Baramulla district, with baramulla city as its administrative headquarters,  is one of the 22 districts in Jammu and Kashmir State in northern India. Being  the third largest city of Jammu & Kashmir state after Srinagar, Jammu, and Anantnag, the old town is connected by five bridges with the new town and five more bridges are in the pipeline. Kashmiri, Gujari, Hindi, and Punjabi are the major languages spoken.

The name Baramulla has been derived from two Sanskrit words- Varaha and Mula, meaning Boar's Molar. According to Hindu mythology, the valley of Kashmir was once a lake called "Satisaras," the lake of Parvati. The ancient Hindu texts state that the lake was occupied by a demon, Jalodbhava, until Lord Vishnu, took the form of a boar and struck the mountain at Baramulla boring an opening in it for the water to flow out. The town is located on the banks of river Jehlum at the highest point of the river. The river forms a delta in the outskirts of the town.

Baramulla History

Baramulla know as the 'Gateway of Kashmir Valley', being the oldest and the most important town in north of princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. It was located on Rawalpindi-Murree-Muzaffarabad-Baramulla Road until 26 October 1947. It was merged into the Union of India when the Maharaja signed the instrument of accession on that day. Maharaja Hari Singh wanted to remain independent whereas, the Working Committee of the National Conference under Sheikh Abdullah supported its accession to India in a meeting on 2 October 1947.

A large number of tribals from Pakistan attacked Kashmir Under the code name "Operation Gulmarg" a large number of tribals from Pakistan attacked Kashmir to seize it. The invading tribals started moving along Rawalpindi-Murree-Muzaffarabad-Baramulla Road on 22 October 1947. Pakistani army men were disguised in  plain clothes. They captured Muzaffarabad on 24 October 1947. They reached and captured Baramulla on 25 October. There they stayed for several days looting, raping, killing, burning, plundering and desecrating and vandalising shrines and temples and did not move on to Srinagar which was just 50km away. They did not capture its airfield which was not defended at all. They raped and killed European nuns at Baramulla's St. Joseph convent and Christian nurses at the missionary hospital. The loot, rape, murder and abduction of girls continued for several days. The worst sufferer of this attack was baramulla as the rest of Kashmir was saved by the airplanes carrying the Indian troops. They were airlifted from Delhi on the morning of 27 October. Till then the invaders were still in Baramulla.

In October 1947 tribal lashkars loaded in Lorries - undoubtedly with official logistic support - into Kashmir with a British Officer, Harvey-Kelly also taking part in the campaign. But they could not captre Sri Nagar due to their own greed as the Mahsuds in particular stopped to loot, rape and murder. Indian troops were flown in and the lashkars were pushed out of the Valley of Kashmir into the mountains. The Mahsuds returned home witout capturing Kashmir.  In the words of Gen Mohammad Akbar Khan "The uncouth raiders delayed in Baramulla for two days for some unknown reason." It took two weeks for the Indian army to evict the raiders, who had been joined by Pakistani regular troops and became well-established, from Baramulla.

Baramulla Tourism

Numerous lakes, torrential mountain streams and placid valleys, gigantic sun-tinted, snow capped mountain ranges glistening in pink and gold and rust, idyllic fun spots where the world is all too far away, and magical bubbling springs, magestic waterfalls, streams of trout are some of the major tourist attractions in Baramulla.

Tourist places in Baramulla
Gulmarg
Wular Lake
Manasbal Lake
Manimarg
Vijimarg
Mahalishamarg
Archaeological Monument at Parihaspora Pattan
Archaeological Monument in Pattan Bazar
Zeyarat Baba Reshi, Tangmarg
Zeyarat Baba Shakoor-ud-din, Watlab
Zeyarat Ahim Sharief, Bandipora
Zeyarat Tujjar Sharief, Sopore
Zeyarat Janbaz Wali, Baramulla
Imambara Goom, Ahmadpora
Zeyarat Dastigeer Sahib, Baramulla