The Valley of Kashmir : The Making and Unmaking of a Composite Culture?
Contents: Foreword: Kashmir, Kashmiris, Kashmiriyat an introductory essay/T.N. Madan. I. The socio-cultural heritage : Critical components: 1. The Kashmiri Pandits: Their early history/Michael Witzel. 2. Mass conversation in Medieval Kashmir: Academic perceptions and people\'s practice/Rattan Lal Hangloo. 3. Islam, state and society in Medieval Kashmir: A revaluation of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani\'s Historical Role/Mohammad Ishaq Khan. 4. Lalla\'s relation to the Shaivite and Sufi Traditions in Kashmir/Jaishree Kak. 5. Land rights in rural Kashmir: A study in continuity and change from late-sixteenth to late-twentieth centuries/Mushtaq A. Kaw. 6. Shrines, political authority and religious identities in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century Kashmir/Chitralekha Zutshi. 7. Maji Khir Bhavani: The Kashmiri Kuladevi/Madhu B. Wangu. II. The socio-cultural heritage : Continuity and change: 8. The dying linguistic heritage of the Kashmiris: Kashmiri Literary culture and language/Braj B. Kachru. 9. Kashmiri Music in the context of the Music of Muslim Near East and Central Asia and the Music of India/Jozef Pacholczyk. 10. Dissolution and dispersal: The impact of modernity and conflict on the Pandas of Kashmir Valley/Rekha Wazir. 11. A Black Dog\'s Gaze: Some insights into the mortuary rites and conceptual transformations among the Gujar and Bakkarwal of the Kashmir Valley/Michael J. Casimir and Aparna Rao. 12. Popular Kashmiri Sufism and the challenge of scripturalist Islam (1900-1989)/Yoginder Sikand. III. Recent developments : Culture and politics: 13. Kashmir as paradise on earth/Ronald Inden. 14. Revisiting key episodes in modern Kashmiri history/Nathalene Reynolds. 15. The Rhetorics of the Kashmiri Militant Movement: Azadi or Jihad/Navnita Chadha Behera. 16. Kashmiri women and the conflict: From icon to agency/Rita Manchanda. 17. Kashmiri excepitionalism/Alexander Evans. Selected publications of Aparna Rao. List of contributions. Index.
"The Valley of Kashmir, long famous around the world for its unparalleled natural scenic beauty also has a rich cultural heritage with religious tolerance and amity among people belonging to different religious faiths as its core. The arrival of Islam in the late fourteenth century and its interaction with an ancient Shaiva Tradition resulted in the emergence of a liberal version of the faith. It was a turning point in Kashmir\'s history. Popular culture grew rich with folktale, song, dance and music and with what craftsman could weave, stitch and shape with their nimble fingers.
When self-rule came in 1947, it was overshadowed by armed intervention to secure the accession of the state of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan. The dispute over the issue is still unresolved. Within the valley, years of opportunistic policies pursued by Delhi and corruption and misgovernance by Srinagar proved to be fertile soil for the eruption of a violent, Jehadi, Secessionist Movement around 1980 that drove the Hindu minority into exile, tore apart the composite culture, and resulted in large scale loss of life and property. There are signs visible today that the utter futility of the path of violence, which engendered counter violence, has dawned on some of its votaries.
These and other issues are addressed in this volume by a galaxy of scholars, including Kashmiris, from India, France, Germany, the UK and the USA under the thoughtful editorship of Aparna Rao who, sadly, died before the work could be placed with a publisher. Throughout the preparation of this volume, Rao worked in consultation with Professor T.N. Madan. The result is a book rich in information, insights and interpretations that entitle it to stand alongside Walter Lawrence\'s classic work, The Valley of Kashmir (1985), form which its title is borrowed." (jacket)
