“A great deluge, a divine boat of feminine power ferrying all life on the eternal waters of deathless eternal Shiva and this boat being rowed by the rower. The doer. The action. The story is told in context of Nauband-hanatirath, a mountain site near Kramasaras which we now know as Kausar Nag located in the Pir Panjal Range in the Kulgam District’s Noorabad. The site where the divine boat was moored. The story is eerily similar to Abrahamic tale of Noah’s Arc and Jonah. Kashmir was born out of water. Myths as well as geology tells us that much.”
-“People’s history of Kashmiri Hanji”, SearchKashmir, 2022.
Water has always held a sacred place in the history of Srinagar, evident in its ancient cartography, folklore, festivals and everyday life. This intimate relationship with water is embedded in tacit knowledge practices and self-organizational production systems that undergird the city’s socio-economic and cultural landscape and shape its patterns of urbanization. One of the most significant examples of intricate, water-dependent production systems lies within the Dal Lake, the second-largest freshwater lake in Kashmir. Sustained by a community of lake-dwellers—known locally as 'Haenz' or 'Hanjis'—the floating lacustrine economy constitutes a network of agricultural production, handicrafts, tourism and other entangled practices that extend into the city and contribute significantly to its economy. This project examines the production and maintenance of this fragile ecosystem as well as the various factors that impact the lives and livelihoods of its inhabitants.
Shikaras (small boats) in the interiors of the lake.