Jonaraja’s Rajatarangini is the second in the series of Kashmir chronicles, next to the work of Kalhana. The Kashmirian tradition of writing chronicles was not discontinued at the death of Kalhana but was carried further by his disciples. The Rajatarangini of Jonaraja covers the period from 1150 A.D. to 1459 A.D. of the Kashmir History. This period witnessed the advent of the Muslims in Kashmir and conversion of the majority of the Hindus into Islam. Jonaraja who was a historian to the true sense of the term and a Sanskrit poet of very high order has vividly described the decline of Hindu civilization of Kashmir. He describes without any prejudice, the Muslim regimes, mentions the contributions of the good among them and fearlessly criticizes the oppressors and persecutors. He does not even try to conceal the degeneration among the contemporary Hindus. His work is a valuable source book of the history of medieval Kashmir. The present publication is the only complete English translation of Jonaraja’s work, made available after a long time.
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