Dr. K.N. Pandita
Kashmiri Pandits (Brief Culture & Political History), Dr. Shiban K Kachru, http:pothi.com. Publisher, place, year of publication and price not given, paper back, pp.338
Only the last chapter viz. ‘Culture of Kashmiri Pandits’ of the book deals exclusively with the minority community of Kashmiri Pandits. Their sporadic mention intersperses the text pertaining the rule of Sultans 1339-1586 AD. Obviously, their oppression is the main content thereof. The rest of the work is something like pocket edition of Kashmir history from early times to present day. The body content of the book does not substantiate its title. What has been said about the Pandits could qualify as their story but not history.
It is absorbing as a running commentary of the long and bizarre drama in Kashmir beginning with the story of Satisar and concluding with the extirpation of the Pandits. Notably the author has made good use of relevant and apposite sources for each chapter. That lends credibility to his assertions. By and large, while recording events unclear or controversial, the author sensibly avoids opening a futile debate and declines to sit on judgment, something which professional historians take pride in doing obviously to their discomfiture.. Being a surgeon by profession, the author wants to be precise and at times incisive, reaching the malady and not resorting to excursionist bonanza. He could have taken the liberty to do so but that would have become only a cumbersome baggage for the reader to carry for some distance yet abandon it ultimately. He is perhaps content with point counter-point methodology and while igniting the debate he has no intention of jumping into the fray or eliciting far-fetched inferences: he leaves the matter to the reader to hypothesize or to be prompted to further enquiry.
Mostly the author has tried to be impartial and let historical characters and actors speak for themselves. It does not mean that he has no opinion of his own. He is loath to drag the reader into a maze of controversies. After all the epochs of Kashmir history are mired in controversies and contradictions. Take this example. Contemporary historians generally ignore Bakhshi Ghulam Muhammad’s crucial role in 1953 and beyond, especially in the reconstruction of Kashmir. The author gives Bakhshi his due credit but at the same time touches on some of the negative aspects of his tenure. Likewise, while stating the position of Sadiq as a leader of progressive ideology in Kashmir, he raises questions on glaring contradiction in his word and deed. This type of input is much needed as it is incisive and realistic.
By and large, the author has faithfully recorded suppression and oppression of Kashmiri Pandits as a religious minority of Kashmir onwards of the middle of 14th century and various ways adopted not only by the autocratic Sultans of medieval times but also by the elected regimes of J&K to sideline them from enjoying the rights that constitution promises to minorities. The irony is that the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir does not recognize any group as religious minority whereas the majority community in Kashmir enjoys the best of both the worlds being a majority in the State and a minority in national context. Author looks at the community as a helpless group struggling for survival and for rights. We should not forget that the very concept of Human Rights with the United Nations emanates from the status of Minorities in national framework.
The author has stuck to the methodology of touch and go. That makes it is an Almanac edition of Kashmir history. It in no way satisfies an inquisitive and a curious student of Kashmir history but it does meet all the requirements of a pocketbook history. Sources used for the contents of the work are admirable and, to a large extent, very authentic. This shows that the author has made considerable study of various aspects of Kashmir history. Kashmir under the Sultans is a tragic story of treachery, tyranny, court conspiracies, jealousy among the courtiers and large scale social aberration. Kashmiri mind appears to be obsessed with sorcery, jugglery and rent asunder by the vices like suspicion, doubts and misbelieves.
The story of the invasion of raiders in 1947 is very sketchy. Perhaps the author could not do more justice to the theme than what he has done because the stunning material that is now unearthed in the shape of oral history of that tragic event is still under compilation. The author cannot be faulted for the sketchy information of 194 7 raid.
The chapter on culture of Kashmiri Pandits is mostly what the author has come to know through tradition, day to day life and through oral history. It cannot be challenged as it is from horse’s mouth. The author deserves appreciation for stating candidly the oppression and suppression of religious minority of Pandits happening throughout the annals of mediaeval history of Kashmir. Their final extirpation en masse in early 1990 closes the Hindu chapter of Kashmir history, thanks the type of secularism proffered by ideologues of independent India. The author states the course of events but somehow desists from bringing the onus to the doorstep of either the real culprits or their mentors within or across the borders of the State. However in an urge to be credited with writing the history of a crucial period, he, sometimes, tries to balance negative treatment of Hindus by jumping to some of the negative traits in their character. This has to be taken as constructive criticism. He is not the first to point it out; his art lies in refusing to pontificate to a community least ready to accept pontification by any quarter.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
