then-now Archives - SearchKashmir

February 14, 2017October 12, 2020

Maithun/Amorous couple from Kashmir

20th Feb, 2016

Most old archaeological texts mentioned it. But, it took me two trips to find and identify it in the rubble.

“Maithun/Amorous couple” from Kashmir, Avantipur, mid 9th century. One of the most common motif in Hindu temples. These are the only two surviving in Kashmir.

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The courtship in the courtyard nearby.

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19th Feb, Manasbal

A boy and two girls standing next to a green mazaar of a pir next to the lake.

Girl A: Dopmay na me chu ne karun. (Told you, I don’t want it with you)

She opens up her phone. Takes out the sim card and gives it to the boy.

Boy: Wayn kya! (please!)

The mediator friend, Girl B: Boozi wayn! (Listen, please!).

The girl is now furious and visibly upset. She will not listen.

“Dopmay na me chu ne karun.”

She throws the phone to the ground, probably a gift, smashes it to smithereens and walks away.

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Biloreen saaq, seemeen tan, samman seena, sareen nasreen,
Jabbeen chuy aayeena aayeen ajab taaza jilaa, Jaa’noo

~ Rasul Mir, 19th century Kashmiri love poet.

Crystal Legs
Body Mercury
Jasmine Bosom
Daffodil Butt
Forehead,
a wondrous
polished
mirror,
my love

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yas zali bad’nas ash’qun naar
su zaani kyah gov hijr-e-yaar,
Maqbool kornas dil nigaar

The body set on fire by love
it knows meaning of separation from love
Maqbool, accepts an idol in place of heart.

~ from ‘Gulraiz’ by Maqbool Shah Qraalwari, (d. 1877) Kashmir. Based on work of Zia Nakhshabi, a 14th century Persian poet.

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January 11, 2017October 12, 2020

Relics at Bijbehara Shiva Temple. Then-Now.

From ‘Vaishava Art and Iconography of Kashmir’ (1996) by Bansi Lal Malla

Feb, 2016

From ‘Vaishava Art and Iconography of Kashmir’ (1996) by Bansi Lal Malla

2016.

John C. Huntington, L. Susan. 1970.

2016. Called “Brashib” in Kashmiri.

Inside of Bijbihara temple. From “Kashmir” (1977) by Francis Brunel.
Notice the Ganesha at the right, in corner. both eyes intact.

Present location. Outside the temple. Under a tree. The statue was attacked by someone in around 1990. One eye destroyed.

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Details of the trip and temple: Bijbehara Shiva Temple

April 18, 2016October 12, 2020

Burzahom. Then and now.

First dig.
1936

Megalithic Menhirs.Yanderhom Karewa, Burzahom.

2014

Story of the discovery for some other time.

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SearchKashmir turns 8.

April 6, 2016October 12, 2020

I found Harwan

In February 2014, I tried to look for Harwan Buddhist site, ended up finding a water filtration plant, returning believing it to be the heritage site. [Read all about it here]

In November, I went back to look for it.

I found Harwan.

I took the right turn this time. I realized why most people miss it. The place is too hidden, you have to hike to the place. Most Pandits visiting are too old, can’t climb, have no old association with the place.

And older cousin of mine however did remember the quite little place near Chandipur where they would sometime go for excursion with Walden school.

Diaper Pebble Technique

The lonely worker was carrying out repair for damage suffered by Stupa due to the flood of September.

I remembered that this high terrace was buried under debris due to cloudburst and flood of 1973 and finally cleared in 1978-80.

Coming in from some distance, I could hear the sound of men sitting somewhere inside an invisible security bunker.

The sun was setting, it was time for me to move.

I am convinced that when the place was conceived, the level of Dal Lake would have been higher. The site would have stood just next to the water body.

From Louise Weiss’s Cachemire (1955)

In 1950s, you could just walk around Harwan and the now famous tiles could be seen strewn all around the place. Back them people hoped, it would be an open museum for the tiles.

One the way back, I again lost the way. I couldn’t figure out how to get back to the main road.

“hum wayti, maalya”

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March 19, 2016October 12, 2020

Khardungla Pass. Then-Now.

Khardungla 1953
From the book “Ladakh: My Journeys Up, Down & Across” by Pushker Nath Kaul (2016)

September, 2015

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March 19, 2016October 12, 2020

Manasbal Temple. Then-Now.

1866

2016.

March 19, 2016October 12, 2020

Martand. Then and now.

From Louise Weiss’s Cachemire (1955).

Feb, 2016

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December 24, 2015October 12, 2020

Ladakhi Singers

“Ladakhi girls dancing at Nemu Camp, 18 miles before Leh. They have visited Punjab and hence their style of dress.” July 1949. Enaskshi Bhavnani for Photo Division India.

After the show
Singers
Hunder Nubra valley

I asked them to sing a “Bodhi” song. They laughed and said,”Aap nay toh humay Bodh bana diya!”
They were Muslim, they sang love songs.
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August 13, 2015October 12, 2020

Complete Guide to Naseem Bagh

On west bank of Dal Lake, in 1635, on order of Shahjahan work on a new garden was started. It is said that on the same site, sometime after 1586, Akbar had laid out a garden.

In summer of 1635, when Sun entered the Zodiac of Aries, northern vernal equinox, March 20-21, twelve hundred saplings of chinar were planted all at the same time. Laid out in classic ‘Char Chinar’ pattern, four chinars in four corners of a rectangular piece of land, so that a person in centre would be under shade at all hours of the day. The saplings were fed water and milk. A canal from Zukrah canal (canal now non-existent, near Batpora) was dug and brought in to water velvety green grass. A boundary wall was raised and fountains planted (both disappeared during Afghan time). This Mughal garden was named Nasim Bagh or the Garden of Breeze, for the gently breeze that blew though it.

Persian chronograph for the garden read:

Dar jahan chu ba hukm-i-Shah-i-Jahan,

Dauhae tazah az na’im amad,

Kard gulgasht-i-an chu Shah-i-Jahan

Bulbul az shakha gul kalim amad;

Guft tarikha dauhae shahi

Az bihishte Adan Nasim amad

When in this land by order of Shah Jahan

A fresh garden came into existence out of magnificence.

When Shah Jahan roamed therein

Bulbul spoke from a blossomed branch

Said the date of the royal garden.

Local lore recommended visiting the garden in mornings when gentle Nasim would blow through it.

The Persian saying about gardens of Kashmir used to be:

Subha dar Bagha Nashat o Sham dar Bagha Nasim,
Shalamar o lala-zar o sair-i-Kashmir ast u bas

Morning at Nashat Bagh and evening at the Nasim Bagh,
Shalamar, and tulip fields, – these are the places of
excursion in Kashmir and none else.

However, Godfrey Thomas Vigne, who visited Kashmir in 1835, was told by locals to visit the garden in morning.

I visited the garden in morning. I wonder if people still know when exactly Nasim blows.

In 1950s, during the time of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, this garden was handled over by the Dogra royal family to the civil administration for use as campus of a University. Naseem Bagh is now the beautiful campus of Kashmir University.