0:00:07 > 0:00:10I'm on the mighty Indus River,
0:00:10 > 0:00:13which gave its name to the whole Indian subcontinent.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17And I'm beginning a journey deep into Ancient India.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21A journey that will take me back 5,000 years into the past,
0:00:21 > 0:00:23to discover some of its most hidden treasures.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31I'll be travelling back in time to the ancient civilisation that
0:00:31 > 0:00:34first grew up on the shores of the Indus.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38I'll be revealing the lost Buddhist culture of northern Pakistan.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41And luxuriating in the extraordinary
0:00:41 > 0:00:43architectural flowering of the Mughal Empire...
0:00:43 > 0:00:47and the exuberant temples of South India.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49All of which produced some phenomenal artworks.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56As an art historian and museum curator,
0:00:56 > 0:00:59I've looked after these treasures for most of my life.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02In this series, I want to explore their stories
0:01:02 > 0:01:05and the people who created them.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19I'm beginning my journey in Lahore, home to over five million people
0:01:19 > 0:01:24and the vibrant, beating heart of modern Pakistan.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Today we think of Pakistan as an Islamic country,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31and indeed it was religion that was the cause of
0:01:31 > 0:01:34its violent severance from Greater India in 1947.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39What was India's loss was the birth of a new nation,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45But what I want to explore is this country's very rich,
0:01:45 > 0:01:49more complex and diverse past, which is often forgotten.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55A time when women were celebrated, the Buddha was worshipped
0:01:55 > 0:01:58and the Mughal Empire recreated paradise on Earth.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10So to do that, I need to go to the remains of a city that makes
0:02:10 > 0:02:13Lahore look as if it was built just yesterday.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16A site that is not just one of the most ancient in Pakistan,
0:02:16 > 0:02:18but in the whole world.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25SHE SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE
0:02:27 > 0:02:30There's always a great sense of adventure to arrive
0:02:30 > 0:02:33at a station in the subcontinent early in the morning.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35With coolies carrying people's luggage,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37people have got places to go,
0:02:37 > 0:02:38just like I have.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50Pakistan was born less than 70 years ago.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52A much younger country than India.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55So it is perhaps ironic that it was the birthplace
0:02:55 > 0:02:56of a far older civilisation.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03I spent years at the British Museum looking after treasures
0:03:03 > 0:03:06from the Indian subcontinent.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09But I've never made this particular journey before.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12It will take me to the cradle of Ancient India.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33So I've just got off the train at Harappa, we are almost 200km
0:03:33 > 0:03:37outside Lahore at this tiny station, I seem to be the only person here.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41But it was here, about 100 years ago, that under the British,
0:03:41 > 0:03:46railway workers were creating a passageway to dig this railway,
0:03:46 > 0:03:50to create this railway, and stumbled upon what appeared to be
0:03:50 > 0:03:53a very ancient mound of terracotta bricks.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59"How convenient", the workers must have thought,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03and just used the bricks to help make the railway embankment.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05But when archaeologists were eventually called in,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09they made one of the great discoveries of the 20th century.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19What they found defied belief.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24In this quiet and neglected corner of Pakistan, an enormous city -
0:04:24 > 0:04:26stretching for miles -
0:04:26 > 0:04:29began to emerge from beneath the dusty plains.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37It's thought the city of Harappa
0:04:37 > 0:04:40was large enough to house up to 80,000 people.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48This city was at the height of its success in 2,200 BC.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53It's not until the late 19th century, over 4,000 years later,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58that European cities reached anything like the scale and order.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Even more extraordinary than its size
0:05:01 > 0:05:05was the realisation of quite how old it was.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09When the archaeologist John Marshall came here in 1921,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13he was the first person who fully appreciated the significance
0:05:13 > 0:05:17and the actual antiquity of what this site potentially had to offer.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22So I brought with me a copy of the Illustrated London News
0:05:22 > 0:05:24from 1924, which was
0:05:24 > 0:05:28actually when Marshall announced to the world effectively what he
0:05:28 > 0:05:33had discovered and the significance of it, and it begins...
0:05:33 > 0:05:36"Not often has it been given to archaeologists, as it was given to
0:05:36 > 0:05:40"Schliemann at Tiryns or Mycenae, or to Stein in the deserts of
0:05:40 > 0:05:43"Turkestan, to light upon the remains of
0:05:43 > 0:05:46"a long forgotten civilisation.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50"It looks, however, at this moment, as if we were on the threshold
0:05:50 > 0:05:53"of such a discovery in the plains of the Indus."
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Marshall was trying to rewrite the story of Ancient India with one
0:06:00 > 0:06:03that began here in the subcontinent,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06not one that had somehow been imported from Europe
0:06:06 > 0:06:09or the Middle East, as previous archaeologists had imagined.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14A history that was India's own,
0:06:14 > 0:06:17a new beginning, if you like, for India's ancient past.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21The thing that strikes me immediately,
0:06:21 > 0:06:23walking through these ruins,
0:06:23 > 0:06:28is how clearly this was laid out on a grid pattern like a modern city.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31These people really understood their right angles.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34But what is extraordinary is what isn't here.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36For a civilisation on this scale,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39contemporary with the pyramids,
0:06:39 > 0:06:43is there isn't any grand monument to a single ruler, there isn't
0:06:43 > 0:06:47any celebration of military might or a ruling theocracy.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49This was clearly, in a contemporary sense,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53a much more egalitarian society.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00This is not the only city built by what came to be called
0:07:00 > 0:07:03the Indus Valley Civilisation,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06after the mighty river that threaded them together.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Many others were later found, built to a similar template.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14And yet more remain to be excavated,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17still buried under mounds in the desert.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22This was an empire, albeit one without any rulers,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25and it is an empire that is still giving up its secrets.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31Gosh, so this was only excavated five or six days before?
0:07:31 > 0:07:34- Yeah.- Still fresh with the mud.- Yeah.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37You can see the accentuation of the breasts, the navel,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40the wide hips.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43This is a civilisation, like many ancient cultures,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46that celebrated fertility, for very obvious reasons,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49and these figures appear all over the Indus Valley.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53'These were people who liked their bling,
0:07:53 > 0:07:55'and some of the jewellery found here reveals
0:07:55 > 0:07:59'the use of sophisticated manufacturing techniques.'
