India, Sept. 24 -- Autumn in Srinagar arrives like a slow exhale. The chinar trees in Shalimar Bagh turn rust and gold, scattering their leaves over Mughal stonework. Water channels carved by Jahangir still carry snowmelt from the Zabarwan mountains, feeding fountains that rise and fall with a meditative rhythm. The symmetry of the charbagh steadies the gaze, while the sound of water softens the breath. It is in such spaces that the idea of the "garden as therapy" takes root. Though designed to impress emperors and guests, Mughal gardens also soothe the senses. Landscape architect Varna Shashidhar, founder of VSLA, calls them "masterpieces of hydrology." "Being close to water has always been calming," she reflects, "whether in a charbagh,...