tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58023088172874348392024-02-07T16:01:23.435-08:00Ephemeral ExistenceNAQSH-e-FARYADI HAIN KIS KE SHAUQ-e-TAHREER KA;KAAGZEE HAIN PAIRAHAN HAR PAIKARE TASVEER KARashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-87995175905514427672017-09-28T21:57:00.000-07:002017-09-28T21:57:59.948-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Shadow of an Illusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It
was dark already. A long journey had led them here. The room was cozy and
welcoming though it was bare and bereft of any luxuries of modern life. They
sat on their wooden cots. It was cold
outside and it seemed like snow was about to fall. The candle at the corner of
the room burnt dim and it seemed not to bother them too much. They had done dozens
of such journeys together. It was almost a fetish with them to travel to ends
of the world, no matter how desolate the destinations were. The more isolated
the destination the more determined they were to travel. Maheshwar was one such
place, far away from civilization and its banes. It had no electricity, no
running water and there was no question of internet or television.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">How
peaceful is it here remarked Kaya. Peace is in our souls, no place can be
peaceful if our soul is not at peace retorted Maya. Kaya pulled out her Old
Monk bottle and drank straight from it. She made a face as she downed the dark
colored alcohol. No sooner than she gulped the liquid she held the bottle in
her hand and proclaimed, Peace is Here! She opened the heavy wooden window of
the room, extended her hand out of the window as if she wanted to fetch
something.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Kaya,
can you please close that window; it is getting cold in here. That woke Kaya
out of her little reverie. In such places she always thought of things that she
knew could never be accomplished by infallible human beings. She wanted to know
how this universe was created. Who could have created so many celestial bodies
and hung them in vacuum. She wanted to know if at all the creation was a secret
or just a series of concomitant activities that just happened without any
purpose. There were millions of questions she wanted answers to. Simply put she
wanted to have a conversation with the creator of this universe about whom she
was terribly unsure of. At times she thought of him as the most creative genius
who created this colorful and breathing universe, yet there were times when she
saw in him a feudal lord who like a dictator controlled every single activity,
no matter how insignificant and destiny of every single inhabitant on this planet
and elsewhere too if at all life existed elsewhere. She often had a grouse with
God that he had created a violent world that was unjust, cruel and never at
peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">She
closed the window and looked at Maya. Maya like her name was mythical, from
being an unbeliever (she preferred the word rational) she had come about to
being a complete theist, the praying types as her sister would say. She had
always lived her life in dreams. That’s because she spent most of her free time
either reading or sleeping. She lived a lazy life, let us call it easy going,
had very few needs and hardly ever felt a need to fulfill even them. A few
years back no one could have even hazarded a guess that one day Maya would be a
complete believer; one who would spend hours in meditation and prayer. Even in
this state she had little empathy for fellow human beings. It is a fruit of
their Karma that they are suffering she would often quote verses from the Gita
to support her edict. It was a complete turnaround for someone who would only a
few years back say that Dashavatar was a myth, an illusion, a Maya like me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Maheshwar
was indeed beautiful. It had timeless pine trees reaching out to azure blue
skies. You could see the entire Milky Way in the night. But the best part was
it had no road coming into it. One had to walk a good five kilometers to get to
this village of about a hundred odd people. A small glacial brook, the only
source of water for the village flowed near Jamadhar Bisht’s house, the one where
they lived as paid guests.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So,
where was I? Maya….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Kaya,
you were looking for your usual answers. You see, the way you are today, you
are never going to get anywhere close to getting your answers. These are
secrets which only those who delve deep into themselves know. They are like
pearls hidden deep in the ocean. You are seeking answers to the deepest mysteries
my dear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And
you believe you know the answers to all these mysteries?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">No
I don’t. I accept I don’t. But I know if we delve deep into our selves we will
reach a stage where there will be no need to answer these questions. Reflection
alone will be enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And
what will be this reflection of yours like, Kaya said with a tinge of sarcasm
in her voice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Each
one will have her own reflection Maya answered rather sagely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Are
you therefore saying that my reflection of the universe will be different from
your reflection of the universe? So your God’s universe is different for
different people. Doesn’t that sound a little awkward considering we are
looking at a physical entity?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">You
are right. You will see the universe as your own reflection and I will see it
as mine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Ah
that’s not too bad. Your present reflection will be the boring you, who neither
drinks, nor smokes is even afraid of casual flirting. Your stars will be dull
and your galaxies will be moronic but mine- baby, they will be rocking. The
stars will be drunk and the galaxies will be smoking. The Andromeda could even
be biting into a piece of mutton you see. She laughed and her sister too
laughed. She lit her favorite Gold Flake and began to sing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Main Zindagi ka saath nibhata
chala gaya</span></i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Both
were fond of music, they were terrible singers though. The sisters began to
sing loudly. There was a knock on the door. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Madam the food is ready. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Kaya
used to wake up early. She loved the mornings for their freshness and whenever
she came to the mountains she would make sure she sees the sun rise. She would
invariably find a place or a point on the hill tops from where she could
clearly see the sun rise. This day was no different. She was walking up to a
small precipice when she heard Maya shouting her name and asking her to wait
for her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">They
sat on a large stone looking in the direction of the sun. A strange stillness
had filled the environment around them. Maya sat with her eyes closed
concentrating on her breathing, Kaya with her eyes open kept concentrating on
the color of the sky in the east. Mild ochre appeared on the horizon and began
to expand. Kaya jolted her sister and said see, the sun is rising. In an
instant the redness spread across the breadth of the Mahadev mountain range. As
if on cue Maya started reciting <i>“Yeh
sindoor parag punj pihetaam…….”</i> Both sisters had memorized these verses
from Panchastavi-the pentad of hymns in praise of mother goddess. The two
coalesced in these verses. Panchastavi united the two sisters. Kaya was an
absolute Mother Godist. She believed in all the mother goddesses and saw a lot
of them as her own mother, at least two in particular. Of late she had grown
extremely fond of one of them. They recited the verses from there on. A tearful
recitation it was. Meanwhile they had forgotten all about the sunrise. A red
ball was filling their respective reflected universes with light of whichever
kind they were reflecting on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It
is not that I do not believe in the splendor of this cosmos or its creator. I
marvel at each of her creations. I am in absolute awe of the millions of
galaxies, billions of creatures and myriad forms that the creator has brought
forth into physical forms. When I think of it I wonder what keeps all this in
order and what gravitational pulls and pushes would it need to keep a limitless
universe from collapsing. And here we stand seeing the sun rise in its
magnificent glory day after day, every day without fail. This is a wonder, no
doubt, a miracle greater than any other, undoubtedly. A million more suns would
be rising and setting in millions of solar systems not just in our galaxy but
galaxies across the universe about which even Stephen Hawkins knows little. Our
own planet, but a speck of dust in the universe has so much pulsation and life
and here too we know little. Look at you, the Maya of her dreams, you mythical
creature sitting silently listening to my monologue. I know what you think of
me. You think Kaya is walking the wrong street, standing in an inverted queue,
a loud thinking idiot. Maya still did not say a word. She adjusted her
spectacles to get a better view of the valley below. Let us go down and a have
a cup of tea she finally broke her silence. I am not going anywhere Maya, you
go down. I will sit for some more time. The sleet was melting. Maya walked down
carefully, leaving Kaya to contemplate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It
was almost mid day when Kaya came back to her room. Maya was sleeping
blissfully her fingers ensconced in her book. It was almost a routine for her
to fall asleep like this. She would often say, I can sleep while standing in a
Metro train. There was no duality in her thought. She did not want to deal with
this world at all so she kept ignoring it all the time. She had created her own
universe on her own canvass. She did not seek answers to any of the questions
that her sister had. They did not seem to bother her at all. She lived, rather
slept peacefully on the canvas of her universe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Jamadhar’s
wife was busy in the kitchen. A middle aged jovial looking woman Saswati had
been married to Jamadhar when she barely eleven. Can I ask for some breakfast,
Kaya meekly enquired of Saswati. Yes please come in. I have made paranthas for
you. Saswati put the pan on the hearth and began adding Ghee to the paranthas.
