In 1898, after a proposal from a European scholar, Captain S.H. Godmerry, Maharaja Pratap Singh converted the Ranbir Singh Palace in Srinagar into the Pratap Singh Museum.
18th November, 2014
I found the gate open and just walked in. Half way in, I heard someone commanding me to stop. It was a big burly Sikh security officer who pointed out that I hadn’t walked in though the right security gate. I traced back my steps to the main gate. Again walked in through the right gate and was again stopped by the security officer.
“The museum is closed due to flood. Nothing to see here today.”
I could see the place was open. I pleaded to be let it.
“The place is still wet. It is left open for drying.”
“Where have you come from?”
I didn’t tell him I am a Kashmiri. I told him I had come from Kerala. The place is too far and I would be leaving the next morning.
He had a turn of heart and told me that the in-charge of the museum was in the office. I could plead with him.
I was escorted to the officer. An old man busy with office work. I again pleaded. I was let in on the condition that I won’t be photographing anything.
“Condition of the museum would only bring further bad press.”
I promised. A man was assigned to keep watch over me. I walked around the place that should have been one of the finest museum in the sub-continent.
I asked him if there was any literature available about the museum. Officer handed over a big fat inter-office magazine that mostly carries self-congratulatory letters for various members of the history department.
About sixty days after the flood
A city still damp
daubed in two shades
Camps near Dal
Camp dwellers. Most of the government camps look empty. People mostly stay with relative with a nominal person staying in the camp the mark his presence, expecting relief. People on radio sound angry about the way damage is being assessed and relief being handed out.
Clearing silt from the ghat near Fateh Kadal foot bridge
Not wishes tied to the walls of a shrine Polythene and rubbish brought in by water stuck to the Mesh panel of a little garden by the ghat
Soaked ancient brickwork of a house along the river
After two weeks under fifteen feet of water Dead plants in a private garden along Nageen lake A positive side effect of the flood has been that the markets are flush with vegetables of great quality.
A roadside stall offering flood infested material for sale.
The level at SPS museum along Bund road
Level of water inside the museum Knees of the deity I was told, most of the damage to display material has been to the papermache works. With about 2% almost of them gone.
Soaked old journals inside the Library of the museum
“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.
“Fishing in the Hidden Eddies of the Jhelum. The flow of the river is watched with superstitious fear for signs of increased volume and impending flood. To the Kashmiri the swiftly flowing mountain streams have become barometers of fate.”
~from ‘Beneath The crags of Kashmir’ (1920) by V.C. Scott O’connor
One of the persistent side effect of frequent flooding and other natural calamities in Kashmir, has been the proliferation of a phenomena witnessed in many other parts of the world: humbug. In times like these most people look upwards and bear witness to work of Gods. [Watch: Impact of 2004 Tsunami on Indonesia]
Walter Lawrence, in the aftermath of great flood of 1893 in Kashmir, recorded a curious practice prevalent among Kashmiri people. He wrote, ‘Marvellous tales were told of the efficacy of the flags of saints which had been set up to arrest the floods, and the people believe that the rice-fields of Tulamula and the bridge of Sumbal were saved by the presence of these flags, which were taken from the shrines as a last resort.’
The Spring shrine of Tulamulla obviously became more popular after the floods of 1893 and slowly overshadowed most other sites as the holiest of holy.
New house over the old three feet base
Chattabal, 2008
When I was a child, wherever I would spill a glass of water, the exclamation from my mother or grandmother would be, ‘Ye kus Sylaab!’ (What’s this flood!). The house I was born in Chattabal was near a river. The hundred year old wooden house was built a good three feet above the ground. As a child I never understood the real need for it. I was told it was for safety from the floods. I would wonder: ‘What floods?’. I had seen the quite river. No way was that river ever going to reach our doorstep and then climb these three feet too. Then in autumn of 1988 (or was it 1989?), I remember, one morning, on way to the house of the gourbai (milkmaid), walking to the small foot bridge over the river and finding planted at the start of it a red skull and bone signboard with ‘Danger’ written across it. The reading at Sangam wasn’t good. A flood warning had been issued in Kashmir. I waited for water to rise. Would we be using boats in the house. Could I fish? I waited. The flood never arrived at the gate.
