by JAMES DRUMMOND
MAP/BBC
Nyla Ali Khan, ed. The Parchment of Kashmir: History, Society, and Polity. New York. Palgrave Macmillan 2012.
This remarkable collection of essays about Kashmir brings to light both the resilience and plight of a beautiful and ancient region caught up in the soulless food-chain politics of Pakistan and India. Dr. Khan’s astute selection of diverse authors to write specially for this elegant edition makes clear that stirring the pot of religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims has been a cunning strategy of divide and conquer, running counter to the long tradition of Kashmiri religious osmosis often inspired by Sufi saints who were reverenced by adherents of both faiths.
The essays range from memoirs and historical meditations to political, sociological, and anthropological explorations of this strikingly coherent culture which has withstood the ravages of tunnel-visioned and violent political agendae periodically imposed on Kashmiris. The diverse approaches and genres of the essays add tremendous dimension to an understanding of Kashmir, which somehow retains its identity in the face of conflicting efforts to assimilate the people of Kashmir and obliterate their cultural distinctiveness.
This is definitely not an introductory text, in the sense that the depth of discussion requires what math wonks might analogize as “computational maturity.” The essays first cover the religious history and traditions of Kashmir, invoking the quintessential Kashmiriyat – the idea that there is a unique cultural quality of transcendence and even mutual enthusiasm for eclectic religious and festival practices coupled with neighborly coexistence emphasizing religious differences no more than Presbyterians and Methodists do in our culture. Professor Rattan Lal Hangloo describes the characteristics of Kashmiriyat as “not only the mutual understanding between ethnic groups and religions but also the freedom to dissent without fear of being eliminated . . . . Thus . . . it was the true essence of democratic and secular existence for most Kashmiris.”
These essays reveal certain heroes and villains. The former include a range of Sufi visionaries and poets who inspired cultural unity and identity among citizens of the Kashmir Valley, most distinctively the 14th century female poet Lal-Ded or Lalashwari, as well as the 20th century grandfather of the editor, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, who led the government in the forties and fifties and again, after Mandela-like incarceration for 22 years, in the seventies and eighties. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah instituted democratic procedures and land reforms and was deeply loved by Hindus and Muslims. Effectively deposed by the machinations of Nehru in 1953 in the name of a fatuous Indian nationalism, reminiscent of the evisceration of American Indian culture by Christians, Sheikh Abdullah later returned to empower his region again, and was truly one of the remarkable leaders in world history.
Readers are provided with excruciating detail concerning the subversion of Kashmiriyat and the reduction of the Valley to a bone fought over by the political dogs of India and Pakistan. The region has been undermined by these exploitations both culturally and in terms of personal freedom, and the ignorance and expedience of the United States and India led to exporting Muslim militants in the Soviet-Afghan war to Kashmir as a sort of neutralization strategy. India’s tactics have polarized many Kashmiris, especially young Muslims, who no longer grasp the virtues of Kashmiriyat and who are ripe for militant exploitation.
Whether or not Kashmir can practically stand alone as an independent state, should that somehow even be feasible given their geographical position between two nuclear powers, it is essential that every good nation help preserve the region’s cultural and spiritual independence and by corollary work for their freedom of expression and self-governance without cease. This anthology contributes mightily to that enterprise.
While nearly all the essays considered the nature of Kashmir identity, there were subtle variations in how that identity appeared to the various writers. This bespeaks a culture which is still alive and evolving, like an ocean with many currents. both on the surface and in the deeps. One thing seems paramount of emphasis – that cultural and spiritual osmosis between the Hindu and Muslim religions is a central feature of Kashmiriyat. Most writers bemoan the political arena’s divisive repression and trumping of that quintessential osmosis.
The tales in these richly informed essays are sad, but it is clear that democratic forces and resilience are still very much vital in Kashmir.
James Drummond can be reached at jim@jimdrummondlaw.com