Ephemeral Existence

The Garden of Solitude-A Review by Rashneek Kher

2011-01-31T23:53:00.000-08:00

http://greaterkashmir.com/news/2011/Feb/1/the-garden-of-solitude-9.asp

That it took twenty-one years for a Kashmiri Pandit to write the first account of the exodus is but a sad reflection on the scholarship of a community that prides itself for being the only one in the world to have hundred percent literacy rate. Among many other things that the community is slowly losing the most telling has been its scholarship or so I thought.
Siddhartha Gigoo’s , ‘The Garden of Solitude’ is a chip of the old block genre of literature. It may disappoint the reader for it does not have the magic realism of a Rushdie or the intricacies that one finds in Tarun Tejpal’s writings. Siddartha’s writing is as simple as the ones that we read as children in our text books, simple but loaded with meaning. The jargon is intentionally kept out as is the bitterness of being in exile. It is this lucidity of the novel that makes it stand out in the swamp of present day modern English literature.
Sridar, a rather uncommon name for a Kashmiri Pandit boy born in seventies, but name apart Siddartha’s protagonist could be anyone of us who was born in Kashmir during those times, when today’s Kashmir could simply have been dismissed as a bad dream. The Garden of Solitude is a docu-novel that recounts the beautiful times of peace in Kashmir, the onset of the armed insurgency, the forced exodus of Pandits and its aftermath. Sridar is not just an eyewitness like the Sanjaya of Bhagwad Gita but is himself a character, a sufferer in every sense of the word. As the novel progresses the author gets a firmer grip on the plot and its characters. His earlier accounts give the impression of being sketchy and a little lost in the maze of his memory. It recounts the days of his growing up in the neighborhood of the downtown Srinagar. At some length the author delves upon the complex relationships between Pandits and Muslims and how suspicion creeps into the fragile peace of these relationships once the call of Azaadi reverberates across the valley much to the chagrin of the Pandits.
Till then the novel is paced even. It is from here on that the lid on the crucible that had held together the different strains breaks free and the novel takes itself out of the cozy confines. It does not mince words and remains honest to the plot. Suddenly the ugly Kashmir (sic) reveals itself.T he contained entropy takes the shape of a hideous beast. The novel travels out and crosses the Jawahar Tunnel for the first time but only to return at a later date.
It records and documents the exodus of a community from what had been its home ever since one knew of history. When the novel takes us to the chaos of refugee camps & schools it speaks of the sordid condition and the inhuman existence in which the Pandits are forced to live. It talks of stink and hopelessness, of rot and dirt, of despair and existential and identity crisis but does not give its opinion. It does not wallow in self pity nor does it bring in the prejudice of a victim. The story is told as it is seen. The author’s protagonist merely mentions to us what he lives through.
Sridar is fortunate not to have lived in refugee camp for long but for all those who suffer them without a hope of freedom from them find voice in the extremely well sketched character of Pamposh, a reticent boy living in one of the many refugee camps in Jammu, who has no more than a cameo in the novel but one that leaves an indelible mark. Through Pamposh one feels the pain of exile and rootlessness but more than the apparent symptoms the putrefaction of the mind that such a state of being brings in with itself, where his grandfather wants to smell the urine of his own granddaughter.
Sridar has shades of Kafka in his character. The meaninglessness of life and existence occupies his mind and that makes him a wandering soul. To me the most beautiful part of the novel is Sridar’s travel to the picturesque Leh. It is here that the novel attains the meaning that it may not seek to find. Sridar meets the mysterious but truly mesmerizing Ameira-a woman without a past as she is described to Sridar. But then the shell crumbles, just a little and we discover a half Kashmiri girl who comes looking for a past eventually to settle in the anonymity of the oblivion. The silence between the two of them and the moment where Sridar’s trembling hands hold hers could easily have been the culmination of the novel.
Dreams and their meanings have a special significance in the novel and it is one such dream that brings Sridar back to the refugee camps that he had left behind. He searches for his friends and their stories but finds none. Time seems to have devoured them all. The world seems to have forgotten the Pandits. Sridar finds a purpose in his living-The book of ancestors!
The novel comes back to Kashmir. Sridar comes home but the occupants aren’t the same.The daughter of the new owners asks her mother who could this man be who speaks Kashmiri like them but isn’t one. The unusual homecoming smells of hope and underlines somehow the layers of complexity that’s inherent in relations between the two Kashmiri communities. He is welcome everywhere and people are cordial but that doesn’t take away the fact that he is seen as someone who has come from Delhi,a guest.
The book ends on a note of optimism or pessimism depending upon how we look at it. The Book of ancestors is published but released on a hot sultry day not in Kashmir but in Jammu where the exiles live. It begins to rain as soon the book launch finishes. The author leaves it open ended. Like everyone else he too isn’t sure if the Pandits will ever return to their Garden of the Solitude.

A Time for Parting

2009-10-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

That evening was unusual.
There was a sense of loss and the joy of possession. They were drinking to keep there eyes open, their hearts wide awake. The cacophony of the night was music to ears. There wasn’t much sense in sentences nor was there a title to the talks. They were wandering, monk like- directionless but meaningful hoping to find an anchor in quicksand. It soon dawned that it was time to go.
It was a sad moment. A moment no one wanted. They all wanted to live on. But then who and what lives for ever.
The time for parting had come.
The glasses were laid to rest. Cigarette buts were thumbed and benumbed. There were no more embers as one could see.
The urges were going stronger .The embers had found spark elsewhere. It was too early for a cosmic union and probably too late for a quick one.
Disparaging thoughts and unfettered desires seldom make for good partners.
They said their goodbyes and made promises to meet again.Thus passed the evening leaving a void.

"Bhagwaen Daed-The Poet we know not"

2009-07-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

I wonder how many of us even know of a mystic poet called Bhagewaen Daed.

I would stay clear of a dry scholarly paper because that would defeat my idea of choosing her as the woman who would represent the Kashmiri kaleidoscope.She wasn’t in any sense a forlorn or estranged wife or even a disconsolate daughter in law that we generally associate with Kashmiri poetesses.

Krishan Joo Razdan,the great Kashmiri Leela poet would have found a match for his metaphor”basti manz sanyasi roz” in Bhagwaen Daed. Bhagwaen Daed lived amongst people like us and yet she was connected to her higher self. I will not bore anyone with mundane details but to understand her thought and poetry we need to know of the time and space that she lived in. To give you an idea of the space I will go to the following verses by Abdul Ahad Zargar,who in my opinion is one of the greatest mystic poets in not just his era but across timelines in Kashmiri literature.

Yas babe dodh choth,Daam dame sheer
Tas seet nikah chuy,Ba tadbeer

The above verse invited a fatwa from the Islamic clergy and clearly clipped the wings which Kashmiri poetry could have taken. So I guess you have an idea of the time. It was as Charles Dickens would have described it, ”It was the best of the times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of hope, it was the age of despair”. Under the Dogra rule Hindu revivalism was taking small strides and Sanskrit texts were being re-written or published after a long time. Krishanjoo Razdan had passed away leaving a rich legacy of bhakti poetry, so the leela had become a much stronger genre of poetry than it was ever in the past. It was in this time that Bhagwaen Daed appeared on the Kashmiri literary-spiritual firmament.

With that introduction let us now understand Bhagwaen Daed the poet and the seeker.
As I said in the beginning I will try not to be too pedantic or dry. I begin with an anecdote that my grandmother tells me about Bhagwaen Daed and believe me or not, this isn’t hagiography. Due to her spiritual penances she had attained a stage where she needed a Guru to lead her further. She was a restless wandering soul with abundant spiritual energy but in a state of entropy. In the process she wanted Ahad Zargar to be her Guru because Govind Kaul refused to take her as his disciple. Upon seeing her in a state of restlessness, Ahad Zargar put her on a tonga to Wanpoh and directed the coachman to take her to Govind Kaul of Wanpoh. Probably the message from Zargar made Govind Kaul take the young Bhagwaen as his disciple. The above anecdote can be testified by the following verses

Man phyoor Zars zaresey,man vot nish zargarasey
Zar-e-zare havyom prahuhas,man myon aantan kobohas
Govind-goo sware bhagwanene,laey gache paanay man ti pranay
Laey gache syam hamsoo has,man myon aantan koboohas

It seems these were still early days in her spiritual journey and when by her own account she still was like the proverbial parud (mercury) that is unstable. It was under the spiritual and poetic genius of Govind Kaul that Bhagwaen was chiselled.

Staying away from falling into the trap of how her poetic career took shape and how many phases her career had, I shall try and take a look at her stylistics as a poet, her thought and her diction, her idiom of expression and the rhyme in her poems. We will also try and look at her contribution towards furthering the Bhakti movement in Kashmir.

She is a poet who is immensely or shall I say singularly devoted to her preceptor. Her book of poems titled Manposh has 150 poems and there isn’t one where she hasn’t made mention of her guru. Most of the poems are dedicated in form or another to the grace and divine glory of her preceptor. The echo of Govind-goo in her songs is a direct manifestation of her love for her Guru. She anoints herself as the cuckoo who sings Govind-goo. Although the expression of goo and kukil isn’t new to Kashmiri poetry yet the poet presents them as her own expressions drawn out of her experiences and not merely as jugglery of words. I will stick out my neck to assert that there is a tinkle and a rhyme in her poetry which would do a Krishanjoo proud. The reader doesn’t simply read them; he sings them along in ecstasy.

Kukilay Govind goo karnaavtam
Hoo hoo karyo bhi
Bhagyewaene Baste seet daam dyavnamtam
Shaye shaye shiv chuy

Govind govind naam chuy aemusuy
Kukilay damsey manz wich tray
Dham heath dam rat mao praar tamesey
Chay mahramasay maene manz jay

In a way Bhagwaen Daed has not broken the old mould of spiritual poetry. Stylistically her poetry is very similar to that of many other Sufi poets. The influence of all these poets is clearly reflected in her language which remains Persianized to large extent.The metaphors, the symbols, and the similes are borrowed hugely from the Persian word-stock. But that’s where the analogy finishes. As a poet she has her own experiences to recount and those are the experiences of a Yogini. Her regular references to words like Agam, Shaktipaat, Shieshkal, Muladhar and various processes of Yoga are a testament to the fact that whatever might have been her medium of expression her thought was clearly rooted in the hoary religion of the land. One is reminded of poets like Shams Faqir or Prakash Ram as one reads Bhagwaen.

Shams Faqir

Hate oosum mwothehaar,gate manze gash trovnam
Kaal-e-shah su laal-e-bazzar,harmwokh vichu deedar

Bhagwaen Daed

Bhakti-bade vochumay shakti shahanay,Pwokhtekaar mwothkte dahanay aav
Mwotehaar vichumaey tamesund khanay,Gaash shabanay paanay aav

Bhagwaen’s Bhakti is of a type that is unheard of in the Kashmiri literature. Her yearning and love for her Guru manifests in various ways. At one point the guru is the divine consort while at the other he is a child who is to be cuddled and put to sleep. I find this unique because no other Kashmiri poet has taken Guru to a pedestal where love manifests itself in such roles.

Chaen lolan karenas bambereay,ghare ghare soo ham soo
Pan naveth saveth chey laare,ghare ghare soo ham soo

Garas haey Rophe Manzuluy,Baras Jigreke Lolay
Vichas vaen korkumuy,Mae Yaar vuch hane hane

As Bhagwaen moves a stage up from naiveté her verse changes, yet she feels she is still not there

Na bhi pwokhtay nab hi khamay
Mae kaem aaram nyumut vaseye

It is this stage of her spiritual quest when she feels the pangs of separation. It is here that she speaks of her un-sureness, her being neither complete nor incomplete.

But the stage of incompleteness is soon trounced. Her unison with her higher self is reflected in such poesy and ecstasy that one wonders what poetic genius springs from the cosmic union and oneness with the supreme

She sings it in the following verses

Vothaan,beyhaan,Shongnuuy,Manz Saad-e-Sangan Daey Vuchum
Rangarang Berangney,Lahas ti labas laey vuchum
Madham Murali Changeney,Manz kalwalaan mouy vichum

I hope this small write up on mine would persuade readers to read about this rather forgotten poet of ours. There is so much to write about her but I am afraid I don’t have the wherewithal to do so. A translation of some of her poems would be the least that we could do so that the younger generation may get to read some of her poems and then maybe they will delve into her poetry.

Parallel Lines

2009-06-18T04:31:00.000-07:00

The room was full of people. Men and women of all ages had come looking for someone. Someone they didn’t know. Someone they did not want to know. There are far fewer women and far more men. Men clamouring for a fleeting glimpse and a quick one. Women playing it hard to get.
After all earth girls aren’t so easy.
Women knew, men want sex, a surreal sex, an ethereal fleeting moment, a moment to let their testosterones out. Women weren’t exactly sure of what they want, at least not all of them wanted sex.

It was here that they met.
Their eyes met in a room full of people. They jostled to reach out to each other. She had charming smile with an aquiline nose, eyes like that of a deer, her long neck with prominent collar bones presided over her chiselled body. He was dreamy eyed, lost and poetic. Initially all he wanted was a moment of testosterone leak but gradually it all changed.
They liked each other. At least he thought so. Soon they met; ethereal, surreal and real. There wasn’t a day when they did not. She grew on him and he on her. They were too mature to be inseparable and too young to be separated. She was in a shell and he abound in abandon. He professed love and she appreciated but never reciprocated.
She was a mother and a wife, he a husband and father.
They had begun to enjoy each other’s company, in-fact yearned for it though she stayed reticent and he overt.
The love was there waiting outside a shell, an impregnable shell. Inside the shell was a throbbing waiting to be let out. A caged bird seldom gets to fly.
She was scared of pain and he loved the pleasure of pain. She had a past and he wanted a future. They were two parallel lines.

Is Nietzsche’s "Übermensch” Shiva?

2009-05-19T00:14:00.000-07:00

To most of us Nietzsche immortalizes the atheistic right. It was he who first said, ”God is dead”. A literal interpretation of this statement should make one accept that Nietzsche did not believe in the concept of an overarching force that runs this universe and if at all there ever was one, Nietzsche just declared him dead. Could it be that it was the existing concept of God (in Nietzsche’s era and his geographical space) that Nietzsche did not conform to or believe in. Was Nietzsche simply anti-Christian or was he anti-God?

His criticism of Christianity was primarily on the grounds that it lay too much of emphasis on morality and he on the contrary praised the Greek Hyperborean and even Pre-Christian Paganism. His extolling of the Apollonian and Dionysian philosophies leads us to somehow believe that it was Abrahamic religions that he seemed to be against and not God. Am I being too simplistic in understanding Nietzsche or have I eaten the flesh and thrown the bones to the dogs.

In his pioneering work “Thus Spake Zarathustra” Nietzsche talks of the concept of Übermensch(translated as Superman or Overman or Superhuman).He describes human beings as a stage of transition from apes to Ubermensch. The metaphor or the symbol of the Ubermensch stems from the Nietzschean idea of self-overcoming. One of the passages where Zarathustra speaks to the Ubermensch reads like this,” "All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is the ape to man? A laughing stock or a painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now, too, man is more ape than any ape.”

In all these questions Nietzsche exhorts a human being to achieve what he/she is capable of becoming ie The Ubermensch. How similar is the concept of Ubermensch to the concept of Shiva (especially in Kashmir Saivism) or is there no connection whatsoever? I am tempted, maybe out of my ignorance or non-Saivahood or not being an Ubermensch, to believe that the concepts are similar. I will try and explain to myself.

According to Kashmir Saivism all of us have the capacity to become Siva. Depending upon what state and stage of consciousness any living form is, determines his distance from Shivahood (I am using this word for lack of a better word in my epistemological vocabulary).So we are somehow somewhere between the apes and the Siva. Are we? Are we in the process of attaining The Ubermensch. Are so much of us still a worm, a worm whose consciousness is limited? From what I understand of the concept of Ubermensch is the freedom to be or Swantatrya as we would call it in Kashmir Saivism. Only when one attains the state of Ubermensch can one claim to attain freedom from bondage. Am I getting it right?

Shiva as we know him today hasn’t been the same through the ages. Many scholars have compared Shiva to the Greek God Dionysus and not without reason. The early iconography and attributes of Rudra Shiva are in many ways similar to that of Dionysus. Both are Patron agricultural gods, have a certain sense of madness associated with them but it is the ecstasy factor that makes the resemblance quite striking. The bull, the serpent and the wine are iconographic similarities that are too hard to miss. Nietzsche has placed great virtue in Dionysian philosophy and its concepts of celebration of nature, intuitiveness, chaos and intoxication. Was Nietzsche’s Ubermensch a celebrant much like Abhinavgupt’s Bhairava(or Shiva) in Vypat Charachar Bhav Vishesam or am I intoxicated too much by Dionysus-Shiva?

The Turncoat Loses

2009-05-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

There are days when I am so full of kindness that my milk of it is over spilling its edges. Today is one such day. I want to help someone. I thought of so many people who may need money. Then suddenly I realised that our friend Sajjad Lone has just lost his security deposit of Rs 10000.00 because he polled less than 10% of the total number of votes in Barramulla constituency.
Would you believe it?
I had to pinch myself into believing that Sajjad Lone,the one and only Sajjad Lone-the darling of the Indian Media, a face we consistently see on our television screens as the “young voice of Kashmiris”,the Sajjad Lone who till the other day was a separatist, the Sajjad Lone who did not even have the courage to cry when his father was killed by the very separatists that he stood for all these years, the Sajjad Lone who barked during television debates during Amarnath agitation, the Sajjad Lone-the great betrayer of his own people and finally the Sajjad Lone who contested elections and sadly lost deposit, face and maybe political future too.
The day he took a U-turn, a Kashmiri Muslim friend of mine told me, mark my words”he will lose badly”. I did not quite believe him then and I had reasons enough. My friend is no political analyst. He isn’t a politician or a journalist either. Yet somehow his words were prophetic because he was an ordinary man on the street who did not base his comments on euphoria. He wasn’t like those journalists who wrote columns and centre pieces on Sajjad Lone. He wasn’t like the Editors’ of our English Dailies or News Channels who had already made Sajjad a house hold name among the Indian masses. In his loss I also see the loss of credibility of all those people who somehow want to make us believe that the separatists are some force by themselves. Sajjad Lone has just proved them wrong.
It gives me immense pleasure that people like Lone lose. They deserve to lose not because we want them to or that we dont want peace to return to the valley but because they are betrayers and betrayers deserve a kick on their ass. It is because of people like him that Kashmir is a festering wound. It is because we have no dearth of such people who changed sides because it suited them that way. I may never have liked Sajjad’s polity but would have respected him had he gone to grave as a separatist. But maybe I was expecting too much from a man in whose veins runs the blood of a turn-coat.

Invisible Exiles: Kashmiri Pandits (Published in Vijayvani)

2009-05-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

The present crisis in Sri Lanka has once again brought to fore the issue of internally displaced people. Everyone from the United Nations to the European Union to the Foreign Ministers of Britain and France wants to visit the refugee camps of the Tamils, displaced by the war between LTTE and the Sri Lankan army.
The Indian Government seems so over-concerned about the safety, security and well-being of Lankan Tamils that it has sent two topmost secretaries to meet the Sri Lankan President. What is more, almost every now and then one senior functionary of the Government of India issues statements and puts pressure on Colombo to ensure the best relief and rehabilitation measures for the internally displaced Tamil refugees. This solicitude is utterly missing when it comes to India’s own displaced refugees - the Kashmiri Hindus (Pandits).

The complete post is here

Sajjad Lone's U-turn(Published in Vijayvani)

2009-05-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

Che Kamyu Kareneay taveez pan
Yaaro van bale yaaro van

Who hath cast thy spell on thou?
Speak up my friend, speak up

Wahab Khar, the 18th century poet, probably had the power to see future. How else does one explain the above verse, unless he knew that Sajjad Lone, the most vociferous of the Kashmir separatists, would one day take a U-turn (strategic, not ideological, let us be clear) and join the election fray.
Intrigue has always been a part of Kashmir’s history, and Kashmir’s leaders have more often than not been treacherous and perfidious. Sajjad Lone can be no exception.

The complete post is at the link below

http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=550

Beyond

2009-04-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up to a parable. Look Beyond. I tried but couldn’t. I tried once again and failed. Then I remembered that the parables aren’t to be taken literally. The meanings lie beyond. But beyond was beyond me.
There was a time when beyond wasn’t so beyond. I may not have reached it ,yet I could see it. It was like a far fetched dream, an imagination of sorts that would remain just that. Years have passed by and gnosis has waned and the theist in me is slowly fading if not dying. This too could be ethereal.
There was a time when a quartet of Omar Khyaam would lift my sagging spirits or when a mere verse of Shams Faqir or Ahmed Batwari would fill me with ecstasy. When I read them today I feel nothing, absolutely nothing. They lie there in my book rack alongside a Sydney Sheldon or as inconsequential.

The morning prayers are a ritual that I have steadfastly stuck to because I did not want to be the one to be blamed for breaking the tradition. Besides I love the sight of a wick in a temple, flowers in the holy water and the ever smiling tiger riding feminine deities. Aesthetics apart, atheism is striking roots in me. This morning I finished my ritual without uttering prayers.
A collection of short stories of Kafka replaced the Panchang.I drank deep from the words of one of my favourite melancholy pessimist writers.
Sadly even he could not decode the parable for me.I drove me to my office without looking beyond.Rashid Hafiz kept singing Wahab Khar.All I could hear was

Tull Lalle burkhay paaan Tawkeed korne sadras manz
Ath daereyavas chuyne saneruk naeb nishanay

Lalla shunned the shame of being into the waters of unknown
And came out singing, this river is bottomless

Twenty Years of Absence-in Greater Kashmir

2009-04-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

Come Spring and small streams emanating out of Doodh Ganga would be full of water and the perennial brook near my home would be enticing small boys to its muddy banks. The willows will be in a new green hue while the solitary apple tree in my courtyard would be quietly awaiting the arrival of its fruits of labour.

Swarms of men and women would be ready for “thal” or sowing of the paddy saplings. People would dig small pipe like canals from the flowing streams to their fields. There would be minor quarrels among people as they jostle for water. But all that would be amicably settled. Chirping birds would fly down to pick insects from the freshly ploughed soil. Young girls would carry samovars full of hot salt tea and bagfuls of bread to their family members working in the fields. The teachers would have it easy though. A ready stock of students would be eager to work on their fields in hope of a mass promotion to the next grade. My village, would hear women sing in mesmerizing tones Rasul Mir’s “Hariye thavak na kan ti lolo”. The mild sun would shine over my small, non- descript village Kanipora.

I was seven when the elders of our house decided to sell our ancestral house at 10, Qutubdin Pora, Ali Kadal, Srinagar and move to a new location on the outskirts of the city. There was a deep sense of loss as the truck moved out of the narrow downtown lanes to the wider roads leading out of the city. I thought of Sallam the butcher, Kare Kon the local candy man, the flowing Vitasta ,the Batyaar Mandir, Rishi Peers Aastan and the avuncular saint Rahbab Saheb. I would miss them all, I thought. These were the by-lanes, the narrow by-lanes where we lived among Nawchis. Sultans, Patigaroo’s ,Dar’s, Hagar’s and Kaul’s. Then of course there was a man who seemed like a lunatic to all of us; someone who would have tea in a 5kg P-Mark Tin and share his Tale-vor (a local variety of Kashmiri bread) with dogs. He was called Hone-Rahman. No one knew where he came from. I was scared yet fond of him. It was him who I was to miss the most.

I was now a student of The New Cambridge Public School (later re-christened as Angels Garden) the only English medium school in the entire village. The school was housed in an old dilapidated building near the saw mill not very far from the main bus stand, not that there was any other bus stand in or around our village. Kanipora was a block in the Chadoora Tehsil of Budgam district of Kashmir subdivision of Jammu and Kashmir. It had a non working post office, a branch of State Bank of India, an Elaqaui Dehati Bank, a Boys High School, a Middle school for girls, a terrible primary healthcare centre and a very bad road connecting Kanipora to Kralpora-an equally small village on the main road to Char-e-Sharief .It was on this bad road that we had our new house-a palatial house compared to the concrete pigeon hole called a flat, that I live in now.

The new house was bereft of any living neighbours. The only other house around was a huge house across the small brook. The owners, we were told were too scared to live in that house. This is a haunted house they would say. One of their cousins, a short man with a beard would come to visit the house from time to time. His name was Khursheed and he was a probably a teacher in one of the Government schools in Srinagar. But Srinagar was far now, thirteen kilometres from the main bus stand and fourteen from our home.The new house had a brook for running water and toilets were still a luxury. Endless vast expanse of green surrounded us and some hundred meters behind us was a small cremation ground. That seemed to be the only companion and neighbour that we had till a Peer Sahib with his three sons started building a house near the grazing field. The village had walnut trees, chinars, poplars, willows and yes it grew some strawberries and saffron too.

The village Moqadam was a pious man called Rasul Daar. He was a man with a great sense of humour and would often laugh at his own self. It was his grandson who was to be my best pal, my alter ego in times to come. It has been long; I have seen Yaseen or heard from him. I write this in hope that he may read it and get in touch with me. We would attend tuitions together in Nawab Bazzar where my uncle would teach us Mathematics. Another of my friends Ashwani met me here in Delhi after a gap of seventeen years. It was a tearful re-union as we talked about our common past, the village swamp and our uncertain future. Two of them, me, Mushtaq, Shafiq, Ameen and my younger brother Rinku would play cricket on Motilal Khar’s land, the land he was planning to build a house on after his spinster brother’s death. Neither did Mohan Lal die in Kashmir nor did Moti Lal ever make a house.

There was a family of Thokur’s pronounced locally as Thukre who lived in a dark lane near the biggest apple orchard of the village. The families of two brothers lived in a wood house with freshly painted wooden stairs and a big courtyard. The house was a picture of prosperity in an otherwise no so rich village. One early morning the elder Thukre and his wife were seen leaving the village, their only belonging being the metal trunk painted light green overall with purple coloured leaves and flowers adorning its borders. His unceremonious departure was talked about in hushed tones in the village. None had a clue where he would head to and none ever knew where he went. After a few days of his exodus no one even mentioned a word about him. Ramzan Thukre’s son Farooq, my junior in my school was now the only inheritor to the property of Thukrs.

I am sure the village would have changed now. The Railway Line might have changed the fortunes of the people who owned some land in the vicinity of the rail tracks. I just hope they haven’t cut the chinars of the village. The three Chinars near the green coloured mosque where the rivulet and the road take a bend are keepers of my yesteryears’ secrets. The second of the three Chinars, yes the one in the centre was already beginning to show signs of hollowness in late eighties. Is it still alive?

Twenty years is a long time. Ghlam Nabi the tailor must have grown old and his brother Wosta Ali must have excelled further in the art of masonry. The three shops near the Pomegranate orchard must have become more now. Would they still be selling Thoole Mithae ,I wonder. There must be no Prabha School anymore. Incidentally I could not attend Prabhawati’s funeral in Jammu.Men and women would now be returning to their homes after a hard days’ work. They would soon fall asleep. The night sets in early at my village. Far away someone is singing….Mae Chu basan mae ma gache shaam vatey.

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/today/full_story.asp?Date=25_4_2009&ItemID=7&cat=12

J & K

2009-04-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Two of them had nothing in common but the desire to be seen as victims of persecution. Perceived sense of persecution! This perceived sense of collective victim hood was what brought them together.
J was thin as a rattle snake, had a long nose, two beautiful eyes and hair like that of a jute mat. Here he was, with a newfound sense of freedom, unbridled passion and love for his land. He was head and shoulders above his peers, was well versed with history, geography and politics and was always on right of his own self. Passion was his middle name; his biggest asset and his biggest liability.
K was a fat as a bean bag and had a balanced head over his distorted body. It was hard to describe him because he never behaved in a certain manner. Freud would have scratched his balls to decode K’s personality type. At different times in the same situations he would react so differently that you would keep wondering whether it is Dr.Jekyll now or was it Mr.Hyde then. His passion lasted shorter than his orgasm. He was always on his own side, left and right could fuck them-selves.
Yet destiny had brought them together. They met in an alien land where shoulders are so welcome. The sign of 10 that they made looked wonderful when they walked together. They fitted the Watson - Crick Model of Lock and Key and made a perfect enzyme structure for themselves. An Ardhnareshwara of sorts……
An all male version of Ardhnareshwara……..

