Punjab, Pakistan
Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...
, on the bank of the
Chenab River
The Chenab River () is a major river that flows in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region. It is formed by the union of two headwaters, Chandra and Bhaga, which rise in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul regi ...
. Multan is
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab.
Multan is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Asia, with a history stretching deep into antiquity. The ancient city was the site of the renowned
Multan Sun Temple
The Sun Temple of Multan was a temple dedicated to Surya, the Hindu Sun God, in the city of Multan. It commanded significant fame in the subcontinent as a place of pilgrimage and wealth under Hindu as well as Islamic rule before being destroyed ...
, and was besieged by
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
during the Mallian Campaign. A historic cultural centre of the wider
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
, it was conquered by the Ummayad military commander Muhammad bin Qasim. The city later became independent as the capital of the
Emirate of Multan
Emirate of Multan (855 – 1010) was a medieval kingdom in Punjab that was centred around city of Multan, present-day Punjab, Pakistan. It was initially ruled by the tribe of ''Banu Munabbih''. In 959 CE, Ismaili Qarmatians under '' Banu Lawi'' ...
in 855 A.D., before subsequently coming under the rule of empires such as the Ghaznavids, the
Ghurids
The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; fa, دودمان غوریان, translit=Dudmân-e Ğurīyân; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty and a clan of presumably eastern Iranian Tajik origin, which ruled from the ...
and the Mamluks. In 1445, it became capital of the
Langah Sultanate
The Langah Sultanate, also known as the Sultanate of Multan, was a kingdom which emerged after the decline of Delhi Sultanate in the Punjab region. The capital of the Sultanate was the city of Multan in south Punjab.
Origin
There are conflicti ...
. In 1526, it was conquered by the
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
.
Multan Subah
Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab.
Multan is one of the old ...
would become one of the largest provinces of the Mughal Empire when it was created by administrative reforms of Emperor Akbar. Afterwards, Multan became part of the
Durrani
The Durrānī ( ps, دراني, ), formerly known as Abdālī (), are one of the largest tribes of Pashtuns. Their traditional homeland is in southern Afghanistan ( Loy Kandahar region), straddling into Toba Achakzai in Balochistan, Pakistan, but ...
and Sikh empires successively. In 1848, it was conquered by the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
and became part of
British Punjab
Punjab was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the East India Company in 2 April 1849, and declared a province of British Rule, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British co ...
. After independence, it became part of Pakistan.
Multan was one of the most important trading centres of the medieval Islamic Indian subcontinent, and attracted a multitude of Sufi mystics in the 11th and 12th centuries, earning the city the sobriquet "City of Saints." The city, along with the nearby city of
Uch
Uch ( pa, ;
ur, ), frequently referred to as Uch Sharīf ( pa, ;
ur, ; ''"Noble Uch"''), is a historic city in the southern part of Pakistan's Punjab province. Uch may have been founded as Alexandria on the Indus, a town founded by Alexan ...
, is renowned for its large number of Sufi shrines dating from that era.
Etymology
The origin of Multan's name is unclear. An ancient known name of the city was ''Malli-istan''; ''Malli'' was the name of a tribe that inhabited the region and city. Some have suggested the name derives from the Old Persian word ''mulastāna,'' 'frontier land', while others have ascribed its origin to the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
word ''mūlasthāna'', which may be derived from the Hindu deity worshipped at the
Multan Sun Temple
The Sun Temple of Multan was a temple dedicated to Surya, the Hindu Sun God, in the city of Multan. It commanded significant fame in the subcontinent as a place of pilgrimage and wealth under Hindu as well as Islamic rule before being destroyed ...
.Hindu History BY Akshoy K Majumdar Published by Rupa and CO PAGE 54 Hukm Chand in the 19th century suggested that the city was named after an ancient Hindu tribe called ''Malli'' or ''Mulu''.
History
Origin
Multan was founded by the great grandson of the Prophet Noah according to the Persian historian
Firishta
Firishta or Ferešte ( fa, ), full name Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah Astarabadi ( fa, مُحَمَّد قاسِم هِندو شاہ), was a Persian historian, who later settled in India and served the Deccan Sultans as their court historian. He was ...
. It is one of the oldest cities of South Asia and has been the site of much warfare because of its location on a major invasion route between South and Central Asia. The region has been continuously inhabited for at least 3,000 years, and is home to numerous archaeological sites dating to the era of the Early Harappan period of the
Indus Valley civilisation
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900& ...
from 3000 BCE until 2800 BCE.
According to Hindu religious texts, Multan was founded by the Hindu sage
Kashyapa
Kashyapa ( sa, कश्यप}, ) is a revered Vedic sage of Hinduism., Quote: "Kasyapa (Rudra),(Vedic Seer)..." He is one of the Saptarishis, the seven ancient sages of the ''Rigveda''. Kashyapa is the most ancient and venerated rishi, ...
. These tetxts also assert that Multan was the capital of the Trigarta Kingdom ruled by the Katoch dynasty during the Kurukshetra War that is central to the Hindu epic poem, the ''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...
''. The Hindu festival of
Holi
Holi (), also known as the Festival of Colours, the Festival of Spring, and the Festival of Love,The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...". is an ancient Hindu religious festival ...
is generally assumed to have originated from the
Prahladpuri Temple
Prahladpuri Temple ( ur, ) was a Hindu temple located in Multan city of Punjab province in Pakistan, adjacent to the Shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya. Named after Prahlada, it is dedicated to the Hindu deity Narasimha. The temple is in ruins, since ...
of Multan.
Ancient Multan was the centre of a solar-worshipping cult that was based at the ancient
Multan Sun Temple
The Sun Temple of Multan was a temple dedicated to Surya, the Hindu Sun God, in the city of Multan. It commanded significant fame in the subcontinent as a place of pilgrimage and wealth under Hindu as well as Islamic rule before being destroyed ...
. While the tradition was dedicated to the Hindu Sun God Surya, the cult was influenced by Persian Zoroastrianism. The Sun Temple was mentioned by the Greek Admiral Skylax, who passed through the area in 515 BCE. The temple is also mentioned in the 400s BCE by the Greek historian Herodotus. Kaspatyrus or Kashyapura (an old name of Multan) was a Gandharan city when conquered by Darius's army, and it was subsequently included in the Province of Arachosia.
Greek Invasion
Multan is believed to have been the Malli capital that was conquered by
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
in 326 BCE as part of the Mallian Campaign. The Malli, together with nearby tribes, gathered an army of 90,000 personnel to fight against an army of 50,000 Greeks. This was the largest army faced by Greeks in the entire subcontinent. During the siege of the city's citadel, Alexander reputedly leaped into the inner area of the citadel, where he killed the Mallians' leader. Alexander was wounded by an arrow that had penetrated his lung, leaving him severely injured. The Greek army thereafter started killing civilians and animals and whatever came in their way to take revenge of their injured leader. The Mallian army eventually surrendered, preventing further bloodshed. During Alexander's era, Multan was located on an island in the
Ravi river
The Ravi River () is a transboundary river crossing northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of five rivers associated with the Punjab region.
Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the waters of the Ravi and two other rivers were ...
, which has since shifted course numerous times throughout the centuries.
In the mid-5th century CE, the city was attacked by White Huns, a group of Barbarian Hephthalite nomads led by
Toramana
Toramana also called Toramana Shahi Jauvla (Gupta script: ''Toramāṇa'', ruled circa 493-515 CE) was a king of the Alchon Huns who ruled in northern India in the late 5th and the early 6th century CE. Toramana consolidated the Hephthalite po ...
. After a fierce fight they conquered Multan, but did not stay long.
