1. People watching Nehru’s Boat procession from Ganpatyaar Ghat, Srinagar. May 1948.
source: Indian Photo Division
Much confusion if this is Ganpatyaar temple or Purshyar Temple
Ghat Temples and Pandits, 1948
Hakhoo of Hockey Stadium
Krishan Kumar Hakhu (extreme left), 1948. The man after whom is named the KK Hakhoo Astro Turf Stadium of Jammu. He was the founder and organiser of “Kashmir Wanderers”, a formidable hockey club of Kashmir for years.
Hakhu was originally from Sathu Barbarshah, Srinagar and later settled down at Exchange Road, Jammu. He was nicknamed “Vuzmal“…lightening…for the way he played.
[from personal collection of Sohail Iqbal]
His progenies are now in Jammu and Australia.
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Artist Brij Mohan Anand in Kashmir
We know how the rightwing loonies in India react to nude art. We know what happens to the art and the artist. We know how the leaders of the right react. We know how the left intelligentsia argues back. But, what happens in Kashmir.
It’s 1947 and Sheikh Abdullah sets up a cultural front in Kashmir to promote art. Left allied artists are at the forefront of the front. An exhibition is planned. Prominent from all over India are invited for exhibiting their work. Among these artists in Brij Mohan Anand who is invited by Kashmir Sahayak Sabha of Punjab. He spends time in Kashmir, travelling, sketching and painting. In September 1948, the exhibition is inaugurated by the Sheikh at Hadow Memorial College Premises, Shiekh Bagh, Srinagar.
At the exhibition, some visitors are offended by the work of Brij Mohan. He had included some nudes among his work. Sheikh sides with the Kashmiri moral brigade. Sheikh and Brij Mohan have a heated argument that soon turns physical. Later, the artist is told arrest warrants have been issued in his name. The artist silently packs as many of his paintings as he could and heads for the national highway where he finally hitches ride in an army truck, leaving Kashmir hiding under sheets of tarpaulins like some sheep.
And that’s why you won’t see Kashmiri artists exhibiting nudes in Kashmir. The Kashmiri society remains on right.
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The story is told in the book “Narratives for Indian Modernity: The Aesthetic of Brij Mohan Anand” [Aditi Anand / Grant Pooke, 2016]
Some of the Kashmir specific works of Brij Mohan Anand
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| First art exhibition in Kashmir. Srinagar. 1948. |
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| Pandit Woman, 1948 |
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| Cover designed by Brij Mohan Anand for Jamna Das Akhtar’s novel “Kashmir ki Beti” (1978) based on Zooni Gujjar. |
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| Chashmashahi. 1948 |
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| Kashmiri Muslim Woman, 1948 |
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Portrait of a Raider
One of few works which gives a name and a face to the anonymous horde of ‘Kabailis’ that descended upon Kashmir in 1947-48.
Gulmar, though his big hawk-like nose rather marred his good looks, had the attraction of youth, and was divertingly Mahsud. He asked direct, practical questions on everything. Like Rahim he had admirable manners – Pathans may prove the best servants in the world.; but he was restless, a piece of quicksilver, you could never ignore him. Possessor evidently of a strong character, you felt that, if you didn’t look out, he would soon have complete control of your affairs.
He did not seem physically very tough. Within days he fell a victim to Karachi belly, and I was doctoring him with liver pills; he also blistered his feet accompanying me on walks, not yet vigorous ones because of my recent operation. Admittedly he had a new pair of chaplis – the heavy, sandal-like shoes worn by Pathans; they had been bought in honour of his fresh employment, and eventually of course would be paid for by me. But, like Rahim, he plainly thought physical exercise crazy. If you had no need to walk you didn’t do it; you sat around and got fat.
During these strolls he soon became a keen and adept helper in my photographic efforts. It was a new form of shikar or sport. From just behind me he would crack jokes ingeniously with the victims, diverting their attention from the lens, keeping their faces alive until the moment of the shot – and then, the deed done, would laugh delightedly at their surprise.
When we were out shooting in this fashion one day, he spoke of his own shooting in Kashmir; real shooting.
“Shooting at what?”
“Men, of course, Sahib.”
I looked at him astonished. “But you only seem about seventeen”
“Yes, Sahib.”
“But you can’t have been fighting the Indians when thirteen?”
“Yes, Sahib” – and enquiry left no doubt that he had, and thought it not at all remarkable. He gave details of where he had gone and they made geographical sense. He had been bombed and rocketed by Indian planes, machine-gunned by Indian infantry. He had been half smothered by the blood and entrails of a mule, blown up a few yards away. He spoke of having spent a night on a snowy hillside – without socks or coat – to snipe Indian troops at dawn.
“Carrying a man’s rifle was rather tiring for me sometimes”, he grudgingly admitted. Remembrance of my facile thoughts on his stamina made me ashamed.
~ Ian Melville Stephens, ‘Horned moon: An account of a journey through Pakistan, Kashmir, and Afghanistan’ (1953). Back then, Ian Stephens, former editor of ‘The Statesman’, was one of the first person allowed to cross into India from Pakistan by walking across LOC. Back then, he was also one of the few person’s sympathetic to Pakistan (even quit his job possibly because he thought Pakistan was getting a raw deal), someone who believed that the country had a shot at been a progressive nation. Stephens would meet these simple natives, men capable of abominable deeds in bouts of mass madness, and yet he found them admirable as that is how things were region between Delhi and Karachi, a region he lovingly re-christened ‘Delkaria’.
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Defending Kashmir (1949)
Free give away rare book this month for SearchKashmir Free Book Project. This is the tenth book released this year.
Defending Kashmir (1949)
Gives account of fighting in all the major sectors in Jammu and Kashmir in year 1947-48. Appendix for the books gives timeline of events starting from September 1947 leading to war. Also, the conditions and the terms of various ceasefires before the end of war, alongwith the first UN documents, letters and resolutions on India and Pakistan dealing with ‘Kashmir Questions’.
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| Two Tempests on a reconnaissance flight over the Kashmir valley |
Read/Download:
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Pandit at Nehru’s Reception, 1948
Pandit Families in Shikaras and Doongas greeting
Nehru in Srinagar, 1948.
[grab from a video via British Pathé archive]
Pampore, 1948.
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| ‘Saffron Market’. Pampore, 1948. By Volkmar Wentzel. For National Geographic. |
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Saffron Market. Pampore, 1948
I now finally have all the old issues of National Geographic Magazine in which Kashmir was majorly featured.
Here’s a sample from year 1948:
‘Saffron Market’. Pampore, 1948. By Volkmar Wentzel. For National Geographic.
[Created by combining a two page spread]
Caption read: “At Autumn Harvest, Farmers, Pickers, and Buyers Swarm in Pampur’s Saffron Market. Homer sang of the “saffron morn,” Solomon of “spikenard and saffron.” Greeks perfumed theaters with saffron, a royal color; Romans tossed it in Nero’s path. England once cultivated the plant at Saffron Walden.”
Kashmir in The Wide World, 1948
Continuing with theme of Kashmir in European style…
From my personal collection, Kashmir on the cover of July 1948 issue of a London based magazine called The Wide World.
Women Militia, 1948
Kashmiri Militia Women.
Henri Cartier-Bresson. 1948.
via: magnumphotos.
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Previously:
