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City of Sin and Splendour: Writings on Lahore
'The ancient whore, the handmaiden of dimly remembered Hindu kings, the courtesan of Mughal emperors’, the ‘Paris of the East’, Lahore is more than the grandeur of Mughal forts and gardens, mosques and mausoleums; the jewel colours of everlasting spring. It is also the city of poets, the city of love, longing, sin and splendour. This anthology brings together verse and prose: essays, stories, chronicles and profiles by people who have shared a relationship with Lahore. From the mystical poems of Madho Lal Hussain and Bulleh Shah to Iqbal’s ode and Faiz’s lament, from Maclagan and Aijazuddin’s historical treatises and Kipling’s ‘chronicles’ to Samina Quraeshi’s intricate portraits of the Old City and Irfan Husain’s delightful account of Lahori cuisine, City of Sin and Splendour is a marriage of the sacred and profane.
While Pran Nevile paints a vivid sketch of Lahore’s Hira Mandi, Shahnaz Kureshy brings alive the legend of Anarkali and Khalid Hasan pays a tribute to the late ‘melody queen’ Nur Jehan. Mohsin Hamid’s essay on exile, Bina Shah’s account of the Karachi vs Lahore debate and Emma Duncan’s piece on elections are essential to the understanding of modern-day Lahore.
But the city is also about Lahore remembered. Ved Mehta and Krishen Khanna write about ‘going back’ as Khushwant Singh writes about his pre-Partition years in Lahore. Sara Suleri’s memories of her hometown, the landscapes of Bapsi Sidhwa’s fiction, Khaled Ahmed’s homage to Intezar Hussain and Urvashi Butalia’s Ranamama are tributes to memory as much as they are tributes to remarkable lives and unforgettable places.
Including fiction old and new—from Manto and Chughtai to Ashfaq Ahmed and Zulfikar Ghose; Saad Ashraf and Sorayya Khan to Mohsin Hamid and Rukhsana Ahmad, City of Sin and Splendour is a sumptuous collection that reflects the city it celebrates.
While Pran Nevile paints a vivid sketch of Lahore’s Hira Mandi, Shahnaz Kureshy brings alive the legend of Anarkali and Khalid Hasan pays a tribute to the late ‘melody queen’ Nur Jehan. Mohsin Hamid’s essay on exile, Bina Shah’s account of the Karachi vs Lahore debate and Emma Duncan’s piece on elections are essential to the understanding of modern-day Lahore.
But the city is also about Lahore remembered. Ved Mehta and Krishen Khanna write about ‘going back’ as Khushwant Singh writes about his pre-Partition years in Lahore. Sara Suleri’s memories of her hometown, the landscapes of Bapsi Sidhwa’s fiction, Khaled Ahmed’s homage to Intezar Hussain and Urvashi Butalia’s Ranamama are tributes to memory as much as they are tributes to remarkable lives and unforgettable places.
Including fiction old and new—from Manto and Chughtai to Ashfaq Ahmed and Zulfikar Ghose; Saad Ashraf and Sorayya Khan to Mohsin Hamid and Rukhsana Ahmad, City of Sin and Splendour is a sumptuous collection that reflects the city it celebrates.
392 pages, Paperback
First published September 26, 2005
34 people are currently reading
1010 people want to read
About the author
Bapsi Sidhwa
21 books369 followersBapsi Sidhwa was a Pakistani novelist who wrote in English and was resident in the United States.
She was best known for her collaborative work with Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta: Sidhwa wrote both the 1991 novel Ice Candy Man which served as the basis for Mehta's 1998 film Earth as well as the 2006 novel Water: A Novel, on which Mehta's 2005 film Water is based. A documentary about Sidhwa's life called "Bapsi: Silences of My Life" was released on the official YouTube channel of " The Citizens Archive of Pakistan" on 28 October 2022 with the title " First Generation -Stories of partition: Bapsi Sidhwa".
She was best known for her collaborative work with Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta: Sidhwa wrote both the 1991 novel Ice Candy Man which served as the basis for Mehta's 1998 film Earth as well as the 2006 novel Water: A Novel, on which Mehta's 2005 film Water is based. A documentary about Sidhwa's life called "Bapsi: Silences of My Life" was released on the official YouTube channel of " The Citizens Archive of Pakistan" on 28 October 2022 with the title " First Generation -Stories of partition: Bapsi Sidhwa".
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January 2, 2016My grandfather once told me a story of how as a star-struck teenager he ran away from Multan to Lahore to become an actor because the whole world was in Lahore. Unfortunately, he was found by his mother who thrashed his sorry self back to Multan to look after his many siblings. Even after he came to India after partition and moved to Mumbai, he said that he never forgot the grandeur of Lahore. It was a city of splendor, a city of lights, a charming city of so much beauty that it was hard to not be dazzled by it all.
