ENDANGERED ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES OF CHINIOT-CHENABNAGAR CHUNK OF COUNTRY

                ENDANGERED ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES OF CHINIOT-CHENABNAGAR CHUNK OF COUNTRY

PROF WAQAR HUSSAIN

                  District Chiniot is a valuable place in historical perspective. Its oldest mention is found in the reign of Bhakta Prahlada as ‘Chanda-Kot’ in the religious book Bhagavata Purana. It is also stated in Rig Veda. Channiwat is said to have been mentioned in Ramayan and Al Beruni’s Kitab ul Hind. The Dravidians, Aryans, Iranian, Greeks, etc, passed through this route to reach central India. In a short, it remained a vital part of many civilizations, a state of many dynasties and a course of many invaders—all left their remains in one form or other. Ironically, we have lost most of them.

                  The etymology of its name has many traditions; first, it was mentioned in Bhakta  Prahlada  epoch as ‘Chanda-Kot’; second, about 3000 year ago, the Chinese used to come here for “silk trade”, Chay of word Chiniot is probably derived from the word China; third, Toraman ,the real founder of Hun dynasty, belonged to Chinioti clan, on conquering the area, he named it Chiniot; fourth, In 1391 AD , Channi, the sister of Machi Khan, conquered Chiniot after defeating and killing Sardar Mughali and named it ‘Channi- Oat’ which later changed to Chiniot; fifth, Hindu princes Chandan used to hunt near the Chenab river and was so entranced by the river side beauty that she ordered construction of a city which later inherited her name; sixth, Chiniot word is derived from Punjabi word chan and oat meaning moon and behind respectively, thus overall meaning becomes behind the moon; seventh, according to  Lakshami Narain, Chani Vet( Ajhan) was existed on the other side of the river on a little mound where is now chenabnager(called as Chak Dhigian in revenue record). Al-Beruni has written in Chani Vet commonly called as Ajhan was a famous school of Hindu where a special arrangement for religious studies was made. Thus one can say, the name of town was Chani Vet and the name of school was Ajhan, etc.

                   There was a check-post on the hill near Octroi Post No.3 in the western boundary of Chenabnagar. There were inscriptions on stone wall of check-Post having strange figures and archaic words. This place of duty meant to watch the movement of invading troops of the enemies. Probably, the watchman, at his leisure time, made these pictures to kill time. The famous archaeologist Ahmad Hasan Danni visited this post in 90’s and stated that these inscriptions were of Hindu Shahi period. This scribe along with Prof. Naseer Habib (UK) also visited this post and noted these figures in my note book. Now, the said post ceases to exit due to blasting work.

                 An American expert of raw material Randal Law disclosed that stone used in Harappa was actually taken from Chiniot Chenabnagar Hills. It means these hills had been blowing up for stone requirement since 3000 BC.

                 A pictographic-writings are still carved on many parts of hills and have close resemblance with the pictographic-writings found at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro sites.

                There was a natural forest of “phulai” on the northern side of hills near octroi post no3. Phulai (acacia modesta) is native species. Its wood was used to make hands of tools and as a fuel. It control salinity and is drought resistant specie. Now this forest is totally obliterated due to movement of trucks, dumpers and tractor trolleys carrying stone and for some other reasons. Its extinction not only damaged natural habitat of animals and ecosystem but also marred folklores and folk songs. In the love story of Mirza-Sahiba, Mirza was sleeping on the bough of phulai (Kikar) when Sahiba hung his arrow bow on the twig of kikar….Then, there are many verses related to this specie. Like this mahia (two verse Punjabi poem).

          Munda rohi day kikar ton kala…

         Tay  payo noo pasand aa giya…

The “would be bridegroom” is as black as the kikar of Rohi still the father of “would be bride” selected him as her mate. Unfortunately we lost this jungle.

                 Iranian king Darius invaded India in 516 BC and annexed Punjab, Sind, etc. So, Iranian traders started coming to this area and left the famous love story of “kima-malki”.  Kima was an Iranian trader who fell in love with a beautiful girl Malki of a butcher family. Their love affair went in full swing and its talk about came to the streets. The brothers of Malki felt dishonored, went in rage and killed the both. So, their love story became eternal. The above love story is often asked in CSS interview from the candidates of Chiniot-Chenabnagar area.

