In April, I acquired this piece of Kashmir from France
Scene at Mar Canal, Srinagar.
Journal des Voyages. May, 1892.
Mar in Journal des Voyages, 1892
Sketches and water colors by Miss Patty Aberigh-Mackay, 1915
From ‘A Sketching tour in the valley of Kashmir’ by Miss Patty Aberigh-Mackay for Studio International (1915-16), Volume 66.
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| A Nullah (canal) on Dal lake |
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| Autumn on Dal Lake |
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| Hari Parbat |
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Hari Parbat from Dal
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| Hindu Temple on Dal Lake |
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| Huts in Shadipur |
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| The Mar Canal |
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| On the Dal Lake |
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| Tsrar |
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| Tsrar, 2011 |
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Legends of Kashmir (1982) by Edna Machanick
Edna Machanick lived in India from 1951 to 1955 and often spent months on houseboats of Kashmir. Here she collected these tales from Pandits and Muslims. Much later, she illustrated and published the stories as ‘Legends of Kashmir’.
The stories included in the book are:
The Birth of the Lakes of Kashmir (A pandit folklore about origin of Springs in Kashmir, this one is about a place called Khrew, which once had more than three hundred springs and now only about eight remain. Th story and the place…some time soon)
The Rajah and the Snake Princes, rather famous story of Ali Mardan Khan and his Chinese Snake wife, also given in the most authoritative work on the subject, ‘Folk-Tales of Kashmir’ by Rev. J. Hinton Knowles (1888)
Phutu, the Dwarf. (‘Foot Two’ of English), is rather funny tale of an unlikely hero.
Lelemal
The Farmer’s Wife and the Tiger
She who became the Sister of the Prince. An interesting tale in which an evil Afghan prince is reformed after he takes a Pandit woman as sister. The story gives the name of the evil Prince’s father, who is a thorough good fellow, as ‘Sultan Jannulabdin’. An obvious reference to Zain-ul-Abidin, the Budshah. However, in this story, it is the Prince who suffers from an ailment (a curse) and is cured by a Pandit woman whom he had earlier disrespected.
The King of the Crocodiles. About a girl who is almost force married to a Crocodile who doesn’t turn out to be a bad guy.
The Princess of the Green Chili. This one about a little Chili lady raised by a Jinn. A typical ‘put-to-sleep’ Kashmiri tale involving birds.
The illustration by Edna Machanick are truly imaginative and give the magical feel of the story and the place perfectly. The only other illustrated version of Kashmiri folktales is by ‘Kashmiri folk tales’ (1962) S. L. Sadhu in which local talent was utilised, but the illustration by Edna Machanick are more expansive and detailed.
It is amazing the places our tales have traveled. Tales we have forgotten. It is amazing the places I have to recollect them from. This beautiful book of Kashmiri folktales come all the way from South Africa. The name Edna Machanick is much respected there is even a scholarship awarded in her name to female undergrad students.
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Boat Life in Kashmir by Brunhilde Chesney, 1918
From ‘Asia – Journal of the American Asiatic Association’ (Volume v.18 n.04), April, 1918.
Miss Brunhilde Chesney, who was born and lived in India, offers a glimpse into the life of Hanjis.
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Kashmir by Robert Baden-Powell, 1915
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| Baramulla |
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| Background, Fort Hari Parbat, Srinagar |
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| Beaters at lunch during a hunt |
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| Kashmiri Carriers |
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| Kashmiri Children |
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| Doonaga |
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| Design of a Doonaga |
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| Plaits |
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| Breakfast Camp |
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| Liddar Valley |
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| Entrance to the Liddar Valley |
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| Pandritan Temple ruins |
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| Post Office and club at Achibal |
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| Sunset |
From ‘Indian Memories: Recollections of Soldiering Sport, Etc.’ (1915) by Sir Robert Baden-Powell
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Assassination of Alexander Burnes
From ‘Cassell’s Illustrated History of India’ (1880) by James Grant.
Here too a ‘rascally’ Kashmiri was blamed.
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Human Welcome of Kashmiris by Achille Beltrame, 1925
Kashmir cover of Italian weekly newspaper newspaper ‘La Domenica Del Corriere’, 11 January, 1925. Illustration by Achille Beltrame.
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The original photograph on which the illustration is based:
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Another inspired illustration:
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| An illustration from ‘Rhamon a boy of Kashmir by Heluiz Washburne, pictured by Roger Duvoisin’ (1939). |
Pandit in his temple, 1881
‘Voyage d’une parisienne dans l’himalaya occidental- Ouvrage illustré de 64 gravures sur bois’ (1887) by Marie de Ujfalvy-Bourdon, one of the first European woman adventurers to visit Kashmir and western Himalayas in around 1881.
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[Also, the book has reference to ‘Ramjoo’s temple’ built by a powerful minister of Dogra Raja]
Bhawan, 1877
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| Bhawan [Mattan] by V. C. Prinsep. 1877. From ‘Imperial India; an artist’s journals’ (1879) |
“The modern Martand, or Bawan, is over the edge of the plateau at another source of the Jhelum, which, having escaped the eye of the garden-making Jehanghire, has been turned by the pious Hindoo through two sacred tanks, and is now a holy shrine. The tanks are full of fish, a kind of tench, I should think, which it is the duty of the pilgrim to keep well fed with baked Indian corn. It is delightful to see the shoals of these dark green fish in the brilliant azure of the water. I made a sketch of the place from one corner, where squats each day an aged and very holy man, before whom the pilgrims come in flocks to prostrate themselves till their foreheads touch the ground. Unlike most holy men, this one is clean, and is moreover a very superior person, for seeing me surrounded and inconvenienced by fakirs, he sent his own servant to clear them away. I painted him into my sketch as an acknowledgement, and when I had finished made my lowest salaam. The old gentleman, being probably absorbed in a contemplation of the Deity, did not respond; or are piety and good manners incompatible?”
Houseboat Life in Kashmir, 1891
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| Houseboat Life in Kashmir on way to Sumbul on the Thelum River Drawn by W. Small The Graphic August 8, 1891 |
Came across this while digging The British Newspaper Archive.
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