What is life but the book of change? Change-more-change and yet more change;
flux is the living reality, and change the meaning of flux….
—Abdul Ahad Azad.
When I witness ups and downs, banks and demarcations,
I lose my temper I seek oneness and quality, for that I run and foam and fret; hence is it that, water though I am,
I have fallen on the burning coals of the mulberry-woods.
—Abdul Ahad Azad.
The shawl-baf’s uprising was a precursor of a very significant change in the Anglo-Dogra relations, resulting in creating an environment that encouraged the British to accelerate their interference in the kashmir affairs and encroach on the prerogatives of the Dogra regime to prepare the ground for the profound alterations in the system which had placed obstacles in the way of their imperialism, besides having now become obsolete.
Thus, the British established their Residency in Kashmir which, eventually, paved the way for their assuming a supervisory role in the State administration; an important role that enabled them to safeguard their own interests in the garb of the saviours of Kashmir. While steering the Maharaja towards their key objectives: control over Gilgit and a secured position on the North Western Frontier; the British Residency provided an opportunity to the Kashmiris to express their grievances which had vastly augmented and been made public by Robert Thorp through his writings. In a petition some representatives of the Kashmiris stated:
No sooner the Kashmir Residency was established things took a turn for the better. Laws were enforced to protect life and property We feel certain that ‘we shall be relieved of the tyranny and zulm, which has with the advance of times taken a new form to express itself.
The establishment of the British Residency was an epoch- making phase in the Anglo- Kashmir relations that, eventually, gave an orderly shape to the growing undercurrent of public grievances. It symbolized the commencement of political awakening in Kashmir that resulted in gradual stimulation of public aspirations for a fair socio- economic system with equal opportunities for all irrespective of their religious affiliations and in which there was no one to take away their meager surplus. Moreover, it signified a marked improvement in communication network: road connectivity; telegraphic facilities; which threw open the secluded Valley to outside influences; giving a further impetus to the nascent sociopolitical ideas. While appreciating the reforms introduced on the initiative of the British Residency in Kashmir, RN.K. Bamzai writes:
… [The Resident] carried out several reforms in the administrative machinery which benefited the people. This also resulted in bringing to the State the type of education and medical relief as then prevalent in the provinces directly under the British rule.
The opening of Jehlum Valley Cart- road enabled the Western ideas to float through the Kashmiri minds; familiarizing them with the rising tide of democracy in the West. Besides, it encouraged a huge influx of visitors, and prompted missionaries to extend their philanthropic activities to the Valley which exercised a profound influence on the masses and alleviated their age-old stresses and strains. For their ‘human exertions’ and ‘truly Christian charity and demeanour ’, these missionaries won tremendous applause, love and respect from the Kashmiris. While commenting on this, Dr. Ernest Neve observes:
The opposition of the State authorities had been, to a considerable extent overcome, the confidence of the Kashmiris had been won, and an immense amount of relief had been afforded to sufferers.
The missionaries were also a boon to the famine- stricken Kashmiris. Fanshaw highly commended their work and wrote thus:
The only bright spot in the dreary history of the Kashmir famines was the devoted and unselfish conduct of the missionaries.
Kashmir became, thus, an important arena of missionary activities which affirmed the need for strict adherence to humanitarian principles. The selfless labour, dedication, skill and kindness, of which the missionaries were the embodiment, brought about a great change in the outlook of the people. The sacrifice made by the lady missionaries, who laid their lives while on duty in the Valley, attending to the sick at the Mission Hospital, Drugjan, Srinagar, struck a chord among the Kashmiris and inculcated them with moral and physical courage which they lacked owing to the non-availability of the modem educational and training facilities. The advent of these facilities resulted in the arrival of European educators whose influence reached the comers of Kashmir and loosened the traditional socio-religious matrix of the Valley. Tyndale Biscoe was the foremost to galvanize into activity a regular system of education conspicuously good to induce a spirit of social work among the pupils of the Mission schools established by him in Kashmir. Henry Sharp writes:
[C.M.S] has developed a remarkable esprit de corps, and the utmost care is devoted to physical instruction, to the encouragement of manliness and to the cultivation of the civic virtues. With its record of life-saving and other public benefits, the school is an important asset to Srinagar and holds a unique position.
