Dasūya, India

History

According to a report by The Tribune newspaper in 1977, the town is referred to in the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata, as being the seat of king Virata. In recognition of this, Dasuya is still referred to as Virat Ki Nagri today.

In the closing decade of the fourteenth century, Dasuya at least twice witnessed the passage of an army during the struggle against the Muslim conquerors, Abu Bakar and Amir Taimur. Later, in December 1557, the army of the incumbent Sultan Akbar, led by his governor of Lahore, Khizr Khan, camped at the town while dealing successfully with a threat posed by Sikandar Sur.

Dasuya featured in debates related to the emergence of Himachal Pradesh. Verma has noted that "Perhaps no other State of India has suffered as many territorial and political changes in recent times as the Punjab". Within the process of the linguistic reorganization of states, the claim that Dasuya should be incorporated into Himachal Pradesh on the grounds that it was the home of Dogras was rejected because that point was irrelevant to the linguistic issue. Dasuya remained in Punjab when the negotiations culminated in the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966.

From the History section of Dasuya on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.