Scholars, Saints and the Syncretic Strain

By S.Sarwar.Malik 

Regarding travellers, it is said around 337-422 AD, (- the time of Chandergupta Vikramadity’s reign) the famous Chinese Pilgrim, Fa-Hein travelled to Sri Lanka, India (- and also possibly to  Kashmir and Ladakh too but surely to Swat Valley, Kashgar etc; then said to be part of Kashmir) and he is said to have reported that Buddhism was flourishing in Kashmir.( By the 7th Century The Tantra System of Buddhism had developed.) From 629-645 AD another Chinese Pilgrim Hiuan Tsang travelled in Kashmir for two years, probably in 632-634 AD  and reported Mahayana flourishing, with monasteries in hundreds but Buddhists and Hindus reportedly  lived in peace. He even went to Nalanda, Prayag, Kannauj and attended Buddhist Assemblies organised by King Harsha Vardhana.  

Historical records of the T’ang Dynasty of China mention the arrival of an ‘ambassador’ from Kashmir in 713 AD- Lalitaditya’s rule.

During 8-9th Century Shivaistic Hinduism reached its glory with the spade work of the chain of great Shaiva Acharyas, prominently Vasugupta, Abhinavagupta & others. By 10th Century Buddhism in Kashmir had waned as kashmir-King Ksema Gupta (950-958 AD) – ‘the Shiva-worshipper, is said to have destroyed the images of Buddha’,here. In absence of the patronage of kings, Buddhism couldn’t stand the onslaught of Hindu preachers like Shankaracharya (-who established Dasnami-Dandins, order of Hindu ascetics) and Kumarila Bhatta. With Hindu resurgence Buddhism lost its importance and Kashmir lost its importance as The Buddhist Centre, except for a brief period i:e 1089-1101 AD, that is in the reign of King Harsha deva, who is said to have supported.

Now about Christianity. Earliest pointers that come to my mind are the Nestorian Christians of Syria, who might have come from Samarkand (Uzbekistan/ Tajikistan) around 800 AD to (-hold your breath, dear reader…) to TangTse in Durbuk, Ladakh, and left  rock- carvings of The Crosses there. But thereafter the only period we hear about Christian father’s in Kashmir is the period of Mughal emperor Akbar, when Fr.Jerome Xavier and Br.Goes is said to have accompanied Akbar to Kashmir in 1597 AD. Later Jesuit Priest Joseph De Castro is said to have come to Kashmir  with Jehangir in 1627; also possibly Jesuit priests, Ippolito Desideri in 1714 and Manoel Freyre. Francis Bernier is said to have accompanied Aurangzeb to Kashmir in 1665. George Forster came  in 1784, G.T.Vigne in 1835. Thereafter William  Moorcraft, Fredric Drew, Alexander Cunningham (1846), George Buhler and many others. 

From 1870 onwards Christian Medical Doctors and nurses started arriving in Kashmir for doing service in this field; establishing health facilities in Drugjan Dalgate, in Rainawari, in Baramulla, in Anantnag etc for which we Kashmiris owe them an expressed appreciation being indebted to them,(-In the education sector too, unparalleled job has been done by Christians ever since 1890’s; especially when poor results on conversion front [- 36,000 souls in the total population of 1.25 crores, as on date;  presented as an indicator], did not dampen the overall spirit of Christian visitors.) Anyway, since the first christian missionary didn’t appear in Kashmir before 1597 so it is quite distant from the period of proselytisation; that is my today’s topic. Likewise Sikhism, being very recent, I  mention briefly that Guru Nanak (1469-1539 AD), its founder; who all through his life worked for interfaith peace & harmony and universal brotherhood; combined service (sewa) and prayer (Simran); travelled many places, including Jammu & kashmir, Ladakh, Skardu, Gilgit etc. Here in Kashmir a Gurduwara at Hari Parbat stands testimony to his visit. After four centuries of Muslim rule under Mughals and Afghans the Sikh rule started with Ranjit Singh’s annexation of Kashmir in 1820, after defeating the Durrani Empire. Exorbitant taxes till the famine of 1833, made them infamous. From 1846 to 1947 Dogras ruled J&K.

