Loharu
Loharu
Loharu | |
|---|---|
city | |
 | |
| Population (2001) | |
• Total | 11,421 |
Loharu is a city and a municipal committee in Bhiwani district in the Indian state of Haryana; the nondescript town was the seat of the eponymous princely state during the British Raj.
The Princely State
The princely state of Loharu encompassed an area of 222 square miles, and was situated in the south-east corner of the undivided Punjab province, between the district of Hissar and the Rajputana agency. In 1901, the state had a population of 15,229 people, of whom 2,175 were resident in the town of Loharu.
History
The princely state of Loharu was founded in 1803, when Ahmad Baksh Khan, a Muslim mercenary whose family purportedly hailed from Bokhara in Central Asia, claimed to have received the town of Loharu from the ruler of Alwar,though the same is highly dubious given that the ruler of Alwar had nothing to do with Loharu. The rulers of Alwar themselves were busy picking up morsels of Jat Kingdom backed by the Mughals and King of Amber (which had been previously conquered by the rulers of Bharatpur from the Mughals) broadly after the death of Maharaja Jawahar Singh when the Jat kingdom got embroiled in wars of succession at Bharatpur only (an infant was placed at the throne) and there was no one left to look after remote territories. The "nawab" managed, however, to get the territories given to him by the Britishers for his services rendered during the wars of the Britishers against the Indian Kings, especially those against the Bharatpur rulers. It is interesting to note that much of this already small territory was confiscated by the British in 1835after they had found the nawab acting in fraudulent activities including his claim to the territories. Even then, given that the British were getting more and more wary of the rise of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the neighbourhood and given the fact that the "nawab" of Loharu had been so actively cooperating with the Britishers all through out in the actions of the Britishers against the Maratha-Jat combine, no other harsh action was taken against him. Incidentally, in 1828, the Maharaja Bharatpur had sent a missive to Maharaja Ranjit Singh "being a Jat brethren.." to assist him in his fight against the Britishers but given the Geo-political equations of the time including the preoccupation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in dealing with other frontiers including Afghan as well as Mughal kingdom residuals, the help could not materialise and much of the areas of erstwhile territory thus got lost to the Britishers. Almost all the Rajput kingdoms of Rajasthan by then had entered into Alliance of protection under the Britishers given the repeated defeats suffered by them for quite some time by the Marathas (in active co-operation with Jat rulers of Bharatpur and Dholpur) as also the meteoric rise of mighty kingdom under Maharaja Ranjit Singh in their immediate vicinity . The ruling family of Loharu was linked by blood or marriage to several important Muslim personalities of the 19th century, including:
- Mirza Ghalib, renowned Urdu and Persian poet
- Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, educationist
After the Independence of India in 1947, the state acceded unto the Union of India and most of the ruling family and the cities Muslim inhabitants re-settled in Lahore, Pakistan .
Post-Independence: The last ruling nawab, Amin ud-din Ahmad Khan, served in the Indian Army, seeing action during the liberation of Portuguese India in 1961. He was later elected to the legislature of Rajasthan state, and ended his chequered career as Governor of Himachal Pradesh.
Geography
Loharu is located at 28°27′N 75°49′E / 28.45°N 75.82°E[1]. It has an average elevation of 262 metres (859 feet).
Demographics
As of 2001 India census[2], Loharu had a population of 11,421. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Loharu has an average literacy rate of 55%, lower than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 66%, and female literacy is 44%. In Loharu, 17% of the population is under 6 years of age.