THE SHIT CLEANERS OF LAHORE
CHANGING TIMES OF HYGIENE

A history of dealing with refuse

The organism of man is related to input of energy requirements for his body, and the expulsion of refuse which his body no longer needs. The history of dealing with refuse is an interesting history of mankind. By design of Allah, the input has savoury smells, and the refuse has unwelcome odours. Various societies dealt with it in their own way, and archaeologists have uncovered the systems with time. In our region Mohenjo-daro was well advanced in its time, with a grand system of toilets. The dead sea scrolls tell us a different story. The monks living in caves had a system all their own. With a shovel in their hands, they would scrape a hole in the dust of the near mountain, squat on it and then fill it with mud. Later they had a pond in which they used to wash their feet. The Romans had public toilets, where men, women sat with each other in open enclosures, and talk their heart out on all subjects. English and French castles have their own tales to tell, where the Royalty were in the habit of defecating where and whenever they wanted. All these are fun for the archaeologist. From the survey of faeces of the dead sea scroll monks, they can research on what the monks ate at that time. Research is not always savoury for all.

The Islamic way of life is often quoted in the saying that CLEANLINESS IS HALF OF FAITH ITSELF. That is why the Arabs invented the soap itself. The Muslim way of life including the ritual of regular baths and cleansing of the body. It is said that Europe hated the concept of bathing itself, and Europe existed for 1000 years with out bathing. Their rituals even today are very different from Islamic way of life. When Father Sebastian Manrique was in the palace of Nawab Asif Khan in Lahore in 1644, Emperor Shah Jahan was asked to comment on those Christians of his time. The Emperor including the following in his assessment of them. Shah Jahan said:

“Truly the Franguis would be great people, were it not for three grave faults; in the first place, they are Cafars (people without religion); in the second, they eat pork; and thirdly, they do not wash the parts which replete nature expels the excess of their material paunches.”

Turkish steam baths swept the world, and not only the palaces, but the entire city was full of ‘hammams’ to take baths and cleanse the body. Lahore had plenty of them. A look at the ladies toilets in the Red Fort Delhi tells us the system of the Mughal toilets. Similar ones existed in Lahore. Sir Thomas Herbert, Bart found it one of the most clean cities of the world in 1595 AD, as well as Richard Still and John Crowther in 1626 AD. The best cities of the world included Lahore for its clean and pure air. The system in most houses had ‘gurkis’, or small refuse wells. The refuse used to fall in these dumping holes in the ground. Either the sames were filled up and new gurkis dug, or they were cleaned after a year, or so.

The Sikh times brought in the break up of the the whole systems for reasons understood and at times not known. Out of the blues we have the city surrounded by small huts, houses, or fallen havellis in possession of the SHIT CLEANERS OF LAHORE. Ugly words were attached to them and ethnical they were termed as ‘Changars’. An ethnic race considered the lowest on the rung of the Hindu ladder of classes, and they were responsible for the dirtiest job of mankind. A few decades ago they could be easily seen, carrying a ‘PARAT’ or iron vessel, and moving from house to house. They would put the shit of every house in their parat and then dump it outside the city, from where it was collected in bull carts, and sold as fertilizer for vegetables sown outside the city. And the Shit-cleaners worked from generation to generation. Lest one may think that it was for poor people, even the description of travelers first class hotels in Lahore paint the same picture. A description given by an English traveler in the 19th century speaks the same story of Falettis hotel Lahore, here a better kind of Swedish basin was used for the purpose.

Lahore was serviced in water supply through big and small wells. Water need was also fulfilled by the water carrier (mashquis), who took water to the home of persons in a big hide skin vessel. The Mori system actually started with the making of the PANI WALA TALAB in Rang Mahal area, from where water was taken to the houses by a system of lead pipes. This changed the complexity of the city in total. With it came the Moris, open small gutters, and the bigger MORIS and the final MORI GATE itself. One of the Gates of Lahore is known as MORI GATE, or the GUTTER GATE, from where all the refuse of the city came out. The moat around the city was also used for the same purpose. And people may remember that these kind of MORIS were all there in the city, on which small children were seen shitting all the time. The elders used a small room at the top of the house. The whole city really stank and there was no reason to doubt same.

