Jalandhar, formerly known as Jullundhar is an ancient city in Punjab. The district is named after Jalandhar, a demon king, who finds a mention in the Puranas and Mahabharata.
According to another legend, Jalandhar was the capital of the kingdom of Lav, son of Rama.
According to yet another version Jalandhar is said to have derived its name from the vernacular term Jalandhar means area inside the water, i.e. tract laying between the two rivers Satluj and Beas.
Yet, another name for Jalandhar had been Trigartta, as it was watered by three rivers, Satluj, Beas, and Ravi.
The whole of Punjab and the area of the present Jalandhar District was part of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Harappa and Mohenjodaro are the sites where remains of the Indus Valley Civilization have been found extensively.
The archaeological exploration made during recent years has pushed the antiquity of the Jalandhar District of the Harappa period.
The excavations were done and the places in the Jalandhar District have revealed the imprints of Harrapa culture in east Punjab the earlier two important sites i.e. (Harappa and Mohanjodaro) being in Pakistan.
Rare and unique archaeological objects have been found in Nagar (Tehsil Phillaur) in Jalandhar District. The earliest known cities in India were in the Valley of the River Indus.
The remains of a number of different settlements have been discovered by archaeologists. These are scattered over an area of a thousand miles. These cities were inhabited from 2300 to 1700 BC.
The earliest historical mention of Jalandhar occurs in the region of Kanishka, the Kushan King of northern India in whose time a council of Buddhist theologians was held near Jalandhar about 100 AD to collect and arrange the sacred writings of Buddhism and to bring about reconciliation between its various sects.
In the 7th Century, when the famous Chinese traveler and pilgrim Hiuen Tsang visited India during the reign of Harsha Vardhana, the Kingdom of Jalandhar or Trigartta under Raja Utito (Whom Alexender Cunningham identifies with the Rajput Raja Attar Chandra).
It was said to have extended 167 miles (about 268 km) from east to west and 133 miles (about 213 km) from north to south, thus including the hill states of Chamba, Mandi, and Suket (Himachal Pradesh) and Satadru or Sirhind in the plains. Raja Utito was a tributary of Harsh Vardhana.
The Rajput Rajas appear to have continued to rule over the country right up to the 12th century, interrupted some time or the other, but their capital was Jalandhar and Kangra formed an important stronghold.
In AD 1846 John Lawrance was appointed commission of the Jalandhar Doaba on its annexation in 1846. Cantonments were built at Jalandhar, Phillaur, Nakodar, and Kartarpur.
In AD 1869 The railway line from Beas to Jalandhar was opened in 1869 and was completed up to Phillour by the next year.
The Doab was linked to the rest of the Punjab by the railway bridges, constructed over the Beas in 1869 and over the Sutlej in 1870.
In AD 1900 The sixteenth session of the Indian National Congress was held at Lahore in December 1900. Delegates from Jalandhar District also attended this session.
The Punjab Land Alienation Act, of 1900 saved the agricultural land from passing to the money lenders but it did not solve the problem of rural indebtedness.
During AD 1913-15 With headquarters in San Francisco (USA), the Ghadar Party was formed in 1913 to liberate India by force.
From among the Ghadrites, who disembarked from the ship Kamagata Maru (which arrived at Budge Budge on 21 September 1914) 32 belonged to district Jalandhar. Of these, 14 were imprisoned and 3 were killed in the police firing.
In spite of Government precautions and internments, many of the Ghadarites were able to reach Punjab. They exhorted the people to rise but not with much success.
The Ghadarites were suppressed with a heavy hand. A large number of them were rounded up and tried by special tribunals constituted under the Defense of India Act, of 1915.
In AD 1929 Bhagat Singh of village Khatkar Kalan (Jalandhar) and his associate, Batukeshwar Datt, each threw a bomb in the Assembly Hall in Delhi in April 1929, for which they were arrested and brought to the Central Jail, Lahore.
Jalandhar today is a highly industrialized center known as the town of sports. The Sports materials manufactured in Jalandhar are exported to various countries.
The city also has the distinction of producing some of the best sportsmen in the country. The neighboring village of Sansarpur is known as the Nursery of Hockey Players.
The Cantonment is proud of producing the maximum number of hockey players from Cantonment Board Schools.
Today, The Jalandhar District consists of 5 tehsils/subdivisions viz. Jalandhar-I, tJalandhar II, Nakodar, Phillaur and Shahkot.
Besides, there are 5 sub-tehsils, viz. Adampur, Bhogpur, Kartarpur, Goryan and Nurmahal.
The district is divided into 11 development blocks, viz, Jalandhar East, Jalandhar West, Bhogpur, Adampur, Nakodar, Shahkot, Phillaur, Nurmahal, Lohian, Rurka Kalan and Mehatpur.
According to 2000-2001 figures from the District Statistical Office, the district has 956 inhabited villages.
The town as it grew up to 1947 had the characteristic of its own. It had 12 kots, 12 gates and 12 bastis. The Kots were predominantly Hindu while bastis were mostly Muslims.
Each of the kots, which also means Mohallas had its own gate. Only a few of these basties, Kots, and gates have so far survived.
Jalandhar a town of antiquity, and a seat of government several times in the past, regained its lost glory of ancient times in 1947.
Following the partition it was made the administrative headquarters of Punjab but this was lost too soon when the administrative offices were shifted first to Shimla and finally to Chandigarh.