History

There are three possible explanations for the name “Amroha”. The first theory is that it was settled during the time of Raj Amarjoda when sanskirt was common. Amroha is driven from the sanskirt word Amarwanam which means “place of aam (mangoes)”. In those days Arya people places were often named after trees, rivers and grains etc. According to Ahmad Husain Siddiqi this suggests that Amroha is about 2,500 years old. The second possibility is that Maharajah Pirthiviraj named the town after his sister Amarwanam. The third theory is that Sayed Sharfuddin Shahwilayat named the town “Amrohu” because of the abundance of aam (mango) and rohu (a type of fish) which became Amroha. The British government accepted the name as Amroonam which eventually became Amroha.

Raja Amarjoda (Amaryodhan, Grandson of Suyodhan of Mahabharata), of the Kuru Bansi dynasty, was the ruler of region Amroha in 479 BC. The author of Tarikh-i-Amroha states that Amroha was ruled by Bhardwaj Tagas between 676 and 1141 AD. Mahmud of Ghazni conquered Amroha in 589 AH/1093 AD. Behram Shah (1240–42) appointed Malik Jalaluddin to the position of Hakim of Amroha in 1242. Ghiyasuddin Balban crushed a rebellion in this region, and so ruthless was his repression that the territory of Badaun and Amroha remained quiescent till the reign of Jalaluddin Khalji. Ambar Sultani built a mosque at Amroha. During Alauddin Khalji‘s reign, Malik Tughluq and Malik marched through the city to confront the Mongols at the Battle of Amroha. Saiyid Salim was assigned Amroha and Sirsi as an iqta and after his death, the iqta was assigned to his sons. It is also recorded that Khizr Khan was punished by Alauddin Khalji with an enforced stay at Amroha with Hisamuddin.

The historical architecture of Amroha begins with the fort wall, remnants of which still stand.

The Moradabadi Darwaza, built by Saiyid Abdul Maajid in 1642 AD, was the only extant gate. The wall was constructed during the reign of Shah Jahan, by Siyadat Maab Saiyid Abdul Maajid, who had constructed this fort under the supervision of Kamal Khan Khanazad in 1652 AD. It was fifty feet high with three parallel arches, covered with a roof. This 300 years old gate was about to be demolished in 2013 to make way for a new one. We made submissions to local MLA and the Director of Archaeological department the Vice President of India and the Chairman, Nagarplaika. Mr Ansari, Vice President of India made representation on our behalf. Unfortunately despite all these representations this historical was demolished to make way for a poorly designed and constructed.

Other monuments from this period include mosques, idgahs, khanqash, dargahs, imambaras, diwankhana, madrasas and mandirs. Some of these are of the Delhi Sultanate period, others of the Mughal period. Viqar-ul-mulk gate is made in modern amroha in memory of nawab Viqarulmulk.