Muslim rishis of Kashmir

By Gail Omvedt

WITH THE heads of two antagonistic states having met in Agra, a limping but absolutely necessary and extended process of dialogue is going on. But if this is to find acceptance in either society, it is necessary to have a social base for that dialogue - in India and Pakistan, and especially in Kashmir itself, the main bone of contention. We hear often of the ``Sufi-bhakti tradition'' as a means of bridging the gap between the two seemingly antagonistic communities of Hindus and Muslims, but ``Muslim rishis'' is a new concept. We also hear occasionally of ``Kashmiriyat'' as a culture of common identity - but it remains an abstraction.

Yet this Kashmiri culture, as a recent small book by Dr. Yoginder Sikand of Bangalore has shown, has its roots in a particular composite religious tradition. Dr. Sikand refers to this by using the double phrase, ``a Kashmiri expression of Islam'' and an ``Islamic expression of the Kashmiri rishi tradition.''

Who were these Muslim sufis who bore the unlikely ``Hindu'' title of ``rishi''? A description of them was given by the Mughal emperor Jahangir: ``Though they have no religious knowledge or learning of any sort, yet they possess simplicity and are without pretence. They abuse no one. They restrain the tongue of desire and the foot of seeking. They eat no flesh, they have no wives, and always plant fruit-bearing trees in the fields so that men may benefit by them, themselves desiring no advantage. There are about two thousand of these people.'' In other words, they were devotees of a type who drew upon indigenous Indian traditions of vegetarianism and of leaving the householders' life, and they were men (and women, though the Emperor of course takes no note of this) of ``little learning,'' that is from the masses.

Jahangir wrote his comment in the 17th century; the founder of the Muslim rishi tradition, Hazrat Nuruddin Nurani, lived from 1375-1438. Nurani had a strange career. At the age of 30 he ``renounced the world'' to become a forest-dwelling ascetic, then later became the disciple of a well-known Sufi and then in turn ``abandoned the path of a world-renouncing mystic, and devoted himself to living among the people.'' After these two immense changes in his life, he travelled throughout Kashmir, preaching Islam, crusading against superstition, and criticising social inequalities and political oppression. The Muslim rishis who followed him all seemed to have balanced this dual role, of the ``household'' life favoured by Islam and the Indian tradition of homeless asceticism. They also carried on Nurani's concern for social welfare, such as maintaining free community kitchens to feed the poor, and his critiques of the hypocrisies of both the Hindu and the Muslim religious establishments.

Thus, for instance, among Nurani's verses - some of the earliest extant examples of Kashmiri literature - are the following (all quotations from Yoginder Sikand, The Muslim Rishis of Kashmir: Harbingers of Love and Justice):

``One who prides himself in his caste is bereft of reason and wisdom. In this world only the good can claim true noble descent, and in the hereafter caste has no meaning. Were you to understand Islam truly, you would never boast about your caste. What use is there in priding yourself in your caste? For, when death overtakes you, your bones will be ground to dust''.

``The Mullah in the mosque, and the Brahman before the idol of stone, Perhaps only one out of a thousand of them will be redeemed.

Otherwise, Satan shall grab them all.''

Like Kabir, Nurani harshly criticised both religious establishments, and his comments also make it clear that caste was affecting Muslim society also.

Nurani also apparently had a woman saint-poet as his first teacher. She was Lal Ded or Lalleshwari, born near Srinagar in a Kashmiri Pandit family. After being married and facing cruel treatment from her husband, she abandoned her home, and was said to have roamed about naked - like the famous Tamil bhakta, Mahadevi Akka, whose poems are given a beautiful translation by A. K. Ramanujan. Though she herself seems to have been a Shaivite for most of her life, according to Muslim accounts she finally became the disciple of a renowned Sufi and converted to Islam, travelling with him throughout Kashmir. In fact, she was mostly ignored by Hindu writers, including the Kashmiri Pandit accounts, but referred to as a great gnostic and ecstatic by medieval Kashmiri Muslim writers.

As translated by Ghulam Nabi Khayal, one of her poems reads, ``Shiva is all-pervading.

Do not differentiate between a Hindu and a Muslim.

If you have understanding, then realise your own self.

In truth, this is the means to realise God.''

As can be easily seen from these few examples, Kashmir has given birth to a truly composite tradition. The only gap in Sikand's book may be that though he gives credit to both early Buddhist and Hindu traditions in Kashmir which laid the foundation for the ``Muslim rishi'' tradition, he does not quite do full justice to Buddhism. In fact Kashmir was a stronghold of Buddhism until the seventh century, and while Sikand notes that it is believed by legend to be named after one Kashp rishi who was believed to have been the ``son of Brahma,'' this could just as easily refer to the Buddhist tradition. Kashyapa (or Kassapa) is said to be a former Buddha, who appears in many Pali suttas and Jataka stories, as well as the name of a leading bhikku of Gotama's own time.

Sikand stresses the need for dialogue between followers of different religions, and quotes Altaf Hussain Tak of Kashmir University, who laments that ``Things are so terribly politicised today, although Kashmir was once the most ideal place to pursue the dialogue project.'' As such, Kashmiris argue, the unique tradition of composite culture in Kashmir, as well as the resources within Islam itself for tolerance and appreciation of other religious traditions, make such dialogue possible. The horrors and global dangers of the current conflict make it necessary.

We might add to this that the need for such inter-religious, inter-cultural dialogue is greatest among those communities which have historically been most painfully at odds, whose traditions have been intertwined but who have sometimes wounded each other brutally. This includes not only Hindus and Muslims of Kashmir (and India), but also Muslims and Buddhists - of Ladakh and nearby central Asia. It also includes Buddhists and Hindus of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, Christians and Hindus of Goa - and we could mention numerous similar examples throughout the world, including Christians and Muslims almost anywhere! Today, whatever anyone's own religious preferences may be, we live not merely in a multicultural world, but in a world where nearly every nation contains diverse cultures and diverse religions, often with bitter histories of conflict and mutual slaughter. It is in this context that the Muslim rishi tradition of Kashmir, with its proclamation of love and non-differentiation among human beings, along with a staunch opposition to all religious hypocrisy and social injustice, becomes so important.

As Hazrat Nuruddin Nurani put it:

``The Mullah is happy with gifts and feasts,

The Shaikh is driven by greed and lust.

The Sufi stops not from cheating others.

Eating three seers of mutton and a maund of rice,

The old, infirm Pundit searches for a young virgin wife...

The true lover is he who burns in the fire of love and emerges like a piece of gold,

He alone can travel in the Infinite who is afflicted by the pain of love.''

This was the Indian bhakti tradition in the context of Kashmir! - and it provides the emotional grounding for the inter-religious, inter- cultural dialogue needed today.

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