Bhera

Bhera stands near the Jhelum River in Punjab, south of the Salt Range. Its old town is enclosed by high walls and eight gates, with neighbourhoods known as mohallas within. On the road towards Kabul, Bhera became a trading town known for carved wood, textiles and the work of its knife and cutlery makers.

Bhera suffered repeated attacks: Mahmud of Ghazni sacked it, and generals of Chinggis Khan did so again two centuries later. Babur held the town to ransom in 1519, and Sher Shah founded a new town in 1540. Under Akbar it became the headquarters of a subdivision of Lahore province. During the eighteenth century local chiefs contested its possession; under Ranjit Singh, Bhera had a mint of its own.