OUR HYDERABADI BRETHREN IN DECCAN INDIA
M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI AND HYDERABAD DECCAN

Civilized, cultured, educated, loving- Hyderabadi essence

A long time back Lahore was the cultural capital or the Mughals. Then some preferred Delhi for same. But Emperor Aurangzeb beat them all by shifting his attention to the city he founded, that is Aurangabad. Out of a different city, he carved a Mughal city and was obsessed with that area. All his life, from that of a Prince to a King was devoted to Deccan. He even died and was buried in Khuldabad. Even today people remember him as perhaps the greatest Emperor of Hindustan. Where other areas could muddle the history of Emperor Aurangzeb, the Hyderabadi Deccan people always knew better. Even today Aurangzeb is loved there.

The interesting part is that many people from Lahore migrated to Hyderabad Deccan in that period and there are records and mohallas attesting to the Lahori origin of some of those people. Ustad Jameel Baig, architect of the Panch Chakri had Lahori origins too. In fact Ustad Ahmad Mimar Lahori , Architect of the Taj Mahal, is also buried in Khuldabad graveyard. M.S. Vatts, and his Archaeolgical team has recorded his grave there and the epitaph composed by Lutufullah Muhandis on his father’s grave.

M.A. Rahman Chughtai was so much attached to Hyderabad Deccan, that Beverly Nichols in his VERDICT ON INDIA records him as a Hyderabadi artist. In 1927 Dr Allama Iqbal had written to the Nizam of Hyderabad for financial assistance for the publication of Murraqqa e Chughtai edition on Mirza Ghalib. The letter is still there in Hyderabadi archives. A sum of Rs 5000 was alloted for the publication but in exchange many of the paintings were physically taken for the Nizam’s Palace in Delhi, where they were for a number of years. The book was dedicated to the Nizam himself, but unfortunately the book could not be presented at the Court of the Nizam, and was handed by a disgruntled brother, Dr Abdullah Chaghatai, at the Jamia Masjid in Hyderabad. As a result no grant or gift was given to the book.

Hyderbad could not forget Chughtai the artist. An exhibition on Dr Allama Iqbal was held in Hyderabad in 1948 and inaugurated by Deputy Prime Minister, and attended by the Prince Asif Jah, son of the Nizam of Hyderabad. A number of painting were purchased. The Salar Jang Museum had many Chughtai paintings. The National Museum had literally hundred of them. How many are left we do not know? But choice works of the artist were in Hyderabadi museums as well as homes.
Disaster struck Hyderabad when the Indian Government took Hyderabad on verge of accession to Pakistan, and the Army disbanded. Then Hyderabad broken down in different divisions, for it to never to show up her head again. From deep in our heart, we pray that one day Hyderabad be Hyderabad Deccan again and all its son of souls scattered all over the West come back to the land of their ancestrors, where they lived and reigned for centuries. Amen!

We meet a lot of Hyderabadis here even today, as they still come to visit us at the museum and we are delighted to receive them. Many did migrate to Pakistan and many are settled in Karachi. But many did move out to the USA and other places. You can recognize a Hyderabadi by simply his essence, which is unique in all ways.

P.S. With special regards to Ali Hassan from Hyderabad Deccan.

ANARKALLI, PURANI ANARKALLI, ANARKALLI BAZAAR
THE BLASPHEMY OF WILLIAM FINCH BASTARD

The tale spinning of sick minds

This narration is not about the Mausoleum of Sahib Jamal, beloved wife of Emperor Jahangeer. The said lady was a beloved of the young Prince and died in Lahore in 1008 AH. As he was only a Prince then, he was not in a position to do wonders with her last resting place. In 1023 AH, when he was Emperor of Hindustan, he ordered construction of a perfect mausoleum on her grave. That was done and everybody knew about it. A garden already existed at the place and was known as Bagh of Anaran or Bagh of Anarkalli. Various historians, including Dara Shikoh has mentioned it as Anarkalli Bagh. Jahangeer enlarged the garden to suit the memory of his beloved wife.

Its history is complex. At times it was given as a baithak to Kharrack Singh, son of Ranjit Singh. At times it was with Sobha Singh, and it suffered bombardment too. It was a residence of General Ventura too. It became a Church for many years, and later it became a Record Office. It is still a Record Office although care has been given to it as a Mausoleum. One day that may come too. In any case the vicissitudes of time does not matter as it survived the most difficult times in history, when nearly 2000 Muslim monuments of Lahore were obliterated by the meanness of the Sikh rulers, envious of past civilizations.

