Kashmir: The Roots of our Culture
Dr. K. N. Pandita*, Jammu
(*The author is the former Director, Centre of Central
Asian studies, Kashmir University)
The Persian work Dabistan-e Mazahib authored by
Mohsin Fani in the middle of 17th century, has not received the due attention it
deserved from Kashmirian researchers. It refers to the presence of the
people of Zoroastrain and Jewish faiths in Kashmir in olden days apart from the
people of other faiths as well.
Many works of Arab historians speak of the movement of the Jews towards the
Hindu Kush and beyond particularly of the people of the 'lost tribe'.
According to many commentators, they settled in modern Afghanistan and Kashmir
regions. Physical features of some groups of people in the area,
especially their hooked nose tips, prompted many physiognomists to offer them as
proofs of their Jewish origin.
[Apart from physiognomy, some of the characteristics of the people of this
region are also attributed to their Jewish origin. For example in Kashmir,
a general belief is that only two communities in the world go to bed without any
clothes on their body : these are the Jews and the Kashmiris. Likewise the
custom of usury has been common among the Afghans and Kashmiri moneylenders even
after Afghanistan became Islamic.
These introductory remarks may or may not be historically correct,
nevertheless the legend goes like that. And what we want to state here is
that the high mountains that skirt the region have not always hampered Kashmir's
connection with the world outside.
Ancient mythological works either in India or in Iran, the two countries with
ancient and complementary civilization, have not totally ignored the geography
of the region to which the early Aryans migrated from different parts of Central
Asia. But of course the place names have undergone many changes and
sometimes there is much difficulty in identifying them. In particular,
with the passage of time, there were physical changes because of geographical
cycle, and grasslands turned into deserts or the vice versa. The rivers
changed their course, the lakes broke into rivers and new lakes were formed.
To cite one example, the Oxus, which was thought to be emptying itself in the
Aral Sea, changed its course and fell into Caspian Sea. Even that
situation has also changed because now its waters dry up somewhere in the
eastern regions of modern Turkmenistan.
Avestic mythological literature, the Gathas in particular, tell us that
Zaradaushtara (Zardusht/ Zoroaster, literally meaning 'yellow camel' because
Zoroaster was imagined to be riding a camel ), the prophet of the fire
worshipping people was born in a very cold region [to the east of Iranvaej, The
region called Iranvaej has been thoroughly discussed by Iranologists like
Noldeke and Darmesteter. They have arrived at the conclusion that Iranvaej
was the region now called Iran extending from the Pamirian Mountains in the east
to the Caucasus (koh-e-kaff) in the west. The cold region of eastern
Iranvaej, therefore, should be the Pamirian- Badakhshan mountain region and what
the Gathas say confirms the rise of Zoroaster in this region.]
Incidentally it may be mentioned that the first ever state raised by the
Aryans in cis-Oxus region was in the same mountainous region to which the Greek
historian. Herodotus gave the name of Bacteria. In olden Persian
works, this place was known as Bakhtar and Bakhri in Vedic works. Some
researchers are of opinion that modern Balkh could be considered the epicenter
of the ancient Bactrian State.
Kohzad, the well-known Afghan scholar has discussed this issue very ably in
his two-volume Tarikh-e-Afghanistan. According to him the first ever State
of Bactria established by the Aryans was a typical and ideal State with defined
number of citizens, male and female, and with a hard code of conduct in their
social relationship. The norms of conducting social affairs were defined
and also those of worship, which the citizens were enjoined upon to observe with
strictness.
The moral and religious code, which we find so stubbornly adhered to by the
Zoroastrians should trace its origin to this earliest Aryan state in the lap of
the Pamirian-Badakhshanian mountains.
The Pamirs are too close to the regions of the Hindu Kush and the Karakorum
to its east. Therefore expansion of Zoroastrian religion and its
civilization to the east of the Pamirs is but natural and justifiable. It is
difficult to find any names of missionaries who carried the message of Zoroaster
to the people in the east because in those distant days common people were the
messengers without being assigned the particular mission of propagating faith
and converting others to their own.
The ancient Kashmiris are the descendants of Aryans whose ancestors settled
down after the valley was de-watered and habitation began in the dried up lands.
But essentially in the beginning the habitation took place in the elevated
regions called karewa in Farsi and largely known to the revenue records of
modern Kashmir. These Aryans are reported to have developed civilization
and social order, and when they settled in Kashmir and perhaps the northern
India, they carried with them their civilizational symbols and practices.
They moulded their life after the pattern that existed earlier in the place of
the origin of their first ancestors, the Aryans of Central Asia.
Now we know that fire is the greatest discovery made by man. The
discovery of fire changed the life of man so drastically that he found himself
the most powerful of the creatures. Fire had multifaceted utility for him,
it could warm, cook, burn, lit and ward off the wild and ferocious beasts.
Man felt not only powerful but also secure with this discovery in his hand.
