Pt. Hargopal Koul - The Lion Of Kashmir
By Prof. M.L. Koul
The multi-faceted personality, Pandit Hargopal Koul Khasta,
popularly known as the lion of
Kashmir, was an ardent patriot and a dominating intellectual of
his times. The ancestors of his illustrious
family had migrated to the
Punjab, probably in search of livelihood, in the
Sikh times. In one of his works he makes a
mention of the migration of his ancestors to the
Punjab, but does not divulge of fuller details about the
motivating causes of their voluntary migration.
His young brother, Salig Ram Koul Salik, writes
about his family having lived in
Punjab for three generations. As per the details
available from Pandit Hargopal Koul and his
brother, Salig Ram Koul, it can be safely
established that Pandit Gasha Koul was their
great grand-father and Pandit Ram Chand Koul was
their grand father. Both of them had scholarly
bent of mind and Kashmir Shaivism was their
forte. The maternal grand-father of Pandit
Hargopal Koul was Pandit Ved Ram Mattoo, a
grandee (rais) in the cruel times of Afghans. As
he belonged to an illustrious family, Pandit
Hargopal Koul instinctively perpetuated the rich
family tradition through his forays into the
domains of poetry, history, politics,
journalism, education and social reform. In
Kashmir he is better known as an untiring crusader who highlighted
and fought for the social and political causes
that had lot many ramifications for
transforming the over-all complexion of Kashmiri
society as a whole. He was gutsy and faced once
the wrath of Maharaja Ranbir Singh with
exemplary courage and aplomb. He did not dither
but set the Maharaja thinking through his bold
responses to the false, and acrimonious
accusations that were coined by the conspiring
elements in the court.
The ancestors of Pandit Hargopal had some chunks
of land at Reyiteng in Rainawari, Srinagar but
because of its unproductivity they could not,
wholly depend on it as a safe source of
sustenance and had thought of migration in
search of a living. Most of his ancestors were
in the British service. Pandit Kailash Nath Koul,
who was his uncle was an employee of the
Settlement Department in Ludhiana. While in the
Punjab, Pandit Hargopal Koul had joined a school
as a teacher. It is buttressed by the hint, that
he throws in the introduction to his work,
Gulzari-Fawayid'. In his work 'The History of
Kashmiri Pandits', Pandit Jia Lal Koul Kilam
writes that Pandit Hargopal Koul was in the
British service and was entrusted with some jobs
political in nature. That he was in such service
is supported by Pandit Hargopal's own statement
about his transfer to Shimla from
Patiala.
As a teacher in Lahore he had established
contacts with many Englishmen and Indian
scholars responsible for shaping the political
and literary ethos of the
Punjab. The 'Guldasta-i-
Kashmir'
makes a mention of his having sent the book to
Col. Halride for his study and comments.
Being thoughtful and intellectually vibrant
Pandit Hargopal Koul could not escape the impact
of western ideas that were fast impacting the
politics, education and thinking patterns of the
natives. Lured back to
Kashmir by the good times that were ushered in by Maharaja Ranbir
Singh Pandit Hargopal Koul pioneered a plethora
of political, social and educational activities
that are a clinching witness to his renaissance
spirit of revival and transformation. He
zealously made concerted efforts to put the
Kashmiri life-pattern on new rails of change,
reform and revival for a new orientation and
intellectual awakening. The western ideas that
he had imbibed during his stay in the
Punjab made him an ardent votary of change but he spurned the
type of change that would erode the fundamental
identity of the natives as one bonded ethnic
group. Renaissance, to him, meant change based
on reform and purging of pernicious social
evils, yet he was in no-way for the uprootment
and dislocation of his people from their
historically and culturally evolved mould and
ethos.
