CHASMA-I-SHAHI garden in kashmir

This is the smallest, though not on that account the least attractive, of the Mughal gardens of Kashmir. It is situated at a distance of five and a half miles from Srinagar, a little less than a mile off the road to Nishat. The conformation of the ground round about shows that the garden can never have been large, but there is evidence to prove that it was not as circumscribed as it is now. The two barahdaris as well as the surrounding wall and the side entrance belong to recent times. The cascades, the plinths of the barahdaris, the water-courses, tanks, and fountains, are genuine Mughal works, save, of course, for the restorations. The lowest terrace has a tank in the centre containing five fountains arranged as a quincunx. A flight of steps on each side of the barahdari leads up to the second terrace and to the ground-floor of the barahdari itself. This is one of the most favoured haunts of tourists in spring and early summer, for the view it commands of the Dal lake is one of the most charming that can be had anywhere, at any rate among those which are easy of access. In spring, when the fields of the blossoming rape-seed flank the verdant hill slopes with gold; when the snow-capped mountains are being ceaselessly washed by melting snows and frequent showers; when in sunny intervals white masses of downy clouds are seen floating majestically in the translucent azure of the sky, their shadows trailing after them as if caught by the sharp mountain peaks; when the lake is free from weeds and reeds - beardless, as the Kashmiris call it - and its two small islets of Rupalank and Sonalank, the Chahar-chinar, are like two emeralds set in the sapphire shield of the Dal; when vast patches of the slopes of the Chashma-i-Shahi hill and the Hari Parbat are covered with red and white almond blossoms, the fortunate spectator stands entranced as he gazes out of the arch of the barahdari, his feelings lulled by the gentle murmur of the little fountain that plays in the centre of the hall.

The tank in the second terrace contains only one fountain and a small carved chute, down which the water of the channels in the upper terraces comes rippling joyously. All these fountains, channels, and cascades are fed by the real Chashma-i-Shahi, a truly " royal " spring, which perennially gives forth its wealth of the coolest and purest water in a lotus basin built in the centre of a Mughal platform. The pavilion which covers it is unusually ugly and dilapidated. According to an inscription said to have been put up at the gateway, the garden was constructed in the reign of Shah Jahan, probably by the emperor himself. The exact wording of the verse which contained the date is as follows:

Guftamash bahr-i Chashma tarikhe,  CHAS

Guft bar go kausar-i Shahi.

Translation: " I enquired of him regarding the date of the spring; he replied, ' say kausar-i shahi ' (the royal spring)."

The term kausar-i-shahi is synonymous with Chashma-i-Shahi, and according to the abjad system of reckoning gives the Hijra year l042, corresponding with A.D. 1632-33.

 Beautiful garden