Dear,......,
Hello. Yesterday I mentioned that the events in 1967 in Kashmir meant a setback for us the Hindu community in the valley. I am tempted to give you a very brief background about the history of Kashmir from Hindu perspective. I have a feeling that even with my best expression, I may not be able to get you to visualize the true picture of the events then. But I will summarize it in such a manner that most of you shall understand the times and circumstances that existed then. I would like to apprise of the situation that existed for our community for around the last 150 years when our grandparents, parents, and ourselves lived. But before that, we have to have some idea of how their ancestors lived and what circumstances they had to endure. As all of us know, the history of habitation in Kashmir is reported to be at least 5000 years. The recorded history says that initially, we had only Aryans/Hindus living in Kashmir. Subsequently, Buddhism took roots in Kashmir and then reverted back to Hinduism. Around 600 years ago, Muslim invaders came, took advantage of the warring local Hindu rulers, and then took over the job of governance. It may surprise most of you to know, that a Hindu faction in Kashmir invited an Afghani Muslim to take over as ruler so that they could settle scores with another Hindu faction. That was the first-ever Muslim ruler in Kashmir. (So our Hindu fighting Hindu is not a present-day story only. We have been doing it ever since). An arti was performed, a teeka applied on his forehead, and then made the king and rule the public. Then successive invaders came, fought with each other but continued to rule over the Hindu population. Untold misery was piled upon the local population. For most, it was beyond tolerance, they converted to Islam. You must have heard about Jazia Tax. This was a tax levied upon only Hindus. Unfortunately, two to three famines lasting a couple of years in a lifetime each further ravished the community. Then the Muslim priest class (Known as Syeds and Naqsbandhs) accompanied a new horde of invaders and they started more conversions after preaching. Every day the population of real inhabitants who still maintained their Hindu religion got reduced. Very interesting to note here, one Kashmiri Pandit, Saha Bhat got converted to Islam after it was getting very difficult to survive the tough repression. He took a new name, Salahuddin. He was ruthless against Hindus and piled unspeakable misery on them. He started the first major conversion of Hindus to Islam. Only today, I was reading about "Leeja Bhatta" (They were a group of about 50 Kashmiri Hindu families who would prepare their meals in earthenware utensils early in the morning, hiding the same under shrubs and all-day and then dress and behave as if they were Muslims. When the pressure on Hindus subsided, this group stopped this practice and reverted back to the Hindu religion. But due to the rigidness of the Hindu priest class, these people were not allowed back. Some of them became Muslims and some of them observed the Hindu religion but were boycotted by the Hindus who had not converted to Islam. This one became a distinct group and they would marry within their own group only. We still have some of these Hindus in our society today but with the passing of times, people do not recognize their history and there are marriages between them and the other Hindu groups now.
Here I would again like to bring to your notice that around 300 years back when there was another major pressure/atrocities on Hindus from the Muslims, a big group of Hindus were forced to convert. They would be Muslims during the day and at nightfall, they would put Muslim texts under their seats and then do puja of Hindu Gods. In the morning they would go to the Mosque and start reciting Bhajans in praise of the Muslim Prophet. The Muslim Mullah class forbade them from this because it was not acceptable in their religion, but they continued to do it. Ultimately the local Mullah had no choice but to allow this. This type of recitation is known as "manqabat" and is still recited in the mosques in Kashmir. Nowhere else in the Muslim world is Manqabat recitation done in the mosques. Anyway, after a generation, when the situation eased, they returned back to the Hindu fold but here again the priest class did not accept them. This class became another group now called Purbee Hindus in Kashmir. There used to be no intermarriage and inter-dining between this group and the other Hindus. It is only with the advent of Arya Samaj during Sikh/Dogra regime in Kashmir that the Orthodox Hindu hold on the community got eased to some extent, but the Hindu population although vastly dwindled, continued to be very poor.
It has been sad recounting our history. But it is necessary that we should know our history. Bye.
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