Sonipat also spelled as Sonepat, is a town and a Municipal Corporation in Haryana state of India. It comes under the National Capital Region and is around 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Delhi. It is also around 214 km(128 miles) southwest of Chandigarh, the state capital. The Yamuna River runs along the eastern boundary.

On 22 December 1972, Sonipat was carved out of Rohtak and made a full-fledged district.

Ancient history

Reference to the city comes in the epic Mahabharata, Sonipat was founded as Swarnaprastha by the five Pandava brothers. It was one of the five prasthas or towns demanded by Yudhishthira as the price of peace from Duryodhana and in lieu of the kingdom of Hastinapur. The other four villages were Panprastha (Panipat), Baghprastha (Baghpat), Tilprastha (Tilpat) and Indraprastha. Another legend ascribed it to Raja Soni, the thirteenth descendent of Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers. Khanda, Sonipat village is very ancient village in Sonipat.

Though both are without supporting evidence but it had been noted much earlier by the grammarian Pāṇini in his celebrated sutra-style treatise on Sanskrit grammar Ashtadhyayi. The town was therefore already in existence before 600 B.C.

Geography and topography

Sonipat is located at 28.98°N 77.02°E.[2] It has an average elevation of 224.15 meters above sea level (735.4 feet). Sonipat borders Delhi, the national capital, to the south, Panipat district to the north, Uttar Pradesh state to the east and Rohtak district to the west. The total area of Sonipat district is 2,260 km2.The location is going to be very good in future as two expressways: The Easter Peripheral expressway & The Western paeripheral expressway are going to meet on the outskirts of the city.

Topographically, Sonipat district is divided into three regions, the Khadar, Upland Plain and Sandy Region. Sonipat city lies on the upland plains, which are covered with old alluvium, which, if properly irrigated, is highly productive. Broadly speaking, the district is a continuous part of the Haryana-Punjab Plain, but the area is not level in some parts. Sonipat District has fine loamy soil with a rich color. However, some areas have sandy soil. Khanda, Sonipat village is Famous for Brick Factories there are 100 Bhattas ( Kiln ) in this village.