Culture

Kashmir or Kashyap Maro  (abode of Kashyap Rishi) was, long ago, a lake called SATISAR. A demon named JALODBHAWA lived in the lake. Rishi Kashyap  performed penance and the water of the lake was drained off via Baramulla.  Secondly, the…

Master Zind Koul, Har Gopal Koul, Arnimal,  Bawani Das Kachroo, Mehjoor, and many other preached the message of brotherhood, one idea and one ideal  . Both Hindu and  Muslim schools of sufism glorified our percepts. So it is a truth, “…

Kashmir has contributed a lot to Pratyabhijna system of Kashmir Shaivism. It was originated by  Somananda Utpaladeva Abhinava Gupta. (9th -12th AD). He must have been born by about beginning  of the  12th Century at Parishaspora in…

Part 4 Kashmir’s contribution to the Buddhist ideology and culture was first in chronological order. Ashoka sent Madyantika, a preacher to Kashmir to propagate the new faith. He founded 12 Viharas. According to Hieun Tsag, 500 monks had…

Our Heritage. Part 3 According to Kalhana, “Astrologer, doctor, councilor, teacher, Minister, purohit, ambassador, judge, clerk: none of them was without learning” (Rajtrangani, Book VI, Verse 13). Scholarship was liberally…

Our Heritage Part 2 Even Kalhana in his Rajatarangni emphazies the importance that people attached to learning. According to him, learning was one of the five things for which the Vally was reputed – he says, “learning, lofty…

Our Heritage The valley of Kashmir is a blessed valley because of its indescribable beauty – its lakes, rivers, rivulets, lush and rolling landscape, verdant hills and its backdrop of high snow-covered Himalayan ranges. “There is such a…

Conclusion (continued...) In examing these permanent elements in him, a few instances may be sought to prove this poem. He inducted the theme of workmen’s miseries in his poetry: …

Conclusion Mahjoor’s essential contribution lies in a affecting an obvious departure from the planintive and melancholic philosophy of mystics belonging to the Kashmir School of Sufism. He changed ‘other worldly’ ideal of poetry…

Nationalism in Mahjoor A third factor was Mahjoor’s unshakable faith in the past. Nationalism is essentially a group memory of past achievements, traditions, and experience. A voracious reader of Kashmir history, it must have…