CHAMIARI

(PUCCA SHAHAR)

Puran Bhagat's step mother Luna 's city

Chamiari or what is popularly called Pucca Shahar lies between Ajnala and Fatehgarh Churhian in district Amritsar. The city is named after Luna Chamiari the step mother of Bhagat Puran son of Raja Salivahan of the ancient city Sakala which is presently known as Sialkot.

All of modern day Pakistan saw prolonged Greek influence beginning with Alexander in the 4th century BCE and ending (with a century-long Mauryan interlude) with the coming of the Sakas in 110 BCE. That was time enough for stories from one culture to take root in the other

At Sialkot on road to Chaprar village is the well of Puran Bhagat. Even today women come here to bathe in its blessed water as a cure for infertility. Religion is no bar and they come from across the spectrum of religions in Pakistan. Years ago, the elderly attendant had told me they came from ‘as far away as Karachi and Quetta’.

Puran was the first-born son of Raja Salvahan of Sialkot and his queen Ichhran. When Salvahan bade his son to go pay respect to his two mothers but Luna, seeing the strapping twelve year-old boy, was instantly besotted.

She took Puran by the hand and would have had him in her bed when he fled. That evening, as Raja Salvahan came to his bed-chamber, he found the corridors dark with nary a lamp lit and a dishevelled Luna sprawled out on her bed in a great show of distress. That stud of the prince that the king had sent to pay respects, she told Salvahan, had attempted to rape her. Truly ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’

Without even attempting to verify the facts, the gullible king ordered his son’s hands and feet amputated and his body dumped in a well outside the city walls. And so it came to pass. There in the well did Puran lie, not yet dead and hardly alive. For a full twelve years did he lie there until the great Guru Goraknath tarried by the well with his disciples. Now Guru Goraknath was the founder of the sect of Kunphatta jogis — jogis with pierced ears, whose monastery was located on the hill of Tilla Jogian near Jhelum.

Puran was discovered by one of the disciples and on the orders of the guru pulled out of the well. Hearing the hapless prince’s sorry tale, the guru was moved to run his healing hands over the mutilated body. Miraculously, Puran was restored to fullness again. The guru now ordered the prince to return to the palace of his father and tell him the real story of Luna’s calumny. But Puran refused. Instead, he joined the guru’s train, went to Tilla Jogian and eventually became a much accomplished jogi himself.

Thereafter he did return to Sialkot and ended up telling his father the truth. The repentant king wanted Puran to remain with him and take over the crown for in the interim years, neither of his wives had borne any more children. Puran refused, but he did tell his father that he was to have another son, from Luna this time, who would inherit the kingdom and make a name for himself. And not long afterwards Salvahan did indeed beget Rasalu, who straddles Punjabi myth and history as a great demon-slayer, hero and an able king.

Because the infertile Luna brought forth a son upon being blessed by Puran Bhagat, the well where he had spent twelve years struggling between life and death became sacred. Henceforth its waters were to cure infertility.

Now, we know that Raja Salvahan, a contemporary of the more famous Vikramaditya of Ujjain, ruled over Sialkot. The story of Puran Bhagat therefore goes as far back. There is, however, every possibility that the story was extant even before with characters of different names. The fact is that this story has been current for close on two thousand years and that it has a parallel in Greek mythology.

Hippolytus, the son of Theseus the King of Attica, was similarly libelled against by his step-mother Phaedra. There too the king did not deign to verify the facts and banished his son. But not satisfied by expulsion alone, Theseus evoked Poseidon to kill what he thought his errant son. As Hippolytus of the philosophic bent of the mind rode his chariot along the coast one day, Poseidon reared up from the sea in the form of a hideous sea monster. Hippolytus’ horses panicked, throwing off the prince and dashing his head against the boulders.

Whether of Hippolytus or of Puran, it is a poignant and extraordinary story, but what is remarkable is that the two parallels exist so many miles apart from each other. We know that all of modern day Punjab saw prolonged Greek influence beginning with Alexander in the 4th century BCE and ending (with a century-long Mauryan interlude) with the coming of the Sakas in 110 BCE. That was time enough for stories from one culture to take root in the other.

What cannot be determined now is whether the story came with Alexander’s army and was adopted by the Punjabis or it was already prevalent here and it so moved the foreigners that they took it home to make it part of their mythology.

What remains of an ancient building

New structures at an old place

Luna's well (Baoli)

There used to be a tank the sarovar linked with Luna

Demolished old structures

Steps of an old sarovar are clearly visible

This is marhi the tomb of a Sikh sardar

From: (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\10\19\story_19-10-2007_pg3_5)

So that Luna the mother of great king Raja Rasalu belonged to this city called Pucca Shahar or Chamiari.

The ancient antiquity of the village is confirmed by presence of a mound the Theh at village Urdan from where punch marked coins of Kushan period have been found. One such coin bears the image of emperor Kanishaka the great Kushan ruler.

