14-06-2015
In the farthest suburbs of
Lahore, was a community known as Mian Mir, named for the famous Sufi saint
buried there in 1635. The Mian Mir area acquired special spiritual significance
for the Mughal dynasty during the governorship of Prince Dara Shikoh, who
sought advice from Mulla Shah, a disciple of Mian Mir. Over time, the sites
established in the Mian Mir area achieved a remarkable synthesis of Mughal and
Sufi traditions.
Further east, on the axis, is the
tank and tomb of Nadira Begum the wife of Mughal Prince Dara Shikoh.
A few years back, I had trotter
shoes on my feet. I was always in search of lost, neglected historical
architectural sites in Lahore; and when I came to know about them, I could not
able to sleep comfortably up till I visit that place. I don’t know, I have a strange relationship and love with these edifices. In fact, I found inner peace in myself after exploring
them.
A few years back, I came to know
about this place from one of my friends Syed Faizan Naqvi, who is a native of this
area. This is a 12 ft high tall arched gateway and bricks laid there were of Mughal
era masonry pattern. I took the coordinates of this site and mapped it on Google Earth
and found that this site is located hardly 0.2 kilometers from Mian Mir Tomb on
its North West axis. After discussing it with a few of my historian friends, I came to the conclusion that
this gateway entrance must be part of Mian Mir and Nadira Begum Garden.
The structure is really in bad
condition and maybe fall in a few years and vanish forever.
