By Z.G.Muhammad
It sounded like folklores of the yore. It sounded like any other tale from the quiver of grandmother’s stories whenever she narrated anecdotes about great famines that had often visited our birth burg in the past. Despite being a tale of the past, fear of starvation, floods, and epidemics haunted our grandparents. It tormented them more ferociously than the looting sprees of desperadoes from distant lands that had ravaged our land in the past.
Most of the stories about floods and famines grandmother narrated to us had been passed on from generation to generation. These stories had a unique blending of fact and fiction. Some of the stories had been woven in the cradle songs. Some anecdotes of those horrifying days had crept into the children’s songs like ‘hukus- bakus.’ The Hair-raising stories about famines that survived in the memory of generations ahead of us would shudder us down the spine. The stories from a grandmother about rulers like Wazir Punn- known for their harshness and cruelty, would make us break Out in a cold sweat. She remembered many stories about the despotic rule, like textbook lessons and narrated how soldiers searched people’s houses for seed grains; people ate turnips in place of rice. With tears welling up in her eyes, she often repeated stories about boatloads of famished people drowned in the Wular Lake- perhaps the reference was about an incident in ‘the early spring of 1879 when rumours about drowning paupers in the Wular Lake were rife in Srinagar. The rumour was believed to have been ‘set a float’ by Pandit Hargopal Koul – a news writer at Srinagar and his brother Saligram working for the state government. The truth about the story of drowning people living in the lake was for historians to research, but my grandmother had heard it from her grandmother, and She believed it gospel truth, and there was no reason not to believe it.
It cannot be denied the word famine, for us born after the end of feudal rule, had only lexiconic relevance. But its fear loomed large in our childhood also. Heavy rains always scare people. The fears of 1877-78 famines when ‘nearly two-thirds of the population had perished had not waned from the memory of grandmas and grandpas. It was not the want of showers that caused drought in Kashmir, but plenty of showers destroyed crops and caused famines. I don’t know if there is a specific god of rain in the pantheon of Kashmiri- Hindu gods and goddesses as that of Zeus in Greek mythology or Indira- the sky god that slashes the clouds with his thunderbolt to release the rain in Hindu mythology that they prayed on this occasion. I do not remember having seen taking Kashmir Pandits taking out a procession for rain or sunshine.
I remember heavy rains and dry spells in my childhood worried people a lot. People not only offered Salat Al Istisqah in mosques or in open spaces with supplications to prevent heavy downpours or end dry spells but took out processions. People gathered in mosques and moved in caravans from various hospices and shrines in the city towards Iddgah to say special prayers. Some relics from hospices like Alam from the shrine of Mir Syed Ali Hamadani or a Holy Book scribed by some great saint would be carried in front of the procession. The processions would resonate with hymns and recitation of verses from the Holy Book. A couple of parades would be led by Imams of the mosques in a palanquin (palki) – incense sticks would be burnt in front of the palanquin to cascade the air with perfume. Some people would spray rose water from ornate copper sprayers on the procession. The imams in the palanquin would be immaculately dressed – the majority of Imams would wear pherans, huge white turbans and a shawl or a sheet of white cloth would sling from their shoulders. Sometimes, people squabbled in their bid to vie over each other for reaching earlier to the Iddgah, resulting in ugly quarrels. One often-heard story about some of the other Imam falling from the palanquin in the Mar Canal. Many times, I, in my innocence, believed the Imams did it deliberately as penance for atoning the sins of their devotees. Many stories about such happenings on the bridge over Mar Canal at Kawadara used to be on the grapevine. The truth about these stories still baffles me.
On reaching Iddgah, the two Raka Salat were offered at a specific place under the shade of Chinar trees in Iddgah- these Chinar trees continue to be remembered as Nafl-e-Bony. After offering prayers in congregations, I remember we would involuntarily cry full throat Ye Sheikh Sana Abur Gow Fana; this slogan would rent the air and echo even in small lanes after we reached our home. And whenever dark clouds appeared on Sky during summers and autumns- the slogan would resonate in the streets and by-lanes. Other than a big procession, small procession for rains or sunshine- whatever the situation demanded would be taken from different localities, ending up at various shrines.
What attracted me more was the small procession of people from villages and other parts of the city that passed through our streets to the shrine of Makdoom Sahib. It used to be an outstanding pageant, men, women, and children barefooted with pitchers of water on their heads, chanting hymns in praise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and various saints of Kashmir passing through our streets. Ahead of some procession, there used to be a very well dress-band- playing on their clarinets and drums. Traditional Bands- minstrels would accompany some processions from Wathora. I have often seen giant gongs being repeatedly hit by a wooden hammer in front of the parade. Caravans from all directions would first converge at the shrine of Mir Syed Ali Hamadani to fill in pitchers with water from Jhelum. The walking through the streets of Srinagar, people emptied their pitchers in the tank at the shrine of Makdoom Sahib.
I remember the procession from Maisuma for its colourfulness would attracted me more than any other procession. I often joined this procession to the shrine of Makdoom Sahib. It is a matter of research if the tradition of taking out of procession for rains has come to Kashmir from Arabia, where people used to take the colossal procession to seek Allah’s blessings, or if it has its roots in some ancient traditions of this land.
Z.G.Muhammad is a noted writer and columnist
