Reclaiming the Legacy of Kashmiriyat

Reviewed by Pankaj Bhan

In this narrative on the assimilative multi -cultural tradition of South Asia with Kashmir being its epicentre, Madanjeet Singh, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, inadvertently offers a peep into his own deep-rooted ties with Kashmir and Kashmiriyat. Originally hailing from Uri and living and studying in Lahore, Madanjeet Singh came "to Srinagar at the time of the invasion of Kashmir by kabailis (tribesmen) from the newly-created Pakistan. These gangsters had entered Kashmir at Domel, ransacked Uri - my ancestral home - and had continued to advance towards Srinagar looting, pillaging and raping along the way." In Srinagar, he came into contact with a large number of Kashmiri and non - Kashmiri writers, artists and cultural activists like Navtej Singh, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Premnath Pardesi, Somnath Zutshi, Shivdan Singh Chauhan, Sheila Bhatia and others who were directly or indirectly involved with the National Cultural Front and sundry progressive writers groupings. These interactions profoundly affected a young Madanjeet Singh and he formed a longstanding association with Kashmir and Kashmiriyat.

Interestingly, it was during these heady days that Mahatma Gandhi had visited Srinagar in October 1947 and seen for himself this remarkable cultural interaction and communal harmony which later prompted his comment: "In the darkness engulfing the subcontinent, the only ray of light came from Kashmir." Again, during this period Madanjeet Singh, an accomplished lensman, took about a hundred photographs of a young, buoyant and struggling Kashmir and displayed these in an exhibition held at AlFACS, New Delhi in November 1948. The exhibition was inaugurated by Sheikh Mohd. Abdullah, the then 'Prime Minister' of Kashmir, and widely covered by the national press.

It was also in Kashmir that Madanjeet Singh realised the power and influence of oral folk culture made popular by a folk poet Aasi. He saw that Aasi came from a poor background and took up menial jobs to sustain himself (earning for himself the sobriquet of 'coolie poet'), and yet his simple poetry fired the imagination of the common Kashmiris. It was his 'secular' poetry that played a major role in galvanising the Kashmiris in their legendary fight against the invading kabailis. It also helped in laying the foundations of a future Kashmir based on social syncretism and cultural unity that, barring occasional hiccups, continues to be the dominant cultural praxis in Kashmir.

Now, it is after 60 years that Madanjeet Singh has returned to give a further push to these values. But this time he has a larger perspective in front of him. He talks about the sectarian forces that are wreaking havoc on the essentially tolerant culture of the South Asian region. He talks about the rise of Hindutva forces in India which are bent upon holding the secular Indian state and constitution to ransom. He talks about the rise ofIslamic fundamentalism, aided and abetted by the successive governments in Pakistan, which is creating mayhem in Pakistan and its adjoining areas. He talks about the riseoffanatic forces in Bangladesh which recently forced the authorities to pull down a monument depicting Bauls, the Sufi singers of Bengal, singing their traditional songs symbolising the exuberance of the Bengali culture. He talks about the razing of the Bamyan statues of Lord Buddha embodying the rich cultural antiquity of Afghanistan. And so on and so forth. In this sub-continental perspective, Madanjeet Singh places Kashmir and highlights its liberal pluralist legacy which, despite its recent phase of political violence and social sectarianism, can still provide a beacon light to the South Asian region.

Madanjeet Singh literally initiated this revival of Kashmiriyat by holding three events together in Srinagar in May 2008. The first of these was the inauguration of the Centre of Kashmir Studies which is the result of a collaboration between South Asia Foundation (SAF) headed by him and the University of Kashmir. The Centre, with its multi-disciplinary approach, is working as the research-cum-resource centre for the history and culture of Kashmir.

The other event was a musical concert featuring the Pakistani band 'Junoon' led by Salman Ahmad and 'Singhs' led by Mahendrajeet Singh (Miki). The jehadis wanted both India and Pakistan to stop the programme and threatened that if they did not heed the warning, the concert would be disrupted in a violent manner. But the people in Kashmir, especially the youth, defied these threats and savoured the Sufi-textured music highlighting values of love, compassion and brotherhood.

The third event, as epochal as the other two, was an exhibition of the works of the women artists of Kashmir, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The show, which braved threats from the jehadi elements, was inaugurated by Dr. H. B. Ghazanfar, Afghanistan's Minister for Women's Affairs. Together, the three events heralded a new beginning in Kashmir which, buffeted by violence, intolerance and the sway of regressive ideologies during the last two decades, was going through a phase of confusion, misgivings and existential angst.

Madanjeet Singh's narrative on Kashmiriyat simply entitled Kashmiriyat, though subjective and rambling in parts, highlights the pluralist tradition in South Asia in general and in Kashmir in particular and minces no words in asserting that it is the only path that leads to a peaceful and prosperous South Asia. The events that he organised and the regular funding that he has arranged for the Centre for Kashmir Studies is just the beginning. He will have to do much, much more. For instance, it will do a lot good to his cause if he supports a cultural organisation at the non-governmental level wedded to the cause of composite culture to disseminate the pluralist Kashmiri heritage both inside Kashmir and outside it. This organisation can become the nucleus of a sustained, long-drawn struggle against forces wedded to political violence, regressive social ideologies and cultural exclusivism. Is he prepared to take up the gauntlet?

It was also in Kashmir that Madanjeet Singh realised the power and influence of oral folk culture made popular by a folk poet Aasi. He saw that Aasi came from a poor background and took up menial jobs to sustain himself (earning for himself the sobriquet of ~coolie poet'), and yet his simple poetry /ired the imagination of the common Kashmiris. It was his 'secular' poetry that played a major role in galvanising the Kashmiris in their legendary fight against the invading kabailis. It also helped in laying the foundations of a future Kashmir based on social syncretism and cultural unity that, barring occasional hiccups, continues to be the dominant cultural praxis in Kashmir.

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