Now I come to an  interesting fact. During 699-736 AD,( i:e The reign of Lalitaditya Muktapida) this named king of Kashmir assisted the Chinese against the Tibetans. On the other hand Tibetans were aided by (…?… hold your breath,again, dear reader) the Arabs; but allow me to keep the Islamisation of Kashmir, on the back burner, for some moments.

Coming to the positive strain of ours, allow me to reiterate that many times the pacifist and wide-armed approach too became Kashmir’s distinctive feature. Saints and scholars always preferred to come in its lap to learn & impart; such was its fame that men from distant places like China, Tibet, Ceylon, even southern part of India etc,(-not to forget those of recent past,19th & 20th Century guests from the West), who travelled thousands of miles, braving all odds of those times, undeterred by the high mountain ranges standing like walls, all around.

Since newspapers have limited space, I will skip any further  mention of these visitors and come directly to the important phase of Islam.

In the context of Islam, Shah e Hamadan is commonly believed  to have contributed most and at times impression is given by some, as if Islam didn’t  exist here, prior to his arrival when the fact is that way back, Marco Polo (1254-1324 AD)- the Italian Merchant, Explorer & Writer; who travelled along The Silk Route ; introduced the Eastern world to Europeans, through his Travel Book (‘Millone’); travelled to Turkey, Persia, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and possibly the Mongolian part of China (- of Kublai Khan’s time), too. Of our present interest is the surprisingly-interesting fact that this Marco Polo, of the 13th Century, furnished a report ‘recording the presence of Muslims in Kashmir’. 

True Sayyid Ali  Hamadani (1312-1385; honourifically called Shah e Hamdan, Ameer e Kabeer etc ) and his son Mir Sayyid Muhammad  Hamadani institutionalised Islam in Kashmir but there were a host of other people, preceding Shah e Hamadan’s arrival from Iran, whose contribution, for some reasons, has been downplayed. Likewise Bulbul Shah wasn’t the first Muslim saint/preacher.How can we forget Syed Hussain Samnani. Many more might have been around breathing-in the conducive mystic air of Kashmir. History tells us that Arab Muslims had conquered Persia in the 7th century . A pulsating thought raises its head, that I better express. If ‘Sayyids of Shah e Hamadan’ could come to Kashmir around  1380 how can we rule out that no Arab or Persian or Central Asian muslim came to Kashmir from 7th to 13th century AD when we know  Mehmood Ghazni took Lahore in the 11th century; Delhi was ruled by Khiljis (- the central Asian Turks) and during the 14th century the cross-bred Tughlaks ruled there. How could life throughout North India and Kashmir escape the influence of Islam during these centuries? Wasn’t proselytization carried out in these centuries ? Was Kashmir impermeable and incommunicado? Let me move ahead.

Ponder, what made Lalle Ded say ‘Mou zaan Batte tai Musalmaan’. If nothing, at least this speaks about the muslims living in and prior to Lalle Deds period. Didn’t Noend Rishi and Lalle Ded breathe in the same air?…and  exhaled the same notes from their fluted beings. True, Persian eclectic theosophy or practices may have been in contrast to indigenous mysticism followed by Lall e Ded  & Noend Ryosh as also experiential part of these individual seers must have had a subjective tone but what really matters is the commonalities and the transformation their disciples experienced and reflected in their conduct, both at personal and social level.

Mir Sayyid Ali of the Kubrawi order, was born in Hamadan( Iran); came to Kashmir after 1380; stayed in 1st phase for six months; in 2nd phase for one year; then left for Turkestan via Ladakh in 1382, came back again in 3rd phase (-in1384) but due to illness went back to Central Asia, via present day, Pakistan; died in Mansehra( Swat); body shifted to Kulab (Tajikistan); and was buried in Khatlan (present day Tajikistan, that time an area in Timur’s Empire). So his actual total stay in Kashmir wasn’t very long. 

It is fairly known that during his lifetime, Sayyid Ali is believed  to have travelled to China, Syria, Turkistan, Uzbekistan (-and of course to Kashmir & Ladakh as well). Himself, he was the disciple of Kubrawiyi saint Alau Daula Simnani of Iran. More than 68 books are attributed to Shah e Hamadan, among which Awraad ul Fateha ( dwelling on Allah & His attributes) and Chehl Asrar (40 poems in praise of Allah & Prophet Muhammad s.a.w) are very popular in Kashmir. He is credited with Introducing the philosophy of Ibn e Arabi.

