According to the ancient
Jovhan language, the word Kharian means, "Great Teacher". Legends of
the ancient Kharian
race also seem to point to them as Great Teachers. They
are said to have traveled across much of the galaxy
spreading the vast knowledge their race had acquired
over many millennia. There is also much scientific evidence
to support these legends, which seem to show the ancient
Kharian
as a Great Society of Thinkers and Teachers.
This city, for political reasons, never developed any
industry rather its agriculture is dying down fast.
Kharian,
out of necessity, developed from a town to a city by
itself not owing its development to very influential
native people including an ex-president of Pakistan.
So far so, during this president's rule these influential
people ignored the ruined state of very busy Guliana
Road for several years. It is worth mentioning that
at the time shopkeepers satirically wrote President
Road (Saddar Road) on their shop signs against the address.
These factors and practice of nepotism resulted in outsiders
being major players in Kharian's
politics.
History of Kharian
is spread over centuries. Between River Jehlum and River
Chenab, situated on Chuj Doaba, concealing century old
historical mysteries, it is still vibrant. Although
time after time, people of Kharian
have been coerced to migrate from it several times it
had been under destruction because of Wars, but again
and again it came to life after destruction. In 1568
“Khari” Gujar on behalf of Delhi,
came here to establish this forest in order to take
care of animals. This was the time when there was no
concept of law and order. Whoever made use of the land
by either cultivating it or living on it was considered
to be his. Therefore people of that time, to fulfill
their needs developed this breathtaking area.
In 1840 because of Bakrami famine, this
town was uninhabited and this small town was flung into
reticence. When King Alamgir attacked Kabul,
he built a rest house and declared it his destination
and so this lost town once again came to existence.
About 30/40 years ago, when Kharian
was just a small town, there were two classes of its
inhabitants; land owners who also practiced agriculture
(zamindars) and common people performing everyday professions
i.e. cobblers, hairdressers and carpenters locally called
kammees (derived from workers).
The Gujar clan named this place after their leader Sami
Khari as “Kharian”. Captain Elliot who was Deputy Commissioner of
Gujrat from 1899 to 1901 wrote a book Chronicles of
Gujrat in which he mentioned Kharian’s
water reservoirs and mentioned a story that in 1542,
when King Humayun after getting defeated by Sher
Shah was fleeing to Sindh and incidentally came across
Kharian
and stayed there. When people of Kharian
got to know that Humayun was a King, a farmer
named Garnami who was also known as Baba Gehra along with his friends gave pomegranates and butter
as a gift to him and said, “Your highness, I saw a dream
that your house has been illuminated by a lamp, and
I have predicted that you will soon hear a good news”.
As soon as the farmer had departed, he got to know that
in Umerkot (Sindh), his wife has borne him a son. Humayun
was very happy. So he called for the farmer and told
him that he will be bestowed with anything he wants.
The farmer told the King about the deficiency of water
and to do something about it. King granted him a parchment
with his signatures on it that when he has the rein
back in his hands, he will bore a well in Kharian.
Later Humayun once again came to power but unfortunately
he died after six months and Akbar was his successor.
This was the same son whose birth was predicted by the
farmer. As time lapsed, this small town witnessed progression
and deterioration. Due to scarcity of water and poverty,
continuous anarchy prevailed. It is said that scarcity
of water was the primary reason for the last bloodshed
known.
While traveling towards Kabul in 1594, Akbar
the Great came across this very farmer who showed him
the parchment that was gifted to him by Humayun.
As soon as he perused the parchment, Akbar ordered the
building of two water reservoirs instead of one. One
small and the other one was big. The larger reservoir
had hard water whereas the smaller one had sweet water.
The larger reservoir was built with compact and concrete
bricks. This was located in the western side of Kharian.
Its condition started deteriorating during the reign
of the Sikhs. Its renovation was undertaken by one of
Gujrat’s reputable rulers Lehna Singh but unfortunately
its deterioration could not be stopped and it finally
collapsed (except for the round well which was filled
clay) in the middle of the current century. Finally
in the last decade of this century, the reservoir was
completely destroyed. Today there is no sign of it and
instead the famous “Alamgiri Mosque” was built
in its place. After the flattening of the round well
the administration provided space for the dwellers of
the surrounding. This settlement was situated at a certain
height (known as “tabba”) on the railway line. On that
spot, a settlement has been named after Baba Latif
Shah Ghazi today.
During the construction of water wells in 1013 hijri,
the people of Kharian shifted near those reservoirs from ‘Tabba’. Old coins
and crockery are found even today while fields are ploughed
in Tabba which are preserved as ornaments in our homes
today. Beautiful rocks were used for the construction
of the smaller reservoir which is also known as the
eastern reservoir. The preservation of this reservoir
was also undertaken by the ministry of culture and heritage.
Unfortunately though, the ministry failed to live up
to its commitment despite the fact that their board
was engraved upon this reservoir to date. However the
condition of this reservoir is still good and its edifice
still stands today but the ministry seems adamant in
its destruction by not paying heed to its renovation.
The dates of the construction of this reservoir were
engraved upon stone which was later kept in the museum.
During 1960's the zamindars started immigrating to Europe
in search of better living standards followed by kammees
in 1970's, majority of who embarked to Europe and Arab
countries. This resulted in narrowing a big economic
gulf between these two classes and in abandoning kammees'
professions thus leaving a skills vacuum. People from
villages around Kharian
at some extent, for a short term, filled this vacuum
but the news of the available opportunities (also demand
for goods and services of large army population in cantonment)
spread far away areas of Pakistan and people
not only started settling in Kharian
but also brought their relatives and friends. Now a
days its diverse population routes back to as far as
northern areas of Pakistan who are active citizens
of Kharian.
The current population of the city reflects this strongly
and its majority runs their own businesses or works
for these.
Obviously increase in population resulted in increasing
the area of the city. At one time there were small numbers
of community areas called mohallas, which included Mohallah
Banni, Mohallah GT Road, Main Bazaar,
Mohallah Thhathhee, Mohallah Sattar Pura,
Mohallah Nia Aara, Mohallah Parbat, Guliana
Road and Butcher Khana. Nowadays surrounding
small villages like Thhupala, Biddar,
Pindi Haqeeqa and Dillo are part of Kharian. |
