Rahon

Rahon was founded 2000 years ago by Raja Raghab, a Brahmin ruler, who named it Raghupur, which continued to be called in correspondence by the Pandits of the city until the twentieth century.[1]

• 1206 AD The city came into the possession of Gujars, who were eventually driven out by the Mahtons (Sikh Rajputs),[16] who in turn succumbed to the Ghorewaha Rajputs , whose conquest of the country is put down as having occurred in the time of Muhammad Ghori (d. 1206 AD).[1]

• 1517-1526 AD In the time of Ibrahim Lodhi (1517-1526 AD), the city was reported to have a population of 145,000 and was a flourishing trading center on the route to Tibet and Central Asia.[17][12]
• 1556-1605 AD Toward the beginning of the Mughal period, the town was occupied by the Ghorewaha Raja of Machhiwara, Rana Udho. He actively assisted Akbar (1556-1605 AD).[1] During his fight for the Delhi throne, he defeated and captured the rebellion leader Bairam Khan. As a reward, the Raja allowed Rana to retain the jagir of Rahon. In Akbar's time, Rahon was the capital of the Dardhak Mahal and gave its name to one of the two tarafs into which the mahal was divided. In Aurangzeb’s reign (1658-1707 AD) a brick fort was built here. The Rajputs of Rahon were Chaudhris and men of much influence during the period of Muhammadan rule. However, after the Raja of Rahon converted to Islam, he was beheaded and his territories seized by the Rana of Jadla.[17]

• 1710 AD In 1710 AD, Rahon was conquered by Banda Singh Bahadur after defeating mughals in the Battle of Rahon.The Sikh movement signified a protest against the beneficiaries of the existing structure of authority. The Sikhs issued orders to chaudhries, muqaddams, and qanungos of Rahon and the adjacent parganas calling upon them to surrender. All were asked to follow the terms to which the peasants agreed to work accordingly and extended their helping hand to Banda Singh Bahadur. Henceforth, on the economic plane, Banda Singh Bahadur could be given credit for introducing revenue reforms in Punjab, was a remarkable contribution of Banda Singh Bahadur, which was later improved upon by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.[18][19][20]
• Capital of Dhallewalia Misl

• Later, Rahon fell back again into the hands of the Mughals.
• 1759 AD, In 1759Ad, Rahon was seized by Dhallewali Confederacy Sikhs led by Tara Singh Ghaiba, He had control considerable territory on the both sides of Sutlej river. Rahon was the head quarter, remained in their possession until Tara Singh's death, when it was added to Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s dominions.[10]
• However, Pandits continued to dominate local politics. Pandit Sardars ran the city's administration for centuries. After the collapse of the Sikh Empire, the descendants of the Rana of Rahon came to prominence again and the Rana of Rahon, Chaudhry Abdul Rehman Khan of Rahon was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Punjab from the Unionist Party before Indian Independence.
• 1947 Until independence in 1947 the Rana of Rahon and the Rajrana of Jadla controlled most of the estates, while the Muslim Rana of Rahon fled to Pakistan, first moving to Sahiwal and later settling in Rehamnabad Khanqa Dogran. After Partition, Pandit Buta Ram Qasir Jagirdar continued to serve as Municipal Councilor and local leader of Rahon for next two and half decades. Pandit Butar Ram's father Sansar Chand was Zaildar of the region.

Rahon is an old city and it overlooks the low valley of the Satlej, it held social, economic, and political significance during various periods of history. This significance stemmed primarily from the city's location along the ancient trade route to Tibet and Central Asia and it began to fade in importance as soon as a new route through Kabul was opened during Mughal times. Further, Rahon's proximity to marshes made it a victim of periodic large-scale outbreaks of malaria. Over time, the city's population declined greatly, falling to 69,000 when the British took over after the First Anglo Sikh War in 1846 and falling further to 6,607 by 1971. After the division of the country in 1947, the Muslim population of Rahon was uprooted to Pakistan, with most settling in Faisalabad and Rahwali.

• Present Rahon: is a small city divided into 13 wards and operates under a municipality's legislative body . It has total administration over 3,260 houses, arranges basic amenities like water and sewerage. The Municipal council authorizes building roads within Municipal Council limits and imposing taxes on properties coming under its jurisdiction.
• Hierarchy of the city administration: It is a Class-III municipality. Mr. Hemant Randev is the President Municipal Council of the city.[26] And MLA of the area is Mr. Angad Singh. Rahon is under the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha Constituency, for that MP is Mr. Manish Tewari.
• Demographics: As per the census 2011, the population of Rahon was 15676 in which there are 52,74% (8,267) males, and 47.26% (7,409) are females; Literacy rate of Rahon city is 80.12%, which is higher than the state average of 75.84%, Male literacy rate is around 83.84% while female literacy rate is 75.95%. The report data suggests a population of Children with ages of 0-6 is 1771, which is 11.30% of the total population of Rahon. The female Sex Ratio is 896 against the state average of 895. Moreover, the Child Sex Ratio in Rahon is around 910 compared to the Punjab state average of 846.

• Chaudhry Abdul Rehman Khan was the Rana of Rahon Jagir and Member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly.
• Padma Bhushan-2001 awarded Shri B. R. Chopra A legendary Indian film director (22 April 1914 – 5 November 2008).[27]
• Padma Bhushan-2011 awarded Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Hashmi A legendary Indian music director and composer (18 February 1927 – 19 August 2019)[28]

Sugar trade was one of the famous commercial activity at Rahon.

The town then was sharing a trade route to Tibet and Central Asia, which was favorable for exporting activities but a new route through Kabul was opened during Mughal times. The exports via Jammu, Leh, and present Afghanistan is recorded. Rahon was known for cotton cloth manufacturing and its exports. Many distinguished weave structures ranging from coarse varieties to fine textures were eminent. Bafta, Ghati, and Khasa were the kinds that were used to export.[29]

Rahon was a textile manufacturing hub especially for cotton clothes during ancient times (18th century), it was known for many textile varieties one of them was Bafta cloth which is a closed plain weave structure. The material was found in many variants, coarse to fine.[10]

Rahon had an expertise for Ghati which is a highly glazed cotton long-cloth of fine texture also called ''ghatti''. It was a superior quality cloth and expensive also. The fabric was affordable by rich persons only. The average price of printed cotton was ten annas per square yard.[30] Production of ''Ghati'' was ceased by the close of the nineteenth century.[31][11]

Rahon was also producing Khasa, the fabric then was known ''Rahon Khasa'' . It is a fine cotton cloth.[11][32]

Rahon was famous for its trading route and manufacturing certain cotton-made clothes such as Khes, Khaddar with coarse cotton, with various colorful stripe and checked patterns.[33][34]

Lungi fabric was also made in Rahon. It was continue even after ceasing down the Ghati cloth in close of 19th century. And then slowly the labor migrated to the industrial city Ludhiana.[35]

Gota is a narrow imitation of gold and silver ribbons used on edges of many bridal clothes, dresses and dupattas for embellishing purpose. It was also manufactured and exported from Rahon.[9]

Rahon was known for the art of shoe making which attained a high degree of skill and a pair prepared by one Mian Khaki Shah of Rahon is said to still be on exhibit in a museum at Lahore, Pakistan.[1]