Gurgaon – History
Gurgaon - History
Gurgaon was historically inhabited by the Hindu people, and in early times it formed a part of an extensive kingdom ruled over by the Ahir clan. In Earlier History is told that it was the Village of guru Dronacharya who was the Teacher of Kauravas and Pandavas. During Akbar’s reign, Gurgaon fell within the governing regions of Delhi and Agra. As the Mughal empire started to decline, the place was torn between contending powers. By 1803 most of it came under British rule through the treaty of Surji Arjungaon with Sindhia. The town was first occupied by the cavalry unit posted to watch the army of Begum Samru of Sadhana. It becomes a part of the district, which was divided into units called Parganas. These units were given to petty chiefs for the military service rendered by them. Eventually, these units came under the direct control of the British, with the last major administrative change n 1836. After the revolt of 1857, it was transferred from the North-Western provinces to Punjab province. In 1861, the district, which Gurugram was a part of was rearranged into five tehsils: Gurgaon, Ferozepur Jhirka, Nuh, Palwal, and Rewari (10), and the modern-day city came under the control of Gurgaon tehsil. in 1947, Gurgaon became a part of independent India and fell under the Indian state of Punjab. In 1966, the city came under the administration of Haryana with the creation of the new state.
The region of Gurgaon originally fell under the Kuru Kingdom. Early people to inhabit the region were Hindus ruled over by the Ahir clan. Yadu tribes were a part of this clan and today their descendants commonly hold the last name Yadav. In the Mahabharata, Gurgaon is described as the village of Guru Dronacharya, the guru of the Kauravas and Pandavas. In late 4th century BCE, the city was absorbed by the Maurya Empire as part of Chandragupta Maurya’s earliest expansions of his kingdom.
Gurgaon may be same as the Gudapura town mentioned in the 12th century text Prithviraja Vijaya. According to the text, Nagarjuna, a cousin of the Chahamana king Prithviraj Chauhan, rebelled against the king and captured the town. Prithviraj crushed the rebellion, and recaptured the town.
On 12 April 2016, Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar announced a proposal to officially rename the city Gurugram (Sanskrit: गुरुग्राम, lit. village of the Guru), subject to the approval of the Haryana cabinet and the Union Government. He argued that the new name would help to preserve the “rich heritage” of the city by emphasising its history and mythological association with Dronacharya. On 27 September 2016, he officially announced that the Union Government had approved the name change, and thus the city and district would henceforth be known as Gurugram, though the old name “Gurgaon” still lingers in the colloquial usage.