[Reader-list] Literature - Kashmiri Poetry - Its Past and Present

[Pawan Durani]

   *Kashmiri Poetry*
*Its Past and Present* *History* *of Kashmir is a poignant tale of poverty,
hardship and humiliation. But in the vast desert of its political
subjugation servitude, and economic suffering, here and there, one finds in
its history rich oasis of benevolent rule, social and economic prosperity
where rich culture, art and springs of communal amity, religious tolerance
quench the thirst and soothe the hearts of Kashmiris.*
Kashmiri, though spoken by more than forty lakhs of people has never been a
medium of communication among the common people; while Sanskrit, Persian and
English have, in turn, been the official languages or the languages of the
educated sections. Till the end of the 18th century whatever poetry was
produced, was the work of the illiterate men and country bards or women like
Lalleshwari and Habba Khatoon.


*Lal Ded* (URL <http://www.lalded.com/>)
Ignoring the folklore, we can historically locate the first poets of Kashmir
in the 14th century. Among them Lalleshwari or Lai Ded is the most
significant poetess. After the benign and peaceful rule of Avantivarman in
Kashmir. there followed the long period of political unrest and uncertainty
which was responsible for the degeneration of religion and morals of the
people. They followed the complicated rites and dogmas and naturally the
simple religion of Islam had a great impact on the people of Kashmir. They
did not keep themselves aloof and remain entrenched in stronghold of
religious separateness. They mixed with the Muslims. This close contact
between them and their influence on each other brought about the evolution
of mystics and, to some extent, a sort of synthesis of the two religions in
certain sects. Lalleshwari belongs to this genre of mystics who sang many
truths that are common to many Hindus and Muslims. No doubt, her religious
philosophy is fundamentally based on Yoga and Shaivism which she expressed
in precise, apt and sweet Kashmiri dialect. According to her, devotion to
God requires purity of heart and concentration of mind which she expressed
in beautiful verse. She says:

   "The mind's steed runs over the skies
   Within a wink it travels lakhs of leagues.
   A truly intelligent man can bridle the cavorting steed.
   And guide his chariot aright on the wheels of Prana ".
   (tr. from Kashmiri)

She considers idolatory as useless and urges us to take to yogic practice:

   "Idol and temple of stone
   So temple above and idol below are one;
   Which will they worship
   O stupid one
   Bring about the union of mind and soul".
   (tr. from Kashmiri)

Contemporary of Lai Ded was Sheikh Nur-ud-Din Wali, the great mystic, who
too like her was revered by both Hindus and Muslims of Kashmir.: expressed
his moral teachings in concise and sweet verses, which form valuable gems of
Kashmiri literature. He, like Lal Ded, exhorted his followers to perform
good actions for therein lies the salvation of man. One of his verses
translated into English is:

   "The dog is barking in the compound,
   O Brothers! Give ear and listen to what he says;
   As one sowed, so did he reap
   Then Nund, sow, sow, sow".

Religious schisms were raising their heads in his time and Nund Rishi, as he
was lovingly called, warned people against these hypocritical saints in the
following verse (translated from Kashmiri):

   "The rosary is like a snake;
   Thou bendest it on seeing the disciples;
   Thou hast eaten six platefuls, one like another
   If thou art a priest, then who are robbers?"

After the death of the two mystics, Lai Ded and Nund Rishi, the Muse in
Kashmir fell into a deep sleep for about two hundred years and with the
birth of Habba Khatoon it woke up again fluttering and singing, not the
mystical experience but the lilting tunes of true romance. Poets imagine
romance and write about it but Habba Khatoon lives romance and sings about
it. Up to her time poets were expected to sing the love of God but she sang
of human love. She sang lyrics which can be regarded as great gems in
Kashmiri literature and therein her genius exults. The Kashmiri poetry had
been surcharged with mysticism and divinity but she bought fresh air into it
when she sang of mundane earthly love. She does not treat love, as a
"transcendental passion or as a mystic mingling of sense and spirit nor is
she engrossed in universal, abstract and ideal love". She sings of her
personal substantive love. She also lends herself to the emotions of the
joylessness of life. Her own failure in marriage and then her own love
story, proved a significant factor in her emotional experience and in her
poetry only `plaintive numbers flow' and these echo her own grief. In one of
her famous poems she says:

   "Stole thou my heart and forsook me at last
   Pray come, my lovely Love, O come!
   Come friend let us to collecting cress,
   Mystery of fate none can unravel.
   Sly, senseless people slander and defame me
   Pray, come, my lovely Love, O come!
   Hurt he hath me with his love's hatchet
   Then sent none to ask and enquire after.
   Pray, come, my lovely Love, O come".
   (tr. from Kashmiri)

No poems, barring those of Habba Khatoon or Arnimal, which sing of a woman's
passion or love from the feminine standpoint, are found in Kashmiri
literature. Kashmiri ladies, therefore, find in her poems an eloquent
exposition of the woman's point of view. Her desperate wails make them share
her despair. Therefore, miserable women, downtrodden by callous men and
persecuted by the mother-in-law, feel consoled and their sorrowful feelings
get purged by singing her verses in their lonely moments. Her individual and
personal desire is the desire of every woman. Thus Habba Khatoon laments:

   "Pining and melting I am like snow in summer
   Though blooming blossom of jasmine I am;
   Thine the garden and thou enjoy it
   Oh, why dost thou despise me!"


*Habba Khatoon *(URL) (TV Movie)
A century later another lady, named Arnimal, moved the hearts of the
Kashmiri people. She was forsaken by her husband. His desertion aroused the
muse in her. Her songs are sweet and full of rich imagery and pathos. Thus
she wails:

   My face was like a jasmine in July
   Now it is like yellow withered rose.
   Ah! when will he come to me
   And I gaze at his lovely face".

Kashmiri poetry of the modern period starts with the beginning of
19thcentury. In the early stages Kashmiri was dominated by Persian
influences,
as it was the court language and the medium of polite literature. Kashmiri
poets meticulously followed the models set by Persian poets: From 1819 to
1890 was the period when Kashmir produced poetry both rich and prolific. The
devotional type of poetry had laid firm Foundations in Kashmir. Pandit
Parmanand, is the great exponent of Ida devotional songs). He expressed his
devotion for Lord Krishna in sweet and direct diction. His poems, though
simple, are of deep metaphysical import. Shams Fakir, born in 1943, was a
mystic and a highly religious man. He spent all his life of 63 years in the
worship of God and expressed his Sufi-type of teaching in simple, sweet and
direct poems. He followed Nund Rishi and believed in the purity of heart and
the denial of the joys of life. He believed in leading a simple life. Wahab
Khar was also a Sufi of his type, who also quoted and expressed his simple
teachings in simple Kashmiri language. One of the earliest poets who follows
Persian pattern Mohammad Gami. He wrote romances like Yusuf Zulaikha, Laila
Majnu and Shirin Khusru, etc. His descriptions are trite and graphic. What
distinguishes his poetry is the true quality of passion:

   "Softly come, flowers shall I shower
   Listen to my wails,
   I search for you in the woods;
   In the garden of love I seek you.
   Where you fly, there I follow you.
   My whimsical one, I adore you.
   Your tresses are tumbled down on your shoulders
   Like branches of Sumbal stooping low and low
   You know my heart's desire
   My heart and body are restless!"

Maqbul Shah Kralwari, at the same time, wrote a poetic romance Gulrez. Its
theme is Persian but the scenes are typically Kashmiri. The miserable
condition of squalor and fear in which a farmer lived has been well
described by him in his famous satire Gruisnama, written in a frank,
straightforward and sympathetic sarcasm. He says:

   "Thrushings verily have been ordained by Heaven for the peasant;
   Pull out the shoe and strike him on the head".

Again, he describes peasants running forth to welcome a state official,
Sazwal, with false warmth:

   "If the Sazwal comes across them they run to greet him
   They would knock away his fatigue with closed fists
   Shampoo his limbs and offer him seat upon their heads".

He is famous for his lyrical poetry too wherein he gives beautiful
description of Nature.
The lyric stream of Kashmiri verse runs deeper in Rasul Mir. His poems
possess all the essential elements that go to make a true lyric-intense
passion, exquisite verbal melody and spontaneity of utterance. They have
such careless ease and abandon, such indefinable and bewitching sweetness
about them that they send a strange yet delightful thrill in us. Thus sings
the poet (tr. from Kashmiri):

   "Love, thy serpentine curls have enchanted me
   O, cast a glance of thy languid eyes, my drunken love.
   How I admire thy cypress stature and thy form resplendent like the moon!
   O, my loved one, thou art possessed of smile, form resplendent like the
   moon".

