Once Maharajah Ranjit Singh had conquered Multan, he declared that his forces were ‘lions’, and ordered that Lahore’s legendary ‘Khizri Darwaza’ be renamed ‘Sheranwala Darwaza’. To drive the point home he tied two live lions at the gate.

The capture of Multan using the famous Bhangian-wali toop – Zamzama – on the 2nd of June, 1818, after a terrible three-month siege, led by Misr Dewan Chand, Kharrak Singh and Hari Singh Nalwa, defeated the Afghan ruler Nawab Muzaffar Khan, who lost over 12,000 soldiers against over 1,900 of the Sikh force. This success came about after seven previous attempts had failed.

The success of Ranjit Singh came about because of the establishment of a reliable supply chain from Lahore to Multan, using huge boats on the Ravi, moving on to rivers Jhelum and Chenab. On these boats were transported soldiers, grains, foods, and ammunition and cannons. The most famous being the Zamzama, which in the battle lost a wheel, and was held up by soldiers, who every time it fired saw a few soldiers being killed.

The success of Multan saw Ranjit Singh returning to Lahore and on entering the legendary Khizri Gate, the main river port since ancient times, immediately renamed Sheranwala Darwaza. He ordered two live lions to be tied there to show the people that the Sikh army were brave as lions. Ironically, young boys of the old city made pelting those lions with pebbles as a sport, killing them both. The maharajah laughed off the killing and replaced them with stone statues of lions.

Since 1818 the legendary Khizri Darwaza has been known as Sheranwala Darwaza. The two stone lions were not treated any better and just recently a trader removed them to expand his illegal shopping centre. Naturally, the authorities do not bother about such illegalities. Economics works wonders.

Now let me describe Khizri Darwaza. Much that Lohari Darwaza (gateway) is fabled as being the oldest, maybe even 3,250 years old, it seems that the Khizri Darwaza and its port might well be over 4,000 years old. There is a historical, maybe even scientific reason, why this is an older gateway. Just as Multan was the focus of the land trade route joining Kandahar and beyond by land, so was the river route from the Khziri port of Lahore joining the Sindh rivers to the Arab world, especially modern Lebanon and beyond, reaching Spain and Europe.

This can well be gauged by the caravans lost in the Spanish desert and found by archaeologists, some almost 1,250 years old. The goods found in the Arab world are well known, and a new book by William Dalrymple, the Scottish scholar and historian based in India, traces the trade manuscripts found in Arab countries mentioning Kerala and Khizri port of Lahore.

Before we touch on the ancient saint Khizr, better known as Khawaja Khizr, the patron saint of rivers, sailors and fishes, let us investigate trade in the past from Lahore. Just as Multan was important for land trade westwards, the port of Khizr of Lahore was very important for sea trade along the rivers of the Punjab and onwards towards the sea.

Let us go back in time and have a look at the Vedic epic ‘Mahabharata’. This battle was raged at the current Mahmood Booti edge of the Ravi at Lahore. For starters the Prince Bharata was the ruler of Lahore, and he led the war of succession between cousins for the throne.

The major issue was the use of the river trading port of Lahore - Khizri port - in the Kurukshetra Wars. He was opposed by forces from as far away as Waziristan and Multan. Such was the port’s importance. But let us dwell now on Khawaja Khizr.

In Wedsinck’s ‘Encyclopaedia of Islam’, the name Khizr could have originated from the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ of ancient Mesopotamia, and in its Arabisation the name Hasisatra emerged as for the Canaanite god Kothar-wa-Khasis, known as Al-Akhdar, for the ‘green robed one’. Hence the name Khizr emerged. You must have noticed that most ‘saints’ and ‘Sufi-minded’ people wear green robes, a tradition started by Khawaja Khizr.

During the 1965 War, we learn of Indian jets wanting to bomb the three major bridges over the Indus. As they bombed away a green-robed saint, allegedly, would emerge from the river and defuse the bombs, forcing them to fall in the river. Sindhis to this day firmly believe that it was Khizr the ‘zinda pir’. But then to add a humorous touch about the 1965 War bombings, the well-known Lahore professor Eric Cyprian used to joke: “When an Indian air raid siren blows, rush to the airport”.

Khawaja is an ancient word used as a name of honour by Mizrahi Jews, as well as by Baghdadi Jews, and then it was commonly used by Persians. That name is used as ‘Khoja’ by Tajiks and Gujratis. In the holy scriptures of ancient Persians of the Zoroastrians, known as the first believers of One Almighty named ‘Ahura Mazda’, then the Jews as mentioned as ‘Yahweh’, or the Christians as ‘The Almighty’ and in Islam as ‘Allah’. Each religion has its prophets, but the role of Khawaja Khizr seems to emerge from his ‘meeting’ with the Prophet Moses, or Musa.

Here other religious versions certainly exist but let us follow the version in the Quran’s ‘Suratul-Qahf, where he is described as possessor of wisdom, knowledge and all the mysteries of the world.

Since that miracle of the ‘fish’ and the sinking of the boat, and their saving from certain death, since time immemorial Khawaja Khizr has been known as the saviour of fishes and sailors and rivers and the sea. Certainly, for these reasons the ancient port of Lahore was named Khizri, and the gateway hence was called Khizri Darwaza.

The point of this discourse is that should the old gateway be once against returned to its old name, or Khziri Darwaza, or should the name change by Maharajah Ranjit Singh in 1818 stand. The name Khizr is also associated by the building of the first warships of Akbar’s queen Marium Zamani, and hence in ancient sea warfare the gateway stands out.

Though the location stands out in ancient Lahore afar from the then mud-walled city and served as a port point, it was an extension of the entrance point. At that point the river was widest. Today the river has shifted thanks to the geographic process of meandering, and flows (almost) a mile to the west.

For one thing this decision to maintain the Ranjit Singh name seems based on what people call it today. Our plea is that the ancient name should be restored, and maybe the point where the lions were tied, and hence the name, should be called ‘Sheranwalla Mohallah’, for the lions were tied 50 yards inside the gate as it stands today. It is up to the decision makers to decide … who in all probability might stick to the status quo.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2023