Harking back: Ancient river trade that led to Lahore’s unique position

A recent Nottingham University, UK, research on the DNA of a camel skeleton found in Spain during an archaeological dig has thrown up an amazing new research line, and that being the ancient trade routes that brought spices over 2,000 years ago to Europe from the sub-continent.

Using ancient mitochondrial DNA analyses, coupled with a global sample set of the dromedary (camel) as a marker, it provided traces of its now extinct ancestors. What came through clearly was that there also were traces of various spices. Strange as it may sound, but then at the archaeological site were found traces of spices like cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, cassia and chilli, all packed firmly in terracotta pots. Dr Robin Donkin of Cambridge University has written about ‘East and West Trade History’ and is of the view that these are all goods which came here because of the ancient Spice Trade Route. This route used the River Indus as one of many channels used by merchants who collected goods at various river ports, going further by boat to Aden, from where they crossed the northern African coast to end up in another brief sea crossing, probably from Marrakesh to Spain, and then on to various countries of Europe.

Amazingly this is the migration route taken by the gypsies of the Punjab as they fled repeated Afghan invasions. The very word ‘gypsy’ is what the French termed them as ‘egypsie’ – people from Egypt. A UN research using DNA samples of 150,000 samples from all over the world has confirmed beyond doubt the Punjabi-Sindhi-Rajasthan origin of these world wanderers. That they followed the ancient trade routes is very possible.

Naturally, all the goods sent had to have a very long shelf life. If we follow a detailed spice trade route as given in Vinod Kalidasan’s “Routes of Pepper”, we see in detail how not only did these merchants ships bring spices from faraway Malayan ports, but collected near Barbarikon and Debal and Ras al Karari (modern Karachi). Here they added goods from all the ports up the five rives of the Indus. My interest was more focused when the discourse mentioned ‘Lahowar’ as Al-Beruni called Lahore. The description seems to mention the spice markets of Lahore as a major staging and collection point for onward transfer of products for ‘shipping to faraway ports’.

Just where was this port, and how come Lahore had an impressive boat building industry in the distant past? As these days I explore ancient Lahore in greater detail, it transpires that even the great battle of the Ten Kings, known better in the epic ‘Ramayana’ as ‘Dasanrajan’, was primarily a fight to control the river trade route. The ruler of Lahore, the Bharatas, won. It is interesting that the word Bharat relates to Lahore’s ancient rulers just as ‘Hindu’ is a corruption of the word Sindhu, and India of the word Indus. For the last two the Arabs inability to pronounce sub-continental words is to blame.

So international river trade remained in control of Lahore’s ancient rulers. But where was this port in ancient Lahore? If you visit the walled city’s Sheranwala Darwaza, named relatively recently in historic terms by Maharajah Ranjit Singh, its original name being Khizri Gate, named after the saint of seafarers, Khawaja Khizer. The gateway faced the River Ravi port as it curled around the old city. Before the days of Mughal emperor Akbar, this same gateway was about 100 yards to the south at the ancient mud-walled Lahore. The bazaars of Lahore lay to the east and south of this gateway, while the camel caravans collected outside the mud walls at almost the same place where today stands the front of the Wazir Khan Mosque.

As the caravans brought various goods, among them spices, from almost 200 miles (an approximation at best) around Lahore, they were stored in warehouses waiting for small ships to take them to Debal or Ras al Karari (Karachi) for onward shipping to the western ports of Iraq, Arabia and Egypt. From these places very large caravans headed further to the west, some shipping them to the northern countries like Greece and Italy. Common sense tells us that one measure is to study the food dishes of southern Europe and you will find them fairly spiced up. Therefore, the spice trade played its unique part in the history of civilisations.

But let us concentrate on Khizri Gate for the time being. As you head along the main bazaar to the left is Mohallah Kashtibanan, or the precinct of the boat rowers. You have similar ‘mohallahs’ for boat and sail makers. Sadly, all these street names have been changed given the communal mood that swept our country, and continues to hold sway. Names and places have a history, and changing names of streets and areas is denying the history which our ancestors experienced.

Once Akbar expanded the city, most of the bazaars shifted outwards, mostly around Akbari Gate to the east. This shifting of the bazaars came about mostly in British days as the Ravi meandered westwards and a small branch of the river continued to curl around the city, with small bridges helping them to link with these gateways. The boat trade eventually ended as the river dried and the Ravi moved almost three miles to the west where it today flows.

It is clear that Lahore in times of old was important for world trade of spices and silks. Mind you a lot of the silks that flowed from Lahore mostly came from the northern parts of the sub-continent as well as from China along the old Silk Route. The importance of Lahore’s river port has a major part to play in its history. That the ancient tribes mentioned in the ‘Ramayana’ collected to conquer it must have compelled them for a major economic benefit, that being the trade route that went through its port.

Mind you this does not in any way diminish the role of other cities and ports in the spice trade, especially the coastal sub-continental ports. What it does bring forth is the relative importance of Lahore as a trading city, as a port city in days when

the river trade was of great importance, and later of a city on the sub-continental highways that sadly invited so many foreign invaders, changing to a great extent the very culture of the land in which it exists.

With the signing of the Indus Water Treaty with India, the water that flowed since the beginning of time ended. A mandatory trickle is allowed. So the chances of Lahore again having a port to take goods to Karachi no longer exists. But then new avenues of sending spices to the world beyond exist using air and land routes, and even by sea from Karachi. It is a trade grouted in time, and our traders surely should keep this ancient tradition alive.