Lahore is located 288 km from Islamabad. This capital of the
Punjab is a city of gardens, parks and educational
institutions with a rich heritage. It is an ancient town rich
in historical monuments, including Mughal architecture.
Lahore is considered to be the cultural capital of Pakistan.
Places of interest include the Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort,
Old City Shrine of Data Ghanj Bukhsh, Anarkani Bazaar, Wazir
Khan's Mosque, National Museum, Sikh monument, Minar
Pakistan, the mausoleum of Jahangir, Nur Jahan and Asif Khan,
Shalimar Garden, Jallo National Park as well as (some two
hours drive from Lahore) there is a world's largest man
made forest Chhanga Manga. Lahore is famous for folk dances
(dhamal) with drum beating in a traditional way at shrines
with a totally different essence of mystic surroundings.
Visiting countryside and villages is an excellent experience
near Lahore. Lahori people are very hospitable and this
hospitality leaves unforgettable impression.
Badshahi Mosque
The city next crops up in literature in connection with the
campaigns of the Turkish dynast Mahmud of Ghazni against the
Rajas of Lahore between I00I and I008. Around this time it
established itself as the capital of the Punjab and
thereafter began to play an important and growing role as a
centre of Muslim power and influence in the subcontinent. Its
heyday was the Mughal era from the early sixteenth century
onwards and, as Mughal power began to decline in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Lahore suffered a
concomitant period of ignominy and political eclipse. It was
here, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, that the
Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh declared himself Maharajah of the
Punjab and allowed his troops to desecrate many of the
city's beautiful Islamic shrines- including the Badshahi
Mosque which was, for a while, converted into a powder
magazine. By the time British occupied Lahore in I849, one
writer moved to describe the city as 'a mere expanse of
crumbling ruins'.
Lahore Fort
Nearby, the massively fortified walls of Lahore Fort speak
eloquently of the centuries of passing history that they have
witnessed. The fort antedates the coming of Mahmud of Ghazn i
in the eleventh century, was ruined by the Mangols in I241,
rebuilt in I267, destroyed a gain by Timurlane in I398 and
rebuilt once more in I421. The great Mughal emperor Akbar re
placed its mud walls with solid brick masonry in I566 and
extended it northwards. Later Jehangir, Shah Jehan and
Aurangzeb all added the stamps of their widely differing
personalities to its fortification, gateways and palaces.
The fort encloses an area of approximately thirty acres and
it is possible to spend many hours wandering there, lost in
contemplation of times gone by, trying to reconstruct in your
imagination a way of life that the world will never see
again. The buildings within its walls are a testament to the
gracious style of Mughal rule at its height, in which every
man knew his place and courtly behaviour had been refined
into an elaborately stratified social code. Much of the
architecture reflects this code. From a raised balcony in the
Diwan-e-Aam, or Hall of Public Audience, built by Shah Jehan
in I63I, the emperors looked down on the common people over
whom they ruled when they came to present petitions and to
request the settlement of disputes. Wealthier citizens and
the nobility were allowed to meet their emperors on a level
floor in the Diwan-e-Khas, the Hall of Special Audience-which
was also built by Shah Jehan, in I633.
Shalimar Garden, Lahore
Another magnificent remnant of the Mughal era, also partially
vandalized in the late eighteenth century by the invading
Sikhs, is the Shalimar Garden which stands on the Grand Trunk
Road about eight kilometres to the east of the old part of
Lahore. “Shalimar” means 'House of Joy'
and, in truth, the passing centuries have done nothing to
detract from the indefinable atmosphere of light-heartedness
and laughter that characterizes this green and peaceful
walled retreat. A canal runs the entire 2,006 foot (6II
meters) length of the garden and from it 450 sparkling
fountains throw up a skein of fresh water that cools and
refreshes the atmosphere, making this a favourite place for
afternoon walks for the citizens of modern Lahore. Lahore is
rightly regarded as the cultural, architectural and artistic
centre of Pakistan; indeed, the city is so steeped in
historical distinction that it would be possible to spend a
lifetime studying it without learning everything that there
is to learn.
Hameed's areas of specialisation include documentary
filmmaking, being a conservation leader from the WWF College
for Conservation leadership, graphic design, teaching
multimedia Arts at national college of Arts and he is a
regular travel column contributor to an English speaking
Pakistani newspaper. For more information on travel in
Pakistan, Hameed is happy to answer any e-mails: hameed@gandhara.org
If you are looking for a friendly, clean cheap backpackers in
Lahore, Hameed recommends the Regale Internet Inn in Lahore.
E-mail: Regale_internet@yahoo.com