Maharaj Gunj: Srinagar’s century-old spice market offers tradition with trade
Srinagar, Feb 22: Situated away from the bustle of the city, Maharaj Gunj market remains one of Srinagar’s most enduring commercial spaces.
It’s a market where trade is beyond price tags, barcodes and delivery apps. Traders say that long before supermarkets and online grocery platforms entered Kashmir’s urban vocabulary, this tightly knit cluster of shops functioned as the Valley’s primary wholesale hub for food grains, spices, edible oils and daily essentials.
Developed in the late 19th century during the Dogra rule, Maharaj Gunj emerged as a regulated grain and commodity market where produce from rural Kashmir was channelled into the city. Decades later, despite sweeping economic and social change, its narrow lanes and age-old trading practices continue to define Srinagar’s traditional food economy.
Today, the market stands at a crossroads. Shopping malls, departmental stores, and instant-delivery apps promise convenience and speed. Yet, in Maharaj Gunj, trust slowly earned and carefully preserved remains the strongest currency.
Among the many old establishments lining the market is Sheikh Brothers, a modest grocery and spice shop that has been operating for well over a century. Run by Sheikh Ghulam Qadir, now in his late sixties, the shop reflects a business philosophy shaped long before packaged foods became the norm.
“Our elders taught us that once trust is broken, business is finished. People still come here because they know what they are buying, ” Qadir says, seated behind a counter lined with tin boxes and open sacks of spices.
Sheikh Brothers deals in whole spices, tea, edible oils and essential groceries much of it unpackaged and visible.
“One practice sets the shop apart even today, which is how families purchase large quantities for weddings and ceremonies and are allowed to return unused items without hesitation. This is not generosity. This is how business has always been done here,” said Qadir
A short distance away, another over a century-old establishment GJB Spices, popularly known as Gana Wani, tells a similar story. Owned by Naseer Ahmad Wani, the shop has long been associated with pure spices crucial to Kashmir’s famed Wazwan cuisine.
“For Wazwan, there is no compromise,” Wani says. “If the spice is not pure, the dish loses its soul.”
Local wazas continue to rely on the shop for whole spices, which are ground in controlled conditions, including at a dedicated facility in Harwan. He said buyers travel from across north and south Kashmir, guided less by advertising and more by word-of-mouth reputation built over decades.
“In today’s time, everything is sealed and packed, but people don’t always know what is inside,” Wani says. “Here, everything is open. There is transparency.”
Locals say that the resilience of these shops reflects the larger significance of Maharaj Gunj itself.
“Beyond commerce, the market represents a living archive of Srinagar’s mercantile heritage. One where relationships between buyer and seller often span generations,” said Nazir Ahmad, a shopper at the market.
As Srinagar expands and consumer habits evolve, Maharaj Gunj quietly asserts that speed and scale are not the only measures of progress. In a city racing toward the future, Maharaj Gunj reminds Srinagar of where its food, its trade, and its faith in honesty first came from.
By: Mohsin Hassan Bhat
