By S.Sarwar.Malik
Human history is replete with transactions of myriad types. Once man started to walk on this earth foot trails became routes and pathways transformed into highways; which over a period of time developed into a massive network of arteries, veins and capillaries; most of them, usually, allowing travels & transactions, both to & fro. With these words I begin my today’s writeup, dear reader, as (-minutes back ) i am done with filing of the newspaper cuttings (- that revolved around the local Mystics Lalle Ded & Noend Ryosh and Persian proselytiser Shah-e-Hamadan) * in respective files and temporarily placing them in the book rack [- where my eyes tarried for a while; emanating a cold sigh, on AN ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN KASHMIRI VERSE, 1930-1960 (- published in 1972) Translated into English by Prof. T..N.Raina ji – ‘one of my prized books of my PRIME , salvaged from the devastating flood of 2014’ ; though partly soiled; wait please for the tail piece].
From where I sit in this birth place of mine, KASHMIR, with my laptop , my partly foggy eyes this moment bring a vast view, on my mind’s screen, be it in North, South, East or West, of the surrounding entities, called COUNTRIES, whose political boundaries have kept on changing, with the change of the flimsy calendar so to say, as told by various historiographical records, put in writing, mostly, by ‘hired-pens’; though their geographical landmarks, more defining & permanent; remained largely unchanged over centuries.
In the physical map of Central Asia, we can see on the east of the Caspian Sea exists TURKMENISTAN, UZBEKISTAN, KAZAKHSTAN, KYRGYZSTAN, TAJIKISTAN, part of West China (- Xinjiang), West-East Afghanistan.
Iran is on the south of the Caspian Sea, Russia is on its Northern side. Azerbaijan is on the south of Caspian Sea [-’not far away exists the area where Turkish-Armenian war of 1920 AD took place that popularised the fabled Ararat Hills of Noah’s Ark that gained the attention of the world, though first recorded ascent was in Oct 1829, by Friedrich Parrot..’ ] ;on far East is Gilgit, Karakoram (Pakistan), and also visible is the north tip of India, Tibet and part of Mongolia.
These five countries, typed in capitals above, together, largely, form today the region, called ‘Central Asia’; … composed of a mottled mosaic of over 100 million people, wherein anthropologists have identified at least forty distinct cultural groupings, AND these five named countries that gained their independence at the end of 1991 from Russian control, boast of more than 100 different ethnic groups, though major ones are KAZAKHS (-19 million), KYRGYZS (-7 million), TAJIKS (- 10 million), UZBEKS (-35 million) and TURKMENI (- 6 million; though Russians, German, Ukranians, Iranians,etc are also residing in these 5 countries…) that remained, historically, closely tied to the name of THE SILK ROAD, known in the annals of human history for the movement of People, Ideas and of course Goods.
Very briefly I may add some points of interest viz: with Kazakhistan are associated emperors like Attilia, Genghis khan and Timur; with Kyrgyzstan mention of Nestorian Christians (- gravestone near Bishkak) dates back to the 7th century while Tajikstan is believed to have been host to human settlement as early as 3,000 BC while as with Turkmenistan is associated the farming dating back to 500 BC ; in 3rd Century BC it is known to have been a part of the Persian kingdom of Parthia and in 8th Century Turkmenistan had come under Arab domination.
Dear reader, Kashmir and Ladakh had links with the Central Asian Region, as well as Indian Sub-continent, centuries back; about which you have already read a miniscule portion in the supra quoted articles of mine; a little bit more herein today.
Although Islam (-Sunni Hanafi) is the dominant religion of these Central Asian countries (- including Tatars and Uyghur’s) some portion of the population is professing Christian, (-Lutherians as
well as a miniscule Nestorians…if my memory serves me right), above all some Buddhist faith as well.
Exchanges are believed to have taken place actively since 2nd Century BC to 15th Century A.D through the Silk road/route, popularly of silk, spices, olive, ivory and gold. Though the name ‘Silk Road’, is said to have been first coined by Ferdinand Von Richthofen, the German geographer in 1877 AD but the important fact to bear in mind is that in different centuries multiple offshoots came to be included in this umbrella-term. Readers must underline the information that in spreading Buddhism from India to China, Afghanistan, Korea, Japan and S.E Asia this SILK Route played a vital role.
From 15th century AD onwards with the discovery of the Maritime route to India by Vasco Di Gama (1498), Portuguese Goa route (1510) and the Malay portion of Malacca (1511 AD) trade with the East diminished the role of the Silk Road. We however must also remember that Mongol plundering disrupted the ROAD that had contributed a lot to the Indian subcontinent, Arabian peninsula, Persia as well as Europe (-Eurasian Continent).
However in times nigh to us, that is specifically from 1st decennial of this current Century China, readers may recapitulate, began to ponder over the idea of ‘The New Silk Road, of which the world witnessed ‘Belt And Road Forum (BARF) summit of 2017 that smelt of the China’s power-ambitions visa-viz USA; that is New World Order; a New Vision of Economic Integration and a new game of geo- economies and Chinese assertion of ‘GO- Global-Approach’; focussing on partnership rather than alliance between countries( – spanning over 70 countries) and inclusiveness of Internal Relations’.
The regions of Kashmir and Ladakh had links with the Central Asian region as the two were on the cross-road between China, Tibet & India when through places like Yarkand, Lhasa, Skerdu, Kulu, Kishtwar, Srinagar etc caravans of yore travelled with merchandise, gathered in bazaars and sarais (Marts and Inns) and imbibed a plethora of ideas in conversational discourses and recreational pastimes like storytelling, theatrical-performances; not to miss the mention of ‘ faiths & beliefs and practices men carried from from their home ground to new pitches’ that some other day will be the subject of my writing, dear reader.
Now the TAIL PIECE:
Poet Ghulam Ahmed Mahjoor’s one verse and it’s rendition by my revered Prof.T.N.Raina.
Mayon lokachaar ts-ale-voen aabie Ramby aar/
Gav neerith, pheerith Yun chhu doshvaar/
Qolaraadan doed yi sabzaaro ho/
Nau Baharoo miyaani lokachaaro ho //
It was like the hurrying waters of Rambi stream/
Which rushes down, but can’t come back/
Even though the grass on the banks may wither
Life’s Spring time, O’ my youth!//
Adieu dear reader, for now.
*= Vision Versified part l Lalle Ded, part ll Noend Ryosh- KO dt 28Nov2023; Why Not Make It 100 – Earliest known Mystics – KO dt 14 Jan 2024 and Kashmir- Central Asia Connect KO dt 24 Dec 2023 contributed by the present author
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