Kasur Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Kasur Town
Head-quarters of the subdivision and tahsil of the same name in Lahore District, Punjab, situated in 31 degree 8' N. and 74 degree 28' E., upon the north bank of the old bed of the Beas, on the North-Western Railway and on the Ferozepore road, 34 miles south- east of Lahore city ; distant by rail from Calcutta 1,209 miles, from Bombay 1,237, and from Karachi 778. Population (1901), 22,022, of whom 5,327 are Hindus and 16,257 Muhammadans. Tradition refers its origin to Kusa, son of Rama, and brother of Loh or Lava, the founder of Lahore. It is certainly a place of great antiquity, and General Cunningham identified it with one of the places visited by Hiuen Tsiang in the seventh century a.d. A Rajput city seems to have occupied the modern site before the earliest Muhammadan invasion ; but Kasur does not appear in history until late in the Muhammadan period, when it was settled by a Pathan colony from the east of the Indus. These immigrants entered the town either in the reign of Babar or in that of his grandson Akbar, and founded a considerable principality, with territory on both sides of the Sutlej. When the Sikhs rose to power, they experienced great opposition from the Pathans of Kasur ; and, though the chiefs of the Bhangi con- federacy stormed the town in 1763, and again in 1770, and succeeded for a while in holding the entire principality, the Pathan leaders re- established their independence in 1794, and resisted many subsequent attacks. In 1807, however, Kutb-ud-dln Khan, the last chieftain, was forced to give way before Ranjlt Singh, and retired to his property at Mamdot, beyond the Sutlej. The town of Kasur was then incor- porated in the kingdom of Lahore. It consists of an aggregation of fortified hamlets, standing on the upland bank and overlooking the alluvial valleys of the Beas and the Sutlej. The Pathan element has now declined. The municipality was created in 1867. The income during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 52,800, and the expenditure Rs. 50,900. In 1903-4 the income and expenditure were Rs. 60,400 and Rs. 54,500 respectively. The chief source of income was octroi (Rs. 50,000), while the main items of outlay were conservancy (Rs. 4,000), education (Rs. 8,500), hospitals and dispensaries (Rs. 6,300), and administration (Rs. 18,800). Kasur is now, next to Lahore, the most important town in the District. It is the centre of local trade, and exports grain and cotton to the annual value of 10 lakhs. Harness and other leathern goods are manufactured, and there are 4 cotton-ginning and 2 cotton-pressing factories, which in 1904 em- ployed 436 hands. The chief educational institution is the Anglo- vernacular high school maintained by the municipality. An industrial school formerly existed, but is now extinct. The town also contains a hospital, and since 1899 has been an out-station of the American Presbyterian Mission.
