Daily Times

LAHORE: The Punjab Archaeology Department has embarked upon the conservation and preservation of the 17th century Gulabi Bagh Gateway and Dai Anga’s Tomb with an amount of Rs 7.5 million.

Sources informed Daily Times that the Gulabi Bagh Gateway along with Dai Anga’s Tomb were desolated and derelict due to neglect and aging and were housing many addicts and beggars. Sources were of the opinion that after the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) construction, the century’s old magnificent façade of Gulabi Bagh Gateway was in ruins and the fresco on it had lost its colours and splendour, whereas, the garden inside the gateway leading to the tomb of Dai Anga lacked proper maintenance and upkeep. Sources added that the Tomb of Dai Anga was in shambles with wrecked walls, ceilings and rooftops whereas the staircase was shaky being a risk for anyone going to the rooftop and graffiti was all over the monument. Further Daily Times was informed that owing to the presence of addicts and beggars, tourists avoided visiting the historic monument as there was no proper cleanliness mechanism.

A local tourist guide Muhammad Saeed told Daily Times that the Gulabi Bagh Gateway housing the tomb of Dai Anga, located on Grand Trunk (GT) Road near Shalimar Gardens, was constructed by a Persian noble Mirza Sultan Baig who was Admiral of fleet during the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s era. It was the entrance to a garden which, like many other Mughal Era gardens in Lahore, has now disappeared. “It is the last remnant of a pleasure garden built by Mirza Sultan. The title Gulabi Bagh (Rose Garden) is also seen in the last line of the inscription of over the archway and also gives the date of its construction. It was the garden of roses, as the name states. The Gulabi Bagh Gateway was once notable for its rich and vivid mosaic tile work and calligraphy and was a pleasure garden. Inscriptions on the gateway also compare the garden with the exquisiteness of paradise,” Muhammad Saeed said.

When asked about the garden’s relation with Dai Anga, Saeed explained, “Dai Anga was the wet nurse of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. Her husband Murad Khan served in the court of Emperor Jahangir as Magistrate of Bikaner and her son Muhammad Rashid Khan, was one of the best archers in the kingdom. In 1671, Gulabi Bagh was turned into the Tomb of Dai Anga after her death.”

Saeed was distressed over the fact that the original marble cenotaphs were no longer there and the underground chambers were also inaccessible. He said that the present conservation might bring back the lost glory of the monument as several encroachments around it had already damaged the monument. He added that there were two graves inside the tomb, one of Dai Anga and the other of her daughter Sultana Begum.

Punjab Archaeology Department Deputy Director Malik Maqsood Ahmed said that the monument was owned and maintained by the department. It was protected as category-1 monument under Antiquity Act 1975 vide Notification No.47 dated 09.01.1913 and total protected area was 0.37acres.

“The existing structures were in need of preservation, conservation and restoration by introducing different degrees of interventions. The disintegrated tiled flooring of the main passage around the tomb, Gulabi Bagh gateway, side rooms and the missing tile mosaic work of the tomb also demanded restoration. The loose and missing tile work was also in bad condition,” he said.

Talking about the interventions being made in the monument, Malik Maqsood said that restoration of fine brick masonry, fresco, kankar lime plaster, provision for brick tile cornice as per old design and brick tile work including floral design, restoration of ghalib kari and preservation of tile mosaic work and colours including preventive consolidation and conservation work were being carried out.

He said that the work was in progress and more than 90 percent work had already been completed and the monument would be opened for the public in June 2018.

“There will be restricted entry in the monument so that it is not misused by the addicts or beggars as we will be appointing a guard there, but no ticket would be charged from the public as the monument is a place for learning and leisure. We will be regularly looking after the maintainence of the monument and hopefully it will become a family spot,” he concluded.

Published in Daily Times, May 15^th 2018.