The Kashmiri sword till Central Asia :
“For rivers which have been cut from their own region, the ocean is the limit. But nowhere is there a limit, for those who are frankly aspiring to be conquerors.”
Islam attempted to enter Bharat in 712 AD, when Mohammed-Bin-Kasim tried to attack Multan. Unfortunately, the History taught to us, illustrates the difficult times faced by Bharatiya kings between 1020 AD to 1025 AD as a result of the attack by Mohammed of Ghazni. But the historical works does not tell us about the courageous journey of Bharatiya kings which kept the Islamic invaders away from entering Bharatiya soil for 300 years!
The name of Emperor Lalitaditya Muktapida, has been of paramount ranking as idol of Prowess and Gumption, in the history of Kashmir.
Lalitaditya was born in the Karkota dynasty, which was founded by his father Durlabhvardhan. Originally, Durlabhvardhan was an officer in the kingdom of King Baladitya of Gondaliya dynasty. Baladitya got his daughter Ananglekha married to him as a reward for his loyalty. Durlabhvardhan or Pratapaditya, as he was known, and his other Queen Narendraprabha had three sons named Chandrapida or Vajraditya, Tarapida or Udayaditya and Muktapida or Lalitaditya.
Lalitaditya’s tenure of thirty seven years as ruler of Kashmir is a magnificent portrayal of successful military movements, spectacular warfare and his deep rooted desire to become the Universal Conqueror.
Like Alexander the Great, Lalitaditya also remained tirelessly engrossed in combat using his unique skill of warfare.
Lalitaditya defeated Punjab, Kanauj, Badkhasha and Peking and returned back as victor after Twelve long years.
First challenge faced by Lalitaditya was from King Yashovarman, who belonged to the Pushyabhuti dynasty and was heir of Emperor Harshvardhan. Lalitaditya fought a bitter battle with Yashovarman’s kingdom Antarvedi and forced Yashovarman to initiate peace talks. His capital city was Kanyakubja which is currently known as Kanauj.
In the Vindhya region in South, King Lalitaditya helped Queen Ratta of Karnata dynasty against the foreign invasions.
It is believed that Bappa Rawal of Mewar was Lalitaditya ‘s close friend and both of them together fought against the foreign invaders.
Emperor Lalitaditya’s kingdom extended till Bihar, Bengal and Odisha, due to his exceptional military skills. Gujarat, Malwa and Mewad, too came under his reign and he and his Kashmiri army’s valorous chivalry made the biggest of kingdoms to bow down. Kashmir, during Emperor Lalitaditya ‘s regim was the most powerful state extending its border to Tibet in the East and Iran and Turkey in the West. It touched Central Asia in the North to Seashores of Odisha and Dwarika in the South.
During those times, Chinese Military technology and techniques were far superior than the ones used in the Bharatiya subcontinent. Lalitaditya recruited a large number of Chinese mercenaries and strategists in his army which gave him an edge over his rivals. His chief strategist and commander-in-Chief, was a man called Cankunya, who might have been Chinese as Can-Kiun means a General in mandarin. King Lalitaditya had even opened an Embassy in China.
The mention of Lalitaditya Muktapida’s successful military expedition is found in a letter by Sindh ruler Dahir‘s to Islamic invader Mohammed Bin Kasim, “If I had sent the King of Kashmir against You, on whose threshold the kings of Bharat have bow down, the one who has capacity to concuss the entire Bharatvarsh including the countries of Makran and Turan.” (Quoted from “Kashmir Samasyaa aur Prishthabhoomi” by Gopinath Shrivastav.)
Emperor Lalitaditya was not just an excelled warrior and victor king but also a Tactonics and Literary scholar. He was a matchless administrator, too. He prevented any kind of internal uprising and fricative or communal frictions. He ruled Kashmir for 37 years from 724 to 761 CE. His rule is considered to be the Golden age of Kashmir, when Art, Architecture, Culture and Learning flourished along with Military supremacy. Due to his great conquests, writers and scholars have termed him “Alexander of Kashmiri history”.
