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Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, it denotes a larger area that includes the Indian-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir (which includes the region of Jammu, Kashmir Valley, Ladakh and Siachen), the Pakistani-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and Chinese-administered territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract.[1][2][3]
In the first half of the 1st millennium, the Kashmir region became an important centre of Hinduism and later of Buddhism; later still, in the ninth century, Kashmir Shaivism arose.[4] In 1339, Shah Mir became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, inaugurating the Salatin-i-Kashmir or Shah Mir dynasty.[5] Kashmir was part of the Mughal Empire from 1586 to 1751,[6] and thereafter, until 1820, of the Afghan Durrani Empire.[5] That year, the Sikhs, under Ranjit Singh, annexed Kashmir.[5] In 1846, after the Sikh defeat in the First Anglo-Sikh War, and upon the purchase of the region from the British under the Treaty of Amritsar, the Raja of Jammu, Gulab Singh, became the new ruler of Kashmir. The rule of his descendants, under the paramountcy (or tutelage) of the British Crown, lasted until the partition of India in 1947, when the former princely state of the British Raj was claimed by both Pakistan and India.
Since 1947, the greater region of Jammu and Kashmir has been embroiled in a territorial dispute between India, Pakistan and China — with India controlling approximately 43% of the land area of the region and 70% of its population. Pakistan controls roughly 37% of the land, while China controls the remaining 20%.[7][1][2] Kashmir is widely regarded as the world's most militarized zone — the region has witnessed three major wars between India and Pakistan, another limited war between India and China, numerous border skirmishes, high mountainous warfare, an ongoing insurgency, a Hindu exodus and internal civilian unrest.[8]
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       Hinduism and Buddhism in Kashmir
During ancient and medieval period, Kashmir has been an important centre for the development of a Hindu-Buddhist syncretism, in which Madhyamaka and Yogachara were blended with Shaivism and Advaita Vedanta. The Buddhist Mauryan emperor Ashoka is often credited with having founded the old capital of Kashmir, Shrinagari, now ruins on the outskirts of modern Srinagar. Kashmir was long to be a stronghold of Buddhism.[15] As a Buddhist seat of learning, the Sarvastivada school strongly influenced Kashmir.[16] East and Central Asian Buddhist monks are recorded as having visited the kingdom. In the late 4th century CE, the famous Kuchanese monk Kumārajīva, born to an Indian noble family, studied Dīrghāgama and Madhyāgama in Kashmir under Bandhudatta. He later became a prolific translator who helped take Buddhism to China. His mother Jīva is thought to have retired to Kashmir. Vimalākṣa, a Sarvāstivādan Buddhist monk, travelled from Kashmir to Kucha and there instructed Kumārajīva in the Vinayapiṭaka.
Karkoṭa Empire (625 CE – 885 CE) was a powerful Hindu empire, which originated in the region of Kashmir.[17] It was founded by Durlabhvardhana during the lifetime of Harsha. The dynasty marked the rise of Kashmir as a power in South Asia.[18] Avanti Varman ascended the throne of Kashmir on 855 CE, establishing the Utpala dynasty and ending the rule of Karkoṭa dynasty.[19]
According to tradition, Adi Shankara visited the pre-existing Sarvajñapīṭha (Sharada Peeth) in Kashmir in the late 8th century or early 9th century CE. The Madhaviya Shankaravijayam states this temple had four doors for scholars from the four cardinal directions. The southern door of Sarvajna Pitha was opened by Adi Shankara.[20] According to tradition, Adi Shankara opened the southern door by defeating in debate all the scholars there in all the various scholastic disciplines such as Mīmāṃsā, Vedanta and other branches of Hindu philosophy; he ascended the throne of Transcendent wisdom of that temple.[21]

