The relevance of Jehanpora Excavations (Jempur, Gopura, गोपुर)

 

Map source Wikimedia commons 

 Last month, (Decmber 2025), our PM, during his monthly broadcast “Mann ki baat”, made a mention of recent archaeological excavation work being done in Kasmir’s Baramulla region. According to him this excavation, being done at a place known as “Jehanpora”, near town of “Baramulla” in the Zhelum river valley, was very significant from the  point of history of this region. He also mentioned that our archaeologists developed an interest in this place as one of them happened to see, in a museum in France, blurred images of some mounds, photographed at this place. Considering it as a breaking piece of news, electronic media picked it and within days came up with many videos about the excavation. Probably the most significant of these videos was an interview of Dr. Mhammad Ajmal Shah, who happens to lead the team of archaeologists doing excavation work at this site.    Dr. Shah gives in this interview details about the site and its historical importance.  It is quite possible that “Jehanpora” could turn out to be a major discovery of a large Buddhist establishment that was set up at the beginning of our era or even earlier before that.

On a more personal level, the name” Jehanpora” struck a note of familiarity in my mind. After a little thinking, I remembered that this was one of the villages that existed on the banks of Jhelum River, mentioned by an explorer, Charles von Hügel, who had extensively travelled in northern India during the 1830s. Hügel was an Austrian nobleman, army officer, diplomat and a botanist. His travelogue in German, named as “: Kaschmir und das Reich der Siek (literally Cashmere and the Realm of the Sikhs) “was considered as an extremely important description of Maharaja Ranjitsingh’s empire, in 19^th century.   He however does not call it by the name “Jehanpora” but rather as “Jempura”. This name has no meaning in Sanskrit, and it could be probably a distortion of the original Sanskrit name “Gopura” (गोपुर), which means a main Gate (मुख्य द्वार) in Sanskrit.  To me, “Gopura” appears to be the most appropriate name as things become clearer in following paragraphs.

However, before we go further, let us try to see first some geographical details of Kashmir and this specific area.  We all know that The Vale of Kashmir is well protected from all sides with extremely high mountain ranges. From the South or West, there are only three mountain passes by which a traveler can enter Kashmir.  The most frequently used pass  after formation of Pakistan, is the southern Banihal Pass. The second pass is known as Pir-Panjal pass and gives a traveler entry, to Shopian in Kashmir valley from southwest or from Jammu via Poonch- Rajouri region. This way is also known as Mughal Road. The third and probably the most important pass, until formation of Pakistan, was the Baramulla pass.  The river “Vitasta” or Jhelum exits Kashmir valley at this point and descends downwards towards Muzaffarabad.  There have been two cart roads on both banks of the river. The southern or left bank road goes to “Uri” town. Here it branches off towards Poonch area via “Haji Pir Pass”. The other branch continues towards west eventually to Muzaffarabad. The road on the northern or right bank of Jhelum, is easier to traverse than the southern road and has always been historically, the main artery between Taxila and Baramulla until formation of Pakistan. Not only that, but this northern route was also part of the southern silk route, as traders from Central Asia and China would travel via Kashgar, Karakoram Pass and Kashmir to northwest India by this route. Its importance can be judged from the fact that Emperor Ashoka, ordered one of his edicts set up at “Mansehra” city in Hazara district of Pakistan situated west of Muzaffarabad, on this road.

It becomes clear from above discussion, that “Jehanpora” Buddhist monastery was set up purposefully  so as to be in the vicinity of  this important trade route. Any one, who has studied the locations of Buddhist monasteries in hilly terrains would realize that this  common  pattern was repeated by Buddhist organizations, not only in Kashmir but in western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, in Afghanistan and even in Chinese Turkistan or Xinjiang.  Typical examples can be, monasteries of Karle, Bhaje near Pune, Bamiyan in Afghanistan or Su-bashi monastery on Kucha River in Xinjiang.

 

An eminent scholar of twentieth century, Late Dr. D.D.Kosambi, has given an explanation for this practice. The Buddhist monks in those days were supposed to follow strict discipline and code of conduct. This code of conduct was stipulated in an ancient text known as 'Vinaya.' This code of conduct stipulates firstly that for monks, nuns and preachers of law any possession of property is strictly forbidden. They were not allowed even contact with gold, silver, jewels and such precious commodities. Secondly, they were supposed to eat food that was given to them after begging and they had to wear robes stitched by themselves from discarded rags.

