The Mughal gardens of Kashmir set a new style and influenced the gardens outside, which included the gardens of the Taj Mahal in Agra and Bagh-e Babur in Kabul, said Jan Haenraets, a landscape architect at Boston University in the United States, on Friday (June 19, 2026).
“Kashmir gardens are important sites to understand Mughal landscape architecture. These gardens fit in the wider context. Kashmir gardens were essential to what was practised by Mughals outside, like the gardens of the Taj Mahal (in Agra) and Bagh-e-Babur in Kabul. Both are influenced by Kashmir gardens,” said Mr. Haenraets.
Mr. Haenraets made the statement while speaking at the pre-launch of the first-ever book that deals exclusively with the Mughal gardens of Kashmir. It is titled “Kashmir’s Mughal Landscape of Gardens: Creation and Decline of a Golden Age, 1586-1753”.
“Kashmir offers an imperial garden family of emperors and empresses, from Akbar to Aurangzeb. To me, the water channels of the Taj Mahal garden were influenced by Kashmir. The elongated garden, like Nishat, took shape in Kashmir with mountains in the backdrop. At the Taj Mahal, unlike the previous idea of a garden with a mausoleum at the centre, it’s an elongated garden like the one in Kashmir,” said Mr. Haenraets.
The author, who researched about 80 Mughal gardens and sites for 16 years in Kashmir, said the Mughal garden sites “are comparable to the monastic heritage sites of Kyoto in Japan”. He termed Mughal gardens “essential elements of Kashmir’s identity and heritage”.
“Shah Jahan, Jahangir or Nur Jahan focused on the gardens. Mughal governors like Zafar Khan and Ali Mardan Khan too are associated with gardens in Srinagar. Dara Shikoh’s father-in-law (Jahangir’s son Parvez) is behind the garden that pre-dated Dara Shikoh Garden in Bijbehara (in south Kashmir),” said Mr. Haenraets.
Kashmir has been home to “hundreds of Mughal gardens with only 80 sites left behind, including six main Mughal gardens.” “Mughals had multiple types of gardens constructed. One was earlier strategic encampment gardens like Naseem Bagh etc. Later, they focused on the pleasure gardens like Shalimar and Nishat gardens,” said the author.
He said Kashmir gardens “deserve a place to understand Mughal gardens around the world”. “These gardens have outstanding value and could be comparable to the heritage sites of Persia,” said the author.
He said Mughals also played with pre-existing layers of history in Kashmir. “The fact Maha Dev peak is depicted in one of the Mughal paintings is an example of this. Mughal gardens in Kashmir were about power, control and colonisation but also privilege and pleasure,” said Mr. Haenraets.
He said the Mughals gradually capitalised on Kashmir’s topography, hydrology, and subliminal nature to develop gardens that fully engage with their settings. “Their garden-making reached its zenith under Jahangir, Nur Jahan, and Shah Jahan, with key figures such as Asaf Khan, Dara Shikoh, Jahanara, Zafar Khan, and Ali Mardan Khan,” the author added.
His book offers new insights into famous gardens like Bagh-e Shalimar and Bagh-e Nishat, “rediscovering many forgotten ones”. It has Mughal artwork, rare images, historical maps, and new photography “to provide a glimpse into Kashmir’s lost Mughal landscape of sovereignty, power, and pleasure”.
After the Mughal rule ended, Mr. Haenraets said these gardens did not get enough attention. “Many gardens have been converted into an urban neighbourhood. Conservation works are fund-driven and not meant to restore its elements in the right context. Conservation works especially in Shalimar and the Shalimar canal are a cause of concern. Conservation needs knowledge and understanding. My book aims to set the course for it,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Saleem Beg, Convenor of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) J&K Chapter, said the book will offer new insights towards the conservation of Mughal gardens in Kashmir.
“Instead of referring to Kashmir as Mulk-i-Kashmir (Country of Kashmir), Mughals termed it as Bagh-e-Kashmir (garden of Kashmir).”
Mr. Beg said the stage has come to restore these gardens to respectable levels and preserve them as collective heritage spaces. We have failed to maintain the historicity of these sites. Over decades, we have interfered in an inappropriate manner,” said Mr. Beg.
Published – June 20, 2026 02:35 am IST
