Gujrat, Punjab Province, Pakistan

🇵🇰 Gujrat is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. It is the capital of Gujrat District and it is the 20th largest city of Pakistan by population. Along with the nearby cities of Sialkot and Gujranwala, Gujrat forms part of the Golden Triangle of industrial cities with export-oriented economies.

History Gujrat is a place of some antiquity and abounds in important ancient sites. The city and district formed part of the kingdom of Porus who ruled primarily within the Chaj Doab. He was defeated by Alexander after a difficult campaign at the Battle of Hydaspes in May 326 BC. Alexander was impressed by his bravery and decided to reinstall him as a vassal of the Macedonian Empire. With Alexander's death in June 323 BC, Chandragupta Maurya (referred to in Greek sources as "Sandrokottos") who was of relatively humble origin possibly from the Punjab region, took control of the Punjab using it as a base for the founding of the Mauryan Empire. It remained under the Mauryas until shortly after the death of Ashoka in 231 BC, and later came under the sway of Demetrius I who founded the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The Scythian invasion brought about by Maues in the latter half of the second century brought a change of rulers and the Indo-Scythian Kingdom was established shortly after. This would change in the early first century CE when a Parthian governor Gondophares declared independence from the Parthian Empire. He moved east in 19 CE, conquering territory from the Indo-Scythians and Indo-Greeks, thus forming his own Indo-Parthian kingdom. The domains of the Indo-Parthians were greatly reduced following the invasions of the Kushans in the second half of the 1st. century CE who formed a vast prosperous empire in Central and South Asia which oversaw a flowering of Buddhism.

For several hundreds years, nothing is known about the area except between 455 and 550 CE when it was exposed to the ravages of the Alchon Huns. After the decline of the Alchon Huns, it became the main base of the new kingdom of Gurjara, under a certain Alakhana. According to the Rajatarangini, it was invaded between 883 and 902 CE by Sankaravarman of the Utpala dunasty in Kashmir who fought and defeated the Gurjara ruler Alakhana. The name Alakhana etymologically is in reference to the Alchon Huns. This may be the Ali Khan whom the present Gujjar tribe in Gujrat hail as their elder and founder of Gujrat. The putative Hunnic origin of the ruler Alakhana, remembered as Ali Khan in the tradition and memory of the Gujjars centuries after their conversion to Islam, led British historians to conclude that the Gujjars were originally from the stock of the Alchon Huns.

Gujrat was known and inhabited during the early 16th century when the Suri ruler Sher Shah toppled the Mughals under Humayun. The area was named Khwaspur, in honour of Suri's Governor of Rohtas, Khwas Khan. The city came under the Mughal Empire and was further developed during the reign of Akbar in the latter half of the 16th century, who built the Gujrat Fort, and allowed Gujjars to settle in the fort who had been living within the district for centuries up to this time. The city and district was formally named in reference to the local Gujjar tribe.

In 1605, Syed Abdul Kasim was granted the city as a fief by Akbar. During the reign of Jahangir, Gujrat was part of the route used by the Mughal family when visiting Kashmir. In the Mughal era, Gujrat was encircled by a wall with five gates, of which only the Shah Daula gate survives.

With the death of Aurangzeb, in 1707, the Mughal Empire began to weaken significantly. Mughal authority in Punjab remained in the hands of Mughal Nawabs, despite the Afsharid ruler Nader Shah leading an invasion in 1739 that resulted in the sacking of the capital Delhi. During his campaign, Nader Shah sacked Gujrat on the way which was at the time a prosperous city. Mughal rule collapsed in Punjab after Mir Mannu died in 1753. The Durrani Afghans under their new ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani annexed the region directly from the Mughals. The city suffered further from the eight invasions of the Durrani Afghans between 1748 and 1767 who fought the Sikhs for control of Punjab. In the ensuing chaos, the city was captured by local Punjabi Gakhar tribesmen from near the Rawalpindi area.

In 1765, the city was overrun by the Sikh Bhangi Misl under Gujjar Singh who defeated the Ghakars under their chief Muqqarab Khan. The Sikhs defeated an Afghan force in a battle for Gujrat on 29 April 1797. In 1798, the Bhangi leader Sahib Singh pledged allegiance to the Sukerchakia Misl of Ranjit Singh who later established the Sikh Empire in 1799. By 1810, Ranjit Singh's armies captured the city from Bhangi forces, thereby extending the rule of the Sikh Empire to the city.

Gujrat finally came under British control in 1849, following the collapse of the Sikh Empire in the wake of the Sikh defeat at the Battle of Gujrat on 22 February, which ended the Second Anglo-Sikh War. In 1867, Gujrat was constituted as a municipality. According to the census, the city had a population of 18,396 in 1881, 19,410 in 1901 and 21,974 in 1921.

Geography Gujrat is an ancient city of Pakistan located between two famous rivers, Jhelum River and Chenab River. It is bounded to the north-east by Azad Kashmir; to the north-west by the Jhelum River; to the east and south-east by the Chenab River, separating it from the districts of Gujranwala and Sialkot; and to the west by Mandi Bahauddin District. Gujrat consists of three tehsils: Sarai Alamgir, Kharian and Gujrat.

It is served by Gujrat railway station on the Karachi–Peshawar Line, the main railway line of Pakistan Railways.

Education Some of the notable educational institutes of Gujrat include: • University of Gujrat • Nawaz Sharif Medical College • University of Lahore • University of Central Punjab • Punjab College of Science, Gujrat Campus • The Superior College, Gujrat Campus • Pakistan International Public School, Gujrat Campus • Beaconhouse School System • The Educators • Lahore Grammar School • Dar-e-Arqam Schools.