The Making of Early Kashmir by Muhammad Ashraf Wani & Aman Ashraf Wani

Author:Muhammad Ashraf Wani & Aman Ashraf Wani
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2023-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Religion

Though the revival of Brahmanism in Kashmir had begun not later than the fifth century CE, the Hun rule witnessed its ascendency following the patronage extended to it by both the Hun rulers and those who ruled between them. The contemporary play Padataditaka, written in the fifth century while ridiculing the Jataka tales, calls brahmanas ‘gods on earth’ (bhumideva). They are described as learned in the three Vedas and as students of grammar and logic. ‘All of this’ says Witzel “allows one to conclude that the Hindu organization of the social system, typical for the Gupta period in northern India, was well established in Kashmir by the late fifth century.”444 The Hun occupation of Kashmir, however, proved to be a decisive period in the saga of brahmanical religion’s movement to becoming a dominant tradition. Minus one ruler, namely, Meghavahana, all the rulers of the period were either Śaivites or Vaiṣṇavas. With regard to cultic ascendancy, Śiva cult remained supreme until the assumption of power by Pravarasena II at the end of the sixth century CE. From Pravarasena II up to the end of the Hun rule, Vaiṣṇavism enjoyed royal patronage. Yet, except for Mihirakula, the rulers generally followed a tolerant policy towards the other faiths and cults. The later phase of the Hun rule, that is, from Pravarasena II onwards, is distinctively remarkable in this regard as we find them patronising equally all faiths and cults, though they were personally more gravitated towards Vaiṣṇavism. It was this legacy which was inherited by the Karkotas. Kalhana and other sources furnish a good deal of information about the religious propensities and activities of the rulers of the period, and the same is summarised later.

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