Harking Back: Trying to time and understand what exists in old Lahore

As we research the history of Lahore, I am always reminded of Faiz Ahmed Faiz describing our culture as simply being “everything that exists”. For this very reason we must have some idea of what we want Lahore to be 25 years hence.

The question really then is do we even know what exists … that is if we want to know what we want. Over time the Lahore of old has been threatened time and again by vicious foreign invaders and even more recently by ruthless traders of new who have decimated our finest. For starters we must recognise that our task now is to put a complete halt to the threats to the old (once-walled) city of Lahore. That will, naturally, mean that commercial activity is moved out of what are essentially residential quarters. Legally speaking it should be the law taking its natural course. At the same time we have to undertake scientifically acceptable archaeological work to find out what once existed.

The discovery of traces of the past will bring forth a new reality, which surely will enhance our current understanding of ourselves. The over 4,000-year-old pottery finds in the 1952 Lahore Fort excavation is a case in point. So in this spirit let us first see what exists, and when did they first turn up in old Lahore. Naturally, new ones more relevant to our times have emerged and will continue to emerge. The trick is to have a fair idea of what came when, what has disappeared and what needs to be done. That is why in this piece my attempt will be to date, and place in context, different existing monuments so that we can see, almost rising before us, the context of our history.

The last of the seven ‘great destroyers’ of Lahore was the Mughal emperor Babar, who in 1524 flattened old Lahore and stood there watching for two days as his soldiers burnt the ancient city. Just two monuments, both mosques, of the pre-Babar era exist today. One was inside the then walled city, and that was the ‘Neevin Masjid’ in Kucha Dogaran inside Lohari Gate near Chowk Matti. The floor level of present-day Old Lahore is 12 feet above what it was in the late Mughal times, as the excellent work at the Royal Hammam has shown. Archaeological digging yields amazingly new perspectives.

The Neevin Masjid was built in the Lodhi era and the first prayers offered in 1460. The founder of the mosque was a Pathan courtier by the name of Zulfiqar Khan, who served the then Lahore Governor Haypat Khan. The foundations of the mosque, as we see it today, are 24 feet below the present-day land surface. This means that over the last 558 years the land surface has risen considerably for this truly historic mosque to be called ‘Neevin Masjid’. Given that the Shahi Hammam, built in 1635, land surface is 12 feet above its original level, means that every three years the land surface rises by an inch. This is exactly the same speed as the ‘Neevin Masjid’ land rise. What does this mean?

The second pre-Mughal mosque that we have is the Sheranwali Masjid inside the Delhi Gate. As the location of this mosque is outside the old Lahore pre-Akbar, we can assume fairly safely that it was not in the city, but just outside the original walls. Why Babar spared it is not known. So these two are pre-Mughal and that is why studying them both in great detail is a much needed exercise. Even more important is that if a circle with a radius of 100 feet is drawn around ‘Neevin Masjid’ and archaeological work carried out, the chances of traces of the very old Lahore will surely emerge.

In the Mughal era after Akbar, out of the 10 major mosques built only three are inside the old city, all of them in the expanded space which the ‘new’ wall created. But what certainly did take place was that every ‘mohallah’ without fail had at least one of its own small mosque. Take the example of Tehsil Bazaar which shoots off from Bazaar Hakeeman and ends at Gumti Bazaar, there are 12 mosques, including a now disused Jain Mandir. These mosques belong to five different schools of Islamic thought.

So it is that we see each small mosque or small tomb rising with the advent of a particular ruler, depending on their beliefs. The city has evolved depending on the ascendancy of a particular belief power centre.

With the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 we have 92 years of utter confusion with Afghan and even Maratha rule. So new mosques and temples emerged. But then with the coming of Maharajah Ranjit Singh we see the building of a lot of gurdwaras and samadhis, not to speak of grand ‘havelis’ of the rich and powerful. The British period Lahore saw the building of chapels initially, and then churches and cathedrals. Also in this period, suddenly, new schools, colleges, student hostels, hospitals, cinemas, hotels, clubs, banks and universities sprouted. They reflected the rulers and their subtle priorities to cater to a new breed of ‘brown sahibs’.

Sadly, not all of these colonial period monuments have been maintained. Take the example of Lakshmi Building at Lakshmi Chowk. This exquisite building has its own unique history, but it is just a matter of time before one day we will see the front façade collapse. The McLeod Road was in its day a very beautiful boulevard. Where once stood one building today exist ten shops and offices, not to speak of motorcycle workshops. If the Lahore High Court can expect The Mall to be maintained and looked after, surely there are other colonial period areas that need to be maintained. It will suddenly convert the city into a beautiful major tourist city.

What do all these facts mean? For one we must think long-term if we are to find our feet beyond beliefs. We must date all our monuments, we must save them by conserving them and then adding them to our list of historic buildings. Be they mosques or temples or gurdwaras or churches, or ‘havelis’ or any structure of historic interest, they must be saved from the wrath of expanding traders.

The old city must restrict commercial activity to not more than 15 to 20 per cent of the total space. New wholesale commercial centres make more sense if shifted outside the Ring Road. This is the practice all over the world. Why must wholesale markets exist in a ‘conserved’ historic area is beyond any logic.

Inside the old city a planned archaeological effort is needed. We must work towards having a balanced way of life free of any prejudices. As Faiz said: “What exists is our culture”. So we have to work towards finding out just what exists today as also what existed in the past. That is the only way forward.