Ancient History
According to legend, Sonipat was earlier known as Sonprastha, which later on became Swarnprastha, meaning the "Golden City": derived from two Sanskrit words, "swarn" (gold) and "prastha" (place). Eventually, the pronunciation of the classical name Swarnprasth changed into Swarnpath, and then to its current form, Sonipat.
Another reference to the city comes in the epic Mahabharata, and at that time it was one of the five villages demanded by the Pandavas 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. Both traditions are without supporting evidence. There is no mention of Sonipat in the Mahabharata, although it had been noted much earlier by the grammarian Pāṇini in his celebrated Ashtadhyayi. The town was therefore already in existence around 600 B.C.
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