The Valley of Kashmir (By Walter R. Lawrence)

Walter R. Lawrence, who was Resettlement Commissioner of Kashmir, in 1887 writes “Perhaps in the whole world there is no corner so pleasant as the Dal Lake. The water of the Dal is clear and soft as silk, and the people say that the shawls of Kashmir

Nature has done much for the Dal, but the Mughal emperors have in their time nobly exerted themselves to enhance the natural beauties of the lake. The park of plane trees known as the Nasim Bagh, the garden of breezes, which was planted in Akbar’s time, is the most beautiful of all the pleasure places of the royal gardens of old times. Nothing is perhaps more striking than the ruined Pari Mahal, standing grandly on a spur of the Zabarwan mountain, a memorial of the Moghul love for letters. The Pari Mahal was built by Prince Dara Shikoh for his tutor Mulla Shah. Mulla Shah’s tomb is at Mulshahi Bagh, near the entrance of the Sind valley.

Author: Walter R. Lawrence