In Aga Khan archive there are about 1000+ Kashmir photographs by Prataap Patrose and Rita Sampat, dated to 1983. I went through them looking for KP culture. Idea was to see how the community remembers. Shared them on FB and curated comments. Sharpness of memory was surprising. People, places, even things were identified.
Comment by Vinod Razdan: [Location]Ganpatyar , the small dilapidated house was occupied by Ram Ji , Kashmiri Hindu Baker . The person on the window is late Gopi Nath Raina . The photograph must have been surely taken from the house of Late R C Pandita. [ His family was able to identify]
[Location: Badiyaar bala] Subject name: Krishan Joo Shah [Bai Lal] of Nai Sarak. His family was able to identify.Comment by Meetu Koul: This is Chandra’s house in Ganpatyar and the side of our house is also seen.These houses are in the lane opposite to the Ganpatyar mandir.And this lane leads to the kralkhud area. And the girl visible in the photo is one of their daughters.
Comment by Ramesh Sapru identifying the exact place: Safriyar HABBA KADAL Behind somyar temple
Comment by Shiban Sapru: Name of this pandit is late Ramji, the pujari of Purshyar temple
Comment by Vinod Razdan: This is Habbakadal Chowk after the front line Pandit houses were demolished to widen the road .This photograph seems to be having a commonality with one of the photographs you shared recently. [Girls are in Vishwa Bharti Uniform]
Habba Kadal
Comment by Vinod Razdan: Kharyar , near Kralkhod. At the end , it is the building where Sangeet Niketan was functioning.I know this place brick by brick ; On right hand is the Cycle repair shop who used to repair kerosene stoves too and is below the house of Sahibs . Next shop was a meat shop and the owner was Mohd Akbar . Opposite to them ( to the left of Scooterist ) was the shop of Pandit Janki Nath Koul and popularly known in the city as ” Jaan Military “
Vinod Razdan: This is also Ganesh Ghat, Ganpatyar. On the right side of the Ghat is Ganpatyar Temple Building , upstairs in front and across the road is the house of Braroo’ s , the left tall house is that of Prof.Late R C Pandita and behind it is the house of Nadir’s. [Ower Pandita family was able to identify the house]
Sanjay Raina: This was also the main tempo stand and later a matador stand as the tempo’s faded. The road ahead leading to bhan mohalla onwards to Zaiba kadal, Nawa kadal etc. Many a political speeches were made from this open chowk and I recall 1983 being the election year when Farooq Abdullah sought votes after the demise of his father . He made an infamous remark – oh battas, if you don’t vote for me, I will throw you all in the Dal lake. I was there and heard it! Terrifying.
General Elections for national assembly were coming. Message on banner: Jazba hubul watni aur kashmiriyat se sarshaar abdul rashid kabuli national conference ka parlimani umeed waar hai
Zaina Kadal
Flags: Awami Action Committee of Mirwaiz + red plough of NC. This election Mirwaiz and Shiekh had called truce. These joint flags were put out after that.
Vinod Razdan: This shop was between Kralkhod and Habbakadal near Agahamam lane. Sanjay Raina: Have spent so many of my childhood days on the Kak shops, two of them lined this lane. One Kak sahab had a smaller one and the other was much larger. In the same lane were shops selling wool that would be thronged just before the winter season would set in and also shops selling crystallized sugar and ‘sheeren’
Vinod Razdan: This is at the intersection of Badiyar Bala road and Nai Sarak just near the house of Ghulam Mohd Bhat , popularly known as Gul Raidd . He was initially a traditional rival of Tikka Lal Taploo and was contesting as Independent candidate & later joined NC.
Vinod Razdan: I was just waiting to find that someone will identify this place .In fact this lane was a connecting lane between the two lanes : one Leading to Ganpatyar and another terminating through the milk Shop owned by ” Freich Dedd” .Both lanes led to Nai Sarakon the other end.The projected link between the two houses ( Dabb) is near the house of Prof.M L Wangoo , back side of the houses were those of Vijay Garyali , Sumbli’s etc.
Vinod Razdan: These houses have contributed to the cultural and Religious aspects of the valley besides Education.The person clad in a white Dhoti was a retired Head Master in the Education Deptt .Mr Raina .Though he lived nearby Malyar but he has been caught in the picture . These houses are inside the Mohalla of Ganpatyar .The houses just facing the lane are in fact a cluster of houses owned by Kalla Parivar as there were three more houses behind these two houses owned by them ( Cousins ) .The front one was owned by Late Sh Nand Lal Kalla who was Mannager in Neelam Cinema , Shutra Shahi. The adjacent tall house was of Prof B L Kalla whose Son Sh Siddarth Kalla has been an Engineer in Doordarshan.Father of Prof B L Kalla was Sh Nath Ram Kalla Shastry whose books are still refered by Almanac Publishers of Kashmiri Pandits.The house on right side whose plaster has come off on the outer wall in the picture is that of Late Hira Lal Jattu and the house just opposite to it in the picture is that of late Smt Dhanwati ( she was then a widow ) .The house of Prof Kalla was later purchased by Sh N N Mattoo ( father of Dr Tej Mattoo, a Child Specialist ) who again sold it to a family who came from outside this mohalla and set up a shop in Ganpatyar
Raghunath Temple. Srinagar. 1983.
left: from a postcard by Lambert. Personal collection.