He is considered as the father of Kashmiri ghazal, running in a well-knit
form and pattern.
The renaissance in modern Kashmiri literature begins in the early twenties
of this century with Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor's poetry. who was given eminence
by Tagore, who called him "the Wordsworth of Kashmiri poetry". He, as a
village Patwari, came into close contact with poor down-trodden rustic
people of the villages, who lived in squalor and misery. Their condition
shocked and shook him to the very marrow and he voiced their inner feelings
and exhorted them to rise and strive for their own emancipation. There was
feudalism prevailing in Kashmir as elsewhere in the country, which was full
of vices. Feudal lords have always been interested in profit-hunting and
exploiting the poor classes. Mahjoor did not flee from the socio-political
world into an enchanted realm of his own mind jealously closed against the
intrusion of social and political affairs. His poems are full of patriotism.
He says:

   "Mahjoor, our own motherland is a flowery garden,
   Most lovely!
   Best we must love our dear land
   Our land is a lovely garden"
   (tr. From Kashmiri)

   "He even blows the trumpet of revolution
   If thou wouldst rouse this habitat of roses,
   Leave toying with kettle-drums.
   Let there be thunder-storm and tempest, aye an earthquake".

He is a votary of Hindu-Muslim unity and in the hearts of Kashmiri people
are enshrined the high principles of brotherhood, tolerance and communal
amity. According to him:

   "Hindus will keep the helm and Muslims ply the oars;
   Let them together row ashore the boat of this country".

[image: Mahjoor]
*Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor *(URL) Mahjoor was not a mystic or a recluse but a
lover of Life and Nature. In his early life he was not interested in
politics. In his famous poem Gulshan Vattan Chu honey (Our Land is a Lovely
Garden) he sings of the beauty of Nature:

   "To gardens, mountains and hills
   Ravines, woods and banks
   Colourful flowers with colour fills
   Our land is a lovely garden!
   Flowers are in full bloom
   In gardens, woods and glens;
   Bulbul gazing gets gay soon;
   Our land is a lovely garden!"

He has written in simple popular language poems of immense lyrical
sweetness. In his well-known poem Lokchar (Youth) he melodiously sings:

   "A cedar tree is a wood in my youth
   On a river's bank delighting in lush verdure;
   Cut it not down, O cruel woodcutter!
   O my youth, my spring time!
   Like a song-bird of the garden is my youth!
   Singing sweetly, sitting on a flowering bough.
   O chief hunter, do not take aim at it;
   O my youth, my spring time"

Mahjoor was followed by Abdul Ahad Azad who too like him took to
revolutionary ideas. But Mahjoor was a nationalist while Azad desired and
longed for a socialist pattern of society, based on equality among men.
The end of feudal regime in Kashmir and the consequent political changes
brought about a cataclysmic awakening and an urge to reject the traditional
values in Kashmiris. The younger generation was no longer deferential to old
moral principles and there was naturally a breakdown in the traditional
values in all fields of social activities. Men like Zinda Koul, better known
as "Master ji", looked inwards and to the things of the spirit. He found
that knowledge and freedom which had given us material progress had removed
harmony, confidence and serenity from our hearts. The modern mind was
tormented by scepticism and anguish. He shunned the political enthusiasm of
the time and was not swept off his feet by the socialistic ideas and dreams.
The only key to happiness, according to him, is love and he does not preach
any dogmatic philosophy or state any mystical certainties. Pure poetry
aspires to a condition of prayer and Zinda Koul's famous poem is full of
such poetry. Like Francis Thompson he feels that God always thought of his
well-being and though he fears Him and avoids him God is for ever waiting
for man to turn to Him. Says Zinda Koul:

   "Have strayed, tottered and fallen,
   How dare I face Him again? But you'll find it unavailing-
   This lame excuse to fly Him.
   For even if you turn,
   He will pursue for ever;
   This bond is from the dawn of life
   Not a passing childish fancy".

Majbooriyaa (Compulsion) and Natairee (Unpreparedness) are sublime poems
which express the belief in the supermacy of the spirit over reason.

