THE MEDIAEVAL PERIOD ROUTES FROM KASHMIR TO NAGARKOT

THE MEDIAEVAL PERIOD ROUTES FROM KASHMIR TO NAGARKOT

(AI generated map of the two medieval routes to Nagarkot )

Two medieval period roads linked Kashmir to Nagarkot, now Kangra. Both crossed the Pir Panjal and both crossed the Ravi River, ancient Iravati.

Route One - Southern Naag Road:

Kashmir - Kulgam - Kaunsarnag - Reasi - Manwal/Babbarpur (Babbapura) - Billawar (Vallapura) - Basholi (Ballapura) - crossing Ravi - Kangra.

Route Two - Eastern Naag Road:

Kashmir - Anantnag - Sinthan - Kishtwar - Bhaderwah - Sarthal - Chamba - Kangra.

ROUTE ONE - THE SOUTHERN NAAG ROAD

The sacred centre of Route One was  Kaunsarnag. The Nilamata Purana, dated 6th-7th century CE, calls the lake Kramasaras in Sanskrit. It says after Satisar was drained, the gods took seats on peaks around this lake. Later tradition calls it Vishnu Pad, created by Vishnu stamping with his foot. Modern Yatra literature preserves this as Karamasar or Veshnopad. The Vishav River originates from Kousarnag and flows towards the Kashmir Valley, forming Aharbal falls.

The Political Centre - Babbapura (Manwal)

The political centre  of this route was Babbapura, present-day Manwal in Udhampur. The first mention of Babor as Babbapura is in Kalhana's Rajatarangini, where ruler Kirti is recorded to have visited the court of King Kalasa of Kashmir in 1087-88 CE. During the 9th-10th centuries, Babbapura was a flourishing urban centre and served as the capital of Durgara State, mentioned in the Chamba copper plate inscription. It remained significant until the capital shifted to Jammu in 1380 CE. Rajatarangini also records that Rajas of Durgara country, including those of Babbapura and Vallapura, played a role in Kashmir politics, supporting Bikshachara's claim for the throne. At that time Vajradhara alias Chakradhara was Raja of Babbapura. Vallapura is Billawar, Ballapura is Basholi. Thus Rajatarangini gives a chain from Kashmir to Babbapura to Vallapura to Ballapura to the Ravi - exactly the road from Kulgam to Kangra.

The Dranga System

Kings of Kashmir maintained border posts called Dranga on all passes. Kounsar Gali was one such Dranga, its commander called Drangapati. Crossing Kounsar Gali meant leaving Kashmir and entering the kingdom of Durgara.

The Living Track

Today this old track survives only for the Kaunsarnag Yatra. Government records state the Kounsarnag Yatra starts from the traditional route of Reasi and does not pass through the Valley. There are two routes traditionally used: one through Kulgam in the Valley (used by Kashmiri Pandits, abandoned during 1990s militancy) and one via Reasi in Jammu region (continues). The Yatra starts from the ancient Lord Shiva temple in Reasi. Pilgrims trek from Mahore to Kousarnag Shiv Dham. Itinerary: 99 km road to Sungri, then 26 km to Sarsote, 11 km on foot to Sari Camp, then 17 km trek to the sacred lake.

Travellers have noted this road. Vigne in 1835 notes the road from Kashmir to Jammu via Shopian and Reasi is used by Brahmins who go to Jawala-Mukhi. Moorcroft in 1822 mentions holy lakes beyond Shopian visited by Brahmins from Jammu. Sir Aurel Stein, who walked this route in the 1890s, identified Babbapura as capital of Durgara and noted the road from Kulgam to Reasi via Kounsar Nag was still used by porters to carry salt.

For a traveller from Kulgam the natural road to Jawala Mukhi in Kangra was to take a dip in Kaunsarnag, cross Kounsar Gali to Sari to Mahore to Reasi, then to Manwal (Babbapura), Billawar (Vallapura), Basholi (Ballapura), then cross Ravi into Nurpur and then to Kangra fort. Dogra revenue records call this the Jawala Ji route. The Chamba copper plate mentioning Lord of Durgara shows Durgara controlled the Ravi crossing.

Through this route Kashmiri Pashmina weaving reached Basholi, Nurpur, Haripur and other hill states. Possibly ancestors of artist Nainsukh Raina travelled through this route. Ancestors of Kauls, Rainas and Dhars of Himachal Pradesh too must have travelled during dark periods in Kashmir. Kashmiri Muslim shawl weavers also used this route during famines and shawl taxation periods.

ROUTE TWO - THE EASTERN NAAG ROAD

Route Two is higher.

Section 1: Anantnag to Sinthan. 

The Sinthan Road connecting Kishtwar with Anantnag goes through Sinthan pass at 3,800 metres. It reduces distance for those who otherwise need to go via Jammu to reach Kishtwar. Anantnag is ancient Vijayeshwara Tirtha . From Anantnag the road goes to Kokernag and then to Sinthan Top. Kalhana calls Kishtwar as Kashtavata and Bhaderwah as Bhadrashavasa.

