TRACING WHEREABOUTS OF UNKNOWN DARWAZA OF LAHORE – PERHAPS THE CLUE LIES IN THE ROSHANI DARWAZA OF LAHORE

TRACING WHEREABOUTS OF UNKNOWN DARWAZA OF LAHORE
PERHAPS THE CLUE LIES IN THE ROSHANI DARWAZA OF LAHORE

Porte de Palace in Lahore city

The Professional writers of Lahore are all dead. From about 1850 to 1950 a wave started about writing about the city of Lahore. No doubt a number of books on Lahore were turned out in last few decades, but mostly borrowed stuff from older sources. No original research. It is always our effort to fill in the blanks. Whether there is any appreciation or not, we follow the foot steps of our ancestors. Write what you know. History will take care of itself.

We came across an image in a French publication of MODERN CONSTRUCTION dated 1898, and the publication in gravure includes a gate of Lahore. Obviously we know that most of the gates of Lahore were demolished by the British for their security reasons in the 1860s, against repeat of the War of Independence. The Sikhs destroyed 2000 Muslim buildings in Lahore, and the British cared little less for them. They were unwanted reminders of the past to them. In 1849 Sohan Lal Suri reports that the British Army entered Lahore Fort and took residence in the Hazuri Bagh Baradari. A complete wall of the Lahore Fort was demolished and new buildings and bunkers were constructed for the Army. Rooms in the wall were made as well as bunkers. The Roshnai Darwaza wall was completely dismantled. On the other side the wall was eliminated in total. An interesting read is that the name of Emperor Shah Jahan was on one of the gates of the enclosure. It is now up to us to unravel the missing gate of Lahore.

Roshnai Darwaza today

We have some imagery of some of the gates, but here the picture shows a guard on the gate itself, and foliage in the enclosure. The level of inside space is at par with the gate. Most of the Fort gates are made in a certain way to withstand attack from outside. The Roshnai Gate is not like that for it linked the inner city to the Fort. No attack perceived from there. Whereas it has similarity to our picture, yet it is quite different. The date of publication is 1898. And here we ave an event in 1899 and 1900, which was the visit of Lord Curzon to the city of Lahore. A lamp post was presented for the Badshahi Mosque Lahore by Lord Curzon. Speeches were made. But before he came the space was remodeled, walls came down or were rebuilt as well as attention was paid to the Gates. Because Roshnai Darwaza and our missing Gate have similarities, there are two possibilities here. Either the Roshnai Gate was lowered for security reasons (perhaps not possible for that time), or there was another gate on opposite side and it was dismantled. That is food for researchers to explore in the long run.

Our guess is that this was directly opposite the present Roshnai Darwaza, and because the two structures of Samadh of Ranjit Singh as well as that of Guru Arjun Dev were in way, the visit of Lord Curzon prompted the authorities to dismantle this original Shah Jahani Gate, and made an indirect entrance to this enclosure from the side. Record proves that this indirect entrance was made in 1899 and our theory rests as facts. It is this diverted entrance which is used to this day.

Emperor Shah Jahan outside a fort

The two balconies in the missing Gate are very much like the main gate of Wazeer Khan Mosque, so certainly the Gate is of period of Emperor Shah Jahan. No doubt about that. It is either one storey up of the Roshnai Gate, or of some other location. Most of the Fort Gates were closed by the British with walls, and the Gate used was the one opened after centuries, that is the Hathi pur Gate leading to the inside of the Lahore Fort. It remains open to this day. The Aurangzebi Gate was opened after partition for use, that is after 1947. If our Gate was not here, then it was somewhere else, perhaps even outside the enclosure. Anyway enjoy the majesty of this Shah Jahani Darwaza in full!

THIS IS ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN, NOT A THEOCRATIC STATE!!!

THIS IS ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN, NOT A THEOCRATIC STATE
YES, ISLAM AS A DEEN HAS GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH THEOCRACY
A HARSH REMINDER TO PSEUDO INTELLECTUAL PROSTITUTES

Deen

The people of this region thrived for an Islamic State, not a theocratic one based on the wisdom of medieval Mullahs. The fountain of this belief was the Holy Quran itself and the wisdom given to us by none other than Dr Allama Iqbal himself. The shameless intellectual prostitutes keep on spinning conspiracy after another, trying to dull our senses to the exuberance and vibration of the Kalma which made it all happen. Pakistan ke matlab keya, La illaha ill lillah. These wimps taking courage from alcohol provided by foreign lobbies to dull their sense of right and wrong. All morality and ethics forsaken by the accursed (khawarij) of Allah.

