9-440: Shrivara [Śrīvara] (15th century) wrote a work on the history of Kashmir that adds to the previous works of Kalhana and Jonaraja , thereby providing an update of the history of Kashmir till 1486 CE . Śrīvara served at the courts of the four Šāhmīrī Sulṭāns Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn , Ḥaydar Šāh, Ḥasan Šāh and Maḥmūd Šāh until 1486, when Fatḥ Šāh took power for the first time. Holding this office since 1459, Śrīvara concentrated on writing
18-467: A Hindu deity. In common with many Hindus in Kashmir at that time, he was also sympathetic to Buddhism, and Buddhists tended to reciprocate this feeling towards Hindus. Even in relatively modern times, Buddha's birthday has been a notable event for Kashmiri Brahmins and well before Kalhana's time Buddha had been accepted by Hindus as an avatar of Vishnu . Kalhana was familiar with earlier epics such as
27-468: A major scholar of which is Mark Aurel Stein . Kalhana was born in a Hindu Brahmin family to a Kashmiri minister, Chanpaka, who probably served king Harsha of the Lohara dynasty . It is possible that his birthplace was Parihaspore and his birth would have been very early in the 12th century. The introductory verses to each of the eight Books in his Rajatarangini are prefaced with prayers to Shiva ,
36-586: The Vikramankadevacharita of Bilhana , the Ramayana and the Mahabharata , to all of which he alludes in his own writings. However, his own writings did not employ what Stein has described as "the very redundant praise and flattery which by custom and literary tradition Indian authors feel obliged to bestow on their patrons". From this comes Stein's deduction that Kalhana was not a part of
45-505: The historical ramifications of the Islamisation process in Kashmir. In terms of richness of detail of everyday culture also in its material aspects, Śrīvara’s work is by far the most abundant source on Indo-Persian rule in early modern India and the living conditions under omnipresent threats of famines, natural disasters and warfare. [1] Śrīvara’s work breaks off with Maḥmūd Šāh’s (first) dethronement followed by Fatḥ Šāh’s ascension to
54-658: The history he had personally witnessed. Unlike his predecessors Kalhaṇa and Jonarāja, who had completed the history of Kashmir in retrospect and continued it up to their respective times, Śrīvara, as a contemporary historian, was left with only occasional retrospective additions going back to 1451. His accounts, the Jaina - and Rājataraṅgiṇī s, written as an eyewitness, are characterised by a remarkably detailed density that hardly leaves out any aspect of his coeval horizon of observation and reflection on everyday Kashmiri culture, court life, politics, religion and society. The consolidation of
63-592: The position of court biographer. Śrīvara had completed his Sanskrit rendering of Jāmi’s Persian composition (1483) only twenty-two years after its publication in Herat. Kalhana Kalhana ( Sanskrit : कल्हण , romanized : kalhaṇa ) was the author of Rajatarangini ( River of Kings ), an account of the history of Kashmir . He wrote the work in Sanskrit between 1148 and 1149. All information regarding his life has to be deduced from his own writing,
72-513: The religious and political influence of a group of Sayyids, who had migrated from Baihaq in Iran under earlier Šāhmīrī Sulṭāns such as Sikandar, and the dynamics triggered by their attempts under Ḥasan Šāh and Maḥmūd Šāh to participate in the reign, culminated in a devastating civil war between factions of indigenous Kashmiris ( kāśmīrika ) and the immigrants from abroad ( paradeśīya, vaideśika ). These events are of particular research interest for tracing
81-498: The throne. The abrupt end of his account was however not caused by Śrīvara’s death. Nineteen years later we hear from him again in the prelude to his Sanskrit translation of Jāmi’s (1414–1492) Persian Yusof o Zoleykhā , entitled the Kathākautuka . Śrīvara dated his prologue April 18, 1505. The sudden interruption of Śrīvara’s Rājataraṅgiṇī , coinciding with the transition of power in 1486, should therefore be sought in his removal from
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