Part 2
Lahore History
queen. Just outside the tomb is the simple grave of Nur Jahan, which bears this epitaph written by her: Upon my grave when I die, No lamp shall burn nor jasmine be, No candle with unsteady flame, No bulbul chanting overhead Shall tell the world that I am dead.
The Moghuls wanted peaceful and spacious surroundings for their last resting places. Their graves are never found within the confines of a city. Shah Jahan, the most splendid of the great Moghuls, was born in Lahore and was also proclaimed emperor in this great city.
The Shalimar Gardens, which were laid out by him in the east of the city, are amongthe most magnificent gardens in the world. During the scramble for the imperial throne after Shah Jahan, Lahore espoused the cause of Dara Shikoh, Shah Jahan's eldest son. He had his residence at Lahore and the eminent saint, Mian Mir, was his spiritual adviser. During the reign of Aurangzeb, who emerged as emperor by vanquishing his rivals, Lahore lost some of its wealth and importance, though it was embellished with the construction of the Jams Masjid, or the Badshahi Mosque, near the fort. The majestic domes and minarets of the mosque form a conspicuous feature of the landscape in the notch of Lahore. To save the city from encroachments of the river Ravi, which had caused alarm in 1662, Aurangzeb built • massive embankment called Band•i•Alamgiri along the river bank. There are rwo other famous mosques in the city, one of which Wazir Khan built in 1634 and the other, Sonehri Masjid, or the Golden Mosque, was built in 1753. Both are located near Delhi Gate.
After Aurangzeb's death began the decline of the Moghul empire and during the eighteenth century Lahore was controlled either by weak Moghul governors or by Sikh chiefs and Afghan nobles. Once again Lahore was ravaged by invaders and plunderers. First came the Persian warrior•king Nadir Shah, who took away Delhi's Peacock Throne to Teheran in 1738. Lahore was saved from pillage by the governor surrendering the city and paying the conqueror twenty lakh rupees and a large number of elephants. Lahore came under the control of the Sikhs for the first time in 1756. But soon they had to give way to the Maratha, who in turn were overthrown by Ahrnad Shah at Panipat in 1761 and driven out of the Punjab. In 1767, Abroad Shah made his eighth and last invasion but was defeated by the Sikh forces. The last attack on Lahore was made by the Duran; chief, Shah Zeman, who besieged the city. His attack was, however, interrupted by the news of disturbances at Kabul where he returned, but only after exacting a subsidy of thirty lakh rupees from the few remaining wealthy merchants of Lahore. During these periodic invasions, Lahore suffered very much. Ordinary people retired into the walled city for safety while wealthy merchants and traders fled to Jammu, Amritsar and other places. In 1799, Ranjit Singh became master of Lahore and lord of the Punjab. During the four decades of his rule, he expanded his empire from the Suleiman range to the Sutlej and from Kashmir to Mohan and beyond. Lahore regained some of its past glory and pre-eminence. After the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839, his successor engaged in family feuds and were unable to rule the country. The British occupied Lahore in 1846 and annexed it in 1849. As the capital of the British province and centre of a modern system of administration, Lahore regained its old grandeur and dignity. It dominated the whole of Punjab more than ever before and emerged as the fortress of the Indian empire that watched over the troublesome Afghan and Russian borders. During Sikh rule, very few architectural additions were made to the city. The most notable landmark was the marble pavilion built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the centre of Hawn Bash, which metamorphosed from a sarai into a pleasure garden. Another prominent Sikh monument was the samadhi of Ranjit Singh, a pleasing mixture of Hindu and Muslim architecture. The Sikh period also witnessed a semblance of Hindu revival marked by the construction of a number of temples, or shrvalas as they were called in Lahore. Among the notable ones were Shelton ka Than, adding a different suffix, such as Ram, Chanel, Lal, Hach, etc., by the Hindus; Ali, Khan, Ahmed, Muhammad, Mahmud, etc., by the Muslims; and Singh by the Sikhs. Some of the popular first names were lqbal, Fakir, Barker, Haqumat,Ghulam, Roshan, Aftab, Mehtab, Khushi, Arnett-, Mukhtar and Mushtaq. There was a common name for God as well: a Lahoria when invoking God would involuntarily call out 'Oh Rabba'! People enjoyed living in the homely environment of the gullies. It was not uncommon for lawyers, government servants and school teachers to share a neighbourhood with confectioners, cloth pedlars, jewellers, tailors and others. The gullies were lined on both sides with pucca brick houses, three or four-storeyed with small or large :hurrahs (extended raised platforms) at the entrance level. There were several lofty houses and havelis dotting different pans of the walled city that dominated the surrounding landscape with their imposing appearance. The bazars, gay, colourful and throbbing with activity, were not just a collection of shape but an intrinsic part of Lahore's life. Social life in the city was by and large harmonious. The menfolk rose early in the morning and usually went in groups foe a walk towards the Ravi river. Some of them took a daily river bath in both summer and winter. After an early meal they went to work. The old and retired also left their homes to spend the day out. Some of them would go to the Company Bagh library and the reading•room outside Mon Gate, where they would go through all the dailies, such as Milap, Partap, Veer Bharat, Zanunelar, Tribune, and pick up spicy news items for discussion. The favourite topics of conversation among them were the falling moral standards of the younger generation, the