[Reader-list] Early Kashmiri Society-An Analysis

[Pawan Durani]

Early Kashmiri Society-An Analysis

Source: Kashmir Sentinel



By Dr. S.S. Toshkani



>From the above analysis of the nature and character of the pre-Islamic
Kashmiri society and its way of life we can safely arrive at some
conclusions. We can characterize it as an open-minded, liberal and
human society, culturally advanced, intellectually alert and
aesthetically conscious. The religion that formed and bedrock of its
values and ideals allowed different beliefs and modes of worship to
co-exist happily and cordially. In his introduction of Edwin Muir's
'Life of Mohammet', well-known historian Ram Swarup has quoted
Prudence Jones, spokesperson for the UK Pagan Federation to have
observed: "All the world's indigenous and ethnic religions have three
features in common: they are nature-venerating, seeing nature as a
manifestation of divinity; secondly, they are polytestic and recognize
many gods as many manifestation;  the third feature is that they all
recognize the Goddess, the female aspect of Divinity as well as male".
 This in nutshell also sums up the religious outlook of the early
Kashmiri society. It had several inherent weaknesses too.

But when Islam came to Kashmiri in the 14th century with its ideology
and beliefs, its theology and dogmas, its laws and codes of conduct,
its lore and legends, everything that the Kashmiri society stood for
earlier was upturned. Its entire social, spiritual and cultural fabric
was shattered by the cataclysmic events that followed. Some scholars
say that long before Muslim rule was established there, Muslims had
settled in Kashmir. They give examples of the presence of Turkic
Muslim soldiers in Harsha's (19089-1111) army, and the employment of
Turkie mercenaries by Bhikshachara (1120-1121) against Sussala as
evidence. They quote Marco Polo as suggesting that a colony of Muslims
existed in Kashmir in the 13th century. All this may well be true, but
was only when refugees and adventurers from different quarters
converged on Kashmir during the reign of King Suhadev (1301-1320),
that the Hindus lost Kashmir to Islam. Till then Kashmir may have
known Muslims, but not Islam as such. The earlier attempts by Hisham
bin Amru'I—Taghlibi, the Arab governor in Sindh, in the 8th century
and Mahmud of Ghazni (998-1030) to invade Kashmir had ended in
failure. Not much is known about the impact of Muslims who had settled
earlier in Kashmir on the existing society, but it seems that their
activities went unnoticed largely because of Hindu tradition of
hospitality. But when Rinchana, a Buddhist fugitive from Ladakh and
Shah Mir, an adventurer from Swat, came seeking refugee, they colluded
with Saiyyid Sharaf-ud-Din alias Bulbulshah, who had arrived earlier,
to subvert the very society that gave them shelter. They succeeded in
doing hat Ghazni could not an established Islamic rule in Kashmir by
subversion, perfidy and treachery.

Lacking political foresight and ignorant of Shah Mir's motives and
ambitions. Suhadev committed the folly of granting him a whole village
for his sustenance. Earlier he had bestowed a jagir on Bulbul Shah
also. Rinchana too got employment under Ramachandra. Suhadeva's
commander-in-chief. And even as the two were consolidating their
positions by clever means, Zulji or Zulqadr Khan, a Turk/Mongol chief
invaded Kashmir at the head of a huge army of 70,000. Suhadeva fled to
Kashtawar, without the Kottarajas or petty chiefs of border posts,
coming to his help. He left people to the invader's mercy. Zulju
ordered a massacre and his soldiers decimated thousands of people,
enslaved thousands, burnt down villagers, plundered towns and
destroyed standing crops. After eight months of his devastating stay
Zulju left taking fifty thousand Brahmins with him as slaves, but
perished along with the pensions and troops near Devasar Pass in a
heavy snowfall. His ravages have been described in detail in
Jonaraja's Rajataragini and the Baharistan-i-Shahi. Famine ensued as
the Zulju's troops had destroyed all stores of grain, causing immense
misery to the starving survivors.

It was Zulju's devastating invasion that actually scripted the fall of
Kashmir into Musilm hands, for in the anarchy conditions created by
it, Rinchana saw the opportunity for himself to grab power. According
to Baharistan-i-Shahi, Rinchana, smuggled his men with weapons in the
guise of merchants in to the fort where his master Ramchandra had shut
himself up. In the bloody attack that followed Ramachandra and his men
were treacherously killed and his family imprisoned. Even children
were not spared and pregnant women's wombs were cut upon. Seizing
power in a coup, Rinchana later freed Ramchandra's son Rawanchandra
and married his daughter Kota Rani.

