Dhruv Kotru Profile picture
Learning, Unlearning & Re - learning.
May 20, 2022 10 tweets 8 min read
From Tip of the Tongue to Manuscript - A Brief History of Vaakh's of Lal Ded -
There is nothing greater in Kashmiri literature than the Vaakhs of the 14th century's great Saint- poetess #LalDed. There is perhaps no Kashmiri who does not have a Vaak on the tip of his (1/9) #LALDED #LALVAAKHS tongue. The popularity of these sayings is so ubiquitous that an average Kashmiri always finds use of one or the other Vaaks during conversation to make a point with the desired emphasis. However, even as the Vaaks are popular but the story of their compilation is barely (2/9) #Manuscript #LallaVaakhs
May 7, 2022 12 tweets 12 min read
India's oldest written history Rajatarangini - The Ancient Political History of Kashmir.
A thread...
#Rajatarangini was authored by a Kashmiri Brahmin named Pandit Kalhana. Written in the 12th century, (1/11) its original manuscript called Codex Archetypus was a heirloom of single family for 9 generations. The seventh descendant was the famed #Saivite Sivopdhyaya. (2/11)
Apr 28, 2022 16 tweets 10 min read
Kashmiri Pandits owe it to Sir Marc Aurel Stein.

The caption sounds a bit unrealistic but nothing is more truer. The #KPs had produced in the past an enormous amount of literature written in Sanskrit but all that lay secretively (1/14) A Thread #AurelStein in the possession of their owners who guarded them like sacred amulets.Everything lay hidden and unknown about Kashmir's Hindu era until the last quarter of the 19th century. Even the KPs themselves were ignorant of the glorious achievements of their ancestors. It was (2/14)
Apr 25, 2022 12 tweets 8 min read
Kashmir: The Fountainhead of World’s Folk Literature
#TuJantaHeKyaHaiKashmirKeBareMai - A Thread
Credits: #SNPArchives
Atop the Mount Kailasa Shiva narrates the stories of seven Kings of Vidayadharas to his wife Parvati. Overheard by his invisible attendant Kausambi, (1/11) #TuJantaHeKyaHaiKashmirKeBareMai - A Thread #SNPArchives he brings the stories to humans. Kanabhuti narrates the stories in #Paisachi that #Gunadhya in service of King Satavahana converts them to writing. Comprising of 7 lakh Slokas written in blood, yet the king Satavahana despised the effort for having been written in (2/11)