 In the heart of the great Himalayas is a beautiful valley which has been described by poets and emperors as paradise. Over the centuries, this verdant veil has seen the blossoming of many exquisite flowers of the philosophy of man. With the bountiful beauty of nature constantly around them, the people of Kashmir have always been filled by thoughts of the divinity of creation. In the Hindu imagination, this most beautiful valley is said to be the abode of gods. Amid these deeply forested hills, Lord Shiva is said to have narrated to His consort, Parvati, the sacred Amarkatha, the secret of immortality. In the ancient historical record of Kashmir's history, the Rajatangani, the writer Kalhan speaks of Kashmir's streams and cascades, the flower-strewn meadows, the soft cloud-draped sky, the far vistas of snow on the mountains, the dawn and sunset skies that hold all the roses and gold in an artist's palette. The enchanting beauty of the valley of Kashmir inspired Emperor Jahangir to write in his memoirs, the red rose, the violet and the narcissus, the grow of themselves. Truly this is the paradise of which priests have prophesied and poets have sung, agar fir dos par sami ast, hami ast, hami ast, hami ast. If there is a paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here. In ancient times Kashmir was known as Shardapeet, the seat of the goddess of learning. The Buddha himself is reported to have said that this beautiful valley would be the best place for meditation and prayer. Buddhism came to Kashmir soon after the life of the Buddha. The climate of free thinking and philosophical discussion initiated by Buddhism continued over the ages in this land of Sharda or Saraswati. Buddhist sages and saints continued to visit the blessed valley in centuries to come to exchange views with scholars here. Emperor Shok was the first great royal patron of Buddhism in Kashmir. In the third century BC he created the first capital of Kashmir where Srinagar is at present. He built hundreds of Chettias and Vihars and settled 5,000 Buddhist monks in the valley. With the Kushans came the golden age of Buddhism in Kashmir. Chettias, Vihars and stupas were built all across the valley. Most importantly the great Kushan ruler Kanishk held the fourth Buddhist council at Harwan near Srinagar in the first century. Learned monks and scholars converged here and sat here for 6 months to discuss and interpret sacred Buddhist texts. This was one of the greatest meetings of Buddhist intellectuals the world had seen. The fourth council was regarded as an epoch-making event in the history of Buddhism as it was here that Sanskrit became the vehicle of Buddhist scriptures. Many commentaries were composed at the council. These were also inscribed on copper plates and enshrined deep in the heart of a great stupa. With the fourth Buddhist council Mahayana Buddhism came into prominence for the first time. The earlier Hinayana form of Buddhism revered only symbols representing the Buddha and focused on the concept of the ascetic who renounced all worldly attainments. The Mahayana form of Buddhism which now became dominant, worshipped images of the Buddha and believed in benevolent Bodhisattvas who helped men on their path to salvation. The many attributes of the Buddha were personified in a pantheon of deities for men to meditate upon. The new form of Buddhism was filled with the joyous beauty of life and of nature which is seen everywhere in the valley. This marked the beginning of a great spread of the Buddhist faith northwards to the other countries of Asia. Numerous Buddhist monasteries were constructed across the vast expanses of Central Asia and China from where the faith spread also to Korea and Japan. The people of these countries had a keen desire to learn the philosophy of Buddhism and they made her Julian efforts to translate Buddhist scriptures into the Chinese and Japanese languages. The names of great scholars and translators illuminate the passages of the Buddhist history of China. The most outstanding of these was Kumarjeev of the 4th century. He was the son of a Kashmiri Pandit, Kumarayan and Princess Jeeva of Kucha. At the age of 9, his mother brought him to Kashmir where he studied Buddhism for many years. On his return to Kucha, he translated more than 40 important Buddhist texts including the Lotus Sutra into Chinese. These are among the major texts of Buddhism in China and Japan till today. His grasp of the Sanskrit language and the Chinese are so perfect that his translation is so erudite and so beautiful and even today there are so many other translations later on but the Chinese monk, if you ask them which translation do you like they would tell you as Kumarjeev and his translation I think I find very enchanting. The importance of Kumarjeev was so much that the Chinese took him away when they captured Kucha and till today there are monuments and statues of him built in China. The glorious Buddhist history of Kashmir is