1864.] 



On the Antiquities of Guzerat. 



403 



The year 996 Hijree, A. D. 1580, is fixed upon as the date of its 

 erection. It seems not improbable that the Emperor Shere Shah may- 

 have had a hand in it at an early period ; for, after building the fortress 

 of Ehotas, he is reported to have taken much pains to settle this part 

 of the country, so long disturbed by the contumacy of the Ghukkers, 

 In those days there was no stronghold in the G-huj Doab to mark the 

 Imperial power, and it was the high road between Dehli and Cabul. 

 Thus the position as well as the features of the locality were favourable. 

 The Emperor therefore decided to build a fortress on the present site of 

 Guzerat. The story goes on to say that according to the old Asiatic 

 principle " Minuk az Sirkar" " Arudaz Bazar" the Emperor proposed 

 that the inhabitants of the country should bear half the expense. 

 But the Jats, in whose section of the Doab it was situated, objected, and 

 the Emperor was obliged to turn for assistance to the Goojurs who 

 inhabited the neighbouring country to the west. The sum required 

 was one lakh and a quarter, but the idea of having a Goojur Fort in 

 the country of the Jats was so tempting, that the Goojurs agreed to 

 raise the money. Eutty Mahomed Chondra of Varaichanwalla, a 

 village near Dingah, took the lead in the matter, but the cash was 

 advanced by Adum, a wealthy Goojur of Dingah. This man, however, 

 was so unlettered that he could only give the cash by measure, and he 

 accordingly meted it out in a Tossa measure. His descendants are 

 known to this day, as the Tossa division of Goojurs and the names of 

 the villages they own and inhabit, all have the prefix of Tossa, thus 

 Tossa Oosman, Tossa Adum, &c. &c. 



The fort was thus built with the assistance of the Goojurs and 

 called conjointly after them and the Emperor " Goojerat Akberabad." 

 This so vexed the Jats that they soon after sent a deputation to the 

 Emperor at Dehli, and tried to induce him to change the name. But 

 the Emperor refused to do so, and only consented to mark off their 

 country as a separate Turuf with any name the Jats might choose to 

 give it. They chose the name of Herat, from the Persian province of 

 that name being their real or supposed place of origin. The upper 

 part of the Doab was therefore henceforth divided into the two Turiifs ♦ 

 Herat of the Jats and Goojerat of the Goojurs, either of which 

 will be found specified in almost all old documents concerning lands 

 and the rights thereto. 



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