The Missionaries in our region did excellent work in rehabilitating many of such people. Being treated as human beings for the first time in thousands of years, the ‘Changars’ were ever grateful. Our hats off to these wonderful Monks and Nuns who gave the pride back to this community. Indeed God will bless them for their charity work and putting this community to useful tasks in the society. In the changing system of today, the Plumber remains important and the memory of the SHIT CLEANERS OF LAHORE ever there

THE ‘WAAR’ IN FILMS
NATIONAL SENTIMENTS AND MISGUIDANCE

A rhetoric of propaganda ideas

It is a crazy world. Perhaps it was always like this! Perhaps the dangers are even more in this fragile world. Over the years we have seen films being used as effective mechanism for swaying the minds of the people. The bad guys were once upon a time ‘Chinese’ who were considered yellow and the ‘Russians’ who were considered Red. The colours have no relation with those people themselves. Abusive language was hurled at both countries. That state may be over, when Samuel Huntington started the ‘Clash of Civilizations’.  Islamo-phobia became the catch word in internationsal relations and there is so much Islamic bashing in the world right now, so far from the truth, that one wonders why disharmony is created to further expansion ideas.

One could sense this first in the petty Indian movies being made and the so called Indian hero, lambasting with his video photoshop equipment into some phenomenal superman. It made us laugh, really laugh. I remember in 1971, the Indian war planes over Lahore, and when the Light Ack Ack used to start, the fighters would scramble away. In such a frenzy they dropped a bomb on the ‘Do moria pul’ (a small bridge near Station), instead of the Ravi bridge, and killed a tonga fellow and his horse driven cart. Great achievement for such an act out of the skies for them, but Ravi bridge stood its ground through out the war. Those heros one could kill with ones laughter. Then the Western television and movies started using the Pakistani element in them. From vague references, they started being more specific. Pakistan bashing was on and it was not even subtle any more. I remember in an episode of NCIS LA, the heros battle an ISI agent in Afghanistan as well as Washington DC. Even the idea of drones came in the series. The reference to Pakistan sprung again and again. When RAMBO marched to Afghanistan to drive the Russians away for the Mujahideen, it was great show. But then the Mujahideen became the enemies themselves. I remember President Saddam Hussain of Iraq stating once that War was not like the one Rambo fought in the movies.

The preposterous got in way. In the season THE LAST RESORT we see an American Captain of Colorado submarine eing asked to nuke Pakistan and he refuses to do same. Then two nukes are fired on Karachi and Islamabad. NOT LAHORE. Why not Lahore? For Lahore is very near the Indian border, and it was not appropriate to send radioactivity to Delhi itself, directly, even if it was a mere movie. So whoever writes the script, their homework is perfect. The symbolism of NUKING OF PAKISTAN prevails in some minds.

Well finally it seems we have our own answer and we have made the film ‘WAAR’ to highlight the malady of this culture. Well done! Retort was necessary. But then why is the world shrinking for PEACE . The salamati of Islam in telling the world to co exist as fellow beings on Planet Earth even with a different way of life. I think films should preach PEACE but should also show RESISTANCE to wrongs being done by others. The crazy neo-cons are bordering on madness and their threat should be removed by the force of the people itself. The American people are very good people, but inward looking, with  no knowledge of the world. A new phenomena is rising. The American people are looking outward for knowledge and realize for the first time that their media has always let them down. Let us see the friendly American again travelling all over the world, winning hearts and minds of people, through sharing of culture, and appreciation of other ways of life.

DIWAN-BARID OF LAHORE
MY NAME IS BOND, JAMES BOND!

The Secret Service in Lahore

In the spurt of the Ghaznavid conquests in this region, Sultan Mahmud realized the importance of an agency trying to collect information for consolidation of his rule. A secret network was formed and the informers to the Sultan included many Hindu Rajas. Hindus spying on Hindus as well as spying on the representatives of the Sultan, so that the Sultan may receive adequate information for all actions. This was the first Muslim Secret Service of the region. We do not have adequate knowledge of the network but many of the Sultan’s conquests were a result of timely information of gathering events.

