Category: ON HERITAGE

In ancient times, when paper was not available to the literate class, they used to produce their writings in engraved form, on rocks, stones, coins etc. Later on when paper was invented, doors were left open for calligraphists to meet their needs and exhibit their artistic skill.  After centuries together, writing appeared on paper. Initially it was in a simple form just to reduce things in writing but gradually the paper writing developed a beautiful style that later on came to be known as calligraphy. It is a decorative art of writing. Since Islam did not allow figures of living things and human beings to be made by the artists, the painters and sculptors adopted the calligraphy that was the stylish art of writing.

This art like other arts traveled from central Asian states to Kashmir in the reign of Sultan Zainul- Abiden (popularly known as Budshah). He invited several masters of this art and appointed them in his darbar. He also gave large lands to them and opened several institutions here. Kashmiri students were imparted this technical education.  A university was also established at Naushara, Srinagar. Sultan began with a number of copies of Kashshaf of Allama Zamashari and adopted it in his University. Many students of Kashmir were sent to the universities of Bukhara, Samarkand, Heerat. The calligraphists achieved a remarkable status in Kashmir. The art flourished during Mughal period.

Mohammad Hussain Kashmiri, reputed calligraphists who served in Akbar’s court  was honoured with the title Zarin-Qalam (golden pen). Mohammad Hussain Kashmiri, writes Abul Fazil, surprised his master Maulana Abdul Aziz by his handsome pen. Ali Chaman, was another noted court calligraphist of Akbar. Mohammad Murad Kashmiri was given the title “Shirin Qalam” by his master, Shah Jahan. Several Kashmiri artists got patronage in Durrani courts. Bawani Dass Katchro was the court calligrapher in Durrani darbar.

From Shahi darbars the art flourished towards towns and rural areas. Certain families adopted it as their main profession and promoted it further. Kashmir possesses a rich repository of manuscripts in various calligraphy styles. We have a number of manuscripts in various official and non-official collections in Nastaliq and Nask styles.

To preserve this art, the academy of art, culture and languages had  been conducting calligraphy learning classes for the last several years. Beside the Academy, research libraries, archives, and other institutions have been taking care of hundreds of manuscripts. However, a number of manuscripts are still scattered in unprofessional hands; their proper collection and protection is required. This needs proper documentation and cataloguing so that the future generations may not get deprived of this wealth.

“Kashmiri is our mother tongue and it will never die. Nobody needs to be worried about it”. These are the words of kashmiri musician, Bashmir Ahmad Lone. He says, it is deeply rooted in our mind and soul. In fact I also agree with him because a mother tongue is not adopted, it is our heritage which like other natural things has passed to us.  And it is also a fact that this dialect is not basically a written language, it is   almost a spoken one and mostly enriched and preserved by illiterate class of our society.  Interestingly, it is because of this fact that it is spoken in the remote corners of the valley, where there are no teachers available to teach it.

No one tries to teach a new born to suck milk from her mother’s breast?  Similarly, it looks irrelevant when one talks of teaching the people their very own mother tongue, because it is also naturally preserved in these tiny souls and mother’s lap enables babies in delivery of the dialogue. One cannot claim to teach someone his mother tongue. It comes naturally. No doubt if we vow we can teach our wards several other languages to make them well equipped to face the worldly linguistic challenges.

I   do not think that introduction of Kashmiri as subject in school and college levels has helped this dialect to such an extent to expand its borders,

Kashmiri is more or less a spoken language rather than a written one and its borders are limited upto Kashmiri speaking areas of this state.  If the government really intends to do something for this language, it should promote it as a spoken language and should review it again as a medium of instruction in the schools and at college levels rather than introducing it as a subject in the education curriculum.

This was the status, which it enjoyed, in early seventies. Kashmiri is the only known ancient spoken language of Kashmir. Though the linguistic history of this land makes mention of many ancient languages and scripts, which included Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. These languages more or less served written purposes and were spoken in royal corridors only. But such languages never could become the language of common masses.

The language that actually served as a spoken language was Kashmiri. And it is still spoken by almost all Kashmiris irrespective of caste, creed and religion. Kashmiri Pandits are known as the best speakers of this dialect. Besides Kashmir Valley, Kashmiri is also spoken in Doda, Baderwah and many parts of Rajouri and Poonch  regions of the state. The Kashmiri Pandit families that migrated during the turmoil and settled in different parts of the northern India are learnt to have been doing everything to preserve this dialect.

It is our mother tongue, our national language. Although never served as an official language and never enjoyed any royal patronage, it did not vanish and would never.

It is a language which need not be taught in schools and colleges to its own people. They have learnt it from the lap of their mothers. Therefore, the question of its vanishing or dying does not arise at all.

If we talk of literature in Kashmiri language, like poetry, drama and music, it has mostly been cultivated by those who had never learnt Kashmiri as language in schools and Madrassas. In fact for centuries together Kashmir poetry and prose was unwritten. It was all oral. The musicians used to sing poems, which was just an oral tradition. The tradition still continues in Sufi Mahfils where Sufi musicians are seen singing the works of darweshes.

Of course, it is now available in a written form, yet the language cannot be categorized one among written languages as it has no original script of its own. Many of our readers will not see eye to eye with me on this account because they have been treating it   as a written language consisting of rich literary treasures.

While none can deny the fact of it being rich in terms of literature, but it is mostly not a written language? Though a person can write any dialect that too in any script, it does not qualify the written feature of that language. A written language has a prescribed script of its own serving that language since its origin. One may accept it or not but it is a fact that Kashmiri had no original script, no doubt it is now easily written in Persian alphabet or Devnagri script even some advocate Roman script for Kashmiri.

