03/06/2024
Hazuri Garden & Heer Waris Shah.
Visualise a sunset over a 16th century Mughal fort and a 17th century Royal (Badshahi) mosque. Under this view people in the courtyard of these monuments gatherd to participate in renditions of one of the most profound and timeless works of Punjabi poetry.
This scene was not a page recreated from Arabian Nights but a distinct feature from the culture and heritage of 'Lahore, Lahore Hai!'
Until the early 1980s, gardens and open spaces in Lahore’s Walled City, served as places where people frequented to break the monotony of their lives as well as take part in cultural activities. Discussion forums, get-togethers and literary renditions by singers and poets in these spaces were a part of their being and life.
Popular folklore like Heer Ranjha was delivered in poetical colours known as Heer Khawani.
Few years ago with my late friend Rana Mohammad Bashir, I used to go there (Hazuri garden) to listen Heer Ranjha, some people also used to come on every Sunday/Friday from Sheikhupura, as you know “there were only two books which people had memorized by heart – the Holy Quran and Heer Waris Shah.”
The most popular venues for such activities of cultural bo***ge were Hazoori Garden and Ali Bagh, within the confines of the Lahore Fort.
“Every evening, people would bring chaadars along and sit in groups at Hazoori Garden. I remember the poets would take turns and there was a permanent revered place for them in the courtyard,”.
Waris Shah’s version of Heer Ranjha, penned in 1766, earned unrivaled popularity and illuminates the tragedy of two lovers in Punjabi culture. The affinity to this folklore was such that “to forget couplets from Heer was considered a cardinal sin and when singers forgot or made mistakes the listeners were quick to respond and correct them,”.
I also heard from Khalid Sahib about visiting the abode of another famous Punjabi poet, Ustad Daman, renowned for his political critiques. Daman today is famously recalled as the poet of the Walled City.
“In addition to sharp wit and tongue, Daman was also an accomplished cook,”.
Daman, a tailor by profession, had taken a small room behind the Fort, near Taxali Gate. Renowned poets and artists like Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Abdul Rahman Chughtai frequently visited him at his humble abode.
After Daman’s death, a number of his students decided to keep the legacy of Daman and Punjabi poetry alive and converted his abode into the Daman Academy.
“Modernisation has made Lahore’s Walled City lose its charm and heritage as the vanishing gardens have confined the activities of its literary society to almost nil.”
“Taxali Bagh has been commercialised. The trees in Nasir Bagh and around Minar-e-Pakistan were destroyed during General Zia’s era.”
“Hazoori Bagh, the last remaining gathering place also met a similar fate and thus the literary mehfils came to an end,”.
Hazoori Bagh is fenced with barbed wire nowadays. While half a dozen gardeners work all day to prepare the lawn for the next Independence Day ceremony or a foreign delegation, the fact of the matter is that it remains closed to the literary circles of the Walled City.
“Times and lives of ordinary people have changed.” This may be a major factor for literary activities vanishing from the cultural fabric of Lahore's Walled City.
“Now a days cell phone & social media have replaced the literary sources of entertainment for which Lahore was famous for."
All said and done, Lahore still resists changes in its cultural fabric. Sometimes Walled City Of Lahore Authority arranges to recite Heer. However the audience is lacking, indicative of the fact that people of the Walled City no longer consider these activities as a source of cultural bonding.
Perhaps nothing is of permanence – the law of nature remains cardinal.
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