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A Forgotten Kashmiri Pandit Temple in Pakistan’s Gujrat !

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A Forgotten Kashmiri Pandit Temple in Pakistan’s Gujrat !

A recent find by Kashmir Rechords—a rare Urdu directory of Kashmiri Pandits from 1924-1934—has uncovered a forgotten chapter of history, revealing the existence of a “Fire Temple” dedicated to Swami Dhooni Sahib near Gujrat, Pakistan. Built by the Kashmiri Pandit community in Qilladar (Killadar) around 1884, this temple and adjacent school embody their devotion, cultural resilience, and educational values.

(By:Dr.Rajesh Bhat)*

The recent discovery of a rare Urdu directory of Kashmiri Pandits from British India, dated between 1924 and 1934, has revealed a hidden chapter of history, bringing to light an extraordinary story of cultural resilience and devotion. This directory not only showcases the lives of Kashmiri Pandits across British India but also unveils the existence of a unique Temple, built in memory of the revered mystic Swami Dhooni Sahib. This structure stands as a symbol of the community’s enduring spirit and reverence, located near Gujrat city  in what is now Pakistan.

Historical Significance of the Dhooni Temple

The Dhooni Sahib Temple, or what they now call, “Fire Temple,”  is believed to have been constructed around 1884 in the town of Qilladar (also known as Killadar) in Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan. Adjacent to this sacred structure, the Kashmiri Pandit community also built a school and an inn for travellers—a testament to their commitment to education and hospitality. The temple’s location and purpose hold unique cultural importance, as it was built on a site with natural flames emerging from the earth, which possibly drew mystics like Swami Dhooni Sahib for worship.

In addition to its religious significance, the site highlights the cohesive nature of the Kashmiri Pandit community in preserving their heritage. Despite being scattered across British India, these families maintained strong ties to their roots, even constructing a temple and school far from their homeland to honor their values and spiritual mentors.

Qilladar: A Hub of Heritage and Influence

Qilladar, a town in Gujrat District near the Upper Jhelum Canal, became a cultural and spiritual centre for the Kashmiri Pandits in British India. Its strategic location—close to major cities like Amritsar, Lahore, Sialkot and Jammu—made it a meeting point for communities and travellers alike. The town was historically significant as some of the decedents of Dewan Dena Nath, a prominent  Kashmiri Pandit figure in the Sikh Empire’s durbar, continued his legacy of community building by constructing the Fire Temple in Dhooni Sahib’s honor.

Under the governance of Sir Charles Umpherston Aitchinson, then Lt. Governor of Punjab, the Kashmiri Pandit community received support to build the temple. Dewan Dena Nath’s family lineage and the Madan clan, notable Kashmiri Pandits in the region, were instrumental in maintaining the temple and the school complex, which fostered learning and faith for future generations.

Legends and Myths of the `Fire’ Temple

The Dhooni Temple, according to local traditions, is said to be rooted in mystical significance. Stories speak of a perpetual flame emerging naturally from the earth, which may have inspired Dhooni Sahib and other mystics to consider it a sacred site. Sadly, this remarkable heritage site now suffers from encroachment and deterioration, with remnants barely hinting at its former grandeur.

Today, videos and photos of the temple(s) circulated by local Pakistani content creators have sparked interest, though limited historical knowledge has left gaps in understanding the temple’s origin. Misinterpretations have even led to speculation that it might be a Sun Temple, as the word “Dhooni” relates to fire in Hindi.  This post of Kashmir Rechords thus  aims to dispel these myths by bringing clarity to the temple’s history and role in the Kashmiri Pandit tradition.

Legacy in Peril: The Struggle to Preserve a Heritage Site

The once-vibrant structures of the Dhooni Sahib Temple and the school complex now stand in a state of disrepair. Maharaj Baheshar Nath Razdan, a Kashmiri Pandit who managed the temple, school, and inn, dedicated years of service to preserving the sanctity of the site. However, the passing of time and the division wrought by the 1947 partition has left this cultural gem largely abandoned.

Although local YouTubers and enthusiasts have made efforts to document the site, the absence of comprehensive historical data has hindered a true appreciation of its value. Kashmir Rechords thus  hopes to reconstruct the story of the Fire Temple, school, and the surrounding community to share it with future generations, ensuring that this chapter of Kashmiri Pandit heritage remains in collective memory.

The Present Condition of Dhooni `Fire’ Temple at Qilladar, Gujrat.Pic Courtesy: Ratas Hussain, YouTuber

Rediscovering the Past for Future Generations

With the Urdu directory of Kashmiri Pandits from 1924–1934 now in hand, Kashmir Rechords is embarking on a journey to uncover and share further insights about Kashmiri Pandit life and legacy across British India. This historical document, filled with photographs, family details, and anecdotes, is a window into a rich heritage that extends beyond the geographical boundaries of Kashmir.

Through ongoing research and publications, Kashmir Rechords aspires to illuminate more such hidden stories. The Dhooni Saheb Temple in Qilladar, Gujrat,  serves not only as a reminder of Kashmiri Pandit faith and resilience but also as an inspiration for preserving cultural memory, honoring the past while paving the way for future generations to rediscover and cherish their heritage.

*Dr. Rajesh Bhat is a Kashmir-born Journalist, Writer and Researcher; formerly associated with Daily Excelsior J&K and The Tribune, Chandīgarh. He is the Author of Radio Kashmir in Times of Peace & War. He can be reached at: raajbhat@gmail.com

The Judge Who Stood for Justice, Now Awaits His Own!

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The Judge Who Stood for Justice, Now Awaits His Own!

Thirty-five years ago, on November 4, 1989, Judge  Neelkanth Ganjoo’s body lay unattended—an unsettling reminder of the fear that gripped the valley

Kashmir Rechords’ Tributes

On a crisp November 4 morning in 1989, a figure strolled out of a local Bank on Hari Singh High Street in Srinagar, unaware that these steps would be his last. Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo, a retired yet resolute man of 72, was leaving his last public errand, his life soon to be cut short by a group of terrorists lurking nearby. As they approached him in broad daylight, they brought not only an end to a life devoted to justice but also plunged an entire community of Kashmiri Pandits into fear and sorrow. The tragic irony lies here: the man who had delivered justice to countless others was denied it himself, even 35 years later. His soul, like those of many others, seems to be waiting—crying out for the justice he had once so boldly represented.

Judge Ganjoo’s life, much like his death, was marked by acts of immense courage. He was a Kashmiri Pandit and a towering figure in the judicial world of Jammu and Kashmir. Between 1966 and 1968, he presided over a sensational and deeply polarizing trial: that of Maqbool Butt, co-founder of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), charged with the murder of police constable Amar Chand. The trial ended with Judge Ganjoo pronouncing the death sentence on Butt in August 1968, a decision that would haunt him until his final day. Over the years, attempts on his life became a grim routine, as newspapers of that era reported that no fewer than six attempts had been made at his home in Karan Nagar. Despite the serious threats, he was denied elaborate  protection. And on that fateful day of  November 4, 1989, his assassins succeeded.

As his lifeless body lay in the street for hours, unmoved and unattended, Srinagar went back to its usual humdrum life. Buses resumed their routes, shops reopened, and people went about their daily business, some averting their gaze, others too terrified to even approach. Eventually, a few brave Policemen risked their own safety to retrieve his body, but even that final act of dignity came too late.

The Soul That Still Cries for Justice

In August 2023, thirty-four years after Judge Ganjoo’s assassination, the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s State Investigation Agency (SIA) issued a public communiqué asking for assistance to solve the case. With promises of protection and rewards for any information, they rekindled hope for answers.

But to the family, this seemed like pouring salt into old wounds. It was, as they put it, “too little, too late.” After so many years of waiting, they feared the renewed investigation might only deepen their pain. After all, decades had passed with the killers evading justice, and the world had moved on, leaving Judge Ganjoo’s family to grapple with their grief alone. More than a year has passed since this public notice was published in newspapers, but no headway has reportedly been met till date.

Judge Ganjoo’s killing was not an isolated tragedy; it was a calculated move to strike fear into the heart of the Kashmiri Pandit community, a second high-profile murder after the assassination of BJP leader Tika Lal Taploo. These targeted killings became part of a larger campaign of terror, aiming to drive the Pandits from their homeland not  by choice but  by force. Thousands were forced into exile, leaving behind the land their ancestors had cherished for centuries.

The memory of Judge Ganjoo’s assassination still looms like a shadow over the justice system he once upheld. Even now, his soul lingers, echoing through the annals of history, asking for the very justice he had delivered to so many. His was a life committed to principles, bound by duty. And as the valley’s wounds from those dark days remain unhealed, the judge’s silent cry for justice reverberates—a poignant reminder of the forgotten, of a life sacrificed, and a soul still waiting for peace.

Meet The Youngest Voice from 1947  Muzaffarabad Massacre!

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Meet The Youngest Voice from 1947  Muzaffarabad Massacre!

(By: Dr. Rajesh Bhat)*

In October 1947, as three-year-old Jaswant Singh lay in his grandmother’s arms, he had little idea of the tragedy surrounding him. In a brutal act of violence that would devastate hundreds of Sikh families, including his own, his father, mother, and grandfather were killed in the Muzaffarabad massacre, which swept through the region in a wave of religious persecution and violence. Caught in the turmoil, Jaswant  Singh lost nearly everything—except for the steadfast love and protection of his grandmother, Bhani Devi.

In a display of unwavering courage, Bhani Devi managed to flee with young Jaswant in tow, carrying him through harrowing paths to escape the raiders. This elderly woman, with her only surviving grandchild cradled close, would become his entire world. Though she carried him to safety, she left behind her husband, Subha Singh, and the homeland that had nurtured generations of their family. Clutching a black-and-white photograph of his grandmother Bhani Devi, Jaswant  Singh continues to carry her memory and the shared legacy wherever he goes.

Bani Devi, registered as a Migrant from Pakistan-held -Kashmir in 1960.

Finding Refuge, Rebuilding Lives

The survivor of 1947 Muzaffarabad Massacre–Bani Devi

The journey of Grandmother-Grandson  duo was marked by constant struggle, from the makeshift refugee camps of Dharamshala to Bhopal. While they found temporary shelter, Jaswant, Bhani Devi and hundreds of other Sikh families shared an intense yearning to honor the loved ones they’d lost. Finally, in 1956, they found a place of permanent refuge in Patiala, Punjab. Arriving with little more than memories and heartache, these families began to rebuild their lives, starting from scratch.

In Patiala, the State granted them barren lands. Despite their determination, the infertile soil was almost impossible to cultivate, and Bhani Devi, like many others, eventually had to surrender the land. But these resilient families found strength in each other. United in loss, they nurtured a powerful vision: a sacred space where they could remember and honor those left behind in Muzaffarabad, Kotli, and Mirpur.

The Gurudwara: A Sanctuary of Remembrance and Resilience

In 1956, with community support, these survivors created Gurudwara Shri Guru Singh Sabha, Muzaffarabad Baradari, in Patiala. Rising tall in the Tripari area, this Gurudwara is much more than bricks and mortar—it stands as a testament to the resilience of a community that, despite devastating loss, held fast to their faith and unity. It serves as a shrine to history, a sanctuary for grief, and a reminder to future generations of the courage it took to survive. (Kashmir Rechords has already carried a detailed story on Shri Gurudwara, Muzaffarabad, Patiala and can be accessed at: https://kashmir-rechords.com/gurudwara-at-patiala-a-beacon-for-the-survivors-of-muzaffarabad-massacre/)

Today, this sacred Gurudwara brings together the descendants of nearly 300 families who endured the Muzaffarabad massacre. Every year, they gather within its walls to share stories, pay respects, and honor the memories of those they lost. For Jaswant Singh and countless others, this Gurudwara is more than a place of worship. It is a sanctuary of resilience, a standing reminder of the spirit’s ability to endure in the face of adversity.

1947 Muzaffarabad Massacre Survivor, Jaswant Singh with the Author.

A Legacy Carried Forward

Jaswant Singh, now in his twilight years, sees the Gurudwara as a reminder not only of the past but of the enduring unity, faith, and remembrance that keep his community strong. As he looks at the photograph of his grandmother, he carries forward not only her memory but also the collective legacy of those who survived with him. Through Gurudwara Shri Guru Singh Sabha, the story of survival, strength, and remembrance lives on, reminding everyone that, no matter the hardship, the human spirit can—and will—endure.

  • *Dr. Rajesh Bhat is a Kashmir-born Journalist, Writer and Researcher; formerly associated with Daily Excelsior J&K and The Tribune, Chandīgarh. He is the Author of Radio Kashmir in Times of Peace & War.

When Two Raos  Had Planned the Return of Kashmiri Pandits!

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When Two Raos  Had Planned the Return of Kashmiri Pandits!

A 1996 Plan by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Governor Gen K.V. Krishna Rao to Bring Back Exiled  Kashmiri Pandits Failed Due to Resistance from Within the Community.

(Kashmir Re’Chords Exclusive)

In the early months of 1996, India was on the verge of a bold initiative that could have reshaped the fate of thousands of exiled Kashmiri Pandits. Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and the then Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, General K.V. Krishna Rao, were working on a meticulously devised plan aimed at facilitating the return of Kashmiri Pandit families, who had to flee  the Valley during the violent unrest of the 1990s. The plan was on the brink of being set in motion, with both leaders determined to see it through. However, a surprising and strong resistance from Kashmiri Pandit organizations themselves would eventually stall this historic move.

A Vision for Homecoming

Prime Minister Rao, known for his political astuteness and deep understanding of Kashmir’s complex socio-political landscape, was deeply committed to bringing the Kashmiri Pandits back to their homeland. Supported by General Krishna Rao, the then  Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, the plan aimed to restore normalcy in the region through the rehabilitation of those displaced by militancy. The blueprint was prepared over several months of discussions, between October 1995 and February 1996, with the intention of launching the initiative in April of that year.

At the heart of the plan was the establishment of a special Council dedicated to the rehabilitation of victims of militancy. This Council, chaired by the Governor with the Chief Secretary as its executive head, had been registered and equipped with an initial corpus of Rs 20 crore. It laid the groundwork for a phased return of Kashmiri Pandit families to selected, safer areas of the Valley.

Confidence Building and Social Dialogue

The return plan was not just logistical but also strategic in fostering a social dialogue between the migrants and the local communities in Kashmir. Visits to the migrant camps by prominent Valley personalities were envisaged to build trust and pave the way for reconciliation. A few zones in areas like Pulwama, Baramulla, Anantnag, Bandipora and Srinagar were identified as initial points of resettlement, where social interactions could help initiate a broader peace process.

Newspaper reports from March 1996 available with Kashmir Rechords  suggest that many Kashmiri Pandits had shown interest in the plan, raising hopes that a peaceful return was possible. According to the then Chief Secretary, Ashok Kumar, the groundwork was laid, and initial responses were encouraging.

Resistance from Within

However, despite the careful planning and the personal commitment of Prime Minister Rao and Governor Krishna Rao, the return plan faced an unexpected and vehement rejection from key Kashmiri Pandit organizations. On March 19, 1996, just as the plan was being formalized, major migrant groups unanimously opposed the initiative.

N.N. Kaul, president of the Kashmiri Samiti Delhi, led the charge against the plan, accusing the government of taking Kashmiri migrants for granted. Ramesh Razdan, general secretary of Panun Kashmir, dismissed the move as “vague and meaningless,” while A.N. Vaishnavi, president of the All-State Kashmiri Pandit Conference (ASKPC), issued a “clear cut directive” to all Pandit migrants, urging them to avoid contact with members of the Valley’s majority community.

A Missed Opportunity

As the resistance mounted and the 1996 general elections loomed, the window for implementing the plan rapidly closed. With the change of government in May 1996, P.V. Narasimha Rao’s tenure ended, and with it, the dream of facilitating the return of Kashmiri Pandits faded into the background. Though Rao had been passionate about the issue, the resistance from within the Pandit community itself had made it difficult to proceed.

Now, nearly three decades later, in 2024, the exiled Kashmiri Pandits remain scattered across the country, still awaiting a viable return plan. The opposition from various organizations persists, and the dream of reconciliation and return, envisioned by the two Raos, remains unfulfilled.

The efforts of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Governor Gen K.V. Krishna Rao stand as a poignant reminder of a missed opportunity—one that could have possibly rewritten the history of Kashmir.

Restoring Roots: Domicile Certificates to Muzaffarabad Massacre Survivors

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Restoring Roots: Domicile Certificates to Muzaffarabad Massacre Survivors

(By: Dr Rajesh Bhat)*

In a historic and emotional move, Jammu and Kashmir  Government has begun issuing Domicile Certificates to the survivors of the 1947 Muzaffarabad and Mirpur massacres. This bold initiative transcends legal formality—it symbolizes justice, reclamation, and a vital step towards integrating all parts of Jammu and Kashmir under India’s control. The issuance of these certificates not only acknowledges the suffering of the survivors but also underscores the government’s determination to reunify the region, long divided by conflict and external occupation.

Bold & Clear: R/o Kotli, Muzaffarabad

A Century-Long Journey of Identity and Survival

For the people of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh, the journey from the status of State Subject to Permanent Resident and now to Domicile, has been an odyssey spanning nearly a century. It captures the resilience of these communities, transitioning from the British Raj to post-Independence India, and now to Bharat. This latest development is particularly meaningful for the descendants of massacre survivors, whose ancestral homes lie in what is now Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). For them, the Domicile Certificate is more than a legal document—it is a powerful recognition of their rightful place in modern India.

Recognition of Historical Roots and Suffering

In 2020, the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir issued administrative orders replacing the old State Subject with the new Domicile Certificates, signifying a major shift in the legal recognition of its residents. While the new rules extend eligibility to various categories of individuals—such as those who have served or studied in Jammu and Kashmir—the most profound aspect of this move is its recognition of the survivors of the Mirpur and Muzaffarabad massacres.

J&K Domicile Certificates to Muzaffarabad Massacre Survivors

 For the first time, these survivors and their descendants, who lost their ancestral homes during the 1947 invasion, are now officially recognized as domiciles of Jammu and Kashmir. To ensure that more bonafide migrants  can reclaim their status, the government has extended the deadline for obtaining Domicile Certificates to May 15, 2025.

Symbolism of the New Certificates

The Domicile Certificates issued to massacre survivors prominently feature the names of their ancestral villages in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur. This is more than symbolic; it reflects the government’s commitment to reclaiming PoK and reintegrating it with India. These certificates, issued under the authority of the J&K Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrant), send a clear message: these lands are still an integral part of India.

We, the descendants of Muzaffarabad Massacre Survivors

Political Shift After the Abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A

The political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir changed dramatically after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A in August 2019, enabling the central government to fully integrate the region with the rest of India. This has paved the way for decisive actions like the issuance of Domicile Certificates to the survivors of the 1947  Muzaffarabad massacres. The move also aligns with India’s broader strategy to reclaim territories illegally occupied by Pakistan, as enshrined in the Parliament’s 1994 resolution.

Following this, the Survey General of India released a new political map in 2019, including Muzaffarabad and Mirpur as districts of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, further asserting that these regions remain part of India.

Reclaiming Lost Territory, Sending a Bold Message

The fall of Muzaffarabad to Pashtun tribes backed by Pakistan on October 22, 1947, marked the beginning of a dark period in Jammu and Kashmir’s history. Thousands were massacred, and survivors were forced to flee, leaving behind homes that they never saw again. Now, with the issuance of Domicile Certificates to their descendants, the Indian government is righting the wrongs of the past. The recognition of these survivors is not only a legal gesture but a bold statement of India’s intent to reunify Jammu and Kashmir.

This move strengthens India’s legal and moral claim to the region while eroding Pakistan’s narrative. By officially recognizing the residents of Muzaffarabad, the government is demonstrating an unwavering commitment to reclaiming Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

A Symbol of Justice for Survivors

For the survivors of the massacres and their descendants, these certificates are more than just legal documentation. They are a symbol of justice and recognition, acknowledging their lost homes and heritage. Decades after the tragic events of 1947, the Indian government is addressing their plight, ensuring their ancestral roots are acknowledged and their rights restored.

The 1994 resolution passed by the Indian Parliament clearly calls for Pakistan to vacate the occupied territories. By issuing Domicile Certificates and redrawing the political map without LoC and  to include Muzaffarabad and Mirpur in the UT of J&K, the government is making a strong push to achieve this goal.

A Strategic Masterstroke in Geopolitics

In the broader context of international geopolitics, this move sends a powerful message to Pakistan and the global community. It reaffirms India’s stance on PoK and highlights its commitment to reclaiming and integrating all parts of Jammu and Kashmir. The timing is significant, as there is growing unrest in PoK, with increasing numbers of people expressing their desire to merge with India. By acknowledging the ancestral roots of the massacre survivors, the government is addressing a long-standing historical injustice while making a strategic move to unsettle Pakistan. This calculated masterstroke bolsters pro-India sentiments within PoK and reinforces India’s rightful claim to the region.

* Dr.Rajesh Bhat is a Kashmir-born Journalist, Writer and Researcher, formerly associated with Daily Excelsior, Jammu and The Tribune, Chandigarh. He is the Author of Radio Kashmir in Times of Peace & War.

Gurudwara at Patiala: A Beacon for the Survivors of Muzaffarabad Massacre

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Gurudwara at Patiala: A Beacon for the Survivors of Muzaffarabad Massacre
(By: Dr. Rajesh Bhat)*

The Gurudwara, Shri Guru Singh Sabha, Muzaffarabad Baradari, Kashmirian at  Patiala, Punjab is more than a building. It is a monument to the grief, love, and resilience of a community that endured unspeakable horrors. Each year, the descendants of those 300 families gather here to commemorate the victims of the October 1947 Muzaffarabad massacre.

In the heart of Patiala, Punjab, stands a small Gurudwara—an emblem of resilience, remembrance, and hope. This sacred place is not merely a site of worship but a living testament to a story woven in pain, loss, and unyielding courage. It tells the tale of 300 Sikh families from Muzaffarabad and Kotli, whose ancestors once thrived in what is now Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. These families lived harmoniously with their land and traditions until the tragic events of October 1947 forever altered their destinies.

The partition of India left deep scars across the subcontinent, and for these families, the impact was especially profound. When Pashtun tribesmen, backed by the Pakistani Army, stormed through the villages of Mirpur, Kotli, and Muzaffarabad, the lives of these Sikh families were irreparably shattered. Their peaceful homes were transformed into battlegrounds, and their loved ones became martyrs in a storm of violence. Thousands of Sikhs and Hindus were mercilessly killed, and women were forced to jump into rivers to escape enslavement and forced conversion.

The Escape from Muzaffarabad

Amidst this horror, around 300 Sikh families of Muzaffarabad and 20 surrounding villages  miraculously survived the massacre. Fleeing with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the grief of leaving behind their ancestral lands, they sought refuge in migrant camps, first in  Dharamshala and then at  Bhopal. Despite their immense loss, they were determined to keep the memory of their fallen loved ones alive.

Rebuilding Lives in Patiala

In 1956, after moving from migrant Camp set up at Bhopal,  these survivors finally found solace in Patiala, Punjab, where they began to rebuild their lives. Yet, they did not—and could not—forget their past. In memory of those who were killed, they united to construct a Gurudwara—a sacred place that would forever honor the souls lost in Muzaffarabad, Kotli, and Mirpur.

The Gurudwara Shri Guru Singh Sabha, Muzaffarabad Baradari, Kashmirian at  Tripari, Patiala, is more than a building. It is a monument to the grief, love, and resilience of a community that endured unspeakable horrors. Each year, the descendants of those 300 families gather here to commemorate the victims of the October 1947 Muzaffarabad massacre. The retelling of their ancestors’ stories serves not to reopen old wounds but to ensure the sacrifices of their people are never forgotten.

A Beacon of Strength and Memory

This Gurudwara stands as a reminder not just of the partition but of the enduring human spirit in the face of overwhelming loss. For the descendants of these families, their ancestors’ stories are not distant history but a living legacy, shaping their identity and sense of purpose.

As time passes, the physical evidence of the violence in Muzaffarabad and Kotli may fade, but the Gurudwara in Patiala ensures that the memory of those who were killed for their faith remains eternal. It serves as both a silent witness to their suffering and a powerful proclamation of their resilience. Through prayers, tears, and unwavering faith, the survivors of 1947 and their descendants keep the spirit of their homeland alive, forever yearning for the lands they were forced to leave but never truly lost in their hearts.

* Dr.Rajesh Bhat is a Kashmir-born Journalist, Writer and Researcher, formerly associated with Daily Excelsior, Jammu and The Tribune, Chandigarh. He is the Author of Radio Kashmir in Times of Peace & War.

A Fallen Star: The Tragic Story of Dr. Deepak Mathu, IPS

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A Fallen Star: The Tragic Story of Dr. Deepak Mathu, IPS

What makes this story even more heartbreaking is that it wasn’t terrorists from across the border who claimed Dr. Mathu’s life, but some of  his own colleagues—people he trusted, people he worked with.

(By: Dr. Rajesh Bhat)

In the troubled landscape of Jammu and Kashmir, where militancy has claimed countless lives, the loss of talented individuals has often been overlooked. The mountains and valleys of this conflicted land have witnessed unimaginable grief, especially for those like Dr. Deepak Mathu, a bright star among the Kashmiri Pandits, whose life was tragically cut short under suspicious circumstances. His story, however, isn’t just one of a life lost to terrorism, but of a young man’s dreams, ambitions, and ultimately, betrayal by those he trusted.

A Brilliant Soul with Great Ambition

Dr. Mathu was not just any ordinary soul. He was a brilliant mind, a kind heart, and a man with a vision for the Nation. Born to devoted parents, he grew up with a fierce desire to make a difference. After completing his Medical Degree with distinction, he could have easily settled into a prestigious career as a doctor. But his ambitions were far greater. Determined to serve the Nation, he set his sights on the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), eventually earning a place in the Indian Police Service (IPS) cadre for Jammu and Kashmir. His future was bright, and his path was one that would have surely led to greatness.

But tragically, his life took an unexpected and devastating turn!

The Mysterious Death

In the early 1990s, amid the growing unrest in Srinagar, Dr. Mathu, an IPS Officer, posted in Srinagar,  was found dead under mysterious circumstances. His family, devastated by the loss, refused to believe that his death was a mere accident. The circumstances surrounding his passing raised too many questions, and it soon became clear that his life had been snuffed out as part of a sinister conspiracy. What makes this story even more heartbreaking is that it wasn’t terrorists from across the border who claimed Dr. Mathu’s life, but some of  his own colleagues—people he trusted, people he worked with.

A Father’s Unyielding Quest for Justice

For his father, the quest for justice became an unrelenting pursuit. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, as he knocked on every door of authority, hoping to unearth the truth behind his son’s death. Yet, every effort was met with cold bureaucracy, frustrating delays, and the callousness of a system that often fails to protect its best and brightest. Despite his tireless efforts, Dr. Mathu’s father was left without answers.

But his love for his son never waned. Even in the face of this crushing silence, Dr. Mathu’s parents found a way to honor their fallen hero. For months after his death, they would visit newspaper offices, carrying their son’s photograph—dressed proudly in his police uniform—hoping that the world would remember their son not just as another victim of the militancy, but as a man of honor, integrity, and boundless potential.

The Pain of Betrayal

The killing of innocents, especially those by conspiracy, is a betrayal of the highest order. It’s a wound that cuts deeper than any other. While terrorism in Kashmir has taken the lives of many, the cold-blooded conspiracy that claimed the life of Dr. Mathu is a reminder of a different kind of darkness—the kind that grows within. His death was not just a loss to his family, but to the Nation, to the people he had set out to protect.

Dr. Deepak Mathu  was a man who had the world at his feet, a son who made his parents proud, and a patriot who wanted to serve his country. His untimely death left a void that can never be filled. Unfortunately, most of us have forgotten him….But as long as his story is told, his memory will live on—not just as a victim of a conspiracy, but as a symbol of what Kashmir, and indeed the entire Nation, lost during those dark days. His father’s quest for justice continues to echo in the hearts of those who still remember, a reminder that some wounds can never heal until the truth is known.

Annie Besant’s Warning  to Kashmiri Pandits in 1903!

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Annie Besant’s Warning  to Kashmiri Pandits in 1903!

Besant’s letter warned that without swift action, missionaries could seize the opportunity to establish their own college, steering Kashmiri youth away from their cultural roots. “Do you want your children to turn into ‘Native Christians’?

(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

Over 120 years ago, in a powerful and impassioned letter, Annie Besant, President of the Board of Trustees of the Central Hindu College, Benares, made a heartfelt appeal to Kashmiri Pandits living in Undivided India! Her message was clear: rise to the occasion and support the establishment of a Hindu  college in Srinagar. “The time has come for Kashmiri Pandits to contribute to the education of their homeland, or risk seeing their youth steered towards foreign ideals by Christian missionaries, flush with funds from English donors,” she warned.

Besant’s letter, published and circulated in major newspapers and journals of the time, was a rallying cry to preserve the cultural and intellectual future of Kashmir. She highlighted the urgent need for funds to elevate the Hindu High School in Srinagar—established in 1901 with the support of Maharaja Pratap Singh and his brother Amar Singh—into a second-grade college. Without this, Kashmiri students had to travel to distant cities like Lahore for higher education, a privilege many could not afford. Kashmir Rechords is in possession of this prized archival letter and is reproducing some of its  excerpts here.

Kashmir  Education at a Crossroad

At the heart of Besant’s letter was the belief that the educational future of Kashmir was at a critical juncture. The lack of higher education in the Valley meant that non-Kashmiris filled most senior positions in the State, an issue that deeply concerned both the Maharaja and the State Durbar, she warned. To remedy this, they were determined to build and fund a college in Srinagar. However, progress was being stalled, and Besant’s letter sought the active support of the prosperous Kashmiri Pandit community living in British India to make this vision a reality.

Besant’s letter warned that without swift action, missionaries could seize the opportunity to establish their own college, steering Kashmiri youth away from their cultural roots. “Do you want your children to turn into ‘Native Christians’?” she asked in her letter, pointing to the urgent need for preserving the region’s traditions through education.

Annie Besant’s Plan: A Call for Contributions

Besant’s appeal focused on a practical solution: regular financial contributions from Kashmiri Pandits. She outlined the importance of guaranteed monthly subscriptions—whether Rs. 5, Rs. 10, Rs. 25, Rs. 50, or Rs. 100—to ensure the long-term success of the college. “Many of you can afford this without feeling any financial strain,” she reassured, urging the community to act swiftly.

Donations, along with the first month’s subscription, could be sent to the Honorary Secretary of the Central Hindu College, Benaras, clearly marked for the “Kashmir College Fund.” One-time donations for initial expenses were also welcome, but regular support was essential for ensuring the stability of the college in the years to come.

Empowering Kashmir’s Youth

Since its establishment in 1901, the Hindu High School in Srinagar had provided quality education to over 600 boys, with two additional branch schools serving younger students. The Maharaja, eager to promote higher education in his State, had worked tirelessly with the Durbar to raise the status of the school to that of a second-grade college. Yet, without sufficient funds, this vision was under threat.

At the time, Kashmiri students who wished to pursue higher education had no option but to leave the Valley for places like Lahore. For those unable to afford this, higher education remained a distant dream, and the local administration struggled to fill top government positions with qualified Kashmiri candidates. Annie Besant’s appeal came at a crucial moment, urging the community to take control of their own educational destiny.

The Legacy of Annie Besant’s Appeal

Following Besant’s passionate plea, a local managing committee was formed in Srinagar to oversee the efforts to establish the college.  There is a mention of the same in her letter. The committee included prominent figures like Dr. Bal Krishna Kaul, Rai Sahab Daya Krishna Kaul (Private Secretary to the Maharaja), Bhavani Das (Revenue Officer), Swami Baldev Ji and H.A. Wilson (Principal of the Srinagar Hindu High School), with Rishivara Mukherji serving as Honorary Secretary.

The Maharaja gladly obliged, and in 1905, the foundation of the Hindu College was laid. Initially operating from two rooms near the present-day Secretariat building, the college was eventually shifted to its permanent site in 1911.

The institution, later renamed Sri Pratap College, became affiliated with Panjab University, Lahore, marking the beginning of higher education in Kashmir. Besant’s efforts, combined with the support of the Kashmiri Pandit community, ensured that the youth of Kashmir could now pursue their academic aspirations without leaving their homeland. The future of Kashmiri education had been secured, and the cultural and intellectual heritage of the Valley was preserved for generations to come.

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  • At Kashmir Rechords, we are committed to bringing you unique, untold stories from Jammu & Kashmir, grounded in authenticity and supported by solid evidence. Every write-up is carefully researched, verified through archival materials, documents, letters, photographs, and credible references.
  • With the unwavering support of our readers, we aim to make Kashmir Rechords a trusted repository of genuine historical insights, striking a meaningful chord with the rich heritage of Kashmir.

Kashmiri Pandit Martyrs, C/o Rajinder Park Jammu

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(By: Dr. Rajesh Bhat)*

Every year on September 14, Kashmiri Pandits observe Martyrdom Day to remember their leaders and loved ones lost in the conflict of 1989-1990. One name often evoked is Pt. Tika Lal Taploo, a prominent Pandit leader whose assassination on September 14, 1989, marked the beginning of a tragic chapter that culminated in the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits on January 19, 1990. However, the martyrdom of the community extends far beyond Taploo’s death. The true tragedy lies in the loss of countless Pandits who perished far from their homeland, denied the dignity of being cremated in the sacred land of their ancestors.

For the displaced community, it wasn’t just about losing their homes, but also the final connection to their heritage—the right to rest in their own land.

Rajinder Park: A Refuge for Grief and Last Rites

In the early 1990s, the Pandit community, thrust into exile in Jammu, faced an overwhelming dilemma. With no place to gather, no traditional cremation grounds, and a communication vacuum in an era before social media, they were left in disarray. Unlike today, when a death can be shared instantly on platforms like WhatsApp, Kashmiri Pandits relied on local newspapers to spread the heart-breaking news of terrorist killings in Kashmir. The absence of a central address, a shared space for collective grief, further deepened the community’s alienation.

It was in this void that Rajinder Park, located on Jammu’s Canal Road, emerged as an unintended sanctuary. Originally a public space, it transformed into a vital gathering place where Kashmiri Pandits could come together, mourn their dead, and perform the last rites, the Tenth-Day Kriya. Families, who had fled the horrors of their homeland, now found themselves in Rajinder Park, a place that soon became symbolic of their new reality—an exile with no true home.

A Landmark of Resilience

For the older generation of Kashmiri Pandits, Rajinder Park is etched deeply in their memory. It became a witness to their collective sorrow, where the sounds of sobbing and whispered prayers replaced the serenity that once filled the park. It served as a space of solace, where families would honor their deceased and perform rituals, which were traditionally reserved for the sacred Ghats of Kashmir. In the absence of their homeland, Rajinder Park became the place where they could cling to their cultural traditions, even if it was in the heart of an unfamiliar city.

The park played this critical role for years until more formal Tenth Day Kriya Ghats were established at Muthi , Tawi Bridge in Jammu and at the banks of Chenab near Akhnoor Town. Yet, for many in the community, Rajinder Park remains more than a temporary refuge; it is a powerful reminder of those early years of displacement when Kashmiri Pandits were forced to navigate unimaginable grief and loss in exile.

While many of the younger generation may not know its significance, Rajinder Park Jammu  stands as a monument to the resilience, sacrifice, and endurance of the Kashmiri Pandit community. For those who lived through the harrowing events of 1990, the park is more than just a physical space—it is a testament to the strength of a people who, even in the depths of despair, found ways to preserve their dignity and cultural identity.

For every Kashmiri Pandit who died far from home, Rajinder Park, Jammu stands as a poignant reminder that their sacrifices, and the shared history of their community, will never be forgotten.

*Dr. Rajesh Bhat is a senior journalist from J&K who reported and contributed during the peak of the Kashmiri Pandit migration and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989-90.

Lal Ded Chair Remains Unfulfilled: A Govt, UGC  Promise in Limbo

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Lal Ded Chair Remains Unfulfilled: A Govt, UGC  Promise in Limbo
  • Four years after the government’s announcement, the Lal Ded Chair remains unrealized, casting a shadow over efforts to honor Kashmir’s most revered mystic poet.
(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

 As Kashmiri Pandits observe the birth anniversary of one of their most revered figures, Lalleshwari—popularly known as Lal Ded—the long-promised recognition of her legacy through a dedicated academic chair remains unrealized. Over four years ago, in December 2019,  Ms  Smriti Irani  in the capacity of  Union Minister for Women and Child Development, announced the establishment of 10 chairs named after eminent women across various fields.  The Chairs,  to be funded by the Ministry,  were supposed to be established by  University Grants Commission (UGC). Taking a cue  from his Ministerial Colleague, the  then Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Mr  Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’  on March 16, 2020  announced the same in a written reply to  the Lok Sabha. Among them was the promise of a chair dedicated to Lalleshwari, the 14th-century mystic poet of Kashmir, who is hailed by all religious communities in the Valley. However, despite the passage of time, there has been no tangible progress on this initiative.

The announcement, made with much fanfare, was part of a broader move by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to inspire young women to pursue higher education by honoring female luminaries in India’s history. Along with Lalleshwari, other iconic women were included in this effort, such as freedom fighter Mahadevi Verma, singer M.S. Subbulakshmi, and Maratha queen Devi Ahilyabai Holkar.

Lalleshwari holds a unique place in the socio-cultural and spiritual landscape of Kashmir. Her poetic verses, known as Vakhs, resonate with deep Shaivite philosophy, mystical symbolism, and spiritual enlightenment. She bridged divides, becoming a shared symbol of mysticism, revered by Hindus and Muslims alike. Yet, despite this towering influence, her academic recognition through the proposed UGC chair remains stalled.

The initiative, which promised to fund each chair with an annual financial allocation of ₹50 lakh, was intended to encourage research and knowledge production around women’s contributions to various fields, including literature, science, and social reform. Lalleshwari’s chair was specifically meant to highlight her contributions to poetry and mysticism.

Stalled Progress Amid Ongoing Celebrations

Even as devotees prepare Taher (a traditional  yellow rice dish) and recite her Vakhs to celebrate her Jayanti today, the absence of any substantial movement towards establishing the chair raises concerns about the government’s commitment to its promises. For many in the academic cicles, the chair was seen not only as a symbol of recognition but also as a way to preserve and advance Lalleshwari’s teachings for future generations.

