Punjab.

Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Punjab. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    annexation in 1849, upper portion of the Bari Doab became a separate District, with its head-quarters at Batala. In 1852 the head-quarters were removed to Gurdaspur, and in 1853 the District received an addition by the transfer from Sialkot of the Shakargarh tahsll. No outbreak took place during the Mutiny, in spite of the large number of Hindustanis then employed on the head-works of the canal; but the ford of Trimmu was the scene of the battle at which Nicholson, after his famous forced march from Amritsar, intercepted and destroyed the Sialkot mutineers. In 1853 the site for the new sanitarium of Dalhousie, together with the strip of hill road connecting it with the plains, was acquired by the British Government by purchase from the Chamba State. It was transferred from Kangra in i860, and in 1862 the further transfer of a strip of hill country between the Ravi and the Ghakki brought the District into its present shape. Recent authorities locate the Sangala of Alexander’s his- torians, the stronghold of the Kathaei, in Gurdaspur District, but the exact site has not been determined. If this theory « be correct, the twelve altars set up by Alexander to mark the extreme limit of his advance were probably erected in the Beas lowlands, somewhere near the meeting-point of the three Districts of Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, and Kangra. The anti- quities of Pathankot are dealt with in the article on that town. It is impossible to fix the date of the rock-temples at Mukheshwar (Mukesar) on the Ravi, which legend attributes to the Pandavas. The only inscription is undecipherable, but, judging from the character of the letters that have been made out, it dates approximately from the eleventh century. The soft sandstone of the sculptures has everywhere decayed. Among monuments of later date, the most interesting is the masonry platform at Kalanaur, which marks the scene of Akbar’s coronation in 1556. For particulars as to other remains of interest, see the article on Batala Town. Gurdaspur contains ii towns and 2,244 villages. Its popu- lation at the last three enumerations was: (1881) 823,695, (1891) 943,922, and (1901) 940,334. During the last decade it decreased by 0-4 per cent., the fall being largely accounted for by emigration, about 44,000 settlers having gone from this District to the Chenab Colony. The District is divided into the four tahsils of Gurdaspur, Batala, Shakargarh, and Pathankot, the head-quarters of each being at the place from which it is named. The chief towns are the municipalities of Gurdaspur, the administrative head-quarters of the District, Archaeo- logy. The people.
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