The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s3.t5: Nûrpûr, or Pathániya.
The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s3.t5
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Nûrpûr, or Pathániya.
c5.s3.t5.1
The town of Nûrpûr derives its name from the celebrated Nûr Jahân, the wife of the emperor Jahânjîr. Its original name was *Dahmari*, or *Dahmála*; or as Abul Fazl writes, *Dahmahri*, although he mentions no fort. The people pronounce the name as if written *Dahmeri*. In the ‘Târikh-i-Alfi’ it is called *Damál*, an dis described as “situated on the summit of a high hill, on the borders of Hindustan.” The fort was taken after a long siege by Ibrahim Ghaznavi. The name of the district is *Patháwat*, and the old capital in the plains was called *Pathián*, or *Pathiánkot*, which is now slightly altered to *Pathánkot*. But the name is derived from the Pathân tribe of Hindu Rajpûts, and not from the well-known Muhammadan Pathâns, or Afghâns. The Raja was imprisoned in 1815 by Ranjit Singh, who took possession of his country.
c5.s3.t5.2
The petty chief of Kotila, to the east of Nûrpûr, who was a scion of the Pathâniya family, was seized about the same time, and his estate incorporated with the Sikh dominions.
c5.s3.t5.3
Kotlehar is a petty state in the Jaswâl Dûn, to the south-east of Jwâla-Mukhi. It was generally a dependency of Kangra.