The city of Lahore is home to a number of bustling markets, including the Urdu Bazar, Lahore. It is located close to the Anarkali Bazaar, on the opposite side of Mori Gate in the walled city.
This marketplace is well-known for selling, publishing, and printing books. You can also find both old and new books on any subject here, including history, physics, religion, music, and geography, among others – all at affordable prices.
Location of Urdu Bazar, Lahore
The Urdu Bazar is situated on Circular Road, directly across from Mori Gate, and continues all the way to Chatterjee Road, which is located on the back side of the Government College University in Lahore.
History of Urdu Bazar, Lahore
Before the partition, this marketplace was known as Mohan Lal Road, home to only a handful of book publishers. At the time, the Kashmiri Bazaar (located inside the Delhi Gate of the Old City) was where most book publishers could be found. After the partition, however, publishing houses began setting up in this marketplace on Mohan Lal Road. After a brief period of time, these businesses started booming.
In the 1950s, traders along the Mohan Lal Road made the decision to change the name of the road. They may have reasoned that, since they now had a separate country, the name of any roads that were not associated with the Muslims should be changed.
Therefore, they held several meetings until they settled on “Urdu Bazar.” According to Hazeen Kashmiri, who is one of the oldest book merchants in Urdu Bazaar, he was the one who suggested using this particular name. Mohan Lal Road used to be a narrow street with only a few stores; however, as the years passed, the Bazar grew, and there are currently more than 500 stores along the route.
The one that stands out the most is a printing press that was once owned by Gulab Singh and is now run by the Printing Corporation of Pakistan Press, an entity managed by the government. This location was also home to several Hindu temples when circumstances were better. One of them was known as the Hari Gayan Temple.
It was, without a doubt, one of the most stunning temples in Lahore. This temple was constructed during the Sikh era by Shri Prasad Kasith, and religious teacher Pandit Sardha Ram Phulwari used to give lectures here, according to the historian Kanhiya Laal Hindi.
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