Lahore

“ Lahore (177) , an ancient walled city on the Ravi, a tributary of the Indus, 1000 m. NW. of Calcutta, is the capital of the Punjab, and an important railway centre; it has many fine buildings, both English and native, including a university and a medical school, but the situation is unhealthy; half the population are Mussulmans; the trade is inconsiderable; the district of Lahore (1,075) one of the most important in the province, is well irrigated by the Bári Doab Canal, and produces fine crops of cereals, pulse, and cotton. ”

“ Lahore is a great and goodly city, being one of the fairest and ancientest in India. It stands on the river Indus or Sinde; [149] and from this place came the most valuable of the Portuguese trade when they were at peace with the Moguls, as it formed the centre of all their traffic in Hindoostan. They here embarked their goods, which were carried down the river to Tatta, and were thence transported by sea to Ormus and Persia; and such native merchants as chose to go that way between India and Persia, paid them freight. ”

“ In the lapse of time the trees have disappeared; but many minarets and superb caravanserais yet mark the munificence of the Mogul emperors. The road itself is yet a broad and beaten way; nor was it possible to tread upon it without participating in the excitement which the author of Lalla Rookh has raised, and I may almost say gratified.
Enter Lahore.
On the morning of the 17th we entered the imperial city of Lahore, which has once rivalled Delhi. We wound among its ruins; and, when yet three miles distant, were met by Monsieur Allard, and two natives of rank sent to welcome us. ”

“ The appearance of the city is very imposing at a distance, from its numerous mosques, with their azure domes and sparkling minarets rising majestically above the palaces, houses and gardens, the far distance being bounded by the bold out-line of the snow-capped Himalayas. To the south, lies the ancient city of Lahore, completely in ruins, interspersed with the remains of caravansaries, sepulchral monuments, towers and domes, overshadowed here and there by the lofty crowns of the graceful date-palm. ”

“ In the time of the Patan empire of Delhi, Lahore was only a village, Mooltan being then a flourishing city, till Humaion thought proper to enlarge Lahore, which now, including its suburbs, is about six coss in extent. The castle or royal town is surrounded by a brick wall, which is entered by twelve handsome gates, three of which open to the banks of the river, and the other nine towards the land. The streets are well paved, and the inhabitants are mostly Banyan handicrafts, all white men of any note living in the suburbs. ”

“ One military station after another would have been abandoned by the British, so that the available forces might be concentrated at Lahore the capital; and finally there would have been a retreat, with all the European families and a train of camp-followers, from Lahore down the Indus valley towards the seaboard. Then, as he declared, no Englishman would for a whole generation have been seen in the Punjab, either as a conqueror or as a ruler. ”

“ Whenever a Persian, and, especially a native of Isfahan, sets his eyes, after an absence of some time, upon his native town he is sure to exclaim: "Isfahan is half the world, but for Lahore," meaning thereby that Isfahan is, after Lahore, the largest city in the world. But its beauty is only on the surface; its streets are small, dirty and miserable. ”

“ We saw Runjeet Singh's tomb, its carved doors and gay mirror and plaster interior, where Sikh priests shouted from the sacred books, waved peacock feathers, and threw jasmine garlands over us. We saw also Akbar's fort and palace—tawdry and flat after the splendors of Delhi; our fancy arrested by the inlaid hall known as the Naulahka, name also of a quarter of the outer city of Lahore. When the Sikhs captured Lahore they wreaked themselves on these halls of Jahangir and Shah Jahan, and the British barrack-builder has done the rest. ”

“ In the midst of all this turmoil a new and hardier race appears upon the scene. Lord Dalhousie annexes Lahore, and the English flag floats for the first time over the Koh-i-nûr.
In March, 1849, the king of Lahore was formally deposed. The scene was short and business-like, very different from the stately Oriental silence between Runjeet Singh and Shah Shuja on the occasion of the last change of allegiance made by the fickle diamond. ”

“ Lahore is one of the greatest cities of the east, being near twenty-four coss in circuit, round which a great ditch is now digging, the king having commanded the whole city to be surrounded by a strong wall. ”

