[Reader-list] Historical Tales - Broad-bosomed Jhelum

[Pawan Durani]

 Broad-bosomed Jhelum
The serpentine river of the Happy Valley, the Jhelum, is no less
historical than the Ganga or the Thames. On its banks were situated
the great cities of ancient and medieval Kashmir, Pravarapura,
Avantipura, Suyyapura, Padampur, Parihaspura, etc. The 'Vitasta', as
it was called, by the Hindus in olden days - Hydaspes by the Greeks
and Veth by the Kashmiris - saw the chequered march of the ages of the
Valley ever since the vast legendary lake Satisar was drained by sage
Kashyapa. It bore triumphant monarchs, Hindu emperors and their
queens, Sultans and Moghul emperors, Afghan and Sikh Subedars, Dogra
Maharajas, and last, but not least, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Mrs.
Indira Gandhi along with Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, in right royal
processions over its fair bosom. Indifferent to the saga of Kashmir,
the Jhelum ravaged the Valley many a time with devastating floods. Yet
the calmly flowing, sinuous, majestic river - broad, smooth and
navigable virtually the year round and still used as a great highway
of Kashmir - has a special appeal to Kashmiris. Visitors readily fall
in love with the 'broad-bosomed Jhelum' as did the Grand Moghuls.

The historical study of the Jhelum is given by way of the Introductory
Essay to these historical tales.
"A hundred miles of snow-clad mountain peak; On either side uprear
their heads to heaven. And, flecked with light and shade and yellow
foam, Broad-bosomed Jhelum wends his stately way."
- C.R. Tollemache

The Jhelum is the largest and longest river of the sub-Alpine region
of Asia's Switzerland. Its source is the spring of Verinag. The small
rivers, Vishau, Rambi Ara, Romshi, Dudganga, Sukhanag and Ningal, and
the mountain streams, Liddar, Arpal, Tsunti Kul, Sind, Arin, Madamati,
Pohru and still others, constitute its tributaries. The Kishanganga
river swells its roaring waters at Domel. Flowing down the mountains
into the eighty-four miles of the fertile alluvial valley, and, then
again over foothills and spurs into Pakistan and onward, it sees and
hears nature in all her moods. On its serpentine course, it is swept
by many a wind and swelled by rain and snow through the many
tributaries.

The Jhelum is of as much historical interest as the Ganga, the Thames,
the Tiber and the Rhine are to the countries wherein they flow. The
Chenab, the Ravi, the Indus, and the Tawi have their source in the
Himalayas like the Jhelum, but they haven't that romantic interest
attached to them which is the case with the Jhelum.

The serpentine river of the Happy Valley, flowing ever so lazily as
well as majestically, used to be called the VITASTA, in the hoary
days. But where was the Vitasta, when according to a legend, borne out
by geological research, Kashmir was a vast lake, namely, Satisar ? Of
course, it came into being when Kashyapa, the grandson of god Brahma,
drained the valley, named after him, Kashyapamar - now Kashmir.
Ashoka, the great Buddhist monarch, cruised up and down the Vitasta to
see for himself the Viharas and Buddhist monasteries which dotted the
length and breadth of the Valley. Brahmins of Kashmir were mostly
Buddhists in the pre-Christian era. Some of them became great Buddhist
missionaries. They must have used the Vitasta, nature's highway of the
'Eden of the East', a great deal. Curious barge-like boats, remote
ancestors of the Khochoo boats, formed the conveyance that kissed the
bosom of the Vitasta everywhere. In these ark-like boats were carried
huge stone slabs and blocks needed for the construction of Viharas and
monasteries, some of which still exist, though in ruins.

The very word Vitasta makes me reminiscent of the glory that was
Kashmir. Srinagar, the capital of the State, situated on the banks of
the Jhelum, was once known as Pravarapura. It was the city founded by
Pravarsena II (79-139 A.D). Parihaspura, situated about 20 km from
Srinagar, was the capital of the illustrious conqueror Emperor
Lalitaditya, who lived in the eighth century. Parihaspura was also
situated on the banks of the Vitasta. The Vitasta bore the weight of
the mightly barges that carried the massive blocks of grey limestone
which were used in the construction of the stupas, monasteries and
temples in Parihaspura, Lalitapura and other cities, for in that age,
Buddhism and Hinduism flourished side by side in Kashmir and her
vassal states. The stone drainage system of Parihaspura, whose traces
can be seen in this 'City of Stones', as the folk call it, led into
the all purifying Vitasta. When you visit these grand ruins, where you
see the largest of massive blocks used in Kashmir architecture, you
notice that the plateau is an isolated one. The Jhelum flows miles
beyond. How is it so?