ailments they suffered from, and the best available cures. There were few clubs in those days but, according to an established custom, some prosperous persons in every quarter of the city would maintain a haahak (private sining•room) where some of them would go to while away their time, enjoy a puff at the hookah or play a game of chess or dtaupat or just gossip and exchange notes about the happenings in the city. Others would visit the shops of their friends to give them a helping hand or keep watch over the customers. In order to keep fit, they would always be on the move. This reminds me of a Punjabi saying about old people: Chalda phirda lohya, Bertha to gohya, Laitya to Maya. (Walking keeps an old person strong like steel; sitting, he becomes a dung-cake; lying down, he is on his way to heaven!) The Sas of the family were much sought after by the children, who would pester them for stories and tales from the epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabhanta. The children were always warned against neglecting their studies through a popular saying: lactose kw:loge hogs pear, Whose Isithoge banoge nawa b. (If you waste all your time playing, you will be a good for•nothing. You will become a great man if you devote your time to studies.) Another piece of advice often doled out was: Dekh parai ehopdhi na torso* jet, Rukbi miss. kbokete thtmda pans pee (Do not fed jealous of another person's buttered bread. Eat coarse bread and wash it down with cold water.) Corning to punks and riddles, I am inclined to recall an interesting puzzle of my school days: The first is the first of the fast of you. The second and the third are zero two, The last is the first of the last of you. Now tell me please who are you? (F004 When the menfolk were away, life in the gullies was dominated by the women, who after attending to their daily choirs assembkd on the diturahs of their hamlet on the rooftops during winter to relax and gossip. Cloth pedlars and street hawkers also provided them with much fun and recreation. Each mohalla was a world by itself, with its own mishar (water carrier), dhobi (wacherman), mocha (cobbler), tailor and doctor, vaid or hakim. Many mohallas had their own wells and even ranjgbarr (houses for lodging marriage parties) built by philanthropists for the community. Some maintained their own akbaras (wrestling plots) where young and old would gather for physical exercise or wrestling bouts, a popular sport in Lahore. In the nineteenth century, many mohallas and gullies were inhabited by peopk belonging to the same caste or calling. The residents were held together by bonds of kinship and behaved like members of extended families. With the passage of time, they lost their exclutivecharacter following the influx of migrants from other parts of the Punjab and the movement of affluent ones from the walled city to the Civil lanes. Some of the famous mohallas of Lahore were Dhall, Sarin, Shahi, Mohlian, 1-Ingar Khan. Among the well-known gullies or kuchas were Babean, Balmata, Karim, Kagzian, Ulan, hlitiputan, Peshorian, Ithadarkah, Jawaharian, Rerun, Laila Majno. The KlInOMIC life of Lahore wasdominated by Hindu Khatns and Amen. They were engaged in commerce and merchandising. They also occupied important positions in the civil services and liberal professions such as law, medicine and education. Even under the Muslim and Sikh rulers the Khatris had attained high-ranking administrative posts. The British regarded them as one of the most acute, energetic and remarkable communities in the country. The Khan's were the first to go in for English education and to discard Persian, which was replaced by English as the language of administration. Those well versed on Persian lost their positions and status and were forced to look for livelihood in plebeian pursuits as expressed in a contemporary verse: Podbe niche ref. balm ai brawl de kin!.
(Strange are the ways of destiny; well-versed in Persian, he has turned an oil-seIler). The study of Persian was ridiculed, as seen from another versa Aab aab kar moyan bachya, Fannin ghat gale. Jr main iel,S0 pani mangya Shar Mar drub pyale. (Alas, my child, you have died crying for aab (water). This Persian language has mined us. Had I known you was only asking for water, I would have given you cupfuls of it.) Words in the Punjabi language had diverse nuances and shades of meaning in different parts of the province. It was easy for Lahorias to discover the origin of people from their accent and typical expressions. Punjabi had no written script of its own and whatever literature we had was in the Persian script. The Gurumukhi script, derived from Sanskrit, was chiefly used by the Sikhs for religious purposes. The British brought Urdu with them from the United Provinces. Hindi in the Dernagari script came later through the influence of the Arya Samaj. Urdu, however, emerged as the principal language of all communities as a means of communication. While the majority of the city population was Muslim, very few Muslims were engaged in business, civil services and the professions. It was only after the government's job reservation policy came into force that the number of Muslims in the services increased. Muslims constituted the majority of workers and artisans, being either employed in craft industries or in factories owned by Hindus. However, they controlled the fruit and vegetable markets, milk supply, furniture shops, tent manufacture and the tailoring business. There was also a sizeable Muslim landed aristocracy that owed its wealth and status to the British government. The Hindus were known to be frugal by nature. They piled up money but often gave much of it to charities. The Muslims had the reputation of being less charitable but also less miserly. Wealth to them was a passing show to be enjoyed while it lasted but not to be held on to. On the whole, the Lahorias were quite free spenders and liked to lead a good life. (cont................)
