Heera Mandi

Heera Mandi (Urdu: ﻫیرا ﻣﻨﮉﻯ) meaning "Diamond Market", also known as Shahi Mohalla (meaning: The Royal Neighbourhood) is a red-light district and a bazaar located in Taxali Gate, Lahore (Punjab), Pakistan. The women here offer traditional and classical dances and was originally the center of the city's tawaif culture in the Mughal era. Today, it is a centre of prostitution in Lahore under the veil of dances, such as mujra, a branch of classical South-Asian sensual dancing.^[1] While many Hijras also frequent the area and are involved in this dance culture.

Heera Mandi is located in the northwest corner of the Walled City of Lahore, next to Roshnai Gate, Badshahi Masjid, Lahore Fort, and Hazuri Bagh. During the day the place is much like other Pakistani bazaars and is also known for its good food, wide range of Khussa (traditional Mughal footwear) and the shops for musical instruments.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origin of name 1.2 Beginning of Prostitution 1.3 Ban 2 See also 3 References 4 External links 5 Further reading

History

In the Mughal era, Heera Mandi was famous for dancing and music. People used to go here for a visual and musical treat. Beautiful girls (called kanjiries) used to sit in stall shaped balconies, called kothas, and ply their trade, the oldest profession in the world. The place was perhaps even more famous for singing and dancing. However, slowly the aesthetic pursuit became less arty and more tarty. Once prostitutes were hired by wealthy families to teach their children culture and social behavior. All that is left of a colorful street with music and the echo of ghungroos.

Origin of name

The name heera means diamond in urdu and was used by locals to describe the beauty of the girls in the market. The people called the courtesans who worked in the area as "heeras" diamonds. The name eventually stuck and the market was called heera mandi.

Beginning of Prostitution

The brothel houses were first developed by the British in old Anarkali Bazaar for the recreation of the British soldiers during the British Raj. After that these were shifted to Lohari Gate and then to Taxali gate. They seemed to have spent more time at Taxali Gate than other places. Thus they settled in Heera Mandi, and traces of that can still be found.

Ban

During the Ayub era, a rigorous operation was conducted against these vendors of pleasure, because these ‘musicians’ were actually running brothel houses in the guise of music and dance. The prostitution was later banned.^[2]

See also

• Prostitution in Pakistan
• Mujra

References

External links

• Tawaif: An Urdu Documentary on Heera Mandi (Video)

Further reading

• Saeed, Fouzia (2001). Taboo!: The Hidden Culture of a Red Light Area. Karachi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-579412-5. 
• Saeed, Fouzia (2006). "Chapter 6: Good women, bad women: prostitution in Pakistan". In Gangoli, Geetanjali; Westmarland, Nicole. International Approaches to Prostitution: Law and policy in Europe and Asia. The Policy Press, University of Bristol. pp. 141–164. ISBN 1-86134-672-7. *Brown, Louise (2006). The Dancing Girls of Lahore: Selling Love and Saving Dreams in Pakistan's Pleasure District. Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0060740436. 
• Khan, Noor Mohammad (2009). Some Time On the Frontier-A Pakistan Journal. CreateSpace. ISBN 1440415978. 

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