Section 2: Sinthan to Kishtwar to Bhaderwah.

Kishtwar sits on Chenab (Chandrabhaga) and was independent till 1821. From Kishtwar to Bhaderwah the road goes via Thathri. Bhaderwah is also known as Chhota Kashmir for its strong Kashmiri presence, moderate climate , snow covered peaks  and scenic beauty .

Section 3: Bhaderwah to Sarthal.

From Bhaderwah road climbs to Padri Gali at 10,500 feet. Padri is the watershed between Chenab and Ravi. Then it drops to Sarthal meadow which lies in Kathua district but culturally belongs to Bhaderwah. Sarthal was the summer grazing ground of Bhaderwahi Gujars and Chamba Gaddis. From Sarthal to Saluni to Langera to Chamba town.

Section 4: Chamba to Nagarkot.

Chamba is ancient Champa. From Chamba road goes to Dalhousie to Nurpur to Kangra. Kangra was Nagarkot, also called Bhimakot and Trigarta. Al Biruni in 1030 calls Nagarkot the fort where kings keep their treasure. Kalhana says kings of Trigarta sent tribute to Lalitaditya in 8th century. That tribute came via Bhaderwah and Chamba.

Route Two was also used as a yatra road and as a wool and salt road. For a Kashmiri Pandit going to Jawala Mukhi Route 2 was shorter than going via Jammu. British gazetteers note salt from Tibet( via Padder )  and wool from Kishtwar came to Chamba via Padri and then to Kangra. Chamba Gazetteer of 1910 notes Gaddis from Chamba used to go to Kashmir for wool via Bhaderwah and Kishtwar and that this route was called the Kashmir to Kangra road via Bhaderwah.

TRACES OF KASHMIRI CULTURE EVEN UNDER ALTERED CONDITIONS

All along both roads one encounters traces of Kashmiri culture, surnames, traditions and sacred geography.

On Route One: 

At Kulgam and Shopian language is Kashmiri. At Reasi town there is a Kashmiri Mohalla. Some families carry kram surnames distinctively of  Kashmiri Pandit ancestry .Kashmiri Hindus are all Saraswat Brahmins, known by exonym Pandit, endonym Batta, a term first reserved for emigrant Kashmiri Brahmins in Mughal service. Surnames designate original professions or ancestor nicknames such as Hakim, Saraf, Kabu, Waza , Shonglu, Kharu, Daftari , Langoo and , Teng etc. In Reasi area one encounters  people with Raina,  Koul, Razdan and Zutshi  as their surnames . Many are now Muslim but retain same Kram. Raina families in Reasi believe they came from Anantnag via Kaunsarnag Gali as temple priests for Shiv Khori and Dera temples at Manwal. Some scholars  believe that Baba Kaliveer was from Kashmir's Raina clan . He  is  also worshipped as Kul Devta by many families  in Manwal and Reasi.as well. At Manwal's  Devi Bhagwati Temple , the ritual included offering of cooked  rice and Nadru( lotus stem) , a Kashmiri staple.

On Route Two:

Th  trace is even stronger.  At Kishtwar quarters Kuleed and Sarkoot have surnames Wani, Butt, Lone, Sheikh, Zutshi, Raina, Kaul. Kishtwari has heavy Kashmiri vocabulary. Food includes Monji Haakh ( Kohlrabi), dried fish and noon chai. Houses have khatamband ceilings like in Kashmir. At Bhaderwah Vasuki Nag Temple , the wooden architecture is  identical to temples in Kashmir  It has a Sharada inscription on its beam. Naag legend says Vasuki after draining Satisar took residence in Bhaderwah.  Surnames in Bhaderwah include Saraf, Rajguru, , Kaul, Mattoo, Dhar, Zutshi,Wani, Butt, Kotwal, Razdan. At Sarthal meadow place names are Kashmiri. Sarthal itself means lake meadow from sar + thal like Gulmarg. Nearby Kailash Kund is called Dal in local speech like Dal Lake. At Chamba town there are Bhat and Raina families who came as priests for Lakshmi Narayan Temple. Many Rainas and Bhat families write Sharma as their suname now.  The Lakshmi Narayan temple has an inscription in Sharada.

Finally at Kangra which is Nagarkot, panda registers at Jawala Ji temple still record pilgrims as Raina, Kaul, Razdan from Kashmir who came via Bhaderwah and Reasi. There are still some  families with Raina ,Kaul and sapru surnames in Kangra area .

Thus both roads show that even when dress has changed to Dogra churidar and Chamba topi and Gaddi chola, and language has changed to Pahari, Dogri and Chambyali, the substratum of Naag worship, kram surnames, food habits, wooden architecture and Sharada sacred geography remains distinctly Kashmiri from Kulgam and Anantnag to Kangra. 

