Srinagar

Srinagar is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the Himalaya. Tradition credits its founding to the emperor Ashoka in the third century BCE, and a later city was established by King Pravarasena II in the sixth century CE. The valley was a major centre of Sanskrit learning and of Buddhism, and later of a distinctive Shaiva philosophy; the Sun temple at Martand and the ruins at Awantipora date from this period. Muslim rule began in the 14th century, and the Sufi preacher Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani, who arrived from Persia in the 1370s, is credited with bringing carpet weaving and other Persian handicrafts.

The Sultans of Kashmir built the Jamia Masjid and the shrines of the old city. The Mughals annexed the valley in 1586 and made it their summer retreat, laying out Shalimar, Nishat and Chashme Shahi around the lake. Afghan rule followed in 1753, then Sikh rule in 1819, and in 1846 the British sold the territory to Gulab Singh of Jammu, founding the Dogra princely state whose maharajas ruled until 1947. Houseboats appeared in the late 19th century when British visitors, forbidden to buy land, took to living on the water.

At independence the princely state's ruler acceded to India, a decision disputed by Pakistan; both countries have claimed the territory in full ever since, and Srinagar has been the political centre of the Indian-administered portion. An armed insurgency from 1989 brought long periods of curfew, violence and heavy militarisation, and tourism collapsed for much of the 1990s. In 2019 India revoked the state's special constitutional status and reorganised it into two union territories. Visitor numbers have returned in recent years, though conditions remain closely tied to the wider dispute.

Kashmiri, an Indo-Aryan language written in a Perso-Arabic script, is the everyday language, with Urdu, Hindi and English in official and commercial use. The valley's culture is often described as Kashmiriyat, an inheritance of Sufi Islam, Hindu Shaiva philosophy and Persian influence expressed in shrine customs, poetry and music. Sufiana kalam, performed with santoor and long-necked lutes, and the folk chakri sung at weddings are the valley's characteristic music, and poets from Lal Ded in the 14th century to Mahjoor in the 20th are widely quoted.

Craft is central to local identity and income. Pashmina and kani shawls are hand-spun and woven in the old city, and Kashmiri hand-knotted carpets, walnut wood carving, papier-mâché painted with fine brushes, crewel embroidery and copperware are all made in family workshops. Many pieces carry a geographical indication tag, and the crafts are sold from shops along the Boulevard and in the central streets.

Daily manners are formal and hospitable: guests are pressed to eat, tea is offered constantly, and elders are greeted first. Dress is modest, and Friday prayers at the Jamia Masjid and Hazratbal draw very large congregations. The Kashmiri Pandit community, the valley's Hindu minority, left in large numbers in 1990 and only a small population remains, a loss that features in much local writing and conversation. Decades of conflict have left their own mark on the arts, journalism and everyday caution.

About 1.2 million people lived in the city at the 2011 census, making it the largest in the valley. The economy runs on horticulture — apples, cherries, walnuts and the saffron fields around Pampore — on handicrafts, on government employment, and on tourism, which recovers and falls back with the security situation. Many households depend on seasonal work during the summer months, and remittances from relatives working elsewhere in India or in the Gulf are common.

Life is shaped by the seasons more than in most Indian cities. Autumn is spent preparing for winter: drying vegetables, storing firewood and coal, and packing willow-basket kangris, the portable braziers carried under the traditional pheran cloak. Snow closes roads, water pipes freeze and power cuts are frequent; spring brings blossom, the reopening of the mountain routes and the start of the tourist season. Shops keep long hours, and bakeries are busy at dawn and again in the late afternoon.

Present-day concerns include the shrinking and pollution of Dal Lake, where weed growth, encroachment and sewage have reduced the open water, unplanned building on the floodplain after the severe floods of 2014, high youth unemployment, and the impact on business of internet restrictions, strikes and curfews. Security forces are a constant presence in the streets, and residents organise daily life around checkpoints and closures with practised patience.

Kashmiri cooking is unlike anything else in India. Its formal expression is wazwan, a banquet of many meat courses prepared by hereditary cooks called wazas and eaten in groups of four from a single large platter, the trami. Rogan josh, mutton in a red sauce coloured by Kashmiri chilli and thickened without tomato, gushtaba, pounded mutton balls in a yoghurt gravy, rista in a chilli sauce, tabak maaz fried lamb ribs and seekh kebabs all feature, and gushtaba traditionally closes the meal.

Everyday food is simpler and heavy on rice. Haakh, a collard green simmered with chilli and asafoetida, is eaten most days; nadru, lotus stem from the lake, is fried or cooked in yoghurt; dum aloo and chaman, fried paneer in a light gravy, are the standard vegetarian dishes; and dried vegetables and fish carry households through winter. Harissa, mutton pounded to a paste and cooked overnight, is a cold-weather breakfast sold from specialist shops in the old city.

Bread and tea structure the day. Kandur bakeries turn out girda, lavasa, tsochvor and the flaky kulcha from wood-fired ovens twice daily, eaten with noon chai, a pink salted tea made with baking soda and milk. Kahwa, green tea with saffron, cardamom and crushed almonds, is offered to guests and in shops. Apples, walnuts, cherries and apricots come from the valley's orchards, and saffron from Pampore is the region's most valuable crop.