Education & Urban Scenes in Old Kashmir Photographs

A collection of old photographs and a watercolor showing everyday life related to education, literature, and urban development in Kashmir from the 1880s to the 1960s. The pictures include girls at the CMS Mission School in Fateh Kadal, Srinagar during the 1920s seated on balconies of a traditional wooden building; a quiet early view of the Gulmarg bazaar area with unpaved roads and simple wooden structures among pine forests; women carrying baskets of traditional earthenware utensils on their heads along a rural path in the 1960s; a spacious M A Road near the Golf Club in Srinagar in the 1940s with minimal traffic and Shankaracharya Hill in the background; an 1880s watercolor of the Nala Mar canal in Srinagar with calm waters and surrounding buildings; and a man reading a book in one of Srinagar’s Mughal gardens in 1948. Simple views of old Kashmir.

This photograph from the 1920s shows the CMS Girls Mission School at Fateh Kadal in Srinagar during its early years of operation. Known at the time as the Francis Aberich Mackay Memorial School, the institution played a significant role in introducing formal education for girls in the old city. The multi-storey wooden structure, supported by stone foundations and projecting balconies, reflects the architectural style common in riverside neighborhoods of Srinagar. Groups of girls can be seen seated along the balconies and windows, dressed in traditional Kashmiri clothing, offering a rare visual record of early female education within a conservative social setting. The image captures both the physical environment of the school and the presence of students, highlighting a formative moment in the history of education for girls in Kashmir.

This early twentieth-century postcard view shows Gulmarg as seen from the bazaar area, during a period when the region retained its original natural character and simple built environment. Wooden structures line an unpaved road, with sparse development and open surroundings that reflect Gulmarg’s early role as a quiet mountain retreat rather than a commercial destination. The landscape is marked by forested slopes and distant mountains, emphasizing the close integration of settlement and untouched natural scenery. This area later became associated with the Gulmarg Golf Club, one of the earliest golf courses in the region, developed without extensive alteration to the land. The image preserves a time when Gulmarg’s appeal lay in its simplicity, scale, and harmony with nature. As a historical record, it documents an environment largely free from modern construction, capturing a landscape that many later generations would know only through photographs and memory.

This photograph from the 1960s shows Kashmiri women carrying baskets filled with earthenware utensils, balanced carefully on their heads, reflecting a common sight in rural Kashmir during the mid twentieth century. Dressed in traditional clothing suitable for daily labor, the women walk along an unpaved path, demonstrating strength, balance, and familiarity with this form of transport. Earthenware vessels such as nout, leaj, deagul, dul, tchud, anuit, khoos, and matah were essential household items, widely used for storing water, milk, grains, and cooking ingredients. These utensils were typically handmade by local potters and transported manually from kilns or markets to homes. The image documents everyday domestic labor and material culture at a time when household needs were met through local production rather than industrial goods. It preserves a visual record of traditional practices, women’s roles in sustaining household life, and the practical rhythms of rural Kashmir in the 1960s.

This photograph from the 1940s shows M A Road near the Golf Club area in Srinagar, captured at a time when the road bore little resemblance to its later urban form. The wide, open roadway carries minimal traffic, with an early motor vehicle, pedestrians, and a cyclist sharing the space without congestion. Trees line the road, and the surrounding area appears largely undeveloped, emphasizing the openness and calm of the setting. In the background, Shankaracharya Hill is clearly visible, serving as a key geographical marker that confirms the location despite the dramatic change the area has undergone in later decades. The image reflects a transitional phase in Srinagar’s transport history, when motor vehicles were present but had not yet transformed street scale or movement patterns. It preserves a rare visual record of M A Road as a quiet, spacious thoroughfare shaped more by landscape than by dense urban development.

This nineteenth century watercolor depicts Nala Mar, the historic canal that once connected the waters of Dal Lake with the Jhelum River while passing through the heart of Srinagar. The scene shows calm canal waters bordered by brick and timber structures, with daily activity unfolding along the banks, reflecting how waterways functioned as integral urban corridors. Painted by Major Edward Molyneux in the 1880s, the work was commissioned as part of a documented visual survey of the Kashmir Valley prepared for publication in the book Kashmir released in 1885. The painting illustrates Nallah-e-Maar with Saraf Kadal visible in the background, providing valuable topographical and architectural reference. Nala Mar later ceased to function as a canal and was gradually filled in, eventually becoming a roadway. This artwork preserves a rare visual record of Srinagar’s lost waterway, capturing an urban landscape where canals, bridges, and daily life were closely intertwined.

This 1948 photograph shows a Kashmiri man seated quietly on the grass in one of Srinagar’s Mughal gardens, absorbed in reading, reflecting a culture where literature and contemplation formed part of everyday life. Wearing a traditional turban and simple footwear, he sits with a book and personal belongings laid beside him, suggesting an informal yet focused moment of study. During this period, works such as Gulistan and Bostan by Saadi, as well as the Masnavi of Rumi, were widely read and often recited aloud in gatherings, serving both educational and social purposes. Such texts were commonly included in learning curricula and shared reading practices, reinforcing literary familiarity across generations. The garden setting, with its carefully maintained lawns, pathways, and surrounding greenery, underscores the role of Mughal gardens as spaces not only for leisure but also for reflection and learning. The image preserves a quiet intellectual moment within a public landscape, documenting how reading and scholarship were woven into everyday cultural life in mid twentieth century Kashmir.