Srinagar in Spring Earlier this month, Kashmir’s Tourism Minister inaugurated Asia’s largest
Tulip garden at SirajBagh, on the shore of Srinagar’s Dal Lake. In addition to
varieties of tulip commonly found in Kashmir’ more than 50 varieties of exotic
tulips have been imported for the garden which will gradually be extended to cover 90 acres. More than 350,000 tulip bulbs were
planted in this garden last year. Another 1 million bulbs will be imported by next season to extend the garden. Tulips cannot be easily grown anywhere else in India. Although tulip plantation at Siraj Bagh is new, the garden itself dates back to the early 19th century when Kashmir was a part of the kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Its original name was Shirazi Bagh after an official of that time. The government is also planning to have tulip gardens at Gulmarg and Pahalgam. Srinagar’s first tulip garden was planted in MugHal times under the direction of Empress Noor Jehan. She sent a special expedition to Afghanistan with instructions to bring back not less than 24 varieties or face dire consequences. Her minion returned with 32 varieties and these were planted in Nishat Bagh. Nishat Bagh, meaning the Garden of Gladness, was laid out in 1634 by Noor Jehan.s brother, Asaf Khan. Although the garden now consists of nine terraces, originally it had 12, one for each sign of the zodiac, rising up the mountainside from the eastern side of the Dal Lake. Nishat Bagh is also famous for its thick groves of Persian lilacs, its high, broad and vertical cascade of sparkling
water and its beds of brilliant pansies. Twenty-three small niches in the arched recess immediately behind the cascade were originally intended for rows of lamps, whose flickering light, reflected and multiplied in the transparent sheet of water behind which they lay, must have presented a singularly pleasing spectacle at night. There are two main pavilions, one at the lower and the other at the upper end of the garden. In the middle, there is a large deep square reservoir with a few fountains.
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