[image: Pandit Zinda Koul]
*Pandit Zinda Koul (1884-1965) *(URL)
The great ferment began in 1931 when Sheikh Moh'd Abdullah launched an
agitation against the autocracy and with the invasion of Kashmir by Pakistan
in 1947, it came to its full flowering. A new fervour gripped the new
generation of poets when the people's government was formed after the
collapse of the feudalistic rule, action and poetry became a vehicle of
propaganda for social and political justice. A group of poets emerged who
regarded socialistic realism as an all-pervasive literary value. They became
the people's articulate voice against the aristocratic exploitation,
corruption and imperialist designs on the valley of Kashmir. They
experimented with new forms and new themes. The leader of this progressive
group, as it came to be known, was Dina Nath Nadim. He was influenced by the
English poets like Shelley and Byron, the Marxist thought and Russian and
Chinese revolutions. Dina Nath Nadim who was also awarded Soviet Land Nehru
Award by the U.S.S.R. in 1971 for his revolutionary poetry, was the most
significant poet ofthe new generation. The influence of Mayakovsky Gorky can
clearly be seen in h is poetry. His poetry is intimately connected with the
political upheavals in Kashmir. In Vathi Baagachi Kukli (Arise, 0 Oriole of
the Garden) he sang ofthe dawn of freedom movement in Kashmir. In Asi
Kashirav tul nov rut kadam (We Kashmiris took the right new step) he hailed
the land to the tillers' step. He mostly wrote with a political bias; in his
Bu Gyavana Az (I will not sing today) he sings of the new freedom movement:

   "I will not sing today
   Of roses and of bulbuls
   Of irises and hyacinths
   I will not sing
   Those drunken and ravishing
   Dulcet and sleepy eyed songs
   No more such songs for me!"

In his poems he makes impeccable use of words and original imagery drawn
from everyday life. This has made his poems very popular. Dal Hanzani Hund
satsun (The song of the boatwoman) is a clear example of such poems:

   "I've brought them fresh from the take
   Come buy, come buy, come buy!
   Small brinjal and round big gourds-
   Come buy! come buy! come buy!
   Fresh radish gleaming in the shade of the weed
   Marsh turnip blushing like a belle-
   O my boat is like the flowering dawn!
   Come buy! come buy! come buy!"

Nadim also has written an opera Imber Bumerzal which is most famous for its
music and richness of thought and has won for him laurels.
He influenced many poets. Abdul Rehman Rahi is significant among them. Rahi
also is a poet of revolution and wrote some propagandist poems. He
introduced into Kashmiri poetry two things. one was the monologue and
another the use of symbolist technique. In Gata Gash (Darkness Light) the
Jagirdhar and the peasant speak alternately. He invokes an atmosphere
through significant details and images, as:

   "I saw a maiden fair in grief
   With bent back and tears flowing
   I drew closer in that garden
   Lo! it was the narcissus heavy with dew".

Another great poet of modern time in Kashmir is Mirza Arif. He does not
belong to this group of socialist poets and has poetry which has its own
distinct characteristics and originality. He is by education and temperament
a scientist and keenly observes life with a certain detachment. He, too, has
reflected on the different facts of social and political life in Kashmir and
he writes about exploitation, hypocrisy and falsehood. He takes the lid off
the cesspool of social evil. He writes:

   "One chance leap shows jackal in lion's skin
   Seemingly elephants, they lack the strength of a hair.
   Create they thus the world of dissembling
   What appear the iron walls, are but spider's webs,
   The wealthy called him scum;
   The political juggler called him king;
   The poor have seen the changing faces of the knaves".

Or

   "Fallen on the crossroads, the drunken man,
   To whom intoxication will bring sense (moral)
   Is better far than the sage with innocent face,
   Hidden in whose marrow lies the Satan".

Among other new poets in Kashmir may be mentioned Amin Kamil, Noor Moh'd
Roshan, Ghulam Nabi Firaq and Moti Lal Saqi. All these poets are
iconoclastic and would like to break the idols of old traditions. They also
describe the social evils with full force. Thus sings Amin Kamil:

   "Within their parlours darkness
   Illuminations splendour without.
   Valued much is yellow gold, love but ignored!
   Tearing curtains tunes will run out,
   Time has laid the trap,
   For life is not a stagnant pond".

Noor Moh'd Roshan's intellectual ideas are superb and he expresses them
sweetly as:

   "Stunned Satan sadly was roaming in the heavens
   "Why you left the earth" asked the Almighty of him.
   "I have come to hide myself, for shocked am I to see", he pleaded
   "Man is proficient in all my villainy and wickedness;
   No work is now left for me down below"

The Cultural Academy of Jammu & Kashmir and the Radio Kashmir are
encouraging and actively and directly helping the budding poets and we find
since Independence in 1947, a palpable resurgence in the field of art and
literature.

Source:
*The Rich Heritage of Jammu and Kashmir* *Studies in Art, Architecture,
History and Culture of the Region*

*By Prof. Somnath Wakhlu*