| |
Rewari (Hindi: रेवाडी़) is a city and a
municipal council in Rewari District in the Indian state of
Haryana. It is located in south-west Haryana around 85 km
from the Indian capital New Delhi.
Rewari, the land of Ahirs/Yadavs, is a city of historical
importance. Its history is told in the Indian epic
Mahabharat. The last Hindu king of India, a great warrior
Hemu Vikramaditya, belonged to Rewari. He won 22 battles
during 1554-1556, spanning the entire north of India. He was
the only Hindu king to rule from Delhi during the medieval
period. His Haveli in Rewari still stands in the Qutabpur
area. This city also produced the famous 20th century
freedom fighter Rao Tula Ram.
Though all the Hindu festivals are celebrated here with
enthusiasm, the festival of Teej has a special place in the
heart of Rewari citizens. As in the nearby state of
Rajasthan, the colourful Teej is celebrated annually in
Rewari on the third day of the bright moon fortnight of the
Shravan month (July-August).
History
The history of Rewari is contemporary to the history of
Delhi. During the Mahabharata period, a king named Rewat had
a daughter named Rewati. The father used to call her Rewa.
He founded a city named “Rewa Wadi” after her. When Rewa
married Balram, elder brother of Lord Krishna, the king
donated the city “Rewa Wadi” as dowry for her daughter. In
course of time, the name Rewa Wadi became Rewari.
Rewari was a district of Delhi province during Akbar's time
and included several parts of the modern other districts of
Haryana and Rajasthan. It was made a tehsil of Gurgaon
district by the British in 1862. Following Rao Tula Ram's
revolt, it was included in Punjab, where it continued until
1972, when it was made a tehsil of Mahendragarh district. It
became an independent district in 1989. The district has
three tehsils: Rewari, Bawal and Kosli.
Martial history
During the medieval period and rule of Mughals in 1553-1556,
a Dhusar Brahman named 'Hem Chandra Vikramaditya', called 'Hemu'
in short, a Bhargava of Rewari (whose initial occupation was
selling saltpetre / gunpowder), became chief of the army and
Prime Minister of Adil Shah who had become insane. In a
three-year period, Hemu fought 22 battles for Adil Shah,
spanning entire north India from Bengal to Punjab. He proved
to be one of the greatest Hindu warriors in the history of
India. He was nearly successful in throwing out Mughals out
of India after victories over Akbar's armies in Agra and
Delhi. After centuries of foreign rule, Hemu re-established
the Hindu Raj in North india on 6 October 1556 in a
coronation in what is now known as Old Fort, Delhi, opposite
Pragati Maidan.
During the Mughal period, Rewari was part of the Delhi
territory. In the first war of independence of 1857, Rao
Tula Ram of Rewari fought aggressively against the British
rule. He led a movement that briefly ended British rule in
Rewari. Not able to maintain power, Rao Tula Ram went to
Afghanistan.
The land of Rewari is called Veer-Bhumi people of
Rewari are proud to serve in the Indian army. Tens of
thousands of soldiers and officers from Rewari have joined
the Indian armed forces and paramilitary forces. Their
salaries and the pensions of an equal number of
ex-servicemen add substantially to the income of rural areas
of Rewari.
In November 1962, the men of Rewari valiantly fought the
Chinese aggressors at Rezang La ridge defending the nearby
airstrip in Chushul Valley of Ladakh. Many died. The 118 men
of the Ahir rifle company of 13 Kumaon Regiment fought until
their bullets were finished. They then fought hand-to-hand,
killing about 1,300 Chinese. Only four Rewari men returned
alive. They were awarded one Param Vir Chakra', eight Vir
Chakra and four Sena Medals posthumously. Rezang La
Memorial, a monument in their memory, has been built at
Delhi Road, Rewari near the stadium.
Geography
Rewari town is located at 28.18°N 76.62°E. It has an average
elevation of 245 metres (803 feet).
