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History of Jhelum

Sohail Gate, Rohtas Fort.

The recorded history of Jhelum, a district of modern-day Pakistan, covers thousands of years. It has since its creation changed hands from Greek , Persian, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and British rule to present day Pakistan.

Jhelum is near the site of the famous Battle of the Hydaspes between the armies of Alexander the Great and Raja Porus This battle took place a few miles downstream fromthe city centre, along the river banks. The city was founded to commemorate the death of Alexander's horse, Bucephalus, and was originally called Bucephala. Nearby there is alsothe historic 16th century Rohtas Fort, another historic fort since Sikh era located at the backside of main Bus stand near Railway Phatak Jhelum City now being used as storesunder Railway Authorities and also Tilla Jogian; a centuries-long history of the area.

Contents

• 1 Early history• 2 Greek Period• 3 Early Muslim Period• 4 Mughal era• 5 Sikh era• 6 British Era• 7 Military History• 8 Etymology

• 9 References

[edit] Early history

The history of the district dates back to the semi-mythical period of the Mahabharata.Hindu tradition represents the Salt Range as the refuge of the five Pandava brethren

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during the period of their exile, and every salient point in its scenery is connected withsome legend of the national heroes. Modern research has fixed the site of the conflict between Alexander and Porus as within Jhelum district, though the exact spot at whichthe Macedonian king effected the passage of the Jhelum (or Hydespes) has been hotlydisputed.

[edit] Greek Period

Ancient graveyard of Alexander 's period

Alexander moved from Taxila of Raja Ambhi, whom he subdued without fight, to Kalar Kahar. From there he moved over the Salt Range, turning left, along the western bank of River Jhelum, which he called Hydaspes.Opposite him on the other bank was a RajaPorus. They fought Alexander's biggest Indian battle which Alexander won, achieving amasterly surprise against the valiant Rajput. Before moving further, along the river Alexander established a village on west bank of the River and ordered construction of 

2000 boats. Greek Admiral Nearches was to arrange wood from nearby higher hillswhich would be floated down the River and hauled up at this point. He called this villageas Boucephila (Present Jhelum City). The Jhelum River passes vying with the residentialareas of the city.

The mosque inside the river is a famous landmark most commuters on the Grand Trunk Road see even today. Alexander's Naval Chief was assigned the task of boats building ona very large scale. Therefore, the craftsmen on a large scale were gathered, hence themodern colonies in the city were named as Machine Mohallahs (Number1, 2 and 3), because of saw mills. Jhelum became timber market for whole of Punjab over themillenniums. It was only after construction of Mangla Dam that log wood does not float

down the River and the city has lost this privilege. There is a plywood factory also, whichis flourishing. Greeks left marks of their chivalry and martial spirit which mixed up wellwith the races and clans dwelling in the area.[1]

[edit] Early Muslim Period

After this event, we have little information with regard to the condition of the districtuntil the Muslim conquest brought back literature and history to Upper India. The Janjuas 

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and Jats, who now hold the Salt Range and its northern plateau respectively, appear tohave been the earliest inhabitants[2]

The Gakhars, who appear to represent an early wave of conquest from the west, and whostill inhabit a large tract in the east of the District; while the Awans, who now cluster in

the western plain, are apparently later invaders, the Gakhars were the dominant raceduring the early Muslim era and they long continued to retain their independence, both inJhelum itself and in the neighbouring District of Rawalpindi.[2]

[edit] Mughal era

During the flourishing period of the Mughal dynasty, the Gakhar chieftains were amongthe most prosperous and loyal vassals of the house of  Babar . But after the collapse of theDelhi empire, Jhelum fell, like its neighbours, under the sway of the Sikhs. [2]

[edit] Sikh era

A Fort in Jhelum City, built during Sikh era.

In 1765 Gujar Singh defeated the last independent Gakhars Chief, Muqarrrab Khan, andreduced the wild mountaineers of the Salt Range and the Murree Hills to subjection. Hisson succeeded to his dominions until 1810, when it fell to Ranjit Singh. Under the Lahoregovernment the dominant classes of Jhelum suffered much from fiscal actions; and theJanjua, Gakhars, and Awan families gradually lost their landed estates, which passed intothe hands of their Jat dependents.[2]

[edit] British Era

In 1849 Jhelum passed with the rest of the Sikh territories into the power of the British.Ranjit Singh, however, had so thoroughly subjected the wild mountain tribes whoinhabited the District that little difficulty was experienced in reducing it to working order.In 1857 the 14th Native Infantry stationed at Jhelum town mutinied, and made a vigorousdefence against a force sent from Rawalpindi to disarm them, but decamped on the nightfollowing the action, the main body. being subsequently arrested by the Kashmir authorities, into whose territory they had escaped. British established administration atdistrict level and Jhelum District, which originally was covering large area including

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Pindigheb and territory up to River Indus, was delimited later to include tehsils of Jhelum, Chakwal and Pind Dadan Khan, with District Headquarters shifting from PindDadan Khan to Jhelum. During the 20th Century, this city has a proud history of chivalryand achievements.[3]

An old photo

During British rule Jhelum was a district of Rawalpindi Division, and was larger than thecurrent district of Jhelum. On April 1, 1914, the tehsil of Talagang was detached from theDistrict and incorporated with the new District of Attock. The old Jhelum district (minusTalagang) covered an area of 2,813 square miles (7285 km2) and included Chakwal tehsil- it was bounded by Shahpur and Attock to the west, and by Rawalpindi to the north - theJhelum River  separated it from Kashmir to the north-east and from Gujrat and Shahpur tothe south-east and south.[2]

During British rule Jhelum was connected by the North-Western Railway to other citiesin the Indian empire, 1,367 miles from Calcutta, 1,413 from Bombay, and 849 fromKarachi. The population according to the 1901 census of India was 14,951.[2]

According to the Imperial Gazetteer of India "The present town is of modern origin, theold town, which may have been the Bucephala of Alexander having been, on the left or opposite bank of the river. Under Sikh rule the place was quite unimportant, being mainlyoccupied by a settlement of boatmen, and at the time of annexation contained about 500houses.