By the mid 7th century CE, Multan was conquered by Chach of Alor, of the Hindu
Rai dynasty
The Rai dynasty (c. 489–632 CE) was a polity of ancient Sindh.
Scholarship
Pre-Islamic Sindh has been the subject of voluminous scholarship concerning the eve of Arab conquests; otherwise, the paucity of source materials remains a severe hi ...
. Chach appointed a thakur to govern from Multan, and used his army to settle boundary disputes with Kashmir.
Islamic conquest
Multan was first visited by the Muslim army after the reign of the Khalifa Ali bin abi Talib, in 44 Hijri (664 A.D.), when Mohalib, the Arab General, afterwards an eminent commander in Persia and Arabia, who had fought in the service of Rashidun caliphs, penetrated to the ancient capital of the Malli. He returned with many prisoners of war. The expedition, however, seems to have been directed towards exploration of the country as no attempt was apparently made to retain the conquest.
Umayyad Conquest
After his conquest of Sindh,
Muhammad ibn Qasim
Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Thaqāfī ( ar, محمد بن القاسم الثقفي; –) was an Arab military commander in service of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the Muslim conquest of Sindh (part of modern Pakistan), inaugurating the Umayy ...
in 712 CE captured Multan from the local ruler
Raja Dahir
Raja Dahiraud (; ''Raja Dahiraud ''; 663 – 712 CE) was the last Hindu ruler of Sindh in present-day Pakistan. In 711 CE his kingdom was invaded by the Umayyad Caliphate led by Muhammad bin Qasim where Dahiraud died while defending his ki ...
following a two-month siege.
Muhammad ibn Qasim's army was running out of supplies, but Multan's defenses were still holding strong. His army was considering a retreat when an unnamed Multani came to him and told him about an underground canal from which they derived their sustenance. He told them that if Muhammad's army were to block that canal, Multan would be under their control. Muhammad ibn Qasim blocked the canal and soon took control of Multan.
Following ibn Qasim's conquest, the city's subjects remained mostly non-Muslim for the next few decades under the
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
.
Emirate of Multan
Abbasid ''Amirate''
By the mid-800s, the ''Banu Munabbih'' (855–959) also known as the ''Banu Sama'', who claimed descent from the
Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...
's Quraysh tribe came to rule Multan, and established the
Amirate
An emirate is a territory ruled by an emir, a title used by monarchs or high officeholders in the Muslim world. From a historical point of view, an emirate is a political-religious unit smaller than a caliphate. It can be considered equivalen ...
of Banu Munabbih, which ruled for the next century.
During this era, the Multan Sun Temple was noted by the 10th century Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasi to have been located in a most populous part of the city. The Hindu temple was noted to have accrued the Muslim rulers large tax revenues, by some accounts up to 30% of the state's revenues. During this time, the city's Arabic nickname was ''Faraj Bayt al-Dhahab'', ("Frontier House of Gold"), reflecting the importance of the temple to the city's economy.
The 10th century Arab historian Al-Masudi noted Multan as the city where Central Asian caravans from Islamic Khorasan would assemble. The 10th century Persian geographer Estakhri noted that the city of Multan was approximately half the size of Sindh's capital Mansura, but had more population, which along with Multan were the only two Arab principalities in South Asia.
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
was spoken in both cities, though the inhabitants of Multan were reported by Estakhri to also have been speakers of Persian, reflecting the importance of trade with Khorasan. Polyglossia rendered Multani merchants culturally well-suited for trade with the Islamic world.
The 10th century '' Hudud al-'Alam'' notes that Multan's rulers were also in control of
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
, though that city was then lost to the Hindu Shahi. During the 10th century, Multan's rulers resided at a camp outside of the city named ''Jandrawār'', and would enter Multan once a week on the back of an elephant for Friday prayers.
Emirate of Multan
Emirate of Multan (855 – 1010) was a medieval kingdom in Punjab that was centred around city of Multan, present-day Punjab, Pakistan. It was initially ruled by the tribe of ''Banu Munabbih''. In 959 CE, Ismaili Qarmatians under '' Banu Lawi'' ...
in 855. Al Masudi of Baghdad who visited Indus valley in 915 A.D mentioned in his book "Meadows of Gold" that it is one of the strongest frontier places of Muslims and in its neighbourhood there are a hundred and twenty thousand towns and villages".
By the mid 10th century, Multan had come under the influence of the Qarmatian Ismailis. The Qarmatians had been expelled from
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
and
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
following their defeat at the hands of the
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
s there. Qarmatians zealots had famously sacked
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...
, and outraged the Muslim world with their theft and ransom of the Kaaba's
Black Stone
The Black Stone ( ar, ٱلْحَجَرُ ٱلْأَسْوَد, ', 'Black Stone') is a rock set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba, the ancient building in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by Muslims as an ...
, and desecration of the Zamzam Well with corpses during the Hajj season of 930 CE.
The governor of Jhang, Umar bin Hafas, was a clandestine supporter of the Fatimid movement and the Batiniya influence spread in Southern Punjab. Then, the Qarmatians who had established contacts with the Fatimids in Egypt set up an independent dynasty in Multan and ruled the surrounding areas.
They wrested control of the city from the pro-Abbasid Amirate of Banu Munabbih, and established the Emirate of Multan, while pledging allegiance to the Ismaili
Fatimid Dynasty
The Fatimid dynasty () was an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty of Arab descent that ruled an extensive empire, the Fatimid Caliphate, between 909 and 1171 CE. Claiming descent from Fatima and Ali, they also held the Isma'ili imamate, claiming to be the r ...
based in Cairo.
During this period, Uch and Multan remained a central pilgrimage site for Vaishnavite and Surya devotees, and their admixture with Isma’īlīsm created the Satpanth tradition. Hence, the beginning of the eleventh century witnessed a sacral and political diversity in Uch that was both unique and precarious.
The Qarmatian Ismailis opposed Hindu pilgrims worshipping the sun, and destroyed the Sun Temple and smashed its revered ''Aditya'' idol in the late 10th century. The Qarmatians built an Ismaili congregational mosque above the ruins to replace the city's Sunni congregational mosque that had been established by the city's early rulers.
Medieval
Ghaznavid dynasty
Mahmud of Ghazni in 1005 led an expedition against Multan's Qarmatian ruler Abul Fateh Daud. The city was surrendered, and Fateh Daud was permitted to retain control over the city with the condition that he adhere to Sunnism. In 1007, Mahmud led another expedition to Multan against his former minister and Hindu convert, Niwasa Khan, who had renounced Islam and attempted to establish control of the region in collusion with Abul Fateh Daud of Multan.
In 1010, Mahmud led his third and punitive expedition against Daud to depose and imprison him, and suppressed Ismailism in favour of the Sunni creed.Virani, Shafique N. The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation (New York: Oxford University Press), p. 100. He destroyed the Ismaili congregational mosque that had been built above the ruins of the Multan Sun Temple, and restored the city's old Sunni congregational mosque, built by Muhammad bin Qasim.
The 11th century scholar Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi reported that thousands of Ismailis were killed or mutilated during Mahmud's invasion, though the community was not extinguished. Mahmud's rule over the region was noted by
Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
to have ruined the region's former prosperity. Following the Ghaznavid invasion of Multan, the local Ismaili community split, with one faction aligning themselves with the Druze religion, which today survives in Lebanon, Syria, and the Golan Heights. Following Mahmud's death in 1030, Multan regained its independence from the
Ghaznavid empire
The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwes ...
and came under the sway of Ismaili rule once again.Shah Gardez, who came to Multan in 1088, is said to have contributed in the restoration of the city.
