PART ONE
Lahore and Lahories
Beauties of the Nineteenth Century
Those who have seen Lahore's industrial slum that is Badami Bagh today won't believe that in the nineteenth century, the entire area was magnificent orchard.
Badami Bagh-according to Syed Mohammad Latif, the noted historian of the city-was named after Princess Gul Badan, whose beautiful mausoleum once existed between Masti and Sheranwala Gates. According to other experts, however, history does not record any Mughal princess of this name, they think it more likely that the Badami Bagh might be associated with Ranjit Singh's consort Gul Begum or Gul Bahar whose tomb exists in the Miani Sahib graveyard.
The Bagh was ravaged during the period of anarchy that followed the fall of the Mughal Empire. It was however, restored later when thousands of fruit trees were planted there, most of them of almonds, so that the Bagh should live up to its name. Citrus trees of many varieties, plums, pomegranates, and guavas were also raised there.
In 1842, Badami Bagh was divided into various sections with a beautiful rest house in the middle. Each section had five fountains. Ranjit Singh inaugurated the rest house with great fanfare. According to Khalsa Akhbar (Lahore, May 17,1918) so much scent was used on the inaugural ceremony that the Badami Bagh retained the gorgeous smell for five to six years.
After the British annexation of the Punjab, the British families in Lahore used the garden. In 1860, it was renamed as Company Bagh and its first British administrator was Henry Cope, Editor of the Lahore Chronicle .
Since the garden was a long way away from the exclusive residential quarters of the British, they sold it and put up the Lawrence Gardens with the proceeds.
The coming of the railways led to the setting up of workshops here. The first train steamed off from Lahore for Amritsar in 1860. Around 1880, the Lahore Wazirabad rail link was completed and the Railway Station and the track gobbled much of Badami Bagh up. Until about 85 years ago, some almond trees survived across the railway line but they too disappeared slowly with the emergence of ugly residential and industrial districts. So, Lahore had to pay for the Lawrence Gardens (now Bagh-i-Jinnah) with Badami Bagh.
Then there was the Ranjit Singh Bagh, which used to run south from the northern wall of the Badshahi Mosque. It was in this garden that Ranjit Singh was cremated. About 60 to 70 years ago, Mr. Nazim Husain Nazim Lucknawi used to hold an annual mushaira here. Now this garden exists in history books only.
In 1813, Ranjit Singh ordered that a new garden be laid between the Badshahi Mosque and the Lahore Fort to celebrate the capture of the famous Kho-i-Noor diamond form Shah Shuja. The garden was laid under the supervision of Fakir Azizuddin. At the suggestion of Khushhal Singh, one of the Mahraja's favourite attendants, a marble pavilion was erected in this garden, which was named Hazuri Bagh. Marble for the pavilion was stolen from the mausoleums of Zebunnisa, Noor Jehan, Asaf Jah and Emperor Jehangir. The Maharajah often used this place for merry-making.
Aristocrat's contribution
Divan Kirpa Ram was a noted aristocrat of Ranjit Singh's time. He was from Kunjah in Gujrat. He was the grandson of Diwan Mohkam Chand and son of the Governor of Kashmir, Diwan Moti Ram. He owned magnificent mansions inside Mori Gate. On the old royal route from the Lahore city to the Fort, he built a fortified mansion with a great garden full of fruit trees. Along one of the garden's boundary walls, he had a water tank made with a pavilion in its middle.
The garden now houses Sultanpura, a settlement named after Kirpa Ram's gardener. Misr Diwan Chand Zafar Jang Bahadur also had a garden laid in the aristocratic tradition of his time. This garden was close to the mazar of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhash. In 1862, the British who had taken it over, sold it by auction for Rs. 8,100.
Then there was the Vintura garden, which later became the Kapurthala House. Ranjit Singh's Italian General, Vintura, laid it. The mansion in this garden was used as a State Guest House. The British Resident lived here for some time from 1848 onward. The house later came to be called Ahlewalia or Kapurthala House. In 1884, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan visited Lahore and, on February 2, delivered a lecture here during the course of which he coined the phrase " Zinda Dilan-i-Lahore "
Sardar Jawala Singh, who was an influential member of Ranjit Singh's court, had a huge garden laid on Shalimar Road adjacent to which was a hunting reserve. After recovery from an illness, Ranjit Singh, who had grown to like the garden immensely, had his bath of health here. Later it was reserved for Maharajah Dulip Singh.
Raja Dina Nath, father of Diwan Amarpriath Akbari and Diwan Ram Nath Asghari, had his own garden laid on the old route to the Shalimar close to Ghoray Shah from where a road leads off to Kot Kahwaja Saeed.
