Historic Gandhala Garden forgotten by time
Arranging freshly plucked loquats, 44-year-old Mohammad Shakil said he leased the historic Gandhala Garden - nestled between two mountains and just a kilometre from Choa Saidan Shah – for a year and he has realised he will not recover the amount he paid as rent.
“I paid Rs465,000 rent for a year but I cannot earn the same amount in the same time period as the production of loquats has decreased drastically for multiple reasons,” he said.
According to celebrated travel writer Salman Rashid, there was a Buddhist stupa where the Gandhala Garden is now. A formal garden was established a century ago by the British, who used it to grow loquat, grapes, pears, pomegranates, apricots, plums, peaches and some vegetables which were also transported to other cities.
British officers installed one of the best irrigation systems in the garden, dug up a well in the centre of the garden and also built concrete drains to bring in water from the holy pond of Katas Raj. Bulls were kept in the garden to take water out from the well and rooms were constructed for the bulls as well as the gardeners.