Achabal garden, Kashmir

Achabal is a garden set into the mountains of Kashmir on the old direct route from the south via Jammu, about 50 km south of Srinagar, at a sacred spring famed for the sweetness of its water and a place of pilgrimage for centuries. It is attributed to Nur Jahan, Jahangir's wife, and so was first called Begumabad. ^{1 2}

Smaller than Shalimar and Nishat, it combines, for Brookes, the rushing water of Nishat with the serenity of Shalimar. It builds up from bottom to top like a palace and ends in a great waterfall that seems to pour from the mountain but is gathered from the spring. Its plan is strong and simple, perhaps unique in having two side channels running parallel to the main one down the terraces. Kashmiri buildings have replaced the original Mughal ones. ^{1 2}