Haryana

Haryana is old ground beneath a young state. Archaeology at Rakhigarhi in Hisar district — now recognised as one of the largest Indus Valley Civilization settlements, spread over about 350 hectares and surpassing Mohenjo-daro in extent as per ASI reports — along with Bhirana (dated by C-14 to about 7570–6200 BCE in some studies, among the earliest Harappan sites) and Banawali, places Haryana on the Saraswati basin urban network from the 3rd millennium BCE. Vedic texts remember the same plain as Brahmavarta, and the Mahabharata anchors its moral centre at Kurukshetra, where the Bhagavad Gita was expounded on the battlefield.

From the 12th century, Haryana was a passage for power. The Second Battle of Tarain in 1192 near modern Karnal opened north India to the Delhi Sultanate. Even more decisive were the three Battles of Panipat — 1526 when Babur's field artillery defeated Ibrahim Lodi and founded the Mughal Empire, 1556 when Akbar's guardian Bairam Khan defeated Hemu, and 1761 when Ahmad Shah Durrani defeated the Marathas — each reshaping the subcontinent's political map. Under Mughals and later Marathas and British, the region was part of Punjab. After Independence and Partition in 1947, it remained in Indian Punjab until linguistic agitation for a Punjabi Suba split the state. The Shah Commission (April 1966) recommended a Hindi-speaking Haryana. On 1 November 1966, through the Punjab Reorganisation Act, Haryana became the 17th state of India with seven districts, with Chandigarh as shared capital and Union Territory, growing to 22 districts today.

Haryana is almost entirely alluvial plain, sloping gently from about 300 metres in the northeast to about 180 metres in the south, with only the Shivalik fringe breaking the flatness. The Yamuna flows along the east, the seasonal Ghaggar (often identified with the Vedic Saraswati), Markanda, Tangri and Sahibi drain the centre, while the Aravalli outcrops rise in the south around Gurugram, Faridabad and Mewat (Nuh). The sole hill station is Morni Hills in Panchkula district, where Karoh Peak at 1,467 metres is the state's highest point and a trekking spur of the Shivaliks. Climate is humid subtropical transitioning to semi-arid: May–June highs often exceed 45°C, winter nights in January dip to 2–5°C with dense fog, and mean annual rainfall is modest at about 400–600 mm, concentrated in July–September, making irrigation from the Yamuna system, the Western Yamuna Canal and tubewells essential.

Forest cover is sparse — about 3.6% per the India State of Forest Report — but wetlands matter disproportionately. Sultanpur National Park in Gurugram, upgraded from a bird sanctuary declared in 1971 to national park in 1991 and designated a Ramsar Site in 2021, covers only 1.43 km² yet hosts more than 250 resident and migratory bird species including greater flamingos, bar-headed geese and black-necked storks. Kalesar National Park in Yamunanagar protects sal forests along the Yamuna, while Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary in Jhajjar and Khaparwas are important Ramsar wetlands. Blackbuck, nilgai, jackals and small Indian civets persist in scrub and reserve forests, illustrating conservation in a densely farmed landscape.

Haryanvi culture is agrarian, direct and performative. The home language for most people is Haryanvi (Bangru), a Western Hindi dialect, with Hindi as official language and Punjabi recognised as second official language since 2010 (amendment to the Haryana Official Language Act, 1969, notified in 2010) to reflect Partition-era settlement along the Punjab border. Attire is practical: white dhoti-kurta and hand-woven pagri for men, ghagra-choli with borla for women, now often paired with the colourful Phulkari embroidery shared with Punjab.

Folk traditions thrive at harvest and fair time. Saang (also Swang) is an open-air musical theatre tracing to Kishan Lal Bhatt in the 18th century and revitalised by Lakhmi Chand, staging mythological and social stories in all-night performances; Ragini folk songs and the energetic Phag and Daph dances accompany Holi and Teej. Haryana's most visible modern cultural identity is sporting: despite about 2% of India's population, the state regularly produces a disproportionate share of Olympic, Asian Games and Commonwealth medalists in wrestling, boxing, athletics and hockey, rooted in a longstanding akhara (wrestling) tradition and extensive rural sports nurseries. Cuisine is milk-forward — bajra khichdi with ghee, kadhi, besan masala roti, bathua raita, and lassi — and the Surajkund International Crafts Mela, held each February near Faridabad since 1987, gathers artisans from across India and partner nations, linking Haryana to wider craft networks.