City of Kashmir

Sameer Hamdani

INTO THE MARROW OF INDIA'S URBAN MEMORY: JOHN MURRAY INDIA'S 'CITIES IN TIME' SERIES

Sameer Hamdani invites readers to explore the long and layered history of Srinagar: a city shaped by over two millennia of cultural, political and artistic evolution. Through stories drawn from historical texts, oral traditions, art and everyday life, the book uncovers how Srinagar's identity was formed and continually reshaped across centuries. Hamdani's narrative spans from the city's pre-Islamic roots to its medieval and early modern Muslim eras, placing a strong emphasis on its material culture – architecture, craft and poetry – as windows into its past.

City of Kashmir is both a personal chronicle and a scholarly deep dive based on twenty years of close engagement with Srinagar as a heritage professional. It reclaims the city's place as a historic centre of knowledge and creativity in South Asia, offering an essential entry point into Kashmir's urban and cultural memory.