Reference Archeological Survey of
India (Volulme V) 04-11-2017
Tulamba is more than 2500 years old. People say that
Tulamba was here even in the era of Noah. Tulamba faced many armies as it was
in the way to famous Multan. The forces coming from North and West had to pass
from Tulamba to go to Multan.On digging, five eras are discovered. The first era belongs to Moi tribe. The remaining four belong to Greek, Sasani, Budh, Hinduand Muslim civilizations. From Aplodots Sir Megas to Muhammad Ghauri, the coins of several governments were found here.
When Alexander the great invaded Indian Sub-Continent, he also came to Tulamba.
In that time, Tulamba was ruled by Moi people. They were very brave and
courageous, that's why Alexandar faced big difficulties here.The history of
Muslims begins with Muhammad bin Qasim when he came to Tulamba in his way to
Multan. The place from where he passed is now called Qasim Bazar.
Sher Shah Suri built a Fort right in the center of the city, whose boundary
wall and some parts of the building are still present. The Girls High School
and the offices of Town Committee are present in the Fort.
The ruins of older city are on a distance of one kilometre from the city.
Though they are in a miserable condition due to rains and negligence, but their
bricks are still visible. When Dr. Sayyed Zahid Ali Wasti visited Tulamba in
1967, he saw the ruins spread in the area of several miles. He saw a Fort with
walls and a very high Tower. He saw a three thousand years old trench around
the fort which was dig for the protection of the fort. He describes that walls
were beautifully plastered with mud and floors were not solid. Yet most of his
description is now unpredictable, because ruins are very much destroyed now.
The present town of Tulamba is said to have been built by
Shujawa khan, son-in-law and Minster of Mahmud Langa of Multan, between A.D,
1510 and 1525. The old fortress, which had escaped the army of Timur, was
situated upwards of one mile to the south of the modern town. It was upward of
1000 feet square, the outer rampart being about 200 feet thick and from 35 to
40 feet in height above the fields. Inside there is a clear space of 100 feet
in width and 15 feet above the country, surrounding an inner fort upward of 400
feet square and 60 feet in height the level of the faussebraie. The eastern
ramparts of the inner fort are still upwards of 50 feet in thickness. The whole
was originally faced with brick walks, the traces of which still exist in the
horizontal lines of the courses on the outer face of the ramparts, and in the
numerous pieces of brick lying about in all direction. This strong, old fort is
said to have been abandoned in consequence of a change in the course of the
Ravi, which took a more northerly course, and thus cut of the old ramparts were
then removed to build the wall of the new town, in which it is curious to see
numerous carved and moulded bricks placed in various odd positons, sometimes singly,
sometimes in lines of five or six and frequently upside down. The true name of
the place is said to have been Kulamba, or Kulambha; but no meaning is assingmed
to the name, and no reason is given for the change to Tulamba. Masson writes
the name as Tulumba; but al the Muhammadan authors, from Sharf-ud-din downwards
spell the name Tulamba, just as it is pronuced at the present day. The earliest
notince of Tulamba that I am aware of is in Sharf-ud-din’s History of Timur,
The town capitulated on terms which, as usual, were broken by Timur and his
troops. “During the night the soldiers under pretence of making a search (for
grain), marched towards the town, which they sacked and pillaged, burning all
the houses , and even making the inhabitants slaves.”But the fort escaped. As its
siege would have delayed Timur for some time, and he was imptietn to push on to
Delhi.
In A.D. 1480, just one generation later, the unfortunate
town of Tulamba again captitulated to a
Muhammadan invader , Amire Shekh Ali, Governor of Kabul, under Shah Rokh. Again
the invader broke his pledge, and after plundering the town and killing all the
males able to bear arms, he burned the place and carried of the women and
children as slaves.
Tulambah is a historical place in Khanewal district.
According to the district gazetteer of Multan, the present town appears to have
been preceded by at least two previous sites, one of which was at the huge
mound known as Mamu Sher, a mile or so to the southwest of the present town,
and the other among the ruin which extends immediately to the west. According
to some oral traditions, this was the place where Alexander had to face stiff
resistance from the local people, and it was here that an arrow hit him which
ultimately became the cause of his death on his way back to Athens.
The location on the east bank of the Ravi and the presence of
ruins of a fort are a proof of the tradition. This place emerges in history
many times. Many centuries later, it gave stiff resistance to Amir Temur while
on his way to Delhi. According to his memoirs, he had halted here but was not
welcomed by the local people for which they had to suffer at the hands of his
commanders, Amir Shah Malik and Shaikh Mohammad who had slaughtered two
thousand men who had taken refuge in the neighbouring jungles. Temur writes:
"Amir and Shaikh slaughtered two thousands of these ill-fated Indians with
their remorseless sabres, carrying off captives of their women and
children." The city till 1947 was a stronghold of Brahmins who had
resisted the invasion of Mahmood Ghaznavi. He plundered the city. For the
fourth time, it was looted by Ahmad Shah Abdali in one of his incursions.
The city with such a glorious tradition of resistance against
foreign invaders had produced a historian like Satya M. Roy who had to migrate
to the Indian Punjab in 1947. She wrote a book on The Revolutionary Movements
of the Punjab (1906-1946) which has been translated into Urdu by journalist
Mahmood Zaman under the title, Punjab ki Inqalabi Tehreekein (published by
Jamhoori Publications, Nila Gumbad, Lahore).
Migrated Tribes from India, after partition of Sub
continent, people from India came to Tulamba, Shorkot, Makhdoom Pur, Kassowal,
almost all parts of Southern Punjab. These people who came from India mostly
are muslims and agricultural professionals, their languages are rohtiki or
heryanvi.There is family like khan,s they speek pure urdu and punjabi as wel
They are Rajpoots and have any subcasts according to clan and tribes system in
the subcontinent; Tiagi, Sarohi, Chohan, Rajpoot, Mdahr, Toor etc. Also people
from other casts; Dogar, Mio Pathan(Khan,s) Blouch and clans migrated to
Tulamba
