Kasur

Kasur lies south of Lahore, overlooking the alluvial country of the Beas and Sutlej. Its name means forts or palaces, and the city grew from a group of fortified settlements known as kots. It is also the resting place of the Sufi poet Bulleh Shah, whose shrine stands in the city.

Kheshgi Pashtuns from Kabul settled here during Babur's reign in 1525, building small forts that formed the nucleus of Kasur. Under Akbar, new neighbourhoods named for the heads of Pashtun families added to the town, which prospered through trade under Mughal rule. As Mughal power declined, Ahmad Shah Durrani captured Kasur and Sikh forces attacked it in 1747 and 1763. Ranjit Singh took the city in 1807, bringing it into his expanding kingdom.