Sunday, June 2, 2002		Books

Looking back at the valley
M.L. Sharma

Lost Shangri La
by S. Sapru. Decent Books. Pages 167+ VII, Rs 160

IN imitation of the style of Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities we can describe the socio-politico-cultural scenario in ancient Kashmir as well as in the recent past: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times in Kashmir Valley, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness in the Valley. Never was there peace, and calmness even under Muslim rulers and the situation of unrest is continuing. But even in the odd situations, arts and crafts flourished.The book under study is not a historical account in chronological order of Kashmir Valley but sketches many inspiring and thrilling portraits of the subjects of socio-cultural interest and provides glimpses of ancient Kashmir.

Spread in 37 chapters, the book deals with the themes like "Where did Kashmiris come from?" "Centres of excellence", " Aesthetics, the fragrance of life", "Kashmir Shaivism and the southern links". Tracing the origin of the valley, the author says in the beginning the valley was a vast mountain-lake called Satisar. Kashyap Rishi reclaimed the land and thus it was called Kashyapa Mar ( Kashyapa's abode or stream) and later on this name was shortened to Kashmir. In the words of Al-Beruni "Kashmir is the high school of Indian sciences because advancement of art and learning took place in Kashmir more than anywhere in India. Francis Younghushand has compared Kashmir with Greece and found Kashmir more beautiful than Greece. For more than 2000 years Kashmir has been the home of Sanskrit learning and " from this small valley have issued masterpieces of history, poetry, romance, fable and philosophy." People from all over India and China flocked to Kashmir to imbibe learning. Kashmir, according to Sapru, is a symbol of Indian cultural unity. He says: "Nothing perhaps brings out in bold relief the picture of the unity from time immemorial than the cultural fabrique(sic) of ancient Kashmir". Buddhist scholars like Nagarjuna, Ashvaghosha, Vasubandhu, Sharmatrata made the valley as their headquarters. Many scholars from Kashmir visited China and translated Sanskrit works into the Chinese and propagated Buddhism in China and converted people of Java to Buddhism. Sanghabut, Punyatrata, Gautmasangha are prominent among the scholars who did missionary work by spreading the gospel of the Buddha to China. Chinese travellers like Hieun-Tsang and Du-Kong stayed in Kashmir to study Sanskrit.

Among the firsts in the world of learning, aesthetics and poetics, he mentions Dhvanyaloka, an epoch-making work in the history of Alankara literature; Vikramadevacharita by Bilhana, which though composed in the Kavya style is superior to Bana's and Hemachandra's works; Kalhana's Rajatarngini, Ratirashya by Vasundara; Chakri, a form of folklore music, Charakasamhita, a pioneer work on medicine (Charaka) by Dridhabala; Koka Pandit's work on sexology, sculptor and paintings of artiste Bimbasara. Three chapters, "A wedding at Mount Kailash", "Narada—scribe extraordinary" and "Rationalising the rituals", deal with religious beliefs of Kashmiri Pandits. In another chapter, he describes the active participation of the fair sex in political matters and how they shared power with their ruling husbands.

There were not only great women saints and mystic poets like Lal Ded but also brave and fearless ladies like Queen Dida, Kota Rani and Sarda.

Inter-caste marriages were permitted in those days. Widow marriages were prevalent. Sati was not so much in practice. King Pratapaditya II married the widow of a rich merchant, Kota Rani married Udyanadeva after the death of her husband.

The book is spiced with three interesting interludes in the chapters, "The Arrow that boomeranged," "Manmadhan' s arrows don't spare even kings", "Will Manmadhan fail?." These are interesting and romantic stories Kashmiris relate to each other. It is surprising that Sapru has not touched the themes relating to the spread of Sufism in the Valley and Kashmiri Muslim poets and poetesses, whose number is sufficient to deserve a fair treatment.

Though the name of Lal Ded finds a mention in the book,there is nothing on her and on her poetical compositions. Still, this book, with a printer's devil here and there, makes for a delightful reading and will provide useful information to researchers. The author is a well-known journalist. His narrative power as is evident in stories like "The Arrow that boomeranged" is quite good.