The vigour with which the missionaries imparted modem education to the young Kashmiris and attended to the sick and ailing people resulted in creating a new fervour which pushed some enthusiastic and enlightened men, a new class of educated Kashmiris immensely knowledgeable about Western thought and history, to the forefront to break the traditional public mould by voicing their concerns about the growing religious obscurantism and superstition that surrounded the masses with insurmountable problems. While the Pandits were the foremost in seizing the initiative in launching a scathing attack on the child marriage and the conspicuous consumption, and the ancient Hindu customs; the Muslims did not lag behind in their campaign against the enslavement of their entire community by the peers, the mullahs and the fakirs. Pandit Suraj Kak Matoo and Pandit Hargopal Kaul exhibited tremendous reformist zeal when in 1894 A.D., they started Hindu reform movement which had become vitally essential inconsequence of the pathetic sight of young whimpering widows whose desperate plight was ably depicted by Mr. Biscoe in these words:
As there was no restriction to early marriage there were numbers of child widows who were obliged to live in their father-in-law’s house, and do as they were told. I came to know of the cruelties practiced on these girls especially by the Brahman priests, who were often the fathers of the drowned babies. The infants were thrown either in the river or to the pariah dogs at night so that the Hindu religion should not be disgraced.
The movement became hugely popular among the Pandits and received great support from different quarters, especially the Pandits serving in the British India. The Hindu women sang songs in praise of the reformers:
Hargopalas vakil-i-Darbaras
Rakshsas kati aai devta bodh
kath mokaalvin baji balaye
Suraj Kakni agnyaye.
‘Strange for Hargopal, the vakil at the court, a member of the evil profession, to get godly inspiration. At the behest of the great Suraj Kak, he freed the sheep from cruel death’.
Similarly, during the reign of Maharaja Ranbir Singh, Husain Batku of Srinagar started tajdid, a reformist movement, against the cultic aspects of shrines, and peer- muridi tradition, and rigidities of the religious schools of law, and preached the purification of the heart from vices and sin, and acknowledgement of the unity and transcendence of God. Batku’s was a progressive movement that stressed the need for total reform of the Muslim community and urged the masses to adhere strictly to the Islamic values which had been overshadowed by the preponderance of local tradition and indigenous complexes. Violently opposed to the persistence of non- Islamic belief of a ‘ holy ’ union between the living and the dead, the movement expressed strong disapproval of the dogmatic view that the Prophet was still alive and in communion with his followers (a popular conviction of Hayat-i-Nabi) and generated a new feeling of optimism by denying ‘the individual an exclusive right of a husband in his wife’ .But it failed to make any headway in face of stiff opposition of the mullahs, who obviously had a vested interest in the perennial ignorance of the Muslims, and in seeking Batku’s expulsion from the State.
However, Batku’s mission was carried on by Sabzar Shah and Sidiq Hassan Khan who exercised their religious insight, knowledge and discipline to persuade people to shun superstition and peer-parasti and subscribe to pristine Islamic beliefs. But they could not overcome the mullah’s opposition and indignation which resulted in dissuading the masses to support them openly. It was in the twenties of the 20th century that the seed sown by Husain Batku ultimately sprouted in the establishment of Anjuman-i-Ahl-i-Hadith which began openly and forcefully rejecting the veneration of any human being except the Prophet Mohammad and repudiated the worship of shrines and asthans under the inspiring guidance of Moulvi GhulamNabi Mubarki, Moulvi Noor-ud-Din and Moulvi Anwar Shah, whose dauntless criticism of peers provoked the muftis to issue a fatwa against the organization, debarring its members from entering the precincts of mosques. Founding themselves beset by the toughened attitude of the Muslim clergy, a fierce denunciation by the peers—who scornfully dubbed the reformers as kutas—and the mufti’s fiat, they initiated legal proceedings against the fatwa and proved the point in the court of law which gave verdict in their favour that worked as a great morale booster. Consequently, they intensified their efforts to mobilize public opinion in defence of the movement not only by organizing heated debates in the mosques (at Zaldagar, Naid Kadal and Gow Kadal) but also through their writings in the Muslim? the Anjuman’s official publication. Thus, began in Kashmir an explosion of pent-up resentment against accumulated insults of the mullahs.