Advise to pseudo intellectuals

Why does Ideology pain some so much? Is it because they are valueless creeps, for whom nothing matters, except payment for services rendered, even sex workers are better than them as spin makers! Spinning wrong is the work of Satan and certainly those have satanic urges in them. They cannot get over the fact that Dr Allama Iqbal dreamt about Pakistan, and Quaid e Azam made it a reality. G.A. Pervaiz got rid of Mullahs from us for some time. Such names render you impotent. Ideas are the highest form of human kind. Selling such anti-ideas crusade is a curse on such people.

M A Jinnahs letter to Pervaiz Sahib

The advent of Islamic thinking corrupted by these two tiers of people. The Adviser on Islamic affairs to the Quaid e Azam can be seen and proven by the fact that Quaid e Azam included G.A. Pervaiz in his cabinet as an Assistant Secretary and sought his advice on Islamic thoughts all the time. In a letter he even asks Pervaiz Sahib to suggest suitable names for the establishment division. More on that later. Reflect!

Assistant Secretary G A Pervaiz

IN TRADITION OF SIBERIAN OLDEST CARPETS – 17TH CENTURY CARPETS MADE IN LAHORE

IN TRADITION OF SIBERIAN OLDEST CARPETS
17TH CENTURY CARPETS MADE IN LAHORE

Worlds oldest carpet

A tomb discovered in Siberia unraveled carpets made about 2200 years ago. The oldest carpets in the world. Car[pets were made all over but Mughals were famous for their creations. In some ways different from Persian carpets, in the same was as the miniatures are different between the two areas. Enjoy some of the carpets made in Lahore. It seems Lahore could create delicate carpets in the same spirit as miniatures made in Lahore.

Another oldest carpet
Lahore Carpet 1590 to 1600

The Girdler Carpet made in Lahore at request of a society in London is an out standing surviving carpet. More can be said about it, and we will do that in another blog. A certified carpet of Lahore made in 1630 to 1632. Amazing!

Lahore Carpet 1610 to 1620
Lahori Girdlers Carpet London 1630 to 1632

MOST UNIQUE FIGURINE IN THE WORLD ADDS NEW DIMENSION – NAGUZZA OF LAHORE SUPPORTS LONG PIGTAILS AND FULL ARMOUR

MOST UNIQUE FIGURINE IN THE WORLD ADDS NEW DIMENSION
NAGUZZA OF LAHORE SUPPORTS LONG PIGTAILS AND FULL ARMOUR

Chinese with pigtails

This figurine fascinated us from day one and it fascinates us even today. Found at depth of Lahore from 15 feet to 35 feet, it must have been in continuous production from about 500 to 1500 years. We have published a separate book on same. The shape of the figurine’s arms and legs, we have unraveled as the same were meant to be sitting on matching horses. We do have horses like that too. Obviously they represent Giants which must have been found in Lahore ages ago.

Chinese traditions
Giant with pigtails
Pharaohs pigtails

A new dimension we have studied that they are at times represented with long pigtails. The Chinese are famous for them as well as Mongols. But the Egyptians had them too. We feel these are the Giants mentioned in the New Testament, which were kicked out and fled for their lives. We have written about same, till then enjoy a Pig-tailed Naguzza of Lahore!

New Dimmensions of Lahori Naguzza
Pigtails of Lahori Naguzza
Naguzzas on rampage

BARKAT ALI KHAN MUHAMMEDAN HALL MOCHI GATE LAHORE – MISTRI MANGA CONTRACTOR ARCHITECT BUILDING IN 1888 AD

BARKAT ALI KHAN MUHAMMEDAN HALL MOCHI GATE LAHORE
MISTRI MANGA CONTRACTOR ARCHITECT BUILDING IN 1888 AD

K B Barkat Ali Khan Lahore

Khan Bahadur Barkat Ali Khan is a famous member of nobility of Lahore. As a tehsildar, he worked on restoring the Badshahi Mosque to its former glory. For the advancement of Muslim community, he offered his services and an Anjuman Islamia was made in Lahore for the said purpose, around 1868. It was in 1887 that Sir Syed Ahmad Khan paid a visit to Lahore and attended a conference at the Anjuman. There was felt a need to build a Hall in Lahore for the promotion of Islamic values. It was in 1888 that the Muhammedan Hall was constructed outside Mochi Darwaza Lahore. It was built for around 1800 Rs and there is a brochure published by the Anjuman highlighting same in 1888.

