Gujrat, Pakistan

Gujrat (Punjabi: [ɡʊd͡ʒɾaːt̪]) is a city, located along the western bank of the Chenab River, in the northern region of Punjab, Pakistan. Located within the historic Gujrat Fort, it serves as the headquarters of its eponymous district and division. It is the 13th-most populous city in Punjab and the 16th in Pakistan, with an urban population of 574,240 in 2023. Having an industrial and export-oriented economy, Gujrat constitutes the "Golden Triangle of Punjab" alongside Sialkot and Gujranwala.

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. Instead of rehabilitating Gujrat, which had been affected during Alexander's invasion, some local legends suggest that after the death of King Porus, a ruler named Raja Kula Chand (sometimes linked to Chandragupta) founded a new settlement near Jalalpur Jattan. This new city, reportedly comprising several smaller settlements, was named Kulachor.

With Alexander's death in June 323 BC, Chandragupta Maurya (referred to in Greek sources as "Sandrokottos") who was from Magadha region (present-day Bihar in India) 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 first 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 dynasty 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. Nadir Shah's invasion of India on November 18, 1738, brought devastation to Gujrat as well. With a massive army of two hundred and seventy thousand men, he crossed the Indus and entered the Punjab. His orders were to leave nothing standing within the reach of his troops' weapons, instilling fear particularly in Nawab Zakaria Khan, the Viceroy of Lahore. His forces crossed the Chenab River near the Shahdoula Shrine, entering Gujrat and pillaging the town. As part of his battle strategy, Nadir Shah stationed one of his generals, Mirza Nur Beg, with a contingent in Gujrat, while he himself led the bulk of his forces against the army of the Governor of Lahore, Mirza Kalandar Beg, who was stationed near Wazirabad at the Chenab River.

Mughal rule effectively 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 Gakhar Punjabi tribesmen under the leadership of Muqarrab Khan from the Pothohar Plateau to the west.