Futile Search

2009-03-31T23:49:00.000-07:00

I search for an address
My permanent address
The one they write on our passports
And ration cards
Yet again, I am to vote
Without an address, a post office, a home

I search for my source
In distant lands
In faces that look fairer, in noses which are pointed
In houses that have land and a permanent roof
Yet again, I am without one
The only one that I had
Is lost now

I search for my roots, in flower pots

Induced Hallucination

2009-03-30T00:47:00.000-07:00

Jim Morisson lay pasted on his wall. It was one of those centre page posters from a magazine called Sun. This small room in the otherwise palatial house was “his only” space. It was a place where he could give vent to his idiosyncrasies, where he could think like Majorission (the inverted Jim Morisson), where he could be “creative” and most important where he could in letter and spirit, emulate his idol-Jim Morrison.
On a floor above his, was the Thokur Kuth or the God’s Room. The room for the God was almost as the same size as that of Jim Morrison’s. K seldom had anything to do with this room. He grew up in his own world in what was otherwise a very orthodox Brahmin Family. He was antithesis of everything that they stood for. He called his family members crazy and to them he epitomised madness.
When they sang,”Maat Pitta tum mere” he would be rocking his guitar and singing”O mother,I wanna fuck you,O Father I wanna Kill you”.
Soon all this was going to change.
One day his father brought a calendar: the ones that shopkeepers, halwais, newspaper agencies and the likes publish every-year to boost their sales. One more God, K thought. His father had a fetish for picking up and bringing home every image that even bore a brief resemblance to any of the myriad deities that Hindus have. There wasn’t a wall in the entire house but for K’s room where some god, demi-god or saint did not lay pasted or hung. K had resigned to this fetish of his father though more was in store for him. His father thought of upgrading the washrooms. New tiles were brought in to the replace the old ones. A white new commode with Hindustan written on it was to be the centrepiece of the new room. The changes in the washroom forced K to look for a new place to please himself. After all how could a man masturbate under the prying eyes of the gods?
The calendar had to be hung somewhere. In a house where gods occupied every square millimetre of wall space making house for another god was going to be as difficult as finding God himself. But K’s father was resolute.
Oh No,not in my room.K said.
When K was away,his father had a nail hammered into a wall in K’s room.Jim Morisson had an unusual neighbour in Bhagwan Gopinath-a chillum smoking and dreamy eyed Kashmiri saint.K was indignant. He wanted none of this but poor K .Poor K still wasn’t as Kafkaesque as his elder namesake. He did not have the courage to leave the comforts of his home and the protection of his mother. He had read enough not to be foolhardy. That night he did not play The Doors.He sung Yesterday instead.
He was curious about this new inhabitant. Bhagwan Gopinath- what kind of a name is that? K’s mother was a usual doting mom. She would do anything to please K as long as she did not invite her husband’s ire. She would placate him but that was no comfort. He needed a space to handle his cock without the ubiquitous overloading over. And it wasn’t just that, the very idea of an all pervading, all encompassing, giver of boons was repulsive to him. He could not reconcile with the thought that we must beg before someone whose existence himself was doubtful.
But Bhagwan Gopinath was still living. He could see him if he wanted. His mother said why don’t you go and meet Bhagwanji? What me and why would I want to meet a man who calls himself Bhagwan and yet smokes grass like any other rock star would. Is this Bhagwanji of yours a rock star of some kind, he taunted his mother. Trahe Trahe she said, and left the room. Despite her love for K, she hurled abuses and cursed him for being an atheist and a non-conformist.
He was happy she was gone. As soon as she left, K lit up a fag. He loved grass .He took a deep puff and let out a ring of smoke. The ring kept expanding and a halo was formed over his head. There were too many similarities, he thought. Both smoke grass, are high on life it seems, both have a cult icon image in the eyes of their followers, both have taken to unknown in their own ways. His fascination for this other Jim Morrison began to grow.

One More Navreh

2009-03-25T22:38:00.000-07:00

Different Navrehs bring with them different sets of emotions .Most of the time Navrehs in exile have been nostalgic. They bring back memories of my childhood. Of days, when the day begun with an obeisance to the mother goddess atop the Hari Parvat. As a kid, Sanskrit prayers would make no sense to me, yet there was this strange sense of achievement that I could recite them alongside my elders.
There are fond memories of collective recitations of various prayers but one prayer would stand apart. Whenever we sang “Maej Sharikay Kar Daya”(Oh Mother Sharika,be benign to us) it would move us all to tears: tears of communion with our higher selves; tears of joy, of being alive in a hostile Kashmir; Tears of her being our saviour and confidante.
Soon the action would move to the Devi Anagan where hundreds of revellers like us would lay their picnic paraphernalia. Over hot cups of Kahwa,the quintessential politician among us would uselessly discuss the situation in Iran,the diehard poet would bore us with one more of his Leelas’ but the day belonged to the children. The weather on most occasions would participate in the festival. Kids like butterflies were unstoppable. Festivity was in the air, in minds, in hearts and in souls of all those Brahmins who had been brutally murdered on this given day, many centuries before, by Islamic invaders. The Goddess would overlook it all.
The Badam Vaer’s (The Almond Orchard) bloom was divine to say the least. In Kashmiri folklore and poetry so much has been written about the bloom, yet so much is lost between what his eyes see and what his pen writes. The ephemeral nature of the Almond Bloom notwithstanding was a sight to behold and a divinity to be felt. Rides, toys, love, were abundant in the Vaer. Every child represented a free soul- fearless of present, unaware of the past and careless about the future. It was then that my grandfather would recite at the top of his voice-Abhinavgupt’s “Vyapt Charachar Bhav Vishesham”.
As I grow grey in Exile,Navrehs seem to carry different messages for me.Although I try to celebrate them with the same fervour as I would back home,I obviously cannot offer my daughter the luxury of a Badam Vaer or the Devi Angan.I rue the loss but am proud that I carry the legacy forward.A legacy of the people of the verge of extinction.Tomorrow as she sees the Thal(A ritual associated with the NavreH) she will in some way become the bearer of the ember of our existence that is fast turning to ashes.Will she be able to make fire(Reh) from it or will the embers turn to ashes is something we may not live to see.
Many years back in this Zaalim Vonth Ros Shaher(Cruel Endless City as my friend, a refugee from our land , Zahoor Zargar calls it) I was depressed on this day.I saw no hope,no fire,no refuge but my solitary words …..

Yi Kyuth Navreh,Kames chi reh
Na Che, ti ,na maey
Tale Kyuth Navreh

What Navreh is this
Inside whom do the embers glow
Not you,not me
Then What Navreh is this

It isn’t as if I have all these years been despondent and hopeless in exile but there have long periods when I saw no hope of return. But it wasn’t just about return. What depressed me more was our own hollowness or crumbling of our hope.

The message last year though was one of hope.
My solitary words did not fail me in the moment of hope and I sang…..

Ye chu nov Navreh,
vich prazlaan chay na chaney reh
chuy chane rahey,rang rotumut maey
chakh aash baneth vaen aamech chey,
kad valenje maenae,yus chuy vaeh
Aakash ti pataal sar kar aaz
chey prarran panchalech ,che divay
haeth pagahuk gaash,che aayak aaz
bar-e-chirninaev kin mae chaye divay
vanvas me mokelaav mahsoosas
aaz kaluk ravan karetan khay

Wonder what message this Navreh has for me….

Nonetheless Happy Navreh!

A Vain Soul

2009-03-16T00:30:00.000-07:00

Once with him,I was here...Valley of Flowers

Poets are vain. Scholars are even vainer. Now, imagine one who is a bit of both.

Vanity personified.

He was one of those”vanity personified types”. He had answers to all questions or at-least he claimed to have answers. He selected his audiences carefully; he always made sure they are ignoramuses compared to him. He quoted verses out of thin air, even thick mist sometimes. His understanding of history,languages,poetry,aesthetics,art,drama and literature seemed too vast to be true. To me it looked as if he had perfected the art of lying. In my opinion, that probably was the only art that he had. Almost nonchalantly he dismissed and even rubbished everyone else’s knowledge.He had grudging admirers by the day who turned knife sharpening foes by the fall of dusk.They all hated him and he knew it.In a way he enjoyed being hated.

And then his travels....

His travels had often taken him far and wide,he would tell me. He would often reminisce about his travels to the other Himalyas, to villages where ordinary tourists do not go, to saints who lived in caves and to ghosts of his own making.It was strange that he was never eaten by a beast nor did he fall prey to a mermaid who enticed him to make love to her.But that he had been an avid traveller was known to me,since I did sometimes travel with him.His experiences were strange almost alien to us city bred uncultured and ignorant chatterati.That is how he described people like us.

Somehow every once in a while he managed to get an audience of rag-tag youngsters and old assholes to hear him. He hated them all for their ignorance yet he loved them because they were his only audience.He would tell me ,It wasn’t as if I don’t have audiences elsewhere, but what I knew as a matter of fact was that they were his only audience for what he called his favourite subjects.

It would hurt him immensely if someone ever laughed or even slighted his vanity.After all how could a vain be insulted for the only trait that he has.

In the height of his vanity he would quote Ghalib’s heights of vanity,partly as a cover up for his lesser vice and partly to justify his own.

hotaa hai nihaaN gard men seharaa mere hote

ghisataa hai jabiin Khaak pe dariyaa mere aage

aashiq hoon mashooq farebi hain mera kaam
majnoon ko bhi bura kehte hain laila meray aage

A bird this morning came to my house to inform me about the death of this vain.

Someone had insulted his vanity so much that he had apparently tried to shed away his vanity and his soul slipped too. The dead body started evaporating. As the cloud of his body went up, someone was heard singing

huee muddat ke ‘GHalib’ mar gaya par yaad aata hai

wo har ek baat pe kehana, ke yooN hota to kya hota ?

We the People

2008-09-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

They were hanging.There was hardly a peg,a tree trunk,an electric pole from where they were not hanging. They came in all sizes and colours. Some were made of old pherans and others of the colourful but torn summer dresses.The noose was tight.It almost ensured that the effigy dies the moment it is hanged..Entire valley had descended into a pall of gloom..People wore black bands and shouted slogans against Gen.Zia-ul-Haq. The day was marked by sporadic incidents of violence and curfew had to be clamped in many parts of Kashmir.
Meanwhile Pakistan went about its business normally.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged that morning.It was a move that evoked widespread condemnation the world over, but protests, only in Kashmir. While Bhutto was hanged in Pakistan, Zia was hanged in Kashmir.
As time passed by Zia became the hero of the masses. He was seen as an icon of resurgent Islam, someone who brought back faith to people and implemented Sharia as the law of land.Many years later when Zia was killed in a plane crash, Kashmir was again wailing and weeping. Many took to the streets.In seminars, held in his memory, he was called the Amir-ul-Moimeen(The leader of the Faithful),the true muslim, the upholder of Sharia. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that he was hanged many years back, in this land.
Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah (love him or hate him) was one of the tallest leaders of Kashmir(both literally as well as metaphorically).People loved him, sorry, adored him. It may be true that most Pandits did not like him yet he had his share of admirers or chamchas among Pandits as well, depending upon which side of the fence you are on. Kashmiris called him the Lion of Kashmir, an epithet that almost personified him. There were lakhs of people on the streets of Kashmir to attend his funeral. They were full of sorrow and wondered how the void created by his death would be filled. His grave was like a Dargah with people pouring out in large numbers to read Fatiya,place flowers and spray Itr(perfume).
Not many years later a movie named,”Omar Mukhtar-The Lion of the Desert” was screened in Kashmir. The screening led to violent protests and people bayed for Sheikh’s blood. They wanted to dig his grave and some even wanted to urinate on it. They all wondered why Shiekh did not fight the Indians like Omar Mukhtar, the Libyan Tribal Leader fought his opponents. A Lion it seemed had eclipsed another Lion.
The arrival of militancy saw many people calling Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah a traitor. They said the title of Sher-i-Kashmir was a title bestowed on the Sheikh by the Indians.Once again the voices wanting to dig him out of his grave got louder and shriller. Police and Para-Military Forces were now guarding the shrine of who was once “the greatest leader of Kashmir”.No one came to place flowers at his grave anymore. No one wanted to spray Itr on his grave.
Suddenly one day two young boys turned up with a small bottle of Itr.It was pleasant surprise for the Policeman posted there. They allowed them to go to the grave.The boys hurriedly emptied the contents of the bottle on his grave and left.As soon as the young boys left, the stench of urine filled the place. By the time the Police could react the two boys had vanished.
Tailpiece:Once a journalist asked Sadiq Saab(one of the Chief Minster’s of Kashmir),about his support base in the valley.Sadiq Saab replied 40 lacs.The journalist asked him about Sheikh Saab’s support base.The answer was still the same.The perplexed journalist asked him,What is the population of the valley.The answer was still the same.

Rashneek Kher

Harmukh Vich Deedar

2008-09-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

The title of this post may not be in consonance with the contents of the post but as it unfolds we will find the title relevant.Be patient for it may be a long,dry and sometimes scholastic.

I have been requested by many of my friends to write something on the controversy sorrounding the Amarnath Land Lease Issue.I have really been postponing writing my thoughts becuase the issue was so mired in controversy that I did not know where to start from.

It was 30th of June,08 and it was my daughter's third birthday.I had travelled to Ahmedabad to be with my family so that we could all celebrate the day.In exile,I have many outposts but no home.However,in the back of my head was this feeling of uneasiness.Crowds in Kashmir were swelling against the land transfer to the SASB.Kashmir was turning green.The green of Islam was clothed in the green of environmental conservation.We were told Kashmiri Muslims are protesting because giving this land meant environmental degradation while the slogans and the frenzy on the streets had a different story to tell.It was Pakistan se Rsihta Kya-La Illah Illlaha and Hum Kya Chahtee-Azadi.

When I woke up on 30th morning,Mehbooba Mufti had a cruel smile as she appeared on Times Now.The land given to Shrine Board was revoked.To say that I felt hurt or helpless would be an understatement.I took the evening flight back to Delhi.As I sat waiting for the flight to take off I called my friend Aditya and told him,"we are born at a wrong time in History".

I for one am in favour of a Yatra which extends for no more than 15 days.This two month Yatra is against the established ritual of the Yatra as prescribed in the Amaraeshwar Mahatmaya.The Yatra has lost its sanctity because of this unwanted extension.There is a prescribed period for the Yatra which we must follow both as a matter of tradition as well as religion.

Whether the land is given or not given to Shrine Board is also not an issue.What is really important in all this is the reaction to simple land transfer.It raises serious questions about how Islamized the valley has become.How much they hate the very presence of any vestige of any non-Islamic institution in the Kashmir.For those who may not know that an University (to be called Sharda Peeth) was to be established in Kashmir.This project also faced similar protests and is now scrapped.On this blog I have often gone into the details of Kashmir's hoary vedic past and its being an abode for heterogenity before the invasion at the hands of Muslim Invaders.The Muslims of Kashmir today want to draw their ancesstery to the pagans of Arab or fleeing Mullahs of Iran.And that is the root cause of all the protests.The pattern of religious and ethnic cleansing is bare for all of us to see.First they drove away the Pandits,then they burnt their houses and then desecrated their temples and shrines.Amarnath Shrine was increasingly being seen as the last vestige of the Hindu(mind you not Pandit) connection to the mainland India because Shiva as a deity has a pan Indian presence unlike goddesses like Rajgyna or Sharika who are the Isht Devis of the Kashmiri Pandits alone.This was consistently irking the separtists,the Muftis and their masters across the border.They wanted it be stopped somehow.

The necessity for the land to be leased to the Yatris was felt by the board because a lot of people died in a snow storm some years back.All these could have been saved if we had some structures where they could have escaped the wrath of the nature.Probably thats why the government acceded to the request of the Board.It was eventually two PDP ministers,who cleared the decks for the land transfer to the SASB for a two months' period.

However as soon as the separatists(read Pan-Islamists) started protesting against the land transfer, the Muftis,who I often called the plagirized version of Hurriyat,felt losing their turf.They joined the bandwagon and called for revocation of the very order that they had stamped.Kashmiri Muslims have increasinly been used to bringing people down to streets to scare the government.More often than not has the Indian State fallen to this and many desicions in the past have been revoked or softened because the Indian state did not have balls to call the separtists' bluff.

So shrill have the voices emanating from Kashmir become that Sajjad Lone(not even a Mohallah leader) had the cheek to tell Barkha Dutt to mute Dr,Jiteneder Singh's mike on the TV Show.He even had the audacity to tell Dr.Ajay Chrungoo that his stance could irk someone in Kashmir which can lead to further problems for Pandits living in Kashmir.Little does he realise that he himslef spends a lot of time in Delhi,in a predominantly Hindu dominated area.

What the government did not expect was the reaction from Jammu.They were taken aback as people in Jammu took to streets in far greater numbers than Kashmiri Muslims.Everything came to a standstill.The bandh was complete and voluntary.The movement was drawing support from everyone.Yet it was Omar Abdullah's speech that it gave it the required impetus.He said "hum jaan de denge par zameen nahee denge" as if the Abdullah's already had the title of the land.Kuldeep Dogra's suicide as a reaction to Omar's speech re-kindled passions and now the entire Jammu province joined the Sangarsh Samiti.There were ofcourse the underlying dormant hurts which got an opportunity to vent.Jammu has often been treated as a poor cousin of Kashmiris.Jamuities,who contribute 75% to the state ex-chequer have been treated badly by the State.The Kashmiri Pandits never got a chance to vent their hurt and humiliation.They have been angry at the way the State has treated them.

So Jammu burst.The separatists were getting a taste of their own medicine.They cried "Economic Blockade".The "economic blockade" was made an alibi for going to Muzzafarabad.Although newspaper after newspaper kept chruning out stories of no blockade yet the separtists have seldom taken truth from elsewhere but Pakistan.Don't we all know that Eid in Kashmir is celebrated only when the Hilal Committee of Pakistan approves that"they have sighted moon".Indian Muslim, it seems,is not a part of the Ummah.

Now when the land is restored to the SASAB for three months of Yatra,the separtists must be nursing their wounds and learning to mend their tongues.Sajjad Lone's statement that "the land issue is resolved,touch me if you can" must be stuck somewhere in Kupwara trying to cross to Rawalpindi.

As all this happens I remember the myraid verses that scores of Muslim poets have written to the ominpoetent glory of Shiva.In all this my favourite remains, Shams Faqir's verses

Zaane wale kar zaanee yaar,Harmukh* Vichu Deedar

Parde Zaal Aaz dard-e-naar,Harmukh Vichu Deedar

O! seeker of truth,turn to Harmukh

Burn the veil of ignorance,turn to Harmukh

(*In Kashmir,the mountain of Harmukh is believed to be the abode of Shiva)

We as Kashmiris still can redeem ourselves by turning back to Harmukh for burning our ignorance.The sooner the separtists and Muslims in general realise this the better it will be for Kashmir.

The Pied Piper and the Rats

2008-08-04T04:12:00.000-07:00

The moment I got into my hotel room at Bhuvaneshwar I wanted to check out the latest on the Trust Vote.I switched on the Television.Omar Abdullah,one of the young voices of Kashmir,began his speech.On most occassions I have liked what he writes or speaks even if I disagree with his views.To be honest he has been a pleasant departure from his grandfather as well as his father who have known to be masters of rhetoric and two-facedness.

He began and as usual I expected him to speak like the way he would.But Alas ,it was run of the mill stuff,the stuff that intelligent,sorry cunning politicians would generally sayFor sometime I thought it was his father speaking.

I am a Muslim and an Indian and I dont see how the two are different.I was stumped.Is he the same man who only a week before was parroting Kashmiri Nationalism.Was he not the same guy who called the Muslim protestors upsurge against the land transfer to Amarnath Shrine as the national sentiment of Kashmir.So please let us know whether you are an Indian or a Kashmiri because you seem to contradict yourself.

Well there was more to come.We haven't destroyed temples and mosques.Well wasn't it his father's constituency and later his where many temples were destroyed and desecrated.Isn't it also true that he remained a mute spectator when all this was happening.Hasn't Kashmir seen more than 600 desecrated and broken temples,some razed to ground and the land occupied by local Muslims.Well Omar,you cannot fool all the people all the time.Look around your backyard and you will see temples in shambles.So please dont bullshit.Wandhama falls in Ganderbal ,Omar.It is right under your nose that 23 Pandits were masscared and the only temple in that area burnt.Now the case too stands closed and you have the cheek to say that ,We did not destroy temples.Dont you feel ashamed of yourself for lying so balatantly?

What irked me the most was that his conscience pricks him because he was a part of the NDA government and continued to do so even after Gujarat riots.Why is it that his conscience pricked him only when he finished his tenure with that government where he was a Minister of State for External Affairs,if my memory serves me right.Why did he not resign there and then or was the lure of the chair compensating for the cost of his conscience?Crocodile tears is what the Abdullahs are known for and Omar proved that he is the illustrous scion of the same family.He can but only lie.

Yet as he played his flute, the Editor in Chief of a newspaper was all praise for him,almost fell head in heels over Omar.The next day the Newspaper sang paeans to Omar,yes,on the front page.Another editor in chief wanted to give an Oscar to him,if there would have been an Oscar for the Speeches.Thankfully there isnt one yet.

The rat race did not stop here.Many other smaller rats too wrote and spoke highly of his speech.As always the Indian "Mainstream" Media fell for words as rats would for bread crumbs.......

2008-06-26T06:59:00.000-07:00

An encounter of a different kind

2008-06-25T04:19:00.000-07:00

I walked out of my office to take an Auto to the bank.Since the bank is less than a km away it is difficult to find an auto rickshaw.One really has to haggle sometimes to get the right fare.I saw an auto standing outside the Satyam Cineplex.A pleasant looking middle aged Sardarji with a saffron Pagri said, come in please.I asked how much he would charge.He said pay me only after you get to where you want to go.Aap se hee bone hogi(You are my first customer for the day).
We had hardly traveled 200 meters when my phone rang.It was Masood Taing,my friend from Shopian,Kashmir.The decibel levels of traffic at the Nehru Place traffic signal were so high that we could hardly converse.Soon the light turned green and the auto turned towards GK-I.The Sardarji stopped the auto rickshaw on the side of the road so that I could talk properly.When the conversation finished I asked the Sardarji to move.He was smiling and said in chaste Kashmiri”Aaz booze varraye veher pannen zaban”(After many years have I heard my mother tongue today).I asked him which place he belonged to and he said (again in Kashmiri), I am from Barrahmulla(Varmul).He too was a refugee like me.He had a small spare parts business back in Kashmir but was now drawing his sustenance from driving an auto rickshaw .He and his family lived in a rented room ,in Kalkaji.

We arrived at the bank.I got down and paid him his due which he proudly accepted.Like long lost friends we talked about our land,our shared past and an uncertain future. I felt as if we knew each other for a long time and this meeting was just that, we were meeting after a long time.In meeting him, there was a strange sense of excitement & sorrow,pain & pleasure. We hugged each other and I kissed his hand.

As he drove on, he kept looking back and I stood there till he got lost in the maze of the traffic

HOPE by Brijnath "Betab"

2008-06-25T00:20:00.001-07:00

I have tried to translate some of the verses of the poem titled HOPE written by Kashmiri poet and broadcaster Brijnath Betab.

Muday Gande gande chu rozaan aasmanas
Muda Yamesund chu vatun la-makanas

In unwavering gaze, he stares the sky
Certain of finding a way, back home

Naves doras ander pake bronth suy akh
Chu rahbar nav javaan yas kaarevanas

Will see the dawn of the new firmament
The caravan of who, is by the precept of youth,

Pazzar posheich chi prakrat mushqe chatunuy
Tagun gache sag ti dyun tat bhagewannas

Nurse the buds of your dreams and reveries
In veracity will the fragrance blossom

Zamanay Gardeshan yaem laeg safaras
Timay havan pagah vath nov zamanas

Addresses of those lost in the upheavals of time
Will lead the future to horizons anew

Naves gaashas andar naev aash zotan
Oobur hyotmut chalun chun aasemanas

In bright light, fresh hopes simmer
Clearing are the clouds of despair

Pholan tith guel gachan sartaaze aangan
Lagan vaen parde naev praenes makaanas

Afresh will the courtyard be in bloom of flowers
And adorn will the new curtains, the old house

Tawarikhuk Kasam Betab aese Zenav
Phutan kothe gach che vich paanay tufaanas

Destined we are to win,Betab
Storm itself will be doldrums then….

2008-06-11T02:42:00.000-07:00

She yelled at him. You don’t have a way with people. You annoy people so easily. All the good work that you do often ends up in a dustbin because of the way you handle people. Everyone hates you for one reason or another. This isn’t going anywhere. As long as you don’t learn how to work and manipulate people all your art and knowledge isn’t worth a penny. You have to learn to be quiet even when you know everyone around is lying. Maybe it is time you learn how not to speak, how not to react, how not to speak truth, how not to express yourself. And who the hell told you to be so involved in anything at all? Do you really think you are going to change the world or for that matter whatever shit you are associated with. Emotional fools don’t go anywhere. They are like trees whose roots are so stuck to their ground that they simply dig deeper their own graves.
He didn’t say anything. He was already trying to put into practice what she was saying. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t heard it before. A lot of his friends had found his emotional trait as an asset that only others could use; his detractors had found this an alibi for attacking him. They often branded him unstable, stubborn, hyperactive and frenzied. It wasn’t his EQ that actually worried them. He was passionate to the point of being insane and thats what scared his foes and friend alike.

Enough is enough. I have suffered a lot because of being too involved. He made up his mind that this is it. This is the last time in my life that I have had myself involved in a cause,he said to himself. Yet he knew he would be back again to what gave him pain and ecstasy. This was the pleasure of the pain. This was the only shred that kept him connected to his void. Holding on to it was painful, getting out of it -complicated.
In days such as these he would often turn to his past to cheer him up .He recollected the day when his would be wife had asked him about the ten most important people/causes in his life. She knew what the first one would be and he didn’t disappoint her either. It wasn’t she. It was an affirmation and not a surprise for her. She had many times seen tears rolling down his cheeks the moment anything related to Kashmir came up.
Reason had never been his cup of tea. I have often heard him say”Aap kab akal ke madrsse se ishq ke mahqade main aa rahee hain”.He closed the door behind him. He sang aloud

Shola hoon bhadkne ki guzarish nahee karta
Sach munh se nikal jaata hain koshish nahee karta

He sat on the solitary rug in his study. The rug looked beautiful with its red fairies and blue flowers. He was extremely fond of the rug because it never had any complaints against him. Even today it welcomed him as it did always. Like a man intoxicated ,he sang to the rug

Aap kyon hain saare duniya se juda
Aap bhi dushman meray ban jaaeye

The rug didn’t reply. It never did.

My first brush with Translation

2008-06-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is an attempt to translate one of the poems of Arjun Dev "Majboor".He is a great Kashmiri poet and scholar .Here is an earlier piece that I wrote on him.

Charer hyu aaz chu basaan nov baharaes
Nachan Aalav che bekas yath shahraes

A strange void enshrouds this spring
Helpless and astray our prayers are

Chu Cholumut choor-e-Kustyaan doore shaye
Masheth gomut chu maechar naag-e-haraes

In somber silence, his quiet flight to a distant land
And forgotten is the virtue of sweetness to the spring of love

Mooshq nyumut muhit chukh aaz zamanas
Tavay Aaamut chu khur maa gaatejaaraes

Lost to us is the essence of fragrance
Entangled wisdom is in the mesh of frenzy

Amar-ek-val to chasmen hind samanbal
Dilek Achbal niyam kus baaleyaaraes

Like a dream, I behold meadows, where blossomed our love
In vain I yearn, for someone, to take them to you.

Khuda ke liye'

2008-06-02T02:47:00.000-07:00

She laid there numb. She was constantly receiving the thrusts on her body. With all his aggression he was fucking her. He was taking out on her what he had received during fifty years’ of Indian aggression in Kashmir. He was accomplishing a holy purpose of planting a seed of faith in an infidel whore. Occasionally his beard would scratch her face. She wouldn’t move or react. There were no tears, no sorrow, no fear of it happening all over again.
That evening the soldiers of God went to hunt the remaining infidels. What could have been a better night than the one they chose? When the faithful were praying in the mosques the soldiers of God cleansed the village of the remaining infidels. The youngest dead when buried had 23 bullets in his petite body .He too showed no signs of sorrow, no fear of death and no tears. The first bullet had put all that to rest.

Words...

2008-05-13T02:52:00.000-07:00

My incoherent words aren’t giving a voice to my incessant thoughts. They are wandering almost aimlessly like the molecules of a random chemical reaction. Words have often betrayed me in the past. This time though they aren’t betraying me. They are simply playing hide and seek.
After all it has been long since I played with them. They were pals with my thoughts, not long ago. But today, they seek vengeance from me for not having indulged with them. It was with them, that I spent my wilderness and solitude.It was first through them,that I heard I was a coward a Dalle Bata.It was them who conveyed to me that it was time for me to leave the Firdaus.It was them who saw me in love with the cricket on my wet window just after the first monsoon in exile.It was them I would hide so as not to reveal my tongue for fear of reprisal. It was through them that I explained the meaning of Rasul Mir’s verses to my beloved. It was them who got stuck between her and my lips the first time we kissed. It was with them I wrote my obituary and my life after.
Today when they sink into the abyss of my empty self to hide,I seek them to draw images of the day when my daughter had her first tryst with them.Like a prostitute who bewitches her customers to sleep with her, I seduce my estranged words with thoughts. I plead with them to come out of the abyss.They hide and I seek…..

Navreh-Is there a new flame somewhere?

2008-04-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

Many years back I wrote this on a Navreh.

Yi Kyut Navreh,Kaemis che reh,

Na che ti na maey,teli Kyut Navreh

Bujras chuy Vaey,Yavanas hey

Vaen kyut navreh,Vaen kyut navreh

Deep inside me,something was breaking.It was hard to tell why I saw no hope,no need for celebration.After all who celebrates broken homes and broken hopes.The "reh"signifies light or fire of the new year.It signifies the new spirit of our souls,a new resolve to rebuild what is lost,to regain what was ours.All that seemed a distant dream when I penned down those pensive lines.

Radhika is just 15.She wasnt even born when she was thrown out of what would have been her home.Her chaste Kashmiri coupled with her resolve to return to her roots inspired me to revisit my lines.

