Ancient kingdoms of Kashmir.

My older posts in this blog deal with Hindu mythology linked since ages with valley of kashmir, let me quicky recall that, Kashmir valley once was great lake called Satisar and Rishi Kashyapa is attributed to form valley by fighting the demon called jalodhbava, as legend goes, a trident was struck by Vishnu near Baramulla that caused water to gush out of valley and then jalodhbava invincible in its own element refused to come out then finally Parvati consort of Shiva is said to crush him using large mountain Hari-Parvat now popularly know as Hari-Parbat, afterwards goddess took shape in form of rivers and springs.Nagas and Pisacas tribe first settled in Kashmir.Rivers and Springs in valley are of high religious importance.
There are pretty good geoligical evidences and scientific data that is similar to legend according to which volcanic activities caused heavy earthquake that caused fissures in mountains and that lead Jhelum to gush out and as a matter of fact jhelum escapes kashmir valley through narrow gorge near barmulla!Another very important evidence is formation of karwaes or pleatue which contain lascustrine deposits and by any geological standard they are older than any monuments found in vale, these clay and sand deposit from great lake using many modern archaeological and scientific techniques clearly reflected the valley as once huge lake with any doubt.

Kahalana, work called Rajatarangini is old account of valley of Kashmir, He composed his Rajatarangini, the river of kings, in A.D. 1148-49, Sir Aurel Stein is attributed for its translation from Sanskrit to English and it is surprising that kashmir has written record of all history from Kahalana to modern as compared to India which rely on hit and trail method or numismatic data to arrive at various kingdoms but it unfortunate that we are ignorant and unaware of our history and rich culture.
As per Rajatarangini, the first king to rule Kashmir was Gonanda I and subsequent 35 kings that followed however there is no record available to trace them and Kahalana called them lost kings of kashmir; there is also record of Alexander and Greek invasion to Kashmir, there are numismatic records of old coins found near Jhelum river that support this fact also if one looks carefully at Buddha sculpture and many Ancient monuments we will find trace of Greek Art so we can think Kashmir monuments or Art was influenced by Greek Art and sculpture, Kahalana speaks high of great king Asoka as king of Kashmir, he is attributed to form Srinagar and building various vihras and stupas and he is credited to introduce Buddhism in Kashmir as he found Kashmir favorable for meditation and religious study and as a matter of fact Kashmir was fountainhead of Sanskrit learning and saiva thought of philosophy or Kashmir Shaivasm, the kashmiri brahim or pandit know for their open thought and intellect developed new form of Buddhism called Mahayana.S.P.S Museum Lal Mandi, Srinagar gives clear picture of various Ancient kingdom of valley particularly we look at Archaeological and numismatic section in the museum that has collected some important excavations at sites like Burzahom, Avantipora and harwan.to be continued....

School Days

The best part of one's life are school days without any second thought and it holds special memory in one's heart be it old friends from school days, first class room, school teachers, playground and it all seems valuable treasure down the line and it is best thing that life has to offer then there is ugly face of child labor that deprives kids of these golden days and it is cruel and same as slavery, poor kid is made to work like donkey with his tender hands, one of the major social evils; Schooling is best gift that anyone can provide to small kids after all it prepares one for big question called life.

Everyone of us is bit hesitant to go to school first thing in morning and and we make enough excuse to stay at home just like Tom Sawyer tries to fool his aunt Polly in Mark Twain's famous novel Adventures of Tom Sawyer well that is our natural instinct but then last period of class which is happiest one in which kids flew out of class at full speed like batman once the bell struck and are happy back to home;there are some naughty memory associated with all us and to tame the brat kid, school has methods to punish the little fellow in scary way but on this crossroad of life and looking back it seems funny and sweet.I have fond memories of punishment made by teachers:)

One punishment I remember is applying mud on face like facial scrub:) and teacher make sure no corner of face is left and poor kid is weeping non-stop, some kid have little smile on their face, Bravo:) and on the top of that poor fellow is made to visit every class along with his teacher and rest of class burst out into laughing and shouting shame shame now after much pomp and show, poor kid wash his face during lunch hours and still holding his head high and smiling and back on track. The most common is Murga Bano,well this I consider king of all punishment given to poor little fellow sometimes even load in form of school bag or brick is placed on back of poor kid in scorching heat for hours, sweat running through the tip of his little nose on ground, ears turned red and even if he is lucky enough he will be associated with two more kids on same punishment so that they can laugh in such situation:) and then try he tries his best to stand up for while and making sure their teacher is not seeing,well kids have natural ways to make best out of worst situation; another one though not scary in nature is facing the wall for hours and now if principle is on inspection and got glimpse of those kids then God Save them!! then comes the classroom and we have famous stick or long wooden ruler and kids are always trying to mess with it in order to save themselves from teacher's wrath, the blow is on hands but sometimes poor chap is asked to fold his hand so that punishment can be more hard on finger tips and poor chap slowly and slowly bringing his hand forward for big blow...... well all said and done nobody will dislike those days or feel bad about it or thinking to take revenge on teachers:) and it brings smile on face well that is power of school days!!.LONG LIVE SCHOOL DAYS!!.