The Prophet's Hair and Other Stories from the Kashmir Valley

10/08/2022

The Kashmiri government has created a "Craft Safari," a tour that shepherds visitors around Srinigar city to take in the beautiful artistic works from the region's artisans. Srinigar city hosts nearly 40,000 registered artisans specializing in everything from hand embroidery to copper wares and carpet weaving, and their presence in the city dates back to the 14th century. The government hopes to reinvigorate Kashmir's cultural craft scene, which has suffered in recent years due to the pandemic, land conflicts, and machine-made crafts. https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/for-kashmirs-local-artisans-a-craft-safari-offers-a-lifeline

03/06/2022

Treasures of Kashmir //: Kalhana's Rajatarangini by M.A.Stein (2 Vol Set )

Kalhana's Rajatarangini is the oldest and fullest record of Kashmir history. Sir Stein, recognising the Inestimable value of the only work of its kind, succeeded in publishing the critical edition of the text. This illustrious venture has been presented as a fully annotated translation of the chronicle, in 2 volumes, reprinted as Vol. I and Vol. II here, the former containing the translation of the first seven Taranga's of the original Sanskrit and the latter that of remaining eighth Taranga.

Publisher - Gulshan Books

Kalhana's Rajatarangini is the oldest and fullest record of Kashmir history. Sir Stein, succeeded in publishing the critical edition of the text. This illustrious venture has been presented as a fully annotated translation of the chronicle, in 2 volumes, reprinted as Vol. I and Vol. II.

11/05/2022

The Hindu //: A symbol of the Shaivite and Sufi tradition of Jammu & Kashmir, the Padma Vibhushan toiled to make the folk instrument acceptable on the classical firmament. When critics said santoor was not fit for the meends and gamaks, Sharma made it possible through his striker, without indulging in any fancy experiments. A master of both ragdaari and riyaz, his solo concerts drew crowds and his discs broke records. Over the years, santoor and Shivkumar Sharma became synonymous.

Over the years, santoor and Shivkumar Sharma had became synonymous.

17/04/2022

YouTube video published on January 23 2022.
Vitasta music productions presents cover song of Great viral Hit manike mage hithe by yohani and cover song by Khanak and Rap Lyrics by Ashwin Dhar Ji. CREDITS Singer : Khanak Rap & Lyrics : Ashwin Dhar Music Producer: M A & Ravi Dhar PRODUCTIONS Vitasta Music Pproductions Kabul Bukhari Productions R M K Productions

https://youtu.be/AC3WxGUr-ts

music productions presents cover song of Great viral Hit manike mage hithe by yohani and cover song by K...

11/04/2022

Council on Foreign Relations //: “Unlike the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or Britain’s MI6, RAW reports directly to the prime minister instead of the Ministry of Defense. The chief of RAW is designated secretary (research) in the Cabinet Secretariat, which is part of the prime minister’s office. Some officers of RAW are members of a specialized service, the Research and Analysis Service, but several officers also serve on deputation from other services such as the Indian Police Service.”
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/raw-indias-external-intelligence-agency

The ongoing dispute in Kashmir continues to fuel these disputes, but experts say Afghanistan may be emerging as the new battleground.

06/03/2022

ANI News //: Marking the 3rd year of the Pulwama Attack HarperCollins Publishers India announces the release of As Far as the Saffron Fields: The Pulwama Conspiracy by Danesh Rana

ANI | Updated: Feb 10, 2022 12:03 IST
https://www.aninews.in/news/business/business/marking-the-3rd-year-of-the-pulwama-attack-harpercollins-publishers-india-announces-the-release-of-as-far-as-the-saffron-fields-the-pulwama-conspiracy-by-danesh-rana20220210120304

03/03/2022

South Asian Voices //: Three years after the Pulwama/Balakot crisis, contributors from India, Pakistan, the United States, and China reflect on the escalation that took place, the lessons of the crisis, and the emerging trends to watch in the years ahead.

In this South Asian Voices series, contributors from India, Pakistan, China, and the United States reflect on the Balakot crisis.

17/01/2022

04/12/2021

and

The Kashmir shawl, acknowledged as one of the world’s great art textiles, is the product of hugely complex commercial and technical processes, which begins with the sourcing of the finest grade of goat-fleece known as pashm (an Urdu word originating from Farsi). Our 2009 issue "The Kashmir Shawl" is dedicated to this art.

