Lahore is perhaps one among a few cities of the sub-continent, which are known for their multi-faceted personalities. Variously called the city of gardens and the abode of vivacious people; the heart of Pakistan; the granary of music and cultural capital of the country, it has also earned fame for being the repository of architectural heritage of Pakistan. After the defeat of Sikh army in the second Ferozepur War, the Punjab along with its capital city Lahore was annexed with the British Indian Empire in 1849. At that time, the walled city of Lahore was dotted with a large number of elegant havelis (large mansions), which had been built by the governors and prime ministers of several kings and emperors during different periods of Muslim rule in India.
Vagaries of weather and long neglect of these resplendent monuments have ruined their architectural facades and inner structures. Consequently, a vast majority of old havelis of Lahore have either been completely wiped out of existence, or have changed beyond recognition. One of the best known among the havelis built in Lahore during Emperor Shahjehan's period, the tallest in the city, was Haveli Mian Khan. It, too, has not survived the political upheavals and the vicissitudes of history.
Since its construction over 300 years ago, it has now been obliterated and its original ambience has been lost to history. Only its name remains in circulation. Historian Syed Muhammad Latif in his book, Lahore - Its History, Architectural Remains and Antiquities, (published in 1892) had this to say about Haveli Mian Khan: "This house of unrivalled architectural grandeur was situated in the midst of the city.
It was originally built by Nawab Sa'dullah Khan of Chiniot, the Prime Minister of Shah Jehan (in the 17th century), but he died before its completion. His son and successor, Nawab Mian Khan, completed the construction and thence the haveli came to be known, after his name, as Haveli Mian Khan. It was the highest building in the city, supported by ten wells; had numerous halls and arched chambers, which were supported by pillars of stone; reservoirs and fountains of water; underground chambers; balconies and upper storeys".
Describing graphically and in vivid details, Syed Latif elaborated: "The haveli was divided into three parts, the Mahal Serae, or the female quarters, the courthouse, known as Rang Mahal, and the Kalai Khana. The female apartments were used as places for working the grinding mills of which about two hundred with four hundred houses existed at that time.
The Rang Mahal was utilised as the Mission School for Boys, and the buildings of the Kalai Khana have been converted into private houses. Most of the old works have been destroyed or altered, yet what remains there bears abundant testimony to the past greatness of these palaces". The dilapidated portions of Haveli Mian Khan were sold bit by bit on which private houses were built. The British rulers gave one of its beautiful portions known as Rang Mahal to the United Presbyterian Church, which constructed a high school for boys on it.
Even the current ruins of this school speak volumes for the gorgeous original physical dimensions and topographical appeal of Haveli Mian Khan. It also shows the chicanery of the British rulers to illegally allot or sell at throwaway prices the properties of historical importance to foreign Christian missionaries to facilitate them in their proselytising efforts. In the context of local musical tradition, Haveli Mian Khan has served as a hatchery of musicians, especially during the second and first half of the 19th and 20th century respectively.
It was during that period that a large number of professional musicians from different areas of the Punjab, especially Kasur and Jallandhar, came to live on the dilapidated remains of Haveli Mian Khan. Ustad Ghulam Haider Khan, who is known for his encyclopaedic knowledge of music and musicians, claims that in Haveli Mian Khan once lived frontline classical musicians of the likes of Ustad Kaley Khan and Eeday Khan (the paternal uncle and grandfather) of the world renowned Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.
They used a portion of the haveli for residential purposes during their temporary sojourns in Lahore. The grandfather of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, he adds, was an employee in the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Other noted classical vocalists and instrumentalists, who either made Haveli Mian Khan their permanent abodes or stayed there for short periods of time included Irshad Ali Khan, Husain Bakhsh Piya, Ali Bakhsh Kasuri, Faloosay Khan, Husain Bakhsh Dhaala, Niaz Husain Shami, Ustad Nazakat Ali Khan-Salamat Ali Khan and their brother Akhtar Ali Khan, and light classical singer Bashir Ali Mahi.
Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and his son Ustad Munawwar Ali khan, before they decided to permanently settle in India, where both of them now lay buried, lived at the periphery of Haveli Mian Khan and took part in the melodic confabulations and the impromptu concerts frequently held there. Some portions of the haveli also served as venues for regular melodic confabulations and exclusive concerts for professional musicians only. In the event of a difference of opinion over the scalar foundations of a raga and its sonant and consonant notes, an impromptu concert was the answer, where elders in the fraternity, after listening to the demonstrative prowess and creative talent of the contestants, would adjudicate over the issue.
Their verdicts in the forms of practical demonstrations were considered final. With the ill planned horizontal expansion of Lahore as a result of the ever-growing demographic pressures, a large of number of professional musicians had to shift to other places in the expanded metropolis. Now one can hardly find a practicing musician living within or near the precincts of Haveli Mian Khan. The exodus of melodists from the haveli has depleted the melodic resources of the city, adversely affecting the melodic culture of Lahore.
Gone are the days when musicians of high calibre lived and practised their art within the boundaries of Haveli Mian Khan. When an affluent member of the city wanted to sponsor a soiree either he visited the haveli himself, or sent one of his friends to that hatchery of musicians, to engage an artiste or two for a performance at his baithak situated within the old walled city. The advent of television and the mushrooming of modern pop bands have changed the cultural pursuits and tastes of the Lahoris. Neither musicians of high calibre live there any more, nor the old cultural traditions (and tastes) of the rich in the city have been sustained to create a demand for classical music, a raison d'être for professional musicians to live in the old haveli.
This is how history has taken its toll of the cultural traditions, habits and tastes, and social customs of the citizen of this historical city, which has the distinction of serving both as provincial as well as country capital during different periods of the history of Muslim India.
The use of dilapidated Haveli Mian Khan by several frontline musicians of the sub-continent for residential purposes has added a cultural tangent to this (totally ruined) old historical monument, which has been recorded in the list of important architectural edifices of Mughal India.
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