Dipalpur
Encyclopedia
Dipalpur is a town in Okara District
of the Punjab
and headquarters of Depalpur Tehsil, assumed to be largest tehsil of Pakistan. It is situated 25 kilometres from the district capital Okara
on a bank of the Beas River
in Bari Doab. The town is notable for being the site of several battles in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and is also associated with the history of the Bhatti clan. Punjabi
is the most spoken language in the region.
), Qabula and Depalpur. Now the Depalpur is a tehsil of district Okara and it is an older tehsil than Okara. This area also remained the part of Montgomery District
before 1982 when Okara became a district.it contains 945 villages.
(Scythian) period found in the area suggest that it was inhabited as early as 100 BC. After Multan
, this is probably the oldest continuously occupied site on the subcontinent.
General Alexander Cunningham
writes that the area was mentioned in the works of Ptolemy
under several different names. According to local legend, Dipalpur got its name from Raja
Dipa Chand when he captured the city. Dipalpur was the first fortification on the route from the Khyber Pass
to Delhi
.
against the Mongol invasions
of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
In 1285, Shahid Khan, son of Emperor Balban, was killed in a bloody battle against the Mongols and the famous poet Amir Khusro
was taken prisoner. The tomb where Muhammad Tughlaq is interred may still be seen in an isolated part of the city, although it has become rather dilapidated.
the town became the headquarters of Ghazi Malik (also known as Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq
). Firuz Shah Tughluq
made a royal visit to the town in the fourteenth century. Mughal Emperor
Akbar made it the headquarters of one of the sarkars (revenue districts) of Multan Province.
. It had a significant number of Hindu
s before the partition of India
, which dispersed most of them. It is now a market town and the capital of the local tehsil
.
, rising to the height of 25 feet and strengthened by a deep trench. When and by whom this wall was constructed is not known, but it was renovated, repaired and improved during the rule of Firoz Shah Tughluq and later by Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan, who was the governor during the time of Akbar. Firoz Shah Tughluq constructed a grand mosque
and palaces. He also excavated a canal from the river Sutlej
to irrigate gardens around the town.
Wide and airy tunnels linked the royal residential quarters inside the fort to the adjoining gardens outside. There were 24 burgs (musketry holes)
on the fortification wall, 24 mosques, 24 bavlis (ponds) and 24 wells at the town's peak. The trench, ponds and tunnels have been filled in , but in some places the location of the trench can still be defined. Most of the wall has been razed. Two of the four massive gateways with pointed arches also exist though they are badly damaged and their wooden doors have vanished. Later coats of cement have marred the original architecture of the gateways.
s, bay window
s and cut brick works, the most noticeable feature inside old Dipalpur is the monastery of Lal Jas Raj
, a guru much venerated by the local people.
According to the famous legend, Lal Jas Raj was the young son of Raja Dipa Chand, the founder of Dipalpur. He sank into the earth due to a curse by his stepmother Rani Dholran. Raja Dipa Chand constructed this monastery in the memory of his son. Today, the chamber is dilapidated, the doors are jammed and a stairway is used for storage. The structure itself is crumbling. According to local residents, there used to be a grand annual "mela
" held here. It was also used by Hindus as a place to perform the Sardukahr (head-shaving ritual) until the partition, but "nobody comes anymore".
(inn) near the monastery of Lal Jas Raj. It was a spacious building with airy rooms on four sides, a big courtyard in the centre and four arched entrances. The inn, like most of the older structures in town, is now in a state of disrepair. It has been divided and subdivided so many times by successive occupants that the original shapes are obscured. Even the verandas have been converted to create rooms.
Many Muslim saints have come to preach in this area. Hazrat Bahawal Haq commonly known as Bahawal Sher Qalandar
came from Baghdad and settled in the village of Patharwall near Dipalpur. The saint constructed a hujra (small living room) and a mosque outside the village. His grandson Hazrat Shah Muqeem continued his mission. The village came to be known as Hujra Shah Muqeem. This is the place mentioned in the famous Punjabi love story Mirza Saheban, although there is no historical evidence that Jati Sahiba(Mirza Sahiba
) came here and prayed that "The streets should desert when where my lover Mirza
roams about".
Depalpur is also famous for Great saint Hazrat Syed abbdullah Gilani Almarof Sakhi Saiden.Sakhi Saiden belongs to Gilani faimly of uch sharif bahawlapur.Hazrat sakhi saiden is the grand son of great saint of okara syed Mohammed Ghoas Almaroof Balla peer.The tomb of Sakhi Saiden situated in sakhi saiden coloney.uras of sakhi saiden held every year at 10th of march.from all over the pakistan people come to attend the uras.