also recorded by a flow of Chinese pilgrims who visited the valley. Hewant Sang came to Kashmir in the year 631. He spent two years in Srinagar and studied Buddhist scriptures under a renowned Kashmiri teacher. Hewant Sang mentions numerous Buddhist institutions with more than 5,000 monks in the valley. In the meantime, the kings of the Tibetan plateau turned with a great eagerness and zeal to Kashmir to imbibe the sacred faith of Buddhism. The Sanskrit script of Sharda of Kashmir was taken to Tibet to form the basis of the first Tibetan script. In the 8th century, Shantarakshet from Kashmir laid the foundations of a monastic order in Tibet. He also appealed to the eminent sage Padmasambhav to visit Tibet and to help enlighten the people about the new faith. Padmasambhav who was teaching in Kashmir brought with him the chum, the monastic dance of the Lamas. This dance purifies the land and drives away all evil spirits. It also celebrates the victory of good over evil, man's conquest over his ego which binds him to negative and worldly desires. Till today Padmasambhav is the most revered teacher for all Buddhists in the Tibetan plateau and across the Himalayas. At the turn of the millennium, King Yeshe O of Tibet turned once again to Kashmir to revive the Buddhist faith. He sent 21 scholars to Kashmir over the high passes of the Himalayas. Out of these 21, 19 young men perished on the treacherous route. However, two of them survived and one named Rinchen Zangpo became famous as Loth Sava, the great translator of the Buddhist scriptures into Tibetan. King Yeshe O also invited 32 artists from Kashmir to construct and paint 108 monasteries which he built across the Trans-Himalayas. These monasteries became the backbone of Tibetan Buddhism for all time to come. The only examples of Kashmiri painting of the ancient period which survived to this day are found on the walls of these monasteries. These paintings depict the glorious culture of Kashmir. At the time when it was a busy crossroads of the world, Kashmir was then on an artery of the Silk Route which connected the lands of China and Central Asia with those of Europe. It was here in these busy market places that the Chinese rubbed shoulders with the Arabs, Greeks, Maharashtrians and Keralites. The rich fusion of arts and philosophy as well as lifestyles which took place here laid deep and strong foundations for Kashmir's culture which is one of the most refined and cosmopolitan in the world. In architecture Kashmir assimilated both the mainstream Indian concepts as well as those that came from Greece and Central Asia. This remarkable and beautiful fusion which took place here is seen in the impressive remains of the Martand Sun Temple and in other temple sites. Some of the grandest temples of India of the early period were made in Kashmir. Tiles from Harvan where the 4th Buddhist Council was held in the 1st century are the earliest surviving art which shows the beautiful confluence of cultures which took place in Kashmir. The three tiered Sumsteic temples which stand in Ladakh till today are an exquisite reminder of the architecture of Kashmir of the ancient period. The form of Buddhism which developed and spread from here was originally created in the great Nalanda and Vikramshila universities of Eastern India. This was the Vajrayan form of Buddhism or the vehicle of the Thunderbolt whose logic was supposed to be as clear and indestructible as the Thunderbolt. This form of Buddhism developed to great heights with interactions with Kashmir-shevism. From here it spread far and wide to Tibet, China, Korea and Japan where it is practiced till today. A great renaissance swept the length and breadth of Kashmir from 9th century onwards to 14th century. It was a philosophical renaissance, a philosophical revolution known as Kashmir-shevism. Kashmir-shevism presents the vision of the ultimate reality as indivisible consciousness. Indivisible and all-inclusive consciousness from which nothing is excluded, nothing stands outside it. Everything, every element has a place in the totality of the whole and everything is related to everything else. Sarvam Sarvatmakam as the tantric adage goes. It tried to integrate, it tried to synthesis the various opposing philosophies that existed at that time and it tried to give a logical explanation to things. Shiva or the ultimate reality is the only essence and reality of the world. There is nothing else but Shiva. So there is no subject and object. There is only Shiva and we are also Shiva. The dual perception of reality is the deceptive veil of the material world. Knowledge is that expansion of the self which comes from losing one's identity in the supreme beauty of Shiva's manifestation. For the adherence of Kashmir-shevism, liberation comes about through intense meditation on the Lord and recognition of the identical nature of the individual's soul and the Lord. Just as poetry or a piece of art lies in the imagination of the artist