Beauty of shalamar Garden

 

Shalamar Garden

A Garden is situated in Lahore in Mughal Era. The name of the Garden is Shalimar Bagh. This Garden was built during the Mughal Era. This place is one of the most popular tourist places in Lahore. In 1641, during the shah Jahan period this construction of this garden was started and the construction of this garden was completed in 1642.

 

Name

The word Shalimar is derived from two Turk Words Shala and Mar. In Turkish, the meaning of Shala is a pleasure and the meaning of Mar is the place to live. Maharaja Ranjeet Singh was not satisfied with this name and convert the name into Shahla Bagh. Shahla is a Persian word. In Persian, the meaning of this word is, Sweetheart. But in present This called is still called Shalamar Garden.

Background

Mughal family was the one who built the Shalimar garden for their guests. A large area of this garden was used for public recreation. In Kashmir, an old Shalimar garden is present. Father of Shah Jahan was the one who built this garden in Kashmir. The Shalimar garden of Lahore was built on the design of the Kashmir Shalimar garden.

Kashmir Garden was built on naturally sloping landscapes. But there is no landscape in Lahore so a large scale engineering technique is required to build waterworks in Shalimar garden Lahore. Arain Mian Family Baghbanpura was the owner of the land on which the Shalimar garden was built. The head of the Arain family gives this area to Shah Jahan so that they can build a garden on this site. Shah Jahan gives the control of this garden to the Arian family. Over 350 years, this garden remains under the control of this family.

History

On 12 June 1641, the construction of the garden which we called Shalimar bagh was started. During Sikh Era, the marble that was used in the decoration of this garden was robbed by Sikh. They used this marble in the construction and decoration of their Golden temple and   Ram Bagh Palace in Amritsar. Lehna Singh Majithia was the one who robbed agate rock and sold this rock. Shalimar garden was repaired in the year 1806. The Mela Chiraghan was held in this garden. In 1958, General Ayub prohibited it.

Design and Layout

In Central Asia and Iran, a garden called Timurid Garden was built   in 14^th and 16^th century. A brick wall in this garden is decorated by fretwork which is based on the design of Charbagh paradise garden, present in Uthopia. The total area that was covered by this garden is 16 hectares. Each terrace of this garden is 13-15 feet higher than the other terrace level.

Bagh-e-Farah Baksh is the topmost terrace of this garden and the meaning of Bagh-e-Farah Baksh is the Bestowed of Pleasure. Bagh-e-Faiz Baksh is the second and Third terrace and the meaning of Bagh-e-Faiz Baksh is Bestowed of Goodness. Each terrace has a different shape, the 1^st and the ^3rd terrace is like a square shape and the 2^nd terrace is like a narrow rectangle. The fountains divide the square-shaped terraces into four small squares. The main entrance of the Shalimar garden was on the lowest terrace. This terrace was opened by the public. The second terrace was used by emperors as their gardens. The third terrace was used by the emperor harem.

Fountain

The total number of fountains in Shalimar garden is 410.

The 1st terrace       105 fountains 

The 2nd terrace      152 fountains.

The 3rd terrace        153 fountains

Trees

Following tress are present in the garden:

Almond  

Apple

Apricot

Cheery

Peach

Plum

Gokcha

Mango

Mulberry

Poplar

Quince Seedless       

Shrubs

Sweet and sour Orange