Introduction
Sericulture as a sector has been the backbone of Kashmir economy.By the end of 1942, Kashmir had the largest Silk Factory in the World. The quality of silk improved and was comparable to the ‘Classical’ of Italy and “Petit exta” of France. In 1870,Ranbir Singh Earlier, found the shawl industry led by their collaborator team of Pandit Raj Kak Dharwas in a state of decline, the government finding the silk a profitable commodity , snatched it from poor Kashmir Muslim and monopolized its trade. During Maharaja Ranbir Singh’s time, around 1870, two Bengali experts,Mr.Babu. N. Mukerjee and his brother Mr.Rishibar Mukherjee trained from Murshidabad were hired to set up silk reeling factories one each at Cherpur (Anantnag) and Haft Chinar (Srinagar). While a third silk factory was set up at Raghunathpur near Naseem Bagh and it came to be known as Behrampur factory.
SIR THOMAS WARDLY : THE REAL FOUNDER OF THE SILK INDUSTRY IN KASHMIR
He was very famous businessman and Sericulturist from England .He was fascinated after reading about sericulture of kashmir from the the book ‘The valley of Kahmir ‘ by Lawrence . The industry lingered uptill 1982 and from that uptill 1890 ,the state had left it to silk rearers and sericulture was at its end . In 1889, Sir E.C.Buck an Ex-director Revenue and agriculture department of Govt. of India ,was concerned and took steps to further the idea of Kashmir agriculture by sending Mr . Rishibar Mukherjee(brother of chief justice of Kashmir and director Sericulture)to meet Sir Thomas Wardly and see what could be done to revive sericulture industry in Kashmir .
Mr.Nilambar Mukherjee was terminated in 1894 and replaced by Walter Lawrence .In 1896,Sir Adelbort Talbot became resident in Kashmir and a result of his study of Wardly encouraging report on Kashmir sericulture , he recommended name of Sir Thomas Wardly to Maharaja and this way Sir Thomas took the reins of Kashmir Silk Industry in a more scientific and extensive manner . Sir Thomas Wardly turned Silk industry in Kashmir into largest silk industry of the world – ‘’ The Sericulture country of the world ‘’.(For further reading ,Sir Thomas Wardly ,Kashmir- its new silk industry pp.16-19)
Historian Madhusudan writes that during Maharaja Ranbir Singh’s regime the rearers of Silk in the Valley were exempted from “Begaeer” (forced labour). Mr.Babu.N.Mukerjee and his brother Mr.Rishibar Mukherjee was appointed as Director and Assistant Director to head the production of silk in Kashmir and two Filatures with 470 reels were set up at Ragu NathPura (Naseem Bagh) and Cherapura near Srinagar. Kashmiri Pandit as usual following a state policy were appointed as revenue members and administrators heading the poor uneducated Kashmiri muslimat peanut salary of 2 annas to four annas a day .
Sufi writes that the twin factories were referred to as ‘Murshidabad factories’ and during the same era Kashmir’s monopoly in silk production had set in. Maharaja Ranbir Singh himself provided Rs 30,000 towards the establishment of Silk Worm rearing houses.
Origin of Sericulture in Kashmir
The origin of the silk industry of Kashmir, which has been well documented as far the quality and the development is concerned, does not clearly indicate the origin of this textile, It is believed that the silk industry existed in the Valley in the early Neolithic age; that is more than 3000 years before Christ. Whether, it was home grown or it came from China is not documented in clear terms. However, for academic interest the most interesting aspect of silk industry in Kashmir is the fact that the famous Chinese traveller HeiunTsiang who during a pilgrimage to India during 630-43 A.D. praised the silk textile of Kashmir. According to him the mulberry tree was grown in Kashmir, but its fruits were not consumed by the Kashmiris in those days.
Mirza Muhammad Haider in his Tarikh-i-Rashide mentions mulberry trees (cultivated for their leaves for production of silk) as among the wonders of Kashmir. The book titled ‘The Valley of Kashmir’states that during the reign of Shahmiri King Sultan Zainul Abideen (1420-1470 CE) sericulture existed in the Valley. During his time Mulberry trees were protected from being cut and the people were fully compensated for their preservation. Also, many new methods of weaving were introduced and decorative designs were imported from Persia.
