Map - Taranagar (Tārānagar)

Taranagar is a city and a municipality in Churu district in the Indian state of Rajasthan, situated at 28° 41'N 75° 3'E, about 120 miles northeast of Bikaner. Taranagar was earlier known as Reni, named for the lady Rinkali who came here to live from Vishalnagar Koyalapatan, currently Foga in Sardarshar (Rajasthan). Reni was the headquarters of the nizamat and the tehsil of the same name in the state of Bikaner in Rajputana. The nizamat consisted of five eastern tehsils of Bhadra, Churu, Nohar, Rajgarh and Reni. In 1948, the town was renamed for King Tara Singh, who ruled it in the mid-18th century.

Taranagar is well known for its antiquity. It has a famous Jain temple built-in 942. It has very old statues of Jain Tirthankars. The Chhatri of Anand Singhji and Tara Singhji, or saints' homes, are quite popular. These are 2 km distant from the town.

A temple, a little away from the town, is known as Shyam Pandia. It is said to be as old as Dvapara Yuga. As the legend goes, it is believed that Bhima of The Mahabharata fame was sent here to call for the services or blessings of the then pujari of the temple, Saint Shyam Pandia, for the Tilak ceremony of Yudhishthira after the Battle of Kurukshetra was won by Pandavas.

Apart from private hospitals and practicing doctors, Taranagar has a referral hospital set up by late Onkar Mal Mintri and run by the state government where health care facilities are available for the general public and for the people from nearby villages. There is another hospital building that has been converted into a veterinary hospital catering to cattle.

Though the town does not have a railway station, it is well connected by road. It is served by roadway organization of many states, private buses, and taxi operators. Gandhi Upwan, in the east of the town, close to the bus stand and police station, is a moderate garden maintained by the municipality. There is a rest-house used by visiting officials that is run by Rajasthan state PWD. The same locality houses the famous Govt. Higher Secondary School, Taranagar.

A public library is almost in the middle of the Taranagar that also houses a free reading room, that over the decades has helped the growth of local intellect even if the facilities have been meager and maintenance falls short of needs; nonetheless, it has been providing a space for developing minds.

Since last decade or so Taranagar has been emerging as a place counted in its vicinity of its surrounding villages — for providing facilities for children's education, selling their produce, shopping, trade, institutional interaction, etc. Besides the Main Bazar that is in the center of town, there are a number of shop-clusters or markets specializing in merchandise like footwear, vegetables and fruits, medicines etc. There are some trading firms, bank branches, organizations, government offices. Almost a dozen institutions impart graduate courses including an upcoming veterinary medical college providing the feel of a self-sufficient town. Taranagar boasts an industrial estate promoted by RIICO primarily for the manufacture of plaster of Paris.