Sultanpur Lodhiਸੁਲਤਾਨਪੁਰ ਲੋਧੀ

History

Sultanpur Lodhi is among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Punjab. It was founded in 1103 AD by Sultan Khan Lodhi, a general in the army of Mahmud of Ghazni, and is named after him. The Ain-e-Akbari, the Mughal emperor Akbar's administrative record, mentions the town, confirming its standing as an important centre through the medieval period. Local tradition and archaeological finds suggest the site was settled far earlier — in the early centuries AD it was known as Sarwmanpur, a noted seat of Buddhist learning.

Through the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal centuries the town prospered on trade and administration. Its fortunes collapsed in the eighteenth century: Nader Shah sacked it in 1739 on his march to Delhi, and Ahmad Shah Abdali ravaged it again soon after. The city was rebuilt from ruins by Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, the Sikh misl chief, who took its historic shrines under his protection. It never fully regained its old glory, partly because the Amritsar–Jalandhar Grand Trunk Road bypassed it as the main route to Delhi. After independence it became a sub-division and tehsil of Kapurthala district.

Geography & people

Sultanpur Lodhi stands on the south bank of the Kali Bein, a seasonal rivulet that flows about ten kilometres north of the Beas–Sutlej confluence. The town lies roughly midway between Kapurthala and Jalandhar, connected by road and by a railway station on the Ferozepur division of Northern Railway.

The municipal council counted 16,877 residents in the 2011 census, with Hindus forming the largest community followed by Sikhs. Punjabi is the everyday language. Farming in the surrounding villages and the town's role as a tehsil administrative centre shape local life, while Sikh pilgrimage brings a steady stream of visitors through the year.

Places of interest

The town's identity is inseparable from Guru Nanak. Gurdwara Ber Sahib stands on the bank of the Kali Bein where the Guru bathed each morning; its name comes from the ber (jujube) tree under which he is said to have sat. Nearby Gurdwara Hatt Sahib marks the modi khana, the grain store where he worked as an accountant, and Gurdwara Sant Ghat marks the spot where he emerged from the rivulet after three days in 1499. Gurdwara Guru ka Bagh and Gurdwara Sehra Sahib complete the circuit of shrines linked to his fourteen-year stay.

The Kali Bein itself has been revived in recent decades as an environmental success story, cleaned through a community effort led by Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal. The town also carries the architecture of its Kapurthala-state past in old havelis and its municipal buildings.

Notable people

Guru Nanak is Sultanpur Lodhi's defining figure — he lived here from about 1487 to 1501, married Bibi Sulakhni, raised his sons Sri Chand and Lakhmi Das, and experienced the enlightenment that launched his mission. His companion Bhai Mardana was with him through these years.

In the princely era, Dewan Ramjas of Sultanpur Lodhi served Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala, and his family — including Dewan Jarmani Dass, who wrote the memoir 'Maharaja and Maharani' in 1970 — remained close to the Kapurthala court for generations.