The area of Rewari district is 1,559 square kilometre. The
summer temperature can go up to 46 degree Celsius from May
to July. Winter is from November to February and the
temperature can fall to 2 degree Celsius in December and
January. The district is adjacent to Rajasthan and has dust
storms in summer. Rugged hilly terrain of Aravali ranges as
well as sandy dunes are found in the district.
The overall climate is dry and some parts are semi-arid.
Rain falls from July to September. A little rain is
experienced during winter also. The average rainfall in
Rewari is less than 500 mm. Rain-fed Sahibi river that
originates in Rajasthan passes through Rewari and falls in
Najafgarh lake in Delhi. Extremely heavy rains in 1978
flooded Sahibi which in turn flooded Delhi. A barrage was
then constructed at Masani village on junction of NH8 and
NH71B to impound the water coming from Rajasthan. However,
the rains have not been heavy for the last 30 years and the
barrage has hardly collected any water. Now a canal has been
constructed to bring excess rain water from other areas of
Haryana, particularly flood water of Yamuna, to the barrage
to recharge the ground drinking water for Rewari town.
Demographics
As of 2001 India census, Rewari town had a population of
100,946. Males constitute 54% of the population and females
46%. Rewari has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than
the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 79%, and
female literacy is 67%. In Rewari, 12% of the population is
under 6 years of age.
Rewari district had a population of 765,351 in 2001 census,
82 per cent of which was rural.
Yadav (Ahir) caste forms the majority of Rewari district's
population. Rewari is a part of Ahirwal, the land of Ahirs.
Ahirwal includes Mahendragarh-Narnaul area and Alwar, which
also have a large population of Ahirs (Yadavs). The adjacent
districts of Mahendragarh and Alwar have Yadav-majority
populations.
When the National Capital Region (NCR) was formed three
decades ago around Delhi, the capital of India, Rewari was
included, as it is only 60 km from the Delhi boundary. The
urbanisation of agricultural rural areas has reached
Dharuhera and Rewari; many real estate development projects
have been completed in the Manesar-Dharuhera-Rewari-Bawal
corridor along NH 8 (Delhi-Jaipur highway). When the next
census is taken in 2011, the demography of Rewari district
may be quite different.
Transport
Delhi airport is about 60 km from Rewari town. It is less
than an hour's drive from the airport to Rewari town by
access-controlled eight-lane Delhi-Gurgaon expressway and
four-lane NH 8 (Gurgaon-Jaipur highway).
Rewari is a major junction on Indian railway network. Five
railway lines connect it to Delhi (82 km away) and Ahmedabad
on the major North-West trunk route, Bhiwani and Hissar
towards Punjab, Bikaner via
Mahendragarh-Loharu-Sadulpur-Churu, Ajmer via Alwar and
Jaipur, and Ajmer via Ringas. The sixth railway line is
being built to connect Rewari to Jhajjhar and Rohtak. The
seventh railway line connecting Rewari to Palwal and Khurja
has been under planning for over two decades but not
approved for construction (as on July 2009).
Rewari is a major transit station for freight traffic from
Bombay and Kandla ports in western India towards Delhi and
northern states of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and
Jammu-Kashmir. As the Kandla-Ahmedabad-Rewari railway track
is not electrified, freight trains (goods trains) with
containers double-stacked ply on this route and take the
containers further north from Rewari. Double-stacked
container freight trains can carry almost 4,000 tons per
rake which is almost twice of the load a normal goods train
can haul. The Rewari-Delhi railway line has double track and
the Rewari-Ahmedabad railway line is being doubled. The
Rewari-Delhi railway line is planned to be electrified.
Rewari is connected by three national highways: NH 8 (Delhi-Jaipur),
NH 71 (Jalandhar-Rewari-Bawal) and NH 71B (Narnaul-Rewari-Dharuhera-Palwal).
State highways connect Rewari to all major towns in Haryana
and adjacent districts of Rajasthan.
Buses ply regularly and very frequently between Rewari,
Delhi and all towns of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.
