Palace gardens
Srinagar, Kashmir
The Mogul and Persian influence reached east into India and especially into Kashmir. The Kashmir kings, or rajs, ruled over a very fertile valley, and to celebrate the goodness of life in this sweet kingdom they used its abundant water to delight citizens. Water meant wealth and Kashmir had water. The Kashmiris also inherited the Persian appreciation of large urban green areas --or parks -- fairly rare in the rest of the Indian subcontinent.
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Christof Wiesner writes:
When I was in Srinagar - on the Indian side of Kashmir -- there was no water on those fountains then. I've got a picture - taken from about the same angle as this one. But everthing is gray and dry. It was the time when the conflict between the Hisbulla Mjaheddind and the Indian Army was fierce. There were curfews at night, sometimes no electricity and - well - no water at public parks. My guide then, as much a friendly host as a good businessman (like most Kashmiris) took me around town and told stories of Srinagar, when it has seen better days. When the fountains were full of water and when the grass was green an lush and people of Kashmir lived peacfully and prospered. While listening to him, I imagined a scene of the park how it might have looked like - a scene from better days, which unfolded before my inner eye and loooked just the same like this photograph, taken back then in those peaceful times.
M Saleem Beg writes:
I am working as director general tourism in Kashmir. We have commisioned a project for developiong a conservation and developement plan for these mogul gardens of Kashmir. These gardens are still in a comparatively good state of preservation. We plan to restore these gardens to their original layout as also the architectural form . We seek expert advise from garden hitorians to provide archival material on these gardens to help us to work on the project.