0:07:59 > 0:08:04So this delicate bead... made of carnelian was considered
0:08:04 > 0:08:09a highly precious stone and were traded really far and wide.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14What's really remarkable about them is the technology they had,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17using diamonds to drill these
0:08:17 > 0:08:20very uniform holes through.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23So they would then string them together and produce these
0:08:23 > 0:08:27elaborate necklaces for elite citizens to wear.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32'Unlike Pakistan today, this seems to have been a culture that
0:08:32 > 0:08:36'valued, even worshipped, powerful women.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40'And nowhere can this be seen better than in one tiny figure,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44'a priceless treasure from the era known as The Dancing Girl...
0:08:44 > 0:08:47'with the stance of an impudent teenager.'
0:08:48 > 0:08:52She has all the poise of Degas' Little Dancer,
0:08:52 > 0:08:57and some have described her as the Mona Lisa of ancient Indian art.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01Now, the original is priceless,
0:09:01 > 0:09:06and she sits here behind bulletproof glass, which...even being
0:09:06 > 0:09:11a museum curator, on this occasion, I'm not able to access.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14So I have here a replica in my hand,
0:09:14 > 0:09:18and close up you can see...
0:09:18 > 0:09:22what's really interesting about her is her stance.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27For a young woman at this very early date,
0:09:27 > 0:09:31she stands incredibly confidently with her hand on her hip,
0:09:31 > 0:09:36her head held high, decorated with bangles.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39There is a confidence and poise about her, which is
0:09:39 > 0:09:44really surprising to some of our more traditional conceptions
0:09:44 > 0:09:47and notions of women in South Asia.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58The Dancing Girl is unusual and almost unique.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01At Harappa, what has been found far more commonly are these
0:10:01 > 0:10:06mysterious seals carved in reverse, presumably so they could act
0:10:06 > 0:10:09as a stamp, leaving a clear image in wax,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12perhaps to seal a transaction.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17One of the most amazing features of these tiny seals that were found
0:10:17 > 0:10:23at Harappa was that nearly 50% of them represented the unicorn,
0:10:23 > 0:10:27which is a mythological animal that we usually associate with
0:10:27 > 0:10:31medieval Europe, but actually it first originated here.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36And clearly had great spiritual significance for these people,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39because it appears over and over again,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43but then completely disappeared from this region
0:10:43 > 0:10:45and travelled through Mesopotamia into
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Ancient Greece and into the legends of Europe
0:10:48 > 0:10:50that we've all grown up with.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57This is the first time I've ever held a seal from
0:10:57 > 0:11:01the Indus Valley Civilisation of this scale,
0:11:01 > 0:11:03and holding it at this range,
0:11:03 > 0:11:04you can really get a sense of
0:11:04 > 0:11:07the very, very fine craftsmanship they used.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12You can see all the individual hooves. On the reverse, of course,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16is this very practical, pragmatic handle that would have been
0:11:16 > 0:11:20used to make the imprint of the sealing,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23to mark a commodity that would have been traded,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27so competently manufactured at such an early date, that it has survived
0:11:27 > 0:11:325,000 years for us to find today and for me to hold in this moment.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40So why did this remarkable civilisation disappear
0:11:40 > 0:11:44without trace for thousands of years?
0:11:44 > 0:11:46It's hard to believe, in the heat and dust
0:11:46 > 0:11:50of the excavated city, that a great tributary of the Indus
0:11:50 > 0:11:55once flowed here, which supplied the city with a wealth of water.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58There was in fact an indoor bathroom for almost every home,
0:11:58 > 0:12:00and a sophisticated drainage system.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06But over the millennia, the river changed course,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09leaving the city and its farmlands without water.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15It's no wonder then that this civilisation eventually collapsed.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23The great River Indus dominates the history of civilisation here.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27And as the river shifted course, whole cities came and went.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39It was here that the next great empire emerged in the Indus Valley,
0:12:39 > 0:12:43with consequences which would last for 1,000 years.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52So this is the place, in 326 BC,
0:12:52 > 0:12:57where that Macedonian megalomaniac Alexander the Great
0:12:57 > 0:13:00crossed the river as he attempted to conquer India.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03He didn't actually know where he was going,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06he arrived with no language, no maps, and in fact Alexander was
0:13:06 > 0:13:10so lost that he thought he had arrived
0:13:10 > 0:13:13at a distant source of the Nile,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16after having seen crocodiles in the Indus.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22He was simply driven by a testosterone-fuelled obsession
0:13:22 > 0:13:26to outdo the legendary Darius of Persia
0:13:26 > 0:13:29and find this fabled land to the East,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32which was known only by rumour.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Alexander was a master of self-pathologising.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37You have to hand it to him.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41A bit like Winston Churchill, he made absolutely sure that history
0:13:41 > 0:13:45would be kind to him by writing the history himself, or at least
0:13:45 > 0:13:50ensuring that his own biographers came along on his journey with him.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56One of his historians, Arrian, wrote,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59"When Alexander arrived at the River Indus,
0:13:59 > 0:14:04"he found gifts of silver, gold and elephants from Taxilus the Indian.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08"And that prince sent word he would surrender to him Taxila,
0:14:08 > 0:14:11"the largest city near the River Indus."
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Nearby was the ancient city of Taxila, a thriving cosmopolitan
0:14:29 > 0:14:32centre, which was just like the Paris or Mumbai of its time.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35It was a complete cacophony of different languages,
0:14:35 > 0:14:37customs and influences.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Trusting no-one, Alexander marched into Taxila, ready for battle...
0:14:47 > 0:14:50WOMAN SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:14:50 > 0:14:53..but the governor welcomed him with a tribute of silver.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Bribery will get you everywhere,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59and Alexander had made his first ally near the Indus.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03So I'm being made into a Pakistani lady. Never a bad thing.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12Everything the Greeks encountered was new, fresh and exotic.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14The markets would have held spices
0:15:14 > 0:15:17and foodstuffs unrecognisable to them.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20THEY CONVERSE IN LOCAL LANGUAGE
0:15:20 > 0:15:23Tamarind.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25'It was journalistic gold dust.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27'Alexander's historians were able to give a vivid
0:15:27 > 0:15:32'and sensational account of an ancient society that had previously
0:15:32 > 0:15:34'been unreported and obscure.'