When the Anarkalli Church was created, so were created many other Anarkallis. First was the Anarkalli Cantonment. Then there was the Anarkalli Gardens, a new garden laid by the British, and originally called the Bandstand Garden. A Police Station at Anarkalli lines along with a Purani Anarkalli, a bazaar of a sort, and the first house of the Prostitutes of Lahore under the British rule. To get rid of these prostitutes from Anarkalli, the British outlawed prostitution from all areas except specified Red Light Area and that was declared to be the Ghala Market of Sardar Hira Singh. In 1850 most of the prostitutes of Lahore were resident of Anarkalli Bazaar in Lahore.

The story deliberately concocted by William Finch haramzada found place as a romantic tale with story writers and dramatists and that kept the thing alive for centuries. But the Anarkalli Bazaar itself, both the old one (Purani Anarkalli) and the new Anarkalli (Nawan Anarkalli) was place for people to shop, intermingle, buy oddities, exchange gossips, and eat their heart out of various delicacies. The Bano Bazaar became the hot shopping centre of its age. The best products were all here. Sheikh Inayatullah salesman of Kashmeeri Bazaar, made his own famous store here. Traditional clock shops, photography stores, ready made clothes, book shops, news-stands, beauty stores, and the most famous TOY SHOPS of Lahore.

Who was William Finch? A British con artist working his way through various cities of Hindustan, trying to do business here and there. I think it was Indigo for which he came to Lahore. Denied access to Mughal Courts and Kings and Queens, he could sit in the bazaar looking for gossips to hear and write about. There the bastard made the story of Anarkalli, as a consort of Emperor Akbar and Saleem was secretly having an affair with his step mother. As this story did not seem very romantic in depth, later writers turned it into a full scale romance. Muddled for decades and centuries of truth with blasphemy of highest order. This is the same moron who saw the Lahore Fort full of images of Jesus Christ and Mary and Jahangeer on the verge of Christianity. In fact he affirms that Jahangeer not only had three of his nephews converted to Christianity, he also affirms that (Nous-billah) Jahangeer used to attack the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) as well as the Al-Quran in his court. Curse on this haramzada to indulge in such blasphemy even at that time. A person who may have never entered the Lahore Fort, saw it full of images of the Cross, Jesus Christ and Mary. The interesting part is that he saw it in a pavilion which was made after his death in August, 1913 in Babylon. All his indigo got stolen and he lost his life. So take his invented stories with a grain of salt. Sick minds have sick thoughts.

It was said then that if you have not seen Lahore, you have not seen anything. But if you have not seen Anarkalli, you have not seen Lahore. That is matter of past as Anarkalli is neglected place now. Once a canal ran in its centre, supplying water everywhere. Even that is a thing of past now. Lahore is a romantic place and attaches itself to love stories with passion unimaginable. But truth matters!

IS ISRAELI BOMBARDMENT OF GAZA RETALIATION
FOR PAK ARMY BOMBARDMENT OF WAZEERISTAN

TERRORISTS ARE ISRAELI ASSETS BUT PERHAPS ZIONISTS TOO

The full circle is illusive, one never knows if it is round, elliptical, or even a zig zagging balloon. In the world of games and conspiracies one never knows the end actors. One can only presume, imagine, or become an end game of jokes.

The Jews are all over the world. The theory that they would end up all in Israel never worked. Many of them preferred to maintain in their own country, mixing with other groups, and tightening their love with others. It is reputed that many Jews are leaving Israel in the analysis that they will never see peace there and are against the barbaric attitude of their own government. The Jews are beautiful people, full of culture and civilization. Tender, artistic, musical, as when we see the face of the Zionists, we shudder with shame at the face of so called humanity. Ruthless, barbarians, they are indeed the children of the group who started worshiping the COW while Prophet Moses conversed with God to get the tablet of the Ten Commandments.

There are Jews in disguise all over the world. Pakistan has many Jews in population. But those Jews are welcome who are open in their religion and their beliefs are very much like Muslims themselves. But the clandestine Jews are there too. Many of these ruthless operators are Jews themselves working on the Zionist agenda. When Pakistan Army decided to start the OPERATION ZARB ASAB, it was a set back to the Zionists as their assets were destroyed in a sweep. They did not like that. To extract revenge for their lost brethren, they started the bombing of Gaza itself. I think the equation is not complex, it is really very simple. The Zionist does not believe in an eye for eye, they believe in ten eyes to one. That is what is happening.

But they have done the impossible. Leave the impotent leaderships aside of the Muslim world. Events like these make the Muslims all over the world in the desired concept of UMMAH itself. Thank you Israel for making us realize UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL!

