Baba Reshi, a sufi saint is believed to have constructed a muddy structure called “Dambur” or"Daan" for the first time in the Ramboh village in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

Dambur/Daan was an essential thing for every household in the older times. It was the necessity, but nowadays this “Dambur” or “Daan” is not used  in the Kashmir valley the way it was used before but is still used in some city outskirts or in mountain areas. However, people belonging to the far flung area or the “Gujjar Community” still have Dambur in use because of the unavailability of electricity and unavailability of modern equipment.

There is a superstitious saying about “Dambur”. It is said when “Dambur” was first constructed many people used to come from different parts of the valley to visit the shrine and plaster it. They believed when they plaster it their wishes would get fulfilled. “Dambur” or “Daan” is a structure which was used for cooking food mainly. The cooking process used to  take place on Dambur in the kitchen on a wood fire. This Dambur is however still used in many parts of the country.

Many believe that Dambur was and still is the most important part of the Kashmiri culture which is getting forgotten each passing day. People who have used Dambur believe that cooking food on it not only makes the dishes tastier but also helps keep the house warm during the harsh winter months.

Atiqa Bano, a local from BotaKadal area of Srinagar believes that Dambur will be a thing of the past in coming years as the current generation has no idea about what Dambur is or how it is used. “This generation is spoiled by the new innovations and the technologies, they have no idea how harmful these easy to look and use things are,” said Atiqa.

Things like electrical gas stoves, electrical induction cookers, rice cookers, heaters are mostly used by the people in Kashmir nowadays. These appliances not only make the work easier but also are less time consuming. But the older generation believes that the usage of these electric items is harmful and also the reason for many diseases including the diseases related to heart and stomach. Atiqa believes that the current generation women are not hard-working and love easy to do work. “For the sake of getting the work done at the earliest, these women are risking their health,” said

Atiqa said, “It used to take hours all together to get the food prepared, it was time consuming but it was worth it, it was healthy and also the taste of food was worth remembering.” Not only Atiqa but many other people maintained that the food cooked on Dambur is not just healthy but is also delicious with completely different taste. Atiqa’s daughter, Fatima siad, “Nothing can match of taste of the food cooked on Dambur, especially the Rajma Dal or Dum Aloo.”

“People these days cook these dishes in pressure cookers and it gets ready in 30 minutes. One must taste the Rajma Dal prepared on Dambur, if one does they will never eat rajma prepared in cookers,” said Fatima. She said, “Initially the food cooked on Dambur was cooked in earthen pots, it added to the taste of the food even more.”

Experts believe that the food cooked in earthen pots is rich in nutrients as they maintain the moisture, taste and smell of the cooked food. Just a few years ago Dambur was to be seen in each household but today it is nowhere to be seen.

“Even if it is present in some houses, it is not functional. I have a Dambur at home but we don’t use it anymore, however, I still beautify it,” said Fatima. Dambur/Daan has been a lifesaver for both Atiqa and Fatima once. “Some years back, it was snowing heavily and we ran out of gas, which is a necessity. Gas was not available anywhere in the market and there was no chance to wait for days and that was when we used Dambur almost after a span of 9-10 years.”

She said, “In my childhood, what I liked about Dambur was its cleaning part. Dambur was to be cleaned once a week and as a child I used to keep waiting for the day. “It was cleaned with water, and after it was cleaned it was to be given a finishing touch with mud and water with a jute bag, it was fun for me as I used to love it,” said Fatima.

Fatima believes Dambur’s are still available in villages, even if they are not used but there are rarely any households in Srinagar where one can find Dambur. “There must be hardly any family in the city where one can find dambur, everything about the city is modern, we can only see concrete everywhere.”

She said, “Cities have more technology and everything has been replaced by new innovative technologies, I have no idea how my home was modified within years, everything in my house was replaced by fancy items but I insisted my family to at least keep Dambur even if we don’t use it.”

Abdul Salam, a bakerwal said it is easier for us to use Dambur as it is free, we have easy access to the wood and that is the only investment in lighting Dambur.“We live in forests most of the time, we are always surrounded by wood, gas is not easily available and also it is highly expensive,” Salam said. He said, “We live a simple life and Dambur is a life saver for us. We not only prepare food on it, but it also keeps our houses warm, we do not really feel cold, particularly during these harsh winter months.”

According to people, both cow dung and firewood were used as fuel in Dambur. However, the health experts believe that cow dung should be used instead of firewood, wood or coal as these are not good for the human respiratory system.

Kashmiri Dambur/Daan Kuth (Room) is also called "Sul-aa-har”,"Sulaa" means to resolve any dispute and "har" means dispute. This was a unique and comfortable room where every member in the family used to get together and enjoyed food together.

According to the sayings, in old times people used to prefer joint families and there were likely to be more fights within the families. They say whenever there was any type of conflict in the family within the family members , all things were resolved in this room, thus given the name “Sul-aa-har”. With changing times, Dambur has been replaced by new innovative technologies which are easy to use for the people but there are still many uses of Dambur which makes it better than every new technology and its replacements.

Dambur involves the use of earthen pots, which naturally adds to the flavor of the dish. According to experts, food cooked in earthen pots is nutrient-rich, as they help maintain the moisture and the aroma of the cooked food.

The best thing about preparing food on Dambur is that it takes time to cook food because of the very less heat the food cooked never loses its moisture and nutrients.People believe having a Dambur at home keeps the house free from mosquitoes and insects. Atiqa wishes for the revival of traditional Dambur/Daans.

She said, “Religiously, I believe these Dambur/Daans bring us barkat. We must all have dambur’s at our places.” “If dambur’s will be used again, people will live a healthy lifestyle,” she said.