Kashmir, the rest is worthless
In 1586 Emperor Akbar dispatched an army to Kashmir as part of his expansionist policy of the Mughal state and successfully annexed it after a military victory. Kashmir became another Mughal region as one of its provinces under the rule of a local governor. Akbar was the first Mughal who set the foot in Kashmir, but he didn't have any special disposition towards it, as demonstrated by the fact that he only travelled there three times over the summer months between 1589 and 1597.
It was Jahangir who fell in love with the region of Kashmir, and mostly contributed to the splendor of the Shalimar Bagh. He had great appreciation of the mountains, running water and flowers of the region, that he describes in "The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri":
"Kashmir is a garden of eternal spring, or an iron fort to a palace of kings - a delightful flower-bed, and a heart-expanding heritage for dervishes. Its pleasant meads and enchanting cascades are beyond all description. There are running streams and fountains beyond count. Wherever the eye reaches, there are verdure and running water."
Francois Bernier in his travel accounts of the Mughal lands, writes that Kashmir was Jahangir's favorite place of the whole empire. He claims that Jahangir would lose all other lands before he would lose Kashmir. There is even a legend that when Jahangir was on his deathbed, and asked what his most cherished desire was, he is credited to have said:
"Kashmir, the rest is worthless"
While, as for any typical legend, there is no exact contemporary citation for this phrase, the fact that popular memory contributes these words to the Emperor demonstrates how fond he must have been of the valley and the Shalamar Bagh, that he himself commissioned in 1619.
Shah Jahan, Jahangir's successor, was also extremely impressed by Kashmir, its large and glassy Dal Lake and gardens and parks. It was Shah Jahan who commissioned an addition to the structure set out by Jahangir. If you are interested to find out more about the structure and history of architecture, you can jump to section three "Structure of Shalimar Bagh" in the navigation to the left, otherwise, please follow to the second section "Partnership between royalty and nature" to learn about the cite chosen for our perfect garden.
If you would like to explore in detail the memoirs of Jahangir and Shah Jahan, you can follow a path that is set out at the bottom of this page.
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