Lar is a town and council district in the Ganderbal district of central Kashmir, in Jammu and Kashmir,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is a relatively newly established ''

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...

'', carved out of the Ganderbal tehsil. It is situated 25 km from the heart of the summer capital,

Srinagar Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...

, on National Highway ( NH 1D) between the foothills of the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 pea ...

n mountains in the north and the picturesque Zabarwan Hills in the south. The Sind River, a major tributary to the Jehlum River flows through Lar. The famous

Manasbal Lake Manasbal Lake is the deepest freshwater lake found in Safapora, the Safapora area of Ganderbal District, Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir, India. Nmed after the sacred Lake Manasarovar, Manasarovar.h ...

lies a few kilometres away from the town centre.

Geography

Lar is located . 6 km north of Ganderbal town and 25 km from the

center, at an average elevation of . The famous Sonamarg hill station is at a distance of 60 km from here. The Sind River, a major tributary of the Jehlum River flows through Lar. The sand (bajri) of this river has a great value and is highly regarded for its quality. Lar produces the world class grape varieties like Hussaini- imported from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, Sahibi- imported from

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, Kishmish, Anabeshai and Ruby.

Demographics

At the 2011 India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Lar had a population of 50,491 (males 52%, females 48%). The literacy rate was 59.99%, higher than the national average of 59.5%.

Climate

Lar Town possesses all the typical characteristics of the climate of Kashmir Valley as a whole. In the heat of July, the breeze of the Sind River is a welcome relief. Sir Walter Lawrence writes in his book, The Valley of Kashmir, that in latitude, Kashmir corresponds with Peshawar, Baghdad and Damascus in Asia: with Fez in Morocco: and South Carolina in America, but it presents none of the characteristics of those countries. People have linked the climate of Kashmir to that of Switzerland until the end of May, and of Southern France in July and August. But it is impossible to speak of Kashmir as possessing any one climate or group of characteristics. Every hundred feet of elevation brings some new phase of climate and of vegetation.

References

Cities and towns in Ganderbal district Ganderbal district {{JammuKashmir-geo-stub Tehsils of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)