PAK-PATTAN, or Ajudhan, an ancient city its Montgomery district, Panjab, on the high bank of the old Sutlej, 28 miles from the present course of the river. Its foundation is assigned to a Hindu saint or raja of the same name, of whom nothing else is recorded. This part of the doab is still known as Surat-des, a name which recalls the Sura-kousle of Diodorus, and the Sudrake and Oxudrakm of other Greek writers. For many centuries Ajudhan was the principal ferry of the Sutlej, where the two great western roads from Dehra Ghazi Khan and Debra Ismail Khan met, the first via Mankera, Shorkot, and Harapa, the second via Multaii ; and at this point the con querors Mahmud and Timm., and the sniveller Zhu Batuta, crossed tile Sutlej. The fort is said to have been captured by Sabaktagiti in am. 367 or A.D. 977-78, during his plundering expedition in the Panjab ; and again by Ibrahim away', in A.II. 472 or A.D. 1079-80. On the invasion of Timm., the mass of the population fled to Ilhatner, and the few people that remained were spared out of respect for the famous saint Farid-ud-Din, Shakr-ganj, whose shine is in Ajudhan. From this saint the place derives its modern name of Pak-Pattan, or the ' Ferry of the Pure One,' that is of Farb!, whose latter days were spent at Ajud han. By continued fasting, his body is said to have become so pure, that whatever he put into his mouth to allay the cravings of hunger, even earth and stones, was immediately turned into gems and sugar, whence his name of Shakr-ganj, or ' sugar-store.' This miraculous power is • re
corded in a well-known Persian couplet :— Sang dar dart o gohar gardid, Zahr dar gam o Shaker genii& `A stone in the hand became a gem, Poison in the mouth became sugar.' From a memorial couplet we learn that he died in A.H. 664 or A.D. 1265-66, when he was 95 lunar years of age. But as the old name of Ajudhan is the only one noted by Ibn Batuta in A.D. 1334, and by Timur's historian in A.D. 1397, it seems probable that the present name of Pak Pattan is of comparatively recent date. The saint Farid-ud-Din was instrumental in the conversion of the whole Southern Panjab to the faith of Islam. Pilgrims from all parts of India, and even from Afghanistan and Central Asia, •isit his shrine, and during the Maharram as many as 60,000 persons have been estimated as present. On the afternoon and night of the last day, a well adjoining the shrine is pierced by a narrow open ing, known as the Gate of Paradise,' and whoever can force his way though this aperture during the prescribed hours is assured of a free entrance into heaven. The crush is naturally excessive, and often results in. severe injuries to the pilgrims.— Cumthighant's An. Ind. pp. 214-219 ; Yule, Cathay, ii. p. 406 ; Imp. Gaz.