The UGC, in collaboration with the universities, was tasked with appointing scholars and academics to lead these chairs. The criteria were clear: individuals with outstanding academic and scholarly track records, aged between 55 and 70, would be selected through a rigorous nomination process. Despite these guidelines being in place, the progress on appointing scholars to lead the Lal Ded Chair remains elusive.

A Symbolic Loss for Women-Centric Academia

The delay in setting up the Lal Ded Chair is emblematic of a larger issue: the slow pace at which women-centric academic initiatives materialize in India. This chair, like the others announced, was supposed to contribute to research and create spaces for dialogues, seminars, and publications that celebrate women’s historical contributions. Lalleshwari’s chair, in particular, was meant to explore the intersections of poetry, mysticism, and spiritual thought, potentially bridging ancient wisdom with modern academic discourse.

The fact that four years have passed without any concrete developments is disappointing not only for the Kashmiri Pandit community but also for scholars and students who hoped to engage with her rich legacy through academic work.

Maharaja Hari Singh’s `Minister-in-Waiting’ !

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Maharaja Hari Singh’s `Minister-in-Waiting’ !
(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

In the intricate history of Kashmir, many individuals have left indelible marks, though their names may not always be celebrated. One such figure is P.K. Wattal, a Kashmiri Pandit and dedicated civil servant, who played a pivotal role during the early years of Maharaja Hari Singh’s reign as the “Minister-in-Waiting.” His story is one of unwavering commitment, meticulous governance, and a profound sense of duty that provided stability during a crucial period of transition.

A Unique Designation: The “Minister-in-Waiting”

When Maharaja Hari Singh was coronated between February 22 and 28, 1926, he ascended to the throne of a vast and complex princely state. The young ruler, facing immense responsibilities, relied heavily on seasoned administrators to guide him through the intricacies of governance. Among these trusted advisors was P.K. Wattal, who was bestowed with the unique and somewhat curious title of “Minister-in-Waiting.”

O/o Minister-in-Waiting: P K Wattal

To modern ears, the title may seem quaint, but it signified a role of immense responsibility. Wattal was far from a mere ceremonial figure; he was the backbone of the administration, entrusted with managing the critical affairs of the state during the formative years of Maharaja Hari Singh’s rule. His legendary work ethic meant he often took on the majority of file work and decision-making tasks, ensuring that the young Maharaja was not overwhelmed by the demands of his new position.

A Steady Hand in Uncertain Times

From 1926 to April 1930, Wattal’s tenure as Minister-in-Waiting was marked by his tireless dedication to ensuring the smooth operation of the state’s administration. His meticulous attention to detail provided a strong cushion for Maharaja Hari Singh, who was still acclimating to the responsibilities of leadership. Even when the Maharaja embarked on a European tour in May 1928, records assessed by Kashmir Rechords indicate that Wattal continued to manage the state’s affairs with unwavering diligence, leaving nothing to chance in the ruler’s absence.

Wattal’s commitment to his role did not go unnoticed. His “waiting” period culminated in May 1930, when he was promoted to the position of full-fledged Finance and Development Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. This elevation was a testament to his steadfast dedication to the state and his remarkable ability to manage its complex affairs with precision and skill.

Wattal’s elevation as Finance and Development Minister in 1930.

The Legacy of a Quiet Leader

Though P.K. Wattal’s contributions may not be widely recognized today, they were crucial in shaping the early years of Maharaja Hari Singh’s rule. His role as Minister-in-Waiting, though largely behind the scenes, was instrumental in laying the foundation for the administration’s future successes. Wattal embodied the qualities of a true public servant—dedication, humility, and an unwavering commitment to his duty.

As we reflect on the history of Kashmir’s princely era, it is essential to remember figures like Wattal, whose legacy reminds us that true leadership is not always about being in the spotlight; sometimes, it is about being the steady hand that guides from behind the scenes.

Readers are welcome to add to this story, if they have any inputs, since no one has so far written about Mr P K Wattal all these years !

Janmashtami in Kashmir’s Tumultuous 1990s

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Janmashtami in Kashmir’s Tumultuous 1990s

(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

Circa 1991: In the tranquil yet troubled village of Batgund, Handwara,Kashmir nestled in the scenic district of Kupwara, the Koul family clung to their faith as steadfastly as they did to their ancestral home. Surinder Kumar Koul, a Kashmiri Pandit who chose to stay in his homeland even as his community migrated  in 1990, embodied this unwavering resolve. As Krishna Janmashtami approached in 1991, the festival that had united generations of Kashmiri Pandits, hope and nostalgia stirred within the family.

A Tradition of Unity and Devotion

Before 1990, Krishna Janmashtami was more than just a festival; it was a vibrant celebration that brought the Pandit community together in Kashmir. Even in the wake of the Anantnag riots in 1986, when tensions threatened to tear communities apart, Kashmiri Muslims stood by the Pandits, ensuring the festival’s smooth observance. In 1987, Governor Jagmohan, had even visited Srinagar’s Sheetal Nath Temple during the festivities that year, lending his presence to a gathering steeped in both devotion and unease. But that was not the case up to 1996.

Governor Jagmohan was requested to visit Sheetal Nath Temple on August 27, 1987.

The Darkening Horizon of 1991

In 1990, there were no Janmashtami celebrations in Kashmir. By 1991, the serene valley had been fractured by escalating violence. Surinder Kumar Koul, one of the few who chose to remain behind when others fled, was facing a harsh reality. The Koul family’s home, a witness to generations of peace, now stood under the constant threat of violence. The previous year of 1990 , they had been forced to forgo their Janmashtami celebrations due to the deteriorating situation. Yet, they held on to the hope that this year would be different.

A Last Act of Devotion

For September 1, 1991, as the Koul family was preparing to celebrate Krishna Janmashtami a day before the rest of the Hindu community, adhering to their tradition of marking the Seventh lunar day, Surinder had wished to make careful arrangements at the local temple in Batgund, Handwara, determined to revive the rituals that had been abandoned in the face of fear the previous year.

But as Surinder moved through Langate town of Handwara, his plans were violently derailed. The militants, who had been tracking his every move, found and killed him on the spot. The life of a devoted man, committed to his faith and his homeland, was brutally extinguished.

Meanwhile, his extended family, who had taken refuge in a tented camp at Nagrota in Jammu, awaited his arrival. They had hoped that he would bring with him the spirit of their ancestral land. Instead, they were met with the devastating news of his death, a blow that deepened the already grievous wounds of a community torn from its roots. All they could do was to observe his 10th Day Kriya at Nagrota Camp on September 4, 1991.

Surinder’s death occurred during the tenure of Governor Girish Chander Saxena, not Jagmohan, the figure often controversially blamed for the Pandit exodus by those sympathetic to Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir. The tragedy of Surinder Koul’s fate stands as a stark reminder of the human cost of conflict, a poignant symbol of unyielding faith amid overwhelming adversity.

Kashmir’s Forgotten Doctor Who Served Before Ali Jan’s Birth

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(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

In the rich tapestry of Kashmir’s medical history, few names shine as brightly as that of Dr. Ali Mohammad Jan (1914-1988). Known affectionately as “The Lukmaan of Kashmir,” Dr. Jan’s reputation for diagnosing and treating a wide range of ailments without the use of modern biomedical equipment made him a household name. His legacy continues to resonate in the Valley, a testament to his extraordinary skill and compassion.

But as we celebrate the achievements of Dr. Ali Mohammad Jan, another name, now almost forgotten, calls out from the shadows of the past. This is the story of Dr. Abdul Waahid,  the unsung healer of early 20th Century Kashmir whose contributions predate even the birth of Dr. Jan and yet have largely faded from memory.


Long before Dr. Ali Jan became synonymous with medical care in Kashmir, there was Dr. Abdul Waahid. Practicing between 1905 and 1920, Dr. Waahid was the go-to physician for both locals and the many tourists  and visitors who flocked to the Valley. A distinguished medical practitioner from London, he brought the latest medical knowledge to a region where advanced healthcare was still a rarity.

His clinic, situated at Amira Kadal in Srinagar, near Dharamshalla was not just a place of healing but a beacon of hope for those in need of advanced medical care. Patients traveled from far and wide, including cities like Lahore and Amritsar, to seek his expertise. Even as Christian missionaries established a strong presence in Kashmir’s healthcare, Dr. Waahid’s practice flourished, a testament to his skill and dedication.

Newspapers and magazines from that era, uncovered by Kashmir Rechords, are filled with advertisements lauding Dr. Waahid’s abilities. Yet, despite his significant contributions, his name has largely faded from public memory, overshadowed by the medical luminaries who followed.

Before the advent of modern medicine, Kashmir’s healthcare was dominated by traditional practices, overseen by Hakims and Barbers. These practitioners relied on their knowledge of herbs and rudimentary surgical techniques to treat the sick. The arrival of Christian missionaries in the mid-19th century, however, marked the beginning of a transformative era in Kashmir’s healthcare—a story that is for some other day.

For those interested in exploring more of Kashmir’s rich medical history and cultural heritage, stay connected with Kashmir Rechords at www.kashmir-rechords.com. Here, you’ll find genuine, authentic anecdotes supported by historical and documentary evidence, each one a chord in the symphony of Kashmir’s past. You can also follow us on @Kashmir_Rec on Twitter and also on Face Book.


Miru Pandit: Guardian of Kashmir’s Legacy during Mughal Era

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Miru Pandit: Guardian of Kashmir’s Legacy during Mughal Era

Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

In the annals of Kashmir’s rich history, few figures stand out as vividly as Miru Pandit, a man who bridged the ancient wisdom of his homeland with the demands of a changing world. During the Mughal era, as Kashmir’s cultural and intellectual heritage was woven into the fabric of the empire, men like Miru Pandit  with his military prowess played a crucial role in preserving and adapting this legacy. His resilience and intellect made him a beacon of his culture, embodying the strength and adaptability of the Kashmiri Pandit community.

Kashmiri Pandits and Mughal Empire

The Kashmiri Pandits were recognized by the Mughals as the “most respectable class,” often attracting the attention of rulers like Akbar, who valued their knowledge and integrity. This high regard is documented in several historical texts on Kashmir, including Pt Jia Lal Kilam’s “History of Kashmiri Pandits.” Although Pandits rarely reached the highest ranks of power, they were often appointed as Peshkars (administrative officials) to the Mughal Subedars. Unlike Muslims, who dominated the army’s upper echelons, Pandits were entrusted with defending volatile border regions—a significant responsibility that highlighted their capability and loyalty. This trust extended to the appointment of Rajput generals to govern Kabul and the military roles assigned to Kashmiri Pandits on the frontiers.

Early Life of Miru Pandit: From Kashmir to Deccan

Miru Pandit’s story begins during the reign of Sikandar (1394-1417 A.D.), when his ancestors migrated from Kashmir to the Bahmani kingdom in South India during Feroz Shah’s rule. Serving as an officer in command of forts in Kamraj province, with his family settled in Ellichpur (Deccan), Miru Pandit eventually left the service of the Golkanda chief and moved to Delhi. There, with the assistance of Hakim Abdul Fateh of Shiraz, he was appointed to a command position in Noor Jehan’s bodyguard.

Miru Pandit’s Bravery in Mughal History

Miru Pandit’s military prowess was brought to the forefront during a pivotal moment in Mughal history. According to “Tarikhi Aqwami Kashmir,” when Mahabat Khan, who had fallen out of favor, captured Emperor Jehangir at Jhelum, Noor Jehan rallied forces to free her husband. In the ensuing conflict, Miru Pandit distinguished himself through his skill and bravery, catching the Emperor’s attention. As a mark of royal favor, Jehangir invited Miru Pandit to return to Kashmir, where he was granted extensive jagirs and made the Governor of Kamraj. His duties included building and supervising forts at strategic locations like Sopore and Baramulla. To man these fortifications, Miru Pandit recruited forces from Muzaffarabad, Uttara Machi (Handwara), and Lolab, earning further rewards from the Mughal overlords for his efficient administration.

Legacy Continues: Bulaqi Pandit and the Defence of Kashmir

The legacy of Miru Pandit continued through his descendants. As noted by author Krishna Dar in the “History of Dar Family,” Bulaqi Pandit, Miru Pandit’s descendant, took charge of defending Kashmir’s borders. By this time, Mughal rule had weakened, and raids by Yagistani tribes had become more frequent and severe. Bulaqi Pandit responded by taking the fight to the enemy’s territory, dealing a crushing blow and securing a truce. The Yagistani leaders swore by the Holy Quran to cease their raids on Kashmir in exchange for the release of prisoners, bringing peace to the region.

Bulaqi Pandit was succeeded by his son, Makund Pandit, who, unfortunately, could not maintain a good relationship with the Subedar of Kashmir. This led to his departure from the Valley. Leaving his family in Kishtwar, he traveled to Delhi, where he presented his grievances to Emperor Mohammad Shah. The Emperor received him warmly, granted him a Khillat (robe of honor), and assigned him to the revenue administration. Although the command of the forts was transferred to another, the Pandits’ connection with the army persisted, with some joining the Sikh and Maratha armies, continuing their tradition of military service.

Mahadeo  Pandit in Civil Administration

During the Mughal era, Kashmiri Pandits also held significant positions in civil administration. One notable figure was Pandit Mahadeo, who served as the Peshkar (Chief Minister) to Mughal Subedar Ali Mardan Khan (1650-1657 A.D.). Documents from this period reveal that during Mahadeo’s tenure, the imperial highway from Srinagar to Gujarat was constructed, complete with Caravan Sarais at every stage, making the road wide and easy to traverse.

Enduring Spirit of Kashmir’s Ancient Culture

Miru Pandit and his descendants symbolize the resilience and adaptability of the Kashmiri Pandit community. Despite the challenges and shifting political landscapes, they maintained their integrity and continued to serve with distinction in both military and civil capacities. Their story is a testament to the enduring spirit of Kashmir’s ancient culture, carried forward by those who bore its torch through the storms of time.

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Shiva’s Forgotten Spring in North Kashmir!

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Shiva’s Forgotten Spring in North Kashmir!
(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

Nestled in the mountainous Zaingir Belt of North Kashmir lies the village of Shiva, a place rich in history and spiritual significance. Named after Lord Shiva, this village was once a pilgrimage destination for Kashmiri Hindus, especially during the festival of Shravan Purnimashi. Devotees from far and wide would visit the sacred spring here, much like they do at the Holy Cave Shrine of Amarnath Ji, to offer their prayers to Lord Shiva.

The Vanishing Memory of a Sacred Site

Today, the story of Shiva’s Spring is one of fading memories and lost reverence. Many wonder why this once-sacred site has not been preserved or celebrated over the years. To learn its true history, one must turn to the Kashmiri Pandits of Sopore and the surrounding Zaingir Belt, historically known as Uttar Machipora. They recall a village known for its dense forests and traces of iron ore, still standing amidst the hills, with its name echoing its spiritual past.

Changing Landmarks and Lost Symbols

Atop a hillock, the sacred spring of Lord Shiva still exists, once providing potable water to the villages below. At the foothills lies the “Ziyarat” of Khwaja Hassan Qari, a revered Muslim saint. This area, once a symbol of coexistence and shared spiritual heritage, has witnessed significant changes over time. Hindu residents of Sopore recall that the spring once housed a Shiv Linga, a powerful symbol of Lord Shiva. However, in the 1970s, during the rise of Jamat-e-Islami leader and former MLA Syed Ali Shah Geelani in this area, the Shiv linga mysteriously disappeared. The event was met with only symbolic protest, marking a turning point in the site’s history. Despite these changes, local Pandits continued to visit the spring at Shiva village, also known as Hard-Shiva in official records, until their migration in the 1990s.

Historical Accounts and the Mystery of the Lost Cave

Kashmiri Muslim historian Muhammad Din Fauq, whose ancestors lived in Hardu-Shiva before migrating to Lahore, often visited the Zaingir area. In his writings between 1905 and 1917, Fauq makes several references to the sacred Shiva spring and its significance. He  also calls it “Anantnag’’, as Pandits used to call it.  He also mentions a mysterious cave near Shiva village, where, in 1905, some people made unsuccessful attempts to explore its depths. Fauq notes that the government of the time provided support to devotees visiting various Hindu shrines in the Zaingir Belt, including Shiva’s Spring—a practice that has since faded from memory, particularly after the mass migration of Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s.

In 1917, Fauq makes a mention of Shiva’s Spring (Anantnag) and the annual pilgrimage being conducted there.
A mention of spring, iron ores, cave and Ziyarat of Kh. Hassan Qari.

Shiva’s Forests and the Transformation of a Region

Hard-Shiva, located just 10 kilometers from Sopore town, was once a major village in the Zaingir Belt (Uttar Machipora tehsil). The area’s earlier name, Hari Gir (meaning “Lord’s Forest”), reflects its deep connection to Lord Shiva, much like Gagan Gir on the way to Sonamarg, Kashmir. However, after the reign of King Zain-ul-Abidin, who is credited with constructing a canal named after himself, the area underwent a transformation. The canal, known as “Nehar-e-Zain Gir,” still flows through the village, a reminder of the region’s layered history.

A Heritage Worth Remembering

Today, Shiva’s Spring and the beautiful village that bears its name stand as silent witnesses to a bygone era. The memories of this sacred site, accessible only by a winding road, are slowly fading, especially after the 1990 migration of Kashmiri Pandits. Yet, the story of Shiva’s Spring is a poignant reminder of Kashmir’s rich and diverse heritage—a heritage that deserves to be remembered and preserved for generations to come.

From Kashmir’s Orphan to Lahore’s Builder  

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From Kashmir’s Orphan to Lahore’s Builder  
(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

In the early 19th century, the picturesque valleys of Kashmir were devastated by a series of merciless famines. Among the many who fled the land in search of survival was a young boy named Sultan Malik. Born into a Rajput Muslim family in Shahabad (Verinag), Kashmir, Sultan’s world was turned upside down when he became an orphan at the tender age of ten. With little more than hope and the guidance of his widowed mother, Sultan joined the exodus to Punjab—a journey that would ultimately lead him to an extraordinary destiny.

The Exodus to Punjab: A New Beginning in Lahore

The migration was fraught with hardship, but it led Sultan and his mother to Lahore, a city undergoing rapid transformation under the rule of Maharaja Sher Singh. Lahore, with its burgeoning construction projects, offered a glimmer of opportunity, though the city’s streets were unforgiving to the impoverished and unskilled. But Sultan was not one to succumb to despair. He was physically strong, with a fierce love for wrestling—a passion that would soon open unexpected doors.

Wrestling into Prominence: A Meeting with Maharaja Sher Singh

Urdu Newspaper and magazines of that era available with www.kashmir-rechords.com reveal that in a twist of fate, Sultan’s prowess in wrestling brought him into the limelight. During a wrestling match organized by Maharaja Sher Singh, the young Kashmiri boy defeated a well-known local wrestler, earning the attention of the Sikh monarch. Impressed by his strength and determination, the Maharaja granted Sultan an audience. It was during this meeting that Sultan shared his struggles in finding work, despite his skills and willingness to toil. Moved by his story, Maharaja Sher Singh awarded him a contract to supply lime (chuna) for the construction of the Lahore Fort—a decision that would alter the course of Sultan’s life.

The Rise of Thekedar Mian Mohammad Sultan

This contract was the foundation upon which Sultan built his future. His integrity and hard work quickly earned him a reputation, and soon he was known as Thekedar Mian Mohammad Sultan. His business thrived, and he became a key figure in the construction of several iconic buildings within Lahore’s walled city. Sultan’s rise from a struggling migrant to a celebrated contractor was nothing short of miraculous, a testament to his resilience and drive.

Legacy Beyond the Sikh Empire: Contributions to British Lahore

The fall of the Sikh Empire did not dim Sultan’s fortunes. The British, recognizing his contributions during the Sikh rule, entrusted him with numerous contracts, including the construction of army colonies and other critical structures. Among his most notable projects were the Lahore Railway Station, Landa Bazaar, Delhi Darwaza, and the grand Sultan Mehal. His work extended beyond mere construction; he built wells in the courtyards of buildings and havelis, acts of charity that endeared him to the people of Lahore.

Lahore Railway Stations constructed by Mian Mohd Sultan in 1859

Acts of Benevolence: Sultan’s Inn and Diplomatic Feasts

In 1853, Sultan built an inn near Delhi Gate, on the highway connecting Lahore and Amritsar. This inn provided much-needed rest to travellers and reinforced Sultan’s reputation as a benefactor. His generosity did not go unnoticed by the elite. In 1869, Sultan hosted a lavish feast for the Afghan monarch, strengthening ties between Lahore and Afghanistan. Seven years later, he welcomed Prince Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, to Lahore, further solidifying his status as a man of influence and respect.

The Decline of Fortunes: A Legacy Endures

Despite his numerous successes, Sultan’s later years were marked by financial difficulties. After facing significant losses, he was forced to mortgage his properties to Maharaja Ranbir Singh of Jammu and Kashmir in exchange for a debt of five lakh rupees. The Maharaja, in recognition of Sultan’s contributions, granted him a pension, but Sultan never fully recovered. His properties were eventually sold, and his fortunes waned.

Mian Mohammad Sultan passed away on February 4, 1876, in Bama Balla, Lahore, leaving behind no heirs. Yet, his legacy as the builder of Lahore endures. A white stone memorial, erected in his honor during a visit by Lord Hardinge, Governor-General of India, in 1911, stands as a lasting testament to the man who, against all odds, shaped the architectural landscape of Lahore.

Rediscovering the Lost Artists of the Kashmiri Ramayana

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Rediscovering the Lost Artists of the Kashmiri Ramayana
(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

In the heart of Kashmir, a unique version of the Ramayana stands as a testament to the region’s rich cultural tapestry. This iconic Kashmiri Ramayana, penned by Pandit Devkar Prakash Bhat and published multiple times between 1910 and 1940 by Ali Mohammad Tajar Kutab (later known as Ali Mohd and Sons) of Habba Kadal, Srinagar, is adorned with exquisite handmade sketches. These sketches, brimming with dedication and devotion, were crafted by two almost forgotten Kashmiri artists: R.C. Wantoo and G. Mohi ul Din.

The Silent Artists Behind the Masterpiece

Much has been written about the Kashmiri Ramayanas, but little is known about R.C. Wantoo, a Kashmiri Pandit and G. Mohi ul Din. Their artistry brought to life the verses of Pandit Devkar Prakash Bhat, portraying the epic tales of Lord Rama with unmatched skill and passion. Their sketches provided visual narratives that complemented the poetic verses, making the stories more vivid and accessible to readers.

Preserving Their Legacy

Kashmir Rechords,  is in possession of two editions of this Ramayana, published by Ali Mohd and Sons. These editions feature the names of R.C. Wantoo and G. Mohi ul Din, etched beside their beautiful sketches. In an effort to ensure these artists are not forgotten, Kashmir Rechords is bringing their work to the public domain, hoping that those with knowledge of these artists can provide further insights.

The Kashmiri Ramayana: A Cultural Treasure

The book, titled “Rama Avtar Charit—Luv Kush Charit” and “Ramayan Bazaban Kashmiri” by Pandit Devkar Prakash Saheb Bhat, holds a significant place in Kashmiri literature. Even Sir George Grierson, who edited the summary page of Ramayana into English, did not include the sketches by Wantoo and Mohi ul Din. Over the years, this Ramayana has been reprinted in various languages and scripts, including Kashmiri (Nastalique and Nagri), English, and Hindi. However, the unique handmade sketches by Wantoo and Mohi ul Din have often been missing in these versions.

A Call for Recognition

The history of the Kashmiri Ramayanas is vast. The first known Kashmiri Ramayana, “Shankara Ramayana,” was transcribed from Sharada into Devanagari by Shankar Kanth during the reign of Maharaja Ranbir Singh. This was followed by several other versions, each contributing to the literary heritage of Kashmir. Among these, the “Rama Avtar Charit” by Divakar Prakash Bhat, used by George A. Grierson for his summary page translation work, stands out for its inclusion of Wantoo and Mohi ul Din’s sketches. It is in this book that the famous Kashmiri lines are found:

“Koushaliya Hindeh Gobroo,

Karyo Goore Goore,

Paryo Ram Ramie,

Karyo Goore Goore”

Seeking Contributions

Kashmir Rechords aims to publish a detailed account of the Kashmiri Ramayanas and their various editions in future write-ups. In the meantime, we  are seeking information about R.C. Wantoo and G. Mohi ul Din. Those who know about these artists are encouraged to provide genuine inputs to support@kashmir-rechords.com or kashmirrechords@gmail.com. Full credit will be given to contributors, ensuring that the legacy of these remarkable artists is preserved and celebrated.

Dogra Legacy: From Cultural Fairs to Military Prowess

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(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

In a fascinating glimpse into the past, a rare edition of Captain A.H. Bingley’s book “Dogras” provides  a detailed account of the valorous Dogra soldiers and their unique recruitment process. The book, originally printed in 1899 at the Central Printing Office in Shimla under the orders of the Government of India, was a comprehensive effort to compile information on the Dogras for their induction into the British Army.

A Cultural Insight into the Dogra Soldiers

Known for their bravery and loyalty, Dogra soldiers were traditionally selected at cultural Melas, fairs  and festivals. This method of recruitment was meticulously documented by Captain Bingley, a member of the 7th (Duke of Connaught’s Own) Bengal Infantry. His work not only highlights the military prowess of the Dogras but also delves into their history, customs, culture, and the regions they inhabited, including Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and parts of Himachal Pradesh.

The book’s significance is further enhanced by its revisions. In 1921, A. B. Longden added to the original text, and later, Dr. Sukhdev Singh Charak included chapters on Dogra art and literature, making it an invaluable resource on Dogra history and culture.

Military Brilliance and Unique Recruitment

Captain Bingley emphasized the Dogras’ exceptional capabilities in mountain warfare, citing numerous expeditions on the Punjab frontier and their distinguished service in the Hunza-Nagar campaign of 1891 and the defence of Chitral. Unlike other conservative Hindus of the time, Dogras were open to sea voyages and foreign service, with many serving in China in 1860.

The book also highlights specific Dogra recruiting grounds, from Akhnoor to Chamba and Kangra, extending to the South and East of the Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir. It mentions territories along the border of Jammu, including Pathankot, Shakargarh, Sialkot, and Zafarwal, and regions like Jasrota and the Ravi Belt, inhabited by both Hindu and Muslim Dogras.

The Melas: A Unique Recruitment Ground

One of the book’s most intriguing revelations is the practice of recruiting Dogra soldiers at local fairs and Melas. These events, with both religious and commercial significance, were organized throughout the year in areas now part of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir. Notable recruitment fairs were held in the Kangra belt, Hoshiarpur area, and Jammu region, including places like Kangra, Jawala Mukhi, Dharmshalla, Parmandal, Mirpur, Ghagwal, Mansar, and Kana Chack.

However, the selection process faced challenges, as it was sometimes difficult to verify the character and antecedents of

recruits. Despite these limitations, this method highlighted the cultural strength and fighting skills of potential soldiers.

Changing Times and Practices

While some of these cultural and commercial fairs continue to be held, the recruitment process has evolved significantly. In the fast-changing modern lifestyle, the traditional practice of selecting soldiers at fairs has faded, replaced by more structured and formal recruitment methods.

Kashmir Rechords, in possession of this rare edition, underscores the historical and cultural importance of Captain Bingley’s work. As the book finds renewed attention, it serves as a testament to the rich legacy and unique traditions of the Dogra soldiers, offering a window into a fascinating chapter of Military history.

Dashaar: Kashmir’s Rare but Forgotten Maha Kumbh!

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Dashaar: Kashmir’s Rare but Forgotten Maha Kumbh!

(By: Dr. Rajesh Bhat*)
Shadipur Kashmir Dashaar, often likened to the revered Purna Kumbh Mela, used to be a unique and ancient festival celebrated by Kashmiri Pandits. Unlike the regularly scheduled Kumbh Melas, the timing of Kashmir’s Dashaar depends on ten specific astronomical and astrological configurations, occurring roughly every 10, 12, 36 or 75 years. Due to these ten celestial combinations, the festival is named “Dashaar,” meaning ten combinations on a single day! This uncertainty in timing has led to the festival entering Kashmiri folklore as “Dahi Veher Dashaar,” literally meaning once in a Blue Moon. The festival is celebrated at the confluence of the Jhelum (Vitasta) and Sindh rivers in Shadipur, present Ganderbal district of Kashmir.
The Chinar Tree at Shadipur, Kashmir.

Historical Insights

During his post-doctoral research at the Jammu and Kashmir Department of Archives and Archaeology at Jammu, this Author stumbled upon a significant file titled “Dashaar Mela at Shadipur-1941”. The festival was last celebrated on June 14, 2016, after a 75-year hiatus, with the previous celebration on June 4, 1941. Historical records  upon the perusal of this delicate file revealed that over 100,000 pilgrims  had attended the 1941 Dashaar, far exceeding the expected 40,000. An earlier celebration in 1911 saw a cholera outbreak affecting thousands of pilgrims.

Celestial Significance

The festival is celebrated every time in June (Jyeshta) under specific astrological conditions: a Tuesday or Wednesday with the Moon in Virgo and the Sun in Taurus during Ananda Yog. The confluence of the Jhelum and Sindh rivers, known as Prayag Chinar, is considered sacred, akin to the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna at Prayag in Allahabad. Kashmiri Pandits regard the Sindh stream as the sacred Ganga and Vitasta as another name for the river Yamuna, supported by verses 305-307 in the Nilmata Purana.

The 1941 and 1911 Dashaar

The preserved file, accessed by this Author,  mentions that the 1941 festival, falling on June 4, 1941, corresponding to 22nd Jyeshta, 1998 Vikram Samvat, was declared a public holiday in the entire districts of Baramulla, Anantnag, and Muzaffarabad. The Maharaja’s government had allocated Rs 200 for rescue boats and ropes, kept Rs 500 for unforeseen expenses, and deployed 100 Maharaja Guards and Medical Officers from Sumbal and Ganderbal. Over one-lakh pilgrims had  participated, far exceeding expectations.  This was based on the report of Deputy Chief Security General, who had estimated only 40,000 devotees.
In 1911, the festival faced a terrible cholera outbreak, requiring treatment for 3,063 pilgrims. A 16-year-old  Kashmiri Pandit boy, whose identity was not revealed, had  lost his life when a boat overturned.

The 2016 Celebration

Passing the Heritage Baton to the Young…. An elderly Kashmiri Pandit with her daughter during 2016 Dashaar festival.
In 2016, the festival celebrated after 75 years, saw elaborate arrangements, including transport, security, and sanitation. Local Muslim residents provided essential supplies and boat services. The Chinar Tree, which was photographed by Fred Bremner in 1905,  was in 2016  also surrounded by water on all sides. One had to come to this Chinar tree in a boat and go up some steps to have a commanding view of the confluence. The site, with its Shiva Lingam, has been a place of worship for centuries. Kashmiri Pandits who were incidentally already in Kashmir for Mela Kheer Bhawani of 2016, also participated in the Dashaar festival that year.
The Chinar Tree at Shadipur, Kashmir in 1905, photographed by Fred Bremner.

Cultural and Spiritual Significance

Sh Sanjay Raina
Sanjay Raina, an expert on the traditional and rituals of Kashmiri Pandits, explains,: “The Dashaar festival is always celebrated in the month of June (on 10th Jyeshta Shukla Paksha), either on Tuesday or Wednesday, with Hasta as Nakshatra, Moon in Virgo, and Sun in Taurus during Ananda Yog.” Raina cites the Nirnay Sindhu, Dashaar Nirnay book, and the rare Shadipur Dashaar Nirnay book as sacred texts documenting the festival’s significance.
A page from Shadipur Dashaar Nirnay book
Nirnay Sindu Book, 1901 that makes a mention of Dashaar Festival of Kashmir.

Looking Forward

The exact date of the next Dashaar festival will be determined by astrologers and experts, but it cannot be before June 2026, adhering to the minimum ten-year gap required the celestial combinations to align once more.
  • *(The author is a writer, author, and content creator who has been involved in both print and electronic media for over 35 years)

Kashmiri Bank Limited Faizabad: Kashmiri Pandit’s Financial Revolution in 1900 !

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Kashmiri Bank Limited Faizabad: Kashmiri Pandit’s Financial Revolution in 1900 !
(By: Dr. Rajesh Bhat*)
In a remarkable revelation by Kashmir Rechords, a hidden chapter of Kashmiri Pandit excellence has come to light, showcasing their significant contributions to the banking sector in the early 20th century. Despite facing numerous displacements from their homeland, Kashmiri Pandits have consistently demonstrated their prowess across various fields, including art, culture, history, spirituality, bureaucracy, politics, and administration. This latest discovery underscores their foresight and innovation in banking, a domain where their achievements had remained largely undocumented until now.

A Visionary Banker: Pt. Iqbal Krishan Gurtu

In 1900, a Kashmiri Pandit named Iqbal Krishan Gurtu, B.A, established Kashmiri Bank Limited at  Faizabad, then part of the United Provinces. Registered under the Company Act of India, the bank was a trailblazer in the financial industry, introducing concepts that were ahead of their time. Pt. Gurtu, who served as the bank’s secretary, invested a substantial capital of Rs. One lakh and maintained a reserve fund of Rs. 30,000.

Pioneering Banking Practices across Undivided India

Kashmiri Bank Limited  Faizabad quickly expanded its operations, setting up sub-offices and commission branches across undivided India, including in prominent cities such as Allahabad, Bombay, Kanpur, Firozpur, Meerut, Lucknow, Delhi, and Lahore. One of the bank’s pioneering initiatives was its unique system of providing interest on term deposits, a concept very rarely introduced elsewhere in India, let alone in the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir, where the concept of banking finds its mention only in the late 1930s.

The Kashmiri Bank Limited  Faizabad offered an attractive interest rate of seven percent on term deposits for one to two years, and half of that rate for deposits kept for six months. Interest payments were meticulously calculated to be paid on the second of January and the First of July, against proper receipts. Kashmiri Bank Limited actively advertised these innovative financial services in leading newspapers of that time, demonstrating the Kashmiri Pandit’s far-reaching vision in banking.

Archival Discoveries: Advertising Financial Innovations

Advertisements from the period, now part of the archival material available with Kashmir Rechords, reveal that the bank also kept its interest rates on deposit money floating. Customers were provided with free cheque and passbooks, and the bank accepted currency notes of all denominations for deposit. Additionally, loans against immovable property were issued following attestation and recommendations by reputed and trusted individuals.

 

An advertisement issued by Pandit Iqbal Krishan Gurtu, Secretary, Kashmiri Bank Limited, Faizabad that appeared in leading newspapers of Lucknow and Allahabad in 1903.

A Mysterious End and a Call for More Information

Despite these significant advancements, detailed records of Kashmiri Bank Limited’s operations beyond 1910 are scarce. The Bank’s advertisements and posters, predominantly in Urdu, cease after this period, leaving the subsequent fate of the bank shrouded in mystery. It is surprising that no one has cared to write on this subject or to take research to its logical conclusion all these years.

 Kashmir Rechords, which takes pride in this “breaking news” of the past, thus appeals to its esteemed readers to share any further information. The Kashmiri Bank Limited  Faizabad is a testament to the ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit of the Kashmiri Pandits, a legacy that deserves recognition and celebration.

Celebrating a Legacy

This revelation not only highlights the historical contributions of the Kashmiri Pandits in the banking sector but also serves as an inspiration for future generations to acknowledge and build upon their rich heritage.

* Rajesh Bhat, Ph.D. in Mass Communication and Journalism brings over 35 years of experience as a writer, researcher, and academician in journalism, spanning both print and electronic media. He authored “Radio Kashmir in Times of Peace and War” and has worked with prestigious newspapers and publications including Kashmir Times, Daily Excelsior Jammu, and The Tribune, Chandigarh. Currently, he serves as a Faculty Member at the National Academy of Broadcasting and Multimedia, New Delhi.

 

Kashmir’s Prime Minister and his Sex Manual!

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Kashmir’s Prime Minister and his Sex Manual!
(KASHMIR RECHORDS EXCLUSIVE)
Kashmir has been a fertile ground for numerous contributions to the world in various fields, including art, literature, medicine, engineering, history, and academia. This land has produced many great individuals who have left their mark not only on the subcontinent but also on the entire world. Among these notable figures is Koka Pandit Kashmiri, also known as Pt. Kokkoka, a prominent sexologist and Prime Minister of Kashmir of yesteryears.

Koka Pandit and His Magnum Opus

Koka Pandit is credited with writing the “Koka Shastra,” also known  to some as “Ratirahasya” (Secrets of Love), a seminal work on sex education and psychological issues. This text, written in Sanskrit in the 11th or 12th century, addresses topics that modern science and education are only beginning to incorporate into curriculums.
 Sylvan Levi, a renowned French Sanskrit Scholar (1863-1935), acknowledged Koka Pandit Kashmiri as the originator of Koka Shastra, though the exact date of its composition remains uncertain. Koka Shastra is not just a manual on sexual practices but a comprehensive guide that encompasses psychological and sociocultural aspects of sex and relationships. The text provides insights into medieval Indian society’s understanding of human sexuality, gender roles and interpersonal dynamics. This understanding has influenced subsequent works in the field and continues to be relevant in modern discussions about sex education.

Content and Structure of Koka Shastra

Koka Shastra, often considered Kashmir’s equivalent to the “Kama Sutra,” comprises fifteen chapters (pachivedes) and 800 verses. Unlike the Kama Sutra, which reflects ancient Hindu literature, Koka Shastra is tailored to medieval Indian society and its cultural milieu. The text covers various subjects, including:
1.Different physiques and types of genitals
2. Characteristics of Men and Women at different ages
3. Techniques of hugs and kisses
4. Various stages of love, from weight loss to fainting, and ultimately, death
  Pt. Koka’s work also classifies both men and women into four psychophysical types based on appearance and physical features. He explores erogenous zones and days conducive to sexual arousal for  both men and women.

