Sheikh Noor-Ud-Din Wali (Nund Rishi)

The Patron-Saint of Kashmir

"Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Wali, Alamdari-Kashmir (the Standard Bearer of Kashmir), commonly known as Nund Rishi, is considered as the living symbol of Kashmir and the guiding light of its people. As a saint, revolutionary, patriot and poet he has exerted enormous influence on the beliefs and mental thinking of the people of the Happy Valley. His thoughts have moulded the minds of generations for more than five centuries, establishing a culture of utmost religious toleration with an abiding faith in the omnipresence of God". -G.N. Gauhar

The Valley of Kashmir was suffering from political, social and economical travails when highly exalted groups of people, called Rishis (saints), emerged and by their golden words and kind actions gave comfort to the people and mitigated their miseries. These saints lived among the common people and shared their suffering. Abul Fazal has showered encomiums on these high souls:

"The most respectable people of Kashmir are the Rishis who, although they do not suffer themselves to be fettered by traditions, are doubtless true worshippers of God. They revile not any other sect and ask nothing of anyone; they plant the roads with fruit trees to furnish the travellers with refreshments; they abstain from flesh and have no intercourse with the other sex. There are two thousand of these Rishis in Kashmir".

Ziyarat-i-Chrar-e-Sharief (URL)

Foremost among them was Sheikh Nur-ud-Din, the patron-saint of Kashmir. Revered alike by the Hindus and Muslims of Kashmir the Sheikh was born at Kaimuh, a village two miles to the west of the town of Bijbehara, situated at a distance of twenty-six miles from Srinagar on the Jammu and Srinagar highway. His ancestors belonged to a noble family of Kishtwar in the Jammu province and had migrated to the Valley. His father, named Salar Saz, came into contact with a spiritual man, Yasman Rishi and became his disciple. He is said to have arranged his marriage with Sadra Maji. The child of their union was Nund Rishi.

In his very childhood Nund Rishi showed the signs of his inclination for seeking God and utter disinterestedness towards worldly matters. He was of a retiring disposition and did not take to formal education and remained unlettered throughout his life. He was apprenticed to many trades but showed little interest in them. Finally, he renounced the world and lived in a cave for twelve years, leading the life of an ascetic. When his mother visited him there he told her:

"The cave seems to me to be a celestial castle;
The quilt seems to me a silken garment;
I play with the rats as if they were
Creatures of good omen to me:
One year seems to me to be one single hour".

When he emerged out of the cave his fame of spirituality had already spread far and wide and people thronged to him and many became his disciples and followers. Among them was the great Sultan Zain-ul-­Abidin, the king of Kashmir who was his pall bearer when the Rishi died in 1439 A.D. and was buried at Tsar-e-Sharif. This place has become a centre of pilgrimage for Kashmiris of all religions and communities.

Nund Rishi, no doubt, was immensely influenced by the teachings of Laleshwari and composed songs in her glory describing "Lalla of Padmanpur who had drunk nectar" as an "Avtar and Yogini". He prays, "Oh God, bestow the same spiritual power on me!"

Although he could neither read nor write he spontaneously uttered verses, called 'Shruks' which are considered the gems of Kashmiri literature. They are concise and rhythmic and have stuck to the minds of the people. These have been collected in two volumes, called the Rishi Nama and Nur Nama.

His teachings are as follows:

1. He believed in good actions. He said that "as you sow, so shall you reap".

"In the courtyard is barking the dog;
Listen brothers, what he says:
"As one sowed, so did he reap;
So Nund, sow, sow and sow".

2. He exhorted his followers to lead a disciplined life and shun lust. greed and worldly desires. He says:

"Like the knotted wood is desire
Unfit for making planks, beams or cradles;
Cut and felled it will be
Burnt into ashes".

3. He cautioned Kashmiris not to fall in the snares of vile men and false priests. He says:

"I saw a priest blowing out fire;
Beating a drum too;
Nice big turbans wear they
And go about in magnificent clothes
Wearing the priestly robes they eat muttons
And run away with cooking pots".

4. Man is influenced by his environment and so he advised that one must remain in the company of good and noble persons and shun the company of the wicked. Thus he says:

"Spend thy days with the good
The shah walga (one of the best kind of rice)
Will get pounded.
Never go about with the wicked
Do not walk close to pots covered with soot
Else thou shalt get soiled".

5. Nund Rishi disliked to carry the rites of religion. On the other hand, he emphatically said:

"If thou listeneth to truth.
Subdue the four senses.
If you only care for your body,
It will be futile.
Thou shall make union with Siva
Then shall your prayer bear fruit".

He thought that one must pray to God with full concentration. It avails not when the mind goes wool gathering while praying. One must look inside and control one's breath:

"Do not go to Sheikh and priest and Mullah;
Do not feed the cattle on arkhor (leaves)
Do not shut yourself in mosque and forests
Enter thy own body with breath controlled in communion with God".

6. We should trust in God and it is "destiny that shapes our ends". He says:

"One can run away a pole from a serpent
One can run away a league from the lion
One can keep oneself off the creditor for a year
But none can escape Fate for a twinkling of the eye".

Suffering and misery, according to him are, blessings in disguise, for they bring men nearer to God realisation.

"Shield not thyself against His arrows
Turn not thy face away from His sword
Consider adversity as sweet as sugar
Therein lies thy honour in this world and the next".

7. He was a firm believer in the brotherhood of man and in Hindu and Muslim unity:

"No wonder, born of the same mother and father,
We bear no ill-will to each other.
Should our love bind us all alike, Hindu and Mussalman
Then surely God is pleased with us".

8. He regards the joys and distresses of life as passing. We should look at them with stoic calm and indifference:

"The body uncovered and exposed to the cold river winds blowing
Thin porridge and half-boiled vegetable to eat-there was a day, O Nasaro!
One's wife by the side and a warm blanket for cover,
A sumptuous meal with spicy fish to eat-there was a day, O Nasaro!"

9. 

"A pious man will seek Him.
The oriole seeks a flower garden;
The owl seeks out a deserted spot
The she jackal searches dreary wastes;
The donkey runs after dung and dirt".

10. About 'Love' Nund Rishi says:

"Love is death of an only son to a mother-can she have any sleep?
Love is venomous stings of a bosomful swarm of wasps -
Can the sufferer have any rest?"

Thus we see that his shruks, according to Prof. J.L. Kaul, "are mostly didactic in content and exhortative in tone, in most of which he speaks of the transitoriness of life and its pleasures, and exhorts people to cultivate self-discipline and piety. They have undoubtedly enriched the language with wise and pithy sayings that have become proverbial".

We will end this composition with the following verse:

"What use are walnuts to a toothless man
or a bow and arrow to the blind?
Can gold ornaments add lustre to a dog
or a lovely maiden to the blind?"