Multan fort

                                  Multan fort



 Multan Fort was built on a mound separating it from the city by the old bed of river Ravi. Its date cannot be fixed with accuracy. When intact, its circumference was 6,600 ft. having 46 bastions, including two towers at each of the four gates i.e., Delhi Gate, Khizri Gate,  Sikhi Gate and Rehri Gate. The fort was ravaged by the British to avenge the murder of one Mr. Agnew in 1848. At present it is survived by some parts of the old rampart and bastions besides the shrines of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria and Shah Rukn-e-Alam, an obelisk in memory of Agnew and a Hindu temple. The famous Qasim Bagh and a stadium are located within the walls of the fort. A panoramic view of Multan City can be had from the highest point in the fort.
There is no Fort now as it was destroyed by the British Garrison which was stationed there for a long time but the entire site is known as the Fort. The Fort site now looks as a part of the city because instead of the river it is now separated by a road which looks more like a bazaar and remains crowded throughout the day. Nobody knows when Multan Fort came into being but it was there and it was admired and desired by kings and emperors throughout centuries'.
It was considered as one of the best forts of the sub-continent from the defense as well as architectural points of view.
Description of the Multan Fort as recorded by John Dun top, who visited the city and the Fort on the eve of the British occupation in 1849 is reproduced below: "The Fort stands on the highest part of the mound on which the town is built it is an ancient formed by a hexagonal wall from forty to seventy feet high, the longest side of which faces the north-west and extends for 600 yards, and which isolates it from the town. A ditch twenty-five feet deep and forty feet wide is on the fort side of the wall, behind which is a glass exhibiting a face of some eighteen feet high, and so thick as to present an almost impregnable rocky mound. Within the fort, and on a very considerable elevation, stands the citadel, in itself of very great strength. The walls are flanked by thirty towers, and enclose numerous houses, mosques, a Hindu temple of high antiquity, and a Khan's palace, the beauty of which was severely damaged by the battering it got from the guns of Ranjeet Singh in 1818. This fortification is said to be more regular in construction than any other laid down by native engineers. Mr. Vans Agnew-the unfortunate political agent whose murder ,with that of his companion, Lieutenant Anderson, gave rise to the recent hostilities to the British Resident at Lahore, that he had seen many forts in India, but one that could compare with Moo
ltan the ramparts of which bristled with eighty pieces of ordnance". A correspondent of Bombay Times, who also visited the multan Fort around the same time recorded : "The Fortress was filled with stores to profusion. I think Mooltan is the beauideal of a Buneca's Fort, or rather fortified shop: Never perhaps in India have such depots existed of merchandise and arms, amalgamated as they with avarice. Here opium, indigo, salt, sulphur, and every known drug, are heaped in endless profusion-there apparently ancient in the bowels of the earth disclose their huge hoards of wheat and rice; here stacks of leathern ghee vessels, brimming with the grease, fill the pucka receptacles below ground. The silk and shawls reveal in darkness, bales rise on bales, here some mamoth chest discovering glittering scabbards of gold and gems-there reveals tiers of copper cansters crammed with gold Mohurs: My pen cannot describe the variety of wealth displayed to the inquisitive eyes". Once this was the position of the Multan Fort but during the British occupation everything was lost an finished forever. With the passage of time the British stronghold over India grew stronger and stronger, and the importance of multan was lost gradually. The multan Fort and other important historical places deteriorated slowly and sadly turned into ruins.

Qila Bala Hisar

                  Qila Bala Hisar

Bala Hisar Fort is one of the most historic places of Peshawar. The word Bala Hisar is from Persian, meaning, “elevated or high fort”. According to Dr. Hussain Khan, the name was given by the Afghan King Timur Shah Durrani (1773–1793). The Sikhs who conquered Peshawar in the early 19th century named it Samir Garh in 1834 but the name did not become popular.
The Fort has been the headquarters of the Frontier Corps since 1949.