By the early 1100s, Multan was described by the Arab geographer
Muhammad al-Idrisi
Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد الإدريسي القرطبي الحسني السبتي; la, Dreses; 1100 – 1165), was a Muslim geographer, cartogra ...
as being a "large city" commanded by a citadel that was surrounded by a moat. In the early 12th century, Multani poet Abdul Rahman penned the ''Sandesh Rasak'', the only known Muslim work in the medieval ''Apabhraṃśa'' language.
Ghurid dynasty
In 1175,
Muhammad Ghori
Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad ibn Sam ( fa, معز الدین محمد بن سام), also Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori, also Ghūri ( fa, معز الدین محمد غوری) (1144 – March 15, 1206), commonly known as Muhammad of Ghor, also Gh ...
conquered Ismaili-ruled Multan,Andre Wink, ''Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World'', Vol. 2, 244. after having invaded the region via the Gomal Pass from Afghanistan into Punjab, and used the city as a springboard for his unsuccessful campaign into Gujarat in 1178. Multan was then annexed to the
Ghurid Sultanate
The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; fa, دودمان غوریان, translit=Dudmân-e Ğurīyân; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty and a clan of presumably Iranian peoples, eastern Iranian Tajik people, Tajik ...
, and became an administrative province of the Mamluk Dynasty — the first dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. Multan's Ismaili community rose up in an unsuccessful rebellion against the Ghurids later in 1175. According to Shah Gardez, the second invasion of Multan lead to the extinguishment of the remnants of Ismailism in the region.
Mamluk dynasty
Following the death of the first Mumluk Sultan, Qutb al-Din Aibak in 1210, Multan came under the rule of Nasiruddin Qabacha, who in 1222, successfully repulsed an attempted invasion by Sultan Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu of the Khwarazmian Empire, whose origins were rooted in Konye-Urgench in modern-day Turkmenistan. Uch and Sindh were also in control of Qabacha.
Qabacha also captured
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
many times and ruled all these regions. He repulsed a 40-day siege imposed on Multan city by Mongol forces who attempted to conquer the city. He gathered a large army from Uch, Multan and Bukkhar (Sukkur) and Mongols were repulsed.
Following Qabacha's death that same year, the Turkic king
Iltutmish
Shams ud-Din Iltutmish ( fa, شمس الدین ایلتتمش; died 30 April 1236, ) was the third of the Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Mamluk kings who ruled the former Ghurid Empire, Ghurid territories in northern India. He was the first Muslim sove ...
, the third Sultan of the Mamluk dynasty, captured and then annexed Multan in an expedition. The Punjabi poet
Baba Farid
Farīd al-Dīn Masʿūd Ganj-i-Shakar ( ; – 7 May 1266) was a 13th-century Punjabi Sunni Muslim preacher and mystic, who was one of the most revered and distinguished Muslim mystics of the medieval period. He is known reverentially as B ...
was born in the village of Khatwal near Multan in the 1200s.
Qarlughids attempted to invade Multan in 1236, while the Mongols tried to capture the city in 1241 after capturing Lahore - though they were repulsed. The
Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
under Sali Noyan then successfully held the city to ransom in 1245–6, before being recaptured by Sultan
Ghiyas ud din Balban
Ghiyas ud din Balban (1216–1287, reigned: 1266–1287) ( ur, ); (Hindi: ग़ियास उद-दीन बलबन); ( IAST: ''Ghiyās ud-Dīn Balban'') was the ninth sultan of the Mamluk dynasty of Delhi.
Ghiyas ud Din was the ''reg ...
, the ninth Mamluk Sultan. Multan then fell to the Qarlughids in 1249, but was captured by Sher Khan that same year. Multan was then conquered by Izz al-Din Balban Kashlu Khan in 1254, before he rebelled against Sultan Ghiyas ud din Balban in 1257 and fled to
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
where he joined Mongol forces and captured Multan again, and dismantled its city walls. The Mongols again attempted an invasion in 1279, but were dealt a decisive defeat.
Khaljis dynasty
Emperor
Alauddin Khalji
Alaud-Dīn Khaljī, also called Alauddin Khilji or Alauddin Ghilji (), born Ali Gurshasp, was an emperor of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrativ ...
of Delhi dispatched his brother
Ulugh Khan
Almas Beg (died c. 1302), better known by his title Ulugh Khan, was a brother and a general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. He held the iqta' of Bayana in present-day India.
Ulugh Khan played an important role in Alauddin's a ...
in 1296 to conquer Multan in order to eliminate surviving family members of his predecessor. (Sultan
Jalal-ud-din Khalji
Jalal-ud-din Khalji, also known as Firuz-Al-Din Khalji or Jalaluddin Khilji (c. 1220 – 19 July 1296, ) ( fa, جلالالدین خلجی) was the founder and first Sultan of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate from 1290 to 132 ...
)
After usurping the throne of Delhi, Alauddin decided to eliminate the surviving family members of Jalaluddin, who were present in Multan. In November 1296, he sent a 30,000-40,000 strong army led by Ulugh Khan and Zafar Khan to Multan, which was governed by Jalaluddin's son Arkali Khan. Faced with a certain defeat, the leaders of the defending forces deserted Arkali Khan and defected to the Delhi forces after two months of siege.
Amir Khusrau
Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253–1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau was an Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar who lived under the Delhi Sultanate. He is an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian sub ...
, the famous Indo-Persian sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar visited Multan on the invitation of Khan Muhammad. Multan at the time was the gateway to India and was a center of knowledge and learning. Caravans of scholars, tradesmen and emissaries transited through Multan from
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
,
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
and
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
on their way to Delhi. Khusrau wrote that:
I tied the belt of service on my waist and put on the cap of companionship for another five years. I imparted lustre to the water of Multan from the ocean of my wits and pleasantries.
Tughluq dynasty
In the 1320s Multan was conquered by
Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq
Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq ) (Ghazi means 'fighter for Islam')ref name="sen2"> (died c.1325) was the Sultan of Delhi from 1320 to 1325. He was the first sultan of the Tughluq dynasty. During his reign, Ghiyath al-Din Tughl ...
, he was made the governor of Multan and South Punjab, Sindh regions and of Depalpur. He was the founder of the Turkic
Tughluq dynasty
The Tughlaq dynasty ( fa, ), also referred to as Tughluq or Tughluk dynasty, was a Muslim dynasty of Indo- Turkic origin which ruled over the Delhi sultanate in medieval India. Its reign started in 1320 in Delhi when Ghazi Malik assumed t ...
, the third dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. Earlier he spent his time in Multan and fought 28 battles against Mongols from there and saved the regions from advances of Mongols. He wrote in the jamia Masjid of Multan that he had fought 28 battles against Mongols and had survived, people gave him the title Ghazi ul Mulk.
Ghiyath al din's son Muhammad bin Tughlaq was born in Multan. After Ghiyath's death he became the Sultan and ascended the throne in Delhi. The countryside around Multan was recorded to have been devastated by excessively high taxes imposed during the reign of Ghiyath's son, Muhammad Tughluq. In 1328, the Governor of Multan, Kishlu Khan, rose in rebellion against Muhammad Tughluq, but was quickly defeated.
The
Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam
The Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam (Punjabi and ur, ) located in Multan, Pakistan, is the mausoleum of the 14th century Punjabi Sufi saint Sheikh Rukn-ud-Din Abul Fateh. The shrine is considered to be the earliest example of Tughluq architecture, ...
was completed during the Tughluq era, and is considered to be the first Tughluq monument. The shrine is believed to have been originally built to be the tomb of Ghiyath ad-Din, but was later donated to the descendants of
Rukn-e-Alam
Sheikh Rukn-ud-Din Abul Fateh ( ; – ) was an eminent Punjabi Sufi saint from Multan in modern-day Pakistan who belonged to Suhrawardiyya Sufi order. He is commonly known by the title (Shah) Rukn-e-Alam ("Pillar of the World").
