Girdhari Lal Jalali
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Girdhari Lal Jalali


Girdhari Lal Jalali

Girdhari Lal Jalali

Born in 1934 in a middle class Kashmiri Pandit family in Srinagar, Girdhari Lal Jalali had his early schooling in rural areas of the Valley where his father was employed as a revenue official. He passed his graduation from Amar Singh College in Srinagar. He did his masters in English, History, and Education at Punjab University and Kashmiri University respectively. He joined State Education Department and served it in different capacities. Mr. Jalali is a voracious reader of books on politics and philosophy. Apart from being a well-known educationist and teacher, he has currently earned reputation as a freelance journalist whose thought provoking write-ups have been published from time to time in national dailies and journals.

For sometime he was the Associate Editor of the Daily Samachar Postpublished from Srinagar and Delhi. At present he is the Executive Editor of the widely circulated and only English Weekly on the Jammu and Kashmir Affairs - Kashur Gazette.

His By The Way column in the Kashur Gazette has won him kudos and enhanced his fame as veteran Kashmir Pandit Journalist whose range of the knowledge of Kashmir history, world affairs and facile pen he wields touch the watermark of excellence.

 

 

Articles

Salman Rushdie and Kashmiri Pandits


A comprehensive review of Rushdie’s latest novel:

Shalimar the Clown

By Prof. G.L. Jalali

*(The author is Executive Editor of Koshur Gazzette. He has also authored "Jihad in Kashmir")

Salman Rushdie, India’s most controversial novelist, has eight novels to his credit. Shalimar The Clown is his latest contribution. He has dedicated the novel to his grand parents, Dr. Abdullah alias Babjan and Amir Unnissa Butt alias Ammaji who, as per the novelist, hailed from Kashmir. Literary critics have hailed the novel as “manifestly mature work: the writing is more disciplined than in the earlier novels, well-paced and focused, with fewer Rushdiean loose ends” (Shashi Tharoor in the Hindu, October 9, 2005). To comprehend Rushdie’s works one must have a wide range of knowledge, for his approach to the storyline is always holistic. His imagination runs wild just like an unbridled horse let loose in the midst of a deep, dense forest - extremely rich in flora and fauna. While going through Rushdie’s novel the reader has to keep pace with the fleeting images of the “past and present events” which are portrayed so nicely with suitable words couched in non-conventional style. Shalimar The Clown  has set a new pattern, hit a novel theme and established once again Rushdie’s credentials as world’s leading novelist.

Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie

‘The publication of Salman Rushdie’s ninth novel offers an occasion to celebrate the aston­ishing new voice he has brought into the world of English language fiction, a voice whose lan­guage and concerns have stretched the boundaries of the possible in English literature. Shalimar The Clown adds the murderous incertitudes of the world of 9/11 to his repertoire; it is topical and typical, a novel derived from today’s headlines and yesterday’s hopes” (Shashi Tharoor).

The main characters of the novel are Maximilian Ophuls, Boonyi Koul, Shalimar the Clown, Pandit Pyarelal Koul, Pt. Gopi Nath Razdan, Pamposh Koul, Abdullah Noman, Firdous Noman, Kashmira, Gagroo brothers, Maulana Bulbul Fakh, Anees Noman, Nazribaddoor and Edgarwood. Maxophuls is the former American ambassador to India. He was involved in counter insurgency operations, The novel begins with the assassination of the former ambassador in Los Angels. His throat is slit by an unknown assassin. His dead body is lying at the door step of the apartment building owned by his illegitimate daughter, India who is also called Kashmira by her Kashmiri-born Pandit mother Boonyi Koul. The killer of the American Jew is none other than his own chauffeur called Shalimar the Clown. So the novel has a “bloody beginning”. The story of the novel mainly pivots round Max, Boonyi Koul and Shalimar the Clown. It is the story of “deep love gone finally wrong, destroyed by a shallow affair”. Says a critic, “It is an epic narrative that moves from California to France, England and above all, Kashmir. At its heart (it) is the tale of that earthy paradise of peach orchards, and honey bees, of mountains and lakes, of green-eyed women and murderous men...” Salman Rushdie’s “majestic narrative captures the heart of the reader. The romance is unfolded against the backdrop of “Partition, increasing Hindu-Muslim tension, the infiltration of Islamist Jehadis into Kashmir Valley.” It is a novel that depicts historical events in right perspective. Since the outbreak of insurgency in J&K state, numerous novels, describing the ongoing turmoil in the state, have come to the market-place. But Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar the Clown crowns the list. The novel unfolds the emotions of the main characters in relation to changing political events. Boonyi Koul becomes a sacrificial goat in this blood-curdling tragic opera. Shalimar the Clown is, as such, a “novel of mourning, nor least for the loss of Kashmiriat which Rushdie so lovingly evokes in his portrait of idyllic village life where Hindus and Muslims laughed together, performing folk-dance plays about tolerant Kashmiri kings and cooking, “Ban­quet of sixty - courses maximum.” The locale of the story is Pachigam, which is situated on the river Muskadum. It is a typical Kashmiri village which commands “superb landscape beauty.” The village abounds in cherry, apple and apricot trees with vast expanse of lush green paddy fields around it. In this village two families - one, a Hindu named Pyarelal Koul, and the other, Abdullah Noman - occupied a prominent place. “Pachigam was a blessed village, and its two great families had inherited much of the natural bounty of region. Pandit Pyarelal had the appleorchard and Abdullah Noman had the peach trees. Abdullah had the honeybees and the mountain ponies and the Pandit owned the saffron field as well as large flocks of sheep and goats.” (Page 48). The village was known for “bands” (Clowns). Perhaps Salman Rushdie refers to village Vathor (in Badgam district) which is known all over India for “Bhanda-Pather” (indigenous Kashmiri dance). Pandit Pyarelal Koul, a native of Pachigam, is a widower whose wife, Pamposh Koul, died soon after giving birth to a baby girl named Boonyi Koul. “He and Boonyi lived at the end of Pachigam in the village’s second-best dwelling, a wooden house like all the other houses but with two floors instead of one ....” (page 46). Boonyi was his only child who had attractive physical features. Abdullah Noman, a fast friend of Pandit Pyarelal Koul, is the head of the village Panchayat. The Pandit is an expert cook, for “Pachigam is a village of gastronomes.” He is an “expert-dance master”. Boonyi is the apple of her father’s eye. “The Pandit had tried to be both father and mother to her all life. Inspite of his unworldly nature, he treated her as an inestimable treasure, as the pearl of great price his beloved wife had left behind for him as a going - away present...” (page 51). As she advanced in age, Pandit Payarelal Koul” taught her to sing, read and write.” Boonyi, like any pampered child, grew under the care of her dotting father, Pandit Pyarelal Koul.

