Shivratri in Exile

Dr Vinay Thusoo
How long is too long for the Kashmiri Pandits to celebrate Shivratri in exile. Thirty years in exile, have not changed much. Kashmiri Pandits continue to perform -Vatak Puja- to commemorate the marriage ceremony of Shiva and Parvati with the Barvas in attendance.
This is a festival which every Kashmiri Pandit celebrates with much fanfare but when compared with the way Shivratri was celebrated by them in the Valley is marginally lesser in significance and magnitude because most of the Kashmiri Pandits have lost their permanent PIN code.
There are certain rituals/customs attached to how one should celebrate Shivratri. Post exile, majority of the Kashmiri Pandits were in denial and Kashmiri pandits seemed to have become prisoners of their memory of idyllic origin. There are endless stories of Kashmiri Pandits with suitcases still half packed who came to Jammu and other parts of Country for a matter of a few days and thinking it was brief vacation. A few are still waiting, more than a quarter century later for the return. When the date of Shivratri came closer, the families gathered together and despondently wondered what to do and how to do it. It was true of every Kashmiri Pandit-whether living in transit camps or holed up in single-room tenements, struggling to acquaint themselves with the new environment-heart of hearts wanting to celebrate Shivratri at their respective native places.
To celebrate Shivratri in a new environment was a challenge for every family. In normal circumstances, the families used to either perform a havan or on some special occasions change the place of the deity. Neither the circumstances nor the place was usual for Kashmiri Pandits. But it was our commitment to our faith which didn’t dither irrespective of the fact that we were forced to leave.
But looking broadly, let us see what has changed with the celebration of Shivratri. I won’t shy away from saying that although we do celebrate it; to a large extent it has lost its sheen for various reasons. Of course a lot has changed since our forced exile but the spirit of Shivratri will never die.
Let me tell you how my family celebrated Shivratri. I was raised in a joint family. Shivratri to me meant that all family members wherever they were, would assemble at one place to celebrate. It always used to be a family reunion and was no less than a gala function which still resonates in my mind. The celebration of Shivratri used to last for three to four days. During this time kids used to get pampered a lot by the family. The occasion of ‘salaam’ was very dear to every kid because on this day elders of the family gave them gifts or cash to buy things of their choice.
Ever since the migration, the families got scattered and uprooted and had to put a herculean task to reestablish themselves. Wherever they managed to get some space to reside, that place they converted into their second home, and there in their humble way they celebrated Shivratri. For the younger generation, the pain of celebration is no less than the elders because they kept recalling those precious moments of the past.
If my memory serves me right, it does drizzle on the auspicious occasion of Shivratri and in Kashmir, it was mandatory for a snowfall to occur on Herath(Shivratri) day.The Pandits regarded snowfall on the day as a divine sign that their prayers were accepted. Of course, it doesn’t snow anymore in the refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi. When Kashmiri Pandits celebrate Herath today, while in exile, I am sure, the Lord Shiva has been generous enough to accept our prayers in exile.
With every passing day, our belief gets more anchored into our old traditions, wishing to go back to the valley and celebrate Shivratri with our loved ones at Valley and defeat the nefarious designs of the likes of Jabbar Khan, the 19th century Afghan governor of Kashmir, who decided to test the faith of Kashmiri Pandits, decreed to celebrate ‘Mahashivratri’ in July rather than in winter and on appointed day, and it did snow.
The author is President, J&K Forum for Peace & Reconciliation( Regd.)
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