Biography
...
after Ghiyath became Emperor of
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
.
The renowned Arab explorer Ibn Battuta visited Multan in the 1300s during the reign of Muhammad Tughluq, and noted that Multan was a trading centre for horses imported from as far away as the
Russian Steppe
The Eurasian Steppe, also simply called the Great Steppe or the steppes, is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome. It stretches through Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Transnistria ...
. Multan had also been noted to be a centre for slave-trade, though slavery was banned in the late 1300s by Muhammad Tughluq's son, Firuz Shah Tughlaq.
Timurid dynasty
In 1397, Multan was besieged by
Tamerlane
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
's grandson Pir Muhammad. Pir Muhammad's forces captured the city in 1398 following the conclusion of the 6 month-long siege. Khizr Khan the governor of Multan allied with Amir Timur. Timur captured Lahore and gave its control to Khizr khan as reward for his support. Also in 1398, the elder Tamerlane and Multan's Governor
Khizr Khan
Khizr Khan (reigned 28 May 1414 – 20 May 1421) was the founder of the Sayyid dynasty, the ruling dynasty of the Delhi sultanate, in northern India soon after the invasion of Timur and the fall of the Tughlaq dynasty.
Khan was Governor of Mult ...
together sacked Delhi. The sack of Delhi lead to major disruptions of the Sultanate's central governing structure. Khizr Khan ruled the subcontinent on the name of Timur. In 1414, Multan's Khizr Khan captured Delhi from
Daulat Khan Lodi
Daulat Khan Lodi (Pashto: دولت خان لودی) was the governor of Lahore during the reign of Ibrahim Lodi, the last ruler of the Lodi dynasty. Due to disaffection with Ibrahim, Daulat invited Babur to invade the kingdom. He was initial ...
, and established the short-lived
Sayyid dynasty
The Sayyid dynasty was the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, with four rulers ruling from 1414 to 1451. Founded by Khizr Khan, a former governor of Multan, they succeeded the Tughlaq dynasty and ruled the sultanate as a vassal of the Ti ...
— the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.
A contemporary writer Yahya Sirhindi mentions in his ''Takhrikh-i-Mubarak Shahi'' that Khizr Khan was a descendant of prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
.
Langah Sultanate
Multan then passed to the Langah, who established the Langah Sultanate in Multan under the rule of Budhan Khan, who assumed the title Mahmud Shah. The reign of Shah Husayn, grandson of Mahmud Shah, who ruled from 1469 to 1498 is considered to most illustrious of the Langah Sultans. Multan experienced prosperity during this time, and a large number of Baloch settlers arrived in the city at the invitation of Shah Husayn. The Sultanate's borders stretched encompassed the neighbouring regions surrounding the cities of
Chiniot
Chiniot (Urdu and pa, ) is a city and the administrative headquarter of Chiniot District in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Located on the bank of the river Chenab, it is the 28th largest city of Pakistan. It is also known for its intric ...
and
Shorkot
Shorkot ( ur, , Basti starabad=), ( pa, ), is a city in Punjab, Pakistan.
It is also a capital city of Shorkot Tehsil in Jhang district. It is located at 30°30'N 72°24'E with an altitude of 131 metres (433 ft).
The city is famous ...
, near modern day
Faisalabad
Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pakis ...
. Shah Husayn successfully repulsed attempted invasion by the Delhi Sultans led by Tatar Khan and Barbak Shah.
Multan's
Langah Sultanate
The Langah Sultanate, also known as the Sultanate of Multan, was a kingdom which emerged after the decline of Delhi Sultanate in the Punjab region. The capital of the Sultanate was the city of Multan in south Punjab.
Origin
There are conflicti ...
came to an end in 1525 when the city was invaded by rulers of the Arghun dynasty, who were either ethnic Mongols, or of Turkic or
Turco-Mongol
The Turco-Mongol or Turko-Mongol tradition was an ethnocultural synthesis that arose in Asia during the 14th century, among the ruling elites of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. The ruling Mongol elites of these Khanates eventuall ...
extraction.
Suri dynasty
In 1541, the
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
king
Sher Shah Suri
Sher Shah Suri ( ps, شیرشاه سوری)
(1472, or 1486 – 22 May 1545), born Farīd Khān ( ps, فرید خان)
, was the founder of the Sur Empire in India, with its capital in Sasaram in modern-day Bihar. He standardized the silver coin ...
captured Multan, and successfully defended the city from the advances of the Mughal Emperor
Humayun
Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad ( fa, ) (; 6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), better known by his regnal name, Humāyūn; (), was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northe ...
dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...
, who under the command of Fateh Khan Mirrani had overrun the city. Following its recapture, Sher Shah Suri ordered construction of a road between Lahore and Multan in order to connect Multan to his massive
Grand Trunk Road
The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. ...
project. Sher Shah Suri also built (or renovated) Delhi-Multan road, the ancient trade route had existed since the time of King Ashoka or earlier. In order to improve transit in the areas between Delhi and Multan, leading to
Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
and
Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safē ...
in Afghanistan, eventually to Mashhad capital of Khorasan province of Iran. It then served as the starting point for trade caravans from medieval India departing towards West Asia.
Medieval trade
Multan served as medieval Islamic India's trans-regional mercantile centre for trade with the Islamic world. It rose as an important trading and mercantile centre in the setting of political stability offered by the Delhi Sultanate, the Lodis, and Mughals. The renowned Arab explorer Ibn Battuta visited Multan in the 1300s during the reign of Muhammad Tughluq, and noted that Multan was a trading centre for horses imported from as far away as the
Russian Steppe
The Eurasian Steppe, also simply called the Great Steppe or the steppes, is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome. It stretches through Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Transnistria ...
. Multan had also been noted to be a centre for slave-trade, though slavery was banned in the late 1300s by Muhammad Tughluq's son, Firuz Shah Tughlaq.
The extent of Multan's influence is also reflected in the construction of the
Multani Caravanserai
The Multani Caravanserai is a caravanserai located in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was established in the 14th century and is located opposite to the Bukhara Caravanserai.
The caravanserai was built to house merchants from the medieval city of Mu ...
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
— which was built in the 15th to house Multani merchants visiting the city. Legal records from the Uzbek city of Bukhara note that Multani merchants settled and owned land in the city in the late 1550s.
Multan would remain an important trading centre until the city was ravaged by repeated invasions in the 18th and 19th centuries in the post-Mughal era. Many of Multan's merchants then migrated to Shikarpur in Sindh, and were found throughout Central Asia up until the 19th century.
Mughal period
Following the conquest of Upper Sindh by the Mughal Emperor Akbar, Multan was attacked and captured by Akbar's army under the command of Bairam Khan in 1557, thereby re-establishing Mughal rule in Multan. The
Mughals
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
controlled the Multani region from 1524 until around 1739.
Padshah
Padishah ( fa, پادشاه; ; from Persian: r Old Persian: *">Old_Persian.html" ;"title="r Old Persian">r Old Persian: * 'master', and ''shāh'', 'king'), sometimes Romanization of Persian, romanised as padeshah or padshah ( fa, پادشاه ...