Abhinavagupta (c. 950–1020 CE[22][23]) was one of India's greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician[24][25] – a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture.[26][27] He was born in the Kashmir Valley[28] in a family of scholars and mystics and studied all the schools of philosophy and art of his time under the guidance of as many as fifteen (or more) teachers and gurus.[29] In his long life he completed over 35 works, the largest and most famous of which is Tantrāloka, an encyclopaedic treatise on all the philosophical and practical aspects of Trika and Kaula (known today as Kashmir Shaivism). Another one of his very important contributions was in the field of philosophy of aesthetics with his famous Abhinavabhāratī commentary of Nāṭyaśāstra of Bharata Muni.[30]
In the 10th century Mokshopaya or Moksopaya Shastra, a philosophical text on salvation for non-ascetics (moksa-upaya: 'means to release'), was written on the Pradyumna hill in Srinagar.[31][32] It has the form of a public sermon and claims human authorship and contains about 30,000 shloka's (making it longer than the Ramayana). The main part of the text forms a dialogue between Vashistha and Rama, interchanged with numerous short stories and anecdotes to illustrate the content.[33][34] This text was later (11th to the 14th century CE)[35] expanded and vedanticised, which resulted in the Yoga Vasistha.[36]
Queen Kota Rani was medieval Hindu ruler of Kashmir, ruling until 1339. She was a notable ruler who is often credited for saving Srinagar city from frequent floods by getting a canal constructed, named after her "Kutte Kol". This canal receives water from Jhelum River at the entry point of city and again merges with Jhelum river beyond the city limits.[37]
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                               CHAPTER V.

                 MONEY IN THE HOME STORE.
How to Make Money at Home—One Hundred Ways to Get Gain in Your Own House—How to Get One Hundred Per Cent. Profit—Make Your Own Goods—Cheaper to Make than to Buy—Anybody Can do It—A Woman as Well as a Man—A Chance for Persons With Small Capital—Three Profits in One Sale.

How? On every article sold there is first of all the profit of the manufacturer, then of the wholesale dealer, and finally of the retailer. There is commonly a fourth, that of the freighter. If you keep a retail store, you must pay the man who makes the goods, the man who transports the goods, and the man who keeps the goods in large stock, and all this leaves you only a small margin of profit. In the following plan you avoid all these costs, pay only for the raw material, and make the four profits yourself.

You may begin your sales in your own home. If you have a large room fronting the street and near it, a little alteration will make it a veritable store. An expenditure of $25 should give you a show window and some nice shelves. Have a workroom in connection with your store. If your sales at first are small, you can put in your spare time in the making of your goods, and afterward as your custom increases you can employ help. The following articles are easily made. Many of them are novel, but all are salable if the store is properly managed.

Section I. Household Ornaments.
A home may be rendered attractive by a few simple ornaments that are very cheap. Vines, grasses, etc., add touches of beauty to a home and cost very little. Few people know how to prepare these little curiosities, and many would esteem it too much trouble to get and arrange the material if they did know. But most of these persons would buy them if the materials were prepared, and the vines, etc., ready to grow. You must have models of each kind in full growth in order to excite their admiration, and then you must have others in the initial stage for sale. Take pains to show the models, and explain the method of treating the plants and vines. The following cost little, and can be sold for from 300 to 500 per cent. profit. Some of your patrons will prefer to buy the models outright, and others to grow them themselves.

50. Crystallized Grasses.—Put in water as much alum as can be dissolved. Pour into an earthen jar and boil slowly until evaporated nearly one half. Suspend the grasses in such a manner that their tops will be under the solution. Put the whole in a cool place where not the least draught of air will disturb the formation of crystals. In twenty-four to thirty-six hours take out the grasses, and let them harden in a cool room. For blue crystals, prepare blue vitriol or sulphate of copper in the same manner. Gold crystals can be produced by adding tumeric to the alum solution, and purple crystals by a few drops of extract of logwood. Sell them at twenty-five cents a bunch.

51. Leaf Impressions.—Hold oiled paper in the smoke of a lamp, or of pitch, until it becomes coated with smoke. Then take a perfect leaf, having a pretty outline, and after warming it between the hands, lay the leaf upon the smoked side of the paper, with the under side down, press it evenly upon the paper so that every part may come in contact, go over it lightly with a rolling-pin, then remove the leaf with care to a piece of white paper, and use the rolling-pin again. You will then have a beautiful impression of the delicate veins and outline of the leaf. A sheet containing a dozen such leaves should bring you twenty-five cents; if arranged in a pretty white album, with a different kind of leaf for every page, the selling price should not be less than one dollar.

52. Vine and Trellis.—Put a sweet potato in a tumbler of water, or any similar glass vessel; let the lower end of the tuber be about two inches from the bottom of the vessel; keep on the mantel shelf, and sun it for an hour or two each day. Soon the “eyes” of the potato will throw up a pretty vine. Now with some small sticks or coarse splints construct a tiny trellis, which, if placed in the window, will soon find a customer.

53. The Suspended Acorn.—Suspend an acorn by a piece of thread, within half an inch of the surface of some water contained in a vase, tumbler or saucer, and allow it to remain undisturbed for several weeks. It will soon burst open, and small roots will seek the water; a straight and tapering stem, with beautiful, glossy green leaves, will shoot upward, and present a very pleasing appearance. Supply water of the same warmth once a month, and add bits of charcoal to keep it from souring. If the leaves turn yellow, put a drop of ammonia into the water, and it will renew their luxuriance.