of the poet. The entire world of the entire phenomena lies within Shiva. The world is a form of self, his self-expression. It is his poetry. He is expressing himself in poetry. Shiva himself is transcendental beyond everything. But in his immanent form, in the form of the world, it is Shakti. It is his cosmic energy that manifests in every blade of grass that grows, every consciousness that stirs. Indian thinkers have always seen the world around as a reflection of the beauty of God. It has been believed that the feeling of ecstasy upon seeing the beauty of nature or a truly fine work of art is akin to Brahmanand or the final bliss of enlightenment itself. In that moment of bliss, we sense our oneness with the whole of creation and the great beauty of the Lord which is reflected in every aspect of the world. It is this moment of realization, this moment of the vision of eternal beauty which is to be seen in every leaf, in every ripple of water, in every flower and every tree which the philosophy of aesthetics aims at awakening within us. This philosophy has been developed to its highest in Kashmir. Great Kashmiri philosophers such as Abhinav Gupta have written detailed and extensive commentaries on the subject. Every moment of life according to Kashmiri Shaiva masters was an aesthetic experience, an aesthetic moment. Abhinav Gupta even believed that liberation is also an aesthetic experience. The valley of Kashmir has long been a paradise, not only of the verdant beauty of nature but also of the development of some of the finest and gentlest thoughts of mankind. The philosophers of this valley have had a joyous belief in the manifestation of the beauty of God in the world that we see around us. It is a deep belief that every aspect of creation is a part of the supreme consciousness. This philosophy of love and the recognition of divine beauty were the essence of the Buddhist and Hindu philosophies of the early period in Kashmir. Later Islam in the valley inherited these traditions of love and compassion and Kashmir developed a rich Sufi culture which continued the tradition of a deeply personal love of God. Amid its majestic mountains, Kashmir has been a marvellous crucible. It has seen the confluence of people from distant lands who have brought their diverse cultures. Different religions and influences of art and lifestyle have existed together at this ancient crossroads of the world. The people of Kashmir have taken the best and finest of what the world has to offer. Here was created a culture of understanding and love which has continued over the ages and is known as Kashmiryat. It is fascinating to visualize Kashmir in ancient times. Amid some of the greatest mountains of the world, this valley lay at the crossroads of culture. A great crucible where people and ideas came from some of the most developed civilizations of Asia and of Europe. Chinese, Arabs, Greeks, Maharashtrians and Keralites met in the marketplaces of Kashmir. Besides the exchange of goods from different lands, this resulted in a rich fusion of cultures and ideas of art and philosophy. Thus were laid the deep foundations of one of the most refined and cosmopolitan cultures of the world. If the beauty of the natural world reminds us of the creator, then surely one understands why so many religious philosophies have been developed here in Kashmir. For here is the magical splendor of nature's wealth. Here in Kashmir, visions of the Lord's glory are constantly in front of us. It is only natural that the unique form of Kashmiri Shaivism developed here. In this philosophy, there is a great emphasis on the worship of Shakti. Who is the manifestation in this world of the ideal that is Shiv? She is seen constantly in the beauty and grandeur of the great mountains. In crystal clear streams of water and in the deep beauty of the still lakes of Kashmir, it is also in these verdant surroundings that the noble philosophy of the Buddha was given a new form. The compassionate deities and bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism were embraced by the thinkers of Kashmir and a joyous and glorious dimension was added to the practice of Buddhism. The great Kashmiri saint and poetess Laldead, who deeply influenced Kashmiri thought for all time to come, spoke of the concept of the divine manifestation of God and the rapturous relationship of the soul with Him. Laldead was born in the 14th century at Pandarethan near Srinagar. By then the influence of Islamic Sufism, which also believed in a direct and personal love of God, had pervaded the valley. Laldead is not only a poet in whose verses or walks we hear the first heartbeats of Kashmiri poetry. She is also the greatest cultural icon of Kashmiri society. That is why every Kashmiri remembers her to this day and her verses are on the lips of everyone in Kashmir. In Laldead's verses, we find the essence of Kashmir's Shaivism distilled, which stresses on the essential oneness of consciousness, on