About Kapurthala

Kapurthala is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It is said that this town has been founded in the early part of the eleventh century in the time of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni by Rana Kapur, a scion of the ruling Rajput house of Jaisalmer (Rajasthan). It was the former capital of princely state of British India of the same name. The secular and aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent buildings based on French and Indo-Saracenic style of architecture self-narrate its princley past and once earned this small town in the Punjab the sobriquet of Paris of Punjab.

Kapurthala District is situated in the Jalandhar Doaba and comprises two non-contiguous parts, separated by some 32 kilometers. Kapurthala, Sultanpur Lodhi and Bholath Tehsils form one part and Phagwara Tehsil, the second separated portion. The former area lies between North latitude 31 degree 07 minutes and 31 Degrees 22 minutes, and East longitude 75 degrees 36 minutes.

Phagwara Tehsil falls between North latitude 31 degrees 22 minutes and East longitude 75 degrees 40 minutes and 75 degrees 55 minutes. The Kapurthala-Sultanpur Lodhi and Bholath segment is approximately 32 kilometers long and varies between 11 to 32 kilometers in width. Kapurthala District is bounded partly in the North and wholly in the West by the Beas River, famed as the Hydaspes River, or the eastern limit of the Greek conquest in 326 BC, by the army of Alexander the Great, whose advance was checked on this river line by King Porus. Even though the army of King Porus was defeated, the battle exhausted the hitherto invincible Greek army, and the great march back to Greece was commenced from here.

The River Beas, separates Kapurthala District from the adjacent District of Gurdaspur in the North, and from the District of Amritsar in the West. In the North, Kapurthala District also abuts partially on the District of Hoshiarpur. The River Satluj, separates Kapurthala District from Firozepur District in the South, and on the Eastern flank, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar Districts also bound this District.

The Districts of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur bound the smaller portion of Kapurthala District, namely Phagwara Tehsil. It is surrounded on three sides, the North West, West and South West by Jalandhar District, on the North East and East by Hoshiarpur District and by Nawan Shehar in the South. The entire District of Kapurthala is situated in the Bist Doab area, which is the tract between the Rivers Satluj and the Beas, referred to generally as the Doab. Kapurthala District is administratively divided into four Tehsils, namely Kapurthala, Phagwara, Sultanpur and Bholath.