Following the foot steps of Alexander Cunningham
Date of Visit: - March, 08, 2018
All Pictures are owned
Asarur near
Khangah Dogran (also known as Masrur), was the capital of a kingdom stretching
from the Indus to the Beas. Huen Tsang calls the town he visited as Tse-kia,
and describes it as the capital of a kingdom embracing the whole of the plains
of the Punjab from the Indus to the Beas, and from the foot of the mountains to
the junction of the five rivers below Multan. The site of this town, with a
near approach to certainty, is identified by Genral Cunningham with a mound in
this district near the modern village of Asarur. Popular tradition is si lent
as to the history of Asarur. The people merely state that it was originally
called Udamnagar or Uda Nagari and that it was deserted for many centuries
until Akbar's time when Ugah Shah a Dogar, built the mosque which still exists
on the top of the mound. In construction of this mosque bricks extracted from
the mound have been used. The mosque is in dilapidated state and roof beam has fallen at many places. Also, currently it is not used for offering prayers.
The antiquity
claimed for the place is further confirmed by the unusually large size of the
bricks 18" x 10" x 3", which are found all over the ruins, and
also by the Indo-Scythian coins which until the recent past used to be found in
great numbers after rains. Its history, therefore, certainly reaches back to
the first century before the Christian era.