Thousands of commuters commute by train every day between
Rewari and Gurgaon and Delhi for work.
Rewari was first connected by a railway line to Delhi in
1870s, when on 14th February 1873, the first meter gauge
railway track in India, was opened between Delhi to Rewari
(84km), along with a branch line from Garhi Harsaru to
Farrukhnagar (12.3km), the latter being built specifically
for the salt trading, and was plied by 'A class 2-4-0 tank
steam engines, which started from Delhi's Sarai Rohilla
station [4] and gradually to more railway lines. All the
railway lines were metre gauge. The gauge has been changed
to broad gauge in 17 years from 1992 to 2009. Now Rewari is
connected to all major cities in India by direct trains
obviating the need for change of trains at gauge-change
stations such as Delhi and Ahmedabad.
Economy
The economy of Rewari was mainly agrarian until recently and
continues to be so in most of the district. The traditional
industries are brass metalwork and ornamental shoes (tilledar
jooti). Slates and stones are mined in Arvali range in
western part of the district. Salary and pension of a large
number of servicemen contribute to the economy of villages.
Dharuhera-Bawal corridor on NH8
Proximity to Delhi led to development of industrial areas
along NH8 from Dharuhera to Bawal in 1970s and 1980s. The
growth of manufacturing units has created employment and
wealth. Farmers benefited from acquisition or sale of land
for industrial estates.
Real estate development of agricultural land into houses and
offices near Gurgaon town from 1970s to 1990s and further
south-west towards Manesar in the current decade has led to
similar development in Dharuhera and adjacent Bhiwadi of
Alwar district of Rajasthan in recent years. Sale of land
has put huge amounts of money in the hands of farmers and
changed their life style.
Rewari Town Regional Development Plan has earmarked about 40
sectors for residence, commerce and industry between Rewari
town, NH8 and NH71B (the road connecting Rewari town to
NH8). Most of the sectors fall in villages and private
developers are buying agriculture land for development of
plots and buildings. Some land has been acquired by the
government and four residential sectors have been developed
in Rewari city. With winds of change, a shopping
mall-cum-multiplex has come up in the city.
Click to Enlarge
Education
Rewari has a number of schools and colleges. The nearest
college was in the nearby princely state of Alwar until
independence. Ahir College was set up at the end of the
second world war in 1945 by Rao Balbir Singh, descendant of
Rao Tula Ram. Kishanlal Public College is also an old
educational institute. Now several private colleges have
been set up in Rewari district to teach engineering,
nursing, management, etc. though the quality of education in
some of them is low.
A Kendriya Vidyalaya (Central School) has existed in Rewari
since 1980. A Sainik School has started in the year 2009. It
is temporarily housed in Rewari city awaiting completion of
construction of its permanent campus at village Gothra, west
of the city.
Industry
Rewari is famous for its traditional metalwork,
particularly brass work. If anybody needs some of the best
brass work in the world, Rewari is the place to find it. The
main markets of Rewari have shops that sell brass utensils
and brass artistic works. Along with Moradabad, Rewari is
the brass hub of India.
Rewari has kept the traditional art of Tilledar Jooti alive.
People from various locations come here to purchase Tilledar
Jootis.
Huge deposits of quartzite and slate in shades of green,
black, and brown are found in the Aravali ranges of Rewari
district nearer to Narnaul and mined extensively. The mining
is open cast.
Rewari also has emerged as a new industrial township. The
district has three modern developed industrial areas:
Dharuhera and Bawal on Delhi-Jaipur national highway and
Rewari along Rewari-Dharuhera road. Companies like Hero
Honda, Sony, YKK, Suraj Maltings, Exide, TVS, Anantraj
Industries, National Metal & Engg. Works, JGB Industries and
many metal processors have setup manufacturing units.
|
|
Cpt.
Ajay Singh
M.L.A , Rewari
Rewari Yellow Pages
Telephone Directory
Rewari Property Bazar
College Ranking
STD Code
01274
Pin Code
123 401
|