GUL SAFA LAHORI BELOVED
MASHOOQ OF PRINCE DARA SHIKOH

A love affair of Lahore

No one ordinarily could get in the Mughal harem. The lady had to be exceptionally pretty, as well as talented in many of the arts of the world. The story of Nur Jahan’s conquest of Prince Saleem is just one example. But to get the attention of the Emperor or the Princes or the heir apparent was not a joke. Nothing ordinary could touch the senses or minds of the Royal Princes. Gul Safa Lahori managed not only to get in the Mughal harem (perhaps on the recommendation of Princess Jahan Ara a firm judge of character), but to get the attention of the heir apparent, and is called in a Royal miniature as being the MASHOOQ OF DARA SHIKOH. Not every body could get into Royal record as being the beloved of the greatest Prince of that age.

Gul Safa’s position can be ascertained from the fact that she was in control of the Ainah Khana of Prince Dara Shikoh in Lahore, and Lutufullah Ahmad Muhandis, the architect of the same Ainah Khanah, has a Qasida in his diwan, honouring the well known Mashooq of Lahore. Gul Safa indeed!

Little is known about her and her position after the death of Dara Shikoh, but it seems that she was still in control of the Ainah Khana in the times of Emperor Aurangzeb himself. She lived there with her daughter, an off spring of Dara Shikoh himself. A painting of Gul Safa with her daughter exists to this day. Can we identify the daughter in any way? Besides the famous Jani Begum, that is Jahanzeb daughterof Dara Shikoh, who became the daughter in law of Emperor Aurangzeb, we know of at least three daughters of Dara Shikoh. One is Pak Nihad Begum, a princess born on 5th September, 1641. We know of another Bano Princess, who was born on 29th June, 1634, but she died as a baby child. We are told of another later daughter whose name was AMAL UN NISA BANO, and in our view she was the daughter of Gul Safa, and in this miniature, we see mother and daughter sitting in the Bagh of Dara Shikoh in Lahore, with the Ainah Khana in the background. This is the area of the Railway Station Lahore of these days.

The famous wife of Dara Shikoh is of course Nadira Begum, who died in his camp, somewhere in Sind, because of food poisoning on the run. She was bought back to Lahore by the eunuch Khawaja Maqbool (builder of Dai Anga Mosque) and buried in the compound of Hazrat Mian Mir in Lahore. Her son who died in young age, namely Mumtaz Shikoh, is buried in the Bagh of Prince Pervaiz, father of Nadira Begum. But where Gul Safa went? No one knows. That is history. It buries flesh and blood in mere dust with time. A couple of Hindu artists saved her image and life for posterity by drawing her pictures. We thank them for their contribution!

THE FASCINATION OF LAHORE WITH LEGENDS
HEER RANJHA SWAYEDTHE CITY ALL THE TIME

Every day recitals around the city gardens

Romantic tales are part of the international folk lore. Countries cannot do without a story or two. The story of Heer Ranjha is said to be around five hundred years old and is said to be first written by poets like Dhamendar Dass Arora.The tales are simple in nature. The futility of achieving true love in this temporal world abounds in such themes. The romance of Heer of Siyal with Ranjha is no exception. It was an ordinary story till somebody outside Lahore gave it its spiritual touch.

Two poets are responsible for taking Heer Ranjha to new heights. One is Syed Waris Shah, resident of a village near Sheikhupura, of course just on the outskirts of Lahore. And the other is Baba Hiyadatullah, a Punjabi poet of Mohalla Chabuk Sawaran, who also gave the romance a new lease of life with his own rendition.

The efforts of late B.A. Qureshi Sahib made the mausoleum of Syed Waris Shah a place of pilgrimage again. A water well dated with an Akbari inscription speaks of the old heritage of the place itself. Once famous all over Punjab, Baba Hiyadatullah is lesser known today. Reputed to have attained an age of 120 year old, he was submerged in controversy by his nephews and grandchildren. That generation (someone of them ) embraced the religion of Ahmadiyah and broiled the poor Baba Hiyadatullah in the same controversy. Although Ahmadiyah texts speak of Baba Hiyadatullah as an Ahmadiyah and yet they state that they have no BAIT record of him. It is a frivolous claim made by his daughter’s son, putting the old poet in jeopardy. M.A. Rahman Chughtai who was a next door neighbour of the poet, narrates in his writings, that Baba had often told him of his immense love for the Prophet and his belief in the finality of Prophethood (Check Dabistan mussavari book).