When Sultan Muhammed Ghauri was assassinated by the Ismaeli assassins on the bank of the river, near the village of Damyak, on 15th March 1206 AD, it was a failure of intelligence. The Fidai Mulahidah were ruthless in their work had made everyone realize the importance of espionage. A number of other prominent leaders through out the Indian region were caught and murdered in cold blood. Qutb-ud-din Aibeg knew all this well. A very methodical secret service was set by him in Lahore, as he ruled most of his life from Lahore itself. Even when in Delhi, he would come to Lahore for weekends.

In a class system like Hindustan, resentments were great. Ethnic played a great role, and there was no unity amongst the various Hindu Rajas. There is an interesting fact narrated in the Chach-nama about Jats and Gujjars. These people were literally slaves and held in utter contempt by the rulers. The historian Peter Jackson himself quotes this:

“It (Chach-nama) alleges that Muhammed Bin Qasim, the conqueror of Sind, learned of the disabilities imposed on a local people , the Jats, in the era of the deposed Brahman dynasty. One was that the Jats were to take dogs with them whenever they went out of doors, in order that they might be recognized.”

When there was so much disparity, how could the society function. One of the reason for the success of the Muslim conquests was that many classes of people were not considered fit to fight a war with enemies. And these were the people who befriended Muslims and how the Rajas lost their hold due to their own ruthlessness.

The formation of Diwan-Barid was inevitable. To execute the functions of the State, a very effective intelligence gathering system was evolved and named as Diwan-Barid. The exclusive group composed of many rungs of life, including Rajas themselves, had the responsibility of gathering information and providingto the Sultan well in time.  We see today that espionage activities in modern times are considered really essential for the survival of a country. More was at stake at that time,and Lahore famous for people of culture, also had its share of the James Bond of those times., History goes on repeating it self and man goes on making the ame mistakes. This is all well elucidated by Tajuddin Hassan Nizami in the times of the Sultan himself.

SARCOPHAGUS IN NAWAB ASIF KHANS MAUSOLEUM
IS IT REALLY HIS?

Fresh thoughts on a neglected monument

The complex in Lahore with mausoleums of Emperor Jahangeer, Nawab Asif Khan and Empress Nur Jahan is the most unique and beautiful Mughal enterprize of the region. Every Head of State who visited Pakistan was taken to this important site. The tea parties, lunch parties and picnics were all a part of this complex. As the Mughals would have wanted it, a place containing dead bodies was made into a living place of human interaction. In real terms PARADISE itself.

The complex would have remained as it was, if not for the intervention of the Sikh ruler, Ranjit Singh in Lahore. Hungry for bricks and marble, he ruthlessly destroyed the complex. It is a real surprise how the small enclosure of Emperor Jahangeer was saved from extinction. Miracle in all ways! If it had remained, the dome of Asif Khan’s mausoleum was no less than the Taj Mahal of Agra, perhaps even grander. Our heritage destroyed by callous people insensitive to the legacy of mankind.

In the compound of the Asif Khan’s mausoleum as well as that of Nur Jahan, there lived an old man, a literal giant of a person, whose presence could scare everybody away from the site. Eventually he died and he too was buried in the compound somewhere. When the British Archaeological Department woke up, they had this compound cleaned of rubble collected over the decades. In the compound of Asif Khan, they came across a sarcophagus of the Royal kind. Immediately thinking of it as being the missing one from Asif Khan’s mausoleum, they put the huge stone outside its verandah. Fenced by barbed wire, it was there outside even in 1907 AD. As time passed, they saw it fit to put it as the Sarcophagus of Asif Khan. But to me there always was an issue?

The sarcophagus at present in Nawab Asif Khan’s mausoleum is not proportionate to its surroundings. It is too small for its grand environment. If we see the sarcophagus of Emperor Jahangeer, it is not only very large, it also has the name of the Emperor on it. It’s identity is hundred percent proven fact. But there are no names on the one in Asif Khan, no dates, nothing. There were two sarcophagus in the Mausoleum of Empress Nur Jahan. One was hers own. The second (often attributed to her daughter Ladli Begum, who is actually buried in the compound of Khusrow in Allahabad, as even seen by historian Dr Abdullah Chaghatai)  was the empty one, the Ashiq Mashooq concept. Designed by Empress Nur Jahan herself, the second sarcophagus represented her lost love Emperor Jahangeer. As a tribute to him, this one would be empty, and there would be no names on the sarcophagus itself. The Sikhs in their frenzy threw things here and there. The sarcophagus from the Mausoleum of Empress Nur Jahan got thrown in the compound of Nawab Asif Khan, from where it ended up as his own sarcophagus.

