BHERA

Asalam o alaikum ! My name is H.A.Bugvi .

My native town is Bhera which is located in the province of Punjab ( Pakistan ) .

Location

Latitude 32.48 N , Longitude 72.92 E , Altitude 610 Feet , Time Zone UTC+5 , Population 33,600 ( 2001)

BHERA is located on the mid of LAHORE-ISLAMABAD Motorway ( M2 ) at the left bank of river Jehlum near Southern Salt Range in District Sargodha. Before independence 1947 , it was located in District Shahpur.

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Historical Background

In 326 BC Alexander the great , defeated Indian ruler Porus on the banks of river Jehlum . It was at this battle that Alexander's famous horse Bucephalus was killed .Battle field of that war was located somewhere between Jehlum (city ) and Bhera. Chinese Budhist traveller Fahien (or Fahsien ) travelled through India from 399 AD to 414 AD. He mentioned about Bhera in his book. He crossed the river Jehlum from Bhera which was great state at that time.
BHERA has earned a great status during the Mughal rule. Mughal emperor , Zaheer Uddin Babar mentioned about this town in his famous book ' Tuzke Babri '.The town has to face destruction when Sher Shah Suri ( 1540-1545) defeated Humayun and the pathan forces took their revenge by this Pro-Mughal town of BHERA. However , Suri ordered to rebuild the town as well as the onion-domed JAMIA MOSQUE which exists even today.Sher Shah Suri is the founder of the present town. Old town was located on the right bank of the river.

Shershah Suri Mosque Bhera

During the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar , BHERA regained its former glory and was one of the 40 cities of Mughal India having royal mint for minting gold and silver coins.Kings like Ghaznavi,Ghauri and Ahmad Shah Abdali also passed through Bhera while attcking the subcontinent .After the Sikh Raj ( 1790-1849) the British occupied Bhera till independence in 1947.

"Bhera " is a word of Sanskrit , which means a place where there is no fear.The town of BHERA used to have a boundary wall and eight gates . The gates were named after the big cities located in that directions like Kabul , Lahore, Multan , Kashmir and Chiniote etc . Bhera remained famous in handicrafts and cottage industry , daggers , sword , cutlery , walking sticks , wooden furniture , carved doors , cotton blankets , silk loin cloth, hand fans , earth pottery and edible delicacies. During English period , BHERA was so renowned for wood carving that carpenters from here were taken to England to carve some of the doors of Buckingham Palace. Only a few gates have been able to survive to date , but these are also in danger of becoming ruin if these are not properly looked after and preserved. Today , the unfortunate town represents a picture of crumbling jharokas and eroded walls and roofs of havelis. Unluckly there is no official or public awareness about the treasure of the past.

Save BHERA ! Save past !
In order to restore the original form and to revive the aesthetic historic importance of the old buildings, immediate and substantial steps are needed. A change in the attitude of the bureaucracy is essential. A detailed survey should be carried out by the department of archaelogy and a catalogue should be published. The local municipal authorities should be involved in the work and financed to create mass awareness and help the owners in preserving Bhera's grandeur.

Rs 450/- available from Majlis-e-Markazia Hizbul Ansar , Jamia Masjid Bhera distt. Sargodha , Pakistan