The aroma of carom seeds filled the kitchen. She wanted to wake up her sister
but knowing how much Maya loved her sleep, she ate her breakfast alone. She
felt a little sad eating alone. She always wanted someone to be around no matter
what she did. Other people’s company and approval meant a lot to her; possibly
so much that she could never live the life she wanted to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">She
went to her room. Maya was in sleeping like a baby. The book had slipped from
her fingers and was lying on the floor. The beautiful book mark with Persian
calligraphy was on the floor too. Maya was an adept with languages. She picked
them naturally. Her inclination towards learning was immense and she had
voracious appetite for knowledge. Kaya sat on her cot leaning a little backwards
to the wall. She was reading Primo Levy’s book on Jewish Holocuast. She read a
little and kept the book away. She started humming…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Dhoop main niklo ghataon main
naha kar dekho<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Zindagi kya hain kitabo ko hata
kar dekho<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">She
was a walking encyclopedia of Urdu poetry though she could hardly read a grade
5 Urdu textbook. It was all in her mind. She had memorized so many poems and
couplets of Urdu poets that she could quote at will. She had Ghalib,Majaz and
Allama Iqbal almost adlib. She walked out of her room aimlessly and lost
herself in the mountains. She must not have gone too far when she saw a young
girl, with her cows in the forest. The girl’s face looked familiar although
Kaya had never been to this place before. The girl was humming a local folk
song and kept attending to her cows. Kaya kept wondering whether she had seen
the girl before or if she knew someone who looked like this girl.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A
carpenter by the name Ramdin would be a regular visitor to their house in
Kolkatta. Even for small jobs like fixing a nail he would be called for. One
day when they had to get a new book rack made they rang Ramdin up. There was no
answer. They made umpteen calls to Ramdin and yet there was no answer. It was
very uncharacteristic of Ramdin not to answer calls. They were worried a little
but thought, maybe he has gone to his village or maybe his phone number has
changed. A fortnight later the doorbell rang. It was Ramdin. He looked
disheveled and many years older than his age. I am very sorry I did not answer
your calls. They asked him to come in. He kept apologizing and was weeping
inconsolably. Saheb my daughter is lost. I have registered an FIR with the
Police but so far they haven’t been able to do anything about it. I have met
all the local politicians and women’s organizations but to no avail. There
wasn’t much they could have done to help him. The feeling of helplessness had
taken over their entire family but left Kaya particularly devastated. She was
thinking about Pragya, Ramdin’s daughter all the time. She would call Ramdin
every day and even spent time with his family. It was here that she came face
to face with what it means to be poor and helpless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">One
day when she was returning from work she got a call from Ramdin. We have found
Pragya. She stopped her car and started crying. After collecting herself a
little she drove straight to the slums where Ramdin lived. Pragya the child had
been lost forever. She hugged the Pragya they had found in the farmhouse of a
powerful politician. There was nothing to be said. No words would suffice for
the agony of the little girl who was picked up from the street.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Oh
you are sitting here, don’t you want some lunch? It took me sometime finding
you, you seeker of truth, Maya was being playful. Doesn’t this girl look like
Pragya? Maya knew something was coming. She remembered how distressed her
sister was for months after that incident had happened. While Maya was always
at ease answering Kaya’s spiritual questions it was questions about suffering
and pain that she found difficult to answer. Maya looked at the girl grazing
her cows. She wanted to avoid the conversation that was about to begin. Kaya’s
eyes were already brimming with tears.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">What
wrong had she done? What did she do to be abused in this way? Is this the law
of Karma? Isn’t God supposed to be Rahim and Rehman? Even if she had done
something terrible in her previous life could he not have pardoned her and
stopped a series of another sins from happening? Every moment I think of her I
feel as if I am being raped over and over again in the most brutal fashion. There
are thousands like her, there always have been. Throughout history women, oh
wait a minute, why just women, men too have been subjected to brutality that is
indescribable. The sheer helplessness of one individual or a group as against
another is so recurring a theme that is almost a norm in God’s universe, at
least this planet. Maya knew this phase of hers. She did not even attempt to
calm her sister down. They have had these conversations before. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">You
see it is not important whether I know the meaning of this Sutra or that one.
It is not that I disregard them or underestimate their power. I may not be a realized
soul but I know what it means to be one. Honestly I don’t care what about this
scripture says or what that book says. The truth unfortunately is despite
Buddha walking this earth we have had no peace. The world has suffered chronic
wars and all the debasement and depravity that come with a war. Strange that
even Muhammed who held the promise of an egalitarian society to the feuding
Arabs did not abolish slavery. Even as we sit in this beautiful forest hundreds
of Yazidi girls, some young as ten are sex slaves to fellow human beings who
believe that are accomplishing a religious duty by having sex with infidels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This
whole universe is the body of the supreme power, Kaya. The manifestation is an
objective state of the consciousness. So there is no <i>other </i>here. The oppressor and the oppressed is the same. You are a
follower of Kabir, who would know it better than you. Don’t you keeping humming
<i>Tu Ka Tu</i> all day. You see all this
pain and suffering around you because you see the world as duality. The moment
you start seeing yourself as one with the creator this pain and suffering would
seem ephemeral and fleeting, actually even ephemeral also is incorrect. The
happenings around would seem like you are seeing a theatre or a movie. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Are
you saying that the pain that Pragya suffered wasn’t real? Maya, Is the
suffering of all these people akin to the people acting out their parts in a
theatre? Now that is not fair. I think you are being an apologist for the
creator. The pain of losing someone, of being exiled, of being humiliated is
real and there can be no explanation for it. Gross injustice has and continues
to happen in the real World which could be eternal and that worries me more
than if it would have been ephemeral.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Yes
there is pain and it is real. Real like this tree, like you and me. If there
would have been no pain Siddhartha would have not become Buddha. But what
thereafter? An enlightened person understands that trials and tribulations will
happen and pain is inevitable. That’s being Buddha. Why I cannot answer, but
suffering will always be there. Your anguish and the questions arising from
them are all correct. Anyone who lives a life deeper and more meaningful is
bound to ask them. The adepts say being affected by suffering and seeking
answers to it is also pursuit of God. In a way you are walking the path that
Buddha did. But did Buddha’s enlightenment end suffering? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Transcend
the <i>tattvas</i> and you will see yourself
as the creator. Then in that universe you will have what you want. There will
no fear of tomorrow and no regrets of past. Your will, will decide what it will
be like. I am afraid you still haven’t invested enough in your questions.
Think, contemplate and reflect more on them and you will need no Omar Khayam to
answer them. You yourself will be the Shams Tabriz and you will be the Rumi too.
The scriptures though important are guides like the Master but it is you who is
the light. The power of consciousness is inside you, awaken it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Now
if you will please can we eat. I am dying of hunger Miss Virginia Woolf. In her
growing years Kaya was greatly influenced by Virginia Woolf so much so that her
friends often called her Miss Woolf. They held hands and started walking back
to habitation. They recalled their days at school and how one boy Vimarsh tried
to woo both the sisters. If at that time I knew what Vimarsh meant I would have
gone with guy, I quite liked him. Maya was the boy among the two girls. As a
young girl she was flirtatious and free unlike her elder sister who was
tentative and bound by tradition. Even today she was the one who was unbound
and free. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That
evening as the sun was setting the two walked up again to the precipice. Both
closed their eyes and reflected. A soulful Kaya sang<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Roshan Jammal-e-Yaar se hain
anjuman tamam<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Dehka hua hain aatish-e-gul se
chaman tamam<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-43274599826407176262015-08-17T01:31:00.001-07:002015-08-17T01:31:44.026-07:00Samad Mir's "Tarawatiy"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<strong>A Kashmiri Muslim poet's devotional hymn to Goddess Tara</strong><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">On a lazy
Sunday we were tuned into Radio Sharda(a community radio of Kashmiri
Pandits).Moti Lal Kemmu’s (a renowned scholar and an expert on Folk Theatre of
Kashmir) interview was being broadcast . The interview was interspersed with
requests of songs by Mr.Kemmu. He requested for Samad Mir’s poem “Praran praran
Tarawatiye”.It was sung by Ama Kandur in Chakri(Kashmiri folk music) style.
Though I had read many of Samad Mir’s poems I hadn’t heard of this one till then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The poem
describes Goddess Tara, her iconography and her attributes. I have heard from
some people that Samad Mir’s Tarawati is a Kashmiri Pandit woman (who he might
have seen or known) which is erroneous as we will soon discover. While he has
contextualized the deity in Kashmiri environs yet the description is essentially
of the one who he describes as the “Goddess who emerged victorious in Bengal”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Goddess Tara
(one of the Dash-Mahavidhyas) is primarily a Hindu Goddess who later manifests
in Buddhist iconography as well, but the Goddess described by our poet is the
one as she is described and worshipped in the Hindu pantheon. To be more precise
the description matches the idol of the Goddess at the shrine of Tarapitha (in
Bengal).The worship of Goddess Tara is not unknown to Kashmiris. Even today there
are atleast two villages in South Kashmir which owe its origin to this Goddess-
The village of Tarigom near Kulgam(which now has no traces of any temple) and
the village of Taragom near Qazigund(which has a living temple of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>considerable antiquity considering the stone
sculptures and a spring dedicated to the deity).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I attempt to
translate the poem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Praran praaran tarawatiyay,aitay nazaar traav <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Kharran poozaye jhafer phateye*,aitay nazaar traav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">For long
have I sought thee, Reveal thy true self to me O! Tarawati, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Caskets of
marigolds will I entreat you with, Reveal thy true self to me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">*The sculpture
of Goddess (at the Tarapitha Shrine) is adorned with garlands of marigold
flowers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Durdaane lab lal yim chey vatheye,khande seet maey vaseraav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Tim chey chamkaan aadam raateye,aitay nazaar trav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Your parted
pearl like lips, glowing red with human blood*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Deter me not
with that mirage (of external manifestation), Reveal thy true self to me <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(* In
Mundmala Tantra,Goddess is described as consuming human as well as animal blood.
