Entering the Kashmir valley through the ravine of Baramulla, the rest of the journey to the capital at Srinagar was undertaken by water. Crossing the stormy Wular Lake, the largest lake in India, Sumbal on the Jhelum River proved a favourite halting – place. At a short distance below the village a canal leads off to the little Manasbal Lake. The road to Gilgit runs along its western shore, and round the steep north-eastern banks are remains of various Mughal gardens. The largest of these, the Darogha Bagh, the royal palace built for the Empress Nur-Jahan, now fancifully called Lalla Rookh‘s Garden, juts out into the lake with its burden of terraced walls and slender poplar trees, like some great high-decked galleon floating on the calm clear water.
The banks of the Manasbal are deserted now, the gardens are in ruins. Only a few sportsmen, or hardy tourists, venture their boats up the narrow canal, and anchor in the shadow of the old chenars. Fashion sets away elsewhere, toward the English hill stations, with their small log huts perched high up on the mountain sides. But the Mughals, with their love of scenery and genius for garden – building, rarely chose a better site than the shores of this loveliest and loneliest of all the Kashmir lakes.
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From C.M. Villiers Stuart’s ‘Gardens of the Great Mughals’ (1913)
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1. Caption Reads: “Pencil and wash drawing heightened with white of the Manasbal lake, Kashmir by Charles Stewart Hardinge (1822-1894), dated 1846. Inscribed on the front is: ‘Manasa Bal. May/46. Cashmere. Hardinge,’ and on the reverse: ‘Manasa Lake. The most beautiful lake in Cashmere’.
Manasbal Lake is situated in Jammu and Kashmir State, approximately 32 kilometres from Srinagar. The lake is about 5 kilometres long and 1.2 kilometres wide and is the deepest lake within the Kashmir Valley. On the northern shore is a ruined fort built in seventeenth century by a Mughal king to cater for the needs of caravans that used to travel from the Punjab to Srinagar. The lake is considered important for the abundance of lotus flowers which grow on its shores during July and August.”
2. Caption Reads: “A view of Manasbal Lake framed by trees from the ‘Album of Indian Views’ by Samuel Bourne, 1864. Manasbal is situated on the Jhelum Valley at a distance of 32 kms from Srinagar. The word Manasbal is derived from Mansarovar, the sacred lake in the Kailasha Mountains. The Lake is surrounded by low hills and plateaus and is the deepest in Kashmir. Lotus flowers grow in profusion on the waters, and the lake is famous for the many types of birds that can be found here.”
Hasan Abul, like Bawan, Achebal, Verinag, and Pinjor, is one of those naturally beautiful spots which each religion in turn claims as a holy place. Legends of Buddhist, Brahmin, Mohammedan, and Sikh gather round the numerous springs that gush out of the ground at the north-west foot of the precipitous hill of Baba Wali.
The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, Hwen Thsang, journeyed from Taxila to visit the spring ; where he mentions the tank, fringed with lotus flowers of different colours, built by the Serpent King, Elapatra one of those vague shadowy Naga kings whose splendours haunt all Indian history, and whose legendary doings reappear with a strange persistence in old Indian gardens.
The place is said to owe its present name to Akbar, who was so struck with its beauty, that it drew from him the exclamation of Wah Bagh ! (Oh, what a garden !) and Wah Bagh it is to this day. But it was Akbar’s son Jahangir who actually built the garden-palace.
Moorcroft, who visited Wah nearly ninety years ago, describes it at some length : ” The garden covers a space about a quarter of a mile in length, and half that in breadth, enclosed by walls partly in ruins. The gateways and turrets that were constructed along the boundary-wall are also mostly in a ruinous condition. The eastern extremity is occupied by two large stone- walled tanks ; the western by parterres, and they are divided by a building which served as a pleasure-house to the Emperor and his household. It was too small for a residence, consisting of a body and two wings, the former containing three long rooms, and the latter divided into small chambers. The interior of the whole is stuccoed, and in the smaller apartments the walls are decorated with flowers, foliage, vases and inscriptions, in which, notwithstanding the neglected state of the building and its antiquity, the lines of the stuccoed work are as fresh as if they had but just been completed, indicating a very superior quality in the stucco of the East over the West. The chambers in the southern front of the western wing, and others continued beyond it, constitute a suite of baths, including cold, hot, and medicated baths, and apartments for servants, for dressing, and reposing, heating-rooms and reservoirs : the floors of the whole have been paved with a yellow breccia, and each chamber is surmounted by a low dome with a
central sky-light. The water, which was supplied from the reservoirs first noticed, is clear and in great abundance. It comes from several copious springs, at the base of some limestone hills in the neighbourhood and, after feeding the tanks and canals of the garden, runs off with the Dhamrai river that skirts the plain on the north and east.” The present owner takes a great interest in this old Imperial pleasure-ground, and has recently built up the ruined walls and done much to restore the gardens.
