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ARTS & cULTURE JUNE 04, 2021 | The Indian Eye 38

BooK revieW

a brilliant story of Kashmiri shaivism,

feminine power, traditions and present conflicts

reclaiming Humanity in Dawn: The Warrior Princess of kashmir by rakesh k kaul

sarah lOuise Gates sively been stripped out of world traditions,
leaving a barren and lifeless trajectory of
ashmiri Pandits around the world re- dead matter and disembodied mind. Dawn
cently celebrated their most import- challenges male domination, just by her exis-
Kant festival of the year. It is Herath. tence. Her organic life force energy, signified
And most Pandits are caught, like the out- by and obtained through life breath, cannot
laws of Rakesh K Kaul’s novel, Dawn The be replicated by AI. Awakening her innate
Warrior Princess of Kashmir, in small pods, powers, the kundalini shakti, unites Dawn
far from their ancestral lands. They must do with the reproductive powers inherent in her,
this as they face precarious times and cannot a macrocosm and non-different to the uni-
return to their homes. The longer their an- versal power of life itself. By setting Univer-
cient, indigenous culture faces the intrusion sal Life in the novel, against Universal Infor-
of the outside world, the more likely their mation, we see an imaginative illustration of
descendants will become assimilated into the second verse of Shiva Sutra: knowledge
the dominant paradigm of the West. With is bondage. We also see in its biotech out-
this comes the destructive ideology of patri- comes, a terrifying parallel in today’s culture.
archal dualism. This historical context is the It is not difficult to see the link between
backdrop for Dawn. today’s transhumanist industrial develop-
The story is a battle, informed by Ma- ment and the historical reification of the
habharata and the folktales of Kashmir. It masculine by the rejection of the feminine.
draws from the world’s major traditions, re- This is the overarching warning of this story.
vitalizing original elements later buried un- However, Kashmir Shaivism holds a key to
der this dualist model. Expertly woven are overcome it by the disproportionate capacity
historical, philosophical and cultural teach- of women to attain the ultimate state, which
ings from the unique traditions of Kashmir. transcends time and space. It is said, and in
The plot is non-linear, set across several mil- the novel Dawn, that a woman achieves in
lennia, between natural, spiritual and bio twelve days, what it takes a man one year. This
technically augmented realities. The story is due to their intrinsic capacity to bear life,
and its setting is of seminal significance for and to be synchronized with cosmic forces.
the billion Hindus and a must read. This re- This trope repeats throughout. We see
view seeks to provide the deeper import of this new Kurukshetra in the light of the
the story without being a spoiler. Bhagavad Gita immediately. Except here,
The heroine, Dawn, is the daughter of Dawn, displaces Arjuna’s traditional au-
two incompatible forces: one affirming life thority with that of a sixteen-year-old vir-
and the other, death. The story begins on the gin. And she isn’t Draupadi who marries
day of Dawn’s sixteenth birthday, in the year Rakesh Kaul, the author of the book any of them. They serve her as their Gen-
3000. Maej, Dawn’s mother, is a biological eral without any promised reward, which
scientist. She raises her from a small child in a ing of empowerment and understands it is is the core teaching of the Gita. Relation-
cave at Mt Kailash, surrounded by a firewall. indeed her duty as the last female on the ships are thereby complicated, as even her
They live an enchanted life, sustained by ad- planet to restore balance and obtain justice. mother has left her psychopathic husband
vanced technology, eating from interior gar- Her character is based upon the most pow- with the sexbot that replaced her. Dawn is
dens supplemented with stored goods. Dawn erful Goddess of the tantric tradition, that of not about to become the mother of any fu-
is raised on Kashmiri Niti stories. These the virgin, Kubjika. She is the reproductive ture race either, which is a tension through-
oral teaching devices result in self-reflexive power of the universe, perfectly self-sustain- out the whole story. The linear thinking
responses that catalyse self-development. ing, without any need for a male. This is of goes that to save life Dawn must bear it.
Throughout the story it is Dawn’s inner itself a major threat to male ego. Even when It is a troubling outcome for consistency.
light that comes to the fore and her female that male ego is embedded in the female an- The battle is close to the author, who is
powers. And although she requires the tagonist, AIman. the grandson of the great Kashmiri yogic
brains, and brawn of her warriors, without In Kashmiri tradition, Maha is Lord Shi- mystic, Pandit Gopi Krishna, mentioned in
her, the battle cannot be won. Dawn strug- va, and his power is Shakti. Without her, he Dawn as a kundalini master. It is in Dawn’s
gles with inbuilt inferiorities, being ‘just a is dead. And in the process of cultural evolu- blood that her capacities are dormant and
girl’, and ‘alone’, although she likes the feel- tion, the power of the feminine has progres- must be awakened.

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