As an ode to her and to my comrades in Roots in Kashmir,

Ye chu nov Navreh,vich prazlaan chay na chaney reh

chuy chane rahey,rang rotumut maey

chakh aash baneth vaen aamech chey,

kad valenje maenae,yus chuy vaeh

Aakash ti pataal sar kar aaz

chey prarran panchalech ,che divay

haeth pagahuk gaash,che aayak aaz

bar-e-chirninaev kin mae chaye divay

vanvas me mokelaav mahsoosas

aaz kaluk vamaan karetan khay

Return of the Pandits

2008-03-11T02:14:00.000-07:00

There are no more than 4000 Kashmiri Pandits left in the Kashmir Valley now. Going by the declining figures of this microscopic community we may soon have lesser Pandits than the “protected Hangul-the endangered Kashmiri Deer” in the valley.
The government has made a spectacle of those Pandits who had fled the valley in the face of selective killings and terror unleashed on them by militants. They have put them up in camps, which lack basic amenities like water, power, drains etc. forget toilets and schools. To give the reader an index of how bad the things are, here it is, there is one toilet per hundred families in the Muthi Camp. A camp that lodges more than 10000 exiled Kashmiri Pandits has less than 25 toilets. The Pandits are used by the “State” as visible victims of Pakistan Sponsored terrorism. Every fact finding mission on Kashmir makes a customary visit to these camps and the government of the day parrots ” See what Islamic terror has done to us”. It is thus in the interest of the government to keep Pandits in pitiful conditions. Three cheers for the art of Statecraft.
More than half a million Pandits had to flee from their homes in Kashmir at the outbreak of insurgency in Kashmir, thus making it the largest forced exodus in the modern history. The ethnic cleansing of Pandits was complete sans a few who resiliently chose to stay back. The ones who did show the courage to stay back had to face seven massacres in which more than 250 Pandits lost their lives. They also were a witness to large scale destruction of their places of worship. According to a Statesman report published recently, more than 600 temples have been desecrated and destroyed.
When the Prime Minister recently announced a slew of measures for the Exiled Pandit Community and the kin of the terrorists (the prey and predator’s kin), the Pandits back in the valley felt left out. One of my Pandit friends living back in the valley wrote to me ” So I have to either kill someone or flee the valley to get anything from the government” Satire it was ,but truth too. One could feel these were words written in abject hurt and desperation.
The government in arms with some of its cahoots encouraged the celebration of Janam-Asthami and Dusshera in the valley. Both events were hugely covered by both the National as well as International Media. Good news for everyone. The government reiterated “Things are returning back to normal”.The militants got a much needed shade of saffron to press home” the minorities are safe here” the press had a great story-one of brotherhood, peace and glorious traditions of the much hyped Kashmiriyat !!!
It wasn’t after all a minor event that these festivals were celebrated in the valley after a gap of 17 years. So while everyone was glued on to the good story, something sinister was underway. Temples were being sold and their properties given away to unscrupulous elements in the society. Obviously this wasn’t a great story, so no one of any consequence whatsoever reported. What it however did was that it prompted Pandit organizations to push government to pass the much delayed “temple bill”. This bill if passed by the State Legislature would have paved the way forward for the Pandits to manage and maintain their temples in Kashmir. But then it was not to be. The Bill was delayed yet again for the fourth time in a row. Even the much damned government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has a better score card on this. They allow Sikhs to maintain and manage Gurudwaras in Pakistan. This Is India-a secular multicultural democracy. Put it into your hookahs and smoke it out.
My friend sent me an account of two temples which have been recently sold in the valley. The Sales are as fresh as Jan,08.
1. Location – Mohalla Ashraf Khan (Mom Khan) inside Kathi Darwaza, land measuring approximately 90 Kanals pertaining to Baba Dharam Dass Trust, Barbar Shah has been sold out to one Syed Dilawar, Retired Teacher, (Son-in-Law present Municipal Councillor – Raja) and Shakeel Ahmad Ganai. Fencing of the property is going on. The complex houses a temple and Dharamshalla.
2. Location – Zevan, Near BSF Camp. Land measuring approximately 70 Kanals pertaining to Dharmarth Trust, this land was used for religious congregations on the religious functions .The land has been converted into plots and plots are ready for sale.
For those who may not be aware of the geography of Kashmir, both the places are in Srinagar. One can very well imagine the fate of temples in the countryside. When the writer of this piece went with a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner of Pulwama (in 2006) regarding a hugely revered and now desecrated shrine, his reply was curt. There is no one to look after the temples. Well right! Since the Gods did not have anyone to look after them, in a fit of anger they must have broken themselves and then emptied their bellies right on their own faces. Such is the apathy of the powers to be with regard to Kashmiri Pandits. In the presence of the media, this very Deputy Commissioner would rue the exile of Pandits as a loss to Kashmir and Kashmiriyat.

The Greater Kashmir (a separatist leaning English Newspaper published from the valley) reported that the Pandits of the valley demand re-opening of massacre related cases which the government has closed citing lack of evidence and further progress in the cases. They have also asked the government to handover these cases to CBI. Noble intentions! Little do these poor souls know that CBI’s record as an investigating agency is pathetic to say the least. It has been more 17 years now that it was given to investigate cases related to killing of 4 IAF officers and kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed(the then Home Minister’s daughter) in Kashmir. There has been little or no progress in either of the cases. If this is the fate of high profile cases what can the poor Pandits expect from CBI.

In the past one week we have heard a lot of significant and not so significant inviting Pandits to come back. Even the otherwise reluctant believer in co-existence Syed Ali Shah Geelani also sent out invitations to Pandits to “return and live alongside their Muslim brethren”. Good words, now can we see some action on the ground. Do we next see Mr.Geelani holding a Dharna or a strike to protest killings of Pandits at the hands of “his boys with toys”. Shall one soon see him asking the government to re-open cases related to Pandit massacres? Will he issue a public appeal asking people to refrain from buying temple and shrine lands? Unless words are backed by actions, they remain mere words. Mr.Geelani, I know you are the only Kashmiri separatist leader who hasn’t sold his soul but on the Kashmiri Pandit issue you have always either been reticent or played to the gallery. Unless the “appeals” and “invitations” for return are preceded by visible and tangible work on the ground they will remain what in Kashmiri is called “A lol ros Nalamot”, An embrace without love.
Before the government, separatists and the other political parties in the valley send out calls, invites and mushy messages to “their exiled brethren” it would be best that they attend to the ones who are already living a marginalized life almost bereft of an identity. These people are like a microcosm of the larger Pandit community. The treatment meted out to them would reflect the commitment of the majority community to the return of Pandits.If the separatists and the government is really serious about the return of Pandits to the valley it is time they heed to the calls of the Pandits living in the valley. The exiled Pandits would need no beckoning to their land once they feel that their microcosm is blossoming.

YASIN MALIK AND THE INDIA TODAY CONCLAVE

2008-02-13T22:36:00.000-08:00

It wouldn’t be the first or the last time in the history of mankind that a killer is freed or elevated to a position which in all likelihood he doesn’t deserve. The crowd has sometimes chosen to free Barbaras and instead crucify Jesus.It has been us the”Ashraf-ul-makhlooq” who chose to stone Hallaj to death.

So when India Today decided to invite Yasin Malik as a speaker in one of their sessions titled” Youth Forum - If I Could Change The World” they were only following what fellow human beings had done in the past. What however shocked me was this description (http://conclave.digitaltoday.in/2008/speakersprofile.html#mailik)
wherein they mentioned nothing of his pending TADA cases some indeed as shocking as kidnapping the then Union Home Minister’s daughter (which he has himself admitted to,read here, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/484093.cms ),
or killing 4 unarmed air-force officials. When someone recently asked him about the killings of 4 unarmed air-force officers who were waiting to board a bus, he blurted almost nonchalantly” The IAF personnel were not innocent victims. They were the agents of the 'enemy'.
(read here, http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/dec/13blood1.htm)
So was it fair to kill these personnel Mr.Malik? The answer in all likelihood meant YES.

Yet once again when a respected columnist and someone who runs an online periodical asked him this ,” I find it strange, because it was your organization JKLF that killed most of the innocent Kashmiri Pandits and yet the blame goes to the so-called fundamentalists.” he had no answer. What then prompted INDIA TODAY to call his so called movement a secular one?
When quizzed” But you are responsible for such killings as Chief Commander?

Malik’s answer was :No I am not… and I don’t want to talk about it further
(http://kashmiraffairs.org/shibli%20interview%20yasin%20malik.html)

Praveen Swami, writes in his column titled” J&K: Veils and Daggers – The Perils of India’s Secret Search for Peace “What did surprise observers was the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s choice of chief guest: the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader, Mohammad Yasin Malik. Ever since the JKLF renounced ‘armed struggle’ a decade ago, after its decimation at the hands of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Malik has repeatedly asserted on more than one occasion that he is committed to the principles of Mahatma Gandhi. Malik has also claimed the JKLF’s struggle is ‘secular’, despite its past involvement in attacks on the Kashmiri Pandit community, while the Lashkar-e-Taiba makes no secret of its loathing for Hindus, Jews and other ‘unbelievers’.( http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/sair/Archives/4_31.htm)

Now if INDIA TODAY would have cared to know a little more about its “Youth Icon” they would have known that the man on board is a remorseless killer and a kidnapper who doesn’t mind sharing space with the most fanatic organisations like Lashkar.I am at my wits end trying to read what could have prompted INDIA TODAY to invite such a man to their conclave.Could it be that Yasin Malik a former terrorist and a dreaded man even now, may have a vision for India.Doesn’t his vision flow from the power of the AK-47 that he first brought to Kashmir.How could a multicultural Indian ethos draw its vision from a man whose entire philosophy has been based on hate.It was he and I remember vividly, when he shouted “Azadi Ka Matlab kya…and his followers responded La-illah Illalah”.If this is his vision for India I can only say”Ya Allah mujhe nijaat aise vision se ya maut de” and I am sure Yasin Malik is still capable of giving me death as he done to my fellow Kashmiri brethren in the past.

Is the sacred thread of secularism in India so fragile that it would have broken had Yasin Malik not been invited to this conclave. Let us for arguments’ sake accept that Yasin Malik has indeed given up us rogue ways and is now following the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi. Does it mean that we are condone his sins of past? Are we to simply press the delete button on and forget his sinful,ferocious and perverse past? Should there be no retribution for his sins? If Sanjay Dutt is to imprisoned time and again for having a Kalishnikov ,are we to accept that Yasin Malik is above the law. Don’t we all know it was he who brought guns and thus violence to Kashmir? Despite all his acrobatics he remains but a killer, an ordinary criminal on street.

There is no doubt that the government has been lax on its part in dealing with criminals like him. There still isn’t a charge-sheet for either his involvement in killings of IAF officers or for kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed. Even if he has changed sides now, as we are made to believe, isn’t the government trying to buy peace at a very high price. Sorry maybe I have lost plot but how different is the INDIA TODAY group from our sick government. How could it not read and know what this man’s past and even his present. When a local newspaper called Chattan wrote against him, he had them threatened and even their office destroyed. Murtaza Shibli writes in his description of him that,” He is known for his bad language - he swears and smokes regularly despite a heart condition”. Wouldn’t it be funny to say the least that in his fit of anger (probably a dirty baggage of his militant past, when he could get angry and kill ) he assaults Aditya Mittal much like he did to a much older and almost venerable Abdul Ghani Butt in a Hurriyat meeting.
I am appealing through this blog to the INDIA TODAY group to re-consider its decision to invite a remorseless killer, kidnapper and a terrorist to its conclave. His presence at their conclave would only blemish their spotless reputation as a responsible media house. It is also my humble request to the other speakers to raise their voice and refuse to share dais with a hardened criminal and a terrorist.

If anyone still has any doubts about his past,here is the BBC Hard Talk video,which leaves nothing to imagination.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa9CvVV2HXA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEFXXGWFIiw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzAWMOyn7IQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pMOHbv_uTc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIn3FXZNCZg

In anticipation of sanity

Rashneek Kher

Among the dervishes by Aditi Bhaduri(in The Hindu)

2008-01-30T03:32:00.000-08:00

"In the men of Hind the usages of Hind are praiseworthy. In the men of Sindh those of Sindh...
Ways of worship are not to be ranked as better or worse... It is all Praise, it is all right."
Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi,
1207-1273.
WERE these the paths that Rumi once trod? Was this the earth on which he is said to have whirled round in ecstasy? Had he stared wistfully at this very moon mourning the loss of his beloved, Shams of Tabriz? The thoughts whirled as I entered Konya.
I was in Mevlana Town, the honorary name for this Turkish city in Central Anatolia; a name by which all Turks know this place, for "Mevlana" has for centuries drawn people from all corners of the globe.
Early life
Jalaluddin was born in Balkh province of today's Afghanistan in 1207 AD but made this town his home. Konya was then the capital of the Rum Seljuk Empire. Jalaluddin of Rum or Rumi, as he came to be known, became a great scholar and teacher of philosophy.
When he was 37, he encountered the wandering mystic, Shams of Tabriz. In Shams, Rumi discovered the inner Friend, the soul, God himself. Such was Rumi's attachment to Shams that it incurred the wrath of his other disciples and the latter had to flee to Damascus twice to save his life.
Each time Rumi made him return till one day Shams disappeared. The verses inspired by Rumi's love and longing for Shams are among the most magnificent works in Persian — the Diwan-I-Shams-I-Tabriz, also known as Divan-I-Kebir, with 44,000 verses.
In time, Rumi found a mirror of his Beloved in his disciple, Husam-e-din ibn Akhi Turk. This relationship inspired Rumi's other seminal work The Masnavi — a collection of fables, anecdotes, Quranic revelations, poetry and even tales from the Panchatantra.
Rumi became a mystic, a dervish or mendicant. He preached that love was the only true path. He went on to establish the Mevlevi order of the Whirling Dervishes who realise God through dance and music. He came to be known as Mevlana or teacher, which is how he is remembered in Turkey. The place where he lived, preached, danced and wrote came to be known as "Mevlana city".
Rumi's tomb
Rumi was laid to rest beside his father in a rose garden, and a splendid shrine, the Yeºil Türbe or "Green Tomb" was constructed. The mausoleum is topped by a conical dome of turquoise tiles, which glitters and is visible from miles away. The entrance is through a beautiful courtyard in which stands an ornate fountain used for ablutions.
After removing my shoes I entered a vestibule, earlier reserved for the teachers of the Quran. Rumi's sarcophagus is the largest and lies directly under the blue dome. The actual tomb is underneath. At the head of the sarcophagus stands a headdress signifying his authority over the other dervishes who lie buried here. His son was also buried near him and later some famous dervishes.
The mausoleum is furnished in richly emblazoned silks and satins, thick hand-woven woollen carpets adorn the grounds, and verses from the Quran and Rumi's works are inscribed in beautiful Arabic calligraphy. Thick velvet shrouds with verses from the Quran embroidered in heavy zari cover the sarcophaguses. Heavy crystal chandeliers, the central one gifted by Sultan Selim I, bathe the chambers in a warm glow.
Suleiman the Magnificient, who held the Mevlevi Order in high esteem, gifted the semahane or dance hall, which stands beside the mausoleum. It has now been converted into Mevlana museum, which displays some of his personal relics like his Quran, his robes, verses from his various works, prayer beads, some musical instruments.
There are also antique prayer carpets, as well as relics of the Prophet Mohamed. On the right of the mausoleum stands a small Dervish museum, with mannequins dressed as dervishes.
His message
Iranians, who account for most of the foreign pilgrims, too claim Rumi as their own, because of his Persian antecedents. It is said that men of different religions followed Rumi's bier after his death on December 16,1273 — known as Shabe-aruz or Night of the Union (with the Divine).
The week of Shaberuz is celebrated each year when a Mevlana festival is held, bringing thousands of Sufis from around the world. Rumi wrote some 770 years ago, but his message that "Love's nationality is separate from all other religions" and so God "regard(s) not the outside and the words, I regard the inside and the state of the heart" remains relevant even today, perhaps the very balm that an anguished Middle East now needs the most.
Konya is a far cry from the glitter and glamour of Istanbul or Ankara. Though there are modern buildings and broad clean roads, the city has a medieval flavour. Narrow winding streets branch away from the main road; kebabs are roasted on open fires on sidewalks flanked by shops selling all kinds of souvenirs and religious ware. Because of Mevlana, Konya is essentially a pilgrim city.
City's other sights
The other sights the city offers are mostly mosques or seminaries turned museums. The Allaettin Mosque, built in 1221 for Sultan Alaeddin Kaykubad I, is splendid with its maze of columns, a finely painted 12th century old mihrab (prayer niche) and an exquisitely carved wooden minbar (pulpit for sermons).
The Karatay Musuem, which was actually a Seljuk seminary, has an interesting marble entrance and a wonderful collection of ceramic tiles.
The Sahib I Ata Mosque is a piece of fine Seljuk architecture and there are many other elegantly designed mosques and shrines, including one which is said to be that of Rumi's beloved Shams.
There is no Turkish city without a hammam (bath) and the historic Court Hammam, situated halfway between Mevlana Museum and Alaettin Mosque offers an invigorating massage and wash.
Konya is also the best place in Turkey to buy rugs and carpets in, as most of those sold in the bazaars and showrooms of the bigger cities are produced here. Shops here are mostly owned by families producing these carpets and it is common to see relatives sitting weaving in the shops. It is possible to take lessons in carpet weaving here.
The dervish is the city's unofficial mascot and figurines are sold in the numerous shops and kiosks lining the streets. Every second hotel or restaurant is named Dervis or Mevlana. Konya after all is Mevlana city and this is reflected in its people.
Take Nasser for instance. Simply because I buy a few rugs from him, he assumes that it is his duty to drop me to the bus station, a good 10 km away from the city on a freezing night.
Ask a passerby for directions and you find yourself invited for tea or lunch or dinner, depending on the time of day. Order a Turkish coffee in one of the cafes tucked away in those bylanes and you will be served a sandwich too, free of cost.
Later I acquainted myself with the other famous Rumi legacy — the dance or sema of the Whirling Dervishes. The dervishes lived simple lives dedicated to the love of God and humanity. They sometimes, though not always, lived in cloisters in monasteries known as tekkes, but were not celibates. There are a number of Dervish orders in the world today, of which the Mevlevi order is but one.
The whirling dervish
The Mevlevi dervishes reach out to the Divine through ritual dancing called Sema, or whirling. It is based on the philosophy that everything in life revolves. The dance symbolises a spiritual journey towards the highest truth.
The sema that day was a special one. Two little dervishes, aged 10, had recently been initiated into the order and were performing their first sema ceremony.
The sheikh stood at the head. Twenty-five dervishes performed the sema. They advanced separately, removing their black cloaks, which symbolised earthly bondage. The white robes and headdress worn by them symbolised the shroud and tombstone of the human ego.
They held their arms cross-wise over their chests to symbolise their unity with God. Thus, the dervishes were born to the spiritual truth.
The ceremony began with a eulogy to the Prophets, praise to God who had created them all. Then came the drumbeat, a call to the dervishes to be conscious of themselves, followed by the call of the ney or reed flute, which symbolised the first breath of life. The dervishes then kissed the sheikh's hand, seeking permission to enter the sema.
First, the dancers or semazens bowed to each other honouring the spirit within. Slowly, as they started whirling their arms unfolded, the right hand opened to the skies to receive God's beneficence and the left hand turned towards the earth to convey the blessing received. Their gaze rested on the left hand.
They whirled from right to left in four sessions, or selams. White apparitions, they glided by effortlessly, transporting us into another world. During the selam the sheikh entered the circling dervishes, assuming the place of the sun in the centre of the circling planets.
The Sema ended with a reading from the Quran and prayers for the repose of the souls of the Prophets and the faithful. I understood then that this was probably Rumi's greatest legacy — the reason why UNESCO is celebrating 2007, which marks eight centuries since his birth in 1207, as the Year of Rumi.

ICONOCLASM IN KASHMIR-MOTIVES AND MAGNITUDE

2008-01-06T22:34:00.000-08:00

ICONOCLASM IN KASHMIR-MOTIVES AND MAGNITUDE

Iconoclasm and religious persecution of faiths alien to the king’s faith has been a norm said one of my Marxist friends. He didn’t stop there. He went on to name various Hindu, Naga, Buddhist & Huna kings [Kalhana’s Rajatarangi(The River of Kings)] in the Pre-Islamic period who had resorted to iconoclasm and religious persecution of faiths other than theirs. As if this wasn’t enough he went on to announce that Islam in Kashmir had spread through examples set by missionaries and religious divines and not military expansions. Obviously for this he did not have any credible historical evidence but then isn’t spreading lies about India’s past one of the favourite pastimes of Marxist Historians, Romila Thapar included.
Ordinarily I would have ignored such a statement had it been made by some sly shadow of Mao but since this came from someone whose knowledge of history and art is highly respected by his followers, it was time to call his bluff. While no-one can argue that Kashmir has not seen sporadic cases of Iconoclasm (even in the pre-Islamic era) we cannot but observe that such cases have been exceptions or aberrations rather than an instrument for subjugation of followers of a different faith. Compare that to the Islamic period and we have whole lot of historical evidence to suggest that persecution (in the Salatin era) of non-muslim subjects happened at a large scale which resulted in 6 exoduses of the Hindu community from the valley. There is evidence also to support that whichever of the two Islamic sects (Shia’s or Sunni’s) was in power subjugated the other but meted out special torment on non-muslim subjects.
While it is true that Kashmir did not have armies of Arabs or Persians (although Zulchu did march in with his armies in Kashmir but the purpose was to loot and not conquer land or convert its inhabitants. I am saying this despite the fact that he took thousands of Kashmiri men and women as slaves all of whom perished in a snow storm at Devasar in Anantanag) marching into its land but as far as conversions due to examples set by missionaries and Dervishes are concerned, it is mere hogwash to a great extent. How Islam was spread is clear from the next part of this column. You will see how Hindus were converted by brute force and how atrocities were inflicted by the Osama’s of those days.

MOTIVES BEHIND ICONOCLASM-THE MUSLIM KINGS

I once again re-affirm that while a miniscule percentage of Hindu,Hun(like Mihirkula),Buddhists (like Jaluka) rulers did destroy temples and some destroyed Buddhist Viharas too(of course not Shankarvarman)the reasons for the same were not religious expansion or bigotry.Unlike Muslim kings they did not think that they have a holy aim of converting Darul-Harb to Darul-Islam.The aim was not to subjugate or make people change their religion or faith but anything else.Most of the Muslim rulers destroyed temples thinking that they were doing a righteous act and were promoting Shariah by eliminating infidels(Kafir’s).Many thought that they were emulating the Prophet(SAW) little realizing the difference that what Prophet Mohammed (PBH) had done while destroying the idols at Kabba(a pagan place of worship then and a mosque now) was destroying idolatory and not idols.Iconoclasm in Kashmir was endorsed by the Amirs of the day(whether general Muslims supported it or not can be a matter of debate much like whether majority Hindus supported or condemned the barbaric destruction of Babri Mosque or whether Iconoclasm, in present day Kashmir has the mandate of the Muslims of the Valley or not).There are examples galore to prove this point.In order to put this in perspective I am giving some references. From Bahristan-i-Shahi
“Sultan Shihabu'd-Din addressed himself to such works as would help him get peace in the world hereafter. He arranged a tomb and a burial place for himself to be used after his death. Towards the fag end of his life, he was infused with a zeal for demolishing idol-houses and destroying the temples and idols of the infidels. He destroyed the massive temple at Beejeh Belareh [31] (Bijbehara). He had designs to destroy all the temples and put an end to the entire community of the infidels.[32] ““Again it needs to be recorded that for some of the time which the holy Amir spent in Kashmir he lived in a sarai at 'Alau'd-Din Pora. At the site where his khanqah was built, there existed a small temple which was demolished and converted into an estrade on which he offered namaz (prayer) five times a day and recited portions of the Qur'an morning and evening. Sultan Qutbu'd-Din occasionally attended these congregational prayers.”“ [It may be recorded] that the temples of idol-worshippers, which had been destroyed and razed to the ground by the religious-minded and justice-loving Sultan Sikandar- God bless his grave and bless him-had been rebuilt and rehabilitated by Zainu'l 'Abidin. He had permitted idolators and polytheists to revive the practices of infidelity and they had propagated heresy (kufr) and false religion (din-i batil). With the support of some more kings,[96] the infidels had flourished day after day. But with the support and authority of Malik Musa Raina, Amir Shamsu'd-Din Muhammad undertook a wholesale destruction of all those idol-houses [97] as well as the total ruination of the very foundation of infidelity and disbelief. On the site of every idol-house he destroyed, he ordered the construction of a mosque for offering prayers after the Islamic manner.”The idolatory and heresy which had existed prior to his coming to this place were effectively replaced by his preaching and propagation of Islamic laws and practices. He brought honour to all the infidels and heretics (zandiqa) of Kashmir by admitting them to the Islamic faith and bestowed upon them many kinds of rewards and benefactions. It is publicly known as well as emphatically related that during his life-time, with the virtuous efforts and elaborate arrangements made by the fortunate Malik Musa Raina, twenty-four thousand families of staunch infidels and stubborn heretics were ennobled by being converted to the Islamic faith. [99] It is difficult to compute the number of people who had hitherto indulged in corrupt practices of a wrong (false) faith and dissent and were put on the right track under the proper guidance of Mir Shamsu'd-Din 'Iraqi .[99]
In fact the transmitter of (God's) grace (Mir Shams 'Iraqi) conferred favours upon the righteous Malik Musa Raina and gave him blessings which enabled him to fulfill that cherished task. Indeed, fortunate is one who has been able to become the recipient of such special consideration at the hands of a highly venerable and elderly person like him (Amir Shamsu'd-Din). After Sultan Sikandar-God's peace be upon him-no one among the Muslims who wielded authority over this country rendered as much service to Islam by its propagation and advancement as Malik Musa Raina did. Nobody was able to make as organized an effort as he did towards the advancement and furtherence of the Muhammadan religion.

Please look at how the kings viewed their acts.One thought he would get peace by destroying temples.Sultan Sikander has been defined as religious minded and justice loving by the historians of the day while in no case has Kalhana supported or even condoned breaking of religious places.He heaped scorn on kings who resorted to this.Now that’s the difference. While Muslim Kings, their Amirs and even most Muslim Historians thought that the King was indulging in act of religious righteousness, kings belonging to other faiths had no such grandiose megalomania of reaching heaven (where houris would await them) by resorting to such acts. It makes an important reading into the mindset of the Muslim rulers.They clearly saw a holy purpose of converting “people of false faiths” like Hindus,Buddhists,Jainas and other heterodox religions to the only “true religion”.In their understanding of Islam they were doing great acts and their Amirs and most Historians of that period(especially the foreign historians who came with them ) supported this sickness unlike Kalhana who outrightly condemned these acts. Read the Last line of my reference from the Bharistan-i-Shahi
Nobody was able to make as organized an effort as he did towards the advancement and furtherence of the Muhammadan religion.

Here we are.The purpose is clear “Advancement and Furtherance of the Mohammedan Religion”.

Tarikh-i-Hasan Khuihami For details of forcible conversion of Hindus to Islam and their massacre in case they refused to be converted, see Tarikh-i-Hasan Khuihami; pp. 178-80. One significant detail is that three kharwars (one kharwar is approximately equal to eighty kilograms) of Hindu ceremonial thread (zunnar) were burnt by Sultan Sikandar. (Tarikh-i-Hasan Khuihami, Pir Ghulam Hasan, Vol II, RPD,* Srinagar 1954.) Other Sources for Sikander Butshikan alone
This is what historians (mostly Muslims) have to say.
"He [Sikandar] prohibited all types of frugal games. Nobody dared to commit acts which were prohibited by the Sharia. The Sultăn was constantly busy in annihilating the infidels and destroyed most of the temples..." (Haidar Malik Chădurăh: Tărîkh-i-Kashmîr; edited and translated into English by Razia Bano, Delhi, 1991, p. 55.)
"[He] strove to destroy the idols and temples of the infidels. He got demolished the famous temple of Mahădeva at Bahrăre. The temple was dug out of its foundation and the hole (that remained) reached the water table. Another temple at Jagdar was also demolished… Răjă Alamădat had got a big temple constructed at Sinpur. (...) The temple was destroyed [by Sikandar]." (Khwăjah Nizămu’d- Dîn Ahmad bin Muhammad Muqîm al-Harbî: Tabqăt-i-Akbarî translated by B. De, Calcutta, 1973)
"Sikander burnt all books the same way as fire burns hay". "All the scintillating works faced destruction in the same manner that lotus flowers face with the onset of frosty winter." (Srivara, Zaina Ra-jtarangini). This I am giving more for its poetic value rather than what it says.

Also please do pay attention to the following

"At the behest of Shams Iraqi, Musa Raina had ordered 1500 to 2000 infidels to be brought to his door-steps every day by his followers. They would remove their sacred threads, administer Kalima to them, circumcise them and thrust lumps of beef into their mouths,'' mentions Tohfatul Ahbab.

Role of so-called Sufis:

While no one can deny the fact that Kashmir was greatly influenced by Sufism and has produced some great Sufi saints and mystic poets(both Hindus and Muslims),we must stay clear of attaching a Sufi tag to every Muslim Godman.On one hand we have the great Sufi Tradition of Nund Rishi,Shams Faqir,Ahmed batwario,Rahim Saab,Swoch Kral,Prakesh Ram Kurigami,Govind Kaul,Ahmed Dar, on the other we have self styled god-men like Bul Bul Shah and Syed Ali Hamdani on whom this label of Sufi is stuck to make them more palatable to the larger masses.
Syed Ali Hamdani or Shah-I Hamdan as he is popularly called by Kashmiri Muslims is widely regarded as the man responsible for conversion of Kashmiris to Islam.As we already know that the Shah-i-Hamadan mosque was built after demolishing a Kali temple(and there are enough historical records to prove that, apart from the fact that to this day Pandits perform prayers alongside the converted structure).Now that itself should restrain our Marxist historians from making “religious divines” claim.
That not-withstanding I would like to inform the readers that before Shah-i-Hamadan left Kashmir he ordered the king to impose the following sanctions on Non-Muslims.I am enumerating them for your reading please.

1) The Hindus will not construct any new temples under the rule of Muslims.
2) They will not repair old temples fallen into ruins.
3) They will respect Muslims.
4) They will not dress like Muslims.
5) They will not ride a horse with saddle & bridle
6) They will not put on a ring.
7) They will not carry swords or bows & arrows.
8) They will not adopt Muslim names
9) They will not harbour spies or act as spies
10) If any relation of their’s wants to embrace Islam, they will not oppose it.
11) If a Muslim comes to attend a Hindu meeting he will be respectfully received.
12) They will receive Muslim travelers into their houses & provide them hospitality.
13) They will not prevent Muslim travelers from staying in their temples & shrines.
14) They will not mourn their dead loudly.
15) They will not buy Muslim slaves.
16) They will not build houses in neighbourhood of Muslims.
17) They will not sell intoxicating drinks.
18) They will not carry their dead near the grave-yards of Muslims.
19) They will not openly practice their customs & usages among Muslims.
20) They will not give up their traditional dress so that they can be distinguished from Muslims.
In the end the fiat in the form of an advice dictated if any Hindu dares to flout any of conditions, he should be first looted and then possession of his body is halal(Zakhiratul- Muluk).

