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Kashmir Colors, 1908

Colors drawn by  H.R. Pirie for P. Pirie’s ‘Kashmir; the land of streams and solitudes’ (1908).

On The River 

Aliabad Serai, on the Pir Panjal Pass
 

Crossing the Kamri Pass

Astor Fort

Villagers of Tarshing on the Road from Tarshing to Rupal near Astor.

Up the River

On the river road

Near Bijbehara

Maharaja’s Temple on the Jhelum
Related post:  A surviving similar structure on Jhelum 

Gate of Chingiz Serai.
 Possibly  related  post: Changus Song

Gujjar House in 1908
Gujjar House 2008 at Gulmarg (more)

Village of the writer’s guide.

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River Tawi (Surya Putri)

Sent in by Man Mohan Munshi Ji. He writes:

River Tawi ( referred in ancient literature as Surya Putri) originates near Kaplas Mountains and flows westward between Jug Dhar and Trisul Dhar in a westerly direction till Udhampur where it takes a southerly bend across the Sivalik range  and again resumes a westerly course passing along the Jammu City  till it joins Chenab River in Sialkot District in Pakistan.

 

Tawi River near its source at Basantgarh
At Jammu City
River Tawi near Jammu City with Bahu Bridge in the foreground and main Tawi bridge in the back ground
Mahatmaya temple  on the left bank of  Tawi opposite old Jammu City
Part of Old jammu city  from Baghe Bahu.
Note the “Golgarh”  old palace of the Dogra Rulers  on the extreme left

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Kashmir in 1901

Photographs from ‘Afoot Through the Kashmir Valleys’ (1901) by Marion Doughty.

Tonga

Ekkas at Baramula
Reaping

Baramula

The thing with logs and rivers.

Hanjis

Srinagar

House-boat

Floating Home. (read for this for origin of House boats)

A rare photograph of Kashmiri painter family ( Utility of these paintings)

Pandits and Panditanis

Gujars

Gulmarg, starting to transform into a tourist hub

Previously from this book”:

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Kashmir Ngram

Google Books Ngram Viewer lets you look up usage of a word or a phrase in various books in their Google Books database, a “mammoth database culled from nearly 5.2 million digitized books available to the public for free downloads and online searches, opening a new landscape of possibilities for research and education in the humanities . . . It consists of the 500 billion words contained in books published between 1500 and 2008 in English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese and Russian.”

Ngram for ‘Kashmir’ in English spreads out like this:

A closer look at the years:

The first travelogues. A sudden discovery of paradise. Lull. Scholarly pieces, a close look begins.
Starts with Travel guides, middles at the start of conflict. Stays in a cycle of ebb and flow. A new crescendo in  80s.
After a high, only fall. By end of 2008 Kashmir is almost back to 1988 level.

Wild guess: Post 2008, it find a new peak matching 1990. 
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Shameem Azad Collection, 1978

Shameem Dev in a television program called ‘Anhar’  (compared by Basharat Ahmed) from 1978, when she wasn’t yet married to Ghulam Nabi Azad, sings Abdul Ahad Azad’s ‘Madano Pardah Royas Toel‘ . In the beginning of the video she talks about her adoration for Lata Mangeshkar. She also mentions her teacher as Pt. Shambu Nath Sopori. Shambu Nath Sopori, father of Bajan Sopori, was also the Guru of other famous Kashmiri singer, Kailash Mehra.

In the next video she sings a couple of lines of Faiz’s ‘Hum par tumhari Chahat ka Illzam hi toh hai‘, something she sang on the stage for first time for a college function. Then she sings Mahmood Gami’s Vasiye Naray Dazmay tan.

The program starts with a ‘Naat e Nabi’

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These incredible videos are courtesy of Youtube user shameemazad1

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The Mighty Chenab

Sent in by Man Mohan Munshi Ji.

River Chenab  at Pari near Damkund

(Above two photographs) River Chenab  at Sawalkot
River Chenab at Bagdara
Old Hanging bridge over Chenab at Ramban
Salal reservoir above Reiasi
Aknur Bridge over  Chenab.
River Chenab near Chicken Neck at international border

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150 years old Terracotta Vessel

From Man Mohan Munshi Ji’s collection.

A 150 years old Terracotta vessel originally from Kashmir now stored at Jammu.

This terracotta vessel is believed to be of about 150 years old, has a capacity of 350 litres and its walls are about 3.25 cm thick.
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Akhnur Fort

Sent in by Man Mohan Munshi Ji.

Two views of the Historic Akhnur Fort on the bank of Chenab (Chandrar Bagha) River. Raj Tilak of Raja Gulab Singh, the founder of Dogra Dynasty, was performed here by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.