Let’s examine this claim for a moment. We shall here examine Korean, Chinese, Arabic and Persian sources to determine what the natives of these lands considered the political, social and religious inclinations of the valley of Kashmir. Thread

In his itinerary of North India, the famous Korean Buddhist monk Hyecho counts Kashmir as a part of India.

Source: Hye Ch’o Diary: Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Regions of India This view is mirrored by the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang.

Reference - The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions by Xuanzang

Goddess Durga (Mahiśa-mardini) excavated from Deylaman, Iran. It was initially described as the head of the ancient Iranian goddess Drvaspa, attached to a spout in the form of a bull's head. The cult of this Goddess was very popular with the Hephthalites, which suggests a political motive behind its patronage.

Hint: invading Hunnic tribes often had a Buffalo as their tribal symbal.

Persianate culture in the Indian subcontinent during Mughal rule, mainly Jalaluddin Akbar and Dara Shukoh. A very short thread ✨️

Dara Shikoh with his army 👑 Dara Shikoh was the eldest and preferred son of Emperor Shahjahan. His religious views alligned neatly with Sufi mysticism.

Ali Mardan Khan, the Kurdish Shia governor of Kashmir and the Mughal Emperor Shah
Jahan, writes an ode to Lord Shiva in the Shalimar Baghs in the backdrop of the Dal Lake and the snowy Pir Panjal mountains in the Farsi language.





Apparently, he was informed about the appearance and characteristics of the Lord by his followers, which he later saw in his dream, convinced it was him. He wrote an entire poem in Farsi to commemorate this moment, which has been immortalised by Kashmiri mystics and Sufis.

Vedic Aryans conduct a Yajna fire ritual in the snow capped mountains of Gandhāra, in an era when Hinduism flourished in Gandhāra. Thread.

https://twitter.com/ArainGang/status/1611561026352451584

As early as the 6th century BCE, the religion of Gandhāra was Late Vedic, exceptions like the Kalashas existed who followed an even more ancient version of the religion. The great Indian Panini belonged to this region as well.

Hindu Shahi king Anandapala, with his teacher Ugrabhuti, overlooking Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Gandhāra). Al-Biruni informs us that Ugrabhûti wrote a treatise on grammar named Sishyahitavritti which he tried selling in Kashmir, but the residents of that land were fairly haughty and conservative in such regards, and hence didn’t pick up the book.

Since this is in the news, I think it’s time for a brief introduction to Kalasha history.

Thread

https://twitter.com/Nazranausufzai/status/1699413330878947406

The Kalasha are the last polytheistic people of the Hindu Kush and are are the last shred of a vast and multifarious polytheistic world. They number not more than 4000 souls, and are only spread among 3 valleys of Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - Rumbur, Bumburet and Birir.

A thread on the worship of the Vedic deity Indrā in the former Kafiristan (Nuristan) , Afghanistan. In 1948, the Danish organised a field trip to southern Kafiristan led by Lennart Edelberg and discovered the mythical community-owned forest/orchard/‘vineyard’ and wine-making centre Indrak’un, the ‘garden’ of the deity Indr (the Kafir version of the Vedic deity Indra),

Today I learnt that in the final confrontation between the Zunbils and the Saffarids, the former had used war elephants against the forces of Ya'qūb ibn al-Layth al-Saffār. This isn’t surprising though, since regions south of the Hindu Kush mountains were considered Indian domains at the period. Yaqub though refrained from using them citing the Qur’ānic traditions of elephants being inauspicious.

Dogra attitudes towards cow slaughter in their kingdom. Thread. The Dogras under Gulab Singh Jamwal reserved the most brutal punishments for cow slaughter. Very often, beef eaters had their ears and noses cut off. At another instance, several houses of farmers were burned down.

Another offender's hair was sprinkled with oil and set aflame.

“I shall make Qandahar empty of living beings, and leave no seed of the Afghan race on earth.”

Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao to Sadhashivrao Bhau. "You profess to be a Hindu; but
how is it that you have kept this mosque stand- ing so long?"

Sadhashivrao Bhau to Maharaja Surajmal.