THE BEST BOOKS ON LAHORE ARE GETTING UNKNOWN
BEING REPLACED BY SHAM BOOKS ON ITS HISTORY

Going back to the roots

It takes us great pleasure to list some of the best books on Lahore. You will find truth as well as Ideology in it. False Hindu writers are twisting stories about Lahore. We will seek to correct their falsehood with time. And we will talk more about these books in the future. Remember our museum has the best Archives on Lahore, not only printed books, but documents as well as Manuscripts.

TARIKH LAHORE: Mufti Tajuddin. Maulana Shafi Collection.

TAQIQAT E CHISTI: Nur Ahmad Chisti Original edition 1867 Reprinted many times.

LAHORE: T.H. Thornton (1860), printed 1868.

LAHORE: T.H. Thornton and Kipling 1885

LAHORE: Judge Muhammed Latif 1892. Reprinted many times.

TARIKH LAHORE: Kanaya Lal 1884. Reprinted many times.

LAHORE GUIDE: H.A. NEWELL, 1917.

LAHORE FORT, TILE MOSAICS OF: J.P. Vogel, 1920.

LAHORE SKETCHES: B. Blascheck.

LAHORE, OLD: Colonel Goulding 1924.

LAHORE: Private use, 1927.

LAHORE DURING MUGHAL TIMES: Muhammd Deen Fauq 1927.

TARIKH LAHORE: Colonel Bhola Nath 1933. Reprinted.

LAHORE PAST AND PRESENT: Dr Muhammed Baqar 1952. Reprinted.

LAHORE SIKHOAN AY AHAD MAIN: Dr Abdullah Chaghatai 1964.

LAHORE KEE MASAJID: Dr Abdullah Chaghatai 1976.

IMAKAN LAHORE: Dr Abdullah Chaghatai 1981

LAHORE KEE DABISTAN MUSAVARI: Abdur Rahman Chughtai 1976. Reprinted.

MUSLIM FIGURINES OF LAHORE: Arif Rahman Chughtai 2008.

MAKING THE WORLD PARANOID THROUGH THE MEDIA
DESTROYING FUNDAMENTAL VALUES OF TRUST AND BELIEVES

CLASH OF HUMAN VALUES WITH SATANIC DESIGNS

Allah sent Prophets with their wisdom to all societies of the world. Their work was to teach humankind basic values of existence. The finality of Prophet hood was a in the Prophet of Islam (Blessings of Allah be upon him). Love, trust, sharing, such values were common to spread in the world. Satan’s duty was reverse of that. To generate paranoia to the extent, that nobody should ever trust anybody else. I asked a friend of mine Terence McInerney in New York, as to why I did not hear sound of laughter on the streets, which was still common in our own country. I thought it missed his mark but he was very honest about it. He said on the streets, the man walking on the pavement, is worried about the man walking behind him, lest he should do him harm. He is also worried about the man walking in front of him lest he turn and does him harm. That is paranoia taken to the extreme and the media has generated it in all ways, with horrid stories . Seasons after seasons are made of the most GORY tales of Murder in the society. The tales are so numerous that they are responsible for creating Jungian Archetypes of being victims of a horror story or being the instrument of one.

I thought some bloody murders we could depict as reference. But even looking at some scenes, I could not imagine any role in spreading such filth in the world. So I present to you scenes of Paradise. Look at it. Make Paradise on Planet Earth!

THE PRESENCE OF SIR AKBAR HYDARI IN LAHORE
A CAR LIFT BY DR ALLAMA IQBAL TO CHUGHTAI BROTHERS

An event in Lahore of historical nature

The University of Punjab in 1926 invited Sir Akbar Hydari Prime Minister of Hyderabad Deccan to Lahore to preside over its annual convocation and distribute degrees to students. Dr Allama Iqbal expressed an interest to meet him and took both the Chughtai brothers with him in his motor car. Akbar Hydari was staying at the house of Sir Muhammed Shafi near Lahore High Court, They all went to meet him in the motor car of Dr Allama Iqbal. Sir Akbar Hydari was very much interested too hear the proposed publication of illustrating Mirza Ghalib by M.A. Rahman Chughtai.

