Conversations with Sufis

  Kishtwar, India
Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Meeting the Group
I met new people from the team as the days unfolded in Srinagar. Murad called me on Rahim's cell phone as I arrived. He cheerfully greeted me and welcomed me to Kashmir. Soon, Marianne from Austria arrived from her Red Cross work in eastern Sri Lanka. Gudrun from Austria and Jigmet from Ladakh also arrived. They were working for the Snow Leopard Conservancy and would be surveying the flora and fauna for the trekking route. I met them all on the houseboat after returning from a day's walk around Srinagar. In the evening, Murad arrived for a group dinner, a special meal prepared by chef extraordinaire Rahim and served in the large Lake Superior houseboat dining hall. Finally, we met government-selected members of the team, from various parts of Jammu and Kashmir state: Lal, Wani, Khan. These three would join us for the entire trek; a few others would meet us here and there and come and go, along with many cooks, horsemen, and porters, making a team of about twenty people.

Driving to Kishtwar
From Srinigar, we climbed into Rahim's eight-seater (more can fit like sardines as we would learn) at 7:30 am and drove south along NH-1A along the Jhelum River towards Jammu on the other side of the Pir Panjal Range. Through the Vale of Kashmir, we drove past people sweeping the grounds of the Sunday market and burning the swept piles. Stores of Brand B.L.S., Delight Sports, and Bhat Brothers lined the roads around the town of Anantag, known for its good willow tree Cricket Bats. Stacked raw willow dried for one year, waiting to be chisled. Orchards, plantations, and paddyfields of Kashmiri rice added greenery to the scenery between towns and bat stores. A quarry and cigar-like smokestacks for brickworks added a slight industrial feel to the Vale.

Leaving Srinagar, we passed a Sufi shrine, where drivers stopped to give rupees for protection against the evils of the road. Giving donations is an integral part of the Muslim world. If a Muslim is doing business, they will often give Satgar--their first profit to the first beggar, even if as high as 10,000 rupees, Murad mentioned. During Ramadan, Muslims are expected to give 2.5 percent of their annual income on one day, prior to morning prayers. Busloads of beggars come from all over India for this event, creating chaos for those walking to the mosque. Some think that the Indian government helps to bus the beggars, trying to impoverish and styme the Kashmiris.

Likewise, perhaps the thousands of Jammu and Kashmir Police with their automatic weapons--soldiers--in the Valley and elsewhere--pairs every kilometer, bunkers in markets, and cantonements along the roads--also contribute to impoverishing the people. Or at least they keep the Kashmiris as occupied people in their own lands. Many feel that the greatest problem in Kashmir is the Indian army, not the militants, because of the way they treat the people of Kashmir.

Or perhaps the labor strikes push Kashmir downwards. In 18 years, an estimated three years of bhands have led to gridlock.

Then again, perhaps the militants are a part of the problem. When attacks happen, the general reaction, I'm told, is that people continue to shop or walk or pray--most of the time. Soldiers also react strangely--some even with laughter.

The militants would say that the Bharis are also the problem: "bad elements." One militant proclaimed that all Bharis should leave their lowly jobs and return south to India.

Qazigund Town, Bat Shops and Police

We stopped in Qazigund, a town of apple stalls and bat shops, for a late breakfast.

Chenab River Valley Scene

Leaving the Vale of Kashmir, we continued along the Chenab River Valley, stopping at Ram Garh for lunch at 4300 feet and passing the Baglihar Dam construction site, which will soon flood the small town of Puldoda. Small hamlets with mosques perched on the valley slopes. Yellow painted roadsides of the Border Roads Organization (BRO) proclaimed Kashmir as "the Bowl of Fruits" or "Paradise on Earth" and warned drivers with puns and sayings about unsafe driving.

Minister for Rural Development Jugal Kushar Sharma

Brief Meeting with Jugal Kushar Sharma, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj

The Meeting, Pre-trip Hullabaloo

Before the July 31st meeting, government employees gave everyone a cold 200 ml carton of juice and straws. The minister arrived to a full room of local elders, bureaucrats, and the trekking team all drinking juice. We talked for ten minutes about who we were and what we were doing before he wished us well. We unfurled our bright green banner from Bhadarwah Department Development Authority and left the government compound.