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A list of all the major floods in Kashmir and the changes some of them brought. The date till year 1900 is mostly based on the list provided by Pandit Anand Kaul in his book ‘Geography of The Jammu and Kashmir State’ (1925)’ (scanned and uploaded here as part of searchkashmir free book project). The info. about era post 1900 till 1947 is updated using various accounts of European visitors and for more modern times using news reports, government reports and primarily ‘Flood Control, Drainage, and Reclamation in Kashmir Valley’ (1956) by H. L. Uppal and ‘Paradise in Peril: An Ecological Profile of the Kashmir Valley’ (1995).
[Update: Entries marked * are from Tarihk-e-Hassan of Pir Ghulam Hasan Khuihami who was the primary local resource for Walter Lawrence and for later writings by Anand Koul. Entries taken from ‘Historical Geography of Kashmir’ (1981) by S.Maqbul Ahmad and Raja Bano. It is interesting to note that Tarihk-e-Hassan was primarily based on work of Mula Ahmad, the court poet of Zain-ul-abdin. The surviving copy of Mula Ahmad’s ‘History of Kashmir’ was lost by Hassan in a boating accident.]
2082-2041 B.C.
The one story about Wular from legends. In the time of Sundar Sena, a destructive earthquake occurred by which the earth in the middle of the city of Sandimatnagar was rift and water gushed out in a flood [from Ular Nag] and soon submerged the whole city. By the same earthquake a knoll of the hill at Baramulla near Khandanyar tumbled down which chocked the outlet of the river Jhelum and consequently the water rose high at once and drowned the whole city together with its king and inhabitants. This submerged city is now the site occupied by the Vular Lake.*
* 635 A.D.
During the reign of Raja Durlab Duran, the city of Srinagar was drowned due to a heavy rainfall and the dam (Sadd) at Talan Marg built by Raja Parvaesen, were destroyed. As a result of Talan Marg being flooded, the Dal lake was formed.
724-761 A.D.
During the reign og Laltaditya due to a flood, all buildingd of the Raja in the town were destroyed. So, he rebuilt his palace in Litapur.
855-882 A.D
During the time of Avantivarman, famine was caused by flood and then steps were taken to deepen the Jhelum near Khadanyar in order to accelerate the flow of the river. This measure had the effect of minimising the chances of flood as it was concluded that flooding has happened because of blocking of a river pass at Khadniyar.
917-8 A.D.
During the time of King Partha, rive crop was destroyed by flood, the result being a great famine. Srinagar drowned as houses floated on the river as though they were bubbles. *
1122 A.D.
During the time of Harsha, crops were swept away.
1379 A.D.
During the time of Sultan Shahabud-Din, 10000 houses were destroyed
[The above entry is by Anand Koul. And probably wrong on account of timeline [the Sulatan died in 1373]. Also, Rajatarangini of Jonaraja tells us:
There was flood in 1361. The town of Laxmi-Nagar was founded at Hari Parbat by Sultan Shahabud-Din to rehabilitate the people of the Srinagar city.It was named after his wife Laxmi. ]
1573 A.D.
Ali Khan Chak’s time many houses and crops were swept away*
1662 A.D.
Houses destroyed during Ibrahim Khan’s rule. According to Hassan the year was 1682 A.D. and the reason was a severe storm in which houses whirled around on water like boats. At the time an earthquake is also supposed to have occurred.
1730 A.D.
Houses and crops destroyed during Nawazish Khan’s time due to heavy rains.*
1735 A.D.
Thousands of houses said to be destroyed during Dildiler Khan’s time. * After eight days of rain, flood water stayed in courtyards of houses as well as in the fields for a long time.
