The Mughal Gardens at Pinjore
The story of a garden that was part of a plot by a local king to keep the Mughal lords out of his lair!
By Live History India
Live History India
The Pinjore Gardens were built by the Mughal Governor of Punjab, Fidai Khan, around 1760-61 CE. A man with a great eye for beauty and detail, he planned the entire garden and the various palaces near it, around a natural spring in Panchkula. This made the garden lush and the three summer palaces around it – the Sheesh Mahal, Rang Mahal and Jal Mahal – cool havens.
When finally complete, the Pinjore Gardens rivalled the other famous Mughal gardens strewn across the old royal cities. However, the man who created it didn't get a chance to enjoy it for long. The garden was abandoned just seven years after it was built, for a very unusual reason.
According to local folklore, the local king, the Raja of Bhawana, dreaded the coming of the Mughal Court to Panchkula and feared that he would lose more land to the Mughals. Hence, he drew up a crafty plan to drive the governor away.
In those days, all along the foothills of the Himalayas, cases of goitre were often reported because of the very low levels of iodine in the salt consumed by the people. The local raja used this to his advantage. He collected all the people suffering from goitre and made them appear as local inhabitants of the area when the governor and his family visited. In fact, people suffering from goitre were even placed as palace staff, gardeners and women carrying fruits and flowers to the zenana (women’s quarters), to drive the point home. And, guess what, it worked!
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The women of the harem, already terrified of contracting the disease, were made to believe that the air and water of Pinjore were contaminated and this is why the disease was so common. This eventually created such a panic among the petrified women of the zenana that they refused to stay in Pinjore! Fadai Khan was forced to move out of Pinjore and rarely came back to visit the lovely gardens that he had so painstakingly planned.
Later in the 18th century, as Mughal power declined, Pinjore and the area around it was caught in the crossfire between the plundering Gurkhas, who marched in, and the local rulers who desperately tried to ward them off. Finally, the local rajas had to turn to the Sikhs of Patiala for help. The Gurkhas were defeated in 1769, and the gardens of Pinjore and adjoining lands were given to the state of Patiala as payment.
Quite literally, Pinjore and its palaces served as a holiday home for the Maharajas of Patiala, especially Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, who used to host lavish parties here. Later, after India gained independence, his son, Maharaja Yadavinder Singh donated the Pinjore Gardens to the nation. Today, they are known as the Yadavinder Gardens and are open to the public. But most people who head there miss the stories that make these gardens so special!
