JIND

also spelled Jhind city, central Haryana state, northwestern India, on road and rail routes to Delhi, 70 miles (110 km) southeast. Another rail line connects it eastward to Panipat. Jind is said to have been founded by the Pandavas of the Mahabharata epic, who built a temple, around which the town of Jaintapuri (Jind) grew. A local grain-trade centre, it also possesses cotton-ginning factories. Several colleges are affiliated with Kurukshetra University. The surrounding regionwith the exception of low, outlying hills of the Aravalli Range in the southis composed of level plains broken only by shifting sand hills. Irrigated by the Sirhind Canal system, the region's chief crops include grains, gram (a leguminous plant grown for its seeds), and cotton. Jind was formerly one of the princely Phulkian states of the Punjab; it was founded in the 18th century by Sutlej Sikh chieftains. Pop. (1981) town, 56,748.