AHARBAL WATERFALL TRAGEDY : 20TH JULY, 1969

                                           

THE  VESHAW STILL REMEMBERS : AHARBAL 20 JULY,1969

"History,

will you mention us In your faded scroll ?

We do not seek rewards,

Nor do we want our pictures In the calendar of years.

But tell our story simply

To those we shall not see,

Tell those who will replace us :

We fought courageously."

......................(Bulgarian poet Nikola Vaptsarov)

The memorial stone outside the Department of Physics in Kashmir University  has  weathered. It has   some graffiti on it now, but the core message is still legible: a tribute to a young man who lost his life trying to save someone else. It reads this :

"IN MEMORY OF  BRIJ KRISHEN KOUL  WHO SACRIFICED HIS LIFE  AT AHARBAL FALL   ON JULY 20 1969  IN A VAIN EFFORT  TO SAVE THE LIFE  OF A FELLOW STUDENT  ZAMROODA HABIB "

On July 20, 1969 at Ahrabal Falls in South Kashmir, Brij Krishen Koul, a student, drowned while trying to rescue his fellow student Zamrooda Habib. Ahrabal Falls is on the Veshaw River in Kulgam district and is known for strong currents ,  even today it’s a popular but risky spot although some steel fencing and precautionary notice boards  are seen now.

The Fall and the River

Aharbal is about 76 kilometres from Srinagar if you take the shorter route via Pulwama and Shopian. The other route is through Khanabal and Kulgam, roughly 95 kilometres. From Shopian town, it is another 16 kilometres to the site.

The waterfall is created by the River Veshaw, also mentioned in Sanskrit texts as Vishnupaad. The Veshaw begins at the high-altitude Kounser Nag Lake, a glacial lake that Kashmiri pilgrims have associated with Lord Vishnu for centuries. From Kungwattan, the river gathers force and drops 24.4 metres at Aharbal before continuing down to join the Jhelum, or Vitasta, at Sangam near Bijbehara Bridge.

What many visitors do not notice at once is that there are two falls. The main fall is the 24.4-metre drop that everyone photographs. About 50 metres downstream, there is a second fall, around 7 metres high. It is smaller, but in monsoon it is just as furious. The sound of both together, with the spray rising like smoke, is what people mean when they say Aharbal is "horribly beautiful". Horrible in the old sense of the word: it inspires awe and a little fear.

The geology here matters. The Veshaw cuts through soft Karewa soil and harder rock. That is why the gorge is deep and narrow, and why the water has such power. Government surveys have noted that Aharbal has a potential of about 100 MW of hydroelectric generation. For a power-starved state, that number has been discussed for decades.

A River That Did Not Inquire

  

On 20 July 1969, the Veshaw was in spate. Monsoon and snowmelt had turned the Aharbal fall in Kulgam, that 25-metre cataract tourists now call the “Niagara of Kashmir”, into a churning throat of white water. Into that merciless pool stepped two students of the University of Kashmir. One was caught by the current. The other went in after her. Neither came out alive. Their bodies were found a day later, downstream, where the river had finished its work.  

Brij Krishen Koul was in his final year of M.Sc Physics. He lived near Magar Mal Bagh, commuted on the University buses, and was expected back in the department for research. Zamrooda Habib belonged to the Urdu Department and lived  near Zaldagar in the old city. In any ledger of the time, they belonged to different columns. On that day, the Vishav erased the columns..

The Brightness We Have Misplaced

The  memory refuses to age. It belongs to a Kashmir that understood itself differently.  Koul was not merely a physicist. He was the heartbeat of Gandhi Bhawan. Friends still speak of him as an accomplished  stage actor , singer who loved poetry, music and tidy dresses.

Habib moved in that same orbit. University life in the late 1960s did not run on departmental lines. Where Koul was, a crowd gathered: Physics, Urdu, Arts, Music. Gandhi Bhawan was neutral ground. That is where  other students knew him. That was where all of them knew each other. The University sorted them by talent, by laughter, by who would turn up for rehearsal.

