(All pictures taken by the author shall not be used anywhere without permission)
Date of visit:- 14 October 2017
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| The extension building of the main Bhadrakali Mandir supposed to be constructed on the Instruction of Raja Ranjit Singh |
Before the partition of 1947, the town of
Thokar Niaz Baig was located 7 miles outside of the city of Lahore.
The history
of this town is not much known; however, some references can be found in Tahrikh-e-Lahore,
written by Kanhaiya Lal about a Bhadrakali Mandir, which was the main attraction of the
town.
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| Dome of tall monument constructed on the instruction of Raja Ranjit Singh |
On every Baisakhi, a major festival was celebrated at
this temple. Baisakhi also has religious significance for the Sikhs community
as the foundation of the Panth Khalsa on this day by the Guru Gobind. There was a place dedicated in town
especially for this festival. It used to have a large pond and an old Banyan tree on the temple premises. Luckily, this
Banyan tree still standing at this place. However, the pond disappeared from
the scenes due to the construction of newly built houses.
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| Banyan tree in front is the place where Bhasaki festival used to celebrate before partition |
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| Another close view of a Banyan tree |
Before
Pakistan came into being, the land of Niaz Baig belongs to Bhadrakali Mandir.
The area has somehow an equal population of Sikh, Muslim, and Hindu
communities. After 1947 most of the houses of this area allotted to migrated
Mewati families. An old man of this cast told us that this place has many fruit
gardens in which many seasonal fruits were available used to be available some
sixty years back.
Around the
Bhadrakali temple, many ancillaries’ buildings used to exist; also, there were
four small temples (remains of one which still can be found), a step-well (Baoli), a Baradari-like structure for Pandits, an arched gateway, and the town was fortified as
well.
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| The Stepwell Building |
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| Stairway to step wells |
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| Baradari like Construction (image 1) |
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| Baradari like Construction (image 2) |
Another prominent historical building of this town was a Mughal Serai. It used to be at present Katar bund
road. Still a landmark of 'Serai' present on Google maps for this site. I
visited Niaz Baig ten years back in search of this site but could not found any
trace. This place has been long gone.
Also, there
is a tall monument having a dome roof still present in Niaz Baig. This building
looks more like a hall. Its construction attributes to Maharaja Ranjit. Singh. He orders in the early 18th
century for this construction. The purpose of this structure was to provide
food and shelter to pilgrimages. Unfortunately, the structure converted into a
school building. From the top of this building,
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| Inside view of Tall Monument constructed in Raja Ranjit Singh Tenure (image 1) |
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| Inside view of Tall Monument constructed in Raja Ranjit Singh Tenure (image 2) |
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| Inside view of Tall Monument constructed in Raja Ranjit Singh Tenure (image 3) |
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| Inside view of Tall Monument constructed in Raja Ranjit Singh Tenure (image 4) |
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| Inside view of Dome |
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| Inside view of Dome |
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| Inside view of Tall Monument constructed in Raja Ranjit Singh Tenure (image 5) |
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| Inside view of Tall Monument constructed in Raja Ranjit Singh Tenure (image 6) |
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| Inside view of Tall Monument constructed in Raja Ranjit Singh Tenure (image 7) |
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| Inside view of Tall Monument constructed in Raja Ranjit Singh Tenure (image 8) |
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| Inside view of Tall Monument constructed in Raja Ranjit Singh Tenure (image 9) |
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| view of Tall Monument constructed in Raja Ranjit Singh Tenure |
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| Inside view of Tall Monument constructed in Raja Ranjit Singh Tenure (image 10) |
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| Inside view of Tall Monument constructed in Raja Ranjit Singh Tenure (image 11) |
I also saw a Samadhi surrounded
by new house constructions.
At present,
no trace of the main temple has left. One can only found remains of some
ancillary buildings, which are also in an extremely dilapidated state.
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| Another Samdahi |
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| A small Hindu temple |
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| A small ancillary building |
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| Remains of Hindu temple (image 1) |
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| Remains of Hindu temple (image 2) |
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| Old Brick Masonry Structures (image 1) |
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| Old Brick Masonry Structures (image 2) |
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| Old Brick Masonry Structures (image 3) |
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| Old Brick Masonry Structures (image 4) |
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| Old Brick Masonry Structures (image 5) |
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| Old Brick Masonry Structures (image 6) |
