Kashmir’s well kept secret

A part of ancient Dardistan and lying along the Silk Route connecting Kashmir to Gilgit and baltistan, gurez is one of nature’s exquisite gems.

You’ve probably not heard of Gurais or Gurez. Neither had I until I visited this piece of paradise tucked away in the greater Himalayas at 2,400m above sea level, a place that is home to the snow leopard, the Himalayan brown bear, the musk deer and barking deer.

Snow-capped mountains, endless meadows, sparkling streams... Gurez is all this and more. It is about 86 kilometres of a bumpy ride up from the town of Bandipore and 123 kilometres from Srinagar. It used to be a part of early Dardistan, a rather vaguely defined region of northern Kashmir and north Pakistan. The inhabitants speak Shina and have ancestral roots in Gilgit, Chitral, Hunsa, Nagyr and other parts

of the Hindukush.  Archaeological surveys conducted in the valleys north of Gurez have unearthed carved inscriptions in Brahmi, Tibetan and Kharoshthi. These inscriptions also shed light on the origins of the Kashmiris.

As you enter this far flung valley, the first stop is Sanga viewpoint that gives you a panoramic view of the greater Himalayas to your left and the Kashmir valley to your right. A little ahead and we reached the famous Razdan Pass. At 3,300 mts, the view here will leave you speechless. A usual stop in the journey to Gurez is the Peer Baba shrine located here. A mystic from Multan, he came to Gurez in 1933 and is known to have died in a snowstorm and subsequently buried here at Razdaan in 1940. The locals and tourists alike end up stopping here, if not to pay their respects to the shrine, then for a steaming cuppa with pakoras.

Moving along, we got to the first big settlement, Kanzalwan, a picturesque village on the banks of the river Kishen Ganga. We stopped at a  guesthouse here that was bang on the river with a stunning view. After being thoroughly pampered with a spread for lunch and warm kahwa, we drove past the meadows of Baghtor. Kanzalwan is also known as the place where the last council of Buddhism is said to be held. Further down the Kishen Ganga, are the ruins of the ancient Sharda University.

Another 15 kilometres ahead, is the then capital of the Dards, Dawar, a town comprising 15-odd villages — a big town, a major archaeological site and a spice hub. At the Kishen Ganga, which runs along the town of Dawar, one can indulge in trout fishing, read rainbow trouts, and brown trouts or simply have a picnic or perhaps a siesta under a willow or the silver oak (which is what we did).

But let me also tell you about Habba Khatoon, the famous poetess also known as the Nightingale of Kashmir, who has a mountain named after her. The quaint tale is that Habba Khatoon had fallen in love with a Dard king Yousuf Shah Chak, who upon entering Hindostan was captured by King Akbar. Habba Khatoon roamed the peaks of Dawar, filled with sorrow, looking for her love when she fell to her death from this particular mountain, thereby lending her name to it. The majestic Habba Khatoon rises from a distance and the legend comes alive as you near it. It’s no wonder then that when Walter R. Lawrence wrote in his book The Valley of Kashmir about Gurez, he couldn’t stop talking about its beauty.

“Gurais is a lovely valley five miles in length lying at an elevation of about 8,000 feet above the sea. The Kishen Ganga river flows through it, and on either side tower mountain scraps of indescribable grandeur. Perhaps, one of the most beautiful scenes in the whole of Kashmir is the grove of huge poplars through which the traveller enters the Gurais valley. The climate is dry and excellent English vegetables can be grown, and the wild raspberries and currants are delicious. The valley is picturesque, as the river comes dashing along through a rich meadow, partly covered with lindens, walnut and willow trees, while the mountains on either side present nothing but a succession of most abrupt precipices, and Alpine lodges, covered with fir trees,” he wrote.

An independent writer, Shruti hoards accessories and aspires to travel to places far and beyond