0:15:36 > 0:15:38In the dusty and crowded marketplace,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41in the summer heat of Taxila, Alexander and his men
0:15:41 > 0:15:46encountered strange customs, languages and influences.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49It was here that they came across the naked holy men,
0:15:49 > 0:15:51the Buddhist monks,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54and where they first encountered the doctrine of the Buddha.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01The Greeks and their new allies rebuilt
0:16:01 > 0:16:03the ancient city of Taxila nearby.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05SHE SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE
0:16:05 > 0:16:08But this was to be like no other city that India
0:16:08 > 0:16:09had ever seen before.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Today, the city is known as Sirkap.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24It's actually vast, spread over a really big area.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26And very quickly it appears...
0:16:28 > 0:16:30..there is a main boulevard,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33the high-street...
0:16:33 > 0:16:36and that the city was actually planned...
0:16:36 > 0:16:39very much like a Hellenistic city would have been,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42so the stamp is clearly here.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46It's quite amazing, actually, how many walls are still standing.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50How neatly ordered they are, and I suspect there would have been
0:16:50 > 0:16:55a subterranean level, much like you would have found in ancient Athens.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02It is a quiet, peaceful, very overgrown place now.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09But it appears here... there were shops...
0:17:09 > 0:17:10there, residences.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15There was a great sense of order to it clearly.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20Which is unusual in a typical city of the subcontinent,
0:17:20 > 0:17:24which has a completely different way of organising space,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27and that's the thing I find really striking here.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32The thing to remember, I think, is Alexander's arrival...
0:17:32 > 0:17:38was really a moment and just the start of this long relationship
0:17:38 > 0:17:42between India and Greek culture
0:17:42 > 0:17:46and Hellenistic culture, which went on for several hundred years.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51And one result of that Greek invasion
0:17:51 > 0:17:54was the effect it had on the local legend of Buddhism,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58which now changed dramatically in its art and architecture.
0:18:01 > 0:18:07So in amongst these low-lying stone walls is a really complete example
0:18:07 > 0:18:10of an early Buddhist temple,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13which has all the hallmarks of Greek influence.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15You've got the stupa in the middle,
0:18:15 > 0:18:16the steps leading up to it,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20this motif here actually shows a double-headed eagle.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23You can see these beautifully carved acanthus leaves
0:18:23 > 0:18:26at the top of each of these columns.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30So all around in the detail, you can see the fusion,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33the Hellenistic influence,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37with the traditional, local religion of Buddhism.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41It's beautiful, actually.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49This, of course, is the path the devotee would taken,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53in a clockwise motion around the stupa,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56in the hope of accruing good karma,
0:18:56 > 0:18:58which is of course good for all of us.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06When the Greeks arrived, Buddhism had already been established for
0:19:06 > 0:19:11some centuries since the death of the Buddha himself in around 480 BC.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15But their arrival had a fundamental impact
0:19:15 > 0:19:17on the way the Buddha was now portrayed.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23Although we are used to seeing the Buddha represented
0:19:23 > 0:19:27in human form, in the very earliest manifestations
0:19:27 > 0:19:31he was actually represented by his absence.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34He was represented in symbolic form, like this magnificent footprint
0:19:34 > 0:19:40decorated with symbols of Buddhism, which celebrated
0:19:40 > 0:19:45aspects of the Buddha's life, rather than showing him in human form.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47And then something really interesting
0:19:47 > 0:19:51and dramatic starts to happen in this region after
0:19:51 > 0:19:56the invasion of Alexander the Great, and that is the representation
0:19:56 > 0:20:00of the Buddha as a real, living person in human form.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07It's hard to exaggerate how important a moment
0:20:07 > 0:20:10this was in the history of Buddhism.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13For the first time, the Buddha was given features.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16He had died too long before for anyone to remember what
0:20:16 > 0:20:18he really looked like,
0:20:18 > 0:20:23so the features he was given were idealised ones, and the new ideal
0:20:23 > 0:20:27came from this innovative Indo-Greek culture that took Buddhism
0:20:27 > 0:20:29from its home on the North Indian plain
0:20:29 > 0:20:32and embedded it onto a completely new form,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36one that we might find more recognisable today.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41Here are youthful Buddhas with hair arranged in wavy curls that
0:20:41 > 0:20:44resemble Greek sculptures of Apollo.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47The monastic robe covering both shoulders is arranged in
0:20:47 > 0:20:51heavy, naturalistic folds, reminiscent of a classical toga,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54and compared to other more rotund Buddhas,
0:20:54 > 0:20:57he has the toned body of a Greek athlete.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10To see more examples of this rare and early Buddhist art,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13I've been invited to a private museum with a fabulous collection
0:21:13 > 0:21:18that the same family has safeguarded for over seven generations.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20- Hello.- Hello.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27- You're welcome to Fakir Khana Museum. - Thank you, thank you.
0:21:27 > 0:21:32- This is a very beautiful room.- You want to have a look at my collection?
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Absolutely, that would be great.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44Wow.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47'It's a treasure trove of rare and wonderful objects gathered
0:21:47 > 0:21:51'from all the great civilisations that have arisen along the Indus.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57'Including the Indo-Greek culture inspired by Alexander's arrival,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01'that became known as Gandhara.'
0:22:01 > 0:22:05- What's in here?- It's... - Goodness me.- ..Gandhara.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08This Gandhara is in limestone.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13- It has a Greek influence. - Yep.- Like this one.
0:22:13 > 0:22:14Why these Buddhas are so special,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17you know, why these Gandharas are so special,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21because the skills are so high. They have made beautiful faces.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23And look at this piece.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27It is a broken piece, but look at the beautiful smile of Buddha.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30His lips and smile, you know.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35OK, I'm going to show you something very special of my collection.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37It is a hidden collection, you know.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40I've never opened it for anybody else. Especially for today,
0:22:40 > 0:22:41I'm going to do it for you.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56The special thing I'm going to show you...
0:22:56 > 0:22:59no other museum has this kind of thing.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02This is the original ring of Raja Porus.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07- Porus?- Yes.- As in the man... - Who fought against...
0:23:07 > 0:23:11- Alexander the Great in 326.- Yeah.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14- Gosh.- This is done in pure silver.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16This is incredibly exciting,
0:23:16 > 0:23:18- I'm actually holding the ring... - Yes.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21- ..worn by Porus.- Yes.
