NAME HISTORY :
The origin of the name Gujranwala is shrouded in mists of
time and one is forced to reffer again to the first gazetteer 1874. for some
reason the Jaat Tribe Gujar occuipied the land. They reach such dominance
that the town came to be known as Gujranwala is majority of the Sahnsi
people continued to cultivate the land but were weak.
Dr.Qureshi cites oral evidence from a resident and also
cites inflection of the word Gujjar to support his conclusion " we , the
inhabitant of Gujranwala " have two sounds of the letter Gaf- the soft
letter and the hard leter. We pronounced Gujranwal with the soft one .The
word Gujar " milkman " is pronounced with the hard Gaf and Gujrar Jaat with
the soft Gaf therefore it is not unreasonable to accept the view that it is
from Gujjars(milkman) that the citi got its name.
Dr.Waheed Quereshi names four villages in the Vacinity at the time of
Abdalies invasion i.e in the late18th century.
1. Sirai Kachi: A european merchant in the area in
1608 ad.and mentioned in his memoir a place he calls Coojes Serai .before
finch there is a very little evidence in history of Sirai Kachi . by the
late 18th century it was a wagon stop village an inn and a graveyard.
Probably the antecedent of Chaman Shah garavyard in existance today.
2.Sirai Gujran : This village existed in the area
inside the current Khiyaaly Gate in the city. Hafiz Abdul haq in his "
Tareekh-e-Gujranwala" and " Molvi Adbul Malik in his " Shahan-e-Gujran"
mention Sirai Gujran.
3.Sirai Kambohaan: Charat Singh a sikh leader
built a Mud Forte here in 1758 .
4. Thatta : This village existed between the
current railway line and the G.T.Road .Charat Singh son Mahaan Singh develop
this village
