Rawalpindi
Gakhar town resettled by Sikh chief Milkha Singh in the 1760s; later a British cantonment and Pakistan's army headquarters.
Rawalpindi lies on the Pothohar plateau, below the Margalla hills. A small Gakhar settlement, it was refounded in the 1760s by the Sikh chief Milkha Singh Thehpuria, who invited traders from Bhera and Miani, and it grew into a market town.
The British made it the largest cantonment in India after 1849. It was a centre of the Nirankari movement founded by Baba Dyal Singh. In March 1947 Sikhs and Hindus in the villages around it were attacked, a prelude to the Partition violence; at Thoa Khalsa, women threw themselves into a well rather than be taken.
It is now the twin city of Islamabad and the headquarters of the Pakistan Army.
People
INA officer from Rawalpindi, tried at the Red Fort in 1945 with a Hindu and a Sikh comrade, whose trial united India against the British.
Short-story writer from the Pothohar who wrote in its own Punjabi and won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1965.
Founder of the Nirankari reform movement at Rawalpindi, which called Sikhs back to worship of the formless God and simple rites.
Pakistan's first Prime Minister, born at Karnal in the east of the Punjab, assassinated at Rawalpindi in 1951.
Artifacts
The painted and mirrored trucks of Pakistan, rolling galleries of birds, film stars, poetry and landscapes.
A great Buddhist stupa of the Kushan age on the plain south of Rawalpindi. Ranjit Singh's general Ventura dug into it in 1830 and found relic boxes and Kushan and Roman coins.
On the timeline
In the world's museums
17 objects
Head, Rawalpindica.100 BC · Rawalpindi© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Albumblad met vier foto's. linksboven: Straatbeeld in Rawalpindi.rechtsboven:…Pakistan Rawalpindi Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan Пакистан Paquistão Пакистан PakisNational Archives of the Netherlands (via Europeana) ↗
Albumblad met vier foto's. linksboven: Onderweg van Karachi naar RawalpindiPakistan Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan Пакистан Paquistão Пакистан Pakistanas PakisNational Archives of the Netherlands (via Europeana) ↗
Train comming from Rawalpindi (Diesel locomotive noWikimedia Commons · Sohail Aziz · CC BY ↗
Emir Abd or-Rahman, Rawalpindi, April, 1885Wellcome Collection · CC BY ↗
Emir Abd or-Rahman, Rawalpindi, April, 1885Wellcome Collection · CC BY ↗
Textile, Rawalpindica. 1855-1879 · Rawalpindi© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Man's Garment1867 · Rawalpindi© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Pyjamac.1867 · Rawalpindi© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Pyjamac.1867 · Rawalpindi© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Albumblad met vier foto'sPakistan Rawalpindi Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan Пакистан Paquistão Пакистан PakisNational Archives of the Netherlands (via Europeana) ↗
Albumblad met vier foto's. linksboven: Nomaden met hun dromedaris. rechtsboven:…Pakistan Rawalpindi Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan Пакистан Paquistão Пакистан PakisNational Archives of the Netherlands (via Europeana) ↗
The family group at Butterfly Hall, Rawul Pindee - November 1866November 1866 · Rawalpindi© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Lungic.1855 · Rawalpindi© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Orange jasmine (Murraya paniculata)Apr 1936 · The Punjab. Rawalpindi., Punjab, IndiaSmithsonian, NMNH - Botany Dept. ↗
Dinebra panicea6 Oct 1938 · The Punjab. Rawalpindi, field weed., Punjab, PakistanSmithsonian, NMNH - Botany Dept. ↗
Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon)Mar 1920 · North West Himalaya. Rawalpindi, Punjab., Punjab, PakistanSmithsonian, NMNH - Botany Dept. ↗