Mongols and Kashmir

By Dr. B.N. Sharga

The Kashmir Valley, is surrounded from all sides by high mountains but it has never remained completely insulated from the outside world, even in ancient times. Being a fertile land rich in natural resources of flora and fauna, it was a great centre of attraction for different races and nomadic tribes even in pre-historic times. It was actually a melting pot of different civilizations. It was also known as Sharda Desh and its Sharda Peeth was the highest seat of learning where the scholars from different lands used to come to excel in Vedic Sanskrit and to quench their thirst for knowledge and wisdom.

The ancestors of all the Kashmiris were actually migrants, who were brought from different places by Kashyap Muni to settle there, simply because the Kashmir Valley was initially a water body known as Satisar. So there was no question of any population having thrived there. Some ancient tribes used to live on the high peaks of mountains, the most prominent among them were the Nagas, whose chieftain was Neel Nag. As per legend the kingdom of this Neel Nag was extended from Kashmir to Delhi. After the death of all the five Pandava brothers, king Parikshit the son of Abhimanyu was born, who was the ruler of Hastinapur. He, while hunting in a forest asked water from a saint, Sameep, who was in deep meditation at that point of time. When king Parikshit did not get any response from the saint, he in anger put a dead snake around saint’s neck.  For this unwarranted action the saint’s son Rini cursed the king that he would die within seven days due to the bite of a deadly poisonous snake Takshak. After this incident a fierce battle took place near Delhi between the Nagas and the forces of Janmajeya in which Nagas were defeated. The nagas then took refuge in central India. The place where they got settled subsequently came to be known as Nagpur and Chhota Nagpur. The descendants of this ancient Naga tribe of Kashmir, after coming into Brahminical fold started writing ‘Nagu’ as their surname. Pandit Jagat Ram Nagu used to live in Kashmiri Mohalla, Lucknow around 1850. His descendants still live in Lucknow, Bhopal, Narsinghpur, Delhi and Dehradun.

It should also be mentioned here that Huns, Shaks, Kushans, Greeks, Romans, Chinese and ancient Mongols a nomadic warrior tribe, who used to worship different deities before the advent of Islam, all came to Kashmir at different points of time in its long chequered history. Many of these clans and tribes later on came into Brahminical fold under the magic spell of Adi Sankara (788-820 A.D.

According to European scholars and historians king Solomon is said to have drained out the water of the legendary Satisar lake and Moses is reputed to have led his followers from Egypt into Kashmir. Likewise, it is also said that Jesus Christ, came to Kashmir and was buried in Srinagar. The latest researches have revealed that Jesus Christ did not die on the cross. He was taken down from the cross by his friends while he was still alive and very secretly smuggled out of Jerusalem to a more secure and safer place from there. He made his way to Kashmir along with his followers, where he lived upto the age of hundred years and after his death was buried at a place known as Rozabal in the main Srinagar city. His foot prints on a rock and some inscriptions in the Hebrew language are there on his tomb. That is why the Kashmiri Pandits are often referred to as the descendants of the lost tribe of Israel. Dan Brown has won the case in a London court on 28^th march,2007 for his block buster novel De Vinci Code in which he raises the possibility that Jesus Christ married Magdalene and had a child from her. After the crucifixion, Magdalene fled to France and the Christ’s bloodline is still surviving in this world.

It is important to mention here that in the earliest times the city now known as Multan in Pakistan bore the name of Kashyapapura derived from Kashyap Muni, who was the father of Adityas and Daityas, the sun-gods and Titans of Hindu mythology. Multan is mentioned in the works of Hecatius, Herodotus and Ptolemy. General Cunningham believes that Kashpeiraia of Ptolemy was the capital of the Kraspeinaeir kingdom whose dominions extended from Kashmir to Multan,which must be an important city in Punjab towards the second century of the Christian era. Five hundred years earlier, Multan perhaps appears till the history of Alexander’s invasion as the chief state of Malli kingdom, which the Macedonian conqueror utterly subdued after a desperate resistance.

Kalhan Pandit completed his famous Rajatarangini much later in 1148 A.D. He based his work on a mythological Sanskrit text known as Neelmat Puran. So in true senseit cannot be taken as historical treatise. Moreover, Kalhan Pandit had his own limitations simply because at that point of time it was not possible to determine the genetic code of various races and tribes scientifically to classify them.  Kalhan Pandit in his Rajatarangini mentions the names of various sects like Mlechhas, Nishadas, Khashas, Yakshas, Dards, Bhattas, bikshas, ekangas, Damaras, Tantris and nayalaks. Actually mlechhas were the Greek settlers of the Alexander’s army, who stayed back in the Kashmir Valley. When Galaleo said that the earth is round and it revolves around the Sun, he was stoned by the people as nobody was prepared to digest his theory. Likewise the writers generally take Rajatarangini to be the gospel truth and nobody is prepared to analyse its contents scientifically with an open mind.   

