HARKING BACK: Mystery of the treasure trove that went missing

There is no doubt that the fi nest conserved monument in old Lahore is the Shahi Hammam of Wazir Khan. But then like all things offi cial there is an untold tale of a wrongdoing. It is a story of deceit which is accepted as normal by the current dispensation.

The fi rst time I set foot in the ‘hammam’ was years ago when invited by a secretary of the Punjab government to a function. The Walled City of Lahore Authority had not been set up yet and this ‘media-savvy’ bureaucrat spoke eloquently about how concerned they were about heritage, and that they would never allow Lahore’s heritage to be damaged. Sitting next to me was the late and distinguished writer Intizar Husain. Polite to a fault he whispered in my ear: “Sheikh Sahib, ajab zamana hai. Paer thalay virsa and batain asmaan ke”. (We live in strange times, with heritage under his feet, he talks of the skies). It was embarrassing to say the least. After the speeches the gathering of bureaucrats, media persons and intellectuals moved towards the central dome room where a lavish meal was laid out within the ‘hammam’. The decorated walls had food marks of many a wedding reception held there.

After the ceremony both Intizar Husain and I wrote our own pieces. He was subtle while my piece, now that I go over it again, was more direct. The bureaucrat went on to higher places within government. Thankfully with foreign assistance, both material and human, an effort was undertaken to save the Shahi Hammam. It was a slow painful process as all great heritage work should be. The result is truly magnifi cent. Credit must surely go to The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, that great saviour of Delhi’s Humayun’s Tomb, of Syria’s Fort of Salahuddin Ayubi, and a host of other heritage projects in Muslim lands, let alone their experimental project of saving Gali Surjan Singh inside Lahore’s Delhi Gate.

Our story begins with the coming of the British and once they had used the front bath as a courtroom, the East India Company decided to fi ll in the unused water baths with earth fi lling and brick the fl oor. Just where did they get the earth fi lling from? Was it from the River Ravi fl owing nearby, or was it from nearby fi elds, or was it from the rubble within the old walled city? This we do not know as yet. Our interest in the rubble is because the real stories lie in locating its origin. We will return to the rubble, but fi rst let us dwell on the conservation of the Shahi Hammam.

As the conservation work started, the fi rst job was to record every detail of the monument. Brick samples were studied in great scientifi c detail, the limestone used was examined, and paint and the ceramic work was examined.

Architects drew every detail they could fi nd and on a 3-D computer programme the entire project was taken forward. As they examined the foundations they discovered that they were at a depth that showed the road level in Mughal days. It was a good 12 feet below the existing level. The question arose just how had it happened?

As a few excavation samples were taken in nearby areas they discovered that the entire walled city roads and lanes had risen, more so in the outer perimeter areas. Why this happened is for historians and archaeological researchers to work out. In these columns we have strongly advocated that inside the walled city every empty plot, or any plot knocked down, even illegally by the trader classes, should fi rst have an archaeological dig to clear it, if the conditions are met, for reconstruction. Old Lahore is, probably, one of the world’s old cities and deserves better treatment.

Once this was realised it was discovered by a sample dig within the Shahi Hammam that below the surface lay a whole new world. What you see today is the hard work of a large team, as also of decision-makers and international experts seriously interested in old Lahore. The role of the ‘educated’, the ‘rich’ and the trader-backed politicians makes for sad reading. The Orange Line fi asco is before us.

So it was that we saw the Shahi Hammam emerge and today the Unesco list of world heritage includes this gem of Lahore. As you walk about you will see a lot of old pots and ceramic pottery in a few glass cages.

This is what emerged from the rubble fi lling that the British had used to level the water baths and tanks. But the initial treasures found, by some mysterious slew of hand by our offi cials, disappeared.

One estimate puts the number of heritage treasures as over 200 items of different types. Luckily, the initial carbon-dating of fi ve items showed them to be over 1,500 years old. Initial studied placed them as even older.

Who stole one of the biggest treasures of old Lahore found in recent times? The AKTC offi cials had handed over the premises to the Punjab government before they took possession for the second phase of the project. In between the entire treasure was removed. Who took them is a mystery, but this much can be confi rmed that they have been stolen.

That is why the location of where the rubble came from during the initial British days is so important to find out.

On my part I have been through the records of the East India Company in London, but have not as yet hit any detail to assist. There is a probability that some hint of the location could be in the now messed-up Punjab Archives, which still lie dumped in the old horse stables at the back of the Punjab Secretariat. But then the Department of Archives just refuses to wake up. All the government does is make false promises of shifting this immense treasure to a safer place. Remember there is no money to be made in this effort, hence the disinterest.

Meanwhile, my mind goes back to that ceremony in which the great writer Intizar Husain made that amazing remark. It sounds almost surreal.

The real treasure was really beneath the feet of that bombastic bureaucrat.