the essential oneness of being or the unity of existence. And her greatness lies in the fusion of the poet and the saint. It is the fusion of the poet and the saint that makes her great. In her poems we see the poet's vision of spirituality and the saint's vision of poetry. Laldead brought a message of all embracing love and service. She sang, Shiv lives everywhere. Do not divide Hindu from Muslim. She spoke of the recognition of one's true self as a part of the whole of creation. Hers was a synthesis of mystical Shaivism and Islamic Sufism, which went straight to the hearts of the masses. She became Lalda Arifa for the Muslims and Lallishwari for the Hindus. Lalda became the moving spirit of the people. She was loved by both Hindus and Muslims as their mother. She is commonly known today throughout the valley by the beloved name of Laldead, Mother Lalda. And above all it was she who shaped the sense of values and ideals that forms the bedrock of Kashmiri ethos. The core of religion, according to Laldead, lies in the equality of men and women, human brotherhood and the realization of the unity between God and man. Lalda acknowledged the truth of all religions, which would help one attain the ultimate goal of supreme happiness. The sayings of Lalda embraced the beliefs of both the Hindu and Buddhist past of Kashmir and Islam, which was by then being taught by Shah Hamadan in the valley. Lalda's compositions or vaks are steeped in a loving humanism and remain the mainstay of the cosmopolitan culture of Kashmir. Laldead's philosophy of love was carried forward in the valley by Sheikh Nuruddin, also known as Namdrishi. He had been baptised by Lalda and he too lived in the hearts and minds of both Hindus and Muslims. In fact, he is known as the patron saint of Kashmir. Love for Nuruddin was not only a mystical union with God, but an active and sympathetic attitude towards all living creatures. He advocated vegetarianism in his teaching of the brotherhood of man and the equality of all the creatures of God. He continued the Islamic ethics contained in the Quran. He founded the Order of the Rishis, who became a powerful influence in the valley for many centuries to come. In his memoirs, Jahangir wrote about the Rishis. They restrain the tongue of desire and the foot of seeking. They eat no flesh and always plant fruit bearing trees and fields so that men may benefit from them. In every part of Kashmir, there have been well-known Rishis whose abodes have become places of worship, both for Hindus and Muslims alike. It is this mixing, this fusion which lies at the heart of the great Indian project of creating a multicultural society, a multi-religious society. I think these traditions exist in many parts of the country. There is a great deal more that I believe we can learn from the Kashmir experience, from the historical experience of Kashmir, which I think is pluralist, which is composite and which represents all that is best in our multicultural society. Sheikh Nuruddin's tomb, the Ziyarat of Charade Sharif, is one of the most important places of pilgrimage for both Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir till today. One of the paul bearers at Sheikh Nuruddin's funeral was Sultan Zain Ul Abidin, whose name stands out as the most beloved ruler in Kashmir's history. He is known as Badshah, the great king, and his life and rule were entirely imbued with the humane and cosmopolitan spirit of Kashmiriyat. He fostered a culture of synthesis and understanding. He took a personal interest in the translation of Sanskrit and Persian classics. Under him, a common poetry sprang up in the Kashmiri language, which was sung by both Hindus and Muslims. In this culture of unity and the philosophy of saints such as Sheikh Nuruddin, Sufism flourished. The most prominent of Sufi saints who came to Kashmir was Shah Hamadan of Persia. Hamadan was a follower of Islam but had faith in all religions. In Kashmir, Shah Hamadan came into contact with two of the most famous saints of the valley, Lalded and Sheikh Nuruddin. The thoughts of the Sufi mystic from Persia and those of the Kashmiri saints mingled so completely that the two cannot be differentiated. Islam in Kashmir owes its success to Shah Hamadan's remarkable role and his acceptance of local traditions. He continued the practice of singing the Orad Fateh, allowed in mosques. The remarkable feature of Islam in Kashmir is the fusion that has taken place in Kashmiri society at several different levels between the Islamic, the Buddhist and the Shaivite or Hindu traditions. Sufism believes in the imminence of God in all beings. It also believes that God is omnipotent and all-pervading. He is the essence of every human soul. Again, like Shaivism, it believes that the universe is a manifestation of God himself. The Kashmiri people related deeply to this concept of oneness and embraced this philosophy with open arms. Sufi is amazed, contrary again to popular belief, very much an