Shahr-i-Khaas
Shahr-i-Khaas — “the special city” — is what Srinagar calls its own old city: the dense, river-facing quarter on both banks of the Jhelum, laced together by nine historic bridges, the kadals, each of which gave its name to the mohalla around it.
It is the oldest continuously inhabited part of the modern city — older than Lal Chowk, older than the cantonment-era suburbs — and still the place most people mean when they say “downtown.” Its shrines, mosques, markets and timber-and-brick houses are where Srinagar's civic, religious and political life has played out for over six centuries.
Pick a mohalla for what it is
22 mohallas highlighted, from OpenStreetMap's real mapped localities — a hand-picked, commonly-used grouping, not an official boundary (Shahr-i-Khaas isn't itself an administrative unit) — treat it as provisional.
Why it matters
A handful of sourced moments from the old city's history — pulled from the same sourced records behind this site's historical content, each cited to the page it comes from.
1395
Khanqah-i-Mu‘alla built
Sultan Sikandar builds the Khanqah-i-Mu‘alla (the shrine of Shah Hamadan) on the river bank, on the site where Shah Hamadan had his place of retreat — the first of Sikandar’s buildings, dated 798 A.H. (1395).
- Sufi, Kashir, Vol. I, p. 89, 146
- Hasan, Kashmir Under the Sultans (1959), p. 64, 264, 269 — Hasan dates it 799 A.H. (1396–97), not 798: Sikandar built “a hospice known as Khanqah-i-Mu’alla” on the platform Sayyid ‘Ali Hamadani had raised in ‘Ala-ud-Dinpur, endowing it with three villages (p. 64). He describes the building, on the right bank of the Jhelum, as “a typical example of the wooden architecture of the Valley”, rebuilt in the Mughal period with its original features (pp. 264, 269).
1420–70
Zaina Kadal built
Hasan writes that Zain-ul-abidin, “like his brother ‘Ali Shah, constructed a bridge, and named it after himself as Zaina Kadal”.
- Hasan, Kashmir Under the Sultans (1959), p. 94, 99 — Hasan gives no year; the dates shown are Zain-ul-abidin's reign as Hasan gives it (1420–70). Source: the Nawadir-ul-Akhbar. Hasan does not say here where the bridge stood, but a footnote cites Pir Hasan Shah's Tarikh-i-Hasan for 'Zaina Kadal in Srinagar' (p. 94 n. 3), and he later writes that Haidar Shah, "like his father and uncle", built a bridge across the Jhelum in Srinagar (p. 99). He does not name ‘Ali Shah's bridge.
1420–70
Pilgrims' rest house in Rainawari extended
Hasan writes that in Rainawari (Srinagar) a large building from the time of the Hindu kings supplied free food to pilgrims from outside visiting the Valley's sacred places, and that Zain-ul-abidin “extended the endowment and constructed another building for the accommodation of pilgrims and travellers”.
- Hasan, Kashmir Under the Sultans (1959), p. 87 — Hasan gives no year; the dates shown are Zain-ul-abidin's reign as Hasan gives it (1420–70). He cites the Tuhfatu'l-Ahbab and the Futuhat-i-Kubraviya. The OCR has 'Rainwiifi (Sfinagar)'.
1480
Jama Masjid and Khanqah rebuilt after fire
Under Sultan Hasan Shah the Jami‘ Masjid and Shah Hamadan’s khanqah, both destroyed by fire, are rebuilt; a chronogram dates the mosque attached to the khanqah to 885 A.H. (1480).
- Sufi, Kashir, Vol. I, p. 186
- Sufi, Kashir, Vol. I, p. 258 — Sufi also says the Jami‘ Masjid was partly burnt twice before Jahangir’s reign and rebuilt by Hasan Shah and later by Ibrahim Magre.
- Hasan, Kashmir Under the Sultans (1959), p. 106 — Hasan dates the fire that destroyed the Khanqah-i-Mu’alla and the Jami’ Masjid, “which had been erected by Sikandar”, to 1479, and gives no year for Hasan Shah’s rebuilding.