The Moment That Defined a Character

The details of the picnic are held closely by those who were there. What is not in doubt is the choice. Zamrooda Habib was taken by the current below the fall. Aharbal forms a recirculating boil beneath its plunge with merciless waves. Bystanders could only watch.  Koul did not watch.  He jumped to save a life .

A family member says  today with a clarity that fifty-seven years have not dulled: “He was a  Kashmiri Pandit student at the university whose courage and compassion defined his character . Known for his kindness, humility, and unwavering sense of duty, he believed deeply in humanity above all else. In a tragic moment that revealed the true strength of his heart, Brij Krishen jumped into the swirling waterfall and sacrificed his own life while trying to save  a life. Though neither of them survived, his daring  act stands as a powerful testament to selflessness and  human values .In those moments, the religion did not matter. There were no divisions, no differences. ”

There is  no memorial erected at Aharbal . Since then, railings have gone up. Signs in Urdu, Hindi and English now warn visitors. Local divers from Kulgam have pulled some more  from the same pool. The Tourist Department lists Aharbal as a “must-visit”, and adds, quietly, “caution advised.” The waterfall remains beautiful, and treacherous, and remembering.

About this tragedy ,Prof Kuldeep Jamwal writes this :-

"Brij Krishen Koul was a Final year student of Physics M.Sc while I was enrolled for Research in Electronics in 1969 in the same department. He lived close to my residence in Magar Mal Bagh and we commuted together in  University buses. Brij was a very friendly person who took lot of interest in dramatics in the University. I still possess some of his photographs taken in Gandhi Bhawan during drama rehearsals. He had very keen academic interest in research and had decided to join the department in research programmes after obtaining Masters degree. 

Alas all his bright future plans were decimated in the tragic event of July 20, 1969 while trying to save the life of Zamrooda Habib,  a girl from the University's Urdu department from the fast swirling waters at Aharbal. Both bodies were recovered downstream of Veshaw river after a day. His premature departure was a big blow to his family and that of Zamrooda Habib. It was the most heart wrenching and tragic event for the University and  the department. Humanity and religious beliefs did not come in the way in this heroic effort."

 Why We Must Tell This Now

Kashmir in 2026 is tired. Public memory is crowded with politics of hate and division ,destruction, innocent killings, and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. Into that noise comes a story from 1969 that will not sit down.   It is not a Pandit story. It is not a Muslim story. It is not even, in the narrow sense, a University story. It is a Kashmir story, told by a river.  It is also a civic story. We teach our civil servants about Seva, about sacrifice, about impartiality. Koul demonstrated it all without wearing a uniform or any bureaucratic training . He was a student. Yet he walked, unhesitating, into what Kabir called , "kabira khada bazaar mein , sabki maange khair", and paid the highest price. 

Fifty-seven years on, the Veshaw still runs. The fall still roars every July. And some people in  Kashmir  still remember two of its own who proved, at the very edge of water, that the only identity that mattered was human.  That was our bright past. It is not nostalgia. It is evidence. 

Why Aharbal Feels Different

Kashmir has many waterfalls. But Aharbal is not tucked away like a secret. It is accessible, loud, and public. That is why families come, why students come, why young and old come. There is a Kashmiri idea that water is not just scenery. It is character. It shapes temperament. The Veshaw at Aharbal is restless. It does not meander. It breaks, it falls, it remakes itself.  That is perhaps why the lines of Dina Nath Nadim feel so right here. Nadim, one of the great voices of modern Kashmiri poetry, wrote about youth, change, and responsibility. Standing at Aharbal, you understand what he meant.

"Tse Naar Chhuk Aalaav Chhuk,  

Tse Yaavnuk Jalaav Chhuk.  

Tse Neir Koh Te Van Tsatith,  

Toofaan Tul Toofaan Bun.  

Tse Mir e Karwaan Bun,  

Kashiri Paasbaan Bun."

(You are fire and fury,  

You are the flame of young hearts.  

You break through mountains and forests,  

And carve your own path.  

 Bring change, and lead that change,  

 For you are the guide of Kashmir’s caravan.  

Be the protector of Kashmir too.)

( Avtar Mota )

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.