Scholarly Acknowledgment and Influence

W. G. Archer, a British civil servant and art historian, noted that Kokkoka’s work focuses on maximizing sexual enjoyment and maintaining a woman’s happiness. Pt. Koka Ram drew from numerous sources, including Nandikeshvara, Gonikaputra, and Vatsyayana, to compile his treatise.
The various translations of Koka Shastra have included illustrations that help convey its teachings visually. These adaptations made the text more accessible and engaging, which is a strategy still used in modern educational materials. The use of artwork in Persian, Urdu and Hindi versions, for example, reflects an understanding of the importance of visual aids in enhancing comprehension and retention of information.

Translations and Global Reach

Over the past 300 years, Koka Shastra has been translated into several languages, including Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, and Turkish. Notable translations include:
1. “Lazzat Un Nisa“ in Persian, attributed to   Ziya Nakhshabi, 18th Century
2. “The Koka Shastra” by Alex Comfort in English (1964)
3. “Koka Shastra (Rati Rahasya)” translated by S. C. Upadhyaya
4 “Asli Kok Shastra’’ (Hindi) by Acharaya Gautam, (1889)
5. ``Maha Kok Shastra’’ (Urdu) by Pandit Pyare Lal Sharma (1905)
6.“Kok Shastra’’ (Urdu), J S Sant Singh and Sons. 
  These translations often incorporated illustrations and commentaries, enhancing the text’s accessibility and appeal. Persian scholar Ziya Nakhshabī added watercolours and gilt typical of 18th-century Mughal art in his version. The first Hindi translation is believed to have been undertaken in the early 17th century, from which later Hindi, Persian, and Urdu versions derived.

Continued Legacy and Research

In the late 19th and early 20th century, many Urdu versions of Koka Shastra were produced for the Urdu-speaking population of undivided India. These versions often included elaborate historical accounts of Koka Shastra and its significance. Many carried hand-made pictures also and gave a full credit to Pt Koka Ram while addressing him as former Prime Minister of Kashmir.

Invitation for Further Contributions

Many concepts from Koka Shastra have found their way into modern literature on sex and relationships. The detailed exploration of different types of physical and emotional interactions provides a foundation that contemporary writers and educators build upon. By recognizing the historical context and contributions of texts like Koka Shastra, modern sex education can draw on a rich tradition of knowledge and integrate it with contemporary scientific understanding.
Kashmir Rechords intends to further explore to provide an overview of the life and work of Pt. Koka Ram Kashmiri, his motivation and the context in which he had to write Koka Shastra.  Since on a home turf, no work has been undertaken on this former Prime Minister of Kashmir, this write-up is thus open to further opinions, additions, and alterations, inviting readers to contribute to the ongoing exploration of this significant historical text.
By continuing to study and appreciate the contributions of historical figures like Pt. Koka Pandit Kashmiri, we can enrich our understanding of human sexuality and improve educational practices for future generations.
Drop your Comments in the Comment Box at the end of this article or write to us at kashmirrechords@gmail.com or support@kashmir-rechords.com

Who Were Royal Elephants of Dogra Kings?

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(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

Once a place for keeping Royal Elephants, it is now a  famous Sabzi Mandi (Vegetable Market) of Jammu City!

Situated in the heart of old Jammu city near Parade Chowk with Moti Bazar on the other side, a large open area was once called Hathithan, a stable or Camp for elephants, belonging to Dogra Maharajas of Jammu and Kashmir.

 There is a mention of the same in a book on the “History of Elephants in Jammu and Kashmir’’, written in Urdu.  The book describes a story of the Royal  elephants who were brought to the Princely State by Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1846.

 Written by Abdul Latif, a son of the senior Mahout who died in 1933, the book deals with several incidents and events connected with the elephants of the rulers in the Princely State.  Abdul Latif’s grandfather was also a Mahout working for the Dogra rulers.

  From 3 to 20 Elephants

According to the Author of the Book, published in 1971, Maharaja Gulab Singh had brought three royal  elephants into Jammu which were kept at Hathithan, now the famous  Parade Chowk Sabzi Mandi of Jammu.  The number of elephants had risen to 20 when Maharaja Ranbir Singh (1856) ascended the throne.  

 In 1870, an elephant Rama gored his Mahout to death. This had enraged Maharaja Ranbir Singh who is said to have himself enquired about the reason for Rama Elephant’s unusual fury.  Latif says,  “When the Maharaja approached Rama, the elephant with its trunk collected the dust and divided it into two parts giving an idea to the ruler that he was annoyed since his master was pilfering his rations’’.

 Jamuna Dass—The Senior  Royal Elephant

The Author says Jamuna Dass was the senior most elephant during Maharaja Pratap Singh’s reign (1885-1925). One more elephant, Ganga Dass had joined him after some years. Jamuna Dass had its own majestic personality. He always used to give a grandeur look, remaining calm and sobre on all occasions. But on the other hand,  Jamuna Das used to become violent and irate at times.

As the royal seat during those times remained at Mubarak Mandi Palace which served both the Royal Court and Residential Palace, the then Hathithan was not more than a kilometer away from the Palace. These elephants were kept at this place and used to be tied with a large banyan tree that still exists there.
 According to Shiv Chander Sharma, a noted Journalist from Jammu, the side gates of Hathi Khana of those times still exist but were  generally ignored by the people who mostly visit the area to buy vegetables only.

Prince Edward’s Visit to Jammu

Excerpts of a Book Review of “History of Elephants in Jammu and Kashmir”, published in Daily Excelsior on January 30, 1971.

 
  In a Book review, published in a local newspaper (Daily Excelsior) on January 30, 1971, the Author Latif mentions that Jamuna Dass was selected for the royal procession at the time of the coronation of George V at Delhi. Jumna Dass was fortunate enough to have a pat from the Emperor.

 

Edward’s 1922 Visit to Jammu. Three Royal elephants were chosen for a ceremonial arch. (Photo Courtesy: Royal Collection Trust)

 
Similarly, during the visit of Edward,  the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) to Jammu (1922), three elephants with highly decorated howdahs on their backs were chosen for a ceremonial arch. After a banquet and fireworks display, the Prince and the Maharaja were later escorted on elephants to the Maharajah’s Royal camp at Satwari Cantonment, a few miles away from Jammu.

 According to Author Latif, the royal stable had mostly two male elephants at a time but the number of female elephants was never less than 15 with various names.

Maharaja Hari Singh riding Jamuna Dass in March 1926.

 Maharaja Hari Singh at the time of his all marriages had selected Jamuna Dass for ride. The last royal procession was held in March 1926 when Maharaja Hari Singh occupied the throne of Jammu and Kashmir. Jamuna Dass at that time was profusely decorated with coloured powders, gold ornaments, and a majestic howdah on his back.

 Dogri’s Unsung Hero: Basant Ram `Basant’

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(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)
Dogri poet Basant Ram `Basant’ is another unsung hero about whom  very little is known. Despite considering him “Nazir Akbarabadi’’ of Dogri by some, Basant Ram ‘Basant’ did not get his due recognition and hence remained “Unsung’’.
Except for one article written by renowned writer, Joteshwar Pathik in 1990 and a few of his songs recorded by Radio Kashmir Jammu, there is no record available about this son of the soil.
Efforts made by Kashmir Rechords found that when Basant Ram ‘Basant’ used to take the mike, no one else could venture to face the audience. Even after the poetic symposia were over, he was invited to recite his poems and this would go on till the mid- night and even after.  Pathik in his 1990 write-up says: “This nonagenarian poet had no schooling and even did not know 3 Rs. Still he used to recite poetry without any interruption’’.
Pathik says those who must have   read Nazir Akbarabadi, would know that Basant’s simple lucid style had given him a place along with other doyens like Mir, Ghalib, Zauq and may others. Nazir too had little schooling but his poetry was most popular among the people. He was a street poet and had greater audience than any other poet.

Ignored, Rejected

Pathik mentions that Basant too had a simple lucid style like that of Nazir Akbarabadi and he too had not been recognised by the critics. “He was always dismissed by the `doyens’ of Dogri as an illiterate versifier. But Basant neither bothered nor groused’’.
 Born in 1898, Basant was   satisfied and contented when Pathik had met him in 1990. He proudly says, “I have recited my poems before huge gatherings at Srinagar (when GM Bakshi was the Prime Minister of the State before 1963) and at the All India Dogri Writers Conference at New Delhi.”
     Basant Ram ‘Basant’ passed the last days of his life in utter poverty and helplessness. Meek and weak, he even could not walk straight and no longer could participate in Mushairas and Kavi Sammelans.
 There was only one book of poetry to his credit, which was edited by Tara Smailpuri in 1969. No institution ever bothered to honour him. “He was never awarded by the Cultural Academy or the Sahitya Academi because he had no godfathers to shower praise and evaluate his work’’, exclaims Pathik.

Appeal to Readers

Kashmir Rechords, in its efforts is trying to highlight the contribution of this  unsung hero and thus appeals to all its esteemed readers, who might know about Basant Ram Basant to contact us with authentic details and send the same on kashmirrechords@gmail.com or support@kashmir-rechords.com. The readers may also forward the same message/write-up to their acquaintances in other groups/social media platforms so that further information is obtained to update story on this unsung hero from Jammu.
         Bringing attention to these overlooked figures is crucial in reshaping historical narratives and acknowledging the diverse tapestry of human achievement. By amplifying the stories of these unsung heroes, we honour their legacies, inspire future generations, and strive for a more inclusive and accurate understanding of history. It is imperative that we actively seek out, celebrate, and preserve the stories of those who have been marginalized, ensuring that their contributions are no longer consigned to the shadows of history.
Readers can also share stories about similar unsung heroes with Kashmir Rechords. We promise to publish them with due credit to the contributors.

  A Lanka in Kashmir!

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  A Lanka in Kashmir!
( Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)
It sounds incredible but it is a fact that Lanka exists in  Kashmir! Situated on the Eastern side of the sprawling Wular Lake, the major portion of this Lanka ( island) is presently submerged in water.
A tip of this Lanka, which is presently seen above water, is now known by the name Zain-Lank, for the reason that Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin is believed to have constructed a mosque near the ruins of a Temple which  earlier existed on the island ( then called Sona Lank)  but was dismantled by Sikander, the iconoclast.
Temple Ruins at Zain Lank, Wular Lake, Kashmir
While all of us raise the voice for reconstruction of Martand Temple, hardly any voice has been raised over this very unknown Temple lying in ruins/submerged on this Island (Lanka), in Wular Lake which is connected through Bandipora and Sopore, the two major Towns of North Kashmir.

  Zain Lanka on Temple Debris?

According to J&K’s renowned writer, Jyoteeshwar Pathak, the Zeen Lenkh (Zain Lanka) does not find any mention in the Kalhana’s Rajatarangini. In his write-up published in  `Kashmir Today’  Magazine ( April-May, 1994) and  while  quoting  Moti Lal Saqi’s  Book “Aager Neb’’ , mentions that  there was no existence of the island before the 12th century AD,  but the same was raised in  Wular lake with debris of several dismantled temples  which used to be in the vicinity of  villages around Wular Lake.
 Charles Ellison Bate’s Gazetteer of Kashmir provides similar description stating that during the rule of Zain-ul-Abidin (1420-70) the remains of the temples dismantled by Sikander, the iconoclast were thrown into the Lake  where an island was developed and given the name Lanka.  Historian Anand Koul Bamzai writes that the Island is  no other than Sona-Lankh (the golden island), now called Zain Lank.
Jonaraja, the poet laureate in the court of Zain-ul-Abidin provides a significant evidence about this island. According to him, the surroundings around   Wular Lake during 9th Century used to present a unique example of archaeology. The stone laden boats were sailed into Mahapadmasar, (the Wular) and the land thus developed was named as Lenkh (Lanka or Island). A royal palace was built in the lake under the supervision of Engineer Suyya, the  9th century engineer who is identified with Suyyapur (Present-day Sopore), Kashmir.
However, Jyoteeshwar Pathak says that an inscription in the Sri Pratap Singh Museum, Srinagar provides an insight in the existence of this island. This inscription refers to the island as the Zain Lank ( Island).
A Page from Kashmir Today ( 1994)– A Publication of Directorate of Department of Information, J&K Government.
Mirza Haider Daghlak, a ruler of Kashmir in the early 15th century has been quoted saying, “Zeen Lankh” was an ideal spot for picnics and entertainments. The island was 100 feet long and 75 feet wide. The King had developed a beautiful garden over this island, which included the fruit laden trees and flowers of several kinds. There was a three storey building on the northern side and a beautiful mosque.

 Travellers to Kashmir‘s Lanka

François Bernier (1673) in his travelogue provides a detail of the ‘Zain Lankh’. According to him, there was a small hut in the middle of the lake with a small garden adjoining it.
This quadrangle island has perhaps vanished by the time William Moorcroft (1767 – 27 August 1825) visited the site. According to him, the circumference of the island was 300 yard. The structure expected in the island was definitely related to the Indian architectures. These structures are now in a dilapidated stage. He found neither any inscription nor any idol there. The temple  pillars were, however, found in the scattered state. There was, however, a quadrangle building on the left side. There were some hutments over the island, which were inhabited by entirely poor people.
Baron Charles Hügel, who visited this site in 1835 AD, writes: “There is   a small island near the banks called Lanka. Several experiments on astrology were performed there”. According to him, the mosque built by Hassan Khan and the palaces built by Zain-ul-Abidin are particularly attractive.
Sir Richard Temple visited the place in 1859. According to him, the Lanka is quite an attractive place. The whole of area is full of mud and marsh and it has lost beauty due to submergence in water. The architecture of the temple resembles the ancient temple architecture. These are the remains of mosque built by Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin where the king used to worship in the month of Ramadan.

Present Day Lanka

The island is definitely  in a dilapidated   condition and requires an urgent attention. There are reports of having thrown the ruins of temple into water in order to pave the way for the construction of a new mosque there. However, some old temple structures and boulders still exist. The Island is an ideal place for the Department of  State Archaeology and Archaeological Survey of India  (ASI)  to help them in waking  up from the  deep slumber. J&K Government can develop it as a Tourist Spot, while Historians can further dig the debris on which the island lies.
For locals, especially for fishermen,  the Island was and is still a safe and protected place whenever anything untoward or unfortunate  happens in the Lake area. They protect themselves during storms and high speed winds. They believe that even if the water level rises in the Wular, the island remains afloat and the water does not enter inside the island.

When Jammu & Kashmir had Its Own Currency Notes!

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(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)
The Erstwhile Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir had the unique distinction of having its own currency notes printed and circulated in 1877 AD during the reign of Maharaja Ranbir Singh.
The State used to issue these notes through its Treasury in 1877 (Samvat 1934).  These notes were being issued mainly for the payment to the State Treasuries of Land Revenue and other Government dues. The denominations ranged from a rupee to 1,000 rupees.
These notes used to bear the signatures of many Competent Authorities. In some notes, one finds the name of  Diwan Kirpa Ram as the chief signatory, while in a Twenty Rupee note, on its right corner, there is a mention of Mahesh Chander Vishvas in Nagari script.
A Twenty Rupee Currency Note of Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir, printed in 1877. Pic Courtesy: Rezwan Razack, Bangalore, India

  Shrikar and Sun Emblem

  All these currency notes of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir depicted the  Sun as an Emblem with the word ‘Shrikar’ written in bold  Nagari letters beneath it in the  Centre.  Once issued, the notes were then stamped with a seal impression below ‘Shrikar’.  This Persian seal reads ``Muhre Shrikar Qilimrau Jammun’’, meaning the “Land Revenue Seal of the Dominion of Jammu,” with the date 1934 (Samvat)  and the month in the oblong tables on its two sides.
   The Notes used to carry six circles— three circles each on the left and right sides in vertical lines.  These three circles carried the numeral value in Nastalique,  Nagari and Dogri scripts. Beneath the bold word Shrikar’ in Nagari, there is twice a mention of Jammu Kashmir and the date of printing these currency notes in Urdu.  However, most of the notes carry the Urdu dateline of  “Mah Vaisakh,  Samvat 1932’’. All these panels and circles were colored in pale gold and the rest in black.

Printing of Notes in Jammu

Such was the technology available in the State that these Currency Notes were printed in the State itself at   Vidyavilas Press, Jammu. The interesting part is that the Dogri inscription is found side by side along with Urdu and Hindi.  Also, these currency notes were printed on a Watermark Paper with the words `LESCHALLAS’.  The Watermark paper used to be provided by Wiggins Teape Paper Company formed in 1761 in London.
A Ten Rupee Note. Pic Courtesy: Rezwan Razack.

Dimension of Notes

All notes measured roughly  160 mm. x 230 mm with some variation due to the uneven paper cutting. However, the print of the note on the hand-made paper for all denominations was 131 mm x 205 mm.
These currency notes of Jammu and  Kashmir ceased to exist after 1947 when the Princely State acceded to the  Union of India.

The Unheard  Sati Namah  by Pt. Birbal Kachru

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( By: Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo)*
Continuing the tradition of according glory to Persian, the court language of the Mughals in the Indian subcontinent, Kashmiri Pandits have produced marvelous literature in this language, demonstrating their ability to add significance to anything close to their hearts. While Sanskrit was the language traditionally associated with this community, they had no qualms in accepting Persian, showcasing their mastery of this language and further demonstrating their capabilities as writers, poets, and historians. Their adeptness in learning the Persian language resulted in the creation of marvelous “Masnavis” in the tradition of classical Persian poets. Indeed, besides their grand works of literature, works by Kashmiri Pandits are also important sources of history and reflect the thought process of the times they lived in. Through their writings, they provide invaluable insights into the socio-cultural, political and intellectual landscape of their era. Their historical accounts, philosophical treatises, and reflections on society offer a window into the past, helping us understand the events, ideas, and values that shaped the world around them thereby making the works as indispensable sources for historians, researchers, and anyone interested in exploring the complexities of human experience.

 Depiction of Sati  incident in Kashmir

We are indebted to Rafi Ahmad Masoodi, Educationist, Academician  and History Enthusiast  who has prompted us at Kashmir Rechords to present a blog for our esteemed readers about the importance of a very valuable  Masvani poem titled “Sati Namah” by Pandit Birbal Kachru (1795-1865) born to Daya Ram Kachroo “Khushdil” of Kralyar Rainawari, Srinagar.  Essentially part of a historical document titled “Majmu-al Tawareekh. (Collection of Histories), “Sati Namah,” with its depiction of an actual incident in Kashmir during the 1831 period, which the poet blended with his own imagination offers valuable insights into the cultural and historical fabric of the region.  Mufti Mudasir, a brilliant and erudite scholar of both English and Persian from Kashmir has translated this Persian Masnavi into English. This aesthetically brilliant and enriched poem found place in the peer-reviewed journal of English literature and Language published by University of Kashmir Srinagar (P-177, ISSN 0975-6574, Vol. 29, Dec.2022).
  Alternatively  Pt Birbal Kachroo’s pen name was “Vaarastah” (Related or connected to). It adds an intriguing layer of meaning to his identity as a writer connected to his community and heritage. It’s indeed a commendable endeavor to present this important Masnavi as part of Kashmir’s glorious history, and it is hoped that the same will be appreciated by many who are interested in the cultural and literary heritage of the region.
Here we have included some of the  pages of the brilliant translation of Pt Birbal Kachrus’s  “Sati Namah” by Mufti Mudasir.

* Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo, an accredited translator of Kashmiri, Urdu and Hindi by Sahitya Akademi New Delhi and Indian Institute of Languages Mysore,  has remained associated with the institution of All India Radio (AIR) where he  worked as Senior most Producer. His books of Translation include “Samay Matrika” , the translation of 10th century Sanskrit classic of the same name by Acharya Ksemendra of Kashmir, Sahitya Akademi New Delhi’s “Hum Kaal Sindhi Afsana Sombran” a Kashmiri translation of Hindi scripted  “Samkaleen Hindi Kathayen”, and under publication “Navi Yogikie Vaaeris Dar” a Kashmiri translation of English scripted collection of Punjabi short stories of renowned Punjabi short story writer Mohinder Singh Sarna, Indian Institute of Languages publication “Hindustaenie Falsafekie Khad-o-Khal”, the Kashmiri translation of “Outlines of Indian Philosophy” by world renowned Professor M.Hiriyanna besides a  monograph on veteran and doyen of Kashmiri poetry, Makhan Lal Kanwal, (a Sahitya Academy Publication, Delhi)

Lest We Forget—Nadimarg Massacre

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Lest We Forget—Nadimarg Massacre
This newspaper cutting of Dateline March 25, 2003 is sufficient to recall what had happened that fateful day in Nadimarg village of Pulwama, Kashmir.

Bel Tai Madal—Men Behind It

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Bel Tai Madal—Men Behind It
The genre of Leela poetry in Kashmiri literature is said to have evolved from “Vachun’’ and we notice a boost in this experimentation  since late 1750s onwards. It, however, reached its zenith during Krishan Joo Razdan’s time though he explored the `Saguna’’ tradition of Bhakthi to its full potential. He essentially was a “Nirgunvadi’ in his spiritual practice and discipline. Since he was a “Shavite’’, he composed Leelas mostly in honour of Lord Shiva and his one particular Leela “Bel Tai Madal Vene Gulab Pamosh Daste Poozaye Laage Parm Shivas Shiv Nathas Tai….’’  has  not only become a part of folk literature of Kashmir but also of world on account of its  aesthetic and devotional sensibility. The golden voice of Ustad Mohammad  Abdullah Tibat Bakal imparted to  it  such ethereal beauty and  energy   that subsequent musical adaptations of the same  pale in comparison to Bakal’s rendition.
Bel Tai Madal in Kashmiri Nastalique

The Evergreen Recording

  For our esteemed readers it may be added that Tibat Bakal’s presentation was recorded in the Studios of Radio Kashmir, Srinagar and has attained a cult status among the devotees of   Lord Shiva in Kashmir.  According to  Mr Fayyaz Sheheryar, former Director General, All India Radio,this iconic Leela was composed in early sixties by Mohan Lal Aima under the able supervision of the then Programme Producer of Kashmiri Music, Qaisar Qalander.
Mohan Lal Aima
Qaiser Qalandar
   Coinciding with Maha Shivratri which is the premier festival of Kashmiri Pandits, the actual beauty of this festival seems to be wedded to the poetic mystical experience by Pt Krishan Joo Razdan  (1850-1926)  visible in his work Shiv Lagan. This is said to be an evolved adaptation from Urdu translation of  “Shiv Puran’’ by the poet. The elements and symbolism of a  typical Kashmiri Pandit marriage in his world famous “ Shiv Lagan Leela’’ have been imbued to the best possible outcome. An earlier generation of Kashmiri Pandit women, both young and old, would sing these Leelas and the debvotional tradition would pass on to subsequent generations. However, with the migration, it has come to a sudden halt.
 Nevertheless, Tibat Bakal’s rendition of great poet’s “ Bel Tai Madal Vene Gulab Pamosh Daste Poozaye Laage Parm Shivas Shiv Nathas Tai…. still captures the attention and the interest of the young generation . Mr Sheheryar added that Tibat Bakal imbued this Leela   with his own devotional element for Lord Shiva and legend has it that Ustad Tibat Bakal would visit the world famous shrine of Mata Kheer Bhawani at Tulmulla to witness the changing colours of the holy spring and seek blessings.
Mohd Abdullah Tibat Bakal ( Left) and Mohan Lal Aima
 This Leela with the  wonders of ever evolving technology  is  awaiting further repackaging so as to make it more popular among the youth. However, the original rhythm and the style is not going anywhere.
 And therein lies the hope.

 Catastrophe: When over 9,000 Kashmiri Pandits died at Harmukh Ganga!

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 Catastrophe: When over 9,000 Kashmiri Pandits died at Harmukh Ganga!
( By: K R Ishan)
Kashmiri Pandits have suffered a lot at the hands of tyrants! Even Nature has been cruel towards them!. This is evident from that fact that over 9,000 Kashmiri Pandits, including children and women, had perished on their way to Harmukh Ganga pilgrimage, over 500 years ago in 1516 AD!  Harmukh, originally “Haramukuta” is a mountain with a peak elevation of 5,142 metres (16,870 ft), in the present Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir.
 There is a mention of this tragic incident in many books and records, but unfortunately, most people are unaware of this catastrophe that had befallen on Kashmiri Pandits!
 Pandit Anand Koul in his 100 year old book “The Kashmiri Pandit’’  (1924)  makes a mention of this tragic incident. The incident had taken place during the reign of Sultan Fateh Shah (1489 A.D.), the 12th Sultan of Kashmir. For nine years, his Minister was Musa Raina, a bigoted Shia, who had tyrannised Hindus, imposing jaziya on them and destroying their temples.

  A Double Whammy for Kashmiri Pandits

It is said of Musa Raina that he had forcibly converted 24,000 Brahmin families to his own religion. In 1516 AD, about 10,000 Kashmiri Pandits had decided to undertake a   pilgrimage to Harmukh Ganga, in order to immerse the ashes of those 800 Hindus who had been massacred during Ashura.  However, Nature too resorted to a double whammy   when Pandits  on a pilgrimage to the Harmukh Ganga, perished at  Mahalesh Marg owing to having lost their way at night.  According to Anand Koul, the place where they perished is called Hap Radan (dead defile).
 Anand Koul quotes the following Persian couplet that gives the chronogram of this catastrophe:-
Az biyábán kashida sar tarikh Ghút guftá “Tabáhiye Panditán.”
—Meaning “having lifted its head from the desert, the date was said by the will-o’-the-wisp— “the destruction of the Pandits’’.
 Poet-historian Suka Pandit too says about this cataclysm.  “Ganga was oppressed with hunger, as it was after a long time that she had devoured bones; she surely devoured the men also who carried the bones.”  It was in fact after a gap of so many years that Pandits were allowed to go on a pilgrimage to Harmukh Lake, which, however, ended in the most devastating tragedy. Suka Pandit was a Kashmiri poet and historian who wrote Rajatarangini between 1517 and 1596.  A student of Prajyabhatta, the  work  of Suka Pandit is considered a supplement to Kalhana’s Rajatarangini.
   Dr  Satish Ganjoo, a noted Historian and a Senior Faculty at Central University of Himachal Pradesh, in his research paper “ A Political Study of Ancient Vedic-Saraswat Kashmiri Pandit Society’’, published in June, 2017, also   makes a mention of this natural catastrophe that had befallen Kashmiri Pandits over 500 years ago. However, while Pt Anand Koul mentions 1516 AD (923 Hijra) as the year of tragedy, Dr Ganjoo quoted the year of tragedy as 1519.

The Dreaded Tyrant Soma Chandra ( Musa Raina)

The tragedy at Harmukh Lake had occurred as the Kashmiri Pandits  who were allowed  to perform this pilgrimage after a long time, wanted to perform the religious rites of all those near and dear ones who had been killed  during the era of  Mir Shamas-ud-Din Iraqi, the  founder of Nurbakhshiyyeh Order (Shia sect) who  had visited Kashmir  Valley twice in 1477 AD  and 1496 AD for  propagating  his faith. He  was helped in his “mission’’  by Soma Chandra,   the most dreaded tyrant, who had rechristened himself  as   Malik Musa Raina after converting to  Shia Islam.
   Not only were the vulnerable Brahmans, even the Sunni Muslims also violently converted to Shia sect by murderous techniques. This dogmatic fanaticism had even crippled the Sunni ruler of Kashmir, Fateh Shah (AD 1510-1517). A khanqah was built at Zadibal, Srinagar by Iraqi, which became the nucleus of Shia concentration.

 Burning Sacred Threads of Pandits

 In his Book, “ This Beautiful India –Jammu and Kashmir” ( 1977), Dr  Sukhdev Singh Chib  mentions that  Iraqi had even issued orders that everyday about 1500 to 2000  Brahmans be brought to his doorsteps, remove their sacred threads, administer Kalima to them, circumcise them and make them eat beef. These decrees were ferociously and brutally carried out. The Hindu religious scriptures from 7th century AD onwards and about 18 magnificent temples were destroyed, property confiscated and women abused. Thousands of Brahmans had killed themselves to evade this horrific barbarism and thousands migrated to other places, resulting in their third tragic mass exodus from the Valley. Those who stayed behind were not only forced to pay jaziya, but their noses and ears were chopped off.
According to Baharistan – i -Shahi, “Dulucha, a Tartar chief from Central Asia, who had invaded Kashmir with 60,000 strong horsemen, had also inflicted terrible miseries upon the people including the Brahmans.
According to W.R. Lawrence, Brahmans of Kashmir were during those days given three choices—death, conversion or exile. “Many fled, many were converted and many were killed, and it is said that this thorough monarch (Sikandar) burnt seven maunds of sacred threads of the murdered Brahmans”. As for the statement of Lawrence, six maunds of sacred threads of converts and seven maunds of murdered Pandits were burnt. The number of people, to whom these thirteen maunds of sacred threads belonged, might have been tremendously colossal. A mammoth number of the Pandits also went into exile, causing the first disastrous mass exodus of the community. Not only Sikandar- the Butshikan, but Suha Bhatta – the convert, also was responsible for this barbarous, murderous and cruel approach towards Kashmiri Pandits.  
The brutal religious persecution of the Kashmiri Pandits has been borne testimony to by almost all the Muslim historians. Hassan, Fauq and Nizam–ud–Din have condemned these excesses in unscathing terms. It was the reign of terror and homicide. Even then, they did not forget their past and rich tradition. As the custodians of their extraordinary cultural heritage, they wrote the illuminating treatises on the stupendous Kashmir Shaivism, colossal literature, splendid art, marvellous music, grammar and medicine.

   Use of Dogri in Medieval Era  

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   Use of Dogri in Medieval Era  
( Kashmir Rechords Exclusive in connection with International Mother Language Day)
Even as Dogri was included in the Eighth Schedule on December 23, 2003 after a lot of struggle, the fact is that Dogri language and script had been in use as a literary vehicle since the later mediaeval centuries.
  The territories presently occupied by the Dogras and their akin people who were passionate about their art, culture and language, have been inhabited by people at least from the early centuries of the Christian era. They left behind traces of art and architecture in stone and stucco and in sculptured material scattered all over the hills from Kangra to the Jehlum. Some of the stone pieces belonging to middle ages, and to much earlier centuries in the case of Chamba, bear inscriptions in Sanskrit, Sharda, conch-shell, and Takari scripts which reveal the prevalence of some literary activity in the Dogra hills much before the Muslim inroads.
  Amir Khusrau, a fifteenth century poet-scholar mentions the language of the Dugar in the list of dialects spoken in Northern India. That Dogri in Takari or Landa script had become a vehicle of literary compositions at least as early as the sixteenth century, is amply borne out by inscriptions on Pahari paintings of that century.

Vehicle of Official, Private Correspondence

In his book “Introduction To The History and Culture of the Dogras’’, Dr Sukhdev Singh Charak, an eminent Scholar and Author mentions that during 17th and 18th centuries, Dogri  was in extensive use as a vehicle of official and private correspondence and record. A number of official Pattas and agreements have been found in Takari or Dogri script. For instance, Dr Charak quotes a Patta written out by Mian Bhau Singh, the younger son of Raja Jagat Singh of Nurpur, assigning ‘Purohatai’ to one Ganga Purohit of Haridwar. This reads like this:
As per Dr Charak’s book, Kings of the Dugar used to correspond with each other in Dogri and contracted long agreements and treaties in the same language. A number of such letters and treaties exchanged between the rulers of Jammu, Basohli, Jasrota, Bhadarwa, Nurpur, Chamba and Kangra have been discovered.  This clearly proves that Dogri language and script had been in use as a literary vehicle since the later mediaeval centuries. “A large number of folk songs and ballads (bars) have come down to us from the middle centuries. But it is strange that the Dogra people to the East of the Ravi did not show much literary activity, nor did they produce any Dogri literature in the present time’’, Dr Charak laments. He, however, makes a mention of Chamba area where Takari script was reformed to include vowel signs and the Dogri or Chamiali was written in that script during the nineteenth century. Contrary to it, in the Dogra territories to the west of the Ravi, a brisk literary activity was clearly visible. A court poet of Ranjit Dev, named Kavi Dev Datt had left behind some Dogri compositions as well as ballads in Bhasha and some works in Sanskrit. His Bhasha and Sanskrit works included Brijraj Panchasike, Datt Sangrah, Bhupat Viyog, Amrit Viyog and Kamal Nain Satotra. He composed his `Krishna Mahima Stotara’ in the reign of Brijraj Dev.
  Another literary luminary of the period of Ranjit Dev’s successors and Raja Gulab Singh was the Sanskrit poet-scholar Ganga Ram. A Dogri folk lyric ‘Kandia Barna is attributed to him. Pandit Kaka Ram Shastri kept the tradition of compositions in Sanskrit and Bhasha alive, all it was taken up by the scholars of Maharaja Ranbir Singh’s reign. Although much of the official work was done in Persian during Gulab Singh’s reign but Dogri continued to be the medium of private correspondence and commercial accounts. Some fresh ballads in Dogri, according to the book, were composed during this period, which were woven around the Dogra heroes like Mian Dido, Wazir Ram Singh, Raja Dhian Singh, Zorawar Singh and others.

 Literary works under Maharaja Ranbir Singh

While Nurpur, Chamba and Guler presented a few historical works in vernaculars, like Dalipranjani, the Jammu region saw a lively and rich literary activity under the patronage of Maharaja Ranbir Singh when hundreds of manuscripts in Sanskrit, Persian, Hindi and Arabic were collected and translated into Dogri and other languages for the benefit of all communities. Dogri received particular attention of the monarch. Its script was reformed and books were printed in it both in litho and typographic systems. A large number of books on religion, law, philosophy and technical sciences were written or translated into Dogri. Vernacular journalism also saw its beginning during Ranbir Singh’s reign.

Modern Dogri Literature

 Dr Charak says the modern Dogri literature is the product of twentieth century and the advent of the new era may be said to have ushered in with the popular songs of Lala Ramdhan and Pt. Hardatt who composed during the first quarter of the present century.  Pt. Hardatt’s songs, inspired by a passion for social reform, were printed and swayed the minds of the young generation with similar sentiments. A number of young poets started composing and writing in Dogri and a fresh stream of Dogri literature gushed forth. Many talented poets like Dinoo Bhai Pant, Parmanand Almast, Raghunath Singh Samyal, Ramnath Shastri, Kishan Smailpuri, Swami Brahma Nand and others enriched Dogri literature by their inspiring writings.

Decade of renaissance for Dogri

 According to Dr Charak, the period from 1944 to about 1954 can be called a decade of renaissance for Dogri literature which made the Dogras conscious of their culture and their political rights. At the end of this decade it was finally decided to adopt Devanagari script for Dogri instead of the old Takari script popularised by Maharaja Ranbir Singh.
   The Book on Dogras  makes a mention of  the middle of 1960s when a  younger generation of Dogra poets and writers sprang up with new aspirations and fresh modes. Several successful experimentalists wrote superb poetry, infused with ecstatic mysticism and rainbow fancy. Madhukar’s Dola Kun Thappia will ever remain an unrivalled composition from an inspired soul. Similarly, Ved Pal Deep’s “Uss Te hein Banjare Lok” is a composition of high water mark which could be attained by any talented Dogri poet. “His “Ghalibite utterances, his sincerity of diction narration of bitter truths of life blended with highly poetic imagery, will ever project him as the Ghalib of Dogri. He is the soul of ghazal as ghazal is his self’’, says Dr Charak.  He also praises Padma Sachdev’s innocent reminiscences of the past which touches every heart, “though she lacks much of poetic technique’’.   For Dr Charak, Narsing Dev Jamwal, the poet, artist, novelist, possesses a variegated personality, which presents a rare phenomenon in our hills. Charak’s book, written in 1979, further makes a mention of   Bandhu Sharma, Tara Smailpuri, Ved Rahi, Yash Sharma Abrol, and Ram Lal Sharma as outstanding poets. He quotes Dr. Karan Singh’s book Shadow and Sunlight, containing English and Hindi translation and notations of tunes of some famous folk songs of the Dogra region, as a noble experiment in the field.
Young Padma Sachdev in the Studios of Radio Kashmir, Jammu.
   In this decade, all goners of modern literature were developed. Dogri theatre was evolved and plays like Namun Garn, Sarpanch and Alhar Goli Bir Sipahi were successfully staged. Fiction writing was also tried successfully in Dogri and it started with the publication of Bhagwat Prasad Sathe’s collection of short stories, entitled Pahala Phull. Short stories and novels have been written by Ved Rahi, Narendra Khajuria, Bandhu Sharma, Madan Mohan Sharma, R. K. Abrol, Om Goswami, Chanchal Sharma and Narsing Dev .Prose writing in various forms have also been cultivated, thereby enriching Dogri literature in various ways. Dogri magazines like Nami Chetna, Sheeraza, Phulwari and Hamara Sahitya    appeared from time to time.
The attainments of the Dogras in the field of art are, however, more spectacular. While Dogri literature had not been able to go out of regional popularity, Dogra painting won worldwide approbation.  Kashmir Rechords will shortly bring out a detailed write-up on Dogra paintings.

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More Publications of Dr S S Charak

Shankha Lipi findings at Akhnoor, Bhaderwah

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Shankha Lipi findings at Akhnoor, Bhaderwah
Shankha Lipi, also known as “Conch Script” or “Shell Script”, is a term used by scholars to describe ornate spiral characters that are thought to be Brahmi derivatives. The characters resemble conch shells or Shankhas and are found in inscriptions across north-central India dating back to between the 4th and 8th centuries. Interestingly, Shankha Lipi inscriptions have also been found from Akhnoor and Bhaderwah area of Jammu and Kashmir, establishing that in past also, both these towns were active pilgrimage centres.
 These ciphered ornate spiral characters assumed to be Brahmi derivative, have tentatively been assigned a new script family. Apart  from Akhnoor and Bhaderwah, Shankha Lipi inscriptions have also been found from Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Prominent sites with shell inscriptions include the Mundeshwari Temple in Bihar, the Udayagiri Caves in central India and  Mansar in Maharashtra. Shell inscriptions have also been  found  in Junagarh, Gujarat, and in Java and Borneo, Indonesia.
 Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) that is presently promoting and working on a project “Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh Through the Ages’’ under the initiative of the   Ministry of Education, is bringing to the fact the age-old cultural ties of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India. Highlighting findings of Brahmi, Shankha Lipi and other scripts from Jammu and Kashmir, is a part of this great initiative.

