Chiniot

Chiniot stands on the left bank of the Chenab, where a rocky ridge rises above the alluvial plains of western Punjab. The city has long served routes between Lahore, Jhang, Sargodha and Faisalabad. Timber floated down the Chenab from the Himalayan foothills supplied its woodworkers, while fertile fields, river transport and nearby stone gave the town a varied economic base. Its origins remain uncertain; local tradition explains the name through a legendary princess or a shelter named Chandniot, but no foundation account survives.

Under the Mughals, Chiniot belonged to the Lahore province. The town reached particular prominence during the reign of Shah Jahan, when two natives of Chiniot, the Punjab governor Wazir Khan and grand vizier Sa'adullah Khan, directed patronage back to their home. Hifzullah Khan built the Shahi Mosque, and local masons, carvers and furniture makers acquired a reputation that carried their work to other imperial centres. Craft skill and proximity to floated timber made carved wood and masonry defining features of the town.

After Aurangzeb's death in 1707, Walidad Khan Sial established a largely independent authority across western Punjab. His successors defended Chiniot amid the Durrani incursion of 1748 and pressure from the Sikh Bhangi Misl, which controlled the city by 1765. Inayatullah Khan ceased paying tribute and briefly recovered Chiniot in 1778. Ranjit Singh captured it in 1803 and attached the town to the Sikh Empire; Ahmad Khan Sial's revolt ended in decisive defeat in 1810.