Multan City
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Multan City
Head-quarters of the Multan Division, District, and tahsil, in the Punjab, situated in 30° 12' N. and 71° 31' E., on the North- Western Railway, 576 miles from Karachi and 1,429 from Calcutta. The city is built on a mound, the accumulated debris of ages, at a distance of 4 miles from the present left bank of the Chenab, enclosed on three sides by a wall from 10 to 20 feet in height, but open towards the south, where the old dry bed of the Ravi intervenes between the city and the citadel. As late as the days of Timur, the Ravi seems to have flowed past Multan, joining the Chenab 10 miles lower dowm ; and the original site consisted of two islands, which are now picturesquely crowned by the city and citadel, at an elevation of 50 feet above the surrounding country. Population (1901), 87,394, including 46,899 Muhammadans and 36,947 Hindus.
Multan, formerly called Kashtpur, Hanspur, Bagpur, Sanb or Sanab- pur, and finally Mulasthan, derives its name from that of the idol and temple of the Sun, a shrine of vast wealth in the pre-Muhammadan period. As one of the frontier towns of India, it has been from the earliest times of the greatest historical importance, and its history is given in detail with that of Multan District. Tradition identifies the present site with the strong city of the Malli, stormed by Alexander. For the next thousand years the conquerors of Multan present an amazing variety of race — Graeco-Bactrians are followed by the Kushans, who in turn give place to the White Huns. When the Arabs first penetrated the valley of the Indus, the town was ruled by Chach, a Brahman usurper, who died in a. D. 671.
The Arabs entered India from Sind, and after a victorious campaign they captured and garrisoned Multan. For three centuries the garrison remained the outpost of Islam in India, though by 900 the Multan governor was independent of Baghdad. About that time the followers of Abdullah, the Karmatian, seized Multan. Mahmud, the orthodox ruler of Ghazni, waged per- petual war upon this heretical sect, and the Ghaznivids kept a nominal control over Multan until Muhammad of Ghor overthrew them. The city fared but ill throughout these sectarian wars, and is said to have been deserted when the Gardezi Saiyids first migrated there in the twelfth century.
From 1206 to 1528 Multan was nominally subject to the kings of Delhi, though in fact it was almost independent. In 1397 Tlmur occupied the city on his way to Delhi, and in 1528 it passed to Babar. Always the route chosen by the earlier invaders, whether going or returning, the province of Multan passed with its capital city from hand to hand, with short space to recover from one devastation ere the next came upon it. Under the strong government of the early Mughal emperors, Multan at last enjoyed 200 years of peace. The trade route from Hindustan to Persia passed through it, and Multan itself became a trading city. The later invaders chose the northern route, and Multan owed its immunity to the desert which had suddenly replaced the fertile lands of Sind.
In 1752 the nominal allegiance of Multan was transferred from Delhi to Kabul. In 1771 the Sikhs appeared before the gates, and the city was constantly threatened from that date until it was stormed by Ranjit Singh in 181 8. In 1821 Diwan Sawan Mai became its governor, and a just, if absolute, autocracy replaced the confusion of the Pathan regime. The first Sikh War did not affect Multan ; but the murder of two British ofificers here by Mulraj, son of Sawan Mai, led to the second Sikh War, in which it was captured on January 3, 1849. The fortifications were dismantled in 1854. In the Mutiny the garrison was quietly disarmed by orders of the Chief Commissioner. In consequence of a riot which broke out in September, 1881, between Hindus and Muhammadans the city was occupied by troops for ten days, and a punitive police post was imposed on the city for a year.
Large and irregular suburbs have grown up outside the walls since the annexation in 1849. Within the city proper, one broad bazar, the Chauk, runs from the Husain Gate for a quarter of a mile into the centre of the city, ending at the Wali Muhammad Gate, from which three broad streets lead to the various gates of the city. The other streets are narrow and tortuous, often ending in culs-de- sac. The principal buildings include the shrines of the Muham- madan saints, Baha-ud-din and Rukn-ul-alam (of the Arab tribe of Kuresh, to which the Prophet belonged), which stand in the citadel.
Close by are the remains of an ancient Hindu temple of the Nara- singh Avatar of Vishnu, called Pahladpuri, partially blown down by the explosion of the powder magazine during the siege of 1848-9. The great temple of the Sun once occupied the very middle of the citadel, but was destroyed during the reign of the zealous Muham- madan emperor Aurangzeb, who erected a Jama Masjid or cathedral mosque in its place. This mosque afterwards became the powder magazine of the Sikhs, and was blown up. Within the fort, and overlooking the city, is the plain, massive obelisk, 70 feet in height, erected in memory of Mr. Vans Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson, the two British officers murdered in April, 1848, at the outbreak of Mulraj's rebellion. East of the city is the Amkhas, formerly the audience hall and garden-house of the Hindu governors of Multan, now used as the tahs'il building. North of this is the cenotaph of Diwan Sawan Mai and the European cemetery. A fine public garden lies to the west of the city.
The 'civil station of Multan lies north and west of the native city, and the cantonment lies in the high stretch of land to the south-west. The garrison, which belongs to the Lahore division, consists of a company of garrison artillery, a battalion of British infantry, a regiment of Native cavalry, two of Native infantry, and a detachment of railway volunteers. The municipality was created in 1867. The income and expenditure during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged 1-7 lakhs. The income in 1903-4 was 1-9 lakhs, the chief source being octroi (Rs. 1,51,000); while the expenditure of 1-8 lakhs included conservancy (Rs. 32,000), education (Rs. 29,000), medical (Rs. 19,000), public safety (Rs. 35,000), and administration (Rs. 26,000). The income and expenditure of cantonment funds during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 34,000.
As a trade centre, Multan is of the first importance, being connected by rail with Lahore and Karachi, and by the Ravi, Jhelum, and Chenab with the whole Central Punjab. Large quantities of raw produce are shipped by country boats from Sher Shah, the port of Multan, to Karachi. The trade of Multan comprises every article of produce, manufacture, and consumption in the Province. The chief imports are cotton and other piece-goods ; while the main staples of export are wheat, sugar, cotton, indigo, and wool. Leaving out of consideration what the city requires for its own use, the function of Multan as a trade centre is to collect cotton, wheat, wool, oilseeds, sugar, and indigo from the surrounding country, and to export them to the south ; to receive fruits, drugs, raw silk, and spices from Kandahar traders, and to pass them on to the east.
The Afghan traders take back indigo, European and country cotton cloth, sugar, and shoes. Multan receives European piece-goods and European wares generally, and distributes them to the western Districts and in its own neighbourhood. The chief local manufactures are silk- and cotton-weaving and carpet-making ; country shoes are also made in large quantities for exportation. The glazed pottery and enamel work of Multan, although not industries on a large scale, have a high reputation, and the manufacture of tin boxes is a growing and important industry. The North-Western Railway workshops give employment to 315 persons, and 10 cotton-ginning and three cotton- pressing factories have an aggregate of 657 hands. There is a branch of the Punjab Banking Company.
The chief educational institutions are the three high schools, a middle school for European boys, and St. Mary's Convent middle school for girls. There are English and Roman Catholic churches in the cantonment, and a station of the Church Missionary Society. Besides the civil hospital with two branch dispensaries, the Church Missionary Society maintains the Victoria Jubilee Hospital for Women.
