Kashmiri saffron 0.5gms

he state of Jammu and Kashmir is the place where saffron is predominately cultivated in India. In fact Kashmir is considered one of the three prominent cultivating places of saffron all over the world. Kashmiri saffron is seen as the legend of the saffron species where it has been grown in the fields of Pampore near Srinagar for close to 2500 years. (The name pampore is derived from Padmapur meaning (lotus city).

According to historical evidences, saffron was brought to India by the Persian rulers around 500.B.C. The Persian rulers transplanted the Persian saffron crocus corns to the Kashmiri soils, once they conquered Kashmir. However according to the traditional Kashmiri legends, saffron was brought to the region by two sufi ascetics, Khawja Masood wali (r.a) and Sheikh Sharif-u-din wali (r.a) during the 11th and 12th centuries A.D. Both the foreigners having fallen sick beseeched a cure for illness from a local tribal chieftain. When the chieftain obliged, the two holy men reputedly gave them a saffron crocus bulb as payment and thanks. To this day grateful prayers are offered to the two saints during the saffron harvesting season in late autumn. The saints indeed have a golden-domed shrine and tomb dedicated to them in the saffron trading town of Pampore,India. However, the famous Kashmiri poet and scholar Mohammed Yusuf Teng, differed from this history of saffron and stated that the plant had been cultivated in Kashmir for more than two millennia. The Kashmiri tantric Hindu epics of that time mention about saffron cultivation as well. ”In the beautiful valley of Kashmir, fields of crocus sativus have heralded the dawn for close to 2500 years