0:23:21 > 0:23:22That's magnificent.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26- Can I put it on?- You may.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31- You can see that the physiognomy is actually very different.- Definitely.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35- It's...- Indic.- Indic.- Yeah.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40And he has the turban on his head, big earrings.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45- Big earrings, everything, sunflower. - And wearing the sunflower, yes.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48So how did you come across the ring of Porus?
0:23:48 > 0:23:52- Don't ask me all these questions. - Family secret.- Family secret.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58HORNS BEEP FRANTICALLY
0:24:02 > 0:24:04This was not a one-way exchange in Gandhara.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08The Greeks themselves took gold, silver and Sindh cotton
0:24:08 > 0:24:12back to Europe, along what started to become a thriving trade route.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19But more importantly, they also took with them a myth and a name.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22The River Indus was the whole subcontinent for
0:24:22 > 0:24:24the European imagination, as India.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26And the stories that went back with Alexander and his men
0:24:26 > 0:24:32of a wild, fabulous place filled with mystics, seers and gold
0:24:32 > 0:24:36were to influence the European view of India for thousands of years.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41In some ways, you could say we are still unpicking
0:24:41 > 0:24:44the reality from that myth.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47For it was after the arrival of Alexander and the long
0:24:47 > 0:24:52Indo-Greek culture that followed that the idea of India was born.
0:24:56 > 0:25:02Alexander began his chaotic trek back to Europe in 325 BC,
0:25:02 > 0:25:04leaving behind him an Indo-Greek culture
0:25:04 > 0:25:06which took on a life of its own.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11It was a golden age for the growth of Buddhism.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18A great Buddhist monastery was built here in Taxila,
0:25:18 > 0:25:20at the crossroads of Asia.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26So this would have been the original living quarters of the monks,
0:25:26 > 0:25:30and you can see the cells all around the central courtyard,
0:25:30 > 0:25:35which would have been filled with water and overlain with lotuses.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38It would have been a very peaceful site.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45But I suppose the thing to remember is that this wasn't a
0:25:45 > 0:25:49closed monastic life in the way we think of it today.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54But actually this was a centre of learning, which was very open,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57very much like the great universities of the modern world.
0:26:00 > 0:26:01Students at the university
0:26:01 > 0:26:03came from Persia in the west,
0:26:03 > 0:26:05India to the south
0:26:05 > 0:26:06and from the north
0:26:06 > 0:26:07along the silk route.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09Perhaps most important of all came
0:26:09 > 0:26:11inquisitive Chinese pilgrims,
0:26:11 > 0:26:12many of whom who took
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Buddhist scriptures back with them
0:26:14 > 0:26:15to China.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20These were the monks' domestic quarters.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Quite intimate little cells, actually very cool
0:26:25 > 0:26:29in the heat of the day, overshadowed by trees, surrounding trees.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32And two tiny little niches,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36one of which would perhaps have been for a candle and some prayer beads.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39And another one perhaps for Willie Dalrymple's latest novel.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45Having worked in centres of learning for most of my life,
0:26:45 > 0:26:49I actually find it really moving to think of the monks
0:26:49 > 0:26:53living and working here, transcribing Buddhist scriptures
0:26:53 > 0:26:57into manuscripts and preserving them over hundreds and hundreds of years.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01They've opened up the cell for me, so that I can see
0:27:01 > 0:27:06a replica of one of the finest of the Buddha statues, which survived
0:27:06 > 0:27:10intact for centuries because it was protected from the elements.
0:27:11 > 0:27:16Inside this quiet side chapel, tucked away in this corner...
0:27:18 > 0:27:23..is this really beautiful, calm image of the Buddha seated in prayer
0:27:23 > 0:27:28The original has actually been removed to the museum at Taxila,
0:27:28 > 0:27:32but this was one of the Buddha images that Sir John Marshall
0:27:32 > 0:27:38was really moved by when he came upon it back in the 1930s.
0:27:38 > 0:27:43So you can see here how art began to be used to
0:27:43 > 0:27:45spread the message of Buddhism
0:27:45 > 0:27:48through the creation of sensuous form.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00I find it tragic that so many of the Buddha sculptures here have
0:28:00 > 0:28:05been vandalised and now need to be protected from Islamic extremists,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08while some heads have had to be removed to museums
0:28:08 > 0:28:09for their own safety.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33This really dramatic representation of the Buddha
0:28:33 > 0:28:37shows him during the six years he undertook fasting
0:28:37 > 0:28:40as part of his journey to reach nirvana.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43And you can see it is actually a complete
0:28:43 > 0:28:46masterpiece of Buddhist sculpture.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49It is made out of single piece of schist, and you can see how
0:28:49 > 0:28:54the full-bodied form has completely withered away
0:28:54 > 0:28:58and shown his ribs protruding, his arteries, his veins,
0:28:58 > 0:29:00the robes are slipping off him.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03And in particular, if you look at his face,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07the eyes are completely sunken. The cheeks are sallow, but there is
0:29:07 > 0:29:11a certain serenity to his expression.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13This is not the expression of a dying man,
0:29:13 > 0:29:16this is the expression of a man who is on a path,
0:29:16 > 0:29:20looking for something. If you look very carefully into his eyes,
0:29:20 > 0:29:24they are actually open, they are actually looking at you
0:29:24 > 0:29:26as you stand before him.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30And beneath you can see the narrative sequence,
0:29:30 > 0:29:32the story that tells that actually
0:29:32 > 0:29:36he realised this wasn't the way to enlightenment,
0:29:36 > 0:29:40and that he ended up begging for food to feed himself,
0:29:40 > 0:29:42and continued on his journey to nirvana.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56In other regions of South Asia, Buddhism ultimately survived
0:29:56 > 0:30:00only in small pockets, whereas this area surrounding
0:30:00 > 0:30:05the high Indus had a different kind of sacred landscape altogether.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08Here, more than 3,000 Buddhist institutions
0:30:08 > 0:30:10flourished across Gandhara.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15It is a very calm place to be here early in the morning
0:30:15 > 0:30:17in northern Pakistan.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22And there's a sense of sadness at how remote
0:30:22 > 0:30:24these sites are today.
