One glaring sign of a great and ancient nation is its deep interest in preserving heritage wealth, tangible as well as intangible. Obviously during the course of long history of these nations, so many historical events take shape that leave behind lasting impression on the minds of the people and from which they cull out material for their history. Anybody visiting ancient countries like Greece, Egypt, Iran, Russia, France and United Kingdom is naturally attracted to visit their world reputed monuments, buildings, heritage sites, temples, churches, mosques, fire worshipping temples, bridges and so many other things, These monuments speak to us the history of these nations, their great past and the incredible creative faculty of their people. These monuments and heritage icons stand a vibrant link between their past and future generations.
India also is among ancient countries of the world with rich and colourful civilization. Most of her historic and aesthetically enchanting monuments have been preserved through the effort of her policy planners. The Archaeological Survey of India, an organization of repute was established by the British rulers during the Raj. It continues today and has been the pioneering institute in the country and one of the distinguished state organizations that has rendered invaluable service not only in preserving and maintaining existing heritage objectives but also in making new finds through excavations and research and adding enormous fund of archaeological remains or ruins to the corpus of national heritage fund.
The State of Jammu and Kashmir, too, carries with it very long and fascinating history right from the times of Hindu rulers down to the days of Sultans, Mughals, Sikhs, British and lastly the Dogras. Both of the two major regions of the State, viz. Jammu and Kashmir are replete with distinctive heritage sites, temples, mosques, khanqahs, and other structures. Along the banks of River Jhelum, as per the reports emanating from the State Archaeological Department there are no fewer than 60 historical religious places and sites which are in the throes of total dilapidation, if their conservation is not addressed right now. But it is one thing to have Acts and bodies with impressive names and another thing to translate the spirit of the law and the Act on the ground. The J&K Heritage Conservation and Preservation Act 2010 was aimed to conservation and preservation of heritage, both tangible and intangible including buildings, structures, monuments, precincts, areas, sites, and artefacts, etc.
However, the real picture of the historical buildings plays out a sorry tale. The heritage sites and buildings have a huge importance in the State to promote heritage tourism. Has this law been implemented in letter and in spirit in our State? There are hardly any signs to that effect. A sum of Rs. 50 crore by way of Corpus Fund was sanctioned for Jammu and Kashmir Heritage Conservation and Preservation Authority for conservation and preservation of heritage both tangible and intangible. But nothing has happened on the ground and the Authority remained only on papers. Government is not bothered to preserve the heritage sites here, it is learnt officially.
We are talking profusely of Kashmiriyat. To an ordinary citizen of the State, Kashmiriyat means all those cultural and civilizational symbols that reflect the history and tradition of Kashmir past and present. It is the common heritage of all the people of the State. As such conservation of buildings, structures, monuments, precincts, areas, sites, and artefacts, etc instils us with pride and provides our younger generation the living history of our ancestors. There is a grain of truth in the statement that our heritage fund is so enormous and spread out that it may not be possible to conserve each and every item. Such a thing may not be humanly possible. Apart from that we have to give margin to the climatic effect also which work towards wear and tear of even the most solid structures. These being the facts of the case, nevertheless, we need to prioritize our task buy laying some fundamental principles for taking up a heritage monument for preservation. It means that such monuments as have great bearing on our past history and their preservation is considered indispensable, these should be taken up on priority basis. Also another category has to be identified of such structures as are on the brink of dilapidation and with some repair work could be restored. The ASI has set forth all the rules and procedures in their manual and if these are adhered to strictly, we should be able to make good progress. It is also of much importance that some new sites that have been excavated by the ASI and important clues have been found of human habitation in Neolithic and Palaeolithic periods which should be subjected to study and research by highly proficient teams of antiquarians in the country and the results of their enquiry should be made available to the world of knowledge. This will greatly enhance the prestige and status of our state in its role in the evolution of human life and living.
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