Gurez
Encyclopedia
Gurez or Gurais, also pronounced Gorai (گورأى) in the local Shina language
Shina language
Shina is a Dardic language spoken by a plurality of people in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan and Dras in Ladakh of Indian-Administered Kashmir. The valleys in which it is spoken include Astore, Chilas, Dareil, Tangeer, Gilgit, Ghizer, and a few parts of Baltistan and Kohistan. It is also spoken in...
, is a valley located in the high Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
, about 86 kilometres (53.4 mi) from Bandipore
Bandipore
Bandipore is a new District in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India...
and 123 kilometres (76.4 mi) from Srinagar
Srinagar
Srinagar is the summer seasonal capital of Jammu and Kashmir. It is situated in Kashmir Valley and lies on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus. It is one of the largest cities in India not to have a Hindu majority. The city is famous for its gardens, lakes and houseboats...
in northern Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. At about 8000 feet (2,438.4 m) above sea level, the valley is surrounded by snow capped mountains. It has diverse fauna and wildlife including the Himalayan brown bear
Himalayan Brown Bear
The Himalayan Brown Bear , also known as the Himalayan Red Bear, Isabelline Bear or Dzu-Teh, is a subspecies of the Brown Bear. The bear is thought to be the source of the legend of the Yeti....
and the snow leopard
Snow Leopard
The snow leopard is a moderately large cat native to the mountain ranges of South Asia and Central Asia...
. The Neelum River
Neelum River
The Neelum River , or Kishanganga , is a river in the Kashmir region of India and Pakistan. The Neelam River enters Pakistan from India in the Gurais sector of the Line of Control, and then runs west till it meets the Jhelum River north of Muzzafarabad.- Neelum Valley :The Neelum Valley is a...
flows through the valley. The road to Gilgit
Gilgit
Gilgit is a city in northern PakistanGilgit may refer to other terms related with the area of the city:* Gilgit River* Gilgit Valley* Gilgit District* Gilgit Agency * Gilgit Airport...
runs through Gurais.
Gurais is divided into three regions. The area from Baghtor to Sharda Peeth is administered by Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
as Neelum District
Neelum District
Neelum District is one of the eight districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. Until recently it was part of Muzaffarabad District. It is bound by the Gilgit to the North, with Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipore Districts of Indian-administered Kashmir in India to the South and Southeast,...
, that between Kamri and Minimarg is part of the Astore District
Astore District
Astore is one of the six districts of the Gilgit Baltistan. The district contains the Astore Valley and is bounded to the west by Diamer District , to the north by Gilgit District, to the east by Skardu District and to the south by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Neelum District of Azad Kashmir...
, Northern Areas
Northern Areas
Gilgit-Baltistan , is the northernmost political entity within Pakistan. It borders Pakistan's Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province to the west, Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor to the north, China to the east and northeast, Azad Kashmir to the southwest, and Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir to the...
, Pakistan, and that from Baghtor to Abdullae Tulail is known as Tehsil Gurez, and is part of Bandipore district.
Being situated very close to the Burzil pass
Burzil Pass
The Burzil Pass is an ancient pass and caravan route between Srinagar in Kashmir and Gilgit. This route was active up to Pakistan's independence. The pass lies close to the Line of Control demarcating India and Pakistan, which has since closed the Burzil. The crest of the pass is wide and covered...
, which leads into Astore District
Astore District
Astore is one of the six districts of the Gilgit Baltistan. The district contains the Astore Valley and is bounded to the west by Diamer District , to the north by Gilgit District, to the east by Skardu District and to the south by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Neelum District of Azad Kashmir...
of the Northern Areas
Northern Areas
Gilgit-Baltistan , is the northernmost political entity within Pakistan. It borders Pakistan's Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province to the west, Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor to the north, China to the east and northeast, Azad Kashmir to the southwest, and Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir to the...
, the inhabitants are ethnic Dards/Shins. They speak the Shina
Shina
Shina can refer to:* Shina , a Japanese term for mainland China* Shina , Shina Gado, a character from the Bloody Roar video game series* Shina people, Dardic people of Pakistani Kashmir* Shin of Hindukush...
language and have the same styles of dress and culture as their kinsmen in Pakistan's Northern areas.
Dawar is the central township in the area. The population of the area is estimated to be about 30,000, and is scattered among fifteen villages. Due to heavy snowfall in winter, the valley remains cut off for six months of the year.
History
Historically, Gurais was part of ancient DardistanDardistan
Dardistan is a term coined by Gottlieb William Leitner for the northern Pakistan, and Kashmir in India and parts of north-eastern Afghanistan. It is inhabited by Dards speaking Dardic languages.-Historical Origin:...
, stretching between Sharada Peeth
Sharada Peeth
Sharada Peeth , located near Sharda, was the famous temple of the goddess Sarasvatī in Northern Kashmir on the banks of what is known as the Neelum River in Pakistan . Its ruins are now in the Neelum District of Pakistan Administered Kashmir near the Line of Control and Gurez, India...
in the west, Minimarg in the north, Drass in the east, and Baghtor in the south. The valley falls along the ancient Silk Route, which connected the Kashmir Valley with Gilgit
Gilgit
Gilgit is a city in northern PakistanGilgit may refer to other terms related with the area of the city:* Gilgit River* Gilgit Valley* Gilgit District* Gilgit Agency * Gilgit Airport...
