Pakistan, the Indus land, is the child of
the Indus in the same way as Egypt is the gift of Nile. The Indus has provided unity,
fertility, communication, direction and the entire landscape to the country. Its location
marks it as a great divide as well as a link between central Asia and south Asia. But the
historical movements of the people from Central Asia and South Asia have given to it a
character of its own and have established closer relation between the people of Pakistan
and those of Central Asia in the field of culture, language, literature, food, dress,
furniture and folklore. However, it is the Arabian Sea that has opened the doors for
journey beyond to the Arabian world through the Gulf and Red Sea right into the ancient
civilization of Mesopotamia and Egypt. It is this Sea voyage that gave to the Indus Land
its earliest name of Meluhha because the Indus people were characterized as Malahha
(Sailor) in the Babylonian records. It is for this reason that the oldest civilization of
this land, called Indus Civilization, had unbreakable bonds of culture and trade link with
the Gulf States of Dubai, Abu Dabi, Sharja, Qatter, Bahrain and right from Oman to Kuwait.
While a Meluhhan village sprang up in ancient Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq), the Indus seals,
painted pottery, lapis lazuli and many other items were exchanged for copper, tin and
several other objects from Oman and Gulf States. It is to facilitate this trade that the
Indus writing was evolved in the same proto-symbolic style as the contemporary cuneiform
writing of Mesopotamia. Much later in history it is the pursuit of this seaward trade that
introduced Islam from Arabia in to Pakistan. The twin foundations of cultural link have
helped build the stable edifice of Islamic civilization in this country. All these
cultural developments are writ-large in the personality of the people of Pakistan.
As in many other countries of the world, man in Pakistan began with the
technology of working on old stone by using quartzite and flint found in Rohri hills and
stone pebbles found in the Soan Valley. The oldest stone tool in the world, going back to
2.2 million years old, has been found at Rabat, about fifteen miles away from Rawalpindi,
thus breaking the African record. The largest hand Axe has also been found in the Soan
Valley. Although man is still hiding in some corner, the Soan pebble stone age culture
show a link with the Hissar Culture in Central Asia. Later about fifty thousand B.C. at
Sangho Cave in Mardan District man improved his technology for working on Quartz in order
to chase the animal in closed valleys. Still later he worked on micro quartz and chert or
flint and produced arrows, knives, scrapers and blades and hunted the feeling deer and
ibexes with bow and arrow. Such an hunting scene is well illustrated on several rock
carvings, particularly near Chilas in the Northern Areas of Pakistan along the Karakorum
Highway - a style of rock art so well known in the trans- Pamir region of Tajikistan and
Kirghizstan. However, the first settled life began in the eight millennium B.C. when the
first village was found at Mehergarh in the Sibi districts of Balochistan comparable with
the earliest villages of Jericho in Palestine and Jarmo in Iraq. Here their mud houses
have been excavated and agricultural land known for the cultivation of maize and wheat.
Man began to live together in settled social life and used polished stone tools, made pots
and pans, beads and other ornaments. His taste for decoration developed and he began to
paint his vessels, jars, bowls, drinking glasses, dishes and plates. It was now that he
discovered the advantage of using metals for his tools and other objects of daily use. For
the first time in seventh millennium B.C. he learnt to use bronze. From the first
revolution in his social, cultural and economic life. He established trade relation with
the people of Turkamenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and other Arab world.
He not only specialized in painting different designs on pottery, made
varieties of pots and used cotton and wool but also made terracotta figurines and imported
precious stones from Afghanistan and Central Asia. This early bronze age culture spread
out in the country side of Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and North West Frontier Province.