Salman Rushdie portrays the character of Pandit Pyarelal Koul’s deceased wife and Boonyi’s mother Pamposh Koul in a very derogatory manner and presents her as intensively sexual. Mark these lines: “ln the matter of lovemaking Kashmiri women had never been shrinking violets, but what Pamposh confided to Firdous (Shalimar the Clown’s mother) made her ears burn. The Sarpanch’s wife understood that what is hidden away inside her friend was a personality so intensely sexual that it was a wonder the Pandit was still able to get up out of bed and walk around. Pamposh’s passion for the wilder reaches of sexual behaviour introduced Firdous to a number of new concepts that simultaneously horrified and aroused her, although she feared that if she attempted to introduce them into her bedroom. Abdullah, for whom sex was a simple relief of physical urges and not be unduly prolonged, would throw her out into the street like a common whore” (page 51). Salman Rushdie is apparently not conversant with Kashmiri Pandit ethos where sex is not a “bazaar commodity”. To treat Pamposh Koul, the wife of Pandit Pyarelal Koul, as a live “sex-Bomb’ is highly disparaging and violative of socio-cultural norms. The character of Pamposh Kaul is just novelist’s figment of crazy imagination.

Boonyi Koul becomes the leading dancer in the dancing troupe, comprising Shalimar the Clown, Himal, Gonvati, Habib Joo, Anees Noman etc. She fell in love with the son of the Muslim Bhand, known as Shalimar the Clown. Boonyi would often slip out of her house and “make way up the wooded hillside to Khelmarg, where by moonlight she practised archery, spearing arrows into innocent tress”. She was, to quote Rushdie, a shadow, in search of a shadow. She would find the shadow she was looking for. In fact she was after shadow of Shalimar the Cown. Her love for Shalimar the Clown was a juvenile passion of a fourteen years old village girl. Rushdie has depicted it in the most erotic manner “He looked into Boonyi’s eyes and saw the telltale dreaminess there, warning him that she had smoked “CHARAS” to give her the courage to be “DE FLOWERED”. In the subtly suggestive movements of her lips, too he could discern the cryptic seductiveness of her condition.,..Boonyi pulled her PHERAN and shirt off over her head and stood before him naked....” (page 60) Shalimar the Clown was not the only personwho was over head and ears in love with Pandit Pyarelal Koul’s daughter Boonyi, the Bhand-dancer; Colonel Hammirdev - Suryans Kachhawha of the local Indian army  unit  de­ployed in the district “had his eye on her (Boonyi) for some time. Thirty-three years old army officer, also known as Hammer Kachhwah, was prepared to pay any price for Boonyi’s love. He was a man of deep feeling, a man who appreciated beauty and gentleness who loved beauty and who, accordingly felt great love for beautiful Kashmir.” Rushdie’s describes Colonel’s first en­counter with intense emotional touch:” Thus he saw Boonyi. It felt like the meeting of Radha and Krishen except that he was riding in a jeep and he was not blue skinned and not feel godlike and she barely recognised her existence. She was with her girl friends, Himal, Gonawati and Zoon just like Radha with the milky Gopis....” Her comparison to Radha in the company of Krishna is metaphorically odd and inappropriate. The novelist presents Boonyi Koul as a beautiful, live human sex-bomb which spills disaster not for her own self, but also for her cuckold husband Shalimar the Clown, and also for her future lover Max Ophuls. Boonyi had no soft comer for Colonel Kachhawa. Says the novelist: “Boonyi disliked him on sight and before he had opened his bony face she told him: You must be looking for someone somewhere else. There is nothing for you. “But of course there was.” (Page 102).

Boonyi and Shalimar the Clown were “married according to Hindu and Muslim rites.” Pandit Pyarelal” agreed to resume his teaching duties, to shoulder the dual burdens of education and gastronomy as long as his strength lasted and preparations for the nuptials of Boonyi and Shalimar the Clown began,” (Page 112). From this day onwards Boonyi Koul was known as Boonyi Koul Noman, the daughter-in-law of Abdullah Noman and Firdous Noman. The union of two families, Pandit and Muslim through matrimonial relations is unnatural.

This has never happened in the history of Kashmiri Pandits - a daughter of cultured edu­cated Kashmiri Pandit villager marrying an illiterate Muslim boy who knows nothing beyond “Bhand Pather.” Is the girl converted after marriage? It is a must after marriage of the girl. Salman Rushdie is silent on this subject. Such a re-union is the figment of novelist’s crazy imagination. It is misrepresentation of Kashmiriat to which Rushdie refers so often in the novel. Referring to the mutual cultural interaction, Rushdie remarks: ‘The Pandits of Kashmir, unlike Brahmins anywhere else in India, happily ate meat. Kashmiri Muslims, perhaps envying the Pandits their choice of gods, blurred their faith’s dustier monotheism by worshipping at the shrines of valley’s local saints and pirs. To be a Kashmiri, to have received so incomparable a divine gift, was to value what was shared for more highly than what divided” (page 83). Pachigam, the village where Boonyi and Shalimar the Clown were born, was a flag-post of the Kashmiriat. “Abdullah (father of Shalimar the Clown) then mentioned Kashmiriat, Kashmiriness, the belief that at heart of Kashmiri cul­ture there was common bond that transcended all other villages. Most ‘Bhand’ villages were Muslims, but Pachigam was a mixture...” (page 110). One fine morning the Bhands of Pachigam received an invitation to stage Bhand Pather in Srinagar’s Mughal garden in honour of the visiting American ambassador Max Ophuls. The Bhands of Pachigam felt themselves honoured at the invitation from the state government. The American ambassador “was a scholarly gentleman and evidently took strong interest in all aspects of Kashmiri culture”. “Ambassador’s personal aide, Mr Edgar Wood, had specially asked for an evening of festivities during which the Banquet of sixty courses maximum would be eaten, a Santoor player from Srinagar would play traditional Kashmiri music, leading local authors would recite passages from the mystical poetry of Lal Ded...” (page 132). In the Bhand-Pather Boonyi played the role of Anarkali.

Her very dance and demeanour bewitched the heart of the young sexy American ambassador. “When Boonyi met Maximilian Ophul’s eyes for the first time he was applauding widely and looking piercingly at her while she took her bow, as if he wanted to see right into her soul. At that moment she knew she had found what she had been waiting for. I swore I would grab my chance when it showed up, she told herself, and here it is, staring me in the face and hanging its hands together like a fool” (page 133).

The die was cast; the villain entrapped and bewitched the young Kashmiri Pandit girl who was already married to a Muslim Bhand actor of Pachigam. Max Ophul’s early career was shrouded in mystery. He was a French Jew who, like the other members of the Jewish community, had suffered immensely at the hands of Nazis. He had seen many ups and downs in his chequered career.