After Aurangzeb's death began the decline of the Moghul empire and during the eighteenth century Lahore was controlled either by weak Moghul governors or by Sikh chiefs and Afghan nobles. Once again Lahore was ravaged by invaders and plunderers. First came the Persian warrior•king Nadir Shah, who took away Delhi's Peacock Throne to Teheran in 1738. Lahore was saved from pillage by the governor surrendering the city and paying the conqueror twenty lakh rupees and a large number of elephants. Lahore came under the control of the Sikhs for the first time in 1756. But soon they had to give way to the Maratha, who in turn were overthrown by Ahrnad Shah at Panipat in 1761 and driven out of the Punjab. In 1767, Abroad Shah made his eighth and last invasion but was defeated by the Sikh forces. The last attack on Lahore was made by the Duran; chief, Shah Zeman, who besieged the city. His attack was, however, interrupted by the news of disturbances at Kabul where he returned, but only after exacting a subsidy of thirty lakh rupees from the few remaining wealthy merchants of Lahore. During these periodic invasions, Lahore suffered very much. Ordinary people retired into the walled city for safety while wealthy merchants and traders fled to Jammu, Amritsar and other places. In 1799, Ranjit Singh became master of Lahore and lord of the Punjab. During the four decades of his rule, he expanded his empire from the Suleiman range to the Sutlej and from Kashmir to Mohan and beyond. Lahore regained some of its past glory and pre-eminence. After the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839, his successor engaged in family feuds and were unable to rule the country. The British occupied Lahore in 1846 and annexed it in 1849. As the capital of the British province and centre of a modern system of administration, Lahore regained its old grandeur and dignity. It dominated the whole of Punjab more than ever before and emerged as the fortress of the Indian empire that watched over the troublesome Afghan and Russian borders. During Sikh rule, very few architectural additions were made to the city. The most notable landmark was the marble pavilion built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the centre of Hawn Bash, which metamorphosed from a sarai into a pleasure garden. Another prominent Sikh monument was the samadhi of Ranjit Singh, a pleasing mixture of Hindu and Muslim architecture. The Sikh period also witnessed a semblance of Hindu revival marked by the construction of a number of temples, or shrvalas as they were called in Lahore. Among the notable ones were Shelton ka Than, adding a different suffix, such as Ram, Chanel, Lal, Hach, etc., by the Hindus; Ali, Khan, Ahmed, Muhammad, Mahmud, etc., by the Muslims; and Singh by the Sikhs. Some of the popular first names were lqbal, Fakir, Barker, Haqumat,Ghulam, Roshan, Aftab, Mehtab, Khushi, Arnett-, Mukhtar and Mushtaq. There was a common name for God as well: a Lahoria when invoking God would involuntarily call out 'Oh Rabba'! People enjoyed living in the homely environment of the gullies. It was not uncommon for lawyers, government servants and school teachers to share a neighbourhood with confectioners, cloth pedlars, jewellers, tailors and others. The gullies were lined on both sides with pucca brick houses, three or four-storeyed with small or large :hurrahs (extended raised platforms) at the entrance level. There were several lofty houses and havelis dotting different pans of the walled city that dominated the surrounding landscape with their imposing appearance. The bazars, gay, colourful and throbbing with activity, were not just a collection of shape but an intrinsic part of Lahore's life. Social life in the city was by and large harmonious. The menfolk rose early in the morning and usually went in groups foe a walk towards the Ravi river. Some of them took a daily river bath in both summer and winter. After an early meal they went to work. The old and retired also left their homes to spend the day out. Some of them would go to the Company Bagh library and the reading•room outside Mon Gate, where they would go through all the dailies, such as Milap, Partap, Veer Bharat, Zanunelar, Tribune, and pick up spicy news items for discussion. The favourite topics of conversation among them were the falling moral standards of the younger generation, the ailments they suffered from, and the best available cures. There were few clubs in those days but, according to an established custom, some prosperous persons in every quarter of the city would maintain a haahak (private sining•room) where some of them would go to while away their time, enjoy a puff at the hookah or play a game of chess or dtaupat or just gossip and exchange notes about the happenings in the city. Others would visit the shops of their friends to give them a helping hand or keep watch over the customers. In order to keep fit, they would always be on the move. This reminds me of a Punjabi saying about old people: Chalda phirda lohya, Bertha to gohya, Laitya to Maya. (Walking keeps an old person strong like steel; sitting, he becomes a dung-cake; lying down, he is on his way to heaven!) The Sas of the family