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El chal de cachemira

El chal de cachemira : juguete cómico en un acto (1852)
[The cashmere shawl: comic sketch in one act (1852)]
Alexandre Dumas (in French)
adapted to Spanish by José Díaz Tezanos.

Generally, number of times a woman is draped in a Kashmiri Shawl in a work of Dumas > number of times a woman is draped in Kashmiri Shawl in a work of Kashmiri writer.
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Lal Vakh, audio

A recording of authentic Kashmiri rendering of Lal Vakhs by Pandit Sarvanand Sagar, produced by Vir House, Jammu.

[archive.org link]

In all there are three files. First two are the vakhs (almost 1 hour in playtime, around 60 Vakhs) and last one is a Kashmiri Bhajan. The whole setup (starting with Shuklambaradharam and ending with stutis and a Bhajan) gives a feel that there must have been a time when just like Gita Path, a night just for listening to Lal Vakh too must have been organized by Pandit families. Besides more popular vakhs of Lal Ded, I heard some for the first time. Like:

Gita Paraan Paraan kuna mudukh 
Gita Paraan Paraan kun gai suur 
Gita Paraan Paraan Zind kith ruzukh
Gita Paraan Paraan dodh Mansoor

Why didn’t you die listening to Gita
How many turned to ashes listening to Gita
How did you live listening to Gita
Listening to Gita, Mansoor went ablaze

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Update:

Among Kashmiri Muslims the above mentioned lines are attributed to Nooruddin Rishi and in their rendition ‘Gita’ is replaced with ‘Koran’. The reference to Mansoor here is to Persian Sufi Mansur Al-Hallaj (c. 858 – March 26, 922), who was publicly executed, his body cut and then burnt for claiming, ‘Ana al Haq. I am the truth’. The burning of Mansoor’s body is a common motif in old Kashmiri Sufi poetry.

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Harwan Tiles

“These terracotta plaques at Harwan each of which was
moulded with a design in bas-relief, are of a character which makes them unique
in Indian art. Pressed out of moulds so that the same pattern is frequently repeated, although spirited and naive in some instances, they are not highly
finished productions, but their value lies in the fact that they represent
motifs suggestive of more than half a dozen alien civilizations of the ancient
world, besides others which are indigenous and local. Such are the Bahraut railing,
the Greek swan, the Sasanian foliated bird, the Persian vase, the Roman rosette,
the Chinese fret, the Indian elephant, the Assyrian lion, with figures of
dancers, musicians, cavaliers and ascetics, and racial types from many sources,
as may be seen by their costumes and accessories.”
~ Percy Brown, Indian Architecture: Buddhist and Hindu
periods (1942)
Aurel Stein in his edition (1892) of Kalhana’s Rajatarangini identified terraced site of Harwan as Sadarhadvana, ‘The wood of six saints’, the place where once lived the famous Bodhisattva Nagarjuna of Kushan period in the time of King Kanishka. The site was first excavated in year 1923 by Pandit Ram Chandra Kak. Based on  masonry styles Kak categorical the structures and findings into three types: (i) Pebble style (ii) Diapher Pebble style, and (iii) Diapher Rubble style. The pebble style being earliest in date, the diapher pebble of about 300 A.D. and the last one of about 500 A.D. and later.
Here are some of the photographs of the tiles of Harwan ( Harichandrun, originally in Kashmir) provide by Kak (came across in booklet ‘Early Terracotta Art of Kashmir’ by Aijaz A. Bandey for Centre of Central Asian Studies, University of Kashmir, Srinagar (1992)):
First one, a tile that gave me an opportunity to interpret a symbol.
Here above are shown four full blown lotus flowers; below a procession of geese running with their wings open. It is to be noted here the four geese from left have already picked up a stalked flower in their bills while the extreme right bird is about to pick it up. This males the scene more alive.
The point here is that it is not just an ‘alive scene’, it is an animated scene, there are no four, five geese, there is only one goose, the way the scene is set, it looks like an “animation cel;”, it is as if the artist was not trying to capture just the subject but also motion, hence we have an animated scene of a geese in motion, catching, leaving, holding on to a flower. 
Why geese? What does this motion symbolize? 
Goose in Indian motifs (both in Buddhist, to a great degree also in Hindu art and lore ) is the most common and recurring symbol of an ascetic in search of truth. In art, geese with a flower in beak would be the state of perfection, and the flight would be the journey that an ascetic undertakes. And then in addition, there is this impression of “passing” time that the flight symbolizes. It is a simple and obvious explanation.
In fact, it must have occurred to some other observers too. In ‘The Goose in Indian Literature and Art’ (1962), Jean Philippe Vogel cautions against such a tempting answer easily. “It is tempting to assume a connection between the yogis and the geese, although the latter appear also on tiles belonging to the courtyard where they seem to have a merely decorative function.”
Can’t a religious symbol be used in a secular space with a decorative function? But then, that would be akin to how in present times say a ‘Ganesha’ statue might be found in a corner of drawing room of a Hindu household, performing a decorative and a religious function. Is is difficult to assume that people back then too were capable of doing something like this. 
Dating back to third and the fifth century, Harwan is not an easy site to decipher. Each symbol is capable of throwing interesting questions at the observer. Take the case of ascetics. When we see ascetics in these tiles, are we seeing Buddhist ascetics? Although Harwan is often thought as a Buddhist site, there are theories according to which the Buddhist site was built on top of an existing site claimed by a religious sect called Ajaivika belonging to Nastika thought system. The sect peaked at the time of Mauryan emperor Bindusara around the 4th century BC. But by the time of Ashoka the sect quickly went downhill (apparently, the fact they published a photograph of Buddha in negative light didn’t go well with Ashoka the Great and he had around 18000 followers of the sect executed in Pundravardhana, present day Bengal). The sect disappeared without leaving much trace.

