01Prahlad’s city
Multan’s tradition holds that it was Kashyapapura, the city of Hiranyakashipu, where the boy Prahlad kept chanting Hari’s name through every torment and where Bhagwan Narasimha came out of the pillar. The Prahladpuri temple on the mound of the old fort was raised on the spot shown as that of the katha, and Multan’s Hindus kept Holi there. The city’s great Surya temple, ascribed by the Samba Purana to Samba, son of Shri Krishna, drew pilgrims from across the subcontinent; Xuanzang saw its golden image in 641.
02Conquests and the long return
Muhammad bin Qasim took Multan in 713 after the fall of Raja Dahir, and for three centuries Arab amirs ruled it, keeping the Sun temple as a hostage against the Hindu kings. Mahmud of Ghazni attacked it in 1006; the Hindu Shahi king Anandapala refused him passage through his lands and was beaten for it, and by 1010 Mahmud had annexed the city. Muhammad of Ghor took it in 1175. Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army under Misr Diwan Chand stormed the fort in June 1818, and in 1848 the revolt of Diwan Mulraj here began the Second Anglo-Sikh War. In 1947 nearly all of Multan’s Hindus and Sikhs left for India. The Prahladpuri temple, by then in ruins, was demolished in December 1992.
The life of this place
- 641Xuanzang sees the golden Surya at Multan.
- 713Muhammad bin Qasim takes Multan (Chachnama).
- 1006Mahmud of Ghazni attacks Multan after defeating Anandapala.
- 1175Muhammad of Ghor takes Multan.
- June 1818Ranjit Singh’s army storms Multan fort.
- December 1992The Prahladpuri temple is demolished.