“City of Sin and Splendour” a collection of writings on Lahore by Bapsi Sidhwa made me understand why my grandfather fell in love with the city. The city that was the home to two of the greatest Urdu poets “Allama Iqbal” and “Faiz Ahmad Faiz”. The city where Khushwant Singh studied and lived before he moved to Delhi. The city that was known for its culture and socially elite is also a part of the painful memories of a lot of people who were born and lived in the shadow of partition.
Ms. Sidhwa in an excerpt from her book “A Pakistani Bride” describes Lahore as “the ancient whore, the handmaiden of dimly remembered Hindu kings the courtesan of Moghul emperors bedecked and bejeweled, savaged by marauding hordes. An attractive but aging concubine, ready to bestow surprising delights on those who cared to court her”. For a reader who has never been to Lahore, it is not hard to be smitten by it after reading such lines.
The book is a collection of stories, prose, interviews & records of some of the biggest names in South Asian literature. Ms. Sidhwa has collected the poems of mystical Sufi saints like Bulleh Shah & Madho Lala Hussain. Faiz’s beautiful poem “City of Lights” and Iqbal’s couplets also find a mention in this book. The city which gave birth to Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Kim’. The city that stored the famed legend of Anarkali in its bosom. The city where the alluring ladies of Hira Mandi offered not only their bodies but also a part of their culture to the ever willing patrons, the various authors talk about what they lost, what they left behind and what they are still looking for in and out of Lahore. Lahore is also a food lovers paradise and there are many similarities between the richness of North Indian food and the food found in the lanes of Lahore. I even found the animosity between Lahore and Karachi endearing because it reminded me so much of how people from Delhi hate Mumbai and vice versa.
A fabulous book for lovers of Lahore because as they say “Lahore Lahore Hai”.
“City of Sin and Splendour” a collection of writings on Lahore by Bapsi Sidhwa made me understand why my grandfather fell in love with the city. The city that was the home to two of the greatest Urdu poets “Allama Iqbal” and “Faiz Ahmad Faiz”. The city where Khushwant Singh studied and lived before he moved to Delhi. The city that was known for its culture and socially elite is also a part of the painful memories of a lot of people who were born and lived in the shadow of partition.
Ms. Sidhwa in an excerpt from her book “A Pakistani Bride” describes Lahore as “the ancient whore, the handmaiden of dimly remembered Hindu kings the courtesan of Moghul emperors bedecked and bejeweled, savaged by marauding hordes. An attractive but aging concubine, ready to bestow surprising delights on those who cared to court her”. For a reader who has never been to Lahore, it is not hard to be smitten by it after reading such lines.
The book is a collection of stories, prose, interviews & records of some of the biggest names in South Asian literature. Ms. Sidhwa has collected the poems of mystical Sufi saints like Bulleh Shah & Madho Lala Hussain. Faiz’s beautiful poem “City of Lights” and Iqbal’s couplets also find a mention in this book. The city which gave birth to Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Kim’. The city that stored the famed legend of Anarkali in its bosom. The city where the alluring ladies of Hira Mandi offered not only their bodies but also a part of their culture to the ever willing patrons, the various authors talk about what they lost, what they left behind and what they are still looking for in and out of Lahore. Lahore is also a food lovers paradise and there are many similarities between the richness of North Indian food and the food found in the lanes of Lahore. I even found the animosity between Lahore and Karachi endearing because it reminded me so much of how people from Delhi hate Mumbai and vice versa.
A fabulous book for lovers of Lahore because as they say “Lahore Lahore Hai”.
October 22, 2018
City of Sin and Splendour by Bapsi Sidhwa introduces you to the Lahore you never knew. Many stories of old lahoris leave you in trance. It also give you insight into the downfall of its civilization. Lahore of Kipling, Manto, Faiz and Shah Hussain.
January 13, 2008
This book is a collection of short stories, excerpts from novels and non-fiction compiled with the common appreciation for the ancient city of Lahore. It seems as though all Lahoris share a common culture and that was apparent when many of the authors reiterated common cultural nuances of the people, sites to visit, foods, and famous artists, that I was very familiar with from the stories that I had been told time and time again from family members who have lived in Lahore. I definitely recommend this book to those who have roots in this city, but also for those who don't know the cultural significance of this ancient city. Also, I would especially recommend it to those who have not ventured to the old city of Lahore (fortified by the Mughals), which is essentially the heart of the city and where to this day craftsmen practice their craft that has been passed on since the Mughal Empire. The collection is intelligently separated into sections by editor Bapsi Sidwha, a quintessential Lahori, and contains articles from many very prominent Lahoris.
