William Moorcroft (explorer)

William Moorcroft (1767 – 27 August 1825) was an English veterinarian and explorer employed by the East India Company. Moorcroft travelled extensively throughout the Himalayas, Tibet and Central Asia, eventually reaching Bukhara, in present-day Uzbekistan.

Quotes

• On the following day we rode to Islamabad, and on this occasion visited some remarkable remains in its vicinity, on the top of the low ridge or platform formerly noticed, and which is called Karawe Matan. The summit of this was for the most part perfectly level, and commonly a mile in breadth, and according to the report of the people of the country, was formerly the site of a large city, the capital of Kashmir. Scattered over the ground, indeed, we found fragments of mortar and bricks, but no relics of any note till we came to the end of the mound, where, at a distance of about two miles from Islamabad, stood the ruins we were in quest of. These from their elevated situation were widely conspicuous, and were of very remarkable extent and character. Like most of the architectural remains in Kashmir, they are termed Khana Panduwa, a house or palace of the Pandus. They consisted of a main building in the center of an open space, surrounded by a wall. The central structure was composed of a body and two small wings, the former about fifty-six feet long by twenty-six feet wide, running east and west, and twenty-eight feet high, was divided into two chambers of different dimensions; the western face comprised a large, lofty, arched portal, with four carved pilasters, two on each side; the eastern front had a wide recess, occupied by a false doorway, with an ornamental arch, and on the sides of which were pilasters; similar recesses decorated the northern and southern ends: opposite to these extremities also were the two wings or chambers, connected formerly by a colonnade with the center. They were built with massive walls, but the interior was not above six feet square. On the inside of the enclosing wall formerly extended a series of columns, forming a sort of portico all round, and a series of small chambers or cells ran along its outer face. The whole was constructed of stones of immense size and weight, embellished with elaborate sculpture. The roofs had generally fallen in, but where remaining, were of large flat slabs of stone. The walls were for the most part entire, their massiveness having resisted not only time and earthquakes, but the assaults of man: one of the rulers of Kashmir, Sultan Hamadan, is said to have attempted in vain to undermine the edifice, or to destroy it by fire. It is fortunate he was not acquainted with the use of gunpowder. In its present condition the palace of the Pandus is a precious specimen of ancient art, and deserves a foremost place amongst the remains of Hindu antiquity.
  • Moorcroft, William and George Trebeck, Travels In India. Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan And The Punjab In Ladakh And Kashmir In Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz And Bokhara From 1819 To 1825, 2 vols., Asian Educational Services, 1989, first published 1841.quoted from Jain, M. (editor) (2011). The India they saw: Foreign accounts. New Delhi: Ocean Books. Volume IV Chapter9