He was notorious for his promiscuous relations with women. Boonyi’s appearanceBook Cover showed Max in true colours. The womanizer in him took front seat. “Then Boonyi Koul Noman came out to dance and Max realised that his Indian destiny would have little to do with politics, diplomacy or arms sales, and everything to do with the far more ancient imperatives of desire.” She was carried to Delhi, where the poor, innocent Pandit girl became the object to satisfy the lust of sexhungry American ambassador.

She was provided with all the amenities of luxurious life. The Pachigam girl turned into a Panchewing whore. “In short she could not get her cuckolded husband out of her mind, and because it was impossible to talk to her American lover about anything important. She spoke heatedly of “Kashmir.” Instead whenever she said “Kashmir” she secretly meant her husband, and this ruse allowed her to declare her love for the man she had betrayed to the man with whom she had committed the act of treason” (page 197) Salman Rashdie has been very unfair to Boonyi, the innocent Pandit girl. It is unthinkable to think that a Pandit lady can jilt her husband as Boonyi did to satisfy her carnal desires. The novelist has failed to understand the ethos of the Pandit community. There is too much distortion in depicting the character of the debased Pandit whore. ‘The excess of Delhi deranged her.

She became addicted to chewing tobacco. She consumed drugs. She took to gluttony ...Yes, she was a whore she admitted to herself with a twist of the heart...” (Page 202) Boonyi became pregnant and carried Max’s girl-baby in her womb. “She had grown so obese that the pregnancy had been invisible, it lay hidden somewhere inside her fat, and it was too late to think about an abortion, she was too far advanced and risks were too great” (page 204). Max’s scandal with Boonyi became a hot subject of public debate and street gossip. The American ambassador was recalled in utter disgrace. A Kashmiri girl was ruined and destroyed by a powerful American. That was the general impression in New Delhi. Peggy Ophuls, the legal wife of Max, prevailed upon Boonyi to give her newborn child named India so that Boonyi would escape the shame of giving birth to an illegitimate child. She assured the Pachigam girl that she would take every care of the baby and carry her to America.

Boonyi was flown to Elasticnagar where from she was taken to Pachigam in a vehicle.

As they reached Pachigam it began to snow. She was dropped a few miles away from Pachigam.

Poor Boonyi, the whore daughter of Pandit Pyarelal Koul, died in a snow blizzard that lashed Pachigam and its surrounding areas.

Thus ended the story of Boonyi. Rushdie has wonderfully depicted her emotions “at the last stage of her life”.

“She saw them all through snowstorm, circling her like cows, keeping their distance.

She called out, but nobody called back, One by one they approached her Himal, Gonwati and Shivshanker Sharga, Big Man Misri, Habib Joo - and one by one they receded....” (page 221) Boonyi fell flat on the snowy ground like a “Booni” (Chinar tree) majestic in appearance with a sad tale of love and infidelity written on every withered leaf of the majestic Boonyi (chinar tree).

“When her father came hopping awkwardly through the snow she felt sure that the spell would break. But he stopped six feet away and wept, the tears freezing on her cheeks. She was his only child. He had loved her more than his own life until she died.

If he did not speak now her dead gaze would curse him”. A rejected child can place the evil eye upon the parent who spurns her, even after death” (page : 222). The story of her Pachigam husband, Shalimar the clown, starts where the story of his wife Boonyi ends He joins the rank of militants and vows to kill the former American ambassador Max Ophuls. He succeeds in killing him as far as in Los Angles.... he goes to Afghanistan for arms training. He becomes the member of Lashkere- Pakistan (LeP).

The infidelity of his wife, Boonyi, is a personal tragedy for Bhand-actor, Shalimar the Clown. He takes revenge in a volatile political background which is marked by the Jihadi terrorism and Muslim insurgency. Shashi Tharoor writes in the Hindu dated October 9, 05 “As always with Rushdie, the personal is entwined with the political, the tangled love affairs of the protagonist unfolds against a backdrop of Partition, increasing Hindu Muslim tension, the infiltration of Islamist Jihadists into the Kashmir valley and brutal repression and the destruction of the peaceful, syncretic Kashmir from which Rushdie derives his own heritage.” Shalimar the Clown may be termed as a historical novel in which the author refers to important historical events ranging from the Tribal Invasion of Kashmir (Kabalee Hamla, 1947) to the ongoing Jehadi terrorism that has been raging in Kashmir valley since 1989. He also delves deep into the medieval history, describing the golden period of Kashmir’s (only) secular king Sultan Zain-ul-Abdin and the atrocities perpetrated on peace loving Kashmiri Pandits by world’s most fanatic Muslim ruler, SikanderButshikan.

On page 85 of the novel the Booker award winner novelist alludes to the “looting, burning and killing of Kashmiris by the Kabalis in 1947. He also refers to Indo-Pak war in 1965 and hijacking of plane from Srinagar to Lahore airport by Hashim Qureshi. He alludes to the founder of JKLF, Maqbool Bhatt and Indo-Pak War (1971). But the novelist’s main focus is on the ongoing Muslim insurgency in J&K state. The main ideologue of the ongoing Muslim fundamentalism as depicted in the 400-page novel Shalman the Clown is Maulana Bulbul Fakh.

Says the novelist, “The iron Mullah Maulana Bulbul Fakh was their appointed superior. His breath was still the sulphurous dragon-breath that had earned him his striky name Fakh and still spoke in the old harsh way... He carried a lump of rock salt at all times: This is Pakistani salt,” he told the liberation front commander and his men.

‘This we will bring to Kashmir when we set it free. He wrapped the salt in a green handkerchief and put it away in a bag.” The green is for our religion which makes all things possible,” he said (page 264). The iron Mullah was the guide for militants. He would brainwash the new recruits. The novelist gives a peep into the daily routine of militants who would offer prayers five times a day.

According to Bulbul Fakh, “the true warrior was not primarily motivated by worldly desires, but he believed it to be true.

Economics was not primary, ideology was primary” (page 265). He represented the essence of Jihadi fundamentalism: “It was a part of his gift to the revolution, a part of God’s work.” The Iron Mullah, Bulbul Fakh, was responsible for the suicide attacks on army camps including Border Security Force Camp at Bandipore, Army Corps. HQ, at Badami Bagh, Civil Lines, Srinagar. He was the embodiment of the hatred for Kashmiri Pandits. At his bidding Shalimar Noman’s dreaded terrorist brother Anees Noman killed the Pandit inhabitant of Shrimal village, Man Misri in cold blood. Man Misri’s widow zoon committed suicide. The village of Pachigam, known for song and dance all over the valley, was razed to ground. Its inhabitants were mostly killed by the Gagroo brothers. Salman Rushdie gives a pen picture of the widespread devastation caused by militancy in the valley.

The destruction of Pachigam and Shrimal stands for the destruction the Kashmiriat which forms the integral part of Kashmiri culture and ethos. How pathetic the life of Kashmiris proved! Old people had nostalgic memories of past - the past that was a glorious period in their placid lives. They were given to day dreaming. Rushdie describes the bruised psyche of Pandit Pyarelal Koul as under.

