At the time of Alexander’s invasion, the Salt Range between the Indus and the Jhelum was ruled by Sophytes, who submitted without resistance to Hephaestion and Craterus in the autumn of 326 B.C. The capital of his kingdom is possibly to be found at old Bhera. After Alexander left India, the country comprised in the present district passed successively, with intervals of comparative independence, under the sway of Mauryan, Bactrian, Parthian and Kushan kings, and was included within the limits of the Hindu kingdom of Ohind or Kabul. In the seventh and eighth centuries, the Salt Range chieftain was a tributary of Kashmir. Bhera was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni, and again two centuries later by the generals of Chingiz Khan. In 1519 Babar held it to ransom; and in 1540 Sher Shah founded a new town, which under Akbar became the headquarters of one of the subdivisions of the Subah of Lahore. In the reign of Muhammad Shah, Raja Salamat Rai, a Rajput of the Anand tribe, administered Bhera and the surrounding country; while Khushab was managed by Nawab Ahmadyar Khan, and the south-eastern track along the Chenab formed part of the territories under the charge of Maharaja Kaura Mal, governor of Multan. At the same time, the Thal was included among the dominions of the Baloch families of Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan.
During the anarchic period which succeeded the disruption of the Mughal Empire, this remote region became the scene of Sikh and Afghan incursions. In 1757 a force under Nur-ud-din Bamizai, dispatched by Ahmad Shah Durrani to assist his son Timur Shah in repelling the Marathas, crossed the Jhelum at Khushab, marched up the left bank of the river, and laid waste the three largest towns of the district. Bhera and Miani rose again from their ruins, but only the foundations of Chak Sanu now mark its former site. About the same time, by the death of Nawab Ahmadyar Khan, Khushab also passed into the hands of Raja Salamat Rai. Shortly afterwards Abbas Khan, a Khattak, who held Pind Dadan Khan and the Salt Range for Ahmad Shah, treacherously put the Raja to death and seized Bhera. But Abbas Khan was himself thrown into the prison as a revenue defaulter; and Fateh Singh, nephew of Salamat Rai, then recovered his uncle’s dominions.
After the final success of Sikhs against Ahmad Shah in 1763, Chattar Singh, of the Sukarchakia misl or confederacy, overran the whole Salt Range, while the Bhangi chieftains parcelled out among themselves the country between those hills and Chenab. Meanwhile, the Muhammadan rulers of Sahiwal, Mitha Tiwana, and Khushab had assumed independence, and managed, though hard-pressed, to assist the encroachments of the Sikhs. The succeeding period was one of constant anarchy, checked by the gradual rise of Mahan Singh, and his son, the great Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The former made himself master of Miani in 1783, and the latter succeeded in annexing Bhera in 1803. Six years later, Ranjit Singh turned his arms against Baloch chieftains of Sahiwal and Khushab, whom he overcame by combined force and treachery. At the same time, he swallowed up certain smaller domains in the same neighbourhood, and in 1810 he affected the conquest of all the country subject to the Sial Chiefs of Jhang. In 1816 the conqueror turned his attention to the Maliks of Mitha Tiwana. The Muhammadan chief retired to Nurpur, in the heart of Thal, hoping that scarcity of water and supplies might check the Sikh advance. But Ranjit Singh’s general sank wells as he marched, so that the Tiwana fled in despair, and wandered about for a time as outcasts. The Maharaja, however, after annexing their territory, dreaded their influence and invited them to Lahore, where he made a liberal provision of his support. On the death of the famous Hari Singh, to whom the Tiwana estates had been assigned, Fateh Khan, the representative of the Tiwana family, obtained a grant of the ancestral domains. Thenceforward, Malik Fateh Khan took a prominent part in the turbulent politics of the Sikh realm, after the rapidly succeeding deaths of Ranjit Singh, his son, and grandson. Thrown into prison by the opposite faction, he was released by Lieutenant (afterwards Sir Herbert). Edwardęs, who sent him to Bannu on the outbreak of the Multan rebellion to relieve Lieutenant Reynell Taylor. Shortly afterwards the Sikh troops mutinied, and Fateh Khan was shot down while boldly challenging the bravest champion of the Sikhs to meet him in single combat. His son and a cousin proved them actively loyal during the revolt and were rewarded for their good service both during his period and after the Mutiny of 1857.
