Taxali Gate, one of the thirteen gates of the Walled City of Lahore was not always famous for its dancing girls. I wonder why it got associated to so many taboos, but once you step into the details of the gate you will explore many new hidden secrets. Taxali was once the nucleus of literature, art, music and many nobles and prominent personalities lived there. This past of the gate cannot be disregarded. Ustad Daman a well known Punjabi poet lived there and his academy is still seen today, though the academy is now occupied by some lawyer there. Interestingly, in the times of Akbar one of the greats of Punjabi poet “Shah Hussein” used to live in the same one room house. Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali and Allama Muhammad Iqbal were some eminent residents. Some noble people still live here like Mian Yousuf Salahuddin, a renowned socialite and the grandson of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, in a beautiful and well preserved haveli, one of the finest examples of the architecture of the Mughal Dynasty. The entire area till now is high heritage in terms of havelis and heritage homes. Haveli Dhiyan Singh, Haveli of Khush Hal Singh, Haveli Awais Meer and many more are intact today. You take your way into any street of this gate and you will be mesmerised by the architecture.
Apart from many other attractions located inside this gate, an interesting feature is little away from the restaurants located in Chowk Heera Mandi. This is the Lahnga Mandi. As you walk through the Chowk and take your way up from the Peer Naugaza’s Shrine you will start coming across interesting music shops. It’s the area that shows real hustle and bustle of life. Let me tell you that this is the oldest market of music instruments here in Pakistan. In almost hundred shops you will find all types of traditional and modern musical instruments. Once there were rows of musicians, music bands and music players, but our own assumptions and revulsions and made everything disappear. Yes, the gate is associated with music and art lovers, but I request not to consider it a taboo going there. Before partition most of the shops here were owned by Hindus. This area supplied the locals with the music instruments and many musicians practiced their symphonies here in these shops.
As this area had been known as Shahi Mohallah (Royal Neighbourhood) as well, the location of the Market makes sense there. It was once the hub of music, arts and culture and the remains we can still see here inside the Lahnga Mandi. After an intense operation to control the activities of the red light area, the dancing girls also moved out. The music makers also left the place but as a consequent the shops and businesses of these people suffered. The art of music instrument making also started to vanish away with the passage of time.
The modern musical instruments replaced the traditional ones adding to the downfall of this market. And now there is no help for the shop owners with which they can uplift their economic conditions. Shops of sitar, tabla,dholak, dhol, daf, harmonium, ek tara,toomba, flute, saxophone and many others were seen here almost twenty years ago. Gradually the local musicians and composers moved out and these items got replaced by piano and guitars. This is sad but now almost all shops are selling guitars and other modern music instruments. The only sitar maker from here also shifted out as his work had lost value and new generation did not care about this instrument in the presence of electronic sound effects. Master Altaf, a tabla maker, was sad over the disappointing situation of the markets. He said that these markets were once that full of life and colour. He was of the view that the governments did not take any interest in their economic uplift. Rather the undue bans on the music created more problems for them. Many people in the Mandi said that music was the only source of income for them which is no more alive there. Manyustads of music do not encourage the new generation to join the field of music now and the younger lot is now learning other skills like electrician, tailor etc.
I met a few more shopkeepers and they said that one reason for the ustads moving out of the place was the uneasy access to Lahnga Mandi. They said that the traffic system is so ill that people avoid going there, and that true. There is no proper parking facility, no traffic management and yes no management of the shops and bazaar too. If we talk about India, Iran, Japan, Turkey, Germany, France and other countries, they market their bazaars and turn them into a tourist attraction.
At present when you visit this place, you will see many artisans involved in making different music instruments. The remaining shops display huge variety of music instruments as well as souvenirs. If you enter any shop you will be carried away by the décor and display of music instruments in the shops. Also, for sure, you will find a fine tuned singer in every shop. The art of singing and playing music is at its peak in Lahnga Mandi. But before these also vanish away we need to take some steps.
Another sad thing I saw in this bazaar in my very recent visit was the shops are being replaced with other items. The business of metal workers is taking up in this bazaar where once the melodies were I the air. Now you will see people changing their business there. This is really sad. Is this the way we should treat our heritage. Taxali on the whole should be a tourist spot with tourist facilities available. It’s still not late, and people are still waiting for some improvements by the Government. There is hardly any business in the market but if this is converted into a tourist hub and if people start visiting this place, it will surely gain economic uplift.