Then there is another question. The size of the Emperor’s sarcophagus was always bigger than the Queens, as shown in the sarcophagi of the Taj Mahal itself. We attach an image to show the difference between a male and a female’s sarcophagus. The sarcophagus of Nawab Asif Khan should have been much bigger in size, for everything in construction was then related to Euclidean principles, of which both Mir Abdul Kareem and Ustad Ahmad were Masters of those principles of architecture,.

Is this possible? Wishful thinking, merely. Not at all. This is hundred percent possible. But for this we need people who ask questions? Then they get answers. The whole Archaeological department no longer contain the stalwarts of the department. Just mere clerks now getting their pay, and going home. The relation with their legacy long gone.

SULTAN AND HIS SON
A LAHORE PAINTING DATED 1232 AD

FIRST TIME ON INTERNET

The Europeans were treasure hunters. British, German and French teams were scouting the world for treasures of cultural merit and a lot got collected, both legally and illegally, and there was none to stop the White man on his shopping spree. For no one really cared, everyone was in economic strife even at that time. The French collector Vervier came across some objects and art works in Ispahan and bought them.One was a painting dated 1232 AD. The most remarkable thing it was dated and the other remarkable thing it was one of the earliest painting known of Lahore region, and it was dated just 22 years after the death of the Sultan.

The Sultan of course was Qutb-ud-din Aibeg, the Flaming Star of Lahore. And he sits with his wife and three girls and son in law and his young son namely Aram Shah. He was the only Sultan of those times on which the painting fits in every way. The whole family is in picture there. We know that his son in law Sultan Iltutmish also commissioned paintings in the Chinese style from probably Mongol artists who had come to India from Mongolia itself, the Changez Khan School of painting, which is a separate story in itself. Vervier noted the Indian elements in the painting. The stamp of the Lahore School painting was visible there, and highlights the statement of the historian Baihaqi, who said that 200 different professionals came from Ghazni to settle in Lahore. The professionals included even silk lace makers, a fancy profession for those times. And even lion tamers to this region.

Unfortunately the present location of the work is not known, but suffice it must be in some private collection even today. Till we know more, enjoy the Lahore School of Painting. It is also possible that it was attached to a manuscript copy of the TAJ UL MATHIR of Tajuddin Hassan Nizami, the earliest biographer of the great Sultan of Lahore.

THE BONES OF EMPRESS NUR JAHAN
AND A SICK MIND OF A SIKH RULER

Tragedies of Lahore

The lure of Nur Jahan is phenomenal. Stuart Cary Welch and his wife Edith were our guests in Lahore in 1981, and he wanted to visit a number of places. The mausoleum of Nur Jahan was one of them. Through the courtesy of Malik Shams (whose son held the contract to entrance), we slipped down a basement into a tunnel, which deep down led to a room, with two iron rings hanging from the ceiling. That was all that remained of Nur Jahan. Yes the mausoleum itself was in ruins from the times o the Sikhs, who had stripped it of its affluence, and although Hakeem Ajmal Khan of Delhi had provided a tombstone way back, things were still something to be in deep mourning.

The disregard of those in power for the legacy of Pakistan was understood, but not the mind of a sick Sikh ruler, who was so obsessed with the legend of Nur Jahan, that he had the coffins removed, to inspect the so called bodies of the departed Queen. The skeletons were not up to his standards (Contrary to popular thought the second coffin is not of Ladli Begum her daughter, who is buried elsewhere in the Indian region), and perhaps the cloth of the coffin was of interest to him, and he may have put the same in the Toshak-khana of the Lahore Fort (a number of things were found there after his death), but disappointed with the bones, he ordered them to be thrown to the dogs and the wolves in the area. He did not even have the decency to put the skeletons back in the grave and back to the original hanging position. In fact he had no scruples, and it was rumoured that his own mother did not listen to him, and he had her murdered for licentious living.

