INDIAN GARDENS—II 
By E. B. Ha yell 
OK THE GOVERNMENT SCHOOL OF ART AT CALCUTTA 
I N the neighbor¬ 
hood of Srinigar, 
Jahangir laid out 
many other fine gar¬ 
dens assisted by the 
taste of Nur Mahal, 
who is said to have 
chosen the site for 
some of them. Like 
most Eastern poten¬ 
tates, Jahangir was a 
much-married man, 
but he confessed that 
he never knew what 
marriage was until he 
married Nur Mahal. 
H er name was joined 
with his on the im¬ 
perial coinage; an in¬ 
scription declared that 
gold acquired a new 
value since “Nur 
Mahal” appeared 
upon it. They spent 
many hot seasons to¬ 
gether in their Kash¬ 
mir gardens, enjoy¬ 
ing the shade of 
the splendid ave¬ 
nues and orchards 
and the refreshing 
coolness of the cas¬ 
cades and foun¬ 
tains. No wonder 
that Jahangir priz¬ 
ed Kashmir above 
all the other prov¬ 
inces of his empire. 
Many of his nobles 
imitated the imper¬ 
ial fancy forgarden- 
ing. The Nishat 
Bagh, with a de¬ 
lightful prospect 
over Lake Dal, was 
constructed by 
Yemin-ud-danla, 
one of Jahangir’s 
A GATE OF THE SHAHLIMAR GARDENS 
ministers. 11 had 
nine terraces. The 
lowest contained a 
fine double-storeyed 
pavilion through 
which the principal 
water-channel extend¬ 
ed and supplied the 
fountains on the 
ground floor. On page 
271 is a view of the ter¬ 
races, looking up the 
garden. It shows the 
dried-up water-chan¬ 
nel and cascades and 
some of the old cy¬ 
press trees. 
Shah Jahan, Ja¬ 
hangir’s son and suc¬ 
cessor, commenced 
in 1634 the Shahli- 
mar gardens at La¬ 
hore on the model of 
his father’s Kashmir 
gardens. Though 
they have suffered 
A GARDEN PAVILION AT ALWAR 
<&'/lowing water jets under the cornices for use in cooling the rooms 
269 
