Multan

Multan ملتان
State :	Pakistan
Province :	Punjab
Coordinates :	30 ° 12 '  N , 71 ° 28'  E Coordinates: 30 ° 12 '0 "  N , 71 ° 27' 36"  E
Height :	122  m
Area :	3 721  km²
Residents :	1,871,843 (2017)
Population density :	503 inhabitants per km²
Time zone :	PST ( UTC + 5 )
Telephone code :	(+92) 061
Postal code :	60000
Nazim ( Mayor )  :	Mian Faisal Mukhtar
Website :	www.mda.gop.pk
Multan

Multan is a major city in the Pakistani province of Punjab . With about 1.9 million inhabitants, it is the seventh largest city in the country.

Ghanta Ghar , seat of the city administration with clock tower , built in 1884

location

Multan is located in the south of the Punjab Province. The surrounding area is flat and is used for agriculture . Many canals supply the district with water from nearby rivers ( Chanab , Ravi ). It's extremely hot in summer.

history

Multan is located on India's main invasion route towards Central Asia and has survived many wars in its long history. The earliest historical mentions go back to the time of Alexander the Great . Historians suggest that Multan is the city of Maii-us-than , the citadel of which was stormed by Alexander's troops after seeing their king lay injured and passed out on the battlefield.

In the middle of the 5th century the city was taken by the Hephtalites . These nomads did not stay long and a Hindu reign followed for a long time . In 641, the Chinese monk Xuanzang visited Multan. He reported that the soil was rich and fertile and the city was densely populated. There would be about eight temples for devas . The large "Temple of the Sun" is magnificently decorated, the picture of Mitras is cast in gold and adorned with rare precious stones.

In the 7th century, Multan had the first contact with Muslim armies. The general Mohallab led armies that carried out numerous attacks from Persia to India . However, they did not come to conquer, but to explore. Just a few decades later, Muhammad bin Qasim came on behalf of the Arabs and conquered Multan and Sind . At that time Multan was known as the "City of Gold". Numerous historians have written about a very large Hindu temple that could accommodate more than 6000 people. It was known as the "Sun Temple". After the conquest by Qasim, the city was under Muslim rule, but remained largely independent.

At the end of the 10th century, the city was attacked twice by Mahmud of Ghazni . In doing so, he destroyed the Sun Temple, but did not stay in the city. After the victory of Muhammad of Ghur and the establishment of the capital in Delhi , Multan became part of the Sultanate of Delhi, founded in 1206 . After the rise of the Mongols , it regained some independence in order to be able to be effective against attacks from Central Asia.

In the Mughal Empire , Multan saw 200 years of peace and was known as Dar-ul-Aman (City of Peace). Many buildings were built at that time and agricultural production rose sharply. The fall of the Mughal Empire was not as devastating to Multan as it was to many other cities. The city escaped the destruction of the army of Nadir Shah , but was ruled from Kabul by numerous Afghan dynasties .

In the 18th century the city was often attacked by Sikh armies . They destroyed many parts of Multan, but did not stay in town either. So Multan became independent again. However, this did not last long again and with the rise of Ranjit Singh the end of Muslim rule was heralded. Now the Sikh armies came again and this time they stayed in the city. With the invasion of the British Empire, after a long and bloody siege in the Second Sikh War , Multan became part of British India . This also signaled a decline for the city. The British built a railroad , but the industrial capacity was never developed.

After Pakistan's independence in 1947, Multan was economically depressed. Since then there has been industrial growth and the population is continuously increasing. However, many old buildings are in poor condition.

On October 7, 2004, two bombs killed at least 34 people. The attack targeted a gathering of radical Sunnis who had gathered the night before. Shiites are suspected to be the perpetrators of the attack .

Attractions

Octagonal central building of the Rukn-i-Alam mausoleum

Scattered across the city are numerous mausoleums ( qubbas ) of Sufi saints of all sizes, as well as mosques from the 13th and 14th centuries. The most famous mausoleums include those of Rukn-i-Alam († 1335), Shah Shams Taez, Bahawal Haq and that of the most important saint of Multan, Baha'uddin Zakariya († 1262), grandfather of Rukn-i Alam, of the Suhrawardiyya Order introduced here. Many mausoleums are square or octagonal and covered with a domed roof, others such as the mausoleum of Jusuf Gardizi (1058–1136) in the old town at the Bahar Gate have a flat roof. There is also the fortress of Multan, the Jamia, the Sawi and the Wali Eid Gah mosque. As the old saying goes, Multan abounds in graves, beggars, heat and dust.

Demographics

The majority of the population are Punjabis. The vast majority are Muslims, both Sunnis and Shiites . Most people speak Punjabi and Siraiki, and many can speak Urdu . English is understood by more educated people.

Population development

Census year	population
1972	538.949
1981	732.070
1998	1,182,441
2017	1,871,843

The population is expected to rise to over 4 million by 2050.

Climate table

Multan
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.     7th   21st 5     10   23 8th     20th   29 14th     13   36 20th     10   40 24     12   42 29     61   39 29     33   38 28     11   37 25th     2   35 18th     2   29 11     7th   23 6th Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm Source: wetterkontor.de

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Multan Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 21.0 23.2 28.5 35.5 40.4 42.3 39.2 38.0 37.2 34.6 28.5 22.7 O 32.6 Min. Temperature (° C) 4.5 7.6 13.5 19.5 24.4 28.6 28.7 28.0 24.9 18.2 10.9 5.5 O 17.9 Precipitation ( mm ) 7th 10 20th 13 10 12 61 33 11 2 2 7th Σ 188 Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 7.2 7.5 8.1 9.1 9.5 8.9 8.5 9.0 9.3 8.9 8.5 7.4 O 8.5 Humidity ( % ) 58 52 48 39 33 39 55 58 55 49 56 61 O 50.3 Source: wetterkontor.de

See also

• List of cities in Pakistan
• Multan Metrobus

literature

• Yohanan Friedmann: The temple of Multan: a note on early Muslim attitudes to idolatry. Israel Oriental Studies, 2, 1971, pp. 176-182
• Robert Hillenbrand : Turco-Iranian Elements in the Medieval Architecture of Pakistan: The Case of the tomb of Rukn-i `Alam at Multan. Muqarnas, Vol. 9, 1992, pp. 145-174
• Tonny Rosiny: Pakistan. (DuMont art travel guide), DuMont Buchverlag , Cologne 1988, p. 279. ISBN 3-7701-1304-7

Web links

Commons : Multan  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Multan. Pakvisit (Engl.)
• itsPakistan, About Pakistan, Multan ( January 6, 2015 memento on the Internet Archive )
• M. Aslam Ansari: History of Multan: Some Reflections. Journal of Research (Faculty of Languages ​​& Islamic Studies), 2005, pp. 55–59 (PDF file; 94 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pakistan: Provinces and Major Cities - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather, and Web Information. Retrieved January 22, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Heinz Gaube : The mausoleum of Yūsuf Gardīzī in Multan. In: Oriens, Volume 34, 1994, pp. 330-347
3. ↑ Pakistan: Provinces and Major Cities - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information. Retrieved July 25, 2018 . 
4. ↑ City population 2050 | Sustainability Today. Retrieved July 25, 2018 .