Harking Back: Seven ancient ‘wonders’ of Lahore

Ever since I mentioned in these columns that the pre-Akbar era can be classified as ‘ancient’ Lahore, and the following time as merely ‘old’ Lahore, readers have wished to know which of the ancient ‘wonders’ remain.

It is worth recalling these ‘wonders’, but allow me the luxury of drawing the timeline to pre and post-700 years. That adds a lot of credence to the list. So in this column let me narrate, very briefly, which are those seven ‘wonders’ of Ancient Lahore that need reminding.

The very oldest monument of Lahore is the Temple of Lava, situated inside the Lahore Fort. Prince Lava was one of two sons of the ruler Rama, call him a ‘god’ as the Hindus recall him. Lahore or the habitation that emerged on the mounds of Lahore, was named after Lava. His other brother was Kush, after whom Kasur was named. Just to clarify that Lahore was also known by several other names, but Lahore of Lava is the one that prevailed.

Just one geographic fact needs to be kept in mind. The ground level of the temple equated with that outside the fort. So a safe assumption could be made that the temple was a pre-fort structure. We do know that the Lahore Fort was originally a mud-wall structure, hence the temple was a pre-wall construction.

Over time it has been worked on many times, but the present structure is an Akbar-era one. The ground level remains the same, which is 25-foot below the inner fort ground level. The exact timeline of the original temple is difficult to gauge. Hence it can safely be assumed as the oldest ‘ancient’ monument of Lahore.

Next on the list is Tibbi-wala Shiwala inside Tibbi Bazaar inside Taxali Gate. This again is a pre-Islamic structure whose ground level is ‘one-and-a-half storeys’ below the existing ground level. Now if we assume one storey to be 12 feet this would mean about 18-20 feet below the current ground level. Just as a measure the Shahi Hammam ground level stands 12 feet below the existing ground level. Mind you in days of old a ‘storey’ was 15-foot plus, depending on the construction.

So just how old is the ‘shiwala’? This is very difficult to gauge, unless the foundation stones are carbon-dated, which is a pastime our archaeologists do not indulge in. What we do know about this ‘shiwala’ is that Kanhiya Lal in his book tells us that this ancient structure’s dome matched the outer ground level.

So almost 200 years ago this was the observation. We also know that the dome level was raised on the orders of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, who authorised Raja Dina Nath, whose house still exists inside Delhi Gate opposite the mosque of Wazir Khan, to undertake this task. Hence the dome level was slightly raised.

Third on the ‘ancient’ list comes the tomb of Ali Makhdum of Hajwer, known better as Data Ganj Bakhsh, or more correctly Abu’l Hasan Ali al Hujweri. He came to Lahore from Ghazni in Afghanistan along with Masud, son of Mahmud, in the year 1039, and died in Lahore in 1072. The original grave of Ali Hajweri is 15 feet below the present ground level. The tomb has been reconstructed several times with a mosque in recent times constructed nearby.

Fourth on our list is the grave of Mahmud’s Georgian white slave Ayaz. This grave, now in the middle of Rang Mahal at the end of Shahalam Bazaar, was originally located outside the ancient mud-walled city in an open space of the ‘rehra maidan’ to the east of the city. Once Akbar expanded the city with baked-brick walls, it ended up in the middle of the new Akbar-era city.

Next we move to the fifth monument in our list of seven ‘wonders’ of the Ancient Lahore. That is the grave of Qutbuddin Aibak, the first slave ruler of Lahore (1194-1205 AD). He died after a horse-fall while playing polo to the south of the ancient city, and was buried at the place where he fell. Today that is part of the Anarkali Bazaar.

When ZA Bhutto came to power he, among his first orders was, to get a tomb built on the grave of Aibak. He gave a press statement that “how could a nation live with its finest ruler lying unknown in a servant quarter off Anarkali Bazaar”. So it was that an impressive tomb was built for Aibak and the road renamed Aibak Road. As a young journalist then at the airport he would invariably ask me about progress on the tomb.

Then we move on to the famous Niwin Masjid inside Lohari Bazaar near Chowk Matti on Kuchha Dogran. This well-known ancient mosque was first built in 1460 during the Lodi rule of Bahlul Lodi. In the Sikh rule this was one mosque that remained untouched, as it was 25-foot below the ground level. Plus probably as it was a very small mosque barely able to accommodate 100 people, it was considered not of any importance.

Lastly, we must mention the tomb, and much later a mosque, of Pir Sirajuddin of Sheraz. Located inside Lohari Gate in Jaura Mari in Mohallah Pir Sherazi, it represents a 700-year old sage who came to Lahore from Bukhara in the Tughlaq period. The Pir was known for the miracles that he predicted. Very soon he became famous in the city and people flocked to consult him.

So we have these seven ‘ancient’ wonders of Lahore that can still be seen. They are ‘wonders’ because they have survived the seven terrible massacres and invasions that the city of Lahore has been through, always managing to re-emerge with greater glory.

All of these ancient monuments are the least known among our scholars and people of our city. Probably this reflects the level of learning that people have of our wonderful ancient city. Of all our recent past rulers, probably only ZAB worried most about these matters. The others one need not bother about.