It is written in Puranas that Kurukshetra is named after King Kuru of the Bharata Dynasty, ancestor of Pandavas and Kauravas.

The Vamana Purana tells how King Kuru came to settle here. He chose this land at the banks of Sarasvati River (dried up before 1900 BCE) for embedding spirituality with eight virtues: austerity (Tapas (Sanskrit)), truth (Satya), forgiveness (Kshama), kindness (daya), purity (Shuddha), charity (Daana), Yajna and Brahmacharya. Lord Vishnu was impressed with the act of King Kuru and blessed him. God gave him two boons: one that this land forever will be known as a Holy Land after his name as Kurukshetra (the land of Kuru) and the other that anyone dying on this land will go to heaven. The land of Kurukshetra was situated between two rivers — the Sarasvati and the Drishadvati.

This land has been known as Uttarvedi, Brahmavedi, Dharamkshetra and Kurukshetra at different periods. When King Kuru came on this land it was called Uttarvedi. Over the period this land has been ruled by many empires. The Bharata Dynasty came and settled here.

According to the Hindu epic, the Battle of Mahabharata was fought on this land, during which Lord Krishna preached Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna.

By the archaeological grounds it has been proved that Ashoka the Great made Kurukshetra a centre of learning for people from all over the world. It reached the zenith of its progress during the reign of King Harsha, during which Chinese scholar Xuanzang visited Thanesar.

Gita Jayanti has been celebrated in Kurukshetra for decades. For long it was known as Kurukshetra Utsav. In 2016, The Government of Haryana decided to give it a global flavour and thus organised International Gita Mahotsav at Kurukshetra from 1 December to 11 December. The Gita Jayanti was celebrated on 10 December as per the traditional calendar. In 2016, over 2 million people visited the event. Later in 2017 Gita Jayanti was celebrated on 30 November as per traditional calendar, and over 2.5 Million people visited the event. As per Hindu calendar it comes on Mokshda Ekadashi in the month of Margshirsh. The idea of celebrating International Gita Mahotsav was came from Swami Gyananand (Founder of GIEO Gita).

The climate of the district is very much hot in summer (up to 47 °C) and very cold in winter (down to 1 °C) with rains in July and August.

In 2017, the government declared Kurukshetra a Holy City and the sale, possession and consumption of meat are banned within the limits of the Municipal Corporation owing to its religious significance.

Hindu Religious Sites

• Brahma Sarovar: Every year lakhs of people come to take a holy bath at Brahma Sarovar on the occasion of "Somavati Amavasya" (Sacred No-Moon Day that happens on a Monday) and on solar eclipse believing that a bath in holy sarovar frees all sins and cycle of birth-death. It is supposed to be the world's largest man-made pond. The world's largest chariot of bronze is placed in purushotam bagh in the center of Brahma Sa