Route Used by Fleeing Kashmiri Pandits 

Kashmiri Pandits who have been fleeing out from the valley  since  the 14th century ,  had  also discovered a hidden route via present day  Batote to escape torture and suppression during the rule of Shahmiri Sultans, Chaks, Mughals and Afghans . They would travel through  Batote  after crossing Banihaal pass on foot. The exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits was not a single event in 1990, but a recurring pattern of flight from the Valley since the fourteenth century. In community memory Batote is preserved as Batta-Vath, the path of the Battas, Batta being the Kashmiri word for Pandit, derived from the Sanskrit Bhatta meaning learned master. Official gazetteers, including Charles Bates, attribute the name instead to Rana Batu Jamwal. Both traditions reflect the same truth: for centuries this ridge was the lifeline for Pandits escaping persecution.

( Avtar Mota )

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

SUNANDA KHAJURIA: JOURNEY OF AN ARTIST : FROM PAINTHAL TO HARVARD

                                 

            

Sunanda Khajuria:  Journey of an Artist :From Painthal to Harvard 

 Painthal is  a picturesque village located on the foothills of the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine near Katra in Reasi district of Jammu province of the J&K UT. Nestled among the Trikuta Mountains at 839m elevation, the village offers lush green fields, pine trees, birds, monkeys, Baolis( water springs)  and serene views of the valley. With its peaceful surroundings, traditional houses and warm-hearted people, it reflects the true rural beauty of Jammu. The nearby Painthal nullah and magnesite hills add to its natural charm. A historic village with deep cultural roots, Painthal  is the birthplace  of Padma- shri Shiv Nirmohi , a well-known scholar and author of several books on Jammu's culture, heritage, and folklore.

From this small village of Painthal  to Harvard University and Wuhan University of Technolgy (China) , Sunanda Khajuria has become one of the most internationally recognised contemporary painters to emerge from the Jammu and Kashmir UT.

Born in 1979 to Mohan Lal Khajuria, a former Sarpanch of Painthal, and Manorama Khajuria, Sunanda spent her early childhood in the picturesque landscape of the Jammu foothills. That landscape, she says, remains a cherished source of inspiration. Her formal journey began at the Institute of Music and Fine Arts, University of Jammu, where she completed her BFA in Painting, followed by an MFA in Painting from the College of Art, New Delhi, where she later taught for several years.A  recipient of many awards,  Khajuria was also  selected as one of the 13 artists for the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute’s 2020-2021 Visiting Artist Fellowship at Harvard University. Sunanda Khajuria lives and works in India and China.

Her search for a wider visual vocabulary took her to China. She completed an Advanced Research Programme at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou and earned her PhD in Fine Arts from Wuhan University of Technology, where she now serves as Assistant Professor. It was this long immersion between India and China that shaped the central question of her work: how do we find a sense of home across countries, languages and traditions. Perfect. Fluent in both written and spoken Chinese, which  Sunanda Khajuria  studied professionally as part of her doctoral research.

Khajuria's visual language is unmistakable. At its centre is the female figure , not a portrait, but a symbol. Around her appear birds, shoes, vessels, clouds and aeroplanes : motifs for aspiration, fertility, femininity, migration, travel and desire. She works in acrylic on linen and canvas, and in natural pigments and Chinese ink on silk, as well as ink-and-colour drawings presented in traditional Chinese book formats. Drawing from South Asian storytelling traditions, contemporary cross-cultural influences and Taoist philosophy, her paintings explore what we carry with us, what we leave behind, and what can emerge between different places and cultures.

In 2020-21, she made history as the first-ever artist from Jammu and Kashmir to be selected as a Visiting Artist Fellow at Harvard University's Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute. Her honours include the Second National Award from the Chinese Government (2024), the Princess Sirivannavari Fellowship in Thailand (2020), the Suzhou Art Award (2017), a Lalit Kala Research Grant and scholarships from the HRD Ministry and AIFACS. Her practice has been nurtured since 2008 by New Delhi's Art Heritage Gallery, founded by Ebrahim Alkazi.

Her global presence was  highlighted in her solo exhibition, "Beyond Borders: Who I Am Between Homes," on view from 7 to 30 August 2026 at IA&A at Hillyer in Washington, D.C. Selected through IA&A at Hillyer's Call for Proposals programme, the exhibition will feature canvas and silk works that challenge fixed ideas of origin, nationhood and cultural identity. Her previous solos include ,'I Have Lost Me: Birds of Passage(2022) and 'Moving Landscapes'(2016) at Art Heritage, New Delhi. She has shown in the International Triennial of Graphic Art Bitola, North Macedonia (2025), ASEAN Culture and Art Creation Season-6, Xiamen (2025), Geumgang Nature Art Biennale, South Korea (2025), and Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (2023). Her work featured as a cover story in 'Art & Deal' in 2022 and in  Harper's 'Bazaar India-Art Issue' . She has also  participated in NADA Miami, India Art Fair and Mumbai Art Fair.