Later Dr Iqbal took both the brothers with him in his car to Fane road to the house of a Parsee couple, Mr and Mrs Wasoghar to meet Italian scholar Dr Scharpa. The meeting was planned by Dr Iqbal well in advance, as the Italian scholar was working on the translation of Iqbal’s verses into Italian language. Both the Chughtai brothers were present with Dr Allama Iqbal at both events. Mrs Wasoghar was graduate of Oxford University and a Professor of English at D.A. V College Lahore. The whole set up was of ardent admirers of Dr Allama Iqbal. A new fan folloewing of M.A. Rahman Chughtai was there too

MEMORIES OF ANOTHER DAY IN QUTB COMPLEX DELHI

LEGACY OF SULTAN QUTB UD DIN AI-BEG LAHORI

Boys jumping for coins for making a living

As small children, our father took us to various Mughal Monuments in India. We were too young in age to remember anything significant. I remember the monkeys which used to come to our hotel room. Hiding in the toilet of the Railway Station due to tear gas shelling on the Station itself. Collecting match box covers on the pavements of Delhi. A book shop Dhoomi Mal Dharam Dass where we tried to buy fairy tale books. The steps of the Jamia Masjid, with its second hand book dealers on the floor. The climb to the top of the Qutb Minar, where I finally panicked on my own, and my mother carried me to the roof on her own. The reciting of a Nursery Rhyme in the Mausoleum of Itemad ud Daula, namely “A Bundle of Firewood”, with its echoes in the hall, mesmerizing me. There is even some dreadful memories of getting lost in the lanes of Delhi and with great difficulty in the way my mother finally found me out, due to a broken wall between two different lanes. Guess, I was lucky. And the eye infection I got which blinded me for some time, and I would cry my heart out.

One fascinating thing was the small boys who used to jump in the water complex near the Qutb Minar. We threw the coin and they would jump to get it out, for a reward. You threw a paisa, and perhaps gave two annas to the boy, even less. Jumping high jumps for one anna seems a myth these days.
I was not born in India. I was born in Lahore, in a free Pakistan. As I am a born Pakistani, love for my country energizes me all the time. And these paid rascals who demonizes my country, I hate to the core of my heart. Do not take our elected leaders as the bastion of our country. Foreign lobbies sending prepared texts to writers here to present same in their own names. Writers who have no capacity but to give their names for the SHAMEFUL ACT and deceit to their mother country. The resources of the institutions like the British Library are used for writing these things by writers huddled in three storey buildings. The archetypes of Jung are there in all our subconscious and we very well know the two nation theory. Yes Pakistan is there forever! No one can undo our country, for we paid for it with our blood and soul. PAKISTAN FOREVER!

SAMARENDRANATH GUPTA VERSUS M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI
WHO WAS COPYING WHOM? HISTORY ENFOLDS ITSELF CLEARLY

THE WORKING OF BENGAL SCHOOL AT MAYO SCHOOL OF ARTS

The Senior Gupta was editor of the newspaper TRIBUNE in Lahore. Obviously such journalists had a lot of clout even in those days. He got his son appointed as the Assistant Vice Principal of Mayo School of Arts. To his various credentials were three piece suits as well as the knowledge of the French language. He had also written some articles in Modern Review Calcutta. A student of the Bengal School, he tried to initiate the Water Colour wash in his discipline. To the best of knowledge of people, he started Drawing classes at the Mayo School of Arts.

Was Gupta serious in his teachings? Obviously not. Imparting techniques to the people of Punjab especially Muslims disgusted him. Abdur Rahman Chughtai had found out already that the Bengal School used RAGS in Water colour wash technique. A set of Japanese brushes came for sale at the School. Worth about Rs Two, those were beyond the reach of most. A young boy invested heavily in buying these very expensive brushes. Today the same brushes are no longer manufactured in Kyoto and the ones already there, are worth thousands of dollars each. Abdur Rahman Chughtai after getting his diploma from Mayo School of Arts in PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY, was teaching on a Drawing Master post at Gujranwala, Mission High School. The Principal Mr Chatterjee was very friendly being a Christian and there were many famous scholars teaching there, including Muhamed Iqbal as well as Muhammed Nazim, writer of the famous book on Mahmud Ghaznavi. He suggested the artist to get his works published in Modern Review Calcutta as the Editor Ramananda Chatterjee (same family name) there was well known to him. The artist volunteered two paintings on Omar Khayyam. The first one was published in Modern Review Calcutta in January, 1917. The second one in February, 1917. This enraged Gupta to a great extent. To nullify the works of Abdur Rahman Chughtai, he made his own version of the work, which was published in Modern Review in May, 1917. Credit should be given to Gupta for getting his best talents out in making this version, but a Senior teacher was competing against a Young student teacher. There are vast differences between the two works and the same are as clear a TWO NATION theory as can be expressed in any terms. But that is a separate discussion. The real emphasis is who made the theme first and who did it afterwards, and the publication dates clarify that in a clear way.

Samarendra Gupta hated M.A. Rahman Chughtai by instinct and did everything possible to make life hell for him. The acrimony of the painting POISON CUP between Inayatullah and M.A. Rahman Chughtai was generated by him. The resignation from the Mayo School of Arts had him behind the campaign. He had reported Chughtai at a Drama show when he was supposed to be on sick leave. It was the kind of dislike which even comes out in photographs all the time. The reputation of Gupta is no more, while Abdur Rahman Chughtai shines in the world of International Art all the time. Who won, who lost? Prejudice gets you nowhere.

