1 A sweet bread stuffed with dry fruits.
2 A Kashmiri saffron green tea.
3 Sugar
4 Friend
5 Money, coin
6 Swarnamula refers to a mountain in Sri Lanka where there were giant, flesh-eating birds from the race of Garuda, which humans could ride.
7 An ancient Indian mathematician.
8 He was the minister of war and peace under King Yasaskara in tenth century Kashmir.
9 Piss
10 Unkindled
11 Face
Selected Bibliography
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Edited by Christopher Key Chapple and Arindam Chakrabarti. Engaged Emancipation: Mind, Morals, and Make-Believe in the Mokṣopāya (Yogavāsiṣṭha). New York: State University of New York Press, 2015.
Chaudhury, Bani Roy. Folk Tales of Kashmir. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1983.
Chung, Tan. Himalaya Calling: The Origins of China and India. Singapore: World Scientific, 2015.
Das, Rahul Peter. The Origin of the Life of a Human Being: Conception and the Female According to Ancient Indian Medical and Sexological Literature. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2003.
Edited by Harsha V. Deheja and Makarand Paranjape. Saundarya: The Perception and Practice of Beauty in India, New Delhi: Samvad India Foundation, 2003.
Dhar, Somnath. Tales of Kashmir, New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1992.
Ganguli, Kisari Mohan, trans. The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Vol I–IV, New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Private Ltd., 1993.
Edited by Brenda E. F. Beck, Peter J. Claus, Praphulladatta Goswami and Jawaharlal Handoo. Folktales of India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Handoo, Lalita. Structural Analysis of Kashmiri Folktales. Mysuru: Central Institute of Indian Languages, 1994.
Hanneder, Jürgen. Studies on the Mokṣopāya. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006.
Edited by Jürgen Hanneder. The Mokṣopāya, Yogavāsiṣṭha and Related Texts. Aachen: Shaker Verlag, 2005.
Hariharan, Ramesh. Genomic Quirks: The Search for Spelling Errors, Bengaluru: Strand Life Sciences, 2016.
Kak, Subhash. The Loom of Time: On the Recursive Nature of Reality. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 2004.
———. The Architecture of Knowledge: Quantum Mechanics, Neuroscience, Computers and Consciousness. New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations, 2004.
———. The Nature of Physical Reality. Ontario: Mount Meru Publishing, 2016.
———. Mind and Self: Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra and Modern Science, Ontario: Mount Meru Publishing, 2016.
Koul, Omkar N. A Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs. New Delhi: Indian Institute of Language Studies, 1992.
Kumari, Dr Ved. The Nilamata Purana (Vol II). Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, 1968.
Knowles, J. Hinton. A Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs & Sayings. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1985.
———. Folklore of Kashmir. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, Reprint 1993.
Krishna, Gopi. Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man. Colorado: Shambala Publications, 1970.
———. The Dawn of a New Science. New Delhi: Kundalini Research and Publication Trust, 1978.
———. The Biological Basis of Religion and Genius. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.
Kutumbiah, P. Ancient Indian Medicine. New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1962.
Lakshmanjoo, Swami. Bhagavad Gita: In the Light of Kashmir Shaivism. Edited by John Hughes. Culver City: Lakshmanjoo Academy, 2013.
———. Vijñāna Bhairava: The Practice of Centring Awareness. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2003.
Langoo, Dalip, trans., Koori lullaby. Edited by Rakesh Kaul, 2018.
Naidu, Bijayetti Venkata Narayanaswami. Tandava Laksanam: The Fundamentals of Ancient Hindu Dancing. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Private Ltd., 2015.
Edited by N. M. Penzer. The Ocean of Story translation, Being C.H. Tawney’s Translation of Somadeva’s Katha Sarit Sagara Vol I–X. London: Chas. J. Sawyer, Ltd., Grafton House, 1924.
Polanyi, Michael. The Tacit Dimension. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966.
Pollock, Sheldon, trans. and ed. A Rasa Reader: Classical Indian Aesthetics. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.
Randall, Lisa. Warped Passages, Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions. New York: Harper Perennial, 2006.
Ramanujan, A. K. Folktales from India. New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 1994.
Ryder, Arthur W., trans. The Panchatantra. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Ltd., 1925.
Stein, Sir Aurel. Hatim’s Tales: Kashmiri Stories and Songs. New Delhi: Gyan Publishing House, First Reprint, 1989.
Tipler, Frank J. The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology God and the Resurrection of the Dead. New York: Doubleday, 1994.
Vatsyayan, Kapila. Bharata: The Natyasastra. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1996.
Venkatesananda, Swami. The Supreme Yoga: Yoga Vasistha. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 2006.
Tompkins, Chris, trans. Chakra System of the Universal Mother. Preserved as a scroll at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Wallis, Christopher, “The Blossoming of Innate Awareness”, tantrikstudies.org, 9 March 2018. Accessed 14 August 2018. https://hareesh.org/blog/2018/3/9/the-blossoming-of-your-awareness?rq=svabodh.
