Lahore is a city of great dimensions.
It is unique in many respects.
In Modern period now it is declared’ “Lahore is indeed
the Heart of Pakistan” with it’s ever green gaiety. It’s true and by the blessing of Allah if you go to
any corner of the city you will find shops open for Juices, milk, milk items, fruits, paan, cigarettes, fish, tikka, paratha,
naan and for many daisy items or foods.There is always a hustle and bustle of devotees at the shrines paying their love to
the saintly men who are extremely successful in bringing the non Muslim to the fold of Islam. You may always found some political
or social activity in some part of great city, which proves it’s heart beat. Any movement in country takes sprint from
this marvelous city. People visiting this tremendous city always receive a warm welcome from it’s natives, who are very
truly called “Zinda Dalan-e-Lahore”.
Bearing many fascinating historical monuments,
marvelous places, Lively people, delicious and spicy typical foods, colorful culture and festivals, arts and crafts, green
pleasant lawns and gardens, political and social activities, it’s true to believe in Punjabi statement “Jinhay
Lhore nahin waikhiya oh Jamiya hey nahin” (The person who didn't visit Lahore he is not born”)Name And Foundation
In the Deshwa Bhaga, previously mentioned, Lahore is called Lavpor, which at once points to its origin
from Lav, the son of Rama, while in the ancient annals of Rajputana the name given is Loh Kot, meaning “the fort of
Loh,” which, again, has reference to its mythical founder, Rama’s son. Turning to the Mahomedan period, the
best authorities on the early Mahomedan conquests of India, are the historians of Scindh, for it was in that quarter that
the first storm of those conquests under the Khalifat burst. Fatuhul Baldun, believed to be one of the earliest Arabic Chronicles,
which gives an account of the first conquests of the Arabs in Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Armenia, Transoxiana, Africa,
Spain and Scindh, calls Lahore by the name of A’lahwur. The book, which is the work of Ahmad bin Yahya, surnamed Al-Biladuri,
who lived at the Court of Baghdad towards the middle of ninth century of the Christian era, in the Khalifat of Al-m’tamid-Billah,
is frequently cited by Ibn-I-Haukal, Almasudi and other ancient Arabic geographers. In times as early as the Khalifut of Umar,
an expedition was sent under Hakam, son of Abul’asi, of the tribe of Sakif, to Baruz (Broach) and Debal. During the
reign of Usman, Hakim, son of Jahalla-al’abdi, was sent to the confines of Hind ‘in order to acquire knowledge
and bring back information.’ In the beginning of the year 39 A.H. (659 A.D.), during the Khalifat of Ali, son of Abu
Talib, Haras, son of Marral ‘Abdi, proceeded. With the sanction of the Khalif, to the same frontier, as a volunteer.
He reached Kekan in Scindh, was victorious and made captive, but was subsequently slain.In the year 44 A.H. (664 A.D.), and
in the days of the Khalif Mu’awiya,” continues our author, “Mohallab, son of the Abu Safra, made war upon
the same frontier, and advanced as far as Banna (Bannu) and Alahwar (Lahore) which lie between Multan and Cabul. The enemy
opposed him and killed him and his followers.The great traveller Al-Idrisi, of Morocco, in his work the Nuzhatulmushtak-fi-Iftikharul
Afak, writing in the ninth century, calls it Lohawar. The termination ‘Awar is a corruption of the Sanscrit word Awarna,
meaning fort, and is affixed to many Indian towns, such as Sanawar, Bijawar, Peshawar. Lobawar would, thus, simply mean “fort
of Loh,” and the name would establish its identity with the “Loh Kot” of the Hindu Puranas.Abu Rehan Al-Biruni,
in his celebrated work, the Kanun, speaking from his personal knowledge of the country at the time of Mahmud’s invasion,
towards the close of the tenth century, mentions, in his description of the Himalayan mountains, that “they can be seen
from Tacas (Taxila?) and Lahawar (Lahore).” M. Reinaud, in his Fragments, and Elliot, read it as Lauhaour, Lohaovar,
Loharu and Lahor. Amir Khusrow, of Delhi, writing in the latter part of the thirteenth century, calls it Lahanur in his
well-known work the Kiranus-sa’den. He says:- “From the confines of Samania to Lahanur, There is no walled
(city) but Kasur.”Mr. Thornton suggests that Lahanur is a corruption of Luhanagar, nur being the Dakhani form of nagar,
as appears from the names of other towns, such as Kalanore, Kananore, ...etc.Rashid-ud-Din, in his Jamiut Tawarikh, completed
in A.H. 710, or A.D. 1310, calls it Lahur, “than which,” he says, “there is no stronger fort.”Al Biruni
also mentions Lahore as a Province, the capital of which was “Mandhukur” on the east of the river Irawa (Ravi).
Baihanki calls it “Mandkakur”. Lahore is also called by the Mahomedan historians Lohar, Loher and Rahwar,
the origin of the last name being explained by the fact of its situation on the great imperial roads to Cabul, Kashmir and
Agra.
In whatever form it may have been written by the early Mahomedan
writers, it is manifest from the above summary that the name, Lahore, has clear reference to its founder, and that founder
was, in all probability, Loh, the son of Rama.
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