As M A Stein, the renowned Indologist, who translated the notable work of Kalhan’s Rajtarangini (River of Kings), states on page 60 of the translation of Rajtarangini, “ It is not possible to locate each town, stadtchen or the ruins of King Lalitaditya ‘s era but whatever has been found speaks volumes about the popularity of its creator Lalitaditya. The devastate of Martand Sun Temple, which was constructed on the same spot as the pilgrimage centre, is the master piece of Bharatiya Architecture. In its present form of wreckage, these wrecks, its structure as well as Architectural designs and its beauty are appreciated.”
King Lalitaditya inspired businesses and initiated Art and Cultural heritage. Promoting Art in every form, Painters and Sculptors were promoted for their skill. Lalitaditya, himself was a successful author and also played the musical instrument Veena. The breathtakingly beautiful Martand Sun Temple is the tribute to Bhagwan Bhaskar Suryadevara (Aaditya). Emperor himself belonged to Kshatriya Surya Vansh. Martand Sun temple is anexample of his unforgettable legacy, standing tall, reminiscing of the golden era.
The ruins of Martand Sun temple built by Lalitaditya are located five miles from Anantnag. The temple was built on a plateau from which the entire valley of Kashmir and the Pir Panjal range can be seen. Apart from the grand scale of this temple complex it blends the architectural styles like the Gandharan, Gupta and Chinese, showing the various influences on Lalitaditya ‘s kingdom from Central Asia, China and from the Gangetic plain. The temple consisted of a central shrine surrounded by 84 smaller shrines. While the temple was destroyed in the 15th century CE on order of Sultan Sikandar Butshikan, its impressive wreckage still stands tall.
Quoting Francis Younghusband, British Explorer, famous for his travels in Central Asia, writes in his book, Kashmir…
“On a perfectly open and even plain, gently sloping away from a background of snowy mountains looking directly out on the entire length both of the smiling Kashmir Valley and the snowy ranges which bound it – so situated in fact is to be encircled, yet not overwhelmed by, snowy mountains – Stand the ruins of a temple second only to the Egyptian in massiveness and strength and to the Greek in elegance and grace…
No one without an eye for natural beauty would have chosen the special site for the construction of a temple and no one with an inclination to the ephemeral and transient would have built it on such a massive and enduring scale.”
The Lalitaditya era is marked in history as a period of affluence. Emperor Lalitaditya controlled important centres along the Silk route, which ran through Central Asia.
Kashmir was plagued with continuous floods due to silting of Jhelum River. King Lalitaditya is said to have cleared the silting and created canals to bring water to far flung areas. He is also said to have reclaimed swamps and built dams in low lying areas to make them fit for cultivation.
Kalhan in his Rajtarangini, has also mentioned that Lalitaditya erected water wheels to supply water for irrigation.
Lalitaditya also created victory monuments on foreign soils that were conquered by him. There are mentions of two such cities named Sunishchitpur and Darpitpur in Rajtarangini but they have been completely demolished by the Muslim invaders. Lalitaditya founded the city of Parihaspur or the “Smiling city” located 22 kms from Srinagar. This city is currently known as Paraspore. He also built two towns named Phalpur and Parnotsav. Currently, the town of Shadipur is the original Phalpur and the current town of Poonch is the original town of Parnotsav, built by the king.
Lalitaditya had built a huge temple in the original town of Lalitpur, which at present is known as Letapur. The emperor had built a large Baudh Vihar and Buddha temple in Hushkpur, which is currently called Ushkur.
As Kalhan notes in Rajtarangini,
Lalitaditya had built an idol of Narhari, which was suspended in air by fixing magnets above and below it, an idol of Mukta-Keshav’s made of 979 kg.of Gold, an idol of Parihaspur-Keshav’s, made of 3600 kg of Silver, A Vishnu pillar which measured 54 hands in height and had an image of Garuda on top and A large statue of Buddha made of 62,000 kg of Copper, which in Kalhan’s words, ‘reach upto sky’.
