This Is Kashmir by Pearce Gervis

Giving a true. picture of the land and the people as they are today after centuries of invasion, oppression and persecution. Here is the Kashmir of legendary beauty which, has brought India and Pakistan so near Perpetually to war.

Kashmir is a land of fabled beauty and eternal romance, blessed by Mother Nature with beauteous scenery, wondrous fertility with glorious climate and described as "an emerald set in pearls", "That opens sublime the vale of bliss to the world ", defined by eminent writers as "one of the finest countries upon which, the sun shines", "the Sub-Alpine region of Asia's Italy" "a dream of loveliness" "unsurpassed for its scenery", "renowned for its magnificent climate and delightful fruits."

Verily Kashmir is the terrestrial Paradise of the Indies rather the earthly Elysium, a fairyland, where every curve presents a grand picture, and every horizon a new scene, each leaf a distinct lesson and each flower a new book. This fairyland has been immortalized by Eastern and Western poets as one of the unparalleled loveliness and charm. The people speak a language which is a blend of Sanskrit and Persian. The Kashmiris come of pure Aryan race. The Kashmiri women are extremely beautiful with their fair skin & rosy cheeks.

The State of Jammu and Kashmir is a land of tropical heat and arctic snows appearing to the traveler a paradise on earth, a fertile land where the finest silks and the softest wools are grown, spun and woven, where the earth will produce rich harvests of food and yield its store of precious stones. Yet the people of Kashmir are, more often then not, dressed in rags and many live on the edge of starvation.

Pearce Gervis, who knows Kashmir well, had a real sympathy for its people, a deep interest in its history, and an extensive travel knowledge of the country. His book is an attempt to point a true picture of the land and the people as they are today after centuries of invasion oppression and persecution. Here is the Kashmir of legendary beauty, which has brought India and Pakistan so near perpetually to war.
 

Kashmir under the Sultans - by Mohibbul Hassan

Mohibbul Hasan (1908-1999) completed his education at Oxford and returned to India to start a glorious teaching career at Khalsa College Amritsar. After serving in several educational institutions he joined Aligarh Muslim University as Reader. He joined Jamia Millia Islamia as Professor and Head of Department in 1960.

He was instrumental in organizing a National seminar on medieval Indian historiography and later edition the proceedings of the seminar in the form of a book titled Historians of Medieval India. After his retirement from Jamia Milia Islamia in July 1970, the then Prime Minister of j&K state Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq offered him the opportunity to head the Department of History of the University 8f Kashmir, Srinagar. He was also deputed for six months to England and France to collect materials on Kashmir history. He worked for the completion of his book on Dogra rule in Kashmir for several years. He gained international fame for his major work 'History of Tipu Sultan'. He also edited 'The Diary of an Indian Envoy to Constantinople' and authored an excellent monograph on the Mughal Emperor, Babar.

Prof. Hasan Expired on April 21st 1999.

A Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs and Sayings - by Rev. J. Hinton Knowles

That moment when an author dots the last period to his manuscript and then rises up from the study-chair to shake its many and bulky pages together is almost as exciting an occasion as when he takes a quire or so of foolscap and sits down to write the first line of it. Many and mingled feelings pervade his mind, and hope and fear vie with. one another arid alternately overcome one another, until at length the author finds some slight relief for his feelings and a kind of excuse for his book, by writing a preface, in which he states briefly the nature and character of the work, and begs the pardon of the reader for his presumption in undertaking it.

A winter in Kashmir must be experienced to be realized. The air is most invigorating, and the quiet is sublime. Even an ordinarily busy missionary enjoy~ much leisure through such a season in this beautiful country.

I have now spent two long quiet winters here, and this "Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs and Sayings" is the result of many hours of labour, study, and anxiety, during these leisure able months. As a missionary, on arriving in the Valley, I at once devoted my attention to the study of the language and believing that Proverbs taught "the real people's speech," discovered  "the genius, wit and spirit of nation," and embodied its "current and practical philosophy," I quickly began to make a collection of them.

This book, I believe, contains nearly all the Proverbs and Proverbial sayings now extant among the Kashmiri people. They have been gathered from various sources. Sometimes the great and learned Pandit instinctively uttered a proverb in my hearing; sometimes I got the barber to tell me a thing or two, as he polled my head ; and sometimes the poor coolie said something worth knowing, as carrying my load he tramped along before me.

A few learned Mohammedan and  Hindu friends also, have very materially helped me in this collection and its arrangement; and here I again heartily acknowledge their kind and ready service.

The Valley of Kashmir  - by Walter R. Lawrence

Walter R. Lawrence, who was Resettlement Commissioner of Kashmir, in 1887 writes “Perhaps in the whole world there is no corner so pleasant as the Dal Lake. The water of the Dal is clear and soft as silk, and the people say that the shawls of Kashmir owe much of their excellence to being washed in the soft waters of the lake”.

Nature has done much for the Dal, but the Mughal emperors have in their time nobly exerted themselves to enhance the natural beauties of the lake. The park of plane trees known as the Nasim Bagh, the garden of breezes, which was planted in Akbar’s time, is the most beautiful of all the pleasure places of the royal gardens of old times. Nothing is perhaps more striking than the ruined Pari Mahal, standing grandly on a spur of the Zabarwan mountain, a memorial of the Moghul love for letters. The Pari Mahal was built by Prince Dara Shikoh for his tutor Mulla Shah. Mulla Shah’s tomb is at Mulshahi Bagh, near the entrance of the Sind valley.