She is said to be fonder of human blood, which is always on her lips. This has
esoteric meaning and should not be fallaciously understood by its literal
meaning.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Kamane abrunis alifiy khateye,zamaney maey katraav*<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Yim Chasme siya chey aafatey, aitay nazaar trav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Eyebrows
like arrows on a bow, dark eyes symbolizing annihilation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">With
scissors of spiritual transcendence, Reveal thy true self to me <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(* The
goddess carries scissors in one of her hands with which she cuts the weed of
desire and propels her devotees on the path of transcendence)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Yim naeze acharvalav maey ditey,tim doptham vateraav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Bhi mare korthas che taem bharketey, aitay nazaar trav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Piercing, your
eyelashes, that as boon you bestowed (on me)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Freed me
from the bondage of death, Reveal thy true self to me<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Aath dare paeth chakh shubaan latiye,paanas kareth paeraav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Kripaye aes aaye aavbhagatay, aitay nazaar trav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Resplendent,
in your beauty, Adorable, you sit by the window <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We beseech your
divine grace, Reveal thy true self to me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Mahtaab royas kareth chaaye gateye,aftaab mandechith draav*<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Sadaye vodunay prazlaan sitare phateye,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>aitay nazaar trav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Circumambulating
your moonlike radiant face, dwarfed and disgraced felt the sun <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A galaxy
lies strewn on your tippet, Reveal thy true self to me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(*In
Buddhist iconography the Goddess sits in the orb of the moon with sun forming
the exterior orb. This verse could be a reference to that)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Daeke tike chyon di lach laal pateye,taakaene haej maey thaav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Zulfan Tal chay noorich bateye, aitay nazaar trav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Thy orb (ajna
chakra) is a million rubies,O hide it not(under your headgear)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beneath the darkness (of your black hair)
shines gnosis, Reveal thy true self to me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Kad chyon shamshad Tan sheeshe dateye,seemab tatey mandechaav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Seene aayenay naare pistaan rateye*, aitay nazaar traav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Intense you
are, glowing brighter than mercury<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Smeared with
blood, breasts shining (like fire), Reveal thy true self to me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">*Since her
lips are open (as mentioned in the second verse-<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lab chey vatheye</i>) blood keeps oozing out and after falling on her
breasts it resembles fire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Tot aaye aashiq naendere hateye*,Kate chak te kya chuy naav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Sandere tyake chane chanderaymateye, aitay nazaar traav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Bereft of
sleep, your devotees seek (you), bewildered and mesmerized<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In rapture,
by the grace of vermillion (on your forehead), Reveal thy true self to me <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">*The
opportune time to invoke the blessings of the Goddess is between midnight and
breaking of dawn, which explains why devotees are bereft of sleep (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">naendere hateye)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Yim Chah Afsoone Saaz aaye paatiye,Bengaale
zyunuth daav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Yim naeze kaem jodugaaran ditiye,
aitay nazaar traav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">You
the embodiment of art, who reigns over Bengal<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">What
hath gave thy absolute wisdom,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Reveal
thy true self to me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In
the concluding two verses the poet teaches us about the means with which one
can realize the Goddess<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Saat paaev haer khas pateye
pateye,lagecth che daentuv khraav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Zoone dabe baethek nich
bhagwateye*, aitay nazaar traav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Rise
through the seven chakras of Kundlani, purified like ivory<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Awakened,
you will realize the Goddess, Delve into thyself <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">*There
are seven ladders in awakening (Jagriti) of self. It is called the rise of
Kundalini.He/She who reaches the highest ladder(Sahasrar Chakra) is considered
the realized one and the one who sits (metaphorically) near his/her deity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Yehlok manz kar kar
adityae,Parlok manz parkhaav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Nish Samad Miras haech zagratye,
aitay nazaar traav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Perfect
this art here, triumphant will you emerge there<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 12pt 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">From
Samad Mir, learn the art of awakening (the kundalini), Delve into thyself </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-74367400076598888692015-07-21T00:44:00.001-07:002015-07-21T00:44:53.049-07:00Faqirey-Ahad Zargar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I asked His
Holiness,Swamiji,Is it possible that a saint can fall to temptation or desire?
A true saint has reached a stage where desire and temptation stays away from
him or her. It becomes his/her second nature to be bereft of desire so the
question of falling to a temptation doesn’t arise. I am not very sure if I have
written it as well as he explained it to me but I had got my answer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">For many
days I was trying to comprehend the meaning of the verse,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqiriy beem ros tamahas karaan laar<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Now that I
had “understood” (or so I believe) the meaning, I am making an attempt to
translate the poem from which the verse is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This verse
is from a poem titled Faqiri (The state of being a Mendicant or The Mendicant
himself) by the great Kashmiri Saint poet Abdul Ahad Zargar. Ahad Zargar
describes his preceptor or his qualities in this poem. I am drawn to conclude
that he mentions Faqirey (The Mendicant) and not Faqiri (the state of being a
mendicant) because he would often refer to his Murshid or Guru as Faqir.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey tabavun aftaab chumay,Faqirey Kabavuy mehraab chumay<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey Jabajanh shah dhuthumay, Faqirey Kabavuy mehraab chumay<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That mendicant,
like blazing sun; is my guide to the house of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Omniscient</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> that King, I see; is my guide to the house
of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey misli gulshan aav folfol,Faqirey rang rang jaame vael vael<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey vasle sheshan aaseluluy moy, Faqirey Kabavuy mehraab
chumay<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That mendicant,
like a blossoming garden; in colorful attires<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">He, the wine
of truth in the carafe of unity; is my guide to the house of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey darde poshan mushqi ambaar;Faqirey girde goshan manz chu
zevar<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey karde roshan ssat samay; Faqirey Kabavuy mehraab chumay<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That mendicant,
like copious fragrance of flowers in pain (seeker); iridescent jewels in ears<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Effulgent at
all times; is my guide to the house of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey Ailaman chum alime dafter;Faqirey Taleban chum taaj barsar<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey Aemilan,aamale namay; Faqirey Kabavuy mehraab chumay<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That mendicant,
the repository of knowledge for learned; zenith of gnosis for the seeker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Song of
piety for the virtuous; is my guide to the house of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey peshwaye ganje asrar;Faqirey rehnumaye lole darbar<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey badshahay lohe kalmey; Faqirey Kabavuy mehraab chumay<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That mendicant,
the keeper of the secret treasure, leader in the court of love<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The king who
writes our destiny; is my guide to the house of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey Sahibay asrare abrar;Faqirey beem ros tamahas karaan laar<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey Meeman don manz chum kalimay</span></i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">;<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Faqirey Kabavuy mehraab chumay<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That mendicant,
possessor of secrets and devout; who effortlessly keeps desire away<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Kalima(Faith)
between two Meem’s(Nastaliq alphabets); is my guide to the house of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey “hu” vuchum azha naebar draav;Faqirey rooh baneth myanes
mares chaav<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey Noah nabee yaeth naavee chumay; Faqirey Kabavuy mehraab
chumay<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That mendicant,
as “hu” I saw exhale; entered my mortal body as soul<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">He, the Noah
of my boat; is my guide to the house of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey os faqirey roze baaki;Faqirey chum divan mas hamche saqi<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey name maula jaame jaamay, Faqirey Kabavuy mehraab chumay<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That mendicant,
eternal, will and shall remain; he who intoxicates me and the wine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Whose name
is the wine of the mystic, is my guide to the house of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey Ahad Zargar chuy che darbar;Faqirey jalwe maaran andere
naebar<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faqirey Lalenavantan rumay rumay; Faqirey Kabavuy mehraab chumay<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That mendicant,
who is resplendent in both worlds’; resides in my every breath,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Outside
whose door I(Ahad Zargar) await, is my guide to the house of God</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-26482804767641367782013-12-18T21:35:00.000-08:002013-12-19T00:43:44.085-08:00Huma Asli Maheshwar Bood by Ali Mardan Khan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-4oIK6WF3pHXq16AYLv93QnzOVjxYyxNbqAGHy3d35kVtUvzYd5m5UZGZNpp0z6LQfqNB9X9eaqzbbMm2icKT3gBQqXBVCjuF2OVl319yTl3LuNNo4kSKsACw7H7SiRo8qll5qbId4ILB/s1600/36-elements.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-4oIK6WF3pHXq16AYLv93QnzOVjxYyxNbqAGHy3d35kVtUvzYd5m5UZGZNpp0z6LQfqNB9X9eaqzbbMm2icKT3gBQqXBVCjuF2OVl319yTl3LuNNo4kSKsACw7H7SiRo8qll5qbId4ILB/s320/36-elements.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The collage painting by Claudia Dose represents the 36 tatvaas of Kashmir Saivism. One can clearly see the influence of the great Kashmiri Master of Neo-tantric art Ghulam Rasool Santosh.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Not
many people in Kashmir would have known the name, Ali Mardan Khan, had it not
been for the small area in downtown Srinagar that is named after this Afghan
Governor. Despite this he would have remained a name in the books of history
like many others rulers but for the verses that immortalized him in Kashmiri
Folklore, despite him not being a Kashmiri. The verses were written at a time
which was clearly our dark ages. It was forbidden for non Muslims (read Hindus)
to read their scriptures or practice their religion openly. I am not sure if it
is entirely true but it is widely believed that the Hindus were ordered not to
recite Sanskrit verses thus forcing them to make Persian as their language of
connect to their deities. Whatever may be the historical accuracy of this
“order”, to this day we recite Bhakti verses in Persian and there is one in
particular which I remember and goes something like this:</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Chakreshwari Hajat rawa,Sajath gada ra
padshah<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Vaah Vaah chi Lakshmi Thapna,shree sharika
devi nama<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That
Goddess Chakreshwari, who can turn a beggar into a king</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">She
who listens to our prayers and answers them</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I
salute, thee, Seat of Lakshmi, who incarnates in the form of Sharika (in
Kashmir) </span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To
cut a long story short, one evening Ali Mardan had a vision which took the shape
of a beautiful Persian Devotional Poem .Most of us keep rendering them at
religious and social festivals with fervor & devotion. Thanks to the oral
tradition that has helped carry this poem in its totality to us. It also is a
commonplace in most of our Leela* renditions. I am using the version published
in Sahaj Kosam (compiled by Moti Lal Saqi) for Mast Bab Ashram. It is slightly
different from the version (the last verse differs) that comes down to us via
the oral route .I make an attempt to transliterate the verses.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Huma Asli Maheshwar Bhood,Shab Shahi ki Man
Deedam<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ghazanfar Charma-e-barbood,Shab Shahi Ki Man
Deedam.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It
was Shiva, the real God, the King I saw that night</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Adorned
was his body with Lion Skin, the King I saw that night</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ze<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Basmash Jam-e-bar-tan,Zunar-ish mar-e-bar garden<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ravanish Gang-e-bar sarbood,Shab Shahi…….<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Besmeared
with ash, Instead of the scared thread a snake coiled around his neck</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Un
ebbed flow the Ganga from his locks, the King I saw that night</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sah Chashmash bar-jabee-daarad,Zi mahro
maaha roshan tar<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Se Karan Daste-Bastah Bood,Shab Shahi…….**<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Brighter
than sun and moon, shone his three eyes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In
Salutations to him stood Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva (the 3 causes of the
universe), the King……….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">**This
verse needs a little explanation, the three reasons though commonly understood
as Shiva,Vishnu and Mahesh are seen in a different way by the Saivities of
Kashmir. The Will (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Iccha Shakti</i> of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Citi</i>-Supreme Consciousness) in itself
has the triple process of manifesting, maintaining and dissolving the universe.
