In my parents' house, on a long table in the living room, they have a few model shikaras, wooden river boats found on Dal Lake in Srinagar.
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Shikaras provide a water taxi service available to see the sights in the Dal and to approach the houseboats moored on the lake periphery.
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According to the plan developed by the tourism department, the lake shares the scope of sports activities like rowing, motor boating, paddle boating, sailing, canoeing, angling and kayaking. House boats and shikaras are also available. The government attempts to provide all these facilities to the tourists.
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Adjacent to the park is the Nalban Boating Complex, offering boat tours in paddle boats, hovercraft or shikaras. Well maintained groves surround the four hundred acre lake. Salt Lake Stadium is also nearby. Opposite to the Salt Lake Stadium is the Subhash Sarovar, one of the two man made lakes of Kolkata.
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Their towers are same as the stepped squares found in Hindu pyramidal-style shikaras in Aihole. This collection has a polished basalt image of Parshvanatha, with a five-headed snake hood. He sits on a platform with lions carved in its niches. Another image from this Jain temples cluster is now at the ASI museum in Aihole.
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The shikara is a type of wooden boat found on Dal Lake and other water bodies of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, India. shikaras are of various sizes and are used for multiple purposes, including transportation. A usual shikara seats six people, with the driver paddling at the rear. Like the Venetian gondolas, they are a cultural symbol of Kashmir.
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The lake is a major tourist attraction in Srinagar, known for its relatively pristine waters as compared to the Dal lake. Houseboats and shikaras are a usual sight. Its also ideal for swimming, being deeper and less crowded than the Dal lake. The nigeen lake has a very serene and fully equipped nigeen club which has restaurant fitness centre and private yachts.
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E.F.I in association with a local group called Arastha in Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir is involved in a multi- phase community based conservation of the Dal Lake. The two year long effort is voluntary with involvement from local citizens, shikaras, houseboat owners and the students in Srinagar. The efforts are aimed at cleaning the Dal Lake and maintaining it as an ecologically sensitive habitat.
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As the tower rises, interim shikaras are capped with kalashas (pots common in Hindu ceremonies). All three towers are of same height. Their plan uses lotus with an oblong projection, four sets of ornamental turrets, rhythmically reducing in height and are capped by a stone kalasa. The carvings on the tower include dancers, gandharvas, yakshas, kirtimukhas, lion faces and mythical animals such as makaras.
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Shots in Kashmir included several places such as the Lalit Hotel in Srinagar, on shikaras in the middle of a lake, on the backwaters of the Dal, in a desolate Hindu house, near Hazratbal and many more. Some scenes were reported to be shot in Wandhama near Ganderbal, where one of the biggest massacre in the Valley, 23 Kashmiri Hindus — four children, nine women and ten men were massacred in 1998.
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Seating arrangements are organized in the central segment of the boat by positioning cushions and related upholstery over the built-in storage space underneath. A canopy is supported on four pillars. The centre and the ends are equipped with iron anchor rings and wooden pegs, which are used to fasten the shikara on the banks of the lake. The shikaras are eventually painted in bright colors and may further be polished, engraved and embellished.
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Pandit pp. 66–93 The shore line of the lake, about , is encompassed by a boulevard lined with Mughal era gardens, parks, houseboats and hotels. Scenic views of the lake can be witnessed from the shore line Mughal gardens, such as Shalimar Bagh and Nishat Bagh built during the reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir and from houseboats cruising along the lake in the colourful shikaras. During the winter season, the temperature sometimes reaches , freezing the lake.
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The area was damaged quite heavily by the 2014 Kashmir floods. At about 4:18 am on 7 September water started to enter the ground floors of the houses located in this locality & by 3 pm the water level had reached about 25 feet high above ground level on the streets. Some houses were fully submerged in water, others were partially submerged, people were rescued from their houses by locals in shikaras & rafting boats. The water finally vanished in Jawahar Nagar after 25 days.
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Its pyramidical shape 'shikaras' rising on the roofs of the facade (entrance hall) and the 'Sabhamandap' (the main hall), its roman-arched windows, some of which have the stained-glass window panes of deep red, yellow, blue, green colours, its chandeliers, its gate posts, balustraded flat dome, the maroon-peach-white colour paint of the temple gives the temple a serene beautiful look. The highlight of the temple is its golden palanquin (palkhi) in which the deity is carried on festive occasions(only 5 Mahapanchmi).
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It is the cultural symbol of Kashmir and is used not only for ferrying visitors but is also used for the vending of fruits, vegetables and flowers and for the fishing and harvesting of aquatic vegetation. All gardens in the lake periphery and houseboats anchored in the lake are approachable through shikaras. The boats are often navigated by two boatmen dressed in "Phiron" (traditional dress) and carry 'Kangris' or portable heaters on the boat. A shikara can seat about six people and have heavily cushioned seats and backrests to provide comfort in Mughul style.
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The towers (shikaras) on these are pyramidal granite structures consisting of eleven stacked, shrinking squares and a top in the Deccan-style square kalasha finial. Both sets are Shiva temples with triple linga; early sources misidentified these as Jain temples because of their simple exterior and interior walls. One of these groups has a historically important inscription that records that Kampila built the monument in the early 14th century. This inscription links Hampi with the Kampili kingdom and suggests an association of the Kampili history with that of Vijayanagara Empire that followed it.
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The octagonal shape of the shikaras of the two temples dedicated to Shiva are in the Dravidian architectural style. Beneath the towers, the sanctuary walls are mostly blank without any decorations but the columns are carved over lion mounted bases. The decorations on the outer faces of these shrines are similar to those seen on the Pancha Rathas, though due to their closeness to the sea, are partially eroded due to salty winds. The most distinctive feature of the temple are the Dharalinga and the Somaskanda panel, which are enshrined in the interior walls of the sanctum of the east facing Kshatriyasimhesvara temple.
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Lubotsky acknowledges that this aspect of the Sarvatobhadra design cannot be fully established by existing evidence. However, the supporting features of copings and amalakas (a bulbous stone finial) have been found in the ruins, which supports the theory that more shikaras existed on eight mandapas, as part of the temple. Four stairways outside the platform provide access to the temple. However, as per excavation details, combined with the two small shrines with the central shrine seen now, the layout of the temple has been interpreted to represent a typical Panchayatana style of the temples of North India.
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Once a popular tourist destination as tourists on shikaras and houseboats used to travel here from Dal Lake, over the years it has deteriorated owing to pollution, large scale encroachment, and illegal constructions in its surroundings. In the 1990s, when the Nallah Mar was covered to build the Mearplan highway around western side of Dal, six-foot pipes were laid under the new road, to allow Dal to continue to drain into the Anchar lake system, however the pipes soon clogged due to waste and debris. Like the Dal lake and Wular Lake, it is home to the Hanji community which live near the lake in an area called as Anchar among the locals.
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