The fire, therefore, enjoyed the highest place among the manifestations of
nature with the Aryans. It was raised to the heights of sanctimonious
manifestations of nature. With this consideration, fire began to be
worshipped as the representation of nature's power. People giving the fire
its due respect, came to be called the fire-worshippers or aatash parastan in
the literature of ancient Iranians. It has to be remembered that fire
worshipping was an ante-Zorostrain practice but since Zoroaster gave it the high
place in the hierarchy of nature's manifestations, the fire-worshipping came to
be recognized as the religion of Zoroaster.
It is true that in Zoroastrian civilization, three types of fires were
identified : the fire of the royalty (Aazar Gushnasp), the fire of the army (Aazar
Aapaadgan) and the fire of common man (Aazer Barzin). The headquarters of
the Fire of the Army (Aazar Aapaadgan) was located in the west of modern Iran
near Lake Aromiah. From Aazar Aaadgan we get the place name Aazarpadgan
and modem Azerbaijan, the western province of ancient Iran which was divided
into two parts after the Soviets established their sway over half of it in the
second World War. Its Avestic name was Atrapatene.
The history of ancient Kashmir does not inform us that the ancient Kashmiris
too had identified three types of fires. But the fact is that fire became
inseparable part of the culture of ancient Kashmiris. Pandits being the
custodians of unbroken cultural link, none of their social and religious
functions is complete without the presence of fire (agni). The Sanskrit
name for fire has its Greek equivalent in Ignus from which we get ignition,
ignite etc. The word aazar in Pahlavi language of ancient Iran is the
corruption of aatar of Avestic meaning fire. From Aatar we get the
Arabic/Persian atr meaning essence or perfume. In English language we have
ether or the essence. Conversion of Agni into Aatar of Avestic times is
explainable. In Kashmiri we have retained the world ogun derived from Agni.
In Kashmiri we have the word eather with two meanmgs, one is the wool worm and
the other conveys the sense of destruction in broad terms.
Zoroastrian religion found a receptive ground in Central Asia or the lands
beyond the Oxus. Though shahnameh of Firdowsi tells us extensively the
political rivalry between the Iranians and the Turanians, which in a sense may
be ascribed to ethnic conflict in present day political parlance. The
Iranians were of Aryan stock whereas the Turanians, by and large, descended from
the TurkoMongoloid stock. This may be there, but the fire worship was
neither the exclusive property of the Iranains nor of the Turanians. In
the ruins of Persepolis near Shiraz, we find the images of more than 25
emissaries from different lands and climes arriving at the court of the
Achaemenian King Darius (Dara) to offer presents and homage-Researchers have
tried to identify the countries represented by their emissaries through
the respective robes the emissaries wore. The emissaries from the Turanian
port of the empire are also represented. This should suggest that the
fireworshipping religion had made inroads into deep Central Asia as it had made
into northern India including Kashmir. It has to be remembered that
Kashmir at that point of time was more a part of vast Central Asian region
because of its climate, topography, trade routes and ethnic connections.
Moreover, there were no boundaries separation it from the rest of the region.
As late as the rule of Sultan Shihabu'd-Din, a large part of today' s
Afghanistan, NWFP and Punjab formed a part of his kingdom. Gandhara,
modern Kandahar, was an integral part of Kashmir kingdom during the times of
King Lalitaditya. As such, interaction between the Kashmiris and the
peoples in Central Asian region was brisk.
Badakhashan and Pamir Mountain regions mostly fall in modem Tajikistan.
Tajiks are the branch of Trano-Aryans, and therefore, ethnically distinct from
the Turanians. But what was the Tajik territory of olden days of which
Shanameh of Ferdowsi tells us at length, can be imagined by the fact that the
people in Samarkand and Bukhara speak Tajiki / Farsi. The twin cities with
their district areas were most unfortunately separated from Tajik land by the
unimaginative cartographers of Soviet State in 1930s and given into the
territory of the Uzbeks. This is an unnatural division of territory.
But the point we want to make here is that the Irano-Tajik sphere of influence
extended right up to Samarkand and Bukhara, which means the fringes of the Aral
sea. To the east, its influence reached the foothills of the Himalayas -
Kashmir and Kangra. Tarikh-e Yamini, the history of Mahmud of Ghazna tells
us about the self-buming flames in Kangra emitted from the earth. So do we
know of Soyambhava, the self-emitting flames in Bomai a village at the distance
of a few kilometers from Sopore in Baramulta district in Kashmir. Both the
places had become shrines during the Hindu period where a high priest performed
the rituals pertaining to the worship of the fire.
In, Badakhshan mountain heights in Tajikistan, we have the most ancient
habitats of the people of Zoroastrain faith. Their history is naturally to
be traced to the days of emergence of Zoroaster in the region. They have
preserved the traditions of the fire worshipping faith or the Zoroastrian
religion, the Navroz, the Haft Seen, the Sizdeh Badar, the Mehrgan and the rest
of it. The Zoroastrian prayers or what is traditionally known as niyayish
or thanksgiving (astoti in Snaskrit) to the manifestations of nature, the sun,
the air, the water, the oceans, etc. are in place. Again, they observe the
bidden and the forbidden in Zoroastrian faith. The water and the fire are
not to be defiled as that is tantamount to sin; the drinking of wine on feasts,
the slow recitation of prayers (zimzimeh) the telling of beads, and the worship
of the sun are also among the practices of the Zoroastrians of the
Badakhshan-Pamir regions.
