ABSTRACT
The country boasts many lakes, the one called the Dal Lake being spanned by wooden bridges that connect the two sides of the capital city. Picturesque and selfcontained houseboats, some of which have their own floating gardens, are the homes of many Kashmiris. Shikaras, or small flat-bottomed boats that glide between the houseboats, provide other provisions. The Moghul gardens,16 some commanding a superb view of lakes, were built long before those in Versailles were patronaged by Louis XIV. The rulers of India are believed to have laid "777 gardens" (perhaps to mean "many") only in the neighbourhood ofthe Dal Lake. It was they who introduced the chenar (plane) trees which now symbolize the whole Valley. The name of the small island in the centre of the Dal Lake, or "Char Chenar", is derived from the four symmetrical trees on it. All gardens were arranged in a number of terraces, one above the other, spread with flower beds and with rows of fountains in between. The Moghuls watched the fountains and the multicoloured flowers from the exquisitely decorated pavilions.
