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Lahore: The Orange Metro Train project has deprived thousands of their homes and livelihoods,as houses,shops, schools, orphanages and clinics have been demolished and more are under threat on Multan Road,Purani Anarkali, Lakshmi Chowk, Mcleod Road, Shalimar Road and the other locations that fall in its path.
The one Lahore landmark Jain Mandir, which till 1992 stood in all its glory at the crossing south of Old Anarkali opposite the Punjab University grounds. The backlash that followed the terrible knocking down of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India, saw our communal minority reply in kind. Both acts were equally condemnable. When Lahore’s famous Jain Mandir was attacked and demolished, the government promised to one day rebuild it.
There was much more to this once magnificent ‘mandir’ than the religion it once served. We keep forgetting that Jainism had been the sole religion in the walled city of Lahore for more than 1,000 years, much more than any other religion till date.
Before Hinduism and Islam came into being, almost every sub-continental kingdom had Jainism as their official State religion. It is, probably the oldest religion man has known. Ironically, it was the emergence of Buddhism that first violently threatened the Jains, followed by various sects when Hinduism started to emerge aggressively in the second decline of the Indus Valley Civilisation. By that time Lahore was well in place and Jainism was the State religion of the city.
The walled city has two Jain temples next to each other in nearby Mohallah Bhabrian. One is a Swetambar temple while the other is a Digambar one. Jainism has two sects only, one representing the words of Rishabha, the original exponent of their beliefs, hence ‘swetam’ – the original. The other represented the 24th propagator of their faith, the famous Mahavira, hence the final propagator. The Jain Mandir in Old Anarkali was a Digambar temple.
Lahore’s Bhabra merchant community had come up with the request that they be restored their mandir land, and they will themselves rebuild Jain Mandir.
Further construction work for the Orange Metro Train project threats historical monuments such as Shalimar, Budhu da Awa, Gulabi Bagh, Chauburji, Zebunissa Tomb, the Mazar of Hazrat Mauj Darya, places of worship like St Andrew’s Church and other historical sites.