1746 A.D.
10,000 house and all the bridges on the Jhelum and also the crops swept away during time time of Afrasiab Khan.*
1770 A.D.
All bridges and many houses destroyed during Amir Khan Jawansher’s time.*
1787 A.D.
During Juma Khan’s time, Dal Gate [*Qazi Zadeh] gave way and all the easter portion of the city of Srinagar was submerged.*
1787 A.D.
Crops destroyed during Abdullah Khan’s time*
1836 A.D.
Bridges at Khanabal, Bijbihara. Pampor and Amira Kadal were swept away during the time of Col. Mian Singh.*
1841 A.D.
During the time of Shekh Gulam Mohiuddin, rain fell for seven days continually, Jhelum overflowed the Dal Bund [ Qazi Zadeh] and submerged the whole Khanyar and Rainawari. Six bridges from Fateh Kadal to Sumbal were swept away. *
[1844. great Gilgit valley flood ]
[*1882 A.D.
Sind-lar river flooded, changed course, water entered Anchar Lake extending the size of the lake three times. (Before this flooding, Anchar Lake was much smaller (probably of the present size)]
[‘John Bishop Memorial Hospital’ got washed away in devastating floods of 1892.~ Until the shadows flee away the story of C.E.Z.M.S. work in India and Ceylon (1912)]
21st July 1893
The first of the well documented case of flooding in Kashmir during the time of Maharaja Pratap Singh. It rained incessantly for 59 hours and the river became so swollen that miles of land on both banks were flooded. The water rose to the height of R.L. 5197.0. All the bridges except Amira Kadal, and many houses were destroyed. Loss of cattle and crops was immense and many people were drowned. A detailed account of this and previous flood was provided by Walter Lawrence in his ‘Valley of Kashmir’ (1895).
“In 1841, there was a major flood which caused much damage to the life and property in Srinagar. Some marks shown to me suggest that the flood of 1841 rose some nine feet higher on the Dal lake than it rose in 1893. But thanks to the strong embankments around Dal, the flood level in 1893 never rose on the lane to the level of the flood in Jhelum”
It is interesting to note that New town area of Srinagar was formed in 1891, in the 1893 flood most of the old town of Srinagar was swept. After the flood of 1893, Jhelum bank was strengthened to protect Munshi Bagh, and the new ‘bund’ came up. This was the first of ‘Great Flood’ in recent history after which modern preventive measures were started.
Between 1895 and 1903, flood kept arriving.
1900
The water was nine feet lower at Munshibagh than its predecessor. It is chiefly remembered for the breaches in the right bank above Shergrahi.
1902
The flood of 1902 was lower than the previous one by 2’2 feet.
24th July 1903
The second of the great flooding in modern times. Five inches of rain fell between 11th and 17th July and eight inches from 21st to 23rd idem and the river rose to the maximum of R.L. 5200.37 on the 24th July at 2 P.M. The whole valley became one vast expanse of water and fearful loss of life and property and crops occurred. The damages caused to the roads and other Public works alone rose to over three lakhs of rupees.
V.C. Scott O’connor mentions that people claimed Dal Lake rose Ten feet in thirty minutes. Three thousand houses in and around Sringar collapsed, and over forty miles of roads were under water.
This was the flood that lead to the first proper scientific approach to control the floods in the valley using the help of British. In 1904, a spill channel was excavated above Srinagar through a swamp rejoining the river at some distance below the city and proved much helpful in protecting Srinagar. Dredging work started in 1907 from Baramulla unto Vular Lake using electricity. In around 1906, came the weir at Chattabal. The flood control work with British help continued for a couple of decades. A Kashmiri poet of that time named Hakim Habibullah went on to write a work titled ‘Sylab Nama’ based on this natural calamity of 1903.
The flood kept arriving at regular interval: 1905, 1909, 1912, 1918, 1926, 1928 (about 75 people lost lives), 1929, 1932, 1948.
During the years 1900 and 1965, valley experienced about 15 major floods.
1950
Fifties started with flood. In 1950, water of Jhleum was flowing 10-15 feet over the banks in Srinagar. In all about 70 mile area of the valley was under water. In Jammu, about 12,000 houses collapsed.
In the fifties, the floods were witnessed in: 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957 and 1959. Of these, the floods in 1950, 1954, 1957 and 1959 were major. And among them the flood of 1957 and 1959 were two greatest ever in recent recorded times of Kashmir.
