[Reader-list] Sarai Independent Fellowship Posting

[s.wani at scfukindia.org]

Hello Vivek,
Here is my posting for the independent fellowship.

Sarai Independent Fellowship.

‘I saw and found I am in everything
 I saw God effulgent in everything’
Lalla Ded, 14 century mystic poetess of Kashmir

Kashmir, a land that for long has been characterized as the land of Rishis
and Sufis has been affected by a prolonged situation of violence for the
past seventeen years; this has among other things meant, that a lot of
changes and movements that have swept other parts of the country and the
world have in a way bypassed this region for all this while or have just
crept in with a pace that has not been effective.

The changes brought about in the nineties by open markets, globalization,
free flow of information were something that did not show up in this place
as the nineties were the time of the worst violence in Kashmir. It is only
now in the past some years that these changes are beginning to show their
effects.

An  increasing presence of media organizations, Kashmir has a news office
of almost all national and international media organizations, an influx of
humanitarian groups and of late many private sector corporates has meant
that the landscape of the region has been made more diverse which throws
up diverse possibilities for action and thought.

For most of the past decade the average citizen of this place was
preoccupied with issues of security and survival. The paramount concern of
the state during this period as well was maintaining security in the
region. It was a difficult time for this place. Apart from the death and
destruction, many thousands migrated from Kashmir to other parts of the
country and abroad to escape the effects that the violence was having on
their life and security.

Women were at the receiving end of the effects of this violence. They were
the ones who were left to fend for themselves with the loss of sons,
husbands, father staring them in the face. For a long time this situation
had no relief. The silent suffering of women was something that they had
to live with.

But there were stirrings of an undercurrent all the while which blossomed
into a mature understanding of their situation and the determination to do
something about it and be an active agent of change for themselves and for
others. This undercurrent as we have seen with our narratives is diverse
and gaining in strength. Women do not only better understand their
situation but they also understand that they have make efforts to better
it or change it if necessary.

Our narratives show that the initiatives and the engagements of women in
Kashmir have moved beyond their own concerns and embrace the concerns of a
collective. This has resulted in organized initiatives being put in place
by women or their engagement with preexisting initiatives which has
redefined the role that women have begun to play in the larger society and
has also extended the sphere of action and thought for women to not only
other parts of the country but to other parts of the world. Women here are
now a part of and active contributors to the changes and initiatives
taking place in other parts of the world.

This process has been facilitated by a number of factors, first, there is
present a cultural flexibility that allows for and promotes a certain
degree of negotiation vis a vis a woman’s role and an articulation of her
space. This allows women to redefine their role and agency in society
without necessarily cutting through or contradicting any cultural
boundaries or worldview. This cultural flexibility based in the cultural
ethos of Kashmir has always retained a value for the social and
communitarian role that a woman can play in the community and society.

The figure of Lalla Ded, a 14th century figure, who was a mystic poetess
and amongst the most highly regarded cultural figures of Kashmir, has lent
itself to this ethos in a formative manner. Her life and work informs the
cultural consciousness of the Kashmiri in an everyday manner. Her wisdom
is mystic and earthy and has blended with the everyday of life in Kashmir.
She is a central figure in the cultural narration of this place. She was a
Shaivate mystic who blended the principles and thought of Shaivaite
philosophy to that of Islamic mysticism and achieved an acute
philosophical and existential appreciation of how the two traditions were
inextricably bound with each other in their search for interpreting the
existence of humans and their relation to the universe. Two of her near
contemporaries Sheikh Nurudin, a Kashmiri Sufi mystic and Shah Hamadan, a
Sufi and an Islamic missionary who had come on a mission to spread Islam
from Hamadan in Iran, are the other two great cultural religious figures
of Kashmir. These three together form the cultural ethos and articulation
of Kashmir in a most significant manner. The sayings of Lalla Ded or
‘shruks’ as they are called are the staple of what constitutes wisdom of
the highest degree to the Kashmiri imagination.