It would puzzle anyone that with such strict rules, how could monasteries located on remote places and  mountain slopes, housing hundreds  of monks, could survive, particularly in the winter months when any contact with outside world was almost impossible. This problem of sustenance of the Buddhist monks living at such Monasteries, was solved by novel ways, in which Vinaya rules were modified by the monasteries without deviating from the letters. These monasteries survived on, besides financial help received from the King, the donations and endowments received from the traders and travelers on these trade routes.  In return, monasteries offered many services such as guidance about the difficult routes, protection, escorts and even keeping traders’ money safe.

This would explain the presence of Buddhist establishment at “Jehanpora” near the northern bank road. The southern bank road mentioned above, which reached Uri town, was surveyed by famous archaeologist, M.A. Stein. He has reported at least three Buddhist establishments between “Huskapora or Uskara” town and “Uri”, namely, “Kechama or Kitshome” (कृत्याश्रम), “Fattegarh”, “Sir or Sherri” and a ruined temple at “Buniar”.  M.A.Stein  did not survey  any place on the northern bank road, where a Buddhist monastery might have been.

The earliest traveler, who reported about his journey on this road was the Buddhist monk Xuan Zang, who made a journey from Taxila to Baramulla on this road in 7^th century CE.  I have described this journey in my yet unpublished book ‘A journey Impossible’ Book II, (https://www.facebook.com/100065415402488/). I quote below from my book.

“After crossing the Krishna ganga River, travel over a short distance would have taken the monk to the north bank of Vitasta River, which flowing in western direction so far, turns sharply to south over a great bend, below its confluence with Krishna Ganga. The town of Hindu-Shikri (Muzaffarabad) was located about 134 Kilometers west of the entrance to Kashmir valley and a climb of about more than 3000 feet (1000 meters) was needed from here to reach there. The road that was laid out all along the northern bank of Vitasta River was a difficult stretch. Hui Li describes the journey on this road as “climbing precipitous passes and crossing iron bridges”. He probably refers to the passes on ridges that stretched in north-south direction and extended right up to the river and iron bridges constructed over deep crevices and narrow valleys formed by rivulets rushing down to merge with Vitasta from north.”

It becomes clear from this description that Xuan Zang must have taken 3 or 4 days to complete this journey to Baramulla and must have stayed in some Buddhist establishments on the way situated on the north bank road, during nights.  It is therefore important to note that he does not mention existence of any large Buddhist establishment like the one at “Gopura” (Jehanpora).  This would mean that Jehanpora establishment was not in existence at all in 7^th century CE and obviously was abandoned or destroyed before that. There could have been small Buddhist temples set up later and Xuan Zang could have stayed there. In fact, two later travelers, who traveled on this road in Nineteenth century, do report existence of such small establishments.

Who possibly could have destroyed “Gopura” or “Jehanpora” monastery in the period between 3^rd Century CE and 7^th century CE? Only one name comes to my mind.  It would be the second Hun King “Mihirakula” ( मिहिरकुल, Chinese: 摩酰逻矩罗 Mo-hi-lo-kiu-lo), who ruled northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent between 515 and 542 CE.  According to Xuan Zang, Mihirakula was totally against Buddhism, He massacred monks and destroyed monasteries. Hindu kings Yashodharman and Gupta Empire rulers by 530 CE, ended the Mihirakula era. He conquered Kashmir after fleeing India. Kalhana mentions in Rajatarangini, him as a king of Kashmir, who later expanded his rule and was cruel to Buddhists there.

We shall now move forward in time and come to Nineteenth century CE. Godfrey Thomas Vigne, born in 1801, travelled extensively in Kashmir and Ladakh between 1835 and 1838,  just as Charles von Hügel, mentioned earlier.  Vigne traveled on both the banks of Vitasta. Hugel, however traveled on the northern bank only, while exiting Kashmir.

Both Vigne and Hugel report independently, about “Jehanpora” structures.  I quote from works of both of them.

Hugel describes:-

“Three buildings in Jempura attracted my curiosity. The first, in the form of sepulchral  (tomb) monument, was a circular edifice about thirty feet in height, on which stood a square chamber. The walls were massive, and the whole structure seemed to refer to a race whose monuments were all of the same solid proportions.

A few miles onward we came to three small forts, Atalgurh, Shenkargurh, and Messekur , which together with a fourth already passed near Kechama , and another by Jempura, were evidently constructed to protect the natives against the attacks of predatory bands.”

AI creation of structure described by Hugel

 Vigne mentions having seen forts but does not name the places. He, however, describes the North bank structures in more details in these words:-

“The first object worthy of notice on the way, is the little pyramidal building in the water, called “But Dul” ( बुत दल,Vigne explains it as Lake of an Idol. However, it can also be interpreted as, Idol of the lake or Idol Lake or Buddha Lake). Further on, upon the banks of the river, and close together, are the remains of three other buildings; the first of which originally appears to have been a tomb, the second a temple, and the third a fort. I could not by any means ascertain their age, nor does it much signify, as they are built of mud and loose stones; those in the door of the temple being large and massive.”