Script of Devotion

Historians believe that shell (Shankha) inscriptions were engraved on temple pillars, freestanding columns and rock surfaces, the latter generally at sites with prominent cave shrines. The shell script was never used for long records or discursive texts but mostly for denoting   names or auspicious symbols or a combination of both. Shell letters have normally been found of the same size or slightly bigger than Brahmi letters, but in some cases they are gigantic, several metres high, as at the Udayagiri Caves.
The archaeological evidences unearthed at Manda, Akhnoor in 1960s point out that Jammu must have had exposure to the earliest system of writing in the sub-continent. The use Shankha Lipi, found on small round stones at Akhnoor, are now lying in the collection of Dogra Art Museum, Jammu. Shell inscriptions have also been found on stone boulders near Bhadarwah.
 According to Dr Lalit Gupta, a noted Scholar  and Art critic, “since Shankha Lipi, has been used for names and signatures by the pilgrims as record of their visits to famous pilgrimage centers, this affirms the belief  that  Ambaran (Akhnoor) and Bhadarwah  were active centers of pilgrimage in Jammu between 4th to 7th century CE’’.

Study on Shankha Lipi

The first detailed study of shell inscriptions was undertaken by noted academic Richard Salomon. The script is assumed to be a Brahmi derivative, but Salomon observed that shell script has diverged so far from the normal pattern as to be effectively a new script family. Salomon determined that there are a sufficient number of shell characters to represent the syllables of the Sanskrit language, and tentatively assigned sounds to some of characters. Prof B. N. Mukherjee subsequently proposed a system of decipherment based on a few key inscriptions using the assumptions that the script is an ornamental form of the contemporary Brahmi script through the centuries. Most of the Shankha Lipi inscriptions are from the Gupta period and are names of individuals, akin to ornamental signatures, although some predate the Gupta period.

Jammu’s Brahmi Inscriptions

According to Dr Lalit Gupta, post-Mauryan Brahmi inscription was first noticed in 1921 by R.C.Kak, the then Prime Minister of  the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir and an archaeologist of repute. Dated between 3rd to 5th centuries CE by R.C. Kak, the Bathastal inscription is one of the oldest Brahami inscriptions in Jammu region.
   Dr Gupta, in one of his write-ups,  quotes epigraphist B.K.Kaul Dembi having placed and compared Bathastal cave inscription with coins of Indo-Bactrian kings Agathocles and Pantaleon, Rock inscription of Khanihara, near Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh and Inscription of Kshatrapa King Sodasa, all belonging to Post-Mauryan Group of 184 BCE to the beginning of Christian era.
Second important inscription in Jammu region is the Bhadarwah Cave Inscription, inscribed inside a cave shrine (called as Gupt Ganga) on the bank of river Neru near Bhadarwah town. According to Dembi, it is perhaps the longest Brahmi inscription in the region and the second oldest Brahmi inscription from the Himalayan Valleys of Chenab region. Brahmi inscription has also been found inscribed on an iron trident at Sudhamahadev Shiva temple.

Plane crash in J&K at `Dog’s Horn’

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Kashmir Rechords Exclusive
A piece of tragic history lies buried under picturesque area of Kulgam, Kashmir district’s snow covered Houen Heng (Dog’s Horn) peak, 4200 meters above sea level.  Fifty-eight years ago, this day on  February 7,  1966,  a Fokker F 27 Indian Airline aircraft veered 12 miles off its course, crashing straight into the mountain, claiming all 37 people  on board. The flight included a number of top officers of the then Jammu and Kashmir Government!
Houen Heng ( Dog’s Horn) Peak
This  Fokker F-27, Series 200, aircraft, PH-SAB, owned by the Schreiner Airways of Holland and operated by the Indian Airlines Corporation on a charter contract had met with a fatal  accident shortly before noon on  February 7, 1966. The aircraft was on a scheduled flight from Srinagar to Delhi with intermediate stops at Jammu and Amritsar.  Soon after taking off from Srinagar for Jammu, it had  crashed on a hilltop Houen Heng, killing all the four   members of the crew and all 33 passengers on board.  The aircraft was completely destroyed.
Fokker F-27 aircraft, PH-SAB, owned by the Schreiner Airways

Probable Plane Crash Cause

According to the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives, the cause of the accident was a navigational error. Capt. Duggal, who was flying the airplane, wanted to take a short cut over the hill.  While flying through clouds at an altitude insufficient to ensure safety, Capt Duggal had found himself at a spot, which resembled in its appearance the Banihal Pass. Changes in cloud formation and decreasing visibility had not permitted him a full and clear view of the mountain range, which lay across the route. Thus when he was near the point where it crashed, he thought that he was going to cross Banihal and even  sent this message to the airport, unknowing the fact that at that point,  he was 12 miles off his track and crashed at a point 12,364 ft above sea level.  The enquiry had held Capt Duggal responsible for the  haste  with an observation that “ a more careful and cautious pilot would, in the circumstances, have made sure of his direction and position by a reference to the Srinagar Airport where, in addition to the VOR, an Automatic Direction Finding facility was available’’.
   Erroneous navigation had taken the Captain to a point 12 miles west of his normal route. At this spot, the configuration of the mountain range had a deceptive similarity with the Banihal Pass, and because of this similarity, he hit the mountains of “False Banihal”, which are several thousand feet higher than the true Banihal. The pilot, as per the enquiry report, must have realized his error and his wrong position too late when he saw the high mountain in front of him while emerging from the clouds. He  must have even  attempted to climb but the aircraft hit the hill about 300 ft below the summit, breaking  it  into two main pieces which fell on either side of a big rock, while several smaller pieces were broken off and scattered over a considerable area on the hillside.

Houen Heng Peak

A picturesque Houen Heng Valley
The mountaineer’s greatest joy is in climbing mountains. In Pir Panjal range, there are many small and big mountain peaks on it. These include Bramshakri (4500m), Sondir Top (3700m) and infamous Houen Heng (4200m). Since this tragedy, Houen Heng, literally meaning, ‘dog’s horn’ has become a part of Kashmir folklore. People recount a civil society campaign to recover the corpses from their snowy graves, led by a local businessman who had lost his son in the crash. Time stands frozen at the picturesque Houen Heng valley as the plane debris beckon visitors to hear their tale.
   Interestingly, Houen Heng is neither the highest peak of district Kulgam nor the Pir Panjal. There are many trekking routes from several places that lead to Houen Heng. The hikers of the Jammu division climb this mountain either from Mohu valley or Gulab Garh. The mountain slope from the valley side is very steep. Other than professional mountaineers, very few can venture to trek on it from the front side.

Lata Mangeshkar’s Dogri Songs and Her Jammu Visit

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Lata Mangeshkar’s Dogri Songs and Her Jammu Visit
February 6, 2024 marks the second death anniversary of legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, who had a musical connection with the erstwhile State of Jammu-Kashmir, for having rendered her melodious voice to several immortal Dogri songs.
Her one of the eternal Dogri songs “Bhalla Sipahiya Dograiya…Rasliyan Rasliyan Dhara…Tera Bada Manda Lagda” dedicated to the Sipahis (soldiers) of Dogra regiment, is in fact played regularly in the barracks of Dogra regiment, considering the fact that the song depicts pain of a woman who is staying away from her Dogra soldier and requesting him to come back home located in the mountains.
A view of old Jammu City and Raghunath Temple Complex
Though over the years, many singers from Jammu and Himachal Pradesh have sung this song in their own way but it was the one sung by Legendary Lata Mangeshkar that still is the most liked and listened for its music and melodious voice, thanks to Padma Sachdev, the poet, who persuaded Lata to sing these songs and thus took Dogri language to great heights.
It is not that Lata Mangeshkar has sung only this song, she has tried with perfection other Dogri songs like “Tu Mallan Tu” that established her immortal connection with the Dogras and Dogri culture.
Apart from Dogri, Lata Mangeshkar has recorded songs in over thirty Indian languages and dialects and a few foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi, Bengali and Marathi.

Lata’s Visit to Jammu

Lata Mangeshkar being interviewed by Rajinder Gupta at Jammu in 1976.
 There is a little mention of Lata Mangeshkar’s visit(s) to Jammu and Kashmir. However, records available with Kashmir Rechords trace  her one such visit to the City of Temples in January 1976.Radio Kashmir Jammu’s  Senior  Announcer, Rajinder Gupta had interviewed her—- not for her singing abilities but recording  her message on “Bees Nikati Iktisaadi Programme’’ (Twenty Point Programme) launched by the Government of India in 1975. In this interview, Lata Mangeshkar had termed the 20-Point Programme as a bone for the masses as it renewed the Nation’s commitment to eradicate poverty, raising productivity, reducing income inequalities and removing social and economic disparities.
 This interview was broadcast on 31 January 1976 at 8.15 pm over Radio Kashmir Jammu, now rechristened as Akashvani Jammu.
Radio Kashmir Jammu’s former Senior Programme Producer, Ravi Magotra, who vividly remembers broadcast of  this interview, told Kashmir Rechords that Mr Rajinder Gupta was one such announcer who was associated with Radio Jammu since its inception in 1947. Gupta had later established Urdu Newspaper Shiv Jyoti, published from Jammu.

Englishman’s 1847 visit to Baba Rishi, Bhadarkali Shrines

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Englishman’s 1847 visit to Baba Rishi, Bhadarkali Shrines

(Sair-e-Kashmir Concluding Part )

( By: Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo**)
Kashmir Rechords in its previous  five  blogs had mentioned Englishman Mr. Winter Bedim’s visit to Jammu and Kashmir in 1847 recorded in the form of daily entries called ‘Roznamcha’ by one Pandit Kanhaya Lal Aashiq Dehalvi and later published  in the form of the  book under the title Sair-e-Kashmir. In the sixth and final part of the travelogue, we will begin with the visit of Mr. Bedim and party from Srinagar towards Baramulla and onwards with interesting anecdotes and experiences so far unknown to us. Here we begin with the last part of “Sair-e-Kashmir’’ :
On 31st May, 1947, a boat ride again towards the downward course of Jehlum or Vitasta took us to Sumbal which appeared to be about nine kos from Kashmir (read Srinagar). A spring with deep and sizeable volume of water known as Manasbal exists at this place and is said to be an ancient one.
On 1st of June, 1847, we left Sumbal for Mattan. ( Read it Pattan). Part of our journey of five kos by us was completed by boat and the remaining one by horse rides. We came across a shrine devoted to a holy man at Balhalas (A place named Palhalan misspelt as Balhalas). Further at a place called Pattan two very ancient temple structures exist. (Sugandesh temple built by king Kalsa of Kashmir) but nobody was able to provide the details regarding the same.
  (The author seems to have been confused about Tappereshwar temple, the ruins of which still lie nearer to Sumbal and resemble those of Martand Surya Mandir. Since the architectural style of this archaeological site with walls enclosing a large body of water with a raised platform roughly gives the impression of a temple similar to Martand sun temple the author thus  dubs it as Mattan)

 Visit to Baba Rishi Shrine, Gulmarag

On 2nd June, 1847, we set up for a visit to the Ziarat (Shrine) of a very famous and pious man of yore Baba Rishi. This Ziarat is at a distance of some six kos from Pattan. Only men are allowed as the entry of women stands prohibited at this shrine. The attendants at this Ziarat do not marry and a majority of them are the ones whom their parents had willed to be placed in the service at this place. The wishes of having their eldest child  as male whenever that gets  fulfilled, the  parents donate them in the service of this shrine by handing them over to the attendants. Sometimes these children remain there as followers.
On third of June 1847 after having made our way over a distance of approximately one kos towards the mountain top from Baba Rishi we reached Gulmarg. This is an area which is famous for diversely coloured and varied  flower types . We also came across un melt snow on these tops.
 As of now it being summer snow was still there and at places where there was no snow flowers red, yellow, white and dark seemed to be in full bloom. It seems as if they are getting their nourishment under snow. At that very moment as a ‘guz’ (approximately a metre) of thick snow was being cleared, flowers appeared to grow underneath it.
The amazing thing being that large patches of these diverse coloured flowers are seemingly arranged in beds of their own ilk. For example if the flowers happen to be of darker colour, a whole bed would be filled by these flowers only. The same would go for red and other colours. At this place nature appears to be its best gardener. The experience gathered by the writer at this moment was beyond description.

Visit to Baramulla, Uri

On the fourth June, 1847, we traversed a distance of six kos to reach Baramulla. This is a big town where one can find  eatables in abundance. The Deputy Kardar, Mathura Das got sick and thus we were assigned to the care of Kardar Gaddamal. At this place a large bridge has been erected over the river Vitasta  which blends perfectly in these wonderful environs. It was suggested that we move to Shankergarh and return via Nowshehra Baramulla as the travel on both these routes will be full of rewarding experience and the visit to the Uri bridge will also be interesting and therefore necessary. Since it was not possible to cross the bridge it was doubly suggested that the accompanying party of attendants would travel to Nowshehra first where it would be waiting for us near Uri bridge. In the meantime after having paid the necessary fare we would be meeting them on the other side of the bridge. The Kardar committed himself to this arrangement of transporting us along with our goods and necessary items.
On 5th of June, 1847 we began our travel to Uri via Yaboo. After having covered a distance of five kos, the journey ended at Shakargarh where we also camped. On the way at a place called Peerni one kos from Uri Sultan Zabardast Khan along with some gifts came to see the Sahab. The place is beset in lovely lush green environs with recurring cascades as well as rivulets .
On sixth June, the journey commenced forward to a place near the Uri bridge. It was difficult to fathom how the bridge would be crossed, but when mazdoors crossed the same deftly along with the baggage on their backs we promptly gathered necessary courage. When every one of them reached the other end only then did I and Sahab (Mr Bedim) venture to cross. At first I had thought of crossing the bridge with my shoes on but after a few steps as  my feet gave me trouble  I was compelled to hand them  over to an accompanying boatman and I with a great difficulty finally began crossing the bridge again. As soon as we reached the middle of this bridge it seemed that its ropes will yield and we will be hurtled down into the fast flowing river underneath. The whole rope structure the moment we set foot on it would dangle so precariously that it would send a shiver down our spine and make us tremble. The experienced fishermen however emboldened us to continue and assured that they are at our disposal should any untoward incident happen. This somehow strengthened our resolve and then with great caution and trepidation we finally did cross the bridge. Now let me make a mention about the bridge.

Ropeway Bridge

The layout of the ropeway bridge has been set out in a manner that its lower portion has been built with some very strong tree bark and so are the supporting ropeways. These both act as horizontal and vertical arms and support structures. Wooden planks have been set for walking at their base. One has to move forward by treading on every such plank. The portion at the lower end of this ropeway structure is very filthy and the side arms somewhat thicker. One has to move forward by holding the side arms by both hands while putting ones best foot forward on the lower connected planks. The ropeway being nearly seventy guz long, the structure dangles at each step giving rise to a tremendous sense of fear. The river which lays some twenty to twenty five metres below moves with such a ferocious speed,  its waters roar and splash against its banks higher and higher only to missile many metres into the air appearing to stand as tall as a mountain.
As one’s gaze catches the flow of water below one is paralysed by the thought that the ropeway may yield at any moment. Finally this treacherous ropeway was somehow crossed by us. We were greeted by the attendants along with our advance baggage at the other end. Thereafter we continued our journey by boarding the same carriages that were already arranged for on the designated route towards Uri.  At Uri, Raja Nawab Khan came to see Sahab. Some moments in this playful conversation were enjoyed by both.
On the morning of seventh June, 1847, elder brother of Raja Nawab Khan Ataullah Khan came to see Sahab. After exchange of necessary pleasantries and gifts etc. Mutual conversations took place in an atmosphere of camaraderie. After breakfast we left Uri for Baramulla and arrived at Naubahar at a distance of six kos. Some ancient stone structures caught our eye at two or three places along the way. At Naubahar, Raham Dil Khan Kochak, brother of Raja of Naubahar came to see us and disclosed that his elder brother Raja Naubahar being indisposed could not come to see us. The way forward from this place is hilly and the roads are bad.
On eighth of June we journeyed towards Baramulla. At a distance of half a kos we came across some ancient structures attributed to Pandav era. Sahab ( Mr Bedim) drew a drawing of these. The way forward being mountainous there was nothing worth mentioning. These buildings though very old stand tall to this day nevertheless they seem to have yielded at one or two places.
At a place some fifteen kos towards north west of Baramulla known as Sogam  it appears that the earth has been set on fire. Sahab decided to inspect this place also.

Visit to Handwara

On ninth June, 1847, we continued our stay at Baramulla and since nothing worthwhile did happen the same did not merit worth entry in the diary. However, I did go out to tour the bazaars and found the shops well stocked with food and other items. Some shortage of grain was however noticed. On tenth of June, 1847, we left Baramulla for a place called Handwara which is at a distance of nine kos from here. The Sun got very hot at a village “Mound” some five kos on the way. Thus we made a brief halt. Towards the afternoon we commenced our journey and arrived at Handwara in the evening. Kardar Radha Krishan was nowhere to be seen; however his attendant did come and explained the former’s absence on account of being busy in connection with the distribution of grains to public.

  Visit to Bhadarkali Shrine

On eleventh of June,  as we were travelling a distance of some seven Kos, at a place called Nahama we learned that a spring at a distance of further two kos lies at a place called Bhadarkali. We paid a visit to this place. The spring is worth a sight with clean waters bestowed with good digestive power. We spent some moments at this place and as was required and returned to Sogam which stands at a distance of half a kos from this place. The whole earth of this place seems to be scorched though not aflame. Some residents disclosed that some 30 years before the earth here started burning up and since then the same happens after every ten years. Though the same has now stopped, Sahab did inspect this place. The soil does not seem to have been mixed up with any sulphur etc. but some substance does exist which catches fire by coming into contact with air. We nonetheless returned to Bijhama for the night stay. In between Nadir Ali Khan son of Raja Muzaffar Kan came to see us and stayed for the night.
Twelfth June, 1847  was the day for our visit to Pachkote. For this we had to travel a distance of seven kos.  As nothing worthwhile came up that could have found its way in the diary nothing was entered. Here some soldiers from Maharaja Gulab Singh’s army are stationed and they do issue warnings against any transgression of law. But they certainly are not able to effectively deal with this. The way to the fort at “Karnah” which stands atop the hill is very steep. A small company of soldiers at Karnah is stationed but the writ of Maharajas soldiers does not run here.  This road leads up to Pachkot only. Even though the area is mountainous but it is not insurmountable. The population is lesser and so is the supply of provisions.
On thirteenth of June after travelling some four kos we reached Meelyal. Here we left our stuff and we moved some one and a half kos up to visit “Sotsar” springs. The water is crystal clean and actually sprouts from four independent springs lying side by side. One could, however, gather no information regarding the historicity of this place but nevertheless it definitely turned out to be an interesting place. The residents of Karnah stated that the local king is a nominal one without powers but he does operate from the fort and collects revenue for the Maharaja.. Strangely due to some unknown reasons the Maharaja invaded him. He does command the affiliation of some two thousand soldiers and if need be twenty thousand more soldiers can be called up for service by him. The place is treacherous and no arms are also available. The local king thus stands nowhere in comparison to Maharaja Gulab Singh but he is capable of protecting and defending his honour. The matters of revenue are resolved by splitting the same in equal halves. The land owning class pays half portion of the revenue accruing out of agricultural produce in addition to some money which additionally gets exchanged.
We stayed put at Meelyal on the fourteenth of June 1847 and after finishing the breakfast we went to see a fairly high mountain known as “Koh Darawah” at a distance of four kos. A road with the same name runs through this mountain.  Here we roamed to our heart’s fill and enjoyed the vast green spaces with abundant green trees. A strange sight unfolded in front of our eyes. From a distance we witnessed a creature which looked exactly like a golden animal. Its feather like hair was resplendent with luminous golden colours and the rays of sum seemed to emanate and reflect from it. I tried my best to capture it but could not lay my hands on it as it hid in the bushes. Additionally a flower of the size of a human palm existing in extremely right proportions exuding a strong perfume was also witnessed by us.
The beauty of the moment lay in the fact that the whole tract resembles a bouquet of colourful flowers which includes white ones and they all seem to revolve in spirals. Beholding of such a sight wherein every flower is arranged in a very huge bouquet is indeed a divine experience. To cut a long story short the evening here was spent in witnessing this strange and fulfilling spectacle of colours. We naturally drifted into a blissful sleep throught the night.

   Visit to Kupwara

We left Meelyal on the fifteenth of June and advancing over a distance of seven kos reached Kupwara in the evening. We stopped at a place called Chitrang in Trehgam where a spring filled with life giving powers was seen in its full glory. Here silk is also produced with the help of its waters and the standard rate for a seer of silk works out to be eight rupees and is slightly less than a kilogram. The silk worms feed voraciously on mulberry leaves, branches and leaves of which are spread out in a field and in a matter of fifteen days only these silkworms achieve an exponential growth. It is here the silk worms set themselves up for humans to produce silk from them. The raw silk develops in the pupa and is later woven as a coil or a pleat bundle. As soon as the weather favouring its development comes to an end the pupae are boiled in hot water and later dried. This is what is known as “Abrasium”. The same afterwards is woven as the silk thread. We left Kupwara on the sixteenth of June and proceeded towards “Lolab” an all pervading mountainous region.  And since nothing worthwhile came up nothing could be recorded in the diary.

Zain Lank in Wular lake

On the seventeenth of June 1947  after having left in the morning an uphill distance of about four kos was climbed. The remaining three kos were completed on foot on a highly dilapidated road which took us to Alsoo. (Read Aloosa). We boarded a boat on the next day I.e. the eighteenth June 1847 and left towards a spring in the midst of a large lake known as “Wular” Lake. For the luggage and accessories to reach “Bandipore” we directed the syce to load and proceed from a place called “ Bonakote “ the distance of which from Aloosa is approximately seven kos. In the meantime while taking a joy ride in the Wular Lake we came across an ancient structure in the midst of this lake. This is known as “Lank” (Zain Lank). Following is inscribed on it:-
The same when translated into English may come up with the following meaning:-
“When the foundation is strong for a thing of beauty and elegance, sky is the limit for its fame to spread throughout the world.
A king remains a king till he goes on celebrating… May your own existence continue to be a glorious one  and remain till the end of time.”
To be present in the moment in a place like this  which is like a  mini island like patch in the midst of waters all around it, the depth of which cannot be fathomed and where the view of its banks eludes the eye is an amazing experience. It is said that as many as three hundred sixty villages exist in horizontal as well as vertical plane on its banks. From here we proceeded to Bandipora and after resting for a while we continued on horses to reach Bonakote. Our resolve to proceed further to “Gilgit” and “Gurez” areas got firm. But since rations on this long route are not forthcoming it was decided to arrange the stocking of provisions for about fifteen to sixteen days. Again as nothing of the sort could be found in a village like this, the onus of providing the same fell on Maharaja Gulab Singh’s Kardars who agreed to arrange them .
On account of being indisposed on the nineteenth of June, we preferred to stay at Banakote. Maharaja Gulab Singh’s Kardar Gurudat Singh appeared with rations worth four days for our onward journey and informed that these rations will suffice till Gurez, wherefrom further essentials worth ten days can be acquired for the trip to Jasora. “The rations for onward movement to Gilgit can be picked from Jasora itself.” He said.
The high official from Jasora, Ghulam Wazir accompanied by the Wazir of Gilgit both paid a visit. They were under obligation of presenting certain gifts along with horses to Maharaja at Kashmir (Srinagar). When we tried to enquire about our onward journey they told us that the whole extension to Gilgit from this place onwards is barren and unpopulated. Nothing grows here. Neither the firewood nor any water is available. Water is made by melting ice. Only three villages are known to exist even when Jasore is supposed to include fourteen hamlets of these villages. Similarly the area from Jasore to Gilgit is also spread over three to four huddles of villages which is to say that human habitations are seen at six or seven places only along this route and the population is very scant. It inter alia also suggests that there is no way to acquire any provisions on this long route. Wafadar Gurezwala  met us on this occasion. This elderly person used to be a landlord of some area in Gurez  but during the time of General Myan Singh he lost his suzerainty.
After leaving Bonakote and crossing an uphill distance of seven kos we reached “Pochi Baaz” in the evening. Nothing but mountains caught up our view. A stream however did run all along. Therefore considering it to be an ideal place to take rest we decided to camp here for the night. There was snow also. No tree or firewood was available. We did try to move into a nearby cliff to get some of it but the same was so dank that it hardly caught fire. I may mention a very interesting incident that took place here. Since the flow of water had been full some moments before and as soon as we finished our meals we required cleaning and washing our crockery, suddenly the stream had run dry. As there was no option we slept in such helpless state. And when morning broke we again noticed the stream full of water. This indeed was amazing. Eventually it became clear that it is actually the snow that feeds this stream and during the night when it is very cold the water freezes to melt again in the mornings and water flow is released again. The whole place is however very cold and the snowfall continues for over ten months.
On twenty first of June, 1947, we moved a distance of ten kos and managed to reach a place called “Dodkho”. No human habitations exist and as prudent it seemed we camped by the side of a big waterfall. The mountainous path is highly treacherous and lays covered with snow. One  therefore is forced to walk on foot.

Visit to Gurez Valley

On 22nd June after continuing our trek over five kos we reached “Dobroo” a village in Gurez valley. This valley is home to some four big and three small villages. The locals go in for some sort of agriculture here. However except for a cereal that goes by the name of “Tronya” and some variety of peas nothing else grows around here. Residents of the area use this Tronya to make their bread and consume it along with peas as mentioned. The mighty river Kishenganga flows with full roar at this place with its sweet and cold waters.
A flyover has been built over this river with an extension of a house where some twelve to thirteen soldiers employed in the service of Maharaja Gulab Singh reside . The way forward is hilly and the first village is “Danpora”. Jasora lies some ten kilometres to its west. Taking into consideration the logistics of our onward movement to Gilgit we decided to acquire our provisions for ten more days. At this moment all soldiers who acted as our guards except me bade farewell to Sahab. The locals here speak a language different from Kashmiri and this place seems to be the last frontier of Kashmir valley.

Trip to Dawar, Gilgit

And now begins the trip to the snowy and mountainous area of Gilgit.
 The day of twenty third June, 1847 was spent at Dawar and in anticipation of moving to Gilgit the next day, we bid adieu to everybody. Today Garbha Jamaadaar in the employment of Maharaja Sahab presented himself with eight days of rations and left. Tomorrow as Sahab Bahadur will be visiting Gilgit, others will head towards Kashmir (Srinagar).
On account of the rains on 24th we stayed put at Dawar. In the meantime a letter from Lieutenant Taylor addressed to Sahab was received asking the later to relieve Pandit Kanhaya Lal (myself) for directions to report at Srinagar  to complete some pending urgent government work. Sahab Bahadur therefore bade goodbye to me and decided to take the services of only six soldiers (deployed at Gurez fort) to accompany him to Gilgit.
On 25th of June, 1847, I along with other employees gathered for moving to Srinagar and left for Dodkho after travelling five kos and spent the night there.  On 26th June after having left Dodkho in the morning we arrived at the mountain top “Drethan” and at once I noticed that the mane of my horse had turned white for no apparent reason. Even though I did not happen to see any snow falling, this amazing scene unfolded before my eyes. Considering that I had put on four coats of clothing including my “Choga” (Cloak) and the covering garment over it plus an earmuff which exposed my eyes only to make me see a very short distance in front, I could not notice any snow. It was however given to understand that it indeed was snowing. We all made a huddle and decided to do things on priority. I suggested to them that during such weather disruptions it is always prudent to stay in a safe house and as soon this is over only then should we move further. The moment this snow freezes it turns into stone thereby ceasing all routes of escape. If the narrow passage linking this area to mainland gets frozen we all are going to perish in these harsh locales. Thus as far as possible we need to make an escape from here since it is always the peaks that receive the highest snow in comparison to the valley areas. Everybody understood and appreciated the suggestion and so we fled from this spot. I left my horse and started running and gave directions to my syce to continue the movement on horse as long as the poor animal is able to take him otherwise he should dump it in the first instance there and thereafter run to save his life. Running like this we somehow managed to cover a distance of three kos. Due to intense cold and the pain we had got it was not possible to continue further. After collecting firewood at this place we stoked some fire and warmed ourselves. Now every one of us had got together as planned and we all proceeded to Pochibaag. Fatigued as we were we still discussed whether it was possible to move ahead or not.  At this point I intervened and apprehended that the snowfall during the night may not allow us to escape from this place and we may remain dumped here. As nobody listened to me I told them to get lost whereupon they understood the gravity of the situation and agreed to move during the night and thus we made the much needed return journey of seven kos to Bonakote. Immediately I called for one Malik Sahab and ordered him to clear his Hamam where we could spend the night. We all went hungry as the things and other stuff was not received by us. In spite of this,  Malik Sahab proved to be a great host. He at once slaughtered a fat sheep. As no utensils for cooking the same lay with us we pierced a branch into it and began barbecuing it with the only available salt. We all had it to our heart’s fill and very little of it was left. Even though it was semi cooked and without the luxury of spices, it tasted so good that one is not able to forget the taste it left in my mouth till this day.
On 27th June 1847, the moment our stuff arrived in the morning we exchanged the coolies and proceeded towards Bandipora which lay at a distance of three kos from here. We dried our wet stuff here.
 On 28th after traversing seven kos by boat over Wullar we returned to Sumbal and spent the night there.
On 29th June, 1847 we again reached to Kashmir (Srinagar) and had a meeting with Lieutenant Taylor Sahab who put me up at Sheikhbaagh. I remained there for about two months to complete my governmental assignments. Thereafter I returned to my Board office s at Lahore.

Mention About Kashmir

Some mention about Kashmir is necessary. Kashmir in olden days was known by the name of Srinagar and only ardent pietists lived here. Except for Pandits nobody resided here. They did not know anything about sumptuous food. They depended upon plant life and survived on greens only. No rancour, jealousy or hatred existed among the population. This was a heavenly place. As one poet has put it.:-
Heaven is a place where there is no sorrow
          And where no one is judged by their social status.
In course of time Afghans and other mountainous people conquered it and afflicted much violence on people and desecrated and destroyed their places of worship and forcefully converted them to Islam. As a result only two communities Pandits and Muslims live here. However, Maharaja Ranjeet Singh lead three expeditions to conquer it, only to succeed the fourth time and ensured that Sikhs can move freely inside the territory of Kashmir, a land which is fertile and endowed with a salubrious climate. Thus Sikhs also began to reside in Kashmir. Further when the country came under Maharaja Gulab Singh every community began to live and thrive here.
The river “Vitasta” also known as “Jehlum” in Punjab flows through the city of Srinagar and accommodates the population on its both banks. The houses have been constructed in such a way that their doors or the rooms directly open or extend over its waters. These are often supported by wooden poles which have been embedded into the walls of polished stones of the walls of these houses. The extensions like these act as sitting rooms. People also bathe in such rooms to keep themselves safe from harsh winters and the impairing wind. Many rivulets and streams have been drawn from this river to every Mohalla and locality and market. Smaller boats known as “Shikaras” continuously roam and ferry people in these waters. A water channel even leads into the Dal Lake. As many as seven bridges have been constructed over this river. They are called “Kadal” in Kashmiri. These are “Hameera Kadal” , “Habba Kadal” ,”Aali Kadal” , “Zaina Kadal” , “Fateh Kadal” , “Nawa Kadal” and “Safa Kadal”. Rows upon rows of shops are seen alongside these bridges especially Zaina Kadal. The population of a full Mohalla is accommodated there. Shopkeepers sell every kind of goods in this bazaar.  Every house is seen to grow fruit trees and nowhere in the world do these fruits occur. It is learnt that the grapes of Kabul, pomegranate of Qandhar and the apples of Iran are somewhat superior but the variety of fruit that Kashmir grows has no equal anywhere in the world. This is known as “Glass”. It is such a small, sweet and rounded fruit which is red in colour and its softness is such that one cannot feel its peel. The irony is as soon as the fruit gets detached from the tree it attracts larvae to it. Thus it is in the fitness of things to enjoy this fruit as soon as it is plucked otherwise its freshness may be lost within two hours. The clustered fruit contains a thin cuticle which is not more than the dimension of human hair follicle.  In the same sweet and refreshing category of fruits, fall mulberry, grapes, apples and pears. These are extraordinary in their own way. The poor use it to sweeten their food items. These fruits in addition to being very tasty are digestible also. Whenever they are consumed after a full meal one gets a voracious appetite within no time. Additionally fruits like apricots, cherries plum and melon are sweet beyond description. One has to eat them to know their taste. And the extraordinary “Pashmina” of Kashmir has attained prominence like the sun and the same applies to everything in Kashmir. Thus the pen cannot make a mention about its grandeur. It is only seen to be believed.
It appears to me that to continue writing about the same will be a waste of time. A man whatever his taste for drinking if he so desires or whatever the religion he professes, he will achieve any goal he intends to set for himself. The solitude peculiar to this place is not found anywhere. The man who is driven to worldly pleasures will find that there is no better place for him to enjoy and if one happens to be poor one can carry on nicely with his life on a small budget. The extraordinary thing about this place is that one can fill one’s tummy with bread and meat on a meagre sum of one and a half rupees. If one intends to sustain oneself on fruits only one can do so without paying a penny. The writer has heard from English travellers that such a place does not exist even in England. The country of Britain thus stands nowhere in comparison to Kashmir.
Now I come to the end of it and hope my esteemed readers of these pages will always pray for my welfare and should they come across any inaccuracies and inconsistencies in them, they may kindly pardon me for the same. These pages have been penned down for travel enthusiasts only and not with the intention to demonstrate any writing capability or competence.
(CONCLUDED)
*N.B: The earlier five episodes of the travelogue can be assessed at:

In the previous  five blogs, Kashmir Rechords  carried the information about Englishman ( Mr. Bedim’s)  1847 travel to Kashmir via Jammu  dated  9th December, to be accessed  at: https://kashmir-rechords.com/englishmans-1847-travel-to-kashmir-via-jammu/  and  next  Englishman’s 1847 travel to Kashmir via Jammu, Rajouri, published on 12th December 2023, to be accessed at: https://kashmir-rechords.com/englishmans-1847-travel-to-kashmir-via-jammu-rajouri/. Part third of this travelogue inside Kashmir valley was published on 30th December 2023 to be accessed at https://kashmir-rechords.com/englishmans-1847-travel-to-kashmir-via-jammu. Part fourth of the travelogue was published on January 14, 2024 to be accessed here at https//Kashmir-rechords.com/englishmans-1847-travel-to-kashmir-via-jammu. Part V of the travelogue :“Englishman’s 1847 visit to Mattan, Anantnag, Srinagar” can be accessed at: https://kashmir-rechords.com/englishmans-1847-visit-to-mattan-anantnag-srinagar/  “Sair-e- Kashmir 1278 AH” is written on the cover of the Book having 41 (forty-one) pages. The travelogue is between the periods of   April 1847 to June 1847.

**Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo, an accredited translator of Kashmiri, Urdu and Hindi by Sahitya Akademi New Delhi and Indian Institute of Languages Mysore,  is associated with the institution of All India Radio (AIR) where he  worked as Senior most Producer. During his career of more than thirty years  in AIR, (including Radio Kashmir Srinagar and Radio Kashmir, Jammu),  he has produced hundreds of programmes covering a wide range of topics and interests that range from ‘Features’, ‘Dramas’ , ‘Literary Magazines’ , ‘Current Affairs’ and overseen Music recordings. He also has the professional expertise  of anchoring Live shows and News.His books of Translation include:1. “Samay Matrika” … Translation of 10th century Sanskrit classic of the same name by Acharya Ksemendra of Kashmir.2.Sahitya Akademi New Delhi’s “Hum Kaal Sindhi Afsana Sombran” a Kashmiri translation of Hindi scripted ” Samkaleen Hindi Kathayen”, and under publication “Navi Yogikie Vaaeris Dar” a Kashmiri translation of English scripted collection of Punjabi short stories of renowned Punjabi short story writer Mohinder Singh Sarna. 3. Indian Institute of Languages publication “Hindustaenie Falsafekie Khad-o-Khal” …The Kashmiri translation of “Outlines of Indian Philosophy” by world renowned Professor M.Hiriyanna.4.The Writer of the Monograph on veteran and doyen of Kashmiri poetry, Makhan Lal Kanwal…. Sahitya Academy Publication, Delhi.  Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo is also a  short story writer in Kashmiri. In addition, he has presented a number of essays in Kashmiri.

A  Meadow in Kashmir where Aurel Stein worked on Rajatarangini

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(By: R. C Ganjoo)*
  Ever since I took up journalism as my profession in 1982, I had been keenly desirous of paying a visit to Mohand Marg. It did not happen for many years. Eventually, a time came when my dream was realized and on July 2, 2022, I found myself at Wanghat in Kangan area of Kashmir along with a couple of my journalist friends. Wanghat is famous for its historical ruins of Hindu temples and Buddhist viharas. It is a site of archaeological significance. Mohand Marg on the other hand is a place where a   Hungarian-born archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein translated the famous Rajtarangani book from Sanskrit to English in the 1930s. Stein had spent many summers at Mohand Marg meadows translating the Rajatarangini.
  After covering the distance from Ganderbal to Wanghat in two hours, we met a local contact who was waiting there to receive us. During our discussion about the plan to visit Mohand Marg, the locals were not in favour of our adventure. They said it would be difficult to track 15 km to Mohand Marg, a steep climb with no arrangements for the trekking adventure. In case we made it, the return would take a month. Despite these discouraging signals, I wanted to visit my long-cherished spot.

