According to a report by The Tribune newspaper in 1977, the town is referred to in the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata, as being the seat of king Virata. In recognition of this, Dasuya is still referred to as Virat Ki Nagri today. In the closing decade of the fourteenth century, Dasuya at least twice witnessed the passage of an army during the struggle against the Muslim conquerors, Abu Bakar and Amir Taimur. Later, in December 1557, the army of the incumbent SultanAkbar, led by his governor of Lahore, Khizr Khan, camped at the town while dealing successfully with a threat posed by Sikandar Sur. More recently, Dasuya featured in debates related to the emergence of Himachal Pradesh. Verma has noted that "Perhaps no other State of India has suffered as many territorial and political changes in recent times as the Punjab". Within the process of the linguistic reorganization of states, the claim that Dasuya should be incorporated into Himachal Pradesh on the grounds that it was the home of Dogras was rejected because that point was irrelevant to the linguistic issue. Dasuya remained in Punjab when the negotiations culminated in the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966.
Demographics
The provisional statistics for 2011 census of India show that Dasuya urban had a population of 56,204 and the Dasuya subdivision is 360,505. The gender ratio is 976:1000::Females: Males. The gender ratio improved from 958 in 2001 to 976 in 2011. The average literacy rate was 76%, which was higher than the national average of 59.5%. Male literacy was 79% and female literacy was 73%. Of the total population, 11% was under 6 years of age.|align=middlehistorical populations|21=1951|22=295071|23=1961|24=343778|25=1971|26=373345|27=1981|28=447703|29=1991|30=260160|31=2001|32=340494|33=2011|34=360505|percentages=pagr|footnote=source:|align=middlebar box|width = 280px |barwidth = 280px |cellpadding="0" |title=Religion in Dasuya urban area
The town is attempting to capitalize on its history in order to attract tourists. To this end, a grant of Rs 10.6 million was given by the Government of India in order to renovate the sarovar and a temple, and it was reported in 2009 that many people attend a historic Sarovar and gurdwara situated at nearby Garna Sahib.