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
First art exhibition in Kashmir. Srinagar. 1948.
Pandit Woman, 1948
Cover designed by Brij Mohan Anand for Jamna Das Akhtar’s novel “Kashmir ki Beti” (1978) based on Zooni Gujjar.
“No European is allowed to build or own a house in Kashmir and the result is that the numerous visitors to the happy valley live for a great portion of their time in house boats. These boats are very large and comfortable. They are hired for the season with furniture, a staff of servants and a kitchen boat attached, and the occupants move about from place to place along the numerous waterways of Kashmir and lead an idyllic river life amid beautiful scenery, anchoring where they please and spending their time in fishing, shooting and reading and other amusements. We visited one house boat at Srinagar belonging yo a Mr. Kennard, which was a regular villa built in two stories. The interior was panelled with carved wood and the furnishing and upholstering were all the most perfect taste. Mr. Kennard was at home and very kindly showed us over his beautiful floating residence.”
~ ‘A narrative of His Highness the Maharaja’s trip to Kashmir in 1918’ by R. H. Campbell (1919) about the visit of Maharaja of Mysore to Kashmir. (The direct impact of this visit was that Mysore got Mysore Boy Scouts, and a copy of Shalimar Garden in the form of Brindavan Gardens. Also, in Srinagar, the temple on Shankaracharya got an electric bulb, a gift from the Maharaja of Mysore, forever changing the night view of the hill.
In 1911, at the age of seventeen, much before he became a skeptic, much before he become famous for investigating Helen Duncan – the last ‘witch’ of England, C. E. Bechhofer visited Kashmir as part of his great adventure in the East, or as he admits, as part of cure devised by his father “to knock the nonsense” out of him, rid him of poetry, Marxian socialism, women’s suffrage and other such ideas.
At ruins of Martand, in the faded pages of a visitor’s book he discover traces of a terrific controversy of many years ago. In his book, ‘A wanderer’s log; being some memories of travel in India, the Far East, Russia, the Mediterranean & elsewhere’ (1922) , he writes:
A certain old gentleman, Colonel Coburn, who, besides his other activities, started a timber firm and a visitors’ agency, claimed in ten scratchy pages of hysterical Christianity that the Kashmiri Hindus (most of them now forcibly converted to Mohammedanism) were originally Jews who had fled from Palestine after the Crucifixion, and that they had built this temple after the style of that in Jerusalem. Thus he explains to his ‘dearly beloved brothers and brethren in Christ’ the faithlessness and treachery of the modern Kashmiri.
“If,” concludes the old gentleman, “you should find a wounded viper lying on the road, do all you can to care and restore it to life, for he will be grateful to you for it and repay you the debt of gratitude he owes you for what you have done for him, but if you find a Kashmiri in the same condition, get off your horse and kill him outright, for if you do him a good turn and save him, he is sure to be ungrateful and do all the damage he can in return! But all the fingers of one’s hands are not the same length, as a native saying her is, and there are many noble exceptions to the above rules, and a good Kashmiri servant, like a good Scotch or Irish tenant out of their own countries, is about the best one can find.”
Martand temple . Burke. 1870.
It is an idea, a theory that in a comic twist, sons of Kashmiri Pandits have now come to believe – We are Jews. Ironically, the answer to the theory was given in the same visitor’s book by an anonymous Kashmiri Pandit with a wicked sense of humour.
On the next page I found this comment from “A Kashmiri Pundit”: I have read with interest the funny remarks of Col. Coburn about these ruins and the origin of the Kashmiri Pundits. After reading those remarks I am disposed to reverse Darwin’s theory and hold that people who live to a great age are likely to pass down into the same animal to whom Darwin has traced the genealogy of mankind.”
In the book the story ends there. But, there is more. The account of Bechhofer’s visit to Martand and Bhawan was earlier published in a magazine called The New Age – A Weekly Review of Politics, Literature and Art (Volume 13, Number 13. July 24, 1913). In it Bechhofer wrote that the comments were made around fifteen years ago (should make that around 1896) and Colonel Coburn’s establishment had since been taken over by an American (and “must be avoided”). And about that comment by Pandit he added:
A Kashmiri Pundit, forsooth! It reeks of the Bengali lawyer. And I much prefer the statement of an English traveller, a little later: “Very interesting ruins, but saw no Jew at all”
And then, yes, and then there is this: “A very impressive place, interesting owing to my dear heathen forefathers and relatives believing in the sanctity of this spot, which I do not. – P.M. Rudra, Srinagar, 1898.”
