DARA SHUKOH'S ALBUM 183 



can be seen in this collection of illuminations 

 with their rhythmic line, and perfection of 

 balanced colour harmonies ; the portraits of 

 the Emperors, the decorative paintings of the 

 favourite Mughal flowers, and pages of dreamy 

 Persian poetry, each surrounded by floral borders 

 as beautifully chosen as the pictures and poems 

 they enclose. Much Jhelum water has flowed 

 under the old wooden bridge at Bijbehara, with the 

 mulberry trees and elms sprouting from its piers, 

 since Dara first built his terraced garden there on 

 both sides of the stream. It is a far cry from his 

 once magnificent palace at Lahore to the dark, 

 sober-coloured surroundings, the solemn hush, 

 and the busy scratch of pens in the great official 

 London library ; but the cousins seem wonder- 

 fully near, they live again as one reads the simple 

 preface : " This Album was presented to his 

 Dearest and Nearest Friend, the Lady Nadira, 

 Begam, by Prince Mahomed Dara Shukoh, son 

 of the Emperor Shah Jahan 1641." 



Islamabad, the second town in Kashmir, 

 stands a few miles higher up the Jhelum from 

 Bijbehara, just where the river narrows. It is 

 the starting-point for the Verinag-Jummu route. 

 At the foot of the hill, overlooking the town, there 