Pandit management and Low salaried Muslim labours :
According to Census of India 1921, Vol. XXII, Part I, pp. 178-79, wages ranging between 2 annas and 8 annas per day according to the nature of the work entrusted to each “operative.”Following a state policy Kashmir Pandit as usual were appointed as revenue members and administrators heading the poor kashmiri muslim at peanut salary as low as 2 annasa day .The wages of workers during the 20th century were as low as 2 annas a day, which seem to have been too insufficient for subsistence particularly in the wake of a rise in prices of commodities, especially food grains, during the period of the War and afterwards. The discomfort created by the rise in prices, low wages, and corruption among the staff of the factory must have agitated the workers and they struck work in
July 1924.Uptill 1896 ,when Sir Thomas Wardly took over the reigns of silk industry ,Pandit management were always recommended by director.
According to book by Sir Thomas Wardly, ‘’Kashmir, and its silk industry ‘’ Chapter XII,pp.160 , 4th conference on sericulture was held at residency ,at Srinagar ,Oct 1903 in the presence of Amat Singh , governor Pandit Mamohan Nath Koul ,Mr.Walton Director Sericulture ,resident A.F.Bruce.
Following names came under consideration to make them revenue members , Thakur Daasbaali,Pandit Aftab Koul, Pandit Shiv Ram ,Pandit Maheshor Koul And Khawaja Gulam Mohideen. But Sir Thomas Wardly rejected the recommendation as absolutely useless and recommends their dismissal .He states that they are not men of right class , have not educational qualification laid down by second conference , and do more harm than good , only give incorrect orders.
Statistics
By 1907, ten Filatures were set up. In 1915. According to ,Ratan Rawlley, Economics of the Silk Industry: A Study in Industrial Organization, London 1919 ,”out of a total of one million persons employed in the production of silk throughout India, Kashmir silk industry was the major employer, the number being 80,000 people and silk worth £100,000 was produced.
In spite of the great damage caused to the factory by fires in 1907 and 1913, the profits of the Kashmiri Silk industry increased from Rs. 3.6 lakh in 1902 to Rs. 12.5 lakh in 1919. The production of cocoons was boosted to 40,000 mounds by 1940. The quality of silk improved and was comparable to the ‘Classical’ of Italy and “Petit exta” of France. The silk industry proved to be one ofthe leading sources of revenue to the state .By 1920, it accounted for 33% of the total revenue of the state. (For details, see Sir Thomas Wardle, Kashmir: Its New Silk Industry with some Accounts of its NaturalHistory, Geology, Sport, etc., London, 1904).
However, despite the significance of the silk industry for the state’s income, the condition of the workers seems to have been miserable. The entire labour force of the silk factory was composed of Muslims but the whole administration was manned by non-
Muslims. Almost all the contemporary writers have cited instances of corruption among the officials of the factory. Even after bringing such occurrences to the notice of the government the situation most likely remained unchanged. More importantly, the wages of workers during the 2nd decade of 20thcentury were as low as 2 to 8 annas a day, which seem to have been too insufficient for subsistence particularly in the wake of a rise in prices of commodities, especially food grains, during the period of the War and afterwards. The discomfort created by the rise in prices, low wages, and corruption among the staff of the factory must have agitated the workers and they struck work in July 1924 (G.H. Khan, Freedom Movement in Kashmir, p 87 ;Saraf, p. 334).
According to ,Census of India,1941, Vol.XXII, Part I &II,pp 242-44. ‘’With the passage of time this number increased and towards the end of our period of study there were about two lakh and fifty thousand people in the villages who found part time employment in the silk-worm rearing operations. Moreover, four thousand labourers in the cities depended entirely, for their living, on silk reeling, seed production and silk weaving during the period.
