This state of affairs sheds ample light on the distressing situation people were placed in the days of grotesquely ugly yore. It clearly marks out the shocking curves of devastating exploitation they were then subjected to and shows how heartlessly they were deprived of the necessities of life. It was, therefore, really a herculean task for the people to bear the brunt of such a phenomenon beset by brutal exploitation, wicked oppression and unimaginable punishments and to make their survival possible as a community of sorts in the history of Kashmir. To transcend indescribable difficulties they were, thus, forced to have recourse to cunningness, deception and cheating; the only course available with them in those strenuous circumstances to ensure their continued existence and eke out their sustenance; the dam reality that Kalhana fails to comprehend adequately.
They would at the start of the harvest conceal a portion of the produce, from the sight of the King’s functionaries, in large underground pits, which they dug in the periphery of their villages. This unethical practice of cheating turned out to be quite unavoidable for their history. It became an inalienable feature of their disposition; a defence mechanism against the official mace and oppression, that enabled them to make their living possible and propagate their progeny . It eventually earned them the reputation of unsavoury characters: an unreliable, erratic and dishonest lot of cheap, inconsistent, despicable and untrustworthy creatures.
Growing up in deep rusticity and living amidst yawning paucity of the village life and all its attendant wretchedness and then resorting to deceit to satiate their wants weren’t acceptable to the Damaras, a section of agriculturists who were so ambitious, so determined to become rich and powerful overnight. For them these were too inconvenient; too ineffective options to keep the cycle of their communal life going and accomplish their self-aggrandizement plans as swiftly as they desired. They wanted something quick, speedy and sumptuous. And there was no better course available in the circumstances than robbery which they adopted as an alternative profession; as a weapon of survivals, as a short cu
