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The study into the religious history of Kashmir prior to ninth century A.D. inform us that up to seventh century A.D. there was an confrontation among traditions for securing dominant space and popular support. But, from fourth decade of seventh century A.D. the phase of confrontation was replaced by the phase of accommodations.

Religious confrontation:

The contestation between Nagas and Buddhists, Buddhists and Saivites is already referred in the above description of religious traditions. But change began to occur from fourth decade of seventh century A.D. where religious confrontations were replaced by accommodations. This shift occurred owing to the advent and patronage of Puranic Brahmanism, which believes in the accommodation of diverse traditions/ cults into the mainstream Brahmanism or it endeavours to establish dominance of Brahmanism through accommodation not confrontation. The texts through which Puranic Brahmanism was thoroughly introduced in Kashmir by taking into consideration region鈥檚 own peculiarity was Nilamatapurana and Visnudharmottarapurana. This shift from contestation to accommodation is necessary to investigate in order to understand how this accommodative environment gave birth to that religious milieu which created avenues for the new innovations.

Religious Accommodation: Nagas into Vaisnavism:

Nilamatapurana refers six hundred and sixty five Naga deities and informs to its audience the worship of these deities with full zeal and zest, but these Nagas are not projected as separate and independent rather part or incarnation of supreme god Visnu, informs Sloka 231, where Visnu says, the king of the Nagas is part of myself only, who disobeys his orders will face destruction.

Buddhism into Vaisnavism:

The practice of accommodating Buddha into Brahmanism had started in the mainland India since the composition of Purana called Matsya-Purana, through which Brahmana ideologues tried to bring back the population of Buddhists to their own fold. This was done by referring Buddha as the ninth Avatar of Visnu in the text.^[1] The similar method was invoked in Kashmir by Brahmana author/s of

Nilamatapurana to accommodate the Buddhist population. Nilamatapurana preached the worship of Buddha very loudly but subsequently Buddha was represented not a separate god rather the Avatar of Visnu. The same is known from the following Slokas.

O Brahman, the god Visnu, the lord of the world, shall be (born as) the preceptor of the world, Buddha by name, at the time when the Pusya is joined with the moon, in the month of Vaisakha, in twenty eight kali Age (709-710.a).

Shiva into Vaishnavism:

Though one third of the Nilamatapurana is dedicated to the worship of Shiva, but it is Vishnu who is supreme and not the Siva and this becomes clear by the following Sloka of the text.

Sloka Salutation to you鈥擮 god, you are final resort of all the gods when they are in suffering. The senses, the object of senses, the gross physical elements, the mind, the intellect, the soul, Avyakta born of Purusa, Sattva, Rajas, Tamas, Brahma, Mahesvara, the three world including movable and immovable, all this is pervaded by you. I do not see anything else than yourself in the three worlds.

The interrogation of the above Slokas of Nilamatapurana makes it crystal clear that the text informs us about the diverse religious traditions like Naga, Buddhism, Shaivism, and Vaishnavism. The above Slokas also gives us a clear picture that the text venerates all these traditions, conveys its audience to worship these gods, celebrate their festivals, and visit the sacred spaces. However, it subsequently/gradually accommodates these diverse traditions into the fold of Brahmanism with Visnu at supreme position. This was the theoretical idea of the text which could be seen implemented practically by the ruling dynasty, during and for whom, the text was composed (Karkotas). The practical implementation of 狈颈濒补尘补迟补辫耻谤补苍补鈥檚 idea by Karkotas will be discussed in the next chapter while contextualizing origin of Trika Shaivism.

Thus, from the above discussion it becomes clear that Kashmir during the period under discussion (pre 9^th century A.D.) was a land with diverse religious traditions. However, these religious traditions not only interacted or confronted with each other, but at a certain period of time accommodated each other owing to the advent and patronage of Puranic Brahmanism. Thus, in this accommodative environment emerged a vibrant activity of religious discussions and dialogue, which for the future course created immense possibilities for the developments of new religious thoughts and practices, the best example in this regard is the emergence of Trika Saivism which will be comprehensively discussed in the next chapter.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India, 512.