SALIM AND ANARKALI LOVE STORY

Anarkali was a dancer at the court of Emperor Akbar. The emperor's eldest son and heir apparent, Salim, fell in love with her. Akbar did not approve of the relation as the dancer was of lowly birth and hence considered not fit to be the queen of the would-be emperor of Hindustan. But the lovers did not pay heed to the emperor's disapproval. At last, Anarkali was sentenced to death " she was bricked alive in a wall. This basic story-line is variously told with minor variations in detail. However, one may be surprised to note that the name of Anarkali is not even mentioned in the historical details of the period of Akbar or in the memoirs of Jahangir.

Today many historians doubt the authenticity of the story and consider it a mere fabrication.

The believers in the story mention a tomb in Lahore which is popularly considered to be that of Anarkali. It is situated on the premises of the Punjab Civil Secretariat and now houses the Punjab Records Office. It is an octagonal building covered with a dome. At each corner of the building is an octagonal turret surmounted with a kiosk. In olden times, this building was surrounded by a garden that had at its entrance a double-storeyed gateway. But no trace of the garden survives now. The building still enshrines a beautifully inscribed monolithic sarcophagus.

On the sarcophagus are inscribed 99 names of Allah and the Persian couplet:

Ta qayamat shukr goyam kard gar khwish ra

Ah! gar man baz beenam rui yar khwish ra

(Ah ! could I behold

the face of my beloved once more;

I would give thanks unto my God

Unto the day of resurrection).

On the northern side of the sarcophagus are inscribed the words Majnun Salim Akbar i.e. "The profoundly enamoured Salim (son of ) Akbar".

The sarcophagus bears two dates also. The date given in letters as well as in numerals is 1008 hijri(1599-1600 AD). On the western side of the sarcophagus is another date 1024 hijri (1615-16 AD).