Megasthenese (c. 300 BCE) described India as:... bounded on the north from Ariana (comparable to modern Afghanistan and territories to its north) to the eastern sea, on the west is the river Indus. Almost 1800 years later Abul Fazal's (16th cent. CB) description was virtually the same as Megasthenese:... to the north is a lofty range of mountains part of which stretches along the uttermost limits of Hindustan... In relatively more recent times, Sri Aurobindo (20th cent. CE) noted:...India shut into a separate existence by the Himalayas and the Ocean has always been recognizably different from all others...
Kashmir has been termed as the Crown of Bharat, the Head of Bharat Mata, the spiritual and cultural cradle of India's unique evolutionary civilization. It has remained deeply integrated with Bharat. This bonding over the millennia stands manifested in scripts, languages, literature, temple architecture, spiritual and religious beliefs and practices, destinations of pilgrimages, trade and commerce. It has been the home of poets, grammarians, musicologists, philosophers, many of whom were famillar names all over ancient India. It was like Bharat's window to the world a window that enabled the exchange and spread of ideas and India's spiritual and cultural legacies.
This volume unfolds through illustrations, visuals, photographs and well researched narratives, a story spread over 3000 years. It is a story that draws attention to the grandeur of this ancient land, evolving as it did in sync with the rest of Bharat, a story that also takes the reader through its eventful political history. It ends with the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, (August, 2019) a significant point in a long and fascinating story line.
Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh - Through the Ages: A Visual Narrative of Continuities and Linkages' is the title of an exhibition that was curated by the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi. The exhibition was inaugurated at the New Delhi World Book Fair, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, on 10 February, 2024. The idea to curate an exhibition dedicated to Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh followed by this volume is based on the understanding that much of Bharat's spiritual and cultural legacy is traceable to the grandeur of ancient Kashmir. For thousands of years, sages, saints and the ordinary have traversed for example as pilgrims across Bharat with Kashmir being an important destination. Being conversant with the early history of Kashmir would make it easy to appreciate the importance of this region in the larger historical narrative of India's cultural and spiritual evolution through the ages.
Over two decades ago as I started work for a book on the post 1947 years of Jammu & Kashmir, I realized that there was virtually no space for the region's ancient past in the political and historical discourse that had come to take centre stage. I was convinced the region could not be or should not be studied in isolation of its past. These loosely formulated thoughts had been with me for many years. It was however my association with the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi, as Chairman that provided the opportunity to put the concept in place. I discussed these details with colleagues in the Council and other scholars. The enthusiastic response was very encouraging. This volume in this sense is an attempt to unfold the story of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh in a perspective and format that enables an overview both for the subject specialist and those less conversant. It is presented in seven sections that cover over three thousand years of the region's history. Each illustration selected for inclusion has been done with care, being representative of an age, its importance and contribution on the larger historical canvas of Indian history.
Hindu (887)
Agriculture (93)
Ancient (1022)
Archaeology (615)
Architecture (535)
Art & Culture (864)
Biography (598)
Buddhist (545)
Cookery (158)
Emperor & Queen (497)
Islam (235)
Jainism (274)
Literary (876)
Mahatma Gandhi (360)
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