#ranghar

 Pakpattan (Urdu: پاکپتّن‎), is the capital city of the Pakpattan District in the Sahiwal Division in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Pakpattan is one of the ancient cities of Pakistan. It is the city that has the shrine of Baba Fareed. Pakpattan is located roughly 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the border with India, and 184 kilometres (114 mi) by road southwest of Lahore.[1]

  Language

Punjabi is the native spoken language [2] but Urdu is also widely understood. Haryanvi also called Rangari is spoken among Ranghar, Rajputs. Meos have their own language which is called Mewati.

  History

The fort defending the city was once captured by Sebüktegin in 977–78 and by Ibrahim Ghaznavi in 1079–80.[3] The town was besieged by Shaikha; the Khokhar, in 1394, and in 1398 was visited by Timur, Mughal Emperor who spared much of the inhabitants that had not fled, out of respect for the shrine of the saint Hazrat Baba Farid who built the nation of pakpattan. The old name of the pakpattan is Ajudhan.

During British rule, Pakpattan Town was the headquarters of the tehsil of the same name in the Montgomery District, 29 miles south-east of Montgomery station on the North-Western Railway. The municipality was created in 1867, the population in 1901 was 6,192. During the ten years ending 1902-3 the income averaged Rs. 7,200, and the expenditure Rs. 7,000. The income in 1903-4 was Rs. 8,400, chiefly derived from octroi; and the expenditure was Rs. 7,300.[3]

According to the Imperial Gazetteer of India:

Entry into the view point

I bought my entry ticket from an almost dilapidated ticket counter to take a stroll of this park. There was meagre crowd here today being a week day, but the weekends draw significant crowd here. Come April and with the spark of Rongali Bihu comes the much awaited Bull Fight Event.

The design of the gate is simple and robust

The Rang Ghar was constructed as a view point for the royal Ahom Kings to observe these Gladiator events from a height. The entire structure is designed in red stone.  The roof is dome shaped designed in the form of an inverted boat. The entire structure is elongated with arch type entrances at the bottom which formed sort of a hall for the other members of the palace.

As I climbed the stairs of the observatory, I could see the intricate carvings on the either sides of the entrance. The open galleries on top have now been closed with iron grills on the either side to prevent access by the crowd. The lawn which formed the stage for the events has been converted into a beautiful lawn and joggers park, and forms the weekend leisure for the people of the town. The well-maintained garden can be seen stretching far across the view point.

The Rang Ghar was renovated and was reintroduced to the public in the year 2000, by former Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singh. The garden continues to be a major attraction of the town and attracts travelers, researchers, students from all parts of the country.

The perfect time to visit the monument is in the evenings, preferably before the sunset. The setting sun reinforces the colors of the red stone structure and increases its beauty manifold. I was able to click some really good images of the monuments during the sunset hours.

A little history for the readers planning to visit this monument. The evening was about to convert to night and the sun had made its way down into the horizon, which meant it was time for me to bid a good bye to this place. There are so many hidden secrets all across our country waiting to be explored. The only need is to step into the outdoors and explore them.