Found these beautiful rare paintings of Kashmir by Abanindranath Tagore in an old travelogue called ‘The Charm of Kashmir’ (1920) by V.C. Scott O’connor (Vincent Clarence Scott, 1869-1945). Enjoy the incredible art!
The above one is titled “Asoka, who by the white stucco of his fame made spotless the universe” and is the frontispiece for the book. Shankaracharya temple in the background adds a surreal touch to this painting.
Nasim Bagh
Nishat
Chashma Shahi
Fate and the Pleasure-Lovers
Night at the Shalimar – The Emperor Shah Jahan
-0-
Update: Came across following two paintings in a CD titled ‘Indian Paintings’ produced by Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Government of India.
“Emperor’s march to Kashmir Artist: Abanindranath Tagore (lived 1871-1951) Medium: Tempera on paper Abanindranath Tagore, the nephew of Rabindranath Tagore, is credited with the founding of the Bengal School of Art. This movement revolted against the western manner of painting as represented by artists such as Raja Ravi Varma and sought to revive ancient and medieval Indian traditions of painting. Through the Bengal School, Abanindranath attempted to create a national movement.
Collection: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi”
Ranjit Pandit’s translation of Kalhan’s Rajatarangini starts with lines:
Shadow is itself unrestrained in its path while sunshine, as an incident of its very nature, is pursued a hundredfold by nuance. Thus is sorrow from happiness a thing apart; the scope of happiness, however, is hampered by the aches and hurts of endless sorrow.
This is a guest post by Man Mohan Munshi ji who has generously offered to share some more stuff from his incredible collection.
-0-
The first car nears the summit of Burzil Pass
A half track at Burzil Pass 13,857 ft. on Great Himalaya Range between Gurais and Gilgit. FIRST EVER ACROSS THE HIMALAYAS BY MOTOR TRANSPORT By M.M.Munshi It was and is still believed by most of us that earliest record of motor transport having surmounted the Great Himalaya Range was made by a couple of Honey Staurt tanks and few weapon carriers of the 7th Light Cavalry supporting the Infantry in storming of the 11,500 high Zojila Pass in relief of the Leh operation on 4th November 1948.
In reality the earliest record of motor transport of having not only surmounting but also having crossed the great Himalaya Range was made by half tracks of the Trans Asiatic Harrdt-Cintrogen Expedition in crossing the 14,000 ft high Burzil and other passes between Srinagar and Gilgit and beyond in 1931.
In an era of glorious expeditions there was hardly any more splendid expedition undertaken than the 1931-32 Trans Asiatic Harrdt Cintrogen Expedition sponsored by National Geographic and undertaken by Harrdt with his French team. During early 1920s Harrdt had traversed the Sahara in his half track vehicles designed by Andre Citrogen . On April 4th 1931 with seven specially designed cintrogen half tracks Harrdt set off from Beirut in Lebanon in an attempt to reach yellow sea by roughly following the route of Marco Polo’s journey seven centuries earlier. The expedition was supposed to cross the Asia from Beirut to Beijing,avoiding the Pamirs through Soviet Turkish republics in one set of half tracks,but Soviet refusal to permit the expedition through their territory the expedition had to be divided ; one set of seven half tracks assembled on east coast of China and moved westwards and another set of seven half tracks moved from Mediterranean through Lebanon,Syria, Iraq,Iran, Afghanistan to Srinagar in India covering a distance of 5,580 kms from Beirut to Srinagar in 81 days between April 4th April to 31st June 1931.
The half tracks performed very well in deserts as well as river crossings on their own power . Despite expert opinion at Srinagar that the expedition with its half-tracks will never be able to make up to Gilgit, the expedition left Srinagar on Trans Himalayan journey on 12th July 1931 with only two of its half tracks supplemented by ponies,/mules and porters for transportation of equipment, including spares for vehicles, fuel, supplies and other things. Going was very smooth for the half tracks between Srinagar to Gurez ,but beyond Gurez lot of difficulties were met with in ascending the Burzil Pass in waist deep snow and in talus and scree covered slopes on the north face of the Himalayas; especially between Godoi and Bunji where fresh landslides and rock falls had had eliminated the track. At places the half tracks were hauled with ropes to prevent side slipping. At places the half tracks were dismantled and carried in parts on porters over small bridges and badly damaged portions of the tracks. One of the cars near Astor was got stranded on its front wheels and right track while the road under the left track collapsed was retrieved almost by a miracle. Beyond Gilgit between Nomal and Chalt , with the time left at the disposal of the expedition and limit of having reached the limit of motor-able tracks the half tracks were abandoned and expedition proceeded with ponies, mules the only means of practicable transport after crossing the Karakorom Range. The expedition used 60 double humped camels,80 ponies/mules and in due course of time reached Kashgar (Kasi) in Sinkiang(modern Xinjiang) on 19th September 1931.The journey eastwards was continued in half tracks of the China group which met them on 24th October and reached Beijing on 12th Feb 1932.. The expedition eventually traveled to Vietnam unfortunately losing its leader George Harrdt at Hong kong due to pneumonia.
-0-
Man Mohan ji came across these photographs in a library in Hoshiarpur. I searched around on the net and realized that the book was probably ‘The Citroen-Haardt Trans-Asiatic Expedition From Beirut to Beijing by Halftrack, 1931-1932’ published by National Geographic Society in 1932. At Google books found an interesting News article regarding the expedition in The Sydney Mail dated April 13, 1932. According to the article the purpose of Georges-Marie Haardt’s expedition was to estimate the business and trade possibilities of central Asia. Read the News article here.
