A Survey of Mughal Caravanserais in the Eastern Punjab (India)

Ms. Shaifali Johar,

B.B.K.D.A.V.College for Women, Amritsar (Punjab)
shaifali.johar@yahoo.com
Abstract
In the Mughal period, there was a large flow of people and goods along the Agra- Lahore
Highway. To support the transit along the Mughal route, there were few infrastructure built up
along the roadways like kos-minars, bridges, caravanserai, boali and tanks. These caravanserais
served as places for short term accommodation, rest and security for the caravans including
travelers, traders and pack animals. These walled, arcaded buildings played an important point
of interaction, exchange and worship along networks of travel. We know from Jahangir’s
memoirs that on his accession to the throne, he ordered the caravanserai at regular intervals along
the major roads of his reign. As the Agra- Lahore Highway was an important route and it passed
through present Haryana and Punjab (East &West). It is not surprising to find some of the fine
specimens of these caravanserais in this region of Mughal period. Although these serais are not
as splendid buildings as that of Fatehpur Sikri or Taj Mahal, but, still their study is significant to
understand the regional differences in the Mughal architecture. This research paper focuses on
Mughal caravanserais from eastern Punjab (India) along the Badshahi Sadak from Agra to
Lahore. Ruins of some interesting serais are still traceable in parts of ancient Mughal road of
Eastern Punjab. The paper examines how these caravanserais were structured and will study
some interesting aspects of Mughal caravanserais of the above mentioned part of the route.

Keywords: Mughal, architecture, caravanserai, Punjab, Agra-Lahore Highway, Road

transport

Introduction

The Mughal Dynasty was the dominant political power of Northern India from the early 16 th
century to the early 18th century. To strengthen their empire and have effective administration
over it, the Mughals emphasized on building the network of roads in different directions. An
efficient road system with proper halting places and well protected fortified serais are always a
big support to the armies who are guarding the frontiers. Such well connected roads also enable
caravans to move along with their merchandise and valuable goods from one place to another
with a sense of security.

The Agra- Lahore Mughal Highway

This Agra- Lahore Mughal Highway is part of the network of the roads in the medieval India and
Mughal India. It served as important lifeline to travel across Northern India to Lahore or Multan,
two important trading centres.

The road was initially built by Sher Shah to connect Agra, his capital, with Sasaram, his
hometown. It was soon extended westward to Multan and eastward to Sonargaon in Bengal (now
in Bangladesh).This road known as Sadak-e-Azam is the precursor of modern Grand Trunk
Road.
Literary sources inform us that it was the Suri ruler, Sher Shah, who first ordered the systematic
planning of trees and construction of public serais along the Agra- Lahore highway. Sher Shah
Suri is credited with having built serais at termination of every two kos (app. 8 km) to facilitate
travel. While Sher Shah died after a brief reign, and his dynasty ended soon afterwards, the road
endured as his outstanding legacy. The Mughals, who succeeded the Suris, extended the road
westwards: at one time, it extended to Kabul in Afghanistan, crossing the Khyber Pass.
Abul Fazal records that Akbar once “ordered that in the sarais on the high roads, refuges and
kitchens should be established and that articles of food should be in readiness for the empty
handed travelers so that when they had undergone the fatigues of journeying and had sat down to
rest they might put food in their mouths without trouble.” (Akbarnama1236)
As Jahangir succeeded the throne in 1605, he passed the ordinance related to the construction of
roads and serais. It is stated in his Memoirs
“On roads where the theft and robberies took place, which roads might be at a little distance from
habitation, the Jagirdars of the neighbourhood should build sarais, mosques and dig wells which
might stimulate population and people might settle down in those serais, Jahangir also ordered to
erect kosminars (milestones) in the form of every kos on the road from Agra to Lahore.
Over the centuries, the road, which was one of the most important trade routes in the region,
facilitated both travel and postal communication. Even during the era of Sher Shah Suri, the road
was dotted with caravanserais (highway inns) at regular intervals, and trees were planted on both
sides of the road to give shade to the passers-by. The road was well planned, with milestones
along the whole stretch. Some of these milestones can still be seen along the present Delhi-
Ambala highway.
The Mughal Highway has left quite tangible evidence than just written accounts in the form of
numerous caravanserais, bridges, kos-minars, boali and tanks- all erected to facilitate travel
along the route. As the present Agra-Lahore Mughal Highway enters the present state of Punjab
(India), we find the following caravanserais- Shambhu, Rajpura, Sarai Banjara, Sirhind, Khanna,
Sarai Lashkar Khan, Kanech, Doraha, Ludhiana, Phillaur, Nurmahal, Nakodar, Mahlian kalan,
Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal, Fatehabad, Naurangabad, Nurdi Serai, Serai Amanat Khan . The
partition of 1947 cut this highway at Rajataal, some 25 km before Lahore. Therefore, this
Imperial Mughal route passes through six districts of present Punjab(India)- Patiala, Ludhiana,
Jallandhar, Kapurthala, Tarntarn , and Amritsar. This Mughal highway takes a different
alignment beyond Ludhiana from present Highway NH1(GTR) and passes through Nakodar,
Sultanpur Lodhi and villages of Fatehabad and Amanat Khan Serai.