So the three reasons could also be understood as attainment of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Swantraya </i>(Freedom from Bondage of
Ignorance) </span></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Be Dastash AAb-e-Kaunsar,Ve bekh Nakoosay
Nilofar<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hilalash Taj Bar Sar Bood,Shab Shahi…….<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With
a conch of Lotus Shoot in one hand and the pitcher of nectar in another</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
Crescent Moon embellished his forehead, the King……….……</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Uma az soi-chip-binger, Zi Sad Khursheed
Taban-tar<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Savare Kulb-e-nar bood,Shab Shahi…….<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Uma
on his left, effulgent, like a thousand suns</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Beseated
on Nandi, I saw the king that night……</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ajab Sanyasa deedam,Namo Narayanay Guftam<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Be Khakhay Paye Bosidam,Shab Shahi….<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Wonderstruck
I said Namo Narayan, incredible sage he was </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In
reverence, I bowed to touch the specks of dust at his feet, the King……….</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nighahay bar mane Miskeen,Namud-e-az- chasme
taaban-tar<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Makanash La maaken tar bood,Shab Shahi……<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With
his divine grace <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Anugraha)</i> ,he
showered his radiance </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Immersed
me in the universe of consciousness, the King……….</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Manam Mardan Ali
Khanam,Ghulam-e-Shahe-Shahanam<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ajab Israr Main Beenam,Shab Shahi…….<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I
Ali Mardan Khan who is the servant of the king of the kings</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Is
witness to a mystic experience, the King……….</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another
version of the last verse is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Manam Mardan
Musalmanam,Ali Khanam Namee Dhanam,</i>which means</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I Ali Mardan a devout Muslim , who owes every
breath to Ali (the Caliph).</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This
poem is also a reiteration of the Kashmiri Saivate standpoint of the world
being real as against the Vedantic concept of it being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Maya </i>(unreal).That the poet’s vision is not of a formless deity but
one that he describes in great detail with its physical attributes and
iconography reinforces the Kashmiri Saiva thought of the creation being real
when <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Unmesh</i> (broadly translated as
opening of eye/thought )happens.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Note:
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would welcome improvements in
translation. Persian is not a language I am well versed with. I thank my friend
Geetika, without her help this translation would not have been possible.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">*Leela is a Kashmiri Devotional Poem.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</div>
Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-48119574497561934172013-06-13T00:42:00.002-07:002013-06-13T00:46:40.444-07:00Landscape of Loss<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
An Audio Documentary produced by three students of Mass Communication, Jamia Millia Islamia.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xeuti29BvU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xeuti29BvU</a><br />
<br /></div>
Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-3341842196263697702012-04-25T21:10:00.000-07:002012-04-25T21:10:29.990-07:00Argument<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The door opened and she walked in. <br />
<br />
<br />
You still don’t bolt your doors. Did you expect me? <br />
<br />
Her eyes had thick kohl linings. Her short cropped hair did not quite go with her dress. The bright flowers on the long lengha looked out of place. Her fetish for leather was evident. Yet another pair of long suede leather shoes and a new Hide-sign bag. Her lips were parched.<br />
<br />
What brings you back? I thought this story had finished. I wasn’t a character in your fantasy anymore.<br />
<br />
You see I am writing a sequel. Will you play along she said flirtingly.<br />
<br />
Why should I?<br />
<br />
She dropped the bag on the floor and undid her shoes. Her feet were fair and fragile. As she walked towards the fridge I could see the arteries of her feet. That lissom, almost cat like movement. You would never know when she would walk in and out of you. The art of walking!<br />
<br />
------------------------------<br />
<br />
Are you a Gemini?<br />
<br />
Yes, why do you ask? <br />
<br />
You got gems in your stride. What May.<br />
<br />
27th, Won’t you ask me the year too?<br />
<br />
I am not interested in your years. Do you have a past?<br />
<br />
I buried it long ago. <br />
<br />
Her hair was long then. She had tied it but only casually. She wore no makeup. In her left hand she held a glass of red wine. A brown tanned leather bag hung over her shoulder.<br />
<br />
Do you drink?<br />
<br />
Why do you ask?<br />
<br />
What, she pursued with her line of questioning.<br />
<br />
Beer.<br />
<br />
How old are you?<br />
<br />
How old do I look?<br />
<br />
Can’t you answer straight?<br />
<br />
Do you smoke?<br />
<br />
Yes but I can’t lend you any. I am out of them.<br />
<br />
Do you want to smoke? <br />
<br />
If you lend me one.<br />
<br />
The air outside was humid. I took out my pack of cigarettes.<br />
<br />
Gold Flake. Is that your brand?<br />
<br />
I smoke what I get. I am not loyal.<br />
<br />
Is that your style?<br />
<br />
No, loyalty isn’t my trait.<br />
<br />
Do you have a light?<br />
<br />
Always....<br />
<br />
What do you do?<br />
<br />
------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
There is nothing in the fridge. She shouted.<br />
<br />
I know.<br />
<br />
Not even your beer.<br />
<br />
I don’t drink anymore.<br />
<br />
Oh you are a chameleon.<br />
<br />
What difference does it make it you?<br />
<br />
Have you sold all your furniture?<br />
<br />
Yes<br />
<br />
Why<br />
<br />
I did not want to live with it .I buried my past. You included. I am at peace now.<br />
<br />
Do you want me to leave?<br />
<br />
You can do what you please. The door is still open.<br />
<br />
How if I say I still love you.<br />
<br />
I didn’t know if she was playing, pretending or being truthful. She sat close to me. The marble floor was glistening under the sunlight. She was in a sleeveless kurta. Her underarms were shaven. I was still not looking at her. I did not want to look at her. She would always emerge a victor in such situations. It was this shame of imminent defeat that I could not summon the courage to meet her eye.<br />
<br />
So you don’t want me anymore.<br />
<br />
The conversation was going nowhere. Her fingers were making small circles on the marble. The sunlight was shadowing the circles.<br />
<br />
Are you seeing someone?<br />
<br />
Do I have to answer you?<br />
<br />
I have come here to give you something.<br />
<br />
I don’t want anything from you.<br />
<br />
It is a book. The one you have been looking for.<br />
<br />
Can you pull that bag?<br />
<br />
She was an adept at wrapping gifts. Sometimes she would take more time and put in more effort in buying the right wrapping paper and ribbon than she would spend in choosing the gift. It was an obsession with her. It isn’t what we give but how we give, my love is the layers of the gift paper she would say. <br />
<br />
She took the book out. It was wrapped in a maroon coloured handmade paper. She handed me the book.<br />
<br />
I kept it aside.<br />
<br />
Don’t you want to see the book?<br />
<br />
I will see it later.<br />
<br />
She came closer to me and took my left hand in her hands. Her hands were bony. Her nails were long and bare. I pulled my hand away.<br />
<br />
The hills are beautiful, aren’t they?<br />
<br />
They were enveloped in the morning mist. We had barely crossed The Timber Trail near Kalka when big drops of rain started hitting our windshield. She started singing , <em>Aaj Mausam bada Beyimaan haan</em> .She put her right hand on my lap.<br />
<br />
Will you look at me please?<br />
<br />
I can either drive or look at you. I can’t do both.<br />
<br />
The weather is pleasant for a kiss.<br />
<br />
The weather is never unpleasant for a kiss.<br />
<br />
Why do you argue so much?<br />
<br />
I love arguing with you.<br />
<br />
She leaned towards me possibly with the intention of kissing me. Suddenly a truck over took us and the driver screamed .<em>Bahut Garmi ho rahi hain to hotel chale jao.</em><br />
<br />
Isn’t that a good idea?<br />
<br />
Yes but we already have a booking at Chail.<br />
<br />
Chail is four hours away. I don’t want to wait that long. Can’t we just check into some hotel on the way? In any case we won’t make much progress with the wet road. <br />
<br />
Do you remember me sometime?<br />
<br />
No I don’t. You have given me no reason to.<br />
<br />
My door bell rang. A small man was at the door.<br />
<br />
Madamji left her phone in the car. It is ringing he said.<br />
<br />
I took the phone from him and he left.<br />
<br />
Your phone. Your husband must be looking for you.<br />
<br />
She took the phone, wore her shoes, picked up the bag and walked out of the door.<br />
<br />
I tore the wrap and started reading, The Mill on the Floss.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-86895728366380339482012-03-11T21:13:00.000-07:002012-03-11T21:15:27.166-07:00FOR THE DOUBTING THOMASES PANUN KASHMIR, A POSSIBILITY OR A PIPE DREAM<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;text-align:center"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus">FOR THE DOUBTING THOMASES<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;text-align:center"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus">PANUN KASHMIR,A POSSIBILITY OR A PIPE DREAM<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus">Preface to the Paper: On the onset of Islamic Insurgency in the mountainous State of Jammu and Kashmir in the year 1989-90 a small but significant ethnic minority called Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave their homes. Though estimates vary on the number of those who were forced to leave Kashmir valley in the winter of 1989-90, it is broadly believed, on the basis of various figures available with the government, that a total of 56000 plus families forcibly migrated to the plains of India. The exodus which followed a spate of killings and vandalisation /burning of Pandit houses and places of religious worship was described by the NHRC or the National Human Rights Commission as “akin to genocide”.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus">As a response to the ethnic cleansing, a frontline organisation of Kashmiri Pandits called the Panun Kashmir (Our Kashmir) demanded the following:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 72pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt; "><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;mso-ansi-language: EN-US">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Andalus; ">The establishment of a separate homeland for Kashmiri Hindus in the Kashmir Valley, comprising the regions of the valley to the East and North of river Jehlum;</span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Andalus;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 72pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt; "><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;mso-ansi-language: EN-US">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Andalus; ">That the constitution of India be applied in letter and spirit in the homeland in order to ensure right to life, liberty, freedom of expression, faith, equality and rule of law;</span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Andalus;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 72pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt; "><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;mso-ansi-language: EN-US">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Andalus; ">That their homeland be placed under central administration with a Union Territory Status till it evolves its own economic and political infrastructure;</span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Andalus;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 72pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt; "><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;mso-ansi-language: EN-US">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Andalus; ">That all the seven lakh Kashmiri Hindus, which includes those who have been driven out of Kashmir in the past and yearn to return to their homeland and those who were forced to leave on account of the terrorist violence in Kashmir, be settled in the homeland on equitable basis with dignity and honour.