Man Mohan Munshi Ji shares some scans from his copy of Sven Hedin’sTrans-Himalaya : discoveries and adventures in Tibet (1909). On way to Tibet, Sven was in Kashmir in mid of 1906. Among the scans are two old photographs of famous Nedou Hotel of Srinagar. I add some recent photographs of the hotel sent in by another friend.
Sven Hedin who entered Tibet even after having been denied official permission to enter; The British Government allowed him to proceed via Jammu & Kashmir on his way to Eastern Turkistan from where he crossed into WesternTibet and carried explorations in areas never visited till than by any white man. His publication “Trans Himalaya” published in two volumes in 1909 is a master piece [in fact he later brought out a third volume covering mostly his visit to the source of Indus. Read the books here via archive.org: V1 (covering start of his journey from Kashmir), V2, V3]. He made his preparations for his journey in Kashmir initially. He is profuse in his thanks to a Kashmiri gentlemen Pandit Daya Kishan Koul Diwan Sahib who arranged everything from supplies, equipment, mules ponies and four soldiers as body guards. He has also acknowledged the services rendered by about thirty six Asians mostly Ladakhis who accompanied him to Tibet where when discovered by local authorities they did face trouble. Besides others, he also thanks Sir Francis Younghusband, the then British Resident at Srinagar who had explored Muztag and other passes of Karakorum Range between Eastern Turkistan and Jammu and Kashmir and also led the British Expedition to Lhasa in 1905-6.
title cover
Portrait of the then Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir [Pratap Singh]
view of the then Srinagar Palace now old Secretariat
view of Fateh Kadal, 3rd bridge of Srinagar. The building on the left with the flag is the C.M.S School, Srinagar. On the right the minaret of Shah Hamdan’s Ziarat is visible with North Kashmir or Sogput Range in the distant background
Sven Hedin in front of the Nedou’s hotel Srinagar with his baggage
Some of the mules being loaded at Nedou Hotel
Four body guards for Sven Hedin arranged by Pandit Daya Kishan. Sitting: Ganpat Singh, Khairullah from Peshawar. Standing: Bikom Singh and Basgul from Kabul. Both Singhs are Dogra Rajputs
starting off from Ganderbal
The Road to Baltal.
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Some recent photographs (June 2013) of Nedou Hotel that was last year vacated by CRPF. And is now under renovation with possible plans of reopening. Shared with me by cartoonist Sumit Kumar of Kashmir Ki Kahani.
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Previously: Sven Hedin in Kashmir [From Pole to Pole: A book for young people by Sven Hedin]
“About 1665, Shah Jehan died in the palace at Agra, not without suspicions of foul play. Aurangzeb had been suffering from serious sickness, but after his father’s death he was sufficiently recovered to proceed to Kashmir, where he recruited his health in the cool air of the mountains. At Kashmir he attempted to form a fleet which should rival the navies of European countries. Two ships were built by the help of an Italian, and were launched on the lake of Kashmir; but Aurangzeb found that it would be difficult to man them efficiently. No amount of teaching would impart the necessary quickness, nerve, and energy to his own subjects; and if he engaged the services of Europeans, they might sail away with his ships, and he might never see them again.”
~ ‘India and the Frontier States of Afghanistan, Nepal and Burma, with A Supplementary Chapter of Recent Events’ by James Talboys Wheeler and Edgar Saltus (1899).