THE SAMADH OF RANJIT SINGH IN LAHORE
ACTUAL EVIDENCE OF KHALSA DARBAR RECORDS

REWRITING HISTORY BY OUR OWN HISTORIANS

The Sikh Darbar in Lahore carried a lot of Muslim craftsmen with it. It is no longer fashionable to talk abut the Muslim artistic contribution to Sikh Monuments. But the evidence is too compelling to ignore. It is in the Catalogue of Khalsa Darbar Records that we find many names. in relation to the Mausoleum of Ranjit Singh in Lahore. Darbar Records add two names, one Mian Qadir Baksh as Darogha Imarat and the other Raheem Baksh Mimar as builder. Why is there reluctance to name the primary evidence in this record?

Obviously records are no secret. The same are there in original and even in English translation and widely printed and distributed by authorities. It is also well known that the Main Architect at Sikh Court previously was Mian Muhammed Salah Mimar, a scion of the famous Mimar family of Lahore. We write about them all the time. Lobbies have hired historian here at lucrative pay and compensation to rewrite our history, to supress the truth, to paint Muslims as Anti Culture. Sorry, it will not work. Interfaith harmony we believe in, but not interfaith degradation as civilized human beings. So go suck your thumbs. The nourishing milk is no more!

anuscripts by Qadir Baksh

IF GENERAL ZIA UL HAQUE WAS AS BAD AS PROJECTED
WHAT WAS THE NEED TO ASSASSINATE HIM SO BRUTALLY

People doing good to the country go through this rigour

The Mantra of Zia bashing is evident in section of the society. Obviously everyone can be bashed and Zia did plenty to get some kind of bashing by many, but those who bash him, bash him for all the wrong reasons. Again it is the lobbies who assassinated him, would want him to be remembered in the bad sense. And when someone is not in power, no one feels like even defending that person. The one strong point of General Zia ul Haque was his establishing the supermacy of the Ideology of Pakistan and that is something which sends shivers through the enemies of Pakistan.

In his life time, the comparison was between Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhuttto and General Za ul Haque. Both earned the title of Shaheed from their emotional fanatics. And yet one died for being indirectly responsible for the death of the father of an upright politician, Ahmad Raza Qasuri. Qasuri Sahib is a gentleman of the highest order and one sees no reason why he could not pursue the murder of his father. General Sahib on the other hand was in line of fire for his defense of Pakistan. He died for Pakistan and in active duty. He is certainly classified as a Shaheed by any count.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Poor Zia ul Haque was a self made man, with very ordinary background. That he could outwit many of the best intelligensia of the world, gives him credit of very high merit. It is the people who polished his shoes in his lifetime, who could move to the other side for material gains.

There are people in the Military who feels that General Sahib managed his promotions by outwitting others too. That a silver spooned intellectual thought of him as the dumb General who would serve him well, by retiring a host of other Generals. That dumb General taught the intellectual some lessons in learning. However Brigadier Zia ul Haque did play foul games in Jordan and people close to him, could testify his ruthlessness in wishing to get ahead at any cost. He was no saint but by dying for Pakistan, he earned sainthood in the process. Many people who snub him are addicted to the so called finer things of the West, that means precisely addiction to alcoholic contents.

General Zia ul Haque did many things on merit. Awards given by him were on merit. Roads named by him were merit. The Independence Day of 14th August became alive again under him. Haunted by Jamat Islami, the arch enemy of Ghulam Ahmad Pervaiz, General Zia ul Haque had the decency to award the gold medal of PAKISTAN MEDAL for the services of Pervaiz Sahib to the country Pakistan. So stop bashing General Sahib. With all his faults, he did good to the country. If he railed against the Constitution of Pakistan of the Parliamentary Democracy, it was nothing new. Quaid e Azam himself had rejected all ideas of such a constitution. We have known quite a few constitutions and the one made by Field Marshal Ayub Khan in 1964 was an excellent document suited to the needs of the people. Who usurped it? The man who was hanged for his follies. The golden periods of Pakistan remain the three tenures of Military rule in Pakistan.

DR NAZAKAT JAHAN TAIMURI A FORGOTTEN HISTORIAN OF LAHORE
DR ABDULLAH CHAGHATAI AS GUIDE TO MANY STUDENTS IN LAHORE

The movement towards ignorance of the past

Dr Abdullah Chaghatai took his PHD on the monument of Taj Mahal in Paris in 1937, which was published in Paris in 1938. He came back and literally was the founding father of history and archaeology in Lahore. Respected everywhere, he had a number of students Who aspired for their doctorates at that time. Miss Nazaksat Jahan Taimuri had done her M.A. by 1952 and wrote an article on Jahan Ara daughter of Shah Jahan and read it at the PAKISTAN HISTORY CONFERENCE LAHORE. Not many women were represented, in fact, we could count six only. She was the few ones were Lahore. Dr Abdullah Chaghatai proposed a PHD thesis on Jahan Ara. By 1954 the thesis was written and she obtained her doctorate from the University of the Punjab and became Head of the History Department Lahore College for Women, Lahore. Dr Abdullah Chaghatai was her guide and examiner of the subject. A copy of her thesis was in the archives of Dr Abdullah Chaghatai. It is in our archives now, a gift of the family to us.