(Source:Dr.Qayoom Rafiquee’s doctoral thesis titled”Sufism in Kashmir”)

In case this is not enough proof for anybody’s flight of fancy which makes him believe that Islam spread peacefully here are some examples from the same thesis.If this isn’t persecution in the name of religion then I wonder what is.

Writes Dr. Qayoom Rafiquee, “Mir Mohammad was not ready to give the status of Zimmis to the Hindus of Kashmir and treated them as kafirs who were not obedient to Islam, but were at war with it”.

Sufism in Kashmir, P-101

Again to quote Rafiquee, ‘the medieval Muslim sources inform us emphatically that infidelity was uprooted from Kashmir through the influence of Mir Mohammad’.

Sufism in Kashmir 101.
And sadly some of us have the cheek to say Islam in Kashmir spread through divinity and personal example of missionaries.This should put to rest any imaginative thought processes of Islam spreading in Kashmir through “divine incarnation of Dervishes and examples set by missionaries”.If someone still wants to stick to his point then I hope the same divinity that dawned on our forefathers in Kashmir dawns on him too.

HARSHA-THE ICONOCLAST

Harsha (1089-1111) ruled Kashmir and is probably one king who Kalhana has painted despicably. Why I wish to discuss this king is because he has been pulled out of the historical wilderness time and again by the Marxist historians. This one example is used as a counterweight the huge historical evidence that we have to support religious persecution and Iconoclasm by hundreds of muslim rulers all over south Asia and not just Kashmir alone.It seems as if just because Harsha did what Muslim rulers followed as a matter of policy and an instrument of abuse we are to condone their acts. Let us first see what different historians have to say about him.

Romila Thapar and Harbans Mukhiya-Lies and Un-substantiated Claims

Let us examine what Romila Thapar,A L Basham and Mukhiya have to say about iconoclasm by Hindu kings in Kashmir in their various articles.Views of Romila Thapar(whose knowledge and erudition of Sanskrit has always been a question mark) and Mukhiya whose Marxist leftist credentials have never been under question.So we kind of know which side of their bread is buttered.We will try and understand what Basham says about “Harsha the Iconoclast”.I am leaving Mukhiya alone but if need be ,we will discuss his understanding of Harsha as well.I will also like the forum to read through this piece of extremely unbiased work by an American Student. Puzzling Dimensions and Theoretical Knots in my Graduate School Research By Yvette Claire Rosser, M.A., Ph.D. http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/s_es/s_es_rosse_puzzle_frameset.htm
A few days later I met with Professor Romila Thapar and told her Prof. Mukhia had told me that she could provide information substantiate the hypothesis that Hindu rulers in the past had regularly destroyed temples in neighboring kingdoms. She said that she had not written anything but that Richard Eaton, an American scholar had recently written about this phenomenon in the introduction of his latest book.
A few months later in the December 9 and 16 editions of Frontline published by the Leftist leaning editor N. Ram of The Hindu newspaper Dr. Eaton did publish a long article in two parts that discussed in detail the destruction and desecration of various temples during the Medieval Period. In his article, Eaton attempted to prove the assertion made by Dr. Mukhia's and his colleagues. However it was argued, Eaton failed to understand the difference in scale and magnitude between the few times Hindus raided the temples of other kings, and the much more wide spread and architecturally devastating attacks from Muslim armies.
I spoke with Professors Thapar and Mukhia and told them that I had heard about Harsha in Kashmir, recounted by the poet Kalhana in the 'Rajtarangini'. Harsha destroyed some temples and viharas, but most scholars consider Harsha's actions as exceptions to the usual practice. I pointed out that all of the literature indicates that Harsha was definitely only looting the temples for gold and riches, not desecrating them for ideological reasons. Though the result is the same, the temples were attacked, the intent and the scale of the destruction was very different. I also mentioned that there seems to have been one or two instances in Rajasthan and Gujarat where competing Maharajas raided temples in the neighboring kingdom and stole a murti (consecrated statue) which was considered to be endowed with powerful attributes. Then, bringing it back to his own kingdom, the king erected a new and more fabulous temple for the murti. This type of vandalism is a very different case, the murti was removed as a trophy not as an unholy thing to be desecrated. In the accounts that I had heard, the king who had looted the temple of his adversary did not throw the captured statue in the roadway or bury it into the staircase of a religious structure in his kingdom to be trod upon, but, interestingly, he built an even grander temple and had it installed with fanfare. Though the actions may have similarities, the motivations were very different.
I also suggested that these types of attacks on temples were not representative of usual practice, but in fact were very much the exception to the rule. Even after reading the Eaton article, I was not impressed by the meager evidence. Though the article very few verifiable examples offered to substantiate this often-repeated claim that Hindus were just a guilty as Muslims for breaking statues and destroying temples. I told suggested to several Leftist scholars in Indian that they should stop using that tact about the Hindus destroying temples, because hardly anyone in India really believes them. The evidence that Hindus were equally culpable for the destruction of temples and viharas, similar to the large scale destruction of Hindu temples by the various Muslim dynasties is simply untenable. Though the Marxist historians in India use the case of King Harsh in Kashmir, it is a rare historical exception, certainly not proof of a legacy of Hindu-driven carnage. Yet the historians who make these claims have failed to uncover any real evidence to substantiate their theory of Hindu aggression.

Let us move on to see what an independent Belgian Indologist Keonraad Elst has to say about claims made by Romila Thapar about Harsh’s iconoclasm.Thapar’s claims seem to have found favour with Our Marxist friend for they fall in line with his pre-determined understanding of Kalhana.
Kalhana's first-hand testimony:
Now, let us look into the historical references cited by Romila Thapar. Of Banabhatta's Harshacharita, concerning Harsha of Kanauj (r.606-647), I have no copy available here, so I will keep that for another paper. Meanwhile, I have been able to consult both the Sanskrit original and the English translation of Kalhana's Rajatarangini, and that source provides a clinching testimony.
Harsha or Harshadeva of Kashmir (r.1089-1111) has been called the "Nero of Kashmir", and this "because of his cruelty" (S.B. Bhattacherje: Encyclopaedia of Indian Events and Dates, Sterling Publ., Delhi 1995, p.A-20). He is described by Kalhana as having looted and desecrated most Hindu and Buddhist temples in Kashmir, partly through an office which he had created, viz. the "officer for despoiling god-temples". The general data on 11th-century Kashmir already militate against treating him as a typical Hindu king who did on purely Hindu grounds what Muslim kings also did, viz. to destroy the places of worship of rival religions. For, Kashmir had already been occupied by Masud Ghaznavi, son of Mahmud, in 1034, and Turkish troops were a permanent presence as mercenaries to the king.
Harsha was a fellow-traveller: not yet a full convert to Islam (he still ate pork, as per Rajatarangini 7:1149), but quite adapted to the Islamic ways, for "he ever fostered with money the Turks, who were his centurions" (7:1149). There was nothing Hindu about his iconoclasm, which targeted Hindu temples, as if a Muslim king were to demolish mosques rather than temples. All temples in his kingdom except four (enumerated in 7:1096-1098, two of them Buddhist) were damaged. This behaviour was so un-Hindu and so characteristically Islamic that Kalhana reports: "In the village, the town or in Srinagara there was not one temple which was not despoiled by the Turk king Harsha." (7:1095)
So there you have it: "the Turk king Harsha". Far from representing a separate Hindu tradition of iconoclasm, Harsha of Kashmir was a somewhat peculiar (viz. fellow-traveller) representative of the Islamic tradition of iconoclasm. Like Mahmud Ghaznavi and Aurangzeb, he despoiled and looted Hindu shrines, not non-Hindu ones. Influenced by the Muslims in his employ, he behaved like a Muslim.
And this is said explicitly in the text which Romila Thapar cites as proving the existence of Hindu iconoclasm. If she herself has read it at all, she must be knowing that it doesn't support the claim she is making. Either she has just been bluffing, writing lies about Kalhana's testimony in the hope that her readers would be too inert to check the source. Or she simply hasn't read Kalhana's text in the first place. Either way, she has been caught in the act of making false claims about Kalhana's testimony even while denouncing others for not having checked with Kalhana.
A.L.Basham
Thankfully I did get to read Basham’s article titled”Harsha of Kashmir and the Iconoclast Ascetics”
Basham writes and I quote”The dissolute king Harsha or Harshadeva(AD 1089-1101),when in financial straits,was advised by his evil counseller Lotsdhara to restore his fortunes by looting the temples and melting down the images of the gods”
It is evident from the sentence that it was financial problems (due to various vices) that prompted him to resort to doing what he did.
Although Basham contradicts himself later in the same article by saying that the motive could not be financial alone but he attributes it to King enjoying acts of heresy.He even contradicts Aurel Stein’s explanation that King had been under the influence of turuska’s or (Muslims or outsiders) who in this case happened to be Muslims.Even if we accept his explanation, there is nothing to prove that he destroyed temples to promote his faith or ideology (Hinduism) while the contrary can be proved by the following verse from Kalhana’s Rajatarangni Book 7 verse 1095
"In the village, the town or in Srinagara there was not one temple which was not despoiled by the Turk king Harsha."
Kalhana calling him a turk (which was a synonym for Muslim/outsider/foreigner in Kalhana’s vocabulary.At many places Kalhana uses the term turuska’s to describe Muslims.We will discuss the word Turuska in detail when we analyse Our Marxist friend’s references to Rajatarangni.
Although I do not completely agree with either Basham or Keonard Elst,the reasons for which are the following.
1.Koenard Elst has got it wrong that Kashmir was conquered by Masud of Ghaznvi in 1034.There are no direct/indirect references or credible sources of history to prove that fact.I agree with Our Marxist friend when he says that Islamic rule was still some two centuries away.
2.Basham’s assertion that we should look to Ajivikas as Harsh’s source of his iconoclasm also seems to be a far fetched argument.Our Marxist friend himself concludes his argument by stating the following”Basham’s argument,albeit speculative,is less reliant on conjecture than the automatic identification of Turuska with Muslim that bedevils the other efforts to wrestle with the complexity of his reign that I have referred to above”
Irrespective of the arguments set forth by Romila Thapar,Basham,Elst and others it is conclusively proved in case of Harsha that although he did destroy temples and Viharas both but the reason was not to promote Hinduism or to subjugate Buddhism.What however can be argued is that he may be doing at the behest of whom Kalhana calls Turks(outsiders/foreigners who were Muslims in this case) what later Muslim kings did.ie.Try and Destroy the very root of Hinduism in Sarada Desha.

Pre-Islamic Iconoclasm-References from Rajatarngani

Let us now move to the third part of Our Marxist friend’s observations where he has written in detail about the kings who burnt temples,destroyed Viharas etc etc.Although I have read both R.S.Pandit’s translation of Rajatarangni as well as Aurel Stein’s translation( complete with notes and his travels to many places mentioned by Kalhan)the notes that I had made on both (as a Class XI student,I and my father traveled to a lot of places which Kalhana mentions in Rajatarngni) were burnt when my house was razed to ground by terrorists(sorry divinely ordained dervishes and missionaries) on the Janam Asthami of 1990.I will refer to Aurel Stein’s translation and footnotes since in my opinion he presents a more detailed account of Kalhana’s Kashmir. Another reason for me to refer to his translation and footnotes is that R S Pandit was no historian of any repute, whatsoever, while Aurel Stein’s extensive work leaves little to imagination. Thus wherever he could he has closed loops so that half-baked historians don’t go on an imagination hunt and derive their own meanings.
(I apologize for not being in a position to use diacritical marks.)
Let us look at each king mentioned by Our Marxist friend
1.Jalauka:This King finds mention in Taranga 1,verses 108-152.,Vol 1,page 26.Aurel Stein’s translation.
While it is true that he did destroy one Vihara(and not many Buddhist Shrines as Our Marxist friend imagines and later tells us) the reason for the same as mentioned in Rajatatarangni is that he was disturbed while sleeping because of the music emanating from the said Vihara.It clearly is no religious zeal that drove him to do this act.
This can be easily understood the following(Tarnaga 1,140-144)page 26 Book 1,Volume 1, Aurel Stein’s Translation:
“When you had lately been kept from sleep by the noise of the music of the Vihara,you had at the instigation of wicked persons caused in your anger the destruction of the Vihara.The excited Bauddhas thought of me and sent me forth to kill you.But then the Boddhisattvas called me and gave me the following directions:’That great king is a Sakya(Mahasakya).You cannot hurt him;but in his presence,O good one,you will obtain liberation from darkness(sin).In our name you shall exhort him who has been ed into guilt by wicked people,to give up his hoarded gold and to build a Vihara.If he does so,no misfortune shall befall him in consequence of the destruction of the Vihara,and atonement shall thus be made for him and his instigators.”
The king repents for the sin he committed in a fit of anger and later builds the Vihara and names it after the divine sorceress.The same can be easily verified by the following Taranga 1,147,page 26,Vol 1 of Aurel Stein’s translation
“Thereupon the king built the Krtyasarama Vihara,and worshipped there the divine sorceress who had been freed from darkness”
So Our Marxist friend’s assertion that”Jalauka’s destruction of Buddhist shrines” is but an incorrect statement.There is only one Vihara in question and not many shrines.Probably in order to prove his point my friend is very liberal in the use of alphabet (s).One may also be tempted to ask if Jalauka was himself a Buddhist,he being the son of Ashoka.
Notwithstanding his religious leanings we learn from Rajatarangi that he did destroy 1(one) Vihara for which he later repented by building a Vihara.
Now here I ask my Marxist friends to name one Muslim ruler in Kashmir who repented for his acts of Iconoclasm and re-build temples.
2.Abhimanyu-1.This king finds mention in Taranga 1,verses 174-184,Vol1 page 31-33,Aurel Stein translation.
We straight away go to the verses which my Marxist friends mention as his proof of Iconoclasm and religious persecution by Abhimanyu 1.These are 177-181.
I don’t even deem it worth discussing what can be best be defined as their’s figament of imagination.Yet for purpose of clarity I discuss it.The important verse is verse 181 of Taranga 1,page 33,Vol1 of Stein’s translation.This is how it reads
“At that time there manifested itself some miraculous power through which the Brahmans,who offered oblations and sacrifices,escaped destruction while the Bauddhas perished”
From this verse our friend presumes that Brahmans killed or persecuted Buddhists.He supports this what R.S.Pandit in his footnote to the verses 180-181 says”this (snow that killed the Buddhists) is PERHAPS a poetic description of the persecution of Buddhists during this era.”
One is tempted to ask what is the source on the basis of which R.S.Pandit presumes his PERHAPS. R.S.Pandit being a person of shallow knowledge of history can be pardoned for his ignorance but when someone like our own Marxist friend (who I greatly regard for his scholarship) uses this as an example of Iconoclasm or Persecution,it is but sad.We could have agreed with RS Pandit,if anything in the Rajatarangi had mentioned Abhimanyu 1, as an unjust ,licentious,communal or ill mannered moanarch.But that is not the case.
Not only this,while Aurel Stein makes a detailed foot note of the verse 180,he doesn’t even bother to write a word about 181 since to any intelligent reader it is more than self explanatory.
3.Nara:This king finds mention in Taranaga 1,verses 197-275,Vol 1,page 34-41 of Aurel Stein’s translation.
My friend’s explanation of the verses 199-200 of Taranaga 1,are more or less correct.While Stein mentions the woman in question as the king’s wife R.S.Pandit mentions her as king’s lover.Whichever be the case the Buddhist monk does seduce the king’s wife through magical powers.
Enraged by this the king does destroy thousands of Viharas.The reason for destruction of Viharas is clear and needs no explanation.Though an unpardonable sin,clearly religious zeal or conversion or selective persecution is certainly not mentioned.
4.Mihirkula:This king finds mention in Taranga 1,verses 289-324,page 43-48,Vol1,Aurel Stein’s translation.
My Marxist friend writes”Here we enter the terrain of strictly historical account of iconoclasm in Kashmir”
He refers to verses 289-293 of Taranga 1.Now let see what is said in them
I re-write Stein’s translation for the benefit of the readers and for an easy explanation later.
289-293”Then his son Mihirkula,a man of violent acts and resembling Kala(Death),ruled in the land which was overrun by hordes of Mlecchas.In him the northern region brought forth ,as it were,another god of death,bent in rivalry to surpass the southern region which has the Yama(as its guardian).The people knew his approach by noticing the vultures,crows and other birds which were flying ahead eager to feed on those who were being slain within his armies’ reach.This royal Vitala was day and night surrounded by thousands of murdered human beings,even in his pleasure-houses.This terrible enemy of mankind had no pity for children,no compassion for women,no respect for the aged.”
From the above I could not find out anything that would indicate to me that he killed Buddhists alone or burnt their Viharas only and not Hindu Temples.If anyone else can,I would be more than willing to be corrected.However as Our Marxist friend mentions that R.S.Pandit in his foot note says”Huns carried out terrible persecution of Buddhism,destroying Stupas and Viharas and massacring the monks.Although the Huns were hostile to Buddhism,they protected Saivism and their kings built temples in honour of Shiva”
I started looking at the other verses that Kalhana writes for this cruel king.Surprisingly the word Buddhist or Vihara or Stupa simply does not find a mention in the verses which have described Mihirkula’s despotic regime.So the question of him destroying them simply does not arise unless in someone’s imagination.It is possible that other Huna rulers might have done what RS Pandit writes as his footnote.Even that seems improbable,because if any such references would have been there over zealous Marxists would have found them.
As far as building temples Kalahana says in Verse 306,Taranga 1 Vol1,page 46 the following”Thus,evil-minded as he was,he founded at Srinagari the (shrine of Shiva) Mihireshwara,and in Holada the large town called Mihirpura”
I hope building a Shiva temple is no proof of Iconoclasm.
As for giving Agraharas,Our Marxist friend himself acknowledges that he gave it to Brahmanas born in the Gandhara country at Vijayeshwara.What is notable is the scorn that Kalhana heaps on these foreign Brahmanas for accepting Agraharas from this wretched king.This is how Stein translates this verse.
Ref verse 307,Taranga 1,Vol1,page 46,
Brahmanas from Gandhara,resembling himself in their habits and verily themselves the lowest of the twice-born,accepted Agraharas from him”
So our Marxist friends’ assertion”Here we enter the terrain of strictly historical account of iconoclasm in Kashmir” falls flat for want of credible historical proof.
5.Jayapida:This king finds mention in Taranga 4,Verses 402-659,page 158-180,Vol 1,Aurel Stein’s translation.
This is one king who Kashmiri Pandits need no mention of.Almost all of us in our hour of vanity refer to the miraculous powers of our forefathers the curse of who led to Jayapida’s painful end.We often take re-course to our past and foolishly so.
What our friend observed with respect to Jayapida is true and just goes on to prove my point that the reasons for Icocnoclasm or persecution by non-muslim kings of Kashmir could have been anything but religious expansion or promotion of their own faith.That greed was the motive for his persecution of his subjects can be easily testified by this verse
Ref verse 628,Taranaga 4,page 177,Vol1,Stein’s Translation
“In his persistent greed he went so far in cruelty,that for three years he took the (whole) harvest,including the cultivator’s share”
6.Ksemagupta:This king finds mention in Taranga 6,verses 150 to187,page 247 to 250,Vol 1,Aurel Stein’s translation.
My Marxist friend refers to Ksemagupta’s iconoclasm by his act of burning down of holy Jayendra Vihara and subsequent errection of temples.Let us ourselves read what Kalhana says about this incident
Ref:171-173 verses,Taranga 6,page 248,Vol1,Stein’s translation.
“In order to kill the Damara Samgrama,who when attacked by the assassins,had enetered the famous Jayendravihara,he(Ksemagupta) had the latter burnt down without mercy.Taking from this Vihara,which was entirely burned down,the brass of the image of Sugata(Buddha), and collecting a mass of stones from decaying temples,he erected the (temple of Siva) Ksemagaurisvara in a market street of the city,thinking foolishly that the foundation of the shrine would perpetuate his fame”
Now,the motive for burning the Vihara is known to us as is the foolish reason for erecting a temple.The king proves himself to be a wicked soul but to attribute the reasons of religious bigotry for the destruction would be taking the argument too far. The argument that he used material from the Vihara to build the temple is fallacious because Stein’s translation itself is clear when it reads”and collecting a mass of stones from decaying temples”Even the Sanskrit verse reads”Devagrah” which means temple.Kalhana uses the word “Chaityas or Viharas” to describe Buddhist places of worship ,although a Chaitya is the place of worship while a Vihara is a monastry in which Chaityas were generally situated.
7. Harsha:This king finds mention in Taranga 7 and Kalahana has written extensively on this king.Ref Taranga 7,verses 829 to 1732.page 333 to 402 of Volume 1,Aurel Stein’s translation.
We have already looked at the views of various historians and analysed their writings with respect to Harsha”the Iconoclast”However the discussion would be incomplete unless we refer to what Kalhana writes about this wretched king.We will also see the impact of the word “Turuska” which has baffled historians.
There can be no difference of opinion as far as his title of Iconoclast goes.
Let us try and understand the reasons for his Iconoclasm based on Kalhanas description.This is what Aurel Stein writes in “Harsha’s temple de-spoliation”
Ref Introduction Chap 5,sec 5,page 113,Volume 1 of Aurel Stein’s translation.
“Extravagant expenditure on the troops and senseless indulgence in costly pleasures involved Harsa in grave financial troubles.From these he endeavoured to free himself by ruthless spoliation of sacred shrines.Kalhana relates with some humour how the incidental discovery of the treasures hoarded at the temple of King Bhima Sahi had turned the king’s attention to this method of replenishing his ex-chequer.After the temple treasuries had been ransacked,Harsa proceeded to the still more revolutionary measure of confiscating divine images in order to possess himself of the valuable metal of which they were made.Kalhana records the strange fact that as a preliminary step the sacred images were systematically defiled through outcast mendicants.As Kalhana is particular to specify the few metal statues of gods throughout Kashmir which escaped Harsha’s clutches,we cannot doubt the extent of Harsha’s iconoclasm.Can the latter have been instigated or encouraged somehow by the steady advance of Muhammadanism in the neighbouring terrorities?Kalahana,when relating these shameful confiscations,gives to Harsha the epithet”Turuska”,ie Muhammadean,and later on makes a reference to Turuska captains being employed in his army and enjoying his favour.”
From the above it almost seems clear that Harsa was greatly influenced by Muhammedeans and is likely to have committed these acts of Iconoclasm under their influence if not at their behest.From the way he went on to destroy and defile almost all icons, without bias either in favour of Hindus or Buddhists draws a parallel to Muslim rulers who did the same.Harsa made no difference when it came to defiling Buddhist and Hindu images makes us believe that he was purely an iconoclast and the philosophy of Iconoclasm where every image deserves to be destroyed is a concept rooted in one Semitic religion alone.
Let us also look at the word Turuska and its connotations with regard to Kalhana’s Rajatarngni.In all there are 19 references to the word Turuska in Rajatarangni.There is one reference to Yavan in Rajatarangni.There are 14 references to the word Mlecchas in Rajatarngni.
I agree with Our Marxist friend that words like Yavan,Turuska and Mleccha were used interchangeably to describe foreigners/outsiders/Muslims by Kalhana.That Kalhana uses the word “Turuska” to describe kings like Husha,Jushka and Kanishka cannot be refuted.We however need to study the word “Turuska” in the context of how Kalhana uses it for Harsa.We also need to see how Stein understands this word.For the benefit of the readers I give below all the references to the word in Rajatarangni.
Refer:Index Vol 2 page no 546 of Aurel Stein’s translation.
Turks,their habits iv .179;kings Huska,Juska,Kanishka called Turuskas I,170,viii 3412;enemies of Lalliya Sahi v 152;soldiers of Hammira(Mahumud), vii 51,56,70,118;sell slave girls,520;mercenaries supported by Harsa,1149;Harsa fears attack from Turuskas,1159;Muhammadean allies of Bhiksacrara,viii 885,886,919,923;northern allies of Dards,2843;invaders of the Punjab,3346;artist from Turuska Country vii.528;Harsa called Turuska i.e.Muhammadean,1095.
We need to look at the Turuska reference with regard to Harsa to understand whether it was “Mohammadean” that Kalhana meant by Turushka.As far as Stein is concerned he seems to be in no doubt whatsoever.This can be safely understood by the last of the references given above and given again for easy reference.( Harsa called Turuska i.e.Muhammadean,1095,vii).
As for other references except for one where Kalhana uses Turuska to describe Huska,Juska and Kanishaka all other references clearly point out that Kalhana uses Turuska as a synonym of Mohammedean..
Still let us look at some specific references
Invaders of Panjab,viii,3346,page 261,Vol 2,Aurel Stein’s translation……Prince Sangiya,the younger brother of Kamaliya,consecrated (a linga) under his own name.He was born from a race of Ksattriyas,who owing to their native place being within the territory of the Turuskas had learned nothing but cruelty……
Here Stein in his footnote writes..K refers to the condition of the Panjab after the Muhammadean conquest.
Soldiers of Hammira(Mahmud),vii 51,56,70,118, Vol 1,pages 270-276,Aurel Stein’s translation
These verses make for an interesting reading because they describe the Muhhamdean conflict with the Hindu-Shahi dynasty.In this rather detailed footnotes of the verses 47-69 Stein writes”There is no doubt that Kalhana’s narrative ,vii 47-69,relates to one of the campaigns which Mahmud of Ghazna directed against Trilochanpala and his allies.The identity of our account with Mahmud has been recognized by REINAUD,lc.Already before him Thomas(J.R.A.S,ix p.190sq)had shown the derivation of this term from the Arabic tittle Amiru-l-mumenin,and its application on coins and elsewhere to Ghaznavid Sultan.Reinaud has also rightly pointed out that the expression Turuska used for Trilochanpala’s opponents ,vii 51,56, is particularly appropriate for Mahmud’s army,which chiefly consisted of soldiers of Turkish origin.”
Documentary evidence heavily supports the fact that Harsa was greatly under the influence of his employed Muslim commanders.From the available references it can also be safely understood that in the context of Harsha Kalhana uses the word Turuska to refer to Muslims alone.
From the above one can conclude that though Harsa’s iconoclasm had its origins in greed and later in enjoyment of heresy and corruption resulting from power the effect of his Muslim friends can simply not be ruled out.In my opinion he was the first of the kings who started the process which was to be later followed by other”Turuska” kings.
As is said “Coming events cast their shadows before’The catastrophe that was to hit Kashmiris later had its shadow in Harsha”the turuska”.
Sankarvarman:This king finds mention in the Taranga 5 verses 128-227 page 202-216,Volume 1,Aurel Stein’s translation.
My Marxist friend gives us this verse from Taranga 5 as a proof of Sankaravarman’s destruction of Buddhist Viharas.Let us read the verse no 161 of taranga 5.R.S.Pandit’s translation pg 207.
“Thus the ruler,who possessed but little character,had whatever was of value at Parihaspura,carried off in order to raise the fame of his own city”
Aurel Stein’s translation of this verse reads like a copy of Pandit’s translation.Let us read that too.page 207,Vol1,Aurel Stein’s translation.
“Thus this ruler,who possessed but little character,had whatever was of value at Parihaspura,carried off in order to raise the fame of his city”
Two inferences can be drawn after reading the above verse.
1.Kalhana considers the king as bereft of any character.
2.He took away things from Parihaspura to raise the fame of his city.
In order to understand whether this was an act of destroying Viharas alone,we need to know which buildings existed at Parihaspura in the first place.Was Parihaspura a city of Buddhist Viharas alone? Was Parihaspura a city where Buddhist Viharas outnumbered Hindu temples?Did Shankaravarman destroy Parihaspura?Are there any direct/indirect references in the verse mentioned above which would indicate Shankarvarman destroying Viharas?
All these questions need to be answered before finding out whether Sankarvarman destroyed any Viharas at all or if he did so how many to be precise and which ones.So let us go back to Rajatarangi and read Taranaga 4,verses 194-209,Vol 1 page142-143 of Aurel Stein’s translation.
Parihaspura drew its name from Parihaskesava(Lord Vishnu) the image of who was the first installation at Parihaspura.If one reads through all the verses that I have referred to above it would not be hard to know that except for two images of Buddha(including the famous Brhdbuddha image) all other installations were those of Hindu gods and goddesses mainly Vishnu. So Our Marxist friend’s derivation (from verse 161 of Taranga 5)that stealing of material of any worth from Parihaspura is equal to destruction of Viharas holds no water.If at all he did destroy Parihaspura,Kalhana would have mentioned this in great detail for Parihaspura was no pushover as a city.It was built by the tallest Kashmiri King ever.Kalhana himself describes it as town” that mocked the residence of Indra” .How could a historian of Kalhanas repute have erred in mentioning its destruction at the hands of Shankarvarman and forgiven Samkaravarman for destruction of a city like Parihaspura. Marxist attempts to communalize Samkarvarman don’t seem to work.Let us also note that Kalhana says “Sankarvarman took away anything of value”No way does he write or even gives an indication that Sankarvarman destroyed the city,leave alone Viharas.
I request my friend to come up with more plausible explanations than the one he has given.It is good to read between lines.That is how history should be read but imagining is different from reading between the lines.
Let us look at the other verses that that our friend has mentioned about Sankarvarman.
I am in total agreement with him that Sankarvarman destroyed temples and like Harsha ,he too had officers who supervised the same.I had in no case argued that Sankarvarman was a just king who did not persecute his subjects neither had I argued that he did not destroy temples.All I had said was Kalhana nowhere mentions that Sankarvarman destroyed Viharas the credible evidence for which, I have already given.That he destroyed temples and collected share of profits from them proves that Sankarvarman was a wicked and a greedy king but that he destroyed Viharas is simply preposterous.
No direct or indirect reference is given either by Kalhana or later by Stein which would indicate that he selectively persecuted Buddhists or other sects who were social outcasts.
Let us now look at Agam-adambara which our friend presents as a proof of his argument that non-vedic people were prosecuted by Shankarvarman.I salute this great master of history who outrightly rejects Jonaraja,Shuka,Srivara and Prajabhatta as not being credible historians yet he presents a poet as a source of history.It just goes on to show what ridiculous lengths some of us can sometimes go to prove our point.Agam-adambara is a play and hence not in any way a source of credible historical evidence.While plays,stories,poetry written in a certain era do indicate the social,cultural and other facets of that era we cannot use them as credible historical evidences.We cannot use ” Haroun and the Sea of Stories” a thousand years from now as a historical source to understand a particular event of history.In the same manner Agamadambara may provide us an outline of the time of Sankarvarman,but to use it as a source of history would only be a mistake.
But since my friend had read it and wanted to quote from it as a proof of his hard work and knowledge of Sanskrit we may as well look at this also.I present an essay written by Dr.Ved Kumari Ghai,who is considered an authority on Kashmir’s Sanskrit Literature has written an essay on “Agamadmabara” in her book titled”Kashmir ka Sanskrit Sahitya ko Yogdhaan”published by J&K Academy of Art,Culture and Languages,Jammu
ref page no 30-35
She refers to the third act of the play.This is what she says” p 32
“Teesre Ank main Tantrik Shaiv Sadhak Kankalaketu tatha Shamshanabhuti bhaybheet hain ki Shankarvarman aur uska mantra Jayant,aadveik matavlambiyon ko desh se bahar nikalne par tule hain.Unki yojna yeh hai ki Yogeshwari Kalangi Shika ke madhyam se Maharani Sughanda par prabhav daalkar iss nishkasan ko rukvaya jayen.Tabhi dondi sunayee padti hai ki Sankarshana aur Maharaj Sankarvarman kee Aagya anusaar jagat pravah se chale aa rahe nana agam anuyayi apne apni kriyaen karte huyean rajya main rahe parantu prastut dharmo main vighan daalne wale tap se vimukh papi logon ko raja sankarvarman samapt kar denge.Bahut se sadhu dar kar rajya se bhagne lagte hain.Sankarshan svyam shaiva ashram me jaa kar shaivmata anuyyayeon ki branti door karta hai tatha rajya se bhagte huve logon ko lautane ko vyakti bhejta hai”
The above very clearly shows how the kings representative himself stops mendicants belonging in my opinion to Laukilisa or Pashupat Cult , from leaving the country.
In the fourth act of the play kings wife Sughanda calls for a congregation of saints of various schools of philosophy and to our surprise even Carvakas join the assembly.In the end of the discussions the chairman Bhatt Sahat concludes by saying the following,in the words of Ved Kumai ”Jaise kisi nagar ya mahal main pravesh karne ke ichuk alag alag dwaron se pravesh kar sakte hain usee prakar moksh ke ichhuk sadhak bhi moksh ki praapti ki liye alag alag marg apna sakte hain”ref p 34,
Now my dear friend where is the question of selective persecution.
Although I have put forth my comments on Adam-agambara I still don’t consider this as a historical source though it can be a reflection of the times of Shankarvarman.Poets/playwrights have poetic license and use it liberally.They use Alamkaras and Atishouktis to add spice to their works.So to use or even suggest using them to verify a certain historical event is committing historical hara-kiri.
Anangpala:Taranga 7,verse 147;This person was not a Kashmiri , nor a king or a king who ruled Kashmir. That he was related to King Ananata was his only connection to Kashmir.It is like a nephew of Rahul Gandhi coming from Italy and then doing something which is out of sync with our culture.Can I take this an example of Rahul Gandhi being a non-conformist or less-Indian or something of that sort. Giving examples of Prince of Kabul for proving Hindu Iconoclasm in Kashmir shows that Our Marxist friend had to work really hard to find examples to justify his argument.
Summary:Kalhana records Kashmir’s history for a total of 3339 years.There are 147 kings who find mention in Rajatarangni.Out of these our learned friend (after a lot of hard work and digging,even muck raking)could find only seven kings (as per his analysis) who he believes to have committed acts of Iconoclasm and persecution.He does not go into the motives for the same except in case of Harsha where he defends his citadel that Harsha wasn’t really so-much under Islamic influence to have committed acts of iconoclasm against Hindu and Buddhist icons as Muslim rulers later did.
Let us assume(playing Marxist Historian’s advocate) all seven of the kings including Anangpala(an Afghan prince) did commit acts of iconoclasm wouldn’t it be more of an exception/aberration rather than a rule.Although I have conclusively proved on the basis of written evidence that not more than 4 kings in an entire span of 3339 years have resorted to such acts.This is not to say that Hindu kings were any better than Muslim kings in terms of governance/administration ,justice delivery system or persecution of their subjects.Not even one Pre-Islamic king has been found to have resorted to selective persecution on the basis of faith.
Now compare this with the kings in the Islamic period of approximately 450 years one can count on ones fingers the kings (Zainul-abidin,Akbar,Hassan Shah,Jehangir,Shah-Jehan)who did not resort to large scale persecution on the basis of religion & iconoclasm.That Shia’s or Sunnies also subjugated each other is but a proof of religious intolerance within Islam’s different sub-sects.A detailed account of the same has already been provided in the earlier chapter titled”Motives Behind Iconoclasm-The Muslim Kings”.In the end of this rather dry and scholastic paper I am giving references to Jia Lal Kilam’s “A history of Kashmiri Pandits”
Birabar Dhar as a representative of Kashmiris (both Hindus as well as Muslims) had gone to Sikhs to seek their help to free Kashmir from the clutches of the Afghan rulers.When Afghans came to know of this they took his daughter away to Afghanistan and his wife consumed a diamond so as to escape their cruel hawks.
Eventually the Afghans were defeated.The Sikhs wanted to bring down the Shah-i-Hamdan mosque(which as you know was built after breaking a Kali temple)but Birbar Dhar requested them not to do so.This I gave as an example of how a Kashmiri Pandit tried to save his nation(Kashmir) from the clutches of the ruthless Afghan kings.This also is an example of the religious tolerance shown by Pandits who despite being brutally subjugated by Afghan kings did not resort to religious bigotry despite the fact that they knew that the mosque was a built on a Hindu Temple.
This was to make a point that unless Kashmiris acknowledge the role of all those (irrespective of their religion) who fought for its sovereignty and freedom the minorities would never feel or be a part of that movement.
I am giving below from the same book references to show the kind of atrocities which were inflicted by most Muslim rulers (with a few exceptions) on the non-Muslims.This is not to say that Muslim people participated in these orgies of death and destruction.Even among the mayhem that was let loose by these cruel kings on their subjects especially non-muslims there are instances when Hindus supported Muslims and vice-versa.Please be kind to read the following references from the books.
JLK:Jia Lal Kilam
1. pp 24-25,JLK,cross ref:Pir Hassan Shah,Vol1,p 495
Zul-chu ordered a massacre.Thousands were killed,more were sold as slaves to Tartar merchants…………….Zul-chu or Durl-chu took about 50,000 brahmans with him as slaves.
2.pp 30---,JLK,
The king in order to break the upheaval amongst the Hindus, turned his attention towards their temples which must have provided a meeting place for them.Hassan the Kashmiri historian says that almost all the temples in Srinagar including the one at Bijbehara were greatly damaged.
3.p 30,JLK
The methods adopted by Sikander in this behalf may well be given in the words of Hassan.After having described the great homage paid by Sikander to Mir Muhammad Hamdani,at whose bidding he constructed a khankah,known as Khankaha-i-Maula,on the site of an old temple called Kali Shri,Hassan says”this country possessed from the times of Hindu Rajas many temples which were like the wonders of the world.Their workmanship was so fine and delicate that one found himself bewildered at their sight.Sikander goaded by feelings of bigotry destroyed them and leveled them with the earth and with their material built many mosques and khankahs.In the first instance he turned his attention towards the Martand temple built by Rama Deva on Mattan Karewa.For one full year he tried to demolish it but failed.At last in sheer dismay he dug out stones from its base and having stored enough wood in their place set fire to it.The gold gilt paintings on its walls were totally destroyed and the walls surrounding its premises were demolished.Its ruins even now strike wonder in men’d minds.At Bijbehara three hundered temples including the famous Vijeyshwara temple which was partially damaged by Shahab-ud-din were destroyed and with the material of the latter a mosque was built on its site a khankah which is even now known as Vijayeshwar mosque”
4.p 31-32,JLK,cross reference Pir Hassan Shah,Vol 1,p 180
Gruesome conversion of Hindus,their conversion,burning of six maunds of sacred thread,see how many brahmans embraced death rather than convert.Books thrown into Dal.
5.p 33,JLK, cross reference JC Dutt pp 65-66,Pir Hassan Shah,Vol II p 186
6.p 34,JLK,cross reference Sufi,G.M.D Kashir Vol 1,p 89
7.p 36.JLK,cross reference Dutt,JC pp 67-68
8.p 49JLK, “During Haider Shah’s reign Pandits suffered immensely”
9.p 50,JLK,cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah,Vol 2,p 20
10.p 50,JLK,cross reference ,Dutt JC,p 188
11.p 50,JLK,cross reference ,Dutt JC,pp 195,196.
12.p 57,JLK,cross reference ,Dutt JC,p 261.
13.p 62,JLK, cross reference ,pandits being targeted
14.p 62,JLK, cross reference ,Fauq,History of Kashmir
15.p 62,JLK, cross reference ,Fauq,History of Kashmir
16.p 65,JLK,cross refernce,Dutt,JC,p 348
17.p 66,JLK, cross reference,Dutt JC,p 353-54
18.p 67,JLK,cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah Vol II,pp 273-74
19.p 69,JLK, cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah,Vol II p 332
20.pp 89-90,JLK cross reference,Fauq,History of Kashmir,p 91.
21.p –90-91,JLK,Muhatta Khan’s looting,killing and maiming of Hindus,Burning of Houses and other atrocities…. cross reference…Fauq ,History of Kashmir
22.p92,JLK, cross reference,Pahalwan Ananad Ram,History of Kashmir
23.p 109,JLK, a popular verse describing the condition
24.p 123,JLK, cross reference,Fauq,History of Kashmir
25.p 125,JLK, cross reference,Fauq ,History of Kashmir
26.p 125,JLK, cross reference,Anand Ram Pahalwan,History of Kashmir
27.p 126,JLK, cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah,Vol-II p 669
28.p 126,JLK,cross reference,Kachru Birbar,History of Kashmir
29.p 131,JLK, cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah, Vol II,p 673
30.p 131,JLK, cross reference,Pahalwan Ananad Ram,History of Kashmir
31.p 134,JLK,read about Haji Karim Dad and his atrocities on Pandits.
32.p 135,JLK, cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah,Vol II p 684
33.p 135,JLK,a supplement to Narayan Kaul’s History of Kashmir by Anand Ram Pahalwan.
34.p 135,JLK, cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah Vol II p 684.
35.p 141,JLK, cross reference,Fauq,History of Kashmir.
36.p 142,JLK, Azad Khan’s appetite for Pandit blood.
37.p 149,JLK, cross reference ,Pir Hassan Shah,Vol II,p 696.
38.p 153,JLK, cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah,Vol II,p 701.
39.p 154,JLK, cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah,Vol II,pp 699,701
40.p 154,JLK, cross reference,Kachru Birbar, A History of Kashmir
41.p 154,JLK, cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah,Vol II p 701,
42.p 154,JLK, cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah,Vol II p 701.
43.p 155,JLK, cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah,Vol II,p 701.
44.p 155,JLK, cross reference,Fauq,History of Kashmir, also Kachru Birbar,A History of Kashmir.
45.p 166,JLK, cross reference,Pir Hassan Shah,Vol II,p 732.
46.p 166,JLK, cross reference, Pir Hassan Shah,Vol II,p 732.
47.p 173,JLK, cross reference ,Fauq,History of Kashmir
48.174,JLK, cross reference ,Tarikh-1-Awam-i-Kashmir.
49,p 177,JLK, cross reference, Pir Hassan Shah,Vol II,p 748
These references stated above should serve as an eye opener to Marxist Historians who try and compare Iconoclasm and Religious Persecution in pre-Islamic era to that of Islamic era.
I have never stated that the Kashmiri Pandit is timeless victim but at the same time can any one refute the evidences (mostly by Muslim Historians) which stand as a testimony to how barbaric foreign rulers(the progeny of whom today seek independence in Kashmir) resorted to brutalities against the native populace of Kashmir.How they left no stone un-turned to convert all of us to the only “true religion”.In all this I pay glorious tributes to kings like Zainaul abidin,Akbar and Shah-Jehan who ruled Kashmir without bias.
Conclusion:
While there is no doubt that Islam does not alone have a monopoly of religious intolerance,in case of Kashmir most of the Muslim rulers were bigots,extremely intolerant and conversion or subjugation topped their agenda.We cannot but miss the fact that in pre-Islamic Kashmir (for which we have written History) of around 3500 years we have 4 instances,OK 7 instances of iconoclasm(to keep Our Marxist friend happy) and none of religious persecution at the hands of kings(Hindus,Hunas,Buddhists,Nagas,Kushans) while as in the 450 odd years of Islamic rule we have more than 100 such instances( most recorded by a sizeable number of foreign Muslim Historians with pride).

