Hazratbal Shrine & Rural Life in Old Jammu & Kashmir Photos

A collection of old photographs showing everyday scenes in Jammu and Kashmir from the 1860s to the 1960s. The pictures include a young woman carrying fodder and holding a lamb in a rural setting around 1960; the Hazratbal Shrine in its 19th-century wooden form between 1860 and 1870; a traditional mud-and-stone village house with thatched roof and livestock courtyard in 1951; a Swedish caravan on a mountain road in the Kashmir Valley in 1967; a crowded gathering at Hazratbal Ghat with boats and devotees in 1910; a hand-painted view of the Bund and General Post Office with houseboats in 1911; the pavilion at Chashma Shahi Mughal Garden in the 1960s; a vintage car on a poplar-lined road in the late 1920s–early 1930s; houseboats along the Jhelum near Budshah Kadal in the 1980s; and traditional riverside wooden houses with balconies and moored shikara. Simple views of old Kashmir.

This charming black-and-white postcard photograph from around 1960 by the renowned Mahatta & Co studio in Srinagar shows a young Kashmiri woman in traditional pheran and headscarf, smiling warmly as she balances a large wicker basket (kangri or similar) filled with fresh green fodder or grass on her head—a common practice for carrying loads hands-free—while gently holding a small lamb in her arms, set against a blurred rural backdrop of trees and open fields. The image reflects everyday pastoral and agricultural life in mid-20th-century Kashmir, where women often managed household chores, animal care, and gathering feed for livestock, blending practical rural tasks with the valley's close-knit family and farming traditions during a period when such scenes were frequently captured for tourist postcards to showcase the region's idyllic simplicity and cultural charm.

This rare black-and-white photograph, taken between 1860 and 1870, shows the Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar, Kashmir, during its 19th-century phase when the structure featured traditional Kashmiri wooden architecture with multi-tiered sloping roofs, arched windows, and a central elevated section, set in a quiet open area with trees and pathways leading to the entrance. The image documents the shrine's appearance before its major reconstruction in the late 1960s-1970s, when the older vernacular wooden building—originally dating back to the 17th century and housing the revered relic Moi-e-Muqqadas (a hair of Prophet Muhammad) (saw)—was replaced with the current white marble structure incorporating Mughal elements like a dome and minaret, reflecting the site's long history as Kashmir's holiest Muslim shrine since the relic's arrival around 1700.

This 1951 black-and-white photograph shows a traditional rural village house in Kashmir built with mud and stone walls, wooden beams, and a thick thatched roof made from rice straw or reeds for insulation against cold winters, featuring a ground-floor area used as a cattle shed (gaan) where sheep and cows are kept to provide natural heating through their body warmth rising to the living floors above—a common design in mid-20th-century Kashmiri villages that integrated livestock within the household courtyard for practical warmth, protection, and convenience in harsh climates, with family members in pherans tending to the animals amid the multi-story structure that typically included storage, kitchen, and living spaces on upper levels.

This color photograph from 1967 shows a Swedish caravan—consisting of a Mercedes-Benz car towing a classic camper trailer—paused on a mountain road in the Kashmir Valley, with a roadside billboard featuring illustrated tourists and the welcoming message "Stop! And look out for your point of view! Kashmir Valley" positioned to highlight the dramatic Himalayan landscape of rugged peaks and valleys in the background. The scene reflects the growing international road tourism to Kashmir during the mid-20th century, when improved highways like the Jammu-Srinagar route enabled foreign travelers from Europe to drive their own vehicles or caravans into the region, drawn by its reputation as a scenic paradise and summer retreat, marking a period when overland adventures by car became feasible for adventurous tourists exploring the valley before air travel and geopolitical changes altered access patterns.

