Rajauri or Rajouri (r:r) (Hindi: ) is a town and a municipal council in Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir. Rajauri is about 155 kilometres (96 mi) from Jammu city on the Poonch Highway. Rajauri is known as the Vale of Lakes as there are many lakes around the city. Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University is based in the town. New Rajauri Bridge Rajouri is a district in the Jammu & Kashmir state of India. The total area of Rajouri is 2,630 km including 2,608.11 km rural area and 21.89 km urban area. Rajouri has a population of 642,415. There are 130,401 houses in the district. Rajouri district is further divided into the following Blocks/Tehsils for administrative purposes: 1. Budhal Tehsil 2. Darhal 3. Kalakote 4. Nowshehra 5. Rajauri 6. Sunderbani 7. Thanamandi 8. Manjakote Rajouri district was a region of immense significance in ancient times. The Mahabharata has references to a kingdom known as Panchalya Desha, whose king was Panchal Naresh, and whose daughter Draupadi was married to the Pandavas. Historians identify Panchalya Desha as the area in the Panchal range of mountains. Rajouri was also a part of this kingdom of Panchal Naresh. The region was then known as Rajapuri - 'the land of Kings'. It finds its mention in the travel account of Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang who visited the town in 632 B.C.E. and described it as a part of Kashmiri territory. Still earlier in the Buddhist period, Rajouri formed a part of Gandhara territory (Afghanistan, Gandhar and Tashkent) and later was incorporated in the province called Darabhisanga which comprised the hilly stretch from Poonch to Kashmir. In those days Laharkote in Poonch district and Rajouri had emerged as two influential states of the area. Several villages, towns, and cities are located in Rajauri, like Saaj. Rajouri witnessed some of the toughest fighting during Pakistani intervention in Kashmir during Operation Gibraltar. The town was initially captured from the Indian Army by undercover Pakistani commandos with the aid of local Mujahideen but the wider operation failed and, with all-out war with India looming, Pakistan withdrew its troops. Major Malik Munawar Khan Awan, a Pakistani commando officer who led the attack on Rajouri on the night of 15 September 1965, was later entitled with the name "King of Rajouri" by the Government of Pakistan.Rajauri is located at 33.38N 74.3E.[3] It has an average elevation of 915 metres (3001 feet).
