Nakodar

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?Nakodar Punjab • India
Nakodar
Coordinates: 31°08′N 75°28′E / 31.13, 75.47
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
District(s)	Jalandhar
Population	31,422 (2001)

Coordinates: 31°08′N 75°28′E / 31.13, 75.47 Nakodar (pronounced Nuh-Koh-Durh) is a city and a municipal council in Jalandhar district in the Indian state of Punjab.

The city is almost 424 km from Delhi, 24 km from Jalandhar and about 114 km from Amritsar. Surrounding villages include Mehatpur, Nawan Pind Jattan, Shankar and Sarih. The Town is of considerable antiquity and had been held in succession by three different races, the Kambohs (Kamboj), the Khanzadahs and then by the muslim Rajputs, traces of whom still exist in the extensive ruins by which the town is surrounded. The town was anciently founded by the Hindu Kamboh, according to Sir William Wilson Hunter. The Kamboh settlements lay to the west of present town and the sites are still marked by extensive ruins and two old fine tombs, now called the Black and Red Domes, from the color of the material. Tradition attributes the Kamboh expulsion to the Nawab Kutb Khan who came with an army from Indor near Nuh in 1570 AD ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}. As a consequence, the lordship of the town thus passed over to the Khanzadaas from the Kamboj tribe. Within two generations, the Rajputs got the town in jagir from Emperor Jahangir, in later sixteenth century, apparently divesting the Khanzadahs, the successor race to the Kambohs. The Rajputs were themselves later ousted during Sikh period by one Sardar Tara Singh Ghaiba who made a fort and made himself the master of the surroundings. From Ghaiba, the town was seized by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1816. The town is well pave and has thriving appearances and currently forms a Tehsil of District Jalandhar. Outside the town, there are two large and handsome tombs dating at least from the times of Emperor Jahangir, later one of them is said to be the burrial place of the adviser of Emperor Shah Jahan, but it is known who stand buried in the earlier tomb.

Nakodar is the homeland of many popular punjabi bhangra singers like Malkit Singh, Kaler Kanth, K.S Makhan, Lehmber Hussainpuri and popular punjabi lyricists like Vijay Dhammi. The city is also the home of some famous rich personalities like Mr. Gurbachan Singh Dhiman (owner of the Dhiman group) and Mr. Amarjit Singh Samra (owner of the Local Area Capital Bank Chain) and the from pind Samrai. Other notables born in the area were the late Chaudhry Khair-ud-din, father of well-known senior Indian-born Pakistani engineer Chaudhry Anwar-ud-din.

Population-wise, the surrounding area of Nakodar is currently dominated by two Punjab tribes--the Jatts and the Kamboj.

Contents 1 Name of the Town 2 Geography 3 Demographics 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Name of the Town

The name Nakodar, according to one account, is a said to be derived from the Persian words Neki ka dar, which mean ‘Gate of Goodness or Virtue’ and it was named so by the Persian Kambohs. According to another version, the town was so-named after Nikudari legion of the Mongols ^[5].

[edit] Geography

Nakodar is located at 31.13° N 75.47° E^[6]. It has an average elevation of 223 metres (731 feet).

[edit] Demographics

As of 2001 India census^[7], Nakodar had a population of 31,422. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Nakodar has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 77%, and female literacy is 69%. In Nakodar, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

[edit] References

• Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1886, Sir William Wilson Hunter;
• Punjab gazetteers, 1883, bound in 10 vols., without title-leaves, 1883, Punjab.
• GAZETTEER JALANDHAR,First Edition, 1980, Chapter XIX, Places of Interest(Nakodar).

[edit] External links

• Nakodar
• Official website of Jalandhar district