This 1910 black-and-white photograph shows a crowded scene at Hazratbal Ghat in Srinagar, Kashmir, where numerous devotees in traditional attire have assembled along the waterway and on boats, likely arriving for Friday prayers or a religious gathering at the Hazratbal Shrine. The image features a dense crowd of men filling the foreground and midground, with several shikara and larger boats moored or moving on the calm waters, flanked by traditional wooden structures with sloping roofs serving as shelters or part of the ghat facilities—a direct record of the site's importance as Kashmir's holiest Muslim shrine even in the early 20th century, when boat access remained essential for pilgrims visiting the relic Moi-e-Muqqadas, reflecting the blend of religious devotion and social community life centered around the shrine's lakeside location on Dal Lake.

This hand-painted photograph, created in 1911 by British artist W D Lambert, shows the historic Bund area along the Jhelum River in Srinagar, Kashmir, with the prominent General Post Office building—a colonial-style structure with gabled roofs and chimneys—standing on the elevated riverbank amid leafless trees, while several traditional houseboats with thatched roofs and ornate details are moored on the calm waters in the foreground, occupied by locals or visitors enjoying the serene riverfront. The delicately colored image documents the early 20th-century urban landscape of Srinagar's Bund, a key administrative and social promenade during the British and Dogra period, where the post office served as an important communication hub and houseboats lined the waterway, illustrating the blend of colonial architecture and Kashmiri lakeside living that characterized the city's waterfront before major modern developments.

This 1960s color postcard photograph shows the pavilion at Chashma Shahi (Royal Spring) Mughal Garden in Srinagar, Kashmir—a two-story structure with arched windows, balcony, and sloping roof, partially covered in climbing vines and surrounded by manicured hedges, lawns, and a winding stone pathway leading uphill through the terraced layout toward the natural spring source. Built in 1632 by Ali Mardan Khan on orders from Emperor Shah Jahan as a gift for Prince Dara Shikoh, Chashma Shahi is the smallest of Srinagar's three major Mughal gardens, designed around its fresh mineral spring believed to have digestive properties, with three terraces featuring cascading water channels, fountains, and Persian-influenced landscaping that offered panoramic views of Dal Lake and the Zabarwan mountains in the mid-20th century tourism era.

This black-and-white photograph from the late 1920s or early 1930s shows a vintage automobile—likely a British-made model such as an Austin or Morris—parked on a straight, tree-lined road somewhere in Kashmir, with a well-dressed driver in white attire standing beside the vehicle. The road is flanked by tall, neatly pruned poplar trees forming a symmetrical canopy, a common feature of scenic avenues in the valley designed for shade and aesthetics. The scene documents the early presence of motor vehicles in Kashmir during the interwar period, when cars were owned primarily by Maharajas, colonial officials, or tourists, marking the gradual introduction of modern transport that supplemented traditional tongas and pony carts in the region while preserving the picturesque tree-lined routes.

This color photograph from the 1980s shows the view from Budshah Kadal (also known as the First Bridge or Amira Kadal) looking upstream along the Jhelum River in Srinagar, Kashmir, where numerous traditional wooden houseboats and doongas are moored along the right bank, some appearing in disrepair with corrugated tin roofs, while locals go about daily activities on the exposed riverbed and embankment. On the left bank stands a large, elegant colonial-era building with arched windows, likely a historic residence or government structure, with snow-capped Himalayan peaks visible in the distant background under a clear sky. The scene documents the river's central role in Srinagar's urban life during the late 20th century, when houseboats served as homes and tourist accommodations, and the low water levels exposed the banks for community use, reflecting the city's unique amphibious character before further modern changes altered the waterfront.

This undated color photograph (likely from the 1970s-1980s) shows traditional riverside houses along the Jhelum River bank in Srinagar, Kashmir, built with stone foundations and multi-story wooden structures featuring overhanging balconies, latticed windows, and cantilevered upper floors supported by timber brackets—a distinctive vernacular architecture that allowed buildings to extend over the water for direct river access. The lower levels appear used for storage or mooring boats, with a small shikara tied at the base where two locals in pherans stand on the platform, while hanging laundry and open shutters suggest ongoing residential use. The scene documents the dense, river-dependent urban settlement pattern of old Srinagar, where houses were constructed directly on or over the water to facilitate transportation, trade, and daily life along the Jhelum before many such structures were lost to fires, floods, or modern development.