, before continuing further to Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
. Archaeological surveys in valleys north of Gurais have uncovered hundreds of carved inscriptions in Kharoshthi, Brahmi
Brāhmī script
Brāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing...
, and Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
. In particular, the carvings provide insights into the origins of the Kashmiri people
Kashmiri people
The Kashmiri people are a Dardic linguistic group living in Kashmir Valley in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Pakistani territory of Azad Kashmir who speak the Kashmiri language...
and the early history of Buddhism.
The ancient capital of the Dards, Dawar, is located in the Gurais Valley and is an important archaeological site. Other archaeological sites of importance in the valley include Kanzilwan, where the last council of Buddhism is believed to have been held and, further downstream, the ruins of the ancient Sharada
Sharada
Sarada or Sharada may refer to:* Another name for the Hindu goddess Saraswati* Sharada script, abugida writing system-Film:* Sharada , Bollywood film* Sharada , Telugu film...
University are preserved along the Kishenganga/Neelum River.
Prior to the Partition of Kashmir, Gurais had been a popular destination for foreign tourists, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who is known to have visited some time before he became the US president. During the colonial period, Gurais was often visited by trekkers. Nehru and Indira Gandhi, accompanied by Sheikh Abdullah, were among those who visited the area in the 1940s, fishing for trout at Naranag, one of the lakes in the mountains above the valley.
Quotations about Gurais
While describing the Kishenganga valley (Gurais) Walter R. Lawrence writes in his book The Valley Of Kashmir,“Perhaps Pahlgam, the village of the shepherds that stands at the head of the Liddar valley with its healthy forest of pines, and Gurais, which lies at a distance of thirty-five miles from Bandipora, the port of the Wular Lake, will before long rival in popularity the other margs. Gurais is a lovely valley five miles in length lying at an elevation of about 8000 feet above the sea. The Kishenganga river flows through it, and on either side tower mountain scraps of indescribable grandeur. Perhaps one of the most beautiful scenes in the whole of the Kashmir is the grove of huge poplars through which the traveller enters the Gurais valley. The climate is dry and mild, excellent English vegetables can be grown, and the wild raspberries and currants are delicious.”
“The valley is extremely picturesque, as the river comes dashing along through a rich meadow, partly covered with lindens, walnut and willow trees, while the mountains on either side present nothing but a succession of most abrupt precipices, and Alpine lodges, covered with fir trees.”
Habba Khatoon
Gurais's most formidable peak is Habba Khatoon, around which legends abound and at one time, even a film starring Dimple KapadiaDimple Kapadia
Dimple Chunnibhai Kapadia is an Indian film actress. She made her acting debut at the age of 16, playing the title role in Raj Kapoor's teen romance Bobby . In that same year she married Indian actor Rajesh Khanna, and retired from acting. Kapadia returned to films in 1984 after her separation...
was planned. This pyramid shaped peak was named after the Kashmiri poetess Habba Khatoon. She was a beautiful and intelligent woman from Saffron village, and originally known as "Zoon" (which means Moon in English). She was the daughter of a peasant, who married her to an illiterate peasant boy named Habba. Zoon was ill-treated by her mother-in-law and husband, because she spent most of her time in poetry and singing. Dejected by her plight, she changed her name to Habba Khatoon.
The emperor of Kashmir, Yousuf Shah Chak, was entranced by her beauty, intelligence and poetry. He arranged her divorce from Habba and married her. According to the story, Shah Chak was imprisoned by his rival King Akbar, Habba Khatoon used to wander near the peak that now bears her name to look for her lover. After her husband's death, she wandered the banks of river Jhelum in mourning. She died twenty years later, and was buried in Athawajan.
Habba Khatoon Drama club was founded in 1976 by the poet Hajji Abdul Aziz Samoon (KPS). The club played a pivotal role in safeguarding the cultural ethos and traditions of the Dard-Shin tribe. Hajji Abdul Aziz Samoon(KPS) is also Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Dard-Shina Development Organization (JKDSDO), a body representing Dard community in the state JKDSDO
Energy
There is no central electricity in Gurais, although, as of 2009, a hydro-electric plant is under construction by the National Hydroelectric Power CorporationNational Hydroelectric Power Corporation
NHPC Limited , A Govt. of India Enterprise, was incorporated in the year 1975 with an authorised capital of Rs. 2000 million and with an objective to plan, promote and organize an integrated and efficient development of hydroelectric power in all aspects...
. It is unclear if any of the generated energy will be available to the valley itself. India had initially planned to construct a 100-metre-high dam on the Kishenganga, which would have flooded the majority of the Gurais Valley and forced nearly all of its residents to relocate. But due to resistance by the Dard Shin and by Pakistan, which is constructing a dam downstream, the dam’s height has been reduced to 37 metres. Set for completion in 2016, the dam will divert water from the Kishenganga towards Wular Lake via a 20 kilometre concrete tunnel, and will generate electricity for the nearby region. Although construction of the dam will temporarily bring work and money into the area, the Dard Shin have expressed concern that around 130 families will still lose their homes, and more than 300 hectares (741.3 acre) of land in the valley will be submerged.
