It is interesting to note that three different educational research institutions – two of Lahore and one of England – are researching the history of Lohari Gate, the oldest gateway of our walled city. This surely deserves a short description.

For starters let us start from the beginning. The old, or better still, the ancient city of Lahore slowly emerged on the seven mounds that exist to the south of the River Iravati, now called the Ravi River. The word Iravati means in ancient Sanskrit ‘divine river in Heaven’. For ‘pucca’ Lahoris’ their city is divine, a ‘heaven’ that must be seen. But then the word Ravi in Sanskrit means the ‘Sun’ or Surya that exists in every room of life.

Humans headed towards these mounds once climate change hit our part of the world. It is returning again, slowly. The nearby Harappa suffered either droughts or massive floods. Both destroyed the crops of the original dwellers, all of them Dravidians. The Aryans came almost 2,000 years later. As Harappa collapsed most the population moved – mostly - eastwards and set up on the mounds that much later in time came to be known as Lahore.

The highest mound was where today exists the Lahore Fort. A survey in 1959 by the British and Pakistan joint archaeological teams dug opposite the Dewan-i-Aam and went to 50 feet, almost equal to the outside land level. It also equals the base level of the Temple of Lava. At seven different levels they discovered mud dwellings, pottery and kitchen tools. The expert view is that life existed here 4,500 years ago. Carbon dating further proved this assertion.

The next carbon-dated find was when just 10 years ago a trader had dug up a house in Lohari in Mohallah Maullian. This is the place where Gautam Buddha (480 – 400 BC) stayed for a few days while on his treks across the sub-continent. In the dug-up foundations were broken pots, wooden spoons and other iron instruments. A carbon-dating laboratory in England put their age at 3,450 years.

These two examples set in place just how Lahore emerged. It was primarily seven very small mud-walled dwellings each with a number of houses, but independent of one another. To the north was the fort area where, most probably, the tribal chieftains lived. Others, it seems, though no evidence has come forth, were caste or tribe based.

The oldest known mud-walled dwelling was known as Lahori Darwaza (gateway), with three claims to its name. The first was the name of Loh, the name of the Kshatriya merchant caste of Lohana, and hence Lahor – Lahore – emerged. Loh, the son of Rama, known as Lord Ram, has a temple just outside the fort.

The second probable origin of the name emerged from the first, and that being that this merchant class of Lohana had ‘lohars’ (blacksmiths) living around gateway. Lohanas are known as ‘masters of swords’. This is probably possible being that the Lohanas lived there, but currently no such evidence exists, which is understandable.

The last possibility is that the main gateway of the Lohanas faced in the direction of where the ‘lohars’ lived where now exists the Miani Sahib graveyard. As that is near Ichhra, many claim, without evidence, that the original name of Ichhra was Lohar. This seems a far-fetched possibility.

But after the Lahore Fort the next major mud-walled mini-city was the Lohari Darwaza. At this point in ancient times trade caravans from the south reached and stored their goods. Before one proceeds let us take a look at the geography of the ancient Lahore, the one put in place in 1021 after Mahmud of Ghazni had flattened the city of Raja Jaipal, the Hindushahi ruler of Lahore.

The ancient city walls had Lohari Darwaza as the main – only gateway – and the wall turned to the north at Mori Gate – the hole – for at this point the Hindu population cremated their dead and threw their ashes in the river that then curled around the city. The wall then turned eastwards at the Taxali Chowk and after reaching just south of the current Rang Mahal turned southwards with the wall being to the west of the current Shahalami Bazaar.

Traces of this ancient wall can still be seen if you walk along the Shahalam Bazaar to the left and the Bhati Bazaar to the right, you will notice the old walls bases still as the land mound moves upwards. But even before this happened, the ancient original mini-cities were at Lohari with a larger mud-walled dwelling below and to the west of Rang Mahal. Over time this merged as the mini cities expanded and come Mahmud it was joined and finally Akbar expanded the city with burnt brick walls. That is the city we see today.

Now back to Lohari. The Lohari Bazaar proceeds northwards and divides in two. To the east it heads towards Chowk Chakla, or the original Heera Mandi. That area has now been given the pious name of Chowk Bokhari. The other lane branches to what is known as Kharrak Singh Bazaar. No new pious name has yet been officially stated. The third off-spring lane to the right is known as Pappar Mandi at the edge of the current Shahalami. There traders have created a 14th gateway, technically a massive illegality.

To the left of Chowk Lohari Mandi the lane leads to Said Mitha bazaar. From this ‘chowk’ a lane leads to a small garden in the middle of the built-up area, and this is called Chowk Jhanda (flag). Said Metha was a Syed saint who escaped from Khorasan and from Ghazni moved to Lahore, where his son Syed Mitha sat and died. He was buried there.

The details of Lohari Darwaza are intricate, with each house, each lane, each ‘mohallah’ has a story of its own. But let me wrap up by taking a macro look at the bazaar that starts from Lohari Darwaza. This is, without doubt, the oldest bazaar or street of the walled city, and existed a few thousand years ago much before Mahmud or Akbar expanded the ancient city.

The bazaar led northwards towards the open-air river port, where the river curled around the ancient mounds. As goods reached the ancient ‘bazaar’ they were moved to storage rooms and ultimately shipped out. The port was named Khizri after the ancient patron saint of fishermen and sailors. Ultimately, the port was given a formal shape, allegedly by Menander the Indo-Greek ruler of Lahore, that is till the river meandered westward in British days to where it exists today.

If you study the history of Lohari Darwaza one learns that this is where the soldiers of Maharajah Ranjit Singh in 1799 took over Lahore. This is where Mahmud of Ghazni entered and ultimately destroyed the city. Even today it has almost every delight one could wish for … the best products, the finest foods, the most beautiful buildings (mostly crumbling) and the original Lahoris. Yes, they have their own slang and dialect of Lahori Punjabi. To the right exists Mochi Punjabi slang, and to the left Bhati Punjabi slang. Such is the magic of Punjabi … and ancient Lahore with Lohari being the beginner.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2025