Nur Jahan was perhaps the most famous Mughal lady of all times. Her luck was such that from being in a position of eventful death as a baby, she survived all odds, and created a renaissance in Mughal culture. Maker of perfumes, fashion designer, power wielder, she was a legend in her own lifetime. After her political demise, she retired to Lahore and lived a peaceful life here. Even today we come across coins struck in her name in the vast kingdom of the Mughals by her loving husband Emperor Jahangeer. The city she called Paradise treated her like dirt under the dark and dreary span of Sikh rule in Lahore.

SEXUAL ANTICS ON A MOSQUE’S MINARET
FONDLING OF RANJIT SINGH AND MAI MORAN

Sikh shamefulness in Wazeer Khan Mosque

To this day Lahore remembers the antics of Sikh times. Being Lahorite, no one can tell us different. Nor books nor media hype can change history from our minds. Lahoris were sick of the Sikh bandits who were making life miserable for them. Occupied by Lehna Singh, Sobha Singh and Gujjar Singh, Lahore knew no reprieve. The Sikh lords would rob them of their possession, pick up their women, and what not? In those times of trial when people went out of their houses, they had small hidden rooms near the small wells inside their houses. At water level these room were closed from outside. The women folks and children used to enter the rooms. And with each woman, a dagger was left and she was told this straight. Either you can find a dignified death or you can be raped by many men before you welcome death itself. The choice is yours. And when the men came back and found the family in order, they would pray to Allah saying a million thanks for welfare of their lives.

That is why the lanes of Lahore were made so small that only one rider at a time could come into the city and all houses were joined at the top, so that people could escape from roof tops in case of emergency. Lahore knew paranoia as none knew it. In times of the Mongols, Lahore had become a deserted city and was repopulated again in 1420 AD By Syed brothers. Lahore had also suffered famine during the Abdali (Afghan) period when it did not rain for eight years. It is said that people made flour from dry leaves of plants and from that used to cook bread for themselves. Now the Sikh menace had reached its height. The Qasabs (butchers) had attacked Lahore again and again, which resulted in a discarded Delhi Gate (rebuilt in British times by Muhammed Sultan contractor). In this environment, the Sikhs were out of bounds. So the best choice was to invite one of the bigger bandits, and that is why the Keeper of the City’s keys, the Kotwal handed them over to a dacoit of Gujaranwalla, that is Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh camped in the Baradari of Wazeer Khan and entered the city through the Lohari Gate. In a little or no time, he was able to subdue the three reigning dacoits of Lahore, the final giving in, after cannon fire was made on the Lahore Fort, from the minarets of the Badshahi mosque. The city was Ranjit Singhs, for the next 40 years.

The esteemed Khushwant Singh started weaving the tale of a Mahrajah, and was very successful. Every attribute of a ruler was put on the new controller of Lahore. Suffice to say that during his reign, most of the mosques were deserted, and used as a fodder place for animals, or as a store house for ammunition. Besides that about 2000 buildings were stripped of bricks and marbles. The state of mosques was pathetic but then, the AZAN (call to prayer) was not allowed in Lahore for Muslims for something like 70 years. No ‘Allah-Akbar’ in that period. Sikha-shahi had no such scruples.

Victor Jacquemont was a French visitor to the Court of Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh complained about his health again and again, and Jacquemont could not understand the implication. Then Ranjit Singh lowered his garments and showed the doctor his genitals. The French man was shocked to see the state of advanced chronic syphilis in the Sikh chief. It was even difficult for the chief to even urinate with the swollen urethra. Doubt my words, check the Letters of Jacquemont yourself. Published in 1834 AD, they affirm, what I am saying here. Plain and simple. Of the fifty children claimed by Ranjit Singh as his own, the proof as that only Kharrack Singh was his own. There was no possibility of any other. To prove his virility, Ranjit Singh showed many consorts to his fellow men. One such consort was the prostitute by name of MORAN, who was called ‘Mai Moran’ in their chronicles.

