The Memoirs of Jahāngīr (Jahāngīrnāma) 22.4
The Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī (Rogers, Beveridge) 22.4
- Language
- English
22.4.1
There was a tree in the Shahr-ara garden at Kabul, called MlTzd%, better fruit than which I had not eaten, but in Kashmir there are trees equal to this in the gardens. There are pears (Thdshfdtl) of the best kind, better than those of Kabul, or Badakhshan, and nearly equal to those of Samarkand. The apples of Kashmir are celebrated for their goodness. The guavas (amrud) are middling. Grapes are plentiful, but most of them are harsh and inferior, and the pomegranates are not worth much. Water-melons of the best kind can be obtained. The melons are very sweet and creased, (? shiJcananda), but for the most part when they become ripe a worm is found in them that spoils them. If by chance they are preserved from this misfortune they are very delicate. There are no shah-tut (some kind of large mulberry), but there are other (tut) mulberries everywhere. From the foot of every mulberry-tree a vine-creeper grows up. In fact, the mulberries of Kashmir are not fit to eat, with the exception of some on trees grown in gardens, but the leaves are used to feed the silkworm. They bring the silkworms’ eggs from Gilgit and Tibet. There is plenty of wine and vinegar, but the wine is sour and inferior, and in the Kashmir language is called mas. After they take cups of it some heat of head ensues. They make various pickles with the vinegar. As the garlic of Kashmir is good, the best pickle is that of garlic. There are all kinds of crops except peas.
22.4.2
If they sow peas, they give a crop the first year, in the second they are inferior, and in the third year they are like mushang. Rice is the principal crop. Probably there are three parts under rice and one under all other grains. The chief food of the people of Kashmir is rice, but it is inferior. They boil it fresh, and allow it to get cold, and then eat it, and call it hatha. It is not usual to take their food warm, but people of small means keep a portion of the batha for a night, and eat it next day. Salt is brought from India. It is not the custom to put salt into the batha. They boil vegetables in water, and throw in a little salt in order to alter the flavour, and then eat them along with the batha. Those who want to have something tasty put a little walnut-oil into the vegetables. Walnut-oil soon becomes bitter and evil-flavoured. They also use cow-oil (raughan—i.e., ghi), but this is taken fresh, and fresh from newly-made butter (masha). They throw this into the food, and call it "sada-pak" in the Kashmiri language. As the atmosphere is cold and damp, it becomes altered by being kept for three or four days. There are no buffaloes, and the cattle are small and inferior. The wheat is small and of little substance (kam maghz). It is not the custom to eat bread (nan). There are tailless sheep, resembling the kohl (or gaddl) of India. They are called handu, and their flesh is not without flavour. Fowls, geese, and ducks (murghabi)—golden and others—are plentiful.
22.4.3
There are all kinds of fish, both with and without scales, but they are inferior. The woollen cloths are well known. Men and women wear a woollen tunic (kurta), and call it pattu. If they do not put on a tunic, they believe that the air affects them, and even that it is impossible to digest their food without it. The shawls of Kashmir, to which my father gave the name of parm-narm, are very famous: there is no need to praise them. Another kind is taharma (naharma in the printed version); it is thicker than a shawl, and soft. Another is called darma. It is like a jul-i-khirsak, and is put over carpets. With the exception of shawls they make other woollen materials better in Tibet. Though they bring the wool for the shawls from Tibet they do not make them there. The wool for shawls comes from a goat which is peculiar to Tibet. In Kashmir they weave the pattu shawl from wool, and sewing two shawls together they smooth them into a kind of saqarlat (broad-cloth), which is not bad for a rain-coat. The men of Kashmir shave the head and put on a round turban, and the common women do not wear clean, washed clothes. They use a tunic of pattu for three or four years ; they bring it unwashed from the house of the weaver, and sew it into a tunic, and it does not reach the water till it falls to pieces. It is considered wrong to wear drawers (izar) ; they wear the tunic long and ample as far as the head and falling down to the feet, and they also wear a belt.
22.4.4
Although most of the houses are on the river-bank not a drop of water touches their bodies. In short, they are as dirty outside as inside, without any cleanliness. In the time of Mirza Haidar there were many skilled people there. They were skilled in music, and their lutes, dulcimers, harps, drums, and flutes were celebrated. In former times they had a musical instrument like a lute, and used to sing in the Kashmiri language compositions according to Hindi musical modes, there being even two or three modes combined together. Moreover, many sing together in chorus. In fact, Kashmir is much indebted to Mirza Haidar for its excellencies. Before the reign of my father the chief method by which the people of these parts rode was on gunts (ponies). They had no large horses, but used to bring Iraq and Turki horses by way of rare gifts for their rulers. Gunt means a yabut (pony).
22.4.5
They have thick shoulders, and are low in the body. They are common in other of the hill-countries of India. For the most part they are vicious and hard-mouthed. When this God-created flower-garden acquired eternal beauty under the auspices of the State, and by the blessing of the teaching of the Alexander-minded Khaqan, many of the Aimaqs (cavalry) were presented with jagirs in this Subah, and herds of Iraqi and Turki horses were given them to breed from (kih hurra bagirand). The soldiers also brought horses on their own account, and in a short time horses were obtainable, so that many Kashmiri horses were bought and sold for 200 and Rs. 300, and even for Rs. 1,000. The merchants and artificers of this country are mostly Sunnis, while the soldiers are Imamiyya Shias. There is also the sect of Nurbakhshis. There is also a body of Faqirs whom they call Though they have not religious knowledge or learning of any sort, yet they possess simplicity, and are without pretence. They abuse no one, they restrain the tongue of desire, and the foot of seeking; they eat no flesh, they have no wives, and always plant fruit-bearing trees in the fields, so that men may benefit by them, themselves deriving no advantage. There are about 2,000 of these people. There is also a body of brahmans living from of old in this country, who still remain there and talk in the Kashmiri tongue. Outwardly one cannot distinguish them from Mussulmans.
22.4.6
They have, however, books in the Sanskrit language, and read them. They carry into practice whatever relates to the worship of idols. Sanskrit is a language in which the learned of India have composed books, and esteem them greatly. The lofty idol temples which were built before the manifestation of Islam are still in existence, and are all built of stones, which from foundation to roof are large, and weigh 30 or 40 maunds, placed one on the other. Near the city there is a small hill which they call Kuh-i-Maran (“The Wicked Hill,” Lawrence 298), as well as Hari Parbat, On the east side of the hill there is the Dal Lake, which measures round a little more than 6½ koss. My father (may the lights of Allah be his testimony!) gave an order that they should build in this place a very strong fort of stone and lime; this has been nearly completed during the reign of this suppliant, so that the little hill has been brought into the midst of the fortifications, and the wall of the fort built round it. The lake is close to the fort, and the palace overlooks the water. In the palace there was a little garden, with a small building in it in which my revered father used constantly to sit. At this period it appeared to me to be very much out of order and ruinous. As it was the place where that veritable qibla (place turned towards in prayer) and visible Deity used to sit, and it is really a place of prostration for this suppliant, therefore its neglected state did not appear right to me.
22.4.7
I ordered Mu'tamid K., who is a servant who knows my temperament, to make every effort to put the little garden in order and repair the buildings. In a short space of time, through his great assiduity, it acquired new beauty. In the garden he put up a lofty terrace 32 yards square, in three divisions and having repaired the building he adorned it with pictures by masterhands, and so made it the envy of the picture gallery of China. I called this garden Nur-afzd (light increasing).