Podcasts about Kashmir Valley

pWotD Episode 2913: 2025 Pahalgam attack Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 378,417 views on Wednesday, 23 April 2025 our article of the day is 2025 Pahalgam attack.On 22 April 2025, a militant attack at Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam in the Anantnag district of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir killed at least 28 tourists and injured more than 20 others. The attack, one of the deadliest in the region after the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, targeted civilians and was reportedly aimed at resisting demographic changes in the Kashmir Valley. The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 10:03 UTC on Thursday, 24 April 2025.For the full current version of the article, see 2025 Pahalgam attack on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Raveena.

In the latest episode of In Our Defence, Commander Naveen Pandita (Retd.) joins host Dev Goswami for a deeply personal and inspiring conversation that spans the valleys of Kashmir to the decks of warships and the skies above the sea.Born in the Kashmir Valley, Commander Pandita reflects on his early childhood battling a life-threatening illness, the harrowing memory of the Kashmiri Pandit exodus of 1990, his journey through the prestigious RIMC and NDA, and finally life in the Indian Navy. As a Naval Aviator and warship commander, he shares rare insights into life in uniform - from flying reconnaissance missions in the Dornier 228 and the iconic IL-38 Sea Dragon to leading air squadrons and captaining INS Agray.Commander Pandita recounts tales from NDA, close calls while flying, and leadership lessons learned over 15 transfers in 21 years. Tune in!

On this episode of In Our Defence, Major General Sanjay Soi (retired) joins host Dev Goswami as he recounts his time serving in Jammu and Kashmir. From his first posting and the experience of facing enemy fire to counter-insurgency operations in the Kashmir Valley, Maj Gen Soi shares several anecdotes and insights from his experience serving in the state. The retired officers also shares his perspective on the recent developments in the Jammu and Kashmir, especially the rise in violence seen in the Jammu region and the funnelling in of weapons that the United States left behind during its withdrawal from Afghanistan. This and more on the latest episode of In Our Defence. Tune in! Produced by Prateek Lidhoo Sound mix by Suraj Singh

