Sheikhupuraਸ਼ੇਖੂਪੁਰਾ

Where is Sheikhupura?

Sheikhupura stands about 38 km northwest of Lahore in Punjab, Pakistan, at about 31.71 degrees north and 73.99 degrees east. It is the headquarters of Sheikhupura district, in Lahore division, and it borders the districts of Sialkot, Gujranwala, Nankana Sahib and Kasur. The city lies in the Rachna Doab, the land between the Chenab and the Ravi. With 591,424 residents in the 2023 census, it is the 10th largest city of Punjab and the 15th of Pakistan.

History: Jahangir's city

Sheikhupura was founded by the Mughal emperor Jahangir in 1607 as a citadel west of Lahore, near his hunting grounds. The city's first name is recorded in the emperor's autobiography, the Tuzk-e-Jahangiri, where he calls it Jehangirpura. Its present name comes from Jahangir's childhood nickname, Shekhu, given to him by his mother, the wife of Akbar. The area was earlier known as Virkgarh, after the Virk Jats who were the main rural tribe here, and it was briefly called Singhpuria under Sikh rule.

Jahangir laid the foundations of the city near the older town of Jandiala Sher Khan, an important provincial town of the early and middle Mughal era. Under British rule, the large area between the Chenab and the Ravi was first consolidated into a single district with Sheikhupura as its headquarters until 1851, and the area attained district status in 1919.

Partition brought tragedy. On the eve of 1947, Sikhs made up 19% of the district's population, and after the Radcliffe Line was announced, the Sacha Sauda refugee camp in the city hosted upwards of 100,000 Sikh refugees fleeing nearby Gujranwala and surrounding areas. Fierce communal violence followed in August 1947.

Hiran Minar: the deer tower

Hiran Minar, the Deer Tower, is Sheikhupura's most well-known site. Jahangir erected it between 1607 and 1620 as a monument to his beloved pet deer, Mansiraj, at a time when the area served as a royal hunting ground. The complex stands beside a large tank, with a baradari pavilion in the middle of the water reached by a causeway, and the tower itself rises over the grave of the deer. It is one of the most photographed Mughal monuments in Punjab.

Sheikhupura Fort

Jahangir laid the foundation of Sheikhupura Fort in 1607, and it stands in the centre of the city. Under the Sikhs the fort passed into royal hands: it is where Mai Nakkai, Ranjit Singh's queen and the mother of crown prince Kharak Singh, breathed her last. After the British annexed Punjab in 1849, Rani Jindan, the queen dowager of Ranjit Singh, was exiled and held under house arrest in the fort. The fort's layered history mirrors the city's own.

Around the district

The district around Sheikhupura is dotted with monuments of every era. Gurdwara Sacha Sauda stands at Farooqabad, a town in the district earlier called Chuharkana. Its name comes from the story of Guru Nanak: sent by his father with money to trade for profit, he spent it feeding hungry holy men instead, and explained that feeding the hungry was the most profitable transaction of all, the true bargain. Ranjit Singh built the gurdwara on the spot where the holy men were fed.

Not far from Hiran Minar, at Jandiala Sher Khan, lies the tomb of Waris Shah, the poet of the people who immortalised the love story of Heer and Ranjha. On moonlit nights, hundreds still gather there to sing the ballad of love that lives on. The district is also the centre of Punjab's basmati rice belt, famous for its delicate, fragrant long rice.

Notable people

Waris Shah, the Punjabi Sufi poet who wrote Heer, is buried in the district at Jandiala Sher Khan. Nawab Kapur Singh, a key figure of the Sikh Confederacy and founder of the Singhpuria Misl, is linked to the city's Sikh-era history. In modern times, the fast bowler Aaqib Javed and the cricketer Rana Naved-ul-Hasan both come from Sheikhupura.

Getting there and Sheikhupura today

Sheikhupura is a satellite town of Lahore, about 38 km to the northwest, and is easily reached by road from the provincial capital. The historic route from Sheikhupura to Shahdara was the first stage of the old imperial road to Kabul and Kashmir used by Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan.

Sheikhupura is an industrial centre and satellite town, with new industrial areas such as the Quaid-e-Azam Business Park and Rachna Industrial Park under development. Punjabi is spoken by 88% of the city and Urdu by 10.7%, according to the 2023 census. Its rice mandi, its Mughal monuments and its Sufi and Sikh shrines keep it a city where Punjab's layered history stays visible.