Multan

Multan, Pakistan: ʿĪdgāh Mosque

Multan, city, south-central Punjab province, east-central Pakistan. It is built on a mound just east of the Chenab River.

The chief seat of the Malavas, an ancient people who ruled the region in the 4th century bce, Multan was subdued by Alexander the Great in 326 bce and was brought under Umayyad rule about 712 ce. For three centuries it remained the outpost of Islam in India. In the 10th century it became a centre of the Qarmatian heretics. The commercial and military key to the southern route into India, it suffered several sacks and sieges over the centuries. It was subject to the Delhi sultanate and the Mughal Empire and was then captured by the Afghans (1779), the Sikhs (1818), and the British (1849). Multan was formerly called Kashtpur, Hanspur, Bāgpur, and Sanb (or Sanābpur). Its current name may be a contraction of Mulasthān, a name that may refer to the city’s ancient Sun Temple.

Multan was constituted a municipality in 1867. A commercial and industrial centre, it is connected by road and rail with Lahore and Karachi and by air with Karachi, Quetta, and Faisalabad. Industries include fertilizer, soap, and glass factories; foundries; cotton, woolen, and silk textile mills; flour, sugar, and oil mills; and a large thermal power station. It is noted for its handicrafts (ceramics and camel-skin work) and cottage industries. There are hospitals, public gardens, and several colleges affiliated with the University of the Punjab. The Bahauddin Zakariya University was founded in 1975 as the University of Multan. Large irregular suburbs have grown outside the old walled town, and satellite towns have been set up. The numerous shrines within the old city offer impressive examples of workmanship and architecture. The Shams-e Tabriz shrine is built almost entirely of sky-blue engraved glazed bricks. That of Shah Rukn-e ʿAlam (Tughluq period) has one of the biggest domes in Asia. The shrine of Sheikh Yūsuf Gardēz is a masterpiece of the Multani style. Other shrines include the Pahlādpurī Temple and the ʿĪdgāh Mosque (1735). Pop. (2017) urban agglom., 1,872,641.