This episode we will finish up the travels of Xuanzang, who circumnavigated the Indian subcontinent while he was there, spending over a decade and a half travelings, visiting important Buddhist pilgrimage sites, and studying at the feet of learned monks of India, and in particular at Nalanda monastery--a true center of learning from this period. For more, check out our blogpost page:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-122 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 122:  Journey to the West, Part 3 The courtyard at Nalanda was quiet.  Although hundreds of people were crowded in, trying to hear what was being said, they were all doing their best to be silent and still.  Only the wind or an errant bird dared speak up.  The master's voice may not have been what it once was—he was definitely getting on in years—but Silabhadra's mind was as sharp as ever. At the front of the crowd was a relatively young face from a far off land.  Xuanzang had made it to the greatest center of learning in the world, and he had been accepted as a student of perhaps the greatest sage of his era.  Here he was, receiving lessons on some of the deepest teachings of the Mahayana Buddhist sect, the very thing he had come to learn and bring home. As he watched and listened with rapt attention, the ancient teacher began to speak….   For the last two episodes, and continuing with this one, we have been covering the travels of the monk Xuanzang in the early 7th century, starting around 629 and concluding in 645.  Born during the Sui dynasty, Xuanzang felt that the translations of the Buddhist sutras available in China were insufficient—many of them had been made long ago, and often were translations of translations.  Xuanzang decided to travel to India in the hopes of getting copies in the original language to provide more accurate translations of the sutras, particularly the Mahayana sutras.  His own accounts of his journeys, even if drawn from his memory years afterwards, provide some of our most detailed contemporary evidence of the Silk Road and the people and places along the way.  After he returned, he got to work on his translations, and became quite famous.  Several of the Japanese students of Buddhism who traveled to the Tang dynasty in the 650s studied under him directly and brought his teachings back to Japan with them.  His school of “Faxiang” Buddhism became known in Japan as the Hosso sect, and was quite popular during the 7th and 8th centuries.  Xuanzang himself, known as Genjou in Japan, would continue to be venerated as an important monk in the history of Buddhism, and his travels would eventually be popularized in fantastic ways across East Asia. Over the last couple of episodes we talked about Xuanzang's illegal and harrowing departure from the Tang empire, where he had to sneak across the border into the deserts of the Western Regions.  We then covered his time traveling from Gaochang, to Suyab, and down to Balkh, in modern Afghanistan.  This was all territory under the at least nominal control of the Gokturk empire.  From Balkh he traveled to Bamyan, and then on to Kapisa, north of modern Kabul, Afghanistan.  However, after Kapisa, Xuanzang was finally entering into the northern territories of what he knew as “India”, or “Tianzhu”. Here I would note that I'm using “India” to refer not to a single country, but to the entirety of the Indian subcontinent, and all of the various kingdoms there -- including areas now part of the modern countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.  The Sinitic characters used to denote this region are pronounced, today, as “Tianzhu”, with a rough meaning of “Center of Heaven”, but it is likely that these characters were originally pronounced in such a way that the name likely came from terms like “Sindhu” or “Induka”.  This is related to the name of the Sindh or Indus river, from which India gets its name.  Xuanzang's “Record of the Western Regions” notes that the proper pronunciation of the land should be “Indu”.  In Japan, this term was transmitted through the Sinitic characters, or kanji, and pronounced as “Tenjiku”.  Since it featured so prominently in the stories of the life of the Buddha and many of the Buddhist sutras, Tenjiku was known to the people of the Japanese archipelago as a far off place that was both real and fantastical. In the 12th century, over a thousand stories were captured for the “Konjaku Monogatarishu”, or the “Collection of Tales Old and New”, which is divided up into tales from Japan, China, and India.  In the famous 9th or 10th century story, “Taketori Monogatari”, or the “Bamboo-Cutter's Tale”, about princess Kaguya hime, one of the tasks the princess sets to her suitors is to go to India to find the begging bowl of the Buddha.  Records like those produced by Xuanzang and his fellow monks, along with the stories in the sutras, likely provided the majority of what people in the Japanese archipelago knew about India, at least to begin with. Xuanzang talks about the land of India as being divided into five distinct parts—roughly the north, south, east, west, and center.  He notes that three sides face the sea and that the Snow Mountains—aka the Himalayas—are in the north.  It is, he says, “Wide in the north and narrow in the south, in the shape of a crescent moon”.  Certainly the “Wide in the north and narrow in the south” fit the subcontinent accurately enough, and it is largely surrounded by the waters of what we know as the Indian Ocean to the west, the east, and the south.  The note about the Crescent Moon might be driven by Xuanzang's understanding of a false etymology for the term “Indus”, which he claims comes from the word for “moon”.  Rather, this term appears to refer to the Indus River, also known as the Sindh or Sindhus, which comes from an ancient word meaning something like “River” or “Stream”. Xuanzang also notes that the people of the land were divided into castes, with the Brahman caste at the top of the social hierarchy.    The land was further divided into approximately 70 different countries, according to his accounts.  This is known broadly as the Early Medieval period, in India, in which the region was divided into different kingdoms and empires that rose and fell across the subcontinent, with a total size roughly equivalent to that covered by the countries of the modern European Union.  Just like Europe, there were many different polities and different languages spoken across the land – but just as Latin was the common language in Europe, due to its use in Christianity, Sanskrit was the scholarly and religious language in much of India, and could also be used as a bridge language.  Presumably, Xuanzang understood Sanskrit to some extent as a Buddhist monk.  And, just a quick note, all of this was before the introduction of Islam, though there were other religions also practiced throughout the subcontinent, but Xuanzang was primarily focused on his Buddhist studies. Xuanzang describes India as having three distinct seasons—The hot season, the rainy season, and the cold season, in that order.  Each of these were four month long periods.  Even today, the cycle of the monsoon rains is a major impact on the life of people in South Asia.  During the rainy season, the monks themselves would retreat back to their monasteries and cease their wanderings about the countryside. This tradition, called “Vassa”, is still a central practice in many Theravada Buddhist societies such as Thailand and Laos today, where they likewise experience this kind of intensely wet monsoon season. Xuanzang goes on to give an in depth analysis of the people and customs of the Indian subcontinent, as he traveled from country to country. So, as we've done before, we'll follow his lead in describing the different locations he visited. The first country of India that Xuanzang came to was the country of Lampa, or Lamapaka, thought to be modern Laghman province in Afghanistan.  At the time it was a dependency of Kapisa.  The Snow Mountains, likely meaning the Hindu Kush, the western edge of the Himalayas, lay at its north, while the “Black Mountains” surrounded it on the other three sides.  Xuanzang mentions how the people of Lampa grow non-glutinous rice—likely something similar to basmati rice, which is more prevalent in South Asian cuisine, as compared to glutinous rice like more often used in East Asia. From Lampa he headed to Nagarahara, likely referring to a site near the Kabul River associated with the ruins of a stupa called Nagara Gundi, about 4 kilometers west of modern Jalalabad, Afghanistan.  This was another vassal city-state of Kapisa.  They were still Mahayana Buddhists, but there were other religions as well, which Xuanzang refers to as “heretical”, though I'm not entirely sure how that is meant in this context.  He does say that many of the stupas were dilapidated and in poor condition. Xuanzang was now entering areas where he likely believed the historical Buddha had once walked.  In fact, Lampa was perhaps the extent of historical Buddha's travels, according to the stories and the sutras, though this seems unlikely to have been true.  The most plausible locations for the Historical Buddha's pilgrimages were along the Ganges river, which was on the other side of the subcontinent, flowing east towards modern Kolkatta and the Bengal Bay.  However, as Buddhism spread, so, too, did stories of the Buddha's travels.  And so, as far as Xuanzang was concerned, he was following in the footsteps of the Buddha. Speaking of which, at Nagarahara, Xuanzang mentions “footprints” of the Buddha.  This is a Buddhist tradition found in many places.  Xuanzang claims that the Tathagatha, the Englightened One, or the Buddha, would fly, because when he walked the land itself shook.  Footprint shapes in rock could be said to be evidence of the Buddha's travels.  Today, in many Buddhist areas you can find footprints carved into rock conforming to stories about the Buddha, such as all the toes being of the same length, or other various signs.  These may have started out as natural depressions in the rock, or pieces of artwork, but they were believed by many to be the actual point at which the Buddha himself touched down.  There are famous examples of these footprints in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and China.  Of course there are also traditions of creating images of the footprint as an object of worship.  Images of footprints, similar to images of the Great Wheel of the Law, may have been some of the earliest images for veneration, as images of the Buddha himself did not appear until much later in the tradition.  One of the oldest such footprints in Japan is at Yakushiji temple, and dated to 753.  It was created based on a rubbing brought back by an envoy to the Tang court, while they were in Chang'an. Like Buddha footprints, there are many other images and stories that show up multiple times in different places, even in Xuanzang's own narrative.  For example, in Nagarahara Xuanzang also shares a story of a cave, where an image of the Buddha could be just barely made out on the wall – maybe maybe an old carving that had just worn away, or maybe an image that was deliberately placed in the darkness as a metaphor for finding the Buddha—finding enlightenment.  This is not an uncommon theme in Buddhism as a whole.  In any case, the story around this image was that it had been placed there to subdue a naga. Now a naga is a mythical snake-like being, and  we are told that this particular naga was the reincarnation of a man who had invoked a curse on the nearby kingdom, then threw himself from a cliff in order to become a naga and sow destruction.  As the story went, the man was indeed reborn, but before he could bring destruction, the Buddha showed up and subdued him, convincing him that this was not right.  And so the naga agreed to stay in the cave, where the Buddha left an image—a shadow—to remind the naga any time that its thoughts might turn to destruction. Later in his travels, at a place name Kausambi, Xuanzang mentions another cave where the Buddha had subdued a venomous dragon and left his shadow on the cave wall.  Allowing for the possibility that the Buddha just had a particular M.O. when dealing with destructive beings, we should also consider the possibility that the story developed in one region—probably closer to the early center of Buddhism, and then traveled outward, such that it was later adopted and adapted to local traditions.  From Nagarahara, Xuanzang continued to the country of Gandhara and its capital city of Purushapura, aka modern Peshwar.  This kingdom was also under vassalage to the Kapisan king.  Here and elsewhere in the journey, Xuanzang notes not only evidence of the historical Buddha, but also monasteries and stupas purported to have been built by King Kanishka and King Asoka.  These were important figures who were held in high regard for spreading Buddhism during their reign.  Continuing through the region of Gandhara, he also passed through Udakhand and the city of Salatura, known as the birthplace of the ancient Sanskrit grammarian, Daksiputra Panini, author of the Astadhyayi [Aestudjayi].  This work is the oldest surviving description of classical Sanskrit, and used grammatical and other concepts that wouldn't be introduced into Western linguistics for eons.  Daksiputra Panini thrived around the 5th or 4th century BCE, but was likely one of the reasons that Sanskrit continued to be used as a language of scholarship and learning even as it died out of usage as the day to day language of the common people.  His works and legacy would have been invaluable to translators like Xuanzang in understanding and translating from Sanskrit. Xuanzang continued on his journey to Kashmira, situated in the Kashmir Valley.  This valley sits between the modern states of Pakistan and India, and its ownership is actively disputed by each.  It is the namesake of the famous cashmere wool—wool from the winter coats of a type of goat that was bred in the mountainous regions.  The winter coat would be made of soft, downy fibers and would naturally fall out in the spring, which the goatherds harvested and made into an extremely fine wool.  In the 7th century and earlier, however, the region was known not as much for its wool, but as a center for Hindu and Buddhist studies.  Xuanzang ended up spending two years in Kashmira studying with teachers there.  Eventually, though, he continued on, passing through the country of Rajpura, and continuing on to Takka and the city of Sakala—modern day Sialkot in the Punjab region of modern Pakistan.  Leaving Sakala, he was traveling with a group when suddenly disaster struck and they were accosted by a group of bandits.  They took the clothes and money of Xuanzang and those with him and then they drove the group into a dry pond in an attempt to corral them while they figured out what they would do—presumably meaning kill them all.  Fortunately for the group, there was a water drain at the southern edge of the pond large enough for one man to pass through.  Xuanzang and one other went through the gap and they were able to escape to a nearby village.  Once they got there, they told the people what had happened, and the villagers quickly gathered weapons and ran out to confront the brigands, who saw a large group coming and ran away.  Thus they were able to rescue the rest of Xuanzang's traveling companions.  Xuanzang's companions were devastated, having lost all of their possessions.  However, Xuanzang comforted them.  After all, they still had their lives.  By this time, Xuanzang had certainly seen his fair share of life and death problems along the road.  They continued on, still in the country of Takka, to the next great city.  There they met a Brahman, and once they told him what had happened, he started marshalling the forces of the city on their behalf.  During Xuanzang's stay in Kashmira, he had built a reputation, and people knew of the quote-unquote “Chinese monk”.  And even though the people in this region were not necessarily Buddhist—many were “heretics” likely referring to those of Hindu faith—the people responded to this pre-Internet “GoFundMe” request with incredible generosity.  They brought Xuanzang food and cloth to make into suits of clothes.  Xuanzang distributed this to his travel companions, and ended up still having enough cloth for 50 suits of clothes himself.  He then stayed at that city a month. It is odd that they don't seem to mention the name of this location.  Perhaps there is something unspeakable about it?  Still, it seems that they were quite generous, even if they were “heretics” according to Xuanzang. From the country of Takka, he next proceeded to the kingdom of Cinabhukti, where he spent 14 months—just over a year—studying with the monks there.  Once he had learned what he could, he proceeded onwards, passing through several countries in northern India until he came to the headwaters of the sacred Ganges rivers.  The Indus and the Ganges rivers are in many ways similar to the Yellow River and Yangzi, at least in regards to their importance to the people of India.  However, whereas the Yellow River and Yangzi both flow east towards the Pacific Ocean, the Indus and Ganges flow in opposite directions.  The Indus flows southwest, from the Himalayas down through modern India into modern Pakistan, emptying into the western Indian Ocean.  The Ganges flows east along the base of the Himalayas and enters the eastern Indian Ocean at Kolkatta.   At the headwaters of the Ganges, Xuanzang found a Buddhist monk named Jayagupta and chose to spend the winter and half of the following spring listening to his sermons and learning at his feet. From there he continued his travels, and ended up being summoned by King Harshavardhana of Kanyakubja, known today as the modern city of Kannauj.  Harshavardhana ruled an immense state that covered much of the territory around the sacred Ganges river.  As word of this strange monk from a far off land reached him, the King wanted to see him for himself.  Xuanzang stayed in Kannauj for three months, completing his studies of the Vibhasha Shastra, aka the Abhidarmma Mahavibhasha Shastra, known in Japanese as the Abidatsuma Daibibasharon, or just as the Daibibasharon or the Basharon, with the latter two terms referring to the translations that Xuanzang performed.   This work is not a sutra, per se, but rather an encyclopedic work that attempted to speak on all of the various doctrinal issues of its day.  It is thought to have been authored around 150 CE, and was influential in the Buddhist teachings of Kashmira, when that was a center of Orthodoxy at the time.  This is what Xuanzang had started studying, and it seems that in Kannauj he was finally able to grasp everything he felt he needed to know about it in order to effectively translate it and teach it when he returned.  That said, his quest was not over.  And after his time in Kannauj, he decided to continue on. His next stop was at the city of Ayodhya.  This was—and is—a city of particular importance in Hindu traditions.  It is said to be the city mentioned in the epic tale known as the Ramayana, though many argue that it was simply named that later in honor of that ancient city.  It does appear to be a city that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, visited and where he preached.  It was also the home of a famous monk from Gandhara who authored a number of Buddhist tomes and was considered, at least by Xuanzang, a proper Boddhisatva.  And so Xuanzang spent some time paying homage to the places where the Buddha and other holy figures had once walked. “Ayodhya” appears in many forms across Asia.  It is a major pilgrimage center, and the city of “Ayutthaya” in Thailand was named for it, evoking the Ramayana—known in Thai as the Ramakien—which they would adopt as their own national story.  In Silla, there is a story that queen Boju, aka Heo Hwang-ok, wife to the 2nd century King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya, traveled to the peninsula all the way from the foreign country of “Ayuta”, thought to mean Ayodhya.  Her story was written down in the Gaya histories and survives as a fragment found in the Samguk Yusa.  Members of the Gimhae Kim, Gimhae Heo, and Incheon Yi clans all trace their lineage back to her and King Suro. From Ayodhya, Xuanzang took a trip down the Ganges river.  The boat was packed to bursting with some 80 other travelers, and as they traveled towards a particularly heavily forested area, they were set upon by bandits, who rowed their ships out from hiding in the trees and forced the travelers to the shore.  There the bandits made all the travelers strip down and take off their clothing so that the bandits could search for gold or valuables.  According to Xuanzang's biography, these bandits were followers of Durga, a Hindu warrior-goddess, and it is said that each year they would look for someone of particularly handsome features to sacrifice to her.  With Xuanzang's foreign features, they chose him.  And so they took him to be killed.  Xuanzang mentioned that he was on a pilgrimage, and that by interrupting him before they finished he was worried it might be inauspicious for them, but he didn't put up a fight and merely asked to be given time to meditate and calm his mind and that they perform the execution quickly so that he wouldn't even notice. From there, according to the story, a series of miracles occurred that ended up with Xuanzang being released and the bandits worshipping at his feet.  It is times like this we must remember that this biography was being written by Xuanzang's students based on stories he told them about his travels.  While being accosted by bandits on the river strikes me as perfectly plausible, we don't necessarily have the most reliable narrators, so I'm going to have to wonder about the rest.  Speaking of unreliable narration, the exact route that Xuanzang traveled from here on is unclear to me, based on his stated goals and where he was going.  It is possible that he was wandering as opportunities presented themselves —I don't know that he had any kind of map or GPS, like we've said in the past.  And it may be that the routes from one place to another were not always straightforward.  Regardless, he seems to wander southeast for a period before turning again to the north and eventually reaching the city of Shravasti. Shravasti appeared in our discussion of the men of Tukhara in Episode 119.  With the men of Tukhara there was also mentioned a woman from Shravasti.  While it is unlikely that was actually the case—the names were probably about individuals from the Ryukyuan island chain rather than from India—it is probably worth nothing that Shravasti was a thriving place in ancient times.  It was at one time the capital city of the kingdom of Kosala, sharing that distinction with the city of Ayodhya, back in the 7th to 5th centuries BCE.  It is also where the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was said to have spend many years of his life.  This latter fact would have no doubt made it a place of particular importance to Xuanzang on his journeys. From there he traveled east, ending up following the foothills of the Himalayas, and finally came to some of the most central pilgrimages sites for followers of the historical Buddha.  First, he reached Lumbini wood, in modern Nepal, said to have been the birthplace of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.  And then he visited Kushinagara, the site where the Buddha ascended to nirvana—in other words, the place where he passed away.  From there, he traveled to Varanasi, and the deer park monastery, at the place where the Buddha is said to have given one of his most famous sermons.  He even visited the Bodhi tree, the tree under which Siddhartha Gautama is said to have attained enlightenment.  He spent eight or nine days there at Bodhgaya, and word must have spread about his arrival, because several monks from the eminent Nalanda Monastery called upon him and asked him to come to the monastery with them. Nalanda Monastery was about 80 km from Bodhgaya.  This was a grand monastery and center of learning—some say that it was, for a time, the greatest in the world.  It had been founded in the 5th century by the Gupta dynasty, and many of the Gupta rulers and others donated to support the monastery, which also acted as a university.  After the fall of the Gupta dynasty, the monastery was supported by King Harsha of Kannauj, whom Xuanzang had visited earlier.  It ultimately thrived for some 750 years, and is considered by some to be the oldest residential university—meaning that students would come to the temple complex and stay in residence for years at a time to study.  According to Xuanzang, Nalanda hosted some 10,000 monks. Including hosts and guests.  They didn't only study Buddhist teachings, but also logic, grammar, medicine, and divination.  Lectures were given at more than 100 separate places—or classrooms—every day.  It was at Nalanda, that Xuanzang would meet the teacher Silabhadra, who was known as the Right Dharma Store.  Xuanzang requested that he be allowed to study the Yogacharabhumi Shastra—the Yugashijiron, in Japanese.  This is the work that Xuanzang is said to have been most interested in, and one of the works that he is credited with bringing back in one of the first full translations to the Tang dynasty and then to others in East Asia.  It is an encyclopedic work dedicated to the various forms of Yogacara practice, which focuses on the mental disciplines, and includes yoga and meditation practices.  It has a huge influence on nearly all Mahayana schools, including things like the famous Zen and Pure Land schools of Buddhism.  The Yogacharabhumi Shastra is the earliest such encyclopedic work, compiled between the 3rd and 5th centuries—so even if the monk Faxian had brought portions of it back, it was probably not in the final form that Xuanzang was able to access. Silabhadra, for his part, was an ancient teacher—some put his age at 106 years, and his son was in his 70s.  He was one of the few at Nalandra who supposedly knew all of the various texts that they had at the monastery, including the Yogacarabhumi Shastra.  Xuanzang seems to have been quite pleased to study under him.  Xuanzang stayed at the house of Silabhadra's son, Buddhabhadra, and they welcomed him with entertainment that lasted seven days.  We are told that he was then given his own lodgings, a stipend of spices, incense, rice, oil, butter, and milk, along with a servant and a Brahman.  As a visiting monk, he was not responsible for the normal monastic duties, instead being expected to spend the time in study.  Going out, he was carried around by an elephant.   This was certainly the royal treatment. Xuanzang's life at Nalandra wasn't all books: south of the monastery was the city of Rajagrha, the old capital of the kingdom of Magadha, where the ancient Gupta kings had once lived, and on occasional breaks from his studies, Xuanzang would venture out to see the various holy sites.  This included the famous Mt. Grdhrakuta, or Vulture Peak, a location said to be favored by the historical Buddha and central to the Lotus Sutra, arguably the founding document of Mahayana Buddhist tradition. After all, “Mahayana” means “Greater Vehicle” and it is in the Lotus Sutra that we see the metaphor of using different vehicles to escape a burning house.   We've already talked a bit about how the image of Vulture Peak had already become important in Japanese Buddhism: In Episode 112 we talked about how in 648, Abe no Oho-omi had drums piled up at Shitennoji in the shape of Vulture Peak. But although the sightseeing definitely enhanced his experience, Xuanzang was first and foremost there to study.  He spent 15 months just listening to his teacher expound on the Yogacarabhumi Shastra, but he also heard expositions on various other teachings as well.  He ended up studying at Nalandra Monastery for 5 years, gaining a much better understanding of Sanskrit and the various texts, which would be critically important when it came to translating them, later. But, Xuanzang was not one to stay in any one place forever, and so after 5 years—some 8 years or more into his journey, he continued on, following the Ganges east, to modern Bangladesh.  Here he heard about various other lands, such as Dvarapati—possibly referring to Dvaravati, in modern Thailand, as well as Kamalanka and Isanapura.  The latter was in modern Cambodia, the capital of the ancient Chenla kingdom.  Then Mahacampa—possibly referring to the Champa region of Vietnam—and the country of Yamanadvipa.  But there was still more of India for Xuanzang to discover, and more teachings to uncover, and so Xuanzang decided instead to head southwest, following the coast.  He heard of the country of Sinhala, referring to the island of Sri Lanka, but he was urged not to go by ship, as the long journey was perilous.  Instead he could stay on relatively dry land and head down to the southern tip of the subcontinent and then make a quick hop from there across to the island.  He traveled a long distance, all the way down to Kancipuram, the seat of the Pallava dynasty, near modern day Chennai.  From the seaport near Kancipuram, it was only three days to Sinhala—that is to say Sri Lanka—but before he could set out, he met a group of monks who had just arrived.  They told him that the king of Sinhala had died , and there was a great famine and civil disturbances.  So they had fled with some 300 other monks. Xuanzang eventually decided not to make the journey, but he did talk with the monks and gathered information on the lands to the south, on Sri Lanka, and on the islands south of that, by which I suspect he may have meant the Maldives.  While Sri Lanka is an area important to Buddhist scholarship, particularly to the Theravada schools, this likely did not impress Xuanzang, and indeed he seemed to feel that his studies in Nalanda had more than provided him what he needed.  Sri Lanka, however, is the source of the Pali canon, one of the most complete early canons of Buddhism, which had a huge influence on Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. So Xuanzang took plenty of notes but decided to forego the ocean voyage and headed northwest, instead.  He traveled across the breadth of India to Gujarat, and then turned back east, returning to pay respects once more to his teacher in Nalanda.  While there he heard of another virtuous monk named Prajnabhadra at a nearby monastery.  And so he went to spend several months with him, as well.  He also studied with a layman, Sastrin Jayasena, at Stickwood Hill.  Jayasena was a ksatriya, or nobleman, by birth, and studied both Buddhist and non-Buddhist texts.  He was courted by kings, but had left to continue his studies.  Xuanzang studied with him for another couple of years. Xuanzang remained at Nalanda, learning and teaching, expounding on what he had learned and gathering many copies of the various documents that he wished to take back with him, though he wondered how he might do it.  In the meantime, he also acquired quite the reputation.  We are told that King Siladitya had asked Nalanda for monks who could refute Theravada teachings, and Xuanzang agreed to go.  It isn't clear, but it seems that “Siladitya” was a title, and likely referred to King Harsha of Kannauj, whom we mentioned earlier.  Since he was a foreigner, then there could be no trouble that was brought on Nalanda and the other monks if he did poorly.  While he was waiting to hear back from Siladitya's court, which was apparently taking time to arrange things, the king of Kamarupta reached out to Nalanda with a request that Xuanzang come visit them.  While Xuanzang was reluctant to be gone too long, he was eventually encouraged to go and assuage the king. Kamarupta was a kingdom around the modern Assam region, ruled by King Bhaskaravarman, also known as King Kumara, a royal title.  This kingdom included parts of Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.  Bhaskaravarman, like so many other regents, seems to have been intrigued by the presence of this foreign monk, who had traveled all this way and who had studied at the famous Nalanda Monastery in Magadha. He invited Xuanzang to come to him.  Xuanzang's teacher, Silabhadra, had exhorted him to spread the right Dharma, and to even go to those non-Buddhists in hopes that they might be converted, or at least partially swayed. King Bhaskaravarman was quite taken with Xuanzang, wining and dining him while listening to him preach.  While there, Xuanzang learned about the country of Kamarupta.  He also learned about a path north, by which it was said it was a two month journey to arrive at the land of Shu, in the Sichuan Basin, on the upper reaches of the Yangzi – a kind of shortcut back to the Tang court.  However, the journey was treacherous—possibly even more treacherous than the journey to India had been. Eventually word reached the ears of King Siladitya that Xuanzang was at the court of King Bhaskaravarman, and Siladitya got quite upset.  Xuanzang had not yet come to *his* court, so Siladitya demanded that Bhaskaravarman send the monk to him immediately.  Bhaskaravarman refused, saying he'd rather give Siladitya his own head, which Siladitya said he would gladly accept.  Bhaskaravarman realized he may have miscalculated, and so he sailed up the Ganges with a host of men and Xuanzang to meet with Siladitya.  After a bit of posturing, Siladitya met with Xuanzang, who went with him, and eventually confronted the members of the Theravada sect in debate.  Apparently it almost got ugly, but for the King's intervention.  After a particularly devastating critique of the Theravada position, the Theravada monks are blamed for trying to use violence against Xuanzang and his fellow Mahayana monks from Nalanda, who were prepared to defend themselves.  The King had to step in and break it up before it went too far. Ultimately, Xuanzang was a celebrity at this point and both kings seem to have supported him, especially as he was realizing it was about time to head back to his own country.  Both kings was offered ships, should Xuanzang wish to sail south and then up the coast.  However, Xuanzang elected to take the northern route, hoping to go back through Gaochang, and see that city and its ruler again.  And so the Kings gave him money and valuables , along with wagons for all of the texts.  They also sent an army to protect all of the treasures, and even an elephant and more – sending him back in style with a huge send-off. So Xuanzang retraced his earlier steps, this time on an elephant.  He traveled back to Taxila, to Kashmir, and beyond.  He was invited to stay in Kashmira, but because of his retinue, he wasn't quite at leisure to just go where he wanted.  At one point, near Kapisa—modern Bagram, north of Kabul—they had to cross a river, and about 50 of the almost 700 documents were lost.  The King of Kapisa heard of this and had his own monks make copies to replace them based on their own schools.  The King of Kasmira, hearing that he was in Kapisa, also came to pay his respects. Xuanzang traveled with the King of Kapisa northwest for over a month and reached Lampaka, where he did take some time to visit the various holy sites before continuing northwest.  They had to cross the Snow Mountains—the outskirts of the Himalayas, and even though it wasn't the highest part of the range it was still challenging.  He had to dismount his elephant and travel on foot.  Finally, after going over the high mountains and coming down, he arrived back in the region of Tukhara, in the country of Khowst.  He then came to Kunduz, and paid his respects to the grandson of Yehu Khan.  He was given more guards to escort him eastward, traveling with some merchants.  This was back in Gokturk controlled lands, over a decade later than when he had last visited.  He continued east to Badakshan, stopping there for a month because of the cold weather and snow.  He eventually traveled through the regions of Tukhara and over the Pamir range.  He came down on the side of the Tarim Basin, and noted how the rivers on one side flowed west, while on the other side they flowed east.  The goings were treacherous, and at one point they were beset by bandits.  Though he and the documents were safe, his elephant panicked and fled into the river and drowned.  He eventually ended up in the country of Kashgar, in modern Xinjiang province, at the western edge of the Taklamakan desert. From there he had two options.  He could go north and hug the southern edge of the Tianshan mountains, or he could stay to the south, along the northern edge of the Himalayan range and the Tibetan plateau.  He chose to go south.  He traveled through Khotan, a land of wool and carpets.  This was a major trade kingdom, and they also grew mulberry trees for silkworms, and were known for their jade.  The king himself heard of Xuanzang and welcomed him, as many others had done.  While he was staying at the Khotanese capital, Xuanzang penned a letter to the Tang court, letting them know of his journey, and that he was returning.  He sent it with some merchants and a man of Gaochang to deliver it to the court. Remember, Xuanzang had left the Tang empire illegally.  Unless he wanted to sneak back in his best hope was that the court was willing to forgive and forget all of that, given everything that he was bringing back with him.  The wait was no doubt agonizing, but he did get a letter back.  It assured him that he was welcome back, and that all of the kingdoms from Khotan back to the governor of Dunhuang had been made aware and were ready to receive him. With such assurances, Xuanzang packed up and headed out.  The king of Khotan granted him more gifts to help see him on his way.  Nonetheless, there was still a perilous journey ahead.  Even knowing the way, the road went through miles and miles of desert, such that in some places you could only tell the trail by the bleached bones of horses and travelers who had not been so fortunate.  Eventually, however, Xuanzang made it to the Jumo River and then on to Dunhuang, from whence he was eventually escorted back to the capital city. It was now the year 645, the year of the Isshi Incident in Yamato and the death of Soga.  Xuanzang had been gone for approximately 16 years.  In that time, the Tang had defeated the Gokturks and taken Gaochang, expanding their control over the trade routes in the desert.  Xuanzang, for his part, was bringing back 657 scriptures, bound in 520 bundles carried by a train of some 20 horses.  He was given a hero's welcome, and eventually he would be set up in a monastery where he could begin the next part of his journey:  Translating all of these books. This was the work of a lifetime, but it is one that would have a profound impact on Buddhism across East Asia.  Xuanzang's translations would revolutionize the understanding of Mahayana Buddhist teachings, and students would come from as far away as the Yamato court to study under him and learn from the teacher who studied and taught at none other than Nalanda monastery itself.  His school would become popular in the Yamato capital, and the main school of several temples, at least for a time.  In addition, his accounts and his biography would introduce many people to the wider world of central and south Asia.  While I could go on, this has already been a story in three parts, and this is, after all, the Chronicles of Japan, so we should probably tune back into what is going on with Yamato.  Next episode, we'll look at one of the most detailed accounts we have of a mission to Chang'an. Until then, I hope that this has been enjoyable.  Xuanzang's story is one of those that isn't just about him, but about the interconnected nature of the entire world at the time.  While his journey is quite epic, there were many people traveling the roads, though most of them didn't write about it afterwards.  People, artifacts, and ideas traveled much greater distances than we often consider at this time, well before any kind of modern travel.  It was dangerous, but often lucrative, and it meant that various regions could have influence well beyond what one might expect. And so, thank you once again for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan

Lieutenant General Devendra Pratap Pandey (Retd.) PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM is a retired general officer of the Indian Army who served as the General Officer Commanding of the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps (XV). He previously served as the first Director General of the Territorial Army of the Indian Army. You can follow Devendra at : https://twitter.com/LtGenDPPandey In this episode, Vinamre and Devendra talk about: - His experience in the Kashmir Valley during different postings - The role of media in international organizations in conflicts - How military intelligence works and the role of ADG Stratcom - How China spreads propaganda and engages in information warfare - Covert operations against India, China's reverse engineering - The negative impact of AI, Hostile social manipulation - Social media policy for army personnel Watch this episode to know more about military intelligence and the role if information warfare in real life. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction 4:00 - Reacting to his viral reels 8:25 - His experience in the Kashmir Valley 11:30 - Overground workers 16:57 - Interceptions and the role of media in the conflict economy 23:50 - How Military Intelligence works 28:10 - The role of ADG Stratcom 35:40 - China's information warfare 46:16 - How Pakistan propagates information warfare 54:00 - The negative impact of AI and deepfakes 58:49 - Narratives against the Indian Army 1:04:00 - Indian operations around the world 1:06:03 - Challenges of building India's perception globally 1:10:07 - What is hostile social manipulation? 1:17:40 - How can people become aware of this perception game around us? 1:24:28 - Social media policy for army personnel 1:30:20 - Conclusion ==================================================================== This is the official channel for Dostcast, a podcast by Vinamre Kasanaa. Connect with me LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinamre-kasanaa-b8524496/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinamrekasanaa/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/VinamreKasanaa Dostcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dostcast/ Dostcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dostcast Dostcast on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557567524054 ==================================================================== Contact Us For business inquiries: dostcast@egiplay.com

