What Is Shekhupura and Where Is It?
What Is Shekhupura and Where Is It? Sheikhupura is the 16th largest city in Pakistan, and is the headquarters of its district as well as the division. The city is an industrial center, and satellite town, located about 38 km northwest of Lahore. The region around Sheikhupura was previous known as Virk Garh, or “Virk Fort”, in reference to the Jat tribe that inhabited the area.
Shekhupura also known as Qila Sheikhupura is a city in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Founded and named in 1607, by the Mughal Emperor Jehangir himself – the city’s first name is recorded in the Emperor’s autobiography, the Tuzk-e-Jahangiri, in which he refers to the town as Jehangirabad. The city then came to be known by its current name, which derives from Jehangir’s nickname Shekhu that was given to him by his mother, wife of Akbar the Great.
Mughal Emperor Jahangir also erected the nearby Hiran Minar, Sheikhpura’s most renowned site, between 1607 and 1620 as a monument to his beloved pet deer, Mansiraj, at a time when the area served as a royal hunting ground for the Mughal Emperor. Jehangir laid the foundation of the Sheikhupura Fort in 1607, which is situated in the city’s centre.
District Sheikhupura, which was established in 1919, is not only famous for quality rice in the country but also for its attraction due to presence of marvelously historical places. Out of the famous sites are Hiran Minar, Sheikhupura Fort, mausoleum of Hazrat Pir Waris Shah located in Jandiala Sher Khan, Gurdawara Janam Asthan located in district Nankana Sahib some 55 km away from here. The area around Nankana Sahib was formerly a tehsil of Sheikhupura District.
In May 2005, the provincial government decided to raise the status of Nankana Sahib to that of a district as a way of promoting development in the area. The shrines of Pir Bahar Shah and Daata Shah Jamal who were famous spiritual leaders also located in the city. A famous worship place of Sikh Yatris is in Sacha Souda near Farooqabad where thousands of pilgrims arrive to perform their religious rites from across the world every year.