Traditional Crafts & Waterways in Old Kashmir Photographs

A collection of old photographs showing everyday activities, crafts, streets, and waterways in Kashmir from the early 1900s to the 1980s. The pictures include men gathered at a tailoring shop in Srinagar in 1911 with a Singer sewing machine; artisans drying handmade paper sheets in 1914; a busy street scene at Habba Kadal in Srinagar during the 1980s with shops, tonga, and pedestrians; young men diving into Dal Lake in 1926; traditional bath houses along the River Jhelum in Srinagar in 1964; a vegetable seller in a boat loaded with knol khol in 1948; a boatman on Dal Lake with produce; the Choont Kul canal lined with houses and boats; a woman cleaning rice outdoors; and houseboats moored along the shoreline in 1934. Simple views of old Kashmir.

This rare black-and-white photograph, taken by British photographer R.E. Shorter in 1911, captures a group of Kashmiri men gathered outside a traditional tailoring shop in Srinagar, dressed in customary early 20th-century attire including flowing pherans, turbans, and waistcoats, with several seated and others standing around a central Singer sewing machine prominently displayed under a hanging lantern—a vivid portrayal of the valley's skilled craftsmanship, bustling bazaar workshops, and social occupational life during the Dogra era when tailoring was a respected trade blending local styles with emerging modern tools like imported sewing machines.

This rare black-and-white photograph from 1914 offers a fascinating glimpse into Kashmir's traditional handmade paper-making craft, where two artisans in flowing pherans and turbans are meticulously drying large sheets of freshly crafted paper by carefully pasting them onto a rough mud-plastered wall under direct sunlight—a critical step that allows the sheets to cure naturally and develop their characteristic strength and texture. Made from mulberry bark pulp beaten by hand, this renowned Kashmiri paper was prized for its fine quality, durability, and use in calligraphy, official records, miniature paintings, and manuscripts throughout the region and beyond, representing a sustainable cottage industry that embodied centuries of skilled craftsmanship and cultural heritage in the valley during the early 20th century before factory-produce

This vibrant color photograph from the 1980s captures the lively everyday street scene at Habba Kadal in old Srinagar, Kashmir—a historic neighborhood known for its bustling markets and traditional commerce—where a horse-drawn tonga serves as public transport amid pedestrians in pherans, a butcher's shop displays hanging meat, a vegetable vendor arranges fresh produce under a blue awning, and multi-story brick-and-wood buildings with open windows house shops like "Glaxi Tailors Ladies & Gents," "Zum Zum Cafeteria," and a pharmacy, all under faded signboards blending English and Urdu script. The image vividly reflects the rich mix of daily market activity, local trades, and traditional urban life in Srinagar's old city during its final peaceful decades, when tongas were a common sight before motorized vehicles fully dominated the narrow lanes.

This rare black-and-white photograph from 1926 captures a joyful moment of recreational swimming on Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir, where young men in classic one-piece swimsuits dive playfully from a simple wooden platform extending over the calm waters, one mid-air in a graceful leap while another prepares to follow, against the serene backdrop of misty mountains and distant tree-lined shores under a cloudy sky—a delightful glimpse into the lighter side of early 20th-century leisure activities on the iconic lake, when locals and visitors alike enjoyed swimming, boating, and diving from makeshift platforms during warmer months, blending adventure with the valley's breathtaking natural beauty in an era before modern tourism infrastructure transformed such spontaneous lakeside pastimes.

This evocative black-and-white photograph from 1964 captures a serene winter scene along the Jhelum River in Srinagar, Kashmir, where traditional wooden bath houses (hamams) with sloping roofs and small chimneys line the frozen or partially iced riverbank, their modest structures moored like boats amid snow-dusted ground, while multi-storied brick-and-timber residential buildings with ornate balconies and flat rooftops rise densely on the elevated embankment behind, framed by bare chinar trees and distant rooftops under a pale sky—a poignant reflection of the city's historic river-based daily life, unique urban architecture, and communal bathing culture that relied on the Jhelum's waters for hygiene and social rituals during colder months, showcasing Srinagar's intimate dependence on its waterways before modern plumbing transformed these age-old practices.

