Kashmir Through Old Photographs

This post brings together early photographs that trace everyday life in Kashmir as it unfolded along rivers, lakes, neighbourhood spaces, and places of routine activity. The scenes move through moments of prayer in shrine courtyards, children swimming in the Jhelum after school, women spinning yarn and trading vegetables on Dal Lake, and villagers gathering in shared outdoor spaces. Education, work, leisure, and movement appear closely connected to water and locality, reflecting a way of life shaped by familiarity with rivers and lakes rather than separation from them. Taken together, these photographs offer a quiet, human view of Kashmir in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, where daily routines, community life, and landscape were deeply intertwined. The Shah-i-Hamadan Mosque stands prominently on the banks of the Jhelum River in Srinagar in 1920, its tiered wooden roof and riverside position forming a distinctive part of the city’s skyline. Also known as Khanqah-e-Mou...

This post brings together early photographs from Kashmir, spanning the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and documenting everyday life across rivers, villages, institutions, and sacred spaces. The images include the Hazratbal Shrine, royal river processions on the Jhelum, children at a hospital school, rural family life, canal-side Srinagar near Barbarshah Bridge, houseboat culture below Takht-i-Suleiman, public health vaccination work, rice processing by children, women spinning thread in Sopore, and river scenes near Baramulla. Together, these photographs show how work, worship, education, health, and movement were closely woven into the landscape and daily rhythms of Kashmir before modern transformation.  This early 20th-century photograph from the 1920s, originally captioned "Hasrat Bal. The Mosque.", shows the historic Hazratbal Shrine (Dargah Sharif) in Srinagar, Kashmir, in its original wooden form before the modern marble reconstruction. Considered the ho...

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 daily life and movement in Kashmir from the early 1900s to the 1980s. The pictures include a winter view of Hotel Highland Park in Gulmarg during the 1970s with heavy snowfall, a shikara on Dal Lake in Srinagar in the 1970s, the riverside near Chinar Bagh in Srinagar in 1906 with moored boats, a bridge and riverfront in Srinagar during the 1960s–1970s with stacked timber logs, the riverfront in Baramulla in the early 1900s with wooden buildings and boats, a panoramic view of Srinagar with dense houses and mountains, the Fateh Kadal bridge area in Srinagar, a shikara on Dal Lake in the 1980s, flower sellers in small boats on Dal Lake in the 1980s, and the Del Camp area in Gulmarg with cottage-style houses. Simple views of lakes, rivers, and waterfronts in old Kashmir. A winter view of Hotel Highland Park in Gulmarg during the 1970s, with the building surrounded by heavy snowfall and dense forest in the background. Snowbanks rise high around the...

A collection of old photographs showing everyday life and landscapes in Kashmir from the early 1900s to the 1970s–1980s. The pictures include a 1917 portrait of a Kashmiri Pandit woman, Nehru Park on Dal Lake in the 1970s–1980s, a traditional kiryana shop on Dal Lake in the 1960s–1970s, a view of the River Jhelum with houseboats and riverbank settlements, a pastoral scene in Gulmarg with grazing horses and village dwellings, Sher Garhi Palace in Srinagar from the early 1900s, Nagin Lake in the early 1900s with shikaras and the Himalayan backdrop, Lal Chowk in Srinagar during the 1960s–1970s, an early postcard view of Dal Lake with shikaras and houseboats, and a traditional shikara on Dal Lake from the early 1900s. Simple views of old Kashmir. A postcard portrait of a Kashmiri Pandit woman photographed in Kashmir in 1917. Shown in profile, she wears traditional clothing with a head covering, reflecting the dress and presentation common at the time. The simple background and composed ...