The Hindus of Kashmir have preserved these traditions and some of these have
also trickled down to sections of Muslim society especially the Shias though
with some modifications, The Navroz (Pahlavi nok + roch) is a permanent entry in
the Pandit calendar and in faithful preservation of Zoroastrian tradition, it
marks the vernal equinox or 21 of March, the first day of Zoroastrian New Year.
In Kashmir, Shias are also known to be observing this feast. The haft seen
tradition is that the Zoroastrians would fill a large container with seven
things whose name begins with letter seen or the sound like sabzeh (turf),
samakh (sort of herbal product), sagar (wine cup) etc. The Pandits call it
thal baron or 'filling the platter' with handful of rice, pen, inkpot, flowers,
milk, sugar, and the new Saptrishi calendar. The practice of a member of
the family taking the platter in his hands early in the morning and showing it
to every member of the house is precisely what the Zoroastrians in the aforesaid
region of Tajikistan and also those in Iran have been doing. In Kashmir,
the Pandits do it twice a year, on the morning of nowroz- the Zoroastrian New
Year and on Navreh, (nava + varsha: sh and h being interchangeable) their own
New Year on the basis of Saptrishi calendar. I do not know whether the few
Zoroastrians that remain in Yezd and Kirman in Iran are allowed to hold on to
these practices and customs by the Khumeinites today. The sizdeh bedar of the
ancient Zoroastrians remains a much liked tradition by the Kashmiris of all
faiths down to this day called in their own language as badam warih, literally
meaning the Almond Garden. This needs some explanation.
On the thirteenth day after nowroz, the people come out of their houses and
proceed towards a garden to enjoy the onset of spring season. They attire
themselves in gorgeous dress and carry with them eatables. Music and dance
are part and parcel of the festivities. It is a big social gathering of
enjoying the outdoor festival. In Kashmir, the garden lying to the north
of the Hari Parbat foothillis was marked for its thick almond tree plantation.
As the almond tree blossoms first of all in the early spring in Kashmir, picnic
to this garden became an established tradition. One can remember the
groups of people of all faiths coming out to this garden to enjoy a family
feast-eating, drinking tea, and enjoying the blossoming of the almond trees and
the musicians entertaining the festive people. During the days of Bakhshi
Ghulam Mohammad, this function rose to its fullness and pervaded all sections of
society. Thus sizdeh badar of the Zoroastrians assumed the local colour of
adam warih in Kashmir.
The Mehrgan is the autumnal festival, a sort of merriment and thanksgiving
for a bumper harvest. The Zoroastrians enjoyed it as a big feast. In
Kashmir, a modification of the feast remained in vogue with the Pandits
especially of the rural Kashmir. This was called Berehbal. (I am unable to
explain the etymology of this word). A dragged explanation would be that
it is composed of two syllable, bereh + bal. Bal in Kashmiri language is
usually the suffix added to a place where water is available. Thus we have
Hazratbal, Sadrehbal, Yarbal, Nagbal etc. Bereh in rural Kashmir means
'the burrow' in the soil. Under this tradition, the members of the
household used to come out on the paddy field, select a small place within the
fields, sit there, offer thanks giving by pouring water and rice into the field
and then eat the cooked food. With the ancient Zoroastrians this was
somewhat elaborate custom and one difference that has been witnessed is the
timing of the festival. In Zoroastrian Iran it was held in late autumn
while in Kashmir it was held towards the closing days of the summer and just the
beginning of autumn when paddy started ripening. Perhaps because the
weather was harsher in Kashmir and the late autumn could be snowy, they had
preponed the feast.
The practice of zimzimeh or mute prayers as observed by the ancient
Zoroastrians is precisely what has come down to the ancient Kashmiris.
This is also manifestly reflected in the thinking of the Iranians Sufis who have
an apt axiom : dil ba yar dast ba kar meaning heart glued to God and hands glued
to work. This is the essence o niyayish and zimzimeh or recitation
practiced effectively and universally by the penitents in Kashmir be they Hindus
or Muslims. The zikr of the Sufis and penitent and sumran of the Pandits
are the two sides of the same coin with their counterfoil in zimzimeh of the
Zoroastrians.
The custom of offering wine along with other ingredients like honey, milk,
and ghee, sesame (tila in Sanskrit and tael in Kashmiri) to the flames is very
common with Zoroastrian niyayish practice. The homa of the Zoroastrians Iranians
is the soma of the vedic Aryans and of the Pandits of Kashmir. However the
Muslims, who say that wine is forbidden in their religion, discarded the
offering of wine. However, late Professor Farozanfar of Teheran, a
world-renowned authority told this writer, that out of 42 kinds of drink only
one kind, namely arak (liquor) is forbidden in Islam. The ritual of
performing havan and giving of ahoti (offering) is very close to barsim guzari
of the Zoroastrians. What makes me state it so categorically is that in
both the rituals, twigs of mulberry tree of approximately one-foot length are
cut and offered to fire. I visualize that mulberry was selected for one or
two reasons. Its amber stays on for a long time; the twigs sprout quickly
from the branch head and above all there must be some chemical property that
makes it non-infectious or at least non-allergic.
