Gujranwala

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

---

Location of Gujranwala

Map of Gujranwala

Gujranwala District (Hindi:गुजरांवाला, Urdu: ضلع گوجرانوالہ) is a district in Punjab province, Pakistan. The ancient village Asarur has been identified as the location of Taki, visited by the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang about 630 AD and mentioned as capital of Punjab.

Variants of name

• Pimprama (Anabasis by Arrian, p. 301. 4)
• Gujaranwala (गुजरांवाला) (पाकिस्तान) (AS, p.290)
• Asarur
• Pimprama (Arrian)
• Taki (Hiuen Tsiang)

Tahsils in the District

• Gujranwala

• Kamoke

• Nowshera

• Wazirabad

Jat clans in Gujranwala District

According to 1911 census, the following were the principal Muslim Jat clans in Gujranwala District :

Aulakh (357), Bajwa (2,483), Bhangu (372), Buttar (842), Chahal (609), Chatha (2,804), Chhina (3,252), Cheema (21,735), Deo (108), Dhariwal (744), Dhillon (769), Dhotar (357), Ghumman (1,429), Gill (2,635), Goraya (3,591), Haral (643), Hanjra (4,334), Kahlon (261), Kharal (12,077), Khokhar (7,893), Lodike (2,675), Maan (463), Mangat (549), Randhawa (577), Sahi (1,050), Sarai (296), Sidhu (196), Sandhu (3,192), Sipra (658), Samra (406), Tarar (4,841), Virk (7,644) and, Waraich (9,510).

History

The village of Asarur has been identified as the location of Taki, an ancient town, visited by the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang about 630 AD and mentioned as capital of Punjab. It contains immense ruins of Buddhist origin. After the time of Tsiang little is known about Gujranwala till the Islamic conquests, by this time however Taki had fallen into oblivion while Lahore had become the chief city of Punjab.

The district flourished during Mughal rule, from the days of Akbar to those of Aurangzeb, wells were scattered over the whole country, and villages lay thickly dotted about the southern plateau, now a barren waste of grass land and scrub jungle. Their remains may still be found in the wildest and most solitary reaches of the Bar.

गुजरांवाला

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ...गुजरांवाला (पाकिस्तान) (AS, p.290) पंजाब केसरी महाराजा रणजीतसिंह के जन्मस्थान के रूप में इस नगर की ख्याति है. इनका जन्म 1780 ई. में हुआ था.

गुजरांवाला परिचय

गुजराँवाला पाकिस्तान के पंजाब प्रान्त का एक जिला, तहसील तथा औद्योगिक नगर है। यह उत्तर-पश्चिम रेलमार्ग पर लाहौर से 70 किमी उत्तर में है। इस नगर की स्थापना गूजर जाति द्वारा हुई बताई जाती है। नगर की स्थापना मध्ययुगीन है। नगर की प्रसिद्धि तथा महत्व में महाराजा रणजीतसिंह के परिवार का अधिक हाथ रहा। सन् 1780 में यहीं पर महाराजा रणजीतसिंह का जन्म हुआ था। रणजीतसिंह के पिता महाराजा महानसिंह की समाधि तथा महाराजा रणजीतसिंह का भस्मावशेष भी यहीं सुरक्षित है। एक बार अमृतसर से आए हुए जाटों ने इस नगर का नाम खानपुर रख दिया था किंतु इसका प्राचीन नाम ही प्रचलित रहा। नगर के प्रशासन के लिए नगरनिगम की स्थापना सन् 1867 में हुई। यहाँ गल्ले की प्रसिद्ध मंडी है। कपास के बिनौले अलग करना, तेल पेरना, काँसे और मिट्टी के बर्तन बनाना, चूड़ियाँ, जिनमें हाथी दाँत की चूड़ियाँ मुख्य हैं और सूती कपड़े बुनना यहाँ के प्रमुख उद्योग धंधे हैं। सरकारी अस्पताल और महाविद्यालय स्तर की शिक्षा संस्थाएँ भी यहाँ हैं।