“He closed his eyes and pictured his Kashmir. He confused up its crystal lakes, Shishnag, Wular, Nagin, Dal, its trees, the walnut, the popular, the Chinar, the apple, the peach; its mighty peaks, Nanga Parbat, Harmukh. He saw the beauty of the golden children, the beauty of the green-eyed women, the beauty to blue eyed men. He stood atop Mount Shankaracharya and spoke aloud the famous old verse concerning the earthy paradise; it is this, it is this....” (Page 305) The prophecy of Nazribaddoor came true with Kashmir becoming a hell. The novelist portrays the grim picture of the valley, which was once called the “Earthy Paradise.” Now, death has overtaken it under its paw.

“Every one carries his address in his pocket so that at least his body will reach home” (page 305). The novel, Shalimar the Clown, is a dirge in prose lamenting the death of Kashmiriat which Rushdie so beautifully and lovingly evokes in the depiction of the idyllic rural life where Hindus (Pandits) and Muslims laughed, danced and loved together.

While evaluating Salman Rushdie’s novel Shailmar the Clown, the reader cannot ignore the description of the miserable plight of 3.5 lakh Pandit refugees by the novelist. He has graphically described these details from page 294 to 297.

Kashmiri Pandits were pushed out of valley by gun-toting militants with an idea to change the demographic character of the valley and turn the whole of Kashmir into an Islamic state with Nizam-i-Mustafa (Shariat laws) in force. Hundreds of Pandits were brutally killed by the Mujahideens.

Salman Rushdie has no inhibition to draw the pen picture of the atrocities committed on the minuscule Kashmiri Pandit community.

“In the time of Sikandar Butshikan Muslim attacks on Kashmiri Hindus were described as the falling of locust swarms upon the helpless paddy crop. I am afraid that what is beginning now will make Sikander’s time look peaceful by comparison.” (page 294) Referring to the role of Jamat-e-Islami, the main sponsor of terrorism, Rushdie has to say: The radical cadres of Jamat-e-lslami party had new words for Pandits: “Mukbir, Kafir” meaning spy, infidel. “So we are slandered as fifth columnists now, “Pyarelal mourned, “That means the assault cannot be far away.” Rushdie refers to the vandalising of temples and torching of Pandit houses in 1986 carnage in Anantnag district of the valley. A few days later in Anantnag district there began a week long orgy of unprovoked violence against Pandit residential and commercial property, temples and the physical persons of Pandit families. Most of them fled. The exodus of the Pandits of Kashmir had begun (page 295). The novelist does not fail to refer to Sangrampora, Wandhama and Nadimargcarnages in which hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs were brutally shot dead. He also describes how pathetically Pandit Tikka Lal Taploo was shot dead by militants in his residential locality. Salman Rushdie says,” Three hundred and fifty thousand Pandits, almost the entire Pandit population of Kashmir fled from their own homes and headed south to the refugee camps where they would not, like bitter fallen apple, like the unloved, undead dead they had become. In the so-called Bangladeshi Markets in Iqbal Park - Hazuri Bagh area of Srinagar the things looted from temples and homes were being sold.” (Page 296) Describing the horrible conditions prevailing in Kashmiri Pandit refugee camps, Salman Rushdie remarks pathetically: The camps at Purkhoo, Muthi, Mishriwalla, Nagrota were built on the banks and beds of nullahas, dry seasonal waterways and when the water came the camps were flooded why was that. The ministers of the government made speeches about ethnic cleansing but the civil servants wrote one after another memos saying that the Pandits were simply internal migrants whose displacement had been self-imposed, why was that...” (page 296) Kashmiri Pandit refugees, says the novelist, are left “to rot in their slum camps”, dying so miserably in the very dream of returning to their flowery valley.

To sum up, Salman Rushdie’s Path-breaking novel Shailmar the Clown is a Kashmir-centric novel in terms of character, locale and situation. It is a song in tears; it is the story of man-made tragedy told in a simple language and couched in out of the mill” style, it is a saga of the sufferings heaped upon 3.5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits who have become refugees in their own land. Infact Salman Rushdie’s latest novel, Shalimar the Clown is excellent as well superb literary work in the post 9/11 period. Details in the novel are gripping and sustain reader’s interest all along. Of course, the novelist is not realist in portraying Boonyi Koul’s character. On the whole, the novel is a literary gift to readers keen to know the ground situation in Kashmir. It deserves another Booker for Rushdie.

*(The author is Executive Editor, Koshur Gazzette, a weekly published from New Delhi. He has also authored Jehad in Kashmir).

Book Review: Curfewed Night


By Prof. G.L. Jalali

January 2012

Packed with facts and fiction, narrated in a locale of electrified human emotions

TITLE: .Curfewed Night

AUTHOR: Basharat Peer

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2010

PAGES: 221

PUBLISHER: Harper Publications,

London

GL JalaliIts racy prose is both lyrical and moving, subject matter most poignant It describes what a heaven it (Kashmir) was and what a hell it is now – all man made.

It is an emotional tale of mans’ love for his land, the pain of leaving home and ultimately the joy of return.

In the wake of the ongoing Muslim insurgency in the erstwhile princely Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir that broke out in 1989 a spute of books, dealing with the J&K insurgency, have flooded the world book market. These books were authored mostly by the persons living either outside J&K or some foreign writers. There were a few Kashmir authors who wrote copiously on the Kashmir subject. Mr. Basharat Peer, the author of Curfewed Night (under review) is one such author who has the distinction of writing a revealing book on the ongoing political turmoil in his native land – the scenic valley of Kashmir. His book “Curfewed Night” is the memoir of a young Kashmiri Muslim Journalist who spent his childhood and adolescent years in the strife ridden Kashmiri valley.

Belonging to a well-to-do Muslim Peer (priestly) family, Basharat’s father Mr.GA Peer is a serving bureaucrat (now posted as Commissioner-cum-Education Secretary in J & K state).His mother serves as a school teacher while his grand father is a retired head-master of a Government Secondary School. His upbringing was unlike that of other Muslim boys in his native village, Seer which is on way to valley’s internationally known tourist spot. Gifted with rich imagination and deft of thought, Basharat Peer describes his village environs-open paddy fields, neighboring mountains, rich flora and fauna, village houses with thatched roofs, running and roaring brooks – in an artistic manner couched in a simple, readable and, above all, racy style of his prose reminiscent of any matured and experienced English writer. Still, the young scribe has to go miles ahead. For his style of writing I  Offre my hearty congratutions to Mr. Basharat Peer.