In any case Waris Shah and Hiyadatullah made the recital of Heer Ranjha on the lips of Lahore. In various gardens and city places, men used to sit and recite the poem, amongst the applause the persons sitting here. Many wept when they heard the poem. Various people in their memoirs have recorded such happenings in the city So it was natural for artists of Lahore to illustrating the same. We present here a few illustrations bdone by a Lahore Artist in 1276 AH and published in Lahore in book form. We also include some works done by the artist M.A. Rahman Chughtai. The artist was very fond of listening to the recital of Heer Ranjha and used to travel places to listen to them. The whole mohalla and Chughtai Sahib eulogized the Baba, who coined the term ‘dholi chardain marian Heer cheekan’. Allah bless those talented persons!

THE FIRST PAINTING OF M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI
NUR JAHAN MOURNING AT JAHANGEERS TOMB

A teenager’s fantasy and birth of Chughtai Art

Art activity was in full swing in Lahore. A Punjab Fine Art Society was established here and various exhibitions shows were being arranged at the Lahore Museum. A show of paintings was held and that was seen by M.A. Rahman Chughtai. Instinctively he felt that he could do better than the acknowledged Masters of Hindustan, which included the Bengal School, as well as the great Master, Abindaranath Tagore, the accepted giant of Indian Art. Indeed his assertion was simple, those people had no concept of Muslim Culture and depicted it wrongly all the time.

After his Eighth Class Certificate and education at Railway Technical School Lahore in 1911, the artist had joined Mayo School of Arts for diploma in Photo lithography. Samarendranath Gupta was too vain and arrogant to teach to a Muslim set of students. And there was personal dislike between the two persons at Mayo School of Arts. A three piece English suit Gupta was versus a Sherwani shalwar and turban phag of Master Abdur Rahman, as he was called at that time, and ethnic and religious bigotry was self evident.

It was the years of the photography of M.A. Rahman Chughtai. Armed with a wooden Box camera of his own and a set of glass plates, he was experimenting all the time. His portrait of the Director Education became very famous for its portrayal at that time. Also busy with stone work for his lithography, and printing same in one form or the other. Designing of Eid cards was there as well as aero work for some of his portraits of people. He used to colour the photographs himself, and there is a record of same to this day.

The idea of a painting with Nur Jahan mourning at Jahangeer’s tomb came to his mind. He first did something which he never did all his life. Asked his wife to pose in a praying posture, and photographed some poses of her. These photographs he kept on one side.

Next was to be a factual record of the tomb itself. The artist was a regular visitor to the Mausoleum of Emperor Jahangeer with other boys to frequent the place. There in early years M.A. Rahman Chughtai copied the sarcophagus of Jahangeer for his proposed painting. We attach here an image of that earliest drawing of the artist. Writings state the colour of the stones used for the purpose. Indeed a unique record in our archives.

Armed with both a photograph of his wife praying and a sketch of the sarcophagus, he completed a painting of the great Queen of the past mourning the loss of her husband. With big fanfare M.A. Rahman Chughtai exhibited the work at a neighbour’s house in Chabuk Sawaran and the family of the neighbour still remember the event. Everyone liked it and praised it. But the artist himself was unhappy with it for his own reasons. Finally he got tired of it and tore it himself. He was also sincere in tearing things that he did not like, much to the regret of family and friends. Children used sneak in his studio to steal torn paintings but he would not allow that. So a cousin of ours had a torn painting but he lost it in a ship wreck in the sea when coming back from England.

The first painting that got published in Modern Review in January 1916, can be compared to his first painting, that was created but could not remain. Other works on the same subject came afterwards but never that painting itself.

MORONS, CLOWNS AND GREED
THE FLAVOUR OF RAMAZAN PROGRAMMES

Where have the scholars gone?

We are firm believers in the spirit of Ramazan. Every year the coming of the month excites us and we are ready for it. It is not always easy ROZAS, as the heat bears on us all the time. But then the challenge is greater and we know that by presenting same to us, Allah loves us.

Pakistan was made by intellectuals, Yes! Our greatest intellectual is Dr Allama Iqbal and we wish we could hear him speak in the month of Ramazan. Maybe quotes of other great Pakistanis too. And invite men of letters, men of intellect to tell us about the spirit of Ramazan. We would love to hear and be involved in the same. Instead we see morons making fun of all intellect, talking and discussing subjects not fit for animals to hear, and clowns jumping in programmes like jugglers on a trapeze. We used to hear Maulana Ghulam Murshid Khateeb of Badshahi Mosque Lahore and used to be transfixed with his ideas. He was selected by Dr Allama Iqbal himself. He could mesmerize the whole audience in second and uplift them into newer realms. Same applied to Maulana Muslim of the Jamia Masjid Lohari Gate Lahore. Now all the Mullas look to us like Halwa eating absurdities.

