Kaithal
Kaithal was a part of Karnal district and later Kurukshetra district of Punjab during the time of British-Raj. It is now a municipal council in the Indian state of Haryana. It is said to be founded by Pandava Emperor, Yudhisthira of Mahabharat. It bore in Sanskrit the name of Kapisthala, or the ‘abode of monkeys’ and possesses an asthan or temple of Anjini, mother of Hanuman, the monkey god.
During the time of the earlier Muhammadan emperors Kaithal was a place of some importance. Timur who stopped here before he attacked Delhi in 1398, states that its inhabitants were fire-worshippers. The tombs of several saints, the oldest which is that of Shaikh Salah-ud-din of Balkh (1246 AD), show that it was a centre of Muhammadan religious life. The town was renovated and a fort was built during the rule of the Mughal Emperor, Akbar, and as per Ain-i-Akbari, it was a pargana, under the sarkar of Sirhind, and had developed into an agricultural centre.
In 1767 it fell into the hands of Sikh chief, Bhai Desi Singh who descendents, the Bhais of Kaithal, ranked among the most powerful of the Cis-Sutlej chiefs. Their territory lapsed to the British Government in 1843 when Kaithal became the headquarters of a district. In 1849 Kaithal became absorbed into Thanesar District which in turn included in that of Karnal in 1862. In 1901, the town had a population of 14,408 and was the tehsil in the district of Karnal. The fort of the Bhais is still extant, and their title Bhai became common with the primary Sikh rulers.