Years were 1897-98. Vivekananda wanted to set up as Math in Srinagar. He needed some land. Like most visitors, he stayed on houseboats, traveled on boats. Camped at sweet European camping spots. Met the royalties. But land was refused by the British Regent Adelbert Talbot. With his foreign friends, he celebrated American Independence day floating on Jhelum, holding on to a locally made crude American flag. He even wrote a poem about the day: Bethink thee how the world did wait, And search for thee, through time and clime. A few years later, died on the same day of July. In Kashmir, he visited Mughal gardens – Shalimar, Nishat… and ancient temples – Bijbehar and Mattan. He climbed hills- Shankaracharya and Hari Parbat, and trekked his way to mountain abode of god Amarnath. Here he told shell shocked Sadhus to not treat Muslims, and others, as infidels. Suffered what his doctor called a ‘massive heart attack’. Survived and claimed: ‘Now I have seen Shiva too’. In valley, he worshiped four-year-old daughter of his Mohammedan boatman as goddess Uma. He told Pandits that it is fine to send their children to a missionary school. At Khir Bhawani, he wondered why Goddess of this land didn’t protect herself from the Muslims. Claimed Mother Goddess answered, ‘It’s alright! I protect you, not the other way around.’ Here he picked up a Muslim devotee, a man he cured of migraine by a roll of a hand over the head. Here he made a mistake and found himself in middle of an ancient game of metaphysical star war. This man used to be a devotee of a local Muslim Fakir. The Fakir on losing a soul, cursed the man in orange robe, ‘Before you leave this valley, you shall taste your own blood. You shall remember, you too have a body. You shall vomit blood. Mark my words!’ And the words soon turned true. The story goes: Just before leaving the valley, Vivekananda vomited blood. It shook his core: ‘I have seen gods, talked to them, understood their mind, and yet something as crude as this can happen to me. I can be cursed. How? Why? What chance do the common folk have? What are we up against?’ His mind tossed and turned. His disciples took notes. Once back in his land, virgin-widow of his dead Guru advised, ‘Even Shankaracharya couldn’t survive these machinations. Even your Guru Ramakrishna was once cursed and vomited blood. Don’t worry. It probably saved your life. Had the blood gone to your head, you would have surely died. It’s probably all the yoga that you do.’ Some disciples wrote: Even gods are susceptible to craft. Rules of craft- words, written, said and thought – are all binding even on Gods.
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* Based on ‘The Life of the Swami Vivekananda’ by Swami Virajananda (Publisher K.C. Ghosh, 1912) [archive.org]
“During the time that Aurangzeb was in Kashmir his usual diversion was going out to hunt, of which he was always very fond. It happened once that, tired out, he sat down in the shade of a tree, having with him only one huntsman a great favorite, who had formerly served Dara in the same capacity. They held together conversation on various subjects, and encouraged thereby, the huntsman asked Aurangzeb why he ordered Dara’s head to be cut off. Such a question put the royal person into some fear, and so he answered that it was his (Dara’s) ill luck. Then, rising, he made for the palace, where he commanded that his huntsman should never again appear in his presence. The mere sight of the man acted as a reproof for his unjust deed. “
~ Storia do Mogor; or, Mogul India 1653-1708; (1907) by Niccolò Manucci (1638 – 1715).
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Abanindranath Tagore’s Aurangzeb Examining the Head of Dara. Around 1908.
“In those days the first mass upsurge of the people of Kashmir was taking place against the princely rule. Its objectives were not very clear then. and the middle-class young men felt quite bewildered and had little sympathy for the struggle of the people. Sometimes jokes were cracked at the expense of Kashmiris, who would stampede in the face of a lathi-charge and leave heaps of their chappals (footware) and lohis (warm blankets) behind on the ground. While the sentiment against the British was strong, there was little sympathy for the struggling Kashmiris. Balraj, therefore sprang quite a surprise one day, when he said, sitting among friends: “Why, all the purse-strings in the state are either in the hands of the Maharaja or the Punjabi traders who do not belong here and who exploit the local inhabitants.”
Balraj’s onservation was disturbing to many ears.
Balraj’s association with Kashmir, starting from early thirties, was to become deep and intimate. Kashmir became for him a kind of second home. He revelled deeply in its idyllic surroundings, long hikes, long swims in the lakes, and mountain-climbing. Kashmir was to become for him a place of deep personal attachments. It was here that he wrote some of his charming little poems and stories It was also to become a field for his cultural and literary activities in the years to come.”
~ Balraj My Brother by Bhisham Sahni (first published in 1981).