Because of the lack of electricity, there is no significant industrial activity in the valley. The only electricity which is available comes from a few diesel generators which provide power to some parts of the area in summer for an hour at a time.
The Indian government’s relocation plans are unclear, and it has not yet committed to providing hydroelectricity to those who will remain in the valley.
Religion
Gurais has a Sunni Muslim population. Before the arrival of Mir Sayyid Ali HamadaniMir Sayyid Ali Hamadani
Mir Syed Ali bin Shahab-ud-Din Hamadani was a Persian Sūfī of the Kubrāwī order, a poet and a prominent Muslim scholar. He was born on Monday, 12th Rajab 714 AH in Hamadan and died in 786 AH in Kunar and was buried in Khatlan...
(مير سيد على همدانى), the region was predominantly Buddhist. Hamadani, also known as Shah Hamdan or Amir Kabir, was born in Iran in 1314, and came to Kashmir in 1372, during the rule of Sultan Shams-ud-Din (سلتان شمسءدين) as an Islamic missionary. Shah Hamdan visited the Kashmir valley three times, accompanied by about seven hundred saints, known as “Sadaats”.
Of these seven hundred saints, seven came to Gurais, including Baba Abdur Razaq Shah ( بابا ابدور رزاق شأه) and Baba Dervaish (بابا درويش), whose shrines are located near the hamlet of Fakirpora. The names of the other saints are unknown, although they also have shrines, located at Chorwan, Bagtore, Dangital Tulail across the Kishan Ganga River, and at Kamri across the border near Dood-Gagi village in Pakistan-administered Kashmir
Pakistan-administered Kashmir
Azad Kashmir borders the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to the north west, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of People's Republic of China to the north and the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir, to the east.A...
.
Peer Baba (پير بابا)
The Peer Baba came from Multan (Pakistan) in 1933 and established himself in a cave at Durmat, north of Kanzalwan. He was about 35 years old, and his religion is unknown. He is said to have fasted for months without taking any food or water. On occasion, he came down to Kanzalwan and asked for food in ParsiParsi
Parsi or Parsee refers to a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in South Asia, the other being the Irani community....
with an Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
accent. He never refused mutton offered by local Muslims. He was hard of hearing, spoke very little and was popularly known as “Nanga Baba”. In Feb 1940, he came down from Durmat to Rajdhan during a heavy snowstorm, and subsequently died. When the locals tried to bring the Baba’s body to Bandipur for burial, they were attacked by large number of honeybees, and he was instead buried close to Rajdhan Pass.
Mohammad Noor Khan
One of the most influential figures in Gurais during the pre-independence period was Mohammed Noor Khan, who helped to repel a tribal invasion of the area in 1948. Noor Khan influenced the politics of not only Gurais, but also of his birthplace in ChilasChilas
Chilas is a small town located in the Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan on the left side of river Indus. It is part of the Silk Road connected by the Karakoram Highway which links it to Islamabad in the south via Dassu, Besham, Mansehra, Abbottabad and Haripur...
and Gilgit
Gilgit
Gilgit is a city in northern PakistanGilgit may refer to other terms related with the area of the city:* Gilgit River* Gilgit Valley* Gilgit District* Gilgit Agency * Gilgit Airport...
. He was a staunch supporter of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, whom he accompanied on the political campaign for an independent Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
before 1947, and who referred to him as "Sher-e-Gurez".
Moulana Mohammad Anwar Samoon
Mohammad Anwar Samoon was a revolutionary leader and teacher who improved the standard of education in Gurais. He was a Muslim saint, or waliWali
Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...
, who believed in simple living and high thinking.
Hajji Abdul Rehmaan Kaloo
Hajji Abdul Rehmaan Kaloo was a philanthropistPhilanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
born into the richest family of Gurais. He was the son of Habib Kaloo, the richest man in the area during Dogra rule, and who looked after whole of the Gurais Valley. Hajji Abdul Rehman Kaloo gave away his land for the welfare of the poor, and it subsequently became the site of Gurais Hospital, the Sheep Department, and other government offices.
He was a staunch supporter of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah during his lifetime, and donated money and other support to a number of orphans and widows. He remained head of the Panchayats in Gurais for many years. He died on 1st October 2009, at the age of 106.
Fishery
Kishenganga River, with a length of 150 kilometres (93.2 mi), supports world class troutTrout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
with an average weight of 24 pounds (10.9 kg). As of 2006, there were plans to develop the fishery potential of the area, making it a resource for the surrounding region.
Fish in the river include:
- Snow trout (Shizothorax): Found predominantly in the Tilail area
- Brown troutBrown troutThe brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....
(Salmo trutta fario) - Rainbow troutRainbow troutThe rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
(Salmo gairdneri) - Shuddgurn: Abundant throughout Gurais
- Anyour: Mostly present in Aasthan Nallah