The book consists of sixteen chapters running over two hundred twenty one pages. Each chapter carries an appropriate heading, capping the details given inside the chapter. Chapters from one to eight describe author’s early life up to the period when he is all set to leave the valley for plains in search of new green pastures and to make a successful career. In the second part the author of the Curfewed Night describes his journey as a reporter of a Delhi based newspaper through length and breadth of Kashmir, meeting a cross-section of the Kashmiris and noting their reaction towards the militancy that engulfed his homeland.

So the book titled Curfewed Night is an anecdotal record of the events seen through the prism of a writer who, overtly or covertly, sympathizes with the militants. It is a chronicle of events keenly observed by a young Muslim journalist who grows up watching this charming valley turning into a hotbed of Muslim insurgency.

Basharat Peer’s narrative takes the reader into 1990s when almost the whole of Kashmir valley was overtaken very badly by Pak-sponsored militancy. The author was only 13 years old boy, reading in a village school when the Indian army was fighting a tough gurrila war with the Pakistan trained militants.

Pakistan had never reconciled with the Indian stand on Kashmir. When General Zia-UI-Haq came to power in a military coup against the democratically elected Bhutto Government, Pakistan started a proxy-war to grab Kashmir. It started indoctrinating Kashmiri Muslim youth, giving them arms trainning atmilitary camps set up in PoK by Pakistan’s infamous ISl. Thus started the Jihad in Kashmir. It burst forth with vigor in 1990. The civilian government in the valley was almost subverted. That is what Mr. Basharat Peer, the author of the book the Curfewed Night under review, calls “Independence movement”.

Even in his adolescence, he was swept by this “Freedom movement” which was in full bloom. Once it so happened that he had to join a procession of “Freedom Fighters”, he felt himself a part of “something larger’……”Fighting and dying”. Fired with a strong urge to usher in an Isiamic order and to overpower the enemies of their so-called freedom, Basharat’s school friends would cross high-mountain peaks, standing magnificently all along the border with PoK, to receive arms training in alien climes. The rebel in the young school-going boy, Basharat, take the place of a coy- some sibling of a middle-class rural Muslim family and decides to join the much talked about freedom-struggle as Mujahideen. He wants to bid adieu to studies at school.

Peer’s parents heard about their sons firm resolve to join JKLF, the then premier militant outfit, fighting for valley’s independence. His parents intervened and succeeded in preventing young Basharat from joining the militant outfit. “He can join after finishing his studies,” they said to their overzealous son. Rebellion, his father said repeatedly, were led by educated men. The young boy had to yield to the wishes of his parents. He draws a pen picture of the situation appering in February 1990 in the valley, particularly in Srinagar. The author says, “By February 1990 Kashmir was in the midst of a full-blown rebellion against India. Every evening we heard the news of more protests and deaths. Protests followed killings, and killings followed protests. News came from Srinagar that hundreds of thousands of people had marched to pray for independence at the shrine of the patron saint of Kashmir, Nooruddin Rishi. All over the state similar marches to the shrines of Surfi saints were launched. I joined a procession to the shrine of a much revered Zain Shah Sahib at Aishmuqam near my school”(page 17). It is worth mentioning that Saint Zain Shah was originally a Kashmiri Brahman converted to Islam in 15th century,. When Kashmir was ruled by some fanatic Muslim rulers, including the infamous idol breaker Sikender Butshekan. As admitted by the author of the Curfewed Night, it was a full-fledged revolt against India, provoked and abetted by Pakistan in collabration with the Sunni Musllim Community. So, the so-called political movement was no less short of a religious movement aimed at seceding Kashmir from India on the “basis of two-nation theory, the sheet-anchor of the bloody Partition of the Indian subcontinent. It is on account of this premises that former President of Pakistan,Ghulam Ishaq Khan called the Kashmir issue “unfinished agenda of Partition”. To call the ongoing Jehad as Independence Movement by Mr.Basharat Peer, the author of the Curfewed Night, is sheer travesty of truth and the distortion of historical facts.

His remarks about the former Governor of Kashmir, Jagmohan are unwarranted and condemnable in the light of facts. ‘The night of January 20, 1990 was long and sad. Before dinner, my family gathered as usual around the radio for the evening news on BBC World Service. Two days earlier, Jagmohan, an Indian bureaucrat infamous for his hatred for Muslims, had been appointed the governor of Jammu and Kashmir. He gave orders to crush the incipient rebellion……”(page15). To this question the author will find a suitable answer in the “My Frozen Turbulance’ written by Jagmohan two decades ago. He says when he had assumed the charge as the Governor of J & K state, the strife-torn state was “slipping away from India” as a result of conspiracy hatched and worked out by Pakistan’s infamous ISI, named “Operation Topac”. As a patriot and well-wisher of the peace-loving Kashmiri’s he had no option but to bring the deteriorating situation under control. It goes to the credit of Mr. Jagmohan that he retrieved the valley for the Indian-nation and let the flag of secularism flying aloft on the ramparts of the Red Fort. Had he remained as the Governor of J&K state for some time more the history of the strife-torn state would have been decidedly different and there would have been no Kashmir issue. Unfortunately, some anti-national elements, emboldened by false media propaganda by Pakistan against Jagmohan, this visionary and ace-administrator was unceremoniously removed as Governor of the state. I, as reviewer of Mr. Basharat Peer’s book Curfewed Night, am not holding brief for the former Governor Jagmohan, but stating facts for the information of the author of the book who appears to rely upon what former militants and their sympathizers have stated in their interviews with the author of the book.

His reference to the Gowkadal firings and killings needs to be discussed in the light of volatile propaganda. On page 15,the author say’s “One protest march began from a southern Srinagar area where my parents now live, passed the city centre, Lal Chowk, and marched through the nearby Maisuma towards the shrine of a revered Sufi Saint of a few miles ahead. Protesters were crossing the dilapidated wooden Gawkadal Bridge in Maisuma when the Indian paramilitary, the Central Reserve Police Force, opened fire. More than fifty people were killed. It was the first massacre in the Kashmir valley. As the news sank in, we all wept…? It was no doubt, a great tragedy. There was reliable intelligence reports that some mischievous elements in the protest march were bent upon raking up communal riots by setting ablaze on way Hindu houses in nearby Kashmiri Pandit localities, including Ganpatyar, Habba Kadal etc. That might have been the reason for the Indian Security Forces to take such a strong action. On hearing about such happenings, the heart of every Kashmiri – Hindu or Muslim- is bound to bleed and ache, let alone that of the author of the book under review.

One thing, as pointed out by a critic, goes to the credit of the author of the book Curfewed Night, is an extraordinary memories that does a great deal to bring the Kashmir conflict out of the realm of political rhetoric between India and Pakistan and the lives of Kashmiri’s. Again, Mr. Basharat Peer refers to his unsuccessful visit to Kunnan Poshpara Village in Kupwara district of North Kashmir were the security forces were alleged to have raped a number of village Women. It was just a propaganda stunt by Pakistan. A probe into the alleged rape incidents by the state authorities brought the fact to limelight that these charges leveled against the Indian army were totally false and fabricated. I wonder how an impartial news-reporter was led away by this propaganda stunt. His emotional out burst on these fabricated crimes committed by the security forces can be gauged from his own description ! “He sits at a bus-stop watching for the bus to take him to Kunnan Poshpora, but when it arrives he just goes on sitting, listening to the sound of reviving engine, and watching the bus drive away. For all the stories of suffering he seeks out, there is one he cannot bring himself to look at too closely.”