                  Chiniot, once known as Ajhan housed one of the three universities of the Punjab along with other two at Ajodhan and Taxila. According to Professor Lakshami Narain; “the Ajhan University was situated on the rocks on the bank of the Chenab River”. According to Dr Arshad Ahmad, the said university was situated on the right bank of the Chenab River where is now Chenabnagar. But now we find no traces. Another masterpiece of Chiniot archaeological heritage is Arthashashtra(an ancient Indian treatise on state craft, etc,) written by Chanakya(350-283 BC) who was the resident of Chiniot and de facto architect of Chandragupta Maurya Empire.  Maurya succeeded in conquering almost all of the Indian Continent and is considered the first unifier of India and its first genuine emperor. The man behind his marvelous achievement was a son of Chinioti soil. This extraordinary work preserved for being a book. Another person Chenak of chiniot, known for his bravery and valour, earned a place of minister in Chandragupta Maurya cabinet. He built many schools and temples in this area. At present, there are no relics of Chenak’s work.

                    The forces of Raja Poras went through these hills to fight with Alexander the Great in 327 BC. There were many graves, said to be of Raja Poras’ soldiers, and other remains in these mountainous area. Most are lost or forgotten by people.

           There is village Burj Babul on Sahiwal road Chenabnagar. There was once a burg (tower) built in connection with Babul Civilization. Now, it too has lost existence.

          There is a tribe of Kakkori whose forefathers were stone crusher. There were present in the belt from Pull 11, Ahmadnagar, Chenabnagar, Chiniot and Sangla hill. Alberuni who visited India ( between 1017-1048 AD) has mentioned a place “Mandi-Kakkor” near Lahore in his book Kitab ul Hind. Kakkor are probably kakkories which are mentioned earlier. So they were present up to Lahore. This tribe is now facing extinction.

                    It is reported about thousand years ago, there was an old state of Nehhri (literal meaning dusty storm) which extended from ‘Thatti Bala Raja’ to ‘Rajoa Sadaat’. The mound of Dharrangar (literal meaning frame of cot or some say the world is derived from ‘Dharram Ghar’) at Vinotiwala was the capital of Nehhri State. It is sure to erode in due course of time if not protected.

          The famous Takka Raja lived in this area. There are many stories of his cruelty. According a legend, a famine broke out during his reign. Everyone was starving except Takka Raja. People were dying everywhere. In this chaos of hunger and deaths, his starving sister came to him and asked for some flour. He said: “Take it from the millstone”. Then she started collecting the flour from grindstone and adjoining vicinity on her veil sheet and made a gathri (temporary pouch made from sheet). On seeing this Raja Tikka came near to him and snatched the flour pouch and ordered her to get lost. God enraged on this brutality and it paved the way for vengeance and divine retribution (Azaab) of God and his entire domain vanished. Some said, two rivers Chenab and Jhelum merged together and a colossal flood wiped off the sultanate of Takka Raja. Some said an earthquake did the damage. According to a famous Archaeologist Muzaffar Ahmad, he had analyzed the 0.5 feet thick layer of earthquake deposit in the area and found it archaeological age to be of 1000 year old. So Takka Raja probably had lived in Kushan Period. He further told that Chinese traveler has mentioned ‘Takka Dais’ somewhere in the vicinity of Chiniot.

                 In 298 BC, Asoka became king and later adopted Buddhism after the battle of Kalinga. He built many pagodas. The remains of some are still present in ‘Wara Suleman’ Chiniot. There was a “Stupa” in Dawar on Sahiwal road Chenab nagar, now annihilated. The coins of Asoka period having a picture of Buddha on one side and his own on the other side are still possessed by many people. They will be lost if not properly preserved.

        According to a Chinese traveler, Kushan(about 100AD) established a mint in this area. Many coins of that period had been collected. These coins are made of gold, brass and copper and are in the custody of private people. Kanishka (third king of Kushan dynasty and came to power in 120 AD) arrested Chinese and kept them in Amritsar during summer and at Chiniot during winters. But no archaeological reliquiae is available.  

