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Stein described the site further in his letter of September 10, 1892 to Ernst, his brother: “I made camp by the old temple which is well preserved. This sanctuary, probably the one farthest north in Kashmir, is still visited by the Hindus. In the winter the snow is said to reach as high as twenty foot wall.
I am happy to have found this place and the fact that I found it at all was by reading Kalhana with a great care and following his description.
I spent all day surveying the hill. In the covering thicket, I found remains of old walls which makes my identification correct. Fortunately, I did not have to return by the rope-bridge because the villagers had made a crude craft for the District Officer and moved it back and forth across the river by a rope.”
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By August 15, 1894, Stein was on Dudh Kuth Pass. It was twelve thousand feet high and cooler than Srinagar which he had left on the 10th. He had come by boat up to Bandipur. It was a happy trip, more due to the fact that he had not visited it since 1889. He found it changed. Stein for the first time saw there, the main headquarters of the road to Gilgit and Chitral for the British troops guarding the Russian border. Seeing the strategic location of the place, Stein suspected the location of a frontier fortress here.
He began digging around the area and his suspicion was confirmed by finding traces of old walls. Taking advantage of the marches and time at the camp, Stein here took the opportunity to learn Kashmiri from Pandit Kashi Ram.
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Fort at Sharadi |
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