Dr. Shaukat Mahmood narrates the historic past of Multan

(Dr. Shaukat Mahmood narrates the historic past of Multan)

History of Multan, its foundation and its founder is shrouded in mystery. No one with authoritative knowledge knows who was its founder and why it was founded and how old it is. It was the Chinese traveller Hieun-Tsiang who first of all mentioned this city in his Travels. He calls it Meulo-san-pu-lo which is transcribed into Mulasthanpura. Multan was visited by the Muslim armies during the reign of first of the Khulafa-e-Rashidin, Hadrat Abu Bakar(RA) in 44/664, when Muhallab, the Arab general, penetrated the ancient capital of Malli. No effort was made to retain this conquest. Abu’l Qasim, better known as Ibn-e-Khurdadbih, was the earliest known of the Arab geographers who wrote about this region. His undated work, The Book of Roads and Kingdoms, describes the city of Multan by the name of Farj, because Muhammad bin Qasim found vast quantities of gold in the city which hence-forth was called by the Arabs the ‘House of Gold’.

Al-Mas’udi, who visited this city in 303/915, in his work ‘The Meadows of Gold’(completed 330/942) pays a glowing tribute to Multan: “It is one of the strongest frontier places of the Musulmans, and in its neighbourhood there are a hundred and twenty thousand towns and villages”. Both Istakhri, who wrote about 340/951, and Ibn Hauqal, who base his work on that of Istakhri, speak of Multan as a large, fortified and impregnable city about half the size of Mansura, the ancient capital of Muslim Sindh. The next mention of Multan is made by Arab geographer Abu Rihan al-Biruni. According to him the city of Mulasthana was captured by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1005 A.D. when he defeated the Qarmatians. In 1193 A.D. the city was taken by Shihab al-Din Muhammad Ghur.

Whereas Istakhri described Multan as half the size of Mansura in 340/951, Idrisi in 521/1130 described it as big as Mansura itself. At the death of Shihab al-Din Ghur in 1205 A.D., Qabacha was governor of Multan; in 605/1217 he lost it to Shams al-Din Iltutmish. During the last days of Tughlaqs the whole of their empire was almost in pieces. The people of Multan elected Yusuf Gardizi, a religious leader, to run the affairs of the city.

Qutb al-Din Langah in 857/1469 brought much desired peace and prosperity to the city. He ruled peacefully for fourteen years till his death in 1483 A.D. For another eighteen years Multan was held by the Langah dynasty and during this period Multan became the principal city on the route between Delhi and Qandahar. In 1526, when Babur conquered India, the city was seized by Shah Hussain Arghun, who was at that time ruling over Sindh. He mounted this expedition on behalf of Babur. On Babur’s death, Humayun was compelled to surrender Multan to his brother Kamran Mirza.

During the period when Humayun was in exile in Iran, Sher Shah Suri attacked Multan and gained control over it. It was recaptured by Akbar and remained with the Mughals till 1738 A.D. It had its most prosperous period during the reign of Aurangzeb. In 1738-39 A.D. Multan was attacked by Nadir Shah and Ranjit Singh invaded it in 1818 A.D. In 1848 A.D. it was annexed by the British.

Al-Idrisi writing about Multan in the beginning of the twelfth century describes it as “a large city commanded by a citadel which had four gates and is surrounded by a moat”. The four gates which the fort had were known as Khidri gate (to the north) called after Khidar Khan, governor of Multan at the time of Timur’s invasion; that to the east, the De gate; that to the south, the Rahri gate and that to the east, ther Sikki gate.

The walled city of Multan had six gates apart from the four mentioned above which belonged to the fort. No trace of the wall or substantial traces of these gates survives. Various quarters of the city, however, are still known after these city gates, however, are still known after these city gates. They were known as Delhi gate, Daulat gate, Lahauri gate, Bauhar gate, Harem gate and Pak gate. The city walls were built by Nawab Ali Muhammad Khan Khakwani in 1170/1756.

Since time immemorial Multan has remained a seat of several reputed saints and celebrities. Their sequence begins with the arrival of Hadrat Baha’ al-Din Abu Muhammad Zakariyya followed by Hadrat Bibi Rasti Pakdaman, Hadrat Shah Rukn al-Din Alam, Hadrat Sayyid Shams al-Din Sabzwari, Hadrat Makhdum Hameed al-Din Hakim, Hadrat Qutb al-Aqtab Maujdarya, Hadrat Sayyid Pir Sakhi Shah Hasan Parwana, Hadrat Allama Qadi Qutb al-Din Kashani, Hadrat Sayyid Hasan Najandi, Hadrat Shah Dana Shaheed, Hadrat Abu’1 Hasan Hafiz Jamal al-Din Musa Pak Shaheed, Hadrat Shah Kamal Qadri Kaithli, Khwaja Khwajgan Hadrat Hafiz Muhammad Jamal Chishti Nizami, Pir Chup Sa’een Wardi Walay, Maulana Hamid Ali Khan Naqshbandi and Hadrat Allama Sayyid Ahmad Saeed Kazmi.

The remains of many of these saints lie buried in elegant mausoleums representing typical character of cut brickwork enriched with beautiful blue tiles. A lot has been written about these mausoleums and their enrichment and decoration including the mausoleum of Hadrat Rukn al-Din Alam. Interestingly, no one has ever tried to investigate what is inside the massive walls of the majestic tomb, which at places are more than three metes thick. The thickness is evident from the entrance to the main tomb chamber from the vestibule built on the southern side of the octagonal building.

Within this thickness of the wall is a flight of steps, an intriguing construction. Entrance to this flight is on the south-eastern side of the octagonal tomb building. One can see door on this side, generally closed. This is the entrance to the steps going up. Immediately upon entering this door we turn right. There is a straight flight of 17 steps, each 25 inches wide. There is a louvered aperture in the eastern wall for light. After 17 steps there is a U-turn, imagine, within the wall. Four triangular steps complete this U-turn. After climbing another 13 steps passage turn left and brings us to a landing. From this landing there is one flight of steps on the right and the other on the left i.e. one goes south and other goes north. Both these passages take us to the first level of the building both these flights are open to the sky but interestingly there is a clerestory or ventilator on the outer side at this level.

At this level of the building there is a circular gallery all around. This is about 24 inches wide with a low parapet having a slope inwards. Once again from the eastern side a series of steps goes up. First of all there is a small but impressive doorway embellished with cut brick work and typical Multani tiles. The threshold is one step high followed by a landing, here we turn left and start climbing. After four steps the flight become askew turning slightly right and then left.

This section before the turn has 14 steps and after the turn there are another 14 steps including two triangular steps before the penultimate. The triangular steps turn us toward the gallery at second level. At the place the gallery is very narrow and the parapet too low. The inner side of the gallery has the drum of the dome, which is circular while the outer side is octagonal. This arrangement of a circle within an octagon makes the gallery even narrower at places. Standing upright here is quite scary nevertheless it is a place which provides a wonderful panoramic vista of the city. The builders of this monument were certainly men of high calibre possessing extra ordinary skill and imagination, creativity, geometry and the science of architecture.