The Mughal Gardens of Srinagar

Though the Mughal Gardens, following the model of Persian gardens, are no doubt very beautiful and well maintained, personally I felt they are not for the ‘rush through’ kind of visit. To many an ordinary tourist, they may seem all the same — meticulously planned layouts, neat rows of flowers, trees and fountains planted in carefully measured distances from each other, water flowing down the middle, a few arches here and there... Particularly, Shalimar and Nishat gardens look quite similar.

If you really want to enjoy the Mughal Gardens, it’s best to do it in the way the locals do. These are good places for enjoying a day off, for sitting in the shade of a chinar (sycamore), for instance, nibbling on some snacks (without littering the garden of course) and relishing the views of the distant mountains or the Dal Lake.

If you do not have so much time, which most travellers don’t, you may actually consider skipping one or two of the gardens, unless, of course, you are the ‘checklist’ kind of tourist or are genuinely interested in the individual architecture and history of the gardens and their flora.

I will share some facts and photographs of the four gardens in this post and you can choose your destination(s) when you visit Srinagar. The gardens are open from 9am to 7pm and the entry fee for each is Rs 20 per head. To visit them, you may hire a cab or an auto, or hop on to a minibus.

If you put up in a houseboat, you can also take a shikara to the Shalimar and Nishat gardens, but I won’t recommend it. For one, shikara rides are expensive (Rs 500 per hour) and it takes longer then the other modes. I would say there are better uses of the shikara (click here to read more on that).

Location: Northeast of Dal Lake, on the main road

Jehangir built Shalimar Bagh in 1619 for his wife Noor Jehan and both of them were extremely fond of Kashmir valley. Apparently ‘Shalimar’ was the name of the resort that king Pravarsena II (AD 79-139), who founded the city of Srinagar, built for himself. This resort gave its name to the village, which in turn lent its name to the garden Jehangir later built at this spot.

Like all the others, Shalimar is also a terraced garden, though it has the least number of tiers — only three — originally categorised on the basis of status. It has as many as 410 fountains and something the other gardens don’t — arches with niches (chini khanas) where in the old days oil lamps would burn, as I heard a guide tell a couple of tourists. Some of the garden’s chinars are said to be over 400 years old.

I visited Shalimar Bagh after all the other three and felt I could have skipped it, especially because it looked quite similar to Nishat Bagh in design and layout. This is, of course, my personal opinion. 

Nishat Bagh, or the ‘Garden of Gladness’, was built in 1634 by Mirza Abul Hassan or Asaf Jah, the younger brother of Nur Jehan and father-in-law of Shah Jehan. The latter was the reigning Mughal emperor then.

The garden has 12 terraces, representing the zodiac signs, and each terrace has a distinct design. Go a little higher up and you’ll get nice views of Dal Lake and the Hazratbal mosque on the other bank.

Like Shalimar Bagh, here also a central canal runs through the length of the garden. Fountains dot the canal in both cases. 

Pari Mahal (Fairies’ Palace) is perhaps the worst maintained of the four gardens. And yet, it’s my favourite. There was an air of mystery to its arches and walls that I can’t really explain, and the 360-degree view of the blue mountains, lush greenery and the vast expanse of the Dal Lake is simply out of the world.

For one, it looked less ‘regimented’ than the other gardens. Kids frolicked in one of the tanks in the seven-tiered garden, which Shah Jehan’s son Dara Shikoh apparently built for his tutor. Dara is said to have used it as his observatory.

Locals believe fairies dance and sing in Pari Mahal every Thursday night. Incidentally I was there on a Thursday. I told my driver-cum-guide that I’d love to stay back to enjoy the fairies’ dance. He was not amused. 

Chashme Shahi (Royal Water/Spring) is the smallest of the four Mughal Gardens and built during Shah Jehan’s reign, as a gift for his eldest son Dara Shikoh. Like Nishat Bagh, the backdrop of the Zabarwan range makes it look very pretty.

But its prime attraction is the natural freshwater spring that many believe has medicinal properties. It cascades down the terraces along the centre of the garden, traversing its length, much like the canals of Nishat and Shalimar gardens.