Rashneek Kher

Hindutva and radical Islam: Where the twain do meet(Arun Shourie in The Indian Express)

2007-12-27T23:12:00.000-08:00

It has almost become routine to slight Hindu sentiments — our smart-set do not even notice the slights they administer. Recall the jibe of decades: ‘the Hindu rate of growth’. When, because of those very socialist policies that their kind had swallowed and imposed on the country, our growth was held down to 3-4 per cent, it was dubbed — with much glee — as ‘the Hindu rate of growth’. Today, we are growing at 9 per cent. And, if you are to believe the nonsense in Sachar’s report, the minorities are not growing at all. So, who is responsible for this higher rate of growth? The Hindus! How come no one calls this higher rate of growth ‘the Hindu rate of growth’? Simple: dubbing the low rate as the Hindu one established you to be secular; not acknowledging the higher one as the Hindu rate establishes you to be secular!
Or M.F. Husain. He is a kindly man, and a prodigiously productive artist. There is no warrant at all for disrupting all his exhibitions. I am on the point of sensibilities. His depictions of Hindu goddesses have been in the news: he has painted them in less than skimpy attire. I particularly remember one in which Sita is riding Hanuman’s stiffened tail — of course, she is scarcely clad, but that is the least of it: you need no imagination at all to see what she is rubbing up against that stiffened tail. Well, in the case of an artist, that is just inspiration, say the secularists. OK. The question that arises then is: How come in the seventy-five years Husain has been painting, he has not once felt inspired, not once, to paint the face of the Prophet? It doesn’t have to be in the style in which he has painted the Hindu goddesses. Why not the most beautiful, the most radiant and luminous face that he can imagine? How come he has never felt inspired to paint women revered in Islam, or in his own family, in the same style as the one that propelled his inspiration in regard to Hindu goddesses?
‘In painting the goddesses, he was just honouring them,’ a secular intellectual remarked at a discussion the other day. ‘It was his way of honouring them.’ Fine. It is indeed the case that one of the best ways we can honour someone is to put the one skill we have at the service of the person or deity. But how come that Husain never but never thought of honouring the Prophet by using the same priceless skill, that one ‘talent which is death to hide’?
‘Has Mr Shourie ever visited Khajuraho?,’ a member of the audience asked, the implication being that, as Hindu sculptors had depicted personages naked, what was wrong with Husain depicting the goddesses in the same style. Fine again. But surely, it is no one’s case that the ‘Khajuraho style’ must be confined to Hindu icons. Why has the artist, so skilled in deploying the Khajuraho motifs, never used them for icons of Islam? The reason why an artist desists from depicting the Prophet’s face is none of these convoluted disquisitions on style.
The reason is simplicity itself: he knows he will be thrashed, and his hands smashed.
Exactly the same holds for politics. How come no one objects when for years a Muslim politician keeps publishing maps of constituencies in which Muslims as Muslims can determine the outcome, and exhorting them to do so? When, not just an individual politician but entire political parties — from the Congress to the Left parties — stir Muslims up as a vote bank. When Muslims start behaving like a vote bank, you can be certain that someone will get the idea that Hindus too should be welded into a vote bank, and eventually they will get welded into one. Why is stoking Muslims ‘secular’ and stoking Hindus ‘communal’?
And yet perverted discourse, even the stratagems of political parties, are but preparation: they prepare the ground for capitulation by the state to groups that are aggressive. And in this the real lunacy is about to be launched, and, with that, the real reaction.
read complete article here
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/254969._.html#

The Harbinger of Renaissance in Kashmir Poetry-Dina Nath Nadim(Rashneek Kher in Greater Kashmir)

2007-12-25T20:32:00.000-08:00

Bigoted Killers!

2007-12-10T03:12:00.000-08:00

My happiness was taken over by a deep sense of grief when a journalist friend of mine sent me the news of a suicide bomber blowing a school bus.The suicide bomber was blown to pieces as were nine people including five children.The school bus belonged to the Kamra Air Force base school,Attock,Pakistan.My friend had sent a note with the news clipping, It read” This is getting ridiculous! It seems like Kashmir all over again, only this time in a different valley”

I traveled back many years and was reminded of an equally gruesome murder by Yasin Malik and his band of terrorists killing four un-armed IAF officers who were waiting to board a bus.In a bizarre twist of fate, Yasin Malik today is a “protector of human rights and a victim of the State” .His erstwhile accomplices vie for the same media attention that he commands thanks largely to the pro-separatist(read terrorist) English Channels like CNN-IBN and NDTV. They too try and emulate him in every conceivable way from sitting on Dharnas to taking peace marches but alas!Yasin Malik can get visas to any country, has an Indian Passport despite dozens of criminal cases pending against him his former accomplices are still stuck in Kashmir both metaphorically as well literally.

That Kashmir evokes strong emotions was a passé yesterday.It evokes ever toddlers to shout”Jis Kashmir ko khoon se seencha…who Kashmir Hamra Hai”.Walking alongside these 40 odd kids (dressed in Kashmiri attire and RIK head bands)I realized we are walking with the future and the past at the same time.There was a gory past that forced us out of our motherland but here alongside me walked hope.I was immersed in a sea of joy and the response to the event made my joy even greater.However as I was trying to collect the press clippings to assimilate them for posterity,the bad news of this bigoted suicide bomber killing innocent people much like Yasin Malik (who did the same on chilly winter morning in 1990) pulled me into the abyss of grief .

Nietzsche resounded in my ears

When you gaze into the abyss,the abyss gazes back at you.

In grief......

Rashneek Kher

Pictures from my trip to Pauri,Khirsu and Lansdowne

2007-11-26T20:19:00.000-08:00

Satpuli-enroute Pauri

2007-11-26T20:14:00.000-08:00

The Light Within-at Nagdevta Temple(Pauri)

2007-11-26T20:11:00.000-08:00

Terraced Fields-Pauri

2007-11-26T20:06:00.000-08:00

Reminds me of Kashmir.....

2007-11-26T20:01:00.000-08:00

Placid Khirsu

2007-11-26T19:58:00.000-08:00

Lansdowne-Early morning

2007-11-26T19:41:00.000-08:00

View of Chakhumba from Lansdowne

2007-11-26T19:36:00.000-08:00

Secular Communists pack Taslima Nasreen to communal BJP state

2007-11-22T23:09:00.001-08:00

nikalna khurd se aadam ka sunte aaye hain lekin

bahut be aabroo ho kar tere kooche se hum nikle

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Amid_security_threat_Taslima_shifted_to_Delhi/articleshow/2563878.cms

An eyewitness account of 1947 tribesmen raid on Kashmir by T N Bhan

2007-11-22T05:13:00.000-08:00

My name is Triloki Nath Bhan and I was 18 years old young boy living in Sehyar, test Srinagar when Pakistani Army along with Kabailies from North West Frontier Province, launched a series of surprise attacks across Jammu and Kashmir on October 24, 1947. As is well known the Pakistani invaders quickly overwhelmed the the forces of Maharaja Hari Singh. Most of the Muslim units of J& K Army comprising of Mirpuri deserted and joined the invaders after killing their Hindu and Sikh Officers. Muzzafarabd fell within a few hours of the attack and the invaders proceeded towards Baramula, Sopore and Srinagar. At the Uri bridge Brigadier Rajinder Singh lost his life putting up a valiant fight .He held the invaders for two days which gave time to the Maharajah to flee the valley. and the Indian Army to intervene.
read the full text here
http://kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com/2007/11/eyewitness-account-of-1947-raid-by.html

Sir Syed Day and AMU Tarana

2007-10-16T04:36:00.000-07:00

Come 17th of Oct and AMU would look new,fresh and breathing all over again.For sometime it would seem we are far from the political playground that the campus has been reduced to.Sir Syed Day meant celebration.The University would be lit up and from some distance it would seem as if sky had come down to kiss the dust of our alma mater.I would think it wasnt without reason that Majaz wrote these powerful lines which all of us proudly sang.If there is one song which arouses the feeling of camarderie,pride and passion it always is the AMU tarana.

The lines that moved all of us are here(courtesy-aligarians.com)

ye meraa chaman hai meraa chaman, maiN apne chaman kaa bulbul huuN

sarshaar-e-nigaah-e-nargis huuN, paa-bastaa-e-gesuu-sumbul huuN

ye meraa chaman hai meraa chaman, maiN apne chaman ka bulbul huuN
jo taaq-e-haram meN roshan hai, vo shamaa yahaaN bhii jaltii hai

is dasht ke goshe-goshe se, ek juu-e-hayaat ubaltii hai

ye dasht-e-junuuN diivaanoN kaa, ye bazm-e-vafaa parvaanoN kii

ye shahr-e-tarab ruumaanoN kaa, ye Khuld-e-bariiN armaanoN ki

ifitrat ne sikhaii hai ham ko,uftaad yahaaN parvaaz yahaaN

gaaye haiN vafaa ke giit yahaaN, chheRaa hai junuuN kaa saaz yahaaN

ye meraa chaman hai meraa chaman, maiN apne chaman ka bulbul huuN
is bazm meN teGheN khenchiiN haiN, is bazm meN saGhar toRe haiN

is bazm meN aanKh bichaa’ii hai, is bazm meN dil tak joRe haiN

har shaam hai shaam-e-Misr yahaaN, har shab hai shab-e-Sheeraz yahaaN

hai saare jahaaN kaa soz yahaaN aur saare jahaaN kaa saaz yahaaN

zarraat kaa bosaa lene ko, sau baar jhukaa aakaash yahaaN

Khud aankh se ham ne dekhii hai, baatil kii shikast-e-faash yahaaN

ye mera chaman hai mera chaman, main apne chaman ka bulbul hun
jo abr yahaaN se uThThega, vo saare jahaaN par barsegaa

har juu-e-ravaan par barsegaa, har koh-e-garaaN par barsegaa

har sard-o-saman par barsegaa, har dasht-o-daman par barsegaa

Khud apne chaman par barsegaa, GhairoN ke chaman par barsegaa

har shahr-e-tarab par garjegaa, har qasr-e-tarab par kaRkegaa

ye abr hameshaa barsaa hai, ye abr hameshaa barsegaa

barsegaa, barsegaa, barsegaa…………………

God Suffers in POK

2007-10-08T22:10:00.000-07:00

Mangla Temple-Once a greatly revered shrine,now in tatters
Picture Courtesy-Hanif Garib

Main Khush hua masjid-e-veeran ko dekh kar

Mere tarah khuda ka bhi khana kharab hai

Migrant Kashmiris yearn to return by Aastha Manocha(in The Indian Express)

2007-10-08T05:16:00.000-07:00

It was a hot day otherwise but up on Hari Parbat, it is only strong cool winds that one feels. Hari Parbat is one of the landmarks in Kashmir, which housed the Sharika Devi Temple. However, for exiled Kashmiri Hindus who do not have the luxury of their homeland, this replica in Faridabad will have to do, for now. This is also the place where the exiled Kashmiri Hindus now living in Delhi and NCR areas meet often.
This Sunday on October 6, the occasion was to commemorate the 1st anniversary of Roots In Kashmir, a Kashmiri Hindu organization formed with the long-term aim of returning home. The under-running sentiment of returning is unfathomable to an outsider after hearing their stories, of giving up house and hearth and escaping Kashmir by the night, not daring to raise their heads until after crossing the Jawahar tunnel, of the humiliation of living in camps with bare minimum of supplies. But return they will, even if their properties are no longer theirs, as one of them puts it, ‘Even if I couldn’t live there, I would prefer to die there’. The pleasure of pain and pining maybe.
The meeting starts with prayers in the Temple of Goddess Shaarika, believed to be an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi. It is followed by deliberations of the organization’s role so far and future plans. The group is not very large and is pretty informal, but the underlying feeling of camaraderie is hard to miss as they talk among themselves in rapid Kashmiri or sing ‘Leela’, a music form of Kashmiris.
The Kashmiri Hindus, often known as Kashmiri Pandits due to their culture of learning under their presiding deity Sharda, are a proud lot willing to fight for their place in the rich Kashmiri history. In fact, there is much outrage at the notion that the Kashmiri script was always in Urdu. The original Kashmiri script was in the Sharda script, named after the Goddess of intellect, Sharda, they assert, quoting the Rajtarangini, an ancient treatise on Kashmiri history.
The temple complex is built on land donated by the villagers of Anangpur, where it is built. The temple was funded by JN Kaul, head of SOS India, and built with the help of the villagers. Remaining true to the original structure, this temple too has a total of 258 stairs, which take one high up to the place where there is a single statue of Goddess, surrounded by paintings of the other deities, all of them goddesses. The view of the village and open spaces below is perhaps fitting to the pastoral way of life the Kashmiris are used to.
As the conversation veers to those still languishing in camps, it is surprising to hear that many who have been brought up in those camps are MA’s or MBA ’s. Apparently the culture of learning manifests itself with parents staying up at nights fending off snakes during long power cuts so that their children’s studies go unhindered. However, problems still galore as these young graduates are in need of counselling and guidance. Sunil Ji Bhat, a student of post-graduation in mass communication, recounts his experiences, “the camp school functioned through tents in senior secondary it shifted to a rented house. My school never had a library, let alone a computer.”

Muslim Scholar visits sacred Shrine of Sharda-Neeraj Santoshi

2007-09-26T23:57:00.000-07:00

It was a special moment for Prof Ayaz Rasool Nazki, when he reached Shardha temple in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), becoming one of the first few Kashmiris after partition to have visited the revered shrine, considered to be oldest temple in the region.

``I strongly felt the spirit of my forefathers there who have visited the shrine for thousands of years’’, said Prof Nazki, while giving an account of his journey to the shrine at Jammu University here recently. Prof Nazki is a noted scholar of the state with many books to his credit and is presently registrar at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Rajouri. ``

It is difficult to put in words the time I spent at the shrine. It is a place to be experienced. The temple may not be in its pristine glory, but the energy of the place is same, it immensely affects you. I couldn’t even sleep that night there, as I wanted to treasure all the moments spent in that area, filled with divine aura and grace’’, said Prof Nazki.

He had visited shrine on July 3-4, located in Neelam district in Shardha tehsil of POK, near an army unit. Stressing that Shardha temple is a symbol of ``our common heritage, cultural ethos and roots’’, Prof Nazki said that he was happy to see the temple structure standing there as he didn’t expect that it would have survived last 60 years without much specialised care.

``Most surprising fact is that the devastating October 5, 2005 earthquake has not affected the shrine at all or even the Shardha tehsil at all, while the rest of the areas in POK has witnessed much destruction’’, he said. He added that the temple has a square base with each side measuring nearly 24 feet and is nearly 30 feet high. He said that floor of the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine is filled with soil, with spring within the sanctorum perhaps having got filled up. ``

The 8X8 feet stone slab which is said to have covered the spring was nowhere to be seen’’, he said. The detailed photo presentation on the Shardhapeeth at Jammu University made many Kashmiri Pandits present on the occasion very emotional. Pandits have not been able to visit this shrine for last half a century, after LOC separated the two Kashmiris. The shrine is barely 10 miles across LOC in Kupwara region in the upper Kishenganga valley (also called Neelum valley) in a small village Shardhi. The shrine is atop a hillock at a height of about 550 metres on the left bank of Kishenganga river, with 63 stone steps taking one to the shrine.

Narrating his experiences of the visit, Prof Nazki said that he is the first lucky Kahmiri to visit the shrine after 1947. Asserting that a mechanism needs to be drawn for its immediate protection and restoration, Prof Nazki said that all the universities on both the sides should join hands in the preservation of this great heritage of the region. Adi Shankaracharya is said to have visited this shrine in 8th/9th century AD and penned the famous ‘Saudharya Lahri’ in praise of the Goddess.

Shardha Temple in POK : Some pointers

§ Goddess Shardha is considered to be the presiding deity of Kashmir valley.

§ From ancient times, Kashmir has been called Shardhapeeth or Shardha Mandalam.

§ Considered to be the oldest temple of Kashmir.

§ Adi Shankaracharya is said to have visited the shrine in 8th/9th century AD.

§ Annual Shardha pilgrimage used to take place on 8th of the bright fortnight of bhadon (September).

§ The sanctum sanctorum of the temple had a spring covered with a 8 by 8 feet stone slab, which was worshipped by the devotees.

§ Shardha temple located atop the hillock near the confluence of rivers Kishenganga, Saraswati and Madhumati.