(emperor) Akbar established province of Multan at Multan city, which was one of his original twelve subahs (imperial top-level provinces) roughly covering southern Punjab and bordering
Kabul Subah
The history of Afghanistan as a state began in 1823 as the Emirate of Afghanistan after the exile of the Sadozai monarchy to Herat. The Sadozai monarchy ruled the Afghan Durrani Empire, considered the founding state of modern Afghanistan. The ...
,
Lahore Subah
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
,
Ajmer Subah
The Ajmer Subah was one of the original 12 subahs that comprised the Mughal Empire after the administrative reform by Akbar. Its borders roughly corresponded to modern-day Rajasthan, and the capital was the city of Ajmer. It bordered the subahs o ...
,
Thatta Subah
The history of Sindh refers to the history of the modern-day Pakistani province of Sindh, as well as neighboring regions that periodically came under its sway.
Sindh was the site of one of the Cradle of civilizations, the bronze age Indus Va ...
, and the Persian Safavid empire. It was one of Mughal Empire's largest provinces.
In 1627, Multan was encircled by walls that were built on the order of
Murad Baksh
Muhammad Murad Bakhsh ( fa, ),
(9 October 1624 – 14 December 1661) was a Mughal prince and the youngest surviving son of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Empress Mumtaz Mahal. He was the Subedar of Balkh, till he was replaced by his elder ...
, son of Shah Jahan. Upon his return from an expedition to Balkh in 1648, the future emperor Aurangzeb was appointed Governor of provinces of Multan and Sindh — a post he held until 1652.
In 1680, the renowned Punjabi poet,
Bulleh Shah
Syed Abdullah Shah Qadri ( pa, ; ; 1680–1757), known popularly as Bulleh Shah ( pa, ; ) and Bulleya, was a Punjabi philosopher and Sufi poet during 17th-century Punjab. His ancestors had migrated from Bukhara (modern-day Uzbekistan) ...
, who is regarded as a saint by both Sufis and Sikhs, was born in Uch, Multan province.
In the second half of the 17th century, Multan's commercial fortunes were adversely affected by silting and shifting of the nearby river, which denied traders vital trade access to the
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...
. Multan witnessed difficult times as the Mughal Empire waned in power following the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707.
''Dar al-Aman'' era
Under Mughal rule, Multan enjoyed 200 years of peace in a time when the city became known as ''Dar al- ''Aman'''' (''"Abode of Peace"''). During the Mughal era, Multan was an important centre of agricultural production and manufacturing of cotton textiles. Multan was a centre for currency minting, as well as tile-making during the Mughal era.
Multan was also host to the offices of many commercial enterprises during the Mughal era, even in times when the Mughals were in control of the even more coveted city of
Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
, given the unstable political situation resulting from frequent contestation of Kandadar with the Persian Safavid Empire.
Afsharid invasion
Nader Shah conquered the region as part of his invasion of the Mughal Empire in 1739. Despite invasion, Multan remained northwest India's premier commercial centre throughout most of the 18th century.
Marathas
The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...
under
Raghunathrao
Raghunathrao Bhat (a.k.a. Ragho Ballal or Ragho Bharari) (18 August 1734 – 11 December 1783) was the 11th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire for a brief period from 1773 to 1774. He was known among the Hindus for his extremely successful North-west ...
briefly seized Multan, though the city was recaptured by Durrani in 1760. After repeated invasions following the collapse of the Mughal Empire, Multan was reduced from being one of the world's most important early-modern commercial centres, to a regional trading city.
Sikh empire
In 1772, Ahmed Shah Durrani's son
Timur Shah
Timur Shah Durrani (; prs, ;), also known as Timur Shah Abdali or Taimur Shah Abdali (December 1746 – May 20, 1793) was the second ruler of the Afghan Durrani Empire, from November 1772 until his death in 1793. An ethnic Pashtun, he was the ...
lost Multan to Sikh forces. However, Multan's association with Sikhism predates this, as the founder of the Sikh religion,
Guru Nanak
Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also referred to as ('father Nānak'), was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated w ...
, is said to have visited the city during one of his journeys.
The city had reverted to
Afghan
Afghan may refer to:
*Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia
*Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity
** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...
rule under the suzerainty of
Nawab Muzaffar Khan
Early life
Nawab Muzaffar Khan was born in 1757 in Multan. He was the eldest son of his father. They were four brothers and one sister. He was well educated in religion, civil administration and warfare. He took part in the affairs of the state in ...
in 1778. In 1817, Ranjit Singh sent a body of troops to Multan under the command of Diwan Bhiwani Das to receive from Nawab Muzaffar Khan the tribute he owed to the Sikh Darbar. In 1818, the armies of
Kharak Singh
Kharak Singh (22 February 1801 – 5 November 1840) was the second Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was the eldest son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire and his consort, Maharani Datar Kaur. He succeeded his father on 27 June ...
and
Misr Diwan Chand
Misr Diwan Chand was a notable officer and a powerful general of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's reign. He rose from petty clerk to the Chief of Artillery and Commander-in-chief of the armies that conquered Multan and Kashmir and also served as the Comm ...
lay around Multan without making much initial headway, until Ranjit Singh dispatched the massive ''
Zamzama
The Zamzama Gun ( ur, , meaning "thunder" or "roar", sometimes written "Zam-Zammah" or "Zam-Zammeh") also known as ''Kim’s Gun'' or ''Bhangianwali Toap'' is a large-bore cannon. It was cast in about 1757 in Lahore (present-day Pakistan) du ...
'' cannon, which quickly led to disintegration of the Multan's defences. Misr Diwan Chand led Sikh armies to a decisive victory over Muzaffar Khan. Muzzafar Khan and seven of his sons were killed before the Multan fort finally fell on 2 March 1818 in the
Battle of Multan
The siege of Multan began in March 1818 and lasted until 2 June 1818 as part of the Afghan–Sikh Wars, and saw the Sikh Empire capture the city of Multan (in modern-day Pakistan) from the Durrani Empire.
Background
After he was defeated at ...
.
The conquest of Multan established Ranjit Singh's superiority over the Afghans and ended their influence in this part of the Punjab.Kartar Singh Duggal, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Last to Lay Arms, Abhinav Publications, 2001, p.84
Diwan Sawan Mal Chopra
Diwan Sawan Mal Chopra (died 29 September 1844) was the Punjabi Hindu Khatri Diwan (governor) of Lahore and Multan. He was born into a Chopra Khatri family originally from Gujranwala, the region where Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Misl, the Sukerchak ...
was appointed to govern the city, remaining in his post for the following 25 years. Following the Sikh conquest, Multan declined in importance as a trading post, however the population of Multan rose from approximately 40,000 in 1827 to 60,000 by 1831. Sawan Mal adopted a policy of low taxation which generated immense land revenues for the state treasury.Bobby Singh Bansal, Remnants of the Sikh Empire: Historical Sikh Monuments in India & Pakistan, Hay House, Inc, 1 December 2015 Following the death of Ranjit Singh, he ceased paying tribute to a successor and instead maintained alliances of convenience with selected Sikh aristocrats. He was assassinated in 1844, and succeeded by his son
Diwan Mulraj Chopra
Mulraj Chopra (1814 – 11 August 1851) was the Diwan (governor) of Multan and leader of a Sikh rebellion against the British which led to the Second Anglo-Sikh War.Bobby Singh Bansal, Remnants of the Sikh Empire: Historical Sikh Monuments in I ...
, who unlike his father was seen as a despotic ruler by the local inhabitants.
1848 Multan Revolt
The 1848 Multan Revolt and subsequent
Siege of Multan
The siege of Multan began on 19 April 1848 and lasted until 22 January 1849, and saw fighting around Multan (in present-day Pakistan) between the British East India Company and the Sikh Empire. It began with a rebellion against a ruler imposed ...
began on 19 April 1848 when local Sikhs loyal to Diwan Mulraj Chopra murdered two emissaries of the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was him ...
