Harking back: Mystique of a tunnel from Lahore to Gobindgarh Fort

One of the great myths about the Lahore Fort was, and will always remain, is that it has secret tunnels built for the rulers to escape. Is there any truth to these juicy stories, for there are rumours of tunnels heading towards the Lahore Fort too?

Though one should take such stories with the proverbial pinch of salt, they are worth investigation. The one tunnel that we certainly know collapsed a few years ago was from the now demolished Bangla Ayub Shah, originally said to be where Queen Noor Johan’s house inside the walled city existed. This ‘Bangla’ is located at the end of Kashmiri Gate Bazaar in Gali Bangla Ayub Shah. This is a ‘protected’ site, but then our traders, backed by politicians out for a profit come what may, care little for such heritage considerations. It was last owned by the family of the Afghan ruler, and my dear friend Shahzada Tahir Azam, a close relative of the later Afghan ruler Zahid Shah, remembers his family horse coach parked there and mysterious tunnels behind locked door. The reality we might never know.

That a tunnel went from the Lahore Fort to Bangla Ayub Shah is quite probable. But then the bigger mystery tunnel which a lot of people believe is that during the reign of Maharajah Ranjit Singh a tunnel large enough for a horse to ride through was built between the Lahore Fort and the famous Gobindgarh Fort in Amritsar. Now this hit a chord because of recent I have been reading about recently discovered secret tunnels of Mughal India. Let me recall them and then return to the Lahore Fort.

Indian archaeologists have discovered in Kolkata (Calcutta) an over 250-year-old secret tunnel. Amazingly, this was built by the British to house an underground torture chamber. One analyst claims it was a treasure room. An equally old tunnel under Mumbai (Bombay) was discovered in December 2010.

But the tunnel under the Red Fort going to the edge of the River Yamuna is now a conserved Mughal-era monument. Another conserved secret tunnel, over 1,000 feet in length, exists in Jaipur which runs from the Amber Palace to the Jaipur Fort. But the Talatal Ghar tunnels of Assam from the royal palace of the Tai Ahom era in the 13th century to their army base is three kilometres long, while from the Dikhow River to the palace is an astonishing 16 kilometres long. Also the most famous tunnel in India is from the Golkonda Fort to Charminar, Hyderabad, built for royalty to escape.

So the probability of a secret tunnel from the Lahore Fort for the ruler to escape is a distinct possibility. That is why if we are to study this aspect of the Lahore Fort, we must know something about the Gobindgarh Fort, for both are living repositories of the history of the Punjab. To understand one without the other would leave a gap in our understanding of forts. This is known as ‘Bhangian da Qila’ and at its gateway is a huge ‘Bhangian de Toppe’, the cannon of the Bhangi Misl. Now if you know your Lahore well you will realise that Lahore has the original cannon – the Zamzama - and that the one at Gobindgarh Fort is a duplicate, both built at the same time and to the same specifications.

Both these guns were made together in Lahore in 1757 by Nazir Shah, who ran a metal smith workshop where today is Nila Gumbad, just off Anarkali Bazaar. All the brass for these guns was acquired from non-Muslims living inside the walled city on the orders of the Afghan invader Shah Shuja, whose Prime Minister Shah Wali Khan collected household goods of brass as ‘Jazia’. In its days it was the largest set of guns in the sub-continent.

The name Bhangian de Toppe is because it was snatched by the Bhangi Misl from the retreating Afghan invaders. This massive 80-pounder has a 9.5-inch bore. Both the cannons bear the same inscriptions in Persian. The front inscription reads: “By orders of Emperor Ahmed Shah, Dur-e-Durran, made by his Wazir Shah Wali Khan and named Zamzama”. This specimen was acquired in 1762 by Hari Singh Bhangi when he attacked Lahore at the very beginning of the first Sikh rulers of Lahore, the triad whom Ranjit Singh overthrew in 1799 with the inside assistance of the Muslim traders of Lahore.

This cannon was used by Maharajah Ranjit Singh in his battles to conquer Kasur, Daska, Wazirabad and Multan, where in 1810 its firing mechanism failed. It was brought back to Amritsar to the Gobindgarh Fort, which was till then known as ‘Bhangian da Qila’ as it was built by Gujjar Singh Bhangi, the man after whom is named Qila Gujjar Singh of Lahore. Though its original name always was Gobindgarh after the great Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, yet in local use it was called after the Bhangi Misl.

Once Amritsar was taken Ranjit Singh improved its defensive walls keeping in mind saving the Harminder Sahib from Afghan invaders out to damage and desecrate it. He used the services of French experts in its structure. The belief is that it was at Gobindgarh that the Koh-e-Noor diamond was kept as well as it housed an armament factory run by the Romanian Dr Johann Martin Honigberger. The main gate was named Nalwa Gate after the great Sikh general Hari Singh Nalwa.

For Lahore there are many things to learn from how the fort has been conserved and upgraded. To depict its martial history a 7D show based on the role of the Sikhs in Punjab’s history is narrated. Then there is the Toshakhana where a coin museum exists. Most interesting is an Ancient War Museum whose statues are amazingly realistic. Every day live performances of bhangra, gidda, dholi, gatka and other traditional aspects of Punjabi life take place. To add to these an ‘Ambarsari Zaika’ eatery exists. Silk and woollen shawl stalls attract women and then a laser show at night which educates people about the fort’s history and architecture.

All these actual happenings need to be narrated because the Lahore Fort is in the middle of a massive conservation effort, with considerable assistance of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Just last month the world’s largest wall picture was completed. A Lahori food kitchen has started operating. So we seem to be on similar tracks. How can Lahore learn from what goes on at Gobindgarh Fort. Just last week I met a gentleman in Cambridge who was involved in that effort. He told me that they had learnt a lot from what had happened in the past at the Lahore Fort, and was pleased that the present dispensation was returning to conserving the Punjab’s finest fort.

But one joint research effort can benefit both, that is if both forts can seriously resort to discovering the alleged tunnels that allegedly existed. If any trace of them exists it will add to the mystery of both the forts and its past common rulers. My take is as good as yours. Let’s see how the custodians of both forts move.