Ruins of none of the structures mentioned by Hugel or Vigne exist now, except for the possible ruins of two structures, which Dr.  Ajmal Shah calls as “Apsidal structure” and “Enclosure wall”.  What happened to these structures seen by Vigne and Hugel, in last two hundred years?   Surprisingly, no one knows. No record exists of these structures even in archaeological documents of Kashmir Darbar or in any publications of archaeologists like Ramchandra Kak in pre 1947 era.  Perhaps these structures were considered unimportant.  It seems to me that these sites were either destroyed in the 1948 invasion by Pakistan sponsored tribals from northwest or in canal construction. I have tried to locate the three earthen mounds and Apsidal structure found by Dr. Ajmal Shah on Google earth image attached here.

Now let us ask a few awkward questions.

When two mounds were snapped by photographer John Burke in Nineteenth century and are easily available on net.  . Why Kashmir archeologists never referred to John Burke’s photographs? Why were the structures mentioned by Vigne and Hugel  never investigated? Why Dr. Ajmal Shah had to go to France to see some bleary photo in a Paris museum, when the mounds, well documented and photographed by John Burke, were standing on outskirts of Baramulla?

Source Wikimedia commons

Whatever may be the case, the taking up of excavations in “Jehanpora” is certainly a most welcome step and we should expect it to shade some new light on an unknown historical era.

I note another point of interest. Dr. Mohammad Ajmal Shah has been working on this project for last few years. In 2023, he published a research paper in a symposium in Delhi about “Jehanpora” ruins. With this being the case, why suddenly PM highlighted the project in his broadcast? Is it a simple case of encouraging and promoting a young archeologist doing good work? Or there is some political angle also to it with Indian Railway promoting extension of Srinagar- Baramulla railway line to Uri?. Well! Only the time will tell.

Before I finish, one last point. Why “Jehanpora” might have been called as “Gopura”. The answer is obvious. It was really the Gateway to Kashmir. Vigne answers this rather well. He writes. “People of the Kashmiri race extend about one day’s march down the valley, and after that one comes to the tribes called Kakka and Bamba”

Vitasta valley downstream: source Godfrey Thomas Vigne; Circa 1842

Vigne adds further and says. “The first 25 miles of the gorge is through extremely fine scenery, of wooded mountain slopes, broken by cliff-surfaces, that rise to great heights above the path. Some of the forests are of Deodar. Villages are met with at intervals; after Baramulla the houses are no longer of the fashion of Kashmir but are flat-roofed.” Downstream after “Buniar” the river gorge becomes narrower and deeper. Vigne describes it as, “The villages are upon alluvial plateaus, at a considerable height above the river: on these plateaus too, there is a great deal of rice cultivation”

Do you know where one day’s march would end starting from Baramulla? Answer is  somewhere ahead of “Jehanpora” on north bank and “Temple of Buniar” on south bank.    Was this the reason for Indian Army to stop its advance in the Vitasta valley at “Uri” in 1948?  Think!

12 January 2026

 

A recollection- Visiting Col. Leslie King

 

( Image created by AI has no resemblance with any real life property)

One of my happy childhood memories, when I was about 10 years old lad, has always been those rare visits to Col. Laslie King’s household along with my father. Col. King was my father’s fellow amateur radio enthusiast and a friend. He used to stay in a bungalow allotted to him by Indian Army southern command, in Pune Cantonment area somewhere near today’s Dr. Koyaji Road.  To add to my excitement of the visit to his house, there was always that  pillion seat ride on my father’s AJS motor bike.

Col. Leslie king must have been much elder to my father, who was in his late thirties then. However, he used to be so friendly with us that I never realized it then.   He was a great Amateur Radio enthusiast (HAM) and actively participated in all their activities. His call sign was VU2AK.  He never believed in buying gear (Radio receiving and transmitting equipment) and was always keen to build his own gear (home-brewed stuff).  His posting in Pune perhaps helped him, as lots of WWII electronic equipment left over by Allied forces in Pune Air Force station was being scrapped and sold in local market.  He had many friends in Air Force, and he would know what stuff is going to be sold in advance. I remember giving him very exclusive items to my father such as Klystrons and a small 2-inch CRT tube, as gifts.  

(An Amateur Radio enthusiast's shack)

My father was also a keen Amateur Radio enthusiast (Call sign VU2EJ) and that was probably the only connection to their friendship. They would discuss for hours their home brewed stuff, and I would watch them fascinated, without saying even a word.  SSB (Single side band) was the latest thing in HAM radio then and they would discuss circuits, parts, tubes for that.

