The object of the tour started after reaching the old town of Bhera on December 10th, was to gain acquaintance with any old sites to be traced along the Jhelum as far as its course lies within the Shahpur District. The tour was subsequently to be extended to the sandy tract of the Thal within the Mianwali District east of the Indus, where reports of extensive mounds suggested early occupation of ground now abandoned to the desert. The town of Bhera on the left bank of the Jhelum, still an important local centre, retains the name of an ancient territory which Fa-hsien, coming from Bannu (Po-ng) and crossing the Indus about A.D.401, mentions under the name of Pi-t’u (Bheda) It is known that the present site of the town has been occupied only since the time of the Emperor Sher Shah, who about A.D. 1540 moved it there from the right bank of the river, whore Babur on his First invasion of Fonjab, A.D. 1519, had still found it
The site of ‘Old Bhera’, as it is still locally known, is represented by a large debris-covered mound situated to the north. of the village of Ahmadabad close to the hamlet of Sardar-köt, and about 3 miles across the river from Bhera. The mound rests on an outcrop of sandstone not far from the right bank of the river and rises to a height of about 25 feet above the alluvial ground. Its top measures about 190 yards from cast to west and not much less across. Apart from the abundant debris from mud and rubble-built dwellings, no structural remains are traceable on the surface. Finds of copper coins are frequently made here; among the coins brought by villagers, all badly worn, three were recognizable as Muhammadan, while two thick oblong pieces ad ht possibly be more ancient. Among the pottery fragments picked up, all the painted ones as well as the moulded or ribbed ones looked. medieval, (see Bhera. 1, 7, 14, 18, 22; Pl.1).
Indications of far older occupation are to be found on the top of two of the low sandstone hillocks known as brari (or burari) which crop out above the alluvial plain in the vicinity. The larger one, rising to a height of about 45 feet, with slopes much eroded, is covered with plentiful potsherds of earlier types. Among them may be mentioned numerous fragments showing such ‘ribbing as in Baluchistan and elsewhere I have found frequent in pre-Muhammadan ware (Bür. 3, 15, 14; Pl. I), as well as pieces decorated with moulded or painted patterns (Bur.4). Similar pottery is found also on the smaller hillock crowned by the tomb of Khusro Khẩn, now visited as a ziarat. The thick walls enclosing this tomb are built with slabs of red sandstone, some of which show relief ornamentation, clearly proving that these materials have been brought here from some Hindu structure.
General Cunningham proposed to locate at ‘Old Bhera’ or Ahmadabad the palace of Sopcithes which Arrian mentions as the place on the Hydaspes where Alexander after a three-days voyage down the river rejoined the forces sent along either river bank under Krateros and Hephaistion. From the narrative of Arrian, it is clear that Alexander himself started with his fleet from the vicinity of Boukophala and Nikaia, i.c. from Jalalpur or some Jistance lower down. The distance of approximately 35 miles between Jalalpur and Ahmadabad would fit in with the proposed location, as also with Strabo’s reference to the mountain of salt got by quarrying situated in the country of Sopeithes. The fact that Bhera has preserved the name of a territory which Fa-hsien, already knew by that designation points to its marking and ancient place of importance and supports the proposed location.
Stein, Sir Aurel Archaeological Reconnaissances In North-Western India & South-Eastern Iran .PP. 59- 60.