The Memoirs of Jahāngīr (Jahāngīrnāma) 12.1.4

12.1.4

The source of the river Behat is a fountain in Kashmir, called Virnag. The name signifies in the Hindi language a snake, and it appears that at one time a very large snake haunted the spot. I visited this source twice during the lifetime of my father. It is about twenty kos from the city of Kashmir. The spring rises in a basin, of an octangular form, about twenty yards in length, by twenty in breadth. The vestiges of the abodes of devotees, numerous chambers made of stone, and caves, are in the neighbourhood. Its water is so clear that although its depth is said to be beyond estimation, yet if a poppy-seed be thrown in, it will be visible till it reaches the bottom. There are very fine fish in it. As I was told that the fountain was unfathomably deep, I ordered a stone to be tied to the end of a rope and thrown into it, and thus it was found that its depth did not exceed the height of a man and a half. After my accession, I ordered its sides to be paved with stones, a garden to be made round it, and the stream which flowed from it to be similarly decorated on both sides. Such elegant chambers and edifices were raised on each side of the basin, that there is scarcely anything to equal it throughout the inhabited world. The river expands much when it reaches near the village of Pampur, which is ten kos from the city.