But the fact remains that it has no proper script of its own otherwise there would have been no debate on its scripts. But all this makes no difference to its speakers or to the people who have been cultivating it through their songs and music. Many institutions have been promoting this dialect on their own. The local Sufi schools and Bandh theaters are institutions, which since long have enriched this language by its speaking aspect and oral songs.

The local schools before eighties did take care of this language but not by introducing it as a subject in their schools but by encouraging children to sing its lyrics in morning prayers and at other cultural events.

The educationists of that time had a good sense of promoting the local languages. They knew that the local language could serve as the best medium of instruction in schools and colleges. That is why they had made it the main medium of instruction, which helped the students to understand other subjects easily. A language cannot be preserved by introducing it in schools as a subject. It can be promoted only if it is introduced as a medium of instruction.

If mere teaching or writing can save a language then plenty of literature published and unpublished is already available and dozens of new publications are added to it annually.

How many people read the written Kashmiri literature and get benefited?  Perhaps no one,  except a few poets.

If the powers are sincere in protecting the language they should introduce it as medium of instruction in schools rather than a subject. If this is done   it would definitely help this dialect to flourish. A Kashmiri environment can also be created in our homes and institutions by reviving and promoting local communication and music.

Kashmiri prayers if re-introduced at morning assemblies in schools would help to a large extent to promote the dialect. The introduction of Kashmiri as a medium of instruction in schools, besides promotion of cultural activities shall be an effective instrument to entertain the tiny tots and would in turn make them aware of their mother tongue.

Apart from the state government the society cannot shy away from its responsibility. It should discourage and discontinue the practice of creating a non-Kashmiri environment, which is in vogue across Kashmir. Our daily communication has been Urdunised. Most of us follow western culture. The usage of Urdu and English language in daily discourse has become the order of the day. This phenomenon is also visible in those families who advocate promotion and preservation of the language. Perhaps none of us is serious about protecting and preserving Kashmiri as a language.

The historic cities of Kashmir have got glorious classical architectural traditions which are hardly seen at other places of the state.  These traditions have been very much advanced than what is seen in our villages.

The plan and construction of houses throughout the cities and towns has been better than the village houses. Mirza Haider Daughlat while describing the olden urban architecture buildings of Kashmir writes , “in the town there are many lofty buildings constructed of fresh cut pine. Most of these are, at least, five storey’s high; each storey contains apartments, halls, galleries and towers. The beauty of their exterior defies description, and all who behold them for the first time, bite the figure of astonishment with the teeth of admiration.”

Usually the olden urban houses faced the same plan that of village houses. They have their faces towards the south and rare towards the other side’s but never towards the west. The houses were rectangular in plan and rarely square in plan. The plinths were formed of chiseled stones, other features were the same. These houses were built of baked bricks that too of smaller size called Badshah bricks. These houses were better decorated than village houses and exhibited wooden lattice work designed windows and roshan dans. These houses were covered over by birch bark roofs and rarely were thatched. These houses were of multi-story and never a single storey. Some of the houses were five stories.

P N K Bamzai writes about the old houses of Srinager, “the houses are mostly of two to four storey’s height  and sometimes even more. The roofs which are slopping to throw off snow constructed of planks lay over with sheets of birch-bark to make them water tight. A layer of loose earth is spread over the birch-bark to keep it in place. White and violet lilies and red tulips grew on these roofs, presenting a lovely sight in spring. Most of the brilliant houses are seen on the river sides of the city. Bernier, the European traveler has also seen such houses. He writes “in the city of Srinagar, better class houses are situated on the river banks with beautiful gardens attached to them.”

Many such houses are still seen in the old cities of the land. A variety of these houses are visible at Bijbehara, Shopian, Sopur, Baramullah and down town of Srinagar city.

The olden and classical architectural trends have been neglected even by villagers and they have also imitated the architectural styles of cities. This have given rise to new marvelous edifies in distant villages. The olden houses have become now the artifacts of the past which could attract the tourists and the visitors if properly taken care off. But that is not the case. people dismantle them and impose modern houses on their plinths.

Lawrence while referring to old-Srinagar writes, “in the city nearly all the houses of well to do people are roofed with birch barks and earth, so that looking down on Srinagar from the Hariparbat hill sees miles of verdant roofing.’

Apart from these wonderful monumental houses, Srinagar city houses few such structures which can purely be said as copy of European residential houses.

These are mostly square in plan with open verandahs. The most remarkable feature lies in their raised roundish minarets with pointed steeples. These houses are believed to have been built in early 20th Century. Such houses are supposedly influenced by the church architecture.

However things have been changing very fast. A movement of reconstruction has emerged where under the new is replacing the old. Most of the olden glorious houses in the town and cities are in ruins while at many places these houses are being dismantled.

During late 20th Century new architectural trends got introduced in the valley. These can be said as foreign architectural styles which hardly carry any local influences. These are concrete structures with metallic roofs. These super-structures are square in plan and formed of bricks of 4×9 inch size.

These houses have been laid in cement plasters and depict somehow the European styles. The innovations in the structures still continue and much more advanced and air conditioned styles are fast progressing in this glorious valley.

The olden and classical architectural trends have been neglected even by villagers and they have also imitated the architectural styles of cities. This have given rise to new marvelous edifies in distant villages. The olden houses have become now the artifacts of the past which could attract the tourists and the visitors if properly taken care off. But that is not the case. people dismantle them and impose modern houses on their plinths.

One cannot stop the dismantling of these monuments as the property belongs to the people. However, if  government intends to preserve  such houses for future generations, that can be done by purchasing these structures for the purpose. The government can also identify those olden sites and areas where still such ancient houses and monuments  exist and bring those under any preservation net   The new initiative which is being taken up by the government is expected would not only take care of the Shari Khas only but such historic and monumental site of other towns and cities would also be identified and preserved for the future generations.