Last week as my dear friend Sheero from the walled city set off on a break to the Neelum Valley, he messaged to know about the famous Sharda University, once having the largest library in the sub-continent.

Good education and books are directly connected. Ironically, at that very time his UK-based sister and her son, and his visiting Lahore-based nephew Nauman and his wife, came to visit Cambridge. After a reasonable Lahori lunch, I took them, among other places, to visit the Cambridge University Library. As we walked through different sections it came as a shock to them that if all the book cupboards are lined it would exceed 500 miles. Without doubt a stunning number.

Cambridge alone has 54 large libraries, not to forget huge departmental ones. When students are there, they are all full. The question came to mind just why does Lahore not have enough libraries? The answer is that once upon a time not very long ago, every one of the 13 gateways had not one, but several ‘mohallah’ libraries. The ladies of the city were, invariably better read than the male population, as they were provided magazines and fictional novels by local shopkeepers. The younger males went for slightly ‘erotic’ stories. The famous Punjabi poet Ustad Daman initially worked in one such library. Working in a library was considered a prestigious job.

If we research the history of libraries with respect to Lahore and the nearby lands, it comes as a welcome surprise that over 3,000 years ago the ancient Taxila University had a massive library. As we move eastwards, we have traces, slight that they are, of one in Harappa, then in Lahore there were several small ones in the shops of ‘hakeems’, and as one moves northwards, we have the ancient Sharda University of Azad Kashmir which in its days had the largest library in the entire sub-continent.

There is an amazing similarity in the fate of the Sharda University library and the ones in Lahore, which itself is almost 2,500 years old. Sharda was the name of the Hindu goddess of knowledge ‘Saraswati’, and a pilgrimage to the temple next to the now destroyed library is called ‘Sharada Peeth’. Here scholars like Sambhota and Kalhana Pandit worked, not to forget great scholars like Shankara. All these amazing developments were because of the Buddhist scholars.

The Maurya ruler Asoka, who converted to Buddhism and died in 232 BC, had a major role in developing this library. The libraries of Lahore were also set up in the 700 years period that Lahore was a Buddhist city. Both Sharda and Lahore and Taxila under Buddhism developed major libraries. The followers of Buddhism do not acknowledge any god or deity. They focus on ‘inner enlightment’ for peace and worldly wisdom. So, learning makes sense to Buddhists. With the Huns invasions major book burning took place, and this was the case also when every foreign invader came to our dear city and land. Every time the city was burnt, the first to be attacked were libraries.

We think of the British as a ‘civilising’ force. The reality is very different. In the Punjab as Maharajah Ranjit Singh set about educating every female, for males tend to learn what their mothers teach them, the British deliberately set about forcibly collecting every Punjabi ‘Qaida’ (Alphabet book) and burnt them.

When after detailed research the great Prof. Leitner suggested to the East India Company that Punjabi be made the medium of instruction, for he researched and informed that the Punjab was the most literate country in the sub-continent. The Company administrators threatened to send him back to England. The effect has been that till today the mother tongue of the land is not part of our school and university basic courses. Our elite still shy from speaking their mother tongue.

In our current situation, we see that communalism and colonialism in the way our bureaucracy responds, both have been at work against local populations acquiring knowledge. The killing off mother tongues is a classical tactic to stymie human development, which is a sure way of improved learning. A few examples might help us to understand the degrading process. In the country, we have communal extremists attacking and burning down schools, especially those dedicated for girls. Islamic scholars the world over term this as anti-Islamic, but the extremists believe otherwise, as do almost all priests of every faith.

Amazingly almost 500 years ago priests in England taught the Bible only in Latin. An English version could lead the translator to be executed. Sounds very much like what is happening in the western part of our country today.

In the walled city of Lahore, the growing communal influence because of Afghan refugees becoming the majority population, there is a major movement opposed to book shops. They view it as hostile to their religious beliefs. In past columns one has mentioned an Afghan priest converting a Sikh-era well known site known as Lal Khoo into an Islamic shrine. Naturally, he makes a lot of money. No one dares to challenge this profitable blasphemy.

The amazing Punjab Secretariat Archives is the most extreme example of a sick colonial mindset refusing to open the amazing treasure of books and documents to scholars and researchers. Here we have every document from the days of the Mughal ruler Akbar right up to modern times. The entire record of the Sikh era and the British era lies here. Most of these treasures lie in a horse stable built for the Fauj-i-Khas of Ranjit Singh.

The amazing and forgotten tradition of books and libraries of our land is, have no doubt, second to anyone. The libraries of Sharda, of Taxila, of Lahore, of Harappa, and other historic places are there to remind us that the best minds can only grow once we read and understand different subjects.

In these columns when we reminded the ‘authorities’ of the amazing Punjab Archives, the present prime minister – then a chief minister - promised to build a new one. First, he mentioned a site behind the old Tollinton Market. This is the Lahore Museum car parking area. Bureaucrats reminded him of this fact. So, the next announcement was about the British-era house of the governor’s military secretary. That was shot down. Since then, silence has reigned. Till the printing of this column there is no policy in Lahore, or the Punjab, concerning our ancient land and city’s archives and libraries. The few that do exist are all, without doubt, decaying. There is no chance of the Buddhists returning to search for the truth within us all.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2024