Surindar Koul: This is Sheshyar temple (Habba kadal). The house on right belonged to KP family ‘Channas’ .The house on left belonged to Pt. Nath ji Photographer ( Pioneer studios, Bana mohalla) Vinod Razdan: These Channas had a medical shop at Ganpatyar in Sixties .Perhaps ” Tarak Halwai ” was also nearby. Vijay Vaishnavi: my mother was regular visitor to this temple. We lived near Srikant medical shop near Ogras. Sanjay Raina: Pioneer studios was legendary. Their shop in Banamohalla as well as a shop in Pahalgam. Ashok ji, my real uncle used to run the Pahalgam outlet. What a memorable time that was.A reader shared a photograph from 2021. The houses that have new owners are freshly painted.
The new temple built by Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 19th century.
Laxmivasudeva seated on Garuda Probable 10th or 11the century Siudmak however places it in 15th or 16th century [which would mean Hindu sculptures were still getting made in late Islamic era of Kashmir?]
The pit Temple of Bijbehara. Believed to be the original site of ancient Shiv temple of Bijbehara mentioned by Kalhana
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“Brashib” in Kashmiri or the Taurus. A Lion actually. John Siudmak calls it influenced by Gandhāra style and dated around 5th century A.D. These form the earliest distinct Kashmiri style of sculptures. A lot of material from Bijbehara was moved to SPS museum in around 1898 by Captain Godfrey.
Last month received an email from INTACH (Srinagar), they will be using the images shared by SearchKashmir to help with the renovation of Sher Garhi Palace. Here are the images and some elementary back info. about the place.
Located on the left bank of River Jhelum near the Budshah Bridge. Built originally by Afghan governor Ameer Jawan Sher Qizilbash in around 1772. It is said the stones for the palace came from Pathar Masjid. It was built on a site where King Ananta had built his Royal Palace in 1062-63. Later it became palace of Dogras who added a Dogra art touch to it. Sometime before 1900, the palace was again renovated in faux Greco-Roman style with great Grecian columns. A major portion was destroyed in fire, I believe, in late 1970s. This building was the “Old Secretariat”. It was used as an office building in 1980s. A description of the palace and the adjoining buildings can be found in “The Happy Valley: Sketches of Kashmir & the Kashmiris (1879) by William Wakefield”.
Pursuing our course down the river the sides of which in former days were em- banked from the first to the last bridge, by an embankment composed of large blocks of limestone, of which at present the ruined remains are all that is left we soon come to a large building, the Sher Garhi, the city fort and palace. Situated on the left bank, it presents to the river, which flows along its eastern side, a long loop- holed wall, with bastions rising between twenty and thirty feet above the general level of the water, surmounted by roomy, but lightly-built, houses. Its southern and western sides are protected by a wide ditch ; the Kut-i-Kul canal bounds it on the north, and in its interior are grouped a number of dwelling- houses for the officials of the court, government offices, and barracks. On its wall, facing the river, and perched upon one of the bastions, is a large double-storied house, the abode of the Dewan or Prime Minister, and just below his residence is a long lofty building, the government treasury, containing shawls, ‘pushmeena,’ coin, and other valuable property. A curious-looking wooden building comes next, the Rang Mahal or ‘audience hall,’ a part of the royal residence, which is just below it, styled the Baradarri, and which is unquestionably the most important modern structure in Srinagar. It is a large irregular building of a peculiar style, for while partly of native architecture, one portion, with a large projecting bow, partakes somewhat of an European character. A flight of wide stone steps leads up from the water’s edge at the angle of this building, and conducts into the palace. Adjoining is the temple frequented by the ruler and family, called the Maharaj-ke-Mandir, the domed roof of which is covered with thin plates of pure gold, which glitters in the sunlight, causing it to be plainly perceptible a long distance away. To reach the interior of the palace, one ascends by the before -mentioned steps, which at all times of the day appear thronged with people, some waiting to prefer petitions to the sovereign or his ministers as they descend to their boats, others to obtain a hearing or justice, which is here administered in open court daily by the governor. To the more private portion of the palace they have no access ; for, guarding the gateway at the top of the stairs which leads directly into the royal abode, stands a sentry, a warrior belonging to the Kashmir, army, and near by is the guard-room, what we should call in our service the main-guard.
View of the Place before the last renovation
Probably by Samuel Bourne
in around 1860s
Sher Garhi Palace, the Summer place of 19th-century Dogra ruler, Pratap Singh. From ‘The Romantic East: Burma, Assam, & Kashmir’ by Walter Del Mar (1906
Sher Garhi Palace. From Dutch travelogue ‘De zomer in Kaschmir : De Aarde en haar Volken’ (Summer in Kashmir: ‘The Land and its Peoples) by F. Michel (1907)
From ‘The road to Shalimar’ by Carveth Wells, 1952.
view of Sher Garhi Palace in winter. Postcard. Early 20th century. [courtesy: Micheal Thomas]
from ‘Our summer in the vale of Kashmir’ (1915) by Frederick Ward Denys.
From ‘Kashmir: Its New Silk Industry’ by Sir Thomas Wardle (1904)
Same pattern inside the pavilion at Shalimar Garden built in 1619 on order of Jahangir
In 1623, Noor Jahan built a Masjid in Srinagar on the left bank of Jhelum near Zaina Kadal opposite Shah Hamdan mosque.
