Gujrat District

Gujrat (Punjabi, ) is a district in the Pakistani province of Punjab. It is geogrphically located between the Chenab and Jhelum rivers and headquartered at the city of Gujrat. It is bounded on the northeast by Mirpur, on the northwest by the River Jhelum, which separates it from Jhelum District, on the east and southeast by the Chenab River, separating it from the districts of Gujranwala and Sialkot, and on the west by Mandi Bahauddin. Gujrat is spread over an area of 3,192 square kilometres. According to the British Imperial Gazetteer: Gujrat town itself is a place of some antiquity, and the district bounds in ancient sites.The region was conquered by Chandragupta Maurya. It remained under the Mauryas for a few hundred years until shortly after the death of Ashoka in 231, and about forty years later came under the sway of Demetrius the Graeco-Bactrian. The overthrow of the Bactrians by the Parthians in the latter half of the second century brought another change of rulers, and the coins of the Indo-Parthian Maues (c. 120 B. c.), who is known to local tradition as Raja Moga, have been found at Mong. At the end of the first century A. D., i.e. the whole of the Punjab was conquered by the Yueh-chi. For several hundred years nothing is known of the history of the District, except that between 455 and 540 it must have been exposed to the ravages of the White Huns. Dr. Stein holds that the District formed part of the kingdom of Gurjara(Gurjar), which, according to the Rajatarangini, was invaded between 883 and 902 by Shankara Varman of Kashmir, who defeated its king Alakana. However the foundation of the capital, Gujrat, according to the Ancient Geography of India: is ascribed to a king named Bachan Pal of whom nothing more is known; and its restoration is attributed to Alakhana, the Maha Raja of Gurjara, who was defeated by Sangkara Varmma between AD 883 and AD 901. In 997 CE, Mahmud Ghaznavi, took rule over the Ghaznavid dynasty established by his father Sebuktegin.