Dear Colleagues,

I would like to bring a new publication to your attention (in Sanskrit and German):

 

Walter Slaje, Śrīvara: Kaschmir unter den Šāhmīrīden. Śrīvaras Jaina- und Rājataraṅgiṇī, A.D. 1451–1486. Vier zeitgeschichtliche Herrscherviten eines indo-persischen Sultanats. Mit annotierter Übersetzung neu herausgegeben.

Halle 2022. 618 pp.  138,00 € (ISBN 978-3-86977-252-3)

Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis | Volume 20

 

[Śrīvara’s Kashmir under Šāhmīrī Rule (Jaina- and Rājataraṅgiṇī, A.D. 1451–1486). Four Contemporary Rulers’ Biographies of an Indo-Persian Sultanate]

 

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 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 account, written as an eyewitness, is 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. This includes, among others, extremes of refined drinking culture and wild boozing, of charity and unspeakable cruelty, of public impalements and spring festivals among dance, music, song and fireworks, observations of bravery, cowardice and betrayal, Śrīvara’s criticism of hunting, his criticism of Muslim inhumation, etc.

The consolidation of 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 mainly consisting of indigenous Kashmiris (kāśmīrika) and those siding with the immigrants from abroad (paradeśīya, vaideśika). These events are of particular research interest for tracing 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.

 

The Sanskrit texts of Śrīvara’s Jaina- and Rājataraṅgiṇīs have been newly established and are accompanied by an annotated German translation on facing pages. Indexes to names, titles and toponyms provided with geographic coordinates conclude the volume.

 

Details and orders at:

https://uvhw.de/studia-indologica/product/211230_08-252-3.html

 

Link to the series:

https://uvhw.de/studia-indologica.html

 

With all good wishes for a happy, healthy

and academically rewarding New Year,

 

Walter Slaje