The author has no word to say about the Chattisinghpora and the Wandhama carnages committed by the militants on non-Muslim villagers. In Chattisinghpora village, situated close to Bashart Peer’s native village in Anantnag distinct, over thirty- Sikhs were brutally killed, while twentyfive Kashmiri Pandits in Wandhama village in Ganderbal Tehsil were gunned down mercilessly and their houses set on fire. A thirteen year old Kashmiri Pandit boy was the lone survivor in this village where almost fifty Pandit families lived prior to this brutal massacre of innocent Kashmiri Pandit Villagers. Their burnt houses still remain a living eye-witness to the atrocities perpetrated on the Kashmiri Pandit Community.

There is just one stray reference to the forced mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the land of their birth. The author went to attend his village school one fine morning. He found no Kashmiri Pandit teacher present in the school as all of them had fled the valley. Of course, he felt very sad and puzzled. ‘The murders sent a wave of fear through the community and more than a hundred thousand Pandits left Kashmiri after March, 1990. The affluent moved to houses in Jammu, Delhi and various Indian cities. But a vast majority could find shelter only in the squalor of refugee camps and rented rooms in Jammu and Delhi’ (page 184).

The author refers to the secular and harmonious atmosphere prevailing In the valley prior to 1989. ‘The practice of Islam in Kashmir borrowed elements from the Hindu and the Buddhist past, the Hindus in turn were influenced by Muslim practices. In my childhood nobody raised an eyebrow if Hindu women went to a Muslim shrine to seek the blessings of a saint. The religious divide was visible only on the days India and Pakistan played cricket. Muslims supported the Pakistani Cricket and the Pandits were for India. My father’s best friend was and remains a Pandit; my mother had long friendships with Pandit women who taught in the same school”( chapter 15, page184).

The chapter titled “Papa-II”deals with the author’s interviews with some militants. The details givien by these militants about some of these interrogation centres are horrible and blood-curdling ancedots. The discription of these horrible stories invoke the sympathizes of the reader, no matter how callous-minded the reader may be. If true, one cannot but condemn these inhuman acts committed by the army investigators. But there stands a question mark: are these real acts of the India’s disciplined army? However, there may be exceptions here and there. Perhaps it is aimed to tarnish the image of our security forces.

One such centre was shut and later on occupied by a top-ranking Oxford Educated Kashmiri bureaucrat as stated by the author of Curfewed Night, Says the author, “Before moving in, the Oxford-Educated Officer called priests of all religions to pray there and exorcise the ghosts”(page 133, chapter 11).

The author has almost sidelined describing the gruesome killings of some eminent Kashmiri Pandit leaders, Lawyers, Doctors, Journalists, Business men, Teachers and Scholars. Can the Kashmiris particularly Kashmiri Pandits forget brutal killings of Pandit Sarwanand Premi and his son, whose eyes were gorged with an iron rod and the bodies cut to pieces or Sarla, a school teacher in a Kupwara school, sawed to death in a sawmill. Militants are equally responsible for turning the happy valley into hell. Without describing these killings, the author has not taken his narrative to a successful conclusion.

However, author’s search for his “lost teacher”-Pandit Chaman Lai Kantroo- evokes our admiration for this budding Kashmiri Muslim author. He desperately makes a search for his childhood Kashmiri Pandit friends. He visits Awtar’s hut in Jammu where he meets his father’s adopted Hindu sister Gouri wife of Awtar, Jee. “Is he Ammul’s son?” says Gouri. “Ammul was my father’s childhood name which hardly any one outside the family knew. My eyes were wet,” narrates Basharat Peer (page 183). He met his childhood friend, Vinod, by chance in Srinagar where he worked as Area Manager of a Pharmaceutical Company. After a long search he met his Master Jee Chaman Lai Kantroo, in a rented room in Amphela in Jammu. “A step stair led to the rooftop. Behind a curtain of clothes hanging on a nylon rope was a garret. “Come in, Basharat,” Mr Kantroo called out. I looked at him ; he had aged. His checks had sunk deep, his hair was almost white; his eyes were deep down, but seemed to have lost their verve.”(page190). His teacher gave him a book of poems composed by him. The cover of the book read “Eternal Sin”. His partings were surcharged with emotions on either side-from his old student Basharat and his teacher Pandit C.L. Kantroo.

He describes valley’s corrupt bureaucracy. Even bureaucrats demand huge bribes for sanctioning monetary relief. “The files do not move by itself from one table to another. Out of the relief money of one lakh, the applicant has to spend 25 per cent to thirty thousand rupees. Otherwise he will waste years visiting offices. And once he pays that, we ensure that his name in the compensation job list goes up and things move fast.”(page 164). He gives a pen picture of the devastated Rughnath Mandir in the interior of Srinagar city and the abandoned Martand temple at Mattan sans (missing) Shiva idol. At the end of the Curfewed Night the author crosses the Line of Control at Uri which now “functions as a defecto border between two parts of Kashmir” He comments, “The Loc did not run through 576 kilometer of militarized mountains. It ran through the reels of Bollywood coming to life in dark theatres; it ran through the conversations in Coffee shops and TV screens showing cricket matches. It ran through whispers of lovers. And it ran through our grief, our anger, our tears and our silence”. (Page 220-221). It ends with the people awaiting eagerly for the bus coming from the other side of our valley. “I watched thousands of men, women and children stand and along the soldier-laden road, welcoming the ones who had stepped across the Iine.”(page221).

I wish Basharat Peer writing his new book, describing the return of 4 lakh displaced Kashmiri Pandits to their land of birth and their Muslim brethren according them warm hearted welcome in the true spirit of “Kashmeriat” of which the author of the Curfewed Night is a strong votary Amen !

In the end I agree that the “Curfewed Night is an emotional tale of man’s (author’s) love for his land, the pain of leaving home and ultimately the joy of return”. Its racy prose is both lyrical and moving, subject matter most poignant. It describes what a heaven once it was, and what a hell it now is – all man-made! Buck up Basharat Sahib-that is my message to you!

*(The author is prolific writer and editor Samachar Post)

The memories of Vittal Bhairav Temple


May 2012

I was really shocked to learn that this historic religious shrine has been demolished and the entire area (land) attached with the temple taken under possession by a person hailing from Pampore in connivance with the Dharmarth Trust and local administration. Now, where can I find Vittal Bhairav temple of Rainawari, Motiyar? My childhood memories are associated with the Bhairav temple.