1957
Capacity of Jhelum river is 36,000 to 50,000 cusecs and flood situation is declared in Kashmir when the water discharge at Sangam in south Kashmir is above 24 thousand cusecs.
In 1957 it was estimated roughly to be 90,000 cusecs to 1 lakh 20 thousand cusecs at Sangam while the flood capacity of Jhelum is 90,000 cusecs. That year Wular Lake rose from normal height of 5,172 meters to 5,184 meters. It is said, “the area on the left bank of the Jhelum from Sangam to Srinagar, and on the right bank from Sangam to Barsoo, appeared one continues sheet of water, with the submerged village site sticking out as bench marks on the watery waste.” Human lives lost were at about 41 with 600 villages inundated. The damages was at about Rs 4.2 crores.
July, 1959
This flood is considered the most devastating in recent times. Jhelum was assumed to be at 80,000 cusecs to 100,000 against its normal capacity of 17,000 cusecs. The highest gauge touched at Sangam was 31.00 feets and the discharge through the river was about 50,000 cusecs.
About 82 people lost lives. Damage to public utility services was about Rs. 20 million, in addition to Rs. 15.6 million of damage to crops.
1960s started with Kashmir placing order for British shovels and two American dredgers (costing about $16, 800,00 or 8 Crore of the time) capable of dredging 750 cubic feet per hour. The floods continued in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1969 and 1972.
August 1973
About 20% of the population of the state impacted flooding about 40 villages. About seventy people dead, with 50 in Jammu province and about 21 of drowning in Kashmir. Damages amounted to Rs 12.18 crores. The Buddhist site at Harwan (the upper terrace) was buried under debris during this flood (it was finally cleared in 1978-80).
Floods kept arriving at regular intervals
1976
1986
1988
14,700 hectares of land was under water, 1.66 lakh quintal of paddy crop costing Rs. 2.50 crore were damaged. Three hundred villages were affected and four hundred and fifty hours were washed away. Loss of irrigation and flood-control works totalled Rs 15.50 crore.
The possible reason for damage to the city from these recent floods remains the slitting of water bodies. “The 1891 census of the state mentions 34,000 boatmen using the Jhelum as the Kashmir Valley’s only highway. Today Jhelum is least fit to accommodate even an average sized cargo boat. So shallow are the waters that in the summer of 1987 one could wade through the river as it passed through Srinagar.”
September 1992
About 210 lives lost.
1995
August 1996
Happened while Amarnath Yatra was going on, about 160 dead.
2010
September, 2014
Triggered by merging of western disturbance and the monsoon over the entire three regions of the State. Heavy rain experienced in upper reaches of Kashmir on 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Upper-reaches of Pahalgam experience three massive cloudbursts.
On 3rd September, Gauge at Sangam reads 21 feet. Flood is normally declared when water is at 23 feet. Ram Munshi bagh reading is 12 feet. Danger mark is 18 feet. People worry about the rising water levels. Rains continue.
On Sept 07, 2014. Flood hits Srinagar city. Deaths in Jammu regions.
Gauge reading at around 1200 hrs in Srinagar:
Sangam = Gauge plate under water (last recorded gauge 33.65 ft).
Ram Munshibagh = Gauge plate under water (last recorded gauge 26.25 ft).
Ashram = 17.58 ft
Conditions abate by September 10th. But almost entire Srinagar under water.
From: ‘Sport and travel in the Far East’ (1910) by J. C. Grew.
Entrance to Sonamarg Gorge
The Great Flood of 1903 in Kashmir. A Kashmiri poet of that time named Hakim Habibullah went on to write a work titled ‘Sylab Nama’ based on this natural calamity.
The kind of hacks Freud spawned. Yet, Freud’s impact on people and their way of interpreting stories, written and oral, can’t be ignored.
Here is ‘A Birth of the Hero Myth from Kashmir’ by Captian M. R.C. Macwatters (based at Lucknow) in International Journal of Psycho-Analysis. Volume II, Sept-Dec 1921. [via archive.org]:
The Valley of Kashmir is a wide alluvial plain which to this day is liable to disastrous floods because at its outlet the main river escapes through a narrow gorge which obstructs the escape of any considerable accumulation of water. In fact the whole valley is almost as dependent as Holland on its drainage and other engineering works.
