City of Saints and Nirvana. . .

On the onset of winter last year we decided we should visit places that we would not in summers such as Multan. Few years back, on my transit form Rawalpindi to Karachi via train I came across this beautiful city, as 12^th of Rabi-ul-awal was around the corner the city was radiating beacon of light in dark of the night, the vision was serene and entrancing, it made me think of all the gratitude that I have for the spirituality around me. So last year in winters nearing month of Rabi-ul-Awal we decided to give it a go and it came to us that just like other cities of Pakistan, Multan has its own tourist attractions and fair share of places to visit. Multan has more to offer than it appears to be.

 History:

As it has been said in old sayings, “Multan is City of Saints Dust and Beggars”. It is famous for its unique handicrafts, shrines, sufi music, parks and other cultural manifestations. Today Multan has diverse culture both the combination of old and new Pakistani cultures.

History is really old which dates back to old Indus Valley Civilization, existed 5000 years ago. Multan name came from pre-Muslim period form an idol in Temple of the Sun God. It has faced many regimes and visits form Sufis, arranging form Great Alexander visit in 326 BC to Mughal emperors. Lastly British ruled it till independence.

Culture:

Multan is “Manchester” of Pakistan as it is rich in ethnicity like Punjabi, Balochi, Sindh and Pashtuns. No doubt the dominant religion is Islam. Most riveting aspect of culture is “Derra” namely called “Bhettak”, it’s a place where friends and neighbors will unite to talk about their day share happiness and sorrows. Multan has variety in food, due to its ethnicity ranging from fast food, Chinese and Arabic delicacies. While traditional renowned foods are Multani Mutton Chops, Multani Halwa (Sohan Halwa), Badami Kulfi, Paira, Lassi, Doli Roti and Kachori. 

 

Dominant language is “Saraiki”, the sweetest language of Pakistan and other dialects. Multan is most famous for its handcrafts i.e. Blue Pottery. The craft can be traced back to the city of Kashgar, China. Each pottery piece is hand crafted and hand painted and is extremely beautiful and durable. The art of it all is influenced by Persian art and can be seen in every piece.

At a Glance:

Our first destination on arrival was Ibn e Qasim Bagh. While visiting the place it gave us the opportunity to relive in the residues of Qasim Fort namely Multan Fort. Fort was destroyed in reign of British. 

We arrived at Walled city of Multan through Haram Gate. Walled city seemed both familiar and strange at the same time it was executing more culture and rural vibes. Making our way to the shrine nearby, was the sight of pigeons and gatekeeper of shrine feeding them adding more to the spirituality of Multan.

First shrine we visited was Shrine of Sakhi Yahya Nawab, son of Musa Pak Shaheed. The sight was eye opening and in complete contrast with Walled city hustle, it’s like shrine appeared out of nowhere, from its colorful bricked exterior to the nature vested within was a calling and temptation.

The trance was broken eventually and we came across Musafarkhana, it seemed to be the best possible place to stay in city. The three story building was made up of bricks and the windows had colorful stained glass in wood craved frames all facing the Sarafa Bazaar, a famous jewelry market.

We made our way to Chowk Bazar though Main Street under all the canopies and came across Jain Mandir, people were oblivious to its presence, to which we took the opportunity to have a look. The temple hall was empty and you could clearly see the Hindu and English scripts in the tiles telling mythical lore.

Moving ahead in bazar we finally came across the two most famous shrines of Multan. Shrine of Shah Rukn-i-Alam and Shrine of Bhahudin Zakariya. After taking riksha ride to Shrine of Shah Rukn-i-Alam, we entered the shrine, the inside of tomb was dark and cold. Man and women were praying and came forth to touch the tomb, place was filled with air of reverence.

On our way to Shrine of Bhahudin Zakariya, we visited Clock Tower “Ghanta Ghar”. We were told that it was government headquarters built in during British raj, the clock was solar powered and stopped working while ago. Now government has converted it into museum, Multan Museum. The museum had collection of postage stamps, coins and medals.

Again passing by Qasim Fort we reached our final destination, Shrine of Bhahudin Zakariya. The shrine is the home of Shah Rukn-i-Aalm’s grandfather, he was the earliest preacher of Islam. The structure was old and in contrast to Shrine of Shah Rukn-i-Alam but it significance makes up for its beauty. The design was simple it had carved wooden doors and walls were made of mud bricks.