While in the Punjab Pandit Hargopal Koul had
rubbed shoulders with the prominent leaders of
Arya Samaj who had spearheaded a powerful
campaign against the evils that had crept into
the Hindu society. As an intellectual of great
calibre he totally rejected the tinsel tampering
that the Arya Samajists had indulged in with
some of the august beliefs and doctrines of the
Hindus. He was for widow-remarriage but bitterly
opposed the Arya Samaj campaign against
idol-worship. His long association with Arya
Samaj in the Punjab was highly prized by its
leaders for the terrific oratory that he
harnessed to expand the mass base for the reform
movement launched by Arya Samaj. In Kashmir his
campaign for widow-remarriage was lost on deaf
ears as Kashmiri Pandits, though progressive in
mind and outlook, detested it. But Pandit
Hargopal Koul continued with the campaign and
never relented. He was both tenacious and
audacious in the pursuit of a cause for social
and political upliftment of his people and no
opposition, weak or strong could deter and
thwart him-in his tracks.
As an active participant in the educational and
reform movements of the Punjab, Pandit Hargopal
Koul had developed and cultivated thick contacts
not only with some Hindu leaders, but also with
a few influential Englishmen having an aptitude
for education and research. Though conscious of
the British ascendancy in India, yet he detested
the role of the Christian missionaries artfully
engaged in the conversionary campaigns in the
Punjab and elsewhere. He was a part and parcel
of the Arya Samaj movement in its opposition to
the Christian missionaries and its positive role
in strengthening the Hindu society purged of its
corroding fault-lines. His intellectual approach
to the complex problem of reform in Hindu
society was to cement, when shorn of its evils
for progress and advancement on modern lines as
blazed by the Britishers. A Hindu society freed
from debilitating evil customs would
automatically detest and fight back the
missionaries out to convert its members through
state patronage and lure of money.
As he had strong affinities with Arya Samaj, he
had studied Satyartha-Prakash - a major work
that had dealt with the doctrinal positions of
Islam and Christianity. His stay in the
Punjab had brought him face to face with the Muslim communalism
which ultimately led to the partition of
India based on two-nation theory. Though a
thorough liberal in his world-view, Pandit
Hargopal Koul Khasta found himself in a
piquant situation when a mullah, who had
trespassed into his privacy, cried foul of
heresy when he was vigorously asked to remove
the trespass. The mullah was beaten and his room
ransacked for his defiant attitude. With a view
to garnering support from his co-religionists
the mullah accused him of insulting the holy
book which as per him he was teaching to a few
students in the room. There were noisy
demonstrations against this alleged act of
Pandit Hargopal Koul. The government of Ranbir
Singh detained him and instituted a criminal
case against him. As a person of inexplicable
guts and valour Pandit Hargopal Koul faced the
situation with cool and calm mind. The charge
as levelled against him by the mullah could not
be upheld by the court and Pandit Hargopal was
honourably released. But the ruler externed him
from Kashmir ostensibly to maintain public
peace.
Pandit Hargopal Koul was the last man to
compromise with Muslim Communalism. He was no
Prem Nath Bazaz who pandered Muslim communalism
and offered dubious and devious explanations
for the loot of Kashmiri Pandits in 1931. Pandit
Hargopal Koul through one of his curt and
straight retorts to a mob reminded it of the
petition that Muslims had made to the Maharaja
for granting them entry into their original
religion. It is said that the mob appreciated
his frank audacity to tell the truth to its face
and quietly withdrew from the scene. His trial
in a court of Srinagar attracted lots of angry
crowds and Pandit Hargopal's bold defiance is
too well-known to be reiterated.
The much publicized mullah-episode involving
Pandit Hargopal Koul followed the serious
involvement that he had in the petition that
some mischievous people had made to the British
government in the wake of a terrible famine that
ravaged Kashmir in 1876 A.D. As a dominant and
unique personality of his times Pandit Hargopal
Koul had won kudos and detraction from those who
highly appreciated his role in the polity and
those who detested him for all what he did.
