A haveli in ruins
A grave on the border
Story of Padhania Sardars
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Exiting out of Lahore, having crossed BRBL canal and the ditch-cum-bund of first line of defence, almost within an earshot from border fence is a village called Padhana
It has a crumbling yet magnificent haveli

Once it was a magnificent three storey structure built of nanak shahi bricks
The architecture is amalgamation of Mughal & Rajput styles
Onion shaped domes, squared top pavilions on the corner turrets, bricked arches running parallel to multi-storey structures & paired pilasters

Main building is in red burnt brick with the signature plaster of gach from olden days
Time and neglect have faded the shades of true yellow to a stale grey
There must have been floral frescoes and intricate ornamental work of which very scanty remains survive at few odd places

Originally a complex of residential quarters and katchehri of Sardar Jawala Singh Sandhu, an influential ally of young Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Here were the court offices of Sardar Atma Singh, a divisional magistrate from the days of the Raj with jurisdiction in fifty two villages

Outside Padhana a kacha track leads to border
A little less than a hundred yards from zero line in the stretch of green fields, under scantily branched twin trees is a lone grave
Here, dear reader, rests in peace Sardar Amanullah, a Sandhu from the lineage of Padhania Sardars

Chaudhary Changa, a Jat of prominence in the days of Emperor Akbar, founded Padhana, so they say
In his bloodline, we come across Sardar Jawala Singh from darbar of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
An brave leader who distinguished himself in campaigns of Multan, Mankera, Kashmir & Attock

Another name of prominence is Atma Singh from late 1880s appointed as Honorary Magistrate by the British
His loyalty to the Raj earned him Sanad by the viceroy
A nephew of Sardar Atma Singh was Gurubakhsh Singh, whose son Harcharan Singh embraced Islam and named Sardar Nasrullah

Sardar Amanullah Sandhu, whose grave we visited a few tweets above was the son of Sardar Nasrullah
At the time of partition he decided to stay in Pakistan and got buried in the land he very dearly owned and toiled at to earn a living

The lineage of Chaudhary Changa got divided on partition
A choice with Padhania Chiefs, that made Sardar Amanullah to choose the land of his ancestral livelihood and others to move across to new horizons
The Muslim and Sikh factions of the family do catch up although infrequently

Padhana, a border village of Lahore, has stories to tell
Stories from the rich past, of the present divide and of a future hope https://www.meemainseen.com/2015/12/padhana/