[Reader-list] AnantNag will be renamed Islamabad

[shivam at kafila.org]

On the name of Anantnag/Islamabad, there has been some discussion
before on this list. Back then Pawan had no response to it.

Shuddhabrata Sengupta had written on 21 08 2008:

Dear Pawan,

Thank you for your mail. Actually my usage of the name "Islamabad'
was influenced by my memory of having read the text that I had
mentioned (Nivedita's journal of the travel with Vivekananda through
kashmir). You might find it interesting to know that even
Vivekananda, for whom, you no doubt have some regard, and Sister
Nivedita, refer to the town that you call as Anantnag, as Islamabad.
And in fact, yes, when they mention the temple located at the site
known as Shankaracharya hill, in Srinagar, they refer to it as 'Takht
- e - Suleiman'. When a place gets more than one name attached to it,
I see no problem by calling it by either one, or both names. A place-
name, is ultimately a convention used to identify and mark a site on
a particular topography. If that marking is facilitated by more than
one name, I see no reason to insist on one over the other.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the Internet is a true Pandora's Box,
and those who persist in their curiosities are rewarded. After I
wrote the last mail, just to be certain that my memory was not
playing tricks on me,  I ran a google search with the words
Vivekananda, Nivedita and Amarnath,  and at the same time, a friendly
soul sent me a mail with a link, having read my earlier mail, and I
came across the entire text of the book, online, at -

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/
Volume_9/Excerpts_from_Sister_Nivedita%27s_Book

Since this page is very neatly and systematically chapterized, all
you need to do is to follow the links to the chapters.

here are, a few excerpts from the Vivekananda/Nivedita account, that
I had mentioned earlier, Here is the entry dated, June 29, a fragment
from Chapter VII, titled, 'Life at Srinagar'

"JUNE 29.

Another day we went off quietly by ourselves and visited the Takt-i-
Suleiman, a little temple very massively built on the summit of a
small mountain two or three thousand feet high. It was peaceful and
beautiful, and the famous Floating Gardens could be seen below us for
miles around. The Takt-i-Suleiman was one of the great illustrations
of the Swami's argument when he would take up the subject of the
Hindu love of nature as shown in the choice of sites for temples and
architectural monuments. As he had declared, in London, that the
saints lived on the hill-tops in order to enjoy the scenery, so now
he pointed out — citing one example after another — that our Indian
people always consecrated places of peculiar beauty and importance by
making there their altars of worship. And there was no denying that
the little Takt, crowning the hill that dominated the whole valley,
was a case in point."


Here is another for August 8, in chapter X, titled, interstingly,
'The Shrine at Amarnath'


AUGUST 8.

"We started for Islamabad next day, and on Monday morning as we sat
at breakfast, we were towed safely into Srinagar."

There are several other examples, in the pages of this account, where
the words Islamabad are used, to mean the site that is marked as
Anantnag today. I can cite them if it would satisfy your curiosity

Clearly, in the year 1898, when this journey was undertaken, people
like Swami Vivekananda and Sister Nivedita saw no reason to use names
other than 'Takht-e-Suliman' and 'Islamabad'.

Would you like to add their names to the list of 'intellectuals' you
are compiling, who should be calumnized, together with Arundhati Roy?



best

Shuddha

On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 9:19 PM, shivam at kafila.org <shivam at kafila.org> wrote:
> Is the PDP in power? Let me know.
> best
> shivam
>
> On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 3:00 PM, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Dear All
>>
>> PDP, right wing Islamic fundamentalist party is coming with a bill
>> proposing renaming of following in Kashmir.
>>
>> 1. AnantNag is proposed to be renamed as Islamabad.
>> 2. Shankar Acharya Temple hill  is proposed to be renamed asTakht E Sulaiman.
>> 3. Hari Parbat is proposed to be renamed as Koh-i-Marhan.
>>
>> All are requested to resent it to the best of your ability using
>> whateverer means you have.
>>
>> Pawan
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