Wolf, Fred Alan. The Yoga of Time Travel: How the Mind Can Defeat Time. Wheaton: Quest Books, 2004.
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Bala Kavacha, ‘Protection of the Young Woman Goddess’. Shri Bālā, daughter of Tripurā, belongs to the retinue of indigenous Kashmir Goddesses, worshipped in the Agni-karya-paddhati, Devi-rahasya, etc.
Acknowledgements
I was pottering around through the fog that surrounds my daily existence when the phone rang. A young woman on the other end told me that I had been recommended to her by a mutual friend, Aaditya Kitroo. Her brief was simple. Would I write a book on Kashmiri folk tales for young adults?
I am like you. We all try so hard to say yes whenever a member of the next-generation makes a request of us, especially if a common friend is involved. I suppose we all think that, after all, it is for them that we exist.
‘But, but,’ I spluttered, ‘nobody reads that stuff. Not the adults and certainly not the young adults. They are armed with Google, so what’s the need for obsolete stories?’
‘Oh,’ she said. ‘We have folk tales from all parts of India but hardly any from Kashmir. Plus, Aaditya said that if there was anyone who could do this right, it would be you. Please . . .’
I sensed the disappointment in her voice. I thought about how I would have felt if the daughter that I never had would have been the one making the request of an author and got turned down. I weakened momentarily, overcome by a dohada wave that swept within me.
‘Okay, let me send you a short synopsis of what I could do. It will not be folk tales; it will be ancient folk tales. I warn you that it will be very different. I only do stuff that others are afraid to take on. If you like it, then we can move forward, and if you don’t, then I will not feel bad that I turned you down.’
We agreed to the pact, and in due course, I put some thoughts together. As part of it, I sent the outline to my adviser Amitav Kaul. As always, he gave it spine and coherence. Then I forwarded it to the young lady who had approached me, fully expecting that she would blanch on reading it and beat a hasty retreat.
Imagine my surprise when Arpita Nath, the commissioning editor for young adults at Penguin Random House India, responded positively and with great enthusiasm!
Thus was born Dawn: The Warrior P
rincess of Kashmir.
Arpita was not only the inspiration for the ambitious literary effort here but also an extraordinary cheerleader. She expanded my ability to write complex concepts in a simpler manner to make the book accessible to a younger and broader audience. She pulled me back from the edge whenever the story was at risk of veering off. She brought the inner emotions to life and the characters and their interplay become real. It was a literary jugalbandi between the author and the editor. For this, I am truly grateful.
The next impact players from the publisher’s team were Rujuta Thakurdesai, the cover designer who guided the incredibly talented artist Kalyanjyoti Mohan. He was the one to manifest the power and beauty of Dawn, the Niti warrior. While his creativity is unique, he exercised it completely conforming to the canonical inputs that he was provided. The smart book cover is a tour de force in that each aspect carries intelligence within it even as it pleases aesthetically.
Vijesh Kumar and Sameer Mahale, the latter of whom I had known from before got involved in the story from early days. Representing Sales, they were an extremely reassuring proxy signal for a novel, which was going to straddle Time and Space. Aditi Batra, the copy editor, was veritably hawk-eyed. Much as I thought that as a result of many revisions, I was submitting perfection, I learnt that my blind spots will always limit me, needing an editor like her. Srishti, marketing publicist, took the story to the world and popularized it. All authors love apostles and Srishti’s case is no different.
My family has remained supportive of this late blooming tangent to my professional career. To our sons, Shiva and Dhruva, my hope is that this story will reveal to them how to face the world in a manner that enables them to have it all. My wife, Sushma, has opened new worlds for me, which helped shape considerable portions of this novel. Sushma has been a great teacher of the Maha pathway and a joyful life companion. This novel would not have been possible without her support and understanding.
I have memory and therefore I am free. My late parents, Radha Krishan and Ragya Kaul were always uppermost in my mind when I thought of the cultural context of the stories that I wrote. My brother, Rajiv Kaul, is a profile in courage and grit.
The ancient, Niti storytellers of my land were constant sources of inspiration. Some are known like Pandit Vishnu Sharma whose stories remain the most widely translated in the world. Somadeva, Kalhana, Jonaraja, Srivara are a veritable treasury. Hatim maintained the tradition of oral storytelling until British times. Then there are the unknowns, the author of Yoga Vasistha, the Nilamata Purana and many others. What amazing alchemy did they weave!
Finally, as I look at this novel, one conclusion is inescapable. I did not write it. Whoever or whatever guided me in this writing, I offer my salutations. May the muse of Kashmir accept this wondrous literary manifestation with a smile from the lucky and humbled recipient of her gifts.
THE BEGINNING
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This collection published 2019
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This digital edition published in 2019.
e-ISBN: 978-9-353-05650-6
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Dawn Page 26
