Garhmukteshwar had a population of almost 60000. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Garhmukteshwar has an average literacy rate of 82%, higher than the national average of 74%: male literacy is 88%, and female literacy is 76%. In Garhmukteshwar, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.[citation needed]
Location[edit]
Garhmukteshwar is situated on National Highway 9, which connects it to New Delhi, which is around 100 kilometres (62 mi) away, and puts the town, which is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the Ganges River, on a direct route from India's capital city to that river.[citation needed]
History[edit]
Garhmukteshwar is an ancient place that is mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata. There are claims that it was a part of ancient Hastinapur, the capital of the Pandavas. An ancient fort, repaired by the Maratha leader Mir Bhawan, became, under the British, the headquarters of the tehsil. The name of the town is derived from the temple of Mukteshwar Mahadeva, dedicated to the goddess Gangawho is worshipped there in four temples. The town has 80 sati pillars, marking the spots where Hindu widows are said to have become satimata. The town also has a mosque, built by Gays-ud-din Balban, that bears an inscription in Arabic dating to 682 Hijri (1283 A.D.).[1]
Anti-Muslim violence[edit]
Garhmukteshwar was the scene of major anti-Muslim violence in November 1946, at a time when various areas of British India were experiencing significant communal unrest as the partition of the country into India and Pakistan loomed. Gyanendra Pandey describes the place as "a metaphor for the atrocities of Partition; and Partition itself a metaphor for the kind of extraordinary genocidal violence that was not witnessed again in India, perhaps until 1984".[2] A mela (fair) held 3 miles (4.8 km) from the town was attended by between 700,000 - 800,000 people and on 6 November 1946 there were a series of attacks on Muslim shopkeepers at the event, resulting in 46 deaths and a further 39 people injured. The assaults and also arson attacks continued on and off for several days at the mela, while the town of Garhmukteshwar itself witnessed a large number of anti-Muslim atrocities, including killings, arson and the destruction of the Muslim quarter. Official reports gave the Muslim death toll in the town as at least 214 people, and there were also quite a lot Hindu deaths in retaliatory attacks.[3]
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