List of temples in Lahore

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Temples in Lahore
لہور
لاہور
Tomb of Ranjit Singh, Lahore.jpg
Pakistan location map.svg
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Temples in Lahore
Location in Pakistan
Coordinates: 31°32′59″N74°20′37″E / 31.54972°N 74.34361°E / 31.54972; 74.34361
CountryFlag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan
Province Flag of Punjab.svg Punjab
Elevation
217 m (712 ft)
Time zone UTC+5 (PKT)
Postal code
54000
Dialling code 042 [1]
Lahore Cantonment is a legally separate military-administered settlement.

Lahore is the capital of Punjab, the most populous province of Pakistan. It has a rich cosmopolitan history and was the principal city of the vast plain of the entire Punjab region for many centuries, and was the capital of the Sikh empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh until the mid-1850s when it was conquered by the British. Before the partition of British India in 1947, Lahore had a large Hindu, Sikh and Jain population. In 1941, 64.5% of the population of Lahore was Muslim, while about 36% was Hindu or Sikh. [2] At that time, the city contained numerous Hindu temples, Jain temples, and Sikh gurdwaras. The overwhelming majority of Lahore and West Punjab's non-Christian minority population fled to India at Partition, while East Punjab was similarly depopulated of almost its entire Muslim population. For example, on the eve of Partition, Amritsar was about 49% Muslim, whereas in the 1951 census, the figure had dropped to only 0.52%, [3] [4] while Ludhiana was 63% Muslim prior to Partition, but 97% Hindu and Sikh in the 1961 census. [5] As a result of religious demographic changes and political tensions, almost all Hindu and Jain temples have been abandoned in Lahore, although several important Sikh shrines continue to operate.

Contents

The condition of temples in Lahore is not good, it is not like that the city lack temples but they are not maintained so much as Hindus migrated from Lahore in 1947 en masse. In 1992 after demolition of Babri Masjid, in Pakistan especially in Lahore, temples were attacked and destroyed, many temples were completely destructed. [6]

Hindu temples

Rattan Chand Temple, Lahore in 1880 1880 photo of the Rattan Chand temple, Lahore Pakistan.jpg
Rattan Chand Temple, Lahore in 1880

Only two Hindu temples are currently functional in Lahore. [7]

The following Hindu temples lay abandoned or were destroyed:

Jain temples

All of Jain temples in Lahore are either abandoned or destroyed.

Sikh gurdwaras

Samadhi of Ranjit Singh Samadhi of Ranjit Singh July 1 2005.jpg
Samadhi of Ranjit Singh

Several of Lahore's gurdwaras remain functional, including:

The following gurdwaras are abandoned:

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gurdwara Janam Asthan</span> Building in Punjab, Pakistan

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaheed Ganj Mosque</span> Former mosque in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gurdwara Dera Sahib</span> Building in Punjab, Pakistan

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gurdwara Shaheed Bhai Taru Singh</span> Sikh temple in Lahore, Pakistan

Gurdwara Shaheed Bhai Taru Singh or Gurdwara Shahidi Asthan Bhai Taru Singh ji is a Sikh Gurdwara at Naulakha Bazaar in Lahore, Pakistan, which commemorates the spot where Bhai Taru Singh was executed. The shrine was built on the grounds of the Shaheed Ganj Mosque, leading to a legal dispute over ownership that began in 1850. British, and later Pakistani, courts upheld the right of Sikhs to maintain a place of worship at the site. While a settlement was being negotiated by British authorities, a group of Sikhs demolished the mosque on 7–8 July 1935, triggering communal riots. In December 2022, the official Gurdwara’s doors where locked by the local people was turned into a mosque.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gurdwara Shahid Ganj Singh Singhania</span> Historic Gurdware in Lahore, Pakistan

The Gurdwara Shahid Ganj Singh Singhania, also known as Gurdwara Shaheedganj Singh Singhnian, is a historic Sikh gurdwara at Naulakha Bazaar in Lahore, Pakistan, which marks the site where over 100,000 Sikh men and women lost their lives in the 18th century. It is located opposite Gurudwara Bhai Taru Singh. Bhai Mani Singh was martyred at this site on 14 June 1738.

References

  1. "National Dialing Codes". Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  2. "Forced Migration and Ethnic Cleansing in Lahore in 1947, Ishtiaq Ahmed, 2004" (PDF). Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  3. Talbot, Ian; Tatla, Darshan Singh (2006). Epicentre of violence: partition voices and memories from Amritsar. Permanent Black. ISBN   978-81-7824-131-9.
  4. Ispahani, Farahnaz (2 January 2017). Purifying the Land of the Pure: A History of Pakistan's Religious Minorities. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-062167-4.
  5. Virdee, Pippa (February 2018). From the Ashes of 1947. Cambridge University Press. p. 138. ISBN   978-1-108-42811-8.
  6. "The fate of Lahore's Hindu temples show the city's shift from a cosmopolitan to monolithic culture".
  7. 1 2 Only two functional Hindu temples in Lahore
  8. One Hindu temple in Lahore, and no crematorium Archived 1 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Hindu, Sikh temples in state of disrepair". Daily Times. 16 April 2004. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  10. "TEPA to remodel roads leading to Jain Mandir Chowk". Daily Times. 1 June 2007. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.