The first serious attempt to protect it by dams and drainage operations was made by Suyya in the ninth century and an account of his exploits is given by a historian named Kalhana who wrote three centuries later. Although much of his story appears to be historical, the account of Suyya’s origin is a typical birth-myth, which utilizes a part of his engineering exploits for its symbolic expression. Kalhana recounts how such protective works as already existed had been neglected by a series of kings until the reign of Avantivamam and how famine had come upon the land in consequence. He then proceeds as follows:
Chapter V, Paragraph 72. Then through the merits of Avantivamam there descended to earth the Lord of Food himself, the illustrious Suyya to give fresh life to the people.
73. The origin of the wise man was not known, and his deeds which deeds which made the world wonder proved that though [he appeared] in the fourth period (Yuga) he was not bom from a [woman’s] womb.
74. Once a Candala woman, Suyya by name, found when sweeping up a dust heap on the road a fresh earthen vessel fitted with a cover.
75. Raising the cover she saw lying in it a baby, which had eyes like two lotus leaves and was sucking his fingers.
76. ‘Some unfortunate woman must have exposed this lovely boy‘ Thus she thought in her mind, and then from tenderness her breasts gave milk.
77. Without defiling the child with her touch she arranged for his keep in the house of a Sudra-nurse and brought him up.
78. Taking the name of Suyya he grew into an intelligent [youth] and having learned his letters became a teacher of small boys in the house of some householder.
79. As he endeared himself to the virttious by observances in regard to fasts, bathing and the like, and showed a brilliant intellect, men of sense kept around him in assemblies.
80. When these were complaining in their conversation of the flood calamity he said ‘I have got the knowledge [for preventing it] but what can I do without means?’
81. When the King heard through spies that he was saying these words persistently, as if he were deranged In his mind, he was surprised.
82. The King had him brought up and questioned him about this saying. He calmly replied also in the royal presence ‘I have got the knowledge.’
83. Thereupon the Lord of the Earth, though his courtiers declared him (Suyya) crazy, was anxious to test that knowledge and placed his own treasures at his disposal.
84. He took many pots full of money (dinnara) from the treasury and embarking on a boat proceeded in haste to Madavarajya.
85. After dropping there a pot full of money at a village called Nandaka which was submerged in the flood he hurriedly turned back.
86. Though the councillors said ‘that Suyya is surely only a madman’ the King when he heard this account became interested in watching the end of these proceedings.
87. On reaching in Kramajya the locality called Yaksadara he threw with both hands money (dinnara) into the water.
88. 89. There where the rocks which had rolled down from the mountains lining both river banks had compressed the Vitasta and made its waters turn backwards the famine stricken villagers then searched for the money, dragged out the rocks from the river, and thus cleared the [bed of the] Vitasta.
90. After he had in this manner artfully drained off that water for two or three days, he had the Vitasta dammed up in one place by workmen.
91. The whole river which Nila produced was blocked up by Suyya for seven days by the construction of a stone dam — a wonderful work.
92. After having the river bed cleared at the bottom and stone walls constructed to protect it against rocks which might roll down he removed the dam.
93. Then the stream flowing to the ocean set out on its course in haste as if eagerly longing for the sea after its detention.
94. When the water left it the land was covered with mud and with wriggling fishes and thus resembled the [night] sky which when free from clouds displays black darkness and the stars.
96. The river with its numerous great channels branching off from the original channel appeared like a black female serpent which has numerous hoods resting on one body.
Following the example of Otto Rank in ‘The Myth of the Birth of the Hero‘ those points which are common to many such myths are printed in italics. Their analysis has been fully worked out by him and need not be dealt with here, but several features of the present story are worthy of mention.
