What's in a name? Ask residents of Kutianwali

CHANDIGARH: After centuries of being embarrassed by village names like Chorpura, residents of many of these strangely named places are trying to get their names changed.
Encouraged by renaming of Gurgaon as Gurugram, village panchayats are passing resolutions urging the government to rename their villages.
For understandable reasons, villages at the forefront of the movement are Chorpura in Karnal, Kutianwali in Hisar, Kutabadh in Sirsa, Landora in Karnal and Durjanpur in Bhiwani.
Kutianwali, which means the place of "bitches", is a small village in Adampur assembly constituency of district Hisar. According to village residents, there's an interesting story behind the name. They said the village was originally called Sehzadpur during the British Raj. But a British officer visiting the village was bitten by a bitch. "The incensed officer ordered renaming of the village to Kutianwali or a place with many bitches," a resident explained.
Now, villagers want the village named Virpur or land of the brave.
Kutabadh is a small village near Ellanabad town of Sirsa district in Haryana. Residents said it was earlier a dhani or hamlet with few houses. However, residents had ferocious dogs. Gradually, the hamlet grew into a village and now is now known as Kutabadh or the place of ferocious dogs. The new name proposed by residents is Prem Nagar.
At Ganda village, Fatehabad district, a Class VII student wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about being mocked over the name of the village, which literally means filth.
After a communication from the Prime Minister's Officer (PMO), local authorities recommended to the state government to rename Ganda village as Ajit Nagar, as resolved by the village panchayat. According to officials, changing the name of a village is a long-winded process involving state cabinet approval.
As residents of other curiously-named villages hopped on to the bandwagon, the state government also gave a positive response.
"When people do good work, why should their villages have bad names?" says state panchayat minister Om Prakash Dhankar, adding that he has been contacted by villagers with requests to change the names of their villages.
Panches of Jhimari Khera village in Karnal gathered on August 2 where sarpanch Reshma told residents about the state government changing the names of villages. "People of the state call our village Jauli, so it should be given this name," residents said.
Village panchayat of Durjanpur, Bhiwani, headed by sarpanch Reetu Rani passed a resolution to rename their village, Sajjanpur. "Earlier, the name of our village was Sajjanpur but it's Durjanpur in the official records," says the resolution passed by the panchayat. In support of their claims, village residents sent photographs of the temple and an ashram where the name Sajjanpur has been mentioned.
Residents of a Pandu Pindara in Jind also complained that the village has been wrongly called "Pindari" in revenue records.
Recommending the name Pandu Pindara, they said reference of the village comes up in Mahabharata and other mythological stories.
A resident of Bibipur village in Jind wants the village to be named "Bibipur - The women's world" in respect of women who have won the battle against poor sex ratio here.
"By choosing an English name, we want to send the message of women's empowerment across the world. To maintain its old identity, we will retain the Hindi word Bibipur," says Ritu Jaglan, a women's activist.
Old and suggested names of villages
Durjanpur: Sajjanpur
Chorpura: Sadhupura
Kutianwali: Virpur
Kutabadh: Prem Nagar
Landora: Jairampur
Ganda: Ajitnagar
Jhimari Khera: Jauli
Lula Ahir: Devnagar
Pindari: Pandu Pindara
'Bibipur: The Women's World'
Govt ready to change village names
Haryana panchayat minister Om Prakash Dhankar said the government has no problem in changing names of villages. "With the passage of time, residents of many places want to give new names to their villages. We will examine all requests and take appropriate action," he said.
Story of 'Kunwari' village
Residents of this village in Hisar district say they are not embarrassed by the name of their village. Legend has it that the marriage of a Gujjar girl was fixed with two youths. However, the girl described this as injustice and took samadhi before the barat reached. After that the village has been known as Kunwari. "It's a strange name but we do not feel embarrassed as it's named after a daughter," says village resident Dharam Singh, an activist of Haryana Gyan Vigyan Samiti, a social organization.