In this episode of All Things Policy, Carl Jaison speaks to Karishma Mehrotra, South Asia correspondent for The Washington Post regarding her report on the sentiments of Kashmiris in the aftermath of the recent elections there. They discuss the perspectives of ordinary Kashmiris who saw the election as a way to express their dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs and how dignity and respect, rather than economic considerations, accorded far more importance in their decision to vote. All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru. Find out more on our research and other work here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://takshashila.org.in/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our public policy courses here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://school.takshashila.org.in⁠

SpaceTime Series 27 Episode 131*Ultra High Energy Gamma Rays Detected in the Milky Way's CoreScientists have detected ultra high energy gamma rays emanating from the centre of the Milky Way. This discovery, reported in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, offers a new perspective on the violent phenomena occurring in the galactic core. Using the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory in Mexico, researchers measured these gamma rays at over 100 tera electron volts, providing insights into the cosmic processes involving Sagittarius A, the galaxy's central supermassive black hole.*Discovery of a Potential Triple Black Hole SystemAstronomers have identified what may be the first triple black hole system, located 8,000 light years away. This discovery could be the first direct evidence of gentle black hole formation, challenging the typical violent supernova origin theory. The system includes a central black hole, a closely orbiting star, and a far-off companion star, suggesting a more subtle formation process known as direct collapse.*NASA's New Deployable Solar Array System Faces ChallengesNASA has encountered issues with its new deployable solar array and antenna system on the Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 4 spacecraft. The lightweight integrated solar array and antenna system, designed to enhance power and communication capabilities, is not deploying correctly due to a bent boom. This technology aims to support future deep Space missions with improved efficiency.The Science RobertA recent study reveals that standing, as opposed to sitting, does not improve cardiovascular health, despite the popularity of standing desks. Fossilised remains of a new giant elephant species have been found in India's Kashmir Valley, shedding light on elephant evolution. AI-assisted colonoscopies show a slight improvement in polyp detection. Meanwhile, Apple releases its first AI update, focusing on privacy and user data protection.www.spacetimewithstuartgary.comwww.bitesz.com

