When the Mughals arrived in Kashmir in 16th century, in their early writings we see them looking at it as a mythical land where the locals tell of many miraculous tales surrounding various sites riddled all across the valley as manifestations of God’s existence. They tell of miraculous springs whose waters appear, disappear, boil at will, they tell of caves with no end, they tell of mountain passes that bow to command of holy men, streams that were commanded into existence by saints and they talk about ice pole in a cave based on movement of moon. Kashmir was the land of “Hairat”/surprise.
Abu’l Fazl (1551–1602) in Akbar’s time writes in his Ain-e-Akbari about Amarnath:
Between Great Tibet and the above-mentioned parganah [Dachchhinparah,the territory along the right bank of the Liddar river] is a cave in which is an image in ice called Amar Nat. It is considered a shrine of great sanctity. When the new moon rises from her throne of rays, a bubble as it were of ice is formed in the cave which daily increases little by little for fifteen days till it is somewhat higher than two yards, of the measure of the yard determined by His Majesty [about 4.8 feet]; with the waning moon, the image likewise begins to decrease, till no trace of it remains when the moon disappears. They believe it to be the image of Mahadeva and regard it as a means (through supplication) of the fulment of their desires. Near the cave is a rill called Amraoti, the clay of which is extremely white. They account it auspicious and smear themselves with it. The snows of this mountainous tract nowhere melt, and from the extreme cold, the straitness of the defiles and the rough inequalities of the road, they are surmounted with great toil.
(Ain-i-Akbari of Abul Fazl Vol . II , p . 360)
In a Mughal painting [with Aga Khan Museum, tagged MUGHAL MEN ADMIRING THE MIRACULOUS ICE LINGAM AT AMARNATH”] from around 1600 (or later) painted in Agra we see a visual depiction of Abul Fazl’s text.
While we can see the expression of surprise on the faces on men, oddly, here the moon is replaced by sun. In the note to the painting at Aga Khan museum it is assumed the sun is meant to alude the summers when the pilgrimage to shrine begins (in fact it starts in the rainy season at end of summer). I believe the sun in this painting (and the absence of cave) is an attempt by the unknown painter to provide a “rational” explanation for the phenomena. In that sense, the painting essentially has the same function as the footnote to Amarnath section in English translation by Jarrett of Fazl’s work. There the modern reader is told in note that the ice lingam – “The ice bubble was doubtless a stalacite”. [The translator was making a guess. We now know that it is infact a stalagmite, as it grows from floor and not the roof.] Just like the english translator had the need to explain the miracle, perhaps the Mughal painter too was reading the text and trying to explain how the ice bubble could decrease in size. His explanation: the sun was melting the ice while the people just looked at miracle with awe and surprise.
Surprise and its relation with Amarnath can be seen in another painting centuries apart drawn in Kashmiri school of painting. By this time Hairat – Surpise, had come part of local lore of Herath as Shivratri (when infact Herath the festival is Hararatri)
Jammu, Pahari, mid 19th century
Collection: National Museum, New Delhi
Came across this painting at a miniature art exhibition in Jammu in 2011.
There is a lot going on this painting: Gossains(?) drinking water (amrit) dripping from the ceiling of the cave; women devotees, one of them even carrying a child in her arms. On closer look one can see a Dejhoor dangling from this woman’s ear, a good indication that the lady depicted here is a Kashmiri Pandit woman in Pheran. And then outside all this delirious scene, one can see the Muslim Shepherds, one of them looking amused, and one of them looking outside the frame.
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An early exploration on theme of meeting of two different forms of “faithfuls” in Akbar era painting. The Hindu way was still strange, but it was being understood and even adopted in part. A Sufi with a dog. A brahmin on way to Somnath [which had already been destroyed and rebult, destroyed again and rebuilt again by 13th century in which lived Khusrau]. By painter Basawan. The story of Brahmin pilgrim also occurs in an early version of Laila Majnu.
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