Travel guide Karnal: Tourist places to visit in Karnal
This article describes the best tourist spots in the district of Karnal. Read to know to reach Karnal and the places you can visit in this beautiful place. Know the connectivity of Karnal from major cities of India and prepare your travel guide of Karnal with this article.
Karnal is located at a distance of 123 km from Delhi and 130 km from Chandigarh and is connected to Delhi Ambala Rail Line & Sher Shah Suri Marg (G.T. Road), so practically has a good connectivity. The eastern boundary of Karnal is formed by the banks of Yamuna river. On the other side of Yamuna lies Uttar Pradesh. Karnal district is flanked by Kurushtra district on the north-west, Kaithal district from west, Panipat district on its south and Uttar Pradesh on east.Places to see/visit in Karnal
Kalander Shah's tomb: Kalander Shah's tomb was built by Ghias-ud-din, Emperor of Delhi, to the memory of Bo-Ali-Qualander Shah who was a revered Savant and Sage and was respected by all communities. He influenced the society by his ideas and contributed to the social development of society. Situated just outside the town his grave is made up of marble and has beautiful sculptures adorning the tomb. Inside the enclosure where the grave is there is a mosque as well as a fountain built by the emporer and outside it is a Kettle Drum balcony.
Devi Temple: This place has two temples to visit- one of a goddess near the bank of a tank and an old Shiva temple which was built by a Muslim named Mubark Khan. Sometime time back, an Indian gun built for the use as a canon named ganj shikan or fort breaker cast stood in the fort. It was made by 8 feet long iron bars bounded by iron hoops. However now it has been removed and destroyed.
Cantonment Church Tower: This tower is 100 feet high and therefore can be seen from long distances. Though the church has now been destroyed when the Cantonment was moved to Ambala, but the tower is still adorned by a large ornamental cross.
Bhara Mal's Sarai: Built by Bhara Mal, this place at present serves as the office of Deputy Director General (Medical Store) Government of India.
Old Fort: Now occupied by the Tehsildar, Government of India, it was built by Raja Gajpat Singh of Jind in 1764 A.D.
Miran Sahib's Tomb: Located in the extreme south of the town and built in 899 A.D., this tomb stands as a respect to saint Sayad Mohd. alias Miran Sahib. History says that he protected a Brahmin girl from the greed of a King in a fight. Alongside the tomb is a small mosque and cementry of many Mandal family members.
Gurdwara Manji Sahib: This Gurudwara was built to celebrate the meeting of Guru Nanak's meeting with Bo Ali Shah Qalandar. Also, Guru Teg Bahadur visited this Gurudwara befoe proceeding to Delhi where he was beheaded.
Dargah Nuri: It was built in the memory of Hazrat Sufi Shah Alama Nur Mohd. of Delhi and is now managed by the Managing committee of village Newal. It is located in village Newal which lies near Karnal-Kunjpura road.
Karna Tank: As the name says, it is named after Raja Karna of Mahabharata, who was son of Sun, ardent supported and loyal friend of Duryodhana and the fear of Pandavas. It was found by Karna and now it being developed as a tourist stop by the Municipal Corporation of the city. Karna is called as the biggest donor in the world who could not say no to a saint or a poor and used to give gold in alms to the needy.
Sita Mai Temple: Sitamai is a village situated at a distance of 19km from Nilokheri. In this village is a small ordinary temple of a Devi but the special thing of this temple is the ornamentation inside the shrine. Each brick has a deep lining inside it which makes a beautiful design together. The highlight is that the designs were made before the brick was burnt during its manufacturing process so obviously it must have required that the brick be put one by one with designs already made before joining them.
Kunjpura: Now housing the Sainik School, the fort was earlier called Nijabatnagar. This fort has a bloody but interesting history. It was built by a Pathan named Nijabat Khan who had migrated from Kandhar. He was made the Risaldar under Wazir Khawaja Nasiruddin of Radaur when he came here. For his military help to a Zamindar of Bidauli he got biswedari of Kunjpura. After a battle with the Marathas he settles here and built the fort. A few years later Maratha's plundered the fort and killed Nijabat Khan but the Marathas were soon repulsed back by Ahmed Khan and the fort was handed over to the son of Nijabat Khan. After that family of Nijabat Khan expanded their territorial jurisdiction to a large area of Indri pargana.
Indri Shish Mahal: Indri pargana came under Karnal during 1862 but by then some of the villages had formed a part of Ladwa state ruled by a Sikh Raja Gurdit Singh. During the ancient times, Indri was an independent fort called as Shish Mahal, the ruins of which still lie here. The place has a story related to it of a pair of immortal lovers whose love consummated in marriage here. It is also said that the place once housed nine lakh varieties of plants in a garden called as Naulakha Bagh.
Moghul Bridge Saiyads: The Sayad's shrine located at 7 km from Karnal is a hub of superstitious people. Every Thursday superstitious people lit lamps here and ask for boons from the shrine by making sacrifices.
Guga Pir: It is the temple of Guga who is supposed to be the greatest of snake kings. He is worshipped on 9th of Bhadon. The shrine where there is a grave inside is called Mari and has minarets on each corner. The highlight on the 9th of Bhadon is a fly flap or as locally called chhari which is a long bamboo stick with a coconut on it, decorated with colored threads and peacock plumes, and some hand held fans (bijna). A blue flag is placed on the top.
