LAHORE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

GREAT LAHORE

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

Origin of Lahore, the famous imperial city of the past, fades away in the mist of time and mythology. Though much could be attributed to legend and conjecture, but history reveals that Lahore was not an important town even in thousand years ago. Form mythology to living history is a long way down, but then a city like Lahore has long memories, same of which are indelible.

If legends have some truth and sometime they do, then Lahore and kasoor, the two neighboring cities, were founded by Loh and Kash, the two sons of Rama, the popular Hindu god. According to Hindu mythology Rama was the king of Ayodhya (Oudth) and the hero of Ramanaya the famous Hindu epic. But at the same time most of Hindus believe that Rama was a ‘god’ and he never lived in the form of a human being or even in form of king through myths are attributed to him. So if this theory could be accepted as correct then the founding of Lahore by the sons of Rama, as mentioned by some earlier authors, would be nothing but simply a fabrication of imagination.

Beside, in the balled Poetry of the northern borders, “the forest near Lahore”, then called Udenagar, figures as the battle-ground where Rasalu son of Sal Vahan the eponymic here of Sialkot, fought and slew the monster Rakhshas. Exactly a similar legend is connected with Mankiala which is located about 18 miles south of Rawalpindi. No one can say with certainty that whether this legendary forest was around Lahore or around  Mankiala, the famous Buddhist monastery.

Again, to descend the more historic times, it is recorded in the annals of the Mewar State, in Rajputana (India), that the founder of the royal line, Kanaksen, a solar Rajput price, had migrated from Lahore. Besides, the Bhaties of Jaisalmer, (now in India), point to Lahore as the seat of their earlier location. One of the main city gateways of Lahore bears their name. It is called Bhati Gate even today.

There is yet another legends, which indicate that the present city and Fortress of Lahore where founded by Ayaz, the famous slave, friend and counselor of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. Ayaz governed Lahore some time and died here. His Tomb by the Taksali Gate is still revered by Lahorites  as the burial place of the Oecist of Lahore.

These Legends or local tales may be reconciled by supposing that the Hindu city of Lahore did occupy exactly its present site. May be, the city might have been deserted or destroyed during a natural disaster, such as floods or earthquakes or its final captured by the Muslims and was founded by them de nova.