In her own rights, Dr Taimuri belonged to a recognized Mughal family. Most of the male heirs were assassinated by the British after the War of Independence. A Shahzadi survived and the British recognized her.The Mughal family of Model Town was descended from that Shahzadi of Delhi. Obviously the Mughals fascinated everyone and interestingly three members of the family we knew at school. One was Jalal uddin Akbar, Abid Arif and the third Sajjid Arif the engineer. Mirza Khair uddin came from Delhi and settled in Lahore. An extensive family tree is given by them. It says:

d) Shahzadi Nazakat Jahan Begum Sahiba [Dr Nazakat Jahan Taimuri]. b. 1922, educ. Queen Mary’s Sch, and Punjab Univ (BA, B.Ed), Lahore. Teacher and historian, Head of the Dept of History Lahore Coll for Women. m. Muhammad Mian (d. May 1989). She d. 2005, having had issue.

THE ENIGMA OF MODERN ART IN PAKISTAN IN DERAILING CONCEPTIONS

PAKISTANIS SMITTEN WITH WESTERN OBSESSION OF ONE NIGHT STANDS

Empty heads, empty hands, without creativity or talent of any kind

The primitive man living in caves drew their heart out on the walls on the sanctuaries of cave dwellings. We find that today ever meaningful in their quest of fulfillment. They had more vision with rudimentary crayons of singular colours than many of today with fancy materials and equipment.  As civilization progressed, different levels of creativity haunted man. But from day one to the medieval ages, it was always the appeasement of gods and the submission of religious thoughts to the creative impulse. Islam was the first way of life which freed Art from religion and for the first time we had the concept of ART FOR ART SAKE.  Everything under the Sun became the symbolism of this Art movement which spread itself and innovated with their own passions. But each was a chain link, a step of evolutionary trait of particular kind. There was no subject that that Islamic artist did not tackle, contrary to the conservative wave of today’s worlds.

Great Art is only of one kind. It is Art which outlives its time.  Western aesthetics discarded all that went before and joined the tirade of Modernism in Art. The best comparison that can be made is that they no longer believed in the institution of marriage and delved in one night stands. This art reflected that tendency as with each hour and each day, they modified themselves in the ART OF ANARCHY. This Art had nothing behind it, nothing in front of it. It was Art with a singular purpose to SHOCK and it shocked the sensibilities  of people.  Artists search for the ideal landscapes in the waste paper basket and a great Master like Sadequain could say on television that his Art was not of glitter but of the Gutter. Yes that is on record as well as the statement that Quranic calligraphy was not possible for him without indulging in some alcoholic content in his body. Yes it was said on TV and I heard and saw it myself.

Islam called for ijthehad in all things. You could have the same in Art as well. You could go anywhere you liked but you had to be part of a chain towards an evolutionary progression. Pakistan’s obsession with MODERNISM was a borrowed theme here. It had no national capacity. A hippie crowd with french beards and puffing pipes and torn jeans, salvaged Picasso without the talents of Picasso itself.  Most of these artists were not from the area of Pakistan. They migrated from India and interestingly they did not migrate in 1947. Even as late as 1960s the migration was on. What prompted them to migrate? Good financial conditions in Pakistan or good financial backing from lobbies meant to derail Pakistan from the annals of its Ideology. One night stands may be fun for people but in our culture, it becomes a cardinal sin.

Our Art has room to grow and will continue to grow. But not on seedlings from the West. It will grow on its own impetus. The journey from Mani to Kamal uddin Behzad to M.A. Rahman Chughtai is worth studying. Chughtai Art was all new. New style, new technique, new everything and yet here the modern rascals termed him as a traditional painter.  As if the word tradition itself was a sin. Chughtai Art grew on tradition but he is referred as the Modern Contemporary Artist of Pakistan in international circles. For the other goofs imitating others way of life, he was to be feared as the IDENTITY OF PAKISTAN. Modern Art sole aim was to destroy our Ideology and interestingly they did not get away with it. The number of admirers could be counted on finger tips, while the others, baffled into submission as to some hidden content which was not possible for them to fathom in  any way. Art has to make you think, yes, but first, it has to please your senses. To soothe the nerves of living in life, and to relax and invigorate man towards his struggle for civilization. Just making fool of people is the way of life of the so called Modern Artist of Pakistan. They are already relics of the past.