Remnants of Fort in Khanqah Dogran, which supposed to be Constructed from Bricks Taken from Ancient city of Asarur
References taken from the Archaeological Survey of India
08-03-2018
Hussain Dogar was my host in Khanqah Dogran. We both were in
search of an old mosque of 17th Century. The only source of information about that
mosque was a picture that earlier, I have seen on flicker. We walked for hours in streets of Khanqah
Dogran but could not able to find that mosque, may be that mosque location was
wrongly marked.
We abandoned our exploring journey after reaching at Tomb of “Haji
Dewan Namet Ullah Suharwardi”. It is said that, Khanqah
Dogran was populated some five hundred years agok, when “Haji Dewan
Namet Ullah Suharwardi” settled in this area.
Before him it was found in books by name of “Cha Masroor” and “Khitah
Dogran”. Neighboring to the tomb of
Dewan Sahib there are remnants of an old fort. Locals only know that some Hindu
family was living here before Indo-Pak partition. Well that fort has something
which has history more than two thousand years old. In
order to understand it we have to go some fourteen hundred years back, Villages
in the Khangah Dogran tahsil of Sheikhupura District, Punjab, situated in 31
47' N. and 73 42' E. It is identified by Cunningham with the ancient city of
Tse-kie or Taki, which was visited by Hiuen Tsiang in a. d. 630. The city was
then one of great importance, and is said by the Chinese pilgrim to have been 3
miles in circuit, a measurement which agrees well enough with that of the ruins
still existing. The antiquity claimed for the place is confirmed by the large
size of the bricks, 18 by 10 by 3 inches, which are found all over the ruins,
and by the great numbers of Indo-Scythian coins that are discovered after heavy
rain. Its history therefore certainly reaches back to the beginning of the
Christian era. The ruins consist of an extensive mound, 15,600 feet, or nearly
3 miles, in circuit. The highest point is in the north-west quarter, where the
mound rises to 59 feet above the fields. This part, which Cunningham takes to
have been the ancient palace, is 600 feet long and 400 feet broad, and quite
regular in shape. It contains an old well, 21 feet in diameter, which has not
been used for many years and is now dry. The place is com- pletely surrounded
by a line of large mounds about 25 feet in height, and 8,100 feet, or \\ miles,
in circuit, which was evidently the strong- hold or citadel of the place. The
mounds are round and prominent, like the ruins of large towers or bastions. On
the east and south sides of the citadel the mass of ruins sinks to 10 and 15
feet in height, but it is twice the size of the citadel, and is no doubt the
remains of the old city. There are no visible traces of any ancient buildings,
as all the surface bricks have been long ago carried off to the neighbouring
shrine of Ugah Shah at Khangah Masrur on the road from Lahore to Pindi
Bhattian ; but among the old bricks forming the surrounding wall of the
mosque, Cunningham found three moulded in different patterns, which could only
have belonged to buildings of some importance.
He found also a wedge-shaped brick,
15 inches long and 3 inches thick, with a breadth of ro inches at the narrow
end and nearly 10^ inches at the broad end. This must have been made for a
stupa, or for a well, but most probably for the latter, as the existing well is
2 1 feet in diameter. The modern village of Asarur contains only forty-five
houses. At the time of Hiuen Tsiang's visit there were ten monasteries, but
very few Buddhists, and the mass of the people worshipped the Brah- manical
gods. North-east of the town, at 10 //, or nearly 2 miles, was a stTlpa of
Asoka, 200 feet in height, which marked the spot where Buddha had halted, and
which was said to contain a large number of his relics. This stupa General
Cunningham identifies with the little mound of Salar, near Thatta Saiyidan,
just 2 miles to the north of Asarur.
Now come to the fort which I have
found in Khanqah Dogran that looks to be constructed of surface bricks taken
from the ancient town of Asarur.
Asarur, The Buddhist town which
exists on land of Khanqah Dogran some fifteen hundred to two thousand years back.
