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Review The Making of Early Kashmir by Shonaleeka Kaul VIF October 2019
- Author(s):
- Narasimhananda Swami (see profile)
- Date:
- 2019
- Group(s):
- Cultural Studies, History
- Subject(s):
- History, Sanskrit language, Sanskrit literature, Anthropology
- Item Type:
- Book review
- Tag(s):
- Indian history, Sanskrit language and literature, Classical Indian languages
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/vtej-c263
- Abstract:
- Through The Making of Early Kashmir, Shonaleeka Kaul, who teaches in the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, deftly presents a new discourse on Kashmir’s culture and history and successfully argues not only that a traditional Sanskrit text can indeed function as a historical text, but that the very fact that such a text is in Sanskrit and is traditional should be testament enough that it is history. This book is the result of twelve years of in-depth study and analysis of a Sanskrit text, Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, which Kaul discovered to be first poetry, and on that account, also history. Kaul argues that Kalhana’s vision behind the text is based on ethics and morality. She also argues that Kalhana did not just create history but he also created a particular region for that history or time. According to Kaul, Kalhana created Kashmir’s identity as a homeland through Rajatarangini. Thus personal identity was fused with regional identity and the region attained a self-identity. Kaul describes through her work how cultural identities take shape. She argues that the shaping of cultural identities is closely connected with the creation of a homeland and the receiving of history.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Book review
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 4 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
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