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| The Dal Lake Where the Lotus Lilies Grow from
‘Wild flowers of Kashmir’ by B. O. Coventry (1923)
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The Dal Lake Where the Lotus Lilies Grow
Panoramic Painting of Dal, 19th century
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| The Dal Lake, Srinagar. Watercolour, English School, (late 19th century) . Via bonhams. |
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Previously:
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A walk on Water
“And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.
But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.”
~ Mark 6:45-53, King James Bible.
At the appointed time a murmuring crowd gathered on Nehru Park Island to witness the miracle. For days the local newspapers had advertised the event: “A Man to Walk on Dal wearing only a Khrav.“
A silence fell on the crowd as a young man carrying a garland of marigold around his neck stepped forward and approached the waters. This was The Walker. “The sheen of his face is unmistakably that of a man with great spiritual powers,” said someone in the crowd. It was a perfect day for a miracle.
The Walker poised to take his first step, took a deep breath, unimagined the water, kept his head straight and looked ahead. Across the waters, on the other side, another crowd stood in anticipation, ready to receive him. He exhaled and unimagined the crowd. Looking at the scene unfolding in front of them, even the doubting Thomases, even as they we getting unimagined, for a second did start wondering, ‘But, what if…’
For The Walker the world faded away. The was no water. It was just him and his Khrav.
The Walker raised his foot and as it was about to hit the surface of water, in confidence, he moved his other foot to meet the water too. To the onlookers it looked like a jump. Just as his first foot was about meet the surface, a thought sprang like a bolt in his mind, he remembered something, words and a face. His body in response to the thought wanted to undo its previous two actions. His two feets now sought solid ground. To onlookers it looked like a jolt. The Walker tried to balance himself. But he knew it was too late. He was done. His body craved for land and found water instead. Gravity took over. As he fell face first in water, Khravs slipped off his feet and floated away from him and towards shore. A kid picked them and ran away. A few brave onlookers, not in spell anymore, jumped into water and pulled him out.
In time, the reason for this failed miracle soon became apparent to people. It was a girl. Only a few months ago, The Walker was indeed on way to spiritual greatness under the guidance of his Guru. But then love god played his tricks. The Walker used to teach music to a young blind girl. In time, as often happens, the two fell in love. The Guru had advised The Walker to remain celibate. ‘No girl, ever.’ Ignoring the advise, just days before the ‘Water Walk in Khrav’ event, The Walker had married the blind girl and thus ending any real chance of him making history by walking on water wearing only wooden Khrav. He had drowned himself in love, fallen for the oldest miracle and got baptized in icy waters of Dal.
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Based on the story of a kin told by an Uncle. The Walker did go on to be acclaimed as a saint. But as the joke in the family goes, that day he did almost drown himself in Dal in front of a big crowd.
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Dal Diving, 1954
Female, Swimsuits and Swimmers. Another thing missing in contemporary images of Kashmir.
I came across this photograph in ‘Guide to Kashmir’, a tourist brochure published by The Tourist Traffic Branch, Ministry of Transport New Delhi, 1954.
[Complete Booklet To Be Posted, soon. Update: Posted Guide to Kashmir, 1954]
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| From ‘Honolulu’ to ‘Heena’. |
I believe I spotted a ‘bathing boat’ named Heena at the same spot, in 2008.
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Ducks swimming in Dal
[Sent in by Man Mohan Munshi Ji.]
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Siren of Dal
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| A bus running up the road somewhere in Haridwar |
“Now the Sirens have a still more fatal weapon than their song, namely their silence. And though admittedly such a thing never happened, it is still conceivable that someone might possibly have escaped from their singing; but from their silence certainly never. Against the feeling of having triumphed over them by one’s own strength, and the consequent exaltation that bears down everything before it, no earthly powers could have remained intact.”