Visit to Mohand Marg

The local Sarpanch informed us that we were first supposed to reach Anderwan village, the starting point of Mohand Marg. I had heard about Mohand Marg from elders, and later on, I read about its significance. Sir Marc Aurel Stein’s name always made me inquisitive to know why he had chosen this location situated at a height of 11000 feet in the woodland of the Himalayas, to translate Kalhan Pandit’s celebrated history Rajatarangini and add to it footnotes and appendages of unique scholarship.
The British archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein was born on 26 November 1862 in Hungary in a moderate Jewish family. He fell in love with this meadow (Mohand Marg) on his first visit to Kashmir on 8 June 1888, and continued to visit this place till April 1943. Stein spent several summers at Mohan Marg meadows translating the Rajatarangini into English.
  After completing his work, Stein erected a memorial at the place to commemorate his achievement. It suffered some damage later. From Mohand Marg, he made four major expeditions to Central Asia in 1900-1901, 1906-1908, 1913-1916, and 1930.
The local Sarpanch who was already briefed by my friends about our mission Mohand Marg, was thus extraordinarily careful to make our adventure a success.
   On arriving at Anderwan village on July 3, 2022, we found three horses with their keepers waiting for us. Giving instructions before mounting the horses, the local Sarpanch said we should take Paracetamol tablets and chew onion, otherwise while passing through the woods the fragrance of shrubs could cause dizziness. He had kept eatables like chapatis, vegetables, butter, salted tea, and water bottles with the horse keepers.
We started our expedition on horseback at 10 am. Just after completing the two-kilometer trek easily, gradually the uphill journey started on a tortuous route of scattered white stones. Here we were advised by the horse keepers to lean forward to make it easy for the horse to negotiate the narrow curves along the hilly terrain.
After covering seven km of uphill terrain in two hours, we reached Jabbad, a small highland where our friends and guides advised us to take some rest and snacks. The young boys accompanying us were college students but doing a part-time job as guides. Before taking snacks, the boys suggested we take Paracetamol tables and onion. I was carrying my medical kit and offered tablets to everyone. However, the boys were reluctant to take the tablets because they were acclimatized to the hilly environment.
  From Jabbad, the terrain was almost forbidding, but our strength was the company of our boys and our continuous conversation with them. They too were smart to keep our attention away from difficult terrain where horses too get scared while negotiating the narrow treks.
Finally, we were thrilled to reach our destination at 12 o’clock, trekking through the lush green meadow of densely lined pine trees. At once, I touched the tri-faced memorial stone with epitaphs in Urdu, English, and Sanskrit on the site of Sir Marc Aurel Stein’s camping ground at Mohand Marg erected in December 2017 by the Kashmir Chapter of INTACH, and the Department of Tourism, Government of Jammu & Kashmir. I felt emotionally sublimated after touching the memorial of a great scholar. I was happy I had at last achieved my decade-old mission of visiting Mohand Marg.
  The site is unique in its pristine beauty and solitude, and so close to nature. Our tiredness evaporated in thin air. As we set our feet on the spot we were seeking we felt as if we were on top of the world.
I was carrying with me a copy of Rajatarangini, translated by Stein for reference. Here, I found out that he had preferred this location because of its seclusion and the soothing fragrance of pine trees and flowers. The sky was cloudy. We got scared of the rain because there was no shelter anywhere in the vast lush green meadow. However, the clouds disappeared after dropping some raindrops. We were lucky to escape the vagary of nature. The bright sun rays made the meadow more attractive.
Author R. C. Ganjoo at Mohand Marg

  Stein’s unfulfilled wish!

Aurel Stein had spent several decades here absorbed in the pristine beauty of nature and in his scholarly exercise. Unfortunately, his last wish remained unfulfilled. He had desired that he should be “cremated” in his beloved Mohand Marg. Stein died of a massive heart attack in Kabul in 1943 at the age of 81. He had never married. He often expressed that the ‘thought of marriage never came to him’.
In Aurel Stein’s own words “from the high mountain plateau which my camp once more occupies, almost the whole of Kashmir lies before me, from the ice-capped peaks of the northern range to the long snowy line of the Pir Panjal, a little world of its own, enclosed by mighty mountain ramparts. “
Aurel-Stein-and his group at Mohand Marg-1940.

Pt. Mukund Ram Shastri’s assistance to Stein

  In 1899, Pandit Mukund Ram Shastri had assisted Stein in translating Rajatarangini in several ways till his great work was completed. Shastri was asked to give up the teaching job in a Christian missionary, at the request of Aurel Stein. King George V conferred upon him the title of Mahamahopadhyaya in 1912.
Pt. Mukund Ram Shastri
Pandit Mukund Ram Shastri died in 1921, leaving behind his authentic works of scholarship. He was well respected by western scholars. Grierson called him his ‘old friend’. Stein observed, “I shall always be glad to remember him among my friends’”. Dr. Hutzch records, “In him also I hope to have found at once a friend whom I shall never forget. To all those for whom Kashmir is not just a geographical denomination but a repository of learning and ideas, Pandit Mukund Ram Shastri will always be a guiding star.”
John Marshall once observed “Pandit Mukund Ram Shastri, about whom I can safely say that there is no Pandit in India of whom I have heard such consistent high praise from all with whom he has come in contact.”

*R. C. Ganjoo is a senior journalist and columnist having more than 40 years experience of covering issues concerning national security, particularly Kashmir. He has worked with several prominent media groups and his articles have been published in many national and international publications. He has co-authored two books– “Operation Khatma’’ and “Farooq of Kashmir’’.

(The views, observations and opinions expressed in above write up are strictly author’s own. Omission if any is regretful and Kashmir Rechords is open to any correction)

  State Subject to Domicile: The Journey of Indian Citizenship of  J&K Residents

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 (From the Feudal Dogra State through Independent India to the Present-day Naya Bharat)

(By: Dr. S.N. Pandita*)

Introduction

From a State Subject to Permanent Resident and now to a Domicile has been nearly a century-long eventful journey for the natives of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh as the citizens of India now Bharat. However, given the ethnic cleansing and genocide committed against the minority Pandit community (Hindus) this status now holds very little on ground for the exiled community of the Kashmiri Pandits within the Valley of Kashmir.
Nevertheless, a revisit to the landmark stages of this journey can likely be of some nostalgic interest to the older generation of the exiled KP community in general and for the younger generation, in particular, it is expected to hold some academic and intellectual interest; hence this recall for both the segments of the readers.
(Pic Source: Internet)

Dogra Rule & Outsiders Entering Kashmir

It all began with the advent of the Dogras in Kashmir. Soon after Maharaja Gulab Singh came to the throne of Kashmir in 1846, he appointed Dewan Jawala Shahi, a Khatri from Panjab, as his Prime Minister. With him came a train of Panjabis into the valley.  At the time, practically, there were no educated natives who could occupy various positions, both in the higher and lower ranks of administrative machinery in the State, Jawala Shahi inducted many of his qualified Panjabi favourites to occupy such positions.
(Dewan Jawala Shahi who was the Prime Minister of Kashmir in 1846. Picture Courtesy: Punjab Digital Library )
This arrangement continued through Maharaja Gulab Singh’s rule without a murmur even after the Prime Minister was changed.
Following his death in 1857, Maharaja Gulab Singh was succeeded by his son Maharaja Ranbir Singh who continued with this practice with some additional favour to the Bengalis who occupied several key positions particularly in the judiciary of the State until his death in 1885. Next arrived Maharaja Pratap Singh who had both the Panjabis and Bengalis in key positions of his administrative set-up. Such outsiders were commonly called as Gair Mulki. The result was the coming of many outsiders who received extensive land grants, were placed in many positions of trust and authority. Moreover, the commerce was monopolized mostly by the Panjabis and with the waves of Panjabi settlers immigrating into Kashmir the natives found themselves pushed into background, though the process was slow

Awareness, Protest & Agitation

However, the situation changed when two colleges of higher education and learning; the Sri Pratap College in Srinagar in 1905 and the other, the Prince of Wales College, in Jammu, in 1907 were setup that soon turned-out young college educated natives, mostly Kashmiri Pandit (KP) boys in Srinagar and few Dogras from Jammu   by sometime about 1912 onwards.
It were these young educated natives of the State who now aspired for employment opportunities in the administrative machinery of Jammu and Kashmir. In a way, the Kashmiri Pandits and the Dogra youth joined hands to press the demand for their share in the State’s   administration by way of employment in many suitable positions. The agitation was spearheaded mainly by the Kashmiri Pandits and the Dogras of Jammu. They were first to take to modern education, long before the Kashmiri Muslims became politically active. The main voices of these demands came from the KPs as they felt deprived of their share in the services. The Kashmiri Muslims were not in the picture at this stage.
In 1922, at the instance of Maharaj Kumar Hari Singh, the then Commander-in-Chief of the State Forces and a Senior Member of the State Council and also next in line to the throne constituted a committee to define the term ‘Hereditary State Subject’ and examine the entire question of naturalization in the State.
The heads of all the departments were directed to prepare a list of Mulkies, naturalized Mulkies and non-State Subjects in the State employment. At the time, a circular was also issued that under the signatures of the Maharaja, Pratap Singh, that prohibited a non-State Subject to acquire land in the State. The circular also put a moratorium on the employment of any non-State Subject in the employment of the State without the express permission of the Maharaja.
However, nothing much came out of this exercise without any confirmed official definition of the State Subject. But this nebulous situation forged a greater alliance between the Kashmiri Pandits and the Dogra Sadar Sabha to obligate the Maharaja on defining the term Hereditary State Subject.
In Jammu, the contest came to the fore in the Dogra versus the Panjabi controversy. In Kashmir, the British officers sided with the Kashmiri Pandits against their fight with the outsiders who were mostly Arya Samajis with whom was associated the name of Lala Lajpat Rai.  In fact, the Panjabis were an anathema to the British and, hence, their sympathies lay with the Kashmiri Pandits in their just demands.
It was here that Pandit Jia Lal Kilam, Pandit Shanker Koul, Pandit Jia Lal Koul and Pandit Jia Lal Jalali, all of them fresh from college between the years 1922 and 1924 raised the banner of agitation through outside press for securing the rights of the State Subjects. Pandit Jia Lal Kilam organised public meetings and held conferences both in Jammu and Srinagar under the banner of Dogra Sadar Sabha. This banner of revolt forged some sort of vague nationalism and the educated classes both from Jammu and Kashmir felt a kind of common kinship in this cause.
In 1925, an article appeared in Akhbar-i-Aam published by Pandit Gwash Lal Koul from Lahore highlighting the plight of native Kashmiris under the heading Unemployment in Kashmir. For writing this scathing piece against the Dogra Maharaja, a stern action was taken against Pandit Gwash Lal Koul, he galvanized the voice of educated Kashmiri Pandits to take up the matter further through the Indian Press and pleaded with the educated young Kashmiri Pandit men to carry out a relentless agitation for securing their exclusive employment rights to man the state administration.

State Subject Movement & Institution of the Commission

The State Subject Movement had very distinctive features as it amalgamated both the regions of Jammu and Kashmir on the issue. It was in one of the annual conferences of the Dogra Sadar Sabha held in Srinagar in October 1926 that Pandit Jia Lal Kilam moved a resolution demanding that only those persons be termed as Hereditary State Subjects whose ancestors had been residing in the state since the time of Maharaja Gulab Singh and be given preference in employment over those who were merely residing in the State from its formation in 1846.
This paved way to demand the constitution of a committee which was urged to define the term State Subject in the finality and as early as possible.  Maharaja Hari Singh appointed a Commission under the chairmanship of General Janak Singh, the then Revenue Minister to define the term. This Commission comprised both the officials and non-officials besides the representatives of the natives and outsiders with broad representation given to all the section of the population of the state including the Kashmiris, the Dogra and the Panjabis.

The First State Subject Notification

The Commission submitted its report in 1927 defining the term State Subject. Following this recommendation, the Private Secretary to Maharaja Hari Singh, P.K. Wattal (Pyare Krishen Wattal) issued a Circular Order dated January 31, 1927 by command of His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur that read:
“His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur has been pleased to command that in future in the case of every new entrant into State Service the authority empowered to make the appointment should certify that he has satisfied himself after due enquiries that the person appointed is a hereditary State subject. Further, that in the absence of such a certificate the Accountant General should not pass the pay bill of such State servant without the definite orders of His Highness in Council to the contrary.
“For the purpose of this order the term “Hereditary State Subject” will be held to mean and include all persons born and residing within the State before the commencement of the reign of His Highness the late Maharaja Gulab Singh Sahib Bahadur and also persons who settled therein before the commencement of Samvat 1942 (1885 AD) and have since been permanently residing therein. The certificate will be given after due enquiries by the Wazir Wazarat in whose charge the candidate for State service resides and the form of such certificate should be submitted by the Accountant General for the approval of His Highness in Council. In the meantime, this order will have effect from the date of issue, namely 31st January 1927.”

The Second State Subject Notification

(The State Subject Certificate makes a mention of a Govt Notification No 84 of the Judicial Department, April 20, 1927.Pic Kashmir Rechords)
A little less than three months later a Government Notification No: 84, of the Judicial Department, to this effect was issued on April 20, 1927 by the Judicial Minister Nazir Ahmed which read:
“ The following definition of the term “State Subject” has been sanctioned by His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur (vide Private Secretary letter No; 2354 dated 31st January 1927, to the Revenue Member of Council) and is hereby promulgated for general information:-
“Class I– All persons born and residing within the State before the commencement of the reign of His Highness the late Maharaja Gulab Singh Bahadur and also persons who settled therein before the commencement of Samvat year 1942 (1885 AD) and have since been permanently residing”.
“Class II– All persons other than those belonging to class I who settled within the State before the close of Samvat year 1968 (1911 AD) and have permanently resided and acquired immovable property therein”.
“Class III – All persons other than those belonging to class I and II permanently residing within the State who have acquired under a Rayatnama any immovable property therein or who may hereafter acquire such property under an Ijazatnama and may execute a Rayatnama after ten years’ continuous residence therein.”

Notes to The Notification

The Notification further carried two Notes and read:
Note (1) “In the matter of grants of State Scholarships, State land for agriculture and house building purpose and recruitment to State Service, State Subject of class I should receive preference over other classes and those of class II over class III subject, however, to the order dated 31st January 1927 of His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur regarding employment of hereditary State subjects in Government service”.
Note (2) “The descendants of the persons who have acquired the status of any class of the State subjects will be entitled to become the State subjects of the same class. For example, if A is declared a State subject of class II his sons and grandsons will ipso facto acquire the same status of class II and not of class I”

The Third State Subject Notification

Subsequently, vide another Notification dated June 27, 1931, one more Class of State Subject and one more qualifying Note was added as Class IV State Subject and Note 3.
The Class IV State subjects were defined as:
“Companies which have been registered as such within the State and which, being companies in which the Government are financially interested or as to the economic benefit to the State or to the financial stability of which the Government are satisfied, have by a special order of His Highness been declared to be State subjects”.
The Note 3 read:
 “The wife or a widow of a State Subject of any class shall acquire the status of her husband as State Subject of Class as her husband, so long as she resides in the State and does not leave the State for permanent residence out-side the State”.

State Subject Certificates for Employment Only

Evidently, the State Subject Certificates issued under the Notification dated 31st January 1927 of the Private Secretary to His Highness Maharaja Bahadur Hari Singh became paramount in securing employment in the state Government.
After the establishment of this definition in 1927, every entrant into the State Government service was required to produce a certificate of his being a hereditary State subject of Class I. Such certificates were issued by the Wazir Wazarat in whose jurisdiction the candidate happened to reside.

Curse for Pandits & Boon for Muslims

Parenthetically, it was the Kashmiri Pandits, whose untiring efforts including the agitation “Kashmir for Kashmiris” in the 20s of the last century led to the implementation of the State Subject Law, yet “ultimately the definition proved boon for the majority community”, the Muslims of the State and curse for the Kashmiri Pandits in the following decades because of the vicious communal politics that played out in the post-independence era.

Format & Purpose of Early State Subject Certificates

The earliest State Subject Certificates were simply titled: “Certificate of Hereditary State Subject”. These were essentially issued only for the purpose of employment of the candidate in the State Service. Such certificates expressly stated the name of the candidate and his residential address and also declared his being a candidate for employment in the particular department in which he had or would apply for employment and being a hereditary State Subject of Jammu and Kashmir territory “within the meaning of Private Secretary to His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur’s Notification No: Nil, dated 31st January 1927”.
Such certificates were issued by the Wazir  Wazarat on the basis of his enquiries and how he had satisfied himself that the candidate had fulfilled the criterions of the Notification dated 31st January 1927.
The present writer has perused two such certificates extant presently. The first one bears No: 71 issued on November 27, 1929 under the signatures of the then Wazir- Wazarat Sri Ram.
This certificate is issued on the attestations of Prof. Radha Krishen Bhan and Prof. Nand Lal Koul, both Professors at S.P. College, Srinagar and Pandit Jia Lal Kilam, then a Pleader at the Maharaja’s Court who later rose to become the Judge of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and came to be famously known as Justice Kilam.
In that sense this certificate is uniquely historical for being issued on the attestation of Pandit Jia Lal Kilam who was the main architect of the State Subject Law as detailed in the earlier parts of this paper.
The second certificate bears the title: “His Highness’ Government, Jammu And Kashmir” is issued on August 12, 1930 under the signature of Wazir Wazarat S.N. Raina. The certificate is issued on two criterions; firstly, on the record of Certificate No: 71 dated November 27, 1929 and also the Wazir Wazarat knew the applicant personally.
However, subsequent to the State Subject Notification dated   April 20, 1927 the candidates were also issued certificates of being State Subjects of Class I, II and III within the meaning of the Judicial Department Notification No: 84 dated the 20th April 1927 and Class IV vide Notification dated June 27, 1931. Such certificates allowed the candidate to acquire State land for agriculture and house building purposes and avail State Scholarships for educational purposes.
The fundamental criterion for the issuance of such certificates was that the candidate’s cast was not declared as Non-Agriculturist in Gazette dated June 29, 1934. Presently a State Subject Certificate of Class I category of Hereditary State Subject issued on January 29, 1937 by the Tehsildar Khas, Southern, Srinagar vide office File No; 1305 of 1937 still survives.

Permanent Residency Certificates

These definitions of State Subjects were later adopted and subsumed, essentially unchanged into the term “Permanent Residents” in the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution adopted on November 17, 1956 which came into effect on January 26, 1957 in conjunction to  Article 370 of the Indian Constitution adopted on  October 17, 1949. All persons who were State Subjects as on May 14, 1954 were deemed as Permanent Residents of the state.
From then onwards, while the validity of the State Subject certificates continued to remain effective a revised certificate of Permanent Residency also came into vogue as defined under Section 6 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. Such certificates were issued under the signature of Deputy Commissioner of the respective divisions of the state.

State Subject Certificates with Riders Issued to Kashmiri Pandits

( Permanent Resident Certificate issued for the purpose of seeking Government Employment only. Pic: Kashmir Rechords)
By late 70s of the last century, the main criterion on which such certificates were issued to Kashmiri Pandits were for the “Purpose of Training Only”. In the case of the female Kashmiri Pandit holders, an additional rider was put with the remarks “Valid till Marriage” subsequent to the incorporation of Article 35 A in the Indian Constitution adopted in sequel to the 1952 Delhi Agreement reached between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on July 24, 1952.
( Permanent Resident Certificate of an unmarried Hindu girl with a rider “Valid Till Marriage”. Pic Source: Internet)

Annulling the State Subject & Permanent Residency Certificates

For subsequent several decades both the State Subject Certificates issued  during the Dogra Period of Maharaja Hari Singh and the Permanent Residency Certificates issued thereafter in independent India by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir for the  permanent residents of the State remained as valid documents until  they were annulled by scraping Articles 370 and 35 A of the Indian Constitution by a Parliamentary Act on August 5, 2019 along with which the State was also bifurcated into two Union Territories, the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and  the UT of Ladakh.

Birth of Domicile Certificates

Subsequent, administrative orders issued by the Government of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir replaced the State Subject Certificates and Permanent Residency Certificates with a common Domicile Certificates. According to the laid down rules and prescribed procedures all the holders of the State Subject Certificates and Permanent Residency Certificates were granted Domicile Certificates.

Domicile Certificates to Other Non- Permanent Resident Categories

(Domicile Certificate of Navin Choudhary, a bureaucrat from Bihar who had become J&K’s first non-local domicile in June 2020. Pic Source: Internet)
However, other non-permanent residents of the State, or outsiders have now also been made eligible to become Domiciles of Jammu and Kashmir subject to the laid down new criterions. These include all persons and their family members who serve in Jammu and Kashmir and belong to all the categories of the Indian Civil Services like, IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS etc ; persons and their family members belonging to military and para-military  forces;  any person who studies in Jammu and Kashmir up to class VII and necessarily  has passed Class 10 Examination of  any Educational Board be that of State or Central and persons who have a continuous residency of 15 years and more in the Union Territory shall also become eligible for Domicile Certificates of the Union Territory.

Introduction of Watermark Seal in Domicile Certificates of Exiled Kashmiri Pandits

It may be noted that all previously issued State Subject Certificates and Permanent Residency Certificates were issued on normal printed stationary of the Government without any Court of Arms of the Dogra insignia or the State logo of Jammu and Kashmir.
(Domicile Certificate of a Kashmiri Pandit migrant Student, issued by Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner, Jammu under Clause 4-b. Pic: Kashmir Rechords)
However, the latest Domicile Certificates issued to the members of the exiled Kashmiri Pandit Community bear a printed watermark seal of the lion of the national Ashoka Pillar and the certificates are issued under the signatures of Relief & Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrant)

State Subject Movement & Trinity of Jia Lals

Looking in retrospect it will be evident to readers that the crusade of awareness, protest and agitation that finally culminated in the promulgation of the State Subject Law was inaugurated by Kashmiri Pandits. However, what appears to be divinely coincidental is the fact that the Movement for State Subject that was started by four Kashmiri Pandits; and three of them were named Jia Lal (Kilam, Koul and Jalali). The fourth one was Shanker Koul.

* Dr S. N Pandita is a noted Author, Writer and Researcher with nine books and about 80 research papers to his credit. He has   attended five  International and 15 National Conferences; Scores of Seminars, Lectured at SAALG, British Library, London, PRASADA, University of Leicester, UK , Universities of Luton, Leeds, Birmingham, UK  &  Nehru Centre, London.  
 
     Academic qualification: Ph.D. (D. Phil); Bodleian Reader, Oxford. Principal Research Investigator, HLF-KBC Sir Aurel Stein Kashmir Heritage Project, U.K. ;
 
Awards & Recognition:  Atisha Award 2001; Man of The Year-2004, (American Biographical Institute); Listed to 2000 World Intellectuals, 2004 (  International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, UK)
 
Academic Field : History, Heritage, Culture, Language & Literature of Kashmir.( Inter-Disciplinary & Trans-Disciplinary Studies)
 
Specialization & Expertise: Collaborative Interface of Scholarship between the Western & Kashmiri Scholars during the 19th and 20th century. (Dogra Period) &  Currently Unknown and Defunct Kashmiri Numeral System developed and used during the Dogra Period.
 
* Dr. S. N Pandita asserts his Copyright on the entire text  of the article under the main heading “State Subject to Domicile: The Journey of Indian Citizenship of  &K Residents  (From the Feudal Dogra State through Independent India to the Present-day Naya Bharat)  as its  author.

Sharda Peetha—The Resurgence

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Sharda Peetha—The Resurgence

(By:Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo)*

 In response to   Kashmir Rechords’ Blog dated December 20, 2023 under the title “Sharda Peetha- Victim of Willful Apathy’’, (to be accessed here : https://kashmir-rechords.com/sharda-peetha-victim-of-willful-apathy/) , some of our esteemed readers came up with their quality information and opinions. By incorporating these views, Kashmir Rechords believes that not only will great value be added but also hitherto unknown facts presented in the wake of renewed interest and shared objective to protect our heritage will also get a place under the Sun. Kashmir Rechords therefore is reproducing these views   and also attempting to assess the present position in terms of reclaiming the spirit of Sharda. It may be added that four exhaustive books containing comprehensive research material on Sharda will have to be accessed to. Interestingly one of the books has itself originated from historical Sharda Mai village in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

    Dr S N Pandita, noted historian and author of several books and research papers on Kashmir, has drawn attention  to  photograph of  a man in Kashmiri pheran and turban   in the foreground of  Sharda Temple doing rounds on social media. The photograph has been attributed to the year  1893 AD  when it was clicked by Sir Aurel Stein.  According to Dr Pandita, based on his extensive research, by accessing Stein’s photo-collection held at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford in 2004 and subsequently used by him in the KBC- HLF, Sir Aurel Stein Kashmir Legacy & Heritage Project, supported by Oxford University, of which he was the Principal Research Investigator, it is mentioned that the photograph was taken by Sir Aural Stein in 1940 and not in 1893. Kashmir Rechords has accordingly amended the date.  

    While appreciating Kashmir Rechords’ write-up, Dr Vijay Sazawal, an eminent  policy analyst  having a keen sense of changing dynamics in Kashmir and a member of NGO accredited to United Nations Human Rights Council,  states that he got involved in Sharda  heritage site some two decades back when he had a chance to interact with the Speaker of PoJK Assembly.  His insights reveal that the place existed as a scholarly retreat, perhaps a discussion hall, a library, a stupa, or a temple – all very likely Buddhist in character and shape with Sanskrit as its main language. At some stage in time, the place took on Hindu character as Hinduism re-spread in the area. “It is my belief that it was Lalitadatya that built the only archeological building still standing there as its resemblance to the Martand Temple is uncanny.  Adi Shankaracharya visited there and many believe that there was actually no Goddess figure in the inner sanctum but a large sacred black rock that represented Goddess Sharda. The temple went into despair through the Muslim period, and when the first Britishers saw it just before the Dogra period, it was an abandoned place without any roof and much like how it is now. Subsequent explorers saw a makeshift roof and priests, probably catering to religious needs of Maharaja’s Army that was camped there on the other side of Kishenganga. The temple complex probably stayed that way until 1947, though some structures may have been added to shelter yatris who used to go there frequently given that one has to climb many steps to reach to the site.  The site was and is rather isolated because of its poor access which is actually a blessing’’.

   Dr Sazawal is also of the opinion that since no access presently is being accorded to pilgrims and researchers, the need for renewed interest will always fascinate the academic community as well as world communities. And it is in line with this that Kashmir Rechords laid hands on four quality books containing extensive and worthy material on Sharda.

“Aagar Naeb’’ authored by Moti Lal Saqi

One of the most wonderful books published in 1998 contains rarest of the rare facts about Kashmir. Scripted in original Kashmiri (Nastalique), it compiles almost every topic under the sun pertaining to Kashmir. While deliberating on renowned and famous polymath Al-Beruni, Moti Lal Saqi refers to the former’s account about Sharda as follows:

“The brilliance of Kashmiris forces us to agree that during Al-Beruni’s time, the opinion of Kashmiri scholars was tantamount to according certificates and during 11th century AD, Kashmir continued to be known as Sharda Desha. Whatever stood rejected by Kashmiris would not find acceptance anywhere’’—(Page No 107).    

Saqi further adds that in “Kitabul-Hind’’, Al-Beruni mentions about Sharda script and comes out with very interesting facts in this regard. “The common alphabet in use is Sidhmatrika about which it is said that it originated in Kashmir. Even though it is used to some extent in Varanasi, both regions are however considered origin of knowledge. Sharda script    was derived from Sidham which essentially is a version of Brahmi. Sidhmatrika script was used from Kangra to Kabul and Central India. Gurumukhi and Bodhi scripts are actually derived versions of Sidhmatrika (Sharda)’’—(Page No 108).

Sanskrit Scripture in Sharda lipi engraved on a stone found near Doabgah, Sopore, Kashmir,pertains to King Jaisimha, 1149 AD

“Sharda—Tareekh Ke Irteqayee Marahil’’  (Sharda—Historical Stages of Its Evolution) – 2009, authored by  Khawaja Abdul Gani, R/o Khawaja Seeri, Tehsil Sharda, Dist Neelum ( PoK), published by Verinaag Publishers, Mirpur ( PoK)

This book ( Urdu)  compiles every other detail from whatever source, the author could lay his hands on, ranging from  Sharda Mahatmya to Raj Taranganis by Pt Kalhana, Jonaraja  and Shrivara and also  travelogues and research material from Col Bates, Buhler and Sir Aurel Stein and many other historical accounts. Most of the information contained in the book is useful, considering the fact that the same has been ascribed to some or the other source. The author on page 74 of the book mentions that, it is a pleasant surprise to note that in addition to Hindu pilgrims, the Muslim population of the area equally used to pay obeisance and offerings to the Shrine.  They also used to recite Sharda Vanadana while making circumambulations around the Temple area. A door to the Temple existed up to 1947 but as per author’s version, some ``Kaghan’’ tribal highwaymen from North-Western Front, probably Qabalis, destroyed the same.  The boundary wall of the shrine is mostly without a trace. The Book also quotes  Justice S N Kathju’s visit to the Shrine in 1935 wherein the noted Judge is said to have recorded that there may have been a  fabulous staircase, the construction of which is second to none. It appears that this staircase must have been destroyed when the area came under some earthquake. Justice Kathju is also on record to have mentioned that Sharda University must have existed only in the vicinity of this great temple. Justice Kathju puts on record, “I visited the Sharda Devi Shrine along with my late grandfather-in-law, Dr Bal Krishan Kaul in the summer of 1935. The Shrine is located on a hilltop like the Shrine of Jawala Ji. The steps leading to the top of the hill, appeared to be twisted as if they had been battered by an earthquake. The question as to when did the University township cease to exist, requires investigation. It was in the shrine itself that I first met late Pt Shridhar Joo Dhar, who had become my guide and philosopher in the closing year of his life’’…. ( Excerpts of the Article on Kashmir Tantrism by Justice S N Kathju, published in Shaivism.net.)

Remnants of Sharda Teerath (above) and Sharda village in the vicinity

 The author of “Sharda—Tareekh Ke Irteqayee Marahil’’ at page numbers 77 and 78 makes an important case for the Sharda sanctum sanctorum.  Quoting Brigadier Rattan Kaul, he says that the Central place of the temple is the same place where the Mother Goddess Sharda is said to have revealed herself to Muni Shandiliye and immediately absorbed herself in the pious spring, known as Amrit Kund.   As per the book, Stein is also said to have witnessed a slab ( 8X8 feet) covering this pious Kund. Many historians including Michael McQueen have opined that this stone slab incorporated 43 angles of Shri Chakra and it is the same place where Adi Guru Shankaracharya acquainted himself with this esoteric knowledge and brought it to the notice of the world. This stone no longer exists now and it is believed that the same may be lying embedded under the sanctum sanctorum. The Book also reveals a number of other insightful facts upon which the scholars can carry out further work.

`Sharda Peeth—Tareekh Ke Aayene Mein’ authored by Raja Nazar Booniyari, published from Baramulla, Kashmir.

This book more or less revolves around Sharda pilgrim site and seems to be a collection of verbatim quotes of predecessors including Khawaja Abdul Gani. Since the author’s 2019 visit to at Sharda, PoK where he interacted with the local populace, his travelogue juxtaposes the present socio-political oeuvre.

Brigadier Rattan Kaul’s recent book “Goddess Sarada(Sharada) of Kasmira (Kashmir)-Adi Shankaracharya Buddhism-Sharada Civilisation Connect-Facts And Myths centers around Adi Shankaracharya’s visit to Sharda Peeth where the myth and hard realities get interwoven to give marvelous interpretations to Advaita and Buddhist thought  processes  whose  synthesis and praxis  both got  nurtured in Kashmir.

Save Sharda Committee, Kashmir

It appears that the ways of the providence are stranger than fiction. As Sphinx rose from the ashes, so has the spirit of Sharda energised communities across Indian Sub-Continent to reclaim the glorious heritage associated with it. With fire in the heart, many individuals and organisations  have incessantly worked in this direction. The  impressive and the most prominent among them is Save Sharda Committee Kashmir . Its founder member, Mr Ravinder Pandita  has been in the forefront of the efforts to mobilise support both in India and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, so much so that he has created peace constituency even across Line of Control where  his efforts have been hailed by the general public and surprisingly supported by bureaucracy also. His efforts to  motivate  the activists for reclaiming Sharda in PoK is borne by the fact that  residents of Sharda tehsil  have submitted  representations to the Government and judiciary. It appears that there is an  urgency to save and reclaim Sharda Teerath most of which may be motivated by reaping the benefits of bringing the place on the international pilgrim tourist map but for Pakistan Army which seems to act like a spoke in the wheel for obvious reasons of the ideological baggage  that this institution still carries against India and its own inability to come to terms with changing  global trends.

Mr Ravinder Pandita has also taken up the matter with GOI for bringing an amendment in LoC permit rules by way of addendum to include annual pilgrimage to Sharda Peeth on the lines of Sikh pilgrimage to Nankana Sahib in Lahore that is held annually and now the Kartarpur yatra.  “We at Save Sharda Committee are pressing for cross LoC Heritage and  Religious tourism that should bring people closer. People of PoK should also be allowed pilgrimage to our part of Kashmir in J&K state’’, says Mr Pandita .

Mr Pandita got another shot in the arm when he received a positive reply to his representation from  Supreme Court of PoJK. The goodwill generated by Mr Pandita’s efforts have motivated the Civil Society at Sharda, PoK so much so that it is on his insistence that ritualistic pooja in absentia was performed by natives of Sharda village and peace enthusiasts many a time.  The visit of Dr. Ramesh Vankwani with a delegation of five Pakistani Hindu Council members on 24 June ‘2019 to Sharda Peeth was also historical and  in consultations with Save Sharda committee. A coordinated move by  Save Sharda Committee sent a Hong Kong based couple Venkataraman and Sujata, who performed Puja near Sharda on the banks of river Kishenganga on 4th Oct.’2019. It was the first ever puja since 1948 in Sharda Land.

The staircase leading to the Shrine.

The Save Sharda Committee  also got successful in installing the statue of Mother Sharda at Teetwal,  Jammu and Kashmir. A pilgrim site at Teetwal used to exist en-route Sharda Teerath before partition and now a newly constructed grand temple is visible even from PoK.

More Documentary Evidence about Fall of Snakes and Stones in Kashmir!

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A recent write-up, published by Kashmir Rechords under the title “When Snakes, Stones Snowed in Kashmir’ has generated a lot of interest on various social-media platforms.  Most of the esteemed readers of Kashmir Rechords have expressed their desire to know more about this unprecedented incident, something they had never heard of.  For majority of the readers it was a news of the century for them!
While contents of both the files have already been put into public domain, Kashmir Rechords is publishing more documentary evidence to bring home the point that such incidents had really happened more than 100 years ago and are well-documented.  
File noting : Fall of Stones from the Heaven
A picture of one such heavy stone that had reportedly come down with snowflakes in 1912 and is currently in possession of Archaeology Department has also been procured for the benefit of our readers.
A Stone that came down with snowflakes in 1912

A Kashmiri Pandit diplomat, a spy and a Historian of yesteryears buried in Delhi !

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(www.kashmir-rechords.com Exclusive)
Pandit Mohan Lal Kashmiri  alias Mirza Quli Kashmiri alias Agha Hassan Jan Kashmiri
Pandit Mohan Lal Kashmiri  alias Mirza Quli Kashmiri alias Agha Hassan Jan Kashmiri—–  sounds interesting! But that is how this polyonymous from Zutshi clan had  lavishly lived and  typified  himself  in first half of 19th century as a traveller, a spy, a writer, a diplomat, a polymath, a polyglot    and a  scholar  but  ultimately had to spend his last phase of  life in obscurity!
   In 1845, when Queen Victoria had invited Agha Hassan Jan Kashmiri alias Mirza Quli Kashmiri to the Royal Hall in London, it was to the surprise of all to know that this genius, who was functioning as a spy and had assumed Agha Hassan Jan Kashmiri as pseudonym, declared his real name as Pandit Mohan Lal Kashmiri. This revelation had stunned everyone.
Researches based upon the life and works of Pandit Mohan Lal Kashmiri connect him to the Zutshi Pandits of Kashmir. His ancestor, Pandit Lachdii Ram Zutshi had in fact migrated from Kashmir to live in Delhi during the reign of Emperor Shahjahan. The extended Zutshi family was since then living in Sita Ram Bazar of Delhi where this Polyonymous Mohan Lal was born in 1812.
 It was in Delhi English College where this young Mohan Lal under the encouragement of his father Brahm Nath Zutshi (also known as Budh Singh) had received his education in both English and Persian.
 Brahm Nath Zutshi had a Sikh mother who would affectionately call him as Budh Singh. This Budh Singh was married to a Pandit wife, who belonged to Kouls of Gwalior and was bestowed by two sons– Pandit Mohan Lal and his younger brother Pandit Kedar Nath. While Mohan Lal had assumed multi-dimensional personality, his younger brother, Kedar Nath, who died in 1855,   was a Deputy Collector in Ambala, Punjab Province.

Mohan Lal Kashmiri as a Spy

Fate often acts in strange ways and so did it for Mohan Lal. In 1831, the British East India Company had appointed Sir Alexander Burnes as its chief spy to gather information in the countries lying between India and the Caspian. His deputation was a part of great design of the British to penetrate into Afghanistan, Central Asian Sultanates and Tibet. It was the British Secret Service, which selected through Charles Travelyan, this very brilliant and ambitious student, Mohan Lal Zutshi (Kashmiri) to accompany Sir Alexander Burnes. Having joined the British Secret Service in 1831 at a tender age of 19, Mohan Lal assumed the name of Mirza Quli Kashmiri as the Persian interpreter to Sir Alexander Burnes.
The first task of Pandit Mohan Lal, (now Mirza Quli Kashmiri) was to recruit his agents to bring about defections among the Afghan resistance movement. He accomplished this extraordinary task with great tact and intelligence. Posing himself as a Kashmiri Muslim, Mohan Lal Zutshi had married a girl from the Royal House to facilitate him in spying.