                The Huns were a race of nomadic, fierce barbarians who issued from the steppes of central Asia and invaded India in 456 AD and later established their rule under Toramana. On the death of Toramana in 502 AD, his son Mihiragula became the ruler. His tyranny was out of bounds .His favorite hobby was to roll down the elephants from the top of the mountain and used to enjoy the screams of pain of falling elephants. According to historical record, Sialkot was the capital of his kingdom. But another tradition is that Chiniot was the capital of Mihiragula’s domain. And Rani Padma fought with Mihiragula’s forces in Chiniot and adjoining areas and defeated him and he was killed here. It is supported by the fact that many coins of Hun period have been discovered. These coins are smaller in size. Furthermore, carving on stone also hints Hun period. General Alexander Cunningham, founder of Indian Archaeology, has reported: “there was lot of coins of Hun period in Chiniot.”

                     There is yet folklore about Guru Ghoraknath, an 11^th to 12^th century Hindu Nath Yogi, who started his journey from ‘Tillan –Jogian’ Jehlum (the main seat of Nath yogi clan and remained intact till 1947). And he was advancing towards central India. During the journey, stones fell down from his pouch and created the chain of Karana Bar Mountain. Then he rested at ‘Tila- Ball Nath’ (Sargodha, a minor seat of Nath yogi clan) and then started his journey and again halted near Chiniot (at Ghorak Nath Sathan, a minor seat of Nath yogi clan in hills near chiniot; probably near ‘Butt Wali Pahari’).It is reported that one of his disciples remained there till 1970.

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            In 1021, the forces of Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi passed through this area to fight Raja Jay Pal II.Some people even point out the place of battle field. People reported some relics were found including toys, earthenware, domestic utensil, coins, etc, near Burgi hillock Sahiwal road Chenabnagar.

           In 1764 Ahmad Shah Abdali came to Chiniot and seiged the fort of Chiniot but battle ended in truce.      

           Hazrat Shah Bahlool Supra (Rajput) migrated from northern India to Lallian at ‘Kotha Shah Bahlool’, and then he shifted to a place ‘Tiba Shah Bahlool’ on Lahore road Chiniot. He died there and was buried in Tibba Shah Balool.  Tipu Sultan was born as a result of marriage between Haider Ali (great grandson of Hazrat Shah Bahlool and Fatima Begum great granddaughter of Saadullah Khan. So Tipu Sultan inherited two blood streams of chinioty soil. Tibba Shah Balool may be considered as ancestral place of Tippu Sultan and thus needs proper attention.

              Shahi Mosque Chiniot was built by Nawab Saadullah Khan in 1655 along with a Hazoori Garden situated in the front of the mosque. It has marvelous masterly masonry work of hewn stone with all the distinctive features of Muslim architecture.

              Mahtir Hussain Mosque was built by the efforts of

Saadullah Khan in Shah Jehan reign in mohallah Rajan of Chiniot.

              In 1816, chiniot was ruled by Gulab Singh Dogra .On the hill of the river bank is a temple said to have been built by him.

              Umer Hayat, Chinioti business tycoon, built a five storey Palace (probably in 1929) having beautiful woodwork and exhibiting indigenous art and architecture. For this he brought builders from Jhalandar and teak from Calcutta. It attracted local as well as foreign tourists. In 1970, Town Committee Chiniot demolished its upper two storeys. In 1990, it was taken over by the government and converted into a museum and Library.

           Sheikh Abdul Rahim, a business magnate of chiniot, erected a three storey palace with picturesque woodwork and inspirational architecture work and painted its window and doors green, thus it became famous as Green Palace. People used to watch its glory, glamour and grandeur. But in 1990, it was demolished leaving behind even no hint of that prodigious building.

            Hussain Khan Durrani raised a famous Kashmir Palace of two storeys in 1904. It was a magnificent building of Chiniot and deserved to be watched and praised. Upper storey has now disappeared, some remnants of lower storey are still crying for the cultural heritage protection.

              Rekhti Fort in the heart of city, opposite to Umer Hayat Palace, was constructed by Sultan Muhammad Tughlaq. Channi ruined the city and palace. Later on Channi reconstructed it. It was again renovated by Nawab Wazir Khan during the monarchy of Shah Jehan. According to folklore, this fort had existed during the invasion of Alexander the Great. Historian referred this fort as ‘killa cheenout’ and ‘killa jandoor’ in different books. Now, it has lost its existence except a fragmented wall.

              Some of endangered and extinct archaeological sites are mentioned, only few are properly protected. Many more are present and needs to be uncovered. It is time to act judiciously to protect these sites and explore more in this richly blessed area having unique artistry of architectural works, allotropic culture and fathomless history as architecture is frozen music, culture is moral sentiments and history is unrolled scroll of prophecy.

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