A Forgotten Mughal Marvel

Shopian, Aug 24: On the banks of River Panchal, some 30 km from south Kashmir's Shopian town along the historic Mughal Road stands Aliabad Sarai, a rectangular mud, brick and stone structure.

A crisscross path down a steep mountain ridge leads to the Saria below.

Visitors and trekkers can be seen cautiously descending the mountain to reach the Sarai, which lies in a run-down state.

"I have not seen such an old structure standing among awe-inspiring mountains,” said a visitor from Uttar Pradesh.

The Sarai or halting station was constructed by the Mughal Emperor Akbar and was later restored by Emperor Jahangir through his Governor Ali Mardan Khan.

According to a signboard erected near the Sarai, the halting station was among the 14 such structures from Delhi and Lahore enroute to Srinagar.

“The Sarai has been declared as a centrally-protected monument of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and governed under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act of 1958,” reads the signboard.

However, the Sarai is in a poor shape.

The withered walls of the gateway, guard rooms, and other interconnected rooms made of stone and granite are now at risk of collapse.

An overgrown vegetation has enveloped the entire structure, laying bare the neglect and official apathy.

“Hundreds of local and outstation tourists visit the Sarai every year, but, unfortunately, the authorities have failed to preserve this historic monument,” said Muhammad Imran of Poonch district's Mendhar area.

Some concerned citizens from Shopian said that the monument not only needed to be preserved but also required the construction of a pathway for easy approach.

“The mountain is very steep and people who visit the Sarai have to be enough careful while descending. A mere slip can prove fatal due to treacherous terrain,” they said.

In 2021, the Department of Culture rolled out a ‘Scheme for Revival, Restoration, Preservation and Maintenance of Architecture and Heritage in Jammu and Kashmir’.

The main motive of the scheme included identifying the sacred places and heritage sites requiring intervention and carrying out revival, restoration, and renovation work.

A total of 35 projects –17 in Kashmir and 18 in Jammu - including temples, shrines, gurudwaras, forts, churches, and sculptures were approved under the scheme.

An official from district administration said that the monument had been identified under the scheme and the preservation and renovation work would be taken up soon.