However, it is interesting the only image of an Ajaivika ascetic may have been provided by Kashmir. Below is given a page from ‘Indian Sculpture: Circa 500 B.C.-A.D. 700’ by Pratapaditya Pal.

Some other tiles from Harwan (a site that was almost lost again and buried after a cloud burst in 1970s):

A female holding a flower vase in upright hand, the left hand lifts the end of transparent long robe. The woman on either side has lotus petals, below in a separate register is a procession of four geese. The marked difference, this tile from harwan displays, is in its shape which is unconventional but could have fitted in the pavement plan at the site.
Medallions contaning cocks, regardant, with stylized foliate tails. Below in running spiral in an unending whorl. 

A squarish tile has in the centre two seperate stamps, the left one in a dotted boarder a standing male figure with splayed out feet, a long tunic extending upto knees, holding in the left hand a long spear, while the right rests on the lip. All along the border of the tile on each side is a procession of four geese.

A female holding flower vase, a male holding spear, medallion with cock, and procession of geese.

In the left a deer looking back, with moon at the top and wheel below. right, a mounted archer “The Parthian shot” of ancient Iran.

Upper register, a couple in a balcony. The coarse features of the couple having high cheek-bones, prominent noses and low receding fore head, allowed thr excavator (R.C. Kak) to identify them with a racial group of Central Asian people. Below, a feeling deer who is just to be struck with an arrow.

A composite mortified tile from Harwan. the tile above has lotus flowers; below in one compartment is a winged conch-shell, through the upper part of it protrudes neck of a bird (?) emitting pearl. This composite creature is flanked on either side by a fish at the bottom. To its right in a separate compartment is another composite figure, in this case half human and half vegetal; the upper part is of a female bust.

Three lotus petals and two rams.

Two cocks fighting over a lotus bud. Two deers at night.

Medallions with cocks with grape vines scroll above and below

Mixing of motifs. Cock, Lotus, Geese,

Lotus

unconventional. A free hand drawing of a flower.

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Faqir Bahadin Vs Shah-i-Chin


Tradition says that Kashmir was once a tributary of China; and because there was not much money in the valley and cattle was difficult to transport, men and women were sent yearly as tribute to that country [Begar System]. When Zainulabadin [1423-1474] obtained possession of Kashmir he declined to pay the tribute, whereupon the Shah-i-Chin sent a parwana, censuring him, and threatening him that if he did not quickly comply with the custom of his predecessors in the valley he would make war on him, and ruin him and every one and everything belonging to him.