By G L Jalali

A fortnight back, I received a telephone call from a young Kashmiri Pandit who informed me that Vittal Bhairav temple has been completely vandalised by some anti-national elements. The informant was once my neighbour in Rainawari. The news was very shocking for me, indeed. I have no words to express my anguish over the vandalization of this centuries old temple dedicated to Vittal Bhairav. The temple was situated on the bank of a canal that served as a waterway between Rainawari and Shalteng in our childhood days. One could travel in a rented Shikara (a special type of boat) right from Rainawari to any part of the down town. Those were the days when a horse drawn tonga was the only means of transport in the city whose population did not exceed four or five  lakhs.

The Hindu-dominated Rainawari locality is on the suburb of Srinagar city. It is about 4 kilometers from the historic Lal Chowk, the hub of business activities once called Chotta Bengal, by Walter Lawrence. Rainawari has its own natural beauty. It is flanked by the world-famous Dal Lake and Hari Parbat hillock. In our childhood days the canal flowed through the middle. We had at least seventeen temples in Rainawari. Almost all of them were managed by local managing committees. The Dharmarth Trust that managed big temples in the city had no role in managing Rainawari temples. The members of Motiyar (also called Panditpora) looked after the up-keep of the Vittal temple to the entire satisfaction of the Pandit community. The temple was visited by a large number of Kashmiri Pandits every day.

The temple commanded landscape beauty. Imagine a tall leafy centuries old mulberry trees and scores of poplar trees whose leaves rustled in the morning breeze and a dip in the crystal-clear water of the running canal in the scorching heat of the summer sun, lady devotees singing "Lelas" in praise of the deity. That is the picture of my Vittal Bhairav temple in my youthful days.

It was, no doubt, a dream like experience intoxicated with religious fervour generated partly by the locale of "Vittal Bhairav's" cosy abode in Motiyar. Referring to innumerable temples in the valley, Walter R Lawrence, remarks. "There is hardly a river, spring, or hill side in Kashmir that is not holy to the Hindus, and it would require endless space if I were to attempt to give a list of places famous and dear to Hindus. (The valley of Kashmir, page 297)

According to the Hindu mythology, the city of Srinagar was the abode of Hindu deities & Gods who would spend their time in Saadhana. It is said that Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati had great fascination for the valley. They resided & visited various places in the valley. Their favourite haunt was the Mount Kailash. Lord Brahma had deployed eight Bhairavas to guard the city to ensure tranquility which was essential for the attainment of spiritual perfection. These eight Bhairvas were named as Bhatukeshvara Bhairva, Amareshvara Bhairava, Mangalaraja Bhairva, Hatakeshvara Bhairva, Puranaraja Bhairava and Vaitala Bhairava. Of these Bhairavas, Vitalraja Bhairava occupied a prime place in galaxy of eight Bhairavas. He is considered  very close to Lord Shiva.

In my birth burg there is another temple dedicated to Vittal Bhairva. It is in close proximity of the temple at Motiyar. People called it Bodi-Vittal because of a spacious area attached to the temple. It did not attract as many worshippers as Motiyar Vittal Bhairav temple attracted. Long back, Bodi Vittal Bhairav temple was looked after local Muslims, but just two decades earlier the mass migration of Kashmiri Pandits a local committee, headed by Late Dr Shambu Nath Kalpushu looked after the temple. It was completely renovated and  a new Dharamshalla  was constructed close to the temple.

Vittal Bhairav temple of Motiyar is a historical shrine.  It is said that during the Afghan rule in Kashmir, Motiyar temple was the only Hindu temple where Kashmiri Pandits were allowed to pay obeisance and perform their religious rituals. A huge ghat is attached to the temple. In the morning hours we would see devotees performing their rituals on the ghat doing their Sandhya upasna and taking their morning bath amidst Chanting of Mantras in praise of Lord Shiva Vittal Bhairva.

I remember that my mother would attend the temple twice a week -Tuesday and Saturday to worship the deity. Sometimes I would accompany her to this temple where she would do her Puja at least for two hours. She would often relate me some interesting stories about the deity. My mother would say that the  great mystic (Yogi) saint Swami Jeewan Sahib, whose shrine is hardly three hundred meters away from this Bhariva temple would attend the temple every day and perform his morning Sandhya Upasna every day in this historic temple in Rainawari.

There is story about Swami Jeewan Sahib. Legend says that Jeewan Sahib worked as domestic servant in the house of a Hindu family of Rainawari. It resembles the story of another mystic Meesha Sahib of Karapora Khushki of Rainawari locality. He, like Swami Jeewan Sahib worked as a domestic servant in the house of Krishna Kar, a Tehsildar of Kamraj district during Afghan rule. The owner of the house, where Jeewan Sahib worked as domestic servant was a Tehsildar by profession.  He would start working in the kitchen early in the morning. He would silently do "Upasna" in the kitchen and made the kitchen room his abode. Nobody knew about Swami's spiritual perfection. One night the wife of Tehsildar looked into the kitchen room. She was astonished to see the room glittering with dazzling light. She informed her husband who also saw the dazzling light coming out of the kitchen room where Swami Jeewan Sahib was performing his Upasana. The fame of Jeewan Sahib spread far and wide. Even the Afghan ruler came to know about the spiritual powers of the Pandit saint. Jeewan Sahib passed the last years of his life at Gousein Nar village in Pulwama Tehsil of Kashmir province.

It is said that he was born in Rainawari. He was, in fact, an outstanding saint of the 18th century. He was gifted with tremendous spiritual powers. In 1779 he shifted from Rainawari to Gousein Nar in Loduv. The ruler of Kashmir had allotted him a "Jaggir" of 80 kanals of land at Gousein Nar. It is said that Jeewan Sahib attained the spiritual perfection through his Upasana at Vittal Bhairva temple. I can well recollect that in our childhood days some of us would take our mid-day bath in the canal close to the shrine. We would usually go in for the bath in July, which is the hottest month in valley. We would sit on the ghat and finish our home-task assigned by our teacher. People (devotees) would make the special offerings of yellow boiled rice with cooked goat liver, dried fish and sometimes cheese and potato to the deity on particular occasion. Even my mother would make such offering once a year. Children sitting on the ghat would also partake the yellow boiled rice and cooked goat liver as "Prasad". One could not feel beneath ones dignity to ask for his or her share of Prasad. When any lady was seen coming to make any special offer to the deity, small children either sitting on the ghat or taking bath in the canal (Mar) would  scramble & solicit for their share of Prasad (Naveed) from the lady.

Piles of fruit & boiled yellow rice were seen lying in front a centuries old mulberry tree which symbolised the presence of Vittal Bhairva. Apart from this sacred tree, the idol of the deity was placed there for the devotees to worship. We were told by our elders that on a particular day the deity made his physical presence to satisfy the urge of his devotees.

