Mughal Kashmir

Events

1. 1586

   Akbar annexes Kashmir

   Mughal forces sent by Akbar entered the Valley. Yusuf Shah Chak submitted and was taken into exile, while his son Yaqub Shah held out until 1589. Kashmir became a province of the Mughal Empire.

   In the museumYusuf Shah Chak

2. 1589

   Akbar's first visit

   Akbar travelled to Kashmir in 1589. In the 1590s he had a walled town built around Hari Parbat, known as Nagar Nagor.

   In the museumHari Parbat

3. 1619

   Shalimar Bagh is laid out

   Emperor Jahangir laid out Shalimar Bagh on the north-eastern shore of Dal Lake, a terraced garden fed by a channel of mountain water. Shah Jahan later extended it.

   In the museumShalimar BaghJahangir

4. c. 1620

   Stone tank at Verinag

   Jahangir enclosed the spring at Verinag, traditionally the source of the Jhelum, in an octagonal stone tank with arched niches. Shah Jahan added the garden around it.

   In the museumVerinag

5. 1632

   Chashme Shahi is built

   The governor Ali Mardan Khan built Chashme Shahi, the royal spring, for Emperor Shah Jahan. It is the smallest of Srinagar's Mughal gardens.

   In the museumChashme Shahi

6. c. 1633

   Nishat Bagh is built

   Asif Khan, Nur Jahan's brother, laid out Nishat Bagh, the garden of delight, in twelve terraces rising from Dal Lake towards the Zabarwan mountains.

   In the museumNishat Bagh

7. 1650s

   Dara Shikoh builds Pari Mahal

   Prince Dara Shikoh built Pari Mahal, a terraced building above Chashme Shahi, for his Sufi teacher Mulla Shah Badakhshi. It is often described as having served as an observatory and a place of study.

   In the museumPari MahalDara Shikoh

8. c. 1700

   The relic comes to Hazratbal

   A relic venerated as a hair of the Prophet Muhammad was brought to Kashmir around 1700 and later housed at Hazratbal, on the western shore of Dal Lake, which became the Valley's most important shrine.

   In the museumHazratbal Shrine