EXHIBITION---IIC GALLERY ANNEXE--
6TH TO 15TH AUGUST, 2013
Team—Curator- Dr. Manju Kak; Text- Siddharth Kak & Manju Kak; Editor- Meenakshi Kumar; Panel design- Mohd. Zishan; Exhibition Assistant- Garima Minocha.
Acknowledgements- Jamia Archives, Teen
Murti Memorial Museum & library, Anchit Gupta, Priya Kapoor, BN Sharga,
Henny Sender, Kusum Pant, T.Tochhawng, MK Razdan, Sarla Razdan, Punam Zutshi,
Individuals
“Kashmiri Pandits of North India-A Vintage Album”
A contribution to the making of India
The
contribution of the Kashmiri Pandit to Indian society and politics is
significant compared to their small numerical strength.
The rise
of Pt JL Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, to the national stage as a statesman and
politician with an egalitarian world view is rooted in the cultural and
intellectual milieu of the community he came from. This exhibition seeks to
trace those roots through a history of two centuries of migration and
acknowledges the work of fine scholars and researchers such as Henny Sender,
Kusum Pant, B.N. Shargha, and Anchit Gupta amongst others who have re-traced
the history of this community, piecing it together through sources such as the
monumental two-volume Bahar-i-Gulshan-i-Kashmir, civil lists,
newspapers, community journals, archival taluqdaari records and
historical texts.
It showcases the early migration from over 300
years through photographs taken from archives and individuals who are
acknowledged.
This
community of people who migrated to the Indian plains from the pristine Kashmir
valley at varying points of time in history easily adapted and adopted the
cultures they inhabited. This ability helped them to progress and prosper. The
Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) have contributed to the secular ethos of Indian society
and politics out of proportion to their small numbers. Historian Henny Sender says,
they acted like a 'bridge' connecting the Islamic to the Hindu
communities, in the cultural mix of the 18th & 19th
century Indo-Islamic world and later the British. It is often inferred, in
modern times, their abdication of this role has been an unfortunate loss to the
secular world. Following the bloody events of 1947, till the beginning of
militancy in 1989, migration from Kashmir Valley has been of a different order.
Their current displacement is one of the greatest human tragedies since
Partition. Their abdication of this role post—1947 is
perceived to be a loss to India’s secular traditions particularly in the light
of the ethnic cleansing witnessed in post 1989 Kashmir Valley. Not only
that, at a time when ethnic and caste divisions are becoming deeply manifest in
the Indian polity, few cohesive voices exist any longer to span them. In this
context a re-look at the history of communities that kept the social fabric intact through their secular outlook, such as
also Parsis, Kayasthas and Khatris of yore, becomes a worthwhile
endeavour.
Their
migration spread over different periods in history, starting as early as the 14th
century. Far away from their roots, this community of Kashmiri Brahmins or
Pandits, developed a unique cultural milieu that took the best of their
traditions and adeptly mixed it with the cultures they inhabited. This inherent
quality to adapt was one of the key reasons behind their success and rise in
new socio-political regimes.
When the KPs left the Valley, their knowledge of Persian,
Sanskrit and other classical languages,
helped them find jobs. Employment came first
in the Mughal courts in Delhi, and later,
they contributed to the administration of the erstwhile Rajput and Muslim
princely states of North India as diwans, ministers and advisors. Steeped
in Indo-Persian tradition, KPs followed a mixed Hindu-Muslim social and
literary culture, and thereby, developed close ties with the upper Muslim class
as well as the Hindu Kayasthas. This social interaction gave them a secular
outlook, thus making them a favourite with their rulers. In the early years of migration during the Mughal era, Kashmiri
Pandits, or KPs, worked as tutors and
scribes in the courts and daftars.
Later when the might of the Mughal empire ebbed they moved to neighbouring
erstwhile Rajput and Muslim fiefdoms as divans, ministers and advisers.
One of
the first to receive western education, they worked for the British through the
district and high courts, the universities, and came to general governance
through the Civil Services cadres of government employ.
In the later 19th and 20th centuries
many educated and enlightened KPs were at the forefront of social reform. Their
influence was not limited to politics alone; they made a significant
contribution to Indian literature, development of Urdu, music, art and culture.
Then, as the winds of Freedom began to blow, Mahatma Gandhi’s call for
Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience found many KPs responding and became a
significant part of the Movement. Pt Motilal Nehru and his son, Jawaharlal Nehru
are two prominent examples, and of course Jawaharlal became India’s first Prime
Minister but there are others like Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and Dr Pt Hridaynath
Kunzru who contributed to India’s Freedom Struggle. After Independence in 1947,
when the Indian Republic was formed, they were once again a major force in
setting up modern India.
But India’s Independence turned out to be a tragic chapter
for Kashmir, which acceded to India through the Instrument of Accession
executed by Maharaja Hari Singh on October 26, 1947.
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