Gurdwara at Model Town Lahore with Unknown History

03-08-2018

31°29'27.87"N,  74°19'56.50"E

Somebody had conceived the idea in 1925 of acquiring a big tract of jungle wasteland, a few miles out of Lahore and develop a Town, dividing it up into plots, and constituting it as The Model Town Co-operative Society. Everyone who bought a plot became a member with a vote in the Society. The plan of the town was completely geometrical. It had a series of concentric circular roads, crossed by four main roads at right angles, and smaller roads in between, all beginning from the inner circle and dividing the area into equal segments. The roads had no name, but the blocks were alphabetically numbered. Along, with mosque and temple a Gurdwara complex was also constructed near to B Block market.

I tried to find authentic references from which I could able to trace the historical background of this Gurdwara but not much is available on internet. The Sikhiwiki website has lists of all Gurdwara’s constructed in Lahore.  According to Sikhiwikhi there were 36 Gurdwara’s present in Lahore before 1947 partition, however, interestingly the name of this Gurdwara’s is missing in that list.

Recently, I visited the site of this Gurdwara construction; and found that the architecture of this Gurdwara is quite modern, kiln bricks were used in column beams construction. In roof wooden girders were placed to support brick reinforced slab. We are not allowed to visit or photographed the abounded Gurdwara building from inside as migrant families are living in it. They have already changed the architecture according to modern requirement of living, Lime plaster removed with cement. Arched windows fallen with time.

Mandir in Model Town Lahore

Elevation has taken from narrow street of girls school

03-08-2018

Title:-

Mandir in Model Town Lahore

Shiv Temple

Shivala of model town Lahore

Hindu Temple in Model Town Lahore

Purpose:-

Hindu Worship Building

Location:-

Model Town Circular Rd, Block D Model Town, Lahore, Punjab

31°29'23.37"N, 74°19'7.12"E

Year of Construction:-

Not accurately known, it is said that it was constructed somewhere between the years, 1920-25.

The symbol on the front wall is known as "OM" in Hinduism, all rituals in Hinduism start with "OM". This calligraphy is the message of "OM"

Brief Synthesis of Architecture of Temple:-

By Ali Usman Baig

The current temple was considered one of the examples of modern architecture of its time. On the ground floor, you will see column beams of bricks present this element further reinforced with steel bars. Modern Kiln Bricks are used in ground floor construction, which is further plastered with lime.

The structure consists of a single-story square “Sanctum” which was designed for placing the housing deity. In the sanctum room, a corner squinches portion is filled with extended flower bouquet elements made of lime. Around all four sides of the sanctum assembly hall for devotees present in Hindu terminology it is called “Ayatana”

From the square sanctum structure main temple curvilinear spire (tower, sikhara) is raised, which is a common type of northern Indian Shrines (Latinas). For the construction of the curvilinear spire small dimensions of bricks are used which are different from the ground floor of the temple.

A crowning ornament on the top of the shikara is present; it is called “Amalaki” in Hindu terminology this support an embedded spire that might be gold plated at the start of its construction.

On external walls of temples, you will see a double facet and a vertical offset projection. In Hindu temple architecture it is called “ratha”.

In front of the main temple building, there is a dome-shaped structure present, on first impression it looks like a Sikh Samadhi. However, it is said that this building was used by the Pandit of the temple as a residence.

Haunted and Paranormal Activities:-

This mandir main complex is closed with 15 ft high walls on three sides, whereas on the fourth side there is a girl school building present, the only way to reach this mandir was left from inside of this school in form of a narrow path.  The mandir site is abandoned for more than half a century nobody normally enters inside. Interestingly except for my blog you will not find any picture of this mandir that has been taken from inside. I went peacefully and did detailed photography to document the place. When I came out, the watchman of the adjacent school started a conversation with us, I was appreciating at least a boundary wall is constructed to protect the place from further collapsing. But his answer left me in a paradoxical condition that a boundary wall is not made for the protection or conservation of this site. Adjacent neighbors in recent years have observed serious paranormal activities happening inside this temple. I wished to accuse the watchman that he should have told us this before allowing us to visit but I thought nothing is done now. 

It looks like Smadahi to me but it is believed that it was the entrance of the mandir

Another view of the Temple was taken from the courtyard of the adjacent girl's school

Integrity and Current Condition

The current condition is very bad the ground floor column, beam, and slab were demolished in response to Babri Masjid Shaheed in 1992; the structure is dangerous to visit from inside and could be collapsed at any time

View taken from adjacent Houses

Inner Domes

History of Model Town

Source  Parkash Tandon

For the first generation of professional men in Punjab, it had been the natural thing after retirement to go back to the place they came from, and spend their last years as a respected elder, village, or small town society. But father’s generation had grown away from their background, for them it was a question to find a congenial place to settle down. While I was still in England my father retired from service and built himself a house in Model Town, a suburb six miles out of Lahore.

Model Town was a place, the like of which had never been and will never be seen again. It was almost entirely populated by retired government officials, who all addressed each other as Rai Sahib, Rai Bahadur, Khan Sahib, or Khan Bahadur, Sardar Sahib, or Sardar Bahadur.