Rinchana's conversion to Islam is one of the most controversial issues
in the history of Kashmir. Jonaraja says that he wanted to become a
Hindu, but the Shaiva guru Devaswami refused to admit him into the
fold. But this does not seem to be the fact, for, as Prof. A.Q. Rafiqi
has rightly pointed out, even if that were the case, Rinchana, being
the king, could have approached any other Brahmana for it. "Conversion
from Buddhism to Hinduism or vice versa was not a new thing", Prof.
Rafiqi writes. It is wrong, therefore, to put the blame on Devaswami,
as some modern historians have done, simply because he was a Brahmin.
Is it not possible that his hestitation had something to do with the
revolutions cased by Rinchana's treachery?

Another story was floated which attributed Rinchana's acceptance of
Islam to "divine grace". Rinchana, it is said, held discussions with
both Hindu and Muslim scholars about what is "Truth", but none could
satisfy him. He then decided to adopt the religion of the first person
he should see in the morning. And who could that person be other than
the "Sufi" Sharafu'd-Din Bulbul, offering namaz outside the palace?
Rinchana became a Muslim adopting the Islamic name Sadr'-ud-Din. The
story "was concocted to glorify Islam and establish the miraculous
power of Sayyid Sharafu'd-Din", says Prof. Rafiqi and rightly so.

It seems more probable that Rinchana's conversion was manipulated by
Shah Mir himself with the connivance of Bulbul Shah to establish
Muslim rule in Kashmir. And thus the refugee from Ladakh became, the
ruler of the Kashmir in 1320 A.D, but died less than three years
later. Kota Rani made Suhadeva's brother Udyanadeva the king and
herself became his queen. Hindu rule was restored but not for long.
Again a Turk (or Mongol) marauder, Achala, swooped upon Kashmir and
Udyanadeva fled to Ladakh. Showing exemplary courage, Kota Rani
organised a resistance with the help of Bhatta Bhikshana, a Brahmin
noble, and Shah Mir as well as some Kottarajas or clan-chiefs. She
managed to send the invader back, while Shah Mir gained popularity for
his role. Shah Mir now started scheming openly for grabbing the throne
which he had been eyeing all along. Not that Kota Rani, who had
proclaimed herself the ruler, failed to read his mind, but she played
her cards badly. Instead of cutting Shah Mir to his size, she further
strengthened his position by offering his administrative posts to his
two sons. And not just that, when Shah Mir reigned illness, she sent
her ablest general Bhatta Bhikshana to inquire of his health. Shah Mir
murdered Bhatta Bhikshana treacherously and besieged Kota Rani in her
palace at Andarkot. Overpowering the queen, he seized power in 1339
AD, laying the foundation of Muslim rule in Kashmir. Kota had to pay
with her life for the folly of not having arrested the wily Mir
immediately after Bhikshana's murder. That was the final act in the
sordid drama that saw Hindu Kashmir loose out to Islam without ever
getting a chance to recover.

Both Shah Mir and Rinchana repaid the generosity and hospital of the
Hindu rulers as well as people with perfidy most could and
unimaginable. And though "no Arab legions marched into Kashmir with
their swift horses and slender sword," as Prof. K.N. Pandita has
observed, it will be wrong to think that the sword played no part in
destroying its ancient society and changing forever its religious and
demographic profile. Did not the blitzkriegs of Zulju and Achala
create conditions of such abysmal chaos that it became easy for
adventurers like Rinchana and Shah Mir to grab power without as much
as a ripple? Shah Mir's ascension to the thrown as the first Muslim
ruler of Kashmir triggered the inexorable chain of developments that
had a terrible impact on the psyche of its hapless Hindus, making them
retreat into a sulk from which they have still not been able to
retrieve themselves. The period of transition to Islam is most crucial
in the history of Kashmir, but unfortunately it has been presented in
a manner that shows utter disregard (or should we say utmost contempt)
for truth. It is extremely important to understand how people
belonging to a society saturated with civilization and steeped in
learning came to accept in vast numbers a religion totally
incompatible with their deepest convictions and long established
traditions. It must be noted that the process of Islamization of
Kashmir that began during Rinchana and Shah Mir's time gathered a
furious momentum with the arrival of Sayyid Mir Ali Hamadani on the
scene and proved to be an unmitigated disaster for Kashmiri Hindus-a
nightmare of mass massacres, holocaust, genocidal attacks and
enslavement. Let us have a look at the sequence of events that led to
it before arriving at any conclusions Sayyid Ali Hamadani, regarded
one of the greatest missionaries of Islam by Kashmiri Muslims, arrived
from Hamadan probably in 1381 with an entourage of 700 other Sayyids
who it is widely believed fled Persia to escape persecution by Taimur.
Earlier he had sent two of his cousins, Sayyid Taju'd-Din and Sayyid
Hussain to Kashmir "to explore the religious atmosphere of that
country" according to Prof. A.Q. Rafiqi. He was initiated in the
Kubrawiya order of Sufi's by Ala'ud-Din Simnani who "believed that the
duty of a Sufi was to preach his faith".