May 4, 2015
Must read for all Lahoris for some of the best collection of writings on the city, its history, its people, its secrets and its intensity.
May 25, 2021
For the month of Jan 2021, I had picked up City of Sin and Splendour: Writings on Lahore compiled and edited by Bapsi Sidhwa, an internationally acclaimed Pakistani/American Parsi writer. The book is an anthology with a collection of essays, excerpts from books,stories and poems about Lahore by various writers old and new.
If you are looking for an expansive narrative on Lahore, from its documented history, Mughal era developments, Sikh Rule, British Raj,post partition revolutionary fervour, Iqbal's Lahore and the city featured across myriads of fiction writings by Sidhwa herself as well as Mohsin Hamid, Bano Qudsia and Bina Shah, then I would highly recommend you pick this.
This book leans more towards the glory days of the past than contemporary Lahori society I inhabit. But nostalgia has a way to creep into us. Just like a film lends to the unseen the burden of sight, so does reminiscing in this book by diverse writers lends the rubble of Lahore the allure of ancient Rome.
I read about the remnants of overthrow bourgeoisie culture in some writers who have long since left the city and only write of the eye candy fit for a tourist brochure. But some memoirs are poignant, heavy with loneliness of memories of those who were forced to leave it during Partition riots ( Ved Mehta, Krishan Khanna and Urvashi Butalia's pieces tell much more than they bargained for).
As I hopscotch around Lahore during weekends, these buildings and monuments have started exuding a different meaning to me ever since I have finished this book. I now reframe my little escapes as perspective building exercises-a gaze only a privileged few can afford. I left Jan much richer than how I had entered it. Pick it up and ride a wave of emotions on this ride down the memory lane.
If you are looking for an expansive narrative on Lahore, from its documented history, Mughal era developments, Sikh Rule, British Raj,post partition revolutionary fervour, Iqbal's Lahore and the city featured across myriads of fiction writings by Sidhwa herself as well as Mohsin Hamid, Bano Qudsia and Bina Shah, then I would highly recommend you pick this.
This book leans more towards the glory days of the past than contemporary Lahori society I inhabit. But nostalgia has a way to creep into us. Just like a film lends to the unseen the burden of sight, so does reminiscing in this book by diverse writers lends the rubble of Lahore the allure of ancient Rome.
I read about the remnants of overthrow bourgeoisie culture in some writers who have long since left the city and only write of the eye candy fit for a tourist brochure. But some memoirs are poignant, heavy with loneliness of memories of those who were forced to leave it during Partition riots ( Ved Mehta, Krishan Khanna and Urvashi Butalia's pieces tell much more than they bargained for).
As I hopscotch around Lahore during weekends, these buildings and monuments have started exuding a different meaning to me ever since I have finished this book. I now reframe my little escapes as perspective building exercises-a gaze only a privileged few can afford. I left Jan much richer than how I had entered it. Pick it up and ride a wave of emotions on this ride down the memory lane.
June 21, 2021
I have long wanted to travel to Lahore. The city of Fakirs has always reminded me of Delhi, and maybe I have considered it the Dilli of Pakistan, with its similar history and culture. City of Sin and Splendor brings Lahore to life. I could feel the buildings with chipped paint rise up in the lanes of my mind as I read. The colorful Hira Mandi sprang to my eyes in all its colorful glory, where horse-drawn tongas tinted the images in my mind and the idea of women selling sex like sari’s gave it indescribable character. The short stories with vibrant characters and essays descriptive of the city, hold your hand and lead you through the city beckoning you to watch it come alive through partition to the present. I have lived in Lahore through this book and shall continue to do so until I actually set foot in the city of sin and splendor…
July 31, 2025
This is a beautiful and nostalgic collection of excerpts and essays celebrating Lahore. Bapsi Sidhwa, who spent her childhood in the city, brings together voices that clearly share her deep love and connection to it. Her collection captures Lahore in all its complexity, its history, its charm, its contradictions.
Even if you're not a native Lahori, just a visitor or someone who has merely passed through, you’ll understand that Lahore has a unique vibe. There's something intangible in the air, the rustling of giant trees, the calls of birds, the aroma of food drifting from street corners, and the timeless hum of life.
I may not have the words like the gifted writers in this collection, but reading their heartfelt and romantic reflections on Lahore was a true pleasure. This book isn’t just a tribute to a city, it’s a love letter.
