Kasur (قصُور) is a city to south of Lahore, in the Pakistani province of Punjab. The city serves as the headquarters of Kasur District. Kasur is the 24th largest city of Pakistan by population. It is also known for being the burial place of the 17th-century Sufi-poet Bulleh Shah. It is farther west of the border with neighboring India, and further bordered to Lahore, Narowal, and the Okara District of Punjab Province. Kasur was founded by Pashtun migrants in 1525. [1]
Kasur derives its name from the Arabic word qasr ( قصور ، قصر ] meaning “palaces,” or “forts.” Hindu traditions claim that Kasur city was established by Kishwar, Kassu or Kishi son of Ram Chandra ، Seeta ، whereas his other brother Laho established Lahoopur or Lahore. In this way Lahore and Kasur are twin cities. It is also said that Kasur means city of Kasur i.e. city of palaces because there were to many places like forts which are still situated in old city of Kasur. It is further mentioned by the Pathans that they became along with the army of Mughal emperor Babar who gave then Jagir/Land in Kasur.
Historical record rejects an ancient mythological founding for the city, and instead dates the city to around 1525 when the city was founded as a fortified settlement by the Kheshgi tribe of Pashtuns who had migrated from what is now Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa Pakistan and Afghanistan. Even in the 19th-century during the British administration of India, Kheshgi tribesmen were found in Kasur district scattered about the region and they call Kasuri Pathan.
Kheshgi Dynasty of Kasur (1525–1807), founded by the Kheshgi tribe. The Kheshgi claim to be a tribe of Afghan origin who came to Kasur The city of Kasur was founded by Kheshgi tribe who had migrated to the region, during the reign of Babur and built several small forts in the area. After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Sikh invaded and occupied Kasur in 1807. Notable Kheshgis include Inidan President Zakir Husain, Afghan Ruler Sher Ali Khan .
Mamdot Nawabi (1800–1947), Qutubuddin Khan, a Kheshgi and Chief of Kasur 1794/1807, Nawab of Mamdot 1800/1831 in Ferozepur district in Indian Punjab; he conquered Mamdot from the Rai of Raikot in 1800, but lost control of Kasur in 1807. Jalalabad, Firozpur was founded by Nawab of Mamdot as its capital. Mamdot Nawabi was the largest Muslim Nawabi of the Punjab chiefs. Nawab Nehmat Khan of Beka, kpk.
After the fall of the Mughals, the Afghans under Ahmed Shah Durrani time and again plundered the Punjab. They appointed their own Afghan governors to collect revenue, grain, gold and slaves. After the brutal massacre of Sikhs by Afghans outside Lahore’s Delhi Gate, an urge for revenge ran through all Sikhs. It was in that context that these Afghans wreaked terror on the people and traders of Lahore. The Bhangi Misl were contacted by the Arain traders and farmers of Lahore, who managed through gardeners working in the fort to dig a hole in the wall to let the fierce Sikhs in. Thus the first Sikh rulers took control with the active assistance of Lahore’s traders.
In between the Afghans kept returning, only to see the Sikhs flee, and in return to attack them all the way to and from Afghanistan. These attacks progressively weakened the Afghans. Unlike the popular perception that these Bhangi rulers merely drank and smoked ‘bhang’, the fact is that they were very sensible rulers. But then given their expenditures, especially on arms and soldiers, they were increasingly short of money. That is why they started looting the Arain traders, and planned to completely empty their coffers and food stocks.
Here was a situation where the ones who had brought in the Bhangis were now being robbed by them. The strength of the trading classes has always been, and still is, under-estimated. They undermined the Mughals and invited the Afghans, then they invited the Bhangis to remove the Afghans. Now was the time for them to invite a new force to stop the Bhangis. History was repeating itself yet again. If you read Chris Bayly’s classic: ‘Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire’, you will see a completely different way of analysing the past.
But then their first choice was the ruler of Kasur, Nawab Nizamuddin Khan. The Arains of Baghbanpura – led by Mian Ashiq Muhammad and Mian Mokkam Din – set the trap. With them were Mir Shadi Katarband and Ahmad Khan Bhandara of Choona Mandi and Hakeem Hakim Rai of Lohari Gate.
The ruler of Kasur was himself of Afghan origin and this did not sit well with many. As his troops approached Lahore, suddenly the gates of the fort and the walled city opened and out rushed the Bhangi Army. It was a swift battle in which Kasuri soldiers fell in large numbers and eventually lost . It was a bitter blow to the aspirations of the traders and zamindars of Lahore. The Bhangis stepped up their repression in search of traitors.
