Srinagar Tourism Guide

State capital Srinagar lies by the Jhelum River at an altitude of 5,214 ft in the western Kashmir Valley spread around a group of picturesque lakes 293 km north of Jammu and 876 km North West of Delhi.

Frozen in turbulence for nearly 15 years, Kashmir seems defined by its recent history. And 1989 is the line that divides the much loved tourist cliché from the no less familiar epithet paradise lost. Before Militancy from after Militancy. If you are fortunate enough to visit Srinagar you will certainly feel the tragedy of the precent more keenly. The city bears many scars as well as the unnerving and sometimes reassuring presence of many, many armed men. And yet as you walk the streets, paddle through the backwaters of the lake or down the Jhelum, your perspective will change as you sense a more complex continuum. The bowl of the valley is too large for the dismal tale of militancy and military repression alone. It’s brimming, of course, with natural beauty and with faith. But best of all, it’s brimming with history. The beauty is indifferent to human problems and faith is too oftern at the root of them. But the history, if you read and see enough of it is full of beauty, faith and intelligence.

If you like complexity, that is. If you are reassured by the knowledge that the powerful are sometimes good, that the pious can be evil and that oftern it’s the other way round. If you can delight in the knowledge that in 1320 the Ladakhi Buddhist prince Rinchin would become the first Muslim king of Kashmir. That the relentless iconoclast sikandar Butshikan would father the secularist prince charming, badshah Zain-ul-abidin 1420-1470. That in 1665, Aurangzeb would come here to unburden his guilt on the shoulder of a flamboyant Brahmin ascetic, Rishi Pir, for having executed the mudist. Armenian-Jewish-Sufi Armad. Kashmir is full of these stories, and the monuments that make them manifest. The comforts of history.

The most convenient way to get around Srinagr is in one of the innumerable sumos at the taxi stands at the Tourist Reception Center and Tange Bagh. In the city autos are easily available the rates negotiable beforehand.

The Gardens

First and inevitable chances are you will be directed to the Mughal Gardens on your first day in town. Submit the only element of choice is the order in which you visit them. Just to be thorough you can start with the Harwan Gardens, which are not Mughal at all but a modern imitation, dignified only by the presence of a few chinars. But at the top of the garden lies the reservoir that feeds the authentic gardens. Before you leave, take the path immediately on the left as you exit the Harwan Gardens and ask anyone you meet along the way for directions to the khandar or to Harichandroz.

Shalimar Gardens

Following the road back to the city stop at the gate of Shalimar, this is set at the end of a canal leading to the Dal Lake. A Rs 5 entrance fees a quick frisk and presto. It’s 1619 and you’re a Mughal. You and a few hundred others. Well was crowded in Jahangir’s day too albeit with lovelier lovelie than you are likely to see. At the summit of this four-terraced garden stands the beautiful baradari a summerhouse ringed withpillars of black marble from pampore. This was and remains the high point of any visit to the abode of love.

Nishat Bagh

At Nishat Bagh 4 km down the road on the lake shore the secluded dignity of Jahangir’s garden gives way to a giddy lightness with a splendid view of the Dal Lake and the mountains beyond. This garden once had terraces stretching down to the lake, but he lower the road and its dhabas have consumed reaches.

Chashma Shahi Gardens

But this was an emperor who liked to leave his mark. And so on the slopes of Zaberwen did shah Jahan a stately pleasure garden decree. On his instructions the Mughal governor Ali Mardan Kha built the small but perfect Chashma Shahi Gardens in 1632. More recently aldous Huxley deemed it architecturally the most charming of the gardens near Srinagar.

Pari Mahal

A short drive further along a spur of the Zaberwan hill, lie the six massive terraces of Pari Mahal also known as Quntilon, with a view to match Chashma shahi’s. commissioned by the doomed Prince Dara Shikoh, at the instance of his tutor Akhund Mulla Muhammad shah badakshani this beautiful garden was originally intended as an observatory and retreat for Sufi scholars.

The Heights

You can use the panoramic view from Pari Mahal for more pedestrian purposes to decide where you want to go next. The lake certainly backons, but you have no doubt been sensible and taken a house boat, so you’ll be going there anyway. Your next essential destination is the Shankaracharya Hill, or Takht-I-Suleiman rising directly from the boulevard on the southern lakeshore. At its pinnacle 1000 ft above the lake is the temple popularly associated with Adi shankaracharya who is said to have meditated here.

Shikara Rides

Don’t forget to take an extended excursion on a shikara. We paid Rs 200 for circuit from Nehru Park past Hazratbal, nagin, Rainwari and back. A shikara ride to CharChinar on Dal Lake and back costs Rs 250-300 fro four people and a ride around the lake Rs 100-250. Also on offer are shikara borne 2-day expeditions to Ganderbal. Ask for Tariq in Love Heaven at the Shankaracharya stand.