Remnant of Arched Gateway of Nadira Begum Garden

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.