And this early beginning led to the concentration of population into
small towns. Such as Kot-Diji in Sindh and Rehman Dheri in Dera Ismail Khan District. It
is this social and Cultural change that led to the rise of the famous cities of
Mohenjodaro and Harappra, the largest concentration of population including artisans,
craftsman, businessmen and rulers. This culminated in the peak of the Indus Civilization,
which was primarily based on intensive irrigated land agriculture and overseas trade and
contact with Iran, Gulf States, Mesopotamia and Egypt. Dams were built for storing river
water, land was Cultivated by means of bullock- harnessed plough - a system that still
prevails in Pakistan, granaries for food storage were built, furnace were used for
controlling temperature for making red pottery and various kinds of ornaments, beads of
carnelian, agate and terracotta were pierced through, and above all they traded their
finished goods with Central Asia and Arab world. It is these trade divided that enriched
the urban populace who developed a new sense of moral honesty, discipline and cleanliness,
and above all a social stratification in which the priests and the mercantile class
dominated the society. The picture of high civilization can be gathered only by looking at
the city of Mohenjodaro, the first planned city in the world, in which streets are aligned
straight, parallels to each other, with a cross streets cutting at right angles. It is
through these wide streets that wheeled carriages, drawn by bulls or asses, moved about,
carrying well-adorned persons seated on them, appreciating the closely aligned houses,
made of pucca bricks, all running straight along the streets. And then through the middle
of the streets ran stone dressed drains covered with stone slabs - a practice of keeping
the streets clean from polluted water, for the first time seen in the world.
The Indus Civilization is the first literate Civilization of the
subcontinent. The cities were centres of art and craft. Where the artisan produced several
kinds of goods that were exported to other countries. Sailing boats sailed out from
Mohenjodaro and anchored in the port of the Gulf, which region was perhaps known as
Dilmin. However, it was the city administration that managed the urban life in strict
discipline and controlled the trade in their hands. The discipline is derived from the
strict practice of meditation (yoga) that was practiced by the elite of the city, who
appear to have trimmed their beard and hair combed and tied with golden fillets. The body
was covered with a shawl bearing trefoil designs on them. Such a noble man with a sharp
nose and long wish eyes shows a contrast with a bronze figurine of a dancing and singing
girl, plying music with her fully bang led hand, as we find today with the Cholistan
ladies having bangled hands. Obviously there were distinctive ethnic groups of people in
Mohenjodaro but the dominant class of rulers and merchants appear to be distinctive from
the rest of the population. It is these literate people who inter- acted with the Arabian
people and continued to maintain strict discipline in the society. It is they who
developed astronomy, mathematics, and science in the country along with numerical symbols,
weights and measures but they thoroughly intermixed in the society and also believed in
the local cult of tree and tree deities and animal totems. The most prominent animals as
attested in the seals are bull, buffalo, elephant, tiger, rhinoceros, alligator and deer
and ibexes. However, Mesopotamian influences are seen in the figures of Gilgamash, Enkidu,
joint statue of the bull and man and other animals with several heads and bodies. However,
the unique local concept is that of highly meditative man, seated in his heels, with three
or four heads, and combining in himself the power to control the animals probably with a
crown of horns or some times a tree overhead. It is this supreme deity, depicted on Seals,
that draws the serpent worshippers and overpowers the animals. A part from these there was
no concept of nature worship as we find in the Vedas of the Aryans. The ritual consisted
of offerings through the intermediary of mythological composite animals to the tree deity.
These dose not appear to have been any concept of animals sacrifice nor worship of any
idol or idols. The Indus civilization lasted for nearly five hundred years and flourished
up to 1750 B.C. when we notice the movements of nomadic tribes in Central Asia. As a
result the Asian trade system was greatly disturbed. Consequently the trade and industry
of the Indus people greatly suffered with the result that led to the end of the
Civilization. The cities vanished, the noble lost their position. The writing finished.
The common people met with the influx of new horse-riding pastoralists who hardly
understood the system of irrigated agriculture and hence the value of dams. Such nomadic
tribes are known from the large number of graves and their village settlements all over
Swat, Dir and Bajaur right up to Taxila. In the Northern Areas of Pakistan different group
of such tribes, known as Dardic people are known from their graves. The tribes of the
plains are recognized as different groups of the Aryans from the hilly tribes of the
North- the ancestors of the Kalash people and those who now speak Shina, Burushaski and
other Kohistani languages. They had nothing to do with the cities as we find them building
small villages nor did they know irrigation. Infect they believed in nature gods, one of
them Indra destroyed the dams and spelled disaster on the local Dasyus who differed from
them in colour, creed and language. These Aryans conquerors developed there own religion
of the Vedas, practiced animal sacrifice and gradually built up tribal kingdoms all over
the Indus Valley. The most prominent being that of Gandhara with capitals at Pushkalavati
(modern Charsadda) and Taxila, the last having been the older capital of Takshaka, the
king of serpent worshippers. Taksha-sila (a Sanskrit word, literally translated in to
Persian Mari-Qila) survive in modern Margala. It become the strong hold of the Aryans,
whose great epic book Mahabharata was for the first time recited here. Since that time
Takshka-sila or Taxila lying on the western side of Margala remained the capital of the
Indus land, which was called Sapta- Sindhu (the land of seven rivers) by the Aryans. It
because of this central location, en routs from Central to South Asia that the new capital
of Pakistan has been established at Islamabad on the eastern side of Margala hill , thus
giving a historical link from the most ancient to modern time and new significance to
Pakistan as a link between Central and South Asia.
