Murthal

Murthal
—  town/village  —
Coordinates
Country	India
State	Haryana
District(s)	Sonipat
Nearest city	New Delhi and Sonipat
Parliamentary constituency	Sonepat
Assembly constituency	Rai
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Codes • Pincode • 131027 • Telephone • +130

Murthal is a small town in Sonepat district of Haryana in northern India and around 50 kilometers from the national capital New Delhi. About 20 years ago Murthal was just another village along the National Highway-1 and now it is one of the fastest growing town in the region. People living in Murthal are called Murthalites.

History

The word Murthal is suggested to have originated from the compound word Mayur Sthal meaning a place where peacocks live in abundance. It is true that at some point the village boundary was marked by a dense forest. The forest rapidly depleted into farming land and subsequently into an almost concrete jungle after the development of National-Highway. More information needed here.

People

The majority of population follows Hindu religion in one or the other form. However, people from all religions live in Murthal. Several ruins in the village for example the link indicate presence of Muslim rulers in the Mugal era. After the partition of the India in 1947 a lot of people migrated from Pakistan. These days there is a huge influx of people from Bihar given job opportunities in the agriculture industry. Farming remains the main occupation of Murthalites. Recently, with growing population, shrinking cultivatable land, and grown education, the village youth are entering in virtually every field.

Education

In 1970s Murthal was one of the few village in Haryana to have separate Senior Secondary Schools for boys and girls. To show their generosity and inclination to acquire higher education, in late 1980s the village donated a huge part of its public land to build the then called CR State College of Engineering, Murthal. The college was at that time only second Engineering college in Harayana. Since then the college has evolved into Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University Of Science and Technology. More recently, the Girls' Senior Secondary School (also one of the first in the region) has been transformed into a Girls' College. It is so unique to have an Engineering College and a Girls College in the same village. These colleges have sparked a general interest in education in the village and a number of small privately owned schools have emerged. It is also interesting to note that already in 1981 few progressive individuals of the village who were not satisfied with the education quality in Govt. Schools, had started a private school Model Public School which was privately funded. Recently, Murthalites have started an education society to look after the academic needs of not just Murthal but all other villages in the region.

Sports

Murthal has a long history of producing wrestlers and Kabbaddi players. At the school levels, both girls and boys teams have remained very competitive over years in field hockey, football. Since early 1990s without any surprise Cricket became popular among the youth and the village has boasted of strong cricket teams since then.

Spiritual Connection

There are temples of Lord Shiva, Hanuman, Kail (I think) all around the village. Traditionally, Murthalites worship the five Bavari Brothers as their Kul Devatas. The Bavari temples is accordingly a large campus something to visit even if you dont have any religious bent. These temples are separately built for each Bavari. In the neighborhood of the Bavari Temples is the Nage baba ki prachin samadhi and dhoona (Old Memorial of the Snake God) is also there. It is believed that Nage baba was the guru of all Bavaris. Accordingly Murthalites also worship the Snake God and visit the Memorial and Bavari temples at least once a year. On hindu festivals Diwali and Holi the temples are flooded with devotees.

The Dhabas

Since long Murthal has been famous for its highway dhabas (small restaurants). In these dhabas, you will find all kind of North Indian vegetarian food.

Recently the town has seen major developments.

Coordinates: 29°02′N 77°05′E / 29.033°N 77.083°E / 29.033; 77.083