Somebody had conceived the idea in 1925 of acquiring a big tract of jungle wasteland, a few miles out of Lahore, dividing it up into plots, and constituting it as The Model Town Co-operative Society. Everyone who bought a plot became a member with a vote in the Society. The plan of the town was completely geometrical. It had a series of concentric circular roads, crossed by four main roads at right angles, and smaller roads in between, all beginning from the inner circle and dividing the area into equal segments. The roads had no name, but the blocks were alphabetically numbered so that our address was 12G while the house opposite was 12F. To the old school of thought, this was quite enough to paint on the gate. Later arrivals started giving their homes poetical names.

The big circular area in the middle was common property and traversed only by footpaths. Only thorny shrubs grew there, but it was intended to become a public park. On its periphery have marked the sites for the library, school, Barat Ghar for housing wedding parties, and other public institutions. Only the club, the hospital and dispensary, and the women’s club had been built so far. There were several private schools. Special areas were set apart for markets and shops. There were a mosque and a temple, perhaps the most attractive examples of modem religious architecture I have seen in India, and a Sikh Gurdwara. For practical measure, there were also cremation and burial grounds.

View of Mandir from Road

View of the spire (Tower) from the sanctum. you can see small size bricks are used in construction 

A place for Housing Deity 

Sanctum

Squinches at corner filled with floral elements

Sanctum

Squinches in Sanctum

Squinches in Sanctum

Column Beam structure about to collapse

Sanctum where diety placed

remnants of craftmanship on brick Column

Inner Side of Shades extended from the roof of the temple

Adjacent Streets

View from the adjacent street, this house was part of a temple now occupied by migrants families 

Inner View of Temple

The girl's school in which this temple located

View from classroom

A collapsed Column

Inside View of Dome of Entrance Building

Inside View of Dome of Entrance Building

Inside View of Entrance Building

View of Entrance Building

Floor tiles of rooms suppose to be made for devotees or residents of Pandit

REMNANTS OF ARCH BRIDGE of MUGHAL ERA on CHHOTI DEGH & ITS STORY of DEMISE

 February 26, 2018

by Ali Usman Baig

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit a remarkable bridge that dated back 400 years to the Mughal Era. This architectural marvel was situated on Degh Nala and captured my interest after reading an extensive article about it by Sir Salman Rasheed. Intriguingly, Sir Salman Rasheed's article also mentioned another Mughal-era bridge located on a branch of the Degh known as the Chhoti or Lesser Degh, not far to the west.

For a considerable period, I struggled to pinpoint the exact location of this place. However, after much effort, I finally succeeded and visited the site last Sunday. As I arrived, I noticed the remnants of the collapsed bridge scattered across the stream, a stark reminder of its former grandeur.

The length of the bridge was measured to be 30 meters, identical to the Mughal Era Bridge situated on the main Degh River. It was an arch bridge, featuring four arches with a center-to-center distance of 7.5 meters. Construction of the bridge is believed to have taken place in the later decades of the sixteenth century.

An analysis of the chemical and mineral composition of the Mughal mortar renders, and plaster from the seventeenth century revealed the presence of coarse materials such as bricks, kankar pieces, and slag, along with fine aggregates like river sand. These materials were typically combined with a calcite lime binder. The specific ratio of binder to aggregate varied depending on the functional requirements of each masonry unit. The chemical composition, both major and trace elements, indicated the use of locally available raw materials in the construction of these historical monuments. In the current bridge, the construction comprised Nanak Shahi bricks internally reinforced and filled with calcite lime mortar.

Arch bridges, which have been utilized for over 3000 years, remain one of the most popular bridge designs. During the Roman Empire, stone and wood arch bridges gained significant popularity, with architects successfully constructing over 1000 stone arch bridges across Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Remarkably, many of these bridges have endured to this day. Contrary to the belief that the 1976 flood led to the collapse of the bridge I visited, it appeared that the disintegration of the arch members originated from the top crown. Arch bridges primarily rely on compression to bear loads. The failure I observed seemed to result from overloaded vehicles frequently crossing the bridge, ironically serving as a common route for heavily loaded tractor trolleys for decades. Evidently, the Mughal architects did not anticipate such substantial wheel loads when designing the bridge.

The remnants of the bridge include the remains of 2-foot-high, 40-meter-long roadside wing walls that run on both ends of the bridge along the road. These walls are accompanied by columns at the beginning of each wing wall, making the bridge visible from a distance. It is worth noting that the length of the bridge is nearly double the current width of the Nala, indicating that the Nala has significantly narrowed over time due to reduced water flow in the River Ravi. Presently, a new bridge has been constructed over the debris of the collapsed one.

In the past, this bridge served as a crucial crossing point for the military troops of the Mughal and Sikh armies. It witnessed the passage of numerous centuries. Sadly, no relevant authority has ever taken the initiative to restore or protect this historical gem, instead attributing its destruction to floods.

It is disheartening to witness the fading away of such a significant piece of history, lost forever to the sands of time.

  Looking towards Debris

 Wing Walls

 new bridge & old bridge

 Another view

 Disintegration from Crown

 Pillars at crown wall

 view of debris from new bridge

 wing wall

 Debris

 Another view of wing wall

 Wing Wall

 Arch

Google earth view