Anantnag Pampore Saffron Karewa Trout Farming Kashmir

Anantnag district in south Kashmir contains Pampore — India's saffron capital — where the karewa (elevated lacustrine plateau) fields of Pampore grow Crocus sativus on the well-drained calcium-rich silty soil that imparts the distinctive colour, aroma, and medicinal quality of Kashmiri saffron (Mongra grade), the world's most expensive spice. Anantnag's Lidder river and its tributaries in the Pahalgam valley host Kashmir's premier trout (brown and rainbow) aquaculture and sport fishing industry, with government trout hatcheries at Pahalgam supplying fingerlings to farmers. The Martand Sun Temple ruins (8th-century stone temple, one of India's largest ancient structures) and the Verinag spring (Mughal garden, source of Jhelum river) are the district's heritage landmarks.