“ It is July 28th when I at length find myself in Lahore. The heat is not only well-nigh unbearable, but dangerous. Prickly heat has seized hold upon me with a promptness that is anything but agreeable; the thermometer in my room at Clarke's Hotel registers 108 deg. at midnight. A punkah-wallah is indispensable night and day.
A couple of days are spent in affixing a new set of tires to my wheel and seeing something of the lions of Lahore. The Shalamar Mango Gardens, a few miles east of the city, and Shah-Jehan's fort, museum, etc., are the regular things to visit. ”

“ Such brilliant displays of life and pageantry among the palaces and domes and gilded minarets of Lahore made the city altogether like a place of enchantment;--particularly on the day when LALLA ROOKH set out again upon her journey, when she was accompanied to the gate by all the fairest and richest of the nobility and rode along between ranks of beautiful boys and girls who kept waving over their heads plates of gold and silver flowers, [8] and then threw them around to be gathered by the populace. ”

“ Lahore is an ancient city and has many interesting old buildings. The city itself lies upon the ruins of several predecessors which were destroyed by invaders during the last twelve or fifteen centuries. There are some fine old mosques and an ancient palace or two, but compared with other Indian capitals it lacks interest. The most beautiful and attractive of all its buildings is the tomb of Anar Kali (which means pomegranate blossom) , a lady of the Emperor Akbar's harem, who became the sweetheart of Selim, his son. ”

“ The story of their plunder of Lahore is rendered hideous by every outrage that humanity can suffer, and by a promiscuous carnage, for which the ferocity of unreasoning animals might pant, but which the untiring fury of the wildest of brutes, the human savage, alone could protract beyond satiety. ”

“ And beyond, in the denser, more dangerous crowd without, they passed easily; for those tinsel-decked, tawdry canopies, screened with sodden musk and dirt-scented curtains, were sacred.
Sacred even to the refuse and rabble of the city, the dissolute eunuchs, the mob of retainers, palace guards, and blood-drunk soldierly surging through that long arched tunnel by the Lahore gate, and hustling to get round that wide arch, and so, a few steps further, see the Commissioner standing at bay upon that wide curving red-stone stair that led upward. Standing and thinking of the women above ”

“ They had now arrived at the splendid city of Lahore whose mausoleums and shrines, magnificent and numberless where Death appeared to share equal honors with Heaven would have powerfully affected the heart and imagination of LALLA ROOKH, if feelings more of this earth had not taken entire possession of her already. She was here met by messengers despatched from Cashmere who informed her that the King had arrived in the Valley and was himself superintending the sumptuous preparations that were then making in the Saloons of the Shalimar for her reception. ”

“ By this time a further arrangement had been made, placing the supervision of the Punjab, during the minority of the Native Prince, under the British Resident. Consequently during this his second incumbency at{31} Lahore he enjoyed a largely extended authority, and the evidence he gave of capacity increased together with his opportunities. He remained at Lahore from the middle of 1847 to the spring of 1848, when he made over his political charge to Sir Frederick Currie, and returned to his province in the Trans-Sutlej States. ”

“ Umritsar and Lahore After visiting Umritsar, gay with brilliant illuminations in honour of the Viceroy, and crowded with Sikhs come to welcome the Queen's representative to their sacred city, we arrived at Lahore on the 10th February. ”

“ Lahore is an important market for native merchandise, and the distributing point for imported European goods as well as the native products, while Amritsar, the neighboring city, is the manufacturing center. Here come Cashmeris, Nepalese, Beluchis, Afghans, Persians, Bokharans, Khivans, Khokandes, Turcomans, Yarkandis, Cashgaris, Thibetans, Tartars, Ghurkhars, and other strange types of the human race in Asia, each wearing his native dress and bringing upon caravans of camels and elephants the handiwork of his neighbors. ”