From Jammu to the world, Khajuria's work reminds us that home is not a single location, but a layered experience remade across borders.

What is Special About Sunanda's Art ?

Khajuria’s paintings operate at the intersection of the personal and the mythical, a visual diary rooted in the foothills of the Trikutas yet fluent in a contemporary global idiom.

The practice of Sunanda Khajuria, born in Painthal, may be read as a syncretic autobiographical mythology in which the Pahari folk sensibility of her native landscape coalesces with the disciplined aesthetics of Chinese ink, calligraphy and wash on silk. Formed through advanced study at the China Academy of Art and doctoral research at Wuhan University of Technology, her method internalises Chinese pictorial philosophy rather than merely citing it.

Grounded in a Taoist ontology of perpetual flux, her oeuvre, most notably the continuing series Moving Landscapes, posits woman as both protagonist and optical centre. The female figure is rendered as itinerant and aspirational, a bearer of terrain who carries mountains, rivers and hamlets upon her head or within the folds of her garment. Around her constellates an oneiric lexicon of birds, shoes, clouds, aeroplanes and dragonflies, a symbolic apparatus through which concerns of femininity, fertility, transit and unconstrained desire are articulated. This conflation of body and geography becomes a meditation on migration, memory and belonging.

Her visual language is marked by calligraphic assurance and deliberate spatial economy. Compositions deploy extensive negative space derived from the principle of liu bai, allowing the void to function as breath and movement. Narrative is sequential rather than perspectival, unfolding laterally in scroll and triptych formats.

Chromatic intensity is central to her project. The palette eschews naturalistic flesh in favour of unmodulated planes of acid green, indigo, ochre and maroon, recalling Pahari miniatures but rendered with a contemporary surreal flatness. Figures are elongated and hybridised, privileging affective resonance over anatomical correctness.

Thus Chinese influence operates at three levels: technical through ink and natural pigments on silk, formal through scroll formats and reserved grounds, and philosophical through an understanding of matter as incessantly mobile. The synthesis transforms recollections of Painthal into a universal eco feminist fable.

Commentary on four paintings  of Sunanda Khajuria

(1) 

 

The painting is built around a single powerful trick -:a blue rolling suitcase floating on a black void, unzipped to reveal a dreamscape inside.

The palette is deliberately artificial and high-voltage. Electric blue for the case, acid lime green for the reclining figure, hot magenta for the two swans, cherry red for the little house and the beret on top. Nothing is naturalistic. The colours clash on purpose - blue against red, green against magenta - to create that anxious, jet-lagged, neon-light feeling of being between places. The deep black background makes everything glow harder.

 The style is  flat, graphic, and highly decorative, like a contemporary miniature or a silk screen print. No realistic shading or perspective. Outlines are clean and thick, patterns are stylized - the waves and clouds are rendered as swirling ornamental motifs, the feathers as layered paper cut-outs. Everyday travel objects - the trolley handle, green sunglasses, umbrella, wheels, zip - are painted with the same importance as mythic elements, which collapses the real and the imagined.

The theme is portable life. What do you carry when you move? The case holds not clothes but memories: a dreaming figure, two migratory birds carrying a blossoming branch, a porcelain bowl with a house and mountains inside it like a portable homeland, a small horse, two airplanes caught in folds of fabric and cloud. The zipper is the border between outer appearance and inner world - outside, functional travel gear; inside, longing, home, flight, and exhaustion all packed together.

(2)

                                       

This work presents a pair of cowboy boots rendered as vessels for a complete landscape, a strategy that defines the painting's visual intelligence. The style fuses meticulous oriental landscape brushwork with flat contemporary pop treatment. The boots themselves are modelled with glossy volumetric colour and crisp contour, while the terrain within them, with layered orange mountains, stylised auspicious clouds, a blue crane and plum blossom, is executed in the language of Chinese shanshui and folk minhwa painting. Colour application is central to the impact. A saturated vermillion field dominates both boots, creating a luminous ground that holds the composition together. Against this, complementary pigments are applied in flat unmodulated planes, acid green for the reaching figure and hand on the left boot and electric cyan and indigo for the birds and crane on the right. The palette rejects naturalism in favour of symbolic intensity, with pink, yellow and blue cloud scrolls vibrating against the red. The theme is travel as interior condition. The boot, an emblem of western movement, becomes a world that is carried rather than walked upon, holding sky on one side and earth on the other, with a minute narrative at the toe of a figure with a car on a boat that introduces human migration and quiet absurdity. Influence draws from Chinese wash and silk painting, Indian miniature flat colour, pop kitsch and surrealist object transformation, producing a weightless world where landscape is in constant flux.

(3)

                                         

This work is characteristic of Sunanda Khajuria.