 Mohan Lal Kashmiri as a traveller

Both Sir Alexander Burnes and Pandit Mohan Lal explored Central Asia between 1832 to 1834 for procuring political and military intelligence. During his travels, this Kashmiri Pandit, now Mirza Quli Kashmiri would first seek a wife from the influential family of the region so that his matrimonial alliance would provide him with ample protection. Many of his marriages were outcome of sheer compulsions of reaching inner circles of Britishers’ adversaries. He had also married in royal families of Afghanistan and Iran.
 After his return from Central Asia, Pandit Mohan Lal published a journal of his tour in 1834. Twelve years later, this work was re-published with the addition of his travels in Europe. At this same time, he had also published a work on the life of Dost Mohammad Khan, the Amir of Kabul, in two volumes.
 After his Central Asian tour, Mohan Lal Kashmiri alias Mirza Quli Kashmiri was promoted as the Commercial Agent for the British on the Indus and Political Assistant to Sir Burnes in Kabul. During the first Anglo-Afghan War, he was instrumental in setting up and expanding the British intelligence network in Afghanistan. On November 2, 1841, the residence of Sir Alexander Burnes in Kabul was stormed by a mob and both Alexander and his brother Charles were killed. But Pandit Mohan Lal saved his life by posing himself as Mirza Quli Kashmiri. He was awarded the Order of the Empire and made a Knight of the Persian Lion.
Later, during his interaction with the Shia Muslims of Iran, he had felt highly impressed with Persian history and culture and  embraced Islam. It was here he assumed another name to identify himself as Agha Hassan Jan Kashmiri.
In 1843, Mohan Lal retired at the age of 32, disappointed that he had not been properly rewarded for his contributions to the British cause in the First Anglo-Afghan War. He later embarked on a long journey to Egypt, England, Scotland, Ireland, Belgium and Germany. After his European tour in 1846, he published a revised work of his travels in Central Asian countries and Europe.
( Pages from Life and works of `Mohan Lal Kashmiri’ by Hari Ram Gupta, Minerva Book Shop, Lahore- 1943)

Hyderi Begum —  Last wife of Mohan Lal Kashmiri

His favourite Wife, Haidri Begum, the last one, was a Shia Muslim and a scholar. During the turmoil in 1857, she maintained a daybook, recording vividly the happenings and events in Delhi describing the atrocities committed by the British on the last Mughal Emperor. Her diary was later seized and confiscated by the British Government in India.
(Hyderi Begum as painted by German artist Paul Fischer)
 Mohan Lal Kashmiri’s later years were spent in obscurity and financial troubles. He became a highly frustrated and isolated person because of his total boycott by his own community members, followed by his death in 1877 at the age of 65. He is believed to have been buried in Delhi in his garden called  `Lal Bagh’, near Azadpur. There is no tomb, but only a platform, said to contain the bodies of both Agha Hassan Jan (Mohan Lal) Kashmiri and his favourite wife Hyderi Begum. Hari Ram Gupta, Mohan Lal Kashmir’s biographer,  in his book “Life and Works of Mohan Lal Kashmiri’’,   gives a detailed account of   this unique personality who lived life on his own terms and conditions.
(A page from Life and works of `Mohan Lal Kashmiri’ by Hari Ram Gupta, Minerva Book Shop, Lahore- 1943)

When Baramulla bore the brunt of tribal raid

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( Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)
Following the tribal raid of October 1947, Pakistani hordes were in Kashmir Valley for 13 days to cause large-scale mayhem, arson death and destruction. But to the people of Baramulla, these 13 days were like 13 years.  Baramulla town had to withstand the worst of the ruthless ways of the tribal militants.
  The town was ransacked and pillaged repeatedly, houses destroyed and people  mercilessly killed- not only Hindus, Kashmiri Pandits or Kashmiri Sikhs, even the Christian Missionaries were not spared during these traumatic 13 days. “The raiders had made a little distinction between the victims’’, notes eminent lawyer and writer, K L Gauba in his famous Book “Inside Pakistan’’ (1948).
Gauba is not sure as to how many of innocent lives were lost in Baramulla. “But from all accounts, it must have exceeded 1,000. Among them were  Lt Col. and Mrs. Dykes, besides four Sisters of Mercy and a Mother Superior of the Convent of St. Joseph’’, recalls this author.
He refers to a `little child belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Dykes, who was thrown down a well. All the Sisters of Mercy were lined up and were about to be shot, when a Pakistan Officer, better informed than the others, called it off on the ground that it might involve Pakistan in international complications’’, says Gauba.
 Quoting captured tribesman, Gauba says the raiders killed the Europeans on the day of their entry into the town. On the same day, they smashed the local Hospital and Post Office and held many hostages.
Maj. Khurshid Anver was leading the invaders. Another officer was Maj. Mohammed Aslam’, mentions Gauba, who put the strength of the raiders in Baramulla between 3,000 and 5,000. “But apparently, the same men did not stay all the time. They came in waves and while some arrived, others left which, probably, accounted for the repeated looting of the same sections of the town. The loot was carried away in Lorries that went in the direction of the Frontier Province at night’’.
 The book `Inside Pakistan’ mentions that about 100 Lorries were lined up in Baramulla on the night of their departure. Some invaders rode in Tongas while the others walked.
 Gauba says “in their 13-day occupation of the third largest town in the Valley, the invaders denuded it of everything. “There was not a grain of rice or a yard of cloth left.’’
The road from Baramulla to Uri was strewn with the wreckage of trucks and Lorries left behind by the raiders. Most of these trucks bear the number plate F.P.H. (Frontier Province Hazara). Sometimes they bore the number plate P.B.R. (Punjab).
On the propaganda front also, the raiders had used methods that must have meant considerable preparations. Leaflets printed at the Jilani Press; Lahore, were distributed in tens of thousands in the villages. Apart from Major Khursheed Anver, two other officers whose names were also well known and who frequently figured in the messages intercepted by Indian Intelligence were Major Mohammad Gulsher Khan and Captain Sharief.

Massacre at St Joseph’s Mission Hospital Baramulla

Andrew Whitehead in his book “A Mission in Kashmir’’,  says the survivors of the attack, joined by some local families who had sought refuge at the mission – about eighty people in total – then endured ten days in captivity in the hospital’s Baby Ward. “They were joined by a British war correspondent, Sydney Smith of the Daily Express, who happened to be in Kashmir, arranged a lift with the Indian Army towards the frontline, and then was captured by the tribesmen. Father George Shanks, the senior priest at the school, emerged as the leader of the beleaguered group.
The ordeal, Andrew says ended around the time when the Indian Army took Baramulla under control  on 8 November 1947 and it has been under Indian control ever since.
The killings at St Joseph’s were not the bloodiest episode of the tribesmen’s invasion. In all, Andrew says, several hundred people were killed during the three weeks that the Pakistanis were present in the Kashmir Valley. But the attack on a Baramulla hospital, the desecration of a place of worship and the killing of foreigners all contributed to make the Baramulla massacre the most notorious aspect of these opening salvos in the Kashmir conflict.

News despatches from Baramulla in 1947

“The havoc they wrecked on Baramulla is not very well known’’. A despatch by Robert Trumbull of New York Times of November 10 described what happened in Baramulla.
 As per this despatch, Baramulla had been stripped of its wealth and young women before the tribesmen fled in face of the advancing Indian troops. Surviving residents estimated that 3,000 of their fellow townsmen, including four Europeans and a retired British Army Officer, Colonel Dykes, and his pregnant wife, were slain. The raiders had also forced 350 local Hindus into a building, with the intention of burning it down.
Max Despott, an Associated Press photographer, described on November 2 that he had seen more than 20 villages in flames while flying over a section of Kashmir Valley extending within 20 miles of Srinagar. The villages had been set afire by the invaders who were scouring the valley and moving in the direction of Srinagar.
Sydney Smith of Daily Express of London had stayed in the Baramulla hospital for those fateful 10 days. He too had filed a report on the raiders’ attack on the convent. The raiders had come shooting their way down from the hills on both sides of the town. They climbed over the hospital walls from all sides. The first group burst into a ward firing at the patients.
According to Raghvendra Singh, former Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Government of India in one of his write-ups for ANI, the raiders had not initially touched local Muslims, to begin with – perhaps they wanted to win their sympathy.  However, after a few days they turned on everybody that came their way. They started wholesale loot, arson and orgy. They burnt the property of the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims without any discrimination. They killed children, old men and women, and committed rape on every young woman, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh alike. The raiders also took valuables like silver and gold ornaments, shawls etc. when they left.
 The Times of London reported on November 11 that the Baramulla residents seemed delighted to welcome the Indian troops.

Massive decline of Kashmiri Pandits during 100 years

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Massive decline of Kashmiri Pandits during 100 years

(Records, Census figures speak everything)

By Dr.Rajesh Bhat
If the records are to be relied upon, there has been a massive decline of Kashmiri Pandits living in Kashmir valley during the past 100 years!
In 1921, the population of Kashmiri Pandits living in Kashmir, as per the 1921 Jammu and Kashmir State Census was 55,052. (Source: “Kashmiri Pandits”, a Book written by Pt Anand Kaul in 1924). Out of this total population of Pandits, 21,635 were living in Srinagar, while as 33,417 were putting up in Mufassils. Male Kashmiri Pandits were more (30,944) in comparison to females(24.108). But this was considered as the most healthy sex ratio. Interestingly, only seven Kashmiri Pandits were gazette officers. That punctures the propaganda that Kashmiri Pandits were the elite or ruling class.

1931 and 1941 Censuses

In 1931, the Kashmiri Pandit population, like other communities had also increased. The total increase in number was, however,  only 8056. From 55052 in 1921 it had moved to 63108 in 1931.
According to the 1941 census, there were 78,800 Kashmiri Pandits living in Kashmir Valley. Source: (Evans, Alexander, “A departure from history: Kashmiri Pandits, 1990-2001”. Contemporary South Asia. 11 (1): 19–37).

Srinagar was part of Anantnag District

As per the 1941 Census, Kashmiri Pandits were distributed into two districts of Valley, the Baramulla district, where 12,919 Kashmiri Pandits out of 612,428 total used to live. The other district was Anantnag where they were 7.84 percent of the total population. Interestingly, during those days, Srinagar used to be a part of Anantnag district. Kashmir Valley had only two Districts—- Anantnag and Baramulla. Srinagar formed part of Anantnag and became a separate District only in 1951 A D.

1947:Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir

Scholar Christopher Snedden in his book “ Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris” states that the Pandits made up about 6 percent of the total Kashmir Valley’s population in 1947.  
  Chitralekha Zutshi in her book, Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir (2004), states that by 1950, “population of Kashmiri Pandits declined to five per cent as many Pandits moved to other parts of India due to the uncompensated land redistribution policy, the unsettled nature of Kashmir’s accession to India and the threat of economic and social decline’’

1981 J&K Census

In the 1981 census, the Kashmir Division had 124,078 Kashmiri Pandits. (Source: Evans, Alexander (2002). “A departure from history: Kashmiri Pandits, 1990-2001”. Contemporary South Asia. 11 (1): 19–37).  This scholar estimates that by 1990, there would have been 160,000 to 170,000 Pandits living in Kashmir Valley, but following the 1989 insurgency, a “great majority of Pandits felt threatened’’ and left the Kashmir Valley for other parts of India. A large number of Kashmiri Pandit refugees moved to the Jammu Division of the erstwhile Princely State and some to the National Capital Region of India.

In 2011, Kashmir had only 3,400 Kashmiri Pandits

The population of Kashmiri Pandits has declined from an estimated 140,000 in the late 1980s to fewer than 3,400 in 2011 this represents a 98% drop in population. (Source: Essa, Assad, 2 August 2011, Kashmiri Pandits: Why we never fled Kashmir”. aljazeera.com). While revealing the figures of Kashmiri Pandits living in Kashmir in 2011, Aljazeera quoted prominent Kashmiri Pandit leader, Sanjay Tickoo, who had not migrated in 1990.
Such a huge decline in the population of Kashmiri Pandits is often and rightly described as a case of ethnic cleansing. On the sharp decline of the Pandit population, Alexander Evans wonders what kind of society Kashmir becomes in the absence of this already small minority.
During the past over a decade, the Government of India has tried many ways to make the situation conducive for the return of Kashmiri Pandits. A scheme under the Prime Minister Employment Package was also introduced but the return of the community, now scattered, has not fully taken place.

2022 Rajya Sabha Statement

In July 2022, Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai, told the Rajya Sabha that there are just 6,514 Kashmiri Pandits living in the Kashmir valley. The highest number of Pandits (2,639) live in the Kulgam district.
In continuation of their ethnic cleansing that systematically began during the past century, 12 more Kashmiri Pandits were killed by terrorists in Kashmir in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Instead of an increase in population during the past 100 years (from 55,052 in 1921), the Kashmiri Pandit community living in Kashmir has been reduced to just 6,514 in 2022! Isn’t it an act of ethnic cleansing?

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All India Radio’s  Bokhari Brothers…  The Kashmir Connection

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All India Radio’s  Bokhari Brothers…  The Kashmir Connection
(By Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo)
Who were the famous Bokhari brothers? And what was their connection to Kashmir? These questions can interest only those who have a love for modern broadcasting which inter alia means a love of languages and content creation, an eye for detail and nuances of the human condition and an indomitable will to deal with pressures of all kinds.

Since broadcasting was not initially perceived to be built as a career, governments all over the world recognized its potential to influence public opinion. Resources were invested in it and elaborate hierarchical and bureaucratic structures were created which eventually stifled their creativity. Many an intellectual who rushed to become part of All India Radio, the then latest and premium agency of broadcasting, soon got disillusioned and quickly resigned. The Bokhari Brothers were an exception. They continued to be part of this government structure and curiously were able to turn the tide in favour of nationalist sentiment and supported the freedom movement in disguise when in the majority of the programmes of All India Radio nationalist leaders were invited to present their viewpoint albeit differently. All this was taking place under the watchful eyes of government agencies.

  Bokhari Brothers  and  Baramulla

Bokhari Brothers were born into a family of Peers (Sufi mystics) in Peshawar. Their forefathers had, however, moved to Peshawar from Baramulla town of Jammu and Kashmir. Both had managed to occupy the top posts in All India Radio and were considered the blue-eyed boys of Lionel Fielden, India’s  First Controller of Broadcasting. Despite occupying top posts in India, the Bokhari Brothers preferred to be part of the Pakistani establishment  after the partition of the sub-continent

Patras Bokhari

The Elder One– Syed Ahmad Shah Bukhari commonly known as (Patras Bukhari (01-11-1898 to 05-12-1958 was a highly popular Pakistani humorist, writer broadcaster and later a diplomat who served as the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations. At the time of his death, he was still serving as a Pakistani diplomat but had to be buried in Valhalla Cemetery, New York.
  Bokhari Brothers’ connection to Kashmir was through their father’s family while their mother belonged to Hindkowan ethnicity.  They tried to remain connected with Kashmir. (Patras Bokhari had also a  Kashmiri wife— Zubaida Wanchoo)
   The elder brother’s tryst with life finally lead him to United Kingdom where he received his Tripos degree from Cambridge University. In 1927, he returned to Lahore to teach English at Government College Lahore. During pre partition days he got groomed to be part of Muslim intelligentsia of South Asia which spearheaded the movement for Pakistan. During this period he also headed All India Radio and when Pakistan got created he became the country’s envoy to United Nations up to 1958. The legendary urdu poets Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Noon Meem Rashid and Kanhaya Lal Kapoor were among his students. Bokharis were peers ( Sufi mystics). Peer Syed Ahmad Shah Bukhari wrote with the pen name of Patras Bukhari, a name he lifted from his teacher Peter Watkins who taught him English. Peter could not pronounce the name Pir, instead called the elder brother as“Pierre “ a French word which in Greek is known as Patras. The translation of Peter into Greek “Patras” was thus adopted by him as his pen name.

Younger Bokhari

The younger brother Zulfikar Ali Bukhari (06 -07 1904 to 12-07-1975) was a prolific broadcaster first with  All India Radio and later with Radio Pakistan.  Like his elder brother, he was also a writer, poet and musician and was later made the first Director General of Radio Pakistan.  He later addressed himself as “Controller of Broadcasting’’ of Radio Pakistan. He had a profound knowledge of English, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Pashto and Punjabi.
In Undivided India, the British government had got wind of his expertise and appointed him initially a teacher and later promoted him as head of the Bureau of Translation to train British officers. His professional services were eventually sought to head as a full-fledged Director (Broadcaster) at Delhi station of All India Radio and later became Director of All India Radio Bombay.  But at the time of partition, he chose to head Radio Pakistan.

Disillusionment of the Elder Bokhari

Patras Bukhari was an internationalist. The energies of the Bokhari Brothers got stifled in a country that they had pursued to be a harbinger of change in the Muslim world. Soon their disillusionment with whatever was happening in Pakistan became clear to them. Pakistan appeared as a nation to safeguard the power, pelf and privileges of the elite only who apprehended that all these would be snatched away from them in united India and such an establishment was not interested in ameliorating the condition of the common populace of Pakistan. This is a fact that the liberals of Pakistan are grudgingly accepting these days.

Maa Kali’s Abode at Srinagar Kashmir

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Maa Kali’s Abode at Srinagar Kashmir

( Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)
The Khankah-e-Moula mosque currently standing on the banks of river Jhelum in Srinagar Kashmir is said to have been built upon the ruins of a Hindu temple dedicated to the Mother Kali. This is not entirely without basis as relevant records and documents confirm the veracity of the same. The grand mosque which obscures any remaining remnants of the temple is believed to have been constructed above the walls of an ancient temple dedicated to goddess Kali sacred to Hindus.
Hindus, especially Kashmiri Pandits continued to perform puja at a spot well below the mosque after the desecration of what used to be a grand and magnificent Kali temple. 
There is strong documentary evidence to back this claim and even though many have taken advantage of speculative assumptions to advance their own particular narratives about the existence or non-existence of a Hindu religious site. Unfortunately, that has further complicated the issue.

 Longing of the devotees

But the fact remains that Pujas by Kashmiri Pandits continued to have been performed at this place  cannot be refuted since contemporary accounts by those who compiled their travelogues in Kashmir have documented the fact that Puja did take place and there used to be a small semblance of a temple, at least some walls draped in Sindoor existed and a token or major Pujas are reported to have been taking place even up to 1990.
  Pearce Gervis, author of “ This is Kashmir’’ ( 1954) , published by Cassell and Company Limited London, (on page 20)  mentions that  within the mosque  there is a spring which is sacred to Hindus. Beneath the mosque and right on the water-front, is a Hindu temple, which is much used. It appears to be nothing more than a splash of orange paint upon the stone wall under the water front pathway to the mosque’’.  Pearce Gervis has also published a photograph of the same site in the said book, which was clicked in the decade beginning from 1950.
 Similarly, in a painting pertaining to the year 1906 by an unknown artist, a proper functional temple is also seen existing on the side of the mosque.
Rai Mridu in her book “Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir” (2004) states that local Hindus were involved in various communal disputes and repeated altercations by 1942, agitating for the right to build a temple and lay claim to their ancient shrine at this site which was, however, not acceptable to the majority community of Kashmir.
  The Rising Kashmir in its write-up on the same subject titled ”Maha Kali temple co-exists with Khankah’’  (November 19, 2017)  also mentions about the practice of  Puja taking place  at the mosque site where a  wall marked with Sindoor  existed there.
Noted Kashmiri writer and poet, Zareef Ahmad Zareef quoting  Hasan Shah in ‘Encyclopedia of Kashmir’ says that the Brahmins who did not accept Islam were given this place to pray to their goddess Kali. Zareef  further mentions that  a  religious structure continued to exist till 1990 where   Kashmiri Pandits would  pray and mark their foreheads with Sindoor.
Similarly, Shiri Ram Bakshi, a great scholar of Indian history in one of his famous books, ‘Kashmir Valley and its Culture’ (1997) writes that the shrine of Kali had been converted into Khankah of Mir Syed Ali Hamadani or the Shah-e-Hamadan Masjid.  He writes that to this day, its custodians are exceptionally punctilious in cleaning and sweeping the floors of the spring situated within the Khankah. The Pandits, who were allotted a place outside the Khankah premises, continue to offer their worship to the goddess Kali to whom the spring was originally dedicated.

    Mother  Kali at Sopore Kashmir

While Kali Temple at Srinagar has been in focus on account of its being in the capital city, there are scores of such shrines in Kashmir where Kashmiri Pandits offered Puja on the earmarked portions of the walls of temples converted into mosques.  Similarly, a space of the size of a window existed at Shah-e-Hamdan mosque at Khankah Mohalla Sopore Kashmir on the banks of river Jhelum before the present massive structure of the mosque came up after 1990 and since no Kashmiri Pandit resides at Sopore at present, the whereabouts of the Hindu shrine of Kali Temple are not known.

Kashmir’s town of Astrology

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By B. Revti
The origin of Kashmiri Panchang, variously called as “ Jantari’’ or “Neshpatra’’ dates back to antiquity.   Not only was Kashmir an important centre of spiritual learning but related schools of thought also found a fertile ground to grow. 
One such related school of thought that took birth in Kashmir delivered its world class tradition of astrology. 
Though Indians have had no love for historiography, the Bhrigu Samhita, the ultimate reference book of the discipline is the testimony to the tradition of predictive astrology being followed in India and incidentally Kashmir, which produced its first historian Kalhana, also makes mentions of   a brilliant tradition of astrology prevalent in Kashmir.

 Al-Biruni’s  Accounts

Even as there are other very important historical documents which testify to the continuity of this important tradition in Kashmir, the most important historic account by a foreigner Al-Biruni in his  book “Kitab-ul-Hind” raises this to  such an exalted level pertaining to Kashmir  that we cannot remain without mentioning some of the observations made  by this great historian:-
  “ I studied the Jantari of Shaka-la (modern Sialkot) pertaining to the year 951 AD. It has come from Kashmir. This Jantari says that Sapt Rishis are staying since many years in Anirudha Moon House which exists in three and one- third degree in the constellation and extends up to 16 and two- third degrees. Saptrishis are still one full `burj’ and 20 degrees forward……. This creates a sense of wonder and no doubt anybody who does not live among Hindus of Kashmir, cannot fathom the concepts and everything they have churned out.’’
  This statement of Al- Biruni testifies   to the fact that how much learned he himself was about the intricacies of astrology—a school of thought which reached its zenith in Kashmir where Jantris were compiled, formulated and despatched across lands. Kashmiri Panchangs were considered to be the most trustworthy astrological treatises.

Kashmir Panchang’s Gandhaar Connection

Noted Kashmiri scholar and historian, Moti Lal Saqi in his famous book “Aager Neb’’ mentions that `Jantari’’ as a unique product came out of Kashmir only and it is very difficult to accord a date to its origin. Saqi further while referring to Rajtarangni, mentions that it was King Meghwahana who brought and settled Brahmins from Gandhaar and elsewhere  in Kashmir’s Bijbehara town around 5th Century AD. It is possible that many astrologers accompanied these Brahmins where they institutionalized this important feature of Kashmir and thus Kashmiri Jantari continues to be named as “Vijeshwar Panchang’’ linked to Bijbehara town. Other notable names in this regard are of Swami Aftab Kak and Shri Kanth Jyotshi, besides others.
Kashmir’s Bijbehara continues to lay its claim on the World famous Panchangs—the Kashmiri Jantaris— although they are presently published from Jammu and elsewhere.  Pt Prem Nath Shastri, the great learned Pandit and social reformer did a yeoman’s service to make it available to all and sundry when he pioneered to get it printed for distribution on a large scale some decades back.
Non-Hindus of Kashmir as well as India and the World, also make a bee line for obtaining a copy of this almanac of dates and occasions, both auspicious and otherwise, for round the clock consultations. Sh Omkar Nath Shastri, who is  presently the publisher of Vijeshwar Panchang is on record to convey that the year 2024-25 will be 341st issue of the famed Panchang in continuity .

 

Can Kashmir produce another Santosh?

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Can Kashmir produce another Santosh?
By: Dr. Rajesh Bhat

Ghulam Rasool Santosh was Everything in Nothing— a painter, a mystic poet, a writer, a playwright a weaver, a calligrapher and above all a Kashmiri Shaivite.

Born in 1929 as Ghulam Rasool in a Kashmiri Muslim family at Chinkral Mohalla, Habba Kadal, he was forced to give up schooling after his father’s death and as a result took up several odd jobs like  silk weaving, signboard painting and white washing walls. Slowly, he returned to painting and joined the Progressive Arts Association in Kashmir started by Sayed Haider Raza who was then  mobilizing Kashmiri painters. In 1954, he won a scholarship to study Fine Arts under a celebrated Indian painter, N. S. Bendre in the city of Baroda, Gujarat.

Adding name of his wife Santosh to  personify the man- woman union

Around the same time, Ghulam Rasool did what was considered unusual and unacceptable in conservative Kashmiri society. He married his childhood Kashmiri  friend, Ms Santosh and assumed her name to become Ghulam Rasool Santosh.

Santosh was greatly influenced  by another one of Mother India’s most illustrious  painter— S. H Raza, whose Geometric Abstraction revolved  around a “Bindu’’ and the concept of  “Tantra’’. Santosh was thus influenced by concept of Shiv Darshana. His natural affinity to delve deep into Tantra paintings admittedly produced wonderful results. His paintings centered around the theme of dimensional circles, cubes, triangles and Santosh not only accorded an academic base to these paintings but also explored the hidden spiritual meanings and messages.

These themes  mainly revolved  around Shiv and Shakti and the inspiration  behind these was his utmost devotion for the Universal Mother  seated at Hari Parbat, known from the ancient  times as  `Predumana Peeth’’ or “ `Sharika Peeth’’.

Towards the end, his whole focus was on interpretation of `Shri Chakra’ and its spiritual significance but unfortunately, this could not fructify, as he along with lakhs of Kashmiris had to abandon his homeland.

 Considering the current situation, it is unlikely that another Santosh may emerge from Kashmir, as the very soul of Kashmir stands brutalised as on date. But since strange are the ways of the Divine, the seed may lie embedded to sprout in the womb of future.   

Santosh’s life and works

In early 1960s, Ghulam Rasool Santosh had studied Tantric (mystical) art and Kashmir Shaivism. In 1964, he adopted this style to create some of the best examples of modern Tantric paintings. His paintings are known for the vibrancy of colours, neat lines, spiritual energy and sensuousness. His paintings have been exhibited in notable international shows. Santosh also wrote plays, poetry and essays in Kashmiri. He was also an authority on Kashmir Shaivism, and was one of the very few people who could read and write the ancient, and almost-extinct, Kashmiri script called Sharda.

Santosh’s canvas represented a Projection of Shunya

According to a booklet  brought out by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) , Santosh is quoted to have lived with the belief  that his canvas represented a projection of Shunya, the void which is incalculable in time and dimension, Anadi and Ananta {without beginning to end}. “The surrounding dark oceans in terms of which you describe the borders of my canvas are the ever unfathomable, unreachable of the fundamental unfathomable, infinite aspects of the fundamental creative force which lies beyond the pale of wisdom, thought and imagination. The canvas itself, therefore, is symbolic as it portrays the omnipresence of infinite in the finite. But space cannot be defined without a minimum of three directions or three lines, which formulate a triangle, which is Mula Trikona. The initial nature of all pervading creative force is Shabda Brahma, primordial sound which is ever and ceaselessly vibrant.”

In search of Inspiration at Amarnath Cave

In 1960, Santosh took a visit to the Amarnath cave in the hope finding inspiration to write an inter-faith romance. However, he came back with an experience of a philosophical tradition that would become the fulcrum of his thought process and embrace his inner sanctum. The 8th century tantric philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism became his leitmotif. He started studying Tantric Art -imagery and philosophy and created his own cosmic corollaries incorporating the cosmic egg form, the vertical symmetry, the ovoid shape as well as the phallic. This why he said: “My paintings are based on the male and female concept of Shiva and Shakti and therefore construed as tantra.”

 Kashmir Shaivism had influenced Santosh in terms of colours. It spoke of Prakash Vimarsha as it considered colour a form of light. Therefore, Santosh started treating colour as light. The orange colour in his paintings referenced a connection to tantra in the form of sindoor. Santosh had meditative practices, so deep was his understanding that his paintings reflected those powers of energy.

   Santosh had over 30 solo shows in India, U.S.A., Canada, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, besides exhibiting his paintings in national international group shows.

Honoured with Padma Shri by the President of India, he was also awarded the National Award twice and the Artist of the Year Award in New Delhi in 1984. His works belong to Museums all over the world.

Santosh as a mystic  poet

Many few people must be aware of the fact that apart from a painter, Santosh was also  a great mystic poet. He   wrote an important poem in 1963 `Do Rukh’ (twin faced) which employed the metaphor of one’s eyes being transplanted behind the skull. The poem was symbolic of liberating one’s thought process from the constraints of time, space or dimension on the one hand, and implying on the other than one may have left one’s destination behind.

 Santosh loved reciting his poetry over Radio Kashmir. In 1972, he had participated in All India Poetic Symposium at New Delhi. In 1978, he received the Sahitya Akademi award for his collection of poems in Kashmiri, titled ‘Be suakh Ruh’ On  March 10, 1997,  Santosh left for heavenly abode— away from Kashmir, The same year, he was  awarded posthumously Doctorate of Literature (Litt.D.) by University of Jammu

 A Kashmiri Samavar in Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s house!

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Kashmir Rechords Exclusive

A renovated old house at village Banga Khatkar Kalan some 40 kilometers from Jallandhar, Punjab  has assumed the status of no less than that of a shrine. This building which  has now been   renovated and  converted into a museum, has a unique  feature, as it  houses the items of daily use  belonging to   Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Apart from  iron buckets, utensils, brass glasses, thalis, manjas (Cots),  a charkha (spinning wheel) and a typewriter, there is a unique thing on the display….. That is a Kashmiri Samavar!
 Served as home to one of the greatest revolutionary and freedom fighter that India has produced, this ancient house on Nawanshahar Banga road has given identity to the rechristened District now known as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar District. The unique feature of this house are the items of daily use which are displayed in cupboards in a manner they existed and were used in the then Punjab. 
 For Kashmiris especially Pandits and also Muslims, the visit instils a greater degree of pride and love for the Shaheed- e- Azam when they notice an exquisite Samavar made of pure brass adoring the cupboard meant for displaying the items. Interestingly, on its right side is kept a Black and White photograph of adolescent Bhagat Singh with a turban and coat as worn by North Indians during those days. Every Kashmiri can identify with this as our forefathers also put on the same outfit borne by old photographs if at all they happen to be in anyone’s possession.

 Brass Samavar makes Kashmiris nostalgic

The  Brass Samavar makes the Kashmiri culture come alive in this great house. Nostalgia also grips Kashmiri Pandits when they see this big kettle/tea pot rarely used outside Kashmir to be among the most important part of the heritage called Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh’s House.
   It also throws light on Shaheed- e-Azam’s thought process and the unique aspect of his personality which on one hand was tremendously aware of all the geo-political developments that were prevalent in the region, his love for freedom of India for which he executed the historical strategies and on the other hand Shaheed- e- Azam also possessed a tender heart that accorded a great appreciation to aesthetics, Punjab’s own culture and a great respect for cultures of other parts of India combined with a farsightedness unseen to this day.
There is, however, no known record about this Samavar on display in the museum. Infact, few years back, Punjab’s Tourism department had failed to provide full description of things preserved in the ancestral house of martyr Bhagat Singh at Khatkar Kalan. Former Tourism Minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu, during his visit on October 2, 2017 had directed the department to give full description of things preserved in the ancestral house. A detailed story was carried by Hindustan Times that month along with the photographs of some of the  rare items.   
In March 2016, when the renovation of the house was being done, the department had appealed to the public to hand over any belongings of the martyr or his family so that they could be preserved. The house, which was in dire need of renovation, was repaired by the department for the first time since 1984 when it was handed to the government by the village panchayat. Before that, the local panchayat used to take care of it. After the renovation, it was opened to the public and many things were kept in the house, but the department had failed to give any descriptions, including that of this  unique  Kashmiri Samavar on display.

== 

 

Laal Lakhman….Kashmir’s Formidable Humorist Poet

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By: Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo

A great civilization like Kashmir must claim and reflect a long tradition of humor in its literature, folk tales, writings and way of life. It definitely lives up to its reputation of that statement.  However, the same is not to be equated with high decibel, vulgar and boisterous one that presently sells around us. Like elsewhere in India including in Kashmir this standard is the Rasa, as defined by Bharat Muni in “Natya Shastra”.

Kashmiri humor essentially is the joyful humor. Evidence to back that up exists in plenty. Nilmata being one such compendium, which includes this essential part of joy and mirth in the life of Kashmiris of yore. Unfortunately the period from thirteenth century onwards which has been full of upheavals and changing landscapes does not record any humor. Late Shri Som Nath Bhat Veer, a great researcher and author categorizes the above as “Weeping One” and it is here we see a shift from playfulness, joy and mirth to ‘Satire’. This artistic expression reached its zenith with experiments by Laal Lakhman in his loaded satirical poetry.

Of him it is said that he would instill fear if provoked or antagonized as he could extract satirical humor from any situation. People took great care not to offend him as he could roast anybody with his wit of a hornet’s bite of a satire.

   Dr. Baljinath Pandita, the great Shaivite scholar terms him second only to Kshemendra the great polymath of tenth century Kashmir as conveyed by late Som Nath Bhat Veer.

Laal Lakhman’s poetic expression 

 Laal Lakhman, the great poet was born in Tsavalgam, a small village nearly four kilometers from Kulgam. The acronym Lal is actually the name of his friend who as his colleague would accompany him on revenue collection missions of the government.

Lal Lakhman’s poetry was essentially aimed at reforming the ills of the society which highlighted the corrupt and immoral practices followed by shopkeepers, bread makers, government officials and members of public. Certain critiques however are of the opinion that his language may be considered crude and brass, nevertheless enjoying. An example of his poetical expression taking the situation of a brawl between two neighbors is given vent like below. :-

“Sona Jad te Dam Daessie….Gaanan Manz Ladith Aaessie

  Tiklen Kun gayakh faessie….Magh Maesie bozakh Na”

Translated into English, the expression invokes the plight of two families born to Jads and Dassis with golden spoons in their mouths, still they would enter into brawls in cowsheds. Their they were tied to pegs meant for cattle. Listen to this oh readers especially in the month of Magha.

It is said that one day he and his friend Jiya Lal went to see one Tota Ram in village Gudar. Somehow, Laal Lakhman did not enjoy the tea and as such sprouted the satire as follows:-

“Samavar osukh goshey… Tath oas variyuk koshey

Malayi kani traevith haay…… Chet e Toti Gudrenie chai”

‘The Samavar had remained uncleaned in a corner of the house and had gathered a full year’s tea dust……They substituted soot for cream. Enjoy dear friends Tota Gudri’s tea.

This illustrious son of Kashmir unfortunately had no children and is said to have met an uncelebrated and ignominious death in the later part of the previous century even though he was a phenomenon of sorts at one point of time.

There is almost negligible record available in public domain regarding life and works of Laal Lakhman. Except for a small video by Sh M K Raina of Project Zaan, no research work has been conducted on the poetry of this son of the soil. Sh Raina, however, mentions about Laal Lakhman’s famous poem  gàdû dêgùl.

Arjun Dev Majboor had also authored a research paper on Lala Lakshman some five decades ago.

Gwasha Lal Kaul: Kashmir’s prominent Journalist of pre-Independent era

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Gwasha Lal Kaul: Kashmir’s prominent Journalist of pre-Independent era

Gwasha Lal Kaul was one of the most bold and prominent Journalist Kashmir has ever produced. Besides a historian, he used to publish “The Kashmir Chronicle’’ from Srinagar before 1947, which he had founded in 1939. Kaul, during the same period, was also the President of Kashmir Journalists Association and the founding Editor of “The Kashmir Times (1934) besides a correspondent for A.P.I. and Reuters in 1931.

The Kashmir Chronicle of July 16, 1947

Kashmir Rechords is producing one of the scanned copies of this preserved newspaper, published on July 16, 1947.The newspaper carries an interesting write-up on the right corner of its front page under the heading “Kashmir on Horns of a Dilemma”, with Delhi (July 13 dateline).  Remember, on July 16, 1947, Kashmir had neither decided to accede to India nor to Pakistan on the day of publication of this news item—hence the dilemma!

 As per the available records, during   the period from 1945 to 1947, the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir was publishing 60 newspapers/weeklies/journals, mostly in Urdu and English from Srinagar, Jammu, Mirpur and Muzaffarabad. The Kashmir Chronicle was one of those prominent papers.

According to the noted broadcaster, Peerzada Abdal Mehjoor, this Editor was popularly known as Gwasha Lal (B.A)……for he had completed his graduation in 1927, which was uncommon during those days! More than his journalism capabilities, he was equally    recognised as a prominent historian.

 Gwasha Lal Kaul’s history book titled “Kashmir now and Then’’ used to be an authentic reference book. The Book was once a part of Kashmir curriculum.  Dr Karan Singh wrote its foreword. It is, however, unknown as to why the book was dropped in every seventies.

  Abdal remembers Gwasha Lal Kaul as a close friend of his father, Ibn Mehjoor, Both had established an NGO “Kashmir Historical Society “. Dr Abdul Ahad was also its founder member.

 Abdal   has seen Gwasha Lal very minutely, discussing Kashmir affairs with his father. “Though physically weak, Gwasha Lal was brave with a lion’s heart and tremendously outspoken’’.  That is evident from his writings, as he was not sparing even Maharaja’s administration while highlighting the plight of common masses.

  Pt. Lok Nath Kaul of Srinagar remembers Gwasha Lal Kaul as being nicknamed as “Gwasha Thackery’’. His references to and quotations from William M. Thackery in most of his conversations with friends and foes had earned him this nickname!

 Gwasha Lal Kaul’s professional Journey

1923-1928: Press Representative

1925: President Postmen’s Union.

1928: President ‘Kashmir Youngman’s Club’.

1931: Correspondent A.P.I. and Reuters.

1932: Editor ‘Daily Martand”.

1933: Vice-President S. D. Youngmen’s Association (Yuvak Sabha), Kashmir.

1934: Founder and Editor ‘The Kashmir Times’.

1939: Founder and Editor “The Kashmir Chronicle.

1947: President ‘Kashmir Journalists Association’.

1948: Director of News, Radio Kashmir.

1949: Information Officer, Jammu.

1950: Information Officer, Kashmir.

1960: Back to Journalist.

Kashmir’s silk route

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Kashmir’s silk route

Kashmir with great geo-strategic significance, connecting Indian sub-continent with Central Asia and rest of the world, since ancient times, has   served as an economic corridor between South and Central Asia. The three principal highways were facilitating such connections, leading to Khorasan, India and Tibet. The Zojila (11,300 feet.) Pass has been since ages, an important thoroughfare, connecting Kashmir with Ladakh and with Tibet, Turkistan and China. The movement on this Pass used to  continue from June to November every year, though top of Zojila remained under snow until end of June.

The Silk Road used to be a major trading route in the first millennium B.C.  It connected the kingdom of Kamboja, which is now Afghanistan and Tajikistan, to cities and cultural centers in northern India. The Silk Road extended approximately 6,437 kilometers (4,000 miles) across some of the world’s most formidable landscapes.

