| Dipalpur | |
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Dipalpur
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Province | Punjab |
| District | Okara |
| Tehsil | Dipalpur |
| Elevation | 167 m (548 ft) |
| Time zone | PST (UTC+5) |
| Calling code | 044 |
| Number of towns | 10+ |
| Number of Union councils | 3 |
| The largest tehsil of Pakistan | |
Dipalpur (also written as Depalpur) is a town in Okara District of the Punjab and headquarters of Depalpur Tehsil, assumed to be largest tehsil of Pakistan. It is situated 25 kilometres from the district capital Okara on a bank of the Beas River in Bari Doab.[1][2] The town is notable for being the site of several battles in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and is also associated with the history of the Bhatti clan. Punjabi is the most spoken language in the region.
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Depalpur city is an ancient city about 2000 years old, the city has been demolished and rebuilt several times during this period. According to the historian Abnashi Chander Das "AC DAS", the original name of this city was Siri Puria or Siri Nagar after the elder brother of Raja Salvahan of Sialkot (who was the explorer of Sialkot) Raja Depa Chand renamed Depalpur after his beloved son Raja Depa. According to A C DAS, that was about 2000 years ago when Aryans entered the Subcontinent they began to live in the land of Pert Sindhu (The Land of Seven Rivers) including River Ravi, Chinab, Satluj, Jhelum, Beas, Indus and Kabul. So the famous civilisation which was developed at that time was Ajodhan (Pakpattan), Qabula and Depalpur. Now the Depalpur is a tehsil of district Okara and it is an older tehsil than Okara. This area also remained the part of Montgomery District before 1982 when Okara became a district.it contains 945 villages.
Coins from the Saka (Scythian) period found in the area suggest that it was inhabited as early as 100 BC. After Multan, this is probably the oldest continuously occupied site on the subcontinent.
General Alexander Cunningham writes that the area was mentioned in the works of Ptolemy under several different names. According to local legend, Dipalpur got its name from Raja Dipa Chand when he captured the city. Dipalpur was the first fortification on the route from the Khyber Pass to Delhi.
Dipalpur gained fame as an outpost that played a significant part in defending the Delhi Sultanate against the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
In 1285, Shahid Khan, son of Emperor Balban, was killed in a bloody battle against the Mongols and the famous poet Amir Khusro was taken prisoner. The tomb where Muhammad Tughlaq is interred may still be seen in an isolated part of the city, although it has become rather dilapidated.
Under Ala-ud-din the town became the headquarters of Ghazi Malik (also known as Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq). Firuz Shah Tughluq made a royal visit to the town in the fourteenth century. Mughal Emperor Akbar made it the headquarters of one of the sarkars (revenue districts) of Multan Province.
The town dwindled in importance during the British Raj. It had a significant number of Hindus before the partition of India, which dispersed most of them. It is now a market town and the capital of the local tehsil.
In the past, Dipalpur was surrounded by a fortified wall, rising to the height of 25 feet and strengthened by a deep trench. When and by whom this wall was constructed is not known, but it was renovated, repaired and improved during the rule of Firoz Shah Tughluq and later by Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan, who was the governor during the time of Akbar. Firoz Shah Tughluq constructed a grand mosque and palaces. He also excavated a canal from the river Sutlej to irrigate gardens around the town.
Wide and airy tunnels linked the royal residential quarters inside the fort to the adjoining gardens outside. There were 24 burgs (musketry holes) on the fortification wall, 24 mosques, 24 bavlis (ponds) and 24 wells at the town's peak. The trench, ponds and tunnels have been filled in , but in some places the location of the trench can still be defined. Most of the wall has been razed. Two of the four massive gateways with pointed arches also exist though they are badly damaged and their wooden doors have vanished. Later coats of cement have marred the original architecture of the gateways.
Besides doors with decorated latches, Jharokhas, bay windows and cut brick works, the most noticeable feature inside old Dipalpur is the monastery of Lal Jas Raj, a guru much venerated by the local people.
According to the famous legend, Lal Jas Raj was the young son of Raja Dipa Chand, the founder of Dipalpur. He sank into the earth due to a curse by his stepmother Rani Dholran. Raja Dipa Chand constructed this monastery in the memory of his son. Today, the chamber is dilapidated, the doors are jammed and a stairway is used for storage. The structure itself is crumbling. According to local residents, there used to be a grand annual "mela" held here. It was also used by Hindus as a place to perform the Sardukahr (head-shaving ritual) until the partition, but "nobody comes anymore".
Another notable structure in the old section of Dipalpur is a saray (inn) near the monastery of Lal Jas Raj. It was a spacious building with airy rooms on four sides, a big courtyard in the centre and four arched entrances. The inn, like most of the older structures in town, is now in a state of disrepair. It has been divided and subdivided so many times by successive occupants that the original shapes are obscured. Even the verandas have been converted to create rooms.
Many Muslim saints have come to preach in this area. Hazrat Bahawal Haq commonly known as Bahawal Sher Qalandar came from Baghdad and settled in the village of Patharwall near Dipalpur. The saint constructed a hujra (small living room) and a mosque outside the village. His grandson Hazrat Shah Muqeem continued his mission. The village came to be known as Hujra Shah Muqeem. This is the place mentioned in the famous Punjabi love story Mirza Saheban, although there is no historical evidence that Jati Sahiba(Mirza Sahiba) came here and prayed that "The streets should desert when where my lover Mirza roams about". Depalpur is also famous for Great saint Hazrat Syed abbdullah Gilani Almarof Sakhi Saiden.Sakhi Saiden belongs to Gilani faimly of uch sharif bahawlapur.Hazrat sakhi saiden is the grand son of great saint of okara syed Mohammed Ghoas Almaroof Balla peer.The tomb of Sakhi Saiden situated in sakhi saiden coloney.uras of sakhi saiden held every year at 10th of march.from all over the pakistan people come to attend the uras. Most of people of depalpur accepted islam on the hands of sakhi saiden.the family of sakhi saiden is living in depalpur,s villages chak fazal shah,basti saiden saen,and nobahar colony and also in mohala gilania depalpur,one branch of sakhi saiden,s family is living in jheuranwali village in gujrat.syed ali niwazish gilani ,chak fazal shah,depalpur.
The Mughal king Akbar, along with his son Saleem and royal entourage, stayed in Dipalpur when he came to pay homage to Saint Hazrat Farid Ghang Shakar in 1578. Akbar named the corridor Bari Doab by combining the syllables of the names of the two rivers, Beas and Ravi, that bounded the area. Baba Guru Nanak also stayed in Dipalpur for some time. The ruins of a Gurudwara mark the place. There are also Sufi saints in Depalpur city , as SAKHI SAIDAAN SAIN (kachehri chok)SAIN ABDUL RAZZAQ(pakpattan chok)BABA ABDULLAH(basti abdulla pipli pahar road)ABDAL E ZAMAN HAFIZ ABDUL GHANI(peer di hatti srop madina tul mahboob okara road) Depalpur is also famous for Dhaki. The cities Basir Pur, Hujra Shah Muqeem, Haveli Lakha & Shergarh are also a part of Depalpur Tehsil.
Depalur is famous for crop of Potato and Suger cane because its land is very fertilizer. its history is very old but its not famous like Harapa etc.