The first thing Sayyid Ali Hamdani did in Kashmir was to admonish
Sultan Qutbu'd-Din for having married two uterine sisters against the
Islamic law and for dressing himself after the fashion of the Hindus.
The Sultan quickly divorced one of the two sisters, and abandoned the
Hindu costume to wear Muslim dress Hamadani he then set upon his
proselytizing activities to fulfil Allah's command to him. He is sand
to have converted as many as 37,000 Hindus to Islam. He probably
wanted Qutbu'd-Din" to make the persecution and torture of Hindus as
state policy" as Prof. K.L. Bhan writes in his book Paradise Lost:
Seven Exoduses of Kashmiri Pandits" But as the author of
Baharistan-i-Shahi says, "Sultan Qutbu'd-Din failed to propagate Islam
in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of Amir Sayyid Ali
Hamdani, he decided not to stay in Kashmir anyt more and left via
Baramulla under the pretext of proceeding on a pilgrimage to Mecca".
But he left for the Sultan a mandate in the shape of
'Zakhirat-ul-Mulk' which made it imperative for every Muslim ruler to
treat his non-Muslim subjects (Zimnis) according to the convenient of
Caliph Umar. Sayyid Ali's mandate divides the subjects under a Muslim
ruler into two categories-Muslims and Kafirs-and lists 20 most
humiliating and degrading rules for the infidels to comply with
absolute obedience. The mandate forbids non-Muslims to construct any
new places of worship, to reconstruct any existing place of worship
that may fall in to ruin to ride horses with saddle and bridle, to
carry weapons, to wear signet rings, to openly practice their customs
and usages among Muslims, to carry their dead near the graveyards of
Muslims to mourn their dead loudly, to build their houses in the
neighbourhood of Muslims, and to prevent Muslim travellers from
staying their place of worship or temples. They are also required to
receive any Muslim traveller in to their houses and to provide him
with hospitality for three days and to wear humble dress so that they
may be distinguished from Muslims. Sayyid Ali does not mention any
rights which non-Muslims could expect in return for obeying these
twenty conditions, but concludes with the note that if they infringe
any of them then Muslim shave a right to kill them. An open licence to
kill those who do not believe in Islam!

It was Sayyid Ali Hamdani who got the temple of Kalishri near
Fatehkadal in Srinagar demolished and converted into a Khanqah, now
known as Khanqah to Maula "Sayyid Ali's proselytizing activities",
writes Prof. A.Q. Rafiqi, "are highly extolled by both medieval and
modern scholars. But none of them gives any details of the method
adopted by him at his work" Rafiqi adds. "There is no doubt, however,
that Islam received great impetus because of Sayyid Ali and his
followers. He left his deputies at a number of places which were great
Hindu centres of those days, such as Pompur, Avantipura and Vijabror.
These followers of Sayyid Ali established Khanqahs, and the network of
branches which gradually emerged became important centres of preaching
and proselytization".

The proselytizing frenzy of the Sayyids reached a crescendo in Kashmir
during the reign of Sikandar Butshikan or Sikandar the Iconoclast. At
the behest of Sayyid Ali Hamadani's son Sayyid Muhmmad Hamdani who
came to Kashmir in 1393, Sultan Sikandar let loose a reign of
unprecedented terror against the Hindu population. "To him", writes
the author of Baharistan-i-Shahi, "goes the credit of wiping out the
vestiges of infidelity and heresy from the mirror of the conscience of
the dwellers of these lands", adding that "immediately after his
arrival, Sultan Sikandar, peace be on him submitted to his religious
supremacy and proved his loyalty to him by translating his words into
deeds". One of the first to be converted by the Sayyid was Sikandar's
minister Suha Bhatt, who was given the Muslim name of Malik
Safu'd-Din. The two at the instigation of Mir Sayyid Mohammad Hamdani
committed the most barbaric atrocities on Kashmiri Hindus, giving them
no option but to accept Islam, exile or death. Hassan writes:
"Sikandar meted out greatest oppression to the Hindus. It was notified
in the city that if a Hindu does not became a Muslim, he must leave
the country or be killed. As a result, some of the Hindus fled away,
some accepted Islam and many Brahmanas consented to be killed and gave
their lives. It is said Sikandar collected by these methods about
three khirwars (240 kilgrams) of sacred threads (from Hindu converts)
and burnt them...All the Hindu books of learning were collected and
thrown into Dal Lake and were buried beneath stones and earth".

