Kashmiriyat and Kushans- Politics, Conflicts and Global History of 19th century Kashmir
- March 4, 2025
- 12:30p.m. - 1:30p.m.
- Social Science Tower, Room 777
- Agnik Bhattacharya, Elahé Omidyar Mir- Djalali Graduate Fellow in Art History and Archaeology of Ancient Iran, Department of Art History/Visual Studies, UC Irvine
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In the nineteenth century, Kashmir witnessed the rise of a new empire that sought to safeguard its territories from British colonial rule and Afghan invaders. As the Sikh Empire (1799–1849), under the leadership of Ranjit Singh (1801–1839), established its regime, it attempted to redefine the cultural and religious identity of Kashmir. Singh’s policies led to cultural conflicts, as they emphasized non-Islamic religious beliefs while undermining the existing indigenous Islamic groups. To strengthen his army against potential internal and external threats, Singh recruited several transnational actors. His French officers, Jean-Baptiste Ventura (1794–1858) and Claude Auguste Court (1793–1880), not only commanded his forces but also engaged in studying the socio-cultural milieu of the pre-modern eastern Iranian borderlands. The French antiquarian quest, supported by Indian imperial agencies, contributed to the revival of Buddhism and the re-identification of non- Islamic empires in Asia, particularly the Kushan Empire (1st–4th century CE). The presence of appealing Buddhist visual culture transformed Kashmir’s social, cultural, and archaeological landscape, positioning it as an important buffer state in colonial India.
This research talk examines the key factors that contributed to the formation of Kashmir’s contested cultural identity during colonial times, which had significant repercussions in the post-colonial era. While colonial powers employed similar methods to uncover the secrets of pre-modern South Asia, Ranjit Singh’s political reasoning and ambitions differed. This talk will highlight these differences, demonstrating how they shaped transnational and transversal discourses on the eastern Iranian borderlands, ultimately transforming the cultural and political landscape of contemporary societies. Studying the nineteenth-century political and imperial crisis of Kashmir from a global perspective provides an opportunity to develop a theoretical understanding of the power struggles between the state and its subjects—an essential framework for analyzing the relationship between power and knowledge in colonial and post-colonial South Asia.
Light lunch will be provided.