Whose Kashmir Is It Anyway?

- Veejay Sai

ON A COLD winter morning in Kashmir, a thousand years ago, a renowned writer put his pen down after writing the final verse in his last book titled Ishwarapratyabinya Vimarsini. If you think today’s winters are intolerable, think of what they might have been a thousand years ago! It was the winter solstice of 1015. He was 66 years old. It is believed that he made his exit from this world five years later. He thanked all his teachers, 19 of them. He had by then written over 44 works that could be largely categorised into four areas of his interest. Tantra or occult sciences, hymns to various gods, philosophy and aesthetics. Out of these, only 21 have survived. The other works find mention and are cited by later scholars. This grand polymath Abhinavagupta and his contributions to Indian thought, philosophy and aesthetics are not an exaggeration by any means. His literary achievements make him look like a mythological character. All these couldn’t have been possibly written by one person! Could he have lived in such interesting times? We will return to his story later in this piece.

Around the same time, in the Chola kingdom in Tamil Nadu, Raja Raja Chola built the grand temple of lord Brihadeeshwara , the edifice of which continues to inspire awe till date in Thanjavur. Shaivism and Shakta worship had spread across the land. Kashmir was one of the major centres of learning. This year commemorates one thousand years of Abhinavagupta. A whole generation would ask, who was he in the first place? It is important to know the rich cultural and literary history of the most “controversial” piece of Indian geography.