As to the tribes that preceded them, even tradition is silent and even for the first two and a half centuries of Mughal rule there is no record of the condition of the district beyond vague traditions and an occasional passing reference in the Ain-e-Akbari. The researches of antiquarians have however established the fact that the tract was of historical importance in the earliest days, that it contained in Sangla or Sakala near the Jhang border the capital of the Punjab where Alexander met with one of the most serious checks in his career of victory, and that at a later period about 630 A.D. when the Chinese pilgrim Hwen Thsang visited India, Asarur near Khangah Dogran (also known as Masrur) was the capital of a kingdom stretching from the Indus to the Bias. The ruins of ancient cities of vast extent, the sites of rained villages, the remains of wells and ancient irrigation works, scattered over the wildest portions of the district, where till the change wrought by the canal a few years ago, there was nothing but an expanse of barren jungle, and no fixed population, all point to a period when the tract must have been densely populated and highly cultivated; and though popular tradition associates this golden age, when every rood of land maintained its man, with the name of Akbar, it clearly belongs to a much earlier period. Could the veil that shrouds the past be drawn aside, a glimpse into the early history of the district would no doubt reveal a picturesque and momentous past. In the present state of our information further speculation on the subject, however fascinating is likely to bear no fruit, and it only remains to set forth the conclusions arrived at by the late Sir Alexander Cunningham in the Archeological Survey Report, ”11 200 - 202 and XI V 43 - 44 and in the “Ancient Geography of India, pages 148, 180, 191, 193. The Chinese pilgrim, Hwen Thsang, in A.D, G30 visited a town, which he calls Tse-kia, and describes as the capital of a kingdom embracing the whole of the plains of the Punjab from the Indus to the Beas, and from the foot of the mountains to the junction of the five rivers below Multan. The site of this town is with a near approach to certainty, identified by General Cunningham with a mound in this district near the modern village of Asarur, situated two miles to the south of Khangah Masrur, commonly called Khangah Dogran, on the road from Lahore to Pindi Bhattian, 45 miles distant from the former, and 24 from the latter place. It is said that the people of Khangah Masrur never sleep on beds, but on the ground, out of respect to the saints buried there who practiced similar austerities. The force of General Cunningham’s identification mainly hinges upon the more celebrated discovery of the site of the Sangala of Alexander in the ruins at Sanglawa Tibba in the Jhang district, 16 miles to the south-west of Asarur. This Sangala or Sakala General Cunningham believes to have been the most ancient capital of the kingdom, and to have been superseded by Tse-kia, or Taki, at some time during the nine centuries which elapsed between the invasion of Alexander and the travels of Hwen Thsang ; and he discusses the geographical identification of Asarur with the Tse-kia of Hwen Thsang in terms which, read together with his account of Sangala (abridged in the Gazetteer of the Jhang district), leave little room to doubt its correctness.
Popular tradition is silent as to the history of Asarur. The people merely state that it was originally called Udamnagar or Udanagari and that it was deserted for many centuries until Akbar’s time When Ugah Shah, a Dogar built the mosque which still exists on the top of the mound. The antiquity claimed for the place is confirmed by the large size of the bricks 18x10x3 inches, which are found all over the ruins, and by the great numbers of Indo-Scythian coins that are discovered annually after heavy rain. Its history therefore certainly reaches back to the first century before the Christian era. The ruins consist of an extensive mound 15,600 feet, or nearly three miles, in circuit. The highest point is in the north-west quarter, where the mound rises to 59 feet above the fields. This part, which General Cunningham takes to have been the ancient palace, is 600 feet long and 400 feet broad, and quite regular in shape. It contains an old well, 21 feet in diameter, which has not been used for many years, and is now dry. The palace is completely surrounded by a line of large mounds about 25 feet in height, and 8,100 feet, or 1.5 miles in circuit, which was evidently the stronghold or citadel of the place. The mounds are rounded and prominent, like the ruins of large towers or bastions. On the east and south sides of the citadel the mass of ruins sinks to 10 and 15 feet in height, but it is twice the size of the citadel, and is no doubt the remains of the old city. There are no visible traces of any ancient buildings, as all the surface bricks have been long ago carried off to the neighboring shrine of Ugah Shah at Khangah Masrur on the road from Lahore to Pindi Bhattian; but amongst the old bricks forming the surrounding wall of the mosque, General Cunningham found three moulded in different patterns, which could only have belonged to buildings of some importance. He found also a wedge-shaped brick 15 inches long and three inches thick, with a breadth of 10 inches at the narrow end and nearly 10 inches at the broad end. This could only have been made for a stupa or a well, but most probably for the latter, as the existing well is 21 feet in diameter. At the time of Hwen Thsang’s visit, there were ten monasteries, but very few Buddhists, and the mass of the people worship the Brahminical gods. To the northeast of the town at nearly two miles, there was a Stupa of Asoka, 200 feet in height, which marked the spot where Buddha had halted, and which was said to contain a large quantity of his relics. This stupa, General Cunningham identifies with the little mound of Salar near Thatta Sayyadan, just two miles to the north of Asarur. On leaving Tse-kia Hwen Thsang travelled eastward to Na-lo-seng-ho or Nara-Sinha, beyond which place he entered a forest of Po-lo-she or pilu trees (salvadora persica). This town of Nara-Sinha General Cunningham supposes to be represented by the large ruined mound of Ransi which is situated nine miles to the south of Sheikhupura and 25 miles to the E.S.—E. of Asarur, and about the same distance to the west of Lahore. Si or Sih, is the usual Indian contraction for Sinh and ran is stated to be a well-known interchange of pronunciation with nar. In Ransi therefore we have not only an exact correspondence of position but also the most precise agreement of name with the Nara-Sinha of the Chinese pilgrim. The remains of Ransi consist of a large ruined mound thickly covered with broken bricks of large size. Coins also are occasionally found by the saltpeter manufacturers. And it may be remarked that the presence of saltpeter derived from man’s occupation itself affords a certain proof that the mound of Ransi is not a natural elevation, but an artificial accumulation of rubbish, the result of many centuries. Ransi also possesses a tomb of n. Nao-gaja, or giant of ‘’nine yards’’ which is believed by General Cunningham to be the remains of a recumbent statue of Buddha, after his attainment of nirvana or death.
From the time of Hwen Thsang- nothing farther is known of the history of Tse-kia, or Taki, which had been superseded in importance by Lahore long before the advent of Islam. Under Muhammadan rule, the principal places in the Gujranwala district were Eminabad and Hafizabad. It is stated by Major Nisbet, who effected a revised settlement of the land revenue in 1866-67, to have been divided during the Muhammadan period into six parganahs, neither Gujranwala nor Wazirabad, at present the largest towns of the district, being mentioned as enjoying any fiscal or political importance. The site of Gujranwala falls within the old parganah of Eminabad, and the site of Wazirabad within that of Sohdra. The parganahs of Hafizabad, Eminabad, and Sahomalli are clearly recognizable in the list of mahals given in the Ain-Akbari of the Rechnabad Sirkar of the Lahore suba. The Eminabad parganah is believed to have included also a portion of the present Sialkot district. It is not improbable also that Sahomalli included a part of tire present Lahore district. The revenue of the four mahals above identified is thus given in the Ain-e-Akbari:
- Eminabad
- Hafizaabad
- Sahomalli
- Bagh Roy Bucba