LAHORE: Hiran Minar has become a favourite hangout for the families of Lahore after its connectivity with the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway. In an online Lahore Literary Festival session, Ebba Koch, a professor of Indian and Islamic Art at the University of Vienna, spoke about the ‘Emperor Jahangir’s India: Symbolism of the Hiran Minar’ on Friday.

Moderator Mehreen Chida-Razvi introduced the guest and the background of the minaret in the suburbs of Sheikhupura.

Ebba shared her work on “The water palace of Hiran Minar and the imperial mughal hunt: its political and symbolical importance – its techniques and justification and representation in poetry” on screen.

Explaining the construction of the tower, she said its construction started in 1607 and it was completed in 1620. The complex has a pavilion and hunting towers.

According to Chida-Razvi, hunting was not merely a sporting activity for the royalty but a manifestation of their military strength and a way to get to know about the well-being of their subjects. In 1618-19, when the plague hit Agra, Emperor Jahangir shifted his kingdom’s capital to another place from Agra to be safe from the deadly pandemic and during this time he took up hunting drives to reach out to his subjects. These hunting drives necessitated the availability of trained battalions of people and animals such as horses, dogs, cheetahs and even deer. Of them, some animals were considered more than pets. Jahangir had a favourite antelope, Hans Raj, which led to the construction of Hiran Minar.

Ebba, citing Jahangir Nama, the autobiography of the emperor, said the complex had cost Rs150,000, which was a huge sum. She showed the images of Emperor Jahangir feeding Hans Raj and other antelopes. Shah Jahan remodelled it in 1643 but the original bricks and plaster did not change.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2022