Part 1, Ancient and Middle Republican Kashmir
Kashmiri Saraswat Brahmins/Kashmiri Pandits - 1890 |
Part 1, Ancient and Middle Republican Kashmir
By : Shivansh Ganjoo"Look, A dallya batta walking."
It became a common sentence on the lips of Kashmiri Muslims whenever they saw a Kashmiri Pandit walking on the streets. This became very common during the time of 89-90s. By January of 1990, we were shown guns, we were threatened and forced to leave our roots. Forced to leave our homes. Forced to leave the valley. Today, while watching a debate on the "News Hour" on Times Now, moderated by Arnab Goswami, whenever A Kashmiri Pandit and Kashmiri Muslim come face to face, we are referred to as cowards. They laugh on us and say that we showed cowardliness and fled the valley, when a ''peaceful'' struggle for independence was going on. Unfortunately, by the due course of time, we have been labelled as cowards and most of us are not bothered about it. Why ? Because we have mixed with other cultures where we have migrated. Our upcoming generations won't be called as Kashmiri Pandits, because they won't have that culture in them. This community, whose population has increased from 3.5 lakh to 8.5 lacs in the past Two and a half decades will become extinct in the upcoming years. It's an old saying, "You lose your language, you lose everything". I have myself experienced this. The generation, which was born after the migration, knows very very less about their culture, their traditions, their customs, etc. They are not interested even.
We can't blame the younger generation for this. People to be blamed are their parents, who failed to inculcate their culture into their children. I have a Kashmiri Pandit friend, of my age only. Whenever I talk to him on this issue, I feel proud of myself. I think, I have a million times much knowledge on this topic. But at the same time, I feel pity on him. What he knows about Kashmir is, we celebrated Navreh, we celebrated Shivaratri, We used to wear phyeran, ate non-veg and the whole population migrated on the same day, i.e 19 January, 1990 and the reason of our migration is still alien to him. When I feel pity on him, at the same time I feel upset too. I develop an anger in me for his parents, that how could they do this to him ? They didn't even bother to tell him what happened to them at that time. Shame on such people, Literally, a BIG SHAME.
Out of that 8.5 lac of population, a few thousand must be aware of our original history. I think, unlike all Kashmiri Pandits, whenever Muslims say,"We have the blood of our Great Emperor Aurangzeb's blood in our veins", I have the guts to give them a befitting reply, "I have the blood of Lalitaditya Muktapida the Great in my veins. The same Lalitaditya, whose name was enough to terrorize the barbaric Arabs". Not everyone is aware of our history. Very less people know about our roots.
The Sharada Peeth, currently in PoK |
Martand Sun Temple, now in ruins. |
Martand Sun Temple |
Martand Sun Temple was a mixture of Indo-Greek Architecture. |
Architecture of Martand Sun Temple |
Lalitaditya died in 760 AD, after leading to a conquest in Persia, where he witnessed nonseasonal snowfall and died due to severe cold. His rule was followed by Kuvalayapida. The successors of Lalitaditya were not able rulers and did not devote much time to royal works. Several conflicts related to throne erupted during their time. The political instability gave rise to powerful landlords, The Damaras. Whenever a weak ruler would come to rule, they would take the advantage of it. By due course of time, Kashmir lost it's status as the superpower of Asia, lost it's territories to Tibet, Kabul Shahis, Mongols and Arabs. 885 AD saw the rise of a new dynasty, the Utpala Dynasty. First king was Avantivarman. He founded the city of Awantipora in Anantnag and constructed the Avantiswamin Temple, which again lies in a dilapidated condition. He was the first Vaishnavite ruler ever of Kashmir in it's history of kings of 3600 years. The Vaishnavite ruler ruled a Shaivite state, but with complete tolerance to both the sects of Hindus and Buddhists. By this time, Islam had arrived to Kashmir, but was followed by less than hundred people in a population of million +