</span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Andalus;mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus">Various “un-constitutional experts” whom we shall call “Doubting Thomases” here have from time to time raised the issue of the homeland (UT Of Panun Kashmir) being a constitutional & political impossibility.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:Andalus">Thus in this paper we will try and look at the reorganisation of States in India and what factors caused the reorganisation, whether re-organisation of territories can happen on the basis of ethnicity and thus address the issue of whether the proposed Union Territory of Panun Kashmir is constitutionally and politically possible or not.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus">I therefore submit my hypothesis as under:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:Andalus">There is nothing that prevents the formation of a Union Territory of Panun Kashmir, either under the Indian Constitution or the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. It will thus be a question of the will & determination of the Panun Kashmir organisation to determine the result of the Union Territory of Panun Kashmir.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:Andalus">History of Reorganisation of States in India</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus">: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus">India was an amalgamation of more than 600 princely States at the time of British Raj. Upon the dawn of Independence in South Asia the Hindu Majority Areas became India while the Muslim majority became Pakistan.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus;mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> When the Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950, India became a union of states with extensive autonomy and some states administered by the central government. Under the Constitution, there were three kinds of states — <b>nine Part A states, eight Part B states and 10 Part C states</b>. Part A states were former governors’ provinces in British India — Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Bombay, Madras, Orissa, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Part B states were the former princely states such as Hyderabad, Saurashtra, Mysore, Travancore-Cochin, Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh, Patiala & East Punjab States Union and Rajasthan. Part C states included a few princely states as well as former provinces governed by chief commissioners such as Kutch, Himachal Pradesh, Coorg, Manipur, Tripura and so on. J&K was granted special status (under article 370 ) as a result of its merger into the Indian State upon being attacked by Pakistani Trained Tribals.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">How one man’s sacrifice changed the course of the State Reorganization:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">The winter of 1952 could be termed as a watershed in the reorganization of the Indian States. A petite Gandhian Potti Sriramulu fasted for 56 days and died while fasting. His death unleashed a huge wave of protests not just in Madras where he fasted for the statehood of Andhra Pradesh but all over South India. All through his period of fasting Nehru, the left leaning moderate first Prime Minister of India, maintained a stony silence and made no efforts to save the dying man. But that’s for another day. What it however did was that it forced Nehru into announcing a separate statehood for Andhra Pradesh , just three days after Sriramulu’s death.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Jawaharlal Nehru was left with no option but to appoint a State Organization Commission for creation of States on the basis of linguistic similarities. The State Reorganisation Act came into effect from 1<sup>st</sup> of Nov,1956. Simultaneously an amendment was made to the constitution which is the now the famous Seventh Amendment. </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus">The distinction between Part A and Part B states was removed, which were now known simply as "states". A new type of entity, <b>the union territory</b>, replaced the classification as a Part C or Part D state.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus">But this was not the end of the reorganization of the states but just the beginning.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus">It is very important to understand the logic behind the formation of the new states and union territories in order to know whether the proposed Union Territory is possible or not. We shall in this light examine how we arrived at the present 28 states and 7 union territories and as a case we shall study the reorganisation of the Punjab (which was not done on the basis of linguistics) and North East (where states were created on the basis of ethnicity) and take Mizoram as a case study(where a single hill district attained statehood).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">India has witnessed three main reorganizations, the first which we have already mentioned above, in 1956, the second in late 1960’s (when Punjab was Split) and 1970’s when the northeast was split up and several new states were created following the formation of the State of Nagaland and the third in 2000 when the states of Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chattisgarh were created. So as we can see the formation of the states has been a continuous process with new states and union territories being created from time to time in the Federal Structure of India.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Before we move to the process of creating new States or Union Territories and the constitutional jargon, which incidentally isn’t much, let us study what caused these states to come to fore. Once the principle of linguistic states had been accepted it was only a matter of time that other considerations such as ethnicity would come to fore as a reason for formation of new territories and that is why precisely what happened. In the first reorganization of states Punjab was not touched. It remained as a whole comprising of the former princely state of Himachal Pradesh, the now Haryana and the present day Punjab. The Akaali Dal which was a minority in the erstwhile united Punjab launched an agitation to carve out a Punjabi Suba. There was a lot of Politics behind this, the details of which may only lengthen this paper but it would suffice to say that a mask of language was put on what was purely an ethnic identity question or state or one can even say a matter of religious identity. The Akali Dal manifesto to the SRC declares that, </span><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:Andalus">"The true test of democracy, in the opinion of the Shiromani Akali Dal, is that the <b>minorities</b> should feel that they are really free and equal partners in the destiny of their country...<b>to bring home a sense of freedom to the Sikhs</b>, it is vital that there should be a Punjabi speaking language and culture. The Shiromani Akali Dal has reason to believe that a Punjabi-speaking province may <b>give the Sikhs the needful security.”<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus">Read again...give Sikhs the needful security</span></i></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus; mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">The manifesto makes no bones about the real reason for the demand for formation of a new state .But as one would imagine that it would be an anathema to Nehru as it would be to a lot of so called moderates like our doubting Thomas. The manifesto is abundantly clear as to why the Sikhs and not Punjabis want a new State. Even today most of the low lying hilly areas of Himachal Pradesh have linguistic and cultural similarities with Punjabis, far greater than they have with people living up in the mountains whose language also borrows most of its syntax and word bank from the Punjabi language.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Eventually in the September of 1966 the demand for a Punjabi Suba was accepted and the state was trifurcated when it could simply have been bifurcated because no one else asked for a separate state. The basis given for trifurcation by the Shastri government (Nehru had passed away by then) was that people who speak a derivative of the Braj Bhasha would have a separate state of Haryana and the ones who spoke Pahari or Kangri would be merged with Himachal Pardesh. The government wanted a façade of the linguistically organized state to remain though it was very clear as to why the State of Punjab was created. <b>What this reorganization did was that Sikhs became a majority in the new Punjabi Suba or Punjab as it is called. It is particular importance to this paper that there were no deaths during this agitation although a huge number of people did go to jails.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Andalus; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Now let us move to the more difficult area of North East where reorganization of the Seven Sisters from the unwanted mother Assam, who eventually became a sister herself, took place purely on the basis of preservation of the distinct ethnic character of each of the tribes.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">The regional composition of the North East at the time of independence consisted of the Assam plains of the old Assam Province, the hill districts, the North Eastern Frontier tracts (NEFT) of the North Eastern borderland, and the princely states of Manipur and Tripura, both of which opted for merger with India in 1949.As for administrative changes in the wake of the transfer of power on 15th August, the administrative jurisdiction of the excluded and partially excluded areas in the hills of Assam was transferred to the government of Assam which acted on behalf of the Government of India.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">The Constitution promulgated in 1950 contained a special provision in the form of the Sixth Schedule for the administration of “tribal” areas that were meant to protect the tribal people who were living scattered throughout the country. The provision was applied to the ethnic groups in the hill region of the North East.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">Under it, the “tribal” areas in the North East were divided into two parts, Part A and Part B. The United Khasi and Jaintia Hills District, the Garo Hills District,the Lushai Hills District, the Naga Hills District, the North Cachar Hills District,and the Mikir Hills District were placed in Part A as Autonomous Districts administered by the Government of Assam, The North East Frontier Tract, the Balipara Frontier Tract, the Tirap Frontier Tract, the Abor Hilland Mishmi Hills Districts and the Naga Tribal Area came into Part B, which was administered by the Governor of Assam acting as Agent of the President of India. Tripura and Manipur were not promoted to states but were made special administrative regions under the control of central government. Hereafter, state formation in the North East followed a process whereby the area once unified into Assam was separated and ultimately turned into a state.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">Stupid as it may seem, the SRC had suggested that the State of Assam be enlarged to include the princely states of Manipur and Tripura. The ethnic people of the entire North East were up in arms and some literally were and demanded separate states for separate ethnicities. Language as a basis had once again been thrown to dogs. Nagaland was the first state to be created in 1963 .But our considerations lie elsewhere. The representatives of Hill Districts, yes Hill Districts, which were then one district hill towns expressed the hope of forming their own hill state. Far Fetched as it may have seemed for the Ghasis, Jantiyas and Khasis to form a state of Meghalaya it did happen .In 1970 the autonomous Meghalaya State was established which later became a full fledged state in 1972.Meghalaya was still 3 hill districts but imagine a single hill district becoming a full fledged state. The Mizo Hills area which was Lushia Hill District or Mizo Hill District of Assam in 1954 was accorded the Status of a Union Territory in 1972 and attained full statehood in 1987.Now who but an optimist and he who believed in the idea of a separate State of Mizoram would have imagined that one day it would be a separate state within the Federal Structure of India.