Bhera

Decline of Bhera Sargodha is like decline of Pakistan itself

Bhera is the once prosperous, and now defunct city, on the Eastern bank of Jhelum River. The city was the first line of defense against invaders from the West.

Meaning of Bhera

The meaning of “Bhera”, a city in Sargodha Pakistan, Be-hara or ‘fearless place’ in Sanskrit.

They had to give Bhera city, a jingoistic name to let the inhabitants feel safe, considering it was raised to the ground several times over, by raiders from the West.

Bhera could also mean ‘Be-raha’ or ‘off route’ considering Sher Shah Suri (1538-45) sounded a death knell to this trading outpost, when he built new Grand Trunk Road, up North.

 District

Bhera was once part of the Shahpur district but now is included in the Sargodha district.

Location and Map

While Bhera Shahpur missed the GT road, Pakistan missed the Knowledge road…

This is the Googlemap of how to reach Bhera city from Lahore

bhera
Railway Station

History 

First significant mention of Bhera Shahpur is by the Chinese Buddhist traveler FaXian in 400 AD

Bhera Shahpur was originally Chobnathnagar in the 7th century and was located on the Western bank of River Jhelum where the river flattens out. It’s was always a bad idea to locate your trading post beyond your natural line of defense – that’s exactly what happened.

First the city was affected by the loss of Porus to Alexander’s army (326 BC) somewhere close by at Mong, a few kilometers from Bhera city. To get more information on that prequel, read Nandna Fort History please.

History after 1000 AD

Then Mahmoud of Ghazni sacked the city again in 1006 AD, plundered the wealth and carried off with the women.

Sikh Gurdwara of Bhera Shahpur, Pakistan
Sikh Gurdwara of Bhera Shahpur, Pakistan

Two Centuries later it was smashed by an unnamed General of Chingez Khan. I wonder what the barbarian Mongol was doing here riding all the way from the highlands of Mongolia to the heart of Shahpur District.

History after 1500AD

Following him, in 1519, Babur fresh from the slaughter of Bajaur, laid siege to Bhera and walked off with a huge payoff. Check out the way Mughal Babur casually talks of his slaughters:-

Bhera

 In 1540, it finally struck Sher Shah Suri to relocate old Bhera inside the defensive perimeter, on the Eastern Bank of Jhelum River. There he built his mosque and motels for travelers.

bhera

In 1566 Mirza Muhammad Hakim ransacked the city just to spite his elder brother Akbar.

Ahmad Shah Durrani destroyed it again in 1757.

After Mughal, came the Sikh and peace returned to the city. The English took over from the Sikh, but by then the city was already dwindling.

What is it Famous for?

Bhera is famous for its Hindu Temples, Gurdwaras, Mansions, distinguished families and its history right at the Bank of Jhelum River Crossing.

Distinguished families of the City

Bhera, since the Sikh Rule in the 1700s, has been home to enterprising, education-loving, money-hoarding families like

  • The Sahni
  • Sethi
  • Kohli
  • Suri
  • Piracha and
  • Sheikh.

Some even claim to be direct descendants of Porus’s mohyal Rajput.

Even Nehru once had a Jalsa to assure the local non-muslim population.

 Distance

From Islamabad

When I finally visited the place, 2.5 hours from Islamabad on the Bhera Interchange, I found my hunch to be true.

From Lahore

Furthermore, Bhera to Lahore distance is just 210 kilometers and 2 hours

bhera

Culture

The people of Bhera pursued education and that was its culture.

“When there were a total of 8 high schools in all of Punjab, Bhera had two” said a local prominent person.

An octogenarian told me that when she would visit the homes of her Hindu friends, their houses would be lined till the roof with books. And boy did they love their gold and riches. She mentioned that to hide their surplus gold, the Hindus of Bhera would have their precious metals strung into long wires, coated with tar, and nailed to the roof.