-Franz Kafka, The Silence of the Sirens (1917)
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“The valley is full of legends and superstitions, one of which is that certain stones to be seen beneath the waters of the lakes were at one time men, who for their evil deeds were condemned to die as rocks beneath the clear water until the lakes dried up. One is often shown the “stone men,” which look very much like any other large rocks to our western eyes. Another legend is of a siren living on the border of the Dal Lake, who sings enchantingly if she sees one man alone, and beguiles him away with her, and he is never seen again, but if two men are together she does not try to ensnare them, or if the one lone man happens to have a gun and dog, so apparently she is a coward fay.”
– ‘Valley of Kashmir: India’s Most Delightful Spot (Special Correspondence)’, published in an American local daily ‘The Logan Republican’ (Logan, Utah) 1903, November 04. (Source: chroniclingamerica.loc.gov)
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“Proof that inadequate, even childish measures, may serve to rescue one from peril.
To protect himself from the Sirens Ulysses stopped his ears with wax and had himself bound to the mast of his ship. Naturally any and every traveller before him could have done the same, except those whom the Sirens allured even from a great distance; but it was known to all the world that such things were of no help whatever. The song of the Sirens could pierce
through everything, and the longing of those they seduced would have broken far stronger bonds than chains and masts. But Ulysses did not think of that, although he had probably heard of it. He trusted absolutely to his handful of wax and his fathom of chain, and in innocent elation over his little stratagem sailed out to meet the Sirens.”
-Franz Kafka, The Silence of the Sirens (1917)
Morning
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| Morning at Zero Bridge |
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| Morning at Dal Gate |
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| Morning at Gulmarg |
Water-ways on the Dal Lake
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| Dal. July.2010. |
WATER-WAYS ON THE DAL LAKE
Alone I love to dream along
The Dal lake’s willowy water-ways
And tune my heart to hear her song,
A song which varies with the days.My boat pursues reflections clear
And ‘twixt a tracery of leavesMountains of amethyst appear
Through filmy veils the ‘Soft air weaves.All nature glows and throbs delight!
I lie entranced: the atmosphere
Bathed in this shining, radiant lightIs steeped in colour soft yet clear.
When suddenly with flashing flight
A brilliant streak of purest goldDarts swift across my waking sight,
A glimpse of living joy untold !The golden oriole, its note
Of mellow music I can hear,
As ‘neath the willow boughs I floatTo catch its cadence low and clear.
Still onward ever yet we glide
Through tangled brakes of whisp’ring reed
Which their shy secrets thus confideIf only we will harkening heed.
And now my mangies* moor the boat
To this green islet’s peaceful shoreAn island made of weeds to float,
On which is grown a plenteous storeOf golden melons which I see
A Kashmir beldame pluck and throwIn her shikara** floating free,
Then seat herself and paddling go.With this her trophy piled on high,
In picturesque confusion brightOf sun-kissed, glowing fruits which lie
Reflected in the ripples light.These little isles which like a dream
Float baseless on the Dal lake’s breastHow like our human lives they seem
Mere dreams which here but fleeting rest.I must return: the setting sun
Extends the purple shadows deepSoft drifts of smoke, the day now done
From many homesteads circling creep.Our paddle’s splash the only sound
As stealing ‘neath the shade we clingTo Takht-i-Suliman’s dark mound
While silent birds swift nest-ward wing.* Mangies=:Kashmiri boatmen,
** Shikara=Kashmiri country boat.
~ Muriel A.E. Brown
Chenar Leaves: Poems of Kashmir (1921)
Map of Dal Lake
Found it in an interesting paper (PDF LINK):
PHYTOPLANKTON POPULATION DYNAMICS AND
DISTRIBUTION IN TWO ADJOINING LAKES
IN SRINAGAR
MACROFLORA IN RELATION TO Phytoplankton
by SHASHI KANT* and P. KAOHROO, Department of Botany,
University of Kashmir, Srinagar 6
(Communicated by M. S. Randhawa, F.N.A.)
(Received 20 July, 1970; after revision 3 September 1970
Kotarkhan
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| Rest-house called the Kotarkhan in Dal Lake |
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