About the beginning of the 10th century, as the Pratihara power began to decline, the Tomaras assumed independence. One of the Tomara rulers, Anangpala, founded the city of Delhi and made it his Capital. His successors, Tehapala, Madanpala, Kritpala, Lakhanpala and Prithvipala were rulers of note. The Tomaras came into conflict with the Chahamanas (Chauhans) of Sakambhari, but continued to rule the Hariyana country till the middle of 12th century when they were overthrown by the Chahamana Vigraharaja IV. The country between the Satluj and the Yamuna experienced relative peace for a century and a half except the plundering invasions of Mahamud of Ghazni.

In A.D.1190-91 Mohammad Ghuri invaded India but was defeated by Prithviraja at Taraori. Again attacked in 1192 and defeated Prithviraja at Taraori. After the Second Battle of Taraori in 1192, the Karnal area was more or less firmly attached to Delhi till the close of the 14th Century. During 1398, invasion of Timur swept away the Tughlug dynasty and put an end to the Turkish rule in India. Timur marched through the Karnal district on his way to Delhi. In the anarchy that followed the departure of Timur, the tract was entirely separated from Delhi, and belonged, first to the ruler of Samana and eventually to the Lodi rulers of the Punjab. In A.D.1525-26, first battle of Panipat between Babar and Ibrahim Lodhi, the latter was killed and Babar destroyed the power of Lodi dynasty and transferred the empire of Hindustan from the Afghans to the Mughal dynasty.

When Humayun died at Delhi in A.D.1556, the young Akbar, who was then in the Punjab, marched at once under the guardianship of Bairam Khan to meet the Afghan Army under Himu ( a Dhusar of Rewari), the Hindu General of Adil Shah, Himu fought heroically but was killed and the result was the total rout of the Afghans. For about two centuries the tract enjoyed peace under the Mughals, Karnal area was plundered in A.D.1573 by Ibrahim Hussain Mirza in his revolt against Akbar and its neighbourhood was laid by Banda Bairagi in A.D.1709.

In 1709-10, Banda Bairagi, the disciple of Guru Gobind Singh, in an effort to fight against oppression collected an army of Sikhs and occupied the whole of the country west of the Yamuna. But he was repulsed by Bahadur Shah in December, 1710.

In A.D. 1739, it was the scene of the defeat of Muhammad Shah by Nadir Shah. Emperor Muhammad Shah (A.D.1719-1748) with an enormous army occupied a strongly fortified camp at Karnal. But he yielded to the invader as his supplies were cut off from the open country and starved into submission. A decade later, in 1748 Emperor Muhammad Shah had died at Delhi.

On the retirement of Ahmad Shah Durrani from the Punjab, in December, 1762, the Sikhs appeared on the scene. The importance of Karnal grew in the time of Raja Gajpat Singh of Jind who after its capture in A.D. 1763 built the boundry wall and a fort and under whose rule the town increased considerably in size. On January 14, 1764 Sikh Chiefs defeated and killed Zain Khan, the Durrani Governor of Sirhind, and took possession of the whole of Sirhind province as far south as Panipat.

During seventh campaign (1764-65) Ahmad Shah Durrani reached Kunjpura by the end of February, 1765. But due to unfavourable weather, he returned to Afghanistan.

Amir-ul-Umara Najib-ud-daulah, the Mir Bakshi of the Mughal Empire, then held the charge of Hariyana. The off and on plundering by the Sikhs in the parganas of Karnal and Panipat continued in the following years. Najib-ud-daulah fought many battles with them but was defeated in 1768. After the death of Najib-ud-daula in 1770, complete anarchy prevailed in this area. But Karnal fell on bad days when Bhag Singh, son of Raja Gajpat Singh of Jind lost it to Marathas first in A.D. 1787 and finally in A.D.1795.

The area had experienced varying political disturbances in the eighteenth century. These were identified with the terms Singhashahi Ka Ram Raula or Bhaogardi, the ‘Sikh hurly-burly’ or the ‘Maratha anarchy’. The Mughal authority had lost its grip over this region. The Sikhs never really established their grasp over the country, south of Panipat. But the whole period was a constant contest between these three powers; and the tract formed a sort of no man’s land, coveted by all but protected by none. And in 1803 when the British took over the district, it was estimated that more than four-fifths was overrun by forest, and its inhabitants either removed or exterminated. The royal canal had long dried up, and thick forest had taken the place of cultivation and afforded shelter to thieves, vagabonds and beasts of prey.

A treaty was signed in 1809 by which Ranjit Singh was prevented from making any encroachments south of the satluj. At the same time all the chiefs between the Satluj and Yamuna were taken under British protection. Punjab was annexed by the British in 1849

The uprising of 1857 clearly showed that the people in many areas of this district rose in opposition to British authority. All the important towns of the district were heavily guarded by the forces of the Patiala and Jind Chiefs, who, to protect their own interests, were aligned to the cause of the British. The British were merciless in their atrocities after the Uprising was suppressed. Lambardar’s allowances were confiscated, villages were heavily fined. As a measure of punishment, the district was not included for any of the development programmes and keeping it economically and educationally backward, in order to use it as a recruiting area for the British army.

India began to change in the 19th century and the Karnal district was no exception, though its pace was slow. Arya Samaj played an important part in the popular awakening. It was founded in the Holi Mohalla, Karnal in the beginning of the present century.

After World War I of 1914-18, people were highly discontented due to shortage of goods, heavy prices, famine etc. Epidemics had resulted in a very heavy mortality. In March, 1919 hartals were observed against the obnoxious Rowlatt Acts. There were demonstrations throughout the district against the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh on 13th April, 1919. In 1920, Gandhiji launched a Non-violent Non-Co-operation Campaign throughout India. The course of events in the district was in line with what happened elsewhere. A District Political Conference was organized at Karnal with Lala Lajpat Rai as its Chairman.

In 1930, Civil Disobedience Movement was launched. Many villages in the district showed signs of dis-affection. The movement continued unabated till May, 1934 when it languished. After this, Congress decided to participate in elections of 1937. Political activity was kept alive after the elections of 1937. The leading persons of the district unanimously approved the ‘Quit India’ resolution adopted by the Congress in 1942.