NEERAJ SANTOSHI

35th Year of Existence

2007-09-12T22:05:00.000-07:00

Raevem kati anzeraevem vaens
Tinke phaelen mansevaem vaens(Moti Lal Saqi)

The English calendar hade a note of caution for me this morning. It wanted to say ” you have stepped into senility” but what it instead said was it was 13th of September 2007.
35 years I have existed on this earth. What use I thought was my being here but since I was bundled off by God almighty from wherever to here I had no option but to exist till God bundles me off elsewhere. I know he/she/it whatever God Almighty stands for, can be cruel, unfair and biased but what power do I have but to accept his/her/its will with flinching faith and disobedience.
I have swung between faith and infidelity. There have been times when I have had profound faith, but at times, with equal zeal would negate the very existence of God and sometimes go a step further. I would say “God Exists” but is an evil manifestation, enjoys bloodshed and anarchy. I would substantiate it by quoting how world history has few moments of peace and calm, but is replete with violence despite our belief that God keeps sending his messengers of peace or sometimes appearing himself to set things right.
Yesterday I went to buy a book as a present for my 35th year of existence. I had gone with an intention of buying Nietzsche’s “Thus Spake Zarathustra”. The bookseller who is a Nietzsche and a Picasso rolled into one, is one the most well read people who I have ever met. He sells old and used books at a footpath in Nehru Place, while he keeps sketching, people have a hard time finding a book. He seldom tries to sell any book. He intrigues me and interests me a lot. He doesn’t wear his religion up his sleeve but sports a beard which looks Islamic. I couldn’t find the book I wanted, exasperated, I asked him if he had short stories of Kafka. His question stupefied me. He said, what are you scared of !I said nothing. He replied we would read Kafka, if he lived in Gujarat and I lived in Pakistan. An argument I disagreed with but I did say I needed Kafka then. I am in exile, I am a Kashmiri.I ended up buying a small book on Greek Philosophers and Dostovesky’s Crime and Punishment. I had to leave Dostovesky in the company of Abhinavagupt when I fled my land, my reason for reading Kafka.
My birthdays in Kashmir would often coincide with a festival of Pan (a fertility cult goddess festival) which Kashmiri Pandits celebrate. Kashmir at this time would be looking all dressed up to welcome winter, the chinars with their golden leaves would resemble the last embers of a Yogi’s sacred fireplace and people would be earnestly shopping for Kangris.Weather would be pleasant and the chill of the night would add to the flavour of grandmas rendering of Saen-kaeser. On this day I would generally miss school and run around rice fields where people would be harvesting paddy. The pastoral lifestyle, which I miss everyday makes me curse God,while cursing I fear the reprisal when I will stand on the day of judgement.

In bated breath I recite Ghalib’s following verse

“Ibn Mariam hua kare koi,mere dukh ki dawa kare koi
Bak raha hoon junoon main kya kya kuch,kuch ne samjhe khuda kare koi”

Bitta Karate and Zia Yahya

2007-09-10T21:47:00.000-07:00

There was a strange sense of deja-vu when I received this reply from someone called Zia Yahya.

"Date:
Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:01:05 +0100 (BST)
From:
"zia yahya"
Subject:Re: People take to streets against a dreaded terrorist
To:
"rashneek kher"

bitta karate is freedom fighter,everyone's freedom fighter is someone's terrorists,for kashmiries indians and their army and agencies are terrorists, who are terrorizing innocent people in kashmir.bitta karate has killed those terrorists who had links with these terrorist agencies of a terrorist country, i am proud of him for his job.long live bitta"

My memory took me many years back, well to be precise 18 years, when Bitta Karate's name was synonymous with terror. When he killed Dolly, a Muslim girl, she was yet to see her 16th spring. I was later told she had refused his overtures for an amour. There were many more who were killed by this personification of everything that comprises evil.

But that’s not the point that I am trying to make. While most of our Muslim brethren have condemned in private what Bitta Karate did, they have abstained from making their views on this issue public and understandably so. They don’t want to add to his tally of murders but adding their name to it.What disturbs me is people like Zia,who I am sure are a minority in Kashmir, but a vociferous,vitureptive and vicious minority who may never want peace to return to our motherland.

So what is Zia proud of,I asked myself.Bitta Karate isn't known to killed anyone who carried a weapon.He is primarily responsible for killing unarmed people,even when he killed Indian Air officials they were simply waiting to board a bus,thus unarmed.

I can understand this entire romanticisation around rebels and daciots or even criminals since most of the humans have an intrinsic evil in us,but then most of us weave images of evil in Robin Hood frames rather than "Jack the Ripper"frames.So in that sense I can imagine Osama bin Laden being someone's (even after whatever he stands for) pride,I fail to understand whats there in being proud of someone who has killed because of a sickness of compulsion to kill unarmed and innocent people.

I hope the new"Zia" is not an re-incarnation of Gen.Zia-ul-Haque and Yahya Khan .If that be the case Allah be with us.A Nero is born.

This one has no title

2007-09-03T04:09:00.000-07:00

I tried various ways of writing this.Everytime I tried writing something it wouldn’t come as it should.
I am celebrating today the 17th anniversary of my home being burnt by “Warriors of God”. A friend told me they looted my home before they burnt it down.
It was a house by the brook.
It was a house in the courtyard of which me,Yasin,Shafiq,Pintoo,Mushtaq and my brother played cricket.
There were Khan’s who lived right across the brook.
Mohd Yusuf lived one house away.
Kahej Taet further up the Gaas Chareey(gazing ground),infront of her house were people we called Tine-wael(they lived in a house made of asbestos, for some odd reason)
There were orchards all around and some rice fields too.
Kaul’s lived some 500 meters away.
I still can’t write it well…it is hard to write it well, as I rue the loss of my home, my identity and my existence, I miss all my childhood friends and neighbours.
This is my pain..someone help please...

This is Heart Speaking-by Manzoor Fazili

2007-08-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

Manzoor Fazili is someone I adore.His columns have been a source of inspiration,peace and quest for knowledge.A voice of sanity among us Kashmiris,he retains what all of us seem to have lost.

Read this one here

http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=29_8_2007&ItemID=4&cat=11

Allah! give us more Manzoor Fazilis,let peace return to all of us.

Kashmir-Foreign Invaders seek Independence(My column in Meri news Picks)

2007-08-26T20:42:00.000-07:00

This was the beginning of miseries for the people of Kashmir. The rather notorious role of Sayyid Ali Hamdani (popularly called Shah-i-Hamdan in Kashmir by Muslims) in changing the mindset of foreign Muslim invaders-cum-rulers from fairly benign to extremely fanatic Muslims is clear from the fact that he asked Sultan-Qutubdin to impose Shariah (Islamic Laws) in Kashmir. About Sayyid Ali Hamdani, Bahiristan-i-Shahi says (and I quote): “Again it needs to be recorded that for some of the time which the holy Amir spent in Kashmir he lived in a sarai at ’Alau’d-Din Pora. At the site where his khanqah was built, there existed a small temple, which was demolished so he could offer namaz (prayer) five times a day and recite portions of the Quran morning and evening. Sultan Qutbu’d-Din occasionally attended these congregational prayers.” I am choosing a Muslim source to quote, for, it lends credence to the fact that such demolitions were glorified and even considered righteous by the Muslim rulers, historians and the Amirs. After the death of Sultan-Qutubdin, he was succeeded by his son Sultan Sikandar, who needs no introduction.

Read complete article here

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp;jsessionid=C16DF248CD59DBB4A953073757EC775E?articleID=126078

Mansur bin Hallaj-The Man who dared to defy(by Dr.G.L.Kaw)

2007-08-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

A revolutionary, a real religious researcher, a loin-hearted human being who in spite of being a faithful and practicing Muslim started asking awkward questions about human existence creation, creator, truth and God, and their relationship with each other. And this happened when Islam was only two and a half-century young only. This eternal revolutionary, the fearless votary of mysticism, fierce thinker and philosopher was one Hussein bin Mansoor famous as Halaaj. Halaaj was born around 858 A.D. in a Persian city named Bezaa (In Faras province of modern Iran) in an ordinary household. After his customary primary education only, the child Hussein started asking difficult and awkward questions. To satisfy his inner urges he came into contact with many of the high priests (clergy) of the time, but nothing could satisfy him. As a youth only he started travelling far and wide meeting the scholars and clerics discussing and debating difficult issues. Finally he reached Shouster (a small city in Khuzistan of modern Iran) where he studied under a very famous cleric called Sahal-bin Abdullah Shoustari for a long time. From here he came to Baghdad the capital of Islamic kingdom and seat of Khalifa (Religious head as well as king of the kingdom). At that time most of modern day Iran was a part of Baghdad Khilafat. From here he went to Basra as well as to Arabia, but returned to Baghdad soon. In Baghdad he continued his tirade of discussions and debates with highest clerics of the day. Soon he left for a long and fruitful sojourn eastwards. He traveled to most of the big cities of Persia including Khurasan (Easternmost province of Iran), meeting all the scholars and religious heads of the time. From here he entered Indian subcontinent and traveled many parts of northern India. Here also, he continued his unsatiable quest. He is supposed to have traveled to China and Far East also though we do not have any concrete evidence to support this view. Read complete article here http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=24_8_2007&ItemID=7&cat=12

My friend Mehmood's answer to me in GK on Jashn-e-Azadi

2007-08-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=19_8_2007&ItemID=7&cat=12

What appeared in Greater Kashmir some days back under the title, 'celebrating too much of freedom', could easily have been ignored had it not appeared in this newspaper. The newspaper has been needlessly accommodative. Criticism, difference of opinion, interpretations and perceptions being at variance; all this is understandable. But vilifying an entire people in no less than an abusive language and casting slur on the film maker; all this is an indication of a sick mind.

This is how they reply......judge for yourself

Paradise Seed by Kathleen Raine

2007-08-17T04:59:00.000-07:00

Where is the seed
Of the tree felled,
Of the forest burned,
Or living root
Under ash and cinders?
From woven bud
What last leaf strives
Into life, last Shrivelled flower?
Is fruit of our harvest,
Our long labourDust to the core?
To what far, fair land
Borne on the wind
What winged seed
Or spark of fire
From holocaust
To kindle a star?

A NATIONAL SHAME

2007-08-15T23:38:00.000-07:00

PANDITS PROTESTING IN FRONT OF INDIA GATE ON 15TH AUG,07...17 YEARS IN EXILE...CRY MY BELOVED NATION..

15th Aug,a date etched in our memory…the day we achieved what is everyone’s right-freedom.
Another landmark in our history of 5000 years…shouldn’t this day be a reason for celebration and joy. Ideally yes, but that’s if you are free. For a half a million souls in exile freedom means just another remembrance of the day when they were forcibly thrown out their homes. It also leaves them with a lingering feeling of deceit that the state has played against them.
It was this that moved hundred odd homeless and uprooted Pandits to tie their mouths with black clothes, a sign that they have lost voice, carrying Indian flags as if they carry the cross,a cross because of which they were forced out of their homes. As someone in the crowd said”We are paying a price for being Indians”.
We are Indians,is that too much of a sin…I wondered as I sat among the protestors. How could one reconcile to the truth that Pandits were suffering because they are not “CRY BABIES” like their Muslim brethren or the fact they are not politically significant because of their numbers.
Maybe Indian democracy has come of age.

Jashn-e-Azadi: Half-truths All the Way(in merinews.com)

2007-08-10T11:09:00.000-07:00

Jashn-e-Azadi, the documentary made on the Kashmir issue, presents only half-truths about Kashmir; it disturbs many of the viewers, who know the ‘reality’. A good documentary does not take sides; it simply documents and presents facts as they are.
read complete article here

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp;jsessionid=B594C8C74C7AD1C8C4B52702B9ABD511?articleID=125895

Now Taslima......

2007-08-09T05:04:00.000-07:00

Taslima Nasren roughed up by Islamic fundamentalists in Hyderabad....

Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen was today roughed up by MIM activists who stormed into a book release function here, injuring a Telugu writer and a press photographer.
Nasreen, here to release the Telugu translation of her latest book "Shodh", escaped unhurt as organisers and journalists shielded her and escorted her to safety.
A group of over 40 MIM workers, led by party MLAs Afsar Khan, Ahmed Pasha and Mouzam Khan, barged into the press club at Somajiguda when the function was about to end.
Hurling abuse and shouting slogans, the MIM workers surged menacingly towards the dais as a stunned Nasreen looked on.
They threw papers and books at Nasreen. In the melee, Telugu writer N Innaiah, the organiser of the function and president of the rationalist organisation Centre for Inquiry, was injured along with a press photographer.
Alert organisers and journalists covering the event threw a protective ring around Nasreen and took her to an adjoining room.
The MIM activists, who demanded that Nasreen should leave immediately, broke windows and damaged furniture at the venue.
Police then reached the spot and dispersed them.
The three MLAs from the city and their supporters were taken to Banjara Hills police station, Deputy Commissioner of Police M Madhusudhan Reddy said.
The manager of the Press Club filed a complaint with police against the attackers.
The MIM, which has considerable influence in the old city area, is represented in the Lok Sabha by Asaduddin Owaisi and has five members in the assembly.
(did someone call RIK activists hooligans)

My review of Jashn-e-Azadi-in Greater Kashmir

2007-08-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

Even Greater Kashmir is more freedom loving than Sanjay Kak himself

The first images that flashed in front of my eyes when these numbers were shown on the screen were of Brijlal (my father’s best friend) and Choti. Brijlal (a driver in Dept. of Agriculture) and his wife Choti were tied to a jeep in their native village and then dragged till dead. When we received their bodies they were chopped into small pieces as if someone had just brought meat from a butcher. Blood still was fresh in some of their veins as it had reddened the body bag in which we received them. What a way to celebrate Azadi??? Kudos to the Robin Hoods who did this, kudos to the director for endorsing their way of celebration, sickness and creativity comes in such mental frames, I never knew. Beware… a lot of modern day Neros are around the corner. Read the full column here....
http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=8_8_2007&ItemID=7&cat=12

Some comments on the review on my Yahoo mail....

I feel we are on the same wave length on Sanjay Kak.Please accept my compliments for the brilliant reviewin GK. Keep it up.Orzu.Kamal
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Yes -It is very well written!!!!

warm regards,

ashima
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Rashneek Ji ,

Hats off to you.

Regards
SW

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Dear Rashneek...

The article was well written and you deserve all the kudos.

Pl. keep it up.

Regards,

Sunil Raina
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--- "rajesh.pandit" wrote:">rajesh.pandit@tsoftindia.com>wrote:
Dear Rashneek Ji> > I had read this article on your blog previously, but> that could not stop me from reading it again (> twice) today. A wonderful piece of rebuttal to lies,> lies and more lies.> > > > Rgds > Rajesh Pandit
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cashmeeri wrote:> > > > RASHNEEK - Gyaani bhi, Gunee bhi">cashmeeri@yahoo.com> wrote:> > > > RASHNEEK - Gyaani bhi, Gunee bhi
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from someone who wanted to be anonymous..
Dear Rashneek ji,
We communicated earlier; and, I have a reason not to write to you; but after I read your review, I couldn't resist myself from writing; your words animated memories of my personal losses in Kashmir; I relived the horror of those months when members of our extended family were kidnapped, tortured and killed by terrorists;much less to talk of loss of other friends totheir bullets; as I write this, I've tears in my eyes; your words wrenched my heart, and left me speechless for a while; but, this response had to come; even if you chose not to reply to my mail on an earlier occasion (something you may not even remember now), I write; just to thank you for writing this so well.
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YET SOMEHOW SANJAY KAK GOT GOOD REVIEWS FROM PANDITS.....

Wonder which PANDITS Sanjay Kak spoke to....

2007-08-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

Some responses to his hate-mail against RIK...

From Soul-in-Exile...

Since my comments/rebuttals to Sanjay Kak’s post about Jash-e-Azadi couldn’t pass the filters of moderation, I am posting my note/open letter and five questions to Sanjay Kak here. Hope Sanjay would oblige with some words of wisdom?
Read complete post here...http://soulinexile.blogspot.com/

From Vivek Raina
Aug 5th, 2007 at 7:49 pm

hi man……just went through ur blog… remember the Delhi screening… remember the first floor… and remember the guy standing there… the first voice that came… calling yasin a murderer… the guy in the blue shirt who started all ruckus… after which all those kashmiri pandit “I AM YOUR BIG BROTHERS” found their voice… and were a lil more vociferous… and a little more assertive… Well that was me…”was” is the key word…the group of people who you didnt mention is your blog is called RIK (Roots in Kashmir)… well i dont really know if they wanna gain mileage outta it like you said… and trust me i don’t care.HEY MAN “SORRY” TO HAVE SPOILED YOUR SHOWAbout the documentary… It was well made… which proves you are a director of caliber… congrats.also the content was well selected..and you had done your home work well… another congrats for that.A little about my anger ventilation… and a little about explaining why i did what i did that night that must have pissed you off… and so many people there
1. I dont care if you just showed the one side of the story… as a director thats your creative right. My problem with the movie is you in your movie tried to justify things that we all know are wrong. IF Indian army is killing kashmiri folks there. That is wrong… and if a people want to get freedom that is genuine… but you were justifying the gun culture in the movie. As a human being you know how much have the common kashmiris suffered because of this.
2. You got people in the screening… (Mr yasin malik) and quoted people… and interviewed people… who have advocated gun culture in the valley. That shouldn’t have been done. I mean cmon u r a good director.. And good director always judges the sensitivity of the issue. You know killing is wrong. U know two wrongs don’t make one right.Yasin malik knows hes killed people… so please .. i humbly bed thee… to enlighten me as to why did you have to do something like that.
3. What angered me more was that you are a kashmiri pandit. A kashmiri pandit would never ever… even if he was killed… ever take to violence… or justify violence… and some gentle man in in your movie said “META PHYSICAL WAR”… with what????/ with guns??????????
4.You didn’t address the basic problems of the valley… is it just that people want freedom and they are not getting it that they are pissed off…????? isnt it the economic disparity, the unemployment rate… the mass PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), the fear of gun, poor institutions, corruption… thats hurting the valley more… than the para military forces. WHY FREEDOM? who do people want to be free form a govt… because their needs (emotional, personal, psychological, economic, spiritual) are not somehow fulfilled under a given regime… u not even once mentioned that. It was a masala film under the pretext of a documentary.
5. where did you elucidate on the true nature of kashmiris… are kashmiris just about… freedom struggles… and wars… and getting killed… when u study a revolution… there has to be some reference to the mind set of the man thats running the revolution. that key elementary factor was missing.
LOOK DUDE I AM LIBERAL.. if Kashmir one day is a separate country… ill be happy to be there.. if with India ill still be happy… When that lady… again in the balcony asked you about the fate of kashmiri pandits u said.. u feel for them.. and u would like to treat the topic independently… because of its sensitivity…but dude… i think the topic u were dealing with in your movie was even more sensitive than kashmiri pandit topic… cuz those folks have been living there and facing hell… we just left… and started fresh…do u think i would ever want you to( seeing ur level of sensitivity) ever want to see ur movie on kashmiri pandits…theres a lot more to say… but a mail sounds so much like a soliloquy.. i prefer listening…I hope u wont mind chatting it over a cuppa coffee… after all the frenzy (all the screenings, and when u have time) settles down…VIVEK RAINA
P.S “ITS HARD TO KEEP YOUR SANITY WHEN THE WORLD IS LOSING IT, BUT IT AIN’T HARD”

from Nishant Dudha(not sure whether he will allow it on his blog...Sanjay Kak talks of freedom,yet his blog is moderated...irony....or joke)......

There was a mail invitation doing the rounds of the "E-mail Fwd Circuit", which spoke of a Documentary made by this young Indian filmmaker with many accolades and awards for his past portfolio of work in the "Festival Circuit".
Read full reply here...http://shala-thokyi-pyath-rikyin.blogspot.com/

from Aditya Raj Kaul...his blog alone has equal hits to your entire team's(Jashn-e-Azadi's)hits

Sanjay Kak obviously irritated because of the amount of criticism his masala movie is receiving and also lately the Police has also stopped his screenings and confiscated his DVD's in Mumbai. In mere frustration he blasted off writing an article targeting a young group of Kashmiri Pandits and some others for this mess up, not realising what he was bouncing his fingers on.Obviously, his masters wouldn't be so happy with him because of the negative success he is getting lately because of this youth group called ROOTS IN KASHMIR.
read full reply here http://kauladityaraj.blogspot.com/

So Sanjay Kak...we arent such a small bunch of hooligans,but a group of educated non-violent,people ..far different from how you would want people to believe.Of course we dont fit into the profile of your idols because we dont..KILL,RAPE,BURN HOUSES,TORCH TEMPLES,

Keep watching this space for more....

Rashneek

But humko kahen Kaafir

2007-08-05T23:35:00.000-07:00

I wasnt surprised and shocked to read what a film maker had to write on his blog about a "group of people"who have made it a mission to follow the film and stop it from circulating.What wishful thinking? Alas delusions of megalomania cant come in better ways than this.Dont we all know these wannabe Noam Chomskys are in constant fear of argument thats why they dont publish comments that arent really favourable to them in their blog.
Now,who is this small group of people and are they really following the movie as much as the film maker belives.The Film maker is only and I use the word only a FILM MAKER.Roots in Kashmir activists are not a small group,one...they are more than 700 young Kashmiri Pandits across the globe(where there Mujahideen tormentors threw them),two they are executives,teachers,art historians and of course students...who have much more to do to earn their livelihood than to simply follow this biased documentary.
Now the film maker belives we are net detectives,net bullies etc etc....is he so much in awe of us that he has even lost what is called the dignified way of argument.When I wrote a review on his movie recently,he had a volley of invectives in his mail written to me...Clearly a case where he is finding it hard to argue...
Now now,we are speading lies,because we are bringing to fore truths which the film maker obviously wants to hide...they make him uncomfortable.When we sometimes bring up the issue of Kashmiri Pandits killed,he belives we are keeping the pot boiling yet when he shows graveyards and asks an old man to find his son's grave,it is sacred..
I really wonder which Pandits has the movie maker spoken to...I know thousands and none but me he has spoken to...He must have spoken to his alter egos ..there are a couple like him...but someone says..One sparrow does not make a spring...he surely has met one of those sparrows.
At no point in time,did we try to stop the movie from circulating...we are not like those terrorists(whom he calls Saheb)who kill because someone doesnt fall in line with their way of thinking.He showed it in places like Pune and Nashik where there are sizeable Pandit populations,yet he went on showing his Band-Pather.
Whatever he shows in his magnum opus is his problem...we will continue to take him on...in non violent and peace loving ways...unlike his Sahebs...who can silence you with a bullet
Since he is so awe-struck he should be allowed to say anything,write anything....after all he is terrorised..isnt he....
All I can say is

Buth humko kahen kaafir
Allah ki marzi hai

Rashneek

What truly ails MSU,Baroda-New Arty Mullahs or Hindu Fanatics

2007-07-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

I am amazed, sorry, perplexed at the way Parvez Kabir has described what can at best be described as a stand-off between a section of students of FFA (fighting for a genuine cause, now mired in political overtones, backed by whom, for what reasons, I guess known to all of us but the “naïve” and/or the infidel) and the University authorities (who are driven by whom, but “the naïve and the infidel”). Parvez’s description of this stand-off would have put to shame the historians (aha art historians too) who have described the great battles of past. Alas for they knew not the holy art of rhetoric as well, for there wasn’t an enlightened (sorry moderately enlightened) modern day Kabir amongst them.Yet one cannot dismiss the vital arguments that the learned columnist has raised (in his rather verbose and overtly passionate one sided version of the stand-off) but that it is a post modern battle, a guerilla warfare, a fight on streets just goes on to show that the writer has for the first time participated in protest of any kind whatsoever and he hasn’t heard of emergency either. Let us objectively and dis-passionately look at what this whole Baroda fiasco is all about in the context of Parvez Kabir’s description of the issue.I admire Parvez’s honesty in admitting that since he is a part of the protestors, he cannot present a balanced story. This to me would have been reason enough to let someone else who could have looked at this problem from a rational point of view, to present this story. Anyways it is the prerogative of the editor and so he has a right to do what he thinks is correct.
read full article here...http://artconcerns.com/html/readersPage.htm

Jashn-e-Azadi-Half truths and Mental Frames

2007-07-25T00:05:00.000-07:00

Vivek has never been to Kashmir, he knows Kashmir as any other Indian would, through biased NDTV programs or through newspapers which don’t present the true picture either. Yet somehow what he asked me surprised me. At the end of the movie he inquired from me as to why the movie did not have even a byte from Mirwaiz(in Vivek’s opinion Mirwaiz is the tallest amongst Kashmiri separatists).I had taken Vivek with me because I thought he would relieve me of some boredom sitting through a rather long monologue cum endorsement session of two hours on Shahadat and Azadi.I half knew the answer for I was seeing it for the second time.The first time I had missed some initial 20 odd minutes because I wasn’t allowed into the auditorium for I might spoil the celebration of freedom(Jashn-e-Azadi).Wonder what censorship this was?I had to produce an e-mail invitation from the respected Director to get into the hall, for his authorities were strict on anyone who chose not to obey them. Anyways that’s past now but the spirit of celebration should continue….shouldn’t it…..
I left without answering Vivek.I was far too buried in thoughts of Jashn. I took the road back to my house, not my home dear, that’s already burnt, oh, way back in 1990, the Jashn of Azadi was being celebrated by torching my home in Bagat-i-Kanipora, in the night when we were all supposed to be celebrating Janam-Ashtami in the cool climes of our homes. The morning newspaper brought news of this celebration to the refugee camp which has been my existence since. I am sure a lot of people will say Jagmohan asked Pandits to leave, even for arguments sake taking that to be true, did it give a license to Sanjay Kak’s protagonists to burn my house and desecrate my religious places. I wondered, was that the way of celebrating freedom. Maybe the director believed it was. That’s why although he sat somber on the banks of Rembyaar in Shopian (while shooting for the movie), seeing the pathetic condition of a 5th Century shrine (of Kapalmochana which was now a broken Shivling, a desecrated spring and razed Dharamshalas) he did not deem it fit to be a part of the movie.

A woman whose goat was killed by the fire that engulfed her house and cowshed was shown grieving for her goat. I wondered what would have happened to Mather and Chander, my two cows, did the spirit of celebration (Jashn-e-Azadi) consume them too, wonder whether they were Hindu or Muslim, my father bought them from one Mohd Yusuf in my village.

My wandering thoughts much like the beard of my dear friend Masood often gives me sleepless nights in exile. This was destined to be one such night. I was instantaneously reminded of the curse of Lakshmi on us, Kashmiris

“Nilamata Purana 294-96. O lord, then angry Visoka cursed Kas'mira, "O wicked one, as I have been absorbed by you today by means of falsehood and you have informed Sati about my activities, so your people will be mostly liars, possessed of impurities, hired servants and dishonoured in the worlds.”

What else explains so many gaveyards when we could have a thousand flowers blooming on the same land, I thought. What else explains Kashmiris being slaves for last 800 years? Sanjay Kak does mention our slavery of 800 years in his movie , what he however chooses not to mention is, who were the masters? Who enslaved us..he wouldn’t say? Half truths as they say can be more dangerous than complete lies. Pyare Hatash’s verses have been shown in a manner where an ordinary non Kashmiri viewer is made to believe as if he is also a protagonist of the Azadi. The translation of the couplet from Rajatarangni was wrong and again misappropriated. Calling Kalhana the chronicler of Hindu Kings was a mischief played in a subtle manner Therein lies the game of the movie maker, his adeptness at appropriating the content.

The magnum opus (sorry for my description, but I am yet to see a longer documentary, probably verbosity is a virtue with Kak) has its own figures for dead and exiled. The movie says two hundred Kashmiri Pandits killed and one lakh sixty thousand exiled. The first images that flashed in front of my eyes when these numbers were shown on the screen were of Brijlal(my father’s best friend) and Choti. Brijlal (a driver in Dept. of Agriculture) and his wife Choti were tied to a jeep in their native village and then dragged till dead. When we received their bodies they were chopped into small pieces as if someone had just brought meat from a butcher. Blood still was fresh in some of their veins as it had reddened the body bag in which we received them. What way to celebrate Azadi??? Kudos to the Robin Hoods who did this, kudos to the director for endorsing their way of celebration, sickness and creativity comes in such mental frames, I never knew. Beware… a lot of modern day Neros are around the corner.

When I asked Sanjay Kak the source of these figures he said he had obtained these from some Joint Secretary in MHA, New Delhi. The movie director being a respected man, I had no doubts that he had got them from GoI. When I asked him what’s the source of his figures, one hundred thousand killed in Kashmir since 1990, he strangely had no GoI statistics to support his figures. Who believes GoI anyway? I have received a reply to an RTI saying only 16455 civilians have been killed in Kashmir since 1990.Now who would believe that. If GoI would have been sacred as Kak wants us to selectively believe, we wouldn’t have the movie in the first place.

We have Yasin Malik as a lead character in the movie, someone around whom the movie revolves,(a savior, a Gandhian ,an ex-terrorist in new attire all rolled into one),giving us sermons, telling us how he treads the path of non-violence. There are flashes of Azam Inquilabi and Syed Ali Shah Geelani (as patriarchs) but it conveniently skirts other separatist leaders, leading anyone to speculate whether the self styled Che Guvera’s of today (based in Delhi) are keen to project Yasin Malik alone as a leader of the masses or is there more to it. His presence at the first screening raised a lot of eye-brows and the discussions revolved more around Yasin Malik than the movie itself, with heckled audience putting him in a fix over his past but then as they say ” Every saint has a past, every thief a future”. The lead character says India wants to impose Brahmanical Imperialism in Kashmir. Does our lead character even know the meaning of the term ”Brahman” or was that a borrowed metaphor from Arundhati Roy, which he did not understand but knew how to use.

One of the flashes in the movie says ”Kashmir is the most militarized region in the valley” Maybe it is. I remember as a kid once we saw a Policeman in our village. We literally walked around him to see what he looks like. For all of us he was an alien who had somehow fallen off his spaceship and landed at our village. It was a quite a sight for all of us and some fun too. What then explains the presence of army and para-military forces in the same village when till 1989 it hadn’t even seen a proper policeman. The movie does not mention why the army had to be placed there after 1989.Isnt it imperative for a film maker to show a complete picture and not half truths.

While I was almost sobbing at the images of graveyards, I was reminded of Abdul Sattar Ranjoor who was not allowed to be buried in the village graveyard by Sanjay Kak’s Robin Hoods’. The movie once again fails to present a balanced point of view and seems more like a mouth piece or propaganda machinery at work. It simply fails to take into account any divergent view from the agenda that the director (or whoever influences him) had set to. How else does one explain that no other point of view is reflected in the movie. Who can argue against the fact that a large section of the masses want Aazadi but it would be equally foolish to believe that no other point of view exists. Again half truths come to fore with consummate ease.

