Shalamar Gardens

The Shalamar gardens and pleasure-ground, situated 4. miles east of Lahore city, were laid out in 1667 by Ali Mardan Khan, the celebrated engineer of Shah Jahan, in imitation of the garden `planned by the emperor Jahangir at the sources of the Jhelum river in Kashmir: The garden consisted of seven divisions representing the seven degrees of the Paradise of Islam, of which only three are included in the present area of about 8o acres, the remainder having fallen into decay. In the centre is a reservoir, bordered by aim elaborately indented coping and studded with pipes for fountains. A cascade falls into it over a slope of marble corrugated in an ornamental carved diaper. 'During the troublous times of Ahmad Shah the gardens were neglected, and some of the decorative works were defaced and removed. Ranjit Singh restored them l but at he same time he laid 'ruthless hands upon the marble pavilions of the central . reservoir, using them to adorn the Rambagh, at Amritsar) and substituting structures of brick and whitewash in their stead