Bathinda

Bathinda stands in the Malwa country of Punjab, around the old stronghold of Qila Mubarak. An early name for the place, Tabarhindh, has been interpreted as the “Gateway to India.” Its fort lay on the road from the northwest towards the Ganges valley and was fought over by Mahmud of Ghazni, Muhammad of Ghor and Prithviraj Chauhan.

In the fourteenth century Bhati and Bhanot rulers held the surrounding country. Rao Bika conquered Bathinda in 1488 and added it to Bikaner. Under the Mughals, the town belonged to the sarkar of Sirhind and grew as a commercial centre; Akbar and Aurangzeb undertook work on its fort. Guru Hargobind fought Mughal forces at nearby Lahira in 1634. Around 1754 Ala Singh of Patiala conquered Bathinda, bringing it into his growing state.