Recently, the Jammu and Kashmir authorities issued a public health advisory warning against the use of spring water in Ganderbal and parts of Srinagar, citing alarming levels of contamination. There was a time in Kashmir when the arrival of a guest was marked not by the serving of tea but by the offering of fresh spring water – drawn from a sacred, gurgling source, poured into a gleaming copper tumbler, and handed over with pride. It was not just water; it was the soul of the land itself – cold as morning dew, sweet as the first rain of spring, and pure as a mother’s lullaby.

For centuries, the springs of Kashmir were more than sources of drinking water; they were objects of devotion, whispered into poetry, woven into folklore, and enshrined in the very psyche of its people. Today, those same springs stand as fetid, dying pools – polluted by neglect, vandalized by greed, and poisoned by our own hands.

When Springs Were Worshipped

Across cultures and civilizations, spring water has always been revered. Islam speaks of Zamzam, the sacred well in Mecca, its water considered a divine gift. The Quran (Surah Al-Waqi’ah, 56:31-32) describes heaven as a land of “gushing springs,” and Islamic scholars have long maintained that fresh, flowing water is among the purest blessings of Allah. Sufi poets like Jalaluddin Rumi likened spiritual enlightenment to a spring – “Go be like a spring that never ceases to flow, and let your spirit be the cool drink for thirsty souls.”

In Kashmiri Pandit traditions, springs have been regarded as tirthas, or holy crossings, where mortals touch the divine. The Rig Veda calls pure water “amrita” – nectar of immortality. The ancient Nilamata Purana, which describes the geography and sacredness of Kashmir, speaks of its countless springs as divine wombs from which purity and life emerged. The great Lal Ded often spoke of water as the soul’s purifier,........

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