Fareeha Amjad

The history of the gardens in Lahore is as old as the Islamic history of the city itself. In particular, the Ghaznavid period, sources of the 11th century mentioned the fragrance, flowers, and fresh air of Lahore. Malik Ayaz, a slave of the Ghaznavid ruler Mahmood and later governor of Lahore planned a new city near the existing one in the beginning of the 11th century. The precise location of the site is not known. After that, the town continued to grow in all directions. During the period 1021-1526 AD, or before the coming of the Moguls, we read about six gardens in the suburbs: Bagh-i-Malik Ayaz, Bagh-i-Zanjani, Bagh Shah Ismail, Bagh Qutb-ud Aibak, Bagh-i-Shah Kaku Chishti, and Bagh-i-Daulat Abadi; all these became extinct subsequent to urban development of Lahore.



The construction and planting of gardens in and around the city started with the arrival of the Moguls on the subcontinent in 1526. The earliest Mogul gardens in Lahore were Bagh-i-Mirza Kamran, in the northwest, built by the son of Babar; and Naulaka Bagh and Bibi Haj Taj, both on the east side. Among the gardens, only the baradari (pavilion) of Bagh-i-Mirza Kamran survives today to any extent.



The construction of gardens on a large scale began with the coming of Emperor Akbar to power, and particularly between 1584-98 when he made Lahore the capital of his empire. He reconstructed the fort and fortified the city with a double defensive wall. All important nobles of the Mogul empire, serving in whatever region, built pleasure gardens and fruit gardens in all directions, in particular along major roads connecting Lahore with Delhi in the east, Multan road in the southeast, and Grand Trunk Road in the west. During Shah Jehan’s time, the areas in between, were filled with a variety of gardens.



At Shahdara, located northwest of the city along the Kabul and Kashmir route, the Bagh-i-Mirza Kamran, Bagh-i-Dilkusha (built by Queen Nur Jahan and where the tomb of Jahangir was later built), the garden quadrangle of Asaf Khan, Akbari Serai (the present forecourt to the tomb of Jahangir), and the probable garden around the tomb of Nur Jahan, still survive today in relatively good condition. In all these gardens the planting has changed considerably. The other garden which are mentioned in the sources on either bank of the Ravi River near Shahdara are Naulakha Bagh, Badami Bagh, Bagh-i-Dil Afruz, Bagh-i-Andijan, Bagh-i-Nizam ud Din Ahmad, and Bagh-i-Mirza Moman Ishaq Baz. The hinterland on the east along the Grand Trunk Road became a special focus of attention for the construction of gardens during the Mogul period.



Few gardens existed along this route before Shah Jehan’s time, but with the construction of the canal and Shalimar Garden, the interest in this area increased. The fragments of some Mogul period gardens still survive. These include: Gulabi Bagh, Bagh-i-Eeshan, Pervaiz Bagh, Bagh Mahabat Khan, Anguri Bagh, Bagh Fateh Garh, the Bagh around the tom of Nadira Begum, Bagh Abul Hasan, Bagh Ali Mardan Khan, and Bagh Mulla Shah. A series of gardens was also built along the Multan road on the south side of the city. The most famous among these were Bagh Wazir Khan, Bagh-i-Anarkali, and Chauburji garden or Nawan Kot garden (around the so-called tomb of Zeb un Nisa). These gardens had a variety of landscape features.



Some were orchards, others were attached to mansions. Some were walled and had elaborate gateways, walkways, water features, and elaborate plantations. By the end of Shah Jehan’s rule, Lahore became the “city of gardens”. The garden suburbs extended in every direction for several miles. These gardens were built for the pursuit of pleasure, the extension of residences, as fruit orchards, or were built around tombs. A number of them survived till the middle of the 19th century and fulfilled a variety of functions such as ceremonial centers, official business, pleasure gardens, poetry reading and meditation. They also served as transit stations during processional journeys. Also with streams of water, wells, mosques, tombs, and mansions, they dominated the land use plan of the city.



The tradition of constructing gardens continues even to this day, and one can find modern gardens spread throughout every part of the city. The Lahoris love of gardens has lasted through the ages.