This evocative black-and-white photograph from 1948 captures the timeless tradition of river-based trade on a Kashmiri waterway, where a vegetable seller in traditional pheran and cap paddles a narrow wooden boat heavily laden with fresh knol khol (kohlrabi) harvested from floating gardens, navigating calmly amid several similar boats carrying vendors and produce toward the early morning market, with lush vegetation and distant structures lining the misty shores under an overcast sky—a poignant reflection of Srinagar's historic floating vegetable market system, where growers and sellers transported their harvest directly by boat through the city's intricate network of lakes and canals, sustaining local commerce and the unique aquatic economy that defined daily life in post-independence Kashmir before modern roads gradually altered these age-old waterborne trading practices.

This early 20th-century sepia-toned photograph shows an elderly Kashmiri boatman on Dal Lake in Srinagar, seated in a narrow wooden shikara laden with bundles of freshly harvested vegetables or lotus roots from the floating gardens, paddling steadily across the perfectly calm waters that mirror the hazy line of tall poplar trees along the distant shore under soft, diffused morning light—a direct record of the daily work of lake dwellers who transported produce, passengers, and goods by boat through the city's canals and lakes, forming the core of Srinagar's traditional water-based economy and floating market system in an era when shikaras remained the primary means of navigation on Dal Lake.

This early 20th-century sepia-toned photograph shows the historic Choont Kul (Tsoont Kul or Apple Canal) in Srinagar, Kashmir—a vital inland waterway branching from Dal Lake and running through the city to help regulate water levels, drain excess, and connect neighborhoods. The canal appears lined with traditional multi-storied wooden houses and houseboats with sloping roofs, some lightly dusted with snow, while tall poplar trees stand along the banks and small shikara boats are moored or paddled on the calm waters, with forested hills and distant mountains rising in the background. The scene documents Srinagar's characteristic riverine urban layout and dependence on interconnected canals for transportation, drainage, and daily life in an era when such waterways formed the backbone of the city's infrastructure and earned it comparisons to Venice.

This early 20th-century black-and-white photograph shows a Kashmiri woman in traditional attire engaged in the manual cleaning of rice, seated outdoors amid bundles of dried reeds or straw, using a flat woven tray (likely a variant of the local winnower or sieve) to sort and remove impurities from the grains before cooking or storage—a common household task in rural Kashmir where women handpicked stones, chaff, and dust from harvested rice (tomul) as part of daily preparation or pre-wedding rituals like Tomul Chatun (also spelled Tomul Tschattun or Tamul Zhtaun), a communal event involving female relatives winnowing large quantities of rice for the wedding feast amid singing and celebration. The process often involved the shupp (traditional fan-shaped bamboo or reed winnower) to separate husk by wind, though here the focus appears on finer sorting, reflecting the labor-intensive methods that persisted before mechanical milling and cleaners became common in the valley.

This 1934 black-and-white photograph shows a cluster of traditional houseboats—often referred to as "barge houses" in British-era descriptions—moored along the shallow, muddy shoreline of Dal Lake or a connected waterway in Srinagar, Kashmir, with simple wooden structures featuring pitched roofs and small windows, some elevated on stilts or platforms to accommodate fluctuating water levels, while locals tend to boats or daily tasks on the exposed lakebed in the foreground, and dense tree-covered hills rise in the background under a cloudy sky. The scene reflects the practical origins of Kashmir's iconic houseboats, which began as functional living barges for local families and evolved under British influence into luxurious floating accommodations when foreigners were prohibited from owning land, documenting a transitional period in the 1930s when these stationary vessels served both as homes and early tourist lodgings amid the valley's unique lakeside settlement patterns.