The city of Taxila began to grow from 6th century B.C. onward when
Achaemenian kings by name Cyrus and Darius joined this city by road and postal services
with their own capital at Persepolis in Iran. Here one can see the Aryan village at Hatial
mound lying above the pre-Aryan bronze age capital of Takshakas (Serpent worshippers). One
can also visit the Achaemenian city at Bhir mound, where old bazaars and royal palace,
with long covered drain, have been discovered. Land rout trade with Iran and the west once
again started with the issue of coin currency for the first time in the Indus land. But
the most important was the great use of iron technology, which produced several kind of
iron tools, weapons and other objects of daily use as known as from the excavations at
Taxila. Above all a new writing known as Kharoshti was developed here. At the same time
the oldest University of the world was founded at Taxila, where taught the great
grammarian Panini, born at the modern village of Lahur in Sawabi district of the Frontier
Province. It is the basis of this grammar that modern linguistics has been developed. It
is in this University that Chandra Gupta Maurya got his education, who later founded the
first sub continental empire in South Asia. He developed the Mauryan city at Bhir mound in
Taxila, where ruled his grandson, Ashoka, twice as governor. He introduced Buddhism in
Gandhara and built the first Buddhist monastery, called Dharmarajika Vihara, at Taxila.
Ashoka has left behind his Rock Edicts at two palaces, one at Mansehra and another at
Shahbazgari, written in Kharoshti.
Long before the rise of Chandra Gupta Maurya the Achaemenian empire,
that had extended from Pakistan to Greece and Egypt, had collapsed under the onslaught of
Alexander of Macedonia. He first finished with the Greek city states, united the Greeks,
and dashed forward to annex the Achaemenian empire and hence proceeded to all those places
where the Achaemenian had ruled. In this march they come to Taxila in 326 B.C. where he
was welcomed by the local king Ambhi in his palace at Bhir mound. It is here as well as at
Bhira in Jhelum district that Alexander's remains can be seen. However, he fought the
greatest battale on the bank of the Jhelum river opposite the present village of Jalalpur
Sharif against Porus, the head of the heroic Puru tribe, whose descendents still supply
military personal to the Pakistan army. Alexander's battle place was at Mong, where he
founded a new city, called Nikea, the city of victory. The other city which he founded was
called Bucaphela after the name of his horse that died here. However, the most captivating
site is at Jalalpur Shaif, laying on the bank of rivulet Gandaria, perhaps Sikanaria,
where Alexander's monument has now been built on the spot where he stopped for about two
months before launching his attack on Porus.
The Achaemenian and Alexander's contacts with Pakistan are very
important from the point of view of educational and Cultural history. The Achaemenian
brought the learning and science of Mesopotamia Civilization that enriched the University
of Taxila. They also introduced their administrative system here, on the basis of which
the famous book on political science, called Arthasastra was written in Sanskrit language
in Taxila by Kautilya, known as Chanakya, the teacher of Chandra Gupta Maurya. It is this
book that was adapted for the administrative of the Mauryan empire. On the basis of
Achaemenian currency the Mauryan punch marked coins. So well known in Taxila, were
produced. It is their Aramaic writing, used by Achaemenian clerks, that led to the
development of Kharoshti in Pakistan and trade with the Semitic world that created the
Brahmi writing in India. On the other hand Alexander brought Greek knowledge and science
to Taxila and introduced Greek type of coin currency. It is Taxila that philosophers and
men of learning of the two countries met and developed science, mathematics and astronomy.
Above all Alexander left behind large number of Greeks in Central Asia, who founded the
Bactrian Greek kingdom in mid-third century B.C. it is the descendants of these Bactrian
Greeks who later advanced in to Pakistan and built up the Greek kingdom here and built up
their own city at Sirkap in Taxila. This is the second well planned city in Pakistan. The
Greeks introduced their language, art and religion in the country of Gandhara, where ruled
thirteen Greek kings and queens. Their language lasted more than five hundred years and
their art and religion and considerable influence on the flourish of Gandhara
Civilization.