Kashmiri had a belief that Noor Jahan belonged to the valley. Godfrey Thomas Vigne, in 1835, writes:
“Nur Jehan Begum (the light of the world), the Nur Muhul (the light of the palace) of Lallah Rookh, is the most renowned name in the valley, that of her august consort, Jehan Gir, not excepted. In spite of the more authentic story of her birth which is to be found in Ferishta, the Kashmirians would have us believe that she was a native of the valley: a daughter of the Malek of Chodra, a large ruined village in the centre of the centre of the southern side of the valley, and situated on the Dud Gunga (milk river). The only fact that that I heard that I heard of, that could be any possibility be brought forward in support of this assertion is, that near Chodra there are some ruins, said to be those of a house that once belonged to her; but in which there is nothing in any way remarkable. I have already oticed the palaced at Vernag and Shahbad, which were built by here or her husband. The Musjid, or new mosque, in the city, was built by her, and is, in fact, the only edifice of the kind that can vie in general aspect and finish with the splendour of the Moti Musjid, or the pearl mosque, at Agra. A handsome flight of stone steps leads from river to the door of the courtyard, which surrounds it. The interior of the building is about sixty-four yards in length, and of a proportionate width, the roof being supported by two rows of massive square piers, running through the entire length of the building, the circular compartments between them being handsomely ribbed and vaulted. When I was in Kashmir it was used as a granary or storehouse for rice.”
Unlike other Masjids in Kashmir that were made of wood, this, this masjid was made of stone or Pathar, and hence came to be known as Pathar Masjid. And unlike the native Kashmiri mosques, it didn’t have a pyramidical dome at top.
The story goes that on completion of the Mosque, a Mulla asked Nur Jahan how much did it cost her. It is said that in her response the Shia Empress of India pointed to her shoe or Jooti. Mulla in response is said to have decreed the Masjiid unfit for praying. So goes the story of a building that in Sikh era was used as a granary. It is said the mosque originally had a dome that was demolished by a Sikh era governor.
A description of the mosque is given by Ram Chandra Kak in his ‘Ancient Monuments of Kashmir’ (1933):
The half-attached “bedpost” columns in the two outer angles of the jambs of the entrance are noteworthy. The plinth, which is now mostly underground, is surmounted by a lotus-leaf coping.
The frieze between the projecting cornice and the eaves is decorated with a series of large lotus leaves, carved in relief, some of which have been pierced, and thus made to serve the purpose of ventilation apertures. A flight of steps in each jamb of the entrance gives access to the roof, which is, as usual in Kashmir, sloping, except in the centre, where there was originally a dome which was later dismantled by the Sikhs. The roof consists of twenty-seven domes, the central one of which is the largest. The domes are mostly ribbed inside, though there are some which are flat or waggon-vaulted.
The roof is supported internally on eighteen extraordinarily massive square columns having projections on two sides. The lower portion of the columns is built of stone and the upper of brick covered by a thick coat of buff-coloured lime plaster.
“The enclosure wall is built of brick masonry, with a coat of lime plaster, adorned by a range of shallow arched niches.“
The mosque is said to have been built upon an ancient Buddha vihara. A mosque first came up here during Fateh Khan’s rule (1510-1517). It was a sunni mosque. In 1623, Nur Jahan, rebuilt it as a Shia mosque. It is said the stones for the mosque came from ancient stairway that linked Shankaracharya temple to river Jehlum near the present day Durga Nag temple.
In around 1819, Maharaja of Punjab, Ranjit Singh, send his best military general (Akali) Phula Singh to take on Afghans in Kashmir. Phula Singh defeated Jabbar Khan and then he went around triumphantly rearranging Kashmir, again. Pathar Masjid was taken over by the newly established government. A toup (tank) was placed at Pathar Masjid so that the shrine of Shah Hamada across the river could be blown up. Pandit Birbal Dhar who is said to have invited Sikhs into Kashmir, intervened to save the shrine.
The bank inside the mosque is still used for some kind of storage.
Buniyar Temple, about two miles above Rampur, situated along the Baramula-Uri road on the bank of the Vitasta, is often described as the “best preserved” specimen of Kashmiri architecture. Although unlike most Kashmiri temples which are made of limestone, this one (beside the one at Wangat) is made of granite.
This is the story of the temple at Bhaniyar/Buniar/Bhavaniyar/Bunair/Boniar/Boniyar/Buniyar.
On my way back from Uri, I decided to check the ancient temple whose roof is visible from the road. A military man walked me from the main road, past the security gate and into the military camp which now surrounds the temple. On way to the temple, the man, someone from mainlands, claimed the temple was build by ‘Pandavas’. When I told him that I am ethnically Kashmiri Pandit, the man happily said that it all belongs to me.
In 1868, when Henry Hardy Cole arrived at the temple along with photographer John Burke for his ‘Archaeological Survey of India report, ‘Illustrations of Ancient Buildings in Kashmir’ (1869), a local Hindu Fakir who lived in the temple told him that the temple was build by ‘Pandus’.
The temple had recently been excavated on the orders of Maharaja Ranbir Singh. Before that, the temple had been claimed by mountain and the trees, which might explain why it survived vandalisation and remained untouched for a long time.
