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Patan minara
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| Patan Minara | |
|---|---|
پتن منارہ | |
 The solitary brick tower of Patan Minara | |
 Interactive map of Patan Minara | |
| General information | |
| Type | Brick tower, stupa |
| Location | Cholistan Desert, near Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Coordinates | 28°19′18″N 70°10′21″E / 28.3216°N 70.1726°E |
| Completed | c. 250 BCE (est.) |
| Technical details | |
| Material | Baked brick, lime mortar |
Patan Minara (Urdu: پتن منارہ) is a solitary burnt-sienna brick tower standing about 8 km east of Rahim Yar Khan on the margin of the Cholistan Desert in south-western Punjab, Pakistan.[1][2] Most scholars regard the column as the only visible remnant of a much larger ancient settlement that local folklore dates to five millennia, while archaeological opinion usually places its construction in the Hakra-Valley phase of the Mauryan Empire around 250 BCE.[3]
History
[edit]The tower takes its name from the vanished river port of Pattan Pur, literally "tower at the ford", which once stood on a navigable branch of the Ghaggar-Hakra River.[3] Alexander-era folklore claims that Alexander the Great converted an earlier Buddhist stupa into a watch-tower and garrisoned a Greek cantonment here during his 325 BCE campaign. After the Ghaggar changed course in late antiquity the settlement declined, leaving only the central spire and earth-covered mounds marking a fort, tank and residential blocks.[3][4]
The Gazetteer of Bahawalpur State (1904) contains the earliest detailed colonial description, noting a single west-facing doorway and no internal stair, evidence that timber ladders once reached the upper stage.[2] In 1870 Colonel Henry Minchin, political agent of Bahawalpur, ordered a treasure dig but halted work when labourers broke into a tunnel filled with putrid liquid and venomous flies, a tale later retold by travel writers.[2][4]
By the early 20th century four companion minarets and parts of the brick fortification had already been quarried away, and present-day preservationists warn that unregulated sand-extraction and a municipal sewage outfall threaten the leaning tower with collapse.[2][4] Cultural use nevertheless continues: in March 2021 Cholistan’s Hindu community held a music gathering at the site to honour folk singer Krishan Lal Bheel.[5]
Architecture
[edit]The surviving shaft is built of kiln-fired bricks set in fine lime mortar and rises from a square plinth whose corners still show traces of stair-base masonry for the vanished ancillary turrets.[3] A 2011 survey in the Journal of Research in Architecture and Planning classified the tower as a “fair-face” brick Hindu temple spire, noting that its brickwork and jointing technique match pre-Islamic shrines in Sindh and Rajasthan.[6] 1904 Gazetteer record a recessed entrance on the west façade and shallow blind niches that may once have framed sculpted reliefs of a Buddhist cella, though no secure ornamental fragments survive in situ.[2][3]
Sub-surface reconnaissance and eyewitness reports indicate a brick-lined tank, radiating tunnels and the footings of four subsidiary towers, suggesting a planned religious-cum-administrative complex rather than an isolated beacon.[4] The absence of internal staircases further supports the hypothesis that an external wooden gallery or ladder system, common in early South-Asian temple architecture, originally provided vertical circulation.[2][3]
References
[edit]- ^ پتن منارہ ’پانچ ہزار سال پرانی ثقافت‘ کا نشان ہے. Urdu News (in Urdu). 1 February 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f Rind, Akhtar Shaheen (19 May 2013). "The mystery of Pattan Minara". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f "Pattan Minara: Forgotten Buddhist monastery". The Express Tribune. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
- ^ a b c d Abbas, Nazar (6 December 2017). "Patan Minara may have supported a civilisation similar to Harappa". Daily Times. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
- ^ "Hindus celebrate award for late folk singer". Dawn. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
- ^ Khan, A. N. (2011). "Decorative Vocabulary on the Tomb of Ahmad Kabir" (PDF). Journal of Research in Architecture and Planning. 10: 63–69. Retrieved 11 May 2025.