Emperor Lalitaditya worshipped Lord Vishnu and Vishnu Pooja was an essential part of his daily life. His greatness is visible in his ardent belief in सर्व धर्म समभाव, tolerance towards other religious beliefs and citizens of his kingdom. Though Emperor Lalitaditya was a staunch Hindu, he always respected the other religious ideology and its followers.
During his tenure, massive Bauddh Vihar was constructed. The emperor donated 84,000 Tola of Gold for its creation, hence the Buddh Vihar was addressed as RajVihar. One of the commanders was a Buddhist and many of his high-ranked officers followed various other religious beliefs. Being the lore curator, scholars within and across Bharat visited his court and Lalitaditya gave them due honour.
Historian Bamjai, mentions in his work “History of Kashmir” on page 124, “After defeating the king of Kanauj, Yashovarman, king Lalitaditya brought two of the illustrious poets of Kanauj, named Bhavbhuti and Pakshpatiraj and settled them in Kashmir bestowing catchet.”
Lalitaditya invited many ingenious persons from across the globe to Kashmir. Foreign historian Al-Baruni has noted in his famous piece of writing in , “ Tarikhe-e-Hind”, that the Emperor had appointed a Turk named Kanyakunya as his minister. Later, Kanyakunya embraced Buddhism. A tradition of celebration to mark Emperor Lalitaditya’s victory over Turkestan, started during his tenure and continued for centuries.
Emperor Lalitaditya was epitome of Hindu pride and symbol of Hindu Tolerance and large heart. Emperor passed away in 761 CE. Martand Sun temple is the only surviving monument to remind us of this great king of Kashmir.
Bharat’s recent Military success over China in reclaiming strategic posts like Black Top and Finger 4 by pushing the latter back has given all Bharatiyas to rejoice and swell with pride.
Bharat’s strategic victory has inspired many to draw parallels between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and valorous King Lalitaditya Muktapida.
The strategy of Hindu king Lalitaditya in 7th century CE, was similar to Surgical Strike in the enemy territory.
But, unfortunately the name of Lalitaditya Muktapida has been totally unfamiliar to a vast majority of Bharatiyas, despite the fact that he had been the mightiest ruler of Bharat, reigning over the largest of the territories, stretching from Kashmir to Central Asia and from Uzbekistan to Sunderbans in Bengal.
He was perhaps the only ruler who made Akhand Bharat, a reality, also extending the territory of Bharat to the neighbouring countries and beyond.
Lalitaditya empire was bigger than that of Mughal. Yet, he never plundered the territories captured by him, nor did he destroy the art, culture, architecture or ethnicity of those regions, unlike the Islamic and the other foreign invaders.
It is rightly said, that “A nation never prospers if it does not recognise its roots.” I.e. its history.
And in our nation, Authoring History was earlier done by the Britishers and later passed on to the generation of Left leaning historians, who with the vile intent of demeaning Hindus, never propagated the truthful historical facts of courage and gallantry of Hindu kings.
These historians have all along glorified and glamourised the Islamic invaders, making the Hindu ruler appear meek and insignificant.
But, the truth was otherwise and now it is eminent to throw light on these hidden historical facts about our magnificent legacy.
Sources of Reference:
“हमारी भूलोका स्मारक …
धर्मांतरित कश्मीर”
नरेन्द्र सहगल
“राजतरंगिनी” – कल्हान
(English adaption by M A Stain)
“कश्मीर समस्या और पृष्ठभूमि”
गोपीनाथ श्रीवास्तव
”कश्मीर”
फ़्रैन्सिस यंगहँसबन्ड
Madhvi Bhuta is the National Executive of BJP Mahila Morcha and a Columnist on various Forums.