were much sought after by the children, who would pester them for stories and tales from the epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabhanta. The children were always warned against neglecting their studies through a popular saying: lactose kw:loge hogs pear, Whose Isithoge banoge nawa b. (If you waste all your time playing, you will be a good for•nothing. You will become a great man if you devote your time to studies.) Another piece of advice often doled out was: Dekh parai ehopdhi na torso* jet, Rukbi miss. kbokete thtmda pans pee (Do not fed jealous of another person's buttered bread. Eat coarse bread and wash it down with cold water.) Corning to punks and riddles, I am inclined to recall an interesting puzzle of my school days: The first is the first of the fast of you. The second and the third are zero two, The last is the first of the last of you. Now tell me please who are you? (F004 When the menfolk were away, life in the gullies was dominated by the women, who after attending to their daily choirs assembkd on the diturahs of their hamlet on the rooftops during winter to relax and gossip. Cloth pedlars and street hawkers also provided them with much fun and recreation. Each mohalla was a world by itself, with its own mishar (water carrier), dhobi (wacherman), mocha (cobbler), tailor and doctor, vaid or hakim. Many mohallas had their own wells and even ranjgbarr (houses for lodging marriage parties) built by philanthropists for the community. Some maintained their own akbaras (wrestling plots) where young and old would gather for physical exercise or wrestling bouts, a popular sport in Lahore. In the nineteenth century, many mohallas and gullies were inhabited by peopk belonging to the same caste or calling. The residents were held together by bonds of kinship and behaved like members of extended families. With the passage of time, they lost their exclutivecharacter following the influx of migrants from other parts of the Punjab and the movement of affluent ones from the walled city to the Civil lanes. Some of the famous mohallas of Lahore were Dhall, Sarin, Shahi, Mohlian, 1-Ingar Khan. Among the well-known gullies or kuchas were Babean, Balmata, Karim, Kagzian, Ulan, hlitiputan, Peshorian, Ithadarkah, Jawaharian, Rerun, Laila Majno. The KlInOMIC life of Lahore wasdominated by Hindu Khatns and Amen. They were engaged in commerce and merchandising. They also occupied important positions in the civil services and liberal professions such as law, medicine and education. Even under the Muslim and Sikh rulers the Khatris had attained high-ranking administrative posts. The British regarded them as one of the most acute, energetic and remarkable communities in the country. The Khan's were the first to go in for English education and to discard Persian, which was replaced by English as the language of administration. Those well versed on Persian lost their positions and status and were forced to look for livelihood in plebeian pursuits as expressed in a contemporary verse: Podbe niche ref. balm ai brawl de kin!.(Strange are the ways of destiny; well-versed in Persian, he has turned an oil-seIler). The study of Persian was ridiculed, as seen from another versa Aab aab kar moyan bachya, Fannin ghat gale. Jr main iel,S0 pani mangya Shar Mar drub pyale. (Alas, my child, you have died crying for aab (water). This Persian language has mined us. Had I known you was only asking for water, I would have given you cupfuls of it.) Words in the Punjabi language had diverse nuances and shades of meaning in different parts of the province. It was easy for Lahorias to discover the origin of people from their accent and typical expressions. Punjabi had no written script of its own and whatever literature we had was in the Persian script. The Gurumukhi script, derived from Sanskrit, was chiefly used by the Sikhs for religious purposes. The British brought Urdu with them from the United Provinces. Hindi in the Dernagari script came later through the influence of the Arya Samaj. Urdu, however, emerged as the principal language of all communities as a means of communication. While the majority of the city population was Muslim, very few Muslims were engaged in business, civil services and the professions. It was only after the government's job reservation policy came into force that the number of Muslims in the services increased. Muslims constituted the majority of workers and artisans, being either employed in craft industries or in factories owned by Hindus. However, they controlled the fruit and vegetable markets, milk supply, furniture shops, tent manufacture and the tailoring business. There was also a sizeable Muslim landed aristocracy that owed its wealth and status to the British government. The Hindus were known to be frugal by nature. They piled up money but often gave much of it to charities. The Muslims had the reputation of being less charitable but also less miserly. Wealth to them was a passing show to be enjoyed while it lasted but not to be held on to. On the whole, the Lahorias were quite free spenders and liked to lead a good life. (cont................)
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