0:30:24 > 0:30:30Given how important they were in transmitting this
0:30:30 > 0:30:33incredible world religion right across Asia.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36And the world has not only forgotten, but I suspect
0:30:36 > 0:30:40it doesn't really know that Buddhism, as we know it today,
0:30:40 > 0:30:44actually emanated from this part of the world,
0:30:44 > 0:30:45right here in Pakistan.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49And Pakistan gets a hard rap for exporting
0:30:49 > 0:30:52Islamic fundamentalism, which I think is really quite unfair
0:30:52 > 0:30:56and a very limited view of this rich country.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04So why was it that Buddhism spread from here
0:31:04 > 0:31:06to the four corners of Asia?
0:31:08 > 0:31:10Because this area of Pakistan
0:31:10 > 0:31:13was at the heart of one of the busiest trade routes in Asia,
0:31:13 > 0:31:17market towns like these exchanged art, ideas
0:31:17 > 0:31:20and cultural influence just as easily as they did
0:31:20 > 0:31:23textiles, ivory and spices.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26And as the merchant class grew more prosperous,
0:31:26 > 0:31:29they could afford to turn their attention to manufacturing.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37These images of the Buddha were being mass-produced to
0:31:37 > 0:31:40cater for expanding markets in the Far East.
0:31:40 > 0:31:42The irony is, of course,
0:31:42 > 0:31:45that a religion based on principles of austerity
0:31:45 > 0:31:49and rejection of the self, its ego and material wealth
0:31:49 > 0:31:54now found itself enveloped in decidedly commercial concerns.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07The craftsmen of Taxila have always known what sells.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11It may not be serene statues of the Buddha any more,
0:32:11 > 0:32:15but instead we've got shiny, glittering disco leopards,
0:32:15 > 0:32:17which would not look out of place in a Duran Duran video.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25The one other thing you see when you're travelling around Pakistan
0:32:25 > 0:32:28are these incredible bursts of colours,
0:32:28 > 0:32:30which are these painted trucks.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34And I'm here at the moment in a yard where they not only make
0:32:34 > 0:32:40the trucks and repair them, but also take great care to decorate them.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43It's slightly intimidating, it's a very male environment.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46There aren't any Page Three pin-ups,
0:32:46 > 0:32:51but what there are, are these magnificently-worked trucks.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54This is one of my absolute favourites.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57It's got all the scale of an American juggernaut,
0:32:57 > 0:32:59but look at the difference.
0:32:59 > 0:33:04Every inch of this vehicle has been decorated, painted, made colourful.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08It is glittering in the sunlight. Here, in the centre,
0:33:08 > 0:33:11you've got Father of the Nation, Muhammad Ali Jinnah,
0:33:11 > 0:33:14flanked by the Pakistani flag.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19And everywhere there is colour, symbols of fish,
0:33:19 > 0:33:23which they particularly like here because it gives them
0:33:23 > 0:33:27lots of opportunity to provide texture
0:33:27 > 0:33:30and colour and pattern.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34You don't see a lot of colour in what people wear.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37The men are dressed in quite earthy colours,
0:33:37 > 0:33:39and the woman may be brightly dressed,
0:33:39 > 0:33:43but many of them are covered in the veil, and then you see this
0:33:43 > 0:33:48incredible burst of colour along the road for everyone to enjoy.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51There's a lot of detail on the outside,
0:33:51 > 0:33:53there's these wonderful tassels.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56And then when you look on the inside,
0:33:56 > 0:33:59an absolute driver's boudoir.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04I wanted to have a look in one of the actual workshops,
0:34:04 > 0:34:08where a lot of the crafting of these designs actually takes place.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20I like to think that these skills
0:34:20 > 0:34:23are an echo of the Taxila craftsman of old.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26Their fine work with gold, silver and precious stones helped
0:34:26 > 0:34:30build ancient trade routes here, and thus the spread of Buddhism.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40Yet however successful abroad, by the eighth century, Buddhism had
0:34:40 > 0:34:43all put disappeared in Pakistan itself.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46So why is their virtually no trace of it in the country
0:34:46 > 0:34:49that was for so long its home?
0:34:52 > 0:34:54It's not in Pakistan but in China
0:34:54 > 0:34:57and the Far East that Gandharan civilisation
0:34:57 > 0:35:02made its greatest impact, and its influence can still be felt today.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06Through the early Chinese pilgrims that came here,
0:35:06 > 0:35:11Buddhism established a firm foothold in Imperial China.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14So it was natural that in later centuries Chinese monks would
0:35:14 > 0:35:18want to return to see the source of their Buddhism.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21What they found, however, left them saddened.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31By the time this monastery and stupa at Bombala were built,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35more than 500 years after Alexander, Buddhism in northwest India
0:35:35 > 0:35:38was being eclipsed by more intruders from Central Asia.
0:35:39 > 0:35:44For the stories of grandeur also brought a series of invaders,
0:35:44 > 0:35:46like the White Huns, upon the region,
0:35:46 > 0:35:50and eventually the grand city of Taxila was brought to its knees.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55In the seventh century,
0:35:55 > 0:35:59when the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang came to Taxila to find
0:35:59 > 0:36:03the source of the Buddhism that had transformed China, it lay desolate
0:36:03 > 0:36:07and in a state of half ruin, a mere shadow of its former glory.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17He described the monasteries as "filled with shrubs
0:36:17 > 0:36:21"and solitary to the last degree, wasted and desolate",
0:36:21 > 0:36:25and the monks as "indolent and given to indulgence and debauchery."
0:36:27 > 0:36:31And in some ways one could say the old tolerance of Taxila,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34the cosmopolitan university open to all faiths,
0:36:34 > 0:36:37also now lies in ruins.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46There's a lovely echo around the valley here,
0:36:46 > 0:36:49and you can just imagine how it would have sounded
0:36:49 > 0:36:53when all the Buddhist monks here would have been chanting.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01It does feel desolate.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04It feels like you've happened upon something that's hidden away
0:37:04 > 0:37:08that was once a great civilisation,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12much of it is still to be excavated,
0:37:12 > 0:37:14and there's a sense of desertion here,
0:37:14 > 0:37:16which is really quite poignant.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24There are real contemporary echoes today,
0:37:24 > 0:37:28in terms of the desecration of Buddhist monuments in Bamiyan
0:37:28 > 0:37:32and also in this region, by the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban.
