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Tohana is a city and a municipal council
in Fatehabad (Haryana).
Geography
Tohana is located at 29.7°N 75.9°E. It has an average
elevation of 224 metres (734 feet)
Demographics
As of 2001 India census, Tohana had a population of 51,518.
Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%.
Tohana has an average literacy rate of 61%, higher than the
national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 67%, and female
literacy is 55%. In Tohana, 15% of the population is under 6
years of age.
Tohana is situated just 8 kilometres from the Haryana-Punjab
border in North-West of Haryana. One of the neighbouring
cities is Hisar 72 miles stone away from Tohana (by which
most of the people can identify it), which used to be the
district for Tohana until 1997. Fatehabad was cut as a
separate district from Hisar and Tohana was included in the
part of land which went to Fatehabad.it is caleled the city
of canal because it is surrounded by 7 small and big canals.
History
Tohana has had a rich history in Sikhism and it is found in
most of the references to Banda Bahadur where Banda issued
letters to Malwa Sikhs to join him in his crusade against
Wazir Khan of Sarhind. It used to be a desert land until the
Bhakhra Nangal sub-branch brought a source of irrigation for
the town and neighbouring villages. After this, Tohana
developed into a major agricultural hub.
Aryans at first on the banks of the rivers -the Saraswati
and the Drishadvati, and in the course of their expansion
covered a wider area of Hissar and Fatehabad. The area was
probably included in the kingdom of Pandavas and their
successors1. Panini mentions quite a few towns of the
region-Aisukari, Taushayana (Tohana) and Rori which have
been identified with Hissar, Tohana and Rori, respectively2.
According to Puranas, the areas of Fatehabad district
remained a part of Nanda empire. The discovery of Ashokan
pillars at Hissar and Fatehabad shows that the area of the
district remained a part of Mauryan empire. The people of
Agroha area assisted Chandra Gupta Maurya in the war against
Greeks.
After the fall of the Mauryas and Sungas, the Agras along
with the Yaudheys-the republican tribes of the
region-asserted for their independence. The Agras settled in
the region covering Agroha and Barwala. They issued coins
from Agroha, the capital headquarters. As attested by the
discovery of coin-moulds and terracottas, the region was a
part of Kushan empire. According to A.S. Altekar, the
Yaudheys made a second bid for independence towards the end
of the second century A.D., came out successful in their
venture and succeeded in freeing their home-land and ousting
Kushans.
This finds support from the Agroha seal1. The early 11th
century saw the Ghaznavid inroads in this area. Sultan Masud
led the expeditions towards Agroha. The Chauhans seem to
have taken special measures for protecting the area against
Muslim incursions. The area of Agroha passed on to the
Muslim rule after the defeat of Prithvi Raj III in the
Second Battle of Tarain (1192). After the Battle of Tarain,
Sultan Shihab-ud-din Muhammad Ghuri placed one of his ablest
generals in the Indian campaigns. But it appears that any
meaningful control could not be established. Seizing the
opportunity, a Rajput clan, Jatus, believed to be an
offshoot of Tomaras, widely extended their power in
Fatehabad area including Agroha2. Firuz (1351-88) shot these
areas into prominence. The ruler came to have somewhat
unusual fancy for the tract (Hissar). It is a great credit
to him that he established new towns of Fatehabad and Hissar
and built two canals; one taking off from Ghaggar at Phulad
and following the course of Joiya up to the town of
Fatehabad. After the death of Firuz (1388), chaos and
confusion spread all round . The situation deteriorated
still further when Timur invaded in 1398. During his
marching, Timur invested Fatehabad which was captured
without any opposition from the inhabitants. Lastly, the
invader reached Tohana but he could not set- up his
permanent rule over the area. He soon left for Samana after
looting these areas. The areas of Fatehabad came under the
control of Mughals-Babar and Humanyun. There is a small and
beautiful mosque known as Humanyun mosque at Fatehabad . The
legend assigns the association of the mosque to the Mughal
Emperor Humanyun who in his flight after his defeat at the
hands of Sher Shah Suri happened to pass through Fatehabad.
Fatehabad was one of important Mahals during Akbar's time.
By 1760, the areas became the scene of a sort of triangular
duel between the sturdy Sikhs of north-east, marauding
Bhattis of north-west and the Muslim chiefs of the south.
