There is perhaps no information about the city during the earlier Muhammadan invasions; and its name does not find mention till the time of Lodhis (A.D. 1420-1526). According to an account in Tarikh-Panjab by Ghulam Mahayud-din alias Bute Shah, the present site of the Ludhiana city, which was then a village called Mir Hota, was made an army camp by Yusuf Khan and Nihang Khan, the generals of Sikander Lodhi (A.D. 1481-1520), son of Sultan Bhalol Lodhi, in A.D. 1481. They were sent by their sultan, to protect the people of the region from the plundering of Biluchis. At that time, it is believed, the river Sutluj flowed, where the present Buddha Nalha flows. Yusuf Khan crossed the Satluj to check the Khokhars who were then plundering Jalandhar Doab and settled at Sultanpur Lodhi. Nihang Khan remained at Mir Hota. He was succeeded by his son and later grandson. Jalal Khan, the grandson, built the fort of Ludhiana out of the bricks found at Sunet. Thus, it is called Lodhi-ana, meaning the army camp of the Lodhis or the town of the Lodhis. During the reign of Akbar, Ludhiana found mention in Ain-i-Akbari as one of the Mahals along with Tihara, Hatur, Bhundri, Machhiwara, Payal and Doraha.

During the period of ascendancy of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (A.D. 1799-1838), Ludhiana was in possession of Rais of Raikot or the Rai Khallas. It is on the record that about A.D. 1785, there was a great change in the course of Satluj, bringing in open the Bet area around Ludhiana. In A.D. 1807, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh crossed over the Satluj near Ludhiana, he took over the area from Rais of Samrala and partitioned the area among Sontiwala and Nishanwala confederacies constituting of Garewal, Sidhu and Sandhu clans related to Phulkian misal of Patiala.

In 1843, eighty villages were attached to Ludhiana and it was made a revenue district by the Britishers. During Anglo Sikh Wars, the battles of Baddhowal and Aliwal took in the suburb of Ludhiana. It remained an important centre of Wahabi Movement around this period. It was in the forties of nineteenth century that some Kashmiri migrants settled in Ludhiana. The local traders utilized their services to provide stitched clothes to the garrisons placed under the Assistant Political Agent, who took over the Ludhiana fort later. It has been so opined by some scholars that from thence onward a new era began in the socio-economic life of Ludhiana and it became the hub of hosiery and textile industries in the nineteenth and the twentieth century.

In the eventful 1857, the Ludhiana town was garrisoned by a small detachment of infantry who turned hostile, and were joined by the local population and the mutineers from Jalandhar. But the ammunition in the fort proved useless and they left for Delhi. The official took strong action against rebels. Many of them were hanged and others were heavily fined. All houses within 300 yards of the fort were leveled. The area was kept safe with the help of the levies of Nabha, Malerkotla and fresh recruits.

The Kuka Rising also deserves a mention. Kukas were suspected of political motives, and Britishers got an opportunity to suppress them when in 1872 some 150 Kukas attacked Malerkotla enraged by the killing of kins. These Kukas were, overpowered with the help of the forces of the native rulers. Forty-nine of them were executed at Malerkotla by the blowing of guns without trial. Their leader, Satguru Ram Singh was deported to Rangoon where he died in 1885.

During Ghaddar Party Movement in 1914, Munshi Karim Baksh of Ludhiana was one of its organizing secretaries and Kartar Singh Sarabha, son of Sardar Mangal Singh, Zailadar of Sarabha village was the member of the Executive Committee. Dewa Singh, a sports goods dealer of Ludhiana organized students of Ludhiana for the Ghaddar Movement in February 1915. This movement was suppressed in Ludhiana in September 1915 when Kartar Singh Sarabha, aged 19 and Nand Singh, also from Ludhiana District, were hanged by the Britishers. Ludhiana also remained the centre of Babbar Akali Movement and State People's Movement during the Freedom Struggle.

After Partition, Ludhiana acquired great importance. It became centre of industry and commerce even before the Partition. The first mechanized power loom was brought by R. K. Dhanda in 1898. K. C. Thapar, a trader from Ludhiana, left the city in thirties of the twentieth century to establish Ballarpur Industries. Apart from hosiery and textile, it also grew up as a manufacturing centre of cycle and scooter spare parts. As per 1991 census, Ludhiana is the most populated and industrialized city of Punjab.

By Sumir Sharma
Lecturer, Department of History, Arya College, Ludhiana