Dipalpur: Once Second Only to Multan

Dipalpur (officially often spelt Depalpur) is the headquarters of Depalpur Tehsil, the largest of the three tehsils of Okara District, about 25 km from Okara city and roughly 150 km from Lahore. The 2023 Census counted 122,759 people in the city (99,753 in 2017), and 1,592,201 in the tehsil.

Few towns of its size in Punjab have so long a history. Tradition credits its foundation to a Raja Deva Pala; coins and remains point to occupation from at least the Kushan period. In the Delhi Sultanate it was a frontier stronghold against Mongol raids: Ghiyasuddin Balban rebuilt it, Firuz Shah Tughlaq served here as governor before becoming sultan, and on the eve of Timur's invasion in 1398 Dipalpur was second only to Multan in size and importance in the region. Babur records taking Lahore and Dipalpur in 1524, and Akbar halted here in 1578 on his way to the shrine of Baba Farid at Pakpattan. Guru Nanak is also remembered as a visitor.

The old town still sits inside the line of its ancient fortifications, with four main gates and a tradition of '84 mosques and 84 wells'. Much of the fort has been built over by houses and is in poor repair, but walking the old lanes gives a strong sense of the town's age.