Burke’s Photograph [via British Museum]
The ruins of this temple had earlier been noticed by Karl Alexander A. Hügel (1835) and G.T. Vigne (1837). Hügel mistakenly described it as a well preserved Buddhist temple, while Vigne called it a Hindu ruin on the road.
An attempt to study the temple was first made by Alexander Cunningham in November 1847. He noticed that the Pandits called the place ‘Bhawaniyar’. And assumed it to be a ‘Bhawani’ temple. Cunningham couldn’t examine the temple properly as it was half-buried under snow at the time. Using a telescope he tried to see beyond the thick foliage if the inner wall of the temple had a colonnade.
First proper detailed note of the temple came in 1865 when that summer W.G. Cowie visited the temple that had been recently excavated revealing 13 sq.ft. interior), walls supported on a basement of 4 ft.sq, a cloistered quadrangle measuring 145’x120′. The findings were given in ‘Notes on Some of the Temples of Kashmir’ (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal > Volume XXXV, Issue II, 1867). Te local Pandits told him that the temple was built by one Bonadutt, hence the name of the place. The brother of this man had built a temple at Venapora beyond Sopor. About the granite used in the temple he wrote:
“The material of which the buildings are constructed, is a pale, coarse granite, of which there seems to be no quarry within reach on the left bank of the Jhelum. This circumstance is remarkable, considering the enormous size and weight of some of the stones employed. Mr. Drew, a geologist in the service of H, H. the Maharajah, thinks that the blocks of granite must have been carried down some of the valleys on the opposite side into the river bed, whence they were brought for the construction of the temple.”
He also suggests that the central temple was probably surrounded by water (just like Cunningham had suggested for Martand) as he found two old wells also near the temple. He also noticed that near upper base of the temple, is the spout of a channel which carried off the washings of the image. He wrote it looked like a snake or some similar animal.
Later some addition notes were added by James Fergusson in around 1876. He noticed that the colonnade was Gandhara inspired.
Final clear description about the temple was given by R.C. Kak in Ancient Monuments in Kashmir (1933):
The gateway is a double-chambered structure faced on each open side by a trefoil arch surmounted by a steep pediment. The lintels of the closed arches are supported on pairs of columns which were originally fluted, though the weather has now left no trace of flutes. They have a double capital, the upper one being voluted on all four sides. The walls are externally surmounted by a cornice of kirti- mukhas, alternating with miniature trefoiled niches. Upon this rests the first course of the pyramidal roof.
The flights of steps-on the eastern and western sides respectively afford entrance to and exit from the entrance chamber. The one on the roadside is buried underground, but the inner stair has been excavated. It consists of seven steps flanked by sloping rails and upright side walls. Between this stair and the temple is a small stone platform which formed the lowermost course of the stepped base of a column (most probably a Garudadhvaja).
The priest in charge of the temple has now placed in it a small stele of very crude workmanship and late date, which he has painted with vermilion. Another similar stele, still standing in the position in which it was found, is seen in front of the temple stair.
The temple itself stands on a double base, which is in every respect similar to other structures of its kind in Kashmir. A lofty trefoil arch, standing upon advanced pilasters and enclosing a rectangular entrance originally surmounted by an ornamental trefoil and steep pediment, gives access to the sanctum. The jambs of the entrance are adorned with half-engaged columns. The interior is a square of 14 feet. The pedestal of the image is placed on a broad platform. The original image, which seems to have been of Vishnu, is now replaced by small Siva-lingas originally brought from the bed of the river Narbada. The walls are covered with a coat of modern whitewash. The string course from which the ceiling springs is still visible, but the ceiling itself which Bishop Cowie saw in 1865 and described as domical, has since either fallen down or been removed. It was, no doubt, similar to the ceilings of the larger temples at Wangath.
Externally the only decorations are the trefoils of the recesses, their pediments, and the cornice of kirtimukhas and miniature trefoils from which the roof sprang.
The quadrangle measures 145′ by 119 1/2′, and consists of fifty- three cells and the gateway. They are rectangular, 7′ long by 4′ broad. Each cell has a single trefoiled entrance enclosed in a high- pitched pediment resting on half-engaged columns. These ranges of cells are preceded by a noble colonnade which stands on a base similar to that of the temple. A transverse beam connects the capitals of the columns with the roof of the cells. Over these beams rises the entablature, only one course of which, namely the frieze of miniature trefoils, is extant.
In the centre of each range of cells, except, perhaps, the one in which the gateway stands, is an apartment of larger dimensions preceded by a pair of taller columns which are advanced about 4′ from the rest of the peristyle.
The top course of the cells is also decorated in the same way as the frieze above.
On the south side, projecting from the cornice of the upper base of the temple, is the spout of the channel which carried off the washings of the image. It seems to have been shaped originally into a makara, or crocodile’s head. Immediately below it is a huge water trough carved out of a single block of stone.
The rain-water in the courtyard is carried off by a drain which runs under the south-eastern corner of the peristyle.
In cell No. 11 of the north range, beginning the reckoning from the corner nearest the gateway, is the side entrance, which was then, as now, closed with a wooden door. The monotony of the external face of the western wall is partially relieved by rows of small square projections. In its two corners are two cells opening outwards.