Kashmir as always has been a notorious breeding ground of
rumours and people being strangely sentimental,
for historical reasons, are immediately swayed
by them. As the famine took its heavy toll a
rumour was mischievously set afloat that
Maharaja Ranbir Singh carried boatfuls of
Muslims and drowned them into the choppy waters
of Wullar lake. The British Government
instituted an enquiry into the allegation. The
British officer asked the Pandit to present
himself before the enquiry officer. Alarmed in
the least by the developments Pandit Hargopal
Koul did go to the Durbar and audaciously asked
the Britisher who the prosecutor was and who was
the judge. The officer said that it was 'sircar'.
Pandit Hargopal Koul flared up and fearlessly
said that it was inconceivably strange justice
where the prosecutor and the judge were the same
person. The Maharaja on the throne lost his
royal cool and was about to pounce on the Pandit
when Wazir Punnu stopped him in his tracks. The
Maharaja, though responsible for a new
renaissance in Kashmir, failed to comprehend
that the British were the source of the mischief
and were capitalising on it only to force his
climb down on the issue of his non-acceptance of
a resident in his court supposed to safe-guard
the imperial interests in the state.
The charge against Pandit Hargopal Koul could
not be legally proved. Yet the Maharaja ordered
his imprisonment. He and his brother Pandit
Salig Ram Koul Salik were ordered to be lodged
in the Bahu Fort in Jammu. During their
incarceration in the fort both the brothers
prayed, studied and indulged in acts purporting
deliberate defiance of the royal authority. Once
they caught hold of the prison officer, who was
a close relation of Maharaja Ranbir Singh, and
gave him a thrashing. A dogra lady witnessing
the scene got convinced of their being
courageous and out of regards used to bring them
food from her home for the period they were in
the prison. One fine morning, there was
commotion in the prison and it was found that
Salig Ram Koul had disappeared from the prison.
On thorough inspection the authorities
shockingly discovered that he had dug a tunnel
in his cell through which he had made good his
escape to an unknown destination. Pandit
Hargopal Koul vociferously accused the Maharaja
of getting his younger brother brutally killed
with impunity. The Maharaja launched an enquiry
and informed Pandit Hargopal that his brother
had fled to Patiala where he had started a paper
to denounce him and his ways of governance.
Pandit Hargopal Koul as the prominent leader of
Kashmir heralded a movement that clamorously
opposed the monopoly of the Punjabis and
Bengalis in the state services. The Maharaja
pursued a policy which ignored the interests of
indigenous Kashmiris and imported officers from
outside the state. The Kashmiri Pandits having
opted for modern education with English as the
medium of instruction were in the vanguard of
the movement. Both Pandit Hargopal Koul and
Pandit Salig Ram koul ably highlighted the
demands of mulkis (locals) and established
contacts with the people of Jammu, thus giving
the movement a new pace and acceleration.
Maharaja Partap Singh was quick enough to
recognise merit of the demand through the
concerted efforts of koul brothers. In Maharaja
Hari Singh's time the demand gathered a new
momentum when a conference on the issue was held
at
Jammu
under the presidentship of Pandit Jia Lal Koul
Killam. The movement is also known as
State-Subject Movement. It had no political
overtones. It was in no way repugnant to any
political alignment that the state would forge
in view of new political developments in the
sub-continent. Pandit Hargopal Koul was an
Indian patriot who always saw future of the
state as part of a political system guaranteeing
personal liberty and equality before law.
