Gulmarg

Gulmarg (gʊlmərɡ), known as Gulmarag (ɡulmarɨɡ; meadow of flowers) in Kashmiri, is a town, hill station, popular tourist destination, popular skiing destination and a notified area committee in the Baramulla district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is located at a distance of from Baramulla and from Srinagar. The town is situated in the Pir Panjal Range in the Western Himalayas and lies within the boundaries of Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary. Kashmir has many summer retreats suffixed with the word -marg: Sonamarg, Tangmarg, Gulmarg, Khilanmarg, Youmarg, and Nagmarg. Gulmarg is one of the Margs that has historical importance for Kashmiris. Gulmarg is a compound word or portmanteau of two Persian words Gul and Marg. Gul means flowers and Marg means meadow. So, Gulmarg is a meadow of flowers. The credit for discovering the charms of Gulmarg first time in history has been given to Yousuf Shah Chak, the last Chak ruler who reigned from 1579 to 1586 AD. Yousuf Shah Chak, who ruled Kashmir from 1579 to 1586, frequented the place with his queen Habba Khatoon and renamed it 'Gulmarg' ("meadow of flowers"). Wild flowers of 21 different varieties were collected by the Mughal emperor Jahangir for his gardens in Gulmarg. In the 19th century, British civil servants started using Gulmarg as a retreat to escape summers in the Indo-Gangetic plains. Hunting and golfing were their favorite pastime and three golf courses were established in Gulmarg including one exclusively for women. One of the golf courses survives and at an altitude of is the world's highest golf course. In 1927, British established a ski club in Gulmarg and two annual ski events were hosted one each during Christmas and Easter. Central Asian explorer Aurel Stein also visited Gulmarg during this period. After the end of British rule in India, Gulmarg became a part of the independent princely state of Kashmir and Jammu. Pakistan planned an invasion of the state called Operation Gulmarg.