in bits and pieces
This is how the ‘Great Suyya Experiment’ from Rajatarangini would have actually played out.
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| Martand |
One the exercises I indulge in at this blog is looking at the “meta-information” and usage of information. What happens to information over the years?
Exercise
Problem: Why do some books (starting from 1950s, ending in 2013!) attribute the following beautiful lines to Kalhana when even a basic Google search says that the lines belong to a Frenchman, Théophile Gautier?:
“Even the gods must die; But sovereign poetry remains, Stronger than death”
Solution:
The lines do indeed represent thoughts of Gautier. These line were used by Ranjit S. Pandit in 1933 to end his invitation (introduction) to his translation of Kalhana’s Rajatarangini (1935). He wrote: “Kalhana knew that everything withered with age and decayed in time; only the artist could seize the passing form and stamp it in a mould that resists mortality”. And then to put emphasis on the thought, he quoted a poem by Gautier.
The complete poem goes like this:
All things pass; strong art alone
Can know eternity;
The marble bust
Outlives the state:
And the austere medallion
Which some toiler finds
Under the earth
Preserves the emperor
Even the Gods must die;
But sovereign poetry
Remains,
Stronger than death.
That much is fine and clear even if quoting Frenchman Gautier’s poetry to explain greatness of Kashmiri Kalhana’s poetry now appears to be a ludicrous. Over the years what happened was even more ludicrous as it became a victim to a curious phenomena observed by Aldous Huxley during his visit to India and Kashmir in mid 1920s. He laughed at Indian fascination for starting passages with ‘apophthegms, quotations’ and ending it with ‘cracker mottoes’, and for saying things like ‘ As the Persian poet so beautifully puts it ‘.
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| Stein’s map of anicent Srinagar |
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| Stein’s 1898 map showing the Sindh-Jhelum confluence near Trigrami |
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More information about Stein’s Maps and a whole bunch of maps here at : colorado.edu
Details of the story of these maps here at: siraurelstein.org.
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Mohan Munshi Ji also shares his map of ‘Ancient concepts of Kashmir Mountains’
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– 354, Third Taranga. From Ranjit Pandit’s translation of Kalhan’s Rajatarangini.The king was Parvarasena.
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| An old photograph of |
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Correction by Man Mohan Munshi Ji:
This bridge cannot be HabbaKadal (2nd Bridge) by any chance . The Tomb of Zain-ul-abdin’s mother/(Sikandar Butshikan’s queen) located in Mazar Salatin is clearly visible in the background and as such the bridge is Zaina Kadal the fourth bridge.
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Update: This is what a boat bridge would have looked like:
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| Bridge of Boats over Indus at Khushal Garh [District Kohat, now in Pakistan] |
From: Asia (Volume 1, 1885) by Elisée Reclus (1830-1905)
Shadow is itself unrestrained in its path while sunshine, as an incident of its very nature, is pursued a hundredfold by nuance. Thus is sorrow from happiness a thing apart; the scope of happiness, however, is hampered by the aches and hurts of endless sorrow.
– Taranga VIII, Sloka 1913
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The Shiv temple atop Shankaracharya Hill was originally dedicated to a form of Shiva known as Jyesthesvara and is believed to have been (partly) built by King Gopaditya (253 A.D. to 328). The hill was known as Gopadri and even today, at foot of this hill, in south direction, there is a village called Gopkar.
The Shrine at Zeethyaar is dedicated to Zeestha Devi, a form of Parvati.
But interestingly enough, Aurel Stein, in notes to his translation of Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, mentions ‘Zeethyaar’ as the spot of a shiv temple dedicated to Jyesthesvara (the name of the lingam present there) and the spot for holy Tirtha of Jyether. According to the Mytho-folklore ( based on Jyesthamahatmya), at this particular spot, Siva liberated Jyetha, i.e. Parvati, from the Daityas (demons) and on marrying her took the name Jyesthesa. [Check out his ‘Note C-i.124 Jyestharudra at Srinagari’]
Later, on page 453 he asserts:
“In Note C, i.124, I have shown that an old tradition which can be traced back to at least the sixteenth century, connected the takht Hill with the worship of Siva Jyestharudra or, by another form of the name, JYESTHESVARA (Jyesthesa). And we find in fact a Linga known by this name worshipped even at the present day at the Tirtha of Jyether, scarecely more than one mile from the east foot of the hill.
This Tirtha, which undoubtedly derived its name from Jyesthesvara, lies in a glen of the hillside, a short distance from the east shore of the Gagri Bal portion of the Dal. Its sacred spring, designated in the comparatively modern Mahatmya as Jyesthanaga, forms a favorite object of pilgrimage for the Brahmans of Srinagar. Fragments of several colossal Lingas are found in the vicinity of jyether and show with some other ancient remains now built into the Ziarats of Jyether and Gupkar that the site had held sacred from an early time. It is in this vicinity that we may look for the ancient shrine of Jyestharudra which Jalauka is said to have erected at Srinagar. But in the absence of distinct archeological evidence its exact position cannot be determined.”
Oddly enough, among the the Kashmir Pandit community, Zeethyaar is now mostly remembered as a “Devi” spot.
Images:
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You may also like to check out my post (with photographs) on the Zeethyar Temple