, Vans Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson. The two British visitors were in Multan to attend a ceremony for Sardar Kahan Singh, who had been selected by the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
to replace Diwan Mulraj Chopra as ruler of Multan.
Rebellion engulfed the Multan region under the leadership of Mulraj Chopra and
Sher Singh Attariwalla
Raja Sher Singh Attariwala was a royal military commander and a member of the Sikh nobility during the period of the Sikh Empire in the mid-19th century in Punjab.
He commanded the Sikh Khalsa army in the Second Anglo-Sikh War against the Brit ...
. The Multan Revolt triggered the start of the
Second Anglo-Sikh War
The Second Anglo-Sikh War was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company that took place in 1848 and 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently ...
, during which the ''sajjada nashin'' of the
Shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya
The Shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya ( ur, ) is a 13th-century shrine located in the city of Multan, in Pakistan's Punjab province. The tomb is dedicated to the Muslim mystic Bahauddin Zakariya, founder of the Suhrawardiyya order of Sufism. It co ...
sided with the British to help defeat the Sikh rebels. The revolt eventually resulted in the fall of the
Sikh Empire
The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established an empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahor ...
in 1849.
British Raj
By December 1848, the British had captured portions of Multan city's outskirts, and destroyed the
Multan Fort
The Multan Fort was a historic fort in the city of Multan. According to some estimates the original fort was built by Katoch Dynasty Rajput between 800 and 1000 B.C. However, it was later destroyed. It was rebuilt by Ranghar chiefs near the city o ...
while bombarding the city. In January 1849, the British had amassed a force of 12,000 to conquer Multan. On 22 January 1849, the British had breached the walls of the Multan Fort, leading to the surrender of Mulraj and his forces to the British. The British conquest of the Sikh Empire was completed in February 1849, after the British victory at the
Battle of Gujrat
The Battle of Gujrat was a decisive battle in the Second Anglo-Sikh War, fought on 21 February 1849, between the forces of the East India Company, and a Sikh army in rebellion against the company's control of the Sikh Empire, represented by ...
.
Between the 1890s and 1920s, the British laid a vast network of canals in the Multan region, and throughout much of central and Southern Punjab province. Thousands of " Canal Towns" and villages were built according to standardized plans throughout the newly irrigated swathes of land.
Modern
Multan lost its very important position as soon as the British stronghold over the sub-continent grew stronger and stronger. Although peace prevailed in the region but no real progress was made. When independence was achieved in 1947 Multan was a forgotten region. The site of the Old Fort was in ruins. Thorny bushes and ditches were in plenty whispering the awful tale of its ruination. Majority of the roads were unmetalled and the sewerage system too defective to explain.
The predominantly Muslim population supported
Muslim League Muslim League may refer to:
Political parties Subcontinent
; British India
*All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan.
**Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...
and
Pakistan Movement
The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the per ...
. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
s and Sikhs migrated to India en masse, while some Muslim refugees from the newly independent Republic of India settled in the city. Today, it is one of the country's six largest urban centres and remains an important settlement in the Southern Punjab.
Geography
Topography
Multan is located in Punjab, and covers an area of . The nearest important cities are Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur. Multan is located in a bend created by five rivers of central Pakistan. The Sutlej River separates it from Bahawalpur and the Chenab River from Muzaffar Garh. The area around the city is a flat, alluvial plain surrounded by orchards and deserts that is used for
citrus
''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...
hot desert climate
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...
(Köppen climate classification ''BWh'') with extremely hot summers and mild winters. The normal annual precipitation measures .
Multan is known for having some of the hottest weather in Pakistan. The highest recorded temperature is approximately , and the lowest recorded temperature is approximately .
Multan's climate is primarily influenced by:
*Western Disturbances which generally occurs during the winter months between December and February. The Western Disturbance provokes moderate rainfall, with
hailstorms
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...
also sometimes occurring.
*Deforestation, dust storms occur during summer months. The region has seen large scale deforestation in last decades resulting in dust storms. Multan's dust storm sometimes produce violent wind.
*Heat waves occur during the hottest months of May and June, and can result in temperatures approaching 50° Celsius (122° Fahrenheit)
*South West Monsoon occurs following the hottest months of the year, and lasts between June and September. Monsoon rains moderate temperatures, and can sometimes produce heavy rain storms.
*Continental air prevails during the remaining months generally yields clear weather with little to no precipitation.
Cityscape
Multan's urban typology is similar to other ancient cities in South Asia, such as
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
,
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
, and
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
- all of which were founded near a major river, and included an old walled city, as well as a royal citadel. Unlike those cities, Multan has lost its royal citadel, as it was largely destroyed by the British in 1848, which negatively impacted the urban fabric of the city.
Multan's old neighbourhood homes exemplify Muslim concerns regarding privacy, and defense against the city's harsh climate. The urban morphology is characterized by small and private cul-de-sacs branching off of bazaars and larger arteries.
A distinct Multani style of architecture began taking root in the 14th century with the establishment of funerary monuments, and is characterized by large brick walls reinforced by wooden anchors, with inward sloping roofs. Funerary architecture is also reflected in the city's residential quarters, which borrow architectural and decorative elements from Multan's mausolea.
Demographics
Multan city had a population of 1,197,384 in the 1998 census. As of 2017 census, Multan's population jumped to 1.871 million.
Language
The linguistic breakdown of the Multan City Tehsil as per the 2017 Census is as follows:
Civic Administration
Administrators who are government servants have the powers of Nazims (Mayor). Multan district is spread over an area of 3,721 square kilometres, comprising four tehsils: Multan City, Multan Saddar, Shujabad and Jalalpur Pirwala. In 2005 Multan was reorganised as a
City District
A City district is a designated administrative division that is generally managed by a local government. It is used to divide a city into several administrative units.
City districts are used in Russia (raion), Pakistan and Croatia ( hr, gradsk ...
composed of six autonomous towns:
*
Bosan
Bosan is a town in Multan District, Pakistan.
It is an agricultural area known for mango and orange production, and is one of the largest mango producers in Pakistan. Bosan Town is also famous for its rich livestock. Most of the people here ha ...
Shujabad
Shujaabad ( ur, ) is a city and the capital of Shujabad Tehsil of Multan District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located about in south from Multan. Chenab River is situated in the west of city. Neighbouring settlements include Jal ...
* Jalalpur Pirwala
Area under Multan Development Authority (MDA) is 560km square, covering almost all important establishments like BZU, Pak Arab fertilizers and industrial estate etc. In 2022 MDA increased its metropolitan area limit from 280 Km square to 560 Km square adding an extra population of 375,000 with grand total population of 2.2 million making the city 4th most populous city of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
Multan Cantt
Multan Cantt ( ur, ) or Multan Cantonment ( ur, ) is a cantonment in the Multan District, adjacent to Multan city, in Punjab province, eastern Pakistan. Multan Cantt is located in the city's southwest.Shah Faisal Colony
Shah Faisal Colony ( ur, ), founded as Drigh Colony (Drigh Village Refugee Colony) is a residential and commercial area in Karachi, Sindh province of Pakistan.
History
It is founded in 1952.
It is located in Shah Faisal town of Korangi dist ...
*
Gulgasht Colony
Gulgasht Colony ( ur, ), ( Punjabi: ) is an area of Multan City in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located at an altitude of , and is the location of a large police station.
The colony has a number of educational institutions. Government ...