Found the photograph in A lonely summer in Kashmir (1904)
by Margaret Cotter Morison

Now Zainulabadin had heard of Chinese, of their vast numbers, and power, and cleverness, and therefore was somewhat frightened by these stern words. He took counsel with his ministers and friends as to what he should do, but they could not help him. He then sought advice from faqirs. At that time there lived in Kashmir a very famous faqir by the name of Bahadin [Ziarat of Bahauddin Sahib is near Akbar’s rampart, Hari Parbat. And built atop the ruins of the temple of Pravarisha, built by King Pravarasena II, founder of Srinagar in around middle of sixth century], who begged the king not to be distressed, and promised to arrange the matter for him. This faqir, by virtue of his sanctity, flew over to China in the twinkling of an eye, and brought back the Shah-i-Chin lying on his bed to his own humble abode. In the morning, when the Shah awoke and found himself in a meager hut, he was very much surprised.

 “Oh, holy man,” said he to the faqir,”I perceive that you have done this thing. Tell me, I prey you, why you have brought me here.”

“I have transported you hither,” replied Bahadin, “in order that you might meet face to face with Zainulabadin, and promise him that you will abolish this wicked custom. Give it up, and God will bless you, and the people of this country will thank you.”

 The Shah-i-Chin was pricked to the heart by these words, and cutting his finger, so that the blood oozed out, he called for a pen and some paper, and at once wrote an order declaring Kashmir an independent state. Then Bahadin presented him with some peaches, apricots, walnuts, and other fruits, and caused him to arrive at his country again. When the Shah related to his people what had happened to him and what he had seen, his people would not believe him; but afterwards, when he showed them the differed fruits that the faqir had given him, they were convinced, and applauded his deed.

~ A footnote in ‘Folk-Tales of Kashmir’ by Rev. J. Hinton Knowles (1888).

Kashmiris still tell strange tales of their saints intervening in wars and saving Kashmir.

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Update: The part about “Kashmir was once a tributary of China” seems to have confused a few people who see the world as it is today and think it was always like this. Here’s some more on the tradition that histories written in Kashmir conveniently forgot to mention:

During the time of the Chinese progress in far West,
Turkestan, Western Tibet, and Kashmir became part of the celestial empire.
These conquests took place during the first part of the eighth century. From
the Chinese annals we learn that “the first embassy from Kashmir arrived at the
Imperial Court on or shortly after A.D.713. In the year 720 Tchen-tho-lo-pi-li,
ruler of Kashmir, the Chandrapida of the Kashmir chronicles, was accorded by
imperial decree the title of king.” It is of some interest to notice that the
Kashmir book of chronicles, the famous Rajatarangini does not make the least
mention of the subjugation of Kashmir by China, nor does it refer to the annual
tribute that had to be sent to China. The Kashmir policy of those days seems to
have been one of yielding to the strong and bullying the weal. It looks as id
the Kashmir troops had not offered much resistance to the Chinese, and as if
the Kashmir king had early sought the friendship of the Chinese. He was
apparently quite satisfied with his recognition as a vassal king. It was
different with Western Tibet. Although the land was split up into a great
number of petty principalities, as will be shown more fully in the next
chapter, the Tibetans were ready  to
fight; and the state which offered the most serious obstacle to the progress of
the Chinese was Baltistan. Several expeditions became necessary against Po-liu,
as Baltistan was then called, and the first of them took place some time
between 736 and 747.
With a sufficient army at one’s disposal, it could not have
been very difficult to gain a victory over one or other of the numerous little
kingdoms between Leh and Kashmir which were continually at war with each other;
and this fact was recognized by the next Kashmir king, Lalitaditya, or
Muktapida, the Mou-to-pi of the Chinese annals. He boasted of his victories
over the Tibetans, and, although his expeditions against them were mere raids
for the sake of plunder, he pretended he had been engaged in serious
operations.
He sent an envoy called Ou-li-to to the Chinese court. This
man was to report the victories of his master over the Tibetans, and at the
same time to solicit the establishment of a camp of Chinese troops by the banks
of the lake Mo-ho-to-mo-loung (Mahapadma, or Volur lake). The Kashmir king
offered to provide all necessary supplies for an auxiliary force of 200,000
men. But the “Divine Khan” found it more convenient to content himself with
issuing decrees for the sumptuous entertainment of the ambassador and for the
recognition of Muktapida under the title of king. “Since that time the
relations of Kashmir with the celestial empire and the payment of tribute from
the former is said to have continued to this day.”