On the triangular piece of land which used to house the Bharat building (since demolished) and the offices first of The Tribune and later of The Pakistan Times was a settlement and mosque named after Mai Lado, who was Emperor Shah Jehan's nurse. The mosque still remains but the rest of the land was grabbed by Kanhayya Lal Kampowallah, who laid a garden there which lasted only during his lifetime. The land was taken over by others and used for housing and commercial purposes at the turn of the century.
Among the most favourite of Ranjit Singh's courtiers was Bhai Gurbakhsh Singh. He had four sons, Mahan Singh, Bagh Singh, Sarjan Singh and Dil Singh. The most noted among them was Mahan Singh who probably had the first garden of the Sikh period laid. This garden existed near Masjid Mai Lado opposite the hostel for medical students. Actually, the land on which it was built also belonged to Mai Lado. Once a great favourite with the Lahorites, it was sold by Mahan Singh's successors to Christian missionaries who raised numerous buildings there.
The killer of Maharajah Sher Singh and his son, Pratap Singh, and his minister Dhyan Singh was Sardar Lehna Singh. The murder took place on September 15, 1843 , at a place called Bagh-o-Baradari Shah Blawal. After the murder, the minor, Dalip Singh, was made Maharajah and Lehna Singh was made Prime Minister who took over Bagh Blawal and named it after himself and used it for his personal pleasure.
Victims of concrete
To the north-east of Chah Miran and to the north of Prince Pervaiz's mausoleum, Raja Teja Singh, Jamadar Khushhal Singh's brother, had a big garden laid in which there was several imposing mansions.
Jamadar Khushhal Singh himself laid a huge garden. North of the garden was the railway line. To the south were water works, the fort and Hakim Nayyar Wasti's residence. Before partition, the garden belonged to the Raja Sahib of Shekhupura but was occupied by various people after independence.
In the beginning of Ranjit Singh's reign, Ratan Singh Girjakhia had a garden laid outside Shah Alam Gate but when Diwan Ratan Chand gained influence at the court, he captured the entire land and, as we have noted, after the beginning of the British rule, had an inn constructed there together with a water tank. The inn was later converted into a bus stand.
The place where the King Edward Medical College and the Mayo Hospital stand today was Hari Singh Nalwa's garden. Nalwa was one of Ranjit Singh's leading generals.
Moran was one of the most beautiful courtesans of her time and a great favourite of Ranjit Singh who had ordered his followers to pay their respects first to Moran before paying homage to him. So great was her influence that weights and measures and coins were named after her. Moran had a big garden raised for herself outside Mori Gate that was famous for its ornate main entrance. Nothing of it remains now.
After Moran's death, a beautiful courtesan from Amritsar, Gul Begum, became the Maharajah's new favourite. Ranjit Singh later married her in 1831 when he was 51, going all the way to Amritsar for the purpose. After the marriage, Gul Begum became Gul Bahar Begum and the command went forth that she be styled as "Begum Sahiba."
In Lahore, Gul Bahar Begum was given a separate palace between Rang Mahal and Haveli Mian Khan in Kucha (street) Gul Begum. She laid the foundations of her own garden in Miani near Mozang. This happened in 1856 after the Maharajah's death.
Gul Begum died in 1865 and since after the exile of Rani Jindan , she was recognised as the queen consort, the British paid her a pension of Rs.1, 200 a month which, together with her own sizeable estate, enabled her to live in great style with a vast retinue.
The present Hall Road once housed the garden and mausoleum of Hazrat Shah Ismail, which during the Sikh period was appropriated by an attendant of Jamadar Khushhal Singh, Himmat Kahar. His grandson sold it to Mian Mohammad Sultan, the contractor who had a bungalow constructed where lived a Deputy Commissioner by the name of Hall. Hence, the road that connects The Mall with McLeod Road was named after him.
Then there were the Bagh Thakurdwara Bhuri Sarkar near the old Ravi, Bagh Chajju Bhagat where now stands the main gate of the Mayo Hospital and Faiz Bagh Raja Dina Nath on the road to Chah Miran. Raja Dina Nath had it raised for his spiritual mentor, Sain Hadi Shah.
Space does not permit one to go in detail but it appears that the nineteenth century Sikh gardens were one-generation affairs. Most of them were appropriated or bought by the British as they set about the task of expanding the city. The Land on which the British India Lahore stands, existed a series of gardens, one better than the other. The Sikhs seized Mughal property to cede it in turn to the British and, as they say, " Har ke amad, imarati-i-nau sakht." Sikh Lahore was built on the ruins of the Mughal glory. British India Lahore stands on the debris of the Sikh era.
Sunday, March 30, 1986
