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Anwar Shaikh reviews Pandit Ram
Nath Kak's book:
Autumn Leaves - Kashmiri
Reminiscences |
Autumn
Leaves - Kashmiri Reminiscences is the autobiography of Shri Ram Nath Kak,
a Kashmiri Pandit. Even in the heavenly setting of Hawaii, which boasts of
"green foliage and blue skies" in the Middle of the Pacific Ocean, he
reminisced of "the other paradise, Kashmir."
And why shouldn't he? Jehangir, the Mughal Emperor of
India, known for his jollity and romantic nature, when first saw Kashmir, felt a
poetic burst and wrote:
AGAR FIRDOS BER RUAI ZAMEEN AST,
HAMEEN ASTO, HAMEEN ASTO, HAMEEN AST.
"If paradise is on earth, it is this Kashmir, it is
this Kashmir, it is this Kashmir." It was not just an emotional hyperbole
but the natural feeling engendered by the scenic intermontane valley of the
Himalayan ranges studded with beautiful lakes, multicoloured trees, snow-capped
mountains and fragrant air. Kashmir is the land of gods, which in summer becomes
the mirror of natural beauty by reflecting golden rays of the morning sun and
turns into a vast slumberland of happy dreams induced by the silvery moon.
Kashmir, the home of beauty, bliss and bounty is, in
fact, an ancient lake basin eighty-five miles long, twenty miles wide and 5300
feet high. The natural charm of the Vale of Kashmir has been enhanced by the
picturesque gardens and buildings constructed by Jehangir to celebrate his love
for Nur Jehan, his elegant and accomplished wife. The capital of this mundane
paradise is Srinagar where Ram Nath Kak was born in October, 1917, and passed
away in Honolulu in July, 1993, reminiscing about the splendours of his
motherland, which he adored.
Shri Ram Nath Kak was not a politician but a patriot,
who lived an ordinary life, without attracting public attention. Yet his
autobiography is of general interest, which indicates his scholarly character,
though by profession he was a veterinarian.
Autobiography is not just writing one's own life-
story. As moon is moon only when it reflects sunlight, an autobiographer is
autobiographer only when he echoes the social conditions of his time and
locality, and thus ranks as a chapter of the contemporary history. This is the
glory that keeps popping its head throughout the 126 page narrative of "Aututmn
Leaves - Kashmir reminiscences. I must confess that I learnt a good deal about
my own Kashmiri origin from this liltle book. This literary gem has been quite
aptly named as "Autumn Leaves - Kashmiri reminiscences" because autumn
leaves in Kashmir are used as a substitute for charcoal in Kangris, which are
portable braziers, used for warmth during extremely cold winters. This book
generates radiance of its own to enlighten, entertain and elevate spirit of the
reader.
Shri Kak is an intellectual giant, but it is not
possible to discuss everything here except one major issue that he did not think
of the Hindus as just a religious group but a bona fide nation based on lineage
and a homeland. However, his views of nationalism were not tinged with racial
bigotry; he was a humanist who respected all religions and individuals' rights
to choose and practise what he likes without being a nuisance to others.
One can fathom the depth of his bruised, battered and
blighted heart when he narrates the story of Kashmir, his beloved motherland.
The Vale of Kashmir was a true earthly paradise where laughter galloped,
happiness gamboled and good fortune smiled until 1339 when it fell victim to the
Islamic sword; it was Shah Mir, a Muslim warrior from the South, who deposed
widow of the last Hindu king to ascend the throne. He was a fanatic who
mercilessly destroyed the Hindu temples, broke statues and desecrated everything
associated with the Indian culture. Above all, he was a blood-thirsty savage,
who conducted wholesale, slaughter of the Hindu population with a view to
converting them into Muslims. According to a tradition, only eleven Hindu
families survived the holocaust.
When Akbar the Great, incorporated Kashmir in the
Mughal India in 1589, its fortune changed for the better owing to his religious
tolerance and good administration. Allured by the scenic beuty of Kashmir,
Jehangir and Shah Jehan, whose hearts danced to the musical rhythm of love and
romance built magnificent gardens in Shalimar, Nishat , Cheshm-E-Shahi and
Achabal. Then came the reign of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Emperor (1685-1707), who
surpassed all records of turture, tyranny and torment that India had ever
endured. The entire purpose of this exercise was to impose Islam on the
indigenous population. Yet the Muslims claim that Islam is the ambassador of
peace and brotherhood, admitting no violence in religious matters!