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for The Indian Express and I am Niharika NandaToday is the 4th of July and here are today's headlines.Jharkhand Governor C P Radhakrishnan invited Jharkhand Mukti Morcha executive president Hemant Soren to form the government in the state today, a day after his predecessor Champai Soren stepped down as Chief Minister. Party general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said that the Chief Minister, along with his Cabinet, will be taking the oath today. Champai met the Governor yesterday to submit his resignation after the ruling coalition's 45 MLAs elected Hemant as their leader.Rajasthan Cabinet Minister Kirodi Lal Meena resigned on late Wednesday, months after saying that he would quit the post if the BJP loses the Dausa Lok Sabha seat. In a statement to a news channel, Meena confirmed his resignation. He said that this was also the reason why he did not attend Chief Minister Bhajan Lal's Cabinet meeting as he had “no moral right”. Sources said that he had submitted his papers a few days ago. However, the resignation has not been accepted yet.After 121 people were killed and several others were injured in Hathras stampede incident on 2nd of July, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will visit the site and meet those affected. Addressing the media, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said, quote “It was an unfortunate incident. The leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha (Rahul Gandhi) is planning to visit Hathras. He will go there and interact with the people who are affected.” unquote. While police filed an FIR against the organisers, Narayan Sakar Vishwa Hari or ‘Bhole Baba', the host of the satsang, has not been named in the case.The Jammu and Kashmir Police have deployed a new force of 960 trained policemen in the border areas of the Union Territory to exclusively work on combating infiltration and terrorism. The move, which many see as following the pattern of the US Marines, comes amid a spike in infiltration by heavily armed foreign terrorists from Pakistan. Nearly 560 of these police personnel have been deployed in the border areas of Jammu division and the remaining in Kashmir Valley.The Indian cricket team touched down in New Delhi early today after winning the T20 World Cup. Team India has a full schedule at hand today; after meeting PM Narendra Modi, they have a BCCI felicitation function at the Wankhede Stadium besides doing an open bus trophy tour in Mumbai. The team was stuck in Barbados because of a hurricane but were flown out of the West Indies in a specially arranged charter flight.This was the catch up on 3 things by the Indian Express.

Election integrity relies heavily on America's state election officials – but these roles have grown increasingly politicized. Could this year's presidential election hinge on the fight for ballot access? Also: today's stories, including Japan's shifting demographics, avian migration in the Kashmir Valley, and the role Black birthing doulas play to restore trust. Join the Monitor's Mark Sappenfield and Ali Martin for today's news. You can also visit csmonitor.com/daily for more information.

Nearly a week after National Congress fielded its candidates for the upcoming elections, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fielded candidates for all three of the Kashmir Valley seats due to lack of consensus with the INDIA bloc. In Episode 268 of Cut The Clutter, originally published on Sep 17, 2019, Shekhar Gupta delved into the politics of Kashmir and the shifts and the changes through the years.

fWotD Episode 2435: Robert Nimmo Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.The featured article for Thursday, 4 January 2024 is Robert Nimmo.Lieutenant General Robert Harold Nimmo, (22 November 1893 – 4 January 1966) was a senior Australian Army officer who served in World War I, in World War II, with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, as general officer commanding (GOC) Northern Command in Australia, and finally as the chief military observer of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan from 1950 until his death in 1966. Raised on a sheep station in far north Queensland, Nimmo attended the Southport School in southern Queensland before entering the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1912. He was the senior cadet of his class, which graduated early to participate in World War I. He served with the 5th Light Horse Regiment during the Gallipoli and Sinai and Palestine campaigns, reaching the rank of major. He was praised for his leadership as a light horse squadron commander and for his skills as the brigade major of the 1st Light Horse Brigade in the final stages of the war.At the end of the war, Nimmo transferred to the permanent Australian Staff Corps, and served as a company commander and instructor at Duntroon before a series of staff postings at cavalry formations in Victoria. He was also a talented sportsman, representing Australia in field hockey, and the state of Victoria in a range of sports. After attending the British Army's Senior Officers' School, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and served as a senior staff officer on the headquarters of two cavalry divisions. At the outbreak of World War II, he was initially retained in Australia to help develop an Australian armoured force, and was subsequently promoted to brigadier and commanded a cavalry and then an armoured brigade in Australia. Following this he was posted as a senior staff officer at corps and then at army headquarters level in Australia. Nimmo administered command of Northern Territory Force before deploying to the island of Bougainville in the Territory of New Guinea to command the 4th Base Sub Area, the logistics organisation supporting the Bougainville campaign. His final posting of the war was as a senior staff officer on First Australian Army headquarters in Lae in New Guinea.Soon after the Japanese surrender, Nimmo was selected to command the 34th Brigade, and led it from Morotai in the Dutch East Indies to Japan, where it formed part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. Upon returning from Japan to Australia, he was promoted to major general and posted as GOC Northern Command. He was appointed as a Commander of the British Empire in 1950, and retired from the army at the end of that year. Almost simultaneously he was appointed as the chief military observer of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), responsible for monitoring the 800-kilometre (500 mi) long ceasefire line between the Indian and Pakistani armed forces, which extended from the Kashmir Valley to the Himalayas. He was promoted by Australia to honorary lieutenant general in 1954, at the suggestion of the United Nations. In 1964, the UN Secretariat described him as "by far the most successful United Nations observer ever". He died of a heart attack in his sleep on 4 January 1966 at Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and was buried in the Anzac section of Mount Gravatt Cemetery, Brisbane, with full military and United Nations honours and senior representatives of both India and Pakistan were present. Nimmo was the first Australian to command a multinational peacekeeping force, and his command of UNMOGIP remains the longest-ever command of a UN operation.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:14 UTC on Thursday, 4 January 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Robert Nimmo on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm Kimberly Neural.

The Kashmir Valley's devastating pandemic of drug addiction has tightly clenched its grip on the youth, overburdened its public health systems, filled up detention centers, and inflicted families with insurmountable tragedies — an Indian Express investigation has revealed.For over two months, the paper visited several addiction treatment centers across the region and spoke to the affected families, doctors, bureaucrats, and police officers to understand the unprecedented scale of the problem. In this episode, we speak to Naveed Iqbal, who led the investigation, about its biggest findings.Hosted, written, and produced by Shashank BhargavaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

A trial balloon is being floated by the MHA, backed by intelligence agencies (read Doval) for thinning out the Army from the Valley hinterland. Does it serve any purpose other than perception management. Is it the same old policy of one step forward, two backward. Sanjay Dixit discusses.

Many people feel like their path is the only path to salvation and that their God is the only God. However, if you wanted to get to the beach, aren't there many routes, each unique in their own way and yet each equally capable of taking you to the same destination? Further, if God is an infinite being, then shouldn't such a being express Itself in (and allow Itself to be reached by) an infinite myriad of ways? One thing is clear: the saints of all the major religions all the world over have demonstrated through their experiences that every religion works to create peace, blessedness and virtue. Every religion then is just so many ways of describing the one truth. Every religion is just so many paths to one goal. And while people might argue and bicker and even kill each other over what to call water, the mystics of the world understand that whether you call it "Self" or "No-Self," "Allah" or "Yahweh", "Krishna" or "Jesus", it will quench your thirst all the same. This idea is of course at the heart of the life and teaching of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. His has always been a message of the essences of things, a message of harmony and universality. Interestingly, this sentiment is also present in the teachings of Tantra especially in the exegetical works of great Shiva masters of the 10th and 11th CE in the Kashmir Valley. In this lecture, we take up the question: "what does God look like?" to illustrate the above sentiment and make a plea for religious harmony! NOTE: I wrongly titled the text Svabodhodaya Manjari authored by Viranatha as Shivabodhodaya Manjari, forgive me! Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST.  There's Q&A from 8-10pm PST right after.It is free and open to the public. All are welcome!Use this link and I will see you there:https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnishSupport the show

To what extent do the life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna embody or even exceed the vast and oceanic philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism, that is, to be precise, the Tantrik exegetical writings of various Shaiva masters in the Kashmir Valley between 900-1050 AD who for the most part seem to have embodied similar mystic experiences and articulated similar philosophies to the ones we find in the Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, or the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna? Many scholars have argued that Sri Ramakrishna's position (for instance, regarding the inseparable nature of Brahman and It's Shakti, that is, It's power to create, maintain and dissolve a seemingly manifold world while embodying Itself as that very world) departs from the traditional schools of Vedanta and perhaps comes closest to the Prakasha-Vimarsha/ Shiva-Shakti model of Kashmiri Shaivism as articulated by Abinava Gupta, Kshemaraja and others. But while there are glaring similarities here, there are also some key differences. To highlight some of these nuances, we have Swami Medhananda of the Ramakrishna Order walk us through his take on Sri Ramakrishna's position, which he articulates beautifully in his book, "Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality" as "Vijnana Vedanta". We then contrast that view with Kashmiri Shaivism, at least according to my understanding of it. In the course of this conversation, our commitment was to stay as close to the source literature as we could and offer ample citation for viewers to come to their own conclusions on these matters. You are all invited reason along with us as part of a greater exploration into the deeply exciting world of spirituality!May all of this be an offering. Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST.  There's Q&A from 8-10pm PST right after.It is free and open to the public. All are welcome!Use this link and I will see you there:https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrMSupport the show

Is targeted killings a natural evolution of the Kashmir Valley's long-running militancy? We discuss this in this episode of In Our Defence. Listen up!

Hundreds of Kashmiri Hindu govt employees have left the Kashmir Valley over the last 10 days in the light of alleged targeted killings by terrorists, and returned to Jammu. ----more---- https://theprint.in/india/wont-quit-govt-jobs-kashmiri-hindus-fleeing-valley-after-killings-say-we-want-safety/994974/ 

In this latest SBS Hindi bulletin: Queen Elizabeth expresses appreciation for the re-naming of an island in Canberra to mark her Platinum Jubilee; African leaders calls for sanctions on Russian wheat to be lifted; In India, the Centre is not in favour of moving minorities out of the Kashmir Valley instead would relocate and provide security there only and more news.