Pandit Hargopal Koul had tremendous journalistic
calibre and abilities which he had amply
demonstrated through his, powerful writings in
Punjab. The topics which found elucidation at
his hands pertained to social reform, education
and current problems. The deft handling and
elaboration of moot problems helped him a lot in
carving out a niche for himself in political,
social and educational circles of the day. His
externment at the hands of Maharaja Ranbir
Singh, who had great respect for him, was a
dominant theme of his writings. He had hate-love
relationship with the Maharajas of Kashmir. As
per Mohd. Din Fauq Pandit Hargopal Koul issued a
weekly 'Khair-Khwahi
Kashmir'
from Lahore which he used as a potent vehicle
for bitter criticism of the Maharaja as he had
unjusty expelled him from Kashmir to appease
Muslims. When in the good books of Maharaja he
was placed in-charge off the Publication of the
'Tohfai-Kashmir' and all matters
relating to its management. At the
recommendation of Dewan Anant Ram he was given
the charge of over-seeing all the journalistic
activities in the state which he performed so
efficiently that Maharaja recognised him as an
able intellectual of his state. As part of his
official duties Pandit Hargopal would read out
to the Maharaja the contents of all the papers
issued within the state.
During the years of his externment in Punjab
Pandit Hargopal Koul issued a paper 'Ravi-Benazir'
and 'Subaha Kashmir' from
Amritsar. Later on, through the paper he
vigorously crusaded against the Britishers who
had deposed Maharaja Partap Singh, shorn him of
his powers and installed a regency council with
his rivals as its members. The campaign in the
press was so vigorous and consistent that the
Britishers got exposed for their conspiracy
against the Maharaja. Partap Singh could not be
kept away from his throne and all the royal
powers were restored to him. Pandit Hargopal was
allowed to return to his native place and people
of all shades accorded him a rousing reception
only to justify his sobriquet of 'lion of
Kashmir', which at a later date was appropriated by Sheikh
Abdullah.
Having the vision and comprehension of an
educationist Pandit Hargopal Koul ably pioneered
a plethora of educational activities that had
marked bearing on the transformative processes
of the Kashmiri society stepped in conservatism.
Who else but him could visualise the importance
of imparting education to a girl child? For this
purpose, despite the stiff opposition of the
social conservatives of all shades, he founded a
girls school under the head-ship of his own
daughter, Shrimati Padmavati, a legendary figure
in the educational history of Kashmir. The
school flourished beyond expectations and
attracted girls from all classes of people. A
chain of seven such schools was opened in the
different localities of Srinagar to serve the
enslaved girls only to usher them into a new
era of glittering enlightmenment. The government
of the day did not fail to duly recognise the
educational importance of girls' schools and
formed a committee for their effective upkeep
and management with Pandit Hargopal Koul as the
President.
A veritable pioneer in the field of modern
education in Kashmir, Pandit Hargopal Koul
founded a Hindu school for boys as well. Over
the years the school was upgraded and christened
as
Sri Partap
College
which has played a brilliant and commendable
role as a centre of academics in giving a new
fillip to modern education in Kashmir. It is
pertinent to put that his younger brother,
Salig Ram Koul Salik, equally a genius, was also
involved in all such pioneering activities in
the domain of education in Kashmir. Both of them
in complete unison founded some arts and crafts
schools where vocational training was imparted
to the entrants. Some new-type Anglo-vernacular
schools were started which combined the teaching
of local languages alongwith English alphabets
only to prepare scholars for a better future.
Pandit Hargopal Koul was a scholarly historian
in his own right. His much acclaimed work on
history titled as 'Guldasta-i-Kashmir'
establishes him as a historian of genuine
credentials. His awareness of the tools of
history enabled him to go to the sources of
Kashmir history and geography. For his initiation in
Rajtarangini as the magnum opus of
Kashmir history, Pandit Hargopal Koul sought the aid of Pandit
Damodar Bhat, an erudite scholar of Sanskrit. He
also studied the Nilmatpuran and a plethora of
Mahatamyas including 'Sharika Mahatamya' and 'Vitasta
Mahatamya'. Persian historians like Narayan Koul
Aziz and Birbal Kachru and travel accounts of
foreign travellers could not escape his notice.
In order to gain thorough knowledge of
Kashmir geography and topography he visited innumerable places of
historical and geographical significance in the
Valley. His Guldasta-i-Kashmir' gives us