Introduction
Sheikhupura, situated in province Punjab, is known for his marvelous
historical places and as a valuable industrial area for Punjab. It is
commonly known
in the people as Qila Sheikhupura because of the beautiful Fort in the
city, constructed by the famous Mughal Emperor Jahangir.
For Foreign Visitors
All lot of families and school trips ofently come to visit the
historical places like "Hiran Minar" and "Sheikhupura Fort".
Sheikhupura is hardly 35km from Lahore. If u wish to visit the Hiran
Minar, you can easly go from Sheikhupura either by any local bus or by
any private convaince.
History Of Sheikhupura
Sheikhupura, a neighboring district of Lahore, the heart of
Punjab-province, has immense historical eminence. The history of
Sheikhupura goes back to 100 B.C. Historical research has established
the fact that Sangla or Sakala was the capital of Punjab and it was
here that Alexander fought one of his most serious battles of his
career. Its name is spoken of, firstly in the pages of Tuzke-Jahangiri
as Jahangirpura, after the name of Prince Salim Jahangir.
The great Emperor Nor-u-Din Muhammad Jahangir laid the foundation of
historical Sheikhupura. In 1607, Sheikhupura was constructed because
of Jahangir order. The mother of Jahangir was Hindu and she lovingly
calls him Sheikhubaba. Because of this suitability, the new city was
named as Sheikhupura.
During the reign of Emperor Jahangir (1605 to 1627), Sheikhupura had
the status of royal hunting ground. In Tuzke-Jahangiri, Jahangir wrote
during the events in the 1607:
On the day of Tuesday, I reside in Jahangirpura, my hunting ground.
According to my order, a Minar and a grave for my deer, Mansraj, were
constructed here.
History imparts that Mughal Emperor Jahangir granted the estate of
Sheikhupura to Syed Usman, the father of Shah Bilal, a religious
preceptor of the saintly line of Qadria.
Tuzkarah-ul-Sheikh-ul-Kidham is that book which has described about
the Hiran Minar. This book was completed in 1057 (Hijrih). Total
numbers of verses in this book are 6188. The name of writer of this
book was Khawajah Surut Sigh.
Over the whole district, the period between the decline of Mughal
Empire after the death of Aurangzeb and the rise of Sikh confederacies
was one of the utter confusion and anarchy. The successive shocks of
invasion from the northwest, and the devastation caused again and
again by the invading armies of Nadir.
Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali (1724-1773)almost completely ruined
the prosperity of the tract. The Bhattis struggled for some time to
maintain their independence against the Sikh and offered a guerilla
resistance to Ranjit Singh's troops for some year. In 1877 when Ranjit
Sigh entered the tract with the large army, the Bhattis offered a
determined resistance and though defeated in the field they entrenched
themselves in the fortified towns of Jalalpur and Pindi Bhatin. Most
of the Bhattis leaders where killed and the survivors who fled for
protection to the Sials of Jhang were outlawed and their possessions
confiscated. When the power of the sikhs was broken in the 2nd Sikh
war and the Punjab was annexed by the British in the 1849, they
returned and were restored to most of their old possessions.
Today's Sheikhupura
Introduction
In the English era 1851, Tehseal Sheikhupura worked under Gujrahwala.
The Artimapal Secretary Chief Commissar Lahore wrote a letter to the
Department of Wealth in 1855 to combine the Tehseal Sheikhupura with
the Zillah Lahore but it was never done. In 1920, Tehseal Sheikhupura
became Zillah Sheikhupura with 129 villages of Zillah Sialkot. As soon
as it became a Zillah, a lot of lawyers come here to practice. Under
the of Sir Gungha Ram District courts and hospitals were constructed
in the city.
Location
A district headquarter, Sheikhupura is situated 32km to the west of
Lahore, and is linked to the other regional centers of Punjab. It lies
between north latitudes 31-05 to 320-04 and east longitudes 73-15 to
74-41. The city is a regional center for police services, education,
health and employment and provides a service base for industrial
sector.
Boundaries
There are 7 other Districts that connect to Sheikhupura, namely:
Lahore, Kasur, Okara, Faisalabad, Hafizabad, Gujranwala and
international boundary of Amritsar.
Area
District Sheikhupura is spread over an area of 5,960 square
kilometers.
Geology
The area is a part of Rachna Doab and consists of some recent sediment
brought by spill channel from Chenab River. There are some old channel
levee remnants and old basins filled up with clay materials. It is
probably of late Pleistocene age derived from mixed calcareous.
Sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of lower Himalayas. The only mineral
products of the District are Kankar and Kallar. The small particles of
Kankar may be burnt into lime. These are the features of all bar lands
and are found on the surface or a little below it. Kallar is found on
mounds, which are sites of old ruined habitations, and is used for the
manufacture of crude saltpeter.
Climate
The District has extreme climate; the summer season starts from April
and continues till October. During the summer season, temperature
ranges from 30 to 45 Degrees Celsius. The winter season starts from
November and continues till March. December and January are the
coldest months with a mean minimum temperature of 5 Degree Centigrade.
