Lahore And The Mughals

The new Prime Minister of Britain is a Hindu. But his Asian roots are actually in what is now Pakistan, in Gujranwala which is just north of Lahore. His grandfather left for Kenya, in east Africa, before the Partition. His parents moved to Britain in the 1960s, where he was born in Southampton.

Let's have another look at the fabled city of Lahore.

The city of Lahore is located in Pakistan's Punjab province. It is the largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and is near the border with India, and not far from the Indian city of Amritsar. Lahore has been the capital of a number of empires, including the Sikh Empire. The center of the Sikh religion is now the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Lahore has traditionally been considered as a wealthy city, and has been a center of education since medieval times.

I have listened to so many stories about Lahore, it is about time to pay a visit to it.

The Mughals, which we saw in the recent visit to Delhi, are very prominent in the history of Lahore. It was the Mughal capital at the time of the emperor, Akbar, and has even more Mughal-era structures than Delhi. Akbar was Humayun's son, whose tomb is prominent in Delhi. Babur was the founder of the Mughals, and was Humayun's father.

Mugalpura is a section of Lahore that is named for the Mughals, where the roads are named for Mughal emperors. The Mughal language was Persian, but the ruling classes spoke a dialect that became known as Urdu, and is today Pakistan's national language.

The Mughals had a vast empire across what is now India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and, Bangladesh. The Persian conqueror Nadir Shah briefly ruled Lahore while on his way to raid the Mughal capital of Delhi. Muhammad Shah was the Mughal emperor at that time. "Shah" means "king".

Just as there is the Old City of Delhi (Shahjahanabad), from the Mughal era, so is there the Old City of Lahore. Just as in Delhi, the walls around the Old City are gone, but some of the gates remain. Here are a couple of examples of gates that remain in the Old City of Lahore:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walled_City_of_Lahore#/media/File:Hazuri_Bagh.JPG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walled_City_of_Lahore#/media/File:Kashmiri_Gate_03.jpg

This is Sunehri Masjid, located in the Mughal-era Old City of Lahore:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunehri_Masjid,_Lahore#/media/File:Sunehri_masjid_top_view_2.JPG

The Old City is also known for the elaborately-decorated townhouse-style mansions from the Mughal and Sikh eras. Here is one such example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haveli#/media/File:Nau_Nihal_Singh%27s_haveli,_now_Victoria_Girls_High_School,_Lahore.jpg

Lahore is widely-known for it's food. Everyone from Lahore seems to be a good cook. How many cities have streets devoted just to food? This is Fort Road Food Street.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Road_Food_Street#/media/File:Food_Street_Lahore.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahori_cuisine#/media/File:Lahore_Tikka_House_(2)_-_Plain_Rice_and_Lahori_Lamb_Kabab,_Take_Two.jpg

In the Old City of Lahore is the Wazir Khan Mosque, also from the Mughal era. Khan is a very common Pakistani surname. We saw in the posting on this blog, "Why We Should Understand The Mongols", how the Mughals, also spelled Moguls, were descended from the Mongols through the Timurids. Babur, who began the Mughals, claimed to be descended both from Genghis Khan and Timur (or Tamerlane). Could Genghis Khan have imagined that someday there would be a mayor of distant London with his name?

Here is a look around the southeastern part of the Old City of Lahore, beginning in the Masjid Wazir Khan.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.5831683,74.3234744,2a,75y,196.05h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sTr8VzNbpxDIAAAQfr8pCoQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DTr8VzNbpxDIAAAQfr8pCoQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D193.76878%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Iqbal Park is in the northern part of the Old City of Lahore. The Minar-e-Pakistan, or Tower of Pakistan, is a monument commemorating the Lahore Resolution, that Moslems in India should have their separate homeland, which became Pakistan. The resolution was, of course, named for the heavily-Moslem city of Lahore.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iqbal_Park#/media/File:Minar_-e_Pakistan_at_Night.jpeg

Iqbal Park is so named because of the tomb of Muhammad Iqbal. This was a poet and philosopher who is regarded as being the first to promote the idea of an independent Pakistan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iqbal_Park#/media/File:Allama_Iqbals_Tomb_East_wall_close-up_July_1_2005.jpg

The focal point of the Old City of Lahore is the three adjacent structures of Lahore Fort, Badshahi Mosque, both from the Mughal era, and the Samadhi of Ranjit Singh, from the Sikh era in Lahore. The positioning of the three is very similar to the adjacent positioning of a fort, a mosque and, a tomb, in Delhi and in Agra.

Lahore Fort, built of red sandstone just like the Red Fort in Delhi and Agra Fort in Agra, is on Fort Road in the Old City. It is on the site of previous forts, was begun by the Mughal emperor Akbar, and added to by emperor Shah Jahan. There is a summer palace in the fort and Moti Masjid is the interior mosque that was added by Shah Jahan.

