MY ROOTS 1

 A glimpse of HISTOY of my motherland,KASHMIR

Prehistoric evidences supporting the existence of old stone age man in the kashmir valley have recently been  discovered in 2^nd half of the 20^th century by the archelogical survey of india by excavations at BURZHAMA near Harwan , Gufral near Tral, with caves, tools (made of bones ,or stone) used by early man. Different stages of development  is obvious from dried mud brick hutments, properly laid down lanes and approaches and some rock etchings. Some of the experts have dated the Burzhama ruins as pre Harrapa period. Cave dwellings have been found in MANSBAL area,and RAMBIARA nallah upper karewas recntly. This evidence proves that neolithic man lived in the valley. The ruins of Budhist settlements at Harwan are comparatively very recent. Some of the caves like SHRI AMARNATH and BUNZHAMA caves are world famous  shrines .A natural ice ling is formed at Amarnath from May to July on the full moon in JULY/AUGUST and pilgrims visit from every part of the country for darshan.A manmade cave temple from a number of caves with cabins and chambers for meditation is the attraction at Bunzhama near Mattan in the LIDDAR valley.. I am lucky that I have gone to both the places. Gufabal(kulgam) and Aishmuqam (on pahalgam road) are now muslim shrines mutated from original hindu /budhist monastries. The sanctum sanctotum of AISHMUQAM is approachable  through  a very low rockcut passage wide enough to crawl or bend low simulated to temple caves across india.I went to the place as the repairs 0f a rampart was officially assigned us.

HISTORICAL RECORDS OF KASHMIR VALLEY are well documented from prehistoric times to the present(the other parts of the state are not so well documented and well known.These  regions,not being so inviting have only been of local interest till the islamisation  of the area with incursions from the valley and punjab)

The earliest recorded history of the valley is THE NILMAT PURAN,which describes the region as a lake and the ruler as NILA of the naga clan. It can at best be taken as a mix of myth,legend and fact.The period of this record also cannot be delineated accurately though some writers consider it to have been authored in 6^th centuryAD.As it is is defined as a Puran,this dating is at best a conjecture .It is stated that KASHYAP RISHI burst the mountain near khadanyar reducing the lake and creating the valley and its lakes bounded by  mountains . While working on the deepening of the Jehlum river outfall in 1963 , we denuded the bed of the river by passing it through a side diversion . The bed of the river seemed to have been slashed horizontally indicating some upheavals ages back. We blasted  an eleven feet hump in the bed for a  length of about 1100 ft.                                                                                                                         Before the ingress of ARYANS into the valley , Nagas,Yakshas,and pishachas were the main inhabitants.Geological findings also indicate submarine conditions having prevailed aeons past as is indicated by fossils prevailing in KAREWAS(table lands between the valley floor and the mountains.)While digging for a fresh supplementary channel for flood control I found layers of peat.                                                                   NILMAT PURAN has been translated into English by VED KUMARI GHAI.

 The first record of history  of the valley is by KALHAN pandit  dealing with the period from nilmat purana  to KING SANGRAM DEVA 1061. There are some gaps inbetween for want of details and references on which he could base his narrative.KALHAN’S SANSKRIT TEXT has been translated into English by 1. HORACE HAYMAN WILSON in 19^th  century 2.M. AURIEL STEIN 20^th century,3.RANJIT SITARAM PANDIT,4.JOGESH CHANDER DUTT.Nearly three centuries later ,JONARAJA  wrote his RAJTARANGNI after kalhana to 1412A.D. He is the main source of ZAIN UL ABEDIN’S period ,SRIVALA to 1486,  PRAJNI BHATTA started the narration but could not finish it due to his demise and SUKA completed the work to 1588 ,the advent of MUGHALSinto the valley.There are other (now mostly untraceable) books of contemporary art and culture which have been mentioned by jonraja and suka like:1.kultain kaviya  by damodhar gupt 2.dashupdesha by khemandra3.vikramdeva charita by bilhan. They give an insight into social stucture ,mores,and customs of the period.

Some Persian works have been written appearing from 1579 to 1614 as under:

1.TARIKH I KASMIR SAYID ALI 1579

2.TARIKH I KASHMIR MULA HUSSAIN NADARI 1580

4.TABAQUT I AKBARI NIZAM UD DISTWARI.

5 BAHARISTAN SHAHI (ANONYMOUS) 1614.( tanslated into English by DR.K.N.PANDITA making it a more accessible document to a bigger readership)

  Some recent books on the subject are:1.HISTORY OF KASHMIR   ANNAND KOUL BAMEZAI.

2.history of kashmir by P.N.KOUL BAMEZAI

3.TARIKH I HASSAN KUHIHAMI, BY PIR GHULAM HASSAN

4.TARIKI I MALIK  HYDER by MALIK HYDER CHADOOR

5.TARIKH I NARAYAN KOUL’AZIZ’

And many more recent ones which cover the present period and not mentioned here.I am familiar with texts of ANNAND KOUL,P.N.KOUL,and RANJIT PANDI to make me aware of our chaotic past.

(some old Dogri manuscripts exist in jammu archives throwig light of modes of the

Dogra and predogra periods which I have seen but could not understand the script. 

The bulk of these pertain to dogra period under proper adminstrative seals. A book on

  The life of MAHARAJA GHULAB SINGH written byK.M.PANNIKAR in English is a very well documented book .Late MULK RAJ SARAF,an author and a journalist of JAMMU is also reported to have written on this subject but I have not seen it personally. TWARIKHI KISHTWAR written by NARGIS DASS NARGISS inURDUis too short and localised  to be useful on a wider scale. However,it documents entry of ISLAM into kistwar and vicinity.There is a book written by HASHMAT ALI KHAN called Tarikhi jammu published in Lahore.A recently written book on  history of ladakh ,and baltistan has been written byPARVEZ DEWAN ,another titled ‘Ladakh,crossroads of high asia’ by JANET RIZVI. Of  all these I have only read the books by PANNIKAR,and NARGIS DASS. The last named has also authored the life of Gen. zorawar singh.)

The objectivity of narration  of facts and their interpretation  could be plausible only during KALHANA’S period as  the period following it was of dischord ,intrigue, deceit  and wars between invaders and  adventurers who had taken over KASHMIR and the writers faced limitatation in freedom of expression  due to aggressive  fuedal structure of the society and the consequent  premium on truth. An analysis of such a record is bound to  differ from person to person and his  approach will be selective according to his creed and social breeding and personal prejudices ignoring the puritanism of true narration. Of late,the facts of history are downplayed and diluted to rationalise the reasons of conversions of non muslims to superiority of Sufi islam or their gradual flight from their native place,inspite of candid chronicling by most of the local and  persian  historians of the period.