Shahpur District passed under direct British rule, with the rest of the Punjab, at the close of the Second Sikh War. At that time the greater part of the country was peopled only by wild pastoral tribes, without fixed abodes. Under the influence of the settled Government, they began to establish themselves in permanent habitations, to cultivate the soil in all suitable places, and to acquire a feeling of attachment to their regular homes. The Mutiny of 1857 had little influence on Shahpur. The district remained tranquil, and though the villages of the Bar gave cause for alarm, no outbreak of sepoy took place, and the wild tribes of the upland did not revolt even when their brethren in the neighbouring Multan Division took up arms. A body of Tiwana Horse, levied in this district, did excellent service during the Mutiny and was afterwards incorporated into the regiment now known as 18th (Tiwana) Lancers.
Now less than 270 mounds have been counted in the Bar. None of them has been excavated, but they serve to recall the ancient prosperity of the tract, which is testified to alike by the Greek historians and the local tradition. The most interesting architectural remains are the temples at Amb in the Salt Range, built of block kankar. The style is Kashmiri, and they date probably from the tenth century, the era of the Hindu kings of Ohind. Sher Shah in 1540 built the fine mosque at Bhera; and the great stone dam, now in ruins, across the Katha torrent at the foot of the Salt Range is also attributed to him.
The population of the district at the last four enumerations was: (1868) 368,288, (1881) 493,588 and (1901) 524,259, dwelling in 5 towns and 789 villages. It increased by 6.2 percent V during the last decade. The district is divided into three tahsils, Shahpur, Bhera, and Khushab, and the headquarters of each being at the place from which it is named. The towns are the municipalities of Shahpur, the administrative headquarters of the district Miani, Sahiwal, Khushab and Bhera.
Bhera Town. Headquarters of the tahsil of the same name in Shahpur district, Punjab, Situated at 32 degrees 28 degrees N and 72 degrees 56 degrees E, on the left bank of the Jhelum river, at the terminus of the Bhera branch of the North-Western Railway. Population (1901), 18,680. The original city, which lay on the right bank, was identified by Alexander Cunningham with the capital of Sophytes, a contemporary of Alexander the Great, but recent authorities have shared the doubts he afterwards entertained as to the correctness of his theory. Bhera was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni, and two centuries later by the armies of the Chingiz Khan. The history of the old town closes in 1519 when it was held for ransom by Babar. Its importance is shown by the fact that the ransom was fixed at 2 lakhs, and tradition avers that shortly afterwards it was destroyed by the hill tribes. The new town was founded in or about 1540 around the fine mosque and tomb of a Muhammadan saint. The mosque has lately been restored. Bhera was the centre of a mahal under Akbar and was plundered and laid waste by Ahmad Shah’s general, Nur-ud-din, in 1757. It was repopulated by the Sikh chieftains of the Bhangi confederacy and has greatly improved under British rule. It is the largest and most prosperous commercial town in this part of the Province., having a direct export trade to Kabul, the Derajat, and Sukkur, and importing European goods from Karachi and Amritsar. Ornamental knives and daggers are made in the town, and its jade-work and wood carving are widely known. it has also a long-established felt industry. The municipality was created in 1867. The income during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 22,400 and the expenditure Rs. 20,900. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 26,100. The town possesses an Anglo-vernacular high school, managed by the Educational department, and an unaided Anglo-Sanskrit High School, besides a Government dispensary: a vernacular newspaper, the Dost-i-Hind published in the town. The American United Presbyterian Mission has a station at Bhera, where work was started in 1884. In 1901 the district contained 21 native Christians.
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