Author name: Swapnil Bhatnagar

The mist-laden peaks of the Neelum Valley, situated in the upper reaches of the disputed Kashmir region, guard the crumbling remains of what was once the intellectual heart of the Indian subcontinent. Sharda Peeth, also known as Sharada Peeth, stands as a profound testament to the historical synthesis of spirituality, academic rigour, and architectural brilliance. Located in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), approximately 10 kilometres from the Line of Control (LoC), this ancient site was once an institution on par with the legendary universities of Nalanda and Takshila. For the Kashmiri Pandit community, it remains the ultimate symbol of their cultural identity, serving as one of the three holiest pilgrimage sites alongside the Martand Sun Temple and the Amarnath cave.

The intellectual history of lost continents represents a unique intersection of empirical science, mystical speculation, and nationalist historiography. For over a century, the narratives of Lemuria and Kumari Kandam have functioned as potent symbols of ancestral loss and cultural origin, evolving from a nineteenth-century zoological hypothesis into a cornerstone of Tamil ethnic identity. While modern geology, particularly the theory of plate tectonics, has rendered the physical existence of a sunken continent in the Indian Ocean impossible within the timeframe of human civilisation, the persistence of these stories reflects deeper sociological impulses through which societies construct meaning in the face of colonial and cultural marginalisation.