जाटों का विस्तार

डॉ रणजीतसिंह भारत भूमि में जाटों के विस्तार को देखते हुए योगेन्द्रपाल शास्त्री ने लिखा है कि ...."जाट अपने आदि देश भारतवर्ष के कोने-कोने में नहीं वरन उपजाऊ प्रदेशों की ऊंची भूमियों पर बसे हुए हैं। नदियों की अति निकटवर्ती खादर भूमि या पहाड़ों की तलहटी में उनकी सामूहिक विद्यमानता नहीं पाई जाती। डेरा गाजी खां, डेरा इस्माइल खां, डेरा फतेह खाँ, बन्नू, कोहाट, हजारा, नौशेरा, सियालकोट, गुजरात, गुजरान वाला, लायलपुर, मिंटगुमरी, लाहौर की चुनिया तहसील में कुल मिलाकर 25 लाख जाट आज भी बसे हुए हैं। यद्यपि इनका धर्म है इस्लाम है किंतु रक्त की दृष्टि से जाट होने का उन्हें गर्व है। विभाजित भारत में जाटों की संख्या किसी भी प्रकार कम नहीं है। "

Ch 5.22: Invasion of the Land of the Cathaeans by Alexander

Arrian writes.... MEANTIME he received information that the tribe called Cathaeans and some other tribes of the independent Indians were preparing for battle, if he approached their land; and that they were summoning to the enterprise all the tribes conterminous with them who were in like manner independent. He was also informed that the city, Sangala by name¹, near which they were thinking of having the struggle, was a strong one. The Cathaeans themselves were considered very daring and skillful in war; and two other tribes of Indians, the Oxydracians and Mallians, were in the same temper as the Cathaeans. For a short time before, it happened that Porus and Abisares had marched against them with their own forces and had roused many other tribes of the independent Indians to arms, but were forced to retreat without effecting anything worthy of the preparations they had made. When Alexander was informed of this, he made a forced march against the Cathaeans, and on the second day after starting from the river Hydraotes he arrived at a city called Pimprama, inhabited by a tribe of Indians named Adraistaeans, who yielded to him on terms of capitulation. Giving his army a rest the next day, he advanced on the third day to Sangala, where the Cathaeans and the other neighbouring tribes had assembled and marshalled themselves in front of the city upon a hill which was not precipitous on all sides. They had posted their waggons all round this hill and were encamping within them in such a way that they were surrounded by a triple palisade of waggons. When Alexander perceived the great number of the barbarians and the nature of their position, he drew up his forces in the order which seemed to him especially adapted to his present circumstances, and sent his horse-archers at once without any delay against them, ordering them to ride along and shoot at them from a distance; so that the Indians might not be able to make any sortie, before his army was in proper array, and that even before the battle commenced they might be wounded within their stronghold. Upon the right wing he posted the guard of cavalry and the cavalry regiment of Clitus; next to these the shield-bearing guards, and then the Agrianians. Towards the left he had stationed Perdiccas with his own regiment of cavalry, and the battalions of foot Companions. The archers he divided into two parts and placed them on each wing. While he was marshalling his army, the infantry and cavalry of the rear-guard came up. Of these, he divided the cavalry into two parts and led them to the wings, and with the infantry which came up he made the ranks of the phalanx more dense and compact. He then took the cavalry which had been drawn up on the right, and led it towards the waggons on the left wing of the Indians; for here their position seemed to him more easy to assail, and the waggons had not been placed together so densely.

---

1. Sangala is supposed to be Lahore; but probably it lay some distance from that city, on the bank of the Chenab.

p.301-302

Visit of Taki or Asarur by Xuanzang 633 AD

Alexander Cunningham writes about Taki or Asarur:

[p.191]: I have already mentioned Asarur as the probable position of Hwen Thsang's Tse-kia (Taka), which was the capital of the Panjab in A.D. 633. It is situated about 2 miles to the south of the high-road between Lahor and Pindi Bhatiyan, being 45 miles from the former, and 24 from the latter place.¹ It is 19 miles distant from Sangala by the road, but not more than 16 miles in a direct line across the country. Nothing whatever is known of its ancient history, but the people say that it was originally called Udamnagar, or Uda-Nagari, and that it was deserted for many centuries, until Akbar's time, when Ugar Shah, a Dogar, built the Masjid, which still exists, on the top of the mound. The antiquity claimed for the place is confirmed by the large size of the bricks, 18 by 10 by 3 inches, which are found all over the ruins, and by the great number of Indo-Scythian coins that are dis- covered annually after heavy rain. It therefore reaches back to the first century before the Christian era, and from its position I believe it to be the Pimprama of Alexander.

