History
The Battle of the Hydaspes River took place to the west of Mandi Bahauddin in 326 BCE, between Alexander the Great and the Raja Porus of India in 326 BCE. Raja Porus was situated nearby, in a portion of ancient India which is now part of Pakistan. The battle was the last major war fought by Alexander. Harry Roy, the son of Raja Porus, and Bucephalus, Alexander the Great's horse, both died on the first day of this battle. After the death of his son, Raja Porus, who had been stationed at Nazampur, came with elephants and fought Alexander the Great himself. As a result of this battle, Alexander founded two cities, Nicaea ("Victory") at the site of modern-day Mong, and Bucephala at the site (possibly) of Phalia in Pakistan.
In 997 CE, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi, took over the Ghaznavid dynasty empire established by his father, Sultan Sebuktegin, In 1005 he conquered the Shahis in Kabul in 1005, and followed it by the conquests of Punjab region. The Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal Empire ruled the region. The Punjab region became predominantly Muslim due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of Punjab region.
In 1506 CE, a Gondal Jat chief, Bahauddin, migrated to this area from Pindi Shah Jahanian, and established a settlement named Pindi Bahauddin which was later anmed as Mandi Bahauddin.
The district forms a central portion of the Chaj Doab lying between the Jhelum and Chenab rivers. It lies between 300° 8' to 320° 40' N and 730° 36' to 370° 37' E. During British rule in the early twentieth century, the British established public services such as canals and irrigation facilities and the North-Western Railway to facilitate defence of their empire from the north; it is at this time that Mandi Bahauddin Railway Station was built. The district has been a part of District Gujrat till 1993 when Tehsil Phalia of district Gujrat was separated to form a new district which was on the name of Tehsil Headquarter of Phalia, i.e. Mandi Bahauddin.
After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Sikh invaded and occupied Mandi Bahauddin District. The Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1849 took place nearby;[where?] Lord Guff led the British forces against the Khalsa Sikh Army Chillianwala. A graveyard at Rakh Minar near Chillianwala has its own Ancient Memorandum, where many British Army soldiers and officers were buried. During the period of British rule, Mandi Bahauddin district increased in population and importance.
Chak Bandi was created by Sir Aamir Nawaz Tarar and 51 Chaks were settled and notified, land being awarded to people who worked for the British Empire. Chak 51 became the centre of this area, and hosted a grain market. In 1920 the town name became official, and in 1924 Pindi-Bahauddin Railway station was officially granted its name. In 1937 the town of Mandi-Bahauddin was given the status of a town committee. In 1941 it was given the status of a municipal committee. In the 1923 master reconstruction plan,[further explanation needed] all the streets and roads were laid straight and wide. In 1946 nine gates and the wall surrounding the town was completed due to riots.[clarification needed].
The predominantly Muslim population supported Muslim League and Pakistan Movement. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India while theMuslim refugees from India settled in the Mandi Bahauddin District. In 1960, Phalia was granted the status of Sub-Division of District Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin was named as its headquarters. In 1963 the Rasul Barrage and Rasul-Qadirabad link canal project, a component of the Indus Basin irrigation project, started. The project was managed by WAPDA, and a colony for government employees and foreign contractors was constructed a few kilometers from Mandi Bahauddin. The canal project was completed in 1968 by engineer Riazur Rahman Shariff as Project Director, highlighting the town and community and enabling it to expand commercially.
In 1993, Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, Chief Minister of Punjab, declared this city a District H.Q., a new district of Mandi Bahauddin.
Early history
In 1506 C.E. Chief Bahauddin a Sufi Gondal Jat established a settlement namely Pindi Bahauddin in the north-eastern corner of the region known as "Gondal Bar", after his immigration from Pindi Shah Jahanian to this area. The settlement soon became a center of intense commercial activity, hence named afterwards by the merchants as "Mandi Bahauddin", the Market of Bahauddin. The Urdu word "Mandi" implies "marketplace". The proto-city was later on fortified with 9 main doorways to guard against foreign invasions. The wall intact today was completed in 1946.[2]
However, the recorded history of Mandi Bahauddin goes back to the era before Common Era, connecting the region with the historic figure ofAlexander the Great. Some 8 km northwest of the modern-day Mandi Bahauddin town, village Mong on the southern bank of Jhelum River (GreekHydaspes), the battle Battle of the Hydaspes River was fought between Raja Porus (Sanskrit Paurava) and Alexander. This historic battle ofHydaspes River, which Indian sources refer to as the "Battle of Jhelum", took place in 326 BCE.[3] The kingdom of Raja Porus was situated in the northern Punjab of modern Pakistan. This battle proved the last major fight of Alexander's career, for the Macedonians, after being put up a fierce resistance by Porus' soldiery and having heard of a massive 4,000 elephant force mustered by eastern kingdoms, refused to march further east i.e. Ganges Plains.[4]
After independence
The predominantly Muslim population supported Muslim League and Pakistan Movement. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority Hindusand Sikhs migrated to India while the Muslims refugees from India settled down in Mandi Bahauddin District. In 1963, the Rasul Barrage and Rasul-Qadirabad Link Canal project under the Indus Basin Irrigation Project started. The project was managed by Water and Power Development Authority(WAPDA), and a large colony for government employees and foreign contractors was constructed 2 kilometres north of Mandi Bahauddin city. This project was completed in 1968 by Engineer Riazur Rahman Shariff as the Project Director. This project brought Mandi Bahauddin into limelight and helped the city grow commercially.[5]
The Tehsil headquarters towns of Phalia and Malikwal are 22.5 and 28.5 kilometres from Mandi Bahauddin, respectively.[6] The Mandi Bahauddin Tehsil has 27 Union Councils.
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