Sher Shah Suri Dak Chowki Wazirabad

GUJRAT: The Punjab Archaeology Department has launched the restoration of the remnants’ of a 16th century building of Dak Chowki in Wazirabad.

The mail station is located on the Grand Trunk GT road as it makes its way north across the river Chenab. It was established in the 1560s during the rule of Sher Shah Suri, the founder of the short-lived Suri dynasty which collapsed only 11 years after his death.

The purpose of the building was to serve as the post office. The square shaped building is built over a raised platform.

Suri Dak Chowki Wazirabad had been in deteriorated condition for decades where there is no roof/dome on the structure. One corner burj is missing while lime plaster, brick masonry and flooring have decayed at places.

The official sources said the then Gujranwala commissioner who also later served as secretary tourism, Ehsan Bhutta, took the initiative to restore the historical building to its original state according to archaeological standards.

It is crucial to respect such historical sites and take steps to ensure their longevity, says an official of the archaeology department in the region. Restoring them to their original glory not only provides an opportunity to learn about the past but also serves as a reminder of the importance of preserving our heritage for future generations, he adds.

According to a signpost on site, the post office was established not just for the mail but also to gather intelligence on activities within the district. Such post offices were generally incorporated within caravanserais (rest areas for travellers), given their association with travel, but this particular station is a stand-alone structure as there is no evidence of a caravanserai on site.

In its heyday, the building likely would have contained stables and at least several well-rested horses to serve as points on a relay conveying mail from one station to another up and down the GT Road. In his book Gujranwala: the Glory that Was, Salman Rashid notes that in the past, a grove of trees about 200 meters from the building once housed the remains of the horse stables, which are now completely effaced.

At the first glance, the profile of the building is reminiscent of typical tombs of the period as building typologies of the period could easily be employed for a variety of purposes. In the plan, it is laid out as a four-cornered structure with arched openings facing the four cardinal directions. A dome once towered overhead but it collapsed at some indeterminate point in the past. The remains of three ornamental brick turrets remain on the eastern and northern sides of the structure, along with the heavily degraded traces of some of the original stucco coating.

Imran Zahid, an engineer of the archaeology department, said the major components of the restoration project had been the underpinning work with special size brick and kankar lime plaster. There are bricks on edge flooring as per the original design with tiles of special size. Provision for gratings in openings, brick tile on edge flooring with standard size brick, construction of boundary wall with iron fencing, electrification, illumination of the tomb and provision for public facilities like benches, dustbins etc are also a part of the structure.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2023 

Photo curtesy: Zaheer Chaudhry