Development of Kashmir's Islamic Religious Architecture in the Medieval Period

Abstract

The fifteenth-century Kashmiri witnessed a steady arrival of Sufi saints accompanied by entourage of attendants with diverse backgrounds - artisans, architects, preachers, and poets. Mostly natives of Iran or areas bordering Iran, especially Mā warā’ an-Nahr (Transoxina) and the culturally rich land of Khurasan, they represented the cultural inherited artistic traditions of the Seljuk and Timurid court. Once they settled down in Kashmir as a part of a Sufi khanqah (hospices) or as attendant to the Sultan, they helped in promoting these new artistic traditions amongst the local population. For this well-established craft base, Kashmir craftsmen owed much in their artistic proclivity to two historic personalities linked with the period of Muslim rule in Kashmir: a native sultan, Zain-al Abidin (r. 1420-1470 ce), and an immigrant Sufi saint, Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani. Sayyid Ali, or as he is popularly known as Shah-i-Hamdan, was a famous Persian mystic who is said to have not only introduced the Kubrawi Sufi order in Kashmir but also cultural traditions that had been developed in the Persianate world. A greater contribution to the cultural and artistic landscape of Kashmir was made by Sultan Zain-ul Abidin during his rule of half a century. The chapter examines the Islamic religious architecture of Kashmir during the medieval period, tracing its roots and the cultural influences at its back.