Restore our intellect. Jumping people with money in their hands and presents to give, is this the call of Ramazan? The sanctity of Ramazan is nullified by these morons and we need to get rid of them.

WHO DECIDES THE FUTURE OF PLANET EARTH?
NOT SENSITIVE PEOPLE LIKE ARTISTS WRITERS INTELLECTUALS

Philistine Neo-Cons and imbecile politicians

The mad race for acquisitions is getting into high gear. The Neo-cons not content with Planet Earth now wants to share the Universe amongst themselves. Planned genocide of the third world communities in their quest to be gods, more likely devils in disguise. God forbid the collapse of the world will come through greed! Peace will remain an illusive dream.

Will the future hold that we will see not nature but robots and machines in the sky, balloons with logos all around as well as bill boards on the Moon itself. God forbid us from such a drastic future?

God gifted us nature in his quest for ultimate aesthetics. Anyone robbing us from nature as it is, will deprive us of the blessings of Almighty. So beware, do not let this crass crowd mutilate the natural relief we feel, when there is nothing good going on, to seek our relief from the beauty of Nature itself.

THE LEGEND OF KHALIFA KABAB WALA
A KABAB SHOP IN ANCIENT LAHORE

The rendezvous place of artists and writers

M.A. Rahman Chughtai is as pure a Lahori as is possible. His family lived in the city for centuries, and were others moved away from it, his family stuck it here in all kinds of weather and conditions. Artists, writers and people of culture called at his house in Chabuk Sawaran from all over the world. At times his wife Wazeer un nisa could cope with the guests, but at times, the guests were beyond her control, in terms of the number of people who called at the house. The artist Chughtai had a favourite remedy for such a situation. He would invite his guests to a spree of Kabab eating at Khalifas, a place walking distance from his house within the city. Even without visitors, it was a place where he went regularly with his brothers, and Dr Muhammed Din Taseer, Colonel Majeed Malik as well as others. Rarely were things brought at home but after the spree, kababs used to be brought for the ladies of the house too.

Everyone knew the kababs of Khalifa were so tasty, that every one could lick their fingers in eating them. But the legend was further. It was said that one day a JINN fell in love with the kababs of Khalifa, and Khalifa was dumbfounded when in front of his own eyes, the JINN ate all the kababs in his shop. The story went circulating all around the city. Peole swore that at 2pm the JINN along with a CHURAIL (witch) roamed the galis (streets) of Lahore and were bent upon easting Khalifas kababs. The Khalifa who kept his shop open late at night, started closing it, befgore the arrival time of the Jinn. So the story goes, and what happerned or not happened, one does not know.

Suffice that Lahore loved Khalifas kababs, and he was a legend within his own lifetime. After his death, the next shop which became famous for kababs was that of SAEEN near Lall Khoo, in Mochi Gate, Lahore and that shop still operates today at full capacity, now divided into two wings of two sons. Khalifa shop has recently been restored as a specialized bakery, but the kababs are no longer there.

CHANGE IS LAW OF ALLAH
SYSTEMS CHANGE TO FIT CHANGING TIMES

Ijjtehad is essential to Islam

A century of imbeciles seem to be on card. To debase Islamic concepts, all sorts of literal half-wits come in the arena of imposters and declare themselves to be rubber stamps of previous claimants of revolutions. Compare the real Caliph of Islam with the latest imposter on the scene and you will know the concept of ijjtehad is basic to Islam, otherwise it would have gone down the drain and quagmire of history.

A group which does not hold even the Holy Kaaba as sacred must be representative of the Devil himself. The essential quality of a Caliph is his compassion or humanity. Caliph Mustansar Billa went down the drains long ago for he lost this quality of feeling for others. Death and destruction does not make Islam, but construction, in fact the shaping of PERSONALITY is the keystone to Islamic thinking. A Caliph like Hazrat Umar could feel the pangs of hunger of a hungry dog in Allah’s kingdom, and these new imposters cannot feel for the thousands they are killing in name of tyrannical fulfillments and desires. Impotence of thought does more damage to humankind than actual impotence and these new mischief mongers are important in all ways, fed with their Viagra pills of arms and ammunition by thoughtless and rabid string pullers.

A video shot on Russia Today shows some Palestinian boys firing stone sling shots at heavily armed Israeli troops. Reverse has happened with our David and Goliath concept of the past. It was then David who had the sling shot, now it is held by the opposite divide. What went wrong? Why cannot man live in peace with each other? For where does this deep hatred strive in man for other ethnic races? Islam the way of PEACE requires to be rejuvenated with out these concept spoiler Mullahs and usher in an era of peace on Plant Earth.