Rakesh K. Kaul

#ReadAroundTheWorld #Kashmir

This is an historical fiction set between 1313 and 1339 about Kota Rani, the last Queen of Kashmir, before the beginning of Muslim rule, written by Kashmiri author Rakesh Kaur.

It begins with Kota’s story being told in a refugee camp in the 1990s after the mass exodus of Kashmiris to India. Kota Rani is a courageous Queen who fights for her people and must navigate much political treachery and unrest. Initially she begins working with her father in the Kashmiri court. He does not want her to marry as her birth chart contains an Angaraka, which decrees the death of whoever she marries.

Kota is unable to marry her true love Brahma, but goes on instead to marry the Ladakhi prince Rinchana who has married her father. Although there seems to be some political rationale behind this, and maybe she does it knowing he will die, it seems a foolhardy decision. Rinchana, being unable to rapidly convert to Hinduism becomes a Muslim, helping to usher in the Islamisation of Kashmir and the events to follow.

On Rinchana’s death he wills Shah Mir to raise their son Haider. When Kota goes on to marry Udayandeva she fails to retrieve her son, thinking not to disturb the fragile peace with the Muslims, which probably further contributes to the downfall of the Kashmiris. Kota is portrayed as a wise and brave leader who does all she can for her beloved Kashmir.

I found this book to be a lush, and beautiful portrayal of Kashmir, with attention given to the opulent fabrics, garments, jewels and foods. The religion and culture is also presented in a very positive light. Unfortunately, as a Western reader I found the portrayal of Kota Rani to be idealistic in the extreme, which made it hard to relate to. The author says he uses the Virasa rasa style of writing, emulating the great epics. As I don’t know what this means, I am unable to comment on how effective it is, I can only think that it has caused him to paint Kota Rani in a goddess-like way, as a flawless legendary heroine. As you can see from the comments above, it seems likely that in reality some of her decisions may have been less than wise.

The book also does a good job of detailing the tensions between the Hindu Kashmiris and the Muslims, which repercuss dramatically in later centuries. I appreciated the insight into Kashmiri history and culture, but found the book cluttered with too many characters, a touch too long for me (despite listening to the audiobook on 1.5 speed), and it probably had too much exposition on religion, the Kashmiri Pandit ethos and the philosophy of Shaivism which detracted from the storyline. It is clear his religious bias is strongly with the Hindu characters in the story and most of the Muslim ones are not represented in any positive fashion. There were several incidents of rape or violence towards women for those that wish to avoid these things. Overall I applaud the author for his detailed research, his portrayal of a strong female historical character, and his beautiful descriptions of Kashmir.… (mehr)