The love for Moran fixated Ranjit Singh. He was seen frolicking with her all the time. Ranjit Singh would mount an elephant with Moran and roam in and around the city, fondling the breasts of Moran, for the world to see. A number of historians have written about this, but the nightmare in Lahore was, when Ranjit Singh took Moran to the Wazeer Khan mosque (the only mosque still functioning but at a lesser level) and climbed up the Minaret of the mosque. Then in plain view of the city and hundreds of people watching, he started fondling Moran’s breasts in front of the city of Lahore. The tongues started wagging. Lahore was literally shocked! No one had the sort of recklessness ever to destroy the sacredness of the place in a voyueristic adventure, no one liked. This is the legacy of the Sikh times in Lahore. And we can provide copies and references to anyone who wants to know more!

RESPECTING OTHER WAYS OF LIFE,
DOES NOT MEAN LETTING OTHERS,
TWIST AND TURN YOUR OWN.

The motto of life is simple. We heard it ages ago. Live and let live. Co-exist in peace. Harmony makes the world go forward. An unnecessary remark can injure the pride of another person. Sensitivity and compassion are the lessons of life. Yes, we agree with them. We accept them. We want to follow them. We will try our best to keep this situation alive.

But when other cultures fall into inferiority complex, it is not our fault. We like to give them our shoulders to unburden themselves, but not our backs, so that they can stab us in the name of PEACE. And this is what is happening! If we are vigilant, we are in the right. Egalitarianism is part of our faith. Equality means something to us. But our wretched leaders who represent the worst of our society are embarrassing us all over the world. They do not represent Pakistan. They represent their business interests. Each day they are getting richer and richer, the modern Pharaohs of Pakistan. One day they will not even have Pyramids for their corrupt mummies. Hearts and minds of the people are not won at gun point of barrels. How wonderful were days of the past when people traveled all over the world without artificial borders?

No one should try to take the superior approach. Allah forbids criticizing other ways of life. Judgement is for Allah, not us. Ours is our faith that we believe in the permanent laws given by Allah and we follow them and we change those laws which can be changed by mutual consensus, or ijjtehad. God bless the world!

CHANGING NAMES AND INFERIORITY COMPLEX
COLONIAL BRITISH ON RAMPAGE

The derogation of regional society

A Deputy Director of LDA was looking at the files in front of him. He shared his views with me with a smirch. He said Pakistanis are strange people. Touch a building of British period and they are ready to die for it. Touch any other ancient building and they care nothing for it. He was very serious and I realized how active the NGOs lobbies were in protecting the interest of their Colonial Masters to this day. So much has been repeated and said that there is no need to rub salt on old wounds. But many things are quietly forgotten in time and a reminder is in order. A society in which the word ‘Mecca’ stands for a Gambling den, casino, and a strip -tease joint, cannot be offering goodwill to others. And no NGO has complained of this word still in use for same, nor for that matter any Maulvi of any kind.

While Lahore was weeping for the break up of the Ottoman Empire and Dr Allama Iqbal was consoling the masses, the British were naming their dogs as ‘Turk Sahib’. lts exhibiting real inferiority complex in those people. Today we resent the CHANGE OF NAMES being done, but what did the British do, change names to whatever suited them, like Lyallpur, Montgomery and what not?  Colonel Abdur Rasheed has written a memoir on Sultan Shaheed, Tipu Sultan of Mysore, who turns out to be as having migrated as a family from Punjab itself, was by ethnic race a NAIK and the British to affirm their poor complexes named the lowest rank in their Army as being a ‘NAIK’. But there is a lot more!

Take royal titles and names like Khansaman (cooks named as Khansamas), Mahtar (cleaners named as Mahtars), in fact all names of any worth degraded as nobodies. And take the costume. The dress of the Royal Courtiers and Nawabs made into the dress of chowkidars. The doormen were seen wearing Royal Mughal dresses. Funny isn’t it, with grand Turbans on their heads, opening doors for men in three piece suits. There is so much more.The Persian, Arabic and Urdu language degraded beyond recognition to this day.  The birth of Urdu-medium and English medium took place all at once.

