'Hira Mand چکلا (literally "Diamond Market"), also known as Shahi Mohalla (meaning: The Royal Neighbourhood), is a red-light district in Lahore. The women here offer traditional and classical dances and was originally the center of the city's tawaif culture in the Mughal era. Today, it is a centre of prostitution in Lahore under the veil of dances, such as mujra, a branch of classical South-Asian sensual dancing. While many Hijras also frequent the area and are involved in this dance culture.

Hira mandi is located in the northwest corner of the Walled City of Lahore, next to Roshnai Gate, Badshahi Masjid, Lahore Fort, and Hazuri Bagh. During the day the place is much like other Pakistani bazars and is also known for its good food, Khussa (shoes) and the shops for musical instruments.

[edit] See also

• Prostitution in Pakistan
• Mujra

[edit] External links

• Tawaif: An Urdu Documentary on Heera Mandi (Video)

[edit] Further reading

• Saeed, Fouzia (2001). Taboo!: The Hidden Culture of a Red Light Area. Karachi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-579412-5. 
• Saeed, Fouzia (2006). "Chapter 6: Good women, bad women: prostitution in Pakistan". in Gangoli, Geetanjali; Westmarland, Nicole. International Approaches to Prostitution: Law and policy in Europe and Asia. The Policy Press, University of Bristol. pp. 141–164. ISBN 1-86134-672-7. *Brown, Louise (2006). The Dancing Girls of Lahore: Selling Love and Saving Dreams in Pakistan's Pleasure District. Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0060740436. 
• Khan, Noor Mohammad (2009). Some Time On the Frontier-A Pakistan Journal. CreateSpace. ISBN 1440415978. 

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