Most of people of depalpur accepted islam on the hands of sakhi saiden.the family of sakhi saiden is living in depalpur,s villages chak fazal shah,basti saiden saen,and nobahar colony and also in mohala gilania depalpur,one branch of sakhi saiden,s family is living in jheuranwali village in gujrat.syed ali niwazish gilani ,chak fazal shah,depalpur.
The Mughal king Akbar, along with his son Saleem and royal entourage, stayed in Dipalpur when he came to pay homage to Saint Hazrat Farid Ghang Shakar in 1578. Akbar named the corridor Bari Doab by combining the syllables of the names of the two rivers, Beas
and Ravi
, that bounded the area. Baba Guru Nanak
also stayed in Dipalpur for some time. The ruins of a Gurudwara mark the place.
There are also Sufi saints in Depalpur city , as SAKHI SAIDAAN SAIN (kachehri chok)SAIN ABDUL RAZZAQ(pakpattan chok)BABA ABDULLAH(basti abdulla pipli pahar road)ABDAL E ZAMAN HAFIZ ABDUL GHANI(peer di hatti srop madina tul mahboob okara road)
Depalpur is also famous for Dhaki. The cities Basir Pur, Hujra Shah Muqeem
, Haveli Lakha
& Shergarh
are also a part of Depalpur Tehsil.
Okara District
Okara District is a district of Punjab, Pakistan. The Multan Road connects the district capital, Okara with tLahore 110 km away. Okara began as a small town about 40 km from the city of Sahiwal. It later become a city in its own right. According to the 1998 census, the district had a...
of the Punjab
Punjab (Pakistan)
Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with approximately 45% of the country's total population. Forming most of the Punjab region, the province is bordered by Kashmir to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the...
and headquarters of Depalpur Tehsil, assumed to be largest tehsil of Pakistan. It is situated 25 kilometres from the district capital Okara
Okara, Pakistan
Okara is the capital city of Okara District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The name Okara is derived from Okaan, a name of a tree, the city is located south-west to the city of Lahore and is famous for its agriculture-based economy and cotton mills...
on a bank of the Beas River
Beas River
The Beas River is a river in the northern part of India. The river rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows for some 470 km to the Sutlej River in the Indian state of Punjab....
in Bari Doab. The town is notable for being the site of several battles in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and is also associated with the history of the Bhatti clan. Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
is the most spoken language in the region.
History
Depalpur city is an ancient city about 2000 years old, the city has been demolished and rebuilt several times during this period. According to the historian Abnashi Chander Das "AC DAS", the original name of this city was Siri Puria or Siri Nagar after the elder brother of Raja Salvahan of Sialkot (who was the explorer of Sialkot) Raja Depa Chand renamed Depalpur after his beloved son Raja Depa. According to A C DAS, that was about 2000 years ago when Aryans entered the Subcontinent they began to live in the land of Pert Sindhu (The Land of Seven Rivers) including River Ravi, Chinab, Satluj, Jhelum, Beas, Indus and Kabul. So the famous civilisation which was developed at that time was Ajodhan (PakpattanPakpattan
Pakpattan is the capital city of the Pakpattan District in the Sahiwal Division in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Pakpattan is one of the ancient cities of Pakistan. It is the city that has the shrine of the well-known Sufi of all times, Baba Fareed...
), Qabula and Depalpur. Now the Depalpur is a tehsil of district Okara and it is an older tehsil than Okara. This area also remained the part of Montgomery District
Montgomery District
Montgomery District was an administrative district of the former Punjab Province of British India, in what is now Pakistan. Named after Sir Robert Montgomery, it lay in the Bari Doab, or the tract between the Sutlej and the Ravi rivers, extending also across the Ravi into the Rechna Doab, which...
before 1982 when Okara became a district.it contains 945 villages.
Ancient History
Coins from the SakaSaka
The Saka were a Scythian tribe or group of tribes....
(Scythian) period found in the area suggest that it was inhabited as early as 100 BC. After Multan
Multan
Multan , is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. It is located in the southern part of the province on the east bank of the Chenab River, more or less in the geographic centre of the country and about from Islamabad, from Lahore and from Karachi...
, this is probably the oldest continuously occupied site on the subcontinent.
General Alexander Cunningham
Alexander Cunningham
Sir Alexander Cunningham KCIE CSI was a British archaeologist and army engineer, known as the father of the Archaeological Survey of India...
writes that the area was mentioned in the works of Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
under several different names. According to local legend, Dipalpur got its name from Raja
Raja
Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...