54. Moss and Cone.—Take a saucer and fill it with fresh green moss. Place in the center a large pine cone, having first wet it thoroughly. Then sprinkle it with grass seed. The moisture will close the cone partially, and in a day or two tiny grass spears will appear in the interstices, and in a week you will have a perfect cone covered with graceful verdure. The advantage of this, as well as of the other pretty things in this section, is that they are fresh and green in the midst of winter, and people are attracted to the slice of spring in your window when the outside world is mantled with snow.

55. The Tumbler of Peas.—Take a common tumbler or fruit can and fill it nearly full of soft water. Tie a bit of coarse lace or cheese-sacking over it, and covering it with a layer of peas, press down into the water. In a few days the peas will sprout, the little thread-like roots going down through the lace into the water, while the vines can be trained upon a pretty little frame.
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                       CHAPTER IV.

MONEY IN THE INTRODUCTION OF A NEW                             ARTICLE.
Success of the “Imitation Cigar”—The Dealer’s Seeds of Gold are Black—Barnum’s Belief in Humbugs—Tricks for Trade—Politics for the Men, Novels for the Women—How the Remington Typewriter was Boomed—A Business Man’s Experience in Advertising.

New articles in all lines of trade are constantly appearing. Inventors of mechanical appliances, authors of books, proprietors of patent medicines, introducers of something novel in groceries, and promoters of new departures in dry and fancy goods, are all anxious to have the public take their products and pay them in cash. The problem is how to introduce the article. However meritorious it may be, it is useless unless the people find it out. The following are believed to be unique methods of advertising:

36. The Puzzle.—Buy some patented puzzle which can be manufactured cheap and scattered broadcast over the land. There is no better way to advertise. If men do not solve the puzzle, they will remember what is stamped on it. The “Get-off-the-earth-Chinese puzzle” enormously advertised its purchasers.

37. The Toy Imitation.—Wooden nutmegs and shoe-peg oats have duly advertised the shrewd ways of the people of Connecticut. A man recently made a hit by the “imitation cigar,” which is only a piece of wood of the shape and color of a cigar. Every boy wants one. As an advertising medium it was an immense success. Think of something as common and cheap as a cigar, get up an imitation for the children, have your enterprise stamped upon it, and it will go from one end of the land to the other.

38. The Cartoon.—A caricature of some political person or situation is always taking. Hit off some social craze, or give a witty representation of some matter of passing interest. Drops of ink in this way are seeds of gold, and the harvest will be golden.

39. The Conjurer.—This is a good way to advertise when the article is a cheap affair which can be shown in the street. There are few things so attractive to the masses as the tricks of the sleight-of-hand performer. Mr. P. T. Barnum uttered at least an half-truth when he said the people liked to be humbugged. For a few dollars you can get an equipment, and in a few days’ practice you can acquire enough of the art for your purpose. You can draw a crowd wherever there are people. When you have performed a few tricks, your climax should be a shrewd advertisement which can be worked into the last performance.

40. The Striking Figure.—If your goods are on sale in some prominent store, this device is sure to draw attention. Make a figure of some animal or vegetable or other form, if your article will lend itself to such a work. The figure could be some prominent man, or represent an historic scene, or illustrate some popular movement. A dealer in confectionery had in his window a bicycle made all of candy.

41. The Advertising Story.—Offer a prize to the one who will write the best story about the merits of your article. The latter must be brought deftly into the story, and the award should be based upon the merits of the literary production and the skill in the use of the advertisement. Every competitor should be required to buy a small number of the articles, and the story should be published.

42. The Word-Builder.—Another prize might be offered to the one who could compose the greatest number of words from the name of your article or invention. The name ought to include at least a dozen letters, and there should be a set of rules for building words. Every contestant must buy your invention from whose title he is to build words.

43. The Popular Pun.—This is an expensive way of advertising, but an immensely paying one. You make a pun upon some fad of the day, a hit upon some general craze, a piercing of some passing bubble, a political quib. Something of this nature printed several times in the issue of the daily papers would make your venture known to everybody.

44. The Political Guesser.—If your enterprise admits of the coupon system, offer a prize to the one who will guess the successful candidate at the next election, and come the nearest to the figures of his plurality. The contestant must purchase one of your articles, and in this way hundreds of thousands may be sold. Every presidential election is the occasion of the floating of many things by this scheme.

