A landscape of the evolution of mankind, the "Cradle of Civilization", Rupnagar stands witness through the ages to the rising, falling and again rising fortunes of "Bharat" that is India. Rupnagar is a living testimony to the perseverance, continuity and longevity of a great civilization.

Ropar is the location of the earliest Indus Valley excavations in independent India. Excavations at Ropar (Rupnagar) have demonstrated that it was the centre of a well-developed Indus Valley Civilization with planned cities having covered drainage system (favourably comparable to modern drainage system) and streets cutting at right angles.

The city of present day Rupnagar is said to have been founded by a Raja called Rokeshar, who ruled during the 11th century and named it after his son Rup Sen but its history spans a sequence of at least six cultural periods or phases from the Harappan times to the present day.