The image of Lahore Fort that most people have is the front gate, the Alamgiri Gate:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahore_Fort#/media/File:Lahore_Fort_view_from_Baradari.jpg

This is the Badshahi Mosque which was built in 1673 by Aurangzeb, from the interior of it's red sandstone courtyard, reminiscent of the Jama Masjid in Delhi which was built by Aurengzeb's father, Shah Jahan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badshahi_Mosque#/media/File:Badshahi_Mosque_33_(edited).jpg

There is a garden between the main entrances to the Lahore Fort and the adjacent Badshahi Mosque, which face each other. The garden is constructed in the typical Mughal quadrangle style, and is known as the Hazuri Bagh. In the center of the quadrangle is a pavilion, known as a Baradari, that was put there in the Sikh era of Lahore. At the south end of this garden is the Roshnai Gate, that we saw above.

The first of the following scenes show that building in the middle of the garden, with the Badshahi Mosque in the background. Behind where the image was taken is the Alamgiri Gate of the Lahore Fort. The large Sikh building, the Samadhi of Ranjit Singh, can be seen to be in a line perpendicular to the axis between the Badshahi Mosque and the Red Fort.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.5883026,74.3123325,3a,75y,269h,85t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sKaq5UEtu0Hmzvevi9lB05Q!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DKaq5UEtu0Hmzvevi9lB05Q%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D269.58453%26pitch%3D-5.5640655!7i13312!8i6656

Lahore was ruled by the Sikh Empire for the first half of the Nineteenth Century. The Sikh Empire actually began with the capture of Lahore. During the Sikh era, mosques in Lahore were re-purposed into Gurdwaras. The Samadhi of Ranjit Singh is considered as the foremost example of Sikh architecture in Lahore. Ranjit Singh was the founder of the Sikh Empire and the building is his Nineteenth-Century mausoleum. Here is a close view of the Samadhi of Ranjit Singh.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samadhi_of_Ranjit_Singh#/media/File:SORS1.jpg

Here are scenes in and around the many universities that Lahore is known for.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.5707923,74.3147623,3a,75y,61.48h,86.03t,-0.19r/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGO_WOBQtBuuLxHBmn7VpAw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DGO_WOBQtBuuLxHBmn7VpAw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D153.38243%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

The universities of Lahore are concentrated in the district of Anarkali, the name of which we will get to later.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.569542,74.3090767,3a,75y,11h,86.81t,1.88r/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sFXS-pQCWedBEfwEEu73tJA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DFXS-pQCWedBEfwEEu73tJA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D269.70007%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

Lahore is sometimes known as the "City of Gardens", and for good reason. It is the home of possibly the best example of a Mughal garden anywhere, the Shalimar Gardens. This garden has over 400 fountains and is built in the Mughal quadrangle form, known as Charbagh. Mughal gardens are intended to convey an idea of what Heaven will be like. Shalimar Gardens were built by the Mughals in the Seventeenth Century:

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.5870918,74.3826212,3a,75y,345.73h,87.42t,-3.98r/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s6egHwkIQwbD2M3kM2YCwHQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D6egHwkIQwbD2M3kM2YCwHQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D76.178421%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

The tomb of the Mughal emperor Jahangir, who died in 1627, can be considered as Lahore's version of the Taj Mahal or Humayun's Tomb. His wife, Nur (or Noor) Jahan, was the best-known woman in Mughal history. The tombs of both are in Shahdara, to the northwest of Lahore. Jahangir was the son of Akbar, who began Lahore Fort.

A city cannot become as fabled as Lahore without some romance and intrigue. Movies have been made and stories written about the women around Jahangir. Those stories tend to fall into two categories. The first is that Jahangir was fond of drinking alcohol and that his wife, the strong-willed Noor Jahan, was the real power behind the throne during his reign. The second category is that Jahangir carried on an illicit relationship with a woman named Anarkali.

By the way Mumtaz Mahal, for whom the Taj Mahal was built as a tomb by Shah Jahan, was a niece of Noor Jahan.

Here is the tomb of Jahangir, starting from the inside, with Noor Jahan's tomb outside:

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.622511,74.3032314,3a,75y,213.48h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sTpZ6rffDIbUAAAQumcKgYQ!2e0!3e11!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DTpZ6rffDIbUAAAQumcKgYQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D63.641178%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

But at the end of the gardens around Jahangir's tomb is a smaller garden surrounding another tomb. Some believe that this is the tomb of Anarkali. Some are certain that she never existed, and that the story is the invention of later writers. Others believe that she was real, but was common-born and such a relationship would never have happened. But Anarkali does have a section of the city named for her, where the universities are concentrated. Anyway, this might be Anarkali's Tomb:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarkali#/media/File:Tomb_of_Anar_Kali_Lahore.jpg