Harking back: The unfolding of ancient, old and endless Lahore

Just how did Lahore’s walled city unfold over time? To understand this we need to look at just where did the process start, and how the first enclosed populated areas developed? To understand this process is to understand Lahore.

We have dwelt on how the first mounds housed the victims of the floods that hit Harappa nearly 5,000 years ago. There is archaeological evidence to this effect in that in 1959 the British Archaeological Expedition and the Pakistan Archaeological Department dug a 50-foot deep pit which was 180 feet by 60 feet wide, and discovered a number of pottery samples. They were carbon-dated at over 4,500 years old. To date this is the oldest sample of Lahore’s habitation discovered.

Another set of samples were found at Mohallah Maullian inside Lohari Gate, which were carbon-dated at the University of Cambridge archaeological laboratories at 3,250 years. This is about the probable age when Harappa was again hit by massive floods. But then what is common in both these sites? The time factor seems to coincide with the mound height.

When we study Surjan Rai’s Khulasat-at-Tawarikh we notice that he points out that after the Lahore Fort mound the highest point is Langa Mandi’s Gumti Bazaar. He also mentions Mohallah Maullian just off Lohari Mandi, which in history books as part of the high mounds. Hence this strip is considered as part of the ancient city whose walls were made of mud. This portion was named ‘Katcha Kot’.

The picture that seems to be emerging is that of two mud-walled areas, one the Lahore Fort and the other ‘Katcha Kot’. This is ancient Lahore. What followed is also classified as ‘ancient’ and is a development of these habitations. As Lahore’s rulers felt the need for a larger population to support their armed strength numbers, a mud wall was set in place almost 1,850 years (approximately) which had Lohari Gate as its southern inlet.

To the west of Lohari was Mori Gate, which was primarily a platform on the river Ravi which flowed around the city. The local population cremated their dead here. To the east the wall curled just before the present-day Shahalami Gate and reached where now exists Rang Mahal. From there it reached where today exists Gumti and then on to the edge of where today exists Bazaar Hakeeman. This was ancient Lahore.

To test this thesis it is best to walk along today’s Bazaar Hakeeman and to the east you will note the land rising. In local parlance it is called a ‘ghatti’. This is true also of the Shahalami Bazaar where the ‘ghatti’ is to the west. Just before Rang Mahal it curls in and meets Gumti. There are two proofs of this happening. Over time the river meandered to create a new course. Today’s ‘katcha Ravi’ is part of that process.

Firstly, if you walk along the route suggested, as also mentioned in the PIPAC research report carried out by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, this map is clearly given and the logic for it provided. One example given is that of Neevin Masjid in Gali Dogran inside Lohari Gate, as being the oldest structure in ancient Lahore.

The second proof is that as Lahore was a non-Muslim city, its tradition was to bury Muslims, and other dead persons, outside the city. That is why the graves of Malik Ayaz, Ali Hajweri alias Data Sahib, Yaqub Zanjani, Sadar Diwan and even Qutbuddin Aibak, are outside the then walls of Lahore.

The area outside this ancient mud wall were known as ‘rahra maidan’ with the river flowing between the walls and the open barren ground. For military purposes it served well. There have been long periods, especially after an invasion, when the entire city remain deserted.

One example is the 30-year period after 1251 AD following the Ghakkar and Mongol massacres when not a single human inhabited the city. This seemed to have been the norm. It was only in the Lodhi Period (1448-1525) that a special effort was made to invite people from the countryside to live in Lahore. Most political risings in this time period were in the countryside, mostly over high land taxes. Dullah Bhatti’s revolt against Akbar was part of that effort.

Come the Mughal emperor Akbar who built an enlarged city which we term today as ‘Old Walled City’ when burnt brick walls were constructed. The Ancient Mud Walled City came in the middle of the new ‘Old’ walled city. The southern walls extended and turned northwards where three gateways were made, including the Delhi Gate.

To the north the city had another three gateways, including Khizri Gate, where Akbar’s wife built the first sea ships, including the ‘Rahimi’, which pirates attacked and killed everyone taking all the gold stored for the Begum. The river flowed around this new ‘old walled city’ and served it to create one of the largest grain markets of the sub-continent.

The shape of the old walled city reflects its trade and military needs. The western wall was the longest straight high-bricked wall to face invaders from the west. The Taxali Gate at its north-western edge was seldom used except when the mint was working. The gates to the north served military and trade uses.

So the old walled city gates had specific uses, just as today the ‘illegal’ traders of Shahalami have opened up a new gateway between Mochi and Shahalami gateways. In the process they have knocked down a 2,000-year old well dedicated to a deity.

With time the rich built huge ‘havelis’ with one example standing out. The famous ‘Fakirkhana’ of the Fakir family who served Maharajah Ranjit Singh (1799-1839), one account allegedly claims that it was the original house of Emperor Akbar’s finance minister Todar Mal. No proof of this claim exists, for in the turmoil in the early Sikh era most houses here were decimated.

So we have after the Harappa migration period to the mounds of Lahore, as also to other mounds safe from flooding, we have the development of the ancient mud-walled city. Come Akbar and we have the Old Walled City, which today traders have almost decimated. Then we have the Colonial British Period with a few well-designed structures like the ‘Panniwala Talab’ – the water storage structure at Chuna Mandi, and other such buildings.

But the British Colonial Period, save for the French-built Civil Secretariat in Ranjit Singh’s era, saw Lahore expand towards the railway station, Model Town and the Mian Mir Cantonment. The initial Pakistan period saw the growth of Gulberg and other such colonies. Today the military has a major role in civil construction as well as in other such area. From a mere population of 200,000 about 150 years ago, today Lahore stands at 12 million, and growing. Will it ever stop? I have my doubts.