ALLAMA IQBAL VISTED KASHMIR
According to Ghulam Nabi Khayal,p. 188-9. Interestingly, a poem Saqi Nama written by Iqbal, in Nishat Garden Srinagar, on his visit to Kashmir in June 1921, gives a description of the miserable condition of workers and labourers of the Srinagar Silk Factory, and presence of anger among them against the authorities. Iqbal’s poem ‘SaqiNama’ calls for socio-political awakening. In the first half of the poem the conventional image of Kashmir is beautifully rendered. The second half of the poem becomes symbolic of the natural beauties of a politically oppressed Kashmir, in which the Kashmiri is portrayed as familarised to servitude and unaware of his selfhood.
It is reported by’ SaabirAfaaqi, Iqbalaur Kashmir, Lahore, 1977, that Khwaja Saad-ud-Din Shawl and Sayyid Noor Shah Naqashbandi, two prominent Kashmiri leaders at the time, had a meeting with Muhammad Iqbal in 1921 at his residence in Lahore. Iqbal is said to have regretted that ‘while in India Hindus and Muslims were jointly resisting the foreign rule, in Kashmir the Muslims are living in miserable conditions and the Hindus dominated every walk of life.’ He advised them to offer a united front against the Dogra autocratic ruler.
EVOLUTION OF REVOLT AGAINST PANDIT DOMINATED MANAGEMENT :
The poor Kashmiri muslim were drawing peanut salary as low as 2 -4 annas per day ,so on July 19, 1924, when workers sought axing of a clerk who was running a protection racket, the Silk Factory managers mis-informed the police that the labourers have gone out of control so next morning, the Dogra army moved-in and surrounded the factory. During the siege around 25 workers were arrested.This was first public awakening. Although at first ,this ‘Resham Khana Tehreek’ was specifically against the management but after the massacre of workers it turned out the first ever agitation after Shawl- Baaf Tehreek by the Muslim artisans of the factory against corruption and autocratic rule of Dogras in the Valley.
According to Rao Farman Ali ,The management ,comprising Pandits , was in no mood to enhance the wages which were mere four and a half annas per head per day , a portion of which was pocketed by it for itself. It was, however, a tactical error of the management to calculate the demandas insignificant and to ignore it altogether. A blunt refusal to discuss the issue was even more annoying. The official arrogance so enraged the workmen , who came mostly from the suburbs of Srinagar, that they decided to go on all-out strike.The uncontrolled and unprecedented transgression and violation of human rights and social equilibrium paved the way for cracks to develop in the traditional ethos of Kashmir which manifested themselves in anunbridgeable gulf between the two sides of its population ; one represented by less than 01% richly rewarded idle comfort-seekers and the other by over 99% poverty afflicted procedures of wealth ,disturbing psychologically and emotionally the externally quiet masses –the undefended cultivators, unprotected workmen , the impoverished weavers and unemployed youth—the situation was volatile enough to reinforce the public hatred for the enslaving bureaucracy , and for the disreputable political methods of the Pandit community.(Roa Farman Ali)
As per Ghulam Hassan Khan “Freedom Movement in Kashmir”,p.87,The labourers of the silk factories in Srinagar and Jammu had constantly been complaining against the insufficiency of wages, the corruption of the officials and the tyranny of the inspectingstaff. They were some- times insulted by the officials whodemanded bribes from them and some- times compelled them towork in their homes as domestic servants
OFFICIAL POLICE REPORT :
Extract from the confidential weekly diary of the superintendent of Police, Srinagar, period ending 24th May, 1924, Archive File no. B of 1924, reports The Muslim labourers ofthe Silk Factory formed a ring against the Hindu employeesof the factory in general and against the Hindu Filatures . They demanded the removal of the Hindus and their replacement by Muslims officer .The chief instigator of the movement was Gulam Mohammad Zargar, Assistant Filatures Officer* As a consequence of this sensation, about one hundred Muslim started conspiring against the Hindu employees of the factory at the Rambagh Srinagar. One Atta Mohammad, ex-lnspector of the Silk Factory, approached the director with the request that all the Hindu supervisors be removed and replaced by the Muslim, failing which, he said, the labourers would go on strike.
Dr. Eshraf Zainulabideen can be reached at zainlala69@gmail.com
