LAHORE, an ancient city of British India, the capital of the Punjab, which gives its name to a district and division. It lies in 31° 35' N. and 74° 20' E. near the left bank of the River Ravi, under moo ft. above sea, and 1,252 m. by rail from Calcutta. It is thus in about the same latitude as Cairo, but owing to its inland position is considerably hotter than that city, being one of the hottest places in India in the summer time. In the cold season the climate is pleasantly cool and bright. The old city is about I+ m. in length W. to E. and about m. in breadth N. to S. Its site has been occupied from early times, and much of it stands high above the level of the surrounding country, raised on the remains of a succession of former habitations. Hindu tradition traces the origin of Lahore to Loh or Lava, son of Rama, the hero of the Ramayana. The absence of mention of Lahore by Alexan der's historians, and the fact that coins of the Graeco-Bactrian kings are not found among the ruins, lead to the belief that it was not a place of any importance during the earliest period of Indian history. On the other hand, Hitian Tsang, the Chinese Buddhist, notices the city in his Itinerary (A.D. 630) ; and it seems probable, therefore, that Lahore first rose into prominence between the i st and 7th centuries A.D. Governed originally by a family of Chauhan Rajputs, a branch of the house of Ajmere, Lahore fell successively under the dominion of the Ghazni and Ghori sultans, who made it the capital of their Indian conquests, and adorned it with nu merous buildings, almost all now in ruins. But it was under the Mogul empire that Lahore reached its greatest size and mag nificence. The reigns of Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb form the golden period in the annals and archi tecture of the city. Akbar enlarged and repaired the fort, and surrounded the town with a wall, portions of which remain, built into the modern work of Ranjit Singh. Lahore formed the capi tal of the Sikh empire of that monarch. At the end of the second Sikh War, with the rest of the Punjab, it came under the British dominion. The fort was occupied by British troops until 1924.
The architecture of Lahore cannot compare with that of Delhi although there are some beautiful buildings in the Fort dating from the time of Jahangir and Shah Jahan. The mosque of Wazir Khan (1634) and the northern wall of the Fort display magnifi cent examples of kashi or encaustic tile work. Aurangzeb's Bad shahl Masjid is a huge bare building, stiff in design, and lacking the detailed ornament typical of buildings at Delhi. The build ings of Ranjit Singh and his mausoleum, are common and meretri cious in style. He was, moreover, responsible for much of the
despoiling of the earlier buildings. The streets of the old city are narrow and tortuous, and are best seen from the back of an elephant. Two of the chief features of Lahore lie outside its walls at Shandara and Shalamar Gardens, respectively. Shandara, which contains the tomb of the emperor Jahangir, lies across the Ravi some 6 m. N. of the city. It consists of a splendid marble cenotaph surrounded by a garden. The Shalamar Gardens, which were laid out in A.D. 1637 by Shah Jahan, 6 m. E. of the city, are a beautiful specimen of the oriental formed type of garden.
The modern city of Lahore, which contained a population of in 1931, may be divided into four parts : the native city, already described; the civil station or European quarter, known as Donald Town; the Anarkali bazaar, a suburb S. of the city wall; and the cantonment of Mian Mir. The main street of the civil sta tion is locally known as the Mall. This street and its neighbour hood have been greatly beautified of late years, especially during the lieutenant-governorship of Sir Charles Rivaz (1902-07). Three miles beyond the civil station is the cantonment of Mian Mir where the garrison is stationed, except a company of British infan try, which occupies barracks in the civil station. Lahore is the headquarters of a division, and is an important junction on the North-western railway system, but is of little importance in dustrially except for the workshops of the railway. The chief industries are silk goods, gold and silver lace, metal work and carpets which are made in the Lahore gaol. There are also cotton mills, flour mills, an ice-factory and several factories for mineral waters, oils, soap, leather goods, etc. Lahore is an im portant educational centre. Here are the Punjab University with its numerous arts, medical and law colleges, a central training col lege, the Aitchison Chiefs' College for the sons of noblemen, and a number of other high schools and technical and special schools.
The DISTRICT OF LAHORE has an area of 2,682 sq.m., and its population in 1931 was 1,378,57o, consisting chiefly of Moham medans with a large admixture of Hindus and Sikhs. The Manjha plateau, between the Ravi and the Beas, has been rendered fertile by the Upper Bari Doab canal. The principal crops are wheat, pulse, millets, maize, oil-seeds and cotton. There are numerous factories for ginning and pressing cotton. The district is crossed in several directions by lines of the North-western railway. La hore, Kasur, Chunian and Raiwind are the chief trade centres.