Her style is figurative and narrative, rooted in a sophisticated use of the brush that consciously reasserts painting at a time when it has taken a secondary position in contemporary practice. Figures float in space, surrounded by everyday objects that also appear to be in motion, creating a weightless world that remains in constant movement despite its apparent stillness. a4d5

Colour application is central to this effect. Khajuria uses bold, vibrant, flat acrylic colour to infuse large empty surfaces with energy and depth. In this painting the acid green field contrasts with the lime yellow skin, the saturated red blouse and the patterned blues and pinks of the bird and skirt. The palette is deliberately unnatural, following her training in Chinese traditional art, calligraphy and wash techniques.

(4)

                                  

  

Sunanda Khajuria's "Cloud Emerging from the Peak" is a powerful synthesis, not an imitation, of Chinese aesthetics.

The Chinese influence is structural, rooted in her scholarship in advanced Chinese art and residency at Red Gate in Beijing. She employs the full material language of Song dynasty gongbi: mineral pigments on gold-washed silk, precise hemp-fibre texture strokes for the shan shui mountains, and formal motifs such as xiangyun auspicious spiral clouds and the red-crowned crane of longevity. Conceptually, she draws on the Taoist trope of huzhong tiandi – the entire universe contained within a small vessel.

Her critique of that tradition is what renders the work contemporary. In classical literati painting, the painter is absent and nature is infinite. Here she inverts it: a single female figure, crouched in a very human, labouring posture upon the clouds, becomes the creator, actively painting the mountains into existence from a basin. The composition is audacious – weighted at the top with a vast, empty gold void below – which makes the creator feel both divine and isolated.

The subversion is also gendered. The scholar-painter role was historically male. By centring herself, partially nude beneath a flowing red robe, vulnerable yet in command, she reclaims that immortal authority. The pop palette of the clouds : candy yellow, aqua, orange , set against the antique gold ground is her Indian sensibility breaking through. It is less about China as exotic other, and more about using its visual grammar to articulate her own experience of migration, memory and world-building between Jammu and Beijing.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, Sunanda Khajuria’s practice offers a compelling reassertion of painting as a site for storytelling, memory and female subjectivity. 

Emerging from Jammu and shaped by formal training in New Delhi and extensive study of Chinese wash, calligraphy and Taoist philosophy in Wuhan, her work moves fluidly between cultures while remaining rooted in an intimate, psychological landscape. Her work  exemplifies this synthesis: a flat, vibrant colour field, an elongated and weightless female figure, and symbolic companions such as the bird, book and dragonflies that speak of aspiration, transformation and unconstrained desire.

Her bold application of acrylic, with saturated and deliberately artificial hues, does not simply decorate the surface but structures its emotional and philosophical depth. By allowing figures and objects to float free from gravity, she visualises a world in constant flux, echoing her core belief in movement and change.

Ultimately, Khajuria’s contribution lies in how she elevates the everyday experience of women into a universal language. Her paintings, and more recent projects such as Beyond Borders, invite the viewer to consider questions of identity, belonging and what we carry across geographies. In doing so, she secures a distinctive position within contemporary Indian art as an artist who bridges the local and the global, the personal and the political, with quiet resilience and lyrical power.

( Avtar Mota )

PS

My special thanks to Prof Lalit Gupta for some crucial inputs for this write-up .

KARKOTA STYLE YANTRIC SHIVA-LINGA

                                       

               

Karkota Style Yantric Shiv Linga 

( Above two  photographs by Robin Koul )

My Thanks to Robin Koul who went to Narannag Temple Ruins in the Ganderbal Valley in Kashmir and photographed this rare  Yantric Style Shiv Linga  . Since he has sought details of this geometric  stone sculpture, I thought it better to  say what I know about it .

Karkota Style Yantric Shiva- Linga 

This is the famous  Karkota style Yantric Shiva Linga  of the Naranag Temple ruins in Ganderbal, Kashmir;  unfortunately, lying in a state of   absolute  neglect.

The Naranag group of temples were built in the 8th century and  dedicated to Lord Shiva and were once a great centre  of Kashmir Shaivism. What has been photographed by Robin Koul  is not just a Shiva Linga, it is a Linga installed on a Yantra. In the centre is the Shiva Linga standing inside a circular Yoni. This represents Shiva and Shakti together. Around it you can see a square border. In Yantra Shastra this square is called Bhupura. Inside the square there are four triangles that intersect each other and form an eight-pointed star. This is called an Ashta-dala or eight-petalled lotus Yantra.

Many people call it Sri Yantra, which is  correct only in a popular sense. The real Sri Yantra has nine interlocking triangles and 43 smaller triangles. This stone is a simpler and older version of the same idea. The principle is the same - showing the union of male and female energy.The bindu is Shiva, the triangles and yoni are Shakti, the square is earth. It is a Manusha Linga made by Shilpa rules and consecrated by prana prathistha.