“Leslie uncle”, as I used to call him then, had a very specious bungalow. There were a large veranda  and a hall. There were two wings on the sides. His Amateur Radio station or shack was in the right wing and was full of electronics stuff, old ARL magazines and notebooks. His wife Audrey   was a typical army wife (XYL in HAM jargon). Perfect in manners and most gracious.  I was supposed to call her “aunty”, but she always insisted to my embarrassment, that I must address her as Audrey only. In any case, my conversational skills in English, at that time, were almost equal to none and I mostly kept quiet in her presence.  King’s only son then, had gone  to England and I remember Audrey telling me that he does not want to return to India and wanted to settle there.  She could not talk or communicate with her son often as telephones were just primitive.  So she had finally decided to become an Amateur Radio enthusiast (HAM) herself and earned a call sign VU2YL.  In this way she could communicate with her son for as long as possible.  My only regret now is that I could never communicate with Audrey properly with my extremely poor  English speaking skills.  

Audrey made wonderful cakes. Sponge cake was one of her best recipes. My mother always wanted to learn to make cakes, and Audrey gladly taught her recipes. With Audrey’s guidance my mother became expert in making delicious cakes.   During my visits to King household, Audrey’s cakes used to be a prime attraction.  

Leslie Uncle was really my father’s Guru in HAM world and guided him to build his basic stuff, Antenna etc. He also suggested purchasing the Hallicrafters radio receiver, which my father did.  Hallicrafters model SX-28 was very popular with Indian HAMS at that time, with both Leslie Uncle and my father owning it. Another popular radio was RCA AR-88. 

I recently found from net that ‘Leslie uncle’ was later promoted as a Brigadier and posted to Bangalore. He continued his HAM activity there and made improvements to his SSB gear.  After he moved to Bangalore, my father lost all contact with him, except for occasional talk on radio.  I have no information about when he retired from army and whether he settled in India or moved to England afterwards.  Yet I have a gut feeling that he might have migrated to England as I never heard Leslie Uncle’s name from my father in later years.

Visits to King household remain a great childhood memory for me. I would end this call by saying “73” (with best regards in HAM jargon) and end this “QSO” (Call).  

24/12/2025  

Recollections from my first ever US trip

Café do Monde and Beignet

I came across recently an old photograph taken in 1980’s by me in New Orleans that showed the famous eatery, ‘Café du Monde’. located in the city area known as French quarters. That triggered my thoughts and I was surprised that I still remembered so many details of the place vividly even now.

‘Café du Monde’ was located on Decatur Street, opposite Jackson square where a grand equestrian statue of General Jackson stands. This street was usually so much jammed and crowded that it was almost impossible to find parking. I remembered that we were dropped in front of the café by Mr. Vinayakarao Athavale (He is the husband of my aunt Mrs. Neera Karve-Athavale) to pick up New Orlean’s famous snack “Beignet” from this café. Since there was no parking place, he kept going around in that area, until we picked up a few ‘to-go’ Beignets. Café-du-Mond in those days was a cosy roadside café with a nice-looking small fountain in front. Most of the people went there to have a Beignet and a coffee.

Beignets (Pronounced as Ben-yey, बेन्ये ) were first introduced to the city by the French-Creole colonists in the 18th century. The concept is simple – dough is fried then covered with mounds of powdered sugar – but the result is extraordinary. When served hot, they are absolute perfection, especially when accompanied by chocolate milk. For my Indian palate they tasted somewhat like “Chirote (चिरोटे)”.

While on subject of eateries of New Orleans, two more places immediately come to mind. First one was called as ‘Ground Round’. This one served typical American food. What was special about this place was that they served large bowls of roasted groundnuts in shells to all customers. You were encouraged to drop the empty shells on the floor. So whenever anyone walked on the floor, he/she would make crunchy kind of sound.

There was another place called ‘Spudleys” or something similar, that was famous for its baked potatoes. They would serve huge oven hot baked potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil. Potatoes were served with a cut in the middle which would be covered with mustard and other sauces.

New Orleans then, was called food capital of US, with so many specialty restaurants. Obviously, I have no idea about the present status particularly after Hurricane Katrina and great flood of 2005.

Niagara Falls: a total letdown

Way back, when I was planning to visit US for the first time, I wanted to visit Niagara Falls more than any other place. In those days, to find information about any place was very difficult. There was no internet and not very many people I knew, had travelled to US. My in-laws had been there a few years back, but they had seen the falls from Canada side. My travel agent told me that for Canada visa, the passport must be sent to Delhi, and it could take a long time to receive it back. I had really no choice but to see the falls from US side. I found out that the nearest airport with regular flights was at Buffalo town and there are busses that take you to Niagara in the morning and return in the evening.