It was then chosen as the site of a cantonment and as the head-quarters of the civiladministration. For some years it was the seat of the Commissioner of the Division, but in1859 his head-quarters were transferred to Rawalpindi. Under British rule Jhelum hassteadily advanced in prosperity; and it is the entrepôt for most of the trade of the District,though, since the completion of the Sind-Sāgar branch of the North-Western Railway; thesalt trade no longer passes through it. It is an important timber dépôt, the timber from theKashmir forests which is floated down the river being collected here. A good deal of  boat-building is carried on. The cantonment, which is 3 miles from the civil station,contains the church and post office. The normal strength of the garrison is one Nativecavalry and four Native infantry regiments. The municipality was founded 1867. Duringthe ten years ending 1902-3 the receipts averaged Rs. 32,100, and the expenditure Rs,31,900. Receipts and expenditure from cantonment funds in the same period averaged Rs.

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31,900 and Rs. 6,100 respectively. The chief income of the municipality in 1903-4 wasRs.34,200 chiefly from octroi; and the expenditure was Rs. 41,000. The town has twoAnglo vernacular schools, a municipal high school, and a middle school maintained bythe American Presbyterian Mission. Besides the civil hospital, the mission also maintainsa hospital."[2]

Marble Lectern in memory of 35 British soldiers

During the Indian Rebellion of 1857 35 British soldiers of HM XXIV regiment werekilled by the local resistance. A lectern inside St. John's Church Jhelum the church showsthe names of those 35 soldiers. St. John's Church is located in Jhelum CantonmentPakistan beside the river Jhelum. It was built in 1860 and is a landmark of the city. It is aProtestant church and was in use during the British period. For forty years it remainedclosed. Now it has been renovated and opened and almost in good condition.

British soldier  William Connolly won a Victoria Cross in this battle. Mirza Dildar Baigtook part in the struggle of 1857 in Jhelum, arrested and hanged near the river Jhelum. His shrine is there and he is also known as .shahid nasir . The railway bridge on the river 

Jhelum was built in 1873 by the British engineer William St. John Galwey. He also madethe great Empress Bridge over the river Sutlej.

[edit] Military History

Jhelum is known for providing a large number of soldiers to the British and later to thePakistan armed forces due to which it is also known as city of soldiers or land of 

martyrs and warriors.[4] During World War I, Jhelum provided maximum number of soldiers as a result of which the British recruited very extensively from Jhelum, till their last days of rule. First Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry was earned bySubedar Khuda Dad Khan Minhas during World War I. Later its equivalent (Nishan-e-Haider) of Pakistan has been won by Major (Shaheed) Raja Muhammad Akram duringour war of 1971. At the time of partition of the subcontinent, three out of four senior major generals of Pakistan Army were from Jhelum: Major General Muhammad Akbar,Major General Nazir Ahmed and Major General Muhammad Iftekhar. Senior mostPakistan Air Force officer was Air Commodore Muhammad Khan Janjua, also fromJhelum. Later rose up two service chiefs with four star rank, General Asif Nawaz Janjuaand Admiral Tariq Kamal Khan. Colonel Muhammad Khan, the author of Bajang Amadand Bazam Araian.

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During Pakistan-India wars, officers and other ranks excelled in their performances and avery large number of gallantry awards were won. One has to read Citations of such actsof valour. Then pre World War II and during that war, the number of Junior commissioned officers (earlier-Viceroy Commissioned) who rose to honorary ranks of lieutenants and captains would run into hundreds. Predominance in Defence Services

continues and so is service to country.[5]

[edit] Etymology

Tareekh-e-Jhelum Book Cover 

Anjum Sultan Shahbaz records some stories of the name Jhelum in his book Tareekh-e-Jhelum as[6]:

“Many writers have different opinions about the name of Jhelum. One reasonis that in ancient days Jhelum was known as Jalham. The word Jhelum isreportedly derived from the words Jal(pure water) and Ham (snow). Thename thus refers to the waters of a river (flowing besides the City) which hasits origin in the snow-capped Himalayas.[7] 

However some writers says when “Dara-e-Azam” reached a certain place onthe river bank by winning the many battles, he fixed his flag on that place andcalled that place “Ja-e-Alam” which mean “Place of Flag”. With the passageof time it became Jhelum from “Ja-e-Alam”.

According to a traditional story, Hazrat Saeed Bin Abi Waqas, brother of 

”

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Hazrat Saad Bin Abi Waqas, was sent to China for preaching Islam, duringhis journey he reached at city of Jhelum, he saw the shadow of city in water of the river and said “مليهج ا ” (this is jheelum), Which means “City besidesذriver, in full moon night”

Here a notable point is that in English its spellings are Jhelum or Jheelum, notJehlum.

Ahmed Shah Abdali also used “Jheelum” in place of Jhelum and “Harian” for Kharian in his Diary.