    * 1 Design
    * 2 History
    * 3 Sumergarh
    * 4 References
    * 5 External links

 Design

The fort stands on a high mound in the northwestern corner of Peshawar City. Not long ago, the fort used to be conspicuously away from the old city of Peshawar, but now the construction of new buildings has covered space between the old city and the fort. However, the fort's position on a high mound gives a commanding and panoramic view of Peshawar and the entire Peshawar valley. On a clear day, one can see the mountains encircling Peshawar valley and beyond. The area covered by the inner wall of the fort is about 10 acres (40,000 m2) and the outer wall is about 15 acres (61,000 m2). The height of the fort is about 90 feet (27 m) above ground level.

 History

Renowned historian Dr A.H. Dani in his book Peshawar-Historic City of Frontier writes that when Hiuen Tsang, a Chinese traveller, visited Peshawar in 630 AD, he spoke of a "royal residence".
He says that Chinese word "Kung Shing" used for its significance and is explained as fortified or walled portion of the town in which the royal palace stood.
Hiuen Tsang then makes a separate mention of the city, which was not fortified. This shows that the royal residence formed the nucleus of a Citadel, which must have been further protected by a moat.
Dr Dani further says that a channel of old Bara River surrounded by a high spot, which includes the Balahisar and Inder Shahr. The higher area could have been the citadel, which is the present Balahisar.
Peshawar has always been a strategic city and its capturing and ruling over it was of great importance for the invaders and kings.
"In the 11th century AD, the Hindu ruler, Raja Jaipal of the Hindushahi dynasty was defeated in the vicinity of Peshawar and Mehmud Ghaznavi garrisoned the fort with his army," says Dr Taj Ali. The British officers who visited Peshawar in the 19th century mentioned that the fort used to be a royal residence of Afghan rulers, he added.
The Balahisar has seen its construction and destruction by conquerors, warriors, invaders and kings on several occasions. After the overthrow of emperor Humayun by the Afghan King Sher Shah Suri, the Afghans destroyed the fort.
When Hamyun was staying in it he decided to rebuild it before proceeding to Kabul. He wanted to use the fort for his conquest of India at a later stage. As his officers did not want to stay back, Hamayun himself supervised the rebuilding of the fort, which was soon completed.
"The Afghan rulers named it "Balahisar" a Persian name meaning high fort while the Sikhs renamed and rebuilt it calling their fort "Sumergarh" in 1834 but the name did not become popular, says Dr Taj.
The fort was constructed on a mound with commanding view of the surrounding area including Shalimar gardens presently known as Jinnah Park towards its north. This gave more prominence and grandeur to the fort, he said.

Sumergarh

In the early nineteenth century, Peshawar was the summer capital of the Kingdom of Kabul and the Balahisar the residence of Afghan kings. The Sikhs fought and defeated the Kabul Barakzais in the Battle of Nowshera in early 1823. On conclusion of this battle, fought on the right bank river Indus, the Sikhs chased the retreating Afghans past Peshawar through the Khyber Pass.

The Sikhs followed this by the destruction of the Afghan Royal court and the Balahisar fort. In December 1823, the British spy Moorcroft found the fort "a heap of rubbish, and the only use made of it by the rulers of Peshawar was as a quarry from whence to procure materials for dwellings of their own erection".
Archival records show that soon after the occupation of Peshawar by the Sikhs in 1834, Hari Singh Nalwa commenced the reconstruction of the fort.[3] The Sikhs called their fort 'Sumair Ghar' (after 'Sumer' another name for Mount Kailash). The first Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Nanak Dev, had visited Mount Sumer in the course of his travels. Hari Singh Nalwa installed a plaque over the gate of the fort that read:
"This Sumair Garh was built in the city of Peshawar by the exalted Maharaja Ranjit Singh Bahadur in Raja Bikramjit Sambat 1891 with the blessing of Almighty God".

Ranjit Singh was greatly pleased when he visited the newly constructed fort for the first time on 16 May 1835.
The British reconstructed the outer walls of the Balahisar after the annexation of the Kingdom of the Sikhs in 1849. This Sikh fort continues to dominate the city of Peshawar in the twenty-first century.