None of them could, however, hold the region permanently
except for the Bhattis who became the masters of Fatehabad
pargana. In 1774, Maharaja Amar Singh of Patiala along with
his famous minister Dewan Nanumal laid seize to the
stronghold of Bighar near Fatehabad which fell shortly
afterwards. The Raja then took Fatehabad and Sirsa and
invested Rania held by Bhattis. Tohana also was seized by
the Chief of Patiala. But after a treaty of Jind in 1781,
Fatehabad and Sirsa were made over to the Bhattis and
remaining territories were allowed to be retained by the
Sikhs .. By 1798, Agroha and Tohana were important parganas
under the control of George Thomas. When George Thomas was
driven out from here by the Sikh-Maratha-French Confederacy,
a French Officer Lt. Bourquian controlled these areas on
behalf of Marathas . He is said to have rebuilt the towns of
Tohana and Hissar. Later these areas were placed under the
charge of Illias Beg, a Mughal noble of Hansi. With the
treaty of Surji Anjangaon 1803, the British became the
rulers of this area and Marathas were vanquished forever. In
November, 1884, the Sirsa district was abolished and Sirsa
tahsil after the distribution of villages was formed . In
1889, 15 villages forming a detached block known as Budhlada
were transferred form Kaithal tahsil to Fatehabad tahsil.
The Barwala tahsil containing139 villages was abolished with
effect from January 1, 1891 and its area was distributed
between 3 contiguous tahsils ; 13 villages going to Hansi,
24 to Hissar and 102 to Fatehabad. At the same time 13
villages were transferred from Hissar tahsil to Bhiwani
tahsil and a sub-tahsil was established at Tohana in
Fatehabad tahsil. In 1923, the Tohana sub-tahsil was
transferred from Fatehabad to Hissar tahsil. In 1972, Tohana
sub-tahsil was upgraded to tahsil. Two sub-tahsils, one at
Ratia of tahsil of Fatehabad and other at Adampur of Hissar
tahsil were created in 1979. By the end of 1978, the Hissar
district comprised 486 villages, divided between tahsils of
Fatehabad -166; Hissar-115, Hansi-119 and Tohana-86.
Fatehabad came into existence as a full-fledged district
with effect from 15-7-1997, now having three sub-divisions,
three tahsils and three sub-tahsils.
People and attractions
The Tohana grain market is the trading place for a number of
villages in the vicinity and boasts of high amount of crop
input, the main ones being Cotton, Wheat, Paddy. Most of the
industries in the town are agriculture based and almost 70%
of the population is employed in the same. Agriculture is
the main backbone of the town. Kharif and rabi are the main
crops which are cultivated here.
The main attraction of this small town is "Baliala Guest
House" where you can enjoy the distribution of the water of
Bhakhra Nagnal Main Branch Canal into seven different
canals. Hence this town is surrounded by the seven canals.
Tohana is well connected by northern railways dierctly to
Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Ludhiana, Jammu and other major
cities. and it is well connected by the road network too.
Tohana is located in the Punjabi-speaking belt of northern
Haryana. Punjabi, Hindi, Haryanvi, Multani languages are
common here in the town. The strongest part of this small
town is communal harmony. The people who had come from
western Punjab after partition had become very influential
with a passage of time. Tohana is nowadays developing as a
medical hub for the areas nearby to it.
Education
The town has two UG level colleges, one of them is a co-ed
I.G. Govt. College, Tohana I.G. Govt. College, Tohana
Website(Now BBA and BCA also available in I.G. Govt College
Tohana affiliated with K.U.Kurukshetra) and other one being
women college Shri Durga Mahila Maha Vidyalaya.
The courses
available are mostly arts and commerce, but there has been
an increase in the number of computer courses like MCA etc.
Both the colleges are affiliated to the Kurukshetra
University. The town has a DAV school which has been
building futures from last 15 years. Now city has two
polytechnic college 1.Apex polytechnic 2.Guru nanak
polytechnic and 1 management college starting this year
1.Guru nanak institute of management.
Tohana - Map
Click to Enlarge
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Sh. Paramvir Singh
M.L.A. Tohana
Tohana Yellow Pages
Khushdip Verma
Marketing Head -
Tohana
Speed4Haryana.com
Tohana Property Bazar
College Ranking
Tohana Photo Gallery
STD Code
01692
Pin Code
125 120
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