The interest however was triggered about the stories that I have heard about families in old times travelling to Tulamulla in doonga via the river route, taking days, sometimes braving waves. Close to the end of 19th century, Kashmir was opening up to outsiders again. And the outsiders, mostly European, were pouring into the valley. And they needed a place to stay for their long holidays, buying a piece of land and building a house was out of question, Maharaja Ranbir Singh would have none of it.
No outsider could buy land in Kashmir, no outsider still can. A couple of years later, even Vivekananda had to return empty handed when he came looking for a place to set up his ashram. Around year , Rev. John Smith Doxey against much odds opened a missionary school in Kashmir. Pandit Nariandas, a Kashmiri Pandit trader became one of the first few Kashmiris to have taken up English language at this school. One of the other students of what was to become the nucleus of future great institution of Christen Missionary School in Kashmir was year old Pandit Anand Koul, a cousin of Nariandas.
Hinton Knowles. Knowles in around went on famously to document the folk literature of Kashmir, a task in which he was assisted by young Pandit Anand Koul. Pandit Anand Koul obviously was too bright, acknowledging and honoring this fact, in around Knowles made Anand Koul Headmaster of the school: a first for a Kashmiri. In year , some night of September or October, Anand held dinner in honor of Swami Vivekananda who was visiting Kashmir at the time hoping to find a suitable place for his ashram.
So, we can assume that the houseboats were already popular by then. The credit for it goes to the other less famous student of Rev. Doxey, Pandit Naraindas.
That the credit should go to a Pandit is all the more strange because Pandits traditionally never were boat builders or even boat owners. The story goes that in around , just when his cousin Pandit Anand was helping Knowles write a book, Pandit Naraindas had a shop that used to cater to the needs of the foreigners.
Business must have been good and man must have been happy. But tragedy stuck when this shop got gutted in fire, a phenomena common at the time given the old world wooden structure of the city buildings. Not giving up, and coming up with a desperate idea, Naraindas moved his remaining goods to a doonga , a small boat used by hanji s for residential purposes, and moored it at a suitable site.
And just like that shop was open again, this time doing even better than before. Soon he began to improve his shop by replacing its matted walls and roof with planks and shingles. Follow these simple instructions to enable JavaScript in your web browser. When I first told the team here at Houseboat magazine that I wanted to write this story, I was met with a little skepticism because they felt like it would be hard to track down photos to support such a piece.
And then I had to eat my words. Finding photos proved to be more challenging than I originally thought. I wanted to move forward anyway. I think there is still a lot of fun information when we look back at the history of houseboating. For the purpose of this story, we are going to start with this history of modern houseboating. Obviously boats with sleeping enclosures have existed for centuries, but we are going to concentrate on what we like best—lake-style houseboats.
There are people and companies engrained in the industry that have made so many amazing contributions that it would be hard to name them all. But we have to start somewhere, so here we go.
He and his Somerset , Ky. In , Sharpe started Somerset Marine and built his first houseboat, which was a by foot steel bottom with scow bow, which he sold to a man in Beattyville , Ky. I could keep going, but you get the idea.
Back in the beginning, even making the boat just a foot wider required years of planning. When Sharpe sold his shares in Sumerset Houseboats in , the average boat was 16 by 75 feet. Sharpe saw the industry grow from infancy to what it is today and a lot of that progress was in no small part due to his vision. Another change that he pointed out was the first houseboat had no heating or cooling systems. When the industry started incorporating a heat pump, they expanded the houseboating season into a year-round activity.
The first Stardust boat was built in Chattanooga , Tenn. It was a steel hull and this is pretty much the only information that still exists on these boats. The Stardust company in existence today bought the company name only in and moved operations to Monticello , Ky. It was a by foot houseboat and was equipped with two hp MerCruiser engines. Pluckebaum Custom Boats can trace its heritage all the way back to when founder Arthur Pluckebaum and his brother built a foot runabout.
Shortly after, Arthur was humbly asked to serve his country during World War II because of his unique ability to weld aluminum with an acetylene torch, which was a rare and valuable skill for the United States Military. He became known as Naav Narain in the local community, and his first houseboat was named Kashmir Princess.
Find out more about our kashmir packages. However, Sir Francis Younghusband, a famous British explorer, is known to have credited the idea of a floating house. The first one MT Kennard was created between the years and According to some, the Kashmiri lakes once had hundreds of houseboats floating in Kashmir by However, how this led to our modern beauty bobbing on the Dal New Soul Kiss remains a source of lively interest.
History aside, as per the old folks who have lived here for generations, claims something a different origin story of these houseboats. According to them, the presence of these houseboats in Kashmir valley lakes is mentioned in ancient Kashmiri literature dating back to the 13th century. And it was for personal use rather than tourism to kashmir lakes. Today, these houseboats are a major tourist attraction in every kashmir tour! These houseboats preserve the cultural heritage of Kashmiris.
As previously stated, these boats were a part of Kashmiri culture, and the art of making them was passed down through generations. It is still the case. It has become very popular among art enthusiasts and others. These carved Wooden Boats showcase the exquisite art of wood carvings representing Kashmiri life and culture, as well as the fine craftsmanship of Kashmiri artisans.
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