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Chander M Bhat
Standing at the north-western portal of the Kashmir Valley, where the emerald waters of the Vitasta (Jhelum) carve through rugged mountains before opening into the fertile basin, lies Baramulla, ancient Varahamula. More than just a town, Baramulla has always been a threshold, a place of passage, encounter, and transformation. For millennia, it has welcomed pilgrims and traders, saints and scholars, emperors and invaders. Every civilization that entered Kashmir passed through Baramulla first, leaving behind traces of belief, culture, conflict, and renewal.
Baramulla’s history is not linear; it is layered, woven from myth and memory, archaeology and scripture, imperial chronicles and living tradition. From its mythic birth in the Nilamata Purana to its role as a strategic gateway during Mughal, Afghan, Sikh, Dogra, and colonial times, Baramulla has remained both sentinel and sanctum, guarding Kashmir’s entrance while radiating spiritual significance.
What follows is an exploration of Baramulla’s long journey across time, its sacred origins, its flourishing as a Buddhist and Hindu centre, its medieval transformation under Islamic influence, and its enduring role as Kashmir’s gateway into the modern world.
Kashmir’s sacred geography begins not with kings but with gods. According to the Nilamata Purana, the entire valley was once submerged under a vast primordial lake known as Sati-Sar. The land lay uninhabitable until divine intervention reshaped the cosmos.
It was here, at Varahamula, that Lord Vishnu, assuming the form of Varaha, the cosmic boar, struck the encircling mountain with his tusk. The blow opened a mighty cleft, allowing the waters of the lake to drain westward, giving birth to the Kashmir Valley itself. The place where Varaha’s tusk struck the mountain came to be known as Varahamula, literally “the Boar’s Root” or “Boar’s Molar.”
Thus, Baramulla is not merely ancient, it is cosmogonic. It marks the moment when chaos turned into cosmos, when water receded to reveal land, life, and civilization. The Nilamata Purana repeatedly refers to Varahamula as a tirtha, a sacred crossing point where divine energy remains eternally present. Later texts and traditions affirm that an ancient image of Varaha-Vishnu once stood here, worshipped by devotees as the liberator of Kashmir.
Local tradition further attributes the founding of Baramulla as a settlement to Raja Bhimsina around 2306 BCE, a date belonging more to sacred memory than verifiable chronology. Yet such traditions underscore an essential truth: Baramulla has always occupied a foundational place in Kashmiri consciousness, remembered as the site where the valley itself came into being.
By the early centuries of the Common Era, Baramulla had evolved from mythic ground into a thriving historical centre. Its location at the valley’s western entrance made it a natural node for trade, diplomacy, and spiritual exchange. When Kashmir became part of the Kushan Empire (1st-3rd centuries CE), Baramulla entered a golden phase of Buddhist patronage.
Just outside modern Baramulla lies Huskapura (Ushkur), founded by the Kushan emperor Huvishka in the 2nd century CE. Ushkur emerged as a prominent Buddhist monastic centre, adorned with stupas, viharas, and learning halls. Archaeological excavations have revealed massive stupa bases, sculptural fragments, and monastic ruins that testify to the town’s religious and intellectual vitality.
The importance of Baramulla during this period is vividly recorded by Kalhana in his Rajatarangini. When the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang visited Kashmir in the 7th century, he entered the valley through Baramulla, halting at Ushkur, which he described as a flourishing Buddhist establishment. This single detail is profound: Baramulla was the gate through which Buddhism itself entered Kashmir from Central Asia and Gandhara.
Yet Buddhism did not displace earlier traditions. Rather, it coexisted with them. Baramulla retained its Vaisnava sanctity, especially its association with Varaha-Vishnu. By the time of the Karkota dynasty (7th-9th centuries), especially under Lalitaditya Muktapida, the region flourished with temples, monasteries, and royal endowments. Kalhana records the presence of a revered Varaha image here, underscoring the town’s enduring Hindu significance.
Local tradition also speaks of Jayendra Vihara, a monastery said to have been established around the 5th century by King Pravarasena, indicating uninterrupted religious patronage across centuries.
Thus, in the ancient period, Baramulla stood as a triple centre, sacred to Hindus, scholarly for Buddhists, and indispensable to trade. Caravans carrying silk, saffron, shawls, and spices passed through its markets, linking Kashmir to Central Asia and the Indian plains. The Vitasta River functioned as both artery and lifeline, carrying goods, people, and ideas.
The medieval era ushered in profound transformations. With the decline of Hindu rule and the rise of the Shah Mir Sultanate in the 14th century, Islam gradually became the dominant faith in Kashmir. Baramulla, true to its nature, became not a site of erasure but of integration.
In 1421 CE, the Sufi saint Syed Janbaz Wali arrived in Baramulla. Choosing the town as the centre of his spiritual mission, he preached Islam through compassion, service, and devotion. Upon his death, his shrine, Ziyarat Janbaz Wali, became one of the most revered Muslim pilgrimage sites in Kashmir. To this day, his Urs draws devotees from across the valley.