Dipa Chand when he captured the city. Dipalpur was the first fortification on the route from the Khyber Pass
Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass, is a mountain pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.The Pass was an integral part of the ancient Silk Road. It is mentioned in the Bible as the "Pesh Habor," and it is one of the oldest known passes in the world....
to Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
.
Mongols
Dipalpur gained fame as an outpost that played a significant part in defending the Delhi SultanateDelhi Sultanate
The Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
against the Mongol invasions
Mongol invasions
Mongol invasions progressed throughout the 13th century, resulting in the vast Mongol Empire which covered much of Asia and Eastern Europe by 1300....
of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
In 1285, Shahid Khan, son of Emperor Balban, was killed in a bloody battle against the Mongols and the famous poet Amir Khusro
Amir Khusro
Ab'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrow , better known as Amīr Khusrow Dehlawī , was an Indian musician, scholar and poet. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent...
was taken prisoner. The tomb where Muhammad Tughlaq is interred may still be seen in an isolated part of the city, although it has become rather dilapidated.
Ghazi Malik
Under Ala-ud-dinAla-ud-din
Aladdin is a male given name which means "nobility of faith" or "nobility of religion". It is one of a large class of names ending with ad-Din...
the town became the headquarters of Ghazi Malik (also known as Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq
Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq
Ghiyas ud-Din Tughluq , real name Ghazi Malik was the founder and first ruler of the Turkic Muslim Tughluq dynasty in India, who reigned over Sultanate of Delhi . He has been the founder of the third city of Delhi called Tughluqabad.Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq was in origin a poor Qarauna who took...
). Firuz Shah Tughluq
Firuz Shah Tughluq
-External links:*...
made a royal visit to the town in the fourteenth century. Mughal Emperor
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
Akbar made it the headquarters of one of the sarkars (revenue districts) of Multan Province.
Partition
The town dwindled in importance during the British RajBritish Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
. It had a significant number of Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s before the partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
, which dispersed most of them. It is now a market town and the capital of the local tehsil
Tehsil
A Tehsil or Tahsil/Tahasil , also known as Taluk and Mandal, is an administrative division of some country/countries of South Asia....
.
Historical Architecture
In the past, Dipalpur was surrounded by a fortified wallDefensive wall
A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements...
, rising to the height of 25 feet and strengthened by a deep trench. When and by whom this wall was constructed is not known, but it was renovated, repaired and improved during the rule of Firoz Shah Tughluq and later by Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan, who was the governor during the time of Akbar. Firoz Shah Tughluq constructed a grand mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
and palaces. He also excavated a canal from the river Sutlej
Sutlej
The Sutlej River is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroad region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. It is located north of the Vindhya Range, south of the Hindu Kush segment of the Himalayas, and east of the Central Sulaiman Range in Pakistan.The Sutlej...
to irrigate gardens around the town.
Wide and airy tunnels linked the royal residential quarters inside the fort to the adjoining gardens outside. There were 24 burgs (musketry holes)
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
on the fortification wall, 24 mosques, 24 bavlis (ponds) and 24 wells at the town's peak. The trench, ponds and tunnels have been filled in , but in some places the location of the trench can still be defined. Most of the wall has been razed. Two of the four massive gateways with pointed arches also exist though they are badly damaged and their wooden doors have vanished. Later coats of cement have marred the original architecture of the gateways.
Hindu Monastery
Besides doors with decorated latches, JharokhaJharokha
A jharokha is a type of overhanging enclosed balcony used in Indian architecture, typically Mughal architecture and Rajasthani architecture. Jharokhas jutting forward from the wall plane could be used both for adding to the architectural beauty of the building itself or for a specific purpose...
s, bay window
Bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...
s and cut brick works, the most noticeable feature inside old Dipalpur is the monastery of Lal Jas Raj
Lal Jas Raj
Lal Jas Raj was an ancient king in Dipalpur, Okara District, Punjab, Pakistan.- Legend :According to legend Lal Jas Raj was young the son of Raja Dipa Chand, the founder of Dipalpur. The boy sank in the earth due to the curse of his stepmother Rani Dholran. Raja Dipa Chand constructed this...
, a guru much venerated by the local people.
According to the famous legend, Lal Jas Raj was the young son of Raja Dipa Chand, the founder of Dipalpur. He sank into the earth due to a curse by his stepmother Rani Dholran. Raja Dipa Chand constructed this monastery in the memory of his son. Today, the chamber is dilapidated, the doors are jammed and a stairway is used for storage. The structure itself is crumbling. According to local residents, there used to be a grand annual "mela
Mela
Mela is a Sanskrit word meaning 'gathering' or 'to meet' or a Fair. It is used in the Indian subcontinent for all sizes of gathering and can be religious, commercial, cultural or sports. In rural traditions melas or village fairs were of great importance...