Manga Mistri Contractor Architect Lahore 1888

The contract for making and constructing same was given to MISTRI MANGA of Lahore. Manga belonged to a famous Mimar family of Lahore with his ancestors responsible for many Mughal buildings in Lahore and Delhi. He was ancestor of M.A. Rahman Chughtai, the artist, too. Obviously the most famous Manga was Mehr Manga of Lahore, who was Chief Gardener of Emperor Shah Jahan and custodian of the Shalimar Gardens Lahore., His descendants were there in the Wazeer Khan Mosque and Chishti records the presence of a certain Kareem Baksh, descendant of Mehr Manga. Mistri Manga was named after Mehr Manga of Lahore.

Letter Barkat Ali Khan 1903

Khan Bahadur Barkat Ali Khan died in 1905, and his funeral was attended by Chughtai family. Mian Kareem Baksh Mimar, father of M.A. Rahman Chughtai was at the Chaleeswan of Barkat Ali Khan. There was close relationship between the two families. Basheer Ali Khan was son of Barkat Ali Khan, and Saadat Ali Khan was grandson of Barkat Ali Khan. As Saadat Ali Khan was childless, the family ended with him. Their house Kothi Barkat Ali Khan remained famous in their life time. Now no one remembers their pivotal role for Islamic mission in Lahore.

Another missing chapter of Lahore which needed to be highlighted and we did that. Enjoy!

AN AMAZING REVELATION OF THE USE OF TERM QUAID-E-AZAM NEVER KNOWN! BEFORE MIAN FEROZUDDIN, K.A. HAMEED USED SAME FOR KAMAL ATTATURK PASHA – AND AMAZINGLY THIS WAS ALSO DONE IN LAHORE IN 1938/1939 IN THE SAME SPIRIT

AN AMAZING REVELATION OF THE USE OF TERM QUAID-E-AZAM NEVER KNOWN
BEFORE MIAN FEROZUDDIN, K.A. HAMEED USED SAME FOR KAMAL ATTATURK PASHA
AND AMAZINGLY THIS WAS ALSO DONE IN LAHORE IN 1938/1939 IN THE SAME SPIRIT

Ghazi Mustafa Kamal Pasha

We come across old books all the time. Books inform as nobody else can. A publication in Urdu published in Lahore in 1939 on Kamal Attaturk Pasha (who was himself a hero for the region here), designates the Turk leader as QUAID-E-AZAM, and this designation is by the writer K.A. Hameed. We know of Abdul Hameed a fiction Urdu writer who was born in 1928, and as this book was published in 1939, it cannot be the same K.A. Hameed as mentioned earlier. In fact the author clarified himself as having a B.A from London as well as having a Barrister of Law degree. Well educated man. An author obsessed with Islamic values in progressive light. and looking forward to his icon in Attaturk.

Quaid e Azam Mustafa Kamal Pasha

K.A. Hameed dismisses many myths about Attaturk and writes in detail of him. Worthy of being analyzed in detail. As Attaturk died in 1938, this is a fresh reminder of those days. The New York Times had also written about the death of Attaturk. But K.A. Hameed reveals another clear detail about Attaturk. An assassination plot perfected in India by Mustafa Sagheer of Benaras (not Muradabad), on behalf of British Secret Service for 15 lakh rupees. The plot failed for USSR had warned the Turks about the plot and the man sitting in chair was not Attaturk as shots were fired on him. Mustafa Sagheer was arrested and later hanged on 24th May, 1921, in Ankara, Turkey. But that is another story for another blog. 007s were there all the time, even before Ian Fleming made the same famous in his books.