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From C.M. Villiers Stuart’s ‘Gardens of the Great Mughals’ (1913)
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Kashmir, the state which outweighed the whole Indian Empire in the estimation of the Emperor Jahangir, must have been particularly dear to the Mughals ; reminding them as it did of their cool northern home – country. The whole country, however, is not very large, consisting of one main valley ninety miles long by twenty-five miles broad, completely encircled by high mountains, and when the Mughal Emperors visited it, the difficulties of transport and of securing provisions, as well as the actual dangers of the road over the mountain passes, made it necessary to restrict the number of the Court as far as possible. Only nobles of the first rank were permitted to accompany the Emperor and Empress. What intrigues and heart-burnings there must have been over the question of privilege, since courtiers not in favour were condemned to stop short at the foot of the great mountains in the suffocating heat of the Bember ravine! The summer Bernier visited Kashmir, Fadai Khan, Grandmaster of the Artillery, Aurungzeb’s trusted foster-brother, was left in charge, stationed as a guard below the pass, ” until the great heat be over when the King will return.”
There are three old routes into the country : by Bember and the Pir Panjal ; the Jumna route by Verinag ; and a much longer journey from the north-west through the valleys of the Kishenganga and Jhelum. This last seems to have been the natural outlet from Kashmir and the most frequented route in early times. At Hasan Abul, where the road leaves the plains, the Mughal Garden of Wah Bagh can still be seen. It was built here on account of the springs and used as an Imperial camping-ground.
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From C.M. Villiers Stuart’s ‘Gardens of the Great Mughals’ (1913)
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It is pleasant to find what a pride and delight both Indians and Kashmiris take in the old Imperial gardens. Only the Europeanised Indians have lost touch with these simple pleasures: young Rajas, ‘doing’ Kashmir or the gardens at Lahore, accompanied by some bored English tutor, and followed by a noisy horde of retainers, walk hurriedly up one side of the stream and down the other; but even they sometimes cast wistful glances back at the flowers and the fountains, ere they whirl off again in their motor cars. Bustling sightseers, however, are a rare occurrence here, and the famous baghs are always full of real garden lovers. All great festivals and holidays are celebrated, if possible, in a garden. Students bring their books, and work under the trees. A day in one of these great walled gardens is an event which appeals as much to purdah ladies as to the very poorest class. The great Emperors who planned them and lived in them-Babar, Akbar, Jahangir and his Nur-Jahan-are far more vivid personalities in India than Elizabeth or the Stuart sovereigns are in England. And every Indian speaks with a lingering regret of the days of the older Bad-shahi, ‘when the gardens were in their splendid prime.’
– C.M. Villiers Stuart (1877-1966) in her pioneering book ‘Gardens of the Great Mughals’ – first of its kind work that lead to the historical study of Mughal Gardens and Indian gardening.
On 26th of February 1908, Constance Mary Fielden, a water-color painter and a budding writer, become Constance Mary Villiers Stuart after marrying Englishman Major Patrick Villiers Stuart, son of Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart.The same year she moved to India with her husband and before the end of 1913, her great book ‘Gardens of the Great Mughals’ was already published.
Her book opens with following lines, a dedication:
TO
MY MOTHER
AND TO ALL EAST AND WEST
WHO LOVE THEIR OWN GARDENS
While she was working on this book, plans for creation “New Delhi” were in process. Towards the end of the book, in its final chapter titled ‘Some Garden Contrasts and a Dream’, Mary Villiers made an impassioned appeal for a thoughful, planned inclusion of Indian design sensibilities into the creation of the New Imperial Capital of India. But, these appeals had little effect.
It is easy enough to picture the change : the exposed private garden, a contradiction in its very terms ; the public parks with their bare acres of unhappy-looking grass, their ugly bandstands, hideous iron railings, and forlorn European statues ; their wide, objectless roads, scattered flower-beds, and solitary trees, and, worst of all in a hot country, their lack of fountains and running water. It is pleasanter to turn to some modern Indian garden, an attempt, perhaps, to reconcile these two opposing styles.
