Srinagar is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary sources (a) through (d), reflecting due weight in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (f) through (h) below, "held" is also considered politicised usage, as is the term "occupied," (see (i) below). (a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern Areas. Administered by India are the southern and southeastern portions, which constitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir but are slated to be split into two union territories."; (b) (subscription required) Quote: "Aksai Chin, Chinese (Pinyin) Aksayqin, portion of the Kashmir region, at the northernmost extent of the Indian subcontinent in south-central Asia. It constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India to be part of the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir state."; (c) C. E Bosworth, University of Manchester Quote: "KASHMIR, kash'mer, the northernmost region of the Indian subcontinent, administered partlv by India, partly by Pakistan, and partly by China. The region has been the subject of a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan since they became independent in 1947"; (d) Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute betw een India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China." (e) Quote: "We move from a disputed international border to a dotted line on the map that represents a military border not recognized in international law. The line of control separates the Indian and Pakistani administered areas of the former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir."; (f) (subscription required) Quote: "... China became active in the eastern area of Kashmir in the 1950s and has controlled the northeastern part of Ladakh (the easternmost portion of the region) since 1962."; (g) Quote: "J&K: Jammu and Kashmir. The former princely state that is the subject of the Kashmir dispute. Besides IJK (Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir. The larger and more populous part of the former princely state. It has a population of slightly over 10 million, and comprises three regions: Kashmir Valley, Jammu, and Ladakh.) and AJK ('Azad" (Free) Jammu and Kashmir. The more populous part of Pakistani-controlled J&K, with a population of approximately 2.5 million. AJK has six districts: Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Bagh, Kodi, Rawalakot, and Poonch. Its capital is the town of Muzaffarabad. AJK has its own institutions, but its political life is heavily controlled by Pakistani authorities, especially the military), it includes the sparsely populated "Northern Areas" of Gilgit and Baltistan, remote mountainous regions which are directly administered, unlike AJK, by the Pakistani central authorities, and some high-altitude uninhabitable tracts under Chinese control." (h) Quote: "Kashmir's identity remains hotly disputed with a UN-supervised "Line of Control" still separating Pakistani-held Azad ("Free") Kashmir from Indian-held Kashmir."; (i) Quote:"Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'." It is the largest city and summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an Indian-administered union territory. It lies in the Kashmir Valley along the banks of the Jhelum River, and the shores of Dal Lake and Anchar Lakes, between the Hari Parbat and Shankaracharya hills. The city is known for its natural environment, various gardens, waterfronts and houseboats. It is also known for traditional Kashmiri handicrafts like the Kashmir shawl (made of pashmina and cashmere wool), papier-mâché, wood carving, carpet weaving, and jewel making, as well as for dried fruits. It is the second-largest metropolitan area in the Himalayas (after Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal).
Founded in the 6th century during the rule of the Gonanda dynasty according to the Rajatarangini, the city took on the name of an earlier capital thought to have been founded by the Mauryas in its vicinity. The city remained the most important capital of the Kashmir Valley under the Hindu dynasties, and was a major centre of learning. During the 14th–16th centuries the city's old town saw major expansions, particularly under the Shah Mir dynasty, whose kings used various parts of it as their capitals. It became the spiritual centre of Kashmir, and attracted several Sufi preachers. It also started to emerge as a hub of shawl weaving and other Kashmiri handicrafts. In the late 16th century, the city became part of the Mughal Empire, many of whose emperors used it as their summer resort. Many Mughal gardens were built in the city and around Dal lake during this time, of which Shalimar and Nishat are the most well-known.
After passing through the hands of the Afghan Durranis and the Sikhs in the late 18th and early 19th century, it eventually became the summer capital of the Dogra kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir in 1846. The city became a popular tourist destination among Europeans and Indian elites during this time, with several hotels and its iconic houseboats being built. In 1952, the city became the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, a region administered by India as a state, with Jammu being its winter capital. It was the flashpoint of violence during the 1990s and early 2000s insurgency in the region. In 2019, it became the summer capital of a smaller region which is administered by India as a union territory, after the former state's reorganisation.
Etymology The earliest record of the name comes from Kalhana's Sanskrit chronicle Rajatarangini, which mentions the name Śrīnagarī, from shrī, an appellation for Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity, beauty and fortune, and nagarī meaning city. The name Srinagar derives from Śrīnagarī, meaning 'City of Lakshmi'. The name was used for an older capital in the vicinity of the present-day city, before being used for it. Between the 14th and 19th centuries, and especially during 17th–18th century, the city was also referred to simply as Kashmir or Shahr-i-Kashmir () in addition to Srinagar.