I must make special mention of the yuguopavit ceremony of the Kashmiri
Pandits in connection with civilizational links with Zoroastrians. The
yugnopavit or the holy thread for the Hindus is a ceremony, which traces its
origin in the Vedic history. After completing his period of study before
the Guru, the pupil passes all the tests to be initiated into the Brahmanical
order. Thread ceremony represents formal initiation into that order.
Ti Brahman is generally referred as twice-born meaning life before initiation
and after initiabo Three strands of the holy thread represent three-fold
properties of energy viz. creation, destruction and preservation.
The Zoroastrians call the holy thread as kusti or Kushti, from which we have
the word kushti meaning the game of wrestling. The kusti was tied round
the loins as against the Brahmanic way of slinging it from the neck and right
arm. Catching hold of kusti meant not only the defeat of the loser but
also a symbol of assault on faith. The Pandits also hold that shredding
the holy threat means defiling faith. It must be remembered that in
ancient Persian traditions, the defeat of a contestant in a wrestling match was
announced if his rival caught him by his kusti. Hence the game of kushti
or wrestling. Obviously, the word should be of Avestic origin and I plead
to be excused for not being able to trace its etymology. But the Arabs
gave it the name of zunnar though according to some Iranian scholars this also
is not of Arabic but of Persian origin.
We have some such strange words in Persian as are both amusing and confusing.
Take the case of a word zindik or zindiq meaning apostate. It origin is in
Zand, the conunentary on Avesta. Those who, during the early days of
Islam's domination on Iran, used to observe ancient Zoroastrian cultural
traditions along with the nascent religion of Islam, were despised by the
Muslims as half Muslims and were castigated and even charged of apostasy.
They were called zandiqs or the followers of Zand meaning apostates or
Zoroastrians. But the Arab lexicons believe it to be an Arabic word with
unknown roots and etymology though in plural form it has been used as zanadiqa.
This term is very common among Kashmiri Muslims when they have to use a very
derogatory remark against somebody. When used in that sense, it, somehow,
meant to convey that the person on the receiving end is outside the pale of
Islam, which is a serious charge. Curious as it is, though this derogatory
epithet is not now commonly used whether in Iran or in Central Asia, yet
Kashmiris have not discarded it. And certainly it belongs to post-Islamic
period.
Let us not confine only to Zoroastrian faith and civilizational symbols
though of course their impact remains deep seated. Speaking of fire let me
inform my readers that apart from the fact that the fire with the Pandits of
Kashmir and of course with the Hindus as such, remains essentially a sanctified
object. But Kashmiris have also ascribed social content to it as well.
At the beginning of spring every year, children in Kashmir observe a little
function by way of fun and not as a recognized festival. It is called
jataen-taen. I am unable to trace its etymology but the first part jataen
has something to do with jyoti of Sanskrit meaning the flame. Urchins
bring out their kangris (firepots) in the compound, tie a rope length to it, put
it to flames and go about making rounds so that it makes a circle of the flame
till the stuff is consumed. I understand this should have something to say
good-bye to winter. At places we see urchin' s kindling a fire made of
twigs and then leaping forward and backward over it for the sake of fun.
This practice is very common with the Zoroastriansin Badakhshan. If fact
this writer was once deep in the mountains of Tajikistan where there is sparse
population. This was the beginning of spring and the same night the fun of
leaping over the flames was observed.
History of ancient Iran tells us that leaping over the flames or passing
through the flames meant a test Of fidelity as well. In Shahnameh we find
the story of Siyavash (or Siyavashn) passing through the leaping flames in order
to prove his fidelity and innocence. In Indian mythology, we are told that
Sita the wife of Rama had to pass through flames to prove her chastity.
Again we are told in the poem Nal Damyanti that Nal, while passing through a
jungle had to pass through fire, which did not harm him much but only changed
his complexion dark. This is also true of Siyavash, which literally means
blackish. In Hindu culture and especially in Kashmiri Pandit lore we have
a term 'tsendrayan tsapun' and 'Agni parikhasha'. The latter is almost
akin to Zoroastrian tradition of leaping over the flames. But tsandrayan
tsapun is a desk book experiment with purification of mind and body.
Pandits say that only one of their community is known history did go through
that rigorous and almost unattainable exercise and she was none other than the
great shaivite Lalleshwari. The Kashmiri phrase 'nareh drav' has to be
understood in this background.
Coming closer to the mediaeval times, one has to be very cautious in
attributing features of Kashmirian culture to the Central Asian origins and
beginning with the southward destination of Islamic missionaries in early 141
century. Central Asian missionaries and the Sayyids did not nurture their
thoughts and life styles in vacuum. Central Asia has been the most
important centre from where civilization disseminated in a vast region.
Let me explain this point clearly. A close examination will reveal that
the Shia religious institution in Iran is, by and large, reminiscent of the
institution of mobids or the clerics of Zoroastrian faith. Social status
of Ayatollah is precisely the replica of Zoroastrian mobid-e-mobidan.