This civilization was the result of interaction of several peoples who
followed the Greeks, the Scythians, the Parthians and Kushans who came one the other from
Central Asia along the Silk Road and integrated them selves into the local society. It is
under their patronage that Buddhism evolved here into its new Mahayana form and this
become the religion of the contemporary people in Pakistan. Under their encouragement the
Buddhist monks moved along the Silk Road freely and carried this religion to central Asia,
China, Korea and Japan. It is again the trade along the silk road that was particularly
controlled by the Kushana emperors, who built a mighty empire with Peshawar as their
Capital, the boundaries of which extended from the Aral Sea to the Arabian Sea and from
Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal. It is the dividends of trade that enriched Pakistan and
led to the development of Gandhara Art, which mirrors the social, religious and common
man's life of the time. It is an art that was blend of the Greek classical and local arts,
which created the finest statues of Buddha and Buddhisatttvas that today decorate the
museums all over the world. At the same time the sculpture depict the whole life of the
Buddha in a manner that is unsurpassed. Many Greek themes, their gods, typical toilet
trays, Greek life scenes showing musicians, drinking bouts and love making are presented
in there natural fashion. The Kushanas period was the golden age of Pakistan as the Silk
Road trade brought unparalleled prosperity to the people of the country.
The luxury items produced in the country enrich the museum at Taxila at
that show the Cultural and trends of life of the time. Gandhara art is the high water
achievement of the people of Pakistan. Mahayana Buddhism was the inspiring ideal of the
time and the Buddhist stupas and monasteries survive in every nook and corner of the
hills. It was this time that the country was known as Kushana-shahar, the land of the
Kushanas, to which came the Romanships to carry the luxury goods in exchange for Roman
Siler and Gold, that were used by the Kushana emperors and as a result their gold currency
flooded the country and all along the Silk road. It is these Kushana kings who have gifted
the national dress of shalwar and kamiz and sherwani to Pakistan. Their dress and
decorations are deeply imprinted on the Indus land, that is now Pakistan.
Then came from Central Asia the Huns and the Turks who gave to Pakistan
the present ethnic, their Culture, Food and Adab. The Jats, Gakkhars, Janjuas (Jouanjouan
of the Chinese) and Gujars all trekked into Pakistan and made their home here. The Rajput
rose and founded the feudal system in Punjab and Sindh in the same way the Pashtuns, who
borrowed the surname of Gul and later the title of Khan from the Mongols, their Sardari
system in Balochistan, and slowly developed the Wadera practice
in the Indus delta region of Sindh. This feudal arrangements, which was the result of
confederated tribes of the Huns, led to new administrative system in the country and
created a new form of land management that has lasted until today. The tribes have fused
into the agricultural society but their brotherhoods have survived and they have given a
permanent character to Pakistan.
In the early eight Century A.D. the Arabs brought Islam in Sindh and
Multan built up the kingdom of Al-Mansurah in Sindh. At the same time their east ward Sea
trade introduced porcelain and called on were from China and popularized glass were from
Iran Syria- new materials that can be seen in the excavations at Bambhore in Sindh. With
the Muslims Turks came the Sufis and Dervishes from Central Asia. Iran and Afghanistan and
they spread Islam all over the country. It is Sultan Mahamud of Ghazni who made Lahore-
the city of Data Sahib as his second capital. However, the city of Multan become famous as
the city of Saints although it lay en route the camel caravan that carried on trade
between Pakistan and Central Asia right up to Baku in Azerbaijan. It is these cities that
the famous Muslims monuments of old are to be seen. As a result of the Saintly activity
Pakistan become a land of Islamic Civilization. In several villages and cities we now find
the Dargah of these Muslims Saints. While Shahbaz Kalandar is a well known in Sindh, Baba
Farid Shakarganj resided over Pak Pattan in Punjab, Buner Baba rules over the Frontier
region, and Syed Ali Hamdani is the real Sufi Saint in Kashmir. The capital city of
Islamabad enshrines the well known Golra Sharif and Barri Imam. It is in these Saints who
influenced the development of Sufi literature in all the languages of Pakistan and their
monumental tombs that attract the people from all the country. In the old city of Thatta
at Makli hill several tombs and Mausoleums are spread over the place that surpass in the
beauty of stone carving but much more than this they evidence the historical evolution of
architecture from 12th century A.D. to the Mughal time.