Multan is connected to operational motorways M4 on northside connecting to
Faisalabad
Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pakis ...
and M5 on south side connecting Sukkar. M4 is further connected to M3 connecting Lahore and M2 connecting
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...
and Peshawar to Multan. While M5 will be connecting to Karachi via
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
-Lahore Motorway in future.
Multan is situated along the under-construction 6-lane Karachi–Lahore Motorway (M3) connecting Southern and northern Pakistan that is being built as part of the $54 billion
China Pakistan Economic Corridor
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Currently, Lahore to Multan travel time is 4 hours on motorway M3 and M4. The 6-lane, 392 kilometre long M-5 section of the motorway is built between
Sukkur
Sukkur (; ) is a city in the Pakistani province of Sindh along the western bank of the Indus River, directly across from the historic city of Rohri. Sukkur is the third largest city in Sindh after Karachi and Hyderabad, and 14th largest city ...
and Multan at a cost $2.89 billion. The M-5 is open since 2019. It is connecting Multan to Sukkar and will connect to Karachi when Sukkar-Karachi Motorway will be opened.
Multan is also connected to the city of
Faisalabad
Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pakis ...
via the M-4 motorway, which in turn is connected to the M-1 and M-2 motorways that provide access to
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...
and
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
. Further links with the
Karakoram Highway
The Karakoram Highway ( ur, , translit=śāhirāh qarāquram; known by its initials KKH, also known as N-35 or National Highway 35 ( ur, ) or the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway) is a national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in ...
will provide access to
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
, China, and
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
.
Construction of the M3 motorway also at a cost of approximately $1.5 billion, and was launched in November 2015 The motorway is branch off of the M-4 motorway and connects Lahore to the M-4 at Abdul Hakeem. The M4 is now operational.
Rail
Multan is connected by rail with all parts of the country and lies on the main track between Karachi,
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
, Lahore and
Quetta
Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of ...
. The Main Line-1 Railway that links Karachi and Peshawar passes through Multan district is being overhauled as part of the
China Pakistan Economic Corridor
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. As part of the project, railways will be upgraded to permit train travel at speeds of up to 160 kilometres per hour, versus the average 60 to 105 km per hour speed currently possible on existing track, The project is divided into three phases, with the Peshawar to Multan portion to be completed as part of the project's first phase by 2018, and the entire project is expected to be complete by 2021.
From Multan, links to
Khanewal
Khanewal () is a city and the capital of Khanewal District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the 36th largest city of Pakistan by population.
Khanewal is named after the earliest settlers here who belonged to the caste ‘Daha’ (A Su ...
,
Lodhran
Lodhran ( ur, ), is a city and the capital of Lodhran District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is Pakistan's 81st largest city. It is located on the northern side of River Sutlej
The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the ...
Multan Cantonment railway station
Multan Cantonment Railway Station (often abbreviated as Multan Cantt) is the principal railway station in the city of Multan, Punjab province of Pakistan. It is a major railway station of Pakistan Railways located on Karachi-Peshawar Railway L ...
is the main railway station of Multan.
Bus rapid transit (Metro Bus)
The
Multan Metrobus
The Multan Metrobus is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan. Construction work on the line began in May 2015, while operations commenced on 24 January 2017. It was the third BRT project in Pakistan, after the Lahore Metrobu ...
is a bus rapid transit line which commenced service in January 2017, at a cost of 28.8 billion rupees. The BRT route serves 21 stations over the course of 18.5 kilometres, of which 12.5 kilometres are elevated. 14 stations are elevated, while the remainder are at street level. The BRT route begins at
Bahauddin Zakariya University
Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) ( ur, ) is a public university with its main campus in Multan, Pakistan. Bahauddin Zakariya University was founded in 1975 as Multan University, and is the 2nd largest university in Punjab. It was renamed i ...
in northern Multan, and heads southward to pass by the eastern edge of Multan's old city at the Daulat Gate before turning east to finally terminate at the Kumharanwala Chowk in eastern Multan.
The route will be served initially by 35 buses, serving up to 95,000 passengers per day (or less than this but mostly students are using it). The Multan Metrobus is planned to ultimately have total of 4 BRT lines covering 68.82 kilometres, which will be complemented by feeder lines.
Air
Multan International Airport
Multan International Airport is an international airport located 4 km west of Multan, Pakistan. The airport is South Punjab's largest and busiest airport. Multan International Airport offers flights throughout Pakistan, as well as direct ...
is located 10 km west of Multan's city centre, in the Multan Cantonment. The airport offers flights throughout Pakistan, as well as to the Persian Gulf States.
In March 2015, a new terminal building was formally inaugurated by Pakistani Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...
. Following the opening of the new terminal, passenger traffic soared from 384,571 in 2014–2015, to 904,865 in 2015–2016.
Education
Bahauddin Zakariya University (formerly known as Multan University) is the main source of higher education for this region.
Other universities include Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture Multan, Air University Multan Campus, the
NFC Institute of Engineering and Technology
The NFC Institute of Engineering and Technology Multan (NFCIET) is a public university located in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.
Overview
The institute was established in 1985 and initially affiliated with Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan
...
, Nishat School and College
Nishtar Medical University
Nishtar Medical University () (formerly Nishtar Medical College) is a public sector health sciences university located in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan. It is one of the oldest medical institutions established after the creation of Pakistan. It offer ...
Multan Medical and Dental College
Multan Medical and Dental College ( ur, ) abbreviated as MMDC, established in 2008, is a private college of medical and dental school, in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.
It is registered with PMDC, affiliated with UHS and approved by Ministry of H ...
Prahladpuri Temple
Prahladpuri Temple ( ur, ) was a Hindu temple located in Multan city of Punjab province in Pakistan, adjacent to the Shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya. Named after Prahlada, it is dedicated to the Hindu deity Narasimha. The temple is in ruins, since ...
is located on top of a raised platform inside the Fort of Multan, adjacent to tomb of Hazrat Baha’ul Haq Zakariya. A mosque has been subsequently built adjacent to temple.
The original temple of Prahladpuri is said to have been built by Prahlad, son of
Hiranyakashipu
Hiranyakashipu (; also known as Hiranyakashyap) was an Asura king of the ''daityas'' from the Puranic scriptures of Hinduism. His name literally translates to "clothed in gold" (''hiranya'' "gold" ''kashipu'' "soft cushion"), and is often inte ...
, the king of Multan (Kashya-papura) in honor of Narsing Avatar, an incarnation of Hindu god
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...
, who emerged from the pillar to save Prahlada. Survey & Studies for Conservation of Historical Monuments of Multan. Department of Archeology & Museums, Ministry of Culture, Government of Pakistan
Notable saints of Multan
* Shah Yousaf Gardezi (d. 1136), tomb located inner Bohar Gate Multan
* Mai Maharban (11/12th Century), tomb located near Chowk Fawara, children complex Multan
*
Bahauddin Zakariya
Baha-ud-din Zakariya (Urdu and fa, بہاءُ الدین زکریا) (c.1170 – 1262), also spelled Bahauddin Zakariya, and also known as Baha-ul-Haq and Bahauddin Zakariya Multani, was a Sunni Muslim scholar saint and poet who establish ...
(1170–1267), tomb located in
Multan Fort
The Multan Fort was a historic fort in the city of Multan. According to some estimates the original fort was built by Katoch Dynasty Rajput between 800 and 1000 B.C. However, it was later destroyed. It was rebuilt by Ranghar chiefs near the city o ...