Quaid e Azam Mustafa Kamal belief

Our job is to explore and research. Only more research can bring out more facts and we will continue. Till then reflect on this new knowledge. Enjoy!

Kamal Attaturk Pasha

A MIGRATION FROM LAHORE AND OTHER PARTS OF INDIA TO AFGHANISTAN – THAT NO ONE EVEN REMEMBERS AND A BIGGEST FIASCO OF ITS OWN TIMES

A MIGRATION FROM LAHORE AND OTHER PARTS OF INDIA TO AFGHANISTAN
THAT NO ONE EVEN REMEMBERS AND A BIGGEST FIASCO OF ITS OWN TIMES

Migrating compulsions

The Khilafat movement in British India had strange effect here. Disgusted with the British break up of the Ottoman Empire, the Muslims were afraid that the custody of the Khana Kaaba would fall in wrong hands. People with such bent of mind decided to leave India. A group of Thirty thousand people sold their properties in India and decided to migrate to Afghanistan. This important decision was made on the first of August, 1920.

Contrary to their expectations, they were not well received. And after much hassle, the border was closed and these thirty thousand people were forced to come back to India. A historian writes:

Migration routine between two countries

August 1, 1920. In addition to the Khilafat issue, Gandhi and Congress added reparations for the Punjab and the independence of India. That summer about 30,000 Muslims sold their property and emigrated to Afghanistan (Some also tried to go to Turkey). They were not well received, and the Afghanistan government closed the border. Most of the impoverished migrants went back to India.

Contrary to that, millions of Afghan emigrated to Pakistan on the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and they can be seen all over Pakistan. These migrants brought a lot of issues like guns and drugs to Pakistan, and an air of smuggling, but there were no regrets. Muslim brotherhood dominated ideas of welcome.

ZAKIA DIL MUHAMMED COMPLAINT ABOUT CALMNESS IN CHUGHTAI ART – AN ART DISCUSSION OF ART CIRCLE AT ALHAMRA JANUARY 14TH 1950

ZAKIA DIL MUHAMMED COMPLAINT ABOUT CALMNESS IN CHUGHTAI ART
AN ART DISCUSSION OF ART CIRCLE AT ALHAMRA JANUARY 14TH 1950

Zakia Dil Muhammed right

The Chughtai Arts Show at Alhamra on 12th December, 1949, generated a lot of discussion on Art. In a meeting at Alhamra of an Art Circle on 14th January, 1950, Zakia Dil Muhammed presented her point of view. The said lady was daughter of famous mathematician Dil Muhammed, whose text books on Mathematics are phenomenal to this day. Dil Muhammed was a friend of artist M.A. Rahman Chughtai, and part of the intellectual renaissance of that period. He had asked the advice of Chughtai artist on the joining of Art field by Ms Zakia. Chughtai heavily endorsed her as he used to endorse most people.

A lot of people were there, including a couple namely journalists from Turkey. Zakia Dil Muhammed enquired about the calmness in Chughtai Art, although the period of Pakistan was a turbulent one. Why no turbulence in Chughtai Art? Dr Muhammed Din Taseer could not provide a valid answer, as Chughtai himself sat in a corner watching all that was going on. To understand this one has to remember the essential motive of Islamic Art, to restore the unrest and anarchy of the times with fortitude and calmness by projecting hope in the future.

Civil and Military Gazette 1950

The artist Chughtai narrated an event to them. He said in the height of war in Germany, when there was anarchy all around, a German artist made a painting of a beautiful dancer. It won best prize in Germany and was heavily awarded. Why turbulence was not felt? The job of the artist is not to engender anarchy. It is to soothe life. When Sultan Muhammed conquered Constantinople, the first thing he did was to have a portrait made of himself. Instead of the turbulence of battles that had happened, he is shown smelling a rose in calm atmosphere.

I witnessed a music recital in Dacca in East Pakistan, done to honour M.A. Rahman Chughtai. Late after midnight the musicians and sitar were playing and literally most of the people were asleep. I asked the sponsors that was it not time to stop same! The host replied the purpose of the recital was just starting. It had calmed all the people and lulled them to sleep.

Western Art brought along with itself in its influx in Pakistan in its pseudo form the concept of agitation. Rebels rebellion without a cause. More on this in another blog.

Art Circle Report 1950