Lost Shangri La
Book Specification
| Item Code: | IDD222 |
| Author: | S. Sapru |
| Publisher: | Decent Books |
| Language: | English |
| Edition: | 2001 |
| ISBN: | 8186921176 |
| Pages: | 174 |
| Cover: | Paperback |
| Other Details | 8.4" X 5.5" |
Book Description
The land of Kashmir celebrated as paradise on earth for its scenic beauty, has an equally enchanting historical and cultural past: this is the place symbolizing India's cultural unity, where different cultures have prospered at different times, where scholars from all over Indian and the distant lands of Mesopotamia, Persia and China converged to imbibe learning in ancient times.
The author S. Sapru here unravels the glorious past of Kashmir, he discusses its importance as the centre of Sanskrit learning in he bygone eras; its achievements in music, dance, drama, sculpture, language and literature, and philosophy marked by the artistic and literary contributions of eminent men like Jayaditta, Bhatta, Jayadhara, Pingla and Abhinavagupta. Referring to various historical works and combining facts with legend, folklore and impressions from oral traditions, he presents a graphic picture of life and times in the valley in the past that deals with a range of themes like the land mythology, statecraft, trade links, urban centres, tax system, system of crime and punishment and an ancient tourist's impressions of the valley, through a smooth-flowing narrative that makes the book extremely readable, the author points out that there is more to Kashmir than the present day spate of violence; the land and its people have an essential Indianness common to other people of India and Kashmir's link with the rest of India Cannot be severed.
About the Author
The Author is a senior journalist who has been associated with the leading newspapers- The India Express, The Pioneer and The Deccan Herald. Presently, Consulting Editor for the Reference Encyclopedia India 2001 and Consultant to Enbee Technologies, he is the winner of prestigious awards including the press Foundation of Asia-Mitsubishi, Journalist of the year Award 1987. He is the Author of many books based on his varied experiences as a journalist: among them are The News Merchants (1982), The Pioneer Saga (1989), The Sky Hawks.
| Foreword | v | |
| Preface | vii | |
| 1 | The killing fields of Kashmir | 1 |
| 2 | Beauty and violence | 5 |
| 3 | Looking closely at the head | 9 |
| 4 | Hoary past and a seat of ancient learning | 13 |
| 5 | Where did the kashmiris came from | 17 |
| 6 | A symbol of India's cultural unity | 25 |
| 7 | Centres of Excellence | 29 |
| 8 | Their literary and artistic achievement | 33 |
| 9 | Aesthetics-the fragrance of life | 37 |
| 10 | Folklore is the spice of Life | 41 |
| 11 | Manmadhan's arrows don't spare even kings | 45 |
| 12 | Will Manmadhan fail | 49 |
| 13 | Fine arts need no frontiers | 53 |
| 14 | If music be the food of love, then play on | 57 |
| 15 | A picture is worth a thousand words | 61 |
| 16 | Etched in stone, they sing silently | 65 |
| 17 | The arrow that boomeranged | 69 |
| 18 | A wedding at Mount Kailash | 73 |
| 19 | Narada-Scribe Extraordinary | 79 |
| 20 | Rationalizing the rituals | 85 |
| 21 | The thread that joins us together | 87 |
| 22 | Celebrating what, when and why | 91 |
| 23 | Valley and the empire | 95 |
| 24 | Is civilization only urban | 99 |
| 25 | An ancient tourist's impressions | 105 |
| 26 | Enter the dragon | 109 |
| 27 | Trust in God, she will provide | 113 |
| 28 | The nuts and bolts of Statecraft | 117 |
| 29 | Timeless wonders, our villages | 121 |
| 30 | Manning the ramparts | 125 |
| 31 | The curse of taxes | 131 |
| 32 | Whose money is it anyway | 135 |
| 33 | Trade links across the world | 141 |
| 34 | Crime, justice and punishment | 145 |
| 35 | The generation gap | 151 |
| 36 | Kashmir Saivism and the Southern link | 153 |
| 37 | Spreading the Buddha's gospel | 159 |
| Bibliography | 165 | |
| Index | 167 |