Mary Villiers was describing a Anglo-Indian landscape in these line, but she could well have been describing a randomly picked spot from the future urban landscape of India.
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C.M. Villiers Stuart’s ‘Gardens of the Great Mughals’ has two chapter on the subject of Mughal Gardens in Kashmir. The chapter are titled Gardens of the Dal Lake and Summer gardens of Kashmir
I have serialized these ‘Kashmir Chapter’ based on the Gardens and the narrative.You can read these chapters here:
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Images:
1. The Queen’s Pavilion (Shalimar Bagh)
Painting in water colour by C. M. Villiers-Stuart
The Frontpiece of the book ‘Gardens of the Great Mughals’ published in 1913.
2. The Queen’s Pavilion (Shalimar Bagh). Shot by me in June 2008.
Word ‘paradise’ was introduced to English language from ancient Persian words pairi (around) and daeza (a wall). Western world got to know of this word when Xenophon, a contemporary of Socrates, used the word paradeisoi to describe the great garden at Sardis built by the Persian Emperor Cyrus. From Greek the word passed into Latin as paradisum ; and then into Middle English as paradis.
Francois Bernier, the french physician who came to Delhi in 1658, during during his visit to Kashmir in 1664–65 as part of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s entourage, was the first westerner to call Kashmir a paradise. Paradise – his response to the abundant natural beauty of Kashmir was in fact colored by opinion of Mughals who thought of Kashmir as ‘Jannat‘ or ‘Paradise’. Bernier wrote a number of letters during his travels in India. These letter, originally written in French were later translated and printed by various publishers in a book format. The first one was published in 1670 and , naturally, Kashmir was covered under the title Journey to Kachemire, The Paradise of the Indies.
After Emperor Akbar’s conquest in 1585, Kashmir was slowly developed into a retreat for Mughals. Naseem Bagh ( Garden of Pleasant Breeze) was built during Akbar’s reign in around 1586. However, it was his son Jahangir’s infatuation with Kashmir that lead to the creation of great gardens in Kashmir. And it was the Persian influence of Jahangir’s Irani wife and her family that decided how these gardens were actually going to turn up.
At Veri-nag, the place of spring considered to be the origin of Jehlum river, Jahangir constructed a beautiful Persian styled Garden enclosing a blue watered spring. This spot, around 78 km south-east of Srinagar, is said to have been the favorite garden of his Iranian wife Empress Noor Jahan.
But, the real testimony to the Mughal fascination with Kashmir are the Iranian influenced royal Gardens: Shalimar, Chashma Shahi and Nishat Bagh.
Photograph of Shalimar Garden taken by me in June 2008
Jahangir, for his beloved wife Noor Jahan, built the fabulous Shalimar Garden* in around 1619. It was originally named Bagh-i- Farah Bakhsh (meaning delightful). During the time of Shah Jahan, in around 1630 Zafar Khan, the Mughal governer of Kashmir extended the original garden, the new portion was named Bagh-i-Faiz Bakhsh ( meaning bountiful).
Shah Jahan, son of Jahangir, built the Chashma Shahi ( Spring Royal) Garden in around 1632.
Ali Mardan Khan, the Iranian man put in change of Kashmir by Shah Jahan, is believed to be the person who actually built this garden.
Photograph of Chashma Shahi, June 2008
Asaf Khan, brother of Noor Jahan, father of Mumtaz Mahal, father-in-law and wazir of Emperor Shah Jahan, built the beautiful Nishat Bagh (Pleasure Garden) overlooking Dal lake. This garden is believed to be the better planned and better located among all the three Mughal gardens of Kashmir.
Photograph of Nishat Bagh, April 2006
According to a local tale: During Shah Jahan’s visit to Kashmir in around 1633, the Emperor got completely enamored by the beauty of Nishat Bagh and subtly asked his father-in-law wazir Asaf Khan to consider handing over the garden to him. Asaf Khan was too much in love with his Pleasure Garden and choose to remain oblivious to this subtle royal suggestion. Snubbed, Emperor Shah Jahan ordered that the water supply to Nishat Bagh be cut. Nishat began to wither and would soon have been in complete ruin had a servant loyal to Asaf Khan not dared to go against the royal decree and defiantly restored the water supply to the garden. In face of such defiance, instead of being angry, in a benovalent mood, Shah Jahan passed a sanad – a royal Mughal grant that allowed the owner of Nishat Bagh to draw water from the royal stream.
