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Vanishing glories
A stroll through the town of Depalpur, near Okara, to see what little remains of history
By Dr Raheal Ahmad Siddiqui
Recently, I walked through the old town of Depalpur, a small town 25km east of Okara city, along with friends Amir Karim and the old Mian A.D. Saleemi, who has lived in the city for the last 75 years. The streets were wide, straight and well-planned for a walled city of this age. Wooden balconies, mostly in dilapidated conditions but still maintaining their elegance, stared down at us. I was led through Mohallah Gordial to the beautiful mansion of Sardar Bagar Singh, built in 1936. Mural paintings on the protruding balconies were worth seeing. There were other havelis, mostly built at the turn of the century, by rich Hindus and Sikhs reflecting architectural beauty.
Due to lack of proper maintenance, these buildings are slowly decaying. This march towards oblivion seems irreversible.
Our next destination was the famous Shahi Mosque which stood next to the tomb of Balban’s son, who was killed by Mongol hordes in 1285AD. Prof. Mohammad Kamil, my late mentor and a historian in his own style, had always insisted that I must visit the Shahi Mosque of Depalpur which was built by Feroze Shah Tughluq. His description of the mosque was engraved in my mind. But I could not fulfill this wish in his lifetime.
So, a personal milestone was to be achieved when I was told that we would be entering the historical mosque within minutes. But the entrance of the mosque was a crude shock. The main entrance, recently built, neither has a semblance of an old relic, nor does it give any information about its historical roots. Instead, the written scriptures show that the “Jamia Shahi Mosque”, an abode of a particular sect, is in Depalpur, which is in Pakistan.
On entering the mosque, we were forcibly ushered into the ‘hujra’ of Syed Muhammad Anwar Shah Bokhari, the present caretaker of the mosque, where we were treated with hot tea and distorted histories. I immediately reached out for my pen to record this piece of history for posterity.
As told by Syed Anwar Shah Bukhari, “Feroze Shah Tughluq, after consolidating his power in ‘Dehli’ decided to go to Mecca for Haj. However, his ‘Sipha Salar’, who was a loyal commander, refused to allow him to proceed to Arabia, lest some mischief may occur in his absence. As an alternative interlude, he decided to visit Depalpur, his mother’s home town. After having spent a few weeks in the town, Firoz Shah Tughluq issued ‘Firman-e-Imroze’, a decree to build a mosque here and so the deed was done by the royal builders in a record time”.
Syed Anwar Shah’s father, Syed Mahmood Shah, migrated from Hoshiarpur to Lahore in 1947 and from there he moved to Depalpur to lead prayers in this mosque in late 1960s, on the invitation of few elders of the city with Mian A.D. Saleemi amongst them.
He drew genealogical linkage with the first Imam of this Shahi Mosque appointed by Feroze Shah Tughluq, with that of his father, just because both have a common first name: ‘Mahmood’.
In order to prove him wrong, we have to dig from historical record the real name of the first Imam, provided such a record ever existed. For an amateur historian like me, it was an uphill task. So I did the next best thing that I could do. I rushed out of the Shahi Mosque.
Slightly breathless, the old Saleemi led us towards Mohallah Lalu Jas Rai, where a shrine of the same name stands. According to Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908) this building is “the most noticeable feature in the modern town”. Crossing ‘Multani Serai’, an old inn with brilliant brick work, we reached the shrine of Baba Lalu Jas Rai, “a saint much venerated by the higher families of Khatris”.
The shrine is an architectural marvel and was built in two parts. Each half was completed in times wide apart, yet the two structures stood side-by-side with uncanny resemblance. The carved wooden doors were locked, so we walked towards a building across the street. Passing an arched entrance, we entered a large courtyard, lined on all four sides by a double storey building which served as a serai or inn for Hindu pilgrims, especially during the annual colourful fair.
The rooms in the upper storey are connected with a continuous balcony lined by a decorative grill. One room was donated in 1906 by Dr. Bhagat Ram, son of Bala Kishan Das of Ambala Cantonment. Likewise, all rooms in the compound were built from donations by various philanthropists whose name can be found on carved marble slabs embedded above each door. The script used was Hindi, though some slabs contained Urdu translations. Saleemi remembered that the rooms in the western corner of the Serai served as a hospital, where he had received free medical treatment on a number of occasions. Further exploration on this side revealed a carved stone giving the following information: “This ‘chobara’ was built in the memory of Bibi Durga Devi, daughter of Dr. Arjun Das Sahab, who died at the age of 13 years 2 months in September 1903”. After all, Durga Devi’s father had done a commendable deed to solace the departed soul.
As we stood in the centre of this huge courtyard, slightly to our left was a smaller double storey building, quite detached from the peripheral buildings. This was the residence of the high priest, in front of which there used to be a well with ‘Persian wheel’. A heap of rubble and rubbish now replaces the well. Long ago, young Saleemi had drunk fresh water from this well.
Everything good about this place had been swept aside in the aftermath of the Partition. It started rotting when the migrant families from Eastern Punjab illegally occupied this serai.
It was time to move on, as a group of illegal occupants lamented our presence in this compound, thinking that we were sleuths from a government department preparing a plan for their eviction from the Hindu Auqaf property.
Finally, we walked through the main bazaar towards the eastern exit of the fortified town.
Depalpur had a fair share of history and heritage, more than I initially thought of before undertaking this journey. However the need to preserve these heritage sites is far greater now than it was a few decades ago when my mentor visited this town.
The Dehli Darwaza at the eastern side had met the same fate as its counterpart on the opposite end. Modern tiles had obliterated the original structure. To add insult to injury, this gate was renamed as ‘Babe Lodhi’; the suffix Lodhi stood for a certain DSP who had occupied the adjacent building. The kings of the Lodhi dynasty must rest in peace as their clansmen in the police department of Punjab had acquired ascendancy over absurdity. As I looked back at the Dehli Darwaza, I was suddenly reminded of a Persian quote attributed to Muhammad Shah ‘Rangila’, the flamboyant Mughal King: “Hanoz Dilli Dor Ast”.