45. The Geometrical Group.—Some wares, such as fancy soaps and canned goods, admit of a grouping which is very attractive to the eye. Pyramids, cones, circles, and towers, always draw attention. Some mechanical device whereby motion is produced will be sure to draw a crowd to your show window.

46. The Pictorial Comparison.—If you are sure of your ground, draw a diagram or other figure, comparing your staple with those of others in the market. In this way the Royal Baking Powder Company pushed to the front, comparing with heavy black lines its product with the outputs of other companies.

47. The Open Challenge.—And if you are still further confident that you have the best thing of its kind, you may issue a challenge to your competitors. Make it apparent that you are anxious, even clamorous, for a trial of your product against others. By this means you will establish yourself in the confidence of the public. The Remington Typewriter was boomed in this way.

48. The Book Gift.—Try the religious field. Issue leaflets or tiny books with paper covers, costing not more than two or three dollars a thousand, and offer them as gifts to Sunday-schools or other children’s organization. Most Sunday-school superintendents would be glad to give away booklets of this kind if they could be obtained free of charge. The books should contain a bright story, a few pictures, and, of course, a taking presentation of your wares.

49. Sunday-school Supplies.—In some cases, you might even be warranted in issuing the supplies of a Sunday school, at least for a portion of the year. The books in the last number might not in every case be read, but the picture papers, lesson leaves, and other helps, are all looked over, even if not studied. You could in many cases present them, reserving large advertising space for yourself so as to net a good profit. The class of customers thus obtained would be the very best. Do not hope for large returns unless you are willing to spend money. Money is the manure that creates crops, the blood that makes fatness, the wind that fans fortune, the sap that runs into golden fruit. Money is the bread on the waters that “returneth after many days.” It seems like the sheerest folly to spend so much in advertising, but you cannot reap bountifully unless you sow bountifully. “For every dollar spent in advertising,” declares a successful merchant, “I have reaped five.”

                                CHAPTER III.

                            MONEY IN TRADE.
What Kind of Advertisements Pay—“Don’t Fail to See the Blizzard Saturday Night”—The Keynote of a $20,000,000 Sale—Selling Goods by the Mile—Watches for Bait—How to Get Five-Year Customers—“Trade With Me and Get a House and Lot”—Why Trade at Push and Pluck’s?—Bargains in Buttons Often Means High Prices in Broadcloth.

Thousands fail in business every year when an idea put into practical operation would have tided them over the trouble and opened the road to a competence. This chapter will tell you how to succeed. No man with common ability and industry who puts the half or even the quarter of these ideas into practice can possibly fail. The great thing is to make people buy your goods. But to induce them to purchase you must first of all call attention to what you have to sell. Here are a few of the ways in which this is to be done. The following methods will fairly compel the people to trade with you, but you must bear in mind that as soon as the influence of one device begins to flag it must be immediately succeeded by another.

17. The Interlined Advertisement.—Advertisements are not read unless persons are looking for something in that line. This is because they are all placed by themselves. Your bid for patronage must be put in the midst of the reading matter if it is to attract general attention. Many publishers will not do this, but your chief and only point in appearing in the paper is to have your advertisement read, and it pays better to insert it in a journal with 5,000 readers who will all see it than in one having 100,000 subscribers, hardly 100 of whom will glance at the advertisement. You can afford to pay handsomely if the publisher will give you a line of black-faced type to eight or ten lines of news.

18. The Picturesque Name.—Have a name for your store such as will easily fit everybody’s mouth. “The Beehive,” “The Blizzard,” “The Buttercup,” or “The Bonanza,” are suggestive titles. Many customers are attracted by the talk of their acquaintances, and it is much easier to tell a friend that you bought an article at “The Hub,” or “The Sun,” than to attempt the unpronounceable name of a proprietor, or to give a forgotten number. Successful men in several lines of business assert that they owe much of their good fortune to the happy hit of a popular name.

19. The Pictorial Wreck.—A writer with the gift of a lively imagination can write something interesting in the way of a fanciful battle between customers and goods. Head lines, “Great Slaughter in —— (the taking name of your store),” “Wreck of Old Conservatism,” “Smash of High Prices,” “Ruined by the Rush.” Then would follow a graphic description of the charge of customers upon wares in which the store was almost wrecked by the enormous number of people who took advantage of the under-cost prices. People enjoy this kind of pleasantry, and the impulse to follow the crowd is almost irresistible. A certain New York house grew from a small to a great one by this method of advertising.
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