  Although, the route was not more secure than others, however, it was considered the  chief trade route, known as silk route between Kashmir and Central Asia. This Pass gave a unique commercial importance to the erstwhile state as it  was traversed by moving traders  for transportation of goods over Kashmir and onwards into Kargil, Leh and Central Asia.

Like Kashmir, the passes of Ladakh are equally  famous. Categorized into three groups, one among them was the Tibetan Route or Leh-Demchak (Tibet) route, the main communication link between Leh and Tibet, connecting Leh with the Tibetan city of Lhasa. Here, traders had choice depending on the city of destination.

The Karakoram Pass was another  important  route into Central Asia and a regular means of communication between India and Turkestan.

From Kar-kil to Kargil

In addition, one of the important trans-Kashmir outlets through Zojila was Kargil-Iskardu-Gilgit link road. Kargil was  equidistant from Kashmir, Baltistan and Ladakh— hence, its ancient name—Kar-kil meaning equal distance, which later on transformed into Kargil.   Gilgit was equally an important  trade link between Kashmir and India on one side  and Xinjiang China and Central Asia on the other. 

Kashmir has maintained commercial and cultural relations with South and Central Asia through these links since ancient times, and served as a trading belt  that connected multiple geographic areas. The merchant community that conducted trade between India and Central Asia across Kashmir, was broadly fragmented into two groups, the ‘Andijanese’ or ‘Kashmiris’ and Afghans. Andijanese would traded at Kashgar, which in first quarter of the 19th century, was a bigger city than Yarkand, wherefrom Afghan traders used to operate. (Cambridge history of China. Vol X p 83). The Andijanese also operated at Kokand, Tashkent and Bukhara though their role was considerably smaller at Tibet, Ladakh, Baltistan and  Yarkand .

  Since Kashmir bordered closely with Central Asia, its capital city, Srinagar, was the hub of trading activity for the Turkish, Tibetan, Ladakhi, Balti  and Kashmiri merchants. These traders had rest houses as well as religious Shrines in Kashmir. Cambridge history of China. Vol X).

The erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed special status in the Indian subcontinent as it offered a direct land access of India to Turkestan, Yarkand, Khotan, and facilitated free movement of diverse goods, merchants, explorers, spies and soldiers across different routes criss-crossing Kashmir. However, the Partition of Indian sub-continent in 1947, emergence of India and Pakistan and the sequential wars between them in 1965 and  1971 on Jammu & Kashmir led to the permanent  closure of traditional trans-Ladakh and trans-Gilgit land routes.

Some  books about the Silk Route

  • `India and the Silk Roads’ by Jagjeet Lally
  • `Silk Route Expedition, Phase III: Leh-Chushul’, written by the University of Kashmir’s Centre of Central Asian Studies.
  • `Kashmir and Kashghar: A Narrative of the Journey of the Embassy to Kashghar (1873-74)’
  • `Buddhism on the Silk Route’

Abdul Rehman—Kashmir’s Hakim of Shri Bhatt’s progeny

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Abdul Rehman—Kashmir’s Hakim of Shri Bhatt’s progeny

Kashmiris of yore (it is hoped that plenty still exist) would be very familiar with the word “Hakim’’, the traditional physician who ran the predominant private  and parallel health system of Kashmir actively even up to 1970s, after which we notice a declining trend in people’s attitudes towards acceptance of their  traditional line of treatment.

   These Hakims would in the eyes of common Kashmiris possess  “Daste-e-Shifa’’. Translated into English, it means the curing hand. These Hakims were believed to possess legendry powers and the patients on their deathbeds are reported to have reverted to life by their able hands and talents, something bestowed on them by God Almighty.

During the late 1940s, like so many Europeans, many a traveler took keen interest in Kashmir and began to write new travelogues which paved the way to add information and value to the already existing ones  regarding the land of Kashmir and its people.

  An Encounter with Hakim Abdul Rehman

In his tremendously famous book “This is Kashmir’’  published by Messrs Cassel and Company Limited, Queen Victoria Street London (1954), the author of the book Pearce Gervis  refers to  a very interesting encounter  with a Kashmiri Hakim Abdul Rehman. In fact, Mr. Gervis got introduced to our Hakim Saheb through one Colonel about whose nationality,  the author makes no mention.

       This Colonel   reposed such faith in the Hakim, that he insisted Abdul Rehman be included as a person of interest in Mr. Gervis’ travelogue.

So, Pearce Gervis writes about the Hakim—Abdul Rehman: “ He wore the voluminous effeminate gown….. On his head was an enormous spotless white turban so big that I might have taken him for a Hindu, had the `Tika’ mark not been present on his forehead.’’

Gervis was made to meet the Hakim through a jumble of intersecting lanes and by-lanes, crisscrossing shabby clusters of huts and was assured into a large hall of a very big house where everybody would be seated cross-legged beside small low-level tables. The walls of this room where   adored with Mughal era paintings and this would serve as a big consultation room. The same was proportionally partitioned by curtains to separate the consulting room and the dispensary.

 The Colonel confessed that he was indebted to the Hakim Saheb. Some 20 years before (which roughly comes to somewhat late 1930s), this Colonel had actually developed appendicitis. While the doctors had recommended   a surgical procedure,  he had avoided himself coming under the surgical knife. He was advised to give a vague try with “Dast-e-Shifa” of our Hakim. So, the services of Abdul Rehman were sought who in his very graceful and humble manner brought  a bottle of Kashmiri medicine  along with him. Next day, when the doctors in the Military Hospital examined the Colonel, he was declared to have been cured of his medical condition, which was naturally, a thing of wonder!

    Mr. Gervis writes that when he brought-up the issue of Colonel’s medical condition  before  Abdul Rehman, he not only  testified the same but also claimed   to be the descendant of the same Yogi who had cured  King Zain-ul-Abedin—the Budshah .So much so for Shri Bhatt’s progeny!

Who is who of ghosts and spirits in Kashmir?

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By Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo

Almost anywhere, usage of certain words pertaining to ghosts and spirits springs up unconsciously in our daily conversation. Many may not know much about them now, thus, let us revisit and try to understand  the who is who of these ghosts and spirits in Kashmir.

1.The Jins ( Variously called dgins, Jenie, elves, Devv, Drethaakh, Tasrup etc.) They seem to belong to all sexes and have the power to cast spells of evil and capture the victim subjecting him or her to  infinite torture.

2. Yechh is supposed to be one of the aboriginal inhabitants of Kashmir, whose characteristic seems to be that of a heathen.  Yechh also has a co-relation with trans-Himalayan diety `Yaksha’.

3.Divath is believed to be the inhabitant of houses. “Wachya Divath’’ is  still uttered  in Kashmir by one and all, irrespective of religious or other affiliations  to curse somebody to deprive  him or her  the protection of peace and calm, incur losses of all kinds and to get indulged in domestic troubles. It is supposed to mean that one has lost the protection of devtas as some unwanted action on part of the individual may have offended them.

4.Brahm Brahm Chouk belongs to the category of Tasrup. Adolescent boys and girls along with weak and disease-prone individuals come under its spell near Numbals (marshy lands), cremation grounds and graveyards.

5.Whoph Whoph…. When some Kashmiris used to pass by an old dilapidated house, they were often reported to have been held captive by the evil spirits dwelling there. Whoph is thus a term associated with the spirits of these barking dogs and snarling cats.

6.Mushraan is a kind of spirit that appears in a very wretched and dirty countenance of an old fat heathen who pounces upon a victim by giving it a big tight hug and starting a process of decline, disease and wastage of the body of the individual and his resources. 

7.Daen or Dyn belongs to the same category of evil spirits as has been known in other parts of the sub-continent.

8. Raantas is the exclusive daen of Kashmir who also finds mention in Afghani, Iranian and Turkish folklore where it is known as `Aal, and Goul’. Its feet are reversed and its eyes exist alongside its nose only.

9.Rih is an undefined female who employs the technique of casting a spell to capture a man with an intention of eating him!

 10. Parish is a very beautiful female, perhaps also known as Pari. Its body is supposed to be made of four elements only with the predominance of the fire element and naturally, it is supposed to devour its victim by consummation of fire or make the victim  unbelievably restless.

Ghosts, spirits are  part of Kashmir language, folklore

Presently belonging to the age of reason which we proudly own as a statement of existence—all this may sound irrational and superstitious  but the same continues to be  an important part of language and folklore of Kashmir.

Kashmir Rechords has compiled this list after an exhaustive and  detailed research on the folklore of Kashmir.  Special mention may be made  about  a very rare book “Keys to Kashmir’’. Author unknown, Lala Rukh Publications, Srinagar, 1953, incorporating an extract of  Vigney Godfrey Thomas’ 1848 AD edition titled “Travels in Kashmir, Ladakh, Iskardu’. 

 We also urge our esteemed readers to share and help us in adding whatever information they have at their disposal regarding the subject.

Monumental Chronology of Hindu rulers and dynasties of Kashmir.

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(A necessary reference material)

First Period

Second & Third Period

Fourth & Fifth Period

This meticulously compiled chronological Table of ancient Kashmiri Kings and dynasties (Preserved by Kashmir Rechords) is an extract from the brilliantly researched Book `The Hindu History of Kashmir’ written by H H Wilson ( 1960 edition).

As against 372 in J&K, PoK has just four newspapers!

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As against 372 in J&K, PoK has just four newspapers!

Tight controls on freedom of expression have been a hallmark of the Pakistani government’s policy in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). While militant organizations are being given full coverage to propagate their views and disseminate literature, those critical of the Pakistani and PoK government, are facing repression.

The Pakistani government has long limited dissemination of news in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.  That is evident from the fact that there is no locally based news agency. In addition, PoK has just two dailies and equal number of weeklies, being published locally. As compared to PoK, newspapers published from Jammu and Srinagar cities on daily basis are more than 370!  

 Pakistan Occupied Kashmir has no English newspaper of its own, either published from Muzaffarabad or Mirpur—the two major cities of the occupied territory. Ironically, PoK websites show newspapers like Kashmir Times, Greater Kashmir, Kashmir Reader, Kashmir Observer etc. ( all published from Srinagar), as their publications!  

Pakistan’s “Kashmir Affairs Ministry” denies permission to PoK newspapers

 People living in PoK largely rely on local editions of Pakistani newspapers for news and information.   In order to publish within the territory of PoK, newspapers and periodicals need to be granted permission by the Kashmir Council and the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs in Islamabad. These bodies unlikely grant permission to any proposed publication, which are sympathetic to any discourse on Kashmir and its affairs other than that sanctioned by the Pakistani government.  The same rules apply to the publication of books. Members of the press have been complained of the intrusive and coercive policies of the PoK government particularly of the ISI and the Pakistani military.

There have been many instances in PoK when journalists, who did not toe to Government or Army line, were  subjected to severe kind of torture. Waheed Kiyani, a local journalist working for the Reuters news agency, was once arbitrarily arrested by the ISI when he was returning from the city of Rawlakote after covering a political meeting.

Book on Mangla Dam banned

The PoK `government’ regularly bans books that it considers to be prejudicial to the “ideology of the State’s accession to Pakistan.” This includes all books that propagate or discuss Kashmiri nationalist discourse with its emphasis on “independence for a united Kashmir’’ or merger with India.    

 Muhammad Saeed Asad, a self-described `Kashmiri nationalist’, living in PoK, has authored numerous books on Kashmir Affairs.  Employed as a Social Welfare Officer in PoK, he was, however, suspended in 2002 for writing a book on the Mangla Dam that had  questioned Pakistan’s right to water sources originating in Kashmir.

  Pakistan has banned three books written by Saeed Asad for being “anti-state and an attempt to promote nationalist feelings amongst Kashmiris.”  These include Shaur-e-Farda, banned in 1996, which comprises letters written by Maqbool Butt to his friends and relatives over a span of two decades. Saeed Asad’s book on the Mangla Dam controversy was banned on November 21, 2002, and a book on the Northern Areas was banned in June 2004.

 The government of Pakistan is on the other hand willing to fund books and propaganda to the tune of millions of rupees to propagate its own views and stance. People of PoK are forced to listen to   “Azad Kashmir’’ Radio, a subsidiary of the state-controlled Radio Pakistan that is mandated to spread canards against India and Indian State. 

 Official repression of freedom of expression is not limited to controls and censorship specific to Kashmiri nationalists and journalists. Even local public, if they raise anti-Government voice or try to register their anger, are subjected to harshest punishments and troubles.

 In spite of imposing a media blackout, social media is abuzz with videos of angry protesters denouncing Islamabad’s step-motherly treatment of PoK as well as heartrending visuals of people scrambling to get hold of a bag of flour!

Malika Pukhraj—-Jammu Wali!

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Malika Pukhraj—-Jammu Wali!

The gifted singer whose musical voice echoed the earthly sounds of melody and became synonym with Dogra ethos, Malika Pukhraj (Jammu Wali), will always remain inextricable part of modern Dogra lore as well as the shared legacy of the sub-continent.

  Born in 1912, in village Mirpur near Akhnoor, Jammu, Malika Pukhraj needs no introduction! Her journey from Akhnoor to Kanak Mandi, Jammu to Lahore is itself very interesting! Kashmir Rechords is reproducing two  of her rarest  photographs to bring home the fact that she is, what she used to sing, “ Abhi to Mein Jawan Hoon’’— both in everyone’s thoughts and pictures”.

  Jammu Wali Malika Pukhraj had an opportunity  to sing during the coronation ceremony of Maharaja Hari Singh as she was bestowed with the honour of being a court singer at the young age of nine. However, her childish act (laughing in Maharaja’s darbar) was the turning point in her life, as the same was viewed as contempt, recalls noted journalist, Lalit Gupta in one of his writeups.

Journey from Jammu to Lahore

According to Gupta,  due to  some court intrigues, she had to leave Jammu for good at a very young age. At Lahore, she associated herself with All India Radio, Lahore, where she was every time addressed as “Malika Pukhraj Jammu Wali’’. The pictures produced by Kashmir Rechords dates back to January 1940. Pukhraj must have been 28 at that time!

   After partition, Malika Pukhraj lived in old Lahore City where she was  married to  Shabbir Husain Shah, a Government Officer. She had six children.  He daughter– Tahira Syed, having learnt singing under her mother’s strict discipline, also turned out to be a well-known Pakistani singer. Continuing in her style, Tahira  re-sung many of her mother’s famous songs, including her Dogri songs.

   Malika Pukhraj had visited Jammu for the last time in 1988 along with her daughter Tahira.

 

 

All India Radio’s Legend of Voice

In recognition of her contribution to music, she received Pakistan’s Presidential Pride of Performance Award in 1980. But before that, in 1977, All India Radio had awarded her with the ‘Legend of Voice’ award.

   Malika Pukhraj died at Islamabad on February 4, 2004, at the age of 90, but her Dogri songs, “nazm” recitations and ghazal renditions live on. She is remembered in the Jammu as a cultural icon and Lahore is still nostalgic with the resonance of her gayaki.

 On the top of it—- She was always addressed as “Malika Pukhraj—-Jammu Wali!’’

Shyama Zutshi—the first Kashmiri heroine who had joined Bollywood!

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Shyama Zutshi—the first Kashmiri heroine who had joined Bollywood!

By: B Revti

Shyama Zutshi (1910-1953) and Zaira Wasim (born 23 October 2000) have something in common to share. While Shyama Zutshi was the first Kashmiri girl who joined Hindi films in 1934, Zaira Wasim is perhaps the last from the same cultural background/lineage.
 Both Shyama and Zaira have remained quite successful and sought after stars but suddenly moved out from films for nearly identical reasons. Shyama Zutshi is believed to have quit films as her fellow Kashmiri Actor, Chander Mohan Wattal used to tell her always to quit acting as the same was “not meant for Kashmiri girls’’.  As per some of the statements of  Zaira Wasim, Bollywood industry had  “conflicted with her religious identity and beliefs’’.

Shyama Zutshi: An  actor, freedom fighter

 Shyama Zutshi, a Kashmiri pandit, born at Anand Bhawan, Allahabad,  after passing her BA examination, had joined Hindi cinema.  She had acted in films like Shiv Bhakti (1934), Majnu (1935), Kaarwaan- e- Hayaat (1935) and Khooni Jadugar (1939) and had remained a prominent artist on the panel of All India Radio, Delhi. Her father, Ladli Prasad Zutshi was a freedom fighter.   Shyama was admitted to Sacred Heart Convent, Lahore by her mother Lado Rani. Fluent in English, Gujarati, Marathi, Urdu, Kashmiri and Hindi, Shyama Zutshi  was also proficient in horse riding and  singing.

Her major hit was Karwan-E-Hayat (1935) in which she acted with K. L. Saigal, T. R. Rajakumari, Pahari Sanyal, and Rattan Bai.  She became a very successful actor, but with the influence from her elder sister Manmohini, she moved out from films and focused on politics and freedom struggle. Another reason for Shyama Zutshi to quit films was the advice from a fellow Kashmiri actor Chander Mohan Wattal who was a close friend of Zutshi family. Later, Shyama became a Women Congress leader and a frontline freedom fighter influenced by Mahatama  Gandhi‘s non-violent struggle along with her mother and three sisters (Chandra Kumari, Manmohini and Janak) . After some time Lado Rani arranged the marriage of Shyama in a well off Chopra family.

Shyama’s father, Ladli Prasad Zutshi was a prominent lawyer in Lahore and was the nephew of Pandit Motilal Nehru. Lado Rani infused the light of patriotism in her daughters by participating in the freedom movement.

Kashmiri actresses Yashodhara  Kathju and Zaira Wasim



Once Shyama Zutshi was out, another girl namely Yashodhara Kathju (niece of Pandit Nehru) was next in line of Kashmiri Pandit girls to join the Indian Film Industry. Chander Mohan Wattal tried to ensure that Yashodara alsoleaves the films but this girl was tough. She ignored all requests from Chander Mohan. Yashodhara Kathju acted in many films from 1942 to 1960. Chnderlekha (1948) and Talaaq (1958) were her milestone films. She married a Navy officer Suraj Prakash Chopra and lived a very unnoticed quiet life. The other Kashmiri girl of modern times and National Award-winning actor, Zaira Wasim announced her “disassociation” from the field of acting in 2019. Since then, she has often shared posts on social media in support of her religion

Constitutional Structure of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir

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Constitutional Structure of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir

By: teawithrev

Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) has its own `constitution’, the so-called “Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution Act of 1974’’, and a locally chosen parliamentary form of government. This sort of constitution allows for many of the structures that comprise a self-governing state, including a legislative assembly `elected’ through periodic elections, a `Prime Minister’ who commands the majority in the assembly, an indirectly elected president, an `independent’ judiciary, and local government institutions.

But these provisions are all hollow. Under Section 56 of  PoK’s `Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution Act’ (which was drafted by the Federal Ministries of Law and Kashmir Affairs in Islamabad), the Pakistani government can dismiss any elected government in PoK  irrespective of the support it may enjoy in Muzaffarabad  Legislative Assembly. The Interim Constitution Act provides for two executive forums—the “Azad Kashmir Government’’ in Muzaffarabad and the “Azad Kashmir Council’’ in Islamabad.

PoK remains for all intents, purposes under Pakistan’s control

The latter body, presided over by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, exercises paramount authority over the PoK Legislative Assembly, which cannot challenge decisions of the Council. The Council is under the numerical control of the federal government in Islamabad, as in addition to the Pakistani Prime Minister it comprises six other federal ministers, the minister of Kashmir Affairs as the ex-officio member, the `Prime Minister’ of PoK, and six PoK members `elected by the Legislative Assembly’. The interim Constitution Act lists fifty-two subjects—virtually everything of any importance—that are under the jurisdiction of the PoK Council, which has been described as the “supra power” by PoK  High Court. Its decisions are final and not subject to judicial review.

Thus, PoK remains for all intents and purposes under Pakistan’s strict control, exercising no real sovereignty of its own. From the outset, the institutional set up in the territory was designed to ensure Pakistan’s control of the area’s affairs. According to the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) resolutions, PoK is neither a sovereign state nor a province of Pakistan, but rather a “local authority” with responsibility over the area assigned to it under the Ceasefire Agreement. 

   Karachi Pact of 1948

  The “local authority” or provisional government of PoK, established in October 1947 was handed over to Pakistan under the Karachi Agreement of April 28, 1949. Under this pact,  matters related to defense, foreign affairs, negotiations with the UNCIP and coordination of all affairs relating to Gilgit and Baltistan (strategically important territories that now comprise Pakistan’s “Northern Areas” but are claimed by India as part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir), were handed over to Pakistan. 

The `Constitution’ of PoK poses major impediments towards genuine democracy as it bars all those parties and individuals from participating in the political process who do not support the idea of Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan and hence precludes all those who are in favor of PoK’s independence from Pakistan .

 PoK `PMs’—replaced, dismissed, arrested

Power in PoK is exercised primarily through the Pakistani army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and its corps commander based in the hill station of Murree, two hours by road from Muzaffarabad. During  the rule of Pakistan’s first military leader, Ayub Khan (1958-68), President K.H. Khurshid of PoK was forced to resign by a mid-level police official and later jailed in Palandari and Dalai Camp. During Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government (1972-77), another president of PoK Sardar Qayyum, was suddenly arrested by a mid-level official of the Federal Security Forces in Muzaffarabad and subsequently dismissed. During General Zia-ul-Haq’s government (1977-88), Brig. Hayat Khan was appointed administrator PoK, a post he held for seven years. When a civilian government was reestablished in Pakistan in 1988, Benazir Bhutto’s swearing in as Prime Minister was shortly followed by the installation of an `elected government’ of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party in PoK. When Bhutto was sacked by the president in 1990, PoK `Prime Minister’ Mumtaz Rathore was “escorted” to Islamabad in a helicopter and made to sign a letter of resignation. 

Regarding PoK’s political party landscape, since the early 1990s real decision-making authority and the management of the “Kashmir struggle” has rested firmly with the Pakistani military through the ISI and ISI-backed militant organizations. The Pakistani bureaucracy is the real administrative power, the ISI and the Pakistan army exercise coercive power.  And under the constitution, the elected representatives are subservient to the Kashmir Council controlled by Pakistan. High Court and Supreme Court Judges can only be appointed by approval of the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs in Islamabad. The Minister of Kashmir Affairs can dismiss the PoK’s `PM’, as can the Chief Secretary—another Islamabad appointee. Under Article 56, the President of Pakistan can dissolve the Legislative Assembly. Surely, this is truly a unique form of `self-rule’.

A Kashmiri Pandit who gave Mohd Rafi to the World of Music

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A Kashmiri Pandit who gave Mohd Rafi to the World of Music

 

Singer Mohammed Rafi, (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) needs no introduction. His melodious songs speak about him and his personality! But how many of you know that Rafi, nicknamed as Pheeku, was introduced and groomed to world of music by a Kashmiri Pandit?

Yes,….that is indelible   part of Rafi’s life and singing that most of us do not know. It was Pandit Jeevan Lal Matoo, who had traced and groomed Rafi Saheb!

Who was Pt. Jeevan Lal Matoo?  

Jeevan Lal Matoo belonged to a pre- Partition family of Kashmiri Pandits settled in Amritsar. A musicologist of the sub-continent, Matoo is known for his two outstanding students— Mohd Rafi and Sitar Maestro Mehmud Mirza. Pt  Jeevan Lal’s ancestor—- Pandit Mehta Ram Matoo , a shawl trader , had actually moved to Amritsar  city from Kashmir around nineteenth century. One of the members of Matoo family (Kashmiri Lal Matoo) had even donated about one kanal of land inside walled city of Amritsar (Present location Farid Chowk) in 1908 AD for construction of a community centre and a Shiva Temple, now known as Shivala Kashmiri Panditan.

 Pt Jeevan Lal Matoo, a vocalist, had a profound knowledge of classical music and was associated with All India Radio (AIR). He had also set-up a community gathering at Shivala Kashmiri Panditan Lahore in Mohalla Sareen area of the city. This community centre for Kashmiri Pandits in Lahore was constructed by Raja Dina Nath Madan, the then Finance Minister in the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore.

 Alas! The partition of the country proved to be a great setback for this music genius. He had to migrate to Delhi as a refugee from Lahore, where he joined Delhi Station of AIR. In Delhi, he founded Radio’s first National Orchestra called Akashvani Vadya Vrinda, which was later taken over by Sitar Maestro, Pandit Ravi Shanker who too had joined AIR, New Delhi as Music Director in 1950. Pandit Jeevan Lal Matoo lived in the Independent India’s National Capital unnoticed. In India, he had tried to devote his time and energy to music only .However, he always missed his Lahore. Away from his Lahore, he always felt like in exile at Delhi!

Pt.   Jeevan Lal Matoo, who served at AIR, Lahore from 1937 to 1947 and headed the music section, had secretly recorded a live radio broadcast of Khayal and Thumri rendering by Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan in 1947.  Music lovers, the world over, remain indebted to this Kashmir legend for these recordings. The purpose for these secret recordings was to please Ustad Waheed Khan, who incidentally happened to be a Guru of Pandit Jeevan Lal Matoo. Matoo was himself a great exponent of Kirana Gharana and had profound knowledge of Punjabi folk and Indian classical music.

Pt Jeevan Lal Matoo was married to Roopwanti Bakaya, daughter of Niranjan Nath Bakaya. Roopwanti died in New Delhi in 1973. Apart from Jawahar Matoo, Pt Jeevan Lal Matoo had another son –Moti Lal Matoo (1927 -2009) who had settled in Canada. Pt Jeevan Lal Matoo was closely related to the family of Justice Ram Narain Dar of Lahore. Kishen Narain Dar, son of Justice Ram Narain Dar served as superintendent of Police J&K, during the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh.

Pt Jeevan Lal’s contribution for All India Radio, Lahore

For AIR, Lahore, Jeevan Lal Matoo brought some noted Punjabi singers— Noor Jahan, Zeenat Begum, Ali Baksh Zahoor, S Mohinder, Assa Singh Mastaana, Vidya Nath Seth, Surinder Kaur, Prakash Kaur and Shiv Dayal Batish as contractual artists. Malika Pukhraj was already well known to him, as she was an approved singer of AIR, Lahore. Film music composers— Amar Nath, Gobind Ram and Dhani Ram were influenced by the music of Pandit Jeewan Lal Matoo. Noted Sitar player Mahmud Mirza was a direct disciple of Pandit Ji. Mohammad Rafi and Mehmud Mirza never forgot Jeevan Lal Matoo. Both would pay glowing tributes to their Guru both in private and public lives.  Kartar Singh Duggal, well-known Punjabi writer, who also worked at AIR, Peshawar before Partition, would often say that everyone who rose to become someone in the music world during the early forties in undivided Punjab found himself indebted to Pandit Jeewan Lal Matoo of AIR, Lahore.

Discovering Mohammad Rafi

It was both destined and a chance for both Pt Jeevan Lal Matoo and Mohammad Rafi to meet each other! In 1943, Pt Jeewan Lal Matoo is reported to have gone out of his residence for a haircut at a barber’s shop in Lahore where a new helper (nickname Pheeku—Mohammad Rafi) to the main barber was singing Waris Shah’s `Heer’ in his style.  Jeewan Lal Matoo was attracted to the voice quality of the boy whom he invited to AIR, Lahore for audition. The young Rafi cleared the audition in one go. So much was Pandit Jeevan Lal Matoo impressed by the tonal quality of Rafi that he imparted some basic knowledge of classical music to the prospective singer at his residence.

The boy picked up very fast and was soon in the panel of approved artists of AIR, Lahore. Later, Matoo sent Rafi to Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan for regular training. This new singing sensation introduced by Pandit Jeevan Lal Matoo was soon noticed by Lahore’s film Music Director, Shyam Sunder for his new film ‘Gul Baloch’. After Jeevan Lal Matoo’s help and training, this casual helper Pheeku at the Lahore saloon, who later moved to Mumbai, rose to unprecedented heights in the Indian film Industry to be known as Mohammad Rafi, the great singer!

People of PoK are culturally closer to Dogras, Punjabis

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People of PoK are culturally closer to Dogras, Punjabis

Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), which is a part of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, is 13,297 square kilometers in area and is divided into Muzaffarabad and Mirpur divisions. Political map of India also mentions Muzaffarabad and Mirpur as two districts of J&K. However, `authorities’ illegally controlling PoK since 1947, have further subdivided the region into eight administrative districts. These include Muzaffarabad, Neelum, Bagh, Poonch, and Sudhnutti districts of Muzaffarabad division and Mirpur, Kotli, and Bhimber districts of Mirpur district.

Muzaffarabad city is the `territory’s capital’. The population density is 246 persons per square kilometer, while as the literacy rate 60 percent which is higher than in Pakistan.

 People of PoK are almost entirely Muslim. However, Islam or its sects are not the principal arbiters of identity in the region. The people comprise not only diverse tribal clans (biradari) but are culturally and linguistically markedly different from the Kashmiris of the central valley of Jammu and Kashmir. Cultural practice in PoK has more in common with Dogras and Punjabis than with the Kashmir valley.

Gujjaras, Mirpuri Jats, Rajputs of PoK

The illegally occupied territory is far from ethnically homogenous. The biradari is the overriding determinant of identity and power relationships within the socio-political landscape.  While the Gujjars, numbering close to eight hundred thousand, are possibly the largest such group, historically the two most influential biradaris have been the Sudhans from the southeast (concentrated in Bagh district and Rawalakot subdivision of Poonch district) and the Rajputs who are spread out across the territory. Sudhans and Rajputs number, respectively, a little over and a little under half a million.  Almost all of PoK’a politicians and leaders come from one of these two groups.

 PoK is also home to approximately three hundred thousand Mirpuri Jats hailing from the southern part of the territory. Though the Mirpuris are the closest geographical and cultural relatives of the Potohari Punjabis, in recent decades they have chosen to define themselves increasingly as Kashmiris. Mirpuris have migrated to the United Kingdom (U.K.) in large numbers and constitute the overwhelming “Kashmiri presence” in that country. There are also a number of other small tribes and sub-tribes.

     PoK has its own `Supreme Court’

Pakistan occupied Kashmir  has a `parliamentary form of government’. The `president’ of PoK is the `constitutional’ head of the state, while the `Prime Minister’, supported by a `council of Minister’s, is the `chief executive’. PoK  has its own self-styled  `Supreme Court, High Court, and Legislative Assembly’ comprising forty-nine members, of whom forty-one are directly elected and eight are indirectly elected—the latter comprise a member each from the technocrats, scholars, and overseas Kashmiris, and five women. Under the current constitutional dispensation, twelve of the forty-eight seats in the Legislative Assembly are reserved for `Kashmiri refugees’ settled across Pakistan. Union Territory of J&K, has on the other hand, kept 24 Assembly seats reserved for people of PoK. The areas  also has a multi-tiered system of local governance. All key administrative offices are, however,  manned by Pakistani officials.

Economic exploitation of PoK

Like other parts of J&K, PoK is also rich with scenic beauty and natural resources.  It has many rivers, lakes and streams flowing through it. But this water has been a continuing source of political tension between Kashmiris and Pakistan. The Mangla Dam project, which affects the waters of the Jhelum and Poonch rivers before they flow into Punjab in Pakistan, is a matter of concern as residents of PoK feel that Pakistan has been economically exploiting them.

Was harmonium once`untouchable’ in All India Radio !

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Was harmonium once`untouchable’ in All India Radio !

Once upon a time, precisely in 1915, India was a leading producer of the harmonium! Yet, a quarter-century later, it became `untouchable’, so much so that All India Radio ( later  called Akashvani)  had to ban it in 1940 and the instrument,  with a formal burial, was removed from all of its studious located in undivided India

John Foulds, who headed the Western music wing of All India Radio during its earlier days, believed the harmonium was mute on microtones that were so essential to Indian classical. Lionel Fielden, India’s first broadcasting chief on the request of so many Indian musicians, had to  ban the harmonium   in 1940  as he  too had felt that it (harmonium)  was not suitable to the tonal inflections of Indian classical music

AIR banished harmonium on March 1, 1940

Soon after Fielden ordered to ban harmonium, this keyboard instrument was banished and literary thrown away from the studios. Its last rites were symbolically performed at All India Radio Lahore by laying it to rest. Some newspapers of that era,  also came out with cartoons and sketches, with other musical instruments telling harmonium “Dafa Ho jao”-(Go to the Hell)

   Records available with www.kashmir-rechords.com  reveal that historian Ananda Coomaraswami and even Jawaharlal Nehru as a freedom fighter too had found the harmonium `un-Indian’. Thus, the ban on the instrument sustained even after India’s  Independence owing to the attitude of Information and Broadcasting Minister BV Keskar, a student of scholarly vocalist VN Bhatkhande.  During the Indian independence Movement, both British and Indian scholars condemned the harmonium for embodying an unwelcome foreign musical sensibility

Popularity of Harmonium

Harmonium, developed by French inverter was once very popular musical instrument in the mid-19th century. Considered  a cheaper and more durable alternative to organs and harpsichords, as the latter two often finished the long voyage east warped and unplayable,  Indian craftsmen  had quickly learned to manufacture harmoniums, and soon their compatriots incorporated the instrument into performances of Indian classical music. In comparison to traditional instruments, the harmonium was easy to tune and a cinch to learn to play. However, as the harmonium became a target of `anti-colonialists’, All-India Radio, the influential state-run broadcaster had to ban it from its programs.

Lifting of ban on Harmonium

The ban was loosened in 1970, after critics  argued that the harmonium “should not be treated as an ‘untouchable.’

  As elites have struggled to cleanse modern Indian music of what they argue is a “foreign” intruder, the masses have used the harmonium as a gateway to an understanding of their musical heritage. Critics opined that harmonium was considered  well suited to teaching the fundamentals of Indian musical grammar and to accompanying choral groups—thus needed recognition and not the ban.

 Today, the harmonium in India thrives in a range of systems: Hindustani, Carnatic, Qawwali, Ghazal, Bhajans, Church choir and Sikh Gurbani besides several traditional and folk music. Even so, solo harmonium concerts continue to be rare on AIR.

Did Jesus Christ ever visit Kashmir?

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Was Jesus Christ in Kashmir during the “lost” years? Some scholars believe so. Did Jesus visit Kashmir as some books claim? Does a tomb – Rozabal, near Srinagar exists in his name as the story of one Hollywood film tried to project? Are you aware of a Kolkata based filmmaker Subhrajit Mitra who tried to trace Christ’s ‘India trail’ in his film “The Unknown Stories of the Messiah”? Did Christ visit India after his crucifixion?  What is your take on all such issues?

Was Jesus buried at Rozabal, Srinagar?

Whatever could be the fact, the Rozabal shrine in downtown Srinagar is an object of curiosity. According to one theory, Jesus did not die at the Cross and was buried here carrying the name of Yuzu Assef. It is believed by some  that a wandering mystic (Christ) travelled across India, lived in Buddhist monasteries, spoke against the iniquities of the country’s caste system and lived as a shepherd along the vast banks of the brooks in the beautiful vale of Kashmir.

On a routine visit to the tomb at Rozabal, one is greeted with a green signboard written in Urdu and English referring to it by the name of “Yuz Asaph”. It is situated in the thickly populated locality with a “Martyrs’ graveyard’’ on its one side and a Muslim shrine of Dastagir Sahib in its close vicinity. The Muslim shrine, unlike Rozabal tomb, is frequently visited by devotees. The management of

this Muslim shrine is believed taking care of Rozabal as well.

The period in the life of Christ from the age of 13 to 30 is amazingly vague in the Gospels and other chronicles on his life. However, the theory that he spent those years in Kashmir has provoked a section of the Christian community to term it as total heresy.  Who term it just “fantasy and fiction.”

“The very essence of Christianity depends on Christ’s fructification and historically, Saint Helena found the original Cross while digging at the Mount Calvary,’’ some counter, who however opined that  Christ may or may not have visited Kashmir but no Christian believes that his tomb exists in the Valley.

             What do History Books say about Christ’s Kashmir Sojourn?

Hollywood’s interest in attributing Christ to Kashmir is not the first instance. The theory that Christ’s teachings had roots in Indian traditions has been around for more than a century. In 1894 a Russian doctor, Nicholas Notovitch in his book “The Unknown Life of Christ’’ claimed that while recovering from a broken leg in a Tibetan monastery in Ladakh, he had been shown evidence of Christ’s Indian wanderings. He claimed that he was shown a scroll recording a visit by young Jesus to India and Tibet. In 1908, Francis Younghusband, a traveller to Kashmir mentioned in his book `Kashmir’ about Rozabal and Christ connection.

Aziz Mohd a historian from Kashmir mentions Christ having lived in Ladakh monasteries and Kashmir in his book `Israr-e-Kashmir’.

Fida Hassnain, former director of archaeology, Kashmir, who has written books on the legend of Jesus in India, points out in one of his books that there was extensive traffic between the Mediterranean and India around the time of Jesus’ life.

Aziz Hajni, author of `Jesus Lived in India’ in his 160 page book argues that Jesus survived the crucifixion and travelled to Kashmir and died at a ripe age.

In 1995, a German religious expert, Holger Kersten, claimed that Jesus had been schooled by Buddhist monks to believe in non-violence and to challenge the priesthood. Kersten’s book remains a bestseller in India.

A website on Christ’s tomb in Kashmir  claims to have ‘‘historical and well-documented proof’’ to establish that Christ visited Kashmir and has a tomb at Rozabal. Besides the existing works, the website mentions Bhavishya Maha Purana claiming that the manuscript carries the name of Jessu “ the teacher and founder of the religion, who was born miraculously, proclaimed himself the Saviour of the world and survived in Asia, for a long period.’’

J&K  Archaeology department’s  former Deputy Director opines  that archeologically there is no proof of Christ having a tomb in Srinagar. “Kashmir has had a tradition of documenting history since times immemorial. There should have been at least some mention of Rozabal or Christ’s visit to the valley in Pt Kalhana’s Rajatarangini,” which is a point of reference for Kashmir’s history.

K N Pandita, former Director of Central Asian Studies, Kashmir University, is of the opinion that the issue remains an open subject and scholars ought to focus attention on a comprehensive and convincing research. According to him, the word Rozabal comprises two parts; Roza (of Arabic origin Rawzah meaning a garden or a spot) and Bal is a Kashmrised Sanskrit word used as place- suffix meaning where water is close by. “Perhaps the water stream once called mar ran close to present day Rozabal. But I believe  that it was a Hindu or Buddhist shrine and later taken over.”

