Lost, elapsed and masked under the grime of times – this is another 17th century jewel like heritage piece which was not much known till it got a new verve and spirit after conservation, this year. This is the Vila of Ali Mardan Khan also known as the garden of Ali Mardan, in city of Peshawar in Pakistan.
You must be amazed to read this; he is the same Ali Mardan Khan whose tomb is in Lahore. According to historic references, Ali Mardan Khan, the famous commander and engineer of Mughal times, the governor of Kabul, Lahore, and Kashmir during Shah Jahan’s reign had built two magnificent gardens in the city of Peshawar. One of the gardens was known as Shalimar which was situated north of the Bala Hisar fort. We find an interesting description of Shalimar in the historic references and writers have claimed that the garden was oblong with flowers in abundance which were planted aesthetically, on the northern part of the garden were the trees and on the whole garden had square avenues, which I guess would have been similar to Lahore’s Shalimar Gardens. Unfortunately this garden does not exist now and only the name is heard in Peshawar.
Another spectacular garden was the Garden of Ali Mardan Khan where there was a pavilion with three storeys surrounded by fountains while the garden had a variety of fruit trees and roses. It was another wonder of the Mughal era and fortunately it exists till day. The beauty of the garden has vanished over the passage of time but the gorgeous pavilion was still breathing its last, which served as a residency during the early British period and on the other side of the residency, a new garden was laid out and named the Mackeson Garden. It subsequently came to be known as Company Bagh and, today, the Kalid bin Walid Bagh. Over the passage of time, the pavilion got dilapidated and most of its fresco and historic fabric was vanishing away.
I think this pavilion and garden was fortunate enough to get the attention of the Directorate of Archaeology Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who took the initiative for its restoration in 2015 with budget of Rs.57 million.
The majestic garden of Ali Mardan like many other Mughal era monuments went through a terrible fate in the Sikh and British era. During the Sikh rule, General Claude Auguste Court, a Frenchman, converted this garden retreat into a dwelling place where he lived with his family from 1827 till 43. General Claude Auguste Court was hired by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1827 to organise and train the artillery.
The majestic garden of Ali Mardan like many other Mughal era monuments went through a terrible fate in the Sikh and British era. During the Sikh rule, General Claude Auguste Court, a Frenchman, converted this garden retreat into a dwelling place where he lived with his family from 1827 till 1843
In 1839, Peshawar came under the British Rule and they made the commissioner’s office right next to this garden and the commissioner of Peshawar at that time was Colonel Mackeson of East Indian Company. It is said that one of the Mommand tribesman of Peshawar and surrounding areas killed the Commissioner in this park and later the commissioner was buried there and the locals started calling it the ‘Company Bagh’ in the memory of the gone East India Company days.
In 1847, Lieutenant General Sir George Lawrence, who was the first Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar, officially converted this building to residency. Lieutenant General Harry Burnett Lumsden, founder of the famed Corps of Guides also lived there.
In short, over the years, this historic building went through a lot of transformations in its use. It had served as a garden pavilion, residency, treasury and record room in 1880s, and Peshawar Brigade Head Quarters in 1907 before becoming part of HQ 11 Corps in 1975. Now let me tell you about this man who had built this piece of beauty. Ali Mardan Khan was Kurdish and served as Governor of Kandahar under Persia’s Safavid kings Shah Abbas I and Shah Safi.
After Shah’s death in 1629, many of the Shah’s officers became fearful as the successor Shah Safi was dismissing the courtiers and officers who were known to be loyal to the earlier king Shah Abbas. Ali Mardan Khan’s name appears in the Safavid and Mughal chronicles when he handed over the territories under his control, including the city of Kandahar, to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1638 for his safety and took refuge in Delhi. Safavid historians condemned the event while Mughal historians applauded it. Shah Jahan agreed to this deal as he wanted to expand the empire and thus Ali Mardan Khan became a part of the Mughal Empire. I guess Ali Mardan Khan never knew that he would gain such importance in the Mughal Empire later.
Ali Mardan Khan was not only received warmly and respectfully by Shah Jahan, but was also given a central role in the administrative, political, and military affairs of the Mughal empire, eventually being honored with the highest possible ranking in the Mughal court. It is quoted in several historic references that emperor Shah Jahan gifted one lakh of tankas for himself and two lakhs for the officers of his army. Being impressed and satisfied by the abilities of Ali Mardan Khan, Shah Jahan appointed him as the Governor of paradise like province Kashmir, Kabul and Lahore.
Later in 1639, Ali Mardan Khan was given the title of Amir al-Umara (Lord of Lords), made a Haft Hazari (commander of 7,000 troops) and appointed viceroy of the Punjab which then stretched from Kabul to Delhi.
Now let us come to another aspect of Ali Mardan Khan’s personality and skills. His name is closely associated with the construction of several buildings and he is remembered in the history as an eminent engineer. Ali Mardan Khan was the one who supervised the construction of royal buildings during the rule of Shah Jahan. He is known for the digging of the Delhi canal, which runs between the Red Fort and the old city. The water supply system of Shalimar Gardens in Kashmir (Gulmarg) was also planned by him and his lasting contribution to actualise Shah Jahan’s beautiful and paradise-like vision for Lahore was the construction of a canal from the river Ravi for the supply of water to the Shalimar Gardens, as well as for the irrigation and cultivation of surrounding areas. He is known to have built many edifices and gardens at Nimla, Kabul, Peshawar and Lahore. A neighborhood and a bridge in Kabul also bear the name of Ali Mardan Khan. A beautiful garden was laid out by him in Shah Jahanabad, north of the Kashmiri gate on the Jumna River in India. Within the city of New Delhi, Ali Mardan Khan resided in one of the largest palaces belonging to the great Mughal nobles. Ali Mardan Khan had ordered his mansion in Peshawar as well as a sheltered bazaar in the city to be built based on the architecture of Iran, Shah Jahan became so captivated with this Bazaar that he ordered the building of its replica in Shah Jahanabad.
Ali Mardan died in 1657, while on his way to Kashmir and his death was a setback for Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, as with the passage of time he had become close to Ali Mardan and secondly his work was stunning too. Ali Mardan’s body was carried back to Lahore and was buried in the splendid tomb that he had built for his mother in Lahore.
It is good to know that the Vila of Ali Mardan is now conserved with state-of-art methodologies and techniques and was recently inaugurated. I hope that this place after conservation is not left alone. In my opinion it should be turned into a ticketed tourist spot with sound and light show, a museum gallery and exhibition areas. There should be tourist guides who can inform and guide the tourists around the monument and also a timeline of the monument and Ali Mardan Khan should also be displayed there so that the visitors can get to know the heroes of the past and importance of the monument.
Published in Daily Times, November 11th 2018.