Preface
Since the last more than twenty-five years, I have been broadcasting
'radio-talks' from the Jammu and Srinagar radio stations and contributing
articles, short stories, book-reviews and poems in English to various papers and
journals, which number about two hundred and fifty. Dr. Karan Singhji, former
Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir and former Union Minister, advised me that it
would be useful for me to publish a careful selection of this material in a book
form. My esteemed friends, Dr. K. L. Choudhary, Professor of Medicine,
Government Medical College, Srinagar, and Mr. K.B. Jandial, Director of
Information, Jammu and Kashmir Government, both men of intellect and
scholarship, found my essays on various aspects of Jammu and Kashmir quite
fascinating and advised me that I should confine myself to the topics dealing
with the two regions. As I found my material for the purpose scanty, I did
systematic study and research in order to write a book on important subjects
dealing with the State. My own son, Dr. Vijay Kumar, too, urged me to take up
the task immediately.
Fortunately, Brigadier (Retd.) Joginder Singh Rajput, quite an intelligent
person, took the trouble of going meticulously through the typescript and
offered me some valuable suggestions. I am sincerely thankful to him.
In my writing I have always been inspired by Dr. Karan Singhji, who exercised
a near and remote control over my creative activity. His encouragement to me has
been ever so constant. How I wish I had splendid words at my command to
appropriately express my gratitude to this exalted man!
It was destined that I should have two advantages. First, I spent nearly half
of my life in Kashmir and exactly the same number of years in the Jammu Province
and because I was a teacher I had close contact with the youth and intellectuals
of both the Provinces. I thus got steeped in the two different cultures. Second,
I had a rich collection of books and paintings of Dr. Karan Singhji in the Amar
Mahal Museum and Library, Jammu at my elbow so that I could, at ease, suck in
knowledge.
Now the volume of literature dealing with Kashmir is, undoubtedly, very large
and with Jammu quite small. Then what is the justification for me to add to the
plethora of books on an oft-traversed subject? It may be said that I and my
friends realized that there was a need of a book whose format is handy and
condensed into about 300 pages from which the reader may find information on all
the significant subjects concerning Jammu and Kashmir.
My book contains material on numerous important subjects-art and
architecture, shrines and mysticism, religion and culture, history and
literature, which are presented at their best in a compact form. I have written
only about glorious monuments, important holy shrines, captivating paintings and
drawn only those historic figures who wore a halo in their own lifetime and
whose lives changed the country for the better. They are timeless. In
literature, I have taken into cognizance only the few brilliant poets who have
the statures of resurgence.
Visibly, I confess, that there are some gaps and to fill them up would have
made the book a work of a prodigious size which was not my purpose. My aim is to
do so in the second volume so that both together will be encyclopaedic in range.
Incidentally, as I wrote on, each chapter emerged as a separate essay and
could, therefore, be read outside the context of the surrounding material.
May be, the reader will find some repetition in some of the essays which was
unavoidable.
I am also immensely grateful to the publisher, Mr. Amit Garg (Gyan Publishing
House) for bringing out the book in a record time of a few months and also to
the editor, Mrs. Daya Mukherjee, journalist and author for the painstaking job
examining the whole manuscript thoroughly and doing amenable editing.
S. N. Wakhlu
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