Awesome Lahore

Awesome Lahore

The recorded history of Lahore (Urdu: تاريخ لاہور‎), the second largest city-district of Pakistan, covers thousands of years. Originally the capital and largest city of the Punjab region, it has since its creation changed hands from Hindu, Buddhist, Greek, Afghan, Muslim, Sikh and British rule to becoming the cultural capital and the heart of modern day Pakistan

A mythological legend, based on oral traditions, states that Lahore was named after Lava, son of the Hindu god Rama, who supposedly founded the city. To this day, the Lahore Fort has a vacant temple dedicated to Lava (also pronounced Loh, hence "Loh-awar" or The Fort of Loh). Likewise, the Ravi River that flows through northern Lahore was named for the Hindu goddess Durga.[1]

Ptolemy, the celebrated astronomer and geographer, mentions in his Geographia a city called Labokla[2] situated on the route between the Indus river and Palibothra or Pataliputra (Patna), in a tract of country called Kasperia (Kashmir), described as extending along the rivers Bidastes or Vitasta (Jhelum), Sandabal or Chandra Bhaga (Chenab), and Adris or Iravati (Ravi).

Moreover, some of the oldest and most sacred Hindu shrines are found within this locality, namely Bhairo ka sthain and the Chandrat. The gate of the present city, known as the Lahori or Lohari Gate was so called as being the gateway looking in the direction of Lohawar or old Lahore just as the Kashmiri Gate looks towards Kashmir, and the Delhi Gate of modern Delhi to the ancient city of that name.[6]

There are no architectural remains of the old Hindu city of Lahore, a circumstance which might well be explained by the absence of stone material, and the numerous destructive invasions to which the city has been subjected.