Batala is the eighth largest city in the state of Punjab, India in terms of population after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, Bathinda, Mohali and Hoshiarpur. It is a municipal council in Gurdaspur District in the Majha region of the state of Punjab, India. It is located about 32 km from Gurdaspur, the headquarters of the district. It is also a Police District. Batala ranks as the most populated town of the district with 31% of the total population of district. It is the biggest industrial town in the district. It is the centre of the Majha region of Punjab. Batala is important place for Sikh devotees. Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh religion was married here to Sulakhni, the daughter of Mul Chand Chauna in 1485. Many temples and gurdwaras related to the guru's marriage attract devotees from near and far. Every year celebrations are conducted on the anniversary of Guru Nanak's marriage. Also, it is an important place for Hindus as the most powerful god of Hindu culture Lord Shiva came here at mandir Achleshwar Dham with 33 crore devi-devtas to make happy his son Kartikeya who was sad due to his loss of race from his brother and Lord Shiva's son Ganesha. Batala was once known as the Iron Bird of Asia as it produced the highest amount of C.I. Casting, agricultural and mechanical machinery. Batala is still one of the leading cities in Northern India in manufacturing of C.I Casting and mechanical machinery. It's also an agricultural marketplace and industrial center. Cotton ginning, weaving, sugar refining, and rice milling are some of other industries taking place here. The interesting fact about Batala is that this city is called Tehsil but it is more developed than its district Gurdaspur. Nowadays people are protesting and participated in agitations in regard of their long standing demand of district and municipal corporation status to Batala. Located in Gurdaspur district, 38 km from Amritsar on the Kashmir Grand Trunk road. One of the older towns in the province of Lahore in earlier times, Batala is home to many monuments of religious and historic importance,such as Hazira Park, Barah Dari, Hakikat Samadh.These monuments are connected with Sikh history and the Mughal period. The city consists of several churches constructed during the British Raj. The Jal Mahal and the palace of Maharaja Sher Singh were built by the Maharaja (CE 1780–1839). The palace is under the control of the authorities of the local Baring Union Christian College. The administrative offices of the college are housed in it. Jal Mahal is under the control of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Jal Mahal (Baradari) and the palace of Maharaja Sher Singh were connected through a tunnel. According to some senior citizens, Shamsher Khan Tank of Jal Mahal used to be filled with water through the tunnel, which was further connected to a long tunnel (canal) to the Beas, near Kahnuwan. The remnants of the tunnel can be seen near Baring Christian College. Maharaja Sher Singh used to hold meetings of his courtiers in Jal Mahal. The water reservoir was built by Shamsher Khan while the beautiful Baradari in the centre of the tank was constructed by Maharaja Sher Singh. It has a square room in the centre of a pavilion with a passageway. The entry to the first floor is by a staircase with concave-shaped steps on the north-eastern canal. Jal Mahal has eight doors in the lower part of the building and four in the upper storey. The inner wall contained beautiful art glass carvings and wall paintings. However, major parts of the paintings have been erased or damaged. The roof of the pavilion has also fallen. The Municipal Council provided a tubewell to fill up the tank till the eighties. All sides of the reservoir were lined with Nanakshahi bricks. However, with the passage of time the brick lining has been destroyed. Nowadays, on one side of the tank is located a vridh ashram owned and managed by the Dainik Prarthana Sabha. There also exists Bhadr Kali Mandir and Shivala. The upper portion of Jal Mahal is in a dilapidated condition and the time is not far when this magnificent structure will pass into oblivion. Guru Nanak was married here to Bibi Sulakhani. He was engaged to the daughter of Mul Chand Chauna who along with the Brahmin priests insisted on a traditional Hindu marriage while Guru Nanak wanted a simple marriage. Guru Nanak was sitting beside a crooked mud wall (kandh) discussing the marriage plans with the Brahmin clergy. It was planned to push the wall on top of the Guru but Guru Nanak was warned of the plan by an old woman. Guru Nanak just smiled and said "This wall will not fall for centuries. The will of God shall prevail." The wall is still preserved within the Gurdwara and a celebration is held here every year on the anniversary of Guru Nanak's marriage. At walking distance of two minutes there is Gurudwara Dera sahib, which was house of mata sulakhni ji (bride of Guru Nanak dev ji ). A ancient well is situated in Gurudwara dera sahib, it is said that water of well is having special curing powers in itself . Another very famous and the most-visited devotional place here is the temple dedicated to Goddess Kali. It’s situated in the heart of city i.e., Chakri Bazar and maximum rush is seen on Tuesdays. During Navratri time, a lot of people from city and surrounding region visit the temple. People of Batala and outside have true faith on Mata Kali Dwara Mandir. Many other temples are also situated in Batala City. Batala is an important industrial town famous for the manufacture of machine tools and woolen products. Therefore, it is well connected with the other cities and towns of Punjab by road and railways. Government and private buses are the main source of journey to other cities. Batala has the only government bus depot in the district. National Highway 15 connecting Kandla in Gujarat with Pathankot in Punjab passes through Batala and connects it with Pathankot, Amritsar, Bhatinda, Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer and Kandla. Batala is also well connected by State Highway with NH1, thus connecting it with Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh and New Delhi, the capital of India. Batala railway station (station code BAT) is on the Amritsar-Pathankot line of the Firozpur division of the Northern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. Amritsar Junction Railway Station located about 38 km from the town is the nearest major railway station. Train to Qadian is another diversion from Batala. Ministry of Railways has accepted in 2010 Budget plan to connect the Batala-Quadian rail link to Jalandhar via Beas Junction. The project would start soon. This project will help connect Batala to high-speed Amritsar-Delhi section and cutting travel time to Jalandhar by 1 hour, with no need to go via Amritsar. Guru Ram Das International Airport serving the city of Amritsar is the nearest international airport and is located about 40 km from the town.Pathankot Airport in Pathankot, situated 70 km away from Batala is the nearest military airport.