Bathinda District is situated in the Southern part of Punjab State in the heart of Malwa region. It form s part of newly createddivision Faridkot and is situated between 29 o-33 & 30o-36 North latitude and 74o-38 and 75o-46 East longitude. The district is surrounded with Sirsa and Fatehabad of Haryana State in the south, Sangrur and Mansa district in the East, Moga in the North-east and Faridkot & Muktsar in the North-west. The district derives its nam e from the district headquarters town of Bathinda, which is of great antiquity. According to Khalifa Muhammad Hassan, author of History of
Patiala, its ancient name was Bikramgarh.
According to raverty, Bathinda was known as Tabarhindh (Labb-ut-Twarikh). According to Ibn Batuta it was known as Batrind. The earliest mention of Tabarhindh occurs in the “Jami-Ul-Hakayat” written about 607 Hijri or 1211 AD. According to “Ainai-Barar Bans” Bathinda was built by B hati Rao, son of Bal Band, who became ruler of Punjab in 336 Bikrami Sambat.
He also founded Bhatner. It was also called W hatinda and Bitunda which finally become known as Bhatinda. But its name was changed to Bathinda on the authority of Survey of India to confor m to the phonetical expression as locally p ronounced. In recent times the town was conquered by Maharaja Ala Singh (near about 1754 AD) and since then it followed the history of erstwhile princely state of Patiala.