 [parts quoted from Dr M. A.
Stein’s Ancient Geography of Kashmir] 
~ From ‘A History of Western Tibet: One of the Unknown Empires’ by August Hermann Franck (1907).

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“China supplied military aid to Kashmir. In Lalitaditya’s time she [Kashmir] depended on Chinese help to fight the Tibetans…It is apparent that Kashmir as a subordinate ally assisted China in her enterprises in that region…so long as the Tang dynasty was in power, she evinced great strength. But with the decline of the Tangs…Kashmir is no longer seen to carry on a policy of expansion. She retired from the scene, never to appear again.”

~ Early History and Culture of Kashmir by S.C. Ray.

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Folktale: Gagarbai ti Gagur

“My favourite tale was about the tragedy of a mouse. She was
asked by her husband to make khichree, she made it so well, morsel by morsel,
she ate it all up. Home came the mouse, mouth salivating, to find his little
wife resting. He looked everywhere in the kitchen she asked him to look – in the
cooking pot, the frying pan, the mortar and even under the small pestle used
for pounding spices – but found nothing. In anger, he threw the pestle at her
and her ear lobe fell off. Bleeding, the detached piece of flesh in hand, she
went crying to the tailor and asked him to stitch her ear whole.
The tailor asked her to get him some thread from the
threadmaker woman, who sent her to the cotton-carder man. And thus she went
from one artisan to another, and even to the cotton tree that would yield the
cotton and the bullock that would plough the field  for the tree to flower. Finally, she reached
a mound asking it for some earth, which she would take to the potter, who would
make her a charcoal brazier and, step by step, back to the blacksmith who would
provide her with a sickle with which she would cut some grass from a ridge to
feed the bullock, and thus onward. With thread in her hand she would go to the
tailor who would repair her ear. Then she would wear her gold earrings and
leave her cruel husband to go back to her parental home. Alas, that was not to
be. Giving of itself to her, the earth mound fell over her and crushed her to
death. The story, told in a sing-song style, ended with a song of lamentation
by the bereaved mouse. It made me sad but I wanted to hear it again and again,
knowing all along that it was just a tale.”
From the essay ‘Growing up in a Kashmiri Hindu Household’ by
T.N. Madan (The T.N.Madan Omnibus)
Between me and T.N. Madan, our childhood memories are separated by a gap of at least seven decades and yet we share a common favorite in ‘tales our grandmothers told’. After reading the description of story in this essay, I knew he was talking about ‘Gagri-Gagri’. But in my story the wife was hit by mortar not pestle (Kajwot and not Wokhul). I asked my grandmother if she remembers the story and if she would sing it again. She had no idea what I was talking about. She couldn’t remember it. But after nagging her for a couple of days, I was able to get her to recount some of the bits. But not the main song. My Chachi too threw in bits from her childhood memories – an alternative ending in which the wife is reunited with her repentant husband. Yet the main bit eluded me. The favorite part. The tune. It was frustrating. I even came to doubt if the story was ever told to me by my grandmother, maternal, paternal or if was sung to me by some grandaunt, maternal, paternal. How can I forget?  It’s the part where the wife asks the husband to look for Khichree all over the kitchen. And then he hit her out of tune.What was that tune?
In the Kashmiri section by Ali Mohammad Lone presented in ‘Children’s literature in Indian languages‘ (1982), I found reference to this story. Indeed, in ‘The Mouse’s Ear’ the wife was hit by mortar. That was about it. No further leads. No actual Kashmiri version of the story.
Then, about a year later while listening to my grandmother sing a Kashmiri ditty for an ancient spring ceremony. I remembered it. The two share almost the same sing-song tune. I remembered not the entire story but just my favorite part. I believe it went something like this:
He Mouse: Gagri, Gagri! Kyet chey Khetch’er 
She Mouse: Bohganas tal.
He Mouse: Yet’che na keh
Gagri, Gagri! Kyet chey Khetch’er
Wokhulas tal
Yet’che na keh

Gagri, Gagri! Kyet chey Khetch’er
Kajwatas tal
Narrator: Tyem tul Kaajwot ti la’go’unas Kanas.
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