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">So we have no dearth of examples of states and Union Territories being created on one pretext or another and despite Nehru’s wishes of a hugely centralized administrative machinery the formation of new states and reorganisation is and was not just a political compulsion to keep the Union of India together and but an acceptance of the diversity of the various constituents of Indian Union accompanied with the frailty or strength of the Federal Structure depending upon how we look at it. Whatever may be the reasons, the truth is that new States were created and the Indian state like the Universe though may be whole but is in a constant state of making and unmaking within.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">That brings us to the important Part of this paper which will deal with the process of creating of a new Union Territory or a State with special reference to Jammu and Kashmir in the context of it having Article 370 and a separate constitution.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">Process of formation of a UT/State within the Indian Dominion<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">I will try and make this as lucid as I possibly can so that the spirit of the Indian Constitution is not lost on us. The Parliament has the power to form a new state or territory within the Indian Dominion. Articles 2 and 3 of the Indian Constitution bestow on the Parliament the power to establish new states on such terms and conditions as it deems fit. The Article 3 of the Indian Constitution which deals with the power and procedure to establish new states reads <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt; "><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">3. Formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States.</span></i></b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">—Parliament may by law— <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-left: 24pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(a)form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any State; <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-left: 24pt; text-indent: 24pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(b) increase the area of any State; <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-left: 24pt; text-indent: 24pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(c) diminish the area of any State; <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-left: 24pt; text-indent: 24pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(d) alter the boundaries of any State; <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-left: 24pt; text-indent: 24pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(e) alter the name of any State: <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Provided that no Bill for the purpose shall be introduced in either House of Parliament except on the recommendation of the President and unless, where the proposal contained in the Bill affects the area, boundaries or name of any of the States, the Bill has been referred by the President to the Legislature of that State for expressing its views thereon within such period as may be specified in the reference or within such further period as the President may allow and the period so specified or allowed has expired. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin">2 THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA 3 <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Explanation I.</span></i><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">—In this article, in clauses (a) to (e), “State” includes a Union territory, but in the proviso, “State” does not include a Union territory. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt; "><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Explanation II.</span></i><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">—The power conferred on Parliament by clause (a) includes the power to form a new State or Union territory by uniting a part of any State or Union territory to any other State or Union territory. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">We have to read the Articles 2 &3 with reference to the 4<sup>th</sup> Article of the Constitution which reads.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt; "><b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">4. Laws made under articles 2 and 3 to provide for the amendment of the First and the Fourth Schedules and supplemental, incidental and consequential matters.</span></i></b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">—(1) Any law referred to in article 2 or article 3 shall contain such provisions for the amendment of the First Schedule and the Fourth Schedule as may be necessary to give effect to the provisions of the law and may also contain such supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions (including provisions as to representation in Parliament and in the Legislature or Legislatures of the State or States affected by such law) as Parliament may deem necessary. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">(2) No such law as aforesaid shall be deemed to be an amendment of this Constitution for the purposes of article 368.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">It is very important to refer to the 1<sup>st</sup> Schedule of the Indian Constitution which clearly defines the geographical area of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">So the creation of the Union Territory is the prerogative of the President and the Parliament and the State Legislature’s interference is limited to just giving its opinion. Although on account of Article 370 of The Indian Constitution which gives <b>special but temporary</b> status to the State we have to be careful to read the law. The Parliament can make laws but the applicability of such powers or even the power to make such laws in case of J&K is limited to those matters in Union and Concurrent Lists (we will see later in our paper how Parliament’s supremacy holds even in matters related to State List) which unfortunately is silent on the re-organisation of the State. So are we at a dead end ? Well far from it. The President has the power to issue a public notification which may either cease the powers of the Article completely or they may be applicable with certain provisions or modifications. It is under those powers that the 1953 position when India Parliament or the Central Government controlled only Four subjects (defence, external affairs, communications and ancillary) now holds a sway over most of the policy making and law making instruments. We must also read the Instrument of Accession to know how land can be acquired in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The point six of the instrument reads:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin">Nothing in this Instrument shall empower the Dominion Legislature to make any law for this State authorizing the compulsory acquisition of land for any purpose, but I hereby undertake that should the Dominion for the purpose of a Dominion law which applies in this State deem it necessary to acquire any land, I will at their request acquire the land at their expense, or, if the land belongs to me transfer it to them on such terms as may be agreed or, in default of agreement, determined by an arbitrator to be appointed by the Chief Justice of India</span></i><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt">. </span></i><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Andalus"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">There also is nothing in either the article 370 or the constitution of J&K or the Instrument of Accession or the Indian Constitution that forbids the formation of the UT within the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Yes there may be no precedence on the issue but then there wasn’t any precedence of the formation of Hill Districts as States in the North East.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">Also noteworthy are numerous references in the constitution especially in the part of the constitution concerning the relations between the Union and States <i>i.e</i> Part XI. Time and again it reiterates the Power of the Parliament even regarding those issues which may fall in the purview of the State List. In the same Chapter mentions and I quote,”</span><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> <i>251. Inconsistency between laws made by Parliament under articles 249 and 250 and laws made by the Legislatures of States</i></span></b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt">.—Nothing in articles 249 and 250 shall restrict the power of the Legislature of a State to make any law which under this Constitution it has power to make, but if any provision of a law made by the Legislature of a State is repugnant to any provision of a law made by Parliament which Parliament has under either of the said articles power to make, the law made by Parliament, whether passed before or after the law made by the Legislature of the State, shall prevail, and the law made by the Legislature of the State shall to the extent of the repugnancy, but so long only as the law made by Parliament continues to have effect, be inoperative.</span></i><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family: Andalus"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">We will also look at how the amendment will be made once the bill is passed in both houses of Parliament and an Act comes into effect. It is then a mere formality that the necessary amendments as they may be for the creation of the new state/UT. Article 368 confers on the Parliament to make amendments. Although it is not within the scope of this paper to define the procedure of the covenants or riders yet we must know this simply to understand the process. The Article 368 reads as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt; "><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">368. Power of Parliament to amend the Constitution and procedure therefor.— </span></i></b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(1) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, Parliament may in exercise of its constituent power amend by way of addition, variation or repeal any provision of this Constitution in accordance with the procedure laid down in this article. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(2) An amendment of this Constitution may be initiated only by the introduction of a Bill for the purpose in either House of Parliament, and when the Bill is passed in each House by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting, it shall be presented to the President who shall give his assent to the Bill and thereupon the Constitution shall stand amended in accordance with the terms of the Bill: <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Provided that if such amendment seeks to make any change in— <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-left: 18pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(a) article 54, article 55, article 73, article 162 or article 241, or <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-left: 18pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(b) Chapter IV of Part V, Chapter V of Part VI, or Chapter I of Part XI, or <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-left: 18pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(c) any of the Lists in the Seventh Schedule, or <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-left: 18pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(d) the representation of States in Parliament, or <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-left: 18pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(e) the provisions of this article, <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">the amendment shall also require to be ratified by the Legislatures of not less than one-half of the States by resolutions to that effect passed by those Legislatures before the Bill making provision for such amendment is presented to the President for assent. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt; "><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">(3) Nothing in article 13 shall apply to any amendment made under this article. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt; "><i><sup><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; position: relative; top: -3pt; "></span></sup></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">[(4) No amendment of this Constitution (including the provisions of Part III) made or purporting to have been made under this article whether before or after the commencement of section 55 of the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976] shall be called in question in any court on any ground. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">(5) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that there shall be no limitation whatever on the constituent power of Parliament to amend by way of addition, variation or repeal the provisions of this Constitution under this article.]<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Andalus; ">For the formation of the UT the amendment makes no changes in the a) to e) section of the Article 368(2).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Andalus; ">Conclusions:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">States/Union Territories can be created not just on the basis of linguistical similarities or dis-similarities but on the basis of preservation of ethnicities and in some cases even religious identity of a particular group.