Guest post by Man Mohan Munshi ji. The following exquisite items have been with his family collection since 1880s.
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A silver kettle of old Kashmiri workmanship with a
serpentine(Zaharmor) cup from Central Asia
Both article are more than a century old.
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Update from Man Mohan ji: Some time back a friend from Face book had suggested that the ZAHARMOR cup from my collection shown along with the silver kettle was of made of ONYX. The mini tumbler seen here is of Onyx- which is a calcareous rock of sedimentary origin often depicting bedding as seen in the said tumbler while as Zaharmohar is a recrystallized rock of of altered pyroxenes.
Onyx tumbler to the left and Zaharmor to the right
A giant Kangri (Firepot) about 20 inches in height and about 18
inches in diameter A household article believed to be about 100 years
old. Kangri filled with live charcoal is still used for keeping warm
during winters in Kashmir but of smaller size
A giant Choncha – Wooden spoon -used for stirring eatables being cooked in huge terracota vessels
This is another incredible guest post by Man mohan Munshi ji. Can’t thank him enough for sharing these! And he has promised to send in more surprises!
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Document from 1872 AD
Document from 1876 AD
Document from 1880 AD
[…]three original legal agreements pertaining to Sale purchase deals executed by my great grand father Munshi Daya Ram in 1872 AD, 1876 AD and 1880 AD which I located in a heap of junk in 2003. The said agreements have been drafted in Persian and the revenue stamp /paper is bilingual i.e Persian and Sanskrit . A few words / signatures are in 1872 document are in Sharda script. The dates of the said agreements english in the text are given in Bikrami and Hijri Samwants which have bee calculated are as follows:
This is a guest post by Man Mohan Munshi ji who has generously offered to share some more stuff from his incredible collection.
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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.
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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.
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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.
