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GUJRAT

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 713 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GUJRAT , a See also:

town and See also:district of See also:British See also:India, in the See also:Rawalpindi See also:division of the See also:Punjab, lying on the See also:south-western border of See also:Kashmir. The town stands about 5 M. from the right See also:bank of the See also:river See also:Chenab, 70 M. N. of See also:Lahore by See also:rail. Pop. (1901) 19,410. It is built upon an See also:ancient site, formerly occupied, according to tradition, by two successive cities, the second of which is supposed to have been destroyed in 1303, the See also:year of a Mongol invasion. More than 200 years later either Sher Shah or See also:Akbar founded the existing town. Though See also:standing in the midst of a Jat neighbourhood, the fort was first garrisoned by Gujars, and took the name of Gujrat. Akbar's fort, largely improved by Gujar Singh, stands in the centre of the town: The neighbouring See also:shrine of the See also:saint Shah Daula serves as a See also:kind of native See also:asylum for lunatics. The town has manufactures of See also:furniture, inlaid See also:work in See also:gold and See also:iron, See also:brass-See also:ware, boots, See also:cotton goods and shawls. The DISTRICT OT GUJRAT comprises a narrow See also:wedge of sub-Himalayan See also:plain See also:country, possessing few natural advantages. From the See also:basin of the Chenab on the south the See also:general level rises rapidly towards the interior, which, owing to the See also:great 'distance of the See also:water beneath the See also:surface, assumes a dreary and See also:desert aspect.

A range of See also:

low hills, known as the Pabbi, traverses the See also:northern See also:angle of Gujrat. They are composed of a friable See also:Tertiary See also:sandstone and See also:conglomerate, destitute of vegetation, and presenting a See also:mere barren See also:chaos of naked See also:rock, deeply scored with precipitous ravines. Immediately below the Pabbi stretches a high See also:plateau, terminating abruptly in a precipitous See also:bluff some 200 ft. in height. At the See also:foot of this plateau is a plain, which forms the actual valley of the Chenab and participates in the See also:irrigation from the river See also:bed. Numerous See also:relics of antiquity See also:stud the surface of the district. Mounds of ancient construction yield See also:early coins, and bricks are found whose See also:size and type prove them to belong to the pre-historic See also:period. A See also:mound now occupied by the See also:village of Moga or Mong has been identified as the site of See also:Nicaea, the See also:city built by See also:Alexander the Great on the See also:field of his victory over See also:Porus. The See also:Delhi See also:empire established its authority in this district under Bahlol See also:Lodi (1451-1489). A See also:century later it was visited by Akbar, who founded Gujrat as the seat of See also:government. During the decay of the See also:Mogul See also:power, the Ghakkars of Rawalpindi overran this portion of the Punjab and established themselves in Gujrat about 1741. Meanwhile the See also:Sikh power had been asserting itself in the eastern Punjab, and in 1765 the Ghakkar See also:chief was defeated by See also:Sirdar Gujar Singh, chief of the Bhangi confederacy. On his See also:death, his son succeeded him, but after a few months' warfare, in 1798, he submitted himself as See also:vassal to the Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

In 1846 Gujrat first came under the supervision of British officials. Two years later the district became the See also:

theatre for the important engagements which decided the event of the second Sikh See also:war. After several bloody battles in which the British were unsuccessful, the Sikh power was irretrievably broken at the engagement which took See also:place at Gujrat on the 22nd of See also:February 1849. The Punjab then passed by See also:annexation under British See also:rule. The district comprises an See also:area of 2051 sq. m. In Igor the See also:population was 750:548, showing a decrease of 1%, compared with an increase of 1o% in the previous See also:decade. The district has a large export See also:trade in See also:wheat and other grains, oil, See also:wool, cotton and hides. The See also:main See also:line and the See also:Sind-See also:Sagar See also:branch of the See also:North-Western railway See also:traverse it.

End of Article: GUJRAT

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