The Capital City of Azad Kashmir

URDU

Book - 1

Book - 2

ABOUT US

Contact Us

Web Mag

Thanks To

History Book-1

A Gazetteer of Kashmir
Charles Ellison Bates

An important town lying about 42 miles north east of Abbotabad, and 114 miles North West of Sirinagar, by way of Baramula: Kashmir may also be reached by patha traversing the Karnao valley. The town is situated in an open valley at the end of the range of mountains forming the water-shed between the Kishen Ganga and Jhelam , on left bank  of the Former River, and about  14 miles north of their junction.

          The mountains which are almost  bare of trees, descend into the river in a succession of sloping plate aux:  the town stands on the second of these slopes, about 200 feet above the level of the river, towards the southern  end of a tongue of land formed by a lap of the stream.

          At Muzaffarabad the water of the Kishen Ganga have lost something of the murky blue peculiar to them, but they are still far from clear. The river is about 60 yards wide; the banks are steep and rocky and strewn with large boulders. The current is very swift, but the natives are accustomed to cross on mashks at the bend of the river to the south of the town.

          There was formerly, at the narrowest point, a wooden bridge, which was torn away in a moment by a heavy flood which occurred in A.D. 1823, while Hari Singh Nalwa was endeavoring to get possession of the town for Ranjit Singh. This bridge was subject of much interest in the war of 1803, between Mukhtyar-ud-Daullah and Abdullah Khan. It has not been rebuilt, but its place is supplied by a rope suspension-bridge of the jhola kind, which is situated to the north of the town , about half a mile above the fort. At this spot, where the water is smooth and the currant comparatively moderate, a ferry  boat plies, except during the months of January and February, when the boatmen state thus the river fells so low that the passage is interrupted.

          Baron Hiigel mentions a second ferry as crossing the river below the town, exactly opposite the kila, where the country is rather flat, but adds that it is seldom used. At the ferry and bridge a small toll is levied; the charge varies from as Anna  downwards, according to the pressured means of the traveler.

          Muzaffarabad contains & Thaana and Tehsil, which, with the residence the Hakim  or governor, are all situated on the south side of the town, which extends in a northerly direction and consists for the most parts of long streets of shops.   The houses are nearly all  single  storied buildings, and have flat roofs; most of the streets are paved with smooth round stones. But little attention is paid to sanitation, though the supply of water is plentiful and good, as, not to mention the cold but some what discoloured waters of the Kishen Ganga, clear streams flow down  from the hills on both the north and south sides of the towns, and on the banks of the latter streams below the town there are a Chester of springs, besides one which rises by the edge of the river just under the baradari. This building which is double storied, containing five rooms, is pleasantly situated in a small enclosure, about a quarter of a mile below the west side of the town, a few feet above the kishen Ganga.

          To the north of the town the ground rises, hiding the fort, which is situated at the north-west end of the grassy plain embraced in the bend of the river. The fort is commanded from this rise at a distance of something less than half a mile. The ridge is covered with  tress and scrub jungle, and is partly occupied by gardens and partly by old grave-yard ; from the ridge the plain sinks down toward  the fort, a glacis reversed, having its superior slope away from the walls. The fort is situated at the edge of the river, the walls overhanging the banks; it is an along masonry structure, lying north and east, of considerable dimension, measuring between 300 and 400 yards in length b   about 150 in breadth, and having bastions at intervals along the walls; e main entrances is at the south-east corner. The whole building is kept  in excellent repair, and is said to be well supplied with artillery , stores, and provisions.

          The Garretson of the keep consists of about 100 men; it furnishes a guard of  25 men at the residence of the governor on the south side of the town. Behind the fort, under the south wall, is the cantonment, a large square walled enclosure shaded by some trees; it is usually occupied by two regiments, which are now commanded by Colonel Syfally Khan, the commandant of the garrison.

          Beside the slope to the south, which has been mentioned as being of superior elevation, the fort is commanded by the plateau at a distance of about half a mile to the east, and the right bank of the kishen Ganga being the higher, it is likewise commanded from the north and west at short ranges of about 500 yards. On the north-east side of the fort on the right bank of the river, there is a large clump of trees which shades the shrine of Pir Haibut.

          As access to the fort is not permitted, the dimensions and ranges which have been mentioned are merely rough approximations. The serai, built by Ali Merdan Khan by command of Shah Jehan, lies  about a mile south-west of the town, on the right bank of the Kishen Ganga, some 500 yards from the water’s edge, and rather more than  that distance from the confluence of the Jhelam. The entrance faces the west.

          The serai is a large square walled enclosure, with a bastion tower at each corner, and is of similar pattern to those met on the Pir Panjal route. It is not now inhabited, or apparently use, lying some distance from the present high road, but it seems to occupy a better defensive position than the fort, being not so immediately commanded. The road to Mari takes the direction of the confluence of the Jhelam and Kishen Ganga rivers, which is situated about 1 1/3  miles to the south of the town; the first part of the way in rough and stony; it than passes the temple of  Jellalabad, which commands the road, occupying the summer of flat-topped moored between the pathway and Kishen Gangs. The temple is a small modern building, enclosed by a square wall of under stones, about 15 feet high; the entrance faces the roadway.

          The path that lies through a small stream to the banks of the Jhelam, which is crossed by a rope suspension-bridge some little distance above the junction of Kishen Ganga, there is said also the be frequently a fens boat at this point, which plies at favorable   seasons when the current moderates. The Kishen Ganga flows in to the Jhelam almost at right below the village of Domails. There is a small wooden temple and a fakir’s house at the point of land between the two rivers, to which the ashore slopes gently down.

[Home]   [Maps]   [City View]   [History]   [AJK Info]   [N& J Pictures]   [Colleges]   [Contact Us]