The other significant cultural figure is that of 16th century poetess
Habba Khatoon, whose original name was Zoon, a poetess who lived in
village Chandhara, a typical Kashmiri village in the vicinity of Pampore,
at a distance of ten miles from Srinagar; she was a peasant girl who had
multi faceted personality, a poetess, an eminent musician and a melodious
singer. Later in life she became the beloved queen of Yusuf Shah Chak, who
ruled Kashmir in medieval times. She was from a well to do family and was
married off in early age when she was thirteen years old to a person from
her own village. Her marriage was not successful and she was subjected to
harsh treatment by her husband and mother in law. She found relief in song
and music alone. Much of her poetry describes the trials of this period
where she pines for the carefree days of her childhood.  In a happy turn
to her life she was married again later in life to the Chak ruler Yusuf
Shah who was captivated by her beauty, intelligence and poetic genius.
.
In her early years she had studied in a maktab (school) near her village
where a moulvi    (religious preacher) took classes. There she also, in
due course, learnt Arabic and Persian vocabulary. By the time she grew up
she learnt to play several musical instruments as well. Having a clear
intelligence and a ready wit coupled with natural delight in learning, she
could recite Persian orations and verses of her own composition before any
number of men and scholars. Her turn to poetry resulted in the ‘lol’ or
love lyric for which her songs are known. This gave birth of an entire
genre of Kashmiri poetry and established her place and primacy as a
literary figure within the discourse of Kashmiri language.

In Kashmir, men rowing upon the rivers, ladies at their looms and farmers
in the fields sing the lilting songs of Habba Khatoon to this day.  In all
the towns and villages in Kashmir the story of Habba Khatoon, her many
tribulations and her haunting love lyrics have been told and retold from
the lips of men and women over the centuries. They have served as a source
of intellectual and cultural inspiration to many others in later times.

Habba Khatoon is a cultural figure who represents and symbolizes the
aspiration of the women of Kashmir and articulates a cultural position
where individual genius and talent can define the space and position of a
woman within her culture and society. It is significant to note that Habba
Khatoon is remembered less as the wife of a famous medieval ruler of
Kashmir and more as a poetess; a literary and intellectual figure.

The second factor that has contributed to the active role that the women
of the region have been playing is that after a long period of inactivity
and being characterized as long suffering, women have looked into
themselves and found strength to change their situation and fashion a
positive and promotive role for themselves in relation to their situation.

The third factor that has facilitated this transition has been the influx
and increasing presence of media, human rights and cultural initiatives
that had only operated in other part of the country and the world but now
are beginning to see the importance of associating with the problems and
issues that Kashmir has been facing over the decades. This has resulted in
a greater level of interaction and engagement for the women in Kashmir
which does not necessarily mean that these engagements are always
productive but at the very least they result in greater and better
learning’s. Women here are beginning to establish themselves as active
media and human rights professionals and engaged academics who are
oriented to represent their own selves and their compatriots in various
fora as agents of a positive change that maximizes upon global learning’s
and resources while drawing strength from local community and culture.

Last but not the least; easy flow of information has facilitated the
interaction and engagements across the globe between initiatives and
individuals who share the same concerns and goals.

All this has meant that women in this part of the world are articulating
their concerns actively and are open to the possibility of a greater
engagement with the world. Our narratives have demonstrated women who are
strong and committed and willing to sacrifice for the cause they believe
in. This is an indicator of a new found confidence and determination that
is in great part a cultural legacy that has been reinvigorated within new
forms and modes of practice and thought.

What is of noteworthy of this legacy is that women figures like Lalla Ded
and Habba Khatoon are an integral part of the literary, intellectual and
spiritual terrain of Kashmir. They are present in this cultural space as
individuals in their own right. Both are figures that have, in the lives
that they have lived and by virtue of their intellectual engagements with
questions that are eternal and relevant for all times, not only created a
space for themselves but have articulated a positive agency for women
within this cultural space.

This is a legacy that actively informs the cultural considerations of this
region even today and though times have changed the poetry and wisdom of
these figures resonates even today in the practices of how one engages
with the elements of the modern and the traditional in ones life seeking
not a denial of either but to explore the intellectual and cultural
possibilities of both.

Ends

Regards,
Shafia Wani.