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

The Kashmiri civilization can be called as the oldest civilization with a king in Asia. Kalhan Pandit mentions in his book Rajatarangini that rule by kings in Kashmir began in 2800 BC. However, settlements were made in Kashmir around 11,000 years ago by the Brahmins living in today's Punjab, Sindh and Rajasthan areas, on the banks of mystic Saraswati river. They were known as Saraswat Brahmans. It was Gonanda, the first king of Kashmir. In 2500 BC, The first temple ever in the subcontinent was constructed in Bijbehara, The Vijayeswara Temple. Now here comes the greatness of Kashmiri architecture. The temple was a magnificient structure with beautiful carvings on it, made completely of stones, it was a complex architectural marvel, built at that time when the Indus Valley Civilization was preparing it's basic city plans. This temple, now mostly in ruins still stands in Bijbehara and is the oldest standing structure of the subcontinent, around 4500 year old structure. The structure came up at that time when the Egyptian Pyramids were being constructed. Around this time, the Shankaracharya Temple came up. It is the oldest functioning temple in the subcontinent or in the world. It was however repaired several times and the current structure was built in 9th Century AD. Indigenous kings ruled the valley till 260 BC, when Ashoka the Great extended Maurya empire to Kashmir. It was Ashoka, who found the city of Srinagar on the banks of river Vitasta (Sanskrit name for Jehlum). When the Maurya Empire started losing it's control over the subcontinent, The Central Asian tribe of Yuezhi or as we know them, the Kushan Empire came to Kashmir. It was the first time, a new religion came to Kashmir. It was Mahayana Buddhism, which is currently practiced in China, Ladakh, Japan and many other countries. Kanishka inaugrated Mahayana Buddhism in Harwan, Kashmir at the 4th World Buddhist Council. It was attended by several great people, including Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna was a Telugu Vaishnavite Brahmin who converted to Buddhism and preached it in Tibet. Kashmir has played a crucial role in propagating Buddhism to many parts of the Asia. Great Kashmiri scholars like Padmasambhava were responsible for spread of Buddhism in Ladakh, Tibet and Arunachal. After collapse of Kushan Empire in Kashmir, rule was again in the hands of Kashmiri rulers. However, possibly during 2nd -6th Century AD, Kashmir might have served as a vassal to the Guptas and Harsha's empire. Pravarsena II was a powerful king during this time. He founded a city Pravarapura, which has been identified as present day Srinagar. One of his major foundations was the Shalimar Garden. Shalimar is a sanskrit word, which was given to the garden found by him. Further extension to it was given by Mughal emperor Jahangir. It was the year 625. Prajnaditya Durlabhavardhana or Pragaditya Durlabhavardhana started the rule of Karkotas in Kashmir. It was Karkota Empire, which made Kashmir a superpower in Asia. The last king of Restored Gonanda Dynasty was Baladitya. Astrologers predicted that his son-in-law would succeed him. He married his daughter to Durlabhvardhana, a Kayastha, who was fodder-incharge of Baladitya. He belonged to the Naga Karkota tribe of Kashmir, probably the tribe that inhabited Kashmir before the arrival of Saraswat Brahmins, when the valley was a part of Satisar Lake. He ascended the throne in 625 AD. Before going to it's great kings, I want to tell something. Xuanzang was a Chinese Buddhist Monk, who had come to India during Harsha's time and Kashmir during Durlabhvardhan's time. He stayed in Kashmir for around 2 years. His account has a mention of the majestic Sharada Peetham Comlpex's mention. He says, "It is a great place of learning, much greater than Nalanda in Magadh (Bihar)". He also mentions that it was perhaps the only place, where he saw both Buddhist and Hindu monks receiving Vedic Education. Sharada Peeth was a University and a Temple. It was Sharada Peeth only, where Adi Shankaracharya received the right to sit on the Sarvagyapeetham. Sharada Peeth gave birth to Sharada Script, the script of official work in Kashmir till Islamic rule, which further gave birth to Takri script of Dogri and Gurmukhi script of Punjabi. Takri and Sharda have now become almost extinct, whereas Gurmukhi is used by Indian Punjabis. 724 AD saw the rise of one of the greatest kings ever in the subcontinent, Lalitaditya Muktapida of the Karkota clan. He was wisest of all. An able administrator, he was also a great conqueror. Kalhan mentions in his book that his reign was a golden period of Kashmir. He shifted the capital from Srinagar to Parihaspore. He was also referred to as Alexander of Kashmir. He led numerous conquests and never failed. He increased the extent of Karkotas from Uzbekistan in the north to Central India in the south and from Afghanistan in the west to Bengal in the east. Some manuscripts were found by the Archaeological Department of Afghanistan in Kabul, written in Sharada script about Lalitaditya. He constructed the majestic Martand Sun Temple in Anantnag. Kalhan mentions that it could possibly be the largest ever temple complexes constructed. Meanwhile, Buddhist influence in the valley increased. These years are referred as to the Middle Republican Years in Kashmir. These years saw some tension gripping between Brahmins and Buddhists. Buddhists challenged the Brahmin supremacy. However, this tension did not last long as Brahmanical influence dropped and Kashmiri Shaivism grew. Kashmir gave a lot of literature for Shaivism, which is still studied in Tamil Nadu. Great Kashmiri Scholars like Abhinavgupta, Kalidasa, Vasugupta and many others have contributed a lot to the Indian Literature.

Martand Sun Temple, now in ruins.

Martand Sun Temple

Lalitaditya's time saw the growth of each and every community. Buddhism and Hinduism grew simultaneously in Kashmir. It was Lalitaditya's time, when the Arabs knocked the door of Kashmir. Lalitaditya, with his great army and strategies gave a crushing defeat to Arabs, which led to their loss of territories to Kashmir. Lalitaditya, when came to know about Islamic fanatics and their atrocities in Persia and some Afghan territories to their natives, he became a savior for the subcontinent. He guarded the eastern lands of the Indus and his strategies were able to keep the Islamists away from the subcontinent for a long period of time. Kalhan mentions, that whenever the Arabs used to send an invitation for war to any Hindu state, the Hindu King would reply, "We don't mind for going on a war with you. We have our saviour, Lalitaditya with us. He has the capability of giving you a crushing defeat and erasing you all." Lalitaditya proved on to be a terror, a nightmare for the Arabs. Kashmiri history can be divided into two parts. Pre Lalitaditya and Post Lalitaditya. Pre Lalitaditya was a golden period for Kashmiri Brahmins, but Post Lalitaditya gradually turned out be disastrous for us.

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.

Lohara dynasty saw political instability in Kashmir for a long time and Damaras grew even more powerful. Kalhan's account of Rajatarangini closes in the 22nd year of reign of Jayasimha, the 6th king of Second Lohara Dynasty. By this time, Islam must have constituted 0.5 - 1 % of Kashmiri population. The year was 1300. Suhadeva was the ruler of Kashmir. He was a strong ruler, but unpopular. He again destroyed several temples and taxed the Brahmins heavily, who were never taxed before. Suhadeva had a Buddhist minister from Ladakh, Rinchan. He even employed several Islamic people in his army. One of them was Shah Mir from Swat Valley.
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.