This wasn’t a movie on Pandits that’s what Sanjay Kak wrote to me. We can understand that, knowing well what and whom it is about. Wouldn’t it have been better if Pandits were simply not mentioned in the movie than have a falsified and intentionally biased version of Pandits’ pain and sufferings through a minute and a half screen appearance of their abandoned houses.It seemed like intentionally rubbing salt to their wounds. What also comes to fore is the lack of knowledge about the issue on which he has made the movie. His self hatred is clearly visible in the movie, he believes that Pandits have been unfair to Muslims during the Dogra rule. Maybe it is not entirely incorrect, but when I confronted him on his knowledge of Medieval Kashmir (when Hindus were persecuted), the same was found wanting. I cannot imagine writing a column without delving deep into the subject, but then Sanjay Kak is a different person, he can make a movie on Kashmir without even reading basic texts. A good documentary does not take sides, it simply documents and presents facts as they are, the director is never seen to be either endorsing or negating what he shows. When Sanjay Kak explains the meaning and essence of the term Shahadat, the swell of adrenalin is clearly audible in his voice, that’s when he moves from being a film director to an invisible but strong spokesperson of his concept of what constitutes the celebration of Azadi. To prove his point of view he has even borrowed footages which make it look exactly like the sexed up Power Point presentation that USA made to UN as their premise for attacking Iraq.

History is replete with neo converts going that extra mile to prove which side of their bread is buttered but I believe the Director wants to walk all through the Safar-e-Azadi(similar sounding names….wonder who directs whom)to prove his loyalty to the only leader of Kashmir, Yasin Malik.

"A Kafir"

2007-07-18T00:12:00.000-07:00

I always wrote the best verse
The teacher would often say
This pandit boy will be a poet one day

My pen drew images
Of Kashmir,
Meadows and pines
Springs and brooks
Snow and shine

Alas, I forgot….I was a Pandit too,

Soon they will come
To take me away
To the cold street
And shoot me down
My blood will freeze
Before it oozes

My verse go numb
My voice, dumb
The azan would rise
And the warriors of God
Will soon find another
Voice to quell
Another pandit to kill

The morning news would read
A KAFIR dead on a cold street

The poem was originally posted here
http://www.ryze.com/posttopic.php?topicid=867284&confid=1199#2674620

A voice called Majboor

2007-07-12T00:33:00.000-07:00

http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=12_7_2007&ItemID=6&cat=12

THE TRULY GREAT DO NOT SING PAEANS TO THE ESTABLISHMENT. RASHNEEK KHER PROFILES ARJUN DEV MAJBOOR
Yeh Majboor kya naam hai? was almost a curt remark from my would be wife when her father showed her an article titled ‘The Forgotten Tirtha of Bheda Devi’ by Arjun Dev Majboor. Years rolled by, after her inquiry on Arjun Dev’s pen name, there was little that we heard of Majboor but his verses in Koshur Samachar. His verses reflected sorrow, anguish and uncertainty, but unlike many other poems in the kashmiri section, there was a fragrance of an unlikely dream and effervescence of an unlikely trait that one would call hope. We read more about him and his works, whilst we were in Ahmedabad. One day as I was sifting through the Internet Edition of Greater Kashmir(an English daily published from Kashmir)I came to know about a book written on Arinmal by Majboor. The newspaper carried a story on his remarkable zest (despite his ill health )for unmasking the cloud of doubt that Arinmal (a seventeenth century Kashmiri poet) had intentionally been clothed with by some scholars based in Kashmir. After almost two years of this newspaper report we got a chance to go to Jammu to attend a marriage, what else! The search for Arinmal took us (me and my wife) to various places some boring and some not so boring. Eventually somebody told us to get in touch with one Mr.Sagar who might have a copy of the book. I called Mr.Sagar and asked him if he had a copy of the book, which thankfully he did not have but he had something I would thank him ever after for. To my amazement he had Majboor’s phone number and he told me Majboor had shifted to Jammu from Udhampur. It took me some persuasion from my own soul to conceal my joy of finally getting the book, but destiny had more in store for me than just that. I called the number that Mr.Sagar had given me. Soon I was talking to someone I had known through his poems. After exchanging pleasantries I requested Majboor for a copy of the book. I was pleasantly surprised when he invited us (me and my wife) over for lunch and to get a copy of the book. I instantaneously accepted the invitation, actually jumped for it. The prospect of meeting him set butterflies in my stomach. It was a pleasant winter afternoon when we reached Majboor’s non-descript house in Bohri.We were led into the inner room of the house where we first saw Majboor in person. He looked very much like the picture I had seen of him in Koshur Samachar, except for the pale face and frail physique. Probably all had not been well with his health. He was glad to see us and it showed on his face, but to say the same for us would be an understatement. We were extremely excited. Soon we got talking over hot cups of kehwa. We traveled back in time to see a young boy and his quest for knowledge taking him to the most unlikely places where our mundane lives seldom take us to.He got nostalgic about his childhood and his years of adolsence.His art of story telling transported us to the springs of Zainapora where Majboor spent his childhood and the aura which bore its first imprints on his nubile mind. My wife wanted to know about his book on Lala Lachman (a 19th century bard and poet). She was particularly interested in knowing about “Gade Dhogul” one of the relatively unknown poet’s reflections on the society of the day he lived in. Majboor’s humility was at its full display when he took time and pains to narrate to us the story and the pun involved in it. We moved on to his interactions with Rahul Sankrityan (one of the greatest scholars of the last century)and thus came to fore, what really had transformed Majboor from a simple village boy with a quest, to a man who had come of age. Majboor told us about the time he spent with Rahul Sankrityan at Lahore and how he started to look at things differently and how his interactions with Sankritian evolved him. After meeting Rahul Sankrityan, Majboor was a different man. He was someone who had the legacy of Kashmiri scholarship and tutelage under one of the most balanced icons of communist philosophy. Soon we had lunch in his room which was served on wooden chowki(the low kashmiri table,where one can sit on the floor and have food on).There was a story to them also. These chowkis were one of the very few things that Majboor had managed to carry with him, when he had to leave his motherland, his Zainapora (his land of thousand imaginations).We were equally impressed by his desire to unravel the glorious past of Kashmir.I had read an article by Majboor in Vistasta(an annual magazine published by Kashmiri Pandit Sabha, Kolkatta)about his visits to Kapteshwara, Ganghobeda and Narastan. Painful as it is to know about the places of pilgrimage that people of our generation might never get to see, the vicarious pleasure of someone having seen them is the only refugee for souls like us. Majboor went into great details to tell us about his experience on visting these ancient temples and pilgrimage sites. Bewildered, I thought Maslow should have visited India before revealing his pyramid of needs to the students of psychology. How despite his limited means of income Majboor listened to his heart and traveled on the path which many would not dare to venture on. In the course of our discussions with Majboor we discovered he was an agnostic, a trait not uncommon to the emancipated. The sun was setting on the parapet of Majboor’s rented accommodation probably indicating the ephemeral nature of the houses that we live in and also the metaphysical sense of how time was about to end on the once great Kashmiri scholarship. Or maybe it was time for poetry. Majboor recited to us one of best pieces of work –Raaz Hamsas Kun. It was his longing for his motherland on the wings of wax, probably a flight of fancy which was not to happen but in the realm of imagination. The recitation was immaculate and poetry profound and haunting. By the time he finished reciting the sun had set and the firmament bore the look of a day that passed by both literally as well as metaphorically. Our eyes were moist and taste of the poem lingered in our subconscious for months. With heavy hearts we sought his permission to leave though our feet would not follow our heads. Majboor wanted us to stay over so did we, but we mere mortals had some mundane duties to attend to and bread to earn for our bodies, surely our souls had their meal. On the flight back to Delhi, me and my wife wondered how many youngsters know about Majboor. It was a moment of contemplation that we soon forgot when we got entangled in the web of our lives. We remained in touch with Majboor over phone and soon he expressed a desire to have some of his poems put to music. It was indeed a great thought to take his poems to the masses. The choice of the composer was unanimous, who else but the great maestro himself. Pandit Bhajan Sopori was really forthcoming and helpful in this endeavour. Shamima Azad and Abdul Rashid Farash lent their voices to the poems. The album called Alaav has already hit music stores across the nation. There is very little for me comment on the lyrical content and musical excellence of the album. My favourite however remains “Gayam Vaensa Vanan yath dastanas,dazeth khoth varake varkay aasmanas”. The poem is based on the legendary Gunadi, the author of Brihstkatha.When he recited his verses to the king, the king because of his ignorance ,simply dismissed the verses as ordinary. Gunadi enraged by the kings behaviour went to a jungle and recited his poems. All the birds and animals of the jungle came to listen to him. Even trees bowed their branches to listen to the beautiful verses which the king dismissed as ordinary. Then Gunadi burnt all his verses and the pages went up in the air. Majboor’s despondency is reflected in the verses as is Gunadi’s while burning his verses. The truly great do not sing paeans to the establishment. This was as true of Gunadi or Mirza Ghalib as is of Majboor.

THE PAST

2007-07-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

(Albanian poem of exile written by Blerim Kasneci and translated by Zana Banci and Anthony Weir)

I am old sorrow and past predicament.
Now, without identity in a streetnameless to me,
I am a stranger:
I am longings, I am fears.

The past is years dissolving into memory.
The past is emigration, flight;
the present: yearning and homesickness
dissolving into years.

I am the wandering childlonging to belong
to his lostchildhood
and not be outside the present,
always withdrawn, apart.

I am the homeless child
who grew up in displacement
living in homesickness
and sickness of the heart.

I Killed the Brahman

2007-06-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

The river of innocence was drowned
I grew up early
Barely six, I lit his pyre..
A hole where his vermillion was..
Wouldn’t burn…

The hole of my being…a Brahman
A hated soul…a hated existence
Had Sharda changed sides..
She stood mute..i wouldn’t know
Mute stood everyone else…

A deafening silence…
Was the answer to everything I asked
I searched for my answers
And I grew
Diffident ,dalit….and a brahman

Everyone loved hating me..
I loved it too…
Hate-my subsistence
My food for thought
My existence in exile…..

I grew up early
And I drowned the pyre and the river
And the tears…
I cut the thread
And the tuft….
I wailed and rejoiced….
Sang and cried…
I wallowed in the sand…
Abused Nadim ..his Kashmir

I hated my self
I cooked it on the wet pyre
Ate it up..
Slept
And woke up
No more a brahman…

The poem first appeared here..http://www.ryze.com/posttopic.php?topicid=857942&confid=1199

And the World Remained Silent

2007-06-04T04:07:00.000-07:00

The sweeper came to clean the road
In the sweepings among other things
was the pony tail of a young child
who was last playing in her mother's lap

The boatman was happy
he netted a big fish
a fish with human shape
with a sacred thread around it

The lonely priest walked into the temple
with a tumbler full of pious water and flowers
to wash Shiva...
all he had to wash was human excreta.

the twice born was dead
for ever
cleansed....cut...dried..
and pasted on the books of history

and the world remained silent

The poem with its comments is here
http://www.ryze.com/posttopic.php?topicid=856348&confid=1199

Transliteration of BN Betab's peom titled "Maet Aab" by the poet himself

2007-05-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

Brijnath Betab's poem titled Maet-aab. A sombre but forceful description of the fateful night when loudspeakers from all mosques and city centers were pronoucing "death to infidels" and "defiling of their women"....A poet in despair,fear,agony,disbelief......murmurs the night as the morning refuses to come by..... full text of the poem on
http://kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com

This night death looms large on every road
Laying a siege for someone in his room
Putting a trap for someone at his abode
This night has broken all my fallacies
This night darkness has dawned over light

I hold in support my blood soaked Phiran
As the night shall move again
To some safe heaven,Crying in pain.
Bandaging the blood oozing wounds
This night shall now flee away,

Far away, far far away and far away,
Tomorrow of course when the morning breeze
Shall come to enquire about us
Scattered we shall be
Representing a chopped off body.

In the deserts
Devastated as we shall be
Holding our back
To the support of huge stones
Under the blistering heat in the open,

This city of our ancestors
Shall look like a town of ghosts.

Maze

2007-04-24T00:44:00.000-07:00

The maze of people walked through me
I lay there, unmoved
Ugly urchins and prostitutes…
shared honours with city directors

Stained souls and clean faces
made see saw of a maze
Where distortion played
hide and seek

Subjugation

2007-04-16T00:56:00.000-07:00

The charmer is at it again
he beckons me….and I flee
Strange are his ways…
of remembrance and parting

He fills in the noise
and paranoia
I stare… gaze…
at the flame of his unbecoming love

He is wide awake
when the day sleeps…
In the mystic trance
of my subjugation to him

He is but he…
craving in desire
For me to burn
to eulogize his becoming

Isn’t the time
Of going back in womb
with disconnected umblicals
I fear… the desire..in him

And my desire …
to annihilate myself
The flame of love burns
surreptiously…

Sacred as it maybe
love…yearns
the flame craves

The charmer in mystic tunes
drives me away…
into oblivion of being
And the shame of nothingness…derides my existence

Void

2007-03-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

My anatomy revealed a hole
A void that my death left
She was alone…
It was a forlorn path
From one exile to another

Void as is …but a void
Fill it ….my land
With the cherries of spring
And almond flowers
A folklore …from past
To carry me through
The forlorn path

Yasins mother
And maybe Rasul Daar
Know stories of past
Whilst the hole was
Still my youth

The youth I lost
In sands of time
And the hole
My friend remained on…
In me
till
death did us apart….

I

2007-03-15T23:13:00.000-07:00

The waves washed the shore
And my house too….
But the sand remained
And did I…

Roots in Abeyance

2007-03-11T22:51:00.000-07:00

The movement grows moss around me.
Stuck as I am to roots ,I haven’t grown beyond them
Mohammed lies waste as does Nietzsche
Papers are spotless
or they carry the yellow imprints of my daughters freeness from constipation
the exact carefulness of the arranged books..signals my death
for the movement of my roots ..has stuck me in them…
Alas!my self pity…
Will I ever grow beyond thee..

Rashneek"in abeyance"

NADIM-THE HARBINGER OF RENAISSANCE IN KASHMIRI POETRY

2007-02-01T23:32:00.000-08:00

The cascade was convulsed with laughter
Not aware who cried how much….
With the onset of 14th century the cultural renaissance in Kashmir had almost come to an abrupt end. The era of new ideas and fertile philosophical thoughts had died down owing to hostile historical and cultural incursions in the otherwise enlightened house of Sharda*.The great mystical poet and genius, Lal-Ded was probably the last new philosophical thought to have dawned in Kashmir till the time Dina Nath Nadim arose on the poetic firmament. Eminent Kashmiri scholar Dr.S.S.Toshkhani says and I quote “If you took out themes related to mysticism and love from Kashmiri poetry, there would remain nothing else at all”. The literary stagnation or death of ideas can be attributed to the fanatic and intolerant rulers who ruled Kashmir 14th century onwards till the arrival of British rule in Kashmir.
Dina Nath Nadim was born in an era when Kashmiri nationalism was searching for its roots. It was a time when young educated Kashmiris were beginning to feel that their mother tongue had suffered utter neglect for many centuries and thus had avowed to bring glory to Kashmiri language. The pioneers of this movement were Mahjoor and Abdul Ahad Azad. It goes to their credit that they liberated the language from the Persian influence. The arrival of these two young poets on the scene and the collapse of feudal system gave Kashmiris a renewed sense of confidence and freedom from the mental bondage, six hundred years of slavery had set them in. A new idiom in Kashmiri poetry had thus arrived, the idiom which was largely influenced by Marxist thought and progressive Indian writers.
Dina Nath Nadim’s father passed away when Nadim was just seven. Thus he saw days of abject poverty and it was his mother’s courage and resilience that made two ends meet. It was his mother who set the first seeds of poetry into the young boy. She would often sit by her spinning wheel and sing verses of Parmanand and Krishanjoo Razdan.The song she had written on the death of her husband was to haunt and influence Nadim for his life

The flower of my heart stole away
And did not return to bloom in spring
Where does he now lie concealed ?
Who knows who stole his heart!
(Translation by T.N.Raina)

In his initial years as a poet Nadim wrote in English and it is believed that he was greatly influenced by T.S.Eliot. He also wrote in Urdu which was then the main language of poetic expression. There again he was greatly influenced by Iqbal,Chakbast,Josh and Bismil. His Urdu poems were however localized and Kashmir was the main theme in almost all his poems. He wrote poems in Hindi too but it was Kashmiri where he eventually found his style, images, forms, syllables and voice to his emotions.He made his presence felt on the Kashmiri poetics when he first read his poem Nov Sonth(New Spring) at a poetry recitation session at the famed Nishat Bagh.
Welcome the air with open doors!
The spring is here…(Translation By Rashneek Kher)

Nadim’s literary career had three definite phases. The first being the phase when India had just attained its independence and there was an air of hope and utopian Marxist ideas ruled the roost in literary circles. The environment was surcharged with sloganeering and rhetoric, which eventually found its way into the literary and cultural mainstream too.It was then that he wrote on almost all social and political issues. He spoke of the worker and tore off the capitalist in his rather peculiar poem,Sonth ti Harud(Spring and Fall).He supported the land to the tiller and wrote Aise Kaashirayav Tul Nov Rut Kadam(We,Kashmirs have taken the right step).There were other poems which hailed socialism and communist thought. It was however his path breaking experiment in free verse in the form of a poem, Bu Gavene Az (I will not sing today) which is considered as a milestone in the evolution of Kashmiri poetry. This was for the first time that free verse was written in Kashmiri and to this effect that anyone who read or heard the poem was mesmerized by the blending sound of the words and rhyme. Even though the essence of the poem seemed like a communist party manifesto yet the use of native collocations made it dear to every Kashmiri. Common Kashmiri phrases which poets of yesteryears had deemed unfit as poetic expression lend aesthetic expression and beauty to this poem. During the first phase of his career communism and Marxist ideas had great influence on him and it showed in almost all his poems but, Me Sham Aaash Pagehech(My Hope,Tomorrow)clearly stands out from the rest in terms of its content. There is no sloganeering, no Marxist ideas, it reflects layers of insecurity of a common Kashmiri in the times of uncertainty. It has three monologues, three persons having a tryst with their destinies howsoever small, nonetheless important for them. How they pray in vain for the war not to break tomorrow for tomorrow is their day of hope.
They say war is breaking out
But surely not tomorrow
When I have a rendezvous
It can’t break out tomorrow!
(Translation by T.N.Raina)
It is in this period that Nadim wrote Son Watan(Our motherland),Sar-Subhai(The break of Dawn) and the first sonnets in Kashmiri language. One must not fail to mention his poem Dal Heanzni Hond Vatsun(Song of the Boatwoman) where the poet easily submerses into the role of a spokesperson for the poor and downtrodden Kashmiri. Everyday imagery has been used and intrinsically woven around the theme of a poor woman trying to sell vegetables and fish. The pathos of the poor woman arouses intense emotions and pain, the reader is almost drawn towards a state of empathy with the boatwoman. It was for the first time in Kashmiri poetry that a poet had identified so strongly with the masses.
I hear a baby crying
Someone is whimpering at my breast
O my good woman, my heart is not here
Come buy!Come buy!Come buy!
(Translation by T.N.Raina)
Another great poem of this era which merits mention is the obituary Nadim wrote on the passing away of the secular nationalist poet Mahjoor.In his tribute in Gwonmatas motuk shar kari kyah(Artist is but immortral)he has immortalized Mahjoor with the assertion that an artist like Mahjoor will never die. He hasn’t rued on the loss of Mahjoor’s life but emphasized the fact that the latter has left behind a legacy of ideas which will keep him alive amongst the people of Kashmir.
Thus we move to the next era of his literary career which saw the fall of ideals and the icons that Nadim held close to his heart and reflected in his poetry. The erstwhile progressives and supposed Marxists were now in seats of power and their social, ethical and moral values stood exposed while running governments. It was but obvious that calls of equality, socialistic values and Marxist ideas were used as means to get to the seats of power. The mask had come off. The revolution was betrayed by the ones who were once its supposed torch bearers. Nadim wrote sarcastic, almost poems of black satire in the period following 1954.In his poem Kagaz Vaalesunz Hakh (Paper Vendors’ Cry) he emphasizes the new materialistic thought had consumed morals and dreams and how everything including conscience is up for sale. It was however his poem which he recited in the presence of the then Chief Minister as a dig at him that made his fearlessness evident.
Khwaja Mohammad is now a Nawab
But Moma remains Moma
Can you solve this puzzle?
Fill me a cup of wine!
(Translation by Rashneek Kher)
His poems Huti Nazran Dolaan Dyaar Matyo (Money Bags dangling before your eyes),Zindabad Me Haz Chu az chony Shreh(Today,You are the one I love) were in the same league and were full of sardonic humour and satire.The poem that is distinctively different from the poems Nadim wrote in this era is,Lakhchi chu Lakchun (Identification,Thy Mole)The poem is a literary marvel since Nadim has brought in symbols and images from different historical, mythical and geographical contexts and juxtaposed them in the native language. The poem in my opinion is Nadims first brush with feminine beauty albeit in a metaphysical context. The object of the entire feminine aspect of beauty centers on an otherwise inconsequential mole of the face of the lady. This is really the first poem where Nadim has attempted to stay clear of any social message but his ideology has had better of him as can be seen in the last two lines of the poem.
She has a mole
Above her artery
Pulsating love,
As if a mother
Nursed in her heart
The jewel of her eyes,
Whom she rears with love alone;
Joy of the poor woman who has gleaned from husk
Grain by grain, a handful of rice
(Translation by T.N.Raina)
With this we come to the third phase of Nadim’s literary career where his style had seen a change from sloganeering to suggesting. This is evident from his poem Naabad ti Tyathyvan(The Bitter and the Sweet)wherein the underlying theme of revolution is stated in hushed tones almost to the point of internalizing the philosophy of communism. The poet has borrowed heavily from mythology and woven what might seem like disparate and divergent elements into upsurge of love and its orgasmic climaxes with the shame and the guilt of the clandestine love post the coital. Although Nadim wrote various poems in this era with differing styles, rhyme and content but two poems without which the piece would be incomplete are Zalar Zaej(Cob webs) and Shihul Kul(The Tree of Shade).In Zalar Zaej the poet tries to present a picture of the society where entropy is the rule and disarray over rides every facet of life. The poet ends on a positive note hoping the arrival of dawn would usher in fresh ideas.In Shihul Kul the poet has attempted to paint the glorious traditions of Kashmir, of which the Chinar is the most potent symbol. The Chinar has welcomed everyone irrespective of colour, religion and race and nourished them under its benign shade.It is in this era that Nadim wrote a lot of short poems of which the prominent ones are Shah-i-Hamadan,Gaasa Tul,Tsoor,Taav Taav and Yapary Traviv Tsopary Nazarah.He wrote Haary’Saath(Happenings)as a group pf poems over a period of time.In these poems he has tried to revive the Vaakh, a form of poetry which Lal Ded started and wasn’t frequently used except for by Krishanjoo Razdan.
While his contribution to poetry is widely recognized his contributions to other fields of art like drama and short story needs to be equally appreciated and recorded. Nadim wrote the first opera in Kashmir and most of his operas were showcased in India as well as abroad.He brought new styles of presentation to drama in Kashmir and also revived the Band-Pather form of art in its new avatara on the stage.Some of his prominent operas were Heemal ta Naagraey and Bombur Yamberzal.Nadim wrote the first short story in Kashmiri and was thus a trendsetter in this field too. Nadim was a wordsmith who had this unique way of presenting his wares in a manner that rhyme and tinkle followed them. He brought out words which had probably gone into oblivion for no one used them. He wrote in the same language as the one spoken on the road. His imagery was drawn from the ordinary Kashmiri on the street. He was the first Kashmiri poet to write a free verse, blank verse, sonnet, haiku and short story .He broke the worn out and much used mould of poetry and replaced it with new images drawn from ordinary people. He was thus a people’s poet for he spoke their language and drew their inspiration from their everyday life.Nadim was an inspiration for poets in his generation and many more to follow. The present day great poets like Rahi,Kamil ,Firaq and Majboor wrote in styles which were similar to that of Nadim’s. Some of the poems written by his illustrious contemporaries like Santosh and Saqi were so similar in diction to Nadim’s poems that it was hard to tell one from another. Such was the influence Nadim wield over his contemporaries and the aspiring poets.

(Rashneek Kher)

Broken Past

2007-01-30T23:22:00.000-08:00

“the mirror broke ..and their sad past
was in tatters…
not knowing which way to go….
Too many broken dreams
and a mirror…..now broken too…..
friends for long…
The morning arose….with no reflections of the sad past…
Or belongingness either…….”

Wise and Stuck

2007-01-24T21:05:00.000-08:00

“I and the abyss of uncertainity..
Moved on…
till we found the wise…
Stuck on an island …not knowing how to swim”

Kashmir and Truth

2007-01-24T04:01:00.000-08:00

My basic premise for writing this column is that I agree with Shahnaz Bashir that the concept of Kashmiriat as pronounced by so called intellectuals is incorrect. I agree with him on two counts. One, that the Kashmiriat is an amalgamation of Saivism(read as Kashmir Saivism) and Sufism is incorrect .Two, it is used by some intellectuals to present romanticized versions of history or as Shahnaz has put it “history is being fudged to suit someone’s interests”. Notwithstanding my agreement with Shahnaz on the statements made above I would like to present a perspective to the distortions and realities of philosophical, cultural and somewhat entangled political history of Kashmir.
Kashmir Saivism is a monistic, non dual philosophy, the essence of which is merging of individual (limited consciousness) to the universal consciousness(unlimited and eternal consciousness).Its essential focus is on recognition(Pratibhjna) and freedom(Swantarya) is the outcome of the recognition, since it frees us from bondage of ignorance. According to Vedanta philosophy, refined soul is God. All divine power according to the Vedanta philosophy resides in this physical body. All the grandeur and magnificence of divine potentialities of the Almighty are present in its entirety in dormant centers of human soul. He can be seen only in one's own inner- self. Our entire life is God's direct manifestation. The ascetic asks, “For whom should we worship (kasmai devaya havisha vidhema". The emphatic answer is, we should worship for the God within us (Atma-Dev). The central doctrine of Sufism, sometimes called Wahdat or Unity, is the understanding of Tawhid: all phenomena are manifestations of a single reality, or Wujud (being), or al-Haq (Truth, God). It is often understood to imply that every phenomenon is an aspect of Truth and at the same time attribution of existence to it is false. The chief aim of all Sufis then is to let go of all notions of duality, therefore the individual self also), and realize the divine unity.It is therefore abundantly clear that all three philosophies have some similarities and differnces though it is believed that Sufism post Mansur-bin-Hallaj had Vedantic influence.
What I fail to understand is who among the Saivites has said that Kashmir Savism or Saivism has sown the seeds of Islam or Saivism is a proto form of Liberal Islam or Sufism.Atleast I don’t know of any.If there are any they should be asked to explain the same except for Congressmen(including Nehru) who have license to lie.It should also be borne in mind that the scholars of Vedant philosphy were mostly brahmins(the brahmins of central India still have surnames like Trivedi,Dwivedi or Chaturvedi)but had contradictory philosphies to that of scholars of Saivism.This is no way meant they were at war with each other. The Tandav Nach(Nritya,it should be,for nach means a simple dance which does not essentially have a purpose while as Nritya is a dance which is associated with a certain socio-cultural event and has a purpose and its own unique style) which pupotedly the learned scholar has quoted out of context is a celestial dance the purpose of which is killing of ignorance.When Shiva dances the Apasmar Pursh(personification of the ignorant one)is under his feet.The celestial dance signifies the death of ignorance, that’s what explainsShiva Sutra (2) of Vasugupta.-Jnanam Badanah(Limited Knowledge/Ignorance is bondage) .
I have no shame in accepting that Kashmir Saivism wasn’t understood by many in Kashmir although people worshipped Shiva as their primary diety.May I please know how many Muslims in Kashmir today understand(not read or pray) the Holy Quran or al Hadith for that matter.The reason for this is simple,very few of us are philosophers and people at general have faith and religion is a matter of faith and not essentially philosophy.Nonetheless the following verses written many hundred years after monistic Saivism was propounded will prove beyond doubt the influence of Saivism on Kashmiri thought and sesnsitivity.I am selectively quoting Muslim poets only to prove the point.
Shams faqir:”Zaanwale kar zaen yaar harmukh vichu deedar,parde zal az darde naar harmukh vichu deedar”.
Shah Gafoor:Yyoth yith zanamas kaenh chune larun,darinay darun soham soo;Brahma,Vishnu,Maheshwar gharun,darinay darun soham soo.
Azad Zargar:Harmukh bozmay chon keel Kalo,Ha valo baal chas praraeney
Ahmed Shah Batwari:”Vishnas ti Krishnas Raesh Maidanas,Mahaganesh tate kas kare namaskar;Gange-raaz byuthum Gange-bal thanas,jan chum mileth jahaanas seet”.
Ayub Betab:”Dyanas manz mas shankar chunho parvati mozaan,kamdevas van baan chalevaeth yokun karehaes dhyaan.”
Leave alone Kashmiri poets,Ali Mardan Khan the Afghan general wrote “Huma aasli maheshawar boodh ki shab shahe ki man deedam.Ajab sansayase deedam namo narayane guftam.”
We have countless verses to support this.Swoch Kral,Mahmud Gami,Wahab Khar,Samad Mir,Nyam Saeb,Rahim Saeb,Ahmed Dar and many others have been ifluenced by saivism abd the clear reflection is shown in their pieces of work.
Does one have to say more?So much so for philosophy.
Kashyap Bandhu is deeply revered by Pandit community for his yeoman’s contribution to curtail ceratin wasteful rituals and dresses.His contribution to the Pandit community as an educationist and social reformer is also hailed.So is Jialal Kilam’s contribution.Mr.Bazaz seems to be the flavour around which Shahnaz has cooked his pudding.Mr.Bazaz holds the same reputation among pandits as does Mr.Salman Rushdie among Muslims.I think it would be improper for me to qoute anything from the Satanic Verses for it will hurt the sensibilties of my Muslim brethern..As regards availabilty of Shavite material and knowledge,Mr.Bazaz was deeply mis-informed.For almost all major universities from Germany to Spain to United States teach Kashmir Saivism as a subject.New York State University even celebrates all major festivals and birthdays of Shaivate scholars right from Acharya Abhinavgupt to Swami Laksman joo.It has been written that Avantivarman was a brahmin and he massacared Buddhists.Kalhan who has been dispassionate and objective while writing Rajatarangni(read IV 715 to 19 and V 1-144) has made no such mention of Avantivarman killing Buddhists.It is obligatory on the scholar to mention the source of his/her research unless he/she himself travels back in time to see everything.
As for people welcoming Islam with open arms and converting of free will please read the following.The source of the texts is Bahiristan-i-Shahi.I am quoting without even changing a line.
“Sultan Shihabu'd-Din addressed himself to such works as would help him get peace in the world hereafter. He arranged a tomb and a burial place for himself to be used after his death. Towards the fag end of his life, he was infused with a zeal for demolishing idol-houses and destroying the temples and idols of the infidels. He destroyed the massive temple at Beejeh Belareh [31] (Bijbehara). He had designs to destroy all the temples and put an end to the entire community of the infidels.[32] “
“Again it needs to be recorded that for some of the time which the holy Amir spent in Kashmir he lived in a sarai at 'Alau'd-Din Pora. At the site where his khanqah was built, there existed a small temple which was demolished and converted into an estrade on which he offered namaz (prayer) five times a day and recited portions of the Qur'an morning and evening. Sultan Qutbu'd-Din occasionally attended these congregational prayers.”
“ [It may be recorded] that the temples of idol-worshippers, which had been destroyed and razed to the ground by the religious-minded and justice-loving Sultan Sikandar- God bless his grave and bless him-had been rebuilt and rehabilitated by Zainu'l 'Abidin. He had permitted idolators and polytheists to revive the practices of infidelity and they had propagated heresy (kufr) and false religion (din-i batil). With the support of some more kings,[96] the infidels had flourished day after day. But with the support and authority of Malik Musa Raina, Amir Shamsu'd-Din Muhammad undertook a wholesale destruction of all those idol-houses [97] as well as the total ruination of the very foundation of infidelity and disbelief. On the site of every idol-house he destroyed, he ordered the construction of a mosque for offering prayers after the Islamic manner.”
For details of forcible conversion of Hindus to Islam and their massacre in case they refused to be converted, see Tarikh-i-Hasan Khuihami; pp. 178-80. One significant detail is that three kharwars (one kharwar is approximately equal to eighty kilograms) of Hindu ceremonial thread (zunnar) were burnt by Sultan Sikandar. (Tarikh-i-Hasan Khuihami, Pir Ghulam Hasan, Vol II, RPD,* Srinagar 1954.)
Regarding aborigines of Kashmir, Nilamatapurana and Buddhist texts are the main source of infornation. According to Nilmatapurana and various Buddhist texts it is Vishnu who after killing Jalodbhava(the water demon) crowned Nila Naag as the king of Kashmir.It is Nila,who invited the Brahmin Chandradev to Kashmir. As for Pischasas,Buhler says’They were a tribe living in what can be called present day Kafirstan. They ate raw human flesh and drink blood.They constantly attacked various habitations and Kashmir was one of them”That we still called a blood sucking insect as pisch in Kashmir proves that this tribe drank human blood”.If someone wants to be quoted as their descendant it is for him or her to decide. It is preposterous, almost laughable to say that Aryans were Brahmins when we clearly know of the varna (caste) system from various texts of the Aryans. In Kashmiri I would say” Mae chu aeme kathe seet kit kit gachaan”.The very basis of Aryan theory is contested now. Excavations have shown worship of ring stones(mother goddess cult)lingas(erect phallus) and the seal of pashupat(the protector of livestock)are traits common to vedic people and people of Indus valley civilization. Indologists like Max Muller have propounded the Aryan myth to divide people of the sub-continent.If Aryans would have killed or forced Dravidians to flee I wonder if they would have worshipped same god-Shiva.
It is my earnest request that we must look at history objectively and not quote what suits us. Half baked understanding of complex philosophies and intentional distortion of history will get us nowhere. Kashmir stands at cross-roads. Let us not add to the misery of Kashmir desa. It is for the readers to decide who are the illegal citizens, the people who were born here or the ones who came from Arabia or Persia or Panjab.The earth has never been anyones’. It has always changed hands. Who would have one day imagined the world without the great Roman Civilizations or Greeks or the Phahroaos!!!