Their role in the governance and their influence with the social institutions is
precisely what we find in Iran today under theocratic dispensation. The
mosque has replaced the fire-temple (atesh-kadeh), but five timesa-day prayers,
fasting, penance, lent, etc. are the practices not unknown to Zoroastrian
civilisation. Even the dress and more particularly the turban that clerics
tie round their head is precisely what the Zoroastrian priesthood used to wear.
The only difference is that the Shia clerics use turbans of black colour while
the Zoroastrians use turbans of white colour. But the way it is tied is
precisely the way Zoroastrians tied.
Nearer home, Pandits of older age will recollect that the purohits (priestly
class) among Pandits always tied a whit, coloured turban a round their head.
For certain, the style of tying was precisely the one followed by the
Zoroastrians and the Shila mullas. This was given the specific name as
goreh dastar meaning the headgear of the clerics (dastar is Persian and not
Sanskrit or Kashmiri). But if one looks at the photographs of Pandits who
lived nearly a century ago, ne will find that common Pandits also tied the
turban round their head in the same fashion as the Zoroastrian mobids or the
Ayatollahs tie. The source of this stable is to be found in Central Asia
because the Mughal rulers, as we see their paintings, are also shown wearing the
same style of headgear. The Gujjars of Kashmir and Jammu regions have till
this day maintained this particular tradition and the Pandits have cast it
aside.
I must also refer to the tradition of keeping horoscope and giving full
attention to the science of astrology by ancient Zoroastrians. Shahnameh
tells us repeatedly about the choosing of an auspicious occasion by the royalty
for a new task or for a military adventure. Even as late as the closing
years of 14' century, Tamerlane (Teymur or Timur), the great Central Asian
conqueror, also used to ask his astrologer to find an auspicious occasion.
Not.only do the Pandits observe the same tradition; they have even made it so
commonplace as to characterise it corruption and aberration. But
strangely, the Shias of Kashmir do repose faith in astrological science and
believe in picking an auspicious occasion. The Pandits call it saa't, an
Arabic word meaning 'time' or 'point of time'. We find reverberations of
this tradition in the histories of Mahmud of Ghazna, Tamerlane, Babur, Akbar,
Jehangir, and also those of Shah Abbas 11, the powerful Iranian Shia monarch of
Safavi dynasty and contemporary of Akbar. On the other hand the Hindus
never do anything without consulting the astrological table. Thus every
Kashmiri Pandit has a horoscope which he treasures among personal property.
We know that most of the Shias in Kashmir do follow the tradition of keeping
a horoscope and looking for the saa't (saat-e hasayn as they say which is the
corruption of Arabic sa'at-ehasaneh) or the propitious occasion. The roots
of this practice are deeper.
Sun worship is as old as the human history. But in some societies it
attained great significance. The ancient Aryans of Iran called it Mehr
parasti. The word Mehr is the corrupted form of Mithra or Mitra, one of
the twelve Vedic (and also the Greek) names of the Sun. The Sun has been
given the name of Khwarsheed in Persian, and in.Avestic it is called hur, which
becomes khwar in Pahlavi. Khwarsheed is composed of two parts; Khwar +
sheed. While Khwar is the corrupted form of Pahlavi Hur (h and s sounds
are interchangeable), therefore nur of Avesta is Sur = Surya of Sanskrit meaning
the Sun. Sheed again is of Sanskrit origin shweta meaning white, which becomes
sated or saped. in Persian and Kashmiri. Thus Khwarsheed is actually
Khwarashweta or the white Sun. Khurasan, the eastern province of Iran also
derives its name from khwar + aas + aan, the last part being the suffix. Aas is
derived from Persian verbal noun aasdan meaning to come. In Kashmiri aas
is the past participle of the come. Thus Khurasan means the place where
from the Sun comes or rises-the East.
Mithra worship or Mehr Parasti has been of much significance with the ancient
Indo-Aryan race. In Iran, the last ruler of the Pahlavi dynasty had
assumed the title of Aryamehr or the Son of the Aryas. In the state museum
in Penjikand, a small town at a distance of about a hundred miles from Samarkand,
(to which this writer had an opportunity of visiting way back in 1983), is
preserved a round gold plate all broken into groves at the round edge and the
figure of human face carved on it. This has been explained as the symbol
of Mithra, the Sun. In Samarkand, there is a madrassah of the times of
later timurids (16-17th century) called Madrasseh-e Sheridar. C)n its
frontispiece one finds an original painting depicting the Lion in the background
of the rising Sun in the shape of a human face emitting rays all around.
It will be recalled that ancient Kashmiris dedicated the finest and the most
stately monument recognized by the archaeologists as a masterpiece of
ancient temple architecture, to Sun God at Martand. Had it not been burnt
and destroyed by fanatics, it would have been one of the finest monuments
existing on earth by the side of celebrated Greek monuments of ancient times.
This is what once the curator of the Kashmiri section at the British Museum told
me in London.