Many tales and legends of this deity are galore, lending credence to the sanctity and curative capabilities associated with the very shrine. A story goes that once a small child in our Mohalla was taken ill seriously. Despite the best medical treatment given to the diseased boy by his parents, the ailment did not show any abatement. His condition was deteriorating day by day. Since their residence was very close to this Bhairav Mandir, they gave some offerings in the form of yellow rice & cheese to the deity at the behest of a devotee of Bhairav Sahib. The ailing child recovered fully within a week of offering "Prasad" to the deity.

In my childhood days local Muslims held this shrine in high esteem. They would never defecate or urinate either in the premises of the temple or in the very direction of this historic Bhairava temple. Some old Muslims living around the shrine had firm faith in the physical presence of Vittal Bhairav at this place that is why they desisted from making any encroachment on the land attached to this historic temple.

I have a faint impression of my mother, who along with two or three ladies, would invariably take a holy dip in the canal running close to this historic Bhairava temple on the day of Chandanshashti. On this day no man was allowed to enter the temple. The celebrations were meant for only women. I would, as a child, accompany my mother who used to observe complete fast on this day. Chandanshashti is the Karvachowth  of Kashmiri Pandit ladies.

Chandansashti is observed during two different periods in India. Some communities in western part of India observe it during the waxing phase of the moon in the month of Vaishakha Kashmiri Pandit ladies observe this ritual in the dark fortnight of Bhadun month". Pandit ladies break the fast when the moon rises during midnight. It is meant for the long life and prosperity of their husbands. I remember that my mother would perform "Puja" on this occasion on the canal ghat. After finishing this religious ritual, she would distribute fruit among children. So, on this day there was great rush of ladies in the temple .

In mid fifties a Sadhu from Tamil Nadu, Swami Kand Swami came from Tamil Nadu and made the temple his permanent abode. I remember we would often like to talk to the soft spoken Swami who could speak Kashmiri language fluently. Humorous by temperament, polite in his dealings with the public, Swami Kand Swami who was also called Kartikanand, was a very popular saint among the locals. One thing went to the credit of the Tamil Nadu Saint -he took great care of the temple and tried hard to develop it. It was on his initiative that another temple dedicated to goddess Parvati was constructed and the Pratima (idol) of goddess was brought from South India & installed in the newly constructed temple. I remember a grand Hawan was performed in connection with the installation of the idol in the temple.

Gone are the days when Navratra festival that lasted for one week was celebrated in the temple. Hundreds of devotees would participate in the special Puja performed daily all the seven days both in the evening & morning in the sprawling premises of Vittal Bhairav temple. The very environs of the temple reverberated with the devotional songs and leelas sung by ladies in melodious tune.

In fact some sort of "Godly atmosphere" was created all these Navratra days in the Pandit Pora locality, the birth place of saint Jeevan Sahib, scholars like Pandit Shredhar Koul Dullo, Pandit Sansar Chand Koul Ganhar (known as Bird Watcher), astrologer Pandit Keshav Nath, valleys leading journalist and author Pandit J.N.Ganhar, Dr. Sudharshan Mahaldar (first medical graduate), Pandit Ram Joo Abhay, Prof R.K. Zutshi, scout master Pandit Vasdev Koul, etc.

I fully remember that a number of Kashmiri Pandits from Pandit Pora locality would meet thrice a week in the temple premises and discuss some religious topics. It was called "Parivachan". All of them were Shiva Scholars. They would sit on the canal ghat start their "Parivachan". I had the occasion to attend this Parivachan and listen to their discussion. For me the subject was beyond my comprehension.

"Kashmiri Shaivism, a house hold religion is based on strong monistic interpretation of the "Bhairava Tantras" which were tantras written by the Kapalikas. There was additionally a revelation of the Shiv Sutras to Vasugupta. Kashmiri Shaivism claimed to supersede the dualistic Shiva Siddhanta. Somananda, the first theologian of monistic Shaivism was the teacher of Utpaladeva who was the grand teacher of Abhinavagupta who in turn was the teacher of Ksemaraja".

In my birth burg there was no dearth of Shiva-philosophers. Shaivism of Kashmir was developed between 8th and 12th centuries. This is corroboratively younger philosophy. "Like Advaitavedanta it is monistic, like Vaishnavism it is theistic, like yoga it is practical, like Nayaya it is logical as also appeasing like Buddhism. Kashmiri Shaivism is, therefore, idealistic in essence, strongly advocating a pragmatic approach to life."

Apart from serving as religious place, Vittal Bhairav temple premises served as a vibrant centre of cultural activities. It is pertinent to refer to the Vittal Bhairava Kala Kendra which coordinated cultural activities from time to time.

I vividly remember that on the eve of every Janamashtami this cultural body would stage a series of dramas that heralded 7-day theatre festival. It would open a window of opportunity to our talented budding local artists to exhibit their latent talent with regard to theatre and its allied activities. Since cinema was still at the initial stage of popularity in those days, people had a craze for the stage and liked to witness dramas on the local stage. It may be recalled that theatre in ancient Kashmir was at am advanced stage. One can find scores of references to it in valley's ancient literature. Music and theatre (Raga and Nartika) were the two important components of Hindu culture during the times of the ancient Hindu rulers, including Laltaditya and Avanti Verman. It received a great setback during the Muslim rule, as music was anathema to these alien-rulers whose puritanical views on drama music need no elucidation. I can recall that Vittal Bhairva Kala Kendra staged successful dramas captioned Raja Hari  Chander, Drua Bhat, Habba Khatoon etc. These became boxoffice hits; there was hardly any adult resident of Pandit Pora who did not witness these dramas. The proceeds of tickets were used for the development of the temple.

We can hardly forget the acting of late Nand Lal Kachroo, Late Nilkanth Sharma, Late Krishen Lal Handoo etc. They proved the best stage actors.

When I recall the memories associated with Vittal Bhairav temple, I remember the memories associated with Vittal Bhairav temple I remember how we used to hold "Shakha" in the sprawling ground attached with the shrine. I am reminded of my adolescent days when I was a zealous RSS activist. We used to have a special gathering of the RSS participants of the whole city at the place. It does not mean that the premises were used for political activities. It was purely a religo-cultural place for the Pandits of Rainawari locality.

Alas! I was really shocked and amazed that this shrine has been demolished and the entire premises taken under possession by a Muslim of Pampore in connivance with the Dharmarth Trust and local administration. That is the sordid tale of my "Vittal Bhairav Mandir of Motiyar (Pandit Pora) Rainawari.

I was really shocked to learn that this historic religious shrine has been demolished and the entire area (land) attached with the temple taken under possession by a person hailing from Pampore in connivance with the Dharmarth Trust and local administration. Now, where can I find Vittal Bhairav temple of Rainawari, Motiyar? My childhood memories are associated with the Bhairav temple.


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