Old Lahore -- anarkali bazaar

[ghazi52]

Walled City of Lahore - The ancient heart of the much larger metropolitan Lahore is part of the Lahore Fort - The Walled city has various gates as entry points like Kashmir Gate, Shah Alam Gate marked in red in the map below. Any central Asian invader who captured would then set his eyes on the densely populated Ganges Plain of India. If Lahore fell India was next target. Alexander's troops refused to go any further around this region.






Today the area inside the walled city is densely pack from the old day's not much changed from medieval times. Attempts are being made to conserve it. This below is example of successful conservation where it's been turned into 'food' street. sort of borrowed from 'Birmingham Balti Triangle'.






Within the Walled Ancient city where everybody would have sought refuge when the invaders came and gates were shut all sort's trades took root. Including the oldest profession and Lahore's infamous Red Light District. You eat, you enjoy Mujra, [ dancing girls ] have a drink or two and then dash, dash, dash and then you need to seek forgiveness for your sins. No problem sir, we have the fantastic Badshai Mosque attached. That's why the city is called 'La Whore' and city of 'culture'.

 

[ghazi52]

Independence Day at Lahore. (1947)

 

[ghazi52]

John Lockwood Kipling first principal of Mayo College of Arts Lahore (now National College of Arts Lahore) with son Rudyard Kipling. c.1890's

 

[ghazi52]

Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort & Ranjit Singh's Samadhi # Lahore 1910.

 

[aamirzs]

ic admi sy kabhi paan khaya hai? you will have a cheeky experience

Any idea where is this sonali mosque?

/QUOTE]

People gather around the Sonali Musjid, or Golden Mosque. Algeria, February 1895.

LINK

 

[ghazi52]

Photograph from the Macnabb Collection of a street scene in Lahore, taken by an unknown photographer, most likely during the 1890s.

Sikhs walking beside two-wheeled, horse-drawn wagon on a busy city street..
Location: Lahore, Punjab,
Date taken: September 1946
Photographer: Margaret Bourke-White

 

[ghazi52]

 

[ghazi52]

Government College Lahore, The Original College Building in 1864

Today as G.C.U, Government College is a phenomenal institution of Lahore. But like other things, it has increased at some levels, and gone down at other levels. The intellectual charisma it once generated is perhaps no more. Today we are familiar with its buildings like anything else, but few of us remember that it was once started from the Havelli of Raja Dhian Singh in 1864 ..

Lahore in 1960's

 

[ghazi52]

The Cathedral Lahore - c.1910

 

[ghazi52]

A LITTLE KNOWN CENSUS OF LAHORE 1850 AD – AMAZING FIGURES OF THAT TIME

Revelations otherwise not possible


Old Lahore
The British took over Lahore formally in 1849 AD. In 1850 AD Ayodia Prashad was the Tehseeldar of Lahore and was asked to conduct a detailed census of the city. It is not for us to state every fact and figure of the census but some facts are very interesting. For instance:


Old Lahore
Total population of Lahore around 82,000 only.
Total Income of Lahore One Lakh, thirty one thousand, nine hundred and sixty-six Rupees only.
Total Muslims 46,695 only.
Total Hindus 32,109 only.
Total Sikhs 2501 (And some people think of it as a Sikh city).
Hardly no Christians, Parsees, Buddhists, or even any Bengallis. Few Europeans only.
Total shops in city 28,694 only.
Total elephants 54.
Total camels 318 only.
Total horses 1595 only.
Many Professions represented, including Painters and Architects.
Total Madarassa (schools) 143 teaching mostly Arabic and Persian, and that does not include hundreds of basic educational wings attached to mosques. Even Hindus and Sikhs were learning Persian and Arabic in these schools.
Prostitution spread all over city, but mainly Anarkali area. No Hira Mandi in operation.


Towards Pakistan
A very interesting incident is narrated of a Prostitute in Anarkali singing a song of having no access to her lover. A British sepoy was passing who knew the local language too, and went up to her house, to tell her not to mourn non access to her lover. There were many means for communication. She could send a letter by post, use the telegraph near the Railway Station or go to her lover in actual terms. The people in the bazaar of Anarkali burst out in laughter, for the Sepoy had not realized that the song was an advertisement to lure or seduce some passerby and the sepoy did not get the actual terms. Historical incidents have their funny aspects too.

The number of Muslims prove the fact that Lahore in its span of more than a thousand years was a Muslim city and Muslim Culture predominated here.

 

[ghazi52]

LAHORE IN USA

 

[ghazi52]

1910s: Mayo Hospital - LAHORE.

1980s: Musical Fountain, Zainab Market KARACHI.

 

[ghazi52]

1980

1950

 

[ghazi52]

Nedous Hotel #Lahore Est. 1880 (now stands Avari Hotel)

 

[Yasir Ashraf]

but now is beautiful city lahore not old city like above photo