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">The Formation of the Union Territory/State is purely a prerogative of the Parliament and even if the State Legislature from which the new territory is to be carved votes the proposal out (though the President only seeks their views and not consent) yet the supremacy of the Parliament will prevail. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">The Proposed Union Territory of Panun Kashmir has a valid reason to be established because it will help stop the erasure of the unique ethnic culture and tradition of the Kashmiri Pandits.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">The Union Territory of Panun Kashmir-How and When:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">Now that we established that there is a precedent for creation of Union Territories on the basis of ethnicities and States on the basis of religious similarities and the Constitution is not an impediment in the creation of the UT in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, we must ask how and when it is likely to be established.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">Some two years back the Legislative Assembly of the Madhya Pradesh State (on the insistence of the Panun Kashmir organisation) passed a resolution by voice vote asking both the Centre and the State Government to carve out a separate area within the State of Jammu and Kashmir for the ethnic minority called Kashmiri Pandits. Though the resolution may have no legal or constitutional validity it does point to how and when the Panun Kashmir organisation can push forward the passage of the bill to create UT of Panun Kashmir. The passage of the bill can be smooth only when there is a favourable dispensation (towards the idea) and when the dispensation has numbers on its side to have the bill passed through both houses of the Parliament. Difficult as it may seem today it is not an impossible task by any means. There is every likelihood that in near future (30-40 years) time a dispensation (like the one of Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the MP-CM) will rule in the Centre and will have numbers to pass the resolution .It is then that the Panun Kashmir Organisation should press for a resolution of the issue and have a bill passed in both houses of the Parliament. Till that time they need to keep working hard in raising the political pitch on the issue, a sizeable part of that work is already done or is in the process of being accomplished. There is no doubt today that most in the media or policy making circles or even the successive Government at the Centre recognize(only PK has represented Kashmiri Pandits on all round table Kashmir Committee set up by the government) Panun Kashmir as the organization representing Pandits though every now and then some formations like third front in the Centre do prop up but they vanish as fast as they appear. The State Legislature will never be favourably inclined towards Panun Kashmir and towards Pandits at large but be that as it may ,its negative feedback on the issue or its throwing out or not admitting the bill has no bearing once the Parliament has passed the bill.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">We must also understand that formation of UT’s or new States does take time and to expect results like a cup of instant coffee may just not be possible. So for those who ask how long I must say, long enough as it has been for every other state be it Punjab or be it Mizoram. Although we have gone into some detail over the history, politics and constitution with regard to formation of new states I reiterate that even if there is no history or even if the constitution does not have the necessary provisions the will (here I mean intensity and not mere numbers) of the people who want the state will eventually prevail over the them and provisions will be and always have been made to accommodate the aspirations and genuine demands of the people. For those doubting Thomases who may keep parroting that it is a constitutionally impossibility we have shown it is not, but more important than that for them and for us is to understand that many nations have been created and many have merged since the formation of the United Nations .None of them had a constitutional provision to either merge or break, so it is only for the naysayers or the unbelievers to look for a written word as a permission to bring forth a new idea or implement a new one and that too when the written word is not divine but written by mere mortals like us or by those on whom we enshrined the responsibility of writing the constitution.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">This paper is definitely not the final word on the issue and I am willing to stand corrected, guided and evolved by people who have more insight and knowledge of the issue at hand.I hope that this rather preliminary note of mine spurs the real constitutional experts to delve deeper into the issue, with their knowledge and erudition into the understanding of the constitution. It should also bring this issue to debate and the Kashmiri Pandits as a community should thread bare discuss the law and politics which will make the UT of Panun Kashmir a reality.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">References:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">1. The Constitution of India.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">2. The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">3. Instrument of Accession<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">4. The States Reorganisation Act 1956.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">5. The Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">6. The North Eastern States (Re-organisation) Amendment Bill 2011 as presented in Lok Sabha.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">7. Marg Darshan Resolution of Panun Kashmir adopted in 1991.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">8. Singh, Gurharpal, 1995, The Punjab Crisis Since 1984: A Reassessment<i>’, Ethnic and racial Studies </i>Vol. 18.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">9. Phadnis, Urmila, 1989, <i>Ethnicity and Nation-building in South Asia</i>, New Delhi, Sage Publications.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus">10. Pal, Kiran, 1993, <i>Tension Areas in Center-State Relations</i>, New Delhi, Surid Publications.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:Andalus"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-68899608113952609652011-01-31T23:53:00.000-08:002011-01-31T23:56:11.897-08:00The Garden of Solitude-A Review by Rashneek Kherhttp://greaterkashmir.com/news/2011/Feb/1/the-garden-of-solitude-9.asp<br /><br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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!<br />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.<br />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.Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-46048863741940426442009-10-07T21:41:00.000-07:002009-10-07T21:51:05.152-07:00A Time for Parting<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifdHcLVMgZTZhUlQaj-TpHEmEtfv-qfihTcyGna45SgLoXou4N2UPg6BIjoKoMz89Xs8Sr9-5u_GYWy7lYzOfua3HUI96FrYltOrfX21U0AuLd11dQyEBoILPiM6b2N-7Ag9teU5jIN4n2/s1600-h/parting_evangeline_gabriel_hi%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifdHcLVMgZTZhUlQaj-TpHEmEtfv-qfihTcyGna45SgLoXou4N2UPg6BIjoKoMz89Xs8Sr9-5u_GYWy7lYzOfua3HUI96FrYltOrfX21U0AuLd11dQyEBoILPiM6b2N-7Ag9teU5jIN4n2/s320/parting_evangeline_gabriel_hi%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390086171653633762" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />That evening was unusual.<br />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.<br />It was a sad moment. A moment no one wanted. They all wanted to live on. But then who and what lives for ever.<br />The time for parting had come.<br />The glasses were laid to rest. Cigarette buts were thumbed and benumbed. There were no more embers as one could see.<br />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.<br />Disparaging thoughts and unfettered desires seldom make for good partners.<br />They said their goodbyes and made promises to meet again.Thus passed the evening leaving a void.Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-85478696590179120502009-07-06T23:00:00.000-07:002009-07-06T23:15:07.774-07:00"Bhagwaen Daed-The Poet we know not"I wonder how many of us even know of a mystic poet called Bhagewaen Daed.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br /><em>Yas babe dodh choth,Daam dame sheer<br />Tas seet nikah chuy,Ba tadbeer</em><br /><br />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.<br /><br />With that introduction let us now understand Bhagwaen Daed the poet and the seeker.<br />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<br /><br /><em>Man phyoor Zars zaresey,man vot nish zargarasey<br />Zar-e-zare havyom prahuhas,man myon aantan kobohas<br />Govind-goo sware bhagwanene,laey gache paanay man ti pranay<br />Laey gache syam hamsoo has,man myon aantan koboohas</em><br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><em>Kukilay Govind goo karnaavtam<br />Hoo hoo karyo bhi<br />Bhagyewaene Baste seet daam dyavnamtam<br />Shaye shaye shiv chuy<br /><br />Govind govind naam chuy aemusuy<br />Kukilay damsey manz wich tray<br />Dham heath dam rat mao praar tamesey<br />Chay mahramasay maene manz jay</em><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>Shams Faqir</strong><br /><br /><em>Hate oosum mwothehaar,gate manze gash trovnam<br />Kaal-e-shah su laal-e-bazzar,harmwokh vichu deedar</em><br /><br /><strong>Bhagwaen Daed</strong><br /><br /><em>Bhakti-bade vochumay shakti shahanay,Pwokhtekaar mwothkte dahanay aav<br />Mwotehaar vichumaey tamesund khanay,Gaash shabanay paanay aav</em><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><em>Chaen lolan karenas bambereay,ghare ghare soo ham soo<br />Pan naveth saveth chey laare,ghare ghare soo ham soo<br /><br />Garas haey Rophe Manzuluy,Baras Jigreke Lolay<br />Vichas vaen korkumuy,Mae Yaar vuch hane hane</em><br /><br />As Bhagwaen moves a stage up from naiveté her verse changes, yet she feels she is still not there<br /><br /><em>Na bhi pwokhtay nab hi khamay<br />Mae kaem aaram nyumut vaseye</em><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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<br /><br />She sings it in the following verses<br /><br /><em>Vothaan,beyhaan,Shongnuuy,Manz Saad-e-Sangan Daey Vuchum<br />Rangarang Berangney,Lahas ti labas laey vuchum<br />Madham Murali Changeney,Manz kalwalaan mouy vichum</em><br /><br />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.Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-30448882100420762672009-06-18T04:31:00.000-07:002009-06-18T21:00:08.341-07:00Parallel Lines<div align="justify">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.<br />After all earth girls aren’t so easy.<br />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. </div><div align="justify">It was here that they met.<br />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.<br />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.<br />She was a mother and a wife, he a husband and father.<br />They had begun to enjoy each other’s company, in-fact yearned for it though she stayed reticent and he overt.<br />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.<br />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. </div>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-27728227021538785262009-05-19T00:14:00.000-07:002009-05-20T03:25:55.512-07:00Is Nietzsche’s "Übermensch” Shiva?<div align="justify"></div><p align="justify"><br />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?<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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,” <em>"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.”</em></p><p align="justify">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.</p><p align="justify"><br />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?</p><p align="justify"><br />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 <em>Vypat Charachar Bhav Vishesam </em>or am I intoxicated too much by Dionysus-Shiva?</p>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-50659195843456403662009-05-17T22:12:00.000-07:002009-05-17T22:17:17.524-07:00The Turncoat Loses<div align="justify">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.<br />Would you believe it?<br />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.<br />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.<br />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. </div>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-19088338907128877972009-05-05T20:53:00.000-07:002009-05-05T20:56:11.155-07:00Invisible Exiles: Kashmiri Pandits (Published in Vijayvani)<div align="justify"><em>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.<br />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).