lettered by Abraham Ortelius, 1570
Place · region

Kashmir

What the sources say here: 3 passages

The nameKashmir1830s

Why the emperors were called 'Cheguthai'

Editorial contextIn a footnote Vigne explains the name Zagatai (Chagatai) that Kashmiris still used for the old imperial rule: it comes from a son of Genghis Khan who founded the Chagatai branch in Transoxiana. This links the Indian Mughals directly to the Mongol conquests of the 1200s.

Or Cheguthai, the Mogul Emperors ; so called from Zagatai Khan, a son of Jenghiz Khan, who founded the Zagatai branch in Transoxiana.

Godfrey Thomas Vigne (footnote, 1842)
See the original page (p. 318)

About Mughal emperors (Chagatai line)

Continue in this sourceVigne's travels in Kashmir and Little Tibet1830s · 7 passages
CitiesShahabad (Dooru), Kashmir1830s

Shahbad: 'the abode of the king' in ruins

Editorial contextShahbad, once the largest town at the south end of the Kashmir valley and named as a royal seat, had become a ruin by Vigne's visit. The Mughal palace was hardly worth a remark and its grounds were overgrown. Vigne blames much of Kashmir's decay on recent Sikh rule, famine and earthquake rather than on any lost civilization.

Shahbad, the abode of the king, which was the largest place at the southern end of the valley, is now a ruin ; and the palace of the Moguls is scarcely worth a remark. Its environs are overgrown with nettles and wild hemp.

Godfrey Thomas Vigne (1842)
See the original page (p. 324)

About Mughal emperors

Continue in this sourceVigne's travels in Kashmir and Little Tibet1830s · 7 passages
The namePir Panjal pass, Kashmir1667 (quoted 1842)

Milton's 'roving Tartar' on the Himalaya

Editorial contextStanding on the Pir Panjal pass, Vigne quotes in a footnote Milton's famous simile of a vulture bred on Imaus (the Himalaya), 'whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds'. It shows the English literary picture of the Tartar that travellers carried with them: a wandering herdsman on the far side of the great mountains.

On Imaus bred, Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds, Dislodging from a region scarce of prey. To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids, On hills where flocks are fed, flies towards the springs Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams

John Milton, Paradise Lost iii.431, quoted in a footnote by Vigne
See the original page (p. 263)

About Central Asian nomads (literary)

Keep in mind

A poem, not a report; included for the image of the Tartar it carries.

Continue in this sourceVigne's travels in Kashmir and Little Tibet1830s · 7 passages

5 sources and maps name this place

  1. c. 1546–1547approximate
    The Tarikh-i-Rashidi
    WMirza Muhammad Haidar DughlatmixedW045
  2. 17th centurywithin a century
    Antiquities of Indian Tibet, Part II
    WLadakh royal chroniclecompilationW153
  3. 1728–1733a range
    An Account of Tibet
    WIppolito DesiderifirsthandW120
  4. 1841exact year
    Travels in the Himalayan Provinces … and Bokhara
    WWilliam MoorcroftfirsthandW019
  5. 1842exact year
    Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the Countries Adjoining the Mountain-Course of the Indus, and the Himalaya
    WGodfrey Thomas VignefirsthandW029