Gov Mansur fana,vyodun huvey hyond musalmano;
Ann Paranas chune manah,chune gudrun chaye rozaano(Ahmed Shah Batwari)

“Mahsoos”(First published In Greater Kashmir-Kashmir's largest circulated daily)

The rickshaw beckons

2007-01-22T21:09:00.000-08:00

“I saw the rickshawallah….
On whose rickshaw we often fought and made up
The rickshaw is broken now
Like what we shared..once
No one quarrels on it any more
But the rickshawallah and his wife
around an empty earthen bowl…for the evening supper…..”

Nund Ryosh,Lal Ded and the Mullahs-Attempts at Distorting Kashmir's past

2007-01-21T21:51:00.000-08:00

Kasid ke attay attay khat ek aur likh rakhoo
Main jaanta ho jo woh likhenge jawaab main

It gives me immense pleasure to correspond through your esteemed newspaper with one of the best known scholars of History in contemporary Kashmir-Prof. Mohd Ishaq Khan. His column dated 11th Oct, 06 as a response to my response to his column was a sure step walked from his previous column. Prof Khan is unequivocal in describing how Nund Ryosh was equally severe on Mullahs and not just Hindu Priests. It is hard not to agree with Prof.Khan when he says Nund Ryosh’s life and the titles attributed to him should be studied in their correct contextual and conceptual framework. But before we proceed to do just that, may I submit, where in my previous column have I mentioned that only selective verses are contained in books of prayers of Kashmiri Pandits. Also have I nowhere written that Nund Ryosh was against the Shariah(Islamic Laws),what I have written is “The truth is that he criticized the established order of religion whether Islam or Hinduism” .Prof Khan quotes” But this fact should not lead him(me in this case) to assert that the Shaikh was against the Shariah or the so-called established or institutionalized religion.” I am not sure whether the word “Order” was a typographical or intentional omission. Neither have I anywhere indicated that Nund Ryosh sought to reconcile Saivism and Sufism. Therefore it is my humble request to the learned scholar not to distort what has been said in my column for we must stay clear of garbled mess of semantics and related historical disorders.
In continuation to what I have said, the question of the common thread running between two differing religious viewpoints or even a remote reference between them does not arise. Through this column I wish to make it abundantly clear that I do not wish to parrot this line of Saivism and Sufism brotherhood story (a thought already written by me in the earlier columns of this newspaper), neither do I subscribe to it. Yet history must be presented in its right perspective and context.
Kashmiri Pandits drew lineage from the home grown religion of the land which at that point of time was Kashmir Saivism. Kashmir Saivism does not recognize caste system and anyone can be a Saivite. It made a conscious effort to put philosophy of the ritual over the ritual and thus internalize the ritual itself. Kashmiri Muslims obviously drew lineage from Islam, a religious concept which was spread in Kashmir through religious preachers like Bulbul Shah and Syed Ali Hamdani. The learned scholar has written and I qoute ” At the same time, the impact of Shaivite philosophy on a true seeker after the Truth like Nuruddin cannot be ignored during the formative period of his spiritual evolution.”I am sure he wouldn’t say the same about either Bulbul Shah or Syed Ali Hamdani. There lies the difference between two sets of religious preachers of the same religion. While Nund Ryosh was a son of the soil and understood and respected concepts like Saivism and its nuances apart from being influenced by it, the foreign preachers were ignorant and even intolerant of this stream of thought as well as the existing religion in the valley. This can be easily testified by these lines relating to Syed Ali Hamdani (text Bahiristan-i-Shahi) I quote” Again it needs to be recorded that for some of the time which the holy Amir spent in Kashmir he lived in a sarai at 'Alau'd-Din Pora. At the site where his khanqah was built, there existed a small temple which was demolished and converted into an estrade on which he offered namaz (prayer) five times a day and recited portions of the Qur'an morning and evening. Sultan Qutbu'd-Din occasionally attended these congregational prayers”.It would be hard for anyone to find such verses being attributed to Nund Ryosh.As to why Pandits and Muslims call him by different names, is a story not uncommon to people living in the subcontinent. Bulle-Shah, Kabir, Lal-Ded, Sai Baba or Nund Ryosh have this common story where every community wants to own them. Prof Khan’s column is a testament to this fact in case of Lal-Ded and I quote” Such eulogisation contributed to her romanticisation, so much so that in the Sufi literature of Kashmir she was called Maryam-i Makani, Rabia Sani, Arifa and so on”.
I agree with Prof Khan about three distinct phases in the life of the great saint but let us see what Prof Khan has written. He agrees that in the second phase of his life Nund Ryosh was influenced by Lal Ded, because of her fight against Brahman ethnocentrism. Taken that to be true, and that he wanted to slay the same demon I assume there would have many more Muslim saints and Ullemas who would have been also opposing Brahman ethnocentrism more fervently than Lal Ded.Why did he chose Lal-Ded( as a role-model), a Hindu saint, a Saivite… baffles me no end! About the third phase of his life, we must take into account the times Nund Ryosh lived in.With time Nyond Ryosh gained fame and even the then king had known him. Despite being a great saint and visionary he was but a mortal and even if he wished to say something which was not in strict conformance to Sharia, he would not have dared to take the establishment and the Ullema on beyond a certain point.Besides he had the example of Mansur-bin-Hallaj, another great Sufi saint being stoned to death after his arms were severed for simply saying Anal-Haq.Maybe it is about time we discuss “Wazoo-i-Khoon”.As regards sources which Dr.Khan calls historical and Persian hagiographical accounts(and bases his brahmanical bashing..oops Historical facts on),let us evaluate their historical authenticity. Most details in this regard have come down to us in various Rishinamas or Nurnamas.Amin Kamil, an eminent poet and critic, points out , that these greatly differ from one another. The late Abdul Ahad Azad,says "greater reliance has been placed in them on imagination than on historical facts." The first Rishinama or Nurnama that has come down to us was written about 200 years after his passing away. Surely, there has been a lot of mixing of facts and fresh light needs to be shed on many "unclear" events and episodes in the story of his life and the cobwebs that have gathered around many others need to be cleared.
I really don’t feel the need to argue the fact as to why Nund Ryosh called Lal Ded an Avtaar because the verse is self explanatory and unless we have an agenda to prove something else, nothing is left to doubt. As to whether Lal Ded was a renegade, yes she was a rebel, but if she was an avatara for the commoners undergoing process of Islamic acculturation is a statement of historical mischief. If one reads Vaakhs of Lal-Ded not even one is seen to be supporting Islamic Laws (Shariah) nor have we any verses where Lal-Ded exhorts “commoners” to convert to Islam or Sufism. There surely are vaakhs asking Hindus to give up ritualistic religion and concentrate on Shiva, The all pervading. This call is truly in conformance to the cannons of Kashmiri Saivism.Out of approximately 235 odd vaakkhs which have come down to us almost one-third are devoted to Shiva and his glory,I wonder what makes Prof.Khan say that attempts are being made to resuscitating Lalla as a protagonist of Kashmiri Saivism. Lalla does not need to be resuscitated as a protagonist of Kashmir Saivism. She already is..and her vaakhs are more than a testament to that. As to why Saivate chroniclers are quiet about Lal Ded’s vaakhs and life, I presume Prof.Khan is referring to Jonaraja, Srivara, Shuka and Prajabhatta. It may surprise all of us but Kalhana makes no mention of either Charaka, Aryabhatta, Anandvardahna or even the great Abhinavgupta in his Rajatarangni. Does that mean Kalhana was ignorant or he despised them so he did not write about them. These people were essentially court chroniclers and would write royal history or incidents related to the royals. That explains why Suyya(the engineer on whose name Suyyapur-present day Sopore is based)finds mention in Rajatarangni but Abhinavgupta does not.
There still is a lot be researched about the life of the great saint especially his leanings and their historical context. While we must do serious research to clear the mist, I once again request that we should not make conscious efforts of appropriation of great icons of our history. It is being observed that such efforts are being made to erase or at-least distort the past with reference to Hindu history and its impact on Kashmiri psyche and thought. Arinmal being, in realm of imagination only or Lal Ded being avatara for people undergoing Islamic acculturation, Hari Parbat being called Kohi-Maran are all attempts of such appropriation or distortion. I would like to conclude with a verse from the great saint himself which makes us feel how he himself sought synthesis (which Prof Khan and me cannot debate on)and how the essence of Bhagwad Gita has been invoked to describe a Musalman. Also please mark the choice of words to define a faithful………

Suy Purusha Swarg Pravi,
Yus aahar tsavi beyan saan
Raten dohan yus roza thavi
Aisi Sato sath namaan
Krud,lubh,muh,mad,ahankar travi
Suy dapize musalman

Invaders and Independence

2007-01-19T00:55:00.000-08:00

The pseudo-intellectual brigade of our nation often cites alienation of the Kashmiri masses as the reason for the armed insurgency in Kashmir. As a result of this, we Kashmiris living outside the state are often left to answer a barrage of questions ranging from, What exactly is wrong in Kashmir to Who do you side with…,or, ubiquitous and seemingly intelligent jhollawallas ( an extinct breed of communists elsewhere, to be seen only in India) asking Why doesn’t India let go of Kashmir if the people don’t want to stay with India. Being no historian of any repute whatsoever, I decided to write what can be a layman’s guide to the genesis of Kashmir crisis and the independence issue.
Unlike other Islamic invasions like that of Iran, Kashmir did not have armies of Arabs or Turks marching into Kashmir. Although Zulchu raided Kashmir in the early spring of 1323 AD,but he had entered Kashmir not with a mission to rule but to raid. This is evident from the fact that when his armies marched back (with women and children as slaves) they were caught in a snow storm which killed all of them. The conversion of Rinchan Lama (who defeated Suhdev’s general Rama Chand by treachery),to Islam was a turning point in the history of Kashmir.There are various theories on how Rinchan (1324-26AD) converted to Islam but the most plausible seems the fact that Bulbul Shah(a zealot of the Shah Ne'matullah Wali sect)converted him to Islam. Thus Rinchan was the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, apart from being a foreigner. We must not fail to mention the role of Shams-ud-din(Shah-Mir 1341-45 AD)who had come to Kashmir as a dervish, killed associates of Kota Rani(wife of Rinchan) and usurped the crown later. Thus Kashmir began to be ruled by invaders and its natives lost their independence.
The next notable king was Shihabu'd-Din (1360-1378 AD,grandson of Shams-ud-din)about whom the famous Persian Text Bahiristan-i-Shahi says and I quote” Towards the fag end of his life, he was infused with a zeal for delmolishing idol-houses and destroying the temples and idols of the infidels. He destroyed the massive temple at Beejeh Belareh (Bijbehara). He had designs to destroy all the temples and put an end to the entire community of the infidels. But death overtook him in the year A.H. 780 (A.D 1378).”This was the beginning of miseries for the people of Kashmir. The rather notorious role of Sayyid’ Ali Hamdani(popularly called Shah-i-Hamdan in Kashmir by Muslims) in changing the mindset of foreign invading Muslim rulers from fairly benign to extremely fanatic Muslims is clear from the fact that he asked Sultan-Qutubdin to impose Shariah(Islamic Laws) in Kashmir. About Sayyid Ali Hamdani,Bahiristan-i-Shahi says I quote” Again it needs to be recorded that for some of the time which the holy Amir spent in Kashmir he lived in a sarai at 'Alau'd-Din Pora. At the site where his khanqah was built, there existed a small temple which was demolished and converted into an estrade on which he offered namaz (prayer) five times a day and recited portions of the Qur'an morning and evening. Sultan Qutbu'd-Din occasionally attended these congregational prayers.” I am choosing a Muslim source to quote for it lends credence to the fact that such demolitions were glorified and even considered righteous by the Muslim rulers, historians and the Amirs.After the death of Sultan-Qutubdin,he was succeeded by his son Sultan Sikandar who needs no introduction. “Sikandar But-shikan or Sikandar the Iconoclast” burnt or destroyed as many temples as he could lay his hands on. He killed thousands of Hindus and converted lacs. One significant detail is that three kharwars (one kharwar is approximately equal to eighty kilograms) of Hindu ceremonial thread (zunnar) were burnt by Sultan Sikandar. (Tarikh-i-Hasan Khuihami, Pir Ghulam Hasan, Vol II, RPD,* Srinagar 1954.).His period was a period of utter darkness and barbarianism in the history of Kashmir.This is what historians (mostly muslims)have to say about him."He [Sikandar] prohibited all types of frugal games. Nobody dared commit acts which were prohibited by the Sharia.. The Sultãn was constantly busy in annihilating the infidels and destroyed most of the temples..." (Haidar Malik Chãdurãh: Tãrîkh-i-Kashmîr; edited and translated into English by Razia Bano, Delhi, 1991, p. 55.)"[he] strived to destroy the idols and temples of the infidels. He got demolished the famous temple of Mahãdeva at Bahrãre. The temple was dug out from its foundations and the hole (that remained) reached the water level. Another temple at Jagdar was also demolished… Rãjã Alamãdat had got a big temple constructed at Sinpur. (...) the temple was destroyed [by Sikandar]." (Khwãjah Nizãmu’d- Dîn Ahmad bin Muhammad Muqîm al-Harbî: Tabqãt-i-Akbarî translated by B. De, Calcutta, 1973)"Sikander burnt all books the same wise as fire burns hay". "All the scintillating works faced destruction in the same manner that lotus flowers face with the onset of frosty winter." (Srivara, Zaina Rajtarangini).Many mosques were constructed from the debris of broken hindu temples. Iskandarpora was laid out on the debris of the destroyed temples of Hindus. In the neighbourhood of the royal palace in Iskandarpora, the Sultan destroyed the temple of Maha Shri which had been built by Pravarasena and another one built by Tarapida. The material from these was used for constructing a Jami' mosque in the middle of the city. Most of the Hindus fled the valley of Kashmir in order to protect their religion,women and children.This was the first forced migration of Hindus from Kashmir.Thus the first steps of pan-Islamization or conversion of Dar-ul-Harb to Dar-ul-Islam were taken and and a strong base was set for the foreign invading rulers to follow.
However the rule of Sultan Zaina-ul-abidin(Badshah)was a period of glory and prosperity for Kashmir.He rebuilt a lot of temples and appointed scholars to re-write Hindu scriptures and texts.A lot of Sanskrit texts were translated to Persian and vice-versa.Peace and great scholars returned to Kashmir.Ancient rituals and customs of the land of Kashmir were revived.Islam and Hinduism lived in harmony alongside. In terms of Zain-ul-abidin’s achievements his reign can be compared to the reign of the greatest ruler of Kashmir Lalit-aditya-Muktapida.His reign lasted fifty-two years.With the sad demise of the great leader of men and the torch bearer of secularism forces of fantacism came to the fore again.There were constant infightings between various contenders for the crown of Kashmir.All the contenders despite their differences were cruel and unjust to Hindus.The below given qoute from Baharistan-i-Shahi justifies that.”With the support of some more kings, the infidels had flourished day after day. But with the support and authority of Malik Musa Raina, Amir Shamsu'd-Din Muhammad undertook a wholesale destruction of all those idol-houses as well as the total ruination of the very foundation of infidelity and disbelief. On the site of every idol-house he destroyed, he ordered the construction of a mosque for offering prayers after the Islamic manner. The idolatory and heresy which had existed prior to his coming to this place were effectively replaced by his preaching and propagation of Islamic laws and practices. He brought honour to all the infidels and heretics (zandiqa) of Kashmir by admitting them to the Islamic faith and bestowed upon them many kinds of rewards and benefactions. It is publicly known as well as emphatically related that during his life-time, with the virtuous efforts and elaborate arrangements made by the fortunate Malik Musa Raina, twenty-four thousand families of staunch infidels and stubborn heretics were ennobled by being converted to the Islamic faith.It is difficult to compute the number of people who had hitherto indulged in corrupt practices of a wrong (false) faith and dissent and were put on the right track under the proper guidance of Mir Shamsu'd-Din 'Iraqi .” Not be fazed and bored by too much of history the point that I am trying to arrive at is…Arabs, Afghans and Persians have conquered our land for centuries, killed the natives much like Europeans who created America by killing Red Indians, destroyed temples and other great institutions like libraries and ancient houses of learning, subjugated the language of the land and imposed alien languages are now asking for independence of the very land that simply does not belong to them. That to my ignorant mind this is the genesis of the problem, though self proclaimed intellectuals like self styled commanders would argue the opposite with pen and gun respectively.
The leaders of Hurriyat want us to believe two things, one that they are the true representatives of the people of Kashmir, two the people of Kashmir want independence from the Indian dominion. That we are so used to strange happenings in the state we may believe the most absurd to be the norm, yet on both these counts our mental faculties would reason us to believe otherwise. Hurriyat is an amalgamation of fundamentalist religious parties of a certain faith alone. Most of the constituents of the Hurriyat are headed by people whose ancestors are not natives hence have come into the state as invaders or religious preachers with political motives. Thus we have a group of people mostly foreigners representing a certain faith which happens to be Islam in this case. That puts a big question mark on its so called representative character. As far as people of Kashmir(even if we consider only Muslims to be the citizens of Kashmir)wanting independence why on this earth would they stand in long queues at last assembly elections to exercise their franchise. I am referring to the last elections only because they were considered free and fair not just by national but reputed International Agencies. Besides if Hurriyat is the true representatives of the people of Kashmir as they want us to believe I wonder what Congress, PDP and other political parties are. Are people so naïve that they voted them in power despite a strong threat by terrorists to kill anyone who would vote.
The separatists by themselves are no force to reckon with. That’s why Pakistan is supporting them with men, material and money to carry out subversive activities within the state. Only a weak cause has to be supported by brute force which can be testified by the earlier attempts of rulers of non-Kashmiri descent. Why did Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela not need terrorists to support freedom movements in their respective nations?
The garb of independence very subtly hides the wolf of Pan-Islamic expansion. It is about time, we call the separatists’ bluff. Let them show their representative strength first and then claim to be the true representatives of people and torch bearers of the sponsored freedom struggle. While genuine grievances of the people of all the regions of the state should be addressed to, terrorism and its traders should be sternly dealt with for they are no better than ordinary criminals.
Thus is the layman’s guide to genesis and issue of independence in Kashmir.

Kashmiri Leela Poet ...Krishanjoo Razdan in the context of theories of Indian Poetics

2007-01-17T22:22:00.000-08:00

Oral tradition is the cornerstone of our cultural mosaic. It is because of oral tradition that we managed to preserve whatever we have of Vedas, Puranas, the great epics and to a large extent –history. One sometimes wonders how our ancestors through the generations could remember what could possibly run into reams of paper if written down. It is then that one realizes that had not our literary works been written in poetic-lyrical or verse form all this knowledge would have been lost to us. The role of poetry can simply be understood by the mere recitation of a simple mantra which our ancestors believed had miraculous powers. The vakh (uttered or spoken word) was thus worshipped as a goddess. Therefore the role of a poet in our society is quite different from the utopian concept of Plato where there is no place for a poet. Poets in our society always had an exalted status and thus responsibility and were not mere writers of literary pieces.

In this paper we would attempt to look at Krishanjoo’s poetry in the context of various theories of Indian poetics. The idea would be to expose the present audience to the variety of bhavas, rasa and alanakras in Krishanjoo’s poetry.We would also look at the completeness of his poetry from the standpoint of a student of Indian poetry.

Rasa roughly translated as ”Emotive aesthetics” is one of the most important concepts in classical Indian poetics. Bharata in his monumental work on Indian drama ”Natyashastra” mentions 8 bhavas leading to 8 corresponding rasas.In his Rasa-sutra Bharata says

Vibhav Anubhaava Vyabichari;
Samyogat Rasa Nishapattih

Vibhav is the emotive situation,Anubhaav is the physical change due to Vibhav while Vyabhichari is the transient emotion. The coming together of vibhav, anubhav and vyabhichari leads to Rasa.
In the context of Krishanjoo’s poetry the following are the prominent bhavas leads to corresponding rasas:
1.Rati(Love) leading to Shringar(Erotic) Ras
2.Shoka(Sorrow) leading to Karuna(Pathos) Ras
3.The third bhava which is seen in some of his poems is the Krodh(Anger) leading to Raudra(furious) ras.

Rati:
Lale-yi manz bag-e-bagas posh charan chas
Zan Yamberzal bombaras kyuth mushke haran chas.

The longing of the poet as a beloved waiting for her lover clearly reflects rati as a bhav and shringar as a ras.Such couplets make us wonder what Krishanjoo could have been had he opted to write romantic poetry instead of spiritual poetry.The different layers of emotions in a single couplet makes one see the emotive aspect of his poetry which is the central theme of rasa theory.

Shoka:
Zyooth Manzilah kod mae yakhbar;path phernas chum ne vaar
Vate paet chum kale shahmar,Aar yeenay Shumbo

On the path to spirituality (or attainment of oneness) the dilemma of the poet is but evident. The poet surely knows the pit of ignorance that he would fall into if he turns back and thus he pleads to his deity to come to his rescue. The sorrow of the poet (Shoka) is clearly visible through his verse and the pathos surfaces the way the poet pleads to his deity.

The emotional quotient in Krishanjoo’s poems is a definite opium for the connoisseurs of poetry especially the ones who are inclined in Gnostic aspects of poetry. But that apart, his poems convey meanings beyond words. The literal medium is just a precursor to the metaphorical and metaphysical aspect that it covers. The poetry is clearly woven in various layers and words remain no more than a medium and sometimes a source of embellishment.

Anandvardhana’s Dhyanaloka suggests that apart from literal and metaphorical meanings, a real work of art needs to possess the power of suggestion and thus should be able to convey various meanings. Simply put it should stimulate the imagination of the reader.

Anne ghate chaez phoj sangarmalo
Vyothe lalo yoge naendray
Gaashe-taruk gaah pave bale balo
Prakashe chane seet prazzalan aav
Doore-vyoth poore kin pyaeth panchalo
Vyoth nandlalo yoge naendray

The cited verses could convey different meanings to different readers.
For the lover of nature the picture is just perfect ..the sun is rising …the morning star shines on the firmament
For the spiritualist the hour of awakening has come
For the mother it is the time to wake up her son
For the despondent it is hope

Abhinagupta the philosophical genius goes a step further and says the two theories complement each other and thus arrives the theory of Rasa-Dhyani. According to him the aim of Kavya is to give pleasure but pleasure must not bind body to the soul. Wilful suspension of disbelief is a pre-requiste for enjoying any form of art. The poet should inspire the reader to free himself from the worldly connection and experience the supernatural aspect of poetry which has nothing to do with mundane concerns.

Damee dyothum nab nathenonuy,dame poorith obruk thaan
Damee dyothum aane gaate ratas,Damee Chandram gaah travaan

It is in these and many other verses like these that Krishanjoo manages to transport his readers to a different plane of emotions and into willful suspension of disbelief. The reader forgets the transitory physical world around him and ascends on to a spiritual plane where experiences are quite different and surely if one would say “out of this world”.

Krishanjoo was a wordsmith par excellence. He embellished his poems with the use of various Alamkras.It is widely known that when Krishanjoo started writing Pramanand was already an established Leela poet.It is however the diction and the manner in which Krishanjoo choose to write that he out did Parmanand.The use of metaphors and similes lent a special aura of poetic and lyrical authority to his poems. He mostly used common mans’ language and phrases, his rustic lifestyle, his pain and agony, his concerns as embellishment.

Vyozul buth gos yuth aesi naras,zine ambaras hachenas reh
Kroodh mwokh gos yuth kale-samharas,mane kine dharaneyi dharas dhyan

It is through verses like these that he connected to the common man. The use of words like Zine –haet and vozul buth affirms what has been said above. It is this quality of Krishanjoo which confirms what Bahamaha said about poetry”Sabadartho sahitam Kavyam”poetry is that in which word and meaning co-exist.

Noise

2007-01-16T01:26:00.000-08:00

“the noise in the ….gods house stared at me..
what was however said…
I could never hear….”

Anarchy

2007-01-15T22:27:00.000-08:00

“Embrace anarchy….
For who knows…..the order of day….
Lasts how long!”

Sati

2007-01-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

“The sand on the river bank …
Much like the bygones of my futile existence
waits for the last wave before the night…..
like the vermillion of the sati consummated by the fire
bears the look of the temple priest who had a nymph to sleep with…..”

Heavenly Grave

2007-01-15T02:55:00.000-08:00

“To the gates of heaven….the road lay ….thorn adorned
for god’s promised land….the mortals lived meaninglessly
baited and bored …tired and wounded

for the promised land ..
toiled till existence ceased and god passed away..
we walked the extra step for his burial too
the gates lay ajar…the heaven ..but a grave”

Eternal Ignorance

2007-01-08T06:54:00.000-08:00

“the walk to the park..of the dead
reminisces of the alive…who will die one day
not having known …
why the dead are dead …and why the living exist….”

Him and Me

2007-01-06T04:54:00.001-08:00

The light of the candle and maybe the wick arose,
Deep down oceans did the vermilion froze
Sleep of the ages and the slumber of the night
Did the ice break or the seas cease to be;

Isn't it the light that's not to be
Did I wake up to light of thee
Did my eyes see what they had to see
Am I blind wondering who is he;

I begin to rain and I am me
I think of thee and I am thee
Who then is thy if not me!
Did I see thy or was it me….
Was the light him or was it me…
Did we coalesce! that's him and me…