The time has come now, when we should leave our age old crab mentality. The system of ascertaining the age of various artefacts discovered in various excavations by carbon dating was also not evolved during the time of Kalhan Pandit.

Dr. Alok Kumar Qanungo of Deccan College excavated some sites at Kapia village in Khalilabad in 2004 and discovered amphoras (wine containers used by Romans.) According to his findings glass manufacturing techniques in India was brought by Romans in 1^st and IInd century A.D. and their association with Kashmir cannot be ruled out. Likewise the technique of minting gold coins was brought by Greeks in India. It has been established by recent researches that India had in ancient times trade links with Central Asia via Kashmir and in the East with Tibet and Sinkiang via Sikkim. The Kashmir Valley was connected through Gilgit and through Wakhan corridor.

When Altumish became the ruler in 1217 A.D., Ghayasuddin Balban hatched a conspiracy to overthrow him. He sent his emissary to Iraq to seek help from the Mongols. At that point of time Mongol forces had their big concentrations at Iraq, Samarkand and Bukhara. This started constant invasions of Mongols for about a century. The Mongol settlers founded Mughalpura at Lahore and Mongolpura at Delhi. As Mongol warriors were from highlands and cold climes so naturally Kashmir was an ideal place for them. They made deep inroads into Kashmir in preference to hot and humid plains of Punjab.

According to Kalhan Pandit the kings of Kashmir during its dark period of history were cowards and highly corrupt variety, cruelty and greed were there basic instincts. The Kashmiri court was a place where only buffoons and jokers and whosoever was well versed in narrating the scandalous stories about the whores and courtesans used to dominate the show. The royal court was filled by prostitutes, idiots, villains and corrupters of young boys. Taking full advantage of this highly fluid political situation Zulkadar Khan (Dulchu) a Mongol chieftain invaded Kashmir in 1319 A.D. looting killing, raping Kashmiri women and girls and capturing slaves for their service. The coward Kashmiri king Suhadev at that time ran away from the battle field and took refuge in the dense forest of Kishtwar. When Dulchu left the valley after creating mayhem and ransacking it, surprisingly Rinchen a Tibetan prince of Mongol descent appeared on the scene and became the king of Kashmir in 1320 A.D. He married a local Kashmir girl Kota Rani, who was the daughter of Ram Chandra commander in chief of king Sukhadev. No proper documentation was made of all these Mongol invasions.

Whatever written records were there in the form of rare hand written manuscripts were all either burnt down or dumped into the Dal lake later on by Sultan Sikander Butshikan (1389-1413) to deface the real history of Kashmir. Mass killings and conversion of Kashmiri Pandits at the point of sword took place. It is generally said that only 11 Kashmiri Pandit families were able to save their lives and protect their religion by hiding in deep forests and caves. These Pandits later on brought women from South India and married them to increase their numbers. Many Brahmins from Bengal and Maharashtra came to Kashmir during the rule of Zainul Abideen (1420-1470) and settled there.

When Zainul Abideen became the king of Kashmir, he requested Mirza Shah Rukh (1405-1447) who was the ruler of Samarkand to send Mongol scholars to Kashmir. During the reign of Zainul Abideen in Kashmir many Mongols being good fighters got employment in the army on various posts. These Mongols married local Kashmiri women and settled down in Kashmir. Not only that many Kashmiri Pandits, who had left the Valley earlier again came back to start their lives a fresh in Kashmir leading to the first division of the community into Malmasi and Bhanmasi.

It must also be kept in mind that the term Mughal in the Persian language is used to describe a Mongol. Babar who laid the foundation of Mughal empire in India in 1525 after defeating Ibrahim Lodhi in the battle of Panipat near Delhi was a direct descendant of the great Mongol warrior Ganghis Khan (1162-1206). His son Akbar conquered Kashmir in 1586 after ousting the last Kashmiri Sultan Yusuf Shah Chak. Jahangir had a great fascination for Kashmir. He has described the beauty of Kashmir in the following Persian couplet composed by him:

“Gar firdaus bar rue zaminast,

Haminsasto haminasto haminast.”

Jahangir apart from his main consort Noor Jahan had in his harem a Kashmiri Princess besides the daughters of Maharaja Kalyan Singh of Bikaner as secondary queens. All the marvelous gardens in Kashmir were created by the Mughals (Mongols). For Mughals Kashmir always remained a place for pleasure and relaxation. For trade, commerce and better administration they built a road connection Lahore and Srinagar known as the old Mughal route. This was a main link between Indian and Kashmir till the partition of the country in 1947.

Kashmir remained under the Mughal rule till 1752. After that it was taken over by Ahmad Shah Abdali and Kashmir became a part of the kingdom of Kabul. So in short it can easily be said that  Mongols and Kashmir are inseparable. The great philosopher Confucious has very rightly said that “the superior man understands what is right, the inferior man understands what will sell.”