It is believed that the city had originally a different name. May be the city was abandoned for some time and on its rehabilitation it came to be called Pucca Shahar the city of burnt bricks. May be Chamiari was the adjoining village which gave name to the otherwise called Pucca Shahar.

The legend is very strong in the area that Luna belonged to this city and since excavations confirm it to be an ancient populated area there is no point in rejection of the legend. It is however a historians job to locate this city from ancient history.

Since the yogis are famous for their miraculous deeds, it is more likely the story of Puran traveled to Greece and was adopted by the Greek as originally theirs.

We also learn that two generals in the Sikh army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh belonged to this city.

There are some people who contest the claim whether the well or the sarovar belonged to Luna. There is a simple reply to that even if a particular place is not direcly constructed by the Luna days but the continuity of legend is an enough proof that Luna belonged to this city but the artifects have been lost but the peoples memory survives telling her immortal link with the city. Obviously the people will link all old things with Luna.

Sialkot History

About 125 km from Lahore, in the north-east of Pakistan, is located the ancient city of Sialkot along the Indian border. It is not just an industrial fort, but its colorful culture is strongly interspersed with its vibrant past. The city dates back some 5000 years when it is believed to have been founded by Raja Sul. Much later, it was destined to become the capital of mighty dynasties like the Greeks and the Huns who conquered the sub-continent. The history of Sialkot is alive with recurring periods of prosperity and mayhem.

Sialkot city is believed to be founded in the ancient times by Raja Sul of the Pando Dynasty. The city was re-founded by Raja Salivahan in the reign of Vikrama Ditya, who built the fort and gave the city its present name. It has been recently suggested by researchers and archaeologists that Sialkot is the site of the ancient town of Sakala.

SAKALA

Sakala was the capital of Madras in the late Vedic period (c.1500 – c.200 B.C.). In those early days, Sakala was a wasteland, studded with thick forests and inhabited by a pastoral race called Yahars or Yirs. It was after the invasion of Alexander (326 B.C.) that people from other parts of India came and settled in, and around, Sialkot. Much later, The Huns ruled the city, and it also became the capital of Tormana in 5th century A.D.

THE RESTORATION PERIOD

During the Vikrama Ditya period (380-413 A.D) in the subcontinent, Shun and Dall were two of the most powerful tribes in Sialkot. However, the popular belief is that a powerful flood drowned the whole city, and it remained uninhabited for a very long time. The first accounts of restoration date from the time when Sialkot was formed a part of Kashmir under Raja Sam Dutt. During that time, Raja Salivahan (or Salwan) built the ancient fort and established Sialkot as the capital of his territory.

Raja Rasalu, son of Salwan, took great interest in restoring the old city. However, various events transpired in his time, like attacks from the neighboring Raja of Jehlum, which ruined the restored city. After Rasalu’s death in 400 A.D., the city fell into the hands of his elder step-brother Poran, and into degeneration! There are no significant accounts of Sialkot for the next 300 years in the history. In 790 A.D, one Raja Nairut, supported by the Yousafzai tribe attacked and demolished the city.

THE MUSLIM CONQUERORS

After a considerable long period, in which there is no mention of Sialkot except that it remained a part of Jammu under Raja Braham Deo’s rule, Shahab-ud-Din Ghauri invaded Punjab in 1811. He was unable to conquer Lahore but left a garrison in Sialkot. Later Sultan Khusro Malik tried to capture the city but failed to do so. In 1394, Taimur captured Jammu where he compelled the Raja to embrace Islam.

THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

The Mughal emperor Babar advanced to India by way of Sialkot which capitulated to his armies. In Akbar’s era, the current Sialkot district formed the part of Rachna-Bar Sarkar (district) of the Lahore province. Under Shah Jehan, Ali Mardan Khan held the charge of Sialkot.

At the end of the Mughal reign, the suburbs and outlying districts and areas of Sialkot were left to themselves. Sialkot itself was appropriated by a powerful family of Pathans, and the sub-mountainous tracts were in the hands of Raja Ranjit Deo.

In 1748, the four districts of Gujrat, Sialkot, Pasrur and Daska were given to Ahmed Shah Duurani. After 1751, Ahmed Shah left his son Taimur to rule Lahore and these districts. During that time, Raja Ranjit Deo expanded his domination over this area, but the Sialkot city was not included in it. The city was held strongly by a Pathan family till the time of Sikhs.

THE SIKH REIGN

During the Durrani decline, the Sikhs formed themselves into well organized groups called 12 Misls. Sialkot was wrested from the Pathans by two Sikh leaders, Jhanda Singh and Ganda Singh, who represented the Bhangi Misl. Thus, the area came under the rule of Bhangis. During that time, Sialkot suffered from extreme famine and starvation leading to a mass migration of people to Kashmir.

From that time onwards, the Bhangi sardars carried incessant raids upon Raja Deo’s principality and ultimately the areas was appropriated between them. However, from 1797 to 1810, Raja Ranjit Singh succeeded in acquiring the Sialkot district and establishing his sovereignty in the area.