Why did these foreign tyrants ,who had the good fortune
of capturing India, want to force Islam down the throats of their Hindu
subjects? No doubt, this act was a messenger of devastation for the Hindus, but
it constituted high wisdom of the invaders, because it guaranteed them dominance
through a very subtle device of devide and rule.
To understand this point, one must know that the
Islamic principles are diametrically opposed to the Hindu philosophy. The latter
preaches Karma, that one reaps what sows, and therefore, a person is his own
savior. On the contrary, Islam believes in intercession, which means that a
person's salvation depends on the recommendation of a man whon is appointed by
God as His Vicar on the earth. All his followers, even if they are murderers,
rapists, thieves, liars and twisters, shall go to paradise because the Prophet's
intercession for his followers is binding on God! Conversely, all non-believers
such as Hindus shall go to hell even if they happen to be the most pious and
innocent people. What a cheap and sure way of attaining salvation it is!
Of course, these foreign invaders did not come to India
for opening the gates of paradise by dispensing cheap salvation to the "Kafirs."
They wanted to govern, but being insignificant in numbers they could not hold
the Hindus in perennial subjugation without a skilful subterfuge. Islam was the
best provider of such a stratagem. How?
Because of its antihuman attitudes, Islam does not
qualify as a Divine religion. In fact, it is an Arab National Movement, which
seeks to impose the Arab cultural hegemony on the non-Arab nations through a
very subtle device of religion. The Prophet Muhammad, who holds the key of
paradise, intercedes only for those who believe in him and follow him as the
Model of Behaviour, that is, copy him in all details such as eating, drinking,
walking, talking, thinking and acting. Since he was a great national leader, he
loved Arabia, his motherland, and made Kaaba-worship, the essential part of
Islam. Thus, a Muslim, no matter where he comes from, must love Arabia and the
Arab religious and cultural institutions at the expense of his own motherlands
and indigenous traditions. If he does not toe the line, he cannot qualify as a
Muslim, the basic condition for the Prophetic intercession. The net result of
this contrivance is that the non-Arab Muslims stop loving their own motherland
to the extent of blatant treason by believing in the Two-Nation Theory, which
means that they class themselves as Muslim to be on the Arab side and bitterly
oppose their own kith and kin if they do not discard their own religion to
embrace Islam. This tragic division into two nations as Momin (the Muslimsl and
Kafir (the non-Muslim) led to the partition of India, with its lethal
consequences. Now, one can see that Islam is the most subtle device of divide
and rule. The foreign rulers imposed this religion on the Indians with the sole
purpose of dividing them so that they should hate their own motherland and
despise their own cultural traditions. This is what led to the formation of
internal factions, determined to destroy their own brethren, facilitating
foreign rule.
The Islamic subtlety, in fact, is much deeper than it
looks: one's hatred of motherland leads to infatuation with Mecca, thus
debilitating one's rational faculties. It is certainly a symptom of insanity to
revile one's own mother to revere someone else's mother. An Indiar who
prostrates towards the Kaaba, gets used to insulting the Kaashi. This
preposterous attitude of the mind became an easy source of exploitation for the
opportunists to fool, snool and school the ordinary folks in the name of Islam.
Without such a psychological flaw, the Two-Nation Theory, leading to the split
of India, would not have been possible.
In this context, Shri Kak has mentioned the name of
another Kashmiri, Sahaj Ram Sapru, a revenue collector. He embezzeled state
funds. When his guilt was established, the Afghan governor, Azim Khan, gave him
"the choice of death or conversion to Islam. Sahaj Ram Sapru chose life,
and assuming new (Muslim) names, he and his family moved to Sialkot in the
Panjab. Later Iqbal never acknowledged his native Kashmiri and Indian tradition
that his grandfather had been forced to renounce."
This is a very shrewd and eminent observation of Shri
Kak. Why?