0:37:38 > 0:37:43Greater Pakistan is probably confused by its Buddhist history,
0:37:43 > 0:37:48only because there's been a state-sponsored Islamic agenda here,
0:37:48 > 0:37:54which really denies the texture and longevity of this land,
0:37:54 > 0:37:56which was always a frontier province,
0:37:56 > 0:38:00it was always many different groups of people, and you can't
0:38:00 > 0:38:06really undo and unpick that complexity without leaving a vacuum.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22The invaders who destroyed the old Buddhist cultures were
0:38:22 > 0:38:25followed out of the Afghan mountains centuries later by more horsemen
0:38:25 > 0:38:29from the north, who brought with them a new religion.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34Islam.
0:38:34 > 0:38:35CALL TO PRAYER
0:38:37 > 0:38:41And to explore the Muslim legacy they left behind, I've come back
0:38:41 > 0:38:43to the city they founded,
0:38:43 > 0:38:46the cultural centre of modern Pakistan - Lahore.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51I've just arrived in Lahore, it's the middle of Eid,
0:38:51 > 0:38:55the greatest celebration - it's sort of Christmas, Easter
0:38:55 > 0:38:56and everything rolled into one.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00There's great excitement on the streets, children out playing,
0:39:00 > 0:39:03big national holiday, and it's just wonderful to be here.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16It's the best time of year in the Muslim calendar.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19Although perhaps not if you're a goat or a cow that's being
0:39:19 > 0:39:21fattened up for the occasion.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28CALL TO PRAYER
0:39:45 > 0:39:46I love being in this city.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49The sights, the smells, the sounds, it's like an assault
0:39:49 > 0:39:52on the senses, but it really, really brings you alive.
0:40:04 > 0:40:09Around 1000 AD, the Muslim sultan Mahmud of Ghazni gained control
0:40:09 > 0:40:14of the Indus Valley, and Lahore rose up as a great city under his rule.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19Scholars and poets gathered from as far away as Iraq and Samarkand
0:40:19 > 0:40:23and made Lahore a city of music and the arts.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26HE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:40:26 > 0:40:31'Today, Ali Sethi typifies a younger group of Pakistani artists
0:40:31 > 0:40:34'who are rediscovering how much their country's past
0:40:34 > 0:40:36'still has to say to them.'
0:40:36 > 0:40:40Is there something about the fact that it's a song of suffering
0:40:40 > 0:40:42- that draws people do it? - Yeah, absolutely.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44Every person that I've ever heard singing it,
0:40:44 > 0:40:48like, sublimates or channels, whatever it is they're feeling,
0:40:48 > 0:40:52whatever pain or angst or, like, you know,
0:40:52 > 0:40:55achy emotion they're feeling, into this song.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58And I've heard, you know, traditional musicians,
0:40:58 > 0:41:00people you would call minstrels,
0:41:00 > 0:41:04singing it with tattered clothes at shrines in deserts,
0:41:04 > 0:41:08and I've heard kids in jeans and t-shirts,
0:41:08 > 0:41:12with joints in their hands, singing this, you know,
0:41:12 > 0:41:16with great feeling and fervour, and taking great ownership of it.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21And that seems to me to be a great miracle of life here,
0:41:21 > 0:41:25is that despite so much...
0:41:25 > 0:41:29truncation, and so much revisionism,
0:41:29 > 0:41:32you know, and so much loss of
0:41:32 > 0:41:34what ought to have been memorialised,
0:41:34 > 0:41:37- there is still this...- Persistence.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41..persistence. This really amazing persistence of things that
0:41:41 > 0:41:47are ancient and that are very strong and that continue to live in us,
0:41:47 > 0:41:49and that we continue to, sort of,
0:41:49 > 0:41:52pour into newer forms, ever newer forms
0:41:52 > 0:41:57and styles and situations, and yet we're not conscious of those things.
0:41:57 > 0:42:02Politically, we are very young, and culturally we're very old.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04So what does that make us?
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Interesting. It makes Pakistan very interesting.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09I agree, I agree.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13THEY SING IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:42:17 > 0:42:21To see how Islam has lasted for 1,000 years in Lahore,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23I've come to this ancient shrine.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Even though Taliban suicide bombers killed 42 worshipers
0:42:28 > 0:42:32here in 2010, the congregation still comes to praise Islam
0:42:32 > 0:42:34in verse, song and dance.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41You know, spiritual music is very powerful,
0:42:41 > 0:42:46and I think all the people who go to shrines,
0:42:46 > 0:42:51they lose themselves.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53It's like going into another space and...
0:42:53 > 0:42:57- It's like a trance.- It's a trance, it's the trance music.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01I've seen 500 people going into a trance for hours.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13You get caught up in the energy of it as well. There's a momentum.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15You get caught up in the energy,
0:43:15 > 0:43:19and the best thing is that they do it not alone.
0:43:19 > 0:43:24They're doing it with friends, and hundreds of them doing it.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26And it's like headbanging
0:43:26 > 0:43:29or something that you do at a rock concert.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36SONG ENDS
0:43:46 > 0:43:50By the 10th century, Lahore was being described as a place
0:43:50 > 0:43:54with impressive palaces, large markets and huge orchards.
0:43:56 > 0:43:58500 years later,
0:43:58 > 0:44:02this thriving cultural hub of a city became a natural choice
0:44:02 > 0:44:06for a capital for the greatest of Muslim connoisseurs - the Mughals.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11For this is where Islam from Persia met
0:44:11 > 0:44:15the land beyond the Indus, to recreate a paradise on earth.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21Lahore is often described as the city of gardens,
0:44:21 > 0:44:23of gardens watered by the Indus.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30The city reached the peak of its glory during the Mughal rule.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32Not only did they build lavish monuments
0:44:32 > 0:44:35and splendid gardens, they bestowed upon Lahore
0:44:35 > 0:44:38customs and traditions that have echoed down the ages.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47And it's Islam which is often credited with introducing
0:44:47 > 0:44:49a new concept to Pakistan,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51the concept of purdah.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Purdah or purd-ah was originally a Persian word
0:44:59 > 0:45:02that came to India with the Mughals,
0:45:02 > 0:45:07and means veil or curtain, and was a way for a wife to show
0:45:07 > 0:45:09complete loyalty to her husband.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13Eventually it was also taken up by high-class Hindu woman
0:45:13 > 0:45:15as a form of protection.
