About Ferozepur

The Firozpur District lies between latitude 29-55' and 31-09' and between longitude 73-53 and 75-24'. Before 15 August 1973, this district was the southernmost of the seven districts of the Jalandhar Division of the Punjab State. On that date, the new Ferozpur Division was formed and the Ferozpur District was included in it. The boundary of the present Ferozpur District on the east runs along the Faridkot District. On the northeast, the River Satluj generally separates it from the Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts. The united stream of the Satluj and the Beas generally separates it from the Amritsar District in the northwest, and farther down from the Pakistan, with the exception of some areas on each side of the river.

According to one tradition Ferozpur was founded in near about 1360 by Firoz Shah Tughlak (Emperor of Delhi, A.D. 1351-1387), who had a passion for founding cities. It is also stated that Ferozpur was founded by one of the Bhatti Chiefs, named Firoz Khan, but the first is widely accepted.

In the time of Akbar, according to the Ain-Akbari, the Satluj flowed east of Firozpur, instead of west, as at present; the District then formed a portion of the Multan Subah. The extensive ruins demonstrate that it was originally a place of great size. The old for must at one time have been a place of considerable strength. It formed an irregular building, one hundred yards long and about forty yards broad, formerly surrounded by a ditch, ten feet wide and ten feet deep. Before the British government made necessary alterations during the third quarter of the nineteenth century. It is described as a picturesque building. In November 1838, Lord Auckland, the Governor-General of India, held a grand review at Firozpur, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh, with his generals was present, and witnessed the maneuvers of about 15,000 troops. This was previous to the first Afghan campaign, when the various regiments were on their march to that country. The mimic warfare and display of British discipline and tactics greatly impressed the ruler of the Punjab.

The market place towards the east of the old fort was built by Sir Henary Lawrence, and the main bazaar was also completed under his directions; the oldest street in the town being the one, now called Purana Bazaar. Under the British, Ferozpur was the Chief arsenal for northern India, well stored with munitions of war, and, therefore, a place of considerable importance.

The town once used to be surrounded by a wall, of which the ten gates, viz. the Delhi Gate, the Mori Gate, the Baghdadi Gate (formerly known as the Ludhiana Gate), the Zira Gate, the Makhu Gate, the Bansanwala Gate, the Amritsari Gate, the Kasuri Gate, the Multani Gate and the Magazine Gate, still exist. The old town itself is divided into two parts by the main bazaar, which runs from the Delhi Gate in the south to the Bansawala Gate in the north. A metalled circular road girdles the town.

The old fort of the City is now no more, but some traces of it are still left; the tomb of a Muhammadan saint, called Nur Shah Vali, situated on an eminence opposite the old tehsil building, indicates its site. Rani-ka-talab, called after Sardarni Lachman Kaur, once the ruler of Firozpur, is now dry. On one side of the tank, there are the smadhs of Sardarni Lachman Kaur (died issueless in December 1835) and her husband Sardar Dhanna Singh (died in 1819).

The memorial of martyrs Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev is situated on the right bank of the Satluj River. Its foundation stone was laid on 23 March 1965. This is that hollowed spot where the chopped-up bodies of the hero-martyrs were secretly cremated at the dead of night, after their having been executed on 23 March 1931 in the Central Jail, Lahore, by the British Government. Outside the memorial, the smadh of the Punjab Raj Mata (mother of martyr Bhagat Singh) has been erected.