Immediately outside the side-door mentioned above is a square structure built of plain blocks of stone. The middle portion of each of its four walls has fallen down, and the gaps have been filled in with small chips of stone built in mud. It is difficult to surmise what was its original purpose.
The temple is now often described as Vishnu temple dating back to 8th-12 century A.D.
In 1947 war, some Dogra soldiers were holed up in the temple and attacked by the raiders. The place is now a military camp with the temple getting reshaped by aesthetics of military men.
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Photograph from ‘Our summer in the vale of Kashmir’ (1915) by Frederick Ward Denys.
This is now worshipped as Shiv Ling
A postcard from 1920s.
Sketch of Colonnade from ‘Notes on some of the temples of Kashmir, W.G. Cowie, 1865
The walls of the colonnade now have crude murals of Hindu deities.
Kalhana tells us that King Avantivarman (AD 855 – 883 AD), the first king of the Utpala dynasty had a foul mouthed son who didn’t have taste for high poetry. He tells us S’amkaravarman (Shankaravarman, A.D. 883-902), son and successor of Avantivarman founded a new town called S’ankarapurapattana and built two temples at the place dedicated to Shiva. The new king named one of the temples after his wife Sugandha as Sugandhesa. After early death of her two boy kings, Sugandha too got to rule Kashmir from 904 to 906 A.D.
Kalhana mentions that just like a bad poet steals material from other poets, a bad King, plunders other cities. S’amkaravarman plundered the nearby Buddhist site of Parihaspora to build his new town. The stone of the temple came after the ruin of Parihaspora, that happened just around 150 years after it was founded by Lalitaditya (697-734 A.D). According to Pandit Kalhana, it was the evil deeds of the King that lead people to forget the real name of this town and instead have them call it simply as Pattan [Stein, ‘the town’. Cunningham, pandits wrote it as ‘Paathan’, ‘the path’ as it falls on the important route to Varahmula]. Kalhana mentions that the fame of the town rested not on the temples but “what gave fame to that town was only what is still to be found at Pattana, — manufacture of woollen cloths, trade in cattle, and the like.”
In 1847, the two temples at Pattan were identified by Alexander Cunningham (1814-93) as the ones mentioned in Rajatarangini. Based on the fact that one of the temples was smaller and less decorate that the other, he marked it as Sugandhesa temple.
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16th November, 2014
At a distance of about 25 kilomoters from Srinagar, this is the first major historical monument that one runs into while on way to Baramulla on national highway NH1-A.
Sugandhesa Temple, 1868.
Photograph by John Burke for Henry Hardy Cole’s Archaeological Survey of India report, ‘Illustrations of Ancient Buildings in Kashmir’ (1869).
Ram Chandra Kak in his ‘Ancient Monuments of Kashmir’ (1933) provides the basic description of the structure:
The shrine is 12′ 7″ square and has, as usual, a portico in front. It is open on one side only, and has trefoiled niches externally on the other sides. These niches contained images. The temple stands on a double base, but it seems probable from the flank walls of the lower stair and the frieze of the lower base, in which the panels intended for sculpture decoration have been merely blocked out, but not carved, that the temple was never completed.
The entrance to the courtyard is in the middle of the eastern wall of the peristyle, and consists, as usual, of two chambers with a partition wall and a doorway in the middle.
Among the architectural fragments lying loose on the site, the most noteworthy are (a) two fragments of fluted columns with their capitals, (b) two bracket capitals with voluted ends and carved figures of atlantes supporting the frieze above, (c) a huge stone belonging to the cornice of the temple, bearing rows of kirtimukhas (grinning lions’ heads) and rosettes, and (d) a stone probably belonging to the partition wall of the entrance, having (1) two small trefoiled niches in which stand female figures wearing long garlands and (2) below them two rectangular niches, in one of which is an atlant seated between two lions facing the spectator, and in the other are two human-headed birds.
The cornice of the base of the peristyle is similar to that of the Avantisvami temple. The cells were preceded by a row of fluted columns, bases of some of which are in situ while those of others are scattered about in the courtyard.
The attention of the visitor is called to the slots in the lower stones of the jambs of the cells. These are mortices for iron clamps which held pairs of stones together. Pieces of much-corroded iron are still extant in some of the mortices.
Cunningham noticed an interesting fact that while the temple of Awantiswamin at Avantipur had lost its central structure and yet retained its wall. At Sugandhesa the central structure was intact while the walls were lost. A recent study of stones at Sugandhesa suggests, “collapse in the tenth or eleventh century, and significant damage in 1885, with at least one intervening earthquake possibly in the seventieth century.” [link]
Another place. Same treatment.
In 1847, Cunningham noticed that the chambers of the temple measuring about 6 feet by 4 feet, once must have contained linga: for he found the pedestals of three of those emblems, which had been converted into Muslim tombs within fifty paces of the temple. [‘An Essay on the Arian Order of Architecture, as exhibited in the Temples of Kashmir’ (1848), link to book]
All this essentially means, this Muslim shrine at the temple would now be more that 150 years old. Just as old as Parihaspora was when Sugandhesa Temple and the town of Pattan came up.