This was a period of great change in the historical integration of the
people in Pakistan when the country was brought closer to Central Asia and the Arab world.
The mixing of several tribes from both these regions transformed the ethnic complex of the
country. Just as in the period of Kushanas of Mahayana type rose here and the Buddhist
monks out from this land along the Silk road to carry the massage of the Buddha, now it
was the Arabs and the Muslims Saints from Central Asia who came in the reverse direction
and flocked in the prosperous land of Pakistan. New trade route were opened in the reverse
direction from those countries into the Indus land. From the Huns to the Turks the age of
cavalry dominated the life scene. Many Rock carvings in Central Punjab show men riding,
even standing on horse back and brandishing their swords and shooting arrows. Hence
forward Polo game become common and sword dance was common, as seen in the Rock carving
near Chilas. The foundation of Muslims state was firmly laid, in which the dominate
position first occupied by the Arabs in Sindh and Multan and later by the Gaznavid and
Ghorid Sultans who made the Indus country as their spring board from the onward conquest
of India. A beautiful monument in memory of sultan Ghori can be seen at Suhawa on the
National Highway. It was therefore in the fitness of things that the first missile made in
Pakistan was named after Ghori. Several Muslims kingdoms grew up in this country.
Beginning from north we find the Tarkhan ruling dynasty, who came from trans-pamir region
here and become supreme in the Gilgit area. The descendent of Shah Mir founded the Muslims
Sultanate in Kashmir maintained its independents until the time of the Mughal emperor
Akbar. The Pushtun tribes made their movements and asserted their independence in the land
watered by the western branch of the Indus River. The Langhas and later the Arghuns become
the Master of Multan. The Sama ruling dynasty started a new era of Cultural development
and prosperity in Sindh. The Baluchis in concert with Brahuis leapt forward not only to
build their kingdom in Balochistan but also migrated eastward and northward. Apart from
these political shape of the country, there was an unparalleled development in art and
architecture, literature and music, and particularly new social integration took place on
the basis of the patronage of local languages, such as Baluchi, Sindhi, Panjabi, Pashto,
Kashmiri, Shina and Burushaski. All these languages received literary form with the
support of the Muslims rulers and the first time their literatures began to take shape.
They received influence from Arabic and Persian and added many themes from the Folklores
as well as from those of Central Asia. Such an unusual developments transformed the
society with the stories from Shahnama and Hazar Dastan and with the Folk-tales from
Lila-Majnun, Sassi-Punnu and Hir-Ranjha. The stringed instruments, the dholak and the dhap
and also flute and trinklets gave a new tone to the life of the people of Multan, Thatta,
Marha Shrif in D.I. Khan, Swat and Kashmir, and finally Gilgit, Hunza and Baltistan
created the finest architecture of the time. That was the period of new religious activity
in the country side when Islam become the dominant religion of the people who were
directly linked in religious ties with the people of Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan,
Turkey and Arab world.
The migrant people had brought the new technology of straining the
horse from Central Asia and Iran. Were ever the horse galloped right up the corner of
Bengal and Orissa, the Turks and Afghans advanced from Pakistan and established new
empires. Here the artisans and craftsman gathered in new centre, cities began to grow with
new craft mohallas, and they began to specialise in the products of Shawl and carpets in
Kashmir, chapkan, chadar and dopatta in Punjab and Chitral and Northern Areas, tile work
in Multan, Hala and Hyderabad, block printing in Sindh and fine carpentry in Chiniot,
Bhira and Dera Ismail Khan. As a result several families occupied themselves in
traditional crafts and passed them on to their own children.
