Ahmadpur East, Capital Of State Bahawal Pur.

THE HISTORICAL REVIEW

OF

AHMED PUR SHARQIA (EAST)

　

1758 TO 1947 A.D.

 Sadiq Garh Palace of Ahmadpur East.

Qilla Derawer is most the beautiful place of Ahmadpur East. 

NOMENCLATURE AND ETYMOLOGY

Ahmed Khan son of Ghappa Khan Parjani was the first cousin of Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan I. On the invitation of

The rural people call these towns as Ahmed Pur wadda (larger) and Ahmed Pur chhota (smaller). But now the more popular of these has been Ahmed Pur Sharqia, but the railway station of this

It is apparent with the word ruins that the dwelling prior to the devastation of flood would have got some specific nomenclature and in this pursuit, I have disclosed some of the titles of this city through extensive research. This city was earlier known as Aab-e-Chol, Ahmed Toor, Dosh-e-Aab and Band Sadhu.

The detail of the different nomenclatures is as under:

In the manuscript of about eight to eight hundred and fifty years old, a place named Aab-e-Chol has been indicated. According to some presumptions this fact has been acknowledged that Aab-e-Chol was the ancient nomenclature of Ahmed Pur Sharqia. (4)

"Aab" and "Chol" are both words of Persian language, which mean, water and sand or sandy respectively. In my opinion as this city was developed in between the banks of the river and sand dunes, so it became popular as Aab-e-Chol.

As far as the Ahmed Toor is concerned, according to Syed Abu Zafar Nadvi’s "Tareekh-e-Sindh", the wife of Sanghar Rai, Sanghar Hemu, sent both of her brothers to Toor and Thari respectively. By Toor is not meant the famous town of "Muhammad Toor", which had not been developed by that time period. This city of Muhammad Toor

In the book, Ancient History of India by V.A.Smith, the author has attributed Ahmed Pur Sharqia as Dosh-e-Aab. According to him:

 When Alexander ,the great, invaded this region, then he found it as the point of affluence of different rivers, although the actual location could not be determined, but it is assumed that this point was located in the Bahawalpur State limits and was scattered over an area of about 110 miles circumference." The point of affluence is situated on the map released by the India Office Library, London, at 20-28 degree altitude in the north and 30 – 70 degree latitude in the east. If we observe the present location of Ahmed Pur Sharqia, it is found that it is located at the conjunction point of 29-10 degree in the north, which further verifies the above-mentioned statement.

Nawab Mubarak Khan, the dwelling where Ahmed Khan along with his family, tribe and supporters made their permanent abode was named Ahmed Pur.(2). The word Ahmed Pur is a compound of Ahmed of Arabic and Pur of Hindi language, which means city or town. Due to Kalrathi (brackish) soil, it was also known as Ahmed Pur Kalranwala. After exactly one year, when Ahmed Khan son of Shehbaz Khan Kahri inhabited a town near Sadiqabad and attributed its name to himself as Ahmed Pur, then for separate identity the directions of both the towns were added to their names, so one is now known as Ahmed Pur Sharqia (East) and the other is called Ahmed Pur Lamma (South). town has been attributed to the rulers of ex-princely state of Bahawalpur, as Dera Nawab Sahib. During the initial ten years of its foundation, this city flourished to a great extent, but suddenly a devastating flood of Sutlej River completely demolished it. The river swallowed the beautiful and developing town of Ahmed Khan within moments. Ahmed Khan collected the debris of the demolished town and developed a new town in the east of the ruined city at a site at a distance of three miles just close to Mohallah Sarwar Shah of the present city of Ahmed Pur Sharqia on the north western side. The new city was built on the water logged ruins and reminiscent of the old Ahmed Pur Sharqia.(3) was inhabited by Muhammad Toor Sumra , who made it his capital, which denotes to seventh century, as the writer has mentioned himself. It is also possible that it might have been some other city, but there is no mention of this fact in the history. However there is a place known as Ahmed Pur, which still exists near Uch Sharif and most probably, this might have been the actual city of Ahmed Toor.(5) " 

1. JAMIA MASJID AHMED PUR SHARQIA

When Nawab Muhammad Bahawal Khan II married the daughter of Mohabbat Khan in 1782 A.D., he constructed a fort for his residence. Due to the capital of the state, the state functionaries and employees of the state rushed to the capital and started to live here. As the majority of the population comprised of Muslims, so Nawab Muhammad Bahawal Khan II, feeling the need of a Masjid, laid the foundation of this Jamia Masjid in 1198 A.H. The Jamia Masjid Ahmed Pur Sharqia was constructed on a high place in the center of the city. The courtyard of the Masjid was initially six feet higher than the bazaar. Now this height varies from 4 to 6 feet at different places due to construction and elevation of the roads.

There is a two feet high and 2.3 feet wide podium around the main entrance of the Masjid and on top of it is a flower pot which is 2.4 feet high and functions as base for the minarets. There are octagonal minarets on top of each flower pot and the breadth of each dimension is 4 inches each. At the height of 18 feet there is a flower shaped shade of blue flowers, which has eight small arches on top of it, only six inches high. There is an octagonal dome of one foot radius above each shade present above the arches, which has green coloured crest on top of it.

Inside the minarets there is 9 inches frame on which four feet above the podium on blue tiles Ayat-ul-Kursi has been scripted with white colour, which starts from the right side and ends after turning from the top to the left side. Above the frame of Ayat-ul-Kursi there is another frame of one foot wide and six feet long , and inside this , a verse has been written on a green base, which is as follows:

　

Chiragh-e-Masjid-o-mehrab-o- mamber

Abu Bakr-o - Omar, Usman-o-Haider,

(Translation)

The four close associates of the Holy Prophet (SAW) and Caliphs, Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RZA) Hazrat Omar Farooq (RZA), Hazrat Usman Ghani (RZA) and Hazrat Ali Haider-e-Karrar (RZA) are Illumination of Masjid, its sanctity and the rostrum