Lur Lor Loha Lohar Lahore Laroia?

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for a wonderful salon. I personally am just scratching the surface with Luri weavings and learned a lot from your research.

Talking about name origins...my late father-in-law went by a rather rare surname - Laroia. His family descended from Lahore, now a major city in Pakistan, and the surname was apparently a derivative of the name of that city. Other variations of that surname include Laroiya, Loraiya, and possibly Lahoriya.

I am personally unaware of any connection between the term Lahore and the Urdu (and Persian) word "Loha" (which your Salon also identifies as the local term for Iron). The city was obviously settled by Mughal kings who originally descended from the Persian empire.

Do you, or any other readers, know of the origins of the name "Lahore"? It would help answer some interesting family tree mysteries for us.

Maybe my father-in-law was of Luri lineage...that would be a rather exciting find!

By the way, his mother did weave some beautiful wool "dhurries" (or kilims) and my wife and I are lucky to have received one of those as a treasured heirloom. The compositions she used were remarkably similar to the "dazzler" Luri Varamin kilims one comes across often.

Best wishes
Danny

Iron Man

Danny,

Welcome to the Salon and thank you for allowing me to use some photos of your Luri weavings!
You are right about the name. From a website, alephx.com/lahore, comes this information:

Lahore is undoubtedly ancient. Legend had it that it was founded by Loh, son of Rama, the hero of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. Some others think that the name means Loh-awar, meaning a "Fort as strong as Iron".

Patrick Weiler

Thanks, Patrick.

This is very interesting. I grew up in India but had no idea about the mystical connections my in-law's family had to the great Lurs. Fun stuff!

It'll be interesting to see if other readers have additional information or thoughts on this.

Best wishes
Danny