Part I of the Constitution of India begins with the words “India that is Bharat”. Which is the oldest surviving attestation of the string Bhārata? Are there historical textual descriptions of Bhārata, which, when plotted on a map, encompass the entire mainland territory of today’s India, and of which Kashmir was described to be a part? Deriving its genesis from these questions, the purpose of the Sanskrit album Bhārata and her Kāśmīra was to simply set to tune:

a) some of the oldest, if not the oldest, historical, textual attestations of the term Bhārata (that is, India) and Kāśmīra (that is, Kashmir) and
b) textual attestations that clearly establish that Kashmir was described to be a part of Bhārata.

The texts that are the sources for the lyrics of the six songs in this research-based album are ऋग्वेद (ṛgveda), विष्णु पुराण (viṣṇu purāṇa), महाभारत (mahābhārata), पाणिनि अष्टाध्यायी (pāṇini aṣṭādhyāyī), भरत मुनि नाट्यशास्त्र (bharata muni nāṭyaśāstra) and कल्हण राजतरंगिणी (kalhaṇa rājataraṃgiṇī). This research-based album owes its inspiration primarily to the Oxford-published book The Making of Early Kashmir (2018) by the renowned cultural and intellectual historian Dr Shonaleeka Kaul.