Rajatarangini

Timeline

1. c. 1147–1148Srinagar / Kashmir Valley · KashmirKalhana came from a family of Brahmin officials. Drawing on inscriptions, older histories, oral traditions, and his own observations, he began writing the history of Kashmir's kings in "waves" as book divisions. The early waves treat legend and early dynasties; the later ones approach contemporary politics ever more closely.
2. c. 1148–1150Srinagar / Kashmir Valley · KashmirAround 1148–1150, the eight-wave chronicle was brought down to the Lohara dynasty, which was ruling in the author's own lifetime. The work offers a moral explanation for the rise and fall of royal power and records monasteries, taxation, and court struggles, making Kashmir one of the regions with the most continuous chronology in medieval South Asian history.
3. 1201Srinagar / Kashmir Valley · KashmirLater authors wrote continuations of the Rajatarangini, extending the narrative down to the late dynasties. In the 19th–20th centuries, Stein and others produced critical editions and English translations, bringing the work into the view of world historiography; at the same time, one must remain alert to how poetic rhetoric and dynastic orthodoxy shaped its account of historical facts.