History of city names

Arts & Culture History
1

Share history behind the names of cities you lived or visited.

Let me start:

Hyderabad (Sindh) is a city built on three hillocks cascading over each other. Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro of the Kalhora Dynasty founded the city in 1768 over the ruins of Neroon Kot (Nerun or Nerun Kot) (meaning the place of Neroon), a small fishing village on the banks of River Indus named after its ruler Neroon.

The name Hyderabad is probably due to affiliation and reverence of KalhoRa dynasty with Hazrat Ali (whose title was Hyder/ Haider). Kalhora claimed to be descendent from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (paternal uncle of the Prophet Muhammad SAW).

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Re: History of city names

It is quite difficult to judge the right date of origin and how the name Lahore was originated. There are different traditions carrying totally different origins and explanations. In the old writings we can find different shapes of the name of Lahore, of which some are listed:

L-hore
Loha-war
Laha-wr
Laha-nor
Laha-nahr
Laha-waar
Lo-hoor
La-hore

However, According to the Hindu mythology, based on oral traditions, states that Lahore was named after Lava, son of the Hindu god Rama, who supposedly founded the city. To this day, the Lahore Fort has a vacant temple dedicated to Lava (also pronounced Loh, hence "Loh-awar" or The Fort of Loh). Likewise, the Ravi River that flows through northern Lahore was named for the Hindu goddess Durga

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Re: History of city names

Interesting so Ravi is also name of Hindu goddess Durga

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Rawalpindi, Rawal is bhagwan Shiv and Pind is unified symbol of his.

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what is Pind. I always consider Pind = Village

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Re: History of city names

Interesting... wikipedia says Rawalpindi was named after Raja Pindi?

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Re: History of city names

There is also chances that it got name from the folk love story Rawal Jugni popular in Potohari folklore. Rawal was also title of Rajput tribes who lived in nearby areas of Gujranwala, Sialkot, etc

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Re: History of city names

Something about the history of Karachi's name from GS archives :D

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why Shikarpur is called so? :hmmm:

may be its proximity to river Indus and abundance of birds that made this place heaven for hunters.

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Sukkur (in Sindhi Sakhkhar).... It is believed that the city got its name from Arab invaders due to its hot weather. Saqar means hell (hot) in Arabic.

Wiki uncle further tells:

However, the word Sakharu in Sindhi means "superior", which the spelling of the city's name in Sindhi suggests is the origin of the name. Sukkur is nicknamed Darya Dino (درياءَ ڏنو, meaning the gift of river), as without the Indus the city would be a desert.

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Re: History of city names

Larkana.

The old name of larkano is chandka which was changed in 1901. In August 2000 Larkana celebrated its hundred years of existence

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why they named in LaaRkna..... Its not in LaaR part of Sindh

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But before it was chandka,
Do you the know famous chandka medical collage?

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Yes my cousin studies there. Chandka may refer to Chandia community as there are many Chandia people living nearby

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BTW who was Nathan Shah on whose name Khairpur Nathan Shah is named?

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My mom said he was a respectable person from a shah/syed family, like a gadi nasheen, his Mazar is also there.

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Karachis old name was Kolachi.

Muqaw do you know there is a cast Kolachi?

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yes refer post # 8

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interesting, i dont know any :(

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Re: History of city names

What about Dubai