1503–05
Nurbakhshiya khanqah built at Jadibal
Hasan, citing the Tuhfatu'l-Ahbab, writes that Musa Raina gave Shams-ud-Din "land at Jaddi Bal to build a khanqah"; "The foundation of the hospice was laid in 1503-04, and it was built the next year." Sayyid Muhammad Baihaqi, Muhammad Shah's prime minister, had opposed the Khanqah-i-Nurbakhshiya on the ‘Ulama's advice and allowed it only because of Musa Raina's influence. His persecution drove Shams-ud-Din to Baltistan until Sayyid Muhammad's defeat and death in 1505, after which he "returned to Srinagar" at Musa Raina's invitation.
- Hasan, Kashmir Under the Sultans (1959), p. 286–287 — Hasan writes 'Jaddi Bal' and does not say it is in Srinagar; it is taken here to be the Jadibal quarter of the city. He cites the Tuhfatu'l-Ahbab throughout. The return to Srinagar is dated only as after 1505.
1579
Abdal Chak killed at Nowhatta
Hasan writes that after ‘Ali Shah’s death his brother Abdal Chak contested the throne. When Yusuf Shah sent an army against him, Abdal “moved out to Nauhata”, where he was killed by Sayyid Mubarak after a heavy engagement. The next day Yusuf proclaimed himself Sultan.
- Hasan, Kashmir Under the Sultans (1959), p. 63, 161–163 — The year is inferred: ‘Ali Shah died early in 1579 (p. 161), and Hasan dates Yusuf Shah's first reign 1578–79. He places Nauhatta at the foot of the Koh-i-Maran, "a part of Srinagar" (p. 63 n. 7). He follows Haidar Malik and the A'in-i-Akbari that Sayyid Mubarak killed Abdal; the Akbar-nama says a bullet killed him, and the Baharistan-i-Shahi credits other Sayyids, which Hasan puts down to its being "inclined to exaggerate the exploits of the Baihaqi Sayyids".
Culture
General overview, not sourced to the books above
The old city's skyline is still its shrines and khanqahs — Sufi hospices built around the tombs or retreats of the saints who carried Islam into the valley. The Khanqah-i-Mu‘alla, on the Jhelum's right bank, and the Jama Masjid at Nowhatta, with its forest of deodar pillars, are the two most prominent; smaller khanqahs and ziyarats sit in almost every mohalla, and Friday and the saints’ urs (death-anniversary) days still draw the old city's biggest crowds.
The houses themselves are part of the culture: load-bearing brick piers infilled with timber-framed panels (locally taq and dhajji dewari construction — a deliberate earthquake-resilience technique, not a decorative choice), tall narrow fronts facing the river or a lane, carved wooden balconies, and the occasional surviving pinjrakari latticed window. Much of it is centuries old and increasingly fragile; the old city is also where fires and the Jhelum's own floods have repeatedly done the most damage to Srinagar's built heritage.
It's also a craft quarter: papier-mâché, walnut-wood carving, copperware (traam), and Kashmir's embroidery and Pashmina workshops have historically clustered in and around these lanes, many still run as small family workshops rather than factories.
Food
General overview, not sourced to the books above
Downtown is where Kashmiri food culture is at its most everyday. Mornings start at the kandur's (baker's) shopfront for fresh girda, czot, bakarkhani and sesame-topped tsochvoru, usually with salted noon chai (pink tea) rather than the sweeter kahwa saved for guests and gatherings. Winter mornings add harissa, a slow-cooked pounded mutton dish sold only in the cold months, with a few old-city shops known for little else.
It's also where the wazwan tradition — the multi-course feast cooked by professional wazas for weddings and large gatherings, built around dishes like rista, gushtaba and tabak maaz, served on a shared trami platter — is most deeply rooted, even though it's now cooked across the city. The old city's bazaars (Khoja Bazar, Guru Bazar and the lanes around them) remain where much of this everyday cooking and trade in spices, meat and produce still happens.
This is one neighborhood. For issues, zones and reports across the whole city, see the full map →