The water to Shalimar and Nishat Garden was (and still is) fed by a reservoir situated at Harwan, a seat of ancient Buddhist monastery. Ages ago, famous Buddhist teacher Nagarjuna was supposed to have dwelt at this place. Located at this place is another garden of Mughal built.
Near Chashma Shahi, at the foothills of Zabarwan mountains, Dara Shikoh, Shah Jahan’s eldest son, the sufi one, converted an ancient Buddhist monastery into a school of astrology and dedicated it to his master Mulla Shah. Pari Mahal or the Palace of fairies, was a place steeped in magical stories. Walter Rooper Lawrence, who visited Kashmir in 1889 as the Land settlement officer, wrote in his book The Valley of Kashmir (1895):
Strange tales are told of the Pari Mahal, of the wicked magician who spirited away kings’ daughters in their sleep, how an Indian princess by the order of her father brought away a chenar leaf to indicate the abode of her seducer, and how all the outraged kings of India seized the magician.
Photograph of Pari Mahal, June 2008
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‘Gar firdaus bar rue zameen ast / hameen asto, hameen asto, hameen ast‘
If ever there is Paradise on Earth / It is here! It is here! It is here!
– A farsi couplet of Amir Khusrau believed to have been uttered by Jahagir for paradise Kashmir.
“If one were to praise Kashmir, whole books would have to be written. According a mere summary will be recorded.”
“Kashmir is a garden of eternal spring, or an iron fort to a palace of kings — a delightful flower-bed, and heart-expanding heritage for dervishes. Its pleasant meads and enchanting cascades are beyond count. Wherever the eye reaches, thre are verdure and running water. the red rose, the violet, and the narcissus grow of themselves; in the fiels, there are all kings of flowers and all sorts of sweetscented herbs more than can be calculated. In the soul enchanting spring the hills and plains are filled with blossoms; the gates, the walls, the courts, the roofs are lighted up by the torches of banquet adoring tulips.What shall we say of these things or of the wide meadows and the fragrant trefoils?”
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June, 2008
Pari Mahal, now, has fewer security personal, although the empty bunkers inside the ancient buildings have not been dismantled yet. You never know when they would be back in business. Pari Mahal, with all its blazing lights, still looks great at night. From its highest terrace, you can see more valley and less lake, for a still better view – get on top of the dome at Shankaracharya. Ignore this. On a wall near stairs that lead to the main sanctum scrotum of the temple somebody has scribbled a word – Fakbar.
Vegi Nag has fallen victim to a ghastly attempt at restoration by the government bodies. Never too popular, fewer people would want to visit it now.
Harwan is said to be in shambles and people don’t frequent it often. It still remains the source of water for Nishat and Shalimar.
Nishat, Chashma Shahi and Shalimar continue to be popular among the locals, as well as the tourists. But few tourists stroll to the higher terraces of Nishat, you find more Kashmiris there – sitting, laying out on greens or walking contently in a garden. Snake sightings are still common at Nishat. There is still some water rivarly between Nishat and Shalimar. Fountains and canals at Nishat do sometimes run dry.
People bottle ice cold waters of Chashma Shahi in pet bottle. These bottles are later even sold. Walls of the central building at Shalimar Garden, once a venue of royal love games – a love pad – This Mughal summer house, the stones of which – locals had told Bernier – came from an ancient Hindu temples, is now a scratch pad for teenage lovers.
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*
Various meaning of word Shalimar:
Shalimar, in Sanskrit (?) is believed to mean ” Abode of love”, “House of Joy” and similar.
According to some it means ‘Abode of Lilies’.
According to some it means “the House of Kama Deva”
Maharaja Ranjit Singh believed Shala meant God and Mar meant Curse. He wanted to change the name of the garden. His courtiers told him that Shala was a Turki word meaning pleasure and mar means ‘place’.
According to another version Shalimar means “paddy growing area”
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There is a Shalimar Bagh in Lahore also. This one was built by Shah Jahan in 1641.
Then there is a Shalimar Bagh about five miles north of Delhi built by Shah JaHan. Also known as Aizzabad-Bagh ( after Shah Jahan’s wife named Aizzu’n-Nisa Begum), this was the place where coronation of Aurangzeb took place in 1658.
Both are an imitation of the Shalimar Bagh of Kashmir.
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And finally, there is Shalimar The Clown.
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Etymology of word ‘Paradise’: From William Dalrymple’s City of Djinns: A Year In Delhi
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Recommended read: Relating Paradise to Kashmir’s Historical Gardens at KashmirForum.org
Serialization of Chapter 8: Summer Gardens of Kashmir 
