A lesson in forgotten (Pakistani/subcontinental) history….
According to the Rājatarangiṇī (“The River of Kings”), the banks of the Indus were reconstructed by mere mortals (of seemingly superb talent). The Rājatarangiṇī is a metrical historical chronicle of north-western Indian subcontinent, particularly the kings of Kashmir, written in Sanskrit by Kashmiri Brahman Kalhaṇa in 12th century CE (thank you Wikipedia). The work records the heritage of Kashmir and its politcs during the reign of King Kalash, son of King Ananta Deva of Kashmir. The chronology might be a bit off, but the work is true to whatever was going on in Kashmir somewhere between the 8th and 12th century.
These old works show an that rulers of the area were some of the most brilliant urban planners, and infact, the “Golden Age” (of building, planning, writing, and gold, the time of India being the most powerful economic region) of the subcontinent was already over by the time the Muslims landed on its banks. The good times can only be said to have come back, for just a bit, with Akbar and Shahjehan and their contributions to art and architecture…
The picture is from: Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India’s Geography by Sanjeev Sanyal (Penguin 2012)