Purpose of Mughal Carvan serai:

….Serais have been built which are the comfort of travellers and the asylum of poor strangers…
(Abul, Ain-i-Akbari 232) These caravanserais played an important role in political, economic
and social life of people. They help to foster the political cohesion, travel safety and economic
growth of the kingdom. Travellers including pilgrims, merchants, and scholars used these serais for
protection from robbers and rough weather. These places serve for rest and restock needed supplies
on long journeys or to store goods for longer stays in urban settings. For travellers on long-distance
journeys, serais served as route markers and places to rest or stay safely. As rest places, serais offered
mosques at which daily prayer could be performed, as well as markets and bazaars where supplies
could be purchased and repairs made to caravan trappings .Even court officials were using serais
for their stay. As some officials were relaying information from the imperial court while others were
collecting the taxes and revenue from the serai and the surrounding regions. Besides serving social
and economic functions, these caravanserais reflected the glory and the power of the builders.
Building serais was regarded as beneficient activities of the Imperial Government, the nobles and
the big merchants.

Structure and Features of a typical Mughal Caravanserai

While talking about the structure and features of a typical Mughal caravanserai, I would refer to
a standardized serai which was imperially commissioned as these structures show uniformity in
their forms. There do exist serai forms that are less standardized in plan and are small,
regionalized constructions commissioned by local elites.
Architecturally, these serais are square or rectangular structures enclosed by high battlemented
walls. Each corner of the enclosure is strengthened with a bastion which gives the serai a fort like
presence. Each corner of the sarai also had larger rooms. These larger suites were meant for
travellers of rank. Except for few serais like Sultanpur Lodhi which has only one gateway, the
access to every serai is provided through two splendid gateways set on opposite sides and wide
enough. These portals are so large as to accommodate a number of rooms of various shapes, in
two or three storeys. A resident staff of caretakers and guards may have been permanently
housed in these rooms.
The central courtyard of a sarai is always open to the sky and along the inside walls of the
enclosure are ranged single-storeyed small rooms to accommodate travellers. Internal features of
the serais as included a bazaar that ran from gate to gate, and a mosque somewhere, perhaps two
(one for women and one for men) if space permitted, within the open courtyard. Even some serais
like Doraha and Shambhu had quarters adjoining the mosque or in its basement for resident mullas of
the mosque. Serais that were located close to or within cities are less likely to have internal mosques.
A well is usually found within the open courtyard of the serais and/or just outside their fortified
walls. If there was a first floor, it was likely accessed via a staircase in the main gateway or by
staircases near the corner bastions. Mughal Emperor Jahangir (reign AD 1605-1627) is credited with
introducing public baths inside serais, a practice that was continued by others. Nur Mahal Serai has
hammam or bath-suit in the courtyard.

In many serais, inscriptions can be found near the gates. These often dedicated the serai to someone
(often the person who commissioned the structure), and include details about who made the serai, its
date of completion, and a religious quote. In the standardized plan of the sarai, architects exhibited
their creativity in the architectural and decorative treatment of its gateways. These magnificent
portals display the stylistic development of Mughal gateways over a century. The gateways at
Fatehabad, Doraha, and Sarai Amanat Khan have excellent glazed-tile mosaic work in variegated
colours. . The western gateway in red sandstone of Sarai Nurmahal has a unique feature. It has a
carvings exhibiting a vast variety of animate motifs. Also, in the absence of epigraphic or literary
evidence, the architectural style of these gateways helps us fix the chronology of a sarai.

