Uch - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Uch or Uch Sharif ) is located in 75 km from Bahawalpur

Bahawalpur

Bahawalpur , located in the province of Punjab, is the twelfth largest city in Pakistan. The city was once the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur. The city was home to various Nawabs and counted as part of the Rajputana states...

in Bahawalpur District

Bahawalpur District

Bahawalpur District is one of the districts of Punjab, Pakistan. According to the 1998 Census of Pakistan it had a population of 2,433,091 of which 27.01% were urban Bahawalpur district covers 24,830 km². Approximately two-thirds of the district is covered by the Cholistan Desert, which...

, South Punjab, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

Uch is an important historical city, being founded by Alexander the Great. Formerly located at the confluence of the Indus and Chenab rivers, it is now removed to Mithankot, some 100 km from that confluence. It was an important center in medieval India, as an early stronghold of the Delhi Sultanate

Delhi 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...

in the 13th century during the Muslim conquest

Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent

Muslim conquest in South Asia mainly took place from the 13th to the 16th centuries, though earlier Muslim conquests made limited inroads into the region, beginning during the period of the ascendancy of the Rajput Kingdoms in North India, from the 7th century onwards.However, the Himalayan...

. Uch Sharif contains the tombs of Bibi Jawindi, Baha'al-Halim and Jalaluddin Bukhari, which are considered master pieces of Islamic architecture and are on the UNESCO World Heritage Site tentative list.

History

It is believed that in 325 BCE Alexander the Great founded a city called Alexandria on the Indus

Alexandria on the Indus

Alexandria on the Indus was a city founded by Alexander the Great at the junction of the Indus and the Acesines river, and 10,000 colonists were settled there . The satrap of the west bank of the Indus, Philip, son of Machatas, was put in charge of building the city:- References :...

at the site of the last confluence of Punjab rivers with the Indus

Indus River

The Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...

. Nevertheless, some historians believe that Uch predates the advent of Bikramjit when Jains and Buddhists ruled over the area, and that Mithankot

Mithankot

Mithankot , is located in southern Punjab, Pakistan.- Geography :Mithankot is located on the right bank of the Indus River, only a short distance downstream from its junction with Panjnad River. The latter is formed by successive confluence of the five rivers of Punjab, namely Jhelum, Chenab,...

or Chacharan Sharif was the true settlement of Alexandria. In AD 712, Muhammad bin Qasim

Muhammad bin Qasim

Muhammad bin Qasim Al-Thaqafi was a Umayyad general who, at the age of 17, began the conquest of the Sindh and Punjab regions along the Indus River for the Umayyad Caliphate. He was born in the city of Taif...

conquered the city and during the Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

period Uch was one of the centres of Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic studies of South Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

. There are several tombs of famous mystics (Sufis) in Uch, notably the tombs of Syed Jalaluddin Bukhari and his family. These structures were joined by a series of domed tombs; the first is said to have been built for Baha’ al-Halim by his pupil, the Suharwardiya Sufi saint Jahaniyan Jahangasht

Jahaniyan Jahangasht

Makhdoom Jahaniyan Jahangasht مخدوم سید جہانیاں جہانگشت نقوی البخاری was a famous Sufi saint from the South Asia. His descendants are known as Bukhari and are a prominent lineage of Naqvi Saadat. Makhdoom was born on 19 January 1308 AD in Uch near Bahawalpur...

(1307–1383), the second for the latter’s great grant daughter, Bibi Jawindi, in 1494, and the third for the latter’s architect.

Uch in modern times

Flooding in the early 19th century caused serious damage to the tombs, including structural problems and the deterioration of masonry

Masonry

Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...

and finishes. As the problems have persisted, the "Uch Monument Complex" was listed in the 1998 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund

World Monuments Fund

World Monuments Fund is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and training....

, and again in 2000 and 2002. The Fund subsequently offered financial assistance for conservation from American Express

American Express

American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.