HISTORY
The history of Kurawali Distt.-Mainpuri (U.P.) begins even before 1200 BCE. This region is close to the capital of the Pandavas - Indraprastha and Hastinapur. After the decline of Hastinapur, Ahar, which is situated in the north-east part of Bulandshahr District, became an important place for the Pandavas.
Later the king Parma made a fort in this part of the region. A Tomar king named Ahibaran laid the foundation of a fort called Baran here and established his capital. It was traditionally called Baran city and only recently came to be called Bulandshahr in official usages. Since it was perched on a highland it came to be known as "high city" which translates as Bulandshahr in Persian language. There is a present day place called Upper Court (Hindi: ओपरकोट) which is believed to be the Fort of Raja Ahibarna and old Baran was limited to this area.
King Ahivarn or Ahibaran was a Kshatriya and a Suryavanshi . He was the 21st descendant of Samrat (Emperor) Mandhata, the ruler of Ayodhya. According to Mahalakshmi Vrat Katha, it was in the lineage of Emperor Mandhatas that at one stage son of King Vallabh, Agrasen was born and at another stage son of King Parmaal, Ahivarn was born; both of whom further started their own clans: Agrawal (or Agarwal) and Varnwal (or Barnwal).
According to an old treatise on the Indian Caste system, 'Jati Bhaskar', Samrat Mandhata had two sons, Gunadhi and Mohan. King Parmaal was the descendant of King Gunadhi while King Vallabh was the descendant of King Mohan.
The Barn kingdom existed for hundreds of years. It was a great center of trade, commerce and arts. It is said the founding king of Bulandshahr Raja Ahibaran accepted the Vanika Dharma for the benefit of his people and for prospering trade and commerce in the region.
The kingdom of Barn came to an end probably during the 12th century. In 1192 CE when Muhammad Ghauriconquered parts of India, his Senapati, Qutubbudin surrounded Fort Barn and, with the help of traitors, was able to kill King Chandrasen Dor and in the process took control of the Barn kingdom.
The Barnwals are a caste claiming direct descent from the kings of Barn kingdom. The Baranwal community migrated to different parts of India, mostly to the Gangetic plains of India, and started living under the various family names of Verma, Lala, Goyal, Bakshi, pawaria (bilsuri), Choudhary, Patwari, Gupta, Parsariya, Simriya, Nagar, Arya, Shah, etc.
At present the Barnwal population is around half a million. They are mostly spread in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal along with a sprinkled presence in Rajasthan, MP and Maharastra and the neighboring Kingdom of Nepal.The ancient ruins found at places in Bhatora Veerpur, Ghalibpur, etc. are indicative of the antiquity of Bulandshahr. There are several other important places in the District from where statues belonging to the medieval age and objects of ancient temples have been found. Even today, several of these historical and ancient objects such as coins, inscriptions etc. are preserved in the Lucknow State Museum.
Demographics
As per provisional data of 2011 census, Bulandshahr urban agglomeration had a population of 235,310, out of which males were 125,549 and females were 111,761. The literacy rate was 78.37 per cent.