The small channel we see on one side is called Pranala. It was used to drain the water and milk poured on the Linga during Puja. The fact that can still holds water today shows how precisely it was carved more than 1200 years ago. Unlike a Swayambhu Linga that is self originated or a Bana Linga that is found naturally in some rivers ( the Narmada river in partic) , a Yantric Linga is made by human hands according to very precise rules of proportion laid down in the Shilpa Shastra. It has to have the correct division of Brahma-bhaga, Vishnu -bhaga and Shiva-bhaga and it only becomes worthy of worship after Prana Prathistha or ritual consecration.

                                             

          ( A Yantric Shiv Linga of later period from a temple in Karnataka)

I saw similar Yantric Shiv Lingas in Bali( Indonesia) , especially at Gaja Guha near Ubud. Inside the cave behind the demon mouth sits a Tri Linga with yoni wrapped in white red black cloth for Shiva Brahma Vishnu. It mirrors this Yantra slab, showing Shiva as Bindu within Shakti.

So in short, it is a decorated Yoni-peetha, a tantric base for Shiva worship, which is the ancestor of the Sri Yantra we know today.

                                             

                 ( A Yantric Shiv Linga in Kolhapur Museum)

The group of temples at Naranag in Ganderbal valley on the bank of the Wangath stream was first founded in antiquity and tradition attributes the earliest shrine to Jaluka son of Ashoka but the stone temples that survive today in grey granite were built in the eighth century by Lalitaditya Muktapida the most powerful ruler of the Karkota dynasty of Kashmir with later endowments by Avantivarman and the site was dedicated to Shiva as Bhuteshwar and served as a centre of Kashmir Shaivism and a gateway for pilgrims to the sacred lakes of Harmukh and Gangabal. The temples were destroyed in two distinct phases of iconoclasm. The first phase occurred during the reign of Sultan Sikandar Butshikan who ruled from thirteen eighty nine to fourteen thirteen and whose minister Suha Bhatta was tasked to destroy majority of the   Hindu shrines across the valley as recorded in Jonaraja continuation of Kalhana Rajatarangini. The second and final phase is described in detail in Tohfatul Ahbab the Persian biography of the Iranian Nurbakhshi missionary Mir Shams ud Din Muhammad Araqi who entered Kashmir in fourteen eighty one and again in fifteen hundred one and fifteen hundred five under the patronage of Musa Raina and Kaji Chak. Tohfatul Ahbab openly celebrates Araqi mission to cleanse Kashmir of idol worship and states that he and his accomplices  pulled down huge temples and razed imposing structures to the ground and that upon their ruins mosques were erected. The text  details this pattern of destruction and reuse of the sacred material . Once a great centre of Shaivism, Naranag now stands as roofless ruins with fallen pillars,  lingas and Yantric pedestals .

( Avtar Mota )

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

THE STORY OF LOWE'S STORES IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

                                             

The Complete Lowes Story From Foundations To Finishing Touches And Total Home Comfort

Lowes is recognised across the United States and in parts of Canada as one of the largest and most comprehensive home improvement retailers. While many customers first discover it for timber or a simple repair part, the true scale of the offer only becomes clear when you walk the entire store. It brings together under one roof everything needed to build a property from the ground up, to maintain its essential services, to decorate and finish its interior, and to make it comfortable, stylish and personal. This write up combines every major department into one complete guide, from heavy building materials to soft bedding, from power tools to plush carpets and fine furniture.

1. Building Materials And Structural Essentials

The heart of any Lowes store is its building materials section, which forms the backbone for contractors, tradespeople and serious do it yourself enthusiasts. The timber yard is extensive, stocked with softwood studs, joists and planks, hardwood boards for joinery, plywood sheets, oriented strand board, medium density fibreboard, chipboard and decorative panelling. Timber is available in a variety of lengths and cross sections, with clear information on grading and treatment. Alongside timber you will find plasterboard in standard and moisture resistant versions, cement, ready mixed concrete, mortar, sand, aggregates, bricks, concrete blocks and insulation in rolls, batts and rigid sheets. Roofing is fully covered with shingles, felt, flashing, guttering, downpipes and roof windows. For external works there are retaining wall blocks, paving slabs, fence panels, posts and gravel boards. Doors and windows are displayed in large bays, with internal doors in panelled, flush, glazed and barn styles, external doors in timber, steel and fibreglass, patio doors, French doors and a full selection of vinyl and aluminium windows in many sizes. The hardware aisle supports all of this with nails, screws, bolts, anchors, brackets, hinges, chains, ropes and adhesives. Staff with forklifts assist with heavy loads, and bulk delivery by lorry can be arranged for larger projects.

