Baramulla

Baramulla stands on the Jhelum downstream from Srinagar, at the western gateway of the Kashmir Valley. Its older name, Varahamula, recalls the boar incarnation of Vishnu: tradition tells that the god broke open the mountains here to drain the ancient lake that filled the valley. Temples and Buddhist monasteries made the place sacred to different communities, and travellers entering Kashmir often passed through it.

In 1421 the Muslim holy man Syed Janbaz Wali came to Kashmir with companions and made Baramulla a centre of his mission. His tomb became a place of pilgrimage. The Mughal emperor Jahangir stopped here during his visit to Kashmir in 1620, and the town's position on the river continued to connect the valley with the routes leading west through the mountains.