Multan believed to date back more then 4000 years is the one of the oldest cities in Pakistan and still very much a going concerns today. The city 945 km from Karachi long history lost itself in the ancient mists of time. There are many tales of the undoubted antiquity of Multan – none more peculiar than the oldest legend. Multan was where Satan landed after Adam eve was driven out from the garden. According to the story the story even, even Satan himself could not handle the dust, heat and flies of Multan, and left the location at the earliest opportunity. One Urdu saying translated into English goes. With four rare things Multan abounds, dust, flies, beggars and burial grounds. And certainly, Multan is one of the hottest, dustiest cities in the Punjab. Everything is covered in dust and occasionally great sand storms, blowing from the chorister desert, reduce visibility so much that can barely see the donkeys on the other side of the road. The heat can be stifling and oppressive. Therefore, the best time to visit Multan is the winter season from November to February  Alexander the great was not put off by the heat and dust, and laid siege to Multan. In those days, the city was defended by the fierce mallol tribe. The Macedonians under the leadership of Alexander wee outnumbered by the locals ten to one, and the invaders were only able to take battlements of the great citadel through the outstanding personal bravery of Alexander himself.

According to these historians, the Macedonian king himself scaled the battlements of the citadel and forced his way almost alone into the fortress, from the top of the battlements; Alexander jumped down and cut down every enemy soldier approaching him. He was soon joined by three faithful attendabts who realised their king’s dangerous predicament fighting alone, right among the enemy. The brave attendants jumped down and joined him, carrying with them the sacred shield of Achilles.   

The three attendants were wounded by archers even Alexander’s armour was pierced with a three foot arrow. An Indian ran forward to finish the almost fatally wounded king. In a last heroic effort, Alexander stuck down the attacker before collapsing himself. His soldiers beloved their king had been killed. A grate rage and fury gripped the Macedonian soldiers and they rushed forward to breach the walls to the avenge their fallen king they massacred everybody in the city down to the last woman and child. Alexander was very seriously wounded, but the tough battle-hardened king survived to continue his milady campaign of conquest.

Very little is know about multan’s pre-Islamic history, although the Chinese travellers hsuan tang in 641 ad described an elaborate temple, dedicated to Shiva, the sun god. The image of the sun god was cast in gold and, together with other lesser shrines, attracted a grate number of pilgrims which in turn, made multan a very prosperous city. 

Muhammad bin qauasim, a youthful arb general, captured Multan for the arb caliphate in 712, after a siege of more than two months. Six thousand defenders were put death, and their wives and children taken into slavery. The Arabs found so much gold and so many treasures in the conquered city, that the invaders felt they needed to go no further. For the next three centuries, Multan remained the northernmost outpost of the Arab caliphate in Sind

Mahmud of ghazni tool Multan by force in 1005 and destroyed the sun temple. During the next centuries, Multan saw repeated invasions and destruction: tamurlane is said to have left pyramids of human skulls behind. Nadir shah sacked the city in 1739. ahead shah durrani conquered it in 1739 and ranjiyt sing in 1818.

In 1848, the British took the city over from the Sikhs after they had laid successfully a six months siege to multan‘s fort.

Earlier, during the mogul empire between 1528 and 1748, Multan became a great seat f Islamic. Learning literature, architecture, music, ceramics and artistry.

Ever since the invasion of Muhammad bin quasim, multan has attracted more mystics, holy men,  dervishes and saints than any other piace on the sub-continent. These saints were not always treated kindly by the local population. Sharms-ud-din tabriz was flayed alive and for four days he wandered the streets with his skin in the hands. One of the legends says that the saint moved the sun closer to himself, making Multan the hot and dusty place it is today.

Multan’s most prominent landmark is the quasim bath fort. Apart from the main gate, the outer walls and the battlements, most of it is in ruins, in 1848, the fort was blown up during the siege by the British. Inside the fort is the most beautiful and best maintained of all of Multan’s shrines and mausoleums: the tomb of sheikh rukn-i-alam, the head of the suhrawardia Sufi sect founded by his father, baha-ud-din zakaria.

Sheikh rukn-i-alam is the celebrated patron saints of Multan. His tomb attracts large numbers of the faithful every Thursday night and especially during the saint’s annual urs (anniversary). The shrine also seems to function as the headquarters of the city’s beggars. Originally, the aga khan Islamic was built by the tughlaq king, Ggiyas-ud-din in 1920. His son felt it was his religious duty to give the mausoleum to the saint Rukn-l-alam as a burial place.

The white domed brick tomb consists of two octagonal Lowe storeys strengthened by buttresses. They are the support structures for the 20 metre diameter dome. Interiors and exteriors are gazed in blue and turquoise tiles laid in regular bas reliefs.

The best view of Multan and the interior of the tomb itself, is obtained from up on the tomb second gallery, just underneath the dome. Below, burnare wandering about, incense is burning and here and there you can see one of the remarkable “multan burquas” in the north, if the women are in purdah and wear a burqa, it comes in multan, however, the women sometimes wear burquas in jazzy pinks or bright orange.

Besides the many shrines, Multan proudly possesses a large number of them. The most beautiful among them is the famous eidgah mosque, built in 1735. the city has much to offer to the tourists.

Multan has some of the most colourful and interesting bazaars in the whole and Pakistan. Plenty of handicrafts-leather works, coloured glazes, enamel inlay work and the elegant exotic khussa shoes are all bargain objects, well worth buying.

For handicraft and local produce, the best shopping areas are the hussain agahi bazaar and the bohar, dehli, lahori, hram and pagates all in the old city. No other place in Pakistan, except Peshawar , can offer such a large variety of souvenirs at bargains prices.

The ancient city of Multan has much to offer the adventurous visitor history, markets and culture. It may no longer be the city of the sun god, but there is still a treasure trove of little known sites to attract the scholars, mystics and world travellers of the modern world.