Contribution of Kashmiri Buddhist scholars to the spread of Buddha's message
in vast Central Asian region extending to Mongolia and to Eastern Turkestan has
been recorded in the historical works. Chinese pilgrims Hiun Tsiang and 0
Kong came to Kashmir to study Buddhism and acquaint themselves with the Buddhist
lore and ways of life. In Tibet, the KasIlmiri Buddhist scholarsKamalshri
and others- laid the foundation of Buddhist expansion, which became the faith of
the Tibetans. If eminent scholars research the Tibetan manuscripts, I
believe we may be able to lay our hands on some important and interesting
information on the sources of culture.
Buddhist viharas (temples) were abundantly built in Kashmir. The word
vihara or vihar corrupted into Kashmiri yar or har and now we find it suffixed
to innumerable places names. In such place names, sometimes the original
name remains as in Somyar (Saoma vihara), Tsandrehar (Chandra Vihara), Gutyar
(Gupta Vihara), Nevidyar (Naweta Vihara), and at other times the original
Sanskrit name is changed to Arabic/Persian as Khanyar. The more important
Buddhist shrines retained their social importance even after the mass conversion
of the people in Kashmir. Thus jamia Masjid of Srinagar has retained its
social and religious significance that it had come to hold as the most
outstanding Buddhist shrine in pre-Islamic times. Even a few years back,
the Buddhist monks from Ladakh used to visit the place and circumvent it after
the Buddhist tradition. The Bakhshi Muslims of Kashmir are the descendants
of the Bhikshus of Buddhist times.
It has been the custom with the Buddhists to preserve the holy relics of Lord
Buddha. We have leamt it from oral history that the tooth of Buddha
remained deposited in the vihara at Hazratbal site and the Buddhists of Kashmir
used to visit this shrine and pay homage to the holy relic. In Kashmiri
the word bal like yar is suffixed to place names as mentioned earlier.
Generally bal is surtixed to a place identified by the side of water be it river
Jhelum, or lake, or spring or a stream. Thus we have yarbal (viharabala)
meaning the place where vihara was situated. Since Hindu shrines and
temples and viharas were generally situated by the side of water, hence
viharabal = yarball. As stated above, in the case of Hazratbal, a word
comprising two parts of hazrat + bal, the first part appears to have been
changed from Sanskrit to Arabic (unless I am wrong) and the suffix has been left
as it is. The shrine is just overlooking the placid waters of Dal Lake.
Having lived for a long period in that vicinity in Srinagar, I have noted that
the people of Hazratbal locality generally address the Holy Prophet as Hazrat.
When they want to swear by the Holy Prophet, they say hazratan path whereas
Muslims generally say nabiyas path.
Indian caravans laden with exotic merchandise traversed the length and
breadth of Central Asia in ancient and mediaeval times. In Bukhara we have
still a place called Sara-e Hindiyan meaning the lodging place of the Indians.
I have had an opportunity of visiting this place in 1983. It is in fact an
oval shaped area with open compound in the middle and small cells 12 X 10 all
around the compound that open into it. At the centre there is a pond of
water made up of blue tiles. This shows that here the caravans were
unloaded and the merchants rested in the rooms. Obviously this was the
place where the merchants from Europe and Asia and China met to exchange their
merchandise. Bukhara was one of the terminals of Silk Route.
Bukhara is the corrupted form of Vihara, the Buddhist temple. It is not
just for anything that during the Islamic times, Bukhara became the second
Mecca. The tradition of leaming in Bukhara goes back to the days of the
Buddhists. The site of Mir Arab madrasseh in Bukhara must also have been
the site of great Buddhist seat in pre-Islamic times. Its surroundings
certainly suggest the type of peaceful atmosphere that we find in Sarnath.
The other important place name Samarkand is composed of two parts, samar + kanda.
Our research has shown us that the suffix 'kanda' so commonly found in Central
Asian region is the corrupted form of Sanskrit 'Khanda' meaning part or portion.
In Central Asia we have it in Tashkand, Khokand, Samarkand, Chimkand etc.
In Kashmir this has taken the shape of Kund or Gund as Mirgund, Qazigund (Kanchankhanda
where kanchan means gold just as Kanchan Chakra becomes Qazi Chak, the name of a
Chak ruler of Kashmir).
Let us move to other facets of cultural life. The dress is an important
facet, which lends credibility to identification. The common belief is
that Kashmiri feran is the corrupted form of Persian pirahan. The Persian
word has taken a few forms like pirhan, payrahan. In Persian this is used
for a shirt and not for a gown or overdress as we suppose. In Kashmir
villages people use the word munul for what is now called feran. In
Ain-e-Akbari, Abul Fazl tells us that one of the clauses of agreement between
Akbar and the Kashmiri delegation led by Sarfi was that Kashmiris would change
their attire. In all probability, he introduced the gown of Central Asian
style called jameh, which in Iran is better known by the word qaba.
Kashmiris do not know qaba and by jameh they mean garments and rightly so.
However a damsel clad in jameh and becoming the object of praise and infatuation
for the poets (Rasul Mir, Mahjoor and other Kashmiri lyrical poets) generally
means an assorted set of fine clothes exquisitely suiting the body of the
beloved. In the Kashmiri verse kazel kernam wuzel jamaey / me nyunam kameh
divan dil. the poet says that my beloved (here the female is the lover) turned
my red clothes into dark (kazal is corrupted of kajal, the collyrium).