Then came the Mughal emperors, descendent of Amir Timur, who, following
the Mongol ruler Changiz Khan, had embarked on building a new world empire on the basis of
organizing a new type of cavalry and making a new disciplined army in the unites of
hundred and thousand. The later still survive in the name of Hazara both in Pakistan and
Afghanistan. The first Mughal emperor, Zahiruddin Muhammad Baber, who had to come out from
Farghana, brought a new taste of poetry, baghicha and architectural forms from the natural
environment and landscape from Farghana and Samarqand, latter city reflecting the
delicious water of Zarafshan (golden) river. Baber built his first terraced garden in
Kabul and then choose the beautiful spot at Kalda or Kallar Kahar in Chakwal district and
built here Bagh-i-Safa on the very spot marked by this throne seat. It was again terraced
garden watered by a near by spring. At the old Bhira on the bank of Jhelum he built a fort
and then proceeded to Shah Dara (the Royal pass Gate) that opened his route the city of
Lahore. At Shah Dara several garden were laid by by the Mughal noblemen but only one is
preserved inside Jahangir tomb that was built by his queen Nur Jehan who lies buried in
another mausoleums. The tomb along with the garden is now desolate. There is also Kamran's
baradari, without the garden, that still defies the flood of the Ravi river. When the
Mughal emperors followed Baber one after the other, they choose the old Lahore on the bank
of Ravi to their main Urban centres in Punjab. It was developed as a city of gardens with
numerous gardens around but the main Mughal fortress was built in an Island, surrounded by
the Ravi on the three sides and only on the east it was joined to the city proper. Here
third Mughal emperor Akbar transferred his capital from Agra to meet the challenge of
cousin Mirza Hakim. Here he laid the foundation of a typical Mughal citadel with royal
residences, called Akbari Mahal and Jahangiri Mahal, with a prominent Diwan-i-Aam built in
the traditional Iranian style, all constructed in red sand stone imported from Rajistan.
Later Akbar's grandson Shah Jehan, the King of architecture, transformed many buildings
and renewed to his taste with white marble. He added Diwan-i-Khas that overlooked Ravi,
his palace and Turkish Bath and still more important the Moti Masjid, the gem of
monuments, with beautiful decorative designs in precious stones set in marble.
However, his choicest building is the Shish Mahal, the Mirror Palace
that was the constructed by the side of a Char-bagh style garden with running water
channel and fountains, but later destroyed by the Sikhs, and quadrangles remodelled. Such
garden, called Mehtab, can be seen in other quadrangles in the Fort. The Shish Mahal is
the luxurious place of resort particularly during summer months with rest rooms of a long
hall at its either end, opening on to the brilliantly dazzling Veranda that looks at the
marble paved quadrangle with a fountain in the middle side. The mirror reflects the stars
and the bedrooms presents, in its ceiling, the panorama of a star lit Sky. On the western
side there is a unique building of Bengali style, called Naulakha, whose brilliance of
precious stone outshone the natural setting of flowers and tree leaves that decorate the
walls. Alas ' the Sikh and British soldiers have robbed many of the precious stones. Even
then the Shish Mahal, even in its changed character by the Sikhs, presents a dazzling
brilliance in its perfect creation by the Mughal emperor Shah Jehan. It is the climax of
Mughal luxury surpassed nowhere in the world.
The exterior wall of the Shish Mahal one can see the beautiful mosaic
paintings that depict everyday sport of the Mughal princes for the enjoyment of the people
who used to gather below the fort not only to have a view of the emperor sitting in the
Jharokha but also to admire the brilliance of colour on the wall. Here one can observe
galloping horses, humped camels, elephant ride, hunting scene, animal fights, horse man
plying polo or chaughan, camel fights, figures of angels, demon head sand moving clouds,
horse and elephant riders crossing Swords and verities of floral and geometrical designs.
There are three gates to enter the fort, all three of them showing different tastes. The
Masti (or correctly Masjid) Gate on the east shows Akbar's taste of red sand stone. The
Shahburj gate on the west presents the fine mosaic decorations of the time of Janhangir.
The last is the Alamgiri gate built by Emperor Aurangzeb, showing tasteful simple entrance
with multiple facetted Tower at either end, crowned by Kiosks.
From Shish Mahal one can have a magnificent view of the Badashahi
Masjid built by Aurangzeb on a spot regained after the river Ravi shifted further away.
Its magnificent Stair way leading to the elegant red sand stone gate way on the east is
highly impressive. It is on the left side that later the tomb of Allama Iqbal was built.
The gate way, which is preserved the relic of the Prophet and also in one of the copy of
the Holy Qur'an with brilliant calligraphy, leads into a wide open courtyard, having a
washing pond in its middle, and rows of cells on its sides. On its west is the main prayer
chamber of oblong shape marked by four tall corner towers. On its roof are three marble
dooms of bulbous shape that attract the eye from a long distance. The interior of the
mosque has chaste decoration in the mehrab chamber that opened in to equally well
decorated side aisles. It has a Verandah on the front that is again tastefully decorated.
