Fiery Chinars to light up cold desert landscape

The gorgeous Chinar trees that dot Kashmir valley’s landscape and are a major attraction of the famed Mughal gardens would soon be seen in the cold desert region of Ladakh.

Department of Floriculture would plant the famed royal tree – Chinar in Ladakh, an extremely cold and dry desert with rocky and uneven terrain where the harsh climate and low temperatures limit the number and type of vegetation.

Talking to us, Director Floriculture Talat Parvez said, “We will plant around five saplings each at five to six locations adjoining water bodies in Ladakh.”

In Kashmir, saplings are usually planted in March and most official plantation drives are held on March 21, the Persian new year.

The Director Floriculture said if the saplings survive, then in the subsequent years, government would start plantation of Chinars on a large scale.

Four years ago, Ladakh had witnessed a massive plantation drive when 9814 volunteers had planted 99,103 saplings of Ladakhi willow within an hour, setting a Guinness Book of World Records while bettering the previous record of planting 66,000 trees set in Philippines.

Now the Floriculture department is preparing for a plantation drive saplings albeit a smaller one but they would be planting Chinar saplings instead of the Ladakhi willow.

“Chinar is a hardy tree and if it has survived in the minus temperatures in Kashmir then we hope it will survive in the cold of Kargil and Leh too,” Parvez said.

Ladakh with its rugged Himalayan terrain, thin air, sparse vegetation and hardly enough water is usually barren but there are certain narrow valleys, which are quite fertile where certain plants and agricultural crops grow.

Apart from this, greenish patches of vegetation are seen round the riverbanks and along the snow line, certain varieties of willow groves, wild roses and herbs grow.

Taking note of this, initially, the Floriculture department would plant Chinars at Khardung La and Suru Valley.

“Like Kashmir, willow and popular trees grow in Ladakh and if these trees can grow there, then there is every possibility that Chinars will too,” Parvez said. “As Chinars in Char Chinar (a garden inside the waters of Dal Lake in the lap of Zabarwan Hills) have survived inside the Dal Lake, parts of which freeze during winters, I don’t see any reason why they won’t grow in Ladakh.”

According to the Floriculture department, when Chinars were counted the last time in 2009, Kashmir valley had around 27,000 Chinar trees of which 5000 were in Srinagar.

Of these Chinar trees, the oldest one, dating back to 1735, is inside Padshahi Bagh at Bijbehara in south Kashmir.

Chinars are intricately interconnected to the lives of people in Kashmir.

Senior Kashmiri journalist, Khursheed Wani writes in The Pioneer: “I grew up under the shade of majestic and gigantic Chinar trees. I faced my first cricket ball in front of its stump. I learnt my first lesson under its cool breeze and understood my village’s unity in diversity under its canopy. Eighteen Chinars, witness to every movement in my small beloved village of Deever, Tral, in south Kashmir, stand tall at every significant place. A Hindu temple, two mosque-shrine-enclaves, two gurdwaras and two schools all spread their collective wisdom through their branches. I still miss the luxury of swinging on ropes tied to strong Chinar branches on Baisakhi, marking the advent of the breezy and green spring.”

The majestic Kashmiri Chinar (Plantus orientalis kashmiriana), locally called ‘Bouin’, is the symbol of Kashmir and signifies the heritage and grandeur of Kashmiri civilization.

The introduction of Chinar trees in Kashmir has different theories, versions, and claims.

Some say the tree was introduced in Kashmir during Ashoka’s reign while others argue that Mughals brought the tree to the Valley.

Some affirm that Chinars are Kashmir’s own as Kashmiri saints who lived prior to Mughals have used it in their poetry.

However, most Kashmiri historians have pointed out that Chinars were brought from Central Asia by the Mughal kings and some even say that the Mughal emperor Jehangir used to nourish the 1200 Chinar trees planted in the Naseem Bagh, the present-day Kashmir University campus, with milk.

These days Chinars can also be seen in Jammu, the winter capital of the state.

After the Kashmiri Pandits fled the Valley in early 1990s, the community members planted a Chinar at Ranbir temple near the civil secretariat in Jammu.

Chinars with more deeply lobed (hand shaped) leaves are conspicuous in every season.

In the mid-summer, the green leaves first turn slightly red, then crimson red, before they finally turn brown and fall on the ground.

During the autumn, treading over Chinar leaves scattered on the ground is a unique experience as it produces musical cracking sound.

The tree attains a height of 25 metres, girth exceeding 50 feet, and a life span of about 700 years.

If Chinars survive in Ladakh, expect the cold desert to turn fiery.

After all, according to the famous Urdu poet Muhammad Iqbal, “Jis Khaak Ki Zameer Main Ho Aatish-e-Chinar; Mumkin Nahin Ki Sard Ho Woh Khaak-e-Arjumand (The earth that enshrines in its bosom the fire of Chinar tree; this exalted earth can never be dead and cold).”