Gujrat City

Gujrat (Punjabi, Urdu: گُجرات, IPA: [gʊd͡ʒ.ɾɑːt̪]) is a city in the Pakistani province of Punjab.[5] It is the headquarters of the Gujrat District and the 20th largest city in Pakistan, with a population of over 390,000 in 2017.[6][4] Along with the nearby cities of Sialkot and Gujranwala, Gujrat forms part of the Golden Triangle of industrial cities with export-oriented economies.[7][8] Gujrat is a place of some antiquity and abounds in important ancient sites. The city and district formed part of the kingdom of Porus who ruled primarily within the Chaj Doab. He was defeated by Alexander after a difficult campaign at the Battle of Hydaspes in May 326 BC.[9] Alexander was impressed by his bravery and decided to reinstall him as a vassal of the Macedonian Empire. With Alexander's death in June 323 BC, Chandragupta Maurya (referred to in Greek sources as "Sandrokottos") who was of relatively humble origin possibly from the Punjab region, took control of the Punjab using it as a base for the founding of the Mauryan Empire.[9] It remained under the Mauryas until shortly after the death of Ashoka in 231 BC, and later came under the sway of Demetrius I who founded the Indo-Greek Kingdom.[9] The Scythian invasion brought about by Maues in the latter half of the second century brought a change of rulers and the Indo-Scythian Kingdom was established shortly after.[9] This would change in the early first century CE when a Parthian governor Gondophares declared independence from the Parthian Empire. He moved east in 19 CE, conquering territory from the Indo-Scythians and Indo-Greeks, thus forming his own Indo-Parthian kingdom.[9] The domains of the Indo-Parthians were greatly reduced following the invasions of the Kushans in the second half of the 1st. century CE who formed a vast prosperous empire in Central and South Asia which oversaw a flowering of Buddhism.[9]