With this much information, I and my wife landed on Buffalo airport and checked in a nearby Ramada Inn. I checked on the reception counter and booked two tour tickets for the next day. Our journey to Niagara town was nice and comfortable and we reached there sometime late morning.

As, we would do at any tourist place, we first visited the Visitor centre and found out to our dismay that the ferry that takes you around the falls does not sail after October. The Niagara River after it falls is at least 25 to 30 meters below Niagara town and to take the travellers down to riverbed level, an elevator is normally in place. However, since the ferry is closed, this elevator area is also closed.

Our only choice therefore was to see the falls from an international bridge across the river that joined US and Canada. This was no problem for us as our Visas were multi entry. We therefore decided to have a cup of coffee and then walk towards this bridge.

The first surprise was however waiting for us, when we stepped out on the road. From this road no river was visible. A thick forest stood between us and the riverbed. Because of the fall season all the leaves had acquired golden yellow hue and looked stunning. We were disappointed however, as we had come to see the falls and not fall colours. It was also biting cold. The temperature must have been single Celsius digits. We wrapped ourselves in our clothing and started walking on the road. Soon, we reached US immigration office, where we handed over the immigration card and stepped on the bridge, from where we could at least see the riverbed.

Even greater disappointment awaited us, as from the US end of this bridge, famous horseshoe falls are not seen at all. American falls can be seen clearly from here, but as our luck would have it, there was very heavy mist created by the bitter cold and water spray and not a trace of falling water was seen. We walked further on the bridge and finally saw a small area of horseshoe falls. Rest of the horseshoe falls were again covered by mist.

We knew that we had no Canadian visa and cannot enter the Canadian coast. Yet we thought that may be from the outside of Canadian emigration office, we might get a glimpse of horseshoe falls. Canadians however had built the immigration building in such way that view of the falls was completely blocked. We, as a lost resort, requested immigration officials to let see the falls through windows at least. They flatly refused and we found the windows heavily curtained.

Dejected, we walked back on the bridge and completed US immigration procedure. Niagara falls had become total letdown for us. Now a days, I believe that there is a huge observation centre built on US side, from which all the falls area can be seen any time of the year. Most important thing is that all the information is available to a traveller through internet.

Case of the missing exposure meter

In the same US tour, we also visited Disney World in Orlando. This was really the first time, when we had visited a real theme park and naturally found it very exciting. We had stayed in Miami with one of my close fiend’s brother and had booked a two day bus tour. The bus would pick us up from Miami in the morning and take us to Disney World and drop us back in the evening. We found the various rides very thrilling. Essentially they were all roller coasters, where a small buggy shaped in different shapes runs down on tracks at great speed. These tracks normally have many ups and downs and give that great ‘going downhill’ thrill. There was one ride, that was known as ‘Big thunder mountain railroad’ This was described as a family-friendly roller coaster train ride in a mine with drops, turns, and dark caverns. We bought tickets for this ride and sat in a buggy with seat belts on.

At that time I had an old Leica camera of WWII vintage belonging to my father. It had separate knobs for controlling aperture and exposure. There was no built in photometer like modern cameras and we had to use a separate ‘Weston’ make exposure meter. Both the camera and exposure meter had separate leather cases with neck straps, which I would normally wear in a cross fashion.

We found the thunder mountain ride very exciting and thrilling and were quite satisfied. But when we alighted from the buggy and came out I realized with horror that the neck strap of my exposure meter had broken and the exposure meter was missing. I couldn’t imagine my father’s feelings when he would know that his favourite exposure meter is lost. We returned back to Miami in rather a sad mood.

In the night, I told my host, what has happened? He just smiled and said don’t worry, you are in US. Tomorrow morning when you reach the reception counter just go to the ‘Lost and found’ counter nearby. Even though he consoled me, I couldn’t sleep properly that night.

Next morning, as we approached the front gate and reception counter of Disney world, I saw the ‘Lost and found’ room next to reception counter. With pounding heart I approached the lady behind the counter and described her my lost exposure meter. She asked a few more questions and then asked me wait and went inside an adjoining room. She must have taken a few minutes to return but those minutes seemed to be like ages.

She was back in a short time and as I watched with a pounding heart, she held something in her hand. Bingo, it was my exposure meter. A wave of happiness spread over me. I had never felt so happy before. I thanked her and walked out after signing some papers.

The case of missing exposure meter was solved just in a day.

21 December 2025