Forty winks and heritage – Taxali Wali Masjid

We are identified by our culture

It is sad how we treat our heritage and monuments. We are surely interested in building bridges, orange lines, huge play areas, Disney World, parks, sky rise buildings and metros, but have we ever thought that these are not our identity. We are identified by our culture and heritage. A great saying goes, “A nation without heritage is like a child without a mother”. Going by this we will become a motherless nation in very few years if there is no one to pay heed to our heritage. Why is our government so inconsiderate about matters of heritage? This question I am unable to answer for many years. I never return joyful after photographing a heritage site because it is so much derelict or uncared for. Same was my agony after photographing a small mosque built during Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s era.

Shah Jahan was the third son of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. In 1612 he married Arjumand Banu Begum, niece of Jahangir’s wife Noor Jahan. After Jahangir’s death in 1627, the support of Asif Khan, Noor Jahan’s brother, enabled Shah Jahan to proclaim himself emperor at Agra in February 1628. Shah Jahan had an avid passion for buildings. At his first capital, Agra, he undertook the building of two great mosques, the Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) and the Jamia Masjid (Great Mosque), as well as the superb mausoleum known as the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan left behind a grand legacy of structures constructed during his reign. He was one of the greatest patrons of Mughal architecture. His most famous buildings were the Taj Mahal, which he built out of love for his wife the empress Mumtaz Mahal, Wazir Khan Mosque and the Shalimar Gardens. Shah Jahan also placed profound verses of the Quran on his masterpieces of architecture. Lahore was at its zenith during the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s rule.

This mosque I found inside the Taxali gate, while just walking around the walled city of Lahore, was from Shah Jahan’s period

This mosque I found inside the Taxali gate, while just walking around the walled city of Lahore, was from Shah Jahan’s period. The old man serving as the Imam of the mosque told me that it was built during Shah Jahan’s reign and was known as Taxali Wali Masjid. The mosque was built on the same fashion as the Begum Shahi and Wazir Khan mosques. When I focused on the cemented minaret I could see the tile mosaic and brick work underneath, which endorsed what he was saying. The minarets and remains of the beautiful tile mosaic work certainly added to the conclusion.

It is said that it was built by Amir Abdullah Khan who was a deputy of Fidai Khan Koka under whose superintendence the Badshahi Mosque was later built in Lahore. In the vicinity of this Taxali Wali Masjid was located the Mughal Mint, known as Taxal in the local language, due to which the gate located here came to be known as Taxali Gate, and so did the mosque. The Taxali Gate was one of the thirteen gates built by the Mughal Emperor Akbar along with a thirty feet high fortified wall. This gate does not exist now like many other gates of the city. The structure originally had four minarets, out of which two at the face had survived up to a time. The mosque had a well and bath rooms towards the east and north, which have all been encroached upon at present. Otherwise as well, the structure is painted with white wash now and all the fresco and glazed tile work cannot be seen anymore. The well is now covered with washrooms which are used as public toilets against a token of rupees ten. The well therefore vanished.

With the passage of time, as no government agency was looking after it, the locals of the area gathered money and placed marble on its walls and ceiling, thus hiding the original beauty and works

A famous historian of Lahore, Noor Muhammad Chishti, writes that during the Sikh period the mosque was in the possession of one Sher Singh, who was an artillery officer. This means that like many other mosques this mosque too underwent changes in different reigns and rules.

This mosque used to be a beautiful piece till almost twenty years ago, as the Imam told me. Built in small red bricks and decorated with fresco and glazed tile it was no less than any other Mughal era mosque. With the passage of time, as no government agency was looking after it, the locals of the area gathered money and placed marble on its walls and ceiling, thus hiding the original beauty and works. If the heritage is left in the hands of laymen this is what was bound to happen. The locals are not at fault, the government and the archaeology department is. The locals are not aware of the expertise of fresco or preservation; therefore they did what they could to save the structure of the Mosque era mosque but I really am fuming at the role of the government here. The concerned agencies need to open their eyes and look around to save such monuments. If this practice of ignoring our monuments remains we will very soon be losing our architecture and heritage, which will be a shame for all of us.