[Reader-list] Prof. Subhash Kak - Observations on Kashmir’s Remembered Past

[Pawan Durani]

Observations on Kashmir’s Remembered Past

Subhash Kak

Subhash Kak is professor and head of computer science department at
Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. He works in the fields of AI,
cryptography, quantum information science, and neural networks. He
completed his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of
Technology, Delhi. During 1979-2007, he was with Louisiana State
University, Baton Rouge where he served most recently as Donald C. and
Elaine T. Delaune Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer
Engineering.

He is the author of 20 books of which the most recent is "The
Architecture of Knowledge." These books inlcude 6 books of verse. His
books have been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish,
Korean, and Serbian.

Amongst his awards include British Council Fellow (1976), Science
Academy Medal of the Indian National Science Academy (1977), Kothari
Prize (1977), UNESCO Tokten Award (1986), Goyal Prize (1998), National
Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (2001), and
Distinguished Alumnus of IIT Delhi (2002).



Editor’s Note: Subhash ji’s link to the havan movie as shown on Dutch TV:

http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=1799779





We Kashmiris are fond of remembering the glory ages of the past, the
amazing Yoga Vasishtha and the Vishnu-dharmottara-Purana, the valor of
Lalitaditya, philosophy and wisdom of Kashmir Shaivism, Abhinavagupta,
paintings, sculpture, and music. We also remember the sadness of Kota
Rani and Lalla, and the time when the tyrant Sikandar killed or
expelled our ancestors from the Vale and only eleven families
remained.

The memory of other events has faded. The bravery of Mirza Pandit Dar
and his nephew Birbal Dar in freeing Kashmir from the oppression of
the Afghans is not so well remembered. The Afghan governor Azim Khan
sent troops to arrest Birbal Dar. Mirza Pandit gave a bond to Azim
Khan that he would pay Birbal Dar’s debt but he advised his nephew to
escape to Lahore to urge Ranjit Singh to intervene in Kashmir.

Birbal Dar left his wife and daughter-in-law with his friend Qudus
Gojawari for safety and rode to Lahore with his son. When Azim Khan
found that Birbal Dar was missing he asked Mirza Pandit Dar what had
happened.   Mirza Pandit told him that Birbal had either gone on a
pilgrimage or to Lahore to get the Sikhs against Azim. When asked what
should be done next, Mirza Pandit said that he, namely Mirza Pandit,
should be put to death and Birbal’s debts charged to him.

The tyrant was so impressed by Mirza Pandit’s fearlessness that he
left him alone. He soon found out where Birbal’s wife and
daughter-in-law were hiding. The two ladies were arrested and brought
to Azim Khan’s compound by boat. Birbal Dar’s wife took poison and
killed herself, but the daughter-in-law was sent to Kabul to be in the
King’s harem.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh eventually sent an army to liberate Kashmir
under the charge of Birbal Dar and Azim was defeated.

In many ways Kashmiri traditions and memory suffered most at the hands
of forces set in motion by the partition. At the time the state
controlled the media, it was not too hard to make people believe that
abandonment of the old was the surest way for the achievement of
socialist utopia.

I think that each culture should remain connected to its classics to
inculcate values of excellence and to aspire for the higher good.
Kashmiris opted to separate themselves from their tradition of
Sanskrit learning.  I do not mean by this that Kashmiris should have
lived in the past but that they should have included Sanskrit in the
education of the youth just as has happened in South India. Some of
the smartest bankers, businessmen, scientists, and engineers in the
South have been helped by the discipline that was required in the
learning of Sanskrit.  It also opened up a world of knowledge that
helped them navigate through the inevitable vicissitudes of life.

Thankfully, Swami Lakshmanjoo guided many people into the practice of
Kashmir Shaivism. But most academic scholars who have worked on the
texts of Shaivism are interested only in textual questions with no
clue as to the meaning of the practice.

If Kashmiris want to revitalize the past they cannot do it by studying
translations by academic scholars. They will have to learn Sanskrit
and debate and critique interpretations and relate them to their own
spiritual practice. It is only then that the old books will come
alive.

Sanskrit is not very hard to learn. Its vocabulary is the same as that
of Kashmiri and Hindi. But learning Sanskrit requires the knowledge of
the word roots, prefixes and suffixes, and various grammatical forms
that become clear as one reads the texts.

Kashmir was a center of Sanskrit learning for centuries. In the last
three hundred years, as Persian and later Urdu became languages of
government many Kashmiris became masters of these new languages. I am
told that one of my maternal ancestors from Pulwama wrote a version of
Ramayana in Persian. Muhammad Iqbal, of the Sapru clan, wrote both in
Urdu and Persian although his Persian was rather bookish.

Below are the Sanskrit originals of some well-known place names of Kashmir:

Jyethher – Jyeshthesvar

Hari-Parvat  - Sharikaparvat

Hurpor – Shurapur

Parspor – Parihasapur

Pir Panchal – Panchala-deva

Jhelum --  Vitasta

Achchabal – Akshaval

Vishav – Vishoka

Wullar – Ullol (Turbulent)

Pandrethan – Puranadhishthan (Old capital)

Sathu – Setu (Embankment)

Maisuma – Makshikasvami

Drugjan – Durgagalika

Rainawari – Rajanavatika

Ishbar – Isheshvar

Harwan – Shadarhadvan ( The wood of the six Arhats)

Zukur – Jushkapur

Bijbehara – Vijayeshvar

Arpath – Harshapath

Baramulla – Varahamul

Sopore – Suyyapur

Gagangir – Gaganagiri

Tulamul -- Tulamulya




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