On way to the place I was narrated the old tale. Somewhere in 1980s, news spread in Srinagar that a miracle had been witnessed at the shrine of Madeen Sahib. People were saying a lot of things. It was heard that the mausoleum’s outer wall was dripping blood. Shias as well as Sunnis started gathering at the place. They did see something. Some said, the spot on the wall seemed liked someone had focused the beam from a laser pointer, a device which were in vogue back then as a source of amusement and harassment. Soon the rioting and violence started. When the violence was over, the mausoleum had been shut for public access.
Near But Kadal in Zadibal, Srinagar, is a 15th century monument known as ‘Madin Sahib’ named after the tomb and mosque of Sayyid Muhammad Madani who came to India with Timur in 1398 and moved to Kashmir during the reign of Sultan Sikandar Butshikan (1389–1413 CE). The monument comprises of a Mosque and a Tomb, with the mosque dating back to around 1444 which first came up during the reign of Zain-ul-Abidin, incorporating elements, pillar and base, from an older Hindu monument.
In 1905, archaeological surveyor W. H. Nicholls (1865-1949), during his pioneering study of Muslim architecture in Kashmir, was the first to notice the uniqueness of the art of this building among all the Muslim monuments in India. The mosque had glazed tiles of a kind unlike any other building in India and some tiles was painted a mystical beast not seen anywhere on any other mosque in India. [Read: Beast at Madin Sahib]
Madin Sahib 1905. From the report by Nicholls for ‘Archaeological Survey of India Report 1906-7’
Although the architecture and its beauty was documented only in 1905, the place Zadibal is in fact mentioned in one of the earliest western travelogues. Godfrey Thomas Vigne who visited Kashmir in 1835, mentioned in his book ‘Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the Countries Adjoining the Mountain-Course of the Indus, and the Himalaya, north of the Panjab with Map’ (1844), that Zadibal witnessed rioting in the year 1830 when the place was inhabited by Persian traders. The trigger was Muharram procession (something still now allowed in Srinagar. And the note by Englishman Vigne places the blame on Shias. A piece of writing that still can be used to incite violence). In the aftermath of the rioting, the Persians who were mainly into Shawl trade and numbered about 200-300, left Kashmir for Iran.
The place again witnessed rioting in 1872. In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war between France and Germany lead to the decline in Shawl business. The Shia of Srinagar were primarily into paper mache and shawl business. In fact, one of the richest man in the city back then was a Shia named Mirza Muhammad Ali. The Shias in Kashmir follow either of the two influential families, Moulvi or Aga. Most also falling into two contrasting income brackets: rich and poor. It in not hard to follow that in this part of the world, economic disturbances eventually lead to sectarian and religious violence . All it needs is a trigger. Shia at the time were about 6000 in the city and for every 1 Shia there were 10 Sunnis. On 19th September 1872, on the Urs (death anniversary) of Madin Sahib, Sunnis gathered at the place, and so did Shias. Claims over the right to own the place were exchanged. Soon, a wave of violence was unleashed that lasted about three days. In the madness, the ancient monument was damaged in fire that raged all over Zadibal. In fact much of Srinagar was in flames.
The violence of 1872 is recorded in report published in a Munich based paper, where it is titled ‘The Grauel in Kajhmir’ (The horror in Kashmir). In an interesting observation, the report also mentions that Shia women and children were given refuge in Pandit households. [Read: Allgemeine Zeitung Munich]
Madin Shib in around 1979. Before renovation that started in 1983.
Raghubir Singh.
More than hundred years later, in 1983, just when the work on renovation of the shrine had started, the place again suffered rioting. June 1983 was going to be the year for state assembly election. It in not hard to follow that in this part of the world, political rivalries eventually lead to sectarian and religious violence. Zadibal, the Shia majority area was considered a stronghold of Congress I, the party headed by Pandit Indira Gandhi. The violence started around June 14th, and after raging for around three days, left around 700 injured and many shops and houses, and a mosque – burnt. [News Report]
Madin Sahib in 1983 when the renovation started. Prataap Patrose, Aga Khan Visual Archive, MIT source
A more lasting impact of the riot was that the Astaan of Madin Sahib went behind locks, out of bound of common man who might be just interested in art and architecture. And it has been like that ever since.
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The light was falling fast. Bilal climbed atop the high iron railing that now forms an ugly fence around the monument and asked me to follow him. Across the monument, sitting on the window was an old man enjoying the last hours of the day. There was hardly anyone of the street. We could have climbed in. If I didn’t know the history of the place, I would have climbed on and broken into the monument. Knowledge of history and not just history, creates our sense of boundaries. I told him I can’t climb over the wall. In addition, there was one more major concern, I didn’t want to impale my precious organ just trying to get into an ancient forgotten monument.
Just then a young guy walking along stopped and asked what were we doing. Bilal explained. The guy said there was no need to climb, there were men inside the shrine on guard duty. To get in, all we had to do was knock on the iron padlocks. Bilal asked the man why the placed was locked. The man didn’t know. Bilal asked him where was he from. He was a local of the area. In Kashmir such questions aren’t asked directly. If you are Sunni, you don’t ask the other person directly if he is Shia.
We banged on the railing. But there was no response. The guards were probably watching television somewhere inside. Finally, after about half an hour of knocking, two men appeared sleep walking from behind the shrine. As they approached, Bilal in an insidious tone asked me to keep my mouth shut and just follow his lead. Bilal had a stratagem up his sleeves for getting me in. The conversation that followed is one of the weirdest and most comic I have had in Kashmir.