Thereby hangs a tale. Suyya, the founderof Suyyapur, now Sopur, the
greatest engineer of medieval Kashmir, diverted the course of the
Vitasta and made it meet the Sind nalla at the so-called Prayag,
otherwise known as Shadipore. Before the time of Avantivarman (855-883
A.D.) - the royal patron of Suyya - the Valley was inundated too often
by the Jhelum. His capital, Avantipore, where are to be seen the ruins
of his two temples by the roadside, flanked the Vitasta. The site was
chosen on a plateau, to escape the depredations of the unruly snake
that the Vitasta too often grew into, when the high snows melted or
rain fell continuously for weeks together. Suyya had the engineer's
vision to the defect of the course of the Vitasta. He had the
Vitasta's bed cleared at several points where it constricted between
mountains.* Thus was the Vitasta rendered harmless. Canals were dug
out from it and Kashmir became prosperous.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
* Here, I may take the reader back to hoary antiquity to acquaint him
with the interesting genesis of the Wular Lake, the largest fresh
water lake (20 by 8 km) of not only Kashmir but of the rest of India.
In the reign of Sundersena (2082-2041 B.C.), the capital of the Valley
was Samdimatnagar, whose site is no other than Wular Lake itself. "A
destructive earthquake occurred by which the earth in the middle of
the city of Samdimatnagar was rift and water gushed out in a flood and
soon submerged the whole city" (Pandit Anand Kaul). The learned writer
added, "By the same earthquake a knoll of the hill at Baramulla near
Khadanyar tumbled down which choked the outlet of the river Jhelum and
consequently the water rose high at once and drowned the whole city
together with its king and the inhabitants. This submerged city is now
the site occupied by the Wular Lake." Till, lately, the spires of
submerged temples were to be seen over the lake when the water level
fell in winter. Zain-ul-Abidin built Zain Lank Island on one of these
stone temples. Its ruins still exist on the islet.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From 10th to 14th century A.D., the government by Hindu kings and
queens was made unstable by the warlike hordes - Damaras, Tantriyas
and others. They manned small swift craft over the passive, submissive
Vitasta. As Kalhana, the medieval poet-historian of Kashmir, put it:
"These hordes were well skilled only in burning, plundering and
fighting". Their places of shelter on the banks of the Vitasta were
veritable castles, impregnable and strong. They were controlled only
by more or less despotic monarchs like Harsha, Kanishka, Mihirigula
and others, or by the unscrupulous diplomacy of Didda Rani and other
queens.

Much earlier than these unsettled times, the Capital had shifted to
Srinagar, the present Srinagar. When the Muslim invaders conquered and
settled in Kashmir, they built their palaces on the banks of the
Jhelum on the sides of the canals that were excavated from the Jhelum.
Among these the Mar Canal commemorates Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin, still
popularly remembered by the folk as Badshah (great ruler).

The calm flow of the Jhelum did not bring peace to the zealot's heart
of Sultan Sikandar, better known as Sikandar the Idol- breaker, who,
abetted by a convert prime minister, ravaged and razed to the ground
magnificent monasteries and massive stone temples, almost wiping out
the glory that was Kashmir. He built no structures to replace them.
But the Jhelum did pacify and lend peace of mind to the Sultan's son,
Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin (1420-70 A.D.). He spanned the bridge, Zaina
Kadal, over the Jhelum, in Srinagar. (Near the bridge, on the right
bank, is to be seen his tomb, contiguous to the site of the five-domed
stone temple of Pravarasena II). He dug canals out of the Jhelum. The
Jhelum proudly carried this "Akbar of Kashmir" up and down the Valley
in magnificent boats, when he would visit Zaina Lank, the island of
the Wular Lake where he had constructed a small palace and a mosque.

Much more by way of grand spectacles were the river processions of the
Moghuls among whom Jahangirand Shah Jahan stand out as the greatest
lovers of Kashmir. Jahangir visited Verinag, the source of the Jhelum,
75 km above Srinagar. He loved this spot more than any other beauty
spot of Kashmir. In 1612 A.D., he enclosed the gushing waters of the
blue-water spring in an octagonal basin. In the Moghul building
spanning the spring he had the famous picture gallery of Moghul
potentates, princes and allies. On the bank of the Jhelum in Srinagar,
Nur Jehan constructed the mosque of white polished stone, Pather
Masjid, opposite Shah Hamdan's famous mosque. Tearfully, Jahangir left
Verinag and Kashmir, when he had paid Kashmir the fourth visit in 1617
A.D., and died on his way over the steep rugged Himalayas with the
wish that he wanted "Nothing but Kashmir" on his lips.

Shah Jahan completed the work of his illustrious father at Verinag, by
building the aqueducts. The Jhelum saw the glory of the reign of this
lover of splendour. He loved the Dal Lake more than he loved the
Jhelum. But the Dal pours itself into the Jhelum and so would Shah
Jahan's royal boats cross from the Dal to the city over the sinuous
Jhelum. The austere Moghul, Aumngzeb, visited Kashmir only once in
1664 A.D. He wasn't much of a lover of nature. He did not fall in love
with Kashmir, nor for that matter with the Jhelum.