2. Tools For Every Trade And Every Home Owner

Tools are a defining feature of Lowes and the department is laid out to serve both the professional who relies on tools daily and the home owner who needs a reliable set for occasional jobs. Power tools are displayed by brand and by battery platform, with names such as DeWalt, Craftsman, Kobalt, Bosch and Makita taking centre stage. The range includes drills, impact drivers, circular saws, mitre saws, jigsaws, reciprocating saws, belt sanders, orbital sanders, planers, routers, angle grinders and multi tools, in both corded and cordless versions. Cordless systems are especially popular because one battery can power many tools. Hand tools are equally comprehensive, with spanners, socket sets, screwdrivers, pliers, hammers, mallets, chisels, hand saws, levels, squares, tape measures and marking tools arranged in logical order. Workshop equipment includes workbenches, sawhorses, vices, clamps and tool storage solutions such as tool boxes, rolling chests, wall mounted rail systems and stackable organisers. For jobs that require expensive specialist equipment for only a short period, many stores operate a tool hire service offering floor sanders, tile cutters, carpet cleaners, drain snakes, concrete mixers and scaffolding. Personal protective equipment including safety glasses, gloves, ear defenders, knee pads and dust masks is located close by, reinforcing a focus on safe working.

3. Plumbing Electrical Lighting And Smart Home

Behind the walls of every comfortable home is a network of plumbing and electrical systems, and Lowes stocks all the components required to install and maintain them. In plumbing you will find copper tube and fittings, plastic pipe in several grades including push fit and solvent weld, flexible hoses, valves, taps, mixers, kitchen sinks in stainless steel and composite, bathroom basins, toilet suites, cisterns, bath wastes and shower valves. Water heating is covered with tank and tankless water heaters, plus water softeners, filters and pumps. Repair and maintenance items such as washers, O rings, sealants, leak detectors and pipe insulation are readily available. The electrical department provides mains cable, twin and earth cable, consumer units, circuit breakers, junction boxes, back boxes, sockets, switches, dimmers and cable management. Lighting is a major destination in its own right, with ceiling lights, pendant lights, chandeliers, recessed downlights, track lighting, under cabinet lighting, exterior wall lights, security lights with motion sensors and a huge selection of energy efficient LED lamps in warm and cool tones. The smart home section has grown rapidly and now includes smart switches, smart plugs, smart thermostats, video doorbells, security cameras, smart locks, smoke detectors and whole home hubs that can be controlled by mobile phone or voice assistant. Guidance on compatibility and on local regulations is available from trained staff.

4. Paint Decoration Flooring Carpets And Rugs

Decoration is where personality enters a home and Lowes devotes considerable space to this category. The paint area presents thousands of colours on large colour cards, with interior emulsion, exterior masonry paint, wood paint, metal paint, primers, undercoats, wood stains, varnishes, oils and spray paints from brands such as Valspar and Sherwin Williams. A computerised mixing station can match any shade from a piece of fabric, a photograph or a fragment of existing paint, allowing for precise coordination. Application tools include brushes of many sizes, rollers, trays, extension poles, masking tape, dust sheets, scrapers, fillers and sandpaper, plus ladders and access equipment. Flooring continues the decorative theme and is displayed with large samples that can be handled and taken home. Options include solid hardwood for classic warmth, engineered wood for greater stability, laminate that faithfully replicates timber or stone, luxury vinyl plank and vinyl tile that is fully waterproof and suitable for kitchens, bathrooms and busy family areas, plus ceramic, porcelain and natural stone tile for wet areas. Underlay, grout, adhesives, trims, thresholds and transition strips complete the system. Carpets and rugs add softness and colour. Wall to wall carpets are available in loop pile, twist pile, velvet saxony and Berber styles, with fibres that are stain resistant, eco friendly and suitable for stairs. Runners are ideal for hallways. Area rugs, large rugs and outdoor rugs in wool, cotton, jute, sisal and washable synthetics allow you to define zones in open plan living, introduce pattern and improve acoustics. Rug pads, carpet grippers and doorway bars ensure a safe and neat installation, and professional measuring and fitting can be booked in store.

5. Kitchens Bathrooms And Domestic Appliances

Kitchens and bathrooms are the most complex rooms in a home and Lowes addresses them with full showroom displays rather than isolated products. Kitchen displays showcase door fronts in shaker, slab, handleless and traditional raised panel styles, in painted, timber veneer and laminate finishes. Worktops are shown in laminate, solid timber, granite, quartz and recycled composite, with matching upstands, splashbacks and islands. Storage innovation is evident in pull out larders, corner carousels, deep pan drawers with soft close, integrated bins and internal organisers. Sinks in stainless steel, granite and ceramic, plus taps in chrome, brushed nickel, brass and matt black, are coordinated with the displays. Bathroom displays include straight baths, shower baths, freestanding baths, walk in showers, wet room panels, shower enclosures, vanity units with single and double basins, toilets including wall hung and close coupled models, heated towel rails, mirrors with integrated lighting and extensive storage. Design consultants offer a free planning service, creating scaled layouts and three dimensional visualisations and preparing detailed quotations that include delivery and installation by approved fitters. Adjacent to these showrooms is the domestic appliance department, laid out like a premium electrical store. Washing machines, washer dryers, tumble dryers, refrigerators in French door, side by side and top freezer formats, freezers, dishwashers, cookers, ovens, hobs, cooker hoods and microwaves are available from leading manufacturers. Finishes include white, stainless steel, black stainless and panel ready models that can be integrated behind furniture doors. Seasonal appliances such as air conditioners, dehumidifiers, heaters and fans are also stocked. Services include home delivery, connection, removal of old appliances and extended warranties.