Having taken their roots, a few of the socio-religious organizations began shaping the attitudes of the people and mobilizing them for defence against antiquated socio-religious environment beset with the temptation of providing them elysium. Essentially concerned about preserving and promoting the religious-cultural ideology, completely divorced from superstition, of their constituents, these organizations aroused communal conscience which in course of time became the backbone of the Kashmir’s struggle against autocracy; an objective development that inspired the educated Hindus and Muslims to assume a new role of reformists in the mobilization of masses against backwardness, illiteracy and superstition which were critically biting the Valley and gradually eating into its vitality.
Whereas the interests of the Pandit community were represented by the Arya Sabha, Dharam Sabha, Fraternity Society and the Yuvak Sabha, the Muslims formed the Anjuman-i-Nusrat-ul-Islam (and in later period, the Anjuman-i-Hamdard Islam, the Anjuman-i- Tahaffuz-i-Namaz-Wa-Satri-Musturat) for the fulfillment of limited goals like Tafsir-i-Quran and the eradication of illiteracy; the root cause of their backwardness. While the Pandits challenged the old order by a religious revival under the leadership of Hari Krishan Kaul and Vedlal Dhar, who insisted that the Hindu religious and social practices must be reformed to meet the demands of new age; the Muslim organizations taught to improve the condition of mosques and make the teachings of the Prophet supreme, and persuaded the Muslims to send their children to the primary schools established in Srinagar in 1899 A.D., by Moulvi Rasool Shah, the pioneer of mass Muslim literacy movement in Kashmir who, like Sir Syed of Aligarh movement, realized that without modern education the Muslims would remain backward.
Drawing inspiration from the Dogra Sabha,? Jammu, the Pandit organizations adopted more radical views on social issues, particularly the conditions of women and widow remarriage, and assumed a defensive posture on the issues of national importance; an important motivational factor for the Muslims to infuse fresh life into their socio-religious movement. But both the type of organizations could ill afford to annoy the establishment when they required its patronage so increasingly.
Thus, these reform movements gained momentum by degrees without impediments; each striving for the promotion of a life-style as devised by their respective religions. But no sooner Maharaja Pratap Singh had started extending open support to the Arya Samaj’s hidden agenda of converting the Muslims to the Hindu fold, for preparing the ground for the formation of a Hindu theocratic State from Kashmir to Cape Camerin, than there was a loud knock at the door of the Muslim Anjumans. They began feeling apprehensive about their future. And their fears increased considerably when the Milap, Lahore, exposed what the Arya Samaj was aiming at:
This flower [Hindu State] will bloom from Calcultta to Kabul and from Kashmir to Gape Camerin….. Coversions will be completed to purify the masses. Both the Frontier Province and Afghanistan will be conquered.