The men asked Bilal about nature of the visit. Bilal’s explanation, ‘This here with me is a Sahib who has come from very far to see the monument.’
One of the men asked, ‘Where has he come from?’
‘He has come all the way from Germany.’
A hysterical laugh almost escaped from my throat, a smile that on reaching my lips converted into an awkward smile.
The man stared at me.
‘Germany?’
‘Yes, from Germany. To write a book. Like the angreez do.’
I tried to look as German as I could and hide what I thought my obvious Kashmiriness. My smile disappeared and I looked glum and serious, like a man ashamed of past. That should have done it. But the next query from the man foiled Bilal’s plot and had me stumped.
‘Is he a Christian or a Jew?’
I burst out laughing when I heard the question. I exclaimed, ‘But, I was a local’.
The man looking terribly confused and turing to Bilal asked, ‘You said he is foreign.’
In a last-ditch attempt, Bilal tried to explain it away, ‘He is foreign. But living here. Like lot of angreez do. Please let us in. Just for five minutes.’
Stratagem fell apart.
‘You need to get written permission from the trust that runs this place.’
The plot was obviously flawed from the beginning. Even Bilal with his copper hair had a higher chance for passing off as a German. But apparently, this is the most obvious method that tourists try at this place to get inside. I was told you had a higher chance of getting in if you are not a Kashmiri. You may get in if you are foreigner, or even if you are from some other part of India, but not if you are from Kashmir.
I looked at the iron railings more carefully. Some of them had their lower ends bent to create sort of a holes in the wall. The holes had obviously been made by random tourists so one could stick a camera lens in and get a clear shot of the shrine. Walls that history creates is often accompanied by holes that people create to subvert the walls
I too took my camera, stuck it into one of the holes and let it see Madin Sahib as it is.
Near But Kadal in Zadibal, Srinagar, is a 15th century monument known as ‘Madin Sahib’ named after the tomb and mosque of Sayyid Muhammad Madani who came to India with Timur in 1398 and moved to Kashmir during the reign of Sultan Sikandar Butshikan (1389–1413 CE). The monument comprises of a Mosque and a Tomb, with the mosque dating back to around 1444 which first came up during the reign of Zain-ul-Abidin, incorporating elements from an older Hindu monument.
In 1905, archaeological surveyor W. H. Nicholls (1865-1949), during his pioneering study of Muslim architecture in Kashmir, was the first to notice the uniqueness of the art of this building among all the Muslim monuments in India. The mosque had glazed tiles of a kind unlike any other building in India and some tiles was painted a mystical beast not seen anywhere on any other mosque in India. The beast could be seen in the tile work on left spandrel of arch at entrance.
Nicholls wrote in a report:
“a beast with the body of a leopard, changing at the beck into the truck of a human being, shooting apparently with a bow and arrow at its own tail, while a fox is quietly looking on among flowers and cloud-forms. These peculiar cloud-forms are common in Chinese and Persian art, and were frequently used by Mughals – by Akbar in the Turkish Sultana’s house at Fathepur-Sikri, Jahangir at Sikandarah, and Shah Jahan in the Diwan-i-Khass at Delhi, to mention only a few instances. The principal beast in the picture is about four feet long, and is striking quite an heraldic attitude. The chest, shoulders, and head of the human being are unfortunately missing. The tail ends in a kind of dragon’s head. As for the colour, the background is blue, the trunk of the man is read, the leopard’s body is yellow with light green spots, the dragon’s head and the fox are reddish brown, and the flowers are of various colours. It is most probable that if this beast can be run to earth, and similar pictures found in the art of other countries, some light will be thrown upon the influences bearing upon the architecture of Kashmir during a period about which little is at present known.”
Nicholls supposed the figure like the main building too came up in 1444, which would make it pre-Mugal. However, John Hubert Marshall (1876-1958), superintendent of the Archaeological Survey of India, in his introduction to Nicholl’s report mentions that a Persian text at the site indicted that the present entrance was added during Shah Jahan’s time (1626 to 1658), that would make it from 17th century and not 15th century. [More recently inscriptions have been found from the time of Dara Shikoh too]
Beast as drawn by W. H. Nicholls in his Muhammadan architecture in Kashmir by Mr. W. H. Nicholls for ‘Archaeological Survey of India Report 1906-7’ [uploaded here] Digitally distorted copy as made available by Digital Library of India
Although the figure was unique and the description by Nicholls was repeated verbatim often when talking about architecture of Kashmir. The mystery beast wasn’t explained till recent times in obscure journals. And even then there is much confusion.
Using Google Image search, it took me just five minutes to figure out that the image stands for the Islamic astrological figure representation of eclipse happening in Sagittarius or centaur (ai-qaws), the bow man represents the planet Jupiter, while the dragon is al-jawzahar, the devouring pseudo planet. The concept of 8th planet coming after the 7 planets (the sun, the moon, saturn, jupiter, mars, venus and Mercury), is supposed to reached Sasanian Empire from Indian Astrological concept of Rahu (head) – Ketu (Tail), the two (but 1) pseudo planet(s), a giant dragon that occasionally devours planets, a concept that made its way into all major schools of eastern astrology.
In case of Sagittarius, the eclipse is a weak, hence the Bowman is shown defiantly shooting into the mouth of the dragon (Rahu).