Once the stronghold of the militants, the Khanyar area of Srinagar that has Rozabal as one of the mohallas, however, dons the same everyday look even after so many sophisticated cameras zoom on its highly congested lanes and by lanes.  Shopkeepers at Khanyar Chowk are nostalgic of those peaceful days when foreign tourists, mostly Christians in large numbers, would visit Kashmir and Rozabal on summer holidays and would generate employment for some unemployed youth in the city.

Many share that wish every four seasons of Kashmir!

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Justice for Sarla Bhat and Many Others Who Never got it

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Justice for Sarla Bhat and Many Others Who Never got it
The Unfinished stories of other Kashmiri Pandits who refused to leave Kashmir in 1990!
(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

It has taken more than three decades, but a flicker of hope has returned to a family that has lived with grief, questions and silence. The Jammu and Kashmir Police’s State Investigation Agency (SIA) recently carried out raids at eight locations in Srinagar, probing the brutal killing of 27-year-old nurse Sarla Bhat in April 1990.Officials call these “strategic searches,” and say incriminating evidence has been found — the kind that could finally unravel the terrorist conspiracy that ended Sarla’s young life. For her family, the hope is simpler: justice, however delayed.

The SIA has now taken over the decades-old FIR No. 56/1990 from Police Station Nigeen. For those who have followed the long and painful journey of the Kashmiri Pandit exodus, this case is not just about one life lost — it is about hundreds of such stories swallowed by the chaos of 1990.

Sarla Bhat, like other Kashmiri Pandits, was no politician, no security official. She was a nurse at SKIMS Soura, Srinagar tending to patients in an already tense Kashmir. But in those early months of 1990, being a Kashmiri Pandit was enough to mark you as a “target.” On April 18, 1990, she was kidnapped from the Habba Khatoon Hostel of SKIMS. The next morning, her bullet-ridden body, according to a newspaper cutting dateline April 19, 1990, preserved by Kashmir Rechords, was found at Umar Colony, Lal Bazar. In her pocket lay a chilling note — the outlawed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) claiming responsibility.

Yet Sarla’s killing was only one in a relentless chain of murders that spring.

March to May 1990 — A Roll Call of the Lost

On March 22, 1990, Dr. Pushkar Nath, an officer in the J&K Agriculture Department, was gunned down in Bijbehara. The very next day, B.L. Karihaloo, who worked at a sweet shop, was shot dead in Bagat Kanipora. On March 26, 1990 Ashok Kumar of Safa Kadal met the same fate.

After Sarla’s death, the violence only escalated. On April 23, 1990 Sunil Kumar Kotru was killed in Rainawari, and police constable Dalip Singh’s body was recovered from Shopian. April 26, 1990 became a day of mass mourning, as six people — Ravinder Kumar, Bansi Lal Saproo, Mohd Ramzan, Ghulam Mohammad, Abdul Rehman, and Ghulam Rasool — were murdered across the Valley. By April 30, Moti Lal Pandita of Kupwara had joined the list of the dead.

May month brought even more loss. On May 3, 1990 a Padma Shri-awarded Gujjar leader was shot dead in Bara Kasi, Tangmarg, followed by the killing of Police Inspector Chuni Lal Shalla in Langet, Sopore. On May 6, 1990 the bodies of Professor K.L. Ganjoo, his wife, and a young girl named Dolly were discovered. The violence peaked on May 11 with the assassination of former NC legislator Sheikh Manzoor.

Some of these names appeared in the press, others barely made a ripple — yet each was a life cut short, each a family left without answers.

Why It Matters Now

For over three decades, these cases remained frozen in time, the files gathering dust while the survivors learned to live with silence. The reopening of Sarla Bhat’s case could — and should — be the start of revisiting all these unsolved murders, not just for the sake of legal closure, but for the dignity of those who can no longer speak for themselves.

Justice for Sarla Bhat would mean acknowledging the reality of that dark season: that ordinary Kashmiris, Pandit and Muslim alike, were killed in cold blood, and that their stories deserve more than a footnote in the history of 1990.

The SIA’s work might yet lead to convictions. But even before the courts deliver their verdict, there is a verdict we, as a society, must reach — that no matter how much time has passed, the lives taken in those months will not be forgotten.

The Sikh Governor Who Revived Kashmir’s Fortunes

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The Sikh Governor Who Revived Kashmir’s Fortunes
(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

During the brief but eventful Sikh rule over Kashmir, the Valley saw ten governors appointed by the Lahore Darbar. Among them, one name still stands tall in the memory of the land — Colonel Mihan Singh (also recorded as Mehan Singh), widely regarded as the finest of them all. Serving from 1834 to 1841, his tenure was marked by integrity, efficiency and an uncommon empathy for the people.

When Col. Mihan Singh took charge in April 1834, Kashmir was in a dismal state — the economy lay in ruins, poverty and hunger were rampant, and trade had withered away. Yet, in just a few years, he steered the region towards recovery, leaving behind a legacy rare in the annals of governance.

A Team for the People

Mihan Singh was not alone in his mission. He surrounded himself with capable aides — Pandit Ganesh Dhar, a Kashmiri Pandit expert in revenue and administration, and Mohammad Afzal Qazi, a Punjabi Muslim officer. Together, they formed a formidable team that worked tirelessly to rebuild Kashmir’s industrial and agricultural base.

On the advice of Dhar and Qazi, the Governor abolished duties on essential commodities like grain, ensuring affordable food for the masses.

He imported grain and poultry from Punjab to combat shortages, and punished black-marketers without mercy. The Sikh Governor also reduced trade tariffs and offered loans to shawl factory owners, reviving the famed Kashmiri shawl industry. Besides opening trade routes to Ladakh, Punjab, British India, Afghanistan and Central Asia, the Governor’s administration built inns for traders and travellers, promoting commerce and cultural exchange.

Kashmir Rechords is proud to reproduce this account, originally penned by noted Kashmiri writer Jawaharkaul Ganhar and published in Kashmir Times on December 11, 1988 — a tribute to one of the rare administrators in Kashmir’s history who is remembered not for oppression, but for compassion and progress.

For the first time since Afghan rule, Kashmir had become self-sufficient in food. Peace had returned to the Valley after decades of turmoil. Mihan Singh used to personally inspect markets, enforcing proper weights and measures and cracked down on adulteration. Farmers and horticulturists received incentives, while the government treasury was replenished.

Cultural and Civic Contributions

Mihan Singh’s governance extended beyond economics. He planted fine Chinar trees in a newly laid Basant Bagh (1835), established the Mandir Bagh and commissioned the compilation of the historical record ‘Tarikh-i-Kashmir’. In 1836, he even minted coins — a symbol of restored confidence in the State’s economy.

Respected by Historians

Sir Walter R. Lawrence, in his classic The Valley of Kashmir (1895), called him “the best of all the Sikh Governors” and praised his fairness, quick justice and effective reforms. Pearce Gervis, in This is Kashmir (1954), described him as “an enlightened ruler… remembered for the relief he gave to the Valley.”

A Tragic End!

Despite his achievements, Col. Mihan Singh’s life ended in betrayal. On the night of 17 April 1841, he was murdered in cold blood at his Srinagar residence in a conspiracy by mutinous soldiers. His trusted aide, Pandit Ganesh Dhar, met the same fate within a fortnight.

Today, about ten kilometers from Gujranwala stands Qila Mian Singh, a village believed to have been founded by the Colonel himself — a reminder of a man who left an imprint far beyond the Valley he once governed.

References for further reading:

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG150956

https://www.sikhnet.com/news/evaluation-sikh-rule-kashmir

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qila_Mihan_Singh

https://malicethoughts.blogspot.com/2021/07/kumedan-mihan-singh-sikh-governor-of.html?fbclid=IwAR2ymfECX25x8vdm0xF52U_4gJOIIGCr5ynCcorNLfwY8z4ee9C7K-_FuT0

British Missionary Who Preserved Kashmir’s Words,Wisdom

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British Missionary Who Preserved Kashmir’s Words,Wisdom
(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

In the late 19th century, far from his home in England, a young British missionary named James Hinton Knowles arrived in the Kashmir Valley. Born in Clerkenwell, London, in 1856, Knowles came to Srinagar in 1880 under the Church Missionary Society. His mission was clear—to serve through education and health—but his heart soon became devoted to something more: the living language and folklore of the Kashmiri people.

During his eleven years in Kashmir, Knowles not only tended to the sick and guided young students at the Mission’s boys’ school—where he served as director from 1880 to 1891—but also immersed himself in the rhythms of local speech. He believed that proverbs carried “the real people’s speech,” a truth distilled over centuries, and he began collecting them with almost obsessive care.

This effort culminated in 1885 with his first great work, Kashmiri Proverbs and Sayings, followed in 1893 by Folktales of Kashmir, a treasury of over 100 traditional stories. Together, these volumes became invaluable cultural archives—works that still resonate in the Valley’s oral and literary tradition today.

Knowles’ proverb collection brims with local wisdom. Familiar sayings like Aki Tsat Sum Ta Sass Gav Kouli  (A single spark can burn down a forest), Anim Soi, Wavum Soi….. (As I sow, so shall I reap), Bir Balun Kath (A sheep without wool), and Hapath Yaraz (A week’s friend) are accompanied by the Kashmiri folk stories from which they sprang. He recorded not only the words, but the very circumstances in which they were spoken—by a learned Pandit, a chatty barber, or a weary coolie.

In his own preface, Knowles described the years of “labour, study and anxiety” behind the book. The work was not without challenge: the Kashmiri language lacked a proper dictionary and grammar; it was written in the Sharada script, known to only a small section of the population; and it varied so widely between Hindu and Muslim speakers that even transcribing the sounds into Roman script proved daunting. Yet, he persevered—acknowledging the invaluable help of local Muslim and Hindu friends who guided him in arranging the collection.

Every paisa earned from the book’s sale, Knowles pledged, went to support the struggling Medical Mission Hospital in Kashmir—a gesture as telling of his character as his scholarship.

James Hinton Knowles left Kashmir in the 1890s, eventually passing away in Ely, Cambridgeshire, on 22 December 1943. But his legacy endures in the proverbs still traded in everyday Kashmiri speech and the folktales that continue to charm readers more than a century later. Through his painstaking work, he became not merely an observer of the Valley’s culture but a guardian of its spoken soul.

Ban it, and they will read it.

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Ban it, and they will read it.
Banning 25 Books in J&K: Shielding Minds or Selling Narratives?

The government’s recent ban on “secessionist” literature may have done the opposite of its intent — boosting online searches, reviving forgotten authors and giving critics fresh ammunition.

By:Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo*

They say the quickest way to make someone read a book is to tell them they can’t. Jammu & Kashmir’s recent ban on 25 titles — accused of promoting secessionism and false narratives — might just prove that old truth. Within days of the announcement, online searches for these books shot up, and names most people had never heard of began trending in niche reading circles. The irony? In an age where PDFs, Kindle editions and overseas libraries are just a click away, banning a book might be the most effective way to market it.

The Jammu & Kashmir Home Department’s move — followed by raids in to seize copies — has triggered a mixed response. The official justification is that these books distort history, glorify terrorists, vilify security forces and promote alienation, thereby influencing youth towards radicalization.

A notification signed by Principal Secretary Chandraker Bharti, on the orders of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, stated:

“Certain literature propagates false narrative and secessionism… This literature would deeply impact the psyche of youth by promoting a culture of grievance, victimhood and terrorist heroism.”

Yet, the timing and practicality of the ban invite questions. Many of the titles have been in circulation for decades. Take Al-Jehad Fil Islam by Syed Abu Ala Maududi — published by Markazi Maktaba Islami, Delhi-6 and available in Kashmir since the 1980s, and some other books even stocked in public libraries through government purchases. If the aim is to prevent exposure, the horse may have bolted long ago.

The ban applies under Sections 152, 196, and 197 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, citing threats to India’s sovereignty and integrity. But while J&K shops are now forbidden from selling them, ironically they remain freely available elsewhere in India and online. This creates a paradox — a book inaccessible in Jammu and Kashmir can still be ordered from Delhi or downloaded in minutes.

In fact, the “forbidden fruit” effect seems to be in full swing. People who never knew these books existed now have the titles on their radar. Obscure authors risk being elevated to the status of “free-speech martyrs’’, their works gaining an audience they might never have reached otherwise.

Panun Kashmir leader Shailendra Aima summed up the irony in a Facebook post:

“Writers like Arundhati Roy and A.G. Noorani have long been exposed for their biased takes… Their influence has waned. Their arguments have been countered and discredited in the court of public opinion. So what exactly has the state gained by banning them now, except making them relevant again?”

Critics argue the State could have taken another path — commissioning respected historians and scholars to dismantle the books’ claims point-by-point. J&K has no shortage of credible voices capable of providing fact-based counter-narratives. This approach might have undercut the books’ influence without giving them a publicity boost.

The deeper irony is that anyone truly inclined towards secessionism will have no difficulty finding these works online, often hosted in overseas archives beyond India’s legal reach. The ban, instead of shielding impressionable minds, may simply have served as a promotional campaign for the very narratives it sought to silence.

So, was this a miscalculated move? In the battle of ideas, persuasion often trumps prohibition. And by choosing the latter, the state may have scored a “self-goal” — amplifying voices it hoped to erase.

At Kashmir Rechords, we believe that truth, when told fearlessly, outlives every attempt to bury it.

Combating secessionism is rarely achieved through book bans; it is better served by drawing a broader, more compelling line of comparative viewpoints. Governments and engaged elements of civil society can always counter such narratives with informed, well-reasoned perspectives. This intellectual space, however, must not be extended to terrorist groups or individuals who use online platforms to propagate violence and toxic ideologies. A well-researched book, rich with facts and context, can effortlessly strip away the superficiality and distortions found in works the state seeks to ban.

  • *Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo is a noted Broadcaster, Author and acclaimed  Translator approved by Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. He is a Founding Director of Kashmir Rechords Foundation.

Bansi Parimu: The Forgotten Flame of Kashmiri Modernism

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Bansi Parimu: The Forgotten Flame of Kashmiri Modernism
(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

Has the visionary artist, activist and cultural conscience-keeper faded from the memory of his own people?

By all accounts, Bansi Parimu ( Parimoo), (1933–1991) was no ordinary painter. He was a modernist with a mission, a fierce cultural force, an environmental and social activist, and a voice that once echoed with the conscience of Kashmir. Through brush and belief, he embodied the soul of a homeland that now seems to have forgotten him.

His death anniversary, July 29, passed once again this year without public homage—no tribute, no commemorative exhibition, not even a whisper of remembrance from the circles that once lauded him. Particularly silent has been Panun Kashmir, the very organization that once recognized Parimu as a mentor and inspiration. Is this the inevitable fate of a displaced artist? Or are we witnessing a deeper decay—a cultural amnesia that has crept into our collective conscience?

The Making of a Modernist

Born on June 2, 1933 near Habba Kadal, Srinagar, Bansi Parimu was shaped by the natural beauty of Kashmir. The meadows, chinars, snow-covered peaks, and glimmering lakes formed the palette of his early years. His initial works—delicate, lyrical landscapes in oil and watercolor—reflected that beauty. But Parimoo would not remain confined to romantic realism for long.

As he matured artistically, his language evolved into bold figurative and abstract compositions, echoing deeper turmoil and truth. He was entirely self-taught, guided not by academic institutions but by a lifelong pursuit of observation, questioning and refinement—rooted in the Vedic principle of Neti-Neti (“Not this, not this”), a process of stripping away illusion to uncover essence.

More Than a Painter

Parimu was more than an artist—he was an institution unto himself. He edited and wrote for the influential weekly Criterion in Srinagar. He was an environmentalist who opposed the felling of chinars and the construction of a concrete bridge over the Jhelum. He was a cultural crusader who fought to preserve Kashmir’s visual and architectural heritage.

In 1986, during a public event attended by Union Minister S. B. Chavan, Parimu posed a piercing question that now rings prophetic:
“Why talk only of wildlife conservation? Why not protect the other endangered species—the Kashmiri Pandits?”

Exile, Expression, Elegy

In 1990, when the Kashmiri Pandit community was driven from the Valley, Parimu too fled—leaving behind not just a home, but a living heritage. He relocated to Delhi, a city alien to his sensibilities. There, amidst illness and heartbreak, he continued to paint—translating pain into poignant, powerful visuals.

His last exhibition, with help from theatre maestro M. K. Raina, received critical acclaim. The works on display were elegies of exile—haunting, raw and searing. Cobwebs of Apathy, Smeared Snow, Red Knows No Creed—these were not just titles; they were laments rendered in colour and form. Blood in the snow. Women in flames. A homeland unravelled.

He passed away on July 29, 1991, at the age of 58.

A Mentor Silenced by Silence

In the immediate aftermath of displacement, Parimu was hailed as a cultural beacon. Panun Kashmir spoke of him with reverence, events were held in his name, and the Bansi Parimoo Awards were instituted to encourage young talent. He was spoken of not just as an artist, but as a visionary—someone who saw art as resistance and identity.

Yet over the years, that reverence has dimmed. The awards disappeared. Events dried up. His name faded from speeches and commemorations. Silence replaced celebration. Even those who once called him a mentor have let his legacy slip into obscurity.

Legacy That Still Whispers

Despite neglect in public memory, Parimu’s work lives on—in the National Gallery of Modern Art, the Lalit Kala Akademi, and private collections across the world. His art graced Republic Day tableaux, UNESCO publications, and Indian diplomatic missions. His vision transcended borders, his brush spoke to universals.

And yet, among his own people—especially within Kashmiri Pandit circles—he remains largely unspoken. As political slogans grow louder and communal rifts deepen, the quiet brilliance of Parimu’s legacy lies buried beneath the noise.

A Call to Remember

To forget Bansi Parimu is not just to neglect a painter. It is to disown a tradition of cultural resilience, artistic excellence and intellectual honesty. He stood for a Kashmir of depth, dialogue and dignity. A Kashmir where art questioned power and beauty carried truth.

We owe him remembrance—not as nostalgia, but as responsibility.
Let his colours speak . Let his canvases challenge us.
Let us remember Bansi Parimu—not just as a master artist—but as the conscience of a people who are still searching for home.

🔗 Explore Further

  • National Gallery of Modern Art – Online Collection
  • Lalit Kala Akademi – Artist Archives
  • Interviews with M.K. Raina on Bansi Parimu’s Final Years
  • https://autarmota.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-1964-untitled-oil-on-canvas-by-noted.html
  • https://www.artkyk.com/bansiparimu

🕯️ Closing Thought

To remember Bansi Parimu is to reclaim a part of Kashmir’s soul.
A soul that painted even in pain. A soul we must not forget.

🎶 Why AIR Banned Harmonium in 1940?

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🎶 Why AIR Banned Harmonium in 1940?

🎼 A Ban Too Bizarre to Believe

(By: Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo*)

Why would a musical instrument—beloved, popular and proudly Indian-made—be suddenly declared unfit, unholy and ultimately unplayable by the nation’s own broadcaster? What crime did the humble harmonium commit to deserve a formal burial inside All India Radio’s studios in 1940? The answer lies in a curious and often overlooked chapter of India’s cultural history—equal parts musical purism, colonial hangover and bureaucratic melodrama.

📻 July 23, 1927: Harmonium’s Prime Time Debut

Exactly 98 years ago, on July 23, 1927, the first-ever radio broadcast in India crackled through the airwaves from Bombay, under the Indian Broadcasting Company.

And right there in the studio, surrounded by microphones and musical hopes, was the harmonium—steady and reliable. In those early years, it was an essential part of AIR’s programming. But its reign would be short-lived.

THE LAST RITES: Two Harmoniums used at AIR Lahore Station, make their final exit in 1940!

🎹 Why the Harmonium Was Declared a Musical Outcast

Back in 1915, India wasn’t just playing the harmonium—it was making it. We were among the world’s leading producers of this versatile little reed box. From homes to temples, classical mehfils to revolutionary gatherings, the harmonium had become a national fixture.

But just 25 years later, it was banished from All India Radio (then part of the colonial Information Department). The date was March 1, 1940, and the reason? It was declared “unsuitable for Indian classical music.” A polite way of saying: “You’re not good enough to be heard anymore.”

And so, with solemn sarcasm, AIR Lahore held a symbolic funeral. The harmonium, once central to every broadcast, was “laid to rest,” while cartoons appeared in newspapers showing other instruments telling it, “Harmonium Ka Jinaaza’‘ ,“Dafa ho jao!” (Go to hell!).

A Cartoon depicting ``Dafa Ho Jao”— Go to the Hell, You Harmonium from All India Radio!

🎶The British Ear Didn’t Approve

The ghost of this decision haunts Indian music history. The culprit behind the ban? A curious alliance between colonial purists and Indian traditionalists. John Foulds, a British composer and head of Western music at AIR, believed the harmonium failed to capture the microtones—those subtle emotional inflections—that Indian ragas demand.

Lionel Fielden, the first Controller of Broadcasting in India, took this critique seriously—especially after receiving similar complaints from Indian classical musicians. The harmonium, they said, couldn’t glide or bend a note the way a sitar or sarangi could. So Fielden signed the death warrant. AIR issued a directive. Harmonium: out. Permanently.

🎼Even Nehru and Coomaraswamy Didn’t Object

The harmonium’s fate wasn’t helped by India’s cultural elite. According to documents archived by www.kashmir-rechords.com, even Ananda Coomaraswamy, the revered philosopher and cultural historian, dismissed it as “non-Indian.” Jawaharlal Nehru, still a freedom fighter then, wasn’t particularly fond of it either.

To them, the harmonium represented colonial contamination—a European relic invading India’s sacred soundscape. B.V. Keskar, post-Independence Information & Broadcasting Minister and a student of the great musicologist V.N. Bhatkhande, upheld the ban with gusto. Even free India wasn’t ready to forgive the harmonium.

🔓A French Immigrant with an Indian Passport

Ironically, the harmonium had arrived in India as a savior. Invented in France in the 19th century, it proved to be the perfect replacement for bulky pipe organs and fragile harpsichords—both of which often arrived warped after sea voyages.

The harmonium was durable, portable, and most importantly, teachable. Indian artisans quickly learned to build them. Musicians adapted it to bhajans, ghazals, qawwalis, and even classical khayal performances. In a short time, it had gone from outsider to insider—until someone flipped the cultural script.

🎶 The Rise, Fall & Return of the Harmonium in Indian Broadcasting

YearEvent
1915India becomes a leading producer of harmoniums.
July 23, 1927First radio broadcast from Bombay. Harmonium plays live.
1940AIR bans the harmonium. Symbolic “funeral” held in Lahore.
1940–1970Harmonium remains blacklisted due to tonal purity concerns.
1970Ban lifted under pressure from critics and musicians.
TodayThrives across Indian music traditions, but solo AIR concerts still rare.

🎤Resurrection After Three Decades

It wasn’t until 1970—a full three decades later—that the ban began to loosen. Critics pointed out the absurdity of calling a widely-used, home-grown instrument “foreign.” They argued it was ideal for teaching the grammar of Indian music, accompanying choirs, and sustaining group performances. Why treat it like a musical untouchable?

And slowly, the harmonium returned—not as a soloist, but as a quiet, reliable companion.

📝Today: From Exile to Everywhere

The harmonium has since staged a quiet rebellion. You’ll hear it in Hindustani classical, Carnatic devotional, Ghazals, Qawwalis, Bhajans, Sikh Gurbani, church choirs, and even in modern fusion. It may still be sidelined in some AIR solo broadcasts, but its spirit thrives across India’s many soundscapes.

What was once shunned as foreign is now again integral to India’s musical soul.

The harmonium’s story is a reminder of how even music isn’t safe from politics, prejudice and posturing. But it also teaches us resilience. An instrument once exiled is now a quiet revolutionary, pushing back against purism with every note it plays.

So next time you hear the gentle wheeze of a harmonium under a raga or a prayer, remember—it’s not just sound. It’s survival.

So next time you hear the soft drone of a harmonium under a raga, a qawwal’s voice, or a soulful bhajan, remember: this little instrument survived burial, banishment and decades of snobbery. Not bad for an “outsider,” eh?

  • *Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo is a noted Broadcaster, Author and acclaimed  Translator approved by Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. He is a Founding Director of Kashmir Rechords Foundation.

July 13, 1931: Kashmir’s Day of Communal Reckoning

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July 13, 1931: Kashmir’s Day of Communal Reckoning

How a cook’s fiery speech, outside propaganda, and political provocation led to one of the darkest, most distorted chapters in Kashmir’s history

(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

In the long and often manipulated history of Kashmir, few dates are as politically charged and historically misunderstood as July 13, 1931. What is today remembered in some quarters as “Martyrs’ Day” was, in truth, a turning point that set ablaze not just prison gates, but also communal harmony, centuries-old coexistence and the very fabric of Kashmiri society.

To understand the real story of that fateful day, one must sift through layers of propaganda, politics and purposeful erasure. Few sources illuminate this moment with clarity and courage like G.S. Raghavan’s seminal 1931 book, Warning of Kashmir. Published in October 1931, mere weeks after the carnage, by the Pioneer Press, Allahabad, the book is a blistering exposé of how misinformation, communal incitement and orchestrated violence engulfed the Valley.

A Spark Ignited by an Outsider

The backdrop to the July  1931 uprising was tense but not unprecedented. Kashmir under Maharaja Hari Singh was grappling with socio-political churn. But it was the arrival of Abdul Qadeer, a cook from Peshawar, that set the stage for communal ignition. Far from being a native or an organic voice of the Kashmiri people, Qadeer was a transient presence who, in a speech laden with religious fervor and venom, called for the destruction of the Dogra regime.

Quoting selectively from Islamic texts and framing the Dogra rule as a religious oppression, Qadeer’s rhetoric electrified and radicalized. He was arrested on charges of sedition (Sec 124-A) and incitement to communal hatred (Sec 153-A). To avoid tensions in the city, his trial was moved inside Srinagar Central Jail.

The Flashpoint: July 13, 1931

On the morning of the trial, a crowd of nearly 5,000 gathered outside the jail. What began as sloganeering quickly descended into an organized assault. Gates were stormed, prisoners freed, buildings set afire. Despite police warnings and initial restraint, escalating violence led to military firing, killing six rioters and injuring dozens. But this was just the beginning.

The mob frenzy spilled into the city, targeting Kashmiri Pandit neighborhoods and businesses. From Vicharnag and Safakadal to Maharajgunj, Hindu homes and shops were looted, torched and residents attacked. According to Warning of Kashmir, these were not spontaneous outbursts of grief or anger—they were coordinated acts of terror. Over 330 rioters were arrested, yet more than 200 were quietly released for “lack of evidence.”

A Community Under Siege

G.S. Raghavan’s careful documentation reveals a chilling undercurrent of communal targeting. Hindus—especially Kashmiri Pandits and Punjabi Hindu traders—were singled out, attacked in broad daylight and denied protection. In Vicharnag, described as a “hell of smoke and shrieks,” the devastation was particularly severe. While military forces attempted to restore order, fear and trauma gripped the Hindu community, which found itself abandoned by the narrative that was swiftly forming around the so-called “martyrs.”

This part of the story is often omitted from official memory. While Muslim losses and grievances became central to political mobilization, the Hindu casualties, displacements and destruction were either ignored or minimized—a historical injustice that continues to echo.

The External Hand and a Manufactured Crisis

The political manipulation of the event was swift. Just twelve days later, on July 25, 1931, the All India Kashmir Committee was formed in Simla. Spearheaded by prominent Muslim leaders from outside the  Princely State, the committee demanded Kashmir be thrust into the national Muslim consciousness. August 14 was declared ‘Kashmir Day’, and Indian Muslims were urged to protest en masse.

This move, Raghavan argues, was a clear attempt to internationalize a local disturbance and turn it into a tool for larger political ambitions—not least by destabilizing the Maharaja’s regime and promoting religious separatism. Ironically, local Muslim leaders in Kashmir eventually urged these outside players to “leave Kashmir affairs well alone,” recognizing that external meddling was escalating the conflict.

Silencing the Truth: The Disappearance of a Book

Warning of Kashmir was initially recognized by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir as a credible and necessary counter-narrative to emerging falsehoods. The book, widely circulated until 1947, was later systematically removed from public libraries and government archives after Partition—part of a sinister campaign to suppress uncomfortable truths.

Raghavan’s analysis makes it clear that the 1931 unrest wasn’t simply a clash between a Hindu ruler and Muslim subjects. It was the result of outside incitement, radical preaching, inept handling of a sedition trial and most tragically, a mob frenzy that unleashed hell on innocent Hindus—the forgotten victims in today’s telling.

The Politicization of Memory

In subsequent decades, July 13 came to be celebrated in the Valley as Martyrs’ Day, complete with public holidays and official commemorations—until the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. But the question remains: Who were the real martyrs of July 13?

Were they the men who died storming a prison in support of a seditious preacher? Or the dozens of Kashmiri Hindus stabbed, burnt, looted and displaced in the carnage that followed? The continued one-sided remembrance obscures the full truth, reducing a deeply complex and painful episode to a politically expedient myth.

Why July 13 Still Matters

As Kashmir continues to struggle with its layered identity—between religion, regionalism and nationalism—reclaiming the full history of July 13, 1931 is not merely academic. It is a moral responsibility. A future rooted in peace and reconciliation must begin with acknowledging all victims, not just those who fit a narrative.

History must not be trimmed to suit politics. The Kashmiri Pandits and other Hindus who suffered on July 13 , 1931 ( Also called as Batte Loot ) must be brought back into the frame of remembrance—not just as victims of a riot, but as citizens betrayed by silence.

The Jagmohan Hangover

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The Jagmohan Hangover
(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

 

It seems the ghost of Governor Jagmohan continues to haunt some people’s WhatsApp groups and social media timelines more persistently than facts do. More than 35 years into exile, a determined anti-Jagmohan brigade—comprising those whose designs he dared to defeat, along with a curious section of the very community that suffered the 1990 tragedy—continues to blame him for the Kashmiri Pandit exodus. Apparently, holding the man who tried to prevent disaster responsible for the disaster itself remains a popular sport.All this, despite his second gubernatorial stint lasting barely four months—from January 19 to May 26, 1990—and coinciding with a period when Kashmir was already boiling over with militancy and targeted killings.

 

But why let facts get in the way of a good WhatsApp forward?

 

Kashmir Rechords, refusing to be swept away by echo chambers and half-baked narratives, took the liberty to dive into archival newspapers from early 1990. What surfaced from the yellowing pages of Kashmir Times, Daily Excelsior and other vernaculars was both telling and inconvenient—for those who thrive on blaming Jagmohan.

 

With invaluable help from Dr. Rajesh Bhat, who then manned the Kashmir Desk at Daily Excelsior, we unearthed crucial reports from March 1990, where Jagmohan appealed to Kashmiri Pandits not to leave the Valley and even urged those who had already left to return. Plans were rolled out for relief camps within Kashmir, meant to offer temporary shelter and security for returnees. Hardly the actions of a man orchestrating a mass migration.

 

 

But wait, there’s more. He also made public appeals for donations—not for a particular community—but for all victims of terrorism, regardless of caste, creed, or religion. How secular of him—definitely not WhatsApp-worthy, right?

 

 

Another significant find—a newspaper clipping dated July 20 1990—quotes Jagmohan post his resignation, stating clearly:

“The migration had already begun before I took over.”

 

This, mind you, was after he’d left the post and was now representing India in the Rajya Sabha, traveling globally to put forth the country’s stance on Kashmir.

 

 Kashmir Rechords proudly shares these archival gems—not just to clear Jagmohan’s name, but to remind those still suffering from the “Jagmohan’s Hand Hangover” .

 

Of course, this  story and newspaper cuttings won’t trend. Because let’s face it—facts are slow, clumsy and boring. Unlike that juicy social media tale where Jagmohan single-handedly packed up an entire community, put them on trucks and drove them off into exile like a villain in a bad Bollywood script.

 

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to exorcise this ghost once and for all.

 

Kashmir Rechords will keep sharing such stories—armed with newspaper clippings, archival reports and an allergy to revisionist fiction.

Because if we must tell stories, let’s at least try telling the truth—with a little sarcasm on the side.

Amarnath Vaishnavi: From Opposing Homeland to Championing It

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Amarnath Vaishnavi: From Opposing Homeland to Championing It
(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

Amarnath Vaishnavi (August 24, 1925 – July 1, 2012), revered today as the “Father of the Kashmiri Pandit Community,” remains one of the most respected and towering figures in Kashmir’s socio-political history. As his birth centenary year is being observed with tributes from various socio-cultural organizations—especially among the Kashmiri Pandits—it’s worth revisiting a lesser-known, yet very significant chapter of his political journey: his initial opposition, and eventual support, for the Homeland demand!

 When Panun Kashmir passed its historic Margdarshan Resolution in December 1991—demanding a Union Territory Homeland for displaced Hindus of Kashmir in the East and North of the Jhelum (Vitasta) River with full applicability of the Indian Constitution—Vaishnavi stood firmly against it. Despite his lifelong ideological proximity to the RSS-BJP camp, Vaishnavi believed that “the whole of Kashmir belongs to Kashmiri Pandits”, making any demand for a separate homeland “unjustified.”

This opposition was not casual. It was officially voiced during the “Saam-92” Conference, organized by the All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference (ASKPC) on September 25-26, 1992, in Jammu—almost nine months after the Margdarshan Resolution. Vaishnavi, presiding over the conference alongside senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar, advocated for a “quasi-permanent rehabilitation” model instead—suggesting that Pandits be resettled in “geographically, climatically suitable and economically viable areas with minimum accommodation.” Former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee who also attended Saam 92 on Day-2, had blamed Centre for the plight of Kashmiri Pandits.

 

So, what prompted this stand (Opposing Homeland)? Was it political caution? Was it ideological conditioning? Or perhaps a strategic difference of approach? The real reasons remain open to interpretation.

But what makes this story remarkable is what followed nearly two decades later—a visible and heartfelt change of stance!.

On December 27, 2009, the same Amarnath Vaishnavi shared the dais with Panun Kashmir leader Dr Agnishekhar during a grand felicitation event for Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The occasion? The Madhya Pradesh Assembly had, just a few months earlier (on July 24, 2009), passed a resolution endorsing the Homeland demand for Kashmiri Pandits. Vaishnavi didn’t just attend the event—he stood at the forefront, publicly felicitating Chouhan and lending moral legitimacy to the very cause he had once opposed.

Was it wisdom of age? Or a realization shaped by years of continued Pandit suffering and displacement? Whatever the reasons, his humility and readiness to reassess his position only enhanced his stature in the community.

Today, as his centenary rekindles memories, this transition—from initial resistance to endorsement of the Homeland demand—remains a telling reflection of Vaishnavi’s deep commitment to his community, even if it meant changing a long-held position.

His life and struggles are documented in ‘The Chronicles of Kashmir’, but this particular aspect—the evolution of his stand on Homeland—remains one of the most poignant and untold truths that Kashmir Rechords feels proud to share with documentary proof and archival material.

Kashmiri Pandits, C/o Tent No…….!

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Kashmiri Pandits, C/o Tent No…….!

   From Palatial Homes to Tent Numbers: The Unwritten Obituaries of Exile

(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)

 

By the time Prem Nath Bhat, a prosperous landowner from Watarkhani in Kashmir’s Kupwara district, breathed his last, his identity had been reduced to something unthinkable—a tent number!

Once surrounded by acres of fertile orchards, multi-storeyed family homes, and the comforting soil of his ancestors, Prem Nath had never imagined that his final address would read: “Tent No. 415, Purkhoo Migrant Camp, Jammu.”

 

It wasn’t just him.

 

Ram Krishan Bindroo, an employee with the Animal Husbandry Department from Chattabal, Srinagar, met a similar fate. After being driven out of his home during the early 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, Bindroo spent his final days in “Tent No. 08, Mishriwala Migrant Camp”, battling the indignities of camp life until death took him.

And then there was Nanak Chand Pandit from Khalahar, Kokernag. A man who, within just two years of displacement, passed away inside a fragile tent at Purkhoo Camp—another life sealed within canvas walls, without even the dignity of four brick walls to die within.

The Number That Became a Name

For these families, the tragedy wasn’t just about losing their homeland—it was about losing their very identity!

 

In Jammu, families who once lived across sprawling estates found themselves crammed inside thin, sun-beaten tents. The summer heat was unforgiving. The winter cold pierced through the tarpaulin like a knife. Walls meant to provide shelter could barely stand without wooden pegs. There was no electricity. No proper sanitation. Just a number painted outside—the only marker of existence.

When death came knocking, even the obituaries carried this cruel reminder.

Local Jammu newspapers began announcing deaths like this:

“Prem Nath Bhat, Tent No. 415, Purkhoo Camp…”

“Ram Krishan Bindroo, Tent No. 08, Mishriwala Camp…”

As if their entire life, their heritage, their profession, their family name, had been erased and replaced with a camp number. A cold, emotionless number.

And when the time came to mourn, it wasn’t inside ancestral homes, but within rows of similar tents. Sons, daughters, elderly parents and grieving relatives gathered inside that numbered space for the next 15 days, performing last rites with trembling hands and broken spirits.

More Than Just Statistics

 

These aren’t isolated stories.

 

Hundreds of displaced Kashmiri Pandits faced the same heartbreaking end. Some fell to heat strokes, others to snake bites, many more to sheer exhaustion, hunger and hopelessness. Infants and elders alike withered in the dust, their lives slowly erased by neglect.

The tent numbers were like silent prison tags—marking lives lived in exile, waiting for dignity that never came.

The greatest irony? This was a community known for peace, education, and contribution to society. Their only crime was belonging to a land caught in a conflict they never started.

Decades have passed, but the shadow of those tent numbers still lingers. The younger generations still remember them. Some now speak from permanent houses, others still from temporary shelters—but the trauma of being reduced to a number remains.

Because Every Tent Number Has a Story

These are not just statistics. Each tent number hides a life once full of hope, dignity, and dreams.

And these stories must continue to be told and retold—until the collective conscience of the nation awakens. Until the day comes when no community is forced to write their identity and their grief… under a tent number.

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