Today it is a piece of green. You can't see any water. We only see willow trees". Bound by hills in the north-east and north-west and the floodplains of the Jhelum river in south-east and south-west, the Wular constitutes of a large freshwater lake along with associated marshes. The deepest water body in the region, the Wular is drained by the Jhelum river which flows through the Kashmir Valley to join the Indus river downstream. The Ninghal, the Pohru, the Madhumati, the Arin and other small rivulets and streams drain into the lake.
The Wular lake was known as Mahapadamsar in ancient times and in Nilamata Purana it has been referred to as ‘Mahapadmasaras'. The Mughal historian Al-Biruni (960-1031 AD) has called the Wular as ‘Bolor'. Some experts are of the view that word ‘Bolor' might be corrupted form of Sanskrit word ‘Ullola', the name by which the lake was also known. ‘Ullola' literally mean big rapid waves which, sometimes stormy, are generated in the huge water body in the afternoons, thus giving it the name. It is said that further down the memory lane ‘Bolor' might have got corrupted to ‘Wulor' and finally to ‘Wular'. Some others attribute its origin to Kashmiri word ‘Wul', meaning a gap or a fissure, which they say could be a pointer to its origin to a fissure or gap created by some natural phenomena.
Several local folktales and folklores are associated with the lake that has played an important role in the social and economic life of Kashmir from times immemorial. It appears that silting might have been a perpetual problem and history speaks of incidents where engineers in ancient Kashmir devised innovative ways to clear the lake. One of them was an ingenious Brahmin Suya who in a novel way got locals involved in clearing silt from the lake. Sopore town in northern Kashmir was set up after his name. Similarly, in an innovative way an artificial island Zainalank was created in the lake by Kashmir's illustrious king Zainul Abidin, locally known as Badshah - the great king. The island was devised as a refuge for the boatmen during raging storms. The island floating on huge deodhar wood logs has never been inundated by floods. The island is also a great tourist attraction now.
As a large wetland, Wular constitutes an important ecosystem in the valley and supports a lot of bio diversity. Besides being a rich repository of Macrophytic vegetation, the lake plays an important role in the local economy. It is an important fish habitat. The livelihood of thousands of fishermen and others depends upon the lake as it contributes sixty per cent to the total fish catch in the valley. Local villagers also harvest a type of grass from the lake as a raw material for use in the mat-making cottage industry besides procuring waterlily-like plants for animal fodder. They also harvest major part of the valley's water-nut produce, locally known as ‘Gaare' (Singaras) from the lake. Read the full report here.
Source: by M.L. Dhar Washington Bangla Radio/PIB India, New Delhi.
