Lahore: Syncretic past, troubled present

Imagining Lahore: The City That Is, the City That Was

Haroon Khalid

Penguin Viking

304 pages 

Rs 599

This is a rare book by a young Pakistani writer that seeks to transcend the political, ideological and religious barriers that the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 entrenched in its physical geography and, more tragically, in the consciousness of its people. He tries to reconnect the interrupted stories of the city of Lahore as a place of fabled legends, of imperial grandeur, of revolutionary fervour and, more lately, of genocidal horror. Every landmark, whether lovingly preserved or lying forgotten in dilapidated ruins, becomes a peg on which the city's history is retold. 

In recounting the more contemporary history of Lahore since Partition, Haroon Khalid also offers a sober commentary on the tortured politics of Pakistan. The city is a symbol of the overwhelming influence of the Punjabi majority in the country and a contested space among different versions of Islam. The author describes the lingering Sufi tradition exemplified by the revered shrine of Hazrat Data Ganj Baksh but the city walls are plastered with outpourings of hate and hostility from fundamentalist groups such as the Jamaat ud-Dawa (JuD) whose headquarters are located in the suburbs. The Ahmadiyyas, among whom one may count several successful and prominent Pakistanis, now seek to become invisible in a city where they had once flourished as a minority Muslim sect.

In its nine chapters across 250 pages, the book takes us through the history of the city in reverse order. It starts from the present, through the colonial period, the Sikh interlude under Ranjit Singh, the Mughal reign — Aurangzeb’s imperial city in particular — to the city’s mythic origins as Lavpuri, the city of Lav, the son of Rama and Sita. Each era left its mark on the city and the author explores these vestiges of history in an engaging narrative. 

What emerges is a city of many layers and there are unexpected reminders of its varied and colourful past. In December 1929, the delegates to the Congress Party national conference, meeting in Lahore, took a dip in the freezing waters of the river Ravi, and pledged to struggle for Purna Swaraj, or complete independence. This is where the Lahore resolution in 1940 proclaimed the demand for Pakistan. This is also the city of Bhagat Singh, and a chowk honours his name. Lahore played a prominent role in the history of India's independence movement. 
 

This is a city of the Sikh gurus, Nanak and Arjan, and the capital of the Sikh empire of Ranjit Singh. The book narrates in gory detail the internecine warfare among Ranjit Singh's descendents, which opened the doors to the Sikh empire's subsequent incorporation into the British empire. 

For the present rulers of Pakistan, it is Lahore’s status as the imperial capital of the Mughal empire, at different times, that is highlighted most prominently. A straight line is sought to be drawn between the Mughal empire and Pakistan as its direct successor state. The author explains how Aurangzeb's reputation as an iconoclast and a strict Muslim, who reinstated the Zizya tax on the Hindus and other non-Muslims, fits in well with the two-nation theory. But Haroon Khalid contests this portrayal of Aurangzeb, pointing to evidence that the State continued the Mughal policy of religious tolerance and of co-opting Hindus in the ruling elite.

What is more interesting in the book is the author's exploration of the Hindu associations of the city, its numerous temples, which are now lying in neglected ruin or have been converted to other uses such as residences for those who migrated from India. Deploring the fate of these ancient temples, the author observes: “A city [is] trying to run away from its history of a thousand years, of a Hindu past it would rather not admit.” In his explorations, Haroon Khalid comes across a Valmiki temple that still survives where the remnants of the low-caste Valmiki sect still gather to celebrate the sage Valmiki who is believed to have composed the Ramayana in his ashram on the banks of the Ravi. Some had converted to Christianity to survive in the altered environment of post-partition Pakistan but still came together to assert a more ancient affinity. History and legend come full circle in the telling of this fascinating tale.

Although this is a compact book, it is a skilful weaving together of the past and present and tells a story of the mingling of a diverse people, when identities could still be fluid and there was a gentle merging of cultures despite wars and conflict. It is a story that is all the more worthwhile recalling in an age in which people of the subcontinent are responding to narrower urgings.

The reviewer is a former Foreign Secretary and currently Senior Fellow, CPR