History of Mandi Bahauddin

bahauddin makbara - junagadh (Photo credit: peter barwick)

  Mandi Bahauddin (Punjabi , Urdu: منڈی بهاؤالدین‎)abbreviated asM.B.DIN is the capital of Mandi Bahauddin District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The town is some 220 metres above the sea level and is situated in upper Punjab, between the rivers Jhelum (north 12 km) and Chenab (south 39 km).Local Language is Punjabi.

Administration
Mandi Bahauddin, the capital of the district, is also the Tehsil headquarter. Tehsil Mandi Bahauddin has 27 Union Administrations / Union Councils.^[1]

History

 Early history

In 1506 C.E. Chief Bahauddin, Sufi Sahib, established a settlement namely Pindi Bahauddin in the north-eastern corner of the region known as "Gondal Bar", after his immigration from Pindi Shah Jahanian to this area. The settlement soon became a center of intense commercial activity, hence named afterwards by the merchants as "Mandi Bahauddin", the Market of Bahauddin. The Urdu word "Mandi" implies "marketplace". The proto-city was later on fortified with 9 main doorways to guard against foreign invasions. The wall intact today was completed in 1946.^[2]
However, the recorded history of Mandi Bahauddin goes back to the era before Christ, connecting the region with the historic figure of Alexander the Great. Some 8 km northwest of the modern-day Mandi Bahauddin town, near the plain of village Khiwa on the southern bank of Jhelum River (Greek Hydaspes), the battle Battle of the Hydaspes River was fought between Raja Porus (Sanskrit Paurava) and Alexander. This historic battle of Hydaspes River, which Indian sources refer to as the "Battle of Jhelum", took place in 326 BCE.^[3] The kingdom of Raja Porus was situated in the northern Punjab of modern Pakistan. This battle proved the last major fight of Alexander's career, for the Macedonians, after being put up a fierce resistance by Porus' soldiery and having heard of a massive 4,000 elephant force mustered by eastern kingdoms, refused to march further east i.e. Ganges Plains.^[4]

After independence

In 1963, the Rasul Barrage and Rasul-Qadirabad Link Canal project under the Indus Basin Irrigation Project started. The project was managed by WAPDA, and a large colony for government employees and foreign contractors was constructed 2 kilometres north of Mandi Bahauddin city. This project was completed in 1968 by Engineer Riazur Rahman Shariff as the Project Director. This project brought Mandi Bahauddin into limelight and helped the city grow commercially.^[5]
The Tehsil headquarters towns of Phalia and Malikwal are 22.5 and 28.5 kilometres from Mandi Bahauddin, respectively.^[6]