Jalalpur Jattan, Pakistan

History

When Alexander the Great defeated Porus, he established two towns: one near the Jhelum River, and the other near the Chenab River. The latter, the present-day Jalalpur Jattan, was named Shaklanagar, an amalgamation of Greek and Sanskrit words meaning "the city of beauty". These cities were settled by people from Alexander's multinational armies, which included a majority of Greeks. The two cities and their associated realms thrived long after Alexander's departure. Later, when Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji and his forces stayed here to suppress the invasion of Mongols, he renamed the city Jalalabad after himself. The name was once again changed to Jalalpur Jattan by the notable Jats of their time, said to be Zabardast Khan and Ajmer Khan.

During the Sikh Empire, the town gained significant importance. There is a place in Jalalpur Jattan built by Chandragupta Maurya in 300 BC.

Local historians believe that Chandragupta had built a fort in Salamgarh, a suburban village of Jalalpur Jattan. The original name of the village could not be ascertained but the fort became famous as Islamgarh Fort with the passage of time. The fort of Islam Garh had remained under Aurangzeb Alamgir, Ahmed Shah Abdali, and Ranjit Singh and their forces. The fort had been the mint of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore in 1832. Only some deteriorated remains of the fort exist today.

From the History section of Jalalpur Jattan on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.