Mughal Garden Wah

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MUGHAL GARDEN WAH

History & Background: Mughal emperors loved beautiful sceneries, valleys and natural water falls. This natural attachment created an idea in their minds to establish gardens. Shalimar Garden of Lahore and Mughal Garden of Wah are the beautiful examples of their great love with nature. We find similar example of gardens which Mughal Emperors made with the tombs. There is a great similarity in Shalimar Garden of Lahore and Mughal Gardens of Wah with all specialities of fine and customary constructions which made the Mughal Gardens famous all over the world.

Raja Maan Singh, brother in law of Emperor Jahangir, was a famous Court Chief of Emperor Akbar. He was posted here at Wah from the year 1581 to 1586 to stop the entries of enemies at the place of Attock. During his stay he made a pond surrounded by a structure of twelve doors (Baradari).The Mughal Emperor Jahangir while going to Kabul stayed here on 29th April 1607 and made fishing in the pond.

He wrote in his autobiography (Translation)-"Stayed at Baba Hasanabdal on 12th Muharram,1016 A.D. At about two miles on the eastern side of this place there is a water fall. The water falls with great speed. The center of the pond has the main existing of the water fall. Raja Maan Singh has made a very little building. There is a lot of fish in the pond having a length of quarter yard. I stayed at this beautiful place for three days. I put the net in the pond and cought about 10 to 12 fish. These fish were again dropped in the water after sewing pearls in their noses".

The Emperor Shah Jahan while going to Kabul stayed here for the first time in the year 1639 after his coronation. He called his central construction department and ordered to reconstruct the buildings. Ahmed Maamar Lahoree who was a famous architect of those days made maps of gardens, palaces and inns. The constructions were made under his supervision for two years. The garden has been made on the pattern of Mughal constructions. He made beautiful twelve door structures, canals and waterfalls. He made bathrooms having mixture of cold and hot water at the southern place of these twelve-door structures. The inner portion of the twelve-door structures has been plastered with some material. The walls of small rooms have been decorated with flowers and petals.

Thereafter Shah Jahan while going to Kabul and on his return always stayed here for four times in 1646, 1647, 1649, 1654. The contemporary writers of Shah Jahan namely Abdul Hameed Lahoree and Muhammad Saleh Kamboh declared this garden as a trustee of heaven and substitute of heaven's garden on earth respectively. Aurangzeb Alamgir was the last Mughal emperor who stayed at Hasanabdal for one and a half years. During this period he stayed for sometime in this garden on 6th July 1676 or 2nd July 1676. Thereafter his government started declining.

This garden was badly damaged in the reigns of Durrani and Sikhs. All existing things were destroyed here. The British Government handed over this garden to Nawab Hayat Khan in 1865. Considering the historical facts and the art of construction the Government of Pakistan handed over this garden to the department of Archeology to look after and proper repairs. Work has been started to restore and save this garden.

The works of construction of four walls of the garden, big pond, canals and the paths are near completion. The work of plantation of trees of Mughal days, repairs of twelve-door structures, bathrooms and waterfalls will be completed soon.

[edit] Location

Wah Cantt is located 50km north west of Islamabad. It is a valley as it is surrounded by hills from all directions. Mughal Emperor Zaheer-UD-Din Babar mentioned the Wah region in his book the Babarnama.

Wah has a historical background. Wah has always been a favourite place of the Mughal rulers. They built here several gardens such as the most famous “Wah Garden”. It is still present with its remains. It is located on the main G.T Road bisecting the Islamabad.

If one continues along the Grand Trunk Road west of Lahore, past the modern capital of Islamabad and the ancient Buddhist monastery of Taxila, one passes by an extraordinary Mughal garden near the town of Hasan Abdal, at a village known as "Wah"–sometimes translated as "Wow!"–purportedly the first word uttered by Akbar, the third ruler of the Mughal dynasty, upon seeing the idyllic setting and clear, rushing waters.