The sun was about to set so I asked to stay for a bit before our way home, as we sat around corner. I found myself lost to emphatic sounds of Qawwali, and I knew I had eventually found what I came for, as group of men near the entrance of tomb started to sing.

 

It is my heart’s desire to visit this place again and would suggest that everyone must visit once in their life time even if it’s for the sake of delicious Sohan Halwa!!!!.  Here is something to push your over the edge.

Natural Museum on Earth, True Wonder !!!!

There are obvious choices one can have to visit before the onset of weekend like Murree, Taxila and the surroundings of Salt range. Our friends decided to do something that can be done in a day, after lazy debate one of us suggested to visit Khewra Salt mines alongside Khatas Raj. Eventually we decided only to go for Salt mines as some of were doubtful about it. It took us good two and half hours before we reached Khewra via Motorway-lilah-khewra route around ten.

History:

Slat mines are the Pakistan’s largest and world’s second largest mines. In the lore we have been told when Alexander the great visited Asia in 320BC, he stopped his army at this spot and found his horse licking rocks which led to the discovery of the rock salt.

Slat trading has been around since Mughal era it fooled Sikh regime, lastly British took over the mines in around 1849, and tour guide told us that Engineer named Dr. Warth made the min tunnel which was further developed for the extraction.

Evidence of salt trading dates back to the Mughal era, then followed by the Sikh regime. The British took over the mines in 1849. Dr Warth, a British mining engineer created the main tunnel in 1872. Then the area was further developed and more efficient means of salt extraction was initiated.

Slat reserves are 99% pure. The mines have 19 stories, eight above the ground and ten below it and tunnels length amount to 25 miles.

At a Glance:

The visiting times are around 9am to 5pm and visit can be done on day of the week even on Sunday besides Eid Holidays. It was scary for me at first to just to go in dark tunnel as I was never been to the one before, so there were two options for us either to walk or take the mini trolley trains, we decided to take the train, these trolley train seems old but was working just fine.

 It felt like heaven inside the tunnel as we have been outside and it actually felt like July, as we were enjoying the cold breeze of the tunnel we reached our destination.

The first, that we saw, was that this beautiful Mosque that was made out of salt as the salt bricks used have been of different color form transparent to light pink they were glowing beautifully due to the light setups inside it mosque seems to having a halo of light around it when seen from far. 

We find our way to Pul-e-sarat (salt bridge) , bridge was narrow walkway over 100ft- deep salt water pool, pool seemed to have been reflecting light almost creating rainbow in salt water later guide told us the water was crystal clear and all the colors reflections were due to slat at the bottom. The bridge was so narrow that tourist were being anxious about passing moreover guide introduced it such way that was to be alert about.

After passing that difficult passage way we made it alive to the Dead Ponds, they are basically slat ponds highly saturated and found if you just fall into them you cannot drown just like dead sea but we were allowed to touch the water as it was highly corrosive, so guess you cannot drown but you still might get hurt if you decided to go for it.

We decided to pay the guide so that we can visit other tombs and that is where the history was, it seems that there were few rooms established for the purpose of office during the British Regime, other than Hindu Temple, Church and Vintage train engine was still great to see.

Then, we came across Sheesh Mahal “The Palace of Mirrors” it was the discovery of the shiny slat that seemed to twinkling but there was no mirrors there though. On our way back we came across miniature salt models of Minar-e-Pakistan, Mall road of Murree and Great Wall of China.

On our way out guide told us about the underground wards that were built on trial basis for treatment of patience of respiratory diseases also there was setup of Asthma Resort for Halotherpy . One of the amazing features were the small local restaurants and refreshment centers with actual sitting area we find it very amazing and I think they were a blessing for the who just walked  into mine via tunnel it’s like around a mile into the tunnel for the actual show to begin. Anyhow, we were done we decided take a breather at this place just outside named Khewra Salt mines Tourist Resort. 

After visiting Khewra we intend to visit neighboring mines in the future, having visited we would recommend you to visit if your plan includes something different, if it’s still not convincing here is souvenir to push over the edge.

 

Now a thing like that is hard to miss. Hope to see you on same tunnels one day.