INDIA JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU & KASHMIR is, arguably, India’s most beautiful state, with a diversity of landscape that cannot but arouse romance and awe in the most jaded of travellers. This “crown “of India, as it is sometimes called, consists of 3 distinct regions and topographies: Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Even the usually prosaic Imperial Gazetteer of India cannot restrain flights of fancy when describing the state, likening it to a house, of which the “door is at Jammu “facing south and “looking out on the Punjab…….Then comes the first storey……a temperate country with forests of oak, rhododendron and chestnut and higher up of deodar and pine……a country of beautiful uplands’. From here, the Pir Panjal range leads to the second storey, on which rests the exquisite valley of Kashmir drained by the Jhelum River. Up steeper flights of the Himalayas we pass……to Ladakh on in the Tibete east, a tract drained by the river Indus.

The Indus, one of the greatest and longest rivers in the world is over 3000 kms in length and originated in the Tibetan plateau then passes via Ladakh into Pakistan,where it drains into the Arabian Sea. The other noteworthy rivers of the state the Jhelum of Kashmir, the Chenab and Ravi of Jammu –are all tributaries and sub tributaries of this one thundering force of nature.

Chenab gives Jammu some of its finest scenery at Krishtwar , with its green meadows, rocky peaks and frothing waters conspiring to charm visitors . Vaishono Devi, 65kms from Jammu, is a revered pilgrimage and Jammu town itself is a city of ancient temples, their tall roofs echoing the beauty of the snowcapped Himalayan ranges in the distant horizon.

The Kashmir valley lies on the other side of these mountains, called the Pir Panjal range. The poet Ghulam Ahmad Mahjur described the valley with great beauty and precision when he wrote of how “On all sides pinnacles of snow like marble ramparts stand around a green emerald”.

The reference to jewels is apt; there is indeed something precious and to be cherished about Kashmir . The gentle, lapping waters if its lake , its harvests  of saffron , walnut and apricot, the flaming autumn colours of its chinar trees and of course, its flowers , its riotously colourful beds of wild roses, pink lilies, dahlias , coxcombs and lilacs- these have soothed the hearts of emperors and accountants , travellers and poets through the ages.

Kashmir too is a land of faith. Its pagoda roofed mosques and dargals are unique in India’s Islamic architecture and indicat a distinctly Tibetan influence. The cave shrine of Amarnath , meanwhile , is amongst the most holy of Hindu pilgrimages.

Another kind of architecture predominates in Ladakh , which is separated from Jammu and Kashmir by sky touching Himalayan peaks that run southeast from nanga Parbat into Himachal Pradesh.

Ladakh is a land of Buddhism, of soft spoken monks and Tantric deities in ancient, butter scented monasteries that hold some of the most exquisite paintings and sculptures in the world. Nothing on this earth can compare to the fantastic moonscapes of Ladakh. With a minimum elevation of almost 3000 m, Ladakh offers sweeping vistas of high altitude , treeless panoramas , of cold deserts and mountains of many hued rock and lakes that burn and ethereal blue in the thin air.

The state of Jammu & Kashmir offers such a diversity of landscape and culture that it would be impossible – even inadvisable – to exhaust all its possibilities in one visit. Instead, like all who have surrendered to its charm, one must return to it again and again, sometimes as mountaineer, sometimes as mountaineer, sometimes as romantic, seeking spirituality and beauty by turn, adventuring alone or discovering its joys with friends and family. No matter when or how you go, you will find that the memories of your visit linger long after your return.