6. Bath Sanctuary And Bedding Comfort

Lowes has invested heavily in the softer side of home comfort, particularly in bath and bedding. The bath collection goes far beyond basic white suites and aims to create a spa like experience at home. In addition to vanity units, basins and toilets, you will find freestanding soaking tubs, whirlpool baths, rainfall shower heads, body jets, frameless glass panels, smart mirrors with demisting and adjustable colour temperature, heated towel rails, bathroom cabinets with charging points and a wide array of accessories including towel rings, soap dispensers, toothbrush holders and storage baskets. Towels are offered in Egyptian cotton and zero twist cotton in a palette that ranges from crisp white and soft grey to deep navy and sage green, with matching bath mats, shower curtains and bathrobes. Bedding and linen is equally comprehensive. Duvets are available in natural down, down alternative, hollowfibre and wool, with various tog ratings for summer and winter. Pillows include memory foam, latex, gel and microfibre in soft, medium and firm support. Sheets are sold in percale for a cool crisp feel and sateen for a silky smooth finish, in sizes from single to super king and in colours that coordinate with duvet covers, quilts, coverlets and bedspreads. Mattress toppers, protectors, weighted blankets, throws and decorative cushions allow you to layer texture and warmth. The overall effect is to allow customers to refresh a bedroom completely without structural work, simply by changing textiles and accessories.

7. Furniture For Living Dining Sleeping And Working

Furniture brings all the previous categories together and Lowes offers solutions for every room. Living room furniture includes fabric and leather sofas in two seat, three seat and corner configurations, recliners, armchairs, coffee tables, side tables, TV stands, media units and bookcases in solid wood, veneer, metal and glass. Dining furniture ranges from compact two seat sets for apartments to large extending tables that seat eight or ten, with chairs in upholstered, timber and cross back styles, plus benches, bar stools and sideboards. Bedroom furniture features bed frames with ottoman and drawer storage, headboards in upholstered and timber designs, bedside tables, chests of drawers, dressing tables and wardrobes with hinged, sliding and mirrored doors. Home office furniture has become increasingly important and Lowes stocks desks in standing and sitting versions, ergonomic office chairs, filing cabinets and shelving. Outdoor furniture includes lounge sets, dining sets, benches, hammocks and storage boxes in weather resistant rattan, timber and aluminium. Finishes are chosen to coordinate with flooring and paint, so a customer can create a unified scheme. Assembly services are available and many items are designed for easy self assembly with clear instructions.

8. Outdoor Living Garden Landscaping And Extra Services

The outdoor area extends the home into the garden. The garden centre is often partially open air and contains live plants including bedding plants, perennials, shrubs, climbers, ornamental grasses, fruit trees and hedging, plus seeds, bulbs and turf. Growing media includes compost, topsoil, bark mulch, fertiliser and plant food, while pots, planters and raised beds support container gardening. Gardening tools such as spades, forks, rakes, hoes, secateurs, loppers and wheelbarrows are displayed alongside powered equipment including petrol and electric lawnmowers, robotic mowers, strimmers, hedge trimmers, leaf blowers, chainsaws and pressure washers. For leisure, there is garden furniture, parasols, gazebos, barbecues fuelled by charcoal, gas and electricity, smokers, pizza ovens, fire pits, outdoor heaters and festoon lighting. Landscaping materials such as fence panels, trellis, decking boards in timber and composite, paving slabs, gravel, sand, cement and retaining wall blocks allow for construction of patios, paths and boundaries. Seasonal ranges include snow blowers, salt and de icer in winter and paddling pools, hose pipes, sprinklers and insect control in summer. Beyond products, Lowes provides services that make projects achievable for everyone. These include timber cutting, pipe cutting, key cutting, paint colour matching, free project advice, professional measurement, home delivery by lorry, installation for flooring, carpets, kitchens, bathrooms, roofing, fencing and appliances, tool hire, credit facilities, extended warranties and a loyalty programme. Together these services mean that Lowes functions not simply as a shop but as a complete partner for building, maintaining, decorating and enjoying a home, from the foundations beneath the floor to the cushions on the sofa.

In essence Lowes is more than a store, it is a home partner. From foundations to sumptuous sofas, from sparkling taps to snuggly bedding, it brings every element of building, fixing and styling under one roof. Whether you are laying a floor, planting a garden or choosing a new rug, Lowes offers quality, choice and expert support. Step in with an idea and walk out with a home that feels stronger, warmer and unmistakably yours. That is the magic of Lowes, practical when you need it, inspiring when you want it, and ready to help you love where you live.

( Avtar Mota )

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