" held here. It was also used by Hindus as a place to perform the Sardukahr (head-shaving ritual) until the partition, but "nobody comes anymore".
Inn
Another notable structure in the old section of Dipalpur is a sarayCaravanserai
A caravanserai, or khan, also known as caravansary, caravansera, or caravansara in English was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey...
(inn) near the monastery of Lal Jas Raj. It was a spacious building with airy rooms on four sides, a big courtyard in the centre and four arched entrances. The inn, like most of the older structures in town, is now in a state of disrepair. It has been divided and subdivided so many times by successive occupants that the original shapes are obscured. Even the verandas have been converted to create rooms.
Saints
Qalandar
Qalandars are wandering ascetic Sufi dervishes who may or may not be connected to a specific tariqat. They are most prevalent in Central Asia, India and Pakistan, in the latter "qalandar" is also used as a title...
came from Baghdad and settled in the village of Patharwall near Dipalpur. The saint constructed a hujra (small living room) and a mosque outside the village. His grandson Hazrat Shah Muqeem continued his mission. The village came to be known as Hujra Shah Muqeem. This is the place mentioned in the famous Punjabi love story Mirza Saheban, although there is no historical evidence that Jati Sahiba(Mirza Sahiba
Mirza Sahiba
Mirza Sahiba is one of the four popular tragic romances of the Punjab. Heer Ranjha and Mirza Sahiba, including Sohni Mahiwal and Sassi Punnun are the four tales from Punjab, narrated in Punjabi...
) came here and prayed that "The streets should desert when where my lover Mirza
Mirza
Mirza , is of Persian origin, denoting the rank of a high nobleman or Prince. It is usually translated into English as a royal or imperial Prince of the Blood...
roams about".
Depalpur is also famous for Great saint Hazrat Syed abbdullah Gilani Almarof Sakhi Saiden.Sakhi Saiden belongs to Gilani faimly of uch sharif bahawlapur.Hazrat sakhi saiden is the grand son of great saint of okara syed Mohammed Ghoas Almaroof Balla peer.The tomb of Sakhi Saiden situated in sakhi saiden coloney.uras of sakhi saiden held every year at 10th of march.from all over the pakistan people come to attend the uras.
Most of people of depalpur accepted islam on the hands of sakhi saiden.the family of sakhi saiden is living in depalpur,s villages chak fazal shah,basti saiden saen,and nobahar colony and also in mohala gilania depalpur,one branch of sakhi saiden,s family is living in jheuranwali village in gujrat.syed ali niwazish gilani ,chak fazal shah,depalpur.
The Mughal king Akbar, along with his son Saleem and royal entourage, stayed in Dipalpur when he came to pay homage to Saint Hazrat Farid Ghang Shakar in 1578. Akbar named the corridor Bari Doab by combining the syllables of the names of the two rivers, Beas
Beas River
The Beas River is a river in the northern part of India. The river rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows for some 470 km to the Sutlej River in the Indian state of Punjab....
and Ravi
Ravi River
The Ravi is a trans-boundary river flowing through Northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of the six rivers of the Indus System in Punjab region ....
, that bounded the area. Baba Guru Nanak
Guru Nanak Dev
Guru Nanak was the founder of the religion of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. The Sikhs believe that all subsequent Gurus possessed Guru Nanak’s divinity and religious authority, and were named "Nanak" in the line of succession.-Early life:Guru Nanak was born on 15 April 1469, now...
also stayed in Dipalpur for some time. The ruins of a Gurudwara mark the place.
There are also Sufi saints in Depalpur city , as SAKHI SAIDAAN SAIN (kachehri chok)SAIN ABDUL RAZZAQ(pakpattan chok)BABA ABDULLAH(basti abdulla pipli pahar road)ABDAL E ZAMAN HAFIZ ABDUL GHANI(peer di hatti srop madina tul mahboob okara road)
Depalpur is also famous for Dhaki. The cities Basir Pur, Hujra Shah Muqeem
Hujra Shah Muqeem
Hujra Shah Muqeem is a town of Okara District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is part of Depalpur Tehsil and is administratively subdivided into 3 Union Councils. The town is the site of an historic Gurudwara.-References:...
, Haveli Lakha
Haveli Lakha
Haveli Lakha is a town of the Okara District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located around 180;km south west of Lahore....
& Shergarh
Shergarh
Shergarh is a town and a nagar panchayat in Bareilly district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.It is a small town known for rice and sugarcane.-Demographics:...
are also a part of Depalpur Tehsil.