But one summing up is even more acute. The well known English writer Michael Edwardes writes about the aftermath of the Mutiny in Delhi (our war of Independence):

“Perhaps the most revolting aspect of the violence was that the excecutioners seemed to enjoy what they were doing. Within a few days of the capture of the city, the provost marshal had officially hanged  between four and five hundred, and it as said on good authority that the soldiers had bribed the executioners ‘to keep them a long time hanging, as they liked to see the criminals dance a ‘PANDIES’ HORNPIPE, AS THEY TERMED THE DYING STRUGGLES OF THE WRETCHES. WHEN  GREAT MULTIPLE GALLOWS WAS ERECTED IN A SQUARE IN THE CITY, ENGLISH OFFICERS USED TO SIT BY IT, PUFFING AT THEIR CIGARS, AND LOOK ON AT THE CONVULSIVE STRUGGLES OF THE VICTIMS.’

And to beat it all tea parties were held and bets were made as to who will blow his hornpipe the longest. Can such callousness ever be repeated?

The whole nation is in turmoil right now and their hornpipes are shrieking with pain of struggle to survive. Is anyone listening!

THE GENEROSITY OF A LAHORI
GIFTING A COMPLETE CITY AWAY
GIFT OF WAZEERABAD

An unbelievable story for Guinness Book of Records

A literary professor of Wazeerabad was roaming around the city in 1947. The city was in turmoil, and the effects of partition were visible all around. Ahmad Hussain Qureshi came across scattered manuscripts, documents, property records outside the havelli of the Diwans of Wazeerabad, namely Kirpa Ram Chopra, and Thakur Dass. Kirpa Ram was also once the Prime Minister of Jammu under the Mahrajah of that time. Both the Diwans were much loved in Wazeerabad, and had a huge Muslim following with them. Various poets of the area had written Qasidas praising both the Diwans. The famous Qasida in honour of Thakur Dass is most famous for its depth, written by Qazi Khuda Baksh. Everything was well.

Nawab Izzad Baksh was the direct descendant of Nawab Wazeer Khan of Emperor Shah Jahan. He was the last male descendant. His daughter went ahead and married Chajju Baig, a tenant of the mosque of Wazeer Khan in Lahore. Izzad Baksh also had a room of his own in the mosque. The Mutavallis were different as well as the family of the Imams. A long story. Going back to Nawab Wazeer Khan, whose real name according to old records, was Ali-ud-din, the history observed him as a shrewd gentleman. It is said that no transaction was made in Lahore in which he did not get a percentage. Of all the things he did, he founded the city of Wazeerabad. That is why it is still named after him. Although portions were owned by others (sold with time), the bulk of the city was that of the Nawab himself. And most of the city was owned in the 1850s by Nawab Izzad Baksh, the direct descendant of Nawab Wazeer Khan.

Nawab Izzad Baksh was totally dissatisfied with his son-in-law Chajju Baig, who had not only seduced his daughter by sending love messages, but also stolen all the relevant documents from the mosque itself as well as his home in the Serai of Wazeer Khan in Lahore, which is seen to have existed till 1904 at least. He was not interested in transferring his entire wealth to this shrewder than any shrewd gentleman. The result he decided to gift the wealth to those he actually loved. And Thakur Dass was his favourite friend.

From the pile of ‘RADI’ (waste) on the floor, Ahmad Hussain Qureshi picked a up a Registration deed to the city of Wazeerabad. It was a gift made by Nawab Izzad Baksh to Diwan Thakur Dass. It was witnessed by two important people, Hakeem Qaleem-ullah and Sarfraz Janjua of Wazeerabad. The deed was dated Bhadon 1904 Samvat or about August, 1852 AD. The deed was recorded as the transfer made in the Official Property Record of the Municipality of Wazeerabad. A COMPLETE CITY HAD BEEN GIVEN AS A GIFT FROM A MUSLIM NAWAB TO A HINDU DIWAN.

And yet there is more. The records of Lahore High Court shows a judgement made by a learned British judge around 1862. After the death of Nawab Izzad Baksh, Chajju Baig went to court to try to recover the gift made by his father-in-law. It was an act of desperation. The Judge passed the judgement which is still on record that A GIFT ONCE GIVEN CANNOT BE TAKEN BACK. Chajju Baig had lost the case of Wazeerabad.

All is is on official record and it is a fascinating story and worth writing again and again. But busy in the stress of our lives, we fail to see the stress already seen by previous generations. The attitude of Muslims did not delve in bigotry, and they were open to other ways of life.