Last week, the Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik was awarded two life sentences by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court. Malik was convicted on charges of raising and accepting funds for carrying out terrorist and secessionist acts in the Kashmir Valley in 2016-17.In this episode, host Shashank Bhargava is joined by Indian Express' National Editor of Strategic Affairs Nirupama Subramanian, and Deeptiman Tiwary to talk about the significance of this sentencing, why the Indian establishment had been engaging with him, and the reasons why it did not yield the desired results.

Earlier in May, as it redrew Jammu and Kashmir's electoral map, the government's three-member Delimitation Commission recommended creation of six assembly constituencies in Jammu and one in Kashmir. With this, there will be 47 assembly segments in the Kashmir division and 43 in Jammu. So there are 90 assembly seats in JK, up from 83 earlier. According to the 2011 Census, the population of Jammu and Kashmir is 12.5 million. Of them 6.89 million live in Kashmir, 5.38 million in Jammu and 2, 74,00 in Ladakh. The exercise and the proposal have drawn heavy criticism from various political quarters, especially within the Kashmir Valley. “The delimitation commission has become an extension of BJP… We reject it, we have no faith in it,”   Former JK chief minister Mehbooba Mufti BJP's former ally Mehboob Mufti was blunt in criticism. She said that the commission has ignored the basic parameter of population and added or removed areas as per their wishes. But what exactly is delimitation? Delimitation is the process by which the limits or boundaries of a country's territorial constituencies are rejigged to reflect changes in population. The redrawing of these boundaries is based on the recent census. In India, the number of Lok Sabha seats allocated to different states, along with the total number of seats in a state's Legislative Assembly, can change as a result of a delimitation exercise. And the body tasked with carrying out the exercise is called delimitation commission or boundary commission. Such commissions have been constituted four times in India. First was in 1952 under the Delimitation Commission Act, 1952, then in 1963 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1962, in 1973 under Delimitation Act, 1972 and in 2002 under Delimitation Act, 2002. The delimitation exercise is done for three main reasons. First, to ensure a fair division of geographical areas. Second, to ensure equal population representation from every seat. And, third, to ensure that the principle of “One Vote One Value” is maintained. Now, let us delve into the controversy in Kashmir over the delimitation commission's proposal. The report has five major takeaways. First, the five parliamentary constituencies have been re-organised so that each now has 18 assembly constituencies. Second, six assembly seats in Jammu and three in Kashmir have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The third is the formation of the Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary constituency by merging Kashmir's Anantnag area with Jammu's Rajouri and Poonch. The fourth is the addition of six new Assembly constituencies in Jammu and one in Kashmir. Last and fifth, it has been proposed that the Union Territory's Legislative Assembly should include at least 2 people from the Kashmiri migrant population. So, why the criticism and opposition? As a recent Business Standard editorial explains, the main reason for this is the seat distribution in both the Assembly and Lok Sabha. It appears that the old communal divide between Jammu and Kashmir has been maintained by allocating them 43 and 47 seats, respectively. This allocation significantly alters the vote shares in the Assembly. Jammu, with 44 per cent of the population, will get to vote for 48 per cent of the seats. Meanwhile, the Kashmir division, with 56 per cent of the population, will get to vote for 52 per cent of the seats. Under the earlier configuration, Jammu had 44.5 percent of the seats and Kashmir 55.4 per cent. And when it comes to the realignments of the parliamentary seats, critics see the influence of Kashmiri-speaking Muslim voters being reduced with the restructuring of the Jammu and Anantnag seats. No wonder there have been allegations of gerrymandering.

Pakistan continues to find enough terrorists to push into the Kashmir Valley and cherry-pick Kashmiri Hindus who are returning to their homeland. Here are some steps that can be taken to ensure that the KPs feel safe and secure in their homeland. #KashmiriPandits #RahulBhatt #NarendraModi #Kashmir #Security

Hindi News (हिंदी समाचार), Breaking News in Hindi: Return of Kashmiri Pandits to Kashmir Valley, what is the government's plan, RSS प्रमुख मोहन भागवत कह रहे हैं कि कश्मीरी पंडितों की घरवापसी के लिए अनुकूल माहौल तैयार किया जा रहा है। कैसे और कब अपनी जन्मभूमि पर वापस लौटेंगे कश्मीरी पंडित? कौन लेगा उनकी सुरक्षा की गारंटी? जानने के लिए पूरा एनालिसिस सुनें navbharatgold.com पर डेली न्यूज़कास्ट में।

Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, completed his postgraduate degree in business administration from a Delhi college. Yet Ahmed chose to return to the Kashmir Valley. His family objected, but Mushtaq was insistent that he did not want a corporate job. For him, joining the ancestral business meant a lot more. “After working for a few years in different companies, I was not happy. It took me some time to convince my elders that there is nothing wrong with joining our family business. My father allowed me to join and learn the trade only when he realized that I would not give up,” says the 44-year-old, who heads a team of 45 wazas. Now, he is known as Mushtaq Shaitan.

His Journey started when a class 11th Kashmiri boy, from Goigam Magam Baramullah decided to accompany his father for his monthly visit to meet a less fortunate family living in the outskirts of his town. He was the typical carefree teenager, living in the moment, enjoying life, till he met this family of 8, living in a small broken-down tin roofed hut. An old father who could hardly see or fend for himself, 6 daughters to be married off. Wife who could barely provide the days meal. Amir's father would visit this family and help them with whatever he could. This experience impacted the young lads mind and spirit strongly. He realised how fortunate he was and how, like most of us, he also took his benefits for granted. Seeing the desperate condition of that family, the pain and degradation they were facing, young awakened Amir took a call to reach out to the less fortunate and do what he could. At 17, Amir Rashid Wani experienced his ‘turning point'. Moment. He knew, he had found his path ahead. No one fathomed then, that he would become a role model for thousands of people in the Kashmir Valley, as the youth of a Nation are the trustees of posterity. The only way that we can live is if we grow. The only way we can grow is, if we change. The only way we can change is, if we learn. The only way we can learn is, if we are exposed. And the only way that we are exposed is, if we throw ourselves into the open. And that is what Amir did. He has done a tremendous job during COVID-19 pandemic and helped district administration Srinagar and reached to those whose livelihood got hit by lockdown. Various projects were initiated to create covid awareness and distribution of masks. There is no count of the helpless families he supported during the pandemic. Silently he and his army of 50 dedicated social volunteers and friends have been working to bring about a change in society. He and his organization-Mooj Kasheer Welfare Trust, want to educate the poor and orphans. At present, they are supporting plenty of village schools by arranging books, stationery and school fees. Funds are being arranged through donations for medical care, chemotherapy and other services, free of cost. Amir is tireless striving to arrange ambulances and struggling to see that the wounded reach the hospital on time.

Acting swiftly and striking back hard is the only way for the Government of India to instill confidence in the hearts and minds of the minorities living in the Kashmir Valley, says Sree Iyer in this quick monologue. Citing examples of a country that is surrounded by hostile neighbors, Iyer says that striking back hard is the only language these lumpens understand.

As the violence against non-Muslims peaks in the Kashmir Valley, Dr. Ajay Chrungoo and Sanjay Dixit join once again to point out that merely removing Art. 370 and continuing with the same Establishment was only going to yield the same result. Merely changing the cover without changing the substance has only got us the same result.

In the narrative of Kashmir, what often lies forgotten is the origin story. What could a Naga king who ruled thousands of years ago, have in common with a humble Gujjar-Bakrwal man, and what did they have to do with the origin of Kashmir? This week, in the eighth episode of Kashmir Diaries, Utsav narrates the story of a deadly hike at Sheshnag lake, which ended in a rather peculiar way. Tune in, to understand the thousand year old tradition which connected the Naga King and the Gujjar-Bakrwal man, and what lessons it holds for us as travellers today.Check out the other episodes of "The Kashmir Diaries"Kashmiris, Hangul and the Manual of Life:- https://ivm.today/3o0jE1GSrinagar, Ancient Carvings and Supernovas:- https://ivm.today/3hECuatKargil, Hundarman and the Museum of Memories:- https://ivm.today/3xuayw9You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42(https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42)You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

In 1960, the Indian Archeaologist T N Khazanchi, in a painstaking excavation spanning 11 years, discovered proof of 4 distinct human cultures beginning from the Aceramic Neolithic to the Historical era, which meant that the Kashmir Valley had been inhabited for at least 11,000 years. In the excavation, they also found a stone carving, which did not merit enough attention. This week, in the fifth episode of The Kashmir Diaries, I take you to Burzahom, the site of the excavation to tell you the story of how, just 3 years ago, the rock carving led to a stunning scientific discovery. Tune in, and uncover the story of this discovery which was hiding in plain sight, and what it teaches us about the respecting ancient knowledge systems and wisdom.Check out the other episodes on Beneath the Veneer: JordanRed Sea, Tintin, and Sunken Tanks:- https://ivm.today/3du4fAEJordan, Civilization, and Buri Nazar! :- https://ivm.today/3hp1qDiAmman, Ashok Chakra and Swastik :- https://ivm.today/3xuayw9You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42(https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42)You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

Sardar Ravi Ranjan Singh and Tufail Chaturvedi join Sanjay Dixit to lay open the hidden secrets behind the much talked about forced conversion of Sikh girls to Islam in Kashmir Valley and why the earlier conversions went unreported.