But the most elegant are the tall towers at four corners of the quadrangle, from the top
of which one can have an unforgettable view of the city of Lahore.
There are two other beauties in the city of which the greatest
monumental gems of Lahore. The first is the most chaste fully painted mosque of Wazir
Khan, which was once the centre of religious and educational activities during the Mughals
period. In its original design the mosque was fronted by an open maidan that presented
from a distance a marvellous view of the mosque. It was built by Ilmuddin Ansari, hailing
from the old trading city of Chiniot, but later he gave rise to the city of Wazirabad. He
was raised to the high post of governor by Shah Jehan for his devoted service and great
skill of Hikmat. But of greater importance in his taste of decorative architecture which
he has translated into this mosque. The mosque plan, which is typical Mughals style but
for its squat domes has tall minarets crowned by tasteful Chhatris. The most attractive is
the mosaic ornamentation of the facade, the minars, and particularly the mihrab, which
remains unsurpassed in its setting and choice of decorations and calligraphic work. In its
charging decoration the mosque symbolises high sense of taste and marks a magnificent
attraction in Lahore, to which both Shah Jehan as well as his officials gave a new face of
colour and charm.
And yet the greatest jewel of the city of Lahore is the Shalimar Bagh,
the unique pleasure resort that has been gifted to the world by the Mughal emperors. With
paying a visit to this garden one can hardly understand the Mughal love for pleasances. In
its creation what a real pleasure they have bestowed to the people of Lahore. The garden
sumbolises the elixir of life that the Mughals alone could imagine. They had long left
Farghana but the beauteous charm of its terraced fields lingered behind that has been
recaptured in the Char bagh style of the garden in Shalimar, as Taj Mahal in Agra is the
symbol of unforgettable love of emperor Shah Jehan, in the form of unique architectural
creation, for the beloved queen Mumtaz Mahal, so is the Shalimar, the epitome, of Shala
(fire of love), the embodiment of the highest playful joy in life that the emperor and
empress could have in this world. The garden is a combination of Char baghs, water
channels, fountains, Cascades, water falls and bathing hall in three different terraces,
each terrace headed by beautiful pavilions for a pause of pleasurable enjoyment and then
to pass on the other ponds of joy, inset with showering fountains, each terrace presenting
varieties in scenic complex. Starting from a elaborate gate way in the south , with a
water fountain in its middle chamber, we enter the open space, surrounded on right and
left, by residential quarters, having long walkways, in the middle of either side of a
channel marked by fountain, that join together on the four sides on a watery platform. And
then we pass to the first pavilion that looks at a square pond remarkable sitting a
cascade of a water falling down below the pavilion, series of fountains around a central
seat for musicians and dancers and smaller pavilions at the four corners. From the top
pavilion the elite royalties draw their pleasure from the scenic panorama in front and
from the corner pavilions guests could roll in pleasance and enjoy the music of the
running fountains coupled with the music of the singers and dancers. The next lower
terrace begin with a rare bathing hall in the middle with water fountains lower down and
lighted lamps in the arched niches of the walls. Here one could cool the legs during
summer months- a novel way of cooling the atmosphere in the days when there were no
electricity and air conditioners. And thus we find here a thrilling atmosphere where
natural art has been channelised in the service of man. What a creation of charming
loveliness that is combined with cooling water in various forms to soothe the evening of
warm Lahore.
That is not all of Mughal architecture. If one likes to see the Mughal
fondness for hunting, one can go to Sheikhupura, not far from Lahore , and admire the
construction of Hiran Minar by Emperor Jahangir on the spot where his dearly loved deer
died. That minar stands by the side of a tank which has in its middle a three storied
pavilion for a general view around. If one is interested to see the defence arrangements
of the Mughals, one can go to Attock on the bank of the Indus River, where Akbar built a
magnificent fort, made arrangements for crossing the river by boat-bridge and laid a new
road south of the Kabul river leading to Peshawar through the Khyber pass to Kabul. And
then come to Attock the empress Nur Jahan, who constructed here a caravan serai, known as
Begum Ki Serai, with a platform at its four corners and living rooms cooled by the Indus
breeze. It is from one of the top platform that one could look at the magnificent expanse
of the Indus River, full of flowing life and natural beauty, that perhaps will remain as
the lasting memory of the Indus land, that is Pakistan.
