Mosque of Dai Anga

         Anga was the wet-nurse of the Emperor Shah Jahan.  The Masjid known after her name is situated at the station of the Punjab Northern State railway.  It is a splendid mosque, and ws used as the private residence of Mr. Henry Cope, late editor of the old Lahore Chronicle Newspaper and Press.  He sold it for Rs.12,000 to the late Punjab and Delhi Railway Company.  When the Railway came under the direct management of the State, the house was transferred to Government, and considerable additionas having been made to it, it is now used a the mosque are bulb-like.  Passages from the Koran, on the walls inside, are preserved along, with beautiful enameled work in yellow color. 

            Anga, in Urdu, means wet-nurse.  The real name of Anga was Zeb-un-Nisa.  She was the wife of Morad Khan, a Moghal who was Adawlati or Magistrate of Bikaner during the reign of Jahangir.  He had a son, Mahomed Rshid Khan, who was one of the hest archers of the time.  He was killed in the action with Dara Shekoh.  Anga, in her old age, expressed a wish to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and the Emperor Shah Jahan provided her with suitable means to perform the holy pilgrimage.  Before leaving India she built this mosque in 1045 A.H. being the eighth year of the reign of Shah Jahan.  It was one of the most frequented mosques enabled it to maintain its flourishing condition as a place of worship for a long time.  Ranjit Singh, on coming to power, used it as a powder magazine, as he did many other mosques and mausoleums, until Mr. Cope, on the annexation of the Punjab, used it as his residence, with the sanction of the British authorities.

            The Kansi work preserved on some of the walls in the interior of this mosque is a most beautiful and perfect specimen of the art of enameled tiles.  The passages from the Koran are written in bold Arabic characters of the most chaste penmanship.  On the top of the central hall is inscribed, in Arabic, the Mohammedan confession of faith, 

            There is no God but God, and Mohamed, the Prophet of God.

            Below this, is the passage:- 

            God, Mohamed, Abubakar, Umar, Usman, Ali, Hassan and Hussain.

             To the right of the western hall of the side chamber, south of central hall is this inscription:-

             Completed under the personal superintendence of Maqbul.

            To the left is the inscription:-

 “ Written by Ibrahim, 1045 ”.