MAGIC POTIONS, HORSES AND BICYCLE RIMS

Once upon a time, in Bazaar-e-Hakiman, situated in the western periphery of the Walled City, the indigenous clinicians and their medical outlets were located. The bazaar housed renowned hakims (traditional medicine practitioners), crafting magical potions with herbs, providing cures for diseases, and boasting aphrodisiac powers for the pleasure-seekers of Hira Mandi. Traditional markets such as Akbari Mandi and Chowk Jhanda that have not affected the residential urban fabric of Walled City negatively are a few of the extant examples. Both of these locations were traditional grain markets and are characterized by busy, yet culturally prominent business activities, which stock and retail grains, spices, and dry fruits. These locations are significant cultural assets of the Walled City, as they have been historically continuous. To the east of the Lahore Fort exists what was once referred to as the Maidan-e-Nakhaas (space for the commoners). It is said to have been the site where horses were sold to the city’s nobility and rulers. The area is now called the Rim Market, specializing in vehicle rims. This commercialized Rim Market has completely engulfed a building of great religious and heritage significance, the early 17th-century Begum Shahi Mosque, and with it the traditional character of the bazaars that once complimented Lahore.