01Lava’s city
Punjabi tradition holds that Lahore was founded by Lava, son of Shri Rama and Mata Sita, and Kasur nearby by his brother Kusha; a small shrine of Lava stood inside the Lahore fort. In recorded history the city was part of the realm of the Hindu Shahi kings Jayapala and Anandapala, who fought Mahmud of Ghazni from the Indus to the Sutlej. After Anandapala’s son Trilochanapala fell, Mahmud annexed Lahore c. 1020–21 and it became the eastern seat of the Ghaznavids. The Ghurids took it in 1186, the Mongols sacked it in 1241, and Akbar rebuilt the fort and held court here from 1584 to 1598.
02Guru Arjan and the Sikh darbar
Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh Guru, was tortured and put to death at Lahore in 1606 on Jahangir’s order; Gurdwara Dera Sahib marks the place by the fort. Lahore was born again as a Sikh city when Ranjit Singh rode into it on 7 July 1799. On Baisakhi of 1801 he was proclaimed Maharaja of Punjab, and from here he ruled from the Khyber to the Sutlej and from Kashmir to Multan. His samadhi stands beside the Badshahi mosque. After his death in 1839 the darbar fell into faction, and the British annexed Punjab on 29 March 1849, taking the Koh-i-Noor from the boy king Duleep Singh.
03Martyrs and Partition
Lala Lajpat Rai was beaten by police at Lahore while leading the protest against the Simon Commission on 30 October 1928, and died that November. On the Ravi bank on 31 December 1929 the Congress adopted Purna Swaraj as its goal. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged in Lahore Central Jail on 23 March 1931. In 1947 Lahore, which had large Hindu and Sikh communities and many of Punjab’s colleges, went to Pakistan. Its temples, among them the Krishna Mandir and the Valmiki Mandir, still stand, and only a small Hindu community remains.
The life of this place
- c. 1020–21Mahmud of Ghazni annexes Lahore after the fall of the Hindu Shahis.
- 1186Muhammad Ghuri takes Lahore from the last Ghaznavid.
- 1241The Mongols sack Lahore.
- 1606Guru Arjan Dev is martyred at Lahore on Jahangir’s order.
- 7 July 1799Ranjit Singh takes Lahore.
- Baisakhi 1801Ranjit Singh is proclaimed Maharaja of Punjab at Lahore.
- 29 March 1849The British annex Punjab and end the Sikh empire.
- 23 March 1931Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru are hanged in Lahore jail.
- August 1947Lahore goes to Pakistan; its Hindus and Sikhs flee east.
Indian pilgrims reach Lahore mainly on Sikh jathas for Guru Arjan Dev’s martyrdom day and Ranjit Singh’s barsi, visiting Dera Sahib and the samadhi.