We may infer that the hero’s real father is the King. It is true that the phrase which attributes his origin to the merits of the King is a common expression in the flattery of oriental courtiers who attribute all fortunate events to the auspiciousness of their ruler, but we may interpret it as an implication of parenthood also, especially as the scene in which the King receives and welcomes him is very reminiscent of the scenes of reconciliation in other hero-myths. The hostility between father and son is not obvious but is perhaps hinted at in the neglect, not of the King but of his predecessors, and in the activity of his spies. The hostility of the courtiers must surely stand for the hostility between the hero and his brothers. Several points in the story show reduplication, for example he is found in a pot and embarks in a boat upon the water, these symbolising the same idea, and the first foster mother, like Pharoah’s daughter, hands him over to a second.
We see the expression of a number of childhood fantasies in the tale. The hero boasts insistently ‘I have the knowledge’ and that even in the presence of the King (father). Just so would the child like to be able to boast of sex-knowledge even to his father but cannot, and even when he has the knowledge he lacks ‘the means’. Whereas in some fantasies it is the father who denies knowledge and power to the son, here the father encourages the one and provides the other (wish-fulfillment). Sir Aurel Stein’s notes on the word ‘dinnara’ here used for money are interesting. A dinnara is a unit of value so small that it was more likely a cowrie than a metal coin (and lends itself therefore to identification with seed) while the ideas of money and grain are largely interchangeable since payments were more often made in grain than in coin even up to recent times in Kashmir.
The ‘infantile theory’ of generation from faeces comes to expression through the dust heap where he is found and through the mud which covered the land and swarmed with wriggling fishes.
We find also an expression of the common fantasy of being one’s own father. The Hero engages in certain interesting operations at the outlet of the valley where he scatters money (or seed), as a result of which there is an accumulation of the waters for seven days, or if we allow ourselves to add the two or three days mentioned in verse 90, a total period of 9 or 10 days corresponding to the 9 months or 10 moons of pregnancy, and he achieves this result by the erection of a dam whose solidity the’ story emphasises, ‘a wonderful work’ indeed! In the opening sentence we are told that he ‘came to give life’ which he does by fertilising Kashmir, his mother-land.
“The Maharajah does not encourage building, and upon wisdom is his objection founded. Srinagar is subject to floods but apart from this, houseboat life is far preferable. Anything else is out of place in this Asiatic Venice. A flood of a most disastrous nature, the year preceding my visit, was still a pet theme of conversation. Srinagar was quite lost to sight for the time being, even the tallest trees were submerged. Queer tales were told of a piano and furniture generally floating on the surface of the waters, and of the chaos and confusion existing when the waters subsided. Fortunately the loss of life was small ; the inhabitants had sufficient warning to find safety in boats.
In the carpet factories, one of Kashmir’s greatest industries, fears were entertained for their safety, but when the waters subsided it was found little harm had been done, and that carpets, sub- merged for weeks, came out uninjured. Mr. Mitchel, perhaps the largest of manufacturers there, told me that he attributed the durability of these dyes solely to the peculiarity of the water with which they were blended.
A visit to his factory included a lesson in carpet- making, and was most interesting. Boys from six years and upwards, and men and women were engaged in the work, and so mechanical was it that the actual workers knew nothing really of the beautiful patterns they were weaving ! These were read out to them, as they sat in front of the great screen on which was fixed the foundation string work of the carpet on which the designs were worked. These patterns, on which we tread so heedlessly, were worked out as carefully as Berlin wool church work ” four white, lift six, seven black, three blue, eight green, lift four,” and so on, the reader monotoned, and for one wrong stitch to cause a flaw in the design, without hesitation was the work stopped and undone.
This factory was the scene of one of the quaint incidents caused by the floods of 1903. When the waters subsided, one of the owner’s houseboats was found stranded on top of his bungalow ! History doth not relate how it was dislodged from its inconvenient perch. Such excitements are not likely to occur in Kashmir again. A flood spill channel has been constructed, a mile above Srinagar, and should there be an overflow, owing to excessive rain or the bursting of boundaries after severe frost, the surplus, it has been proved, will effectually be carried off to the Woolar Lake.”
From ‘The land of regrets: a Miss Sahib’s reminiscences’ (1909) by Isabel Fraser Hunter, who visited valley in 1904 . The book mostly has India but for a brief de-tour to ‘Asiatic Venice’.