The non-Muslims of Bhera were mostly into trade involving salt, wood, embroidery, carvings and cutlery. Bhervi people have their own ludi and  dhol dance. The water channels of Jhelum River were widely used.

bhera

In fact the Khukrain Clan had nine sub clans Sahni, Sethi, Anand, Suri, Kohli, Bhasin, Chadda, Sabharwal, Chandok; most of them concentrated here.

The Bhera people never married out of the clan while they were in their ancestral homes, but after they all left peacefully in 1947, they all scattered around India and the world at large. Infact, there still is a Bhera enclave in Dehli India.

Bhera

Prominent personalities of this city

  1. Bollywood Actress Juhi Chawla is the daughter of the sister-in-law of prominent Pakistani Hindu of Bhera, Jagdish Chand Anand of the Eveready pictures fame.
  2. Then Bisham Sahni award winning literary figure of India wrote a novel based on Bhera ‘Mayyada Ki Marhi’. Several prominent Indian businessmen, celebrities and politicians were from Bhera.
  3.  One Indian minister visited his home a few decades back.

Quite a few Goras also venture to these parts to strike gold from Hindu Havelis.

Some very influential Ahmedi religious personalities are from Bhera.

bhera

Non-Muslims of this city

Most of the non-Muslim families of Bhera have already left Pakistan.

In the 1940s Bhera had 1% Sikh, 22 % Hindu, and the rest Muslims. Even the Muslims, had sympathetic Muslims like the Sethi, Sheikhs, and Piracha — because they were converts.

There was no blood shed in Bhera in 1947 as the local Muslim merchant class, especially the Sheikhs gave protection to the resident Hindus before they left for India.

Bhera

Without doubt I could feel the vibes of a once civilized, cultured, educated and thriving city when I got there. None of the inhabitants had a Punjabi accent and were very proud of their heritage.

Hindu Temples and Gurdwaras 

The once magnificent haveli, Gurdwara and temples inside winding gullies are now a crumbling mess. The paved streets and clean drains are full of filth. That’s not how a city should degenerate – this is not how a country should degenerate.

bhera

7 gates of the city

I also felt that this microcosm of culture within the 7 gates of the old city walls, never recovered from the loss of its brilliant natives.

We went into the Bhera walled city ( walled city of Lahore and Androon Rawalpindi is also a must visit) through the Lahori Gate, then walked to the Gurdwara tower and panned a video of Bhera from the rickety belfry. 

We then walked to the Hindu temple near the muhajir masjid and hopped on to a rickshaw towards Sheikh, Sahni and Piracha mohallas. The same rickshaw drove us around the outer walls to see the renovated Kashmiri, Multani, Chinioti, Kabuli and the dilapidated Lohari gate.

Bhera

Why the decline of Bhera?

I mean, does it take 70 years to understand that union councils have to be given financial powers to handle issues of sanitation, policing, health, and education?

Maybe we need the sons of the soil to return and knock some sense into the heads of these brainless clowns that is our ruling elite.

 Railway Station Changeover 

On the outskirts of the city is the British Railways Changeover track. Bhera was at the end of the Northwestern Railways network. The same station where once a showy Hindu merchant rolled out a red carpet from the platform right up to his doorway, for his white guest ; the platform was abandoned and spooky.

We then had a tandoor wala lunch at Lahori Gate and then drove right up to the bank of the Jhelum River to see the ancient trade route.

 Weather

The weather at Bhera city is hot in summer, typically like any other city in Punjab. The temperature readily crosses 40 degrees Celsius in May- August and doesn’t go below 15 Deg C in December- January.

Bhera Interchange and Rest Area

Because of the relatively recent Bhera Interchange and service area of Motorway, the city has gained in importance once again. You can get your food from there.

Urs near Darul Uloom Hamadia

Bhera Sharif, an annual Urs that takes place at Bhera also attracts outsiders.

Chopra Baoli Hindu Temple

Right on the bank of River Jhelum wetlands, lies the Chopra baoli wala Hindu temple, still looking magnificent and grand, despite its wear and tear.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *