Kaithal

Kaithal is traditionally associated with Hanuman and with the Pandavas of the Mahabharata. Its older name, Kapisthala, is linked to the monkey god, and a shrine honours his mother Anjani. The town also became a centre of Muslim religious life, with the tombs of Sufi saints including Sheikh Salah al-Din of Balkh, who died in the thirteenth century.

In 1398 Timur took Kaithal on his way towards Delhi, and his army plundered the town and surrounding villages. The town was renovated and a fort built under the Mughal emperor Akbar. The Ain-i Akbari records Kaithal as an agricultural pargana of Sirhind. As Mughal authority weakened, Sikh chiefs established the state of Kaithal under the Bhai family, one of the powers south of the Sutlej.