The recorded
history of Lahore (), a
city-district of modern-day
Pakistan, covers thousands of years. Originally the capital and largest city of the
Punjab region, it has since its creation changed hands from
Hindu,
Greek,
Persian,
Muslim,
Sikh and
British rule to becoming the cultural capital and the heart of modern day Pakistan.
Origins
A mythological legend, based on oral traditions, states that Lahore was named after
Lava, son of the
Hindu god
Rama, who supposedly founded the city. To this day, the Lahore Fort has a vacant temple dedicated to Lava (also pronounced Loh, hence "Loh-awar" or The Fort of Loh). Likewise, the
Ravi River that flows through northern Lahore was named for the Hindu goddess
Durga.
Ptolemy, the celebrated astronomer and geographer, mentions in his Geographia a city called Labokla situated on the route between the Indus River and Palibothra, or Pataliputra (Patna), in a tract of country called Kasperia (Kashmir), described as extending along the rivers Bidastes or Vitasta (Jhelum), Sandabal or Chandra Bhaga (Chenab), and Adris or Iravati (Ravi).
The oldest authentic document about Lahore was written anonymously in 982 and is called
Hudud-i-Alam. It was translated into
English by
Vladimir Fedorovich Minorsky and published in Lahore in 1927. In this document, Lahore is referred to as a small
shahr (
city) with "impressive temples, large markets and huge...
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