Bathinda

Bathinda, in the Malwa region of Punjab, is considered one of the oldest surviving cities of North India. Its history revolves around its strategic position on routes linking Delhi with Rajasthan and further west. Early references suggest that the area was inhabited since ancient times and associated with various small kingdoms and tribal chiefs, though names and boundaries changed over centuries.

The city’s most famous landmark, Qila Mubarak (Bathinda Fort), stands on a slight rise and has dominated the area for nearly a thousand years. The core of the fort is generally dated to the 9th–11th centuries, associated with local Rajput rulers of the Bhatti / Brars and with earlier Hindu–Shahi style defences. In the 12th–13th centuries, Bathinda became a frontier outpost for the Delhi Sultanate; the fort is famously linked with Razia Sultan, the only woman to sit on the Delhi throne, who was deposed and imprisoned here before her final failed attempt to regain power.

Over time Bathinda passed under Mughal, Afghan, Sikh misls and then Patiala State influence. Under the British it grew as a market and rail junction for cotton, grain and livestock. After Independence, Bathinda became a district headquarters and an important military, agricultural and industrial centre, with large thermal power plants, a refinery and a major cantonment shaping its modern identity.