Bedian (), also spelled Badian, is a village in the

Kasur District Kasur District ( Punjabi, ), is a district located in Lahore Division of Punjab, Pakistan. It came into existence on 1 July 1976; prior to its creation, the area comprised two tehsils ( Kasur Tehsil and Chunian Tehsil) of Lahore District. Acc ...

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (, ) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the Demographics of Pakistan, most populous province in Pakistan and the List of first-level administrative divisions by popu ...

, close to the India-Pakistan border. The village was founded by the

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

preacher Baba

Sahib Singh Bedi Baba Sahib Singh Bedi (Punjabi: ਬਾਬਾ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ ਬੇਦੀ, 7 April 1756 – 17 July 1834) is a renowned Sikh Brahmgiani Saint, who was a direct tenth-generation lineal descendant of Guru Nanak, the first Sikh G ...

during the reign of Maharaja

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder and first maharaja of the Sikh Empire, in the northwest Indian subcontinent, ruling from 1801 until his death in 1839. Born to Maha Singh, the leader of the Sukerchakia M ...

. After the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

, Pakistan built the

Bambawali-Ravi-Bedian Canal __NOTOC__ Bambanwala-Ravi-Bedian Canal (BRB Canal), also called Ichogil Canal (by Indian authors), is a manmade waterway in Pakistan that takes off from the Marala Headworks, Upper Chenab Canal near the Bambanwala village (to the west of Daska), ...

(BRB Canal), bringing waters from the

Chenab River The Chenab River is a major river in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region. It is formed by the union of two headwaters, the Chandra and Bhaga, which rise in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul region of Hima ...

to the

Upper Bari Doab Canal Madhopur Headworks is a barrage on the Ravi River in Madhopur, just 14 km from Pathankot city in Pathankot district in the Indian state of Punjab. It is located on the border with Jammu and Kashmir. The Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC) off-taking f ...

, as a replacement for the canal waters lost to the

Indian Punjab Punjab () is a state in northwestern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, a ...

Etymology

The name ''Bedian'' derives from the

Bedi clan Khatri () is a caste originating from the Malwa and Majha areas of Punjab region of South Asia that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Khatris claim they are warriors who took to trade. In the Indian ...

Khatri Khatri () is a caste system in India, caste originating from the Malwa (Punjab), Malwa and Majha areas of Punjab region of South Asia that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Khatris claim they are war ...

s. The clan which founded and populated this village before

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

History

The village was first settled by the descendants of Baba

, a descendant of

Guru Nanak Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also known as ('Father Nanak'), was an Indian spiritual teacher, mystic and poet, who is regarded as the founder of Sikhism and is t ...

. Bedi was a contemporary of Maharaja

and put ''tilak'' on the Maharaja's forehead during his coronation. The Maharaja is said to have allotted the land of the village to Bedi and his descendantsHaroon Khalid
To escape Partition violence in Lahore, these Hindus and Sikhs converted to Christianity
Scroll.in, 16 September 2016. After the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

conquered Punjab, it created the

(UBDC) system, bringing waters from the

Ravi River The Ravi River is a transboundary river in South Asia, flowing through northwestern India and eastern Pakistan, and is one of five major rivers of the Punjab region. Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the waters of the Ravi and two oth ...

to irrigate lands in the Bari doab (the interfluvial regions between the Ravi and Beas-Sutlej rivers). The main branch of the UBDC ran through the village of Bedian. During the

, the

Radcliffe Line The Radcliffe Line was the boundary demarcated by the two boundary commissions for the provinces of Punjab Province (British India), Punjab and Bengal Presidency, Bengal during the Partition of India. It is named after Cyril Radcliffe, 1st Visco ...

, which divided the Punjab province into West Punjab (Pakistan) and East Punjab (India), fell close to Bedian. Radcliffe added a portion of the Kasur tehsil to the East Punjab in order to connect the Amritsar District with the rest of East Punjab. But Bedian fell just outside of the portion and remained in Pakistan. At the time of Partition when the Bedi

Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...

were fleeing to India, they asked their servants who were Mazhabi Sikhs to stay back and look after their property. Mazhabi Sikhs later converted to Christianity to escape persecution, thus creating a Christian population in the village. After partition, the Indian Punjab claimed proprietary rights to the waters of the UBDC. To avoid dependence on Indian Punjab, Pakistan created the

, bringing waters from the

to replace those of the Indian UBDC. The old channels of the UBDC in Pakistan continue to be used with water from the BRB canal and other link canals.

Transportation

Bedian has a direct road to

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, which is called the Bedian Road. The distance to the Lahore city centre about . The distance to the outskirts of Lahore, along the Hudiara drain, is . The Bedian Road is home to much active development of residential areas around Lahore.Bedian Road Lahore
zameen.com, retrieved 8 May 2020.

References

{{reflist, 30em Populated places in Kasur District Kasur District