geography-of-kashmir

"Verse 460 of Bk. iii Rajat records: The royal couple (Ranaditya) built the temple of Ranarambhasvamin and Ranarambhadeva and a matha for Pashupata (mendicants) on the hill of Pradyumanaî. By Pradyumnamurdhan is meant the Sharikaparvata or Harparvat in Srinagar. The E. slope and foot of the hill is now covered by extensive buildings, including sarais connected with the famous Muhammedan shrines of Muqaddam Sahib and Akhund Mulla Shah. These probably occupy the sites of earlier Hindu structures such as the mathas referred to in the verse."

"Stein tells us: Not far from Bahauíd-Din Sahibís ziarat, to the S.W., stands the Jamiía Masjid, the greatest Mosque of Srinagar. Around it numerous ancient remains attest the former existence of Hindu temples. Proceeding still further to the S.W., in the midst of a thickly-built city ... ... quarter, we reach an ancient shrine which has remained in a comparatively fair state of preservation probably owing to its conversion into Ziarat. It is now supposed to mark the resting place of the saint styled Pir Haji Muhammad. It consists of an octagonal cela of which the high basement and the side walls are stil well-preserved. The quadrangular court in which it stands is enclosed by ancient walls and approached by ornamented gateways."

"About the temple of Pravarasena, Stein records: A short distance to the S.E. of Bhimasvamin rock and outside Akbarís fortress has the Ziart of Bahauíd-Din Sahib, built, undoubtedly with the materials of an ancient temple. The cemetery which surrounds it maintains also many ancient remains in its tombs and walls. To the S.W. corner of this cemetery rises a ruined gateway built of stone blocks of remrkable size and stil of considerable height. This structure is traditionally believed by the Srinagar Pandits to have belonged to the temple of Shiva Praveshvara which Kalhana mentions as the first shrine created by Pravarasena in his new capital."

"[T]he glorious silver [image of Visnu] Parihasakesava [which] shone like the god [Visnu] ... the famous [image of] Visnu Muktakesava, made of gold; the [image of Visnu] Mahavaraha."

"It was adorned with many fine temples and monuments; among others, with a pillar cut out of one stone, twenty four yards high, at the top of which stood the image of Garuda, half-man and half-eagle."

"The Surij Bagh is probably on the site of the once famous city of Parihasapur, of the marvels of which the native legends speak so highly. This city was built by the great conqueror Lalitaditya, who reigned from A.D. 714 to 750, and was adorned with many fine temples and monuments; among others, with a pillar cut out of one stone, twenty-four yards high, at the top of which stood the image of Garuda, half-man, half-eagle. Sikandar Budh Shikan probably destroyed it, but several fragments were seen in 1727 by Mohammed Azim. Immense images of gold, silver, and other metals, also adorned the interior, but all traces of this splendour have disappeared."

"[The Parihāsapura monuments (near Śrīnagar) of the Cankuna stūpa (Kārkota dynasty, 8th century)] “served as a model all across Asia from the Pamir Mountains to Japan”."

"People [in Ladakh] were so so at ease with themselves and with the world, and so full of vitality and joy... I saw step-by-step how the outside consumer culture was destroying local businesses and jobs, particularly farming. Everything about the local culture became under-valued or – more than that – seen as primitive and backward. I saw how destructive that was for people."

"When Kashmir was under Muslim rule for 500 years, Hindus were constantly tortured and forcibly converted. A delegation of Kashmir Brahmans approached Guru Teg Bahadur at Anadpur Saheb to seek his help. But Kashmir was Islamized. Those who fled to preserve their religion went to Laddakh in the east and Jammu in the south. It is for this reason that non-Muslims are found in large number in these regions."

"As if this is not enough, there is a deliberate and organised design to convert Kargil's Buddhists to Islam. In the last four years, about 50 girls and married women with children were allured and converted from village Wakha alone. If this continues unchecked, we fear that Buddhists will be wiped out from Kargil in the next two decades or so. Anyone objecting to such allurement and conversions is harassed... Therefore, to protect the religious and cultural identity of the Ladakhi people, an anti-conversion law must be enacted for Kargil as is presently in force in states like Arunachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh."

"In the past, Ladakhi children learned the skills needed to survive, even to prosper, in their difficult environment: they learned to grow food, tend for animals, build houses from local materials. But in the new Westernized schools, children were instead provided with skills appropriate for a fossil fuel-based, urban life within a globalized economy – a way of life in which almost every need is imported."

"Helena Norberg-Hodge... in her book Ancient Futures: Lessons from Ladakh for a Globalizing World, she showed us how Ladakh was once a happy place before its initiation to Western ideas and material goods. From her own experience of living in Ladakh, she wrote that earlier interdependency in the community was very strong but everything changed socially, ecologically and economically after so-called ‘development’ took place there."

"A number of Ladakhi intellectuals and some of the more widely educated monks have gradually responded to the Western interest in Tibetan Buddhism. When I first went to Ladakh in the early eighties, Leh was the centre of a drive for westernisation in the Indian mode. Everything traditional was old hat, waiting to be discarded. Over the years this attitude has changed.... The fact that Westerners may take the doctrines of liberation seriously and practise intensively has impressed Ladakhis, particularly when they realise how ill equipped they are to respond to the searching questions Westerners habitually ask."