Sákala ( now Siálkot city ) was the capital of the Madras who are known in the late Vedic period ( Brihadáranyaka Upanishad ).

Sákaladvipa , or the 'island of Sákala' was the name of the doáb, or the land lying between the two rivers, between Chandrabhága (Chenab) and Irávati (Ravi). Sákala was the capital , or one of the capitals, of the Greek kings of the House of Euthydemus, and the residence of Menander (Milinda).

After the invasion of the Húnas (Huns) in the last quarte of the fifth century A.D. it became the capital of Toramána and his son Mihirakula. The antiquities of Sialkot are discussed by Sir Alexander Cunnigham in his Archaeological Survey Reports, II, 21, 22, and XIV, 44 to 47.

It's early history is closely interwoven with traditions of the Raja Sáliváhan, his son Raja Rasálu and his foe, Raja Húdi, so famous in Punjab folk-lore.