Yet Hindu temples continued to exist, and Buddhist memories lingered in stone and soil. Later, Sikh presence added another layer. Guru Hargobind Ji, the sixth Sikh Guru, is believed to have visited Baramulla in 1620 CE, leading to the establishment of Gurudwara Chatti Padshahi.
By the late medieval period, Baramulla had become a microcosm of Kashmiriyat, where temples, mosques, shrines, and gurudwaras stood within walking distance of one another. Few towns in the subcontinent embodied such spiritual pluralism so organically.
Politically, Baramulla’s strategic importance never waned. In 1586, Mughal emperor Akbar entered Kashmir through Baramulla, marking the beginning of Mughal rule. Chroniclers describe the town being “decorated like a bride” to welcome the emperor. Later Mughal rulers, especially Jahangir, made Baramulla a favoured halt, embellishing the route with gardens and caravanserais.
But the gateway also attracted invasion. Mongol raiders in 1320, Afghan Durranis in the 18th century, and Sikh armies in 1819, all passed through Baramulla, leaving behind scars and stories of resilience.
The 19th century marked another transition. Following the Treaty of Amritsar (1846), Baramulla became part of the Dogra-ruled princely state under British suzerainty. Colonial administrators immediately recognized Baramulla’s strategic value.
The construction of the Jhelum Valley Cart Road in the 1890s transformed Baramulla into a bustling transit hub, linking Rawalpindi to Srinagar. Goods flowed through its warehouses; travelers rested in its dak bungalows; boats ferried cargo down the river.
European visitors, explorers, and missionaries arrived. In 1891, the St. Joseph’s Catholic Mission was established, including Kashmir’s first Catholic church, school, and hospital. The ringing of church bells joined temple chants and azan calls, adding yet another strand to Baramulla’s pluralistic identity. It was in the year 1897 and again in 1898 that Swami Vivekananda, the cyclonic monk of India arrived Kashmir through this route.
By the early 20th century, Baramulla stood firmly as the Gateway of Kashmir Valley, economically vibrant, culturally layered, and spiritually inclusive.
In October 1947, Baramulla’s ancient role as gateway took on tragic immediacy. Tribal raiders entered Kashmir through Baramulla, plunging the town into devastation and marking the beginning of a new and painful chapter in Kashmir’s history. The town suffered grievously before Indian forces secured the route following the Maharaja’s accession. That moment closed one era and opened another, but it did not erase Baramulla’s past.
Across five millennia, Baramulla has remained what it was at the dawn of time: a gate. A gate through which waters once flowed to create Kashmir; through which monks carried scriptures; through which emperors marched; through which cultures met and merged.
Varahamula is not merely a geographical entry, it is a civilizational threshold, where myth meets history, and faith meets landscape. To understand Baramulla is to understand Kashmir itself.
Even today, as one walks along the banks of the Vitasta or stands beneath the shadow of ancient hills, one can still hear echoes, the roar of Varaha, the chants of monks, the prayers of saints, the footsteps of travelers. Baramulla endures as Kashmir’s timeless sentinel, guarding not just a valley, but a legacy.
The town of Baramulla and its surrounding countryside are richly endowed with a constellation of ancient shrines and temples, many of which stand as quiet sentinels of Kashmir’s deep spiritual past. Scattered across fields, riverbanks, and wooded tracts, these sacred sites collectively reflect the Valley’s enduring Shaiva, Shakti, and Vaishnava traditions, woven seamlessly into the natural landscape.
Among the most revered is the Shailputri Shrine, associated with the primordial feminine energy and venerated by devotees seeking strength and protection. Nearby lies Gangnoor, a sacred spot remembered for its ritual purity and long-standing association with local religious observances.
Equally significant is Koti Tirth, traditionally linked with holy ablutions and pilgrimage, and Gosain Teng, a site resonant with ascetic traditions and spiritual austerity. Of exceptional archaeological and religious importance are the two massive Shiva Lingams at Kanil Bagh, remarkable both for their scale and for the reverence they continue to command, silent yet powerful symbols of Shaiva worship in the region.
The sacred geography extends further to Naranthal and Kanimeuuj, each preserving fragments of ancient ritual life, as well as Bhairava Bal, dedicated to the fierce yet protective aspect of Bhairava. Completing this sacred spectrum is the Narsimha Temple, bearing testimony to the Vaishnava presence and the worship of divine guardianship and justice.
Taken together, these shrines and temples form a sacred mosaic, revealing Baramulla not merely as a historical gateway to the Kashmir Valley, but as a profound spiritual landscape, one where mythology, ritual, and geography converge, and where the echoes of ancient devotion continue to sanctify the land.
(Author is a primary researcher on Kashmir. He has written extensively on sociology, culture, history, and temples of Kashmir. He has many books to his credit.)
