Sambhal is a city located in the Sambhal district of Uttar Pradesh, India. The city lies approximately 158 km (98 mi)[4] east of New Delhi and 355 km (220 mi)[5] north-west of the state capital Lucknow. It also falls within the Rohilkhand region in the Moradabad division of the state, being approximately 32 km (20 miles) from the city of Moradabad.[6] The city is considered significant by Hindus as the prophesized birthplace of Kalki, the tenth avatar of Vishnu, [7] as mentioned in scriptures like Mahabharata, Skanda Purana, Bhavishya Purana & later Kalki Purana.
History
Shahi Jama Masjid at Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh (1789). Pencil and wash drawing. British Library, London[8]
Later it was a capital of the Lodi dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate under Sikandar Lodi for four years in the 15th-century. A folio from the Baburnama, depicts an award ceremony in Sultan Ibrahim Lodi's court before an expedition to Sambhal in the early 16th-century. After the collapse of the Delhi Sultanate, the city fell to the Mughals under Babur, briefly serving as the capital of the new empire. Babuis also claimed to have built a mosque here which is still extant. The city would later be governed by his son Humayun. Sambhal flourished under the rule of Akbar, Humayun's son, but subsequently deteriorated in popularity when Akbar's grandson Shah Jahan was made in charge of the city, and the local (sarkar) capital was shifted to Moradabad.[6][16]
A folio from the Baburnama: An awards ceremony in Sultan Ibrāhīm Lodi's court before an expedition to Sambhal in the early 16th century.
The district was announced on 28 September 2011 and created by the state government out of Moradabad district on 23 July 2012 as one of three new districts in the state. At the time of its creation, the state government decided to name the new district "Bhimnagar" in honour of the social reformer, Bhimrao Ambedkar. However, massive protests broke out in Sambhal town and the adjoining rural areas against the move to rename to the ancient town.[17] Sambhal had been known by the same name for over 500 years, had been an important town in medieval India, and had never had any connection with Bhimrao Ambedkar, a Dalit icon. The protests were successful and the government retained the name of Sambhal.[18]
Demographics
As per provisional reports of the 2011 Census of India, the population of Sambhal city in 2011 was 221,334, of which 116,008 were male and 105,326 were female. The amount of total literates in Sambhal consist of 92,608 people, of which 51,382 are males while 41,226 are females. The average literacy rate in Sambhal city is 49.51%, of which male literacy was 52.27 percent, while female literacy being 46.45%. The sex ratio of Sambhal city is 908 per 1,000 males and the child sex ratio of girls is 936 per 1,000 boys. The amount of total children (0-6) in Sambhal city constitute 34,279 as per the records of Census India 2011. There were 17,702 boys and 16,577 girls. The children form 15.49% of the total population[2]
Sambhal is a Muslim-majority city in India with approximately 77.67% of the city's population following Islam as their religion. Hinduism is the second most common religion in the city of Sambhal with approximately 22.00% following it, followed by Christianity (0.12%), Sikhism (0.06%), Buddhism (0.03%), and Jainism (0.02%).
^Śambhala, also Sambhala, is the name of a town between the Rathaprā and Ganges rivers, identified by some with Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. In the Puranas, it is named as the place where Kalki, the last incarnation of Vishnu, is to appear (Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, 1899).
^"Places of Interest". District Sambhal, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
