in bits and pieces
Here’s the 1974 recording of the musical extravaganza produced by J&K Cultural Academy and directed by Pran Kishore Kaul. Music is by flutist Virendra Mohan.
Uploaded by Ramesh Mehta
Hat Tip: Mrinal Kaul
 |
| 2008 |
I have done the maths,
the world is doomed.
I am told my ancestors were
exploiters –
ticks,
the bloodsuckers.
They got land
and more land.
And then, lost it all
in 1990.
In middle of conflict,
a family of wood-cutters
bought our house.
They pulled apart the mud bricks and wood:
hundred year old deodar windows and doors.
A fortress in cement was built.
A sawmill in the middle.
I count the number of trees cut.
I have done the maths,
the world is doomed.
In Money.
What they paid us,
I now make in a month.
I run the maths on inflation.
Numbers hold.
I too shall build a fortress
I shall again count the number of trees cut.
-0-
In Hindu lunacy circles, Kaaba is a Shiv temple. In some of the “proofs” is given the above image. it is a page from Bazil’s ‘Hamla-i haydari’. We see the idols of Kaaba getting destroyed by Ali. The place looks like a Hindu temple.
In the real story of the image, lies a certain beauty of how arts and cultures works.
‘Hamla-i haydari’ (Wars of Hyder) was written by Mirza Muhammad Rafi’ Bazil (d. 1712), in around 1654 AD. Bazil’s father came from Mashhad in Iran during the time of Shah Jahan. Bazil was a poet and sometimes governor of Gwalior and Bareilly for Aurangzeb. He wrote around 40000 verses detailing the war exploits of Islam and Ali (later expanding till the time of first four Khalifas) based on Shia tradition. He died before finishing the work and as the work became very popular, it was subsequently completed by some other poets. It came to be known as Bazil’s ‘Hamla-i Haydari’. At least 7 editions of the work were published.
The above page comes from a manuscript claimed to have originated in Kashmir in around 1808. [Given by BnF Department of Manuscripts ]
 |
| The Gandhara inspired colonnade at Buniyar temple in Kashmir in which traditionally idols of various deities were kept |
The idols get painted like the way Hindu gods were painted by Kashmiri artists even uptill 20th century.
 |
| ‘The Goddess and Shiva receive homage’, in Chandhigarh Museum and believed to be from around 1900 A.D. |
 |
| Hand drawn diety on a horoscope Painted by a Pandit family guru gifted to a client on the occasion of Gour’trie 20th century. |
-0-
An old radio interview of poet Dina Nath Nadim (conducted by M Y Taing) for All India Radio in around 1971.
Family history
Nadim picked from a book of Karim ur logath in 1935
Listen, imagine and see.
In darkness,
that ruby-seller offered me
– naked words.
A stone split,
a gem was revealed.
~ Rasul Mir, 19th century
yas zali bad’nas ash’qun naar
su zaani kyah gov hijr-e-yaar,
Maqbool kornas dil nigaar
The body set on fire by love
it knows meaning of separation from love
it accepts an idol in place of heart.
~ from ‘Gulraiz’ by Maqbool Shah Qraalwari, (d. 1877) Kashmir. Based on work of Zia Nakhshabi, a 14th century Persian poet.
yas andra tundras naar tatae
matya kon aakh yaar sinjh vate
this body
inside
like an oven
slow burns.
Madman,
why
you didn’t find a way to
a friend?
~ Fakir Nyam Sahib (19th century, Srinagar)
Tanni Gom Rabaab
Gagan gayum taare
Zeer o Bum th’hovth’hum Cheero lo
My body now a Rabab
veins: the strings
From these you cleave out
notes
high and low
~ Rahim Sahib Sopore, 19th Century*
Cchi saazas zindagii hu’ndis rabaabas suu’ty kyah nesbat
Rabaabas jartu’ swn vanu’nas rabaab aval rabaab aa’khu’r
~ Abdul Ahad Azad, 20th century
“Ladakhi girls dancing at Nemu Camp, 18 miles before Leh. They have visited Punjab and hence their style of dress.” July 1949. Enaskshi Bhavnani for Photo Division India.
 |
| After the show Singers Hunder Nubra valley |
I asked them to sing a “Bodhi” song. They laughed and said,”Aap nay toh humay Bodh bana diya!”
They were Muslim, they sang love songs.
-0-
Cannons were first imported in Kashmir in A.D. 1464 on the order of Budshah Zain-ul-Abidin using Turkish knowhow. Srivara, the court poet of Budshah called it ‘Top’. A year later the cannons were getting manufactured in Kashmir. The man credited for doing this was a Turkish pyrotechnician named Habib.
Image: “Guards at old fort in Srinagar demonstrate how ancient cannon was loaded to be fired. Srinagar, Kashmir, 1945.” [2010 post on 1945]
Source: Medieval Kashmir and the science of history (2004) by Walter Slaje.
Shikaris. 1938. Naubagh. Kashmir.