indispensable element of Islam. But the Sufi emphasis is not on basically using intermediaries, in this case the ulama, or the more formal ways of associating oneself or identifying oneself with the ultimate reality, that is God, but establishing direct communion with the ultimate reality. It is this desire to seek communion which leads to what is called the mystical ways or the Sufi ways. They have devised different forms, samah or singing, singing of qawalis is one such way of seeking communion with the reality. A very important tradition in one form of Sufism is of course this notion that God has many attributes and that this society, this world, its people are essentially a manifestation of those attributes. And if they are the manifestations of the attributes of the ultimate reality, then there is no need to make any distinction between human beings. So a Hindu or a Muslim, a Christian or a Buddhist, they are all essentially manifestations of the attributes of the ultimate reality. People from all parts of the world, in all times, who have come to Kashmir, have responded most eloquently to its natural beauty. Indeed, in the timelessness of Kashmir's majestic landscapes, one's thoughts always turn to the divine. In bhakti, the self and all of creation are seen to be aspects of the creator. The soul is seen as constantly yearning to be one with the Lord. The bhakti poet writes, The glory of my Lord is everywhere that I see. I perceived His glory and found that I had become a part of it. In Islamic Sufism too, the believer sought a direct communion with God. He chose the path of absolute surrender and complete love of the Almighty. The whole of Sufism rests on the belief that when the individual self is lost, the universal self is found. Ecstasy is the means by which the soul can directly communicate and become united with God. The Kashmiri Sufi poets talk of the universal essence of love which filters through their poems. The pain of separation from the universal soul finds its poignant expression in Kashmiri Sufi poetry. The manifestation of God or His expression, His zahoor as they called, is this universe. His beauty is manifested in every particle of the universe. When the feeling of oneness comes into the mind of the poet or the aspirant, he feels ecstasy, he dances in ecstasy, in joy and that's called hal or vajda. That's the last stage, that's called fana or baka. Then nothing remains, then the individual soul and the universal soul become one just as in Shaivism. Sufis say that Nur or the beauty of God is reflected in the entire universe. They long to find that beauty and be one with it. In the words of a Sufi poet, I tried to find Him everywhere. And then I found that He has my name, that my name and His name are the same. The Sufis were held in highest team among the masses who followed their simple teachings with eagerness and understanding. Sufi saints stressed upon the dignity of man. For they thought that every individual should reach the highest goal of human life by his own effort. They rejected the special claim of sanctity of priests, temples, rites and rituals. The Sufis isolate themselves from the turmoil of everyday life. But they do not isolate themselves from people. They built khankhas where people could come, rest and listen to their discourse. Essentially khankhas exist today around a shrine and basically people come, devotees come to pay their homage to the Sufi in several different ways. The khankhas were places where members of different religious communities could congregate and interact. So that one of the reasons why so many Hindus and Buddhists were eventually converted to Islam was perhaps not through the use of sword or forcible conversion but through the examples that were set by the Sufi saints. Their messages which were disseminated through the established khankhas appealed to large sections of society. Aurangzeb's son Darashiko built a university of Sufism called Parimehal in Srinagar. What a message of human brotherhood and love would have emanated from the synthesis of Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu philosophies in Kashmir. To whichever religion the Kashmiri belonged, through the centuries it has been the yearning of his soul to lose himself in divine contemplation. Kashmir is a many splendid land which has always attracted sages and seers, emperors and scholars, poets and artists. Here in this great crucible of cultures, they have all contributed to create one of the most cosmopolitan places in the world. In this valley, religions have flourished and philosophies have been born, truly an enchanted land which has shown the way to the brotherhood of man. The development of civilization and culture leads to peace and harmony. The winds of other lands blow freely and people take from each other the best ideas and thoughts of different cultures. It is thus that the rich bouquet of the cultures of Kashmir developed and is today known as Kashmiriyat.