Even if you're not a native Lahori, just a visitor or someone who has merely passed through, you’ll understand that Lahore has a unique vibe. There's something intangible in the air, the rustling of giant trees, the calls of birds, the aroma of food drifting from street corners, and the timeless hum of life.
I may not have the words like the gifted writers in this collection, but reading their heartfelt and romantic reflections on Lahore was a true pleasure. This book isn’t just a tribute to a city, it’s a love letter.
May 9, 2020
A brilliant book, its divided in 47 different short stories and poetry works. The book explores Lahore - its history, the pain of partition, the city itself, the city's politics and art, the culinary delights, court cases, it's various chroniclers, it's film stars and the relationships of it's inhabitants.
Being a really old city, the stories are many, poetry is fulsome and the range is exquisite. Really a great introductory book for anyone interested in Lahore and it's story.
Being a really old city, the stories are many, poetry is fulsome and the range is exquisite. Really a great introductory book for anyone interested in Lahore and it's story.
December 3, 2022
Title: The City of Sin and Splendor
Author: Bapsi Sidhwa and others
Genre: Historical
This book is the biography of City Lahore, Pakistan written by many writers from both countries from different eras covering history, and various anecdotes before and after partition.
One must fall with the city of Lahore after reading this book. A must feel the good old days of bonhomie between the two nations.
Rating:4.5/5
Author: Bapsi Sidhwa and others
Genre: Historical
This book is the biography of City Lahore, Pakistan written by many writers from both countries from different eras covering history, and various anecdotes before and after partition.
One must fall with the city of Lahore after reading this book. A must feel the good old days of bonhomie between the two nations.
Rating:4.5/5
May 17, 2018
Beautiful collection of short stories from some of the most well-known writers in South Asia who grew up witnessing the charm of Lahore. As the saying goes: jinne Lahore nahi vekhya o janmya hi nahi.
March 23, 2019
The book is filled with plenty of stories that represent a common individual and their associated structures in which the individual navigates their lives in search of humanly needs
April 7, 2025
Utterly beautiful. Quite intelligent. Very poignant.
December 28, 2020
*A love letter of longing to Lahore*
An excerpt from Ved Mehta’s story in the book, (He revisits his ancestral home in Lahore now occupied by two Pakistani women, after almost 6 decades)
‘Was the house as you had pictured it?” Shahnaz asked.
‘Yes’, I said. ‘But of course, all the rooms seem much smaller than what I’d remembered. That is not surprising, since I last saw the house when I was small.’
Bapsi Sidhwa has prepared a love letter to the city of Lahore that has been wounded time and again, but rose every time with a distinct splendor of its own. This love letter is on behalf of all those who love Lahore while residing it and who left Lahore but Lahore never left their heart and soul. It couldn’t have been a simple task to collect stories about the city adorned with countless adjectives over the decades and centuries. “Jewel in Sikh Crown”, “Akbar's Capital”, “City of Lights” “Basin of Splendor and Grandeur”. I can’t imagine another book better edited than this one; that puts together everything about Lahore, a lover of the same yearns to read about.
“Lahore is the village that never wanted to be a city.”
I am not a Lahori, neither have I ever lived there. Still, I am in love with Lahore or the idea of Lahore for a long time. Maybe it comes from my fondness of history and nostalgia, or maybe after reading Amritsar to Lahore by Stephen Alter a couple of years back. Or it could simply be because I just love Dilli, the soul sister of Lahore. There is nothing I don’t like about Dilli. Towering Red Fort, dark narrow alleys of Chandni Chowk, Lodhi Garden, Khan Market, or Hauz Khas. Knowing that their counterparts stand in Shalimar Bagh, Badshahi Masjid, Anarkali Bazaar, and Delhi Gate, dismissing I love Lahore is tough.
The anthology begins with the history of the earliest invaders and rulers of Lahore. Including the works of some of the most authentic chroniclers of Lahore, the book never stops romancing it for a single moment. Even those who came with an intent of looting couldn’t help falling in love and ended up embellishing it. The poetic charm follows everywhere, whether it’s the verses of Faiz or simply the almost visual dilemma of young Britishers who had their hearts broken when they had to leave their rich houses and gardens overnight.
After a bit of boring historical accounts that are essential to the character of Lahore and can’t be omitted in my opinion, more personal accounts come alive. Tales of longing and separation spanning generations are heart-piercing. But leaving you dejected is not the intention. The book opens large gates to numerous old and new authors and their profound writings on Lahore.
“Malik Ayaz appointed by Mahmud Ghazni rebuilt the city overnight”
The entirety of the book contains Lahore and everything about it masterfully. From historical notes to personal accounts of the sufferers to the artists and prominent figures of every field who helped shape the image of Lahore the world knows today, I personally cannot think of a single aspect being left out that could have defined the city in a major way. Except for the one by Kipling, almost all chapters had me completely and emotionally invested.