0:45:15 > 0:45:20Previously in the subcontinent, all women were uncovered
0:45:20 > 0:45:22from the waist up,
0:45:22 > 0:45:26as we've seen previously in the Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-daro.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30And here we have these wonderful architectural metaphors
0:45:30 > 0:45:34for the veil in these jali screens,
0:45:34 > 0:45:37which would have been a way to separate the women from the
0:45:37 > 0:45:41world outside, but also for them to create their own world within.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43So what lay behind these walls was
0:45:43 > 0:45:46often very intriguing to the commoner.
0:45:46 > 0:45:51The politics of the harem was much more complex than we might imagine.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59Nowhere can this be seen better than in the relationship
0:45:59 > 0:46:04between the Mughal emperor Jahangir and his charismatic wife Nur Jahan.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08MUSIC: Wonderwall by Ryan Adams
0:46:08 > 0:46:12Born on a caravan travelling from Tehran to India,
0:46:12 > 0:46:16she became the last but most beloved wife of the Emperor.
0:46:16 > 0:46:21Jahangir's two brothers had died of alcoholism and, as Crown Prince,
0:46:21 > 0:46:23he was not much better himself,
0:46:23 > 0:46:25being heavily addicted to opium.
0:46:27 > 0:46:28So when he came to the throne,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31he depended completely on his favourite wife to run
0:46:31 > 0:46:35the kingdom, while he built rock star extravaganzas like this -
0:46:35 > 0:46:39a minaret in which to keep one of his favourite pet deer.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41It's perhaps a little unfair to
0:46:41 > 0:46:46think of Jahangir as the Noel Gallagher of the Mughal Empire,
0:46:46 > 0:46:49because, despite being a playboy,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52he had many other qualities.
0:46:52 > 0:46:56This was, of course, the long summer of the Mughal Empire,
0:46:56 > 0:46:59and in that time he patronised the arts,
0:46:59 > 0:47:04he built beautiful buildings and he was a very just emperor.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06And he had Nur Jahan by his side,
0:47:06 > 0:47:13with whom he had this complex, romantic, intimate relationship,
0:47:13 > 0:47:17which involved, obviously, love, but also political power,
0:47:17 > 0:47:21and in a sense they ruled the empire together.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40Just a step behind the magnificent public balcony where the Emperor sat
0:47:40 > 0:47:46to give audience is this darker chamber, which was actually
0:47:46 > 0:47:49the nerve centre of power.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52And who was here? It was Nur Jahan, his beloved wife, the Empress,
0:47:52 > 0:47:54the Mughal empress.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58And she actually held a lot of power in the Mughal court
0:47:58 > 0:48:00and made many of the decisions.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03So she was effectively standing just over his shoulder
0:48:03 > 0:48:05whispering in his ear, directing him
0:48:05 > 0:48:09while he was holding court to his public just beyond.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17So this series of chambers, private chambers,
0:48:17 > 0:48:22was actually built for Nur Jahan by Jahangir,
0:48:22 > 0:48:27and she traversed these spaces in privacy,
0:48:27 > 0:48:31but completely connected to the public government
0:48:31 > 0:48:36imperial decisions that he was making just a few feet away.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40So, despite the dust and graffiti of centuries,
0:48:40 > 0:48:45including King Jahangir's phone number,
0:48:45 > 0:48:47you can really get a sense of how magnificent
0:48:47 > 0:48:51these private quarters would have been.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54I mean, there's still a lot of intricate paintwork
0:48:54 > 0:48:56to be seen down here,
0:48:56 > 0:49:00and there's an image of the sun-god right in the centre up there.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07So you have to imagine that these internal chambers would have
0:49:07 > 0:49:10been really sumptuous.
0:49:10 > 0:49:11The floors were laid with marble,
0:49:11 > 0:49:15they would have been covered with Persian and Mughal carpets,
0:49:15 > 0:49:20and the walls would have been very, very colourful,
0:49:20 > 0:49:23a rich palette of colours, which would have painted the stuccowork.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27And here in particular, you see a very Persian motif of the
0:49:27 > 0:49:30vase of flowers, which, of course,
0:49:30 > 0:49:34the Mughals brought with them to India.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38I particularly love this space
0:49:38 > 0:49:42because if you look up, the ceiling is covered with mirrors.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46And there's also a little bit of restoration work that's taken place
0:49:46 > 0:49:49which shows you the depth of colour
0:49:49 > 0:49:52that actually there would have been
0:49:52 > 0:49:54during the time that Nur Jahan would
0:49:54 > 0:49:56have been walking through these rooms.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00And there are remnants, still, of gold paint and blue,
0:50:00 > 0:50:05to be seen on the stuccowork above the doorway here.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09And if you imagine that all of this Technicolor would have been,
0:50:09 > 0:50:11with the lighting,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14would have shone off and reflected from the mirrors
0:50:14 > 0:50:18that are overhead. This really would have been a sumptuous
0:50:18 > 0:50:20interior chamber for the Empress Nur Jahan.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28Her grip on the reins of imperial power was absolute.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31But such were the rules of purdah, that no other men ever got to see
0:50:31 > 0:50:36her face. Not even, bizarrely, the artist who painted her portrait.
0:50:38 > 0:50:43So, Salima, this is a very intimate image of the private quarters...
0:50:43 > 0:50:44Yes.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46..of a high-class lady.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50Yes, and preparing herself for her toilette,
0:50:50 > 0:50:52and obviously preparing herself for something important.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56And when you consider that it is invariably a male artist who
0:50:56 > 0:51:00is doing this and with no access...
0:51:00 > 0:51:02So there would have been no access, certainly not this kind?
0:51:02 > 0:51:04Absolutely. No, no.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07No access at all. So this is kind of second-hand information which
0:51:07 > 0:51:10was fed to the artist and presumably...
0:51:10 > 0:51:12Through who?
