288 KAITHAL TAHSIL
Punjab, lying between 29° 22′ and 30° 12′ N. and 76° 11′
76° 47′ E., with an area of x,289 square miles. The population in
r9o1 was 265,189, compared with 257,493 in 1891- It contains the
towns of Kn1THn1 (population, 14,408), the head-quarterb, and PONDar
(5,834); and 413 villages, including PEHOIA, n place of religious
importance. The land revenue and cesses amounted in 19.3-q to
2.7 lakhs. The tahsll consists chiefly of the petty principality of
Kaithal, which escheated in 1843 North of the Ghaggar, the country
undulating and the soil contains a nsidemble proportion of sand.
The tract between the Ghaggar and the southern limits of the SaraawatT
depresro ...is. of vast prairies, flooded during the mine and in.,
spersedwith numerous trees and patches of cultivation. This tract,
kno as the Nail, (Nali), is notoriously unhealthy, but the pasture it
affords is invaluable in dry years. The southern half of the tahbl is
a level plain, now irrigated by the Western Jumna Cans). On the east
is the Nardak The people have not yet entirely abandoned their
pastoral traditions, and large tracts are still used for grating alone.
Farther west, cultivation becomes more general, and in the extreme
south-west the soil contains a large proportion of sand.
Kaithal Town.-Head-quarters of the subdivision and MAW of the
as aro, in Kamal District, Punjab, situated in 29° 48′ N. and
76° 24′ E., 38 miles west of Karnal town, and the terminus of the
Kaithal branch of the Southern Punjab Railway. Population (,get),
14,418. Kaithal is picturesquely situated on an extensive tank, which
partly surrounds it, with numerous bathing-places and flights of steps.
It lies in K-xsn-, and is said to have been founded by the hero
Yodhislnhira. It bore in Sanskrit the name of Kapisthala, or the
'abode of monkeys; and possesses an osthdn or temple of Ahjni, mother
of Hum-.5n, the monkey god. During the time of the .,he, hluham-
madan emperors it was a place of some importance, and Toner, who
says its inhabitants were fire-worshippers, halted here before be attacked
Delhi in x398. The tombs of several saints, the oldest of which is that
of the Shaikh Salah-td-din of Balkh (A.D 1246), show that it was a
entre of Muhammadan religious life. The town was renovated, and
a fort built, under Akbar. In 1767 it fell into the hands of the Sikh
chief, Bhai Dean Singh, whose descendants, the Bhais of Kaitbal,
ranked among the most powerful of the Cis-Sutlej chiefs. Their terri-
tories lapsed to the British Government in x843, when Kaitbal became
the head-quarters of a District; but in 1849 this was absorbed into
Thanes., District, which w s m turn included in that of K-11 in
x862: The no mewhatdilapidated fort or palace of the Bhais
stands out prominently on the bank of the tank. The municipality
s created in 1867. The income and expenditure during the ten
Year, ending 1902-3 averaged Rs.r9,9.. and Rs.a0,40o respectively-
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