Diversions of a Busy Lawyer continues....

An old man we met here acted as our guide. We enjoyed bathing in the cold snowy waters of the spring.

In the afternoon we moved on to Mattan (Martand), which gets its name from the famous shrine of Martand (the sun) here. The temple stands on a fine site in an open plain and has been pronounced to be “one of the most heavenly sites on earth.” Martand is sacred to the Hindus in Kashmir. In summer, pilgrims from allover India throng here. The priests of Martand keep long family records of their clients in their logbooks. The visitor puts down his genealogy in his own priest’s logbook. The various priestly families have—as at Hardwar, Pushkar and elsewhere—divided the devotees among themselves regionwise so that a priest can legitimately claim a pilgrim as his own if his forefathers figure in his logbook. When the Pandas catch sight of a visitor they throng round him shouting questions at him in order to locate him by his family history. On our arrival we were very much harassed by the wrangling among the Pandas on our account. Ultimately we succeeded in locating our family priest. Though I did not know it, my grandfather had paid a visit to Martand long, long ago. Imagine my happiness at finding his signature in the Panda’s logbook! The Panda was very hospitable to us. He arranged a house opposite the spring for our accommodation. It had just been completed and we were the first to live in it. We spent a comfortable week here. In the morning we bathed in the cool waters of the spring. In the evening we went out on long pleasant walks. I wrote an account of my visit in the Panda’s logbook.

From Mattan we moved on to Pahalgam. It was then quite different from what it is today. There were no huts or houses there, not even a dak bungalow. There was however a post office located in a solitary hut. Visitors lived in tents. It became a town of tents during the season.

to be continued..