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 19th 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 7th 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 7th 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 3rd Century CE and 7th
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.”
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.
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”
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
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