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A visit to India and Pakistan

Lucknow, Agra, Delhi and Lahore.

 

 

The Bara Imambara in Lucknow. Lucknow, in India has been a centre of Urdu culture and literature for centuries. The city has been home to many Urdu poets, including Mir Taqi Mir, a famous poet in the 18th century.

 

 

The Indian city of Agra is famous for the Taj Mahal. It is also the birth place of one of the most famous Urdu poets, Mirza Ghalib, who was born there in 1797.

 

The capital city of India, Delhi is at the heart of the place where the Urdu language began. This picture shows the Jama Masjid which is in the old part of the city, in an area still closely associated with Urdu. This mosque was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who also had the Taj Mahal built.

 

 

The Badshahi Mosque or ‘Emperor’s Mosque’ in Lahore was completed in 1673. This mosque was also commissioned by a Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb. It is one of the biggest mosques in Pakistan and is able to accommodate over 100,000 worshippers at a time.

 

 

 

 

Before the partition of India in 1947, Lahore had a large Hindu and Sikh population. This picture shows the roof of the mausoleum of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, which houses a Sikh Temple, visible from the courtyard of the Badshahi Mosque.

During the 1800’s Ranjit Singh was the ruler of the state of Punjab, of which Lahore is the capital. He built many Sikh Temples, including the famous Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, just 40 miles away from Lahore.

 

 

 

The Lahore Fort was built by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1566 and is locally known as Shahi Qila. It stands opposite the Badshahi Mosque.

 

 

The Minar-e-Pakistan was built in the 1960's to celebrate the Lahore Resolution. The Lahore Resolution, made on 23 March 1940, demanded the creation of Pakistan as a separate homeland for Muslims living in the Indian subcontinent. This day is now celebrated as a national holiday in Pakistan.

 

 

 

The land border crossing between India and Pakistan at Wagah, just 20 miles from the city of Lahore. The two nations were formerly one country, and were partitioned in 1947.