Lal Marah, Exploring the Unknown Tomb’s of Ghaznavid

A few years ago I heard about some prehistoric-era tombs near Dera Ismail khan. When I first saw the picture of these edifices; I was totally spellbound. The only question revolving in my mind was why this marvelous architecture didn’t gain much attention. I wished to visit this place but was unable to find its exact location of it.

Finally, I found the place and its direction from Google earth so I decided to visit this place. On 23rd December, I along with a friend left for Dera Ismail khan from Lahore, It was one of the most tiring travels of my lifetime. We failed to get tickets for DIK because of two connective holidays of 24th and 25th December. As a last resort we had the option of Balouch Transport; one of the oldest buses on the roads in Pakistan. It was fully packed with passengers and even the middle walking corridor was jammed with temporary seats. Neither could I move my legs nor could stand on my feet because of congested space. But despite my deplorable condition; traveling in public transport helps you to interact with people of all colors & help you acquire lots of information. Adding to my misery; the busses started racing; it was fun for some but a fearful experience for soft-hearted people like me.

We reached Dera Ismail khan before dawn on 24th December. It was a shivering cold morning. Our friend Karim lives there was our host. He arranged bikes for our further travel. Unfortunately, the whole city was closed due to the holiday. So it took us some time to start our journey on the Indus highway. Our next destination was Mahra. This small village is situated some 40 kilometers south of DIK on the Indus highway. Further 1.2 kilometers from the village will lead to a roadside sign pointing to take right turn for “Ancient Tombs and Graveyard”. It was a seven-kilometer-long village road and was full of dirt. A watercourse was running parallel to the road. There one can find Temporary houses of IDPs (Internally displaced persons) of FATA.

It’s not safe to travel alone on this road. One should take some locals along or travel in a group. After the road, there is a clump of trees on left. From a distance, one can see domes of prehistoric tombs. Once we moved inside that clump of trees. We got first full sight. It was amazing four tombs and a graveyard; exactly as I saw them in pictures. I was standing among them. This sight gave me a feeling of inner satisfaction; a feeling which cannot be expressed in words. It was an expression of gratitude for great architecture of that era. Locals called this place “Andiray” which means ‘graveyard’ in the local dialect of Pashto. I started asking myself questions from myself who could be buried inside those tombs? Whose graves are these? These all are still unanswered questions. Only Dr. Ahmed Hassan Dani has done some authentic research on this place. Dr. Dani was a Pakistani intellectual, archaeologist, historian, and linguist. In one of his books; “Pakistan through ages”; he points out that this site must have acquired an important geographical position during the travel of Ghaznvids Sultans to Sindh and Punjab.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was part of larger Islamic empires from 963 to 1187, including the Ghaznavid Empire (975-1187) headed by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. Mahmud is said to have made seventeen raids into India. At that time, North India was divided into several Hindu states. On the frontier of India, there existed the Hindu Shahi kingdom which extended from Punjab to Kabul.
Lal Mahara, the site is an important Islamic Architecture site dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries A D. The site consists of eleven monumental tombs and more than 120 graves. But only four tombs and some graves in dilapidated condition were surviving at the time of protection while the rest seven tombs were completely razed to the ground only their traces are visible. The rest four tombs have been preserved and restored only. Presently the site is well preserved and free from encroachment. Tree plantation as a barrier against weather effects as well as to restrict fresh burial (modern and ancient graveyards) has been provided. However, keeping in view gradual development activities i.e. housing and agriculture in close vicinity it is necessary to take necessary measures to safeguard the site from any encroachment as well as the bad effect of excessive irrigation resulting in water logging in the future. Features: Architectural features of these tombs are worth mentioning. In this corner, turrets have been provided to tomb 1, and tomb 2 are square in plan. While the other two are without corner turrets and are square in shape. Here cut and dressed brickwork have been applied while blue color tiles have been utilized for decoration purposes. Furthermore, all the square chambers have been converted into octagons by producing quenches. Deptt of Archaeology conducted conservation work on a large scale and preserved all these four tombs while domes are missing.

Remarks: This graveyard site is well-preserved. From the southern side, an iron grill has provided while on all four sides plantation further strengthened its boundaries. Moreover, a local chowkidar (Gulu) is performing his duty on the site.

Someone needs to pick up where Dr. Dani has left otherwise his work and legacy will be lost. We are yet to discover much more than we have already, but archeology is not attractive as being a Doctor or Engineer