</em></div><div align="justify">The complete post is<a href="http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=552"> here</a></div>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-59957994963197954432009-05-03T21:20:00.000-07:002009-05-03T21:23:25.788-07:00Sajjad Lone's U-turn(Published in Vijayvani)<em><strong>Che Kamyu Kareneay taveez pan</strong></em><br /><em><strong>Yaaro van bale yaaro van</strong></em><br /><br />Who hath cast thy spell on thou?<br />Speak up my friend, speak up<br /><br /><div align="justify">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.<br />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.</div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#cc0000;"><strong>The complete post is at the link below</strong></span></div><a href="http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=550"><span style="color:#cc0000;"><strong><em>http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=550</em></strong></span></a>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-14987488037577836732009-04-28T20:53:00.000-07:002009-04-28T20:57:48.088-07:00Beyond<div align="justify">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.<br />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.<br />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. </div><div align="justify">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.<br />A collection of short stories of Kafka replaced the Panchang.I drank deep from the words of one of my favourite melancholy pessimist writers.<br />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</div><div align="justify"><br /><em><strong>Tull Lalle burkhay paaan Tawkeed korne sadras manz<br />Ath daereyavas chuyne saneruk naeb nishanay</strong></em></div><div align="justify"><em><strong></strong><br /></em><strong>Lalla shunned the shame of being into the waters of unknown<br />And came out singing, this river is bottomless</strong></div>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-90589292488406897332009-04-24T20:28:00.000-07:002009-04-24T20:34:45.726-07:00Twenty Years of Absence-in Greater Kashmir<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdm9iXjSfu_wti82MfBX6eRdBOgO-6TZ_3Udyr0jVPDVnp4d73XXhlPZmWibDu5kv71aA8QJJxaGzTjbAqUBMN0qxxslNGNfIpxeuwtZ7eFXRX9QW3OspRmtUKuYY7vjpOr5d1Ob9T9mQp/s1600-h/News_25_4_2009_2%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328467209250454818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 185px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdm9iXjSfu_wti82MfBX6eRdBOgO-6TZ_3Udyr0jVPDVnp4d73XXhlPZmWibDu5kv71aA8QJJxaGzTjbAqUBMN0qxxslNGNfIpxeuwtZ7eFXRX9QW3OspRmtUKuYY7vjpOr5d1Ob9T9mQp/s320/News_25_4_2009_2%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="justify">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.</div><br /><div align="justify">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 <em>“Hariye thavak na kan ti lolo”.</em> The mild sun would shine over my small, non- descript village Kanipora.</div><br /><div align="justify">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.</div><br /><div align="justify">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.</div><br /><div align="justify">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.</div><br /><div align="justify">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.</div><br /><div align="justify">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.</div><br /><div align="justify">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?</div><br /><div align="justify">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….<em>Mae Chu basan mae ma gache shaam vatey.</em></div><br /><div align="justify"><em><br /><a href="http://www.greaterkashmir.com/today/full_story.asp?Date=25_4_2009&ItemID=7&cat=12"><strong>http://www.greaterkashmir.com/today/full_story.asp?Date=25_4_2009&ItemID=7&cat=12</strong></a></div></em>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-16849786348054808222009-04-19T21:29:00.000-07:002009-04-19T21:31:35.077-07:00J & K<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimNSVJun6EUzhQedcNSH4JOMfXeJmJckJUF5fQ4S4560BTXIjVjf-WjSbaQOry2jJmwJK6sJvOIoY3cOqdnrKOWzT-_Gs7e82dn4_zdQWE1u80i3WkPhpkvEf3u7QYOkJuCWuAyRvQhDd/s1600-h/images%5B3%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326626419238108546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 73px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 131px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimNSVJun6EUzhQedcNSH4JOMfXeJmJckJUF5fQ4S4560BTXIjVjf-WjSbaQOry2jJmwJK6sJvOIoY3cOqdnrKOWzT-_Gs7e82dn4_zdQWE1u80i3WkPhpkvEf3u7QYOkJuCWuAyRvQhDd/s320/images%5B3%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="justify">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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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……<br />An all male version of Ardhnareshwara……..</div>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-40686150921995699672009-03-31T23:49:00.000-07:002009-03-31T23:50:58.621-07:00Futile SearchI search for an address<br />My permanent address<br />The one they write on our passports<br />And ration cards<br />Yet again, I am to vote<br />Without an address, a post office, a home<br /><br />I search for my source<br />In distant lands<br />In faces that look fairer, in noses which are pointed<br />In houses that have land and a permanent roof<br />Yet again, I am without one<br />The only one that I had<br />Is lost now<br /><br />I search for my roots, in flower potsRashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-73851037756854821002009-03-30T00:47:00.000-07:002009-03-30T01:08:37.271-07:00Induced Hallucination<div align="justify"></div><p align="justify">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 <em>“his only”</em> 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 <em>“creative”</em> and most important where he could in letter and spirit, emulate his idol-Jim Morrison.<br />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.<br />When they sang<em>,”Maat Pitta tum mere”</em> he would be rocking his guitar and singing<em>”O mother,I wanna fuck you,O Father I wanna Kill you”.<br /></em>Soon all this was going to change.<br />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 <strong>Hindustan</strong> 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?<br />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.<br />Oh No,not in my room.K said.<br />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 <em><a href="http://www.thedoors.com/"><strong>The Doors</strong></a></em>.He sung <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yesterday_(song)"><strong>Yesterday</strong></a></em> instead.<br />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.<br />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. <em>Trahe Trahe</em> 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.<br />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. </p>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-58029443290074829362009-03-25T22:38:00.000-07:002009-03-26T00:08:16.188-07:00One More Navreh<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5celmkZEjY1Ax7c99g4crOpDm2ELq9cRoR1L_7MKqZF1cemHPscSUmCUvUQnIhynanMx7S4CxKFNfn6gsP2o8nsjIDzss6sGWc0UYhGGHaKPFdMb3StYrukfLG2qC00TEXn4AR17StgqZ/s1600-h/images%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317367924633177810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 118px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 76px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5celmkZEjY1Ax7c99g4crOpDm2ELq9cRoR1L_7MKqZF1cemHPscSUmCUvUQnIhynanMx7S4CxKFNfn6gsP2o8nsjIDzss6sGWc0UYhGGHaKPFdMb3StYrukfLG2qC00TEXn4AR17StgqZ/s320/images%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a>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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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”.<br />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.<br />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 …..<br /><br /><em><strong>Yi Kyuth Navreh,Kames chi reh<br />Na Che, ti ,na maey<br />Tale Kyuth Navreh<br /></strong></em><br />What Navreh is this<br />Inside whom do the embers glow<br />Not you,not me<br />Then What Navreh is this<br /><br />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.<br /><br />The message last year though was one of hope.<br />My solitary words did not fail me in the moment of hope and I sang…..<br /><br /><em><strong>Ye chu nov Navreh,<br />vich prazlaan chay na chaney reh<br />chuy chane rahey,rang rotumut maey<br />chakh aash baneth vaen aamech chey,<br />kad valenje maenae,yus chuy vaeh<br />Aakash ti pataal sar kar aaz<br />chey prarran panchalech ,che divay<br />haeth pagahuk gaash,che aayak aaz<br />bar-e-chirninaev kin mae chaye divay<br />vanvas me mokelaav mahsoosas<br />aaz kaluk ravan karetan khay<br /><br /></strong></em>Wonder what message this Navreh has for me….<br /><br />Nonetheless Happy Navreh! </div>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-51518386646038278982009-03-16T00:30:00.000-07:002009-03-16T00:41:51.459-07:00A Vain Soul<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWkjFgfb-6jJoYE-ArPzz93t7GL_RGHIePDl3DlBrGPUqucWbuhOwDYvTs0nyiAjt_KFweDCGbSWM25OyC4nX8bEGRFjh9w24WQ370t1ZhdMq8CxPuU5-h4zkNnQEaLYQhy0qz6OW7pm6/s1600-h/valleyof-flower-uttaranchal%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313687353982354210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 229px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWkjFgfb-6jJoYE-ArPzz93t7GL_RGHIePDl3DlBrGPUqucWbuhOwDYvTs0nyiAjt_KFweDCGbSWM25OyC4nX8bEGRFjh9w24WQ370t1ZhdMq8CxPuU5-h4zkNnQEaLYQhy0qz6OW7pm6/s320/valleyof-flower-uttaranchal%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a> <strong>Once with him,I was here...Valley of Flowers<br /></strong><div></div><br /><p align="justify">Poets are vain. Scholars are even vainer. Now, imagine one who is a bit of both.<br /><br /><em>Vanity personified.<br /></em><br />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.</p><br /><p align="justify">And then his travels.... </p><br /><p align="justify">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 <em>city bred uncultured and ignorant chatterati</em>.That is how he described people like us.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />In the height of his vanity he would quote <em><strong>Ghalib’s heights of vanity</strong>,</em>partly as a cover up for his lesser vice and partly to justify his own. </p><br /><p></p><br /><p align="justify"><em><strong>hotaa hai nihaaN gard men seharaa mere hote</strong></em></p><br /><p align="justify"><em><strong>ghisataa hai jabiin Khaak pe dariyaa mere aage</strong></em></p><br /><p align="justify"><br /><em><strong>aashiq hoon mashooq farebi hain mera kaam<br />majnoon ko bhi bura kehte hain laila meray aage<br /></strong></em><br />A bird this morning came to my house to inform me about the death of this vain.<br /><br />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<br /><br /><em><strong>huee muddat ke ‘GHalib’ mar gaya par yaad aata hai</strong></em></p><br /><p align="justify"><em><strong>wo har ek baat pe kehana, ke yooN hota to kya hota ?</strong></em></p>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-73351970610588109612008-09-29T21:17:00.000-07:002008-09-29T21:18:56.789-07:00We the People<div align="justify">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.<br />Meanwhile Pakistan went about its business normally.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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).<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br /><br />Rashneek Kher</div>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-38206248565307456042008-09-05T22:54:00.000-07:002008-09-06T00:25:33.181-07:00Harmukh Vich Deedar<div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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".</div><div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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. </div><div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">Zaane wale kar zaanee yaar,Harmukh* Vichu Deedar</div><div align="justify">Parde Zaal Aaz dard-e-naar,Harmukh Vichu Deedar</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">O! seeker of truth,turn to Harmukh</div><div align="justify">Burn the veil of ignorance,turn to Harmukh</div><div align="justify">(*In Kashmir,the mountain of Harmukh is believed to be the abode of Shiva)</div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">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.</div>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802308817287434839.post-3987009455888884142008-08-04T04:12:00.000-07:002008-08-04T04:48:51.829-07:00The Pied Piper and the Rats<div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify"><em>I am a Muslim and an Indian and I dont see how the two are different.</em>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.</div><div align="justify">Well there was more to come.<em>We haven't destroyed temples and mosques.</em>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?</div><div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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.</div><div align="justify">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.......</div>Rashneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15211622625031393809noreply@blogger.com10