Everyone, irrespective of our gender, has a secret desire to visit ‘Heera Mandi’. Just two weeks ago an Indian film producer released a series under the title Heeramandi, resulting in protests in Lahore over it allegedly being far removed from fact and reality. The question is ‘since when do thrillers have to be realistic?’ The film producer visited Lahore and met a few distinguished old walled city people. Ironically, almost all of them have protested that the story of the film was concocted and far removed from facts and reality. The name ‘Heeramandi’ is surely deceptive, with some claiming it as a deliberate attempt to depict Lahore in a negative light. A friend of my college days, Navid Nasir, watched the series in California and burst into protest. “This is far removed from the real Heeramandi”, he wrote on the internet. In this column I will dwell on the history of the place, with names, and a few personal experiences to depict the reality of the place.

One must be clear that ‘prostitution’ is probably the world’s oldest profession. Rest assured, every place where humans live sex workers emerge, irrespective of what the laws and beliefs of the land may be. But let us concentrate on Lahore.

We know that the present location of ‘Heera Mandi’ did not exist before the ancient city came about in the time of the Sayyid Dynasty. It was then located inside Lohari Bazaar in a lane still known as ‘Phollanwali Gali’ – the Flower Lane. This is very much near ‘Sanathan Dharamshala’. As the wise of the city say; ‘In the shadow of piety, evil exists’. This is where the original area of sex workers of the walled city of Lahore existed. Before this area, as one theory claims, this profession was practised outside the walled city in a remote village near today’s Old Anarkali. It moved into Lohari Gate much later. No proof of that exists but this is what the old folk of the walled city believe.

Then came Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1556 and he expanded Lahore outwards, creating to the north a huge area, primarily dedicated to the housing of the Rajput Bhatti clans. The northernmost area of this expansion housed a few of the ancient clan of ‘Kanjar’ people who spoke several languages. They were Kshatriyas by caste, highly educated and, amazingly multi-faith in that they believed in Hinduism, in Islam and Sikhism, a few, amazingly, all at the same time. A few allegedly were also known as pagans. Their women were called ‘kanjaris’, a term that has stuck as has the word ‘kanjar’, both, sadly, with negative connotations. They were also known as ‘charsis’ and could produce the sounds of birds and animals and dance and sing. Entertainment was their forte. Though originally, they were not settled people, the Mughals provided them with this opportunity. So, the original inhabitants of Taxali Bazaar were this clan.

As Akbar consolidated his empire, he brought in highly educated beautiful women groups from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan. These were trained as musicians and dancers in the classical tradition and they worked mostly in the Fort and among the ruling classes. As these trained ladies were also highly educated, they taught the children of the elite the Persian language, mathematics, astrology, and other subjects, besides the higher arts of song and dancing. The result was a highly cultured elite.

The very first name of this area was ‘Shahi Mohallah’ or the ‘Royal Precinct’. This name was legalised and this is the original name as given in Mughal documents, with others propping up much later. For the next 200 years, this was the only name for this area. Come the Sikh era of Maharajah Ranjit Singh from 1799 onwards and his prime minister was Raja Dhian Singh Dogra of Jammu. His son was Heera Singh Dogra and he set up Lahore’s largest grain store in the Shahi Mohallah, just next to the ‘haveli’ of Dhian Singh. Over time, this place was called, though mind you, never officially named, ‘Heera Singh Di Mandi’ – the marketplace of Heera Singh. As often happens to long descriptions, it was called, and still is called, Heera Mandi. So, two names came about. The original inhabitants of old Lahore call it ‘Shahi Mohallah’ and then the common name ‘Heera Mandi’.

Come the British and they set in place their army rules and this area where prostitution flourished was demarcated as a ‘Red Light Area’ where soldiers could only go after getting permission. The name ‘Red Light Area’ also stuck. So, from Phollanwali Gali to Shahi Mohallah, to Heera Singh Di Mandi to Heera Mandi to Red Light Area, the names just have kept growing and none of them have been erased. Recently, the elite, in a bizarre translation mode further named the place ‘Diamond Market’, an illiterate offshoot of the word ‘Heera’.

So, this area is known by five names. How would I name it? It is simply Taxali Bazaar, for the main bazaar starting from Taxali Gate – the gateway to the Royal Mint – to the Taxali Crossing (Chowk) is where Shahi Mohallah is. But over time, the area east of the road coming from Bhati Bazaar going towards the Lahore Fort came to be known as part of Shahi Mohallah. But then this area was solely for classical music and dancing. Most musical instruments are still manufactured in small shops here. Sadly, during the Gen Ziaul Haq era, some great classical musicians were forced to move house. Today it is part of a food street, a bizarre move where ‘food streets’ are seen as political ‘progress’. Lahore today has seven of them, even inside the Lahore Fort, a violation of UNESCO rules. The crackdown on musicians and dancers and on prostitutes by the rulers led to their spread all over the city. Such are the ways of the pseudo-pious. But in the mind of the people Heera Mandi is all about prostitutes.

In our college days in the 1970s in the GC Hostel, the boys had got a fund going to take the allegedly most pious student there. We all sat in Ali Park waiting for our pious friend to emerge. Then suddenly a ‘pimp’ came with our friend in hand and informed us that as he had lectured the lady on morality and she had kicked him out. That friend is now a professor in the USA. Another episode might reflect how people thought of the place. On Eid our father used to make us walk from Rattigan Road to the Badshahi Mosque for prayers. Once my younger brother asked my father: “Daddy, why are so many women standing on their balconies?” My father gave a crisp Punjabi response. My brother with wide eyes stood still and then ran all the way home. Never again did he go for Eid prayers. That brother now lives in Canada.

Now back to the Indian series ‘Heeramandi’ about the famous Lahore locality. Those who have seen the film say it is all about amazing sparkling shiny clothes, a place where morality is subtle, about them being part of the freedom movement, and about a suspense story told in dances. Nothing could be further from the reality of the place. But then that is what film stories are all about, they create plots around a few facts to make it full of suspense. Every city has an area where sex work flourishes. In Delhi, it is the GB Road (Garstin Bastion Road) now renamed after a ‘swami’ – how appropriate. In Istanbul, the 19th century Zufara Street is where it flourishes. In London, it is Soho. So, this oldest profession of humans needs to be handled with greater understanding. Every faith cracks down on it … facts and faith invariably clash. The reality of life is very different.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2024