Harking Back: An ‘ancient’ city and the case of the disappearing walls

The Walled City of Lahore, or should we say the ‘once-walled’ city of Lahore, has met its ups and downs over the last 2,000 years that we know of. Starting from thick mud walls to semi-bricked to fully bricked and then to a process starting the last 165 years where the walls disappeared.

In this piece let us trace its history and ponder over whether a time might come when it might have walls again. Personally, I have my grave doubts given that we now live in a society seeping in fake piety, corruption, incompetence, illiteracy and terrible governance. Sounds like a long list of negatives, and rest assured this is not based on despondency. It is based on history and facts and a reasonably scientific projection into the future of our beloved ‘once-walled’ city. It pains to write such a description, but then we just cannot ignore facts and reality. So briefly let us look at its history.

The oldest written proof of the walled city can be ascertained by reading the description of the Battle of Ten Kings, or ‘Dasarajna Yuddha’ as given in the 7th Mandala of the Rigveda. The ruler of Lahore, Bharata, won the day and there is a description of the thick mud walls of the fort “on which two horses could run together”. The River Ravi (called Parusni then) flowed around the fort and city and its walls were legendary. In one line of the Veda it says: “the walls protect this sacred city, for without which it will be decimated”. The battle then was between the forces of the Trtsu-Bharata, scientifically called Indo-Aryans, and the collective forces led by Vishvamitra of Gandhara. These forces included the tribes from modern Waziristan right to the middle including Multan.

Down the line we have the Greek historian Megasthenes, who described Lahore as “a beautiful city of charm and great culture surrounded by beautiful walls”. Later Buddhist and Hindu rulers venerated this ‘city of walls’ and in Mohallah Maullian we know that Gautama Buddha stayed for three months during his search for ‘the truth’. In practical Lahore he probably discovered that peace lies within. For some time the forces of Multan ruled and then the invading Afghans under Mahmud attacked and razed the walls. The real enemy of our walls had arrived.

A number of foreign invaders in search of wealth and slaves kept coming, from the Ghauris to the Mongols to Timur and then the Mughal ruler Babar who completely decimated the city and its walls. For long periods between foreign invasions the city remained without its walls. But then saviours who had settled down finally found that having walls to protect this great city was essential. The Qureshis of Multan, the Sayyids, the Suris first demolished and then rebuilt, but all in mud. The last demolishers the Mughals finally in the garb of Akbar rebuilt them in brick after he got over 25,000 free workers who had run to the city because of a terrible famine. His lethal tax on crops had led to starvation, yet he is known as Akbar the ‘Great’. The walls of the fort and the city that we know today were built by Akbar in 1584.

Now that the thick brick walls of the Akbar era found admirers from whoever came this way, we have a 375-year period in which, little by little the walls were damaged. Only the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh in his reign (1799-1839) rebuilt the damage and raised the height of the walls and built a moat outside as well as installed drawbridges. Come the East India Company in 1849 and the damage started.

The events of 1857 and the First War of Independence convinced the British that in future just like the siege of Delhi, if Lahore managed one, which was quite possible, then their empire would be undermined. So they first demolished the southern wall of the Lahore Fort, as also the northern and southern walls of the city. They proved to be the real enemies of Lahore’s walls in the so-called modern era.

The events of 1947 saw destruction unlimited within as communal riots broke out. The Shahalami Gateway was demolished and soon a new set of immigrants from East Punjab came in and took to trading. Mind you over time it have been the trading classes that conspired against the rulers. They opened gates and dug holes in the city and fort to invite invaders. Any dent to their profits proved dangerous for the old city and its rulers.

But after 1947 a new set of parameters rule. The traders as against the 15 per cent legally allowed area, today occupy over 65pc of the old city. They face three irritants to their untaxed profits. Firstly the free flow of goods, the restrictions of commercialisation and, lastly, the demand for cheap labour. Facing these obstacles after 1947 these traders from the East started demolishing the walls of the city to rebuild new warehouses (called ‘godown’) and high-rise building with shops in the front. Hence slowly in an almost invisible slow process all the walls of the old city, brick-by-brick, disappeared.

After the Russian invasion of Afghanistan hundreds of thousands of Afghans flocked to the city, and started work for half the wages of local workers. That suited the ruthless traders, who exploited the workers, the laws and stole bricks. The tragedy is that no bureaucrat or politician has the power till today to stop them and reverse this process.

The question that this piece wishes to address is that will old Lahore ever get its destroyed stolen walls back. For the time being the answer is a big ‘No’. So then just why called it the Walled City of Lahore. The traders can today, flouting all laws, drive in trucks and small delivery vans where once walking was difficult. This is a reality that cannot be ignored. To overcome traffic flow the traders have built a 14th gate between Shahalami and Mochi. No one is bothered.

But there is a solution. Firstly, the concerned authority must undertake rebuilding the walls as they originally were even if it is in small bits without disturbing the powerful traders, who have strong political backing. For them the law does not matter as they surely grease all those in power. But the best way out would be to build a ‘New Walled City Lahore’; across the river after shifting the truck and bus stand across the river too. That will solve the traffic congestion problems in the city, provided the traders with a central trading new city, free the ancient and old city of Lahore for future conservation and restoration, as also some rebuilding as given under UNESCO rules.

But most importantly while the traders will surely double their wholesale profits, the old city will see a swell of tourist money as well as a heritage that is worth saving. It is just a matter of educating the traders and the old city dwellers on the usefulness of having both the old and the new making profits.