In today's episode:Remembering novelist Sharon Kay PenmanCarl Hiaasen's retirement plansMarvel's Women's History Month coversZach Snyder's Justice LeagueInterview with Twitch streamer Arlewyn GoodmanStanding barefoot in snow as punishmentBarefoot Country Music Festival's free tickets for front line workershttps://barefootcountrymusicfest.com/contests/nominate-a-frontline-hero/Support the show (http://paypal.me/barefootsierra)

The Kashmir Valley for decades has thrived of the scores of tourists that travel there every year. However, the past one year due to Coronavirus has severely impact travel to the valley, largely due to travel restrictions and lockdowns but also because of the turmoil in Indian administered Kashmir since Kashmir special status was revoked by the Indian government. Kashmir's economy is nearing collapse, and it has never been worse. In previous years despite the extra military presence or lockdowns for security measures, tourists still continued travelling to the valley for vacations and contributed to the economy through their spending in local shops and accommodations. However, this year that little saving grace has also vanished through travel bans and the lack of tourism and the consequent revenue for locals. To make matters worse, the past few weeks have seen very heavy snowfall in the region. This had to led to closure of many roads and highways as well as air traffic, leading to about 4,500 trucks mainly carrying essential items for the items stuck along the closed highways. Authorities in some parts of Kashmir are already rationing items such as LPG and Petrol, essentials for daily life, and adding to the pressures on Kashmiris coupled with the lockdowns, lack of steady income and security concerns. Finally, Jammu and Kashmir held its first elections this past December wherein voters from all over stood in lines to vote despite the harsh winter and the COVID-19 pandemic. This election has been the first since the Indian government revoked Kashmir's special status under article 370 of the Indian constitution giving its autonomous status and prohibiting citizens from other Indian states from buying property in Kashmir. Many voters were hopeful that this election will the beginning of better systems in Kashmir such as access to better roads, water, elecricity and general development but did not support Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP). The two main contenders of this election were the BJP and the Gupkar Alliance, which is a grouping of regional parties that all held the aim of re-instating article 370. The problem however is, that even is the Gupkar group wins a majority of seats in parliament, they as elected representatives hold no legislative authority, only the task of promoting local development and improve daily life for those in Jammu and Kashmir. The elections as per the Indian Prime Minister “have further strengthened the roots of democracy” as people both young and old in Jammu and Kashmir waited for hours to cast their vote. Of a total of 280 seats across Jammu(a hindu majority) and Kashmir(a muslim majority), the BJP won over 70 seats mainly in Jammu and 3 seats(for the first time ever) in Kashmir. Whereas the Gupkar alliance, won more than 110 seats, 70 of those being in Kashmir. However although the BJP claimed this voting process was a victory for democracy, there were opponents who claimed that the BJP had illegally detained them and barred them from canvassing- charged the BJP denied. An additional fear of militants and violence has often also kept voters at home. This year, the overall turn out was 51%, and in Kashmir alone, 34% of those eligible to vote did so, which is double the amount seen last year in the parliamentary elections.  Unfortunately, despite the hopes of many Kashmiris, the chances of the Indian government re-instating article 370 are slim. However what they can hope for from these elections is that their elected representatives will work hard to bring development and progress to Jammu and Kashmir. Support the show (https://www.justgiving.com/tncf)

This Episode talks about the beauty of Kashmir Valley, it's culture, economy and the current situation. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/giridhar_kasichainula/support

The CWC resolved that Sonia Gandhi will continue as party president, clinicians the world over are treating Covid-19 as more than respiratory disease, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said China dismissed Indian claims over the Kashmir Valley & other top stories making news throughout the day.

Maxing out the birds eye view!!! Curiosity Links : Bill Smith : How to Read the QClock - Introducing the QAnon Calendar (think mirror) with PROOFS (3) (25 July 2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBEyUjsarmg Disclosure News Italia : QAnon Map Interactive - QMap https://www.disclosurenews.it/qanon-map-interactive/ Recommended Links : Al Jazeera English : Global Condemnation of Mali coup despite public support (21 August 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2neG4polAJA Al Jazeera English : Mali - president, prime minister arrested in apparent coup (19 August 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udj2cgj9BiY The Print : Strategic picture, Turkey's agression, Itan & UAE-Israel deal (15 August 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNtFjI5onP0 TIMES NOW : Kashmir The Story - Full Documentary on the History & Timelines of Kashmir Valley (6 August 2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SuNPI6Y6K8 Recommended Music Link : Samantha Star Mermaid Music - Topic : Rainbow Chant Compilation (9 May 2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hET0xZ3FrdE

Undaunted took two years of painstaking research, including six months of travel to the Kashmir Valley, the IMA, the NDA, MHOW, Devlali and Akhnoor to weave an authentic account of Lt. Ummer's life.

The return of the 'Teacher of Righteousness'. Heavenly Divine Child. Consolamentum . . . "with the Sun in mind!" NOTE: EP66 DATED 16 AUG, REMOVED BY SPOTIFY ON 19 AUG!!! Recommended Links : Wikipedia : Situation Room https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situation_Room Wikipedia : Bay of Pigs Invasion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion And We Know : AG BARR brings the HEAT! This is NOT a GAME! (15 August 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E1feR1iWZ4 Justinformed Talk : EXPOSING The ENTIRE SHADOW SURVEILLANCE STATE? (15 August 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK6h_kayIJM PLUNDER : Millie Weaver, boyfriend arrested on felo y domestic violence, robbery charges #ShadowGate (16 August 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKY04V6Mcos Fox Business : White House announces historic Israel-UAE Peace Deal (13 August 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRUWO8Q0n0w The Guardian : Harris and Biden make first appearance as running mates & excoriate 'failure' Trump (13 August 2020) https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/12/joe-biden-kamala-harris-campaign-event-wilmington-delaware TIMES NOW : Kashmir The Story - Full Documentary On The History & Timelines of Kashmir Valley (6 August 2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SuNPI6Y6K8 Cathar Info : Cathar Beliefs http://www.cathar.info/cathar_beliefs.htm Curiosity Links : MKIceAndFire : FAR CRY 5 Live Action Trailer NEW (2018) (2 Mar 2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whl28r8dVMU Ubisoft North America : Far Cry 5: Official Announce Trailer (27 May 2017) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdaoe4hbMso Recommended Music Link : muttonbirdsandbeyond : The Mutton Birds - 'Nature' - 3rd August 1992 (22 Apr 2008) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghbt5OLz6ns

"Secrets of the Kashmir Valley” On this episode, we are joined by author and counterterrorism expert Farhana Qazi and we discuss her book "Secrets of the Kashmir Valley" Farhana was previously on the podcast back in November 2018. You can listen to that interview here: https://pod.fo/e/14f94 You can find out more about Farhana by going to her website: https://farhanaqazi.com/ Music on this podcast is provided by Andrew R. Bird (Andy Bird) You can check out his work here: www.monsteromnibus.com/?fbclid=IwAR0…BdNQbuCvt9KWU Please support this podcast Become a Patreon Subscriber Get early access to episodes by becoming a Patreon subscriber. Early access from $5 a month
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The State of Jammu & Kashmir as we know it has changed permanently in 2019. With the end of J&K's special status and the restructuring of the state into two union territories under greater control of New Delhi, there have been many discussions on history, politics, law and order, human rights issues and more on Kashmir. On Episode 118 of The Pragati Podcast, Lt. General Ata Hasnain shares an important military perspective on the security challenges in Kashmir, and demystifies life on the Line of Control for Indian soldiers. The Pragati Podcast is a weekly talk-show on public policy, economics and international relations hosted by Pavan Srinath. Lieutenant General (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain is a former Indian military leader, and was corps commander of the XV Chinar Corps of the Indian Army in Kashmir between December, 2010 and June, 2012. Gen Hasnain is an infantryman from the Garwhal Rifles and retired as the Military Secretary of the Indian Army. He is on Twitter at @atahasnain53. Do also listen to: Episode 134 of The Seen and The Unseen: Kashmir and Article 370, with Srinath Raghavan. http://www.seenunseen.in/episodes/2019/8/19/episode-134-kashmir-and-article-370 Episode 29 of The Pragati Podcast: Firing on the Line of Control, with Lt. General (Retd) Prakash Menon. https://ivmpodcasts.com/the-pragati-podcast-episode-list/2018/2/1/ep-29-firing-on-the-line-of-control If you have any questions or comments, write in to podcast@thinkpragati.com. Follow The Pragati Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/pragatipod Follow Pragati on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinkpragati Follow Pragati on Facebook: https://facebook.com/thinkpragati Subscribe & listen to The Pragati Podcast on iTunes, Saavn , Spotify , Castbox , Google Podcasts , YouTube or any other podcast app. We are there everywhere. You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/

This episode is a special on Kashmir. I wish I was doing a special on the beauty of the state and its people, arts and rich delicious cuisine. But at this time there is a serious lockdown, human rights abuses taking place since August 5th, 2019 when India revoked the article 370 and took away the autonomy of Kashmir and its people.  I had the opportunity to sit down with Arshad Iqbal Nisar at his home in Massachusetts. Some questions that we discussed: What is that people don't know about Kashmir? What is going on in Kashmir right now? What can an average American do to help with the current situation? In his words, "Arshad was born and brought up in Srinagar, the central city of Kashmir Valley, in a family of teachers and craftsmen. He studied Electronics Engineering and came to USA for higher studies in 1996, contributing to the semiconductor technology industry here in Greater Boston, where he lives with his wife and two sons. Being a Kashmiri and having seen the conflict firsthand in Kashmir, Arshad believes in staying thankful in better times but  but not losing focus and courage in adversity. Arshad believes in American values of Justice and Opportunity for all and  bemoans the horrible waste of human potential in South Asia, a consequence of Kashmir conflict. He believes the endgame  should be the restoring of rights of self determination for all Kashmiris, a peaceful independent Kashmir that is welcoming to all. Apart from Science and Engineering work,  in his spare time Arshad is an avid gardener, nature lover, STEM mentor/teacher  and an Activist for peace and human rights in Kashmir. " Please visit to learn more on Kashmir:  https://www.standwithkashmir.org/ "1 million Indian Security forces are currently occupying the region as the Indian government revokes Article 370 and attempts to dissolve the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir." "An internet & communications blackout has been imposed. Tourists and non-Muslims have been asked to evacuate. Local police have been disarmed. Young children are being picked up and arrested. Indian forces are firing pellet guns at innocent civilians." Also stay tuned for Part 2 of Episode 88 with Arshad Iqbal Nisar.    IN THE MEMORY OF THE DISAPPEARED OF KASHMIR A KASHMIRI MOTHER VOCALIZING....   Oh my Yousuf my dear son I call you, come home my sweet heart Mamas son where are you lost You left home but why didn't you return You left me the sorrow of losing you till the judgement day Oh my Yousuf my dear son I call you come home my sweet heart Mamas son where are you lost I looked for you under the scorching sun in deserts Made my wails and pleas reach to all countries of the world Yet where are you... Oh my Yousuf my dear son I call you come home my sweet heart Mamas son where are you lost     Thank you, Shua - شعا ع  www.lightupwithshua.com - Podcast http://bit.ly/2nc9tZM - Youtube channel https://goo.gl/rf3HQ9 - The Groton Channel http://apple.co/2BteyA3 - iTunes https://goo.gl/dWpvLF - Instagram  