Because it means that embracing Islam involves
transferring loyalties from one's own motherland to Arabia; it is a process of
thorough brainwashing because it turns a convert into a moth, which seeks
self-cremation on the Arabian lamp of glory. Proof of this fact lies in the
proselytism of Sahaj Ram Sapru, a Kashmiri brahmin who became grandfather of
Muhammad Iqbal, popularly known as Allama Iqbal. This man, without firing a
shot, caused more damage to the political integrity and cultural sanctity of
India than the combined forces of Muhammad Bin Qasim, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi and
Aurangzeb Alamgir. He was not a soldier, but in his ancestral traditions, a
learned man, who was also endowed with poetical skills. Poetry is that branch of
fine arts, which appeals to emotions at the expense of reasoning. Its bewitching
effect is such a benumbing force that one may take a wolf for a lamb, and vice
versa, depending how one has been motivated by the poet. The effect of religious
poetry in the Islamic world is multiplied many times owing to the irrational
reverence of the devotees to the Prophet Muhammad. This is the reason that when
a verse seems to represent an Islamic principle, the Muslims fall for it owing
to their conditioning with the name of Muhammad. This is one mystery that
non-Muslims usually do not understand but Sri Kak has explained it masterfully
by drawing attention to the crisis which Ghulam Muhammad Bakhshi's
administration created when it lost public confidence:
At the shrine of Hazratbal, a Muslim saint, is a glass
tube, which is reputed to contain a strand of hair belonging to the Prophet
Muhammad. Though its veracity cannot be proven, the Muslims call it Mu-E-Mubark,
the Blessed Hair, and show it supernatural respect. With a view to causing
distraction from the administrative inefficiency, the Government arranged
stealing of the hair. The result was a spate of strikes and threats of violence
throughout the valley. This volcano of faith kept erupting until the
Mu-E-Mubarak was restored to the shrine.
The idea of Pakistan was not a brainchild of Iqbal, but
of Chaudhary Rahmat Ali, yet another person of Indian ancestry. However, it was
Iqbal who lent credibility to the Two-Nation Theory, leading to the divisicn of
India, which God had created as one geographical unit. This was mainly the
result of Iqbal's Islamic poetry which stupifies the mind but activates
emotions.
Here one can see that Shri Kak's lament about Iqbal's
turning away from his own Motherland to join the Islamic forces eternally
arrayed against her, is quite appropriate in the context of Indian patriotism.
One can also hear Shri Kak's ATMAN crying loud and clear that India stands to
break up further unless the stallion of Islam is bridled and brought under the
strict control of Indian authority.
There is yet another point that lends eminence to Shri
Kak's genius, that is, he knew that Hindutva is all about Karma, and not
verbosity: in October, 1947 when Kashmir was invaded by the tribesmen from
Pakistan, Shri Kak, the veterinarian, joined the local militia that had been
formed to defend the valley, and thus became a soldier. Fighting for
righteousness is the essence of dharma, and there is no virtue greater than
defending the honour of one's motherland. This is how the Bhagawad Gita puts it:
''Arjuna, it is only the lucky among the Kastriyas, who
get such an unsolicited opportunity for war, which is an open door to
heaven." (1: 32)
Again,
"Either slain in battle you will attain heaven,
or gaining victory you will enjoy sovereignty of the earth; therefore, arise
Arjuna, determined to fight." ( 2: 37)
Shri Kak is a model, which should be followed by the
pandits, who have, unfortunately, chosen to live in refugee camps in Jammu and
Delhi. Being one of them, I feel sad, bad and mad about their plight, yet I am
inclined to add that they have themselves brought this humiliation on them by
defying the basic law of dharma, which requires of its devotees to die with
honour instead of surrendering to tyranny.
Ksatriya is the one who fights for dharma with
all that he has got. He is the best of all castes, no matter what his status of
his birth.
An important Vedic feature is the parental love and
care for one's children. Shri Ram Nath Kak possessed ample share of this virtue.
He had several children, namely, Avinash, Subash, Shakti, Jaishree and Neeraj.
They all received high education and rose to gain good social positions; Subhash,
a professor in the university of Louisiana, has achieved international repute
for his classical endeavours in Indology and the Indian Scriptures.
Autumn Leaves - Kashmiri Reminiscences is
available as hardback and paperback, and has been published by :
VITASTA
B- 36 DDA FLATS
SAKET
NEW DELHI - 110 017
INDIA
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