Sikandar imposed the Jiziya on Hindus, prevented them from applying
tilak on their foreheads and prohibited the selling of wine, dancing
of women, music and gambling. He derived a peculiar sadistic pleasure
from destroying Hindus temples and smashing their idols, from which he
got his notorious nickname, Hassan says:

"This country (Kashmir) possessed from the times of Hindu kings many
temples which were like the wonders of the world. Their workmanship
was so fine and delicate that one found himself bewildered at their
sight. Sikandar goaded by feelings of bigotry destroyed them and
levelled them with the earth and with their materials built many
mosques and Khanqahs. In the first instance he turned his attention
towards the Martanda temple built by Ramadeva (it was actually
Lalitaditya who had built it) on Mattan Karewa. For one full year he
fried to demolish it but failed. At last in sheer dismay he dug out
stones from its base and having stored enough wood in their place set
fire to it. Gold gilt paintings on its walls were totally destroyed
and the walls surrounding its premises were demolished. Its ruins even
now strike wonder in men's minds. At Bijbeahara three hundred temples
including the famous Vijayaeshwara temple which was partially damaged
by Shahabu'd-Din were destroyed and with the material of the latter a
mosque was built and on its site and a Khanqah which is even now known
as Vijayeshwar Khanqah".

Like some possessed maniacs, the iconoclasts went on destroying one
magnificent temple after another, one splendid image after
another—Martanda, Vishaya, Ishana, Chakrabhrit, Tripureshwara.
Sureshwari, Parihaspur, Mahashri, the temple built by Tarapida all
became targets on their frenzy. Jonaraja, the contemporary historian
says with anguish : "There was no town, no village, no wood where Suha
and the Turshka left the temples of Gods unbroken". Adds R.K. Parmu:
"Then they rebuilt the Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta, and the mosque of
Khanqah Maula was built in commemoration of Sayyid Ali Hamadani. Two
other big mosques were built in Bhavan and Bijbeahara. All these
mosques were built from the material of the demolished Hindu temples;
and the spacious courtyard of the Lokeshwari temple in Srinagar was
converted into the Mazar-i-Salatin."

Parmu blames it on the "fanatical zeal" of the "malevolent" Sayyids
who in their fiendhish exultation gave Sikandar their most coveted
title of "Butshikan", the iconoclast.." Prof. AQ Rafiqi is clear that
Sikandar's orthodox policy was not dictated by political reasons but
on the advice of Mir Muhammad Hamdani. Genocidal attacks and barbaric
decrees created so much terror and panic among the defencless Hindus
that they fled for their lives—across the Smithan Pass to neighbouring
Kashtawar and via Batote (Kashmiri 'Bhatta Wath' or the path of the
Bhattas) . This, as Prof. K.L. Bhan points out, was the first mass of
exodus Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir.

The orgy of violence and proselytizing frenzy continued unabated into
the reign of Sultan Ali Shah (1413-1420). The renegade Suha and the
demoniac Sayyids went berserk in their attempt to destroy Hinduism,
root and branch. The whole Valley was bathed in the blood of the
innocents. Jonaraja draws a heart-rending picture of the plight of
Hindus, in particular Brahmins of Kashmir comparing them to fish
tormented by a fisherman in a closed river. He says that their
religious ceremonies and processions were banned; heavy taxes were
levied on them; and to starve them their traditional allowances were
stopped, forcing them to become beggars. For a mouthful of food, "they
went from house to house, lolling out their tongues like dogs". Some
roamed in the streets in the disguise of Muslims to save their
emaciated families from hunger. To escape oppression and to preserve
their religious identity, may of them ran away from their land through
bye-roads as the main roads were closed, "the non leaving his father
behind and the father leaving his son". Passing though difficult
terrain, many of them died of scorching heat and illness, many of
starvation due to scanty food. But not all succeeded in escaping. Many
of those who remained behind committed suicide by taking poison, many
by drowning self-immolation. Many hanged themselves, many jumped from
precipices. Numerous Hindus were killed brutally while many were
forced to convert to Islam.

Deeply disturbed by the suffering of his co-regionalists on the even
of Zainu'l-Abidin's ascension to throne, Jonaraja laments: "As storms
do with trees, or locusts with paddy crops, wicked people belonging to
his (Sikandar's) faith worked havoc with the traditions and usages of
Kashmir. His lament viewed against the background of Suha Bhatta's
role in the misery heaped up on Kashmiri Hindus raises a significant
question: how to explain the behaviour of the neo-converts towards
their erstwhile co-regionalists? Purna, the barber who instigated
Zainu'l-Abidin's on Haidar Shah to commit barbarities against the
Hindus is another case of the rabidity of the neoconverts. He got
their limbs amputated, their tongues and noses chopped off and had
them impaled. Other neo-converts too joined the orthodox Muslims to
provoke the king to commit inhuman atrocities on Hindus, to desecrate
and loot their temples.

--(Concluded)