Evolution of Mughal Carvanserai Form

The sarai was one of the most important public buildings not only in Mughal India but in most of
the Islamic world. Magnificent sarais were built in Syria, Turkey, and Persia. But in general
appearance, the Mughal sarais along the Agra-Lahore highway bear closest resemblance to
Persian prototypes. The only difference is that whereas the Persian sarais show great variation in
planning, this is not for the Mughal ones. It appears that the Persian form was simplified here to
suit local climatic conditions. In the absence of any structure of this class in India from the pre-
Mughal period, it is difficult to say which elements of these Mughal sarais were of indigenous
origin.
The institution of the sarai had existed in India, in one form or the other, since ancient times. As
mentioned in the 7th Pillar Edict of King Ashoka, the royal road connecting his capital
Pataliputra with the northwestern city of Taxila had a chain of rest-houses and wells at regular
intervals. Buddhist viharas along major trade-routes also served travellers, merchants, and
pilgrims.
In Sultanate period, it appears that serais were situated in cities or towns and not along
highways. The credit for first providing sarais along highways goes to Sher Shah Sur (1540-45),
the Pathan emperor well known for his civic works. He showed an avid interest in the promotion
of trade and travel throughout his empire and can be credited with having built sarais at the
termination of every 2 kos (approximately 8 1/2 kilometres) to facilitate travel. These pre-
Mughal sarais are known from literary sources too. Under the prosperous period of Mughals in
medieval India, public works of building sarais was possible and surviving sarais along Agra –
Lahore road is the evidence for that.

Observations of Travellers Recorded in Literary sources:

A clear picture of the working of Mughal sarais is provided by various European travellers in Mughal India.
A traveller who wanted to stay in a sarai was allotted a room. When he had taken up his lodging, no one
could dispossess him of it. Niccolao Manucci, a Venetian who lived in India from 1656 up to his death in
1717, recorded that each sarai "might hold, more or less, from 800 to 1000 persons, with their horses,
camels, carriages, and some of them are even larger." So the other travellers, who could not get rooms,
most probably pitched their tents in the sarai's courtyard. During a heavy rush these buildings must have
resembled "large barns", as recorded by the French physician Francis Bernier who travelled in India
during 1656-68, where hundreds of human beings "mingled with their horses, mules and camels."
Each traveller was provided with a cot but he had to carry his own bedding. Provisions such as flour, rice,
butter, and vegetables could be bought inside the sarai or in its vicinity. There were also servants in each
sarai who prepared food for small payment. Sweepers cleaned the rooms. The Portuguese missionary
Fray Sebastian Manrique considered the attendants in a sarai very obliging and better than European
stablemen and innkeepers.

Manucci recorded that in every sarai "is an official whose duty it is to close the gates at the going down of
the Sun. After he has shut the gates he calls out that every one must look after his belongings, picket his
horses by their fore and hind legs.... At six o'clock in the morning, before opening the gates, the
watchman gives three warnings to the travellers, crying in a loud voice that everyone must look after his
own things. After these warnings, if anyone suspects that any of his property is missing, the doors are not
opened until the lost thing is found."
Manucci also mentions the presence of "musicians, dancing boys, women dancers, barbers, cloth-
dealers, tailors, washermen, farriers with horse shoes, endless cheating physicians and many sellers of
grass and straw for the horses" as well as "women of pleasure".
Though Edward Terry writes that in a sarai "any passengers may find house-room, and use it without any
recompence", and an inscription on the western gateway of Sarai Nurmahal forbids taking payment from
travellers, in practice the keeper of the sarai must have charged something, if only a nominal amount.

None of the European travellers mentions that the Mughal sarais were also used as dak-chowkis or relay
stations as they were in the days of Sher Shah Sur. According to Waq'i Alamgiri, dak-chowkis under the
Mughals were set up as distinct from sarais. (34)

Serai at Sultanpur Lodhi

Serai at Fatehabad
 Serai Doraha

Serai Dakhni

Conclusion:
The Royal Mughal Highway has numerous layers of cultural and historical significance. These
carvan serais constitute one such layer that contributes extensively in understanding the road
transportation pattern in Mughal Punjab.