“ Now, when this tale of the Sikh woman got abroad, it caused much sensation at Lahore, and great search was made for the possible spot where the arm might have fallen, all over the district where the traditional battle had been fought. At last a little heap, or unevenness of the ground was discovered, and on opening the soil the armlet, enriched with the diamonds, was found. This is how they came several hundred years ago into the possession of the Rajahs of Lahore, as every body knows. ”

“ On Farwardīn 12th of the first year of my reign, Mīrzā Ḥusain and Nūru-d-dīn Qulī the kotwāl entered Lahore, and on the 24th of the same month a messenger of Dilāwar K͟hān arrived (there) with news that K͟husrau was moving on Lahore and that they should be on their guard. On the same day the city gates were guarded and strengthened, and two days later Dilāwar K͟hān entered the fort with a few men and began to strengthen the towers and walls. ”

“ The bazars of Lahore do not exhibit much appearance of wealth; but the commercial influence of the Punjab is to be found at Umritsir, the modern capital. There are some public buildings within the city that deserve mention. The King’s mosque is a capacious building of red sandstone, which had been brought by Aurungzebe from near Delhi. Its four lofty minarets still stand, but the temple itself has been converted into a powder magazine. There are two other mosques, with minarets, to proclaim the falling greatness of the Mahommedan empire ”

“ THE PUNJAUB.— The climate of Lahore is very different from that of the Central Provinces along the Ganges, and is quite uninfluenced by the monsoon. The prevailing wind during the hot season is from the east, its cooling properties on a tatty are very feeble, and the delicious coolness and comfort derived from tatties in Upper India are little known at Lahore. ”

“ Punjab, which signifies the five waters, because it is seated among five rivers, all tributaries to the Indus, which, somewhat to the south of Lahore, form only one river. This is a great kingdom, and extremely rich and fertile. Lahore, the chief city, is well built, very large, populous, and rich, being the chief mart of trade in all India. ”

“ He sat, in defiance of municipal orders, astride the gun Zam Zammah on her brick platform opposite the old Ajaib-Gher—the Wonder House, as the natives call the Lahore Museum. ”

“ The chief industries are silk goods, gold and silver lace, metal work and carpets which are made in the Lahore gaol. There are also cotton mills, flour mills, an ice-factory, and several factories for mineral waters, oils, soap, leather goods, &c. Lahore is an important educational centre. Here are the Punjab University with five colleges, medical and law colleges, a central training college, the Aitchison Chiefs’ College for the sons of native noblemen, and a number of other high schools and technical and special schools. ”

“ It was evident I could not permit the political agent's communications, in the face of what was going on at Lahore, to be treated with disregard. I took the mildest course in my power, consistently with the dignity, position, and interests of the British government. I purposely left an opening to the Lahore government to remedy, through its Vakeel, the discourtesy it had shown, by affording to that government the facility of making any explanation it might desire. ”

“ My mind went back to a neglected graveyard a stone's throw from Jehangir's tomb in the gardens of Shalimar, where the cattle and the cowherd look after the last resting-places of the troops who first occupied Lahore. We are a great people and very strong, but we build Our empire in a wasteful manner—on the bones of the dead that have died of disease. ”

“ It was laid out by the Mogul Shah Jehan in 1637 for a recreation ground for himself and his sultanas when he visited this part of the empire, and includes about eighty acres of flowers and foliage plants.
Modern Lahore is much more interesting than the ancient city. The European quarter covers a large area. The principal street is three miles long, shaded with splendid trees, and on each side of it are the public offices, churches, schools, hotels, clubs and the residences of rich people, which are nearly all commodious bungalows surrounded by groves and gardens. ”

“ All these great cities are well worth a visit, containing, as they do, many interesting ruins and architectural remains of the old Hindoo and Mahomedan rulers of the country. Beyond Lahore, where the railway at present terminates, a fine road 260 miles long, will take the traveller across the classic streams of the Punjab, famous for Alexander the Great’s campaigns, up to Peshawur, on the extreme north-west boundary of the empire, where a force of 8000 men keeps watch over the fierce and turbulent races of the neighbouring mountains. ”