Uch

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This article is about the historical city. For the United Kingdom University Centre see University Centre Hastings.

Uch Sharif*
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party	Pakistan
Type	Cultural
Criteria	(ii)(iv)(vi)
Reference	[^[1] 1883]
Region†	Asia and the Pacific
Inscription history
Inscription	2004 (? Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.

Uch or Uch Sharif is located in 75 km from Bahawalpur in Punjab province, Pakistan. Uch is also known as "Alexandria at the Head of the Punjab", is an historical city in Pakistan. Formerly located at the confluence of the Indus and Chenab rivers, it is now removed some 13 km from that confluence. It was an important center in medieval India, as an early stronghold of the Delhi Sultanate in the 13th century during the Muslim conquest.

1 History
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

It is believed that in 325 BCE Alexander the Great founded a city called Alexandria at the site of the last confluence of Punjab rivers with the Indus river^[2]

However according to the website of the Embassy of Pakistan

“

Uch Sharif ..... is a very old town. It is believed that it was founded in 500 BCE. Some historians believe that Uch was there even before the advent of Bikramjit when Jains and Buddhists ruled over the area. At the time of invasion by Alexander the Great, Uch was under Hindu rule." Some historians believe that Mithankot or Chacharan Sharif was the settlement of Alexandria founded by Alexander the Great.^[3]

”

In 710, Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the city and during the Muslim period Uch was one of the centres of Islamic studies of South Asia. There are several tombs of famous mystics (Sufis) in Uch, notably the tombs of Syed Jalaluddin Bukhari and his family. These structures were joined by a series of domed tombs; the first is said to have been built for Baha’ al-Halim by his pupil, the Suharwardiya Sufi saint Jahaniyan Jahangasht (1307-1383) the second for the latter’s great grant daughter, Bibi Jawindi, in 1494 and the third for the latter’s architect.