Chiniot, a city at the bank of River Chenab.

On 3rd of October 2010, I and my wife Anjali went to Chiniot on a personal trip. Chiniot is a city and the HQ of the recently formed District of Chiniot in Central Punjab of Pakistan. The city is around 45 km NE of Faisalabad city. The city is renowned for its carved furnitures in Pakistan. Furnitures are sent to all parts of Pakistan and are also exported. Historically it is said that the river Chenab which flows down from the Kashmir area from India takes a strong bend here. Timber harvested upstream ended up here and this settlement became a bustling centre for timber trade. Along with it wood carving started to develop and during the Mughal period and later this craftsmanship flourished. It is being claimed that craftsmen from Chiniot were employed during the construction of the Taj Mahal, The Golden Temple in Amritsar and the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore.

With our driver Mumtaz, we visited four interesting locations in the city besides visiting rows upon rows of furniture and souvenir shops!

Fresco on the wall

The main praying hall

Anjali and the stone arches

1. The Badshahi Mosque: An example or show piece of the craftsmanship of Chiniot. A mosque constructed between 1655-1686 situated in the centre of the older part of the city. The colourful flowery designs and columns of red stone and arches are impressive.  The main gate was locked. Luckily with the effort of Mumtaz the person holding the key was located and the gate opened for us to enjoy exclusively. The upkeep was bad requiring immediate rennovation efforts. It was sad to observe posters being pasted right on top of beautiful frescos on the Mosque gate resulting in the peeling of the ancient paint.

Mother and son's graves

Frontal facade

The Jharokha window

Grandiose interior

Wood carved side entrance

Me and the Librarian

2. Umar Hayat Mahal: The second stop was the Umar Hayat or Gulzar Mahal a 6 storey splendid building completed in 1920. Sheikh Umar accumulated wealth while trading in Calcutta and spent about 300,000 Rs at that time to construct this house of his dreams. From outside the building looks dilapidated and appears as if it is abut to fall apart! Here too the gate was locked but we managed to call the person who was the caretaker who arrived after a five minute wait and gave us an exclusive tour! The building now houses a small collection of books and is called the Umar Hayat Library and the Librarian or the care taker is employed by the Government. The central portion of the building has been renovated and is marvellous to observe. The wood work, especially the doors and windows, the floral artwork and masonry is heavenly. The ceiling of each room has a different pattern of tiles. The topmost floor has been removed for safety. However, the story of Umar's family is tragic. Umar died after living in this building for 5 years. Soon after his young daughter died of  tuberculosis. The wife still hoping for a happy life decided to wed their son at 17. On the second day of marriage called "Walima" the son died due to asphyxiation when he went to get his warm bath. Soon after the mother also died. They are both buried in the building. Since then the building remains uninhabited and desperately awaiting care.

Darbar entrance

Women praying

Men praying

3.Darbar of Baba Ebu Ali Kalandar: We stumbled upon this Darbar while we were returning to the Chiniot city after having our lunch at the restaurant run by the Punjab Tourism Development Corporation located at the banks of the River Chenab near the bridge. This place was a combination of a mosque as well as the tomb of an ascetic Baba e bu Ali Kalandar who stayed in this location for 35 years before acquiring enlightenment. Present day devotees flock here for making wishes. It was remarkable to note that the trinkets being sold at the Darbars' yard were mostly similar to what we are used to in our temples such as bangles, necklaces, bracelets, chains and threads.

4. Sukh Sai Sish Mahal: In the interior of the city past some of the most dirty lanes filled with sloshy sewage and after stopping and asking for direction at many spots we finally reached our destination. I would have never expected to come across such a nice place at the midst of such filthy neighbourhood! This place is an assemblage of 3 main buildings - a tomb of Sukh Sai who was a renowned healer and now at present people from surrounding area, but specifically on 5 and 6 August flock here to make wishes which I was told are granted. The interior dome of the tomb and the outside ceilings are decorated with innumerable pieces of colourfull glass that glitters when the lights are turned on. The second building is the tomb of the wife of the Sukh Sai and their son. There were also graves on the outside edges all from the family. The third building was a minaret still under construction. While there, I met the youngest and surviving son of the Sukh Sai.

Tomb with beitiful glass work ceiling

Tomb of the Sai's wife

The Mahal complex

While the Islam religion is different in many respect with the Hindu religion, as far as I know of it, it is remarkable to observe the many similarities. We have Manakamana Mai, Pathibhara and many other temples where we make a bee line for making wishes. In Pakistan there are Darbars. A difference being we go to temples and here people go to tombs to make wishes.