-0-
A couple of weeks ago I moved to a new room. And it just so happens that the landlords, an old couple, are Kashmiri Pandits. Last night they were kind enough to invite me over to their place for the ‘after-pooza‘ feast. So even though I wasn’t home this Shivratri, I got to have some great home made Kashmiri food.
Dina Nath Nadim
– Trilokinath Raina (1998)
cover painting of the poet by G.R. Santosh
Rs 25
Gulam Ahmad Mahjoor
– Trilokinath Raina (2008)
Rs. 40
Poems of Mahjoor
– by T.N. Kaul. First published in 1988.
cover design by G.R. Santosh incorporating a Mahjoor couplet.
Rs.50
Mahjoor and after – An Anthology of Modern Kashmiri Poetry
Edited by Trilokinath Raina (2008)
Rs. 125
Bilhana
– P.N Kawthekar (1995)
Rs 15.
Not the best of the book. But still…
Kalhan’s Rajatarangini
– The saga of the kings of Kasmir
Ranjit Pandit’s translation with a foreword to the book by Pandit Nehru. First published by 1935.
Rs.200
And the prize possession:
Kashmiri Lyrics
translated by J.L. Kaul. First published in 1945.
revised and edited by Neerja Mattoo (2008)
Rs. 75
The following incredible photograph (an original scan) has been generously contributed by Man Mohan Munshi ji. A big thanks!
The photograph certainly speaks of an opulent time.
A Kashmiri Pandit marriage procession in 1911 at Bulbul Lankar Ghat Srinagar with an eight year old bridegroom.
[The image name reads ‘Babuji Wedding 1914’]
Update. The photograph is in fact from a private collection. Man Mohan Munshi ji say’s:
It is the marriage photograph of my late father B.N.Munshi 1904-1977 who retired in early nineteen sixty as the first secretary of J&K Public Service Commission and was employed as Registrar, Regional Engineering College , Srinagar from 1962-1966 . We are original residents of Munshi Mohala Bulbul Lankar. Srinagar. The bearded gentleman standing in the Shikara is my late grand father Munshi Amar Chand and next to him is his son- in- law Late Makund Ram Bhan of Agha Hamam.The band with the procession is the state Band provided by Maharaja Pratab Singh. The bride(Gauri) my late mother is in the Zanpana seen in the center of the photograph with ana; white bearded gentlemen is her Dodbab. The Photograph was taken at the yarbal of Bul Bul Lankar in front of the Ziarat of the sufi saint Bul Bul Shah while the procession was returning by boats from Brari Yarbal near Fateh Kadal.
Found it in ‘Travels in the Mogul Empire’ by Francois Bernier, edited by Archibald Constable (1891). Francois Bernier (1625 – 1688), French physician and traveler, visited Kashmir in 1664–65 as part of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s entourage. He is regarded as the first westerner to have described Kashmir at length.
A map, based on Bernier’s description of Kashmir, was first included in the Dutch version of his travel account published in Amsterdam in 1672. Irving Brock in his 1826 edition of the book (re-edited by Archibald Constable in 1891) noticed that the map was ‘curiously incorrect’ and added ‘a new and accurate delineation’ . The map here is the new one.
-0-
Description: This original old antique print / plate originates from the fifth volume of: ‘Atlas Historique…’ (Historic Atlas…), Published by Zacharie Chatelain, Amsterdam, 1732. The atlas was published in seven volumes between 1705 and 1720, with a second edition appearing in 1732. The maps were accompanied by information pertaining to cosmography, geography, history, chronology, genealogy, topography, heraldry, and costumes of the world. The maps in the Atlas Historique were mainly based on those of the French cartographer, Guillaume De L’Isle, but were presented by the Chatelains in an encyclopaedic form.
Artists and Engravers: Made by ‘Henri Abraham Chatelain’ after an anonymous artist. Henri Abraham Chatelain (1684-1743), his father Zacharie Chatelain (d.1723) and Zacharie Junior (1690-1754), worked as a partnership publishing the Atlas Historique, Ou Nouvelle Introduction A L’Histoire under several different Chatelain imprints, depending on the Chatelain family partnerships at the time of publication.
In A.D. 1825 Kirpa Ram was governor. He was a mild, self-indulgent man, fond of boating and boatwomen, and nicknamed Kirpa Shroin, ‘ Shroin,’ being the Kashmiri word for the sound of the boat-paddle. In 1827 there was a severe earthquake, and the city was almost destroyed, this was followed by cholera. In this year three Brahman women were burnt as Satis. After an easy rule of five years Kirpa Ram, in the midst of a pleasure party on the Dal Lake, was recalled to Lahore, and there being disgraced, retired to Hardwar, where he lived an ascetic life. It is said in jest by the Kashmiris that Kirpa Ram introduced crows into Kashmir, considering that they were necessary to the due performance of funeral rites, as it is the custom in the Panjab to feed crows on such occasions, and this valuable contribution to the fauna of Kashmir forms perhaps the most important act of Kirpa Shroin’s idle rule.
– The Valley of Kashmir by Sir Walter Roper Lawrence (1895).
Image: A crow outside my mother’s old long sold out house at Kralkhod.
