Where to Stay in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh

What is Bijnor known for?

Kalidasa set Abhijnanashakuntalam on the Malini, the river that runs through this district, and Urdu poetry has a strong line here too, Qayam Chandpuri was counted among the master poets by Mirza Ghalib himself. The Mahabharata comes into it as well. Local tradition ties the district to Dushyanta, Bharata, and the sage Kanva, with Vidur Kuti attached to Vidura.

What are the main landmarks in Bijnor?

Vidur Kuti is the site most associated with the district, tied by tradition to Vidura of the Mahabharata. North of it, at the village now called Sunpata and once known as Sonnagar, Parashurama is said to have taught Bhishma and Karna on the bank of the Baan. The Malini runs through the same country that Kalidasa wrote about.

Najibabad, with its fort, lies at the district's northern end.

What is the history of Bijnor?

King Bijli Pasi is credited with founding Bijnor, consolidating a position in northern India at a time when the old empires had broken into small states. Under Akbar the district belonged to the Mughal Empire. The Rohilla Pashtuns then built their own fiefdom across this country, the Rohilkhand, and around 1748 the Rohilla chief Ali Mohammed Khan made his first annexations in Bijnor.

He granted the northern districts to Khurshid Ahmed Baig, who extended his influence west of the Ganges and at Delhi and was given the title Najib-ud-daula with the paymastership of the Mughal forces. Then the Marathas came. Najib sided with Ahmad Shah Abdali at Panipat and was made vizier of the empire.

Where is Bijnor?

Bijnor lies in the valley country below the Himalaya in western Uttar Pradesh, with the Ganges along one side of the district and the Malini running through it. The land is flat and well watered. Najibabad stands to the north in the terai below Garhwal, Dhampur and Chandpur are the other tehsil towns, and Moradabad to the south-east is the divisional seat that Bijnor district reports to.

What is the climate of Bijnor?

Sitting under the Himalaya gives Bijnor a wetter monsoon than the plains further south, with the rain banking against the hills and the Ganges and Malini both rising through it. Winters are cold and foggy here. The hot months before the rains are the hardest part of the year, and the district's sugarcane and wheat are timed around them.

How do you get to Bijnor?

Roads carry most traffic into Bijnor, running north to Najibabad and the foothills and south-east to Moradabad, the divisional seat. Delhi lies west across the Ganges. Rail reaches the district through Najibabad rather than the headquarters, which is a legacy of where the Rohilla and colonial routes ran, and buses connect the tehsil towns of Dhampur and Chandpur.