Going on Ferozepur Road from Mozang, towards the Canal, one comes across a congested spot as just as you cross the Shama theatre. Under the bridge, a lot of rickshaws are parked where they drop off or wait for passengers. It is also a popular stop for passenger vans and buses plying on this route as they expect to attract travellers in large numbers.

This point is called Icchara Morr that also serves as an entrance to the much frequented Icchara Bazaar and, onwards, to the ancient locality called Icchara.

Having existed for ages, the locality has become known to the outsiders due to the countless shopping opportunities it offers. Even popular travel websites like Lonely Planet mention Icchara Bazaar as one of the best and highly economical shopping hub for tourists travelling to Lahore. The boastful shopkeepers claim people can find each and every household item here and, for this reason, it is the first choice for locals willing to buy dowry for their daughters’ weddings.

Like these businessmen, the ordinary locals also have a reason to be proud of. Referring to oral tradition, they claim that Icchara used to be the actual Lahore and the Lohari Darwaza of the Walled City was given this name as it faced this locality (called Lahore at that time). Similarly, Kashmiri Gate, Delhi Gate and Texali Gate are named as such because they face Kashmir, Delhi and a texal (Royal Mint) respectively. The assumption is that the locality was known as Lahore when the gates of the Walled City were being erected and named.

As for the name ‘Icchara,’ the historians have different opinions. Some say Mai Iccharan was the name of a woman who belonged to Kamboja clan that came here from Mesopotamia. There are a few who think it has got something to do with Rani Iccharan, the mother of Puran Bhagat, a main character in the legend written by several writers. Qadir Yar, who belonged to Gujranwala, wrote this legend in Punjabi in early 19th century and brought these characters of the second century AD to life. Still others think it pertains to an era even older than that. The Kambojas currently residing in Icchara and now known as Kambohs claim the area was named Icchara after an influential with the same name around 400 years ago.

Dr Saeed Bhutta, a Professor of Punjabi Language and Literature at Oriental College, University of Punjab, Lahore doubts that Rani Iccharan, the mother of Puran Bhagat, had anything to do with Icchara. He says the setting of this legend is Sialkot and the landscape described in it also belongs to the region. The commonality of name may be a coincidence.

Ahmed Saleem, an Islamabad-based researcher, challenges the very logic behind asking for evidence to prove oral tradition. He says it is called oral tradition for the very lack of written evidence and therefore has to be taken as it is.

However, renowned architect Pervaiz Vandal, who is also an authority on Lahore’s history, believes Icchara is a very old locality and recalls reading somewhere that "Lahore is a town near Icchara."

Talking to TNS, he says it was a village and the Walled City was located at quite a distance from it. In those times, he says, it took people time to travel between the two locations though today they seem close to each other due to the construction of metalled roads and the fast-moving motorised vehicles.

Vandal says rural localities are often older than the urban centres. So, one can assume that settlements like Baghbanpura, Garhi Shahu, Kumharpura and Icchara have been there for long and the Walled city was constructed afterwards. Mozang, he says, was known as a town which expanded with time and its territorial boundaries ultimately touched Icchara.

Though there are more than one reference in oral tradition about Icchara’s ancient history, little effort has been made to find scientific evidence to support the claim. According to Maqsood Ahmed Malik, Deputy Director, Archaeology, Punjab, only one excavation has been carried out by the department in Lahore and that was inside the Lahore Fort in 1958. That excavation, he says, led them to find artefacts that were more than 2000 years old and remains of temple of Loh -- the son of Ram Chandar and Seeta -- who as per tradition founded Lahore. However, he adds, the only evidence was a coin from Indo-Bactrian age -- dating back to 3rd century AD -- that was discovered in Icchara.

Malik says historical references show that invaders or migrants would always prefer to live away from city centres. This would suit them as they found it difficult to adopt local traditions and customs. On the other hand, they would be able to live more independently and in an environment identical to that in their native lands.

Therefore, he says, it is assumed that the inhabitants of Icchara who had moved to this part of the world settled here in a closed community.

Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf Kamboh, a local whose generations have lived here, says that the locality was named after a notable man called Icchara around 400 years ago. "The people were involved in agriculture as river flowed nearby and during the Mughal era some of them supplied flour to Mughal troops."

For long, he says, Icchara was a Kamboh-dominated area and Arains started buying lands and living here.

He recalls that as a child he used to attend a festival at "Bhairu da asthaan" -- a temple which still exists behind the Shama theatre and is home to Muslim families who migrated to Pakistan after partition.

The temple survived the attacks after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and one reason was that people were living there, Ashraf says. "Another monument is the tomb of naugaza, a saint who was referred to as a man with height of nine yards."

