Sialkot- The Ancient Capital Of Hunas

Dr.Sushil Bhati

Sialkot is located in the northeast of the Punjab province in Pakistan at the foot of Kashmir hills near the Chenab River. The city is about 125 km north of  Lahore.  Sialkot is bounded by Gujjar populated areas, on the north by Jammu, north-west by Gujrat, on the west by  Gujranwala, and on the south by Narowal.  Siyalkot itself has 25% Gujjar population.

According to Punjabi folklore, the early history of Sialkot is closely interwoven with the traditions of King Sháliváhan and his son  Risálu. Shalivahan is sometimes credited for starting the Saka Era in 78 A D. and that’s why Saka Era is also called as Shalivahan Saka Era. It is a well-known historical fact that King Shalivahan and Rasalu belonged to the Bhati clan. Present days Bhati is a celebrated clan among Gujjaras, Jats, and Rajputs. During the thirteenth century in the reign of Prithviraj Chauhan Bhati Gujjaras had a fiefdom 0f 360 villages, administered from Kasnaa, in southwest of Delhi. Later in the eighteenth Century Rao Ajit Singh Bhati also got mukkarardari of 138 villages from Mughals in the same area which was administered from Dadri.

Shalivahan re-established Sialkot city and ruled over the area between the rivers Ravi and Chenab. Shalivahan supposedly used more than 10,000 laborers and masons for the repair and extension of the Fort with stone slabs and rocks which were brought to the location from Pathankot.

The Huna ruler Tormana established his rule over north-western Hindustan, and was succeeded by his son Mihirkula (502-542 A D) in the early sixth century whose capital was Sakala or modern-day Sialkot in Pakistan's Punjab According to Hieung Tsang’s Si –Yu - Ki written in seventh-century Mihirkul Huna ruled over the whole Hindustan from Sakala or Siyalkot and received tributes from Gupta kings of Magadha. According to Kalhana’s Rajtarangini written in the thirteenth century, Mihikula Huna even attacked and defeated the Sri Lankan king. Mihirkula built many forts including that of Gwalior and Chittor.

Mehrauli, one of the seven ancient cities that make up the present state of Delhi, was earlier known as Mihirawali means abode of Mihiras or row of houses of Mihiras. It was probably founded by Huna Emperor Mihirkula as Mihira is another name for the Huna tribe. Mehrauli area is still inhabited by four villages of the Bidhuri clan of Gujjaras which do not intermarry with the Huna clan as they consider themselves as one and the same. Mehrauli area also has twelve villages of Tomara/ Tanwar Gujjaras which also have Huna origin as per the testimony of Pehowa inscription and are considered to be the descendent Of Javula Tormana, the celebrated Huna Chief and father of Emperor Mihirkula.  The family Bhats of the Khari clan of Gujjaras also claims that this clan has migrated to Delhi from Sialkot.Tomara/Tanwar Chief Anangpal I Constructed the Lalkot fort at Mehrauli and later Anangpal  II Shifted his Capital from Kannauj to Lalkot.

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Mihira is not just another name for Hunas and their emperor, it was also the name of the most famous Gujjar emperor Bhoja/Mihir Bhoj (836-885 A D) of Kannauj. Mihira is still a title of honor amongst Ajmer Gujjaras. According to E. Rtveladze, Huna's own name was Alkhon. Humbach (1996, 210) proposes that the reading of this name should be “Alkhan”. which is the same as the name of Alkhan Gujar (900 A D), the King of Punjab Gurjat which find mentioned in Kalhan' Rajtarangini. 

Many renowned historians like A M T Jackson, Buhler, Hornle, V A Smith, and William crook Consider the Gujjar to be of Huna stock. Huna is an important Clan of Gujjaras. Mansukh Gujjar the friend of Puranic raja Nal was Huna Gujjar. There are at least twelve villages of Huna Gujjaras in Meerut. Former parliamentarian from Meerut Chaudhary Harishpal is a Huna Gujjara. There are four Huna Gujjara Villages near Laksar, Haridwar, Uttrakhand, and around seven villages in the Alwar District of Rajasthan. Huna Gujjaras are most numerous in the Bundi and Kota areas of Rajasthan Which was once known as Huna Pradesh. The Bidhuri clan of Gujjaras, which have sizeable numbers in Delhi and Rajasthan, and the Marid clans do not intermarry with the Huna clan because they consider themselves one and the same. Many other Gujjar Clans –Tomara (descendants of  Javula Tormana Huna), Paramara/Panwar, Lohmor, and Solanki are of  Huna origin.

The Sialkot area remained a Gujjar stronghold even in the sixteenth century as in,' Babur Nama, Babur records: ‘If one goes into Hindustan, the Jats, and Gujars always pour down in countless hordes from the hill and plain for loot in bullock and buffalo. These ill-omened peoples are senseless oppressors! Previously, their deeds did not concern us because the territory was an enemy. But they did the same senseless deeds after we had captured it. When we reached Sialkot, they swooped on the folk who were coming out of the town to our camp and stripped them bare. I had the witless brigands apprehended and ordered a few of them to be cut to pieces.

References 

1.SIALKOT,WIKIPEDIA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sialkot

2. MIHIRAKULA, WIKIPEDIA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihirakula

3.MEHRAULI, WIKIPEDIA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehrauli

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16. AYDOGDY KURBANOV, THEHEPHTHALITES: ARCHAEOLOGICALAND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS, http://www.diss.fuberlin.de/diss/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/FUDISS_derivate_000000007165/01_Text.pdf