Celebrating seven centuries of Lalleshwari this year, attention has again been drawn, by the Kashmiri Pandit community, to pay attention to the ongoing narrative of Lal Ded that shifts the ancestral cultural and intellectual capital of Kashmiri Hindus away to credit her insights, literary genius, religious values and philosophy to Islamic sources such as Sufism.…
Lal Ded was deeply influenced by the Shaiva philosophy of Kashmir as reflected in Shaiva metaphysical content of her poetry but in her heart and deeds she remains a common man’s poet. If we keenly observe her life and poetry it can be said with confidence that she neither struggled to become a poet nor…
Dear Readers, Lalded or Lalleswari has dominated the linguistic, cultural and spiritual landscape of Kashmir since the last 700 years. Born in early 14th CE, she cultivated the moral and ethical tapestry in the minds and hearts of people. Her out pouring in the form of vaakhs, are part and parcel of Kashmiri day to…
On 26 Aug 2020, falls the Lalleshwari Jayanti. Lalleshwari, lovingly called Lalla Ded (1335-1376 CE) by Kashmiris, was born at Pandrethan, near Srinagar, in Kashmir, over 600 years ago. She was born in most critical and turbulent times, when the indigenous beliefs and the alien value systems were clashing ominously with the advent of Islam…
Dear Readers, PM Modi’s recent visit to Leh and to other forward posts gave a strong message to China when he said, “The age of expansionism is over, now it is the age of development. History is witness that such expansionist powers were either destroyed or forced to retreat.” This strong message was the result…
SINO INDIAN CONFLICT IS BACK IN FOCUS For decades after Peoples Liberation Army of China invaded Tibet on 7 Oct, 1950, and later in fifties bit off Aksai Chin from India’s Jammu and Kashmir state in Ladakh, the loss of such strategic territory has remained as remote from people’ minds as the area itself. Today,…
Short story Since morning today the sky was covered by a thick blanket of clouds. Not a single ray of sun was visible. By the afternoon the wind started blowing. Zaina Ded came down from the upper story of her house sat on the verandah of house and while gazing at the sky she wondered…
Master Zinda Koul has been a famous poet and a great educationist of Jammu &Kashmir. He has also the credit of being first Sahitya Academy Awardee of the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state. Master Zinda Koul’s ancestors were originally from Tahab village of Pulwama, Kashmir. About a hundred years or so, when one of them…
We cannot change our history. It could be glorious or shabby; aggressive or suppressive; about people with high or low morals;charismatic or mundane; rich in culture or culturally bereft – all weaved in the fabric of time and space. Being our history,we have to accept it withoutfeeling guilty, demoralized or boastful. But, we must know…
The land of kashyapa has given many scholars and poets to the world, who have dazzled us with their poetry and literary brilliance. In the world of literature names like; Lal Ded, Arnimal, Roopa Bhawani, Habba khatoon are quintessential and one amongst these names is Master Zinda Kaul. On 136thJayanti of Master ji, we remember…
