On west bank of Dal Lake, in 1635, on order of Shahjahan work on a new garden was started. It is said that on the same site, sometime after 1586, Akbar had laid out a garden.
In summer of 1635, when Sun entered the Zodiac of Aries, northern vernal equinox, March 20-21, twelve hundred saplings of chinar were planted all at the same time. Laid out in classic ‘Char Chinar’ pattern, four chinars in four corners of a rectangular piece of land, so that a person in centre would be under shade at all hours of the day. The saplings were fed water and milk. A canal from Zukrah canal (canal now non-existent, near Batpora) was dug and brought in to water velvety green grass. A boundary wall was raised and fountains planted (both disappeared during Afghan time). This Mughal garden was named Nasim Bagh or the Garden of Breeze, for the gently breeze that blew though it.
Subha dar Bagha Nashat o Sham dar Bagha Nasim,
Shalamar o lala-zar o sair-i-Kashmir ast u bas
Morning at Nashat Bagh and evening at the Nasim Bagh,
Shalamar, and tulip fields, – these are the places of
excursion in Kashmir and none else.
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| Autumn, 2014 |
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| Naseem Bagh 1875 [via: Japan Archive] It was a popular camping site for the British. |
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| Hari Parbat from Naseem Bagh 1890s [via: George Eastman House Photography Collections] |
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| Nasim Bagh by Ralph Stewart 1913 [via: pahar.in] |
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Historical account based on ‘Tarikh-i- Hasan’ of Moulvi Ghulam Hasan Shah (1832-1898). And translations provided by Pandit Anand Koul in 1920s.
If dreams are to stay
As meant
They must be like logs, cut
Piled dried
Ready for burning
And if one cares
To reach the splendour
Of a flame
One must be wood first
~ All Beautiful things in the world are Chinar, O.P. Bhatnagar