Such a communally charged plot to establish a fascist State was bound to give a thorough jerking to the communal conscience of the Muslims. It was, in fact, a consciousness-raising event for them; resulting in radically changing their thinking and, eventually, polarizing the Hindu-Muslim opinions and attitudes to engage both the communities in polemics to accelerate the effectiveness of techniques of their respective communal organizations. But this polarization benefited the Pandits most. Being more educated, advanced and in better position, they had developed ‘a reactionary interest in the administrative employments’, which were beyond their reach due to overwhelming presence of the Punjabi officials in the State,who had established a ‘hierarchy in the services with the result that profits and wealth passed into the hands of the outsiders and the indigenous subjects lost enterprise and independence’. Before getting bogged down in the irrelevant details of Indian politics and the establishment of a Hindu State, they decided to protect their rights within the State. Constant recruitment of the Punjabis in the State scared them stiff; slashing their aspirations for a career in the Government service, which were cultivated by their mothers, elders and even purohiis right from their early childhood. It led them into conceiving the Dogra administration in terms of not dispensing justice, and into deciding to defend their rights by raising the cry of mulki (indigenous). To achieve their target, they chose the path of prayers and petitions, rather than that of agitation, as a course of their action. Through their petitions and extensive contacts in Lahore, Punjab, Lucknow and UP, they succeeded in prevailing upon the British to instruct the Maharaja that the mulkis (natives) be given preference in the State employment. Their demand was finally accepted and a definition of ‘State Subject’ was formulated to protect the rights of the natives. While accepting the demand, the Maharaja declared:
None who was not a hereditary State subject should be appointed to any post in the State service, big or small, without his own express permission.
The new dispensation opened the gates of the State services to the natives; but only the Pandits could avail themselves of the full range of this facility as a large number of them had freshly turned out graduates from the college established in Srinagar through the good offices of Mrs. Annie Basant, the President of Theosophical Society of India, and with the active support of other luminaries of the Society.
The outcome of the Hindu prayers and petitions and the subsequent absorption of the Pandit educated youth in the administration was quite an eye- opener for the Muslims; an example that awoke them from a deep sleep; making them realize that education was a real boon to fight backwardness of their community; motivating, thus, Moulvi Ahmadullah Shah, the successor of Moulvi Rasool Shah to intensify his literacy programme to broaden the Muslim communal horizon. As a result, his Anjuman-i- Nusrat-ul-Islam launched a vigorous campaign against illiteracy and kept exhorting the Muslims to achieve the benefits of modem education, through its schools, which would reduce, if not eliminate, poverty and backwardness, and inculcate them with the spirit of self-help, self- confidence and mutual support urgently required to save them from their fallen condition. At its second annual session, the Anjuman declared:
Neither a king, nor a mler, nor a Waiz nor any admonitor, a sympathiser or a Rais.. ..but only self-help…. [would enable the Muslims to make advancement.]
And the spirit of self-reliance could be developed through the relentless pursuit of education, which was ‘a duty on every man and woman’. And:
No nation can progress.. .And no nation can claim to be civilized until it reaches the zenith of its educational career.
Sensing that the Government was totally apathetic about the lot of Muslims, the Anjuman decided to give up conventional techniques and, consequently, sent a deputation to the authorities to seek redress of the Muslim grievances, especially the removal of obstacles to community education. Blit all their appeals fell on deaf ears.
Not disheartened by this failure, the Muslim leaders of different hues: the Mirwaiz of Jama Masjid, the Mirwaiz of Khankah -i-Mulla, Saad-ud-Din Shawl, Noor Shah, Hassan Shah and Syed Jalali submitted, in 1922AD., a memorandum to the Viceroy with these demands:
- eradication of the Muslim backwardness in education;
- share in the State services both gazetted and non-gazetted ranks;
- grant of proprietary rights to peasants and farmers;
- abolition of begar\ and
- restoration of mosques used by the Government for non religious purposes, particularly Pather Masjid.
The Viceroy forwarded the memorandum to the Maharaja who was swift enough to constitute a committee, to look into the grievances, which declared these having no substance; obliging the establishment take, thus, a strong action against the deputationists. As a result the deputationists had to bear the full brunt of punishment: confiscation of their jagirs and banishment from their native land; but the two Mirwaiz were simply reprimanded. The whole episode was an important milestone in the country’s history of sacrifices; a repeat lesson for the nascent Muslim leadership to be prepared to undergo appalling hardships in future for the sake of the community’s betterment. But the magnitude of their sufferings was comparatively insignificant to the sacrifice made earlier by the shawl-bafs.
