It was the Mughal emperor Jahangir Khan, quoting a Persian proverb, who famously declared about Kashmir, “If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this”.

Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of India, is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. It consists of Jammu, the Kashmir valley and Ladakh. While the Kashmir valley, often known as ‘Paradise on Earth’, is famous for its beautiful mountainous landscape, Jammu has many shrines that attract tens of thousands of Hindu and Muslim pilgrims every year. Ladakh, known as Little Tibet, is renowned for its remote mountainous beauty and Buddhist culture.