Few graveyards of Lahore have had such a checkered history as that of Begumpura, located just near the Shalamar Gardens. The localities of Mughalpura, Baghbanpura and Begumpura belong to the Shah Jehan era when an effort was made to build an elitist enclave for the rich of Lahore. In the Mughal days two roads from Delhi led to Lahore. The original route headed towards the walled city's Delhi Gate southeast through a village that was to be later named after Mian Mir, the well-known Sufi saint of Lahore. Another route, an old local road, led northeast, along the old River Ravi path through the villages of Begumpura and Baghbanpura, past the Shalimar Garden, ultimately joining the old road to Delhi. With the construction of the Shalamar Gardens, this northern route became the new alignment of the Grand Trunk Road. It is now, incorrectly, recognized as the original alignment.

The graveyard and the grand buildings and mosques adjoining it belonged to the Subedar of Lahore, Nawab Zakriya Khan. Located just next to Mughalpura, where the rich and famous of the Shah Jehan era lived, the entire complex was supposed to be the biggest such complex in Mughal India. The investment made by the governor ran into hundreds of thousands of rupees in those days. Extensive residences, villages, shrines, and tomb-gardens began to line the new alignment of the Grand Trunk Road in the mid-seventeenth century, villages like Kot Khwaja Saeed, Bhogiwal and Begumpura.

The 'village' of Begumpura developed over a 100-year period from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-eighteenth century. They include tombs, gardens, gates, walls, wells, mosques, shrines, and 'havelis'. The principal garden site surrounds a tomb attributed to Sharfun Nisa (d. 1671), or Dai Anga, wet nurse to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. She was a great patron of architecture in her own right and a famous mosque by her name exists just opposite the Mayo Hospital's north-eastern gate. Her tomb-garden, known as 'Gulabi Bagh', was built in 1655. The tomb of Dai Anga dates from 1671, which means that her garden was converted into a tomb after her death.

The garden was originally square, with the tomb placed in the centre. The square measured 250 Mughal yards (gaz) on a side, slightly smaller than the tomb-garden of Asaf Khan in Shahdara, but larger than those of aristocrats like Ali Mardan Khan and Mahabat Khan which lie to the south and east along the Grand Trunk Road. These dimensions certainly do indicate Dai Anga's social prominence and wealth. Although the proportions of her tomb, dome, and verandahs are somewhat awkward, they retain vestiges of beautiful blue and yellow glazed tile-work on the exterior and inside the tomb is probably the finest surviving floral wall paintings in Lahore.

Exactly on axis with the tomb, to the north, lies the so-called 'Saruwala Maqbara' -- Cypress Tomb -- named after the tile decoration on its upper story. It is an elevated structure, unusual to say the least, and is said to be a place of 'chilla' -- meditation -- and ultimately entombment for the sister of Nawab Zakaria Khan. There is only one other place like this in Lahore, located in the village of Kot Khwaja Saeed and called by local residents as 'Mai Dai', which suggests it probably was associated with Dai Anga, though Latif in his book on Lahore suggests it was another woman. The 'Saruwala Maqbara' dates to the early or mid-eighteenth century and was originally surrounded by a garden, which is rapidly being filled in by urban settlement.

Just west of Saruwala Maqbara lies Begumpura. Its gateways, buildings, architectural details, and brickwork date to no earlier than the year 1700 AD. The surviving structures include a mosque with a 'serai' in yellow tile-work and a gateway with Sikh-styled plaster-work and brick details. Just next to Begumpura is Mughalpura with Kot Khwaja Saeed to the west. Thus a series of modern residential localities were created by the Mughal elite, almost like we have Islamabad today.

Out interest in Begumpura is essentially in what happened to this exquisite garden and tomb once the Mughal era ended. After the Afghan rulers came and plundered Lahore, we see the advent and rise of Sikh power. Every Sikh ruler who came to power started dismantling the structures and selling off the bricks, by the thousands, and the expensive marble and tiles. When the troika Sikh rulers of Lehna Singh, Ganda Singh and Gujjar Singh came to power, this area came under the sphere of influence of Gujjar Singh, who completely destroyed the place and built Qila Gujjar Singh with it.

Once Maharajah Ranjit Singh came to power, the place was taken over by the head of the artillery of the Khalsa Army. He leased out the lands to farmers. Then the maharajah allowed the Kangra chieftain Rajah Sansar Chand to occupy the place. When he left he allocated it to his favourite Brahmins, who used to send him an annual rent. The Brahmins started dismantling the graves and selling off the tiles, marbles slabs and the bricks. Then the son of Sardar Lehna Singh Majathia forcibly took over the land from the Brahmins. He also started selling off thousands of bricks from the buildings and graves.

Barely had he started his destruction when the Afghan chief Nawab Ghazi, who claimed to be the original builder's descendant, came to Lahore from Kabul. As the occupant Sardar Dessa Singh had gone to the hills and the houses were empty, he occupied them and forced the farmers out. They filed a case in the court of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, which ran for a few years. As Nawab Ghazi was not able to present any written proof, the entire area was handed over to Gen Gulab Singh Poondia, who set up a military cantonment at Begumpura.

The first thing Gen Gulab Singh did was to convert the mosque of Begumpura into an ammunition dump. He ordered that the very foundations of the houses and garden buildings be dug up and the bricks sold to raise money. Till the time the Sikh Khalsa rule ended in 1849, this remained in the control of Gen Gulab Singh. When the British took over the 'numberdar' by the name of Keena filed a claim of ownership. As no proof of inheritance was provided, the British magistrate ordered that he keep the place after paying a modest price. In this the 'numberdar' failed.

By this time a person by the name of Fazal Shah, claiming original inheritance, put in an application, on which he was handed over the property provided he proved his inheritance. In the time period allowed by the court, this Fazal Shah started selling off more bricks and tiles. By this time the appeal of the farmers came up and Fazal Shah was evicted.

The tillers of the land won the right of tenancy, with ownership rights going to the State. That status still remains. There is no doubt that in between the various 'owners' who propped up from time to time, a long list of claimants came and were, each one of them, thrown out. Everyone sold off bricks by the thousands. No other graveyard has been so badly exploited and misused in the history of Lahore.

The name Begumpura sprung up from the mother of the original builder, Nawab Khan Bahadar Zakriya Khan. Her name was Begum Jan Sahiba and it was in her lifetime that Begumpura was built and named after her, a name that still sticks and has not been changed. Traces of the original structures still exist, some being among the finest in Lahore.