This episode is a special on Kashmir. I wish I was doing a special on the beauty of the state and its people, arts and rich delicious cuisine. But at this time there is a serious lockdown, human rights abuses taking place since August 5th, 2019 when India revoked the article 370 and took away the autonomy of Kashmir and its people.  I had the opportunity to sit down with Arshad Iqbal Nisar at his home in Massachusetts. Some questions that we discussed: What is that people don't know about Kashmir? What is going on in Kashmir right now? What can an average American do to help with the current situation? In his words, "Arshad was born and brought up in Srinagar, the central city of Kashmir Valley, in a family of teachers and craftsmen. He studied Electronics Engineering and came to USA for higher studies in 1996, contributing to the semiconductor technology industry here in Greater Boston, where he lives with his wife and two sons. Being a Kashmiri and having seen the conflict firsthand in Kashmir, Arshad believes in staying thankful in better times but  but not losing focus and courage in adversity. Arshad believes in American values of Justice and Opportunity for all and  bemoans the horrible waste of human potential in South Asia, a consequence of Kashmir conflict. He believes the endgame  should be the restoring of rights of self determination for all Kashmiris, a peaceful independent Kashmir that is welcoming to all. Apart from Science and Engineering work,  in his spare time Arshad is an avid gardener, nature lover, STEM mentor/teacher  and an Activist for peace and human rights in Kashmir. " Please visit to learn more on Kashmir:  https://www.standwithkashmir.org/ "1 million Indian Security forces are currently occupying the region as the Indian government revokes Article 370 and attempts to dissolve the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir." "An internet & communications blackout has been imposed. Tourists and non-Muslims have been asked to evacuate. Local police have been disarmed. Young children are being picked up and arrested. Indian forces are firing pellet guns at innocent civilians." Also stay tuned for Part 2 of Episode 88 with Arshad Iqbal Nisar.    IN THE MEMORY OF THE DISAPPEARED OF KASHMIR A KASHMIRI MOTHER VOCALIZING....   Oh my Yousuf my dear son I call you, come home my sweet heart Mamas son where are you lost You left home but why didn't you return You left me the sorrow of losing you till the judgement day Oh my Yousuf my dear son I call you come home my sweet heart Mamas son where are you lost I looked for you under the scorching sun in deserts Made my wails and pleas reach to all countries of the world Yet where are you... Oh my Yousuf my dear son I call you come home my sweet heart Mamas son where are you lost     Thank you, Shua - شعا ع  www.lightupwithshua.com - Podcast http://bit.ly/2nc9tZM - Youtube channel https://goo.gl/rf3HQ9 - The Groton Channel http://apple.co/2BteyA3 - iTunes https://goo.gl/dWpvLF - Instagram  

It has been more than 4 weeks since India's decision to revoke the decades-old special status of Jammu and Kashmir, by rescinding Article 370 of the constitution, which granted the disputed territory limited autonomy since 1947. Ahead of its decision, the Indian government deployed thousands of troops to the region, which is already one of the most densely militarized areas in the world. Local officials say up to four thousand Kashmiris including business leaders, human rights defenders, and elected representatives have since been arrested. Some, have reportedly been tortured. The government denies these allegations and insists that the restrictions are necessary to maintain law and order and prevent violence. Some protests in the Kashmir Valley have turned violent, with many Kashmiris anxious that Delhi’s unilateral move is intended to change the demographics of the state, from majority-Muslim to majority-Hindu. So is Prime Minister Modi gambling on Kashmir -- and Indian democracy?

11:15 am, 5 August 2019. I stood stunned and immersed in a time-lapse video as Home Minister Amit Shah read out the Resolution abolishing Article 370 and the state of Jammu & Kashmir in Rajya Sabha. If you were a liberal, you castigated, by rote – “the Kashmir Valley will now become India’s Gaza”. If a conservative, you celebrated, almost crudely – “we will make the Kashmir Valley into another Switzerland”. But I stayed quiet – consumed by a deep, viscous silence – as I tried to understand this political whiplash. I did not want to give a quick, adolescent reaction. I wanted to assess the government’s invoking of Article 370 to kill Article 370 on the three touchstones of Mandate, Method and Morality. Listen to the podcast for the full story. Read the story here (https://www.thequint.com/videos/news-videos/raghav-bahl-on-revoking-article-370-35a-jammu-kashmir-laddakh) .

Jammu and Kashmir has been on the edge following deployment of additional security forces in the state last week. Speculation has been rife that the Centre has plans to do away with Article 35A, which gives exclusive rights to the state's residents in government jobs and land.  The administration of Jammu and Kashmir, which is under President's rule, has ordered curtailment of the annual Amarnath Yatra and asked pilgrims and tourists to leave the Kashmir Valley, citing terror threat. Outstation students, studying in the NIT in Srinagar, have also been asked to leave the campus and go home and not to return till further order. Listen to this podcast for more.

Rafiq Kathwari is the first non-Irish recipient of the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award and he joins the pod to share his journey and poems. He has lived most of his adult life in New York, but was born, as he puts it, “a Scorpio at midnight” in the disputed Kashmir Valley. No less a luminary than Susan Shapiro has called his poetry “breathtakingly beautiful, piercingly honest, wildly exotic yet universal too, as if you put Derek Walcott, Salman Rushdie and Jhumpa Lahiri in a blender”. We discuss the rich history of his homeland and how it is yet another example of the carnage left in the aftermath of the collapsing British Empire, and the role of madness and mental illness in literature. Links: Twitter: @brownpundit Buy Rafiq's book here: https://tinyurl.com/y93oyvsn Christopher Smart's, Jubilate Agno: https://tinyurl.com/y7s6psh8 Watch The Battle of Algiers here: https://tinyurl.com/ybqaxlw3 The Destruction of The European Jews by Raul Hilberg: https://tinyurl.com/h4xgxm2 A Pint With Seaniebee Audible Feast's list of Best Podcast Series of 2017: https://tinyurl.com/ya5yj9vs Top 12 Best New Podcast Series of 2016: http://tinyurl.com/gps9tn5 50 Best Podcast Episodes list 2017: https://tinyurl.com/y7ryajat 50 Best Podcast Episodes list 2016: http://tinyurl.com/hp83rnw Release date: February 10th 2018 Runtime: 31m Recorded: Dalkey

Attackers cutting off women’s hair and disappearing. In the Indian controlled Kashmir Valley, the strange attacks have sparked more unrest. Philippines President Duterte, has been called ‘The Punisher’ for his brutal approach to drugs. But now he is beginning to be punished in the polls… as children and teenagers are murdered in his bloody war on drugs. And in Australia, an Aboriginal activist walks his talk. Travelling 6000 kilometres across the country by foot to raise awareness of Indigenous issues.

Raqib Hameed Naik spent most of his life in Kashmir before moving to India where he works as a journalist writing on human conflict and human rights related issues. He speaks with Ryan in this episode about the Indian administered regions of Kashmir: Kashmir Valley, Jammu, and Ladakh, which are in the northernmost region of the Indian subcontinent. Control of this part of the world remains a contentious issue between India and Pakistan. Recent developments have included the possibility of the U.S. or China stepping in to act as an arbiter in an attempt to solve this geopolitical issue that is affecting the lives of many Indians, Pakistanis, and Kashmiris. Now, as of June 26th 2017, the U.S. Department of State has named Syed Salahudeen (also known as Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah), who is the head of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (a Kashmiri separatist and designated Islamic terrorist group by India, the United States, and the European Union), as a specially designated global terrorist. Ryan asks Raqib about Syed Salahudeen's reported comments to turn Kashmir Valley into a "graveyard for Indian forces" as well as what Raqib's ideas are on the diaspora of Kashmiris and his desire for a plebiscite to be held. As a Muslim who grew up alongside Hindus and wants to see Kashmir become an independent and secular country, Raqib provides an interesting perspective on the current state of affairs in Kashmir. 

Aadit Kapadia and Pramod Kumar Buravalli talk about the jihadist attacks all around the world, they also discuss Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention. Then a discussion on the Gujarat incident, Kashmir Valley’s unrest, Burhan Wani’s killing and the news that have dominated the past two weeks. Sunanda Vashisht joins in with a brief report from India on Kashmir.

The continuation of the predicament of those who remain displaced from the Kashmir Valley since 1989 results from the unintended consequences of past policies.

The call to find the poem inside: Dr. Shamim Sadiq, a physician by profession, born in the beautiful Kashmir Valley, invites us to Aim Vertically Not Horizontally, the title of her book inspired by her travels around the world and her ultimate journey within to discover and align with her true purpose in life.