Outside Lahore’s Mori Gate once flowed the River Ravi, which curled around the old walled city heading westwards because of the process of meandering. It ultimately moved to its present position.

Mori gateway is so named because it was the narrowest of all the gates of old Lahore – a ‘mori’ or hole - in which the southern side only had one gate, that being Lohari. It was narrow because it was set aside for the Hindus, or other belief system persons, to cremate their dead on the banks of the river, known in days of old as Iravati, a name mentioned in the ‘Ramayana’ as an offspring of the goddess Kadru.

In this column my interest is in two persons who were killed on the riverside outside Mori gateway. The first carried out ‘Johar’, a self-cremation in the Rajput tradition of honour after suffering humiliation in battle. The second was brought to the river’s bank by an invader – Timur - who decimated the ruler and threw his body pieces in the river.

The first was Jayapala, one of the greatest rulers of Lahore of the Jayapala Empire. The full name of this ruler, as the Bari Kot inscriptions records, was ‘Parama Bhattaraka Maharajadhiraja Sri Jayapala-deva’. He ruled over the Hindu Shahi Empire from 964-1001 AD with initially Peshawar being his capital, and later Lahore was the capital of his empire, which stretched from Laghman in current-day Afghanistan in the west to Kashmir, and from Sirhind in current-day Indian Punjab to Multan.

In those day, Subuktigin, the slave of the Ghazni ruler Alptigin, who married his ‘master’s’ daughter, became the ruler. He moved to capture Kabul, which was part of Jayapala’s Hindu Shahi empire. Jayapala marched towards Ghazni and was defeated and agreed to a ransom, as well as ceded many forts. Once he was back in his own territory he went back on his word.

Sabuktigin in return attacked and demolished all the Hindu temples along the way. The forces of Jayapala fled towards the Indus and in the process lost Peshawar. In 990-991 AD Mahmud was imprisoned by his father in the belief that he was trying to foment a rebellion.

Jayapala offered to marry his daughter to Mahmud to divide the Turko-Kyrgyzstan-Afghan nomadic family. But Mahmud refused and swore allegiance to his father. On being released Mahmud pledged to seek revenge against Jayapala for going back on his word.

So, while Jayapala was threatened from the west, from the east a new threat arose in the form of the Raja of Lahore named Bharat. His son Anandapala was sent to quell Bharat, who was defeated and imprisoned in the old Lahore Fort. Amazingly the people of Lahore pleaded with Mahmud to allow their old ruler back on payment of a hefty tribute.

Within Lahore the son of Bharat named Chandrak overthrew his father for opposing the Hindu Shahi. In the year 998-999 AD Jayapala declared war on Lahore on the pretext that he was protecting his appointed suzerain Bharat. The forces of Anandapala attacked and captured Lahore. Hence Lahore came under the rule of the Hindu Shahi. One scholar speculates that the Hindu Shahi started their eastward expansion after losing their western lands to the Ghazni forces.

On the death of Subaktigin in 998 AD, his son Mahmud organised a larger army and set off on campaigns to expand his empire. One of the Hindu Shahi-appointed governor of Bardari by the name of Adira Afghan changed sides and helped Mahmud to reach Hindu Shahi lands. Jayapala tried to delay a final battle and sought time to raise a larger army.

Mahmud understood the strategy and immediately made all Hindu Shahi persons slaves. Many scholars put this number at one million, which seem gross, as is the jewellery estimates. Within a few months the entire territory began to fall to these invaders.

Jayapala returned to Lahore where out of shame he marched towards Mori gate, stood by the River Ravi, abdicating his throne to his son Anandapala, and committed ‘johar’, or self-immolation. In Rajput tradition this is the highest form of sacrifice to protect one’s honour. So it was that our first hero ended his life on the banks of the river outside Mori gateway.

Our second hero is a Potohar-based ruler of the ancient warlike Ghakkar tribe, whose chief was known as Sheikha Ghakkar. He and his son Jasrat ruled over the entire region of Chakwal-Rawalpindi-Islamabad-Jhelum, or in simpler terms the region between the Indus and the Jhelum rivers. They are a fierce Rajput tribe with ancient roots in the land.

In an earlier column we had described how the invader Timur ransacked Lahore. Three years before this 1398 invasion, Lahore had been captured by the Ghakkar. When the invasion took place Sheikha’s son Jasrat decided to confront Timur, only to be completely defeated and Jasrat escaped to his Potohar base and farther.

Once Timur had moved on to Delhi, the Ghakkars returned. On hearing this Timur sent his commander to capture Lahore. In the surprise battle both father and son were captured. Timur came to Lahore and on the banks of the Ravi at Mori Gate cut up Sheikha Ghakkar into bits. His head was put on a pole and displayed in the streets of the city. Jasrat was made to march to Samarkand.

So here we have two local heroes who sacrificed themselves against foreign marauders and looters. Both may have had different motives, but they in essence belonged to our soil. Surely outside Mori gateway, one of the oldest in the city alongside Lohari, they deserve to be recognised. Even two plaques would be fine, just a reminder to our people who have little idea of Lahore’s ancient history.

In that spirit it would not be a bad idea for plaques of Dullah (Abdullah) Bhatti, the great peasant warrior, as were his father and grandfather, who were all skinned alive and hung outside the Lahore Fort old eastern gate facing Mariam Zamani’s mosque by the Mughal Akbar. Surely our true heroes deserve better, given that the thousands of soldiers from earlier wars we have simply forgotten.

If you happen to visit Europe and England, in every small town you will come across cenotaphs large and small, which are memorials to victims of conflicts the world over. At their base are red poppies, or other flowers. The whole year-round people pay them homage. Seems we, unlike others, forget our martyrs.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2024