Islamic Missionaries from Persia started settling in Kashmir, but their population remained very very less as compared to Hindu majority. The further rulers of Utpala dynasty included Shankaravarman, It was during the last years of Utpala dynasty, Kashmir went under severe economic crisis. To overcome the monetary problems, Temples were vandalized by Hindu rulers only, The idols were uninstalled, melted to form gold and silver coins. This was the first incident of destruction of Kashmiri Temples. Kashmiri Brahmins strongly revolted these actions of the rulers, but were met with brutal supression and some of them were killed. Brahmins, who were never indulged in such type of violence, were shocked to see their fellows killed. They stepped back, scared.It were the rulers, Kayastha clan of Kashmir, who named Brahmins as "Dalya Battas". We were mocked and humiliated for the first time by our own Hindu rulers of Kashmir. In 980s saw the rise of Didda, one of the few women rulers of the subcontinent. She was daughter of a Lohara King, with ancestral relation to the Kabul Shahis. She married the Kashmiri king Kshemgupta. After his death, she ascended the throne. She died in 1003, she was succeeded by her Lohara nephew, Sangramraja. During Sangramraja's rule, economy must have improved. Unfortunately, Kashmir suffered it's greatest shock, when their neighbouring Hindu state of Kabul Shahis was defeated by Ghaznavids and Islamic rule was established in Kabul. Their last king Trilochanpal was defeated and Hindus perished under the alien Islamic rule. Who knew that same thing would happen to the Vedic Land of Kashmir after 3 centuries ?
Avantiswami Temple, Awantipora. Now in Ruins. |
During Suhadeva's rule, a Mongol Muslim Warlord, with an army of 70,000 attacked Kashmir. Suhadeva fled to Tibet and the command was now in the hands of Ramachandra, the Prime Minister of Kashmir. Kashmiri forced fought bravely with the Mongols, but were defeated. This was the second shock to Kashmir. 70,000 Mongols entered the valley, killed everyone who came in front of them. Thousands of Temples were destroyed, houses and shops of Pandits were gutted, royal treasury was looted, the Barbarain Mongol Army ate till the last grain of corn and rice wasn't finished from the stock. Around 10%-20% population of Kashmir must have been erased during this time. After Mongols plundered Kashmir, Ramachandra ascended the throne in absence of Suhadeva. He made Rinchan an administrator. Rinchan became ambitious. He killed Ramachandra and married his daughter, Kota Rani and became the king of Kashmir. He even made Ramachandra's son, Ravanachandra to his side. he gave Ladakh as a jagir to Ravanachandra and gave him the title "Raina". Rinchan initially wanted to convert to Hinduism. He went to the Head of Kashmiri Brahmins, Devaswami and asked him to convert himself into a Hindu. Devaswami, that night had a secret meeting with other prominent Pandits and they decided not to convert him to Hinduism because of his race and low caste, which he was born in. This was the biggest blunder ever committed by Kashmiri Pandits. Enraged and incited by Shah Mir, he converted to Islam and renamed himslef as Sultan Saddrudin Shah. Thus, Kashmir got it's first Islamic Sultan. Ravanachandra, along with 10,000 Kashmiris converted to Islam. By this time, the Islamic population must have been 5 %. Rinchan or Sultan Saddrudin ruled from 1320 to 1323 till his death. He was suceeded by the last Hindu ruler of Kashmir, his wife, Kota Rani. She ruled from 1323-1339. She constructed a canal system for Vitasta river system to save Srinagar from flooding. Meanwhile, Shah Mir became ambitious for the throne and wanted to marry Kota Rani. Unable to defend herself from Shah Mir, she stabbed herself. This paved way for a 222 year long Sultanate in Kashmir.
Shah Mir ascended the throne in 1339, started the Shah Miri Dynasty, which lasted for 222 years in the Vedic Land of Kashmir, which was now for Islam and against Hindus.
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