Digital Collections | AMNH - Beyond the vale of Kashmir

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Scientific expeditions

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Asset ID film217

Title Beyond the vale of Kashmir

Date 1922-1924

Agent (Role) Cowling, Herford Tynes (Photographer)

Collection/Work Relation AMNH Special Collections, Film Collection no. 217: Beyond the vale of Kashmir, U-matic

Publication History Morden, William J. Beyond the Vale of Kashmir. Natural History v. 32, no. 1, Jan.-Feb. 1932: [4]-21. Morden, Florence H. House-boat Days in the Vale of Kashmir. National Geographic Magazine, v. 56, no. 4, Oct. 1929: 437-463.

Repository American Museum of Natural History

Rights statement Information on rights available at repository.

Description Filmed during the Morden Expedition to Africa and Asia, 1922-1924. With panoramic vistas of the Himalayas in the background, Beyond the Vale of Kashmir begins as the expedition travels through western Tibet. Cinematographer Herford Tynes Cowling filmed portraits of Tibetan people and their activities such as making flour from grain stalks. The expedition goes to the village of Mulbik, where they visit a colossal sculpture of a four-armed god carved into a mountain wall. At Srinagar, on the River Jhelum, William James and Florence H. Morden stay with a British Colonel on an elegant houseboat, replete with fine art and furnishings. In addition to studying the household staff at work, the film explores the region of the River Jhelum during a cruise in a shikara. The pavilion made for Nur Mahal by her husband, the Mogul Emperor Jahanger, stands near the Shalimar Gardens, which abound with fountains and flowing waters. Kashmir dancers, dressed in voluminous robes and gold-embroidered caps encrusted with jewels, dance by the waters. Extensive footage of the Himis Tibetan monastery closely examines the elaborate costumes and masks used in the Devil Dances. The shushok (reincarnation of a saint) sits on his throne and a lama makes prayer flags for the faithful by pressing fabric on an ink block.

External resources

External Resource AMNH Library authority record: Morden Expedition to Africa and Asia (1922-1924), AMNH Library authority record: Morden, William James, 1886-1958

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