* Makhdoom Abdul Rasheed Haqani (1170 - 1260), tomb located in Makhdoom Rasheed Multan
* Shah Rukne Alam (1251–1335), tomb located in Multan Fort
* Khawaja Awais Kagha (d. 1300)3, tomb located in Dera Basti graveyard Multan
* Syed Musa Pak (d. 1592)
* Hafiz Muhammad Jamal Multani (1747–1811)
* Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari (1892–1961), buried in Jalal Bakri
* Syed Noor ul Hassan Bukhari (1902-1983), buried in Jalal Bakri
* Ahmad Saeed Kazmi (1913-1986), buried in Eid Gah, Multan
*Hazrat Qazi Hisamuddin Multani known as Qazi Jamaluddin Multani Badauni
* Peer Ali Mardan Awaisi (Tomb Located on Gali Peer Ali Mardan Akbar Road, Multan
Sports
The
Multan Cricket Stadium
The Multan Cricket Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan, owned by the Pakistan Cricket Board. The stadium is located off Vehari Road, in the suburbs of Multan. It has a capacity of 35,000. It hosted its first test ma ...
has hosted many international cricket matches.
Ibn-e-Qasim Bagh Stadium
The Ibn-e-Qasim Bagh Stadium, originally known as the Old Fort Stadium, is a multi-use stadium in Multan, Pakistan. It is currently used mostly for cricket and football. It hosted one Test match in 1980. The stadium holds 18,000 and opened in 1 ...
is the other stadium in Multan which is usually used for football along with other sports activities. Multan is home to the
Multan Sultans
Multan Sultans (Urdu: ) is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing the city of Multan in southern Pakistan in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team was founded in 2017 as an additional sixth team added to the P ...
, the franchise of
Pakistan Super League
The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league contested during February and March of every year by six teams representing six cities of Pakistan. The league was founded on 9 September 2015 with five teams by the Paki ...
founded in 2018. Multan Tigers, the domestic cricket team which had participated in domestic limited over tournaments was also based in the city. Multan and its division has produced many international cricketers like Inzamam-ul-Haq,
Waqar Younis
Waqar Younis Maitla HI (Punjabi, ur, ; born 16 November 1971) is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who captained Pakistan national cricket team. A right-arm fast bowler, Waqar Younis is regarded as one of the great ...
Sohaib Maqsood
Sohaib Maqsood ( Punjabi, ur, ; born 15 April 1987) is a Pakistani cricketer. Due to his aggressive batting style and his 6’2'’ stature he's often compared to former Pakistan captain and batsman and fellow Multan native Inzamam-ul-Haq. ...
,
Rahat Ali
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan ( Punjabi, ; born 9 December 1974) is a Pakistani Singer, primarily of Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Khan is one of the biggest and highest paid singers in Pakistan. He is the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Kh ...
,
Asmavia Iqbal
Asmavia Iqbal Khokhar (born 1 January 1988) is a Pakistani former cricketer who played primarily as a right-arm medium fast bowler. She appeared in 92 One Day Internationals and 68 Twenty20 Internationals for Pakistan between 2005 and 2017. She ...
and
Sania Khan
Sania Iqbal Khan ( ur, سانیہ اقبال خان; born 23 March 1985) is a Pakistani former cricketer who played as a right-arm medium bowler and right-handed batter. She appeared in 17 One Day Internationals and 25 Twenty20 Internationals ...
Rukn-e-Alam
Sheikh Rukn-ud-Din Abul Fateh ( ; – ) was an eminent Punjabi Sufi saint from Multan in modern-day Pakistan who belonged to Suhrawardiyya Sufi order. He is commonly known by the title (Shah) Rukn-e-Alam ("Pillar of the World").
Biography
...
, 13th/14th century Sufi and poet
*
Diwan Mulraj Chopra
Mulraj Chopra (1814 – 11 August 1851) was the Diwan (governor) of Multan and leader of a Sikh rebellion against the British which led to the Second Anglo-Sikh War.Bobby Singh Bansal, Remnants of the Sikh Empire: Historical Sikh Monuments in I ...
Yousaf Raza Gillani
Yusuf Raza Gilani ( Urdu: ; born 9 June 1952), is a Pakistani politician who served as 18th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 25 March 2008, until his retroactive disqualification and ouster by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 26 April 2012. ...
, politician and former Prime Minister of Pakistan
* Ghiyath al din Tughlaq, Governor of Multan and emperor of Indian subcontinent
*
Shah Mehmood Qureshi
Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi ( ur, ; born 22 June 1956) is a Pakistani politician who served as the 29th Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022. He previously held the post from 2008 to 2011. He has been a member of the Nationa ...
, politician and present Foreign Minister of Pakistan
*
Khizr Khan
Khizr Khan (reigned 28 May 1414 – 20 May 1421) was the founder of the Sayyid dynasty, the ruling dynasty of the Delhi sultanate, in northern India soon after the invasion of Timur and the fall of the Tughlaq dynasty.
Khan was Governor of Mult ...
, 15th century Emperor of Indian subcontinent
*
Javed Hashmi
Makhdoom Muhammad Javed Hashmi ( ur, مخدوم محمد جاوید ہاشمی; born 1 January 1948), is a Pakistani politician, political realist, and a senior conservative thinker on the platform of Pakistan Muslim League (N).
After serving ...
Saima Noor
Saima Noor is a Pakistani actress who appears in Pakistani films and television dramas. She rose to prominence after starring in the film ''Choorian'' (1998), which is regarded as one of the highest-grossing Pakistani films of all time. Some ...
Qandeel Baloch
Fouzia Azeem ( ur, ; 1 March 1990 – 15 July 2016), known by her stage name Qandeel Baloch ( ur, ), was a Pakistani model, actress, social media celebrity and activist. She was the country's first social media celebrity. Azeem rose to promi ...
, (late) social media celebrity and model
Sister cities
*
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, Italy
*
Konya
Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it ...
, Turkey
* Rasht, Iran
* Shihezi, China
* Ganja, Azerbaijan, Ganja, Azerbaijan
* Xi'an, China, Xi'an, China (28 March 2019)
See also
* Climate of Multan
* City Wall of Multan
* Festivals in Multan
* History of Multan
* List of places in Multan
* Multan District
* Multan Division
*
Multan Fort
The Multan Fort was a historic fort in the city of Multan. According to some estimates the original fort was built by Katoch Dynasty Rajput between 800 and 1000 B.C. However, it was later destroyed. It was rebuilt by Ranghar chiefs near the city o ...
*
Multan International Airport
Multan International Airport is an international airport located 4 km west of Multan, Pakistan. The airport is South Punjab's largest and busiest airport. Multan International Airport offers flights throughout Pakistan, as well as direct ...
*Multan City railway station
* Multan Museum
*
Siege of Multan
The siege of Multan began on 19 April 1848 and lasted until 22 January 1849, and saw fighting around Multan (in present-day Pakistan) between the British East India Company and the Sikh Empire. It began with a rebellion against a ruler imposed ...
*
Battle of Multan
The siege of Multan began in March 1818 and lasted until 2 June 1818 as part of the Afghan–Sikh Wars, and saw the Sikh Empire capture the city of Multan (in modern-day Pakistan) from the Durrani Empire.
Background
After he was defeated at ...
* Mausoleums of Multan
* Hindu temples in Multan
* List of educational institutions in Multan
* Mosques of Multan
*Subah of Multan
*
Multan Sun Temple
The Sun Temple of Multan was a temple dedicated to Surya, the Hindu Sun God, in the city of Multan. It commanded significant fame in the subcontinent as a place of pilgrimage and wealth under Hindu as well as Islamic rule before being destroyed ...
Britannica: Multan
{{Authority control
Multan,
Populated places in Multan District,
Metropolitan areas of Pakistan
Sufism in Pakistan
Ismailism in Pakistan
Qarmatians