Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of KashmirDespite its centrality to the political life of India and Pakistan, Kashmir has met with rather perfunctory treatment from historians of South Asia. The few works of history and politics that have appeared on this region, moreover, insist on defining Kashmiri culture, history, and identity in terms of the ahistorical concept of Kashmiriyat, or a uniquely Kashmiri cultural identity. This book, in contrast, questions the notion of any transcendent cultural uniqueness and Kashmiriyat by returning Kashmir to the mainstream of South Asian historiography. It examines the hundred-year impact of indirect colonial rule on Kashmirs class formation. It studies the uses (and abuses) made of Kashmirs political elites by the state. It looks at the responses of Kashmirs society to social and economic restructuring. It shows that while all these historical changes had a profound impact on the political culture of the Kashmir Valley, there is nothing very inevitable or quite definite about the 'political regionalism' and 'Islamic particularism' of this area. Using local language sources and every important archive, this major history of the formation of Kashmir shows precisely how the Kashmir Valley assumed the position it has come to occupy in postcolonial South Asia. |
Contents
Jama Masjid Srinagar From Chitralekha Zutshis | 7 |
MulkiKashmir History Memory | 16 |
A Threat to Kashmiriyat? The Mughals in KashmirBaghiSulei | 34 |
Copyright | |
18 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir Chitralekha Zutshi No preview available - 2004 |
Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir Chitralekha Zutshi No preview available - 2003 |
Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir Chitralekha Zutshi No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
administration Afghan Ahmadiyya Anjuman articulation Bazaz British India claimed colonial Congress cultivators darbar decade Delhi demands Devnagari discourse disputes Dogra economic elite Furthermore Ghulam Gilgit grain Hamdard Hindu History of Kashmir Ibid Indian National Indian National Congress Islam jagir jagirdars Jalal Jammu and Kashmir Jammu State Archives Kash Kashmir Valley Kashmiri Muslim community Kashmiri Pandits Kashmiri political Kashmiriyat Khan kharwar Lahore land settlement language leaders Maharaja miri Mirwaiz Mirwaiz Kashmir Mohammad mosque Moulvi movement Mughal Muslim Conference Muslim leadership National Conference nationalist nineteenth century Nooruddin officials organization Pakistan particularly peasants period Persian pirs poem poetry policies Political Department population preaching Press princely Punjab Qari Quran Ranbir regime regional religion religious affiliations religious identities Report revenue rule rulers Sabha Sayyid schools Shah shali shawl trade Sheikh Abdullah shrine significantly Sikh Singh social Srinagar state's twentieth century urban Urdu Valley of Kashmir village Wahhabi