Multanਮੁਲਤਾਨ

Multan is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the eastern bank of the Chenab River — Pakistan’s sixth-largest city and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Asia, with a history reaching deep into antiquity. To Punjabis it is the “City of Saints”: a city of blue-tiled Sufi shrines, mango orchards and blue-glazed pottery that was trading with Central Asia centuries before the Mughals arrived.

The City of Saints

Multan earned its famous name in the 11th and 12th centuries, when Sufi mystics gathered here in great numbers, and the city — with nearby Uch — is known for its large number of Sufi shrines from that era. The tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam (1251–1335) stands inside Multan Fort: considered the earliest monument of the Tughluq era, its great white dome and blue kashi tile-work make it the city’s defining landmark. Nearby lies the shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya (1170–1267); the rectangular tomb of Shah Gardez, from the 1150s, is covered in the blue enamelled tiles typical of Multan, and the shrines of Shah Shams Tabrizi and Shah Yousaf Gardezi (d. 1136) still draw pilgrims.

One of Asia’s oldest cities

The region around Multan has archaeological sites from the early Harappan period, around 3000–2800 BCE. The ancient town was besieged by Alexander the Great during the Mallian campaign in 326 BCE — Alexander was badly wounded by an arrow during the siege of its citadel. In 712 CE the city was captured by Muhammad bin Qasim after a two-month siege, and in the 9th century it became the capital of the Emirate of Multan. The origin of the city’s name is unclear: it may come from the Malli tribe, the ancient Multan Sun Temple, or the Old Persian word mulastāna, meaning ‘frontier land’.

A sultanate capital and a trading crossroads

Under the Langah rulers Multan became a sultanate capital in 1445, prospering under Shah Husayn, who ruled from 1469 to 1498. After Akbar’s reforms of 1580, Multan Subah became one of the largest provinces of the Mughal Empire, covering southern Punjab and northern Sindh — and under Mughal rule the city enjoyed two centuries of peace as Dar al-Aman, the ‘Abode of Peace’. Long before that, Multan was a trans-regional mercantile centre of the Islamic world: a 15th-century Multani caravanserai in Baku, Azerbaijan, housed its visiting merchants, and Multani merchants owned land in Bukhara in the 1550s.

The Sikh era and 1848

The founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak, is said to have visited Multan during one of his journeys. In 1818 Ranjit Singh’s armies laid siege to the city; the Multan Fort fell on 2 March 1818 after Nawab Muzaffar Khan and seven of his sons were killed, and the Sikh Empire ruled Multan until 1849. The Sikh governor Diwan Sawan Mal governed the city for a quarter century. His son Diwan Mulraj’s revolt of 1848 — which began when two British emissaries were murdered in Multan — triggered the Second Anglo-Sikh War. The British bombarded the city, destroying the fort, and captured it in January 1849.

Mangoes, blue pottery and cotton

The flat alluvial plain around the city is ringed with orchards and mango farms. Multan gave its name to a celebrated style of blue-glazed pottery and kashi tile-work: tile-making flourished here under the Mughals, and the technique still covers the city’s shrines. Under Mughal rule Multan was also an important centre of cotton textile manufacturing and currency minting.

Multan today

The 2023 census counted 2,215,381 people, making Multan Pakistan’s sixth-largest city. Saraiki is the mother tongue of 42.7 percent of residents, Urdu of 30.1 percent, and Punjabi of 25 percent. Bahauddin Zakariya University is the province’s second-largest university; the Multan Metrobus opened in January 2017, and Multan International Airport flies to the Gulf states. The city is home to the Multan Sultans of the Pakistan Super League, and the Multan region has produced international cricketers Inzamam-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis. Multan has a hot desert climate and is known for some of Pakistan’s hottest weather — the record high is 50.0°C, set in May 2010.

Why is Multan called the City of Saints?

Multan attracted a multitude of Sufi mystics in the 11th and 12th centuries, and the city — along with nearby Uch — is known for its large number of Sufi shrines from that era, including the tombs of Shah Rukn-e-Alam, Bahauddin Zakariya and Shah Shams Tabrizi.

What is Multan famous for?

Its Sufi shrines with blue kashi tile-work, its mango orchards, its blue-glazed Multani pottery — and a history stretching from Alexander the Great’s siege in 326 BCE to the 1848 revolt that ended the Sikh Empire.

Did Guru Nanak visit Multan?

The founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak, is said to have visited the city during one of his journeys.