This got the traders quickly approaching Ranjit Singh of the Sukerchakia Misl who was camped at Rasoolnagar. The young Ranjit with immense caution sent into Lahore a pious man known as Qavi Khan Ghulam to meet traders and people to gauge the level of opposition to the Bhangi rulers.
Extract from : Rise and fall of Lahore’s rulers and the role of traders By Majid Shaikh Dawn
نقوش کا “لاہور نمبر”
لاہور کی تاریخ دلچسپی رکھنے والے باذوق قارئین اور سنجیدہ محققین کے لیے نقوش کا “لاہور نمبر” پی۔ڈی۔ایف فائل (1215 صفحات) اور ان لائن ریختہ پر پیش خدمت ہے۔
نقوش لاہور، پاکستان سے شائع ہونے والا ایک ادبی جریدہ ہے جس کا اجرا محمد طفیل نے مارچ 1948ء میں کیا۔
یوں تو ہر شہر، شہر ہی ہے۔ مگر بعض شہر، اپنے آغوش میں رہنے بسنے والوں کی پوری تہذیب و ثقافت کے امین ہوتے ہیں۔ لاہور بھی انہی شہروں میں سے ایک ہے۔ نقوش نے “لاہور” کا تاریخی اور تہذیبی سرمایہ محفوظ کرنے کی کوشش کی ہے۔
اس خاص نمبر کے اداریے کے تحت محمد طفیل لکھتے ہیں کہ:
میری ادنی سی کوششیں یہ تھیں کہ یہ نمبر اپنے مواد کے اعتبار سے، لاہور پر موجود کتابوں سے زیادہ وقیع، زیادہ جامع اور زیادہ متنوع ہو۔ اس نمبر میں جتنی بھی چیزیں پیش کی جا رہی ہیں وہ سب کی سب غیر مطبوعہ ہیں، اگر چند سطریں مطبوعہ نظر آ جائیں تو اپنے اس نیازمند کو معاف کر دیجیے گا۔
اس نمبر کے سلسلے میں ضخامت طلب موضوعات کو سمیٹنا تھا، جو موضوع جسے دیا وہ وہیں ٹھٹھک گیا، میں وہیں اٹک گیا۔ میں آج ادب کی وادیوں سے نکل کر، تاریخ کے میدان میں آ پہنچا ہوں۔ بےشک راہیں پرپیج اور انجانی تھیں مگر میرے جنون نے ہار ماننے سے انکار کر دیا۔ اب یہ فیصلہ وقت کرے گا کہ جنون اور تاریخ کے اس معرکے میں کون جیتا، کون ہارا ؟
لاہور نمبر کے لکھنے والوں میں درج ذیل قلمکار شامل ہیں:
غلام رسول مہر، نیاز فتح پوری، جسٹس کیانی، محمد دین فوق، عابد علی عابد، ڈاکٹر محمد باقر، پروفیسر شجاع الدین، شوکت تھانوی، خواجہ نور الہی، کسریٰ منہاس، خواجہ احمد عباس، عشرت رحمانی، راجہ مہدی علی خان، سراج نظامی، عبدالحمید یزدانی، شہرت بخاری، حکیم موسی خان، ہوش ترمذی، وحید الحسن ہاشمی، فدا حسین اسیر، سردار خان، علم الدین سالک، رشید احمد صدیقی، حفیظ جالندھری، محمد عبداللہ قریشی، احمد ندیم قاسمی، کرنل عبدالرشید، شورش کاشمیری، شاہد احمد دہلوی، شیخ محمد اسمعیل پانی پتی، ڈاکٹر عبدالسلام خورشید، احسان دانش، یوسف جمال انصاری، نصیر انور، ملک شمس، شیخ عبدالشکور، مصطفیٰ زیدی، ڈاکٹر صفدر حسین، مسعود نظامی، حافظ عباد اللہ، احمد سعید، عنایت اللہ۔
- https://www.dawn.com/authors/699/majid-sheikh
- https://www.dawn.com/news/1565592/harking-back-rise-and-fall-of-lahores-rulers-and-the-role-of-traders
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasur
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kheshgi
- Rose, H. A. A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province. New Delhi: Nirmal Publishers and Distributors, 1997. 142.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pashtun_empires_and_dynasties
- https://www.facebook.com/taemeer.news/posts/1253773081454870/
- https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/nuqoosh-lahore-number-shumara-number-092-mohammad-tufail-magazines?lang=ur
- https://idraklibrary.wordpress.com/2020/02/10/نقوش-لاہور-محمد-طفیل-لاہور-نمبر/