Bahawalpur, Major Cities
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Bahawalpur
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Bahawalpur is 889 kms from Karachi. The founder of the state of Bahawalpur was Nawab Bahawal Khan Abbasi I. The Abbasi family ruled over the State for more than 200 years (1748 to 1954). During the rule of the last Nawab Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V, Bahawalpur State was merged with Pakistan in 1954. Bahawalpur was formerly the capital of the state and now is the District and Divisional Headquarters of Bahawalpur Division.
It is an important marketing centre for the surrounding areas and is located on the cross roads between Peshawar, Lahore, Quetta and Karachi. Saraiki is the local language of the area. Urdu, Punjabi and English are also spoken and understood by most the people. There are three palaces, the main one Noor Mehal.
Bahawalpur is also known for its distinctly embroidered slippers and shoes and the filigree pottery, which is made here. It has a marble mosque in the Fawara Chowk and a few British buildings like the Science College. Bahawalpur has a modest museum having a fine collection of coins, medals, postage stamps of former State of Bahawalpur, manuscripts, documents, inscriptions, wood carvings, camel skin paintings, historical models and stone carving etc. of Islamic and pre-Islamic period
The Cholistan Desert
East of Bahawalpur is the Cholistan Desert, which covers an area of about 15,000, square km and extends into the Thar Desert of India. The region was once watered by the Hakra River, known as the Saravati in Vedic times. At one time there were 400 forts in the area and archaeological finds around the Darawar Fort, the only place with a perennial waterhole, indicate that it was contemporaneous with the Indus Valley Civilisation.
The average annual rainfall is only 12 cm, and the little cultivation there is made possible by underground wells, drawn up by the camels. The water is stored in troughs, built by the tribes, between sand hills and din waterholes called tobas.
The people are racially similar to those in Rajasthan - tall, with sharp features. They live in large, round, mud and grass huts, usually built on the top of sand hills. On the whole, they are pastoral and nomadic. The main tribes are the Chachar, Mehr, Lar, Paryar, Channar, Chandani and Bohar.
The forts here were built at 29 km intervals, which probably served as guard posts for the camel caravan routes. There were three rows of these forts. The first line of forts began from Phulra and ended in Lera, the second from Rukhanpur to Islamgarh, and the third from Bilcaner to Kapoo. They are all in ruins now, and you can see that they were built with double walls of gypsum blocks and mud. Some of them date back to 1000 BC, and were destroyed and rebuilt many times.
