Achabal Bagh Mughal Gardens, Acchabal, Jammu & Kashmir India

Achabal is a town and a notified area committee in Anantnag district in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir. Perhaps the most beautiful of springs is Achabal, which gushes out of the Sosanwar hill, and was once enlisted by the emperor Jehangir in the service of beauty and pleasure. It is said that the Breng river which disappears at Dewalgam in the fissures of the limestone is the real source of the Achabal spring.

Achabal is an important tourist place about 8 kilometres away from Anantnag. The place is fmous and attractivedue to an ancient spring surrounded by a garden terraced and developed by the Mughals. The place has got some historical background also. The upper portion of the garden is called 'Bag-e-Begum Abad' developed by Malika Noor Jehan Begum in 1620 AD and renowned as Sahib Abad in which there was a Hamam (treasure of water) getting heat from a logical lamp (Tosng).

Cascades and fountains erected by Mughal Emperors enhance the beauty of the spot. A mosque standing in the garden believed to have been constructed by Mughal Prince Dara Shikwah. Achabal was once the pleasure retreat of Empress Noor Jehan. A trout hatchery is also located nearby. Achabal is the site of a famous Mughal garden called Achabal Gardens.

As in the case of nearly all these Kashmir gardens, the lowest terrace is destroyed by the highway, and Achibal Bagh is much smaller than it was in Mughal days. But nothing can spoil the natural loveliness of this river, gushing out of the honeycombed limestone cliff, just at the point where the mountains intrude farthest on the plains. It is an ideal site. If I were asked where the most perfect modern garden on a medium scale could be devised, I should answer without hesitation, Achibal. Nowhere else have I seen such possibilities for the combined appeal of a stately stone-bordered pleasance between ordered avenues of full-grown trees, and a natural rock and woodland upper garden with haunting, far-reaching views, where the white wild roses foam over the firs and the boulders, rivalling the 'sheet of water' Bernier praised.