Mochi
Gate is another one of the thirteenth gates of Old Lahore, built by Akbar the
great, and the name Mochi is in fact a corruption of the word moti or pearl. It
was so called after the name of a Hindu employee, Moti Ram, who was an officer
for Emperor Akbar and resided at the gate as in charge for security. The
corruption in the name occurred during the Sikh period when it came to be
called Mochi as the gate was in bad shape during that era. It was demolished
early during the British period and its bricks were sold.
The entrance to
Mochi Gate has now become heavily congested and impinged by all sorts of
permanent and temporary shops, shacks and shanties, doing boisterous business,
of course. The encroachments have eradicated the entrance so that coming by the
‘Circular Road’, in a car or rickshaw; one is likely to be stuck in traffic for
two to three hours, easily.
The entry point
is swamped by shops selling nuts, grams, sweets and dry fruit. Immediately
adjoining is the police station building, with its office on the right side and
the residential quarters on the left. This leads into the land directly in
front of the mosque of Muhammad Salah Kamboh. Muhammad Saleh Kamboh was a diwan
in the Punjab province during Shah Jahan’s era. This is a three domed mosque
built in 1659 A.D; its five steps lead from the bazaar to the mosque courtyard
and two at the back lead down to Kucha Chaughtayian, which means the abode of
the Chughtai family. Before entering the bazaar itself, one sees on the right
hand side the huge structure of a haveli which is typical of old big houses of
Mughal era; wooden gate and large entrance, etc. At the entrance of the Mochi
Gate Bazaar, actually at the convergence of Bazaar Lal Khoo and Bazaar
Sadakaran, is perched this small beautiful mosque atop shops. Since the level
of the road that runs through the bazaar has been raised, it is now higher than
the level of the shops located under the mosque.
From
here, on the right is the Mochi Baagh (garden), with its famous stage. At Mochi
Baagh prior to partition was a beautiful park where the residents of the city
could seek recreation and many pahlwans had their wrestling bouts here as well.
The wide garden became historically famous for being the venue of huge
political gatherings. Famous political leaders of their times since the start
of the Pakistan movement to the present day, have delivered speeches to the
masses here including Allama Iqbal, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Liaqut Ali Khan, and
ZA Bhutto. Unless a politician has not addressed a rally in Mochi Baagh he/she
is not considered important. Some politicians have had to hire people to come
to their speeches to make an impression at Mochi Gate.
All
along the bazaar, which is nothing but a narrow street, through which not more
than three or four persons can pass at a time, are shops on either sides
selling firecrackers, spices, toffees, sweets and utensils? This narrow route
leads one past a place called Lal Khoo where at one time there used to be a
well and onto the Chowk Nawab Sahib that includes a neighbourhood known as
Mohala Sheeyan, perhaps so called because of the many Imam Bargahs here. Across
the Lal Khoo there are kabab shops and in front a very famous sweetmeat shop
called Rafiq sweets. These two shops still provide the traditional old Lahori
tastes, and are maintained and prepared with well-guarded recipes.
Lal
Khoo is now abandoned; somebody filled up the well and built a shop on it.
However half of that well is still extant and out of reverence to a Saint, who
is supposed to have been associated with it, people light candles and oil lamps
at the perch. In front of the Lal Khoo is the Qazi Khana, which is partially
covered by overhanging balconies, arches and other structures, leads to the
main mohallahs (communities) of the Mochi Gate. At the turn of century the poet
Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad, the author of the book ‘Aab-I-Hayat’ and a
teacher of Oriental Studies at the Government College Lahore, used to live in
Qazi Khana. He was also one of the initiators of free style verse in Urdu. This
laureate lies buried in the famous Shia cemetery Karbala Gamay Shah area, a
stone’s throw from Government College.
Walking
through the Lal Khoo bazaar is like passing through an uncovered tunnel where
sunlight hardly seeps in due to the huge buildings on either side. I feel it is
reminiscent of old Arab bazaars. The shopkeepers are seen squatting amongst
their overflowing wares, doing roaring whole-sale businesses. The Lal Khoo
bazaar ends at Chowk Nawab Sahib from which on the right one detours to Akbari
Mandi and on the left to the main mohallah and streets of Mochi Gate, and then
straight on towards Chotta Mufti Baqar. On the left are two historic buildings
the Mubarak Haveli and the Nisar Haveli. Mubarak Haveli is the place where
Ranjit Singh is said to have tricked Shah Shuja, (the deposed ruler of Kabul)
into parting with the ‘Koh-I-Noor’ which now forms part of the crown jewels
stacked away in the tower of London. There are also many Imam Bargahs here.
During the month of Moharam this gate becomes a very sensitive area from the
security point of view, due to a rise in sectarian violence.
Now
I have done with seven gates of Old Lahore, I noticed one feature that is
common in all of them. That is that there is no system of waste disposal and
sewerage. Though alongside Circular Road there is a huge drain that runs around
the city, however it is uncovered and there is no proper system of drains
emptying into this dirty channel. There is a lot that needs to be preserved
from our heritage to our next generation’s future.
