Khalid Bashir
NAMING and renaming places and old or new infrastructure by a government is a common practice all over the world. However, it is not always that these officially assigned names click with the people. In Kashmir, there are several instances when christening or rechristening of places, roads and bridges by a government has failed to meet public acceptance.
In olden times, Kashmir was divided into two parts – Kamraz and Maraz – representing the north and south parts of the Valley, respectively. As the story goes, two ruling siblings, Kamran Dev and Marhan Dev, had divided the kingdom between themselves. Kamran ruled north Kashmir which came to be known after his name as Kamraz and Marhan ruled south Kashmir which got its name after him as Maraz. People in Kashmir still refer to north and south Kashmir as Kamraz and Maraz, respectively. During the Dogra rule (1846-1947) also, the Valley was administratively divided into two districts of Baramulla and Anantnag. The S