Between 1910s, 20s and 30s, Anand Koul remained one of the most prolific writers from Kashmir. He wrote books and shot off letters to various journals. Most of these writings are now often cited in writings about language, folklore and history of Kashmir. Last couple of years, I have been tracing, reading, uploading and sharing these works.
Works of Pandit Anand Koul complied/uploaded/scanned till now.
Pandit Anand Koul
1. A biography of Kashmiri historian Hasan Shah and History of Kashmir by Pandit Anand Koul for Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal vol 9 (1913)
History of Kashmir by Pandit Anand Koul for Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal vol 6 (1910)
11. ‘Life of Rishi Pir Pandit Padshah’ by Pandit Anand Koul for ‘The Indian Antiquary’ (1931). There is a lengthy detour in the piece that touches upon story of Sarmad’s killing by Aurangzeb.
12. Â ‘Life of Rupa Bhawani’ by Pandit Anand Koul and presented in ‘The Indian Antiquary’ (1932). Both this and the precious piece about Rishi Pir throw light upon the influence of Persian language among Kashmiri Pandits in around 1600s.
13. Lalla-Vakyani, some additional sayings of Lal Ded collected by Pandit Anand Koul and presented in ‘The Indian Antiquary’ (1931-32-33). (one missing page, 2 sayings)
Guest post by Man Mohan Munshi Ji. Towards the end I am adding an old photograph of the place and a bit about a Kashmiri proverb related to the place.
The present Vitasta -Sindhu -Samgama the conflunce of Jhelum and Sind rivers at Naranbagh near Shadipur. The river in the left foreground with greyish coloured water is the Sind river and the other with the bluish green coloured water in the right background is the Jhelum. Suyya the able engineer of King Avantivarman by his skill shifted the position of Vitastasindhusamgama from Parihaspura Trigami area to its present location in the vicinity of Sundribhavana (Naran Bagh) by forcing the course of Vitasta north east wards by blocking its original course with embankments to reclaim the cultivable land from flood prone areas and marshes. A Vishnu temple by the name of Yogavasmin was also built by Suyya at the instance of Avantivarman.
The solitary Chinar standing in water in the immediate vicinity of the confluence is considered holy and compared to the holy fig tree at Triveni near Allahbad
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The Chinar tree at Shadipore in a photograph by Fred Bremner. 1905
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Preyaghuch buni nah thadan nah lokan nah badan.
The chinar of preyag neither become taller, nor shorter, nor bigger.
A poor sickly child, who does not grow or become fat.
An explanation about the Chinar tree of prayag that can be found in the book ‘A Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs and Sayings’ by James Hinton Knowles (1885):
This chinar tree is in the middle of a little island just big enough to pitch your tent on, in the midst of the Jhelum river by the village Shadipur. The Hindus have consecrated the place, and a Brahman is to be seen twice every day paddling himself along in a little boat to the spot, to worship and to make his offerings.
This chinar tree at Shadipur is believed to be the (sangam) confluence of rivers Indus (Sind) and Jhelum (Vitasta) and is called `Prayag’ by Kashmiri pandits – alluding to Prayag that is Allahabad where Yamuna and Ganga meet up. Kashmiri Pandits used to immerse the ashes and remains of their dead at this spot.
English painter Charles W. Bartlett (1860-1940) visited Kashmir in 1913 as part of his 18-month world tour. Later, based on his travel sketchbooks and journals, he went on to paint some really pieces of art in Hawai. Here is Kashmir by Charles W. Bartlett.
Dal Lake, Kashmirby Charles W. Bartlett, 1916
Village Temple, Kashmir by Charles W. Bartlett, 1919
(Above two via: hanga.com)
Mother and Child, 1916. Perhaps the best of his work. Or perhaps one of the finest paintings on Kashmir. Or just an image of Madonna. Or an image of Kashmir. Proverbial Maej Kasheer.
(via: robynbuntin.com, do check it out for more details on this paiting)
Kashmiri men often speak of Kashmiri women as bacha parast, devotees of child. Almost a response by women, a Kashmiri proverb goes,’Halaluk ya haramuk, panani dambik nav reth‘, Legitimate or illegitimage, nine months of one’s own womb.’
Panjayeeb G’aaer or Punjabi Singhara (Water Chest Nuts) being sold in Srinagar. Srinagar, Nov 2010.
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Gari gojih.
(Like) the kernel of a water-chestnut (singharah).
A Kashmiri curse, meaning ” May your eyes start out of your
head through trouble and sorrow.” Also when a person is not sharp
at finding any thing, another person will sometimes say, ” You, gari gojih, can’t you see it?”
~ from ‘A Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs and Sayings’ by James Hinton Knowles (1885).