Conversation with Sufis

Firdous Ahmad Shah and Farid-u-Din Shrine

The Kishtwar area (6580 feet) along the River Tawi has a history dating back to 375 B.C.E. Now Kishtwar is a large administrative town and is 60% Muslim, with several Sufi shrines, Hindu temples, and mosques in town. Over the years, Aurangzeb, Akbar, and Shah Jahan all invaded the valley at one time or another, spreading Islam on the way. About 350 years ago, the Kishtwar rajas embraced Islam when the area was known for its falcons, its opium, and its trading, with old coins found as far away as China and Russia. Opium was sold to China in those days in exchange for pashmina. At its peak, 176 pashmina factories were in Kishtwar (Geography of Jammoo). The falcons were trained by the Baz-e-dar (Baz trans. "king of birds") for kings to send messages to other kinds or to transmit love messages to kings. Mogul queen and king, Mur Jahan and Jahan Gir,.exchanged notes via falcon when he was away from the palace.

Aside from falcons, other wildlife was documented in the area, which was considered full of wild animals, the Sufis concurred, with two species of leopards, bear, buck, Kashmir Stag-the Hangul. Kishtwar used to be large area for hunting as described in With Pen and Rifle in Kishtwar, by Otto Rothfeld (1918).

Education and intellectualism was highly revered and important, with the first British school opening in 1895 and high school opening in 1925. "My father was one of the first who passed" said Syed Ghulum Nabi at the shrine of Farid-ud-deem. The literacy rate today belies this history and is over 90%. The current Prime Minister of Pakistan even hails from this valley.

In addition, religious education is practiced, even between faiths. Syed Ghulam Nabi studied from a Hindu pandit for example, learning the Vedas. At the same time Hindus read the Koran. In the market, Hindus and Muslims would quote from each other's texts, he said. For travelers, both Hindus and Muslims save a room for each other's bretheren.

Our Police Guards in Kishtwar

In the streets are heavily armed police bunkers and our team is guarded by a dozen heavily-armed J&K Police, but the Sufis think that the militancy is on the wane, as is fundamentalism: "And then there are our Hindu brothers too...we had very good relations, Hindu and Muslims...Times have changed when Fundamentalists came out in front. But I think now again global position has changed," said the elder Syed Shabir Hussain, originally in Kishtwar, presently settled in Karachi Pakistan.

Syed Shabir Hussain and Nephew

He mentioned that fundamentalism has "lost its value," yet at the same time there is a renaissance in religions, as people-Muslims or Hindus by birth or connection now-learn more about their religions, said Syad Ghulam Nabi.

Farid-ud-deem, a Baghdad Sufi saint, came to Kishtwar 350 years ago by camel and horse, meeting Shah Jahan on way. Inside his shrine, Shah Mohammad Farid-u-din Bagdati and two sons-Hazrat Shah Mohammad Akhianradiun and Hazrat Shah Mohammad Auvanundin-are buried in crypts draped in green silk with silver stars and black and gold inscriptions on top. The walls are multicolored-mint and forest greens, lavender, pink, and black-with floral and geometric patterns. The floor is covered in burgundy Kashmir carpet.

The sufis beckoned us to a side chamber, rarely visited, where they showed us four centuries old holy items of the saint: his long flowing Perisan coat, woolen blankets, a cane from a Persian Emperor, his longsword, an official seal, hair of his three sons, a personally-written Koran he brought from Baghdad, and his turban.

The third son, Hazrat Shah Mohammad Asvanidun, is strangely buried at another mausoleum. A reason is given in a story: The eldest son was plying a caury shell game with Hindu children. A funeral procession was passing by to cremate a boy, but the son recognized the boy as the one he had agreed to play with the day before. He resurrected him to play the caury shell game with them. This angered his father, the saint, who said "you should not have done that. I will not allow you to be buried with me." When the son died, no one could lift his body, so it was buried on the spot and his shrine was built there, separated from his father and two brothers.