Nakodar

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Nakodar (pronounced Nuh-Koh-Durh) is a small town in the Jalandhar district of the state of the Punjab, India. The city is located at 31°06′N 75°31′E, almost 424 km from Delhi and about 114 km from Amritsar. Surrounding villages include Nawanshar and Mehatpur. The name Nakodar evolved from the word Neki-Ka-Dar which means The Doorway of Goodness in Urdu language. Nakodar is famous for the locally made, reasonably priced, carpets.

Nakodar is the homeland of many popular punjabi bhangra singers like Malkit Singh, Kaler Kanth, K.S Makhan and popular punjabi lyricists like Vijay Dhammi.

Headquarters of the Tehsil/Sub Division of the same name Nakodar, falls on the Jalandhar City-Nakodar line and Lohian Khas Nakodar Ludhiana line of the Northern Railways. It is a railway junction, 32 kms from Jalandhar City, 47 km from Ludhiana and 32 km from Lohian Khas. It is also connected directly by road with Jalandhar(24 km), Phillaur (34 km), Sultanpur (40 km) and Kapurthala (35 km). A road also connects Nakodar with Jagraon through a ferry on the River Satluj. There are a Khadi Mandal, a Civil Hospital, a Veterinary Hospital, three Sub-post offices and a combined Post & Telegraph office, a Telephone Exchange, a Police Station and a P.W.D. Rest House. It is well known for the manufacture of durries and khadi goods.

The town is said by one account to have been originally held by Kambohs. Another tradition makes an Afghan, Nakodar Khan, the founder. Another account says that, when Manj Rajputs crossed the Satluj, Malik Nekdar Khan popularly known as Baba Malik, a brother of Rai Izzat who took (Talwan) founded Nakodar. His shrine still exists inside the town. The word Nakodar is a corrupted form of the Persian words neki dar which mean 'gate of goodness or virtue. A fourth account makes it founded by the Nikudari legion(ming or hazarah) of the Mughals.

Nakodar is mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbri as occupied by Main, apparently a mistake for Manj Rajputs, and undoubtedly formed one sub division of their territory. They were ousted early during the Sikh period by Sardar Tara Singh Gheba who buit a fort and made the town the centre of a considerable ilaka. Maharaja Ranjit Singh seized it in 1816. On the introduction of the British rule after the First Anglo-Sikh War 1845-46,a cantonment was located here, which was abolished in 1854. Barkley notes that tradition says Nakodar was founded in the bed of a river, which is not impossible, keeping in view its situation.

Outside the Nakodar town, there are two fine Muhammedan tombs situated close together. These are maintained as protected monuments by the Archaeological Departments. One of these tombs was built in A.D.1612 in the beginning of the reign of Jahangir (A.D.1605-1627 A.D.) and the other in 1657 A.D towards the close of the reign of Shah Jahan (1627-1658 A.D.).

The Tomb of Mohammed Momin was erected over the mortal remains of Ustad Muhammed Momin also known as Ustad Ustad Muhammed Husseini alias Hafizak, a tambura player in the service of Khan-I-Khanan, one of the Mavaratnas in the court of Emperor Akbar in AD 1021 (AD 1612). Standing on an octagonal platform and approached by a flight of steps on two sides, it is square from inside and octagonal on outside. Surmounted by a pinnacle, the hemispherical dome sits over a low cylindrical drum and is relieved by four cupolas. Each of the longer face is pierced by deep recesses while the shorter by half octagonal recesses placed one over the other, all covered by pointed arches. The entrances are on the northern and southern recesses while the other recesses are blocked with pierced tracery screens. The middle portions of the panels on the exterior and the arch spandrels are decorated with geometric design in glazed tile work. The upper and lower panel, framed in lines of red plastered bricks, contain painted designs showing guldastas. Originally within the burial chamber are two elegent sarcophagi of sienna coloured marble inlaid with white marble inscription , which are now lost.

Tomb of Haji Jamal is close to the tomb of Muhammed Momin. This tomb was raised over the mortal remains of Haji Jamal, a pupil of Ustad Muhammed Husseini, the tambura player, towards the close of Emperor Shah Jahan’s regin. The two lined inscription engraved on the entrance gate of the tomb refers to its bing the tomb of Haji Jamal and gives a date of AH 1067 ( AD 1657). It stands in the middle of the square platform, paneled on all sides with deep recesses concealing two flight of steps on each side. Each of the four faces have octagonal recesses covered by pointed arches. The southern one gives access to the burial chamber while the remaining ones are closed with pierced tracery screens. Its inner chamber is octagonal where as the outer plan is square having octagonal turrets surmounted with domed cupolas added to the corners. A bulbous dome crowned with pinnacle sits over a high drum and is balanced by the four cupolas crowning the turrets at the corner. The façade is divided into red stucco covered brick framed panels and painted with white lines. The larger panels are filled with flower pots and the smaller with geometrical designs. The broad belts between the panels are ornamented with diper designs in tiles of different colours. The octagonal towers and the battlements as well as the pinnacles of the domes are ornamented with glazed tiles. (Notification no. 4687 dated 18-02-1919 Archaeological Survey of India, Chandigarh Circle)

On the west of the tombs is a gateway said to have been built in A.D.1667. There is another smaller gateway on the east, now in ruins. To the north is a tank, the bricks of which were largely used in the building of Nakodar Cantonment, on one side of it is a summer house, now used as the Sub-Judge-cum-Judicial Magistrate's Court. Beyond the tank is Baradari containing the shrine of Bahadur Khan who died during the reign of Jahangir, and also an old mosque which is now in a dilapidated condition.

Dakhni sarai is one of the finest and best preserved specimens of mughal caravan sarais built along the old highway. It stand in the village Dakhni (31.10' N; 75.25' E) on the Nakodar- Kapurthala road, about 12 km from Nakodar. The sarai is said to have been built by the well known Mughal noble Ali Mardan Khan during the reign of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan about AD 1640. It comprises of one hundred & twenty four cells around a closed quadrangle with two imposing gateway in the centre of the eastern and western quadrangle. Inside the quadrangle is a mosque and a well. The half dome portal of which is decorated with glazed tiles while its interior contains painted motifs over lime plaster. The wall closing the sarai on the outside at the four corners are strengthened by circular bastion. The three storyed facade of the gateway shows recesses and openings on either side, the smaller one being closed with finely pierced tracery screens in red sandstone. The gateway projecting out of the wall is strengthened with octagonal towers, crowned with domical cupolas. The arch spandrels and panels framing the central arch and side openings are decorated with glazed tile-work showing geometrical and floral designs. (Notification no. 4687 dated 18-02-1919 Archaeological Survey of India, Chandigarh Circle)

The Mughal Bridge is to the south of the village Mahlian Kalan on Nakodar- Kapurthala road, obout 12 km from Nakodar. This is one of the extant Mughal bridge built during the reign of Shah Jahan (AD 1627-1658). The bridge spanned the Dhauli-veni river to the east of the Dakhni Sarai. It is of Lakhauri bricks and has five arched spans, the central begin the highest and other four in receding order. (Notification no. PN, 16721 dated 04-06-1923 Archaeological Survey of India, Chandigarh Circle)