Jahangeer Ahmad kumhar
The Kashmir recall a lot of Nostalgic Things, among them” Tanga Riding “was a sublime and praiseworthy. The horse cart owners, known as Tanga Wael in local parlance, have lost zeal in running the fuel-less transport to the modern means of transport—busses, cabs and cars etc in Kashmir valley. Horse carts have almost faded from the roads in Kashmir. But, the road in Baramulla and Sopore, an Apple district in north Kashmir, is still witnessing the gallop of horses. The individual research of mine is, The tanga riding was a par excellent and mega riding of Kashmir.In my district (kupwara)some tanga facilities are available at, Handwara, Drugmulla, and so forth. This riding was an eminent nostalgia of Kashmir.
Horse cart is one of the oldest means of transport in Kashmir. Once upon a time, people used to travel short as well as long distances on emission-free transport. But now it has become an obsolete find due to modern transport facilities. “Till 1996, as many Horse carts were ferrying passengers on different routes, with the advent especially auto-rickshaws, the number of horse cart over past years has declined now and those running horse cart switched to different works for survival.”
In past, the horse cart was considered to be one of the luxurious means of transport and even the kings used to travel via Horse cart. The Horse carts decorated colourfully in early times were also used on occasions of marriage to ferry the bride and groom. I talked about this to my uncle, In marriages, Tanga’s are used pre-eminently.
To keep pace with the fleeting times’ commuters prefer the modern means of transport to reach their destinations well on time. Over past years, the three-wheelers and ventures have made inroads into major towns of Kashmir threatening the survival of horse cart runners. Nowadays Tanga riding is not used in Kashmir division, but some places used it greatly.
The life of the twenty-first century has gone active and energetic and so are the means of transport. The modern means of transport are making trouble for the livelihood of horse cart runners. A Tanga is largely made of wood and iron strips. It is propelled by two huge wooden wheels, has a cover on the top, and passenger seats on the rear side. On the front side, where the horse-man sits; are present two parallel horizontal poles between which the single horse is tied. Below the seats, space is provided for carrying goods or horse feed. The horse pulls the cart in the forward direction and the horseman controls it with the bridle and the whip.
(Author hails from , Nagri, Malpora can be mailed at
Jahangeerkumhar121@gmail.com)