Such figures could be (and can still can be found) from the time of AbbasidDynasty inregion as wide as Iraq to Iran. Abbasid calip Abu Ja’far al-Mansur (r. 754-75) is said to have built his capital at Baghdad under the astrological sign of Sagittarius. In Iran, it is very common in Isfahan, a place whose symbol is Sagittarius, having something to do with the year the city came up in 16th century around 1591 with defeat of Uzbeks. Sagittarius represented meant realm of Persia around this time. The building with Sagittarius in Iran came up mostly came up in 16th century. However al-jawzahar showing up on a building in Indian sub-continent is unique. It is interesting that the monument falls in the Shia locality and is claimed by them. There was colony of Persian traders at the place till 1830, when religious riots forced them to move back to Iran.
Sagittarius in Persian astrological treatise from 9th century, ‘Kitâb al-Mawalid’ by Abu Ma’shar al-Balkhi Also known as ‘The Book of Nativities’ or ‘The Book of Revolution of the Birth Years’. One of the most influential works from Islamic astrology
Sagittarius on the entrance to the bazaar of Esfahan source
In 1926, some of the tiles from the monument were moved to Victoria and Albert Museum. The tiles were described to be coloured in “iron-red, manganese-purple, tin-white, copper-green, cobalt and copper blues, on an opaque antimony-yellow ground. Height 8 inches, width 32 inches.”
The Sagittarius figure however was to be found on the entrance just until 1983. The tiles were then moved to Central Asian Museum (University of Kashmir, Srinagar).
In this photograph from 1983 for the renovation happening at the place, the tiles on entrance are missing. Some additional tiles (some of the missing pieces of the Bowman) were found in rubble and now stay at SPS Museum, Srinagar.
Prataap Patrose, Aga Khan Visual Archive, MIT source
The actual sketch of the beast by W. H. Nicholls in 1905
A color version I tried to create using GIMP. Color palette based on description by Nicholls and of the tiles at Victoria and Albert Museum.
The missing pieces Sagittarius tile not given in the sketch of Nicholls at SPS Museum November 2014 The cations for the display of course don’t tell you the story of the tile
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In 1994, archeologist Ajaz Banday in Srinagar did identify the image as Sagittarius and yet the image continues to baffle people.
In 2011, Aniket Sule tried to explain the figure as ‘Indian record for Kepler’s supernova: Evidence from Kashmir Valley’ [pdf link]. The writer tried to explain the dragon spitting fire as representation of Kepler supernova witnessed in 1604.
An argument to the contrary was provide by Robert H. van Gent in his paper ‘No evidence for an early seventeenth-century Indian sighting of Keplers supernova’ (2012) [archive.org link], placing the image well back in Islamic astrological iconography. (As explained a simple google image search would have stopped anyone from superimposing supernova on that figure)
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Interestingly, Sagittarius, it seems, was always watched closely by Muslim astronomers and astrologers.
In 1575, Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma’ruf, court astronomer of Sultan mural III (reigned 1574-1595), established an observatory in Istanbul. This was the last great observatory built in Islamic empire. When the Great comet of 1577 appeared in Sagittarius, Taqi al-Din predicted that Turkish army would win against Persian. The Turkish army did win but the losses for Turks was also great. And then in the same year some important men of the court died, this was follow by plague. Taqi’s rival astrologers and clerics convinced the Sultan that observatory was the cause. The observatory was destroyed in around 1580. This destruction of the last Islamic observatory almost coincides with the construction of first modern observatories in Europe by Tycho Brahe. Johannes Kepler, all of age six, was among the people who witnessed the great comet of 1577 and later went on to assist Brahe, and much later helped change the way people look at sky forever.
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Further read and references:
The Dragon in Medieval East Christian and Islamic Art (2011) by Sara Kuehn
Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran (2004) edited by Sussan Babai
A History of Physical Theories of Comets, From Aristotle to Whipple (2008) by Tofigh Heidarzadeh
Jews, Christians, and the Abode of Islam: Modern Scholarship, Medieval Realities (2012) By Jacob Lassner
“Over the years, I started coming across photographs of the place in old travelogues. Having never been to the place, the sight of the place in an old book became a thing of little joy for me. Earlier this year when I visited Srinagar, the thought of finally visiting the place did occur to me, but it was winter, the water levels were low, it would not have been a pretty sight, I told myself, ‘Next time when the water levels are higher.’
This old building is now gone, destroyed in the flood of September 2014.”
A page from ‘This is Kashmir’ (1954) by Pearce Gervis.
In around 2010, when my father got posted to Srinagar, I forced him to buy a cheap point-and-shoot camera so that he would send me photographs of Kashmir, the places he saw. Every couple of months we would meet in Jammu and he would show me the photographs. Among the photographs was a photograph of this beautiful old building that stood out. He told me in old days ‘Aabu Guzar’ was the toll collection point for the goods leaving and entering Srinagar city via the river.
2010.
Over the years, I started coming across photographs of the place in old travelogues. Having never been to the place, the sight of the place in an old book became a thing of little joy for me. Earlier this year when I visited Srinagar, the thought of finally visiting the place did occur to me, but it was winter, the water levels were low, it would not have been a pretty sight, I told myself, ‘Next time when the water levels are higher.’
This old building is now gone, destroyed in the flood of September 2014.
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