It treats the chronology of Lahore with such care that it feels like you are reading about an emotional human story rather than of a place.
Here in another story, Ismat Chughtai’s is just elated to be in Lahore again along with her friend Manto due to a court trial and she doesn’t care even if she is hanged there now.
“This was the time when words of praise issued forth spontaneously from my heart for the king of Britain because he has brought a case against us and thus afforded us the golden opportunity of having a festive time in Lahore. We began to wait impatiently for our second appearance in court. We no longer cared if we were to be hanged.”
If you make up your mind to read one book on Lahore in your lifetime, let that be this one. Because -
“Life in Lahore is one big dinner party and everyone's invited.”
Same review in also available on
https://instagram.com/a_ruminant?igsh...
An excerpt from Ved Mehta’s story in the book, (He revisits his ancestral home in Lahore now occupied by two Pakistani women, after almost 6 decades)
‘Was the house as you had pictured it?” Shahnaz asked.
‘Yes’, I said. ‘But of course, all the rooms seem much smaller than what I’d remembered. That is not surprising, since I last saw the house when I was small.’
Bapsi Sidhwa has prepared a love letter to the city of Lahore that has been wounded time and again, but rose every time with a distinct splendor of its own. This love letter is on behalf of all those who love Lahore while residing it and who left Lahore but Lahore never left their heart and soul. It couldn’t have been a simple task to collect stories about the city adorned with countless adjectives over the decades and centuries. “Jewel in Sikh Crown”, “Akbar's Capital”, “City of Lights” “Basin of Splendor and Grandeur”. I can’t imagine another book better edited than this one; that puts together everything about Lahore, a lover of the same yearns to read about.
“Lahore is the village that never wanted to be a city.”
I am not a Lahori, neither have I ever lived there. Still, I am in love with Lahore or the idea of Lahore for a long time. Maybe it comes from my fondness of history and nostalgia, or maybe after reading Amritsar to Lahore by Stephen Alter a couple of years back. Or it could simply be because I just love Dilli, the soul sister of Lahore. There is nothing I don’t like about Dilli. Towering Red Fort, dark narrow alleys of Chandni Chowk, Lodhi Garden, Khan Market, or Hauz Khas. Knowing that their counterparts stand in Shalimar Bagh, Badshahi Masjid, Anarkali Bazaar, and Delhi Gate, dismissing I love Lahore is tough.
The anthology begins with the history of the earliest invaders and rulers of Lahore. Including the works of some of the most authentic chroniclers of Lahore, the book never stops romancing it for a single moment. Even those who came with an intent of looting couldn’t help falling in love and ended up embellishing it. The poetic charm follows everywhere, whether it’s the verses of Faiz or simply the almost visual dilemma of young Britishers who had their hearts broken when they had to leave their rich houses and gardens overnight.
After a bit of boring historical accounts that are essential to the character of Lahore and can’t be omitted in my opinion, more personal accounts come alive. Tales of longing and separation spanning generations are heart-piercing. But leaving you dejected is not the intention. The book opens large gates to numerous old and new authors and their profound writings on Lahore.
“Malik Ayaz appointed by Mahmud Ghazni rebuilt the city overnight”
The entirety of the book contains Lahore and everything about it masterfully. From historical notes to personal accounts of the sufferers to the artists and prominent figures of every field who helped shape the image of Lahore the world knows today, I personally cannot think of a single aspect being left out that could have defined the city in a major way. Except for the one by Kipling, almost all chapters had me completely and emotionally invested.
It treats the chronology of Lahore with such care that it feels like you are reading about an emotional human story rather than of a place.
Here in another story, Ismat Chughtai’s is just elated to be in Lahore again along with her friend Manto due to a court trial and she doesn’t care even if she is hanged there now.
“This was the time when words of praise issued forth spontaneously from my heart for the king of Britain because he has brought a case against us and thus afforded us the golden opportunity of having a festive time in Lahore. We began to wait impatiently for our second appearance in court. We no longer cared if we were to be hanged.”
If you make up your mind to read one book on Lahore in your lifetime, let that be this one. Because -
“Life in Lahore is one big dinner party and everyone's invited.”
Same review in also available on
https://instagram.com/a_ruminant?igsh...
August 15, 2007
Amusing compliation of readings about Lahore. A must read.
February 6, 2014
Rich and colorful!
December 8, 2016
Excellent collection of short stories on one of my beloved cities; Lahore.
April 16, 2014
A great collection...
May 17, 2017
Delectable!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews