Achabal Gardens Explained

Achabal Gardens
Map Type:India Jammu and Kashmir#India
Coordinates:33.6831°N 75.2222°W
Map Size:200
Built:1620 A.D.
Condition:Rebuilt
Public Access:Public garden

Achabal Gardens, "the places of the princes", is a small Mughal garden located at the southeastern end of the Kashmir Valley in the town of Achabal, Anantnag district, India. The town is located near the Himalayan Mountains.[1]

Background

The garden was built around 1620 A.D. by Mughal Empire Emperor Jahangir's wife, Nur Jahan. It was remodeled by Jahanara, who was the daughter of Shah Jahan around 1634-1640 A.D. The garden was rebuilt, following decay, on a smaller scale by Gulab Singh and it is now a public garden.[1] A main feature of the garden is a waterfall that enters into a pool of water.[2]

This place is also noted for its spring, which is said to be the re-appearance of a portion of the river Bringhi, whose waters suddenly disappear through a large fissure underneath a hill at the village Wani Divalgam in the Brang Pargana. It is said that in order to test this, a quantity of chaff was thrown in the Bringhi river at a place its water disappears at Wani Divalgam and that chaff came out of the Achabal spring. The water of the spring issues from several places near the foot of a low spur which is densely covered with deodar trees and at one place it gushes out from an oblique fissure large enough to admit a man's body and forms a volume some 46cm (18inches) high and about 30cm (10inches) in diameter.[3]

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=14962 Achabal Gardens.
  2. http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden/achabal Achabal Gardens.
  3. Koul, Pandit Anand: Archaeological Remains in Kashmir page 94. Mercantile press, 1935.