History Early history
According to the Rajatarangini of Kalhana, a capital city by the name of Srinagari was built in the Kashmir valley by Ashoka, identified by historians with the Mauryan emperor Ashoka. Kalhana calls this capital puranadhisthana, Sanskrit for 'old capital', identified as present-day Pandrethan, 3.5 kilometres south-east of Srinagar. A 'new capital' called Parvarapura was built by king Pravarasena of the Gonanda dynasty, in 6th century CE. Srinagari continued to be used as a name for this capital. This new capital was located at the base of the Hari Parbat hill on the right bank of the Jhelum, corresponding to the location of modern-day Srinagar. Kalhana describes the capital having several markets, mansions, wooden houses, grand temples and canals, and also refers to the Dal lake and Jhelum river. Pravarasena built several Vishnu temples in Pravarapura (present-day Srinagar). A long embankment was also constructed on the Jhelum by Pravarasena to protect the city from floods, parts of which have survived to the present day. The two capitals are also mentioned in the chronicle of Chinese traveller Huein Tsang who visited the city in 631 CE and stayed at a vihara built by Pravarasena’s uncle in Srinagar. Several shaiva, vaishnava and bauddha temples were built in and around Srinagar by later Gonanda rulers.
Although several other capitals of Kashmir were constructed by other rulers over the next few centuries, Pravarasena's Srinagar survived as the primary capital. The city was divided into several parts, each with its own guardian deity, which continue to be worshipped by Hindu Kashmiris. Durlabhavardhana (625–662), founder of the Karkota dynasty, built a temple in Srinagar to celebrate his imperial campaigns in the regions neighbouring Kashmir. The 8th century scholar Adi Shankara visited the city and founded the Shankaracharya Temple here, at the site of the earlier Jyeshteshwara Temple. Kings of principalities neighbouring Kashmir visited Srinagar in the late 11th century to pay homage to king Kalasha of the Lohara dynasty. The city gradually extended to the left bank of the Jhelum river, and in the early 12th century the royal palace was shifted to this side. During later Lohara rule, some Muslims began settling in Srinagar. Sultanate period
Rinchana, a Buddhist convert to Islam who briefly ruled Kashmir in the early 14th century, built the first mosque in Kashmir on the site of a Buddhist temple in a colony of Srinagar built by him. The Muslim rulers that came after him established their capitals in areas of present-day old city Srinagar. During the rule of the Sultans, the city became synonymous with the Kashmir valley, and 'Srinagar' fell into disuse as a name for it. During the rule of Qutbuddin, Persian Islamic preacher Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani briefly visited the valley and stayed at a sarai in Srinagar, close to which a sufa (platform for prayer) was built sometime later. Sayyids, who accompanied Hamadani and his son Mir Muhammad, established khanaqahs, propagated Islam, and desecrated some Hindu temples in Srinagar, forcibly converting some into Muslim shrines, including the oldest surviving example of such conversion in Kashmir. Sultan Sikandar Shahmiri (1389–1413 CE) built the Khanqah-e-Moula in 1397 in Hamadani's memory for Mir Muhammad, either at the site of the sufa or over a temple of Kali called Kaleshwar apparently destroyed by Hamadani during his stay, and endowed it with the revenue of three villages for its maintenance. He also built the Jamia Mosque at Nowhatta in 1402, marking the first successful monumental construction during the sultanate period, built in the Iranian four-iwan plan using deodar wood abundant in the region and adapting local designs found in Hindu stone temples.
Sikandar's successor Zain-ul-Abidin undertook several constructions in and around Srinagar. He built the Zainakadal bridge connecting the two halves of the city on either side of the Jhelum river, the Mar canal and two islands inside Dal lake called Sona Lank and Rupa Lank. He also built a stone mosque complex for his Islamic teacher at Madin Sahib using remnants of a nearby defunct Hindu temple and incorporating local non-Muslim architectural features, and a brick mausoleum with Timurid architectural influences for his mother constructed using materials from a Hindu structure, where he was also buried after his death. He is also credited with establishing industries around the arts of shawl and carpet weaving, papier-maché, and wood carving in Srinagar. The Khanqah-i-Moula was rebuilt during Zain-ul-Abidin's reign and subsequently greatly expanded during the late 15th century by other sultans. By early 16th century, Srinagar had khanaqahs belonging to most major Persianate Sufi orders of the time.
Mughal rule