However, the major damage the Dogras did to the Muslim cause was to fish in whichever patch of troubled water they could locate. They extended patronage to the Mirwaiz Jama Masjid to wean him away from the Mirwaiz Khankah -i-Mulla; causing, thereby, a sharp cleavage in the Muslim community which hampered the progress of the movement that was still at an embryonic stage. This was an embarrassing affair for the entire community which prevented it getting involved in the Khalafat Movement; a major political wave then sweeping through the British India. The Mirwaiz Jama Masjid openly supported the Government; declaring the Khalafat agitators as nonreligious trouble makers; demanding their immediate arrest; besides advocating a ban on the movement.
Further damage was caused to the Muslim initiative by the mutual dislike between the two Mirwaiz whose irreconcilable differences and professional rivalry had tom them apart to the detriment of the larger interests of their community. Totally opposed to Ahmadiyas, the Mirwaiz Jama Masjid did not allow their leader, Mirza Kamal to hold public meetings during his Kashmir sojourn; dismissing him as an unbeliever. But Mirwaiz Hamadani of Khankah-i-Mulla offered him premises to hold his meetings which gesture embittered relations between the two Mirwaiz to the detriment of the Muslim unity; creating a manifold division in the community with discardant views which were to have fateful consequences in the future.
This division entailed a lot of petty squabbling among the mullahs which so cramped and frayed their mental capabilities that they could not think beyond peripheral issues. The objections and counter objections raised by them against each other’s religious susceptibilities involved the entire community in a duel of words; a thorny bush of trivial religious controversy that permeated the whole Valley to vitiate the emerging reformist environment and to tear up the thin fiber of public conscience, which, eventually, sounded a loud siren of discord misheard by these mullahs. These mullahs resembled nimble footed performing artists who could continue engross public attention by launching a long tirade against each other, driving people to distraction from the pressing needs and indulge in gossip and bickering to their cost, especially in the field of education.They, thus, distanced the Muslims from the socio- economic betterment which was now within the reach of young, enterprising and educated Pandits as a result of the enforcement of ‘State Subject’ laws. All the posts in the State services came to be manned by the Pandits and the Muslims trailed behind them to cater to their every whim. The following is a graphic description of how the Muslims were exploited to satisfy the Pandit official’s demands and replenish their stocks. On a routine visit of a naib-tehsildar the whole village would wait to welcome him:
On a high ground. Under the chinar and the shady trees, sitting arrangements would be made in advance, by spreading woolen blankets, gabbas and namdas. The naib would come on a horse, accompanied by a Muslim sais and the Pandit patwari and kardar. He was received by the nambardar of the village after the guard of honour presented by the village populace, in the shape of wunwon or the ladies coral singing. He would then sit on the highest pedestal, relaxing against the pillows and diwans like a Mughal dandy. One by one, the applicants would bow before him and pray for mutation of land or any other matter. The peasants would keep presents like birds, rice, ghee and lamb hidden under their garments, and by sign show it to the naib who would dispose off the cases one by one. In the evening, when he had to depart for his city home, some villagers would be selected by the nambardar to carry the presents to the naib’s home. When he reached his home, not only his legs would be messaged but his horse also? It was a common practice that a young Muslim peasant lady would serve as a milkmaid for the babies of the Pandit naib, so that sucking of milk from breasts of the naib’s wife would not affect her beauty. The baby of the milkmaid would cry for mother’s milk in the stable. Her husband would serve as a servant entrusted with washing of kitchen utensils. But neither the maid nor the husband could enter the kitchen for fear of polluting it.
As a matter of fact the Kashmiri Muslims came to bear the brunt of official corruption perpetrated by the Pandit employees: ‘the Police, the Revenue Department, the Forest officials, and even the employees of the Cooperative Society, [had] their palms oiled by exaction of the usual rasum… .the channels of human kindness and mercy [had] run dry. To loot the peasant [was] no sin… Besides, they were constantly tormented with silly pejorative remarks and damning indictments on false charges of being liars.
Dr. Abdul Ahad is a well-known historian of Kashmir. He presents a perspective on the Kashmir issue and talks about Kashmir’s history and individuality and personality. For feedback the author can be mailed at drahadhist@yahoo.co.in