The Jhelum saw black deeds of rash fury of the Afghans from 1750 A.D.
onwards for over sixty years. Its fair bosom was tainted with corpses
of the thousands of victims of the fanatic rage of the barbarous
Afghans. It expressed its wrath through rising in floods many times,
causing fearful devastation to man, his cattle and crops and other
property, during this and later Sikh regime, which was heralded in
1819 A.D. Among Sikh Subedars, one at least gave the old happy look to
the Jhelum. He was Col. Mian Singh, who was a popular governor and
whose river processions over the Jhelum were a sight to see.

The tradition of these processions was carried on by Dogra rulers,
whose sway began in 1846 A.D. Especially, did Maharaja Pratap Singh
organise the halts of these processions, for, from Baramulla, he would
cruise up in a royal boat that had a becoming retinue. Maharaja Hari
Singh continued the practice for many years. The Jhelum bore Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru in spectacular river processions when he visited
Kashmir in 1941, 1945 and 1948.

All this, and more, had been experienced and known by the Jhelum. The
Vitasta - or Veth, into which the word Vitasta degenerated - saw the
march of the ages, the variegated drama. Its sleepy flow hardly
communicated what it knows; unless you dream back the past as I do
often.

At very many fond places, mostly solitary spots, I have watched the
Jhelum flow by. Let me recollect.

I have left the village far behind. Here I am seated on a bank of the
Jhelum. Around me irises flash their heads in clusters. Noiselessly,
majestically, the Jhelum glides along. It is gone muddy, due to recent
rains. But that does not mar its calm, unruffled look, as it flows
past those two picturesque islands, lush with maize and turf and
willows all around them. A kingfisher broods over the bank near me, in
a holy trance, awaiting innocent prey. Village women, clad in red and
yellow pherans, gracefully carry the muddy water in their earthen
pitchers on their heads. They walk in a line. Several are giggling. A
ponywala descends the muddy ghat to give his obstinate pony a drink. A
child is swimming the "women's swim". The opposite bank is lined with
tall poplars, leafy Chinars, and graceful willows, in the sylvan
beauty that suffuses Kashmir countryside. The reflection of Chinars,
garbed in their autumnal glory as reflected in the Jhelum, flash upon
my mind's eye; so do other remembered sights of the Jhelum. A strange
sense of peace used to dawn on my restless soul, then 'cribbed,
cabin'd and confined' in city surroundings and the humdrum routine
life. A deeper calm, that is over and above our hurried existence,
would pervade my being for the moment.

The scene shifts to spring. I sit in a chair on the Bund of the city,
above the Srinagar Club, overlooking the broad-bosomed Jhelum. The
comfortable sun scintillates on the Jhelum. The ripples dance in
circles. Somehow the tiny wavelets remind me of life's unending march,
of something that goes on for ever and ever in spite of the seeming
transitoriness of human life. The saga of the Valley that the Jhelum
knows so well catches a significance, a meaning that is purposive and
progressive. My reverie is disturbed by the cackles of the Hanjis
fowl, noise of their children and their raised voices. A fisherman
cautiously drops his outspread net. Splashes die down as the net
disappears to strangle its catch of the finny tribe. Again I look and
wonder at the broad and sparkling bosom of the Jhelum. Have stars come
down to inhabit on the Jhelum ? The conceit vanishes as I look at the
farther bank where the Chinars are not yet clothed in their green
barb. Through their skeletons and over them I see the distant
snow-draped mountains whose smooth shoulders shine in the spring.
Sun-white clouds hover above the mountains. The calm Jhelum once again
soothes the fever of my soul.

To admire best the sinuous serpentine beauty of the Jhelum, you must
climb the Shankaracharya Hill from Srinagar. Half an hour's climb
rewards you with one of the finest views of the world. You trace the
zigzag course of the Jhelum creeping like a snake over the fair
Valley, that rises towards the karewas which form the picturesque
foothills. It is this romantic motif that has inspired the designers
of Kashmir. They repeat this pattern of the Jhelum very often in their
embroidery on shawls and Jamvars.

Flow on, Jhelum! Lend me the serenity that thou hast! Let me share thy
calm, which thou hast persevered down the chequered ages! I can ever
forget the wistful hours, I have spent on thy banks, or, when ferried
up or down in a shikara or a house boat, I have dreamily looked and
gazed at thy fair bosom, unconsciously assimilating thy message of
peace and poise.

Reminiscing over these musings, after two score years, in mid-1991, I
ponder over the cataclysmic changes that the Jhelum has witnessed
during this time-frame. After having seen the best of times, the
historic Vitasta flew by peacefully while its banks were sullied with
floating bodies of Kashmiris, done to death in the most gruesome
manner, and its water besmeared with the blood of innocents.

The Jhelum, however, has a resilience all its own. It beckons to the
migrants, who have fled the un-'Happy Valley' that better times will
return, that the trauma of militancy is a passing phenomenon in the
march of history. Peace and happiness will return to the beautiful
Himalayan environs criss-crossed by the broad-bosomed Jhelum. That is
my fervent wish and devout prayer. Amen!

Source:
Tales of Kashmir

by Somnath Dhar