In this age of communal religiosity most people cannot comprehend the fact that in Lahore over the last 2,000 plus years three different religions held sway. With it came ‘unintended’ behaviour patterns. This subject interests me because our behaviour patterns reflect centuries of communal experience with different belief systems. Many eons ago, while on a research mission to Quetta, at lunch time the chief secretary called in the peon and the gardener outside to join him and other officers. For me it came as a shock. But up there in the hills everyone is equal. This certainly was not the case in Karachi and Lahore. Most people treat the poor with a ‘hidden’ contempt, even though our religion forbids it. But in life social behaviour outbids religion. Over the ages it has become clear that social behaviour is an off shoot of economic conditions, which are explained in faith terms in underdeveloped economies. How many of us allow the cook or the house cleaner to join them for a meal?

Lahore has experienced three faith systems, they are Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, with each being the majority beliefs for approximately 700 years each. Sikhism for approximately 250 years had an aggressive minority presence, only to disappear from Pakistan in 1947. Christianity came with the colonial power and for the last 175 years because of their Goan base it now has approximately four per cent of the city’s population.

In this column let us focus of Buddhism, for on its basis the behaviour basics of the people revolve, just as Hinduism and its caste system still exists in our behaviour responses. In this alleged era of democracy, we see the emergence of belief-based systems raising their heads. The tragic mass killings in Palestine by European communal colonialists, backed as they are by European-origin colonial mass murderers in North America by the millions of Original Americans and African slaves, presents before us a grim picture. In present-day India we see the emergence of Hindu extremists whose intolerance of non-Hindu religions is before us.

Mind you in Pakistan, and in Lahore, belief-based extremism is a power to be reckoned with. The first formal belief system of Punjab and of Lahore was Hinduism, which emerged, so scholars believe, approximately in 2,000 BC, or over 4,000 years ago in Harappa, or better still along the Indus Valley. All the Vedas were written in the land that are today Pakistan. Lahore is known as the major city where copies of these ‘holy’ books were written. But then the emergence of priests – Brahmins – and the imposition of a caste-based society saw, as a reaction, the emergence of Buddhism. Brahminism engulfed the whole of India, but in Punjab its customs were not dented, though even today a lot of our behaviour is caste-based. The sacrifices demanded by Brahmins were rejected by a Prince Gautama, known as Buddha, who rejected such priestly power to extract for sacrifice. In those days in the Middle East the Hebrew prophets were prophesying, and in Iran the ruler Darius was purifying Zoroastrianism. Buddha wanted to escape from the terror of Brahminism, and after a long deep thought he reached the conclusion that worldly worries emerged from within. In a strict sense it was not a religion, but a self-imposed duty to morality and benevolence, all of it without priests, or a deity or prayers. In a way it was a revolutionary ‘belief’ system.

When Alexander the Greek was encamped on the Indus in 325 BC, he came across these Buddhist believers, who explained to him what the Gautama taught. Just for the record the Buddha had walked all over the sub-continent and stayed in Lahore for a few weeks. Many Greek historians claim that the young conqueror was moved. In his army was a young soldier named Chandragupta Maurya, who belonged to the northern hills of Pakistan, with some experts claiming he was from the Moar (peacock) tribe near Abbottabad. After Alexander left, Chandragupta’s army conquered India and set up the Mauryan empire. Thus, Lahore came under his rule. It was then that Chandragupta converted to Buddhism and the entire city of Lahore converted with him. For the first time Lahore was without priests and sacrifices were banned.

The Mauryan rulers, especially his grandson Asoka, played a major role in the spreading of Buddhism. He made sure that all the rulers in his empire gave up warfare, and one research by Colin Wells tells us that ‘bringing arms into the city of Loh was banned’. But then rulers invariably wish to exploit the wealth of others, and warfare is their main weapon. The ninth Mauryan ruler was Brihadratha (187-185 BC). Then we have Harsha in (606-648 AD} and Kanishka the Great being Buddhist.

Even violent invaders like the Mongol Kublai Khan and Halaku Khan ultimately converted to Buddhism. The lesson of tolerance and after a lot of bloodshed giving up violence is a lesson that many great rulers learnt. So, for over 700 years Lahore was a peaceful non-violent Buddhist city. It took an exceptionally violent invader like the Alchon Huns in the second half of the 5th century to take over Lahore, and Punjab, and major portions of the sub-continent with the purpose of extracting wealth. His Brahmin advisers convinced the ruler Toramana the Alchon Hun in 515 AD that Buddhists hated him, which made the Huns kill all Buddhists in Lahore. This massacre has been described by Michael Alram (2003) in his research as also by an amazing book by Ashvini Agrawal. It was certainly merciless, and every house and temple of the Buddhist belief was flattened. The Huns made sure that the city of Lahore never again followed the saying of Buddha. But then we see the emergence of the discarded Hinduism in which priests – Brahmins – extracted large amounts to carry out sacrifices. A Hindu still cannot reached the Almighty without going through a deity that a Brahmin held dear. But then given its long history the behaviour patterns of these priests are today carried out by ‘holy men’ who sacrifice animals and even little babies in secret, let alone chickens. These ancient ways are copied in other faiths too.

After Hinduism and Buddhism and the return of Hinduism – a 1,450-year period -- we see the coming of the Arabian Islamic faith, with Lahore being captured and decimated in 1021 AD by the Turko-Afghan invader Mahmud of Ghazni. Even though the Holy Quran mentions that priests cannot reach the Almighty for anyone, yet we see today this class becoming rich and in control of the political system.

Inside the Walled City of Lahore there are over 143 shrines of different sorts. At each shrine money is extracted. Even places that once belonged to Hindu and Sikh traditions have ‘mullahs’ putting up their boards and extracting money. But to round up this very brief discourse of our history, we must never forget that the basic lessons of each belief system are enshrined in the way we carry out our daily lives. The only way to understand this is self-analysis of each act in our lives. To have a visual look at our past it would not be a bad idea to visit the Lahore Museum, for it holds the world’s finest collection of Buddhist art and statues. In my university days I went there at least twice a week with a dear friend and spent long hours watching the ‘Starving Buddha’. We are still the very best of friends.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2024