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Lamps on the Vitasta: Akbar, Kashmir and a Shared Heritage of Light

Picture an evening in the last days of October. The chinars of Srinagar have turned crimson and gold, there is a faint chill in the air, and the Vitasta, the river the world knows as the Jhelum, moves slowly through the city. Then, one by one, clay lamps begin to glow along both banks, on the arches of the bridges and on the rooftops. Their reflections tremble in the water, as though the river itself had put on light. Through this glow a decorated royal barge glides forward, carrying the Emperor of Hindustan, Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar.

This scene belongs to Akbar’s visit to Kashmir in 1592, usually counted as his second journey to the Valley. It is more than a story of royal spectacle. It is a way into a larger question: how power, culture and faith met, and shaped one another, on Kashmir’s soil.

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The Political Backdrop: A Conquered but Uneasy Valley

Mughal rule in Kashmir began in 1586, when the Chak dynasty, first under Yusuf Khan and then Yaqub Khan, lost its hold on the Valley. A sultanate tradition that had lasted for centuries had come to an end, and with it the political and cultural autonomy Kashmiris regarded as part of their identity. Revolts were put down and a new administration was set up. But marching into a conquered land and winning the hearts of its people are two different things.

Akbar understood the difference. He first visited Kashmir in 1589 and returned in 1592. The accounts of Abu’l-Fazl’s Akbarnama and of later historians suggest that these journeys were not only seasonal retreats or an admiration of nature. They included administrative inspection, revenue arrangements and efforts to build ties with the local elite. It is against this background that the night of Kartik amavasya in 1592 should be read.

In the Indian calendar, the new-moon night of the month of Kartik is the night of Diwali. For the Mughal court it was not an unfamiliar festival. According to court chroniclers, Akbar took an interest in Hindu festivals and had them observed at court with respect. The Ain-i-Akbari records the practice of raising an akash diya, a sky lamp, in the month of Kartik on a tall pole at the royal encampment. This symbolic use of light was part of royal splendour.

In Srinagar, this tradition appeared in a new form on the riverbank. A city whose life is built along both sides of a river, with its ghats, bridges and waterways woven into everyday routine, could find no more natural stage for a festival of lights than the river itself. Traditional accounts describe lamps lit along the banks, on the bridges and on boats, local residents illuminating their homes and windows,........

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