Kurukshetra

Kurukshetra
City
Bronze Chariot with Lord Krishna and Arjuna in Kurukshetra.
Kurukshetra Show map of Haryana Kurukshetra Show map of India
Coordinates: 29°57′57″N 76°50′13″E / 29.965717°N 76.837006°E / 29.965717; 76.837006
Country	India
State	Haryana
District	Kurukshetra
Area
• Total	1,530 km2 (590 sq mi)
Population
• Total	964,655
• Density	630/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Hindi
• Additional official	Punjabi
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	136118
Telephone code	911744
ISO 3166 code	IN-HR
Vehicle registration	HR-07
Website	kurukshetra.gov.in

Kurukshetra () is a city in the state of Haryana, India. It is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Holy Place"). It is also known as the "Land of Bhagwad Gita".

According to the Puranas, Kurukshetra is a region named after King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and Pandavas. This is place where Mahabharata war was fought. Also the Bhagavad Gita was explained there during the war when Lord Krishna found Arjuna in a difficult situation.^[1]

Before 1947, Thanesar was the name of the tehsil headquarters and the town. Thanesar or Sthaneswar is a historical town next to newly created Kurukshetra city. Thanesar derives its name from the word "Sthaneshwar", which means "Place of God".

In most ancient Hindu texts, Kurukshetra is not a city but a region ("kshetra" meaning "region" in Sanskrit). The boundaries of Kurukshetra lies to the central and western parts of state of Haryana and southern Punjab. Thus according to the Taittiriya Aranyaka 5.1.1., the Kurukshetra region is south of Turghna (Srughna/Sugh in Sirhind, Punjab), north of Khandava (Delhi and Mewat region), east of Maru (desert) and west of Parin.^[2]

1. ↑ "History of Kurukhsetra". Archived from the original on 11 March 2012.
2. ↑ Agarwal, Vishal: Is There Vedic Evidence for the Indo-Aryan Immigration to India? Archived 28 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine (PDF)