Munul and pots are two Kashmiri words (unfortunately I am not able to trace
their etymology), which together made a set of over-wear for ordinary Kashmiris
of olden days. Munul means woolen and owing to cold climate of Kashmir,
its use had become very common. The common dress of kashmiris of olden
days was a mitnitl with the undergarment pots meaning a double wear and not a
single wear. Pirahan of the Iranians is a single wear. But we can
understand that very poor people who could not afford the woolen garment had to
remain content with only pots. Thus to emphasize poverty stricken
situation, Kashmiris have the phrase poets palav. The boatmen of olden
days generally regarded as among the poorest class even today recall pots teh
manan to explain barest living. I have heard sadists say that our
(Kashmiri) culture is nothing beyond pots teh manan. Manan is a fire pot
made of baked or unbaked mud (not the kangri), and pots is the plain cotton
garment. Hence to say that feran (Persian pirahan) was brought by the
Mughals or by the missionaries from Central Asia does not appear to be the
truth. All that they brought was the name, which the Kashmiris accepted
for usage in their own way.
Kashmiri Pandit women of olden days had a peculiar dress and it was common to
rural as well as urban womenfolk. The feran with nerwar (a sleeves
decorating piece of cloth), poots, zooj and tarangeh comprising kalehposh,
tarangeh laath, sheesheh lalth, fel tsetsan, Now except for Sheesheh lath and
fel tsetsan (narrow cloth roll and black headed needle), the rest of the items
of head dress are extremely strange and exclusive to Pandit women.
The males had. no such peculiar headgear and it was simple white turban.
If Kashmiris borrowed all the dress from Central Asia, then why should the
Pandit women continue this rather cumbersome headgear? Obviously it is not
only traditional for them but certainly carries some symbols. The puts has
the shape of a forked adder and falls down over the shoulders reaching the
ankles. The zooj too has more or less the shape of a snake. Is it
the hangover of Naga tradition? If snake represents Naga cult and
continues with Kashmiris in one way of the other, then it needs to be pointed
out that the bangles made of metal (generally silver) for Kashmiri women are the
proof because its two ends are given the shape of snake-head.
The names are purely indigenous. Therefore kalehposh too should be an
indigenous name and should have nothing to do with Persian kateh + posh (head
cover) though very difficult to refute. Adorning of hair as in African
societies, or parts of body with ornaments or tattooing of limbs etc. are all
understandable. But why should have ancient Kashmiris prescribed a very
cumbersome (and certainly not too attractive) headgear for their women?
This is also true of many other things. Take the case of fruits while
seb (apple) is of Persian origin, we have different Kashmiri names for different
varieties like tsunt, trel, and ambur. Likewise daen (pomegrarite), dachh
(grapes) tang (pear), and many other names are indigenous. Of course some
of the names suggest their importation like tsenum (perhaps from Chinun or the
fruit brought from China) Olubukhar (Alu Bukhara), alu means fruit with hard
kernal inside. Evidently it was brought from Bukhara.
Bakery is certainly a Central Asian stuff. But I wonder why do we call
him kaandur? is it an indigenous word like tsut (loaf)? We also freely say
nan, which no doubt is a Persian work like other types of bread, lavaseh
(Persian lavash) girdeh (Same in Persian), rogni tsut (combination of indigenous
and Persian) etc. However it has to be remembered that the tradition of
bakery is exclusive to the Central Asian culture. In Kashmir the Hindu
bakers have borrowed the art from the Muslims though of course they bake a
variety of bread slightly different in shape. But what is totally common
is ochihwur a hard baked round bread of about three inches diameter and six
inches circumference. The peculiarity is that sesame seed in sprinkled on
top of this variety. This practice has been seen in Iran and Central Asia.
Perhaps the use of sesame seeds is to make it bit oily because it is baked hard
and tan. In Iran and Central Asia, a superior bread is besprinkled with
white poppy and in kashmir, when bread is made on order for distribution at some
important and sensitive social function, then a bread of same dimensions is
besprinkled with white poppy (Khashkhash). Another kind of loaf very
common to all Kashmiris is kulchek (Persian kalucheh). This also is direct
importation from Central Asia.
It should be noted that throughout the Muslim world, bread is very rarely
made in homes. It is invariably brought from the bakery and as such bakery has
an important place in Islamic social structure. This is not true of Hindus who
prefer to make the bread in home. We are told by Persian historians that
in olden days in Iran and in Afghanistan, bread was sold by measurement, then by
weight and finally by pieces.
While I am speaking about bread (nan) is Central Asia, I would make a mention
that a guest is always received in Central Asia by offering him bread and salt.
he must break a piece, rub it into the salt and put the slice in his mouth as a
mark of reciprocating hospitality. This has given rise to the phrase nan
wa namak meaning sustenance. This has also given rise to phrases like
namak haram or namak halal meaning faithful and faithless. The question is
why salt? Obviously, it makes bread palatable and is perhaps the least
expensive. From her we have got the Kashmiri idiom noonas saet tsut khaen
(to eat bread with salt) meaning bare substance.
