Kunjah

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Map of Kunjah

Kunjah (Urdu/Punjabi: کنجاہ ) is a small town in Pakistan located in Gujrat District in the Punjab Province, Pakistan.

Location

As per Hari Ram Gupta [1] and British Gujarat (Punjab district) Gazetteer -168 (1892-93), this town now located in Pakistan is, 12 kilometers from Gujarat, on the road to Phalia.

Founder

According to Prof. B.S. Dhillon[2]It was founded by a person called Jethu Varaich. It is likely that the word "Jethu" probably is "Jathu" or Jat, "Varaich" is a common current Jat clan name [3].

History

Various accounts date the founding of Kunjah[4] anywhere from the 4th century BCE during the time of Alexander the Great to the 8th century CE. Kunjah is named after a raja named Kunjpal who is also often credited to be the founder of the town. Islam was brought to the region by the Umayyad Caliphate early in the 8th century and soon replaced Buddhism as the dominant religion. Kunjah grew in prominence in the 9th and 10th centuries.

Starting during the Muslim period, Kunjah was considered a strategically important town. Ibrahim Bin Masood used Kunjah as his main base for his attack on neighboring districts. In the Mughal period, King Aurangzeb Alamgir also visited Kunjah,[5] and during his stay in Kunjah he built a mosque that is now named after him.

Kunjah prospered during the time of the Sikh Empire. In that period the town was home to a number of gardens, two royal palaces and a royal bathing pool connected by underground tunnels, and a baradari that still stands today.There are many kinds of families specially Arians also known as mahajar ( both local and migrated from Eastern Punjab), Kashmiri, Korotana, Wraich (warr-Ich), Gondal, Khokhar.

References

  1. Gupta, H.R., editor, Panjab or Punjab on the eve of First Sikh War, Published by the Publication Bureau of the Punjab University, Chandigarh, Punjab, 1956, pp. 212, 295, 135, 266.
  2. History and study of the Jats/Chapter 7,p.105-106
  3. Barstow, A.E. (Major), The Sikhs: A Ethnology, reprinted by B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, India, 1985, pp. 132-133, first published in 1928.
  4. Page no.2-5 on Book. Kiran Kiran Ghaneemat.
  5. Introduction of Kunjah on the Starting Pages of Kiran Kiran Ghaneemat.

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