Kashmir Through Old Photographs

A collection of old photographs showing everyday life in Srinagar and around Dal Lake, mostly from the 1980s. The pictures include Srinagar streets with vendors and tangas, children playing in neighbourhoods, women on houseboats and shikaras, people watching TV through a window, and lakeside community scenes. Some earlier images from 1890s–1930s are also included: artisans decorating papier-mâché, families spinning thread, Jhelum River ghats, and traditional Kashmiri women. Simple glimpses of daily life in old Kashmir. A busy street scene in Srinagar photographed during the 1980s, showing pedestrians, local vendors, and a horse-drawn tanga operating alongside everyday market activity. The street reflects a period when traditional transport, walking, and small-scale commerce shaped urban movement more than motor vehicles. Shops line the narrow road, goods are sold at street level, and people of different ages share the same public space. Such streets functioned as both commercial cente...

A collection of old photographs showing everyday life and community scenes in Kashmir from the late 19th century to the 1980s. The pictures include the Fateh Kadal riverfront in Srinagar during the 1940s with its bridge and dense buildings along the Jhelum River; two boys in a wooden boat among lotus plants on Dal Lake in 1981; British-era tents at Sonawar Bagh camping ground in Srinagar in 1911; a group of children gathered near Dal Lake in the 1970s; Kashmiri women spinning wool and pashmina yarn using traditional yander wheels in homes and courtyards; and portrait of renowned oral storyteller Hatim Tilwoun from Panzin village in Kangan in 1896. Simple views of old Kashmir. This photograph from the 1940s presents a view of Fateh Kadal in Srinagar, with the bridge spanning the Jhelum River and a dense cluster of buildings lining its banks. During this period, the riverfront around Fateh Kadal functioned as an important commercial and cultural zone, housing several well-known Kashm...

A collection of old photographs showing everyday landscapes, spiritual sites, and community figures in Kashmir during the twentieth century. The pictures include a late 1970s–early 1980s view of Gulmarg meadow with wooden buildings, vehicles, visitors, and the snow-covered Pir Panjal range; a 1932 panoramic postcard of Srinagar featuring Kohi Maran fort, Hazrat Sheikh Hamza Makhdoom shrine, and the mosque on the hill with clustered houses and chinar trees; the main market street in Leh, Ladakh in 1911 with locals in traditional attire, shops, and the Old Leh Palace above; the Baba Reshi Shrine near Gulmarg in its original Mughal-style structure from the early twentieth century; a mid-twentieth century portrait of Sufi saint Hazrat Syed Meerakh Shah Kashani; and a woman steering a traditional wooden boat on a river in 1980 with calm waters and surrounding trees. Simple views of old Kashmir. This photograph, taken for a postcard series in the late 1970s to early 1980s, presents a vie...

A collection of old photographs showing everyday life and community scenes in Kashmir from the early twentieth century to the 1970s. The pictures include the houseboat Cutty Sark on Dal Lake in Srinagar in 1961 surrounded by dense lotus growth and shikara boats; a group of teachers, staff, and students at Islamia School in 1965 with many from the Kashmiri Pandit community; guests at a traditional Kashmiri Pandit marriage feast in 1928 seated on the ground with food on copper plates; a family in a traditional donga boat on Dal Lake in the early twentieth century propelled by a pole; village children standing together in simple clothing in 1971; and people along the River Jhelum at Bejbehara in 1915 washing, bathing, and socializing near wooden structures and stone embankments. Simple views of old Kashmir. This color photograph from 1961 shows the houseboat Cutty Sark anchored on Dal Lake in Srinagar at a time when the lake remained largely clean and ecologically balanced. Dense lotu...

A collection of old photographs showing everyday routines and shared moments in Kashmir during the twentieth century. The pictures include women collecting water from the River Jhelum in Gandarbal in 1944 with earthen pots; houseboats and shikaras along Dal Lake Boulevard in Srinagar during the 1930s with early urban development; women and children conversing inside a traditional donga boat on a waterway in 1920; Kashmiri Pandit devotees gathered at the Kheer Bhawani temple in Tullamulla around 1900; a woman in traditional attire and jewelry in a 1955 portrait; and a finely engraved three-piece metal tea set with tray from the 1890s. Simple views of old Kashmir. This photograph from 1944 shows women collecting water from the River Jhelum at Gandarbal, illustrating an essential aspect of everyday life in Kashmir during the mid twentieth century. One woman is seen filling a vessel at the riverbank, while another carries a large earthen pot balanced on her head, demonstrating the phys...

A collection of old photographs showing personal and community life in Kashmir from the 1920s to the 1970s. The pictures include educator Master Samsar Chand Kaul with his wife Lachhkuji in a quiet Srinagar outdoor setting in 1964; women vendors selling vegetables in Jamia Market near Nowhatta in the 1970s; a mother braiding her daughter’s hair in the traditional Wankah Pauren style; children standing together on rocky rural terrain in the 1950s; two men resting beside a river in 1920 wearing traditional pulhoor straw footwear; and Ustad Mohammad Abdullah Tibetbaqal performing classical Sufiana music on a string instrument. Simple views of old Kashmir. This rare 1964 photograph shows Master Samsar Chand Kaul, one of Kashmir’s most respected educators, seated alongside his wife Lachhkuji in a quiet outdoor setting in Srinagar. Born in 1883, Master Samsar Chand Kaul devoted more than six decades to teaching, primarily at the CMS School in Fateh Kadal and later at Central High School. ...

A collection of old photographs and postcards showing everyday scenes in Kashmir from the 1890s to the 1970s. The pictures include the Baradari pavilion at Nishat Bagh in Srinagar in 1970 with its twelve open doorways, water channels, and symmetrical pathways; a view of Dal Lake from Nishat Bagh in the early twentieth century with clustered wooden boats and people along the shoreline; the historic Badiyar Bala brick building near Habba Kadal along the Jhelum River with arched openings; the River Jhelum in Srinagar during the 1890s with boats and the departure of a viceroy's royal barge near Fateh Kadal; two Kashmiri Pandit women in traditional long robes with wide sleeves from the early twentieth century; and a Royal Air Force tent camp in Sonamarg during the 1940s with personnel and mountain backdrop. Simple views of old Kashmir. This 1970 photograph shows the Baradari at the main gate of Nishat Bagh in Srinagar, a classical Mughal garden pavilion designed with twelve open doo...

A collection of old photographs showing everyday street trades and domestic routines in Srinagar during the twentieth century. The pictures include a baker handing fresh bread to a customer in the 1970s with shelves full of loaves; a portrait of a traditional kulfi seller known for handcrafted treats; a woman husking rice with a wooden pestle and stone mortar in early twentieth-century attire; a modest bakery shop with decorative woodwork and stacked breads; a studio portrait of Hafiza performers from the early twentieth-century dance tradition; children washing clothes along the Jhelum River bank in the late twentieth century; and a neighborhood shop in the 1980s with vegetable displays, pedestrians, and a cinema poster nearby. Simple views of old Kashmir. This photograph shows a Kashmiri baker in Srinagar during the 1970s, handing freshly baked bread to a customer across a wooden counter. Behind him, shelves are stacked with round breads and baked items, reflecting the scale and s...