In 1380’s, when Timur was attacking Iraq, and killing Sayyids, especially exterminating prominent Alvi Sayyids, it is said Sayyid Ali Hamdani and hundreds of other Sayyids planned escape to a safer place like Kashmir. That time, Qutubdin Shah, king of kashmir, was at war with Feroz Shah Tughlaq, the Sultan of Delhi. Sayyid Ali and some other Sayyids, (-prominently, Syed Tajudin Simnani & Mir Syed Hassan Simnani), played the role of mediators who brokered peace for Kashmir so the King Qutubdin Shah welcomed  Sayid Ali (and hundreds of other sayyids; some say 700) here. Note: this advantage of proximity to the ruling King, Sheikh Noor u din wali did not have. Some writers have said ‘Sayyid Ali escaped the wrath of Timur “ & his test of riding a burning metal horse”. Anyway this much is to be accepted that the tyrannical rule of Mongols, who under the conqueror Timur spread empire to Iran, led to the fleeing of Sufis.

Readers should also remember that Mahmood of Ghazni made expeditions to India in 1015 and 1021 AD.

To refresh chronological frame, readers are reminded that Saint Abdul Qadir Jeelani’s (of Qadriya order, born in Najaf, Gilaan,Persia; who never visited kashmir, though his shrine in Kanyar, built in 1806, is said to enshrine the holy Quran written by Hz.Ali ) life period was 1078-1166, that of the local Noend Ryoesh  1377-1438 while Syed Sharafudin Abdul Rehman BULBUL SHAH, of Suhrawardi order (disciple of Mir Syed Niyamatullah) had come to Kashmir in 725AH and died in 727 AH. Syed Hussain Simnani was already active in the Shopian region, before Syed Ali Hamdani arrived in Kashmir and many muslims existed in Kashmir, in Kishtwar etc like the parents of Noend Rishi and even before them.

One Iranian Sufi saint cum Theologian (- belonging to the Twelver Shia Noorbakhshia order (– school of Jurisprudence); who had studied in Iraq and Iran, namely Allama Mir Shams ud Din Araqi ( 1440-1515 AD), came in1486 AD, (- of course after Agha Mir Syed Ibrahim Mosavi) and  stayed here for two periods during the reign of Sultan Hassan Shah and Sultan Mohammad Shah. Here he became the effective founder of Shia Islam in J&K, Ladakh, Gilgit & Baltistan.(His tomb is in chadoora). Chek rule ended when the Mughal Emperor,  Akbar, annexed Kashmir.

It would be an interesting topic to unravel whether any ascetic and meditative practices of Buddhists and Hindus, particularly Shaivistics, influenced the Muslim sufi’s as it is believed that Kashmir Shaivism accepted the influence of Buddhism to some extent. Possibly there must be some traits common at least in local Muslim Rishis and Shaivaistic adepts and these commonalities must have promoted some sort of fusion; a sort of spiritual brotherhood. Presence of Kashmir Shaivism must also have impressed many minds. Bear in mind, it aimed at creating a ‘harmonious relationship among man, energy and God’.It not only stressed on ‘love for the divine but also for all His creations’. However,  it is also said that Kashmir Shaivism/Trika Shastra too had, at a later stage, degenerated to mere Tantric rituals and occult practices. BUT Rishism of kashmir gave us mystic poetry of Noend Resh, Shamas Faqeer, and of some others; that speaks about this Syncretic strain, peculiar to Kashmir, though exaggerated at times. Hence, in the field of mystic poetry we hear such verses as: 

Moe zaan Heund te Musalmaan….Sahibas suti zaanizaan;  

Autaar…yem amrit chhoenai galay galay;  

Or in the words of Shamas Faqeer:

Musalmaanan kya Hendyen, kar bandan toshhe khodai; 

Praan zoalnum…ami Omkaaran.. 

In short syncretism, that is a symbiotic process, based on inclusiveness; that adds a distinct flavour to this place, Kashmir, seems to be its distinctive  strain, though not a deeply ingrained component, alas; yet hyped with good intent. 

That should suffice for the day, dear readers.Adieu.///  (Concluded)

Views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer.  . 

The author is a Srinagar based Penman, Columnist & Poet, who has been contributing non-political writeups to newspapers & literary journals, from over two decades

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