The dust storms occur occasionally during the hot season, during June,
July and August. Rainy weather alternates with oppressive weather. The
rainfall is 500mm per year. The mean minimum and maximum humidity
during winter is 37% and 84%.
Races And Tribes
The main tribes of the district are the Jat (Virks, Cheemas, Chathas,
Tarars, Hangars, etc.) Khokhar, Pathan, Dogar, Gujar, Rajput, Bhatti,
Syed, Arain, Qureshi, Wahga, Maan and Kharal.
Population
With the modest figure of 22,300 in 1951, the population of
Sheikhupura has increased more than tenfold to more than) 3000,00 in
half a century. In recent decades, the rate of growth has increased
due to growing agricultural and industrial activities. The current
population has been growing steadily and is projected to exceed to
700000 in the year 2019 AD.
City's Economy
As a satellite town of Lahore, Sheikhupura has developed an impressive
industrial base. According to the Census of Manufacturing Industries
of 1887-88, the value-added generated in large-scale industries is
higher in Sheikhupura than in Lahore. The GRP of the city for the year
1993 has been estimated as Rs. 6,260 million that constitutes about
32% of the district’s GRP. The industrial sector contributes with 68%
to the GRP and 45% to the total employment. The total number of
establishments in the city has been estimated to be between 11,500 and
12,000 for 1993.
Hiran Minar
Hiran Minar is an interesting and popular tourist resort, located some
6 km northeast of Sheikhupura city (about 38 km from Lahore).
Historical Background
Mughal Emperor Jahangir wrote in his biographical book, Tuzke
Jahangiri.
On Tuesday, I reside in Jahangirpura. According to my order, a Minar
and a grave for my deer Mansraj were constructed here. He is best of
all the wild Deer. On this Minar, Mullah Muhammad Hassan Kashmiri who
was the teacher of all the calligraphists wrote that in this ground
King Jahangir caught a Deer. After a month, when he became familiar
with his surroundings he became the leader of all the Deer.
The name of the Deer was Mansraj. One day when Jahangir was hunting in
the Hiran Minar with his friends, unfortunately he saw a Deer and
attacked on him with his arrow and his Deer died. He became very sad.
The Deer was buried in the same place where he died and constructed a
tower which got famous as "Hiran Minar".
In front of Minar Minar there's a pool of water in which a beautiful
Baradari is standing. This Baradari was constructed by Irdat Khan in
1616. Jahangir liked it very much.
In April 1633, King Shah Jan came here. He spent three days here and
ordered to maintain the building. He gave eighty thousand rupees to
make some changes in the building.
During the Sigh reign(1808-1853), they also used Hiran Minar as their
hunting place.
Physical layout
When the construction of the Hiran Minar was completed it was some 130
feet high but later due to some accident its top story fall down and
now it is 110 feet high. A spiral staircase consisting of 108 steps
has been provided inside the Minar. Alongside the staircase, there are
11 ascending rectangular arched openings provided for air and light.
From these vantilations's there is a good view of the pool, the
Baradari and the surrounding areas. The Minar is entirely built of red
stone with which gray stone has been used, in inlay to highlight the
out lines, arch-forms and simple designs, precisely to provide a
simple color combination to relieve the monotony of red stones but for
a unique and wonderful feature which give the Minar a distinctive
place in Indo-Muslim Architecture, it would have been common place and
ordinary relic of Akbar’s reign.
There's a large pool of water which is 750 feet wide and 890 feet long
(with the area of 892*750) in the Hiran Minar. In the last few years,
Government has used this pool for fishing context which occurs once in
a year.
Shrine Of Waris Shah
A few km beyond Hiran Minar is the historical village of Jandiala Sher
Khan a birthplace of poet Waris Shah, the author of the Punjabi
classic 'Heer'. Besides the newly constructed mausoleum of the poet,
there are a few historical buildings worth seeing in the
village.Shrine of Waris Shah is located in village Jandiala Sher Khan
at a distance of 15 kilometers form Sheikhupura at Kasha roadside.
Waris Shah is a well-known Punjabi poet and author of the romantic
story of Heer-Ranjha, which is highly appreciated and sung by the
rural population. Adjacent to this Shrine is the tank whose water is
considered sacred by some classes of the people. An annual festival is
held in July to mark the Urs of this Sufi Poet and the event is a
major attraction in the area that attracts thousands of his devotees.
Heer Ranjah
Heer was the beautiful daughter of Chochak Sial of Jhang. On the other
hand, Ranjha of Takhat Hazara came to Jhang in search of Heer on the
advice of sister in-law. He immediately fell in love with Heer at
first sight.
To get closer to her, he began to serve her family as servant. Soon
the matter was disclosed and father of Heer managed her marriage with
the family of Kharas. Resultantly, the two lovers died in the name of
the love and became a permanent part of the Punjab History.
A Sufi saint Warris Shah from Jandiala Sher Khan, 15 Kilometers from
Sheikhupura, has described this incident in his Punjabi poetry in the
name of "HEER". The "HEER" can be termed as Encyclopedia of Punjabi poetry and the high point of
Punjabi language, as the book contains rich vocabulary and covers all
the aspects of social, cultural and political situation of that time.
|