But I must remind my readers that Kashmiri Pandits have the unbroken
tradition of giving bread and salt to the daughter when she proceeds to her
in-laws house. This is not a gift but a custom, which must have its roots
in history. Perhaps because shenad to go a long way and conveyance was not
available in those days; or because the parents would remain contented that
their daughter had something to eat if she was too shy to eat a full meal in her
in-laws house etc. Social scientist may be able to explain it better.
The tradition continues down to this day without break. It formed part of
the traveling accessories together with atehgath or small pocket money for
footing the distance.
Most of Kashmiri meat preparations carry Central Asian names-rogan josh,
yakhni, biryani, kabab, kamargah, etc. Shashleek of Central Asia has been
given the name of kanti in kashmir. But I would concentrate on soup called
shorba in Persian. We do not have the tradition of serving shorba (Shor
means saltish as ab-e shor or salt water and ba means liquid or drink.
Rice and meat cooked in butter or ghee is called aash in Central Asia but not in
Iran. Thus we have aashpaz from Central Asia meaning one who cooks or the
cook.
I cannot state with solid proof and knowledge that ancient Hindus of kashmir
were vegetarians. Perhaps climate and non-availability of vegetable during
long winter months forced them to become meat eaters. But the
preparations, though certainly of Iranian and Central Asian in origin, have
undergone a drastic change. I presume the Mughals who were connoisseurs in
culinary taste introduced these dishes.
Kashmiri Pandits, many believe, were mostly vegetarians. Cereals (dal)
must have been their pet food because it is extensively cooked for feasts,
social functions, and in homes. In some rituals, preparation of moons dal
is a must. We are told that preparing and serving of masoor dal is an
Islamic tradition traced to the Holy Prophet and his companions. here I must
clear one wrong impression so common among Kashmiris, The Muslims generally use
the epithet of dalih bhattek for a Kashmiri Pandit by way of slander.
Literally it means the Pandit who eats dal. Some think it denotes
cowardice of Pandits because comparison to him a Muslim eats meat (lamb or beef)
and is a strong and bold person. This is a wrong interpretation. The
derogatory epithet dalih bhatteh is actually dayalu bhatta meaning a
merciful/kind Pandit. Dayaloo in Saskrit means merciful and Bhatta is the
abbreviative of Bhattarika meaning a learned and devoted Pandit. Thus
dayalo bhattarika became dalih bhatta (in many languages there is a tendency of
shortening the words) and the derogatory connotation appended to it.
Among the Muslims of Kashmir until recent days, there has been the practice
of giving copper untensils to a daughter at the time of her marriage. They
call it tram meaning copper. Perhaps this metal does not rust and that
should be the reason why untensils made of it are preferred. But there is
a curious thing to say. The Pandits always made the accessories needed in their
puja (Prayers) like tramer, naerkatsul etc. of copper but never used copper
utensils in their kitchens The use of copper (brenj in Persian) utensils in
Central Asia was very common. In the biography of Maulana Rumi we are told
that once he was passinb through the market Of utensil makers. He heard
the rhythmic sound of a coppersmith beating copper into a plate. This made
him ecstatic and he began to dance on the tune of copper beat. One
coppersmith called Ya'qub Laith in mediaeval heart (Afghanistan) rose to become
a powerful satrap. We have still numerous coppersmithies in Srinagar and
other towns of Kashmir. A look at these workshops reminds one of mediaeval
times when this was a flourishing craft.
The samavar of Kashmir is certainly an 18'hcentury importation from Russian
lands via Central Asia. But it appears that Kashmiri metal workers made
some changes in its size and form. The type of samavar we have today, is
not to be found in Central Asia. But certainly the cup called pyaleh in
Central Asia and in Kashmir is identical in shape and size. In Kashmir it
is called chinpyaleh thereby indicating its Chinese origin. The fact of
the matter is that it must have been brought for the first time from Yarkand or
Kashghar, which lie in Eastern Turkestan, with which regions we had a brisk
trade in mediaeval times and which in turn were very close to Chinese mainland.
They might have brought it from China, named it Chinpyaleh and passed it on to
Kashmir. Pandits have the khos instead of pyaleh but then khos is the
corrupted form of Persian kaseh pronounced as khaseh.
It has to be remembered that Central Asian influences in whatever walk of
life these were could not remain restricted to Kashmir only. It is so
because India remained under the sway of Central Asians (be those Afghans or
Mongols of Tirnurids) for many centuries. During those periods, there was
brisk interaction between Indians and Central Asian traders. Persian
language and literature had made deep inroads into Indian intellectuals class
whether in the north or in the south especially what later on became the Shahi
kingdom in modem Hyderabad region. Since Kashmir was geographically closer
to Central Asia, and its climate was cold, it accepted the influences smoothly
and without much change in earlier days.
When we discuss Kashmirian culture, we have to take a broad and universal
look on the existing cultures in the neighbouring regions. Of Hindu
impact, Kalhana gives us the fuller details. But of the impact from
northern territories, a vast region indeed including Eastern Turkestan, we need
to have a clear and scientific vision. When we say about Central Asian
influences in Kashmir, we should go beyond the rise and expansion of Islam in
8th century. The history of central Asian civilization goes back to five
thousand years of history, which cannot be ignored.
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