The ruins of Asarur consist of an extensive mound 15,600 feet, or nearly 3 miles in circuit. The highest point is in the north-west quarter, where the mound

---

1 See Map No. VI.

---

[p.192]: rises to 59 feet above the fields. This part, which I take to be the ancient palace, is 600 feet long and 400 feet broad, and quite regular in shape. It contains an old well 21 feet in diameter, which has not been used for many years, and is now dry. The palace is completely surrounded by a line of large mounds about 25 feet in height, and 8100 feet, or 1½ mile in circuit, which was evidently the stronghold or citadel of the place. The mounds are rounded and prominent, like the ruins of large towers or bastions. On the east and south sides of the citadel the mass of ruins sinks to 1 and 15 feet in height, but it is twice the size of the citadel, and is, no doubt, the remains of the old city. I could find no trace of any ancient buildings, as all the surface bricks have been long ago carried off to the neighbouring shrine of Ugar Shah at Khangah Masrur ; but amongst the old bricks forming the surrounding wall of the Masjid I found three moulded in different patterns, which could only have belonged to buildings of some importance. I found also a wedge-shaped brick 15 inches long and 3 inches thick, with a breadth of 10 inches at the narrow end, and nearly 10½ inches at the broad end. This could only have been made for a stupa, or a well, but most probably for the latter, as the existing well is 21 feet in diameter. Asarur is now a small village of only 45 houses.

Hwen Thsang places Tse-kia at 14 or 15 li, or 2½ miles, to the north-east of Sakala ; but as there are no traces of any former town in this position, I think it very probable that the true numbers should be 114 or 115 li, or 19 miles, which is just the distance between Sangala and Asarur by the road, although in a direct

---

[p.193]: line it is not more than 16miles. The circuit of Tse-kia was about 20 li, or upwards of three miles, which agrees sufficiently well with my measurement of the ruins of Asarur at 15,600 feet, or just three miles. At the time of Hwen Thsang's visit there were ten monasteries, but very few Buddhists, and the mass of the people worshipped the Brahmanical gods. To the north-east of the town at 10 li, or nearly 2 miles, there was a stupa of Asoka, 200 feet in height, which marked the spot where Buddha had halted, and which was said to contain a large quantity of his relics. This stupa may, I think, be identified with the little mound of Sālār, near Thata Syadon, just two miles to the north of Asarur.

Rise of Sikh Jat power

During the rise of Sikh Jat power, the waste plains of Gujranwala were seized by the military adventurers who then sprang up. Charat Singh, the grandfather of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore, took possession of the village of Gujranwala, then an inconsiderable hamlet, and made it the headquarters of himself and of his son and grandson. Minor Sikh chieftains settled at Wazirabad Sheikhupura, and other towns; while in the western portion of the District the Bhattis and Chatha-Jats maintained a sturdy independence. In the end, however, Ranjit Singh succeeded in bringing all the scattered portions of the District under his own power.

The Maharaja himself was born at Gujranwala, and the town continued to be his capital up to his occupation of Lahore. The mausoleum of his father is still to be seen there, and a lofty cupola close by covers a portion of the ashes of Ranjit Singh himself. The Sikh rule, which brought prosperity elsewhere, also appears to have been an unmitigated benefit to Gujranwala. Ranjit Singh settled large colonies in the various villages, and was very successful in encouraging cultivation throughout the depopulated plain of the Bar. In the Degh valley, especially, he planted a body of hard-working Hindus, the Labanas, to whom he granted the land at a nominal rent.

According to the 1901 census the District had a population of 890,577 and contained 8 towns and 1,331 villages. Its population according to the 1881 census was 616,892 rising to 690,169 in 1891. The population increased by 29 per cent between 1891 and 1901 - the increase being greatest in the Hafizabad and Khangah Dogran tahsils, owing to the extension of canal-irrigation and the colonisation of the Bar.

Maan clan History

Mogalchak (Mughal Chak) is a village of Man Jats in district Gujranwala, Punjab Pakistan.

Mughal Chak was founded by Ladha Maan (लधा मान), who had gone from Lowa Kalan in Jhajjar district of Haryana.

Sir Lepel H. Griffin writes that Ladda Man, the founder of Mogalchak family of Mans migrated from Delhi to country near Gujranwala, founded a village Man and was made it head-man of 22 villages. Nikka Man, the 4th in descent from Ladda Man founded village Nikka, which passed to Mirza Kila, who destroyed it and built a new village and called it Mogalchak.

Notable persons

• Deewan Ranjeet Rai (Col)

Gallery

• 

  Sardar Mangal Singh Mann Kotshera Haveli, Gujaranwala, Pakistan

References

---

Back to Jat Places in Pakistan