About the popularity of Icchara as shopping hub, Chaudhry says the bazaar is not too old. It developed when the people of Icchra went to Gulf in large numbers for jobs. As most of the locals were Kambohs, they helped each other find jobs in Gulf and settled there. When they return to homeland on leave, they would bring cloth and other items and put them at shops for sale. Gradually, these shops became popular for the novel products they offered and the new market expanded to the main Ferozepur Road.

The bazaar, he says, is popular also for the reason that it is quite accessible and offers a number of shopping options.

He says there are around 6,000 shops in Icchara bazaar; the main ones cost as high as Rs3 crore each. Monthly rent is around Rs100,000. Items ranging from cloth, upholstery, crockery, jewellery, local and chinioti furniture, sanitary items, marble, building and construction material etc are all available in and around the Icchara market, he concludes.

On the next page: Majid Sheikh about the genesis of the word Icchara and whether the locality is older than Lahore itself

Author and columnist Majid Sheikh has a special eye on the history of Lahore. Corresponding with Shahzada Irfan through email, he talks about the genesis of the word Icchara and whether this locality of Lahore is older than the city itself

“The oldest reference to the word [Icchara] is in the Bhagavata-Purana, the ancient Hindu scripture, which refers to the Iccharama (the Pradipa). There is a need to understand the fineness of the word. The word ‘Icha Ra’ in Sanskrit means ‘The Edge of Evil’.

Let’s not take this in the negative sense, because even in Jewish traditions the god ‘Ra’ has been described by Moses [Hazrat Musa (AS)] as evil because idols have, like later scriptures including the Bible and the Quran, been described as the incorrect way of reaching the Almighty. Call the Almighty what you like, Allah, or God, or Elahi, or Ra’bb, all of which were, originally, names of idols in the Ka’aba, idols that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) smashed. But then even the word Allah is from the ancient Arabic language as ‘Al-Lah,’ with the word ‘Lah’ meaning ‘the moon,’ because in those days the followers of the idol Lah followed the lunar calender. Come to think of it, even today when we use the word Allah we all look upwards. The word ‘lunar’ is derived from the word ‘Lah’ of Middle-Eastern origin.

Experts I have consulted in Cambridge think that the word ‘Iccha Ra’ means ‘the edge of the Almighty’s blessings.’ As the Jews think of ‘Ra’ as an idol, hence ‘evil,’ therefore ancient scriptures refer to Icchara as ‘the edge of evil.’

This is interesting because in Hindu scriptures, specifically the Bhagavata-Purana, which some claim is a 13th-century written book (the oral tradition being much older), the idol ‘Ra’ is seen as the evil reincarnation of Shiva. This could be most interesting to explore because in Icchara you will find a group of Shiva temples that still survive on the road just behind Shama theatre towards Icchara.

Mind you, the negative side of Shiva consists of evil deeds that can be achieved by reciting Vedic tantra. It is almost like our local ‘kala ilm’ chaps used contorted verses of the Quran to perform black magic. Whether this is humbug or not is not for me to decide.

Now, whether Ichara is older than Lahore people in Ichara, or from Ichara, love to believe this. The people in Lahore, or from Lahore, think it is humbug.

There is no doubt that Lahore as we know it today was a much smaller city on the mound by the River Ravi. The ancient city had four major roads leading out. One to Amritsar (and, upwards, to Kashmir), one to Sheikhupura (and, on to Gujranwala and, turning towards Peshawar, avoiding the hills of Chakwal), one to Ferozepur (and on to Delhi) and one towards Multan (and, hence towards Ghazni). Much later, the G.T. was made and as trade by rivers declined new routes came up. By this reason, Lahore was destined to grow in trade terms as well as in military importance.

Ichara was on the route to Ferozepur, which in its days was a very important city. By the time Akbar came, Lahore’s old walled (mud walls) city was much smaller, probably smaller, or equal to Ichhara in size. Imagine a wall from Mori Gate straight towards Chuna Mandi and the other from the left of Shahalami Gate (even today to the left of the main bazaar are ‘ghattis,’ which I think is where the original mud walls of the older walled city were. If this area is taken in mind, then definitely the old Ichara was equal, or just slightly larger than older Lahore.

Was it older? So far, there is no evidence to this effect. I have always maintained that there is a lot of archaeological digs that need to be undertaken in old Lahore, and may I add even old Ichara. But current knowledge tells us that Lahore is at least 3,000 to 4,500 years old. About Ichara I just cannot speculate. We need to research this.

We do know that when the Portugese send ‘hundi’ to Lahore from the port of Surat, the address written was always ‘Lahore near Ichara,’ which speaks a lot about the importance of Ichara. There are a lot of samples of these ‘hundis’ in the Lahore Museum.”