Welcome to Eternal Path Musings, a weekly newsletter for the modern and curious Hindu, featuring highlights around: religious texts, practice, history, politics, people, and ways to better our engagement and personal progress.
This issue features: Kashmiri history, a Sylheti Missionary, and an aesthetic!
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Text Highlight: Rajatarangini
Rajatarangini (Sanskrit: राजतरङ्गिणी) is a historical text, written in Sanskrit by the Kashmiri author and pandit Kalhana in the 12th century CE. It is written in the style of an epic poem (mahakavya), with 7826 verses, divided into 8 books. Each book starts with an invocation of Lord Shiva, as Kashmir historically was a center of Shaivism prior to brutal Islamic invasions and rule.
Regarded as one of India’s best native historical texts, it delves into the history of Kashmir. It also lists out Kings in the Northwest corner of the Indian subcontinent for 3000+ years before the 12th century CE. Books 1-3 are focused on traditions observed by the local folks and on ancient Kings (starting with Gonanda; a contemporary of Lord Krishna and peer of Yudhistira). Books 4-6 deal with various dynasties, while 7 & 8 deal with more contemporary history. The Hindu Shahi empire, which we featured on Week 18, gets a mention in Rajatarangini as the Kings were allied to the Kings of Kashmir and the fall of the Hindu Shahi empire was approximately a century before the text was written.
A sample from the text is below:
For the full text translated into English, visit and download from Archive link 1 or link 2. Indiafacts and Swarajya have great articles with links to books on the topic.
People Highlight: Shantidas Adhikari
Shantidas Adhikari (or “Shantidas Gosai”, “Shantidas Goswami”) was a Hindu preacher from Sylhet who converted the Manipuri/Meitei King Pamheiba (also known as “Garib Nawaz”) to Hinduism in the 17th Century CE. Pamheiba was the grandfather of the great Manipuri King Ching-Thang Khomba, who created the Manipuri Ras-Lila art form and led Manipur to military glory. We featured Ching-Thang Khomba on our Week 16 issue.
A staunch Vaishnavite, Shantidas Adhikari and his associate Guru Gopal Das came from Sylhet to Imphal during the reign of King Pamheiba (Reign of 1709-1751CE) and preached Ramanandi Vaishnavism. His travel was made possible by the decline of Mughal power in Bengal after the Mughals suffered devastating losses in Assam at the hands of Lachit Barpukhan and against the Marathas at the hands of Shivaji Maharaj and later Maratha rulers.
While earlier, there is evidence to suggest Pamheiba had persecuted Ramanandi’s, the power of Shantidas Adhikari’s faith led the King to convert in 1710, after which he took on (quizzically) the Arabic-origin name Garib Nawaz (“protector of the poor”). His advisors and the royal family all received sacred-threads and took a dip in the Lilong River. Adhikari through his preaching integrated the existing priestly class among the Meitei into Brahminhood. He also unearthed and developed the genealogy of the Manipuri Kings as descendants of Arjuna’s wife Chitrangada from the Mahabharata.
Aesthetic: Ram Temple in Andhra Pradesh