0:51:12 > 0:51:14Presumably through the informants.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19So there's a lot of imagination,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23a little bit of fantasy, which is involved in this.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26But then the other ways in which, presumably,
0:51:26 > 0:51:29they got to know what women did, what they got up to.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32So you find you do have works... I mean, for example,
0:51:32 > 0:51:35that one, in which there's a rival life
0:51:35 > 0:51:38going on in the women's quarters.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40Amongst the women themselves.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43Yeah, and they are enjoying themselves.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46They have some of the same pastimes as men, actually.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49- They're smoking, they're...- Drinking.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52Uh, I don't know whether they were drinking the same things,
0:51:52 > 0:51:55but presumably they were having a jolly good time.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06Jahangir's reign was a golden age that only came to an end
0:52:06 > 0:52:08with his death in 1627.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13The tomb that was built for him was magnificent in its ostentation.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23The building was clad in zigzags of white and yellow marble,
0:52:23 > 0:52:27and there was once an ornate pavilion built here on the roof.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33But not far away is the much smaller mausoleum of Nur Jahan.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38She had tried to intervene with Jahangir's succession,
0:52:38 > 0:52:43and as a consequence was confined to Lahore for the rest of her days.
0:52:43 > 0:52:48She lies not alongside the love of her life, but beside her daughter,
0:52:48 > 0:52:51in an unassuming tomb she had to build for herself.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00She left a message that expresses her sorrow.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03Nobody would come to light a lamp,
0:53:03 > 0:53:07no moths would come to burn their wings on such lamps,
0:53:07 > 0:53:12and no cuckoos would even sing within the tombs
0:53:12 > 0:53:14of Nur Jahan and her daughter.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32But to remember Nur Jahan best, I've been allowed to
0:53:32 > 0:53:35return to the beautiful Palace Of Mirrors in the
0:53:35 > 0:53:37women's quarters of the Lahore Fort,
0:53:37 > 0:53:40at night, when it's empty and deserted.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55This surely is her true spiritual resting place -
0:53:55 > 0:53:57as a woman who patronised the arts
0:53:57 > 0:54:03and helped make Lahore a glittering centre for artists and writers.
0:54:03 > 0:54:04As it still is.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11OVERLAPPING CHATTER
0:54:12 > 0:54:16THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
0:54:16 > 0:54:17Hi, I'm Sona.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21Hello, how are you?
0:54:21 > 0:54:24Lahore is a very spiritual city
0:54:24 > 0:54:27because here you find all the arts.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33It is also a city of music and of politics.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42If this wasn't a dry country,
0:54:42 > 0:54:45I could have sworn there was something in this orange juice,
0:54:45 > 0:54:49but it's at parties like this that you can really sense that
0:54:49 > 0:54:54visual artists, writers, poets in Pakistan today are
0:54:54 > 0:54:57really engaging with the rich cultural past
0:54:57 > 0:54:59and unpicking it and exposing it,
0:54:59 > 0:55:04and exploring it, to reveal that this isn't just a country
0:55:04 > 0:55:08with a 50-year Islamic history, but something much, much deeper.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12So what I've done is... She has raised all the funding.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15One of the artists at the party has produced a work that has
0:55:15 > 0:55:17become famous and which explores the tensions
0:55:17 > 0:55:21between old and new Pakistan,
0:55:21 > 0:55:23and its relationship with the West.
0:55:24 > 0:55:29I've been particularly drawn to this remarkable series
0:55:29 > 0:55:31that you did called The Veil.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34Can you tell me, firstly, what inspired you?
0:55:34 > 0:55:39What was the moment that made you choose this subject?
0:55:40 > 0:55:47I was intrigued to see in this post-9/11 period, to see
0:55:47 > 0:55:51Western media in particular, whenever there was a mention of
0:55:51 > 0:55:55a Muslim country, it will be referenced
0:55:55 > 0:55:58with the image of a veiled woman.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02So, in a way, I think it kind of reduces
0:56:02 > 0:56:07the representation of women from a certain part of the world,
0:56:07 > 0:56:11which made me think of another simplification of the woman
0:56:11 > 0:56:17in the minds of the men, especially, from the non-Western world,
0:56:17 > 0:56:19because of their exposure to pornography.
0:56:21 > 0:56:26So in this work Rashid has used this process of photomontage,
0:56:26 > 0:56:29where, when you enter the room,
0:56:29 > 0:56:32you encounter one particular image
0:56:32 > 0:56:36which on this occasion is a series of burqa-clad women,
0:56:36 > 0:56:38completely veiled, including the face.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40And then when you come in closer,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43you're opened up to a whole other landscape.
0:56:43 > 0:56:47The pixelations are tiny images of pornography,
0:56:47 > 0:56:50which are captured from the internet,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53and widely disseminated all over the world.
0:56:53 > 0:56:57So he's playing on that idea of contradictions
0:56:57 > 0:57:00of the perceptions that we have in this apparent distinctions
0:57:00 > 0:57:04between what goes on in the East and the West.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12Pakistan has a population of over 200 million people,
0:57:12 > 0:57:16greater than Russia. Its position at the crossroads of Asia
0:57:16 > 0:57:19makes it crucial to world politics.
0:57:19 > 0:57:21And yet my journey through the country has been
0:57:21 > 0:57:27a reminder of how little outsiders know about its complicated past,
0:57:27 > 0:57:28and equally complicated present.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33Today, Pakistan is searching for its identity.
0:57:33 > 0:57:38Not because it doesn't have one, but because this civilisation,
0:57:38 > 0:57:43this 5,000-year-old civilisation, is so textured and multilayered.
0:57:43 > 0:57:48And some of that history is shared and contested with
0:57:48 > 0:57:50its neighbour India, but a lot of isn't,
0:57:50 > 0:57:54because this was always a frontier land between India to the south,
0:57:54 > 0:58:00China to the North, Afghanistan, Iran and Ancient Babylon and Greece.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04And running through this, like an artery, nourishing civilisations
0:58:04 > 0:58:08that have lived here, has been the River Indus.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14In the next episode of Treasures Of The Indus, I'll explore
0:58:14 > 0:58:17what happened when the Islamic conquerors who swept into
0:58:17 > 0:58:23Lahore in the 16th century travelled even farther down into India,
0:58:23 > 0:58:25when the Islam of the Mughals collided
0:58:25 > 0:58:27with the kingdoms of Hindustan
0:58:27 > 0:58:30and created some of the finest architecture
0:58:30 > 0:58:32the world has ever seen.