Other Marg issues that discuss the region include "Heritage of Kashmir" (1955) and "Arts of Ancient Kashmir" (1987).

Available as digital editions at www.marg-art.org

14/08/2021

The place from where it all started.Kud, a quiet little village nestled in the hills of Patnitop is about 96 kms north of Jammu. It was established in the nineteen century as an old town square surrounded by quaint shops. The village has no traffic signal and less than 1,140 residents.

The oldest Prem sweets industry in India is still located on the edge of Kud. The technique of making patisa in a kadai has been perfectly passed on to the next generations. And while the Patisa may be the main attraction here, you don’t want to miss other local favorites like Kalari which is a kind of cheese. If you want to explore all the sights in Kud, take your time. There’s plenty to see.

01/08/2021

01/08/2021

03/05/2021

23/03/2021

Prem Shankar Jha - Blog//: Till only two years ago, for all but a few months in summer, Daulat Beg Oldi was linked to the rest of Ladakh only by air. But following the completion of a 450-metre bridge across the Shyok river, it is now linked by an all-weather road. DBO also has an airfield now that can take Antonov and C-130 Hercules cargo planes. Finally, it is barely 120 kilometres – six minutes in a modern fighter plane – from G219, China’s strategic link road between Xinxiang and Tibet.
http://www.premshankarjha.com/2020/08/01/a-tragedy-has-been-averted-but-the-danger-for-india-and-china-persists/?fbclid=IwAR2U17KFfu9Jvrxl_y2IoPP6Z2x4fqDHjXKSH4KCTuVoRolXwC696YiECAc

A tragedy has been averted: Chinese troops that had entered the disputed areas that lie between the Indian and Chinese definitions of the Line of Actual Control, have pulled back from three of them. Indian troops have done the same.

10/01/2021

MARINA, 2021.

"In civilizations without boats, dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure, and the police take the place of pirates." - Michel Foucault

Photograph courtesy of Sidharth Rattan.

03/01/2021

30/11/2020

30/11/2020

The Hindu //: Inspired by Bollywood classics, architect Zoya Khan’s ‘Houses of Kashmir’ project catalogues historic bazaars and houses.

Inspired by Bollywood classics, architect Zoya Khan’s ‘Houses of Kashmir’ project catalogues historic bazaars and houses.

05/11/2020

Kaul's Corner //: "I have not read a more thorough description of the 1947 Qabali Raid than what Shanti Swarup Ambardar has given in his book, Day of Destiny, A Memoir, published in 2014. He was in Srinagar at that time and closely followed the raid. He even interviewed some survivors of the St. Joseph’s Convent and the Mission Hospital at Baramulla, which bore the brunt of the attack at Baramulla.

I am attaching here below the entire chapter of Ambardar’s book, ‘Qabails’ at the Door, 13 pages long."

I have not read a more thorough description of the 1947 Qabali Raid than what Shanti Swarup Ambardar has given in his book, Day of Destiny, A Memoir, published in 2014. He was in Srinagar at that time and closely followed the raid. He even interviewed some survivors of the St. Joseph’s Convent and...

13/09/2020

The Telegraph //: Sydney Wignall, who has died aged 89 [on April 4th], was an adventurer who, in 1955, led the first Welsh Himalayan Expedition with the intention of climbing Gurla Mandhata, at 25,355ft the highest peak in Chinese-occupied Tibet; in his book Spy on the Roof of the World (1997), he recounted how he was captured by the Red Army and held in jail accused of being a CIA spy.

Sydney Wignall, who has died aged 89, was an adventurer who, in 1955, led the first Welsh Himalayan Expedition with the intention of climbing Gurla Mandhata, at 25,355ft the highest peak in Chinese-occupied Tibet; in his book Spy on the Roof of the World (1997), he recounted how he was captured by t...

05/08/2020

//: A collection of poems deals with the politics, history, and ravages of uprising in the author's homeland.

Review
A strong and vibrant work, particularly in these tragic times. -- John Ashbery

After The August Wedding In Lahore, Pakistan
At The Museum
The City Of Daughters: A Poem About Kashmir
The Correspondent
The Country Without A Post Office
Death Row
Farewell
A Fate's Brief Memoir
First Day Of Spring
The Floating Post Office
A Footnote To History
Ghazal (3)
Ghazal (4)
Ghazal (5)
Hans Christian Ostro
A History Of Paisley
I Dream I Am The Only Passenger On Flight 423 To Srinagar
I See Kashmir From New Delhi At Midnight
The Last Saffron
Lo, A Tint Cashmere! Lo, A Rose!
Muharram In Srinagar, 1992
A Pastoral
Return To Harmony 3
Some Vision Of The World Cashmere
Son Et Lumiere At Shalimar Garden
A Villanelle
-- Table of Poems from

Agha Shahid Ali's Kashmir, in his poems, is our own lost but inalienable homeland. . . . But the grace and wit, the perceptions and illuminations they serve, their accent, are his own. -- W. S. Merwin

Combining humane elegance and moral passion, Ali speaks for Kashmir in a large, generous, compassionate, powerful and urgent voice. . . . Few poets in this country have such a voice or such a topic. -- Hayden Carruth

Extraordinary formal precision and virtuosity. . . . This is poetry whose appeal is universal, its voice unerringly eloquent. A marvelous achievement. -- Edward Said

The Country without a Post Office

25/07/2020

The Guru Granth Sahib mentions Mata Khivi by name, "Balwand says that Khivi, the Guru`s wife, is a noble woman, who gives soothing, leafy shade to all. She distributes the bounty of the Guru`s Langar; the kheer - the rice pudding and ghee, is like sweet ambrosia."

| Kheer Bhawani Temple ❤

Mela Kheer Bhawani - Festival at Kheer Bhawani Temple in Kashmir

Thousands of devotees offer milk and 'kheer' to the Sacred Spring.

24/06/2020

ET/IT //: "I have never heard of an instance of naming of major geographical feature after a native explorer. British names have been given but never heard of one being named after a local,” says Harish Kapadia, mountaineer, author and long-time editor of the Himalayan Journal.

The valley, in news because of the latest India-China standoff, was in the spotlight during the 1962 war as well.

24/06/2020

ThePrint //: In a conversation with ThePrint, Ghulam Nabi Galwan discusses how the British named the valley after his grandfather, and his family’s history of conflict with China.

In a conversation with ThePrint, Ghulam Nabi Galwan discusses how the British named the valley after his grandfather, and his family’s history of conflict with China.

27/04/2020

The Independent 🎤: Tim McGirk New Delhi 26-Mar-1996 · It is not the first time that militants have sheltered in Hazratbal. In October 1993, a group held hostages inside the mosque in a stand-off with the army that lasted 33 days. That ended peacefully, with the surrender of the militants, and the Prophet's hair was left unharmed.

Read the full news story here:
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/twelve-die-in-kashmir-shrine-siege-1344146.html

27/04/2020

Radha Krishna Bharadwaj was a Hindu priest at the Shree Durga Vishno temple in New Delhi when the rumours first emerged.

He spoke to Witness about the day news of the "miracle" brought India to a standstill.

: The stories of our times told by the people who were there.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-38301718/the-milk-miracle-that-brought-india-to-a-standstill

In September 1995, millions of Hindus were gripped by an apparent "miracle" when the god Ganesha seemed to be drinking milk.

24/04/2020

American Ethnologist //: A richly textured picture of the little known culture of a Buddhist nunnery, the book offers moving narratives of nuns struggling with the Buddhist discipline of detachment. Its analysis of the way in which gender and sexuality construct ritual and social power provides valuable insight into the relationship between women and religion in South Asia today.

Kim Gutschow, Williams College”Being a Buddhist Nun: The Struggle for Enlightenment in the Himalayas” 2004, Harvard University Press Press.

22/04/2020

The Independent 🎤: AT THE CENTRE of the Kashmir mosque siege lies a single hair of the Prophet Mohammed's beard, encased in a phial of gold and glass. Some Muslims say it has magic properties: move the hair near fire, and the fire dies. In its presence true believers are said to fall into an ecstatic swoon.

AT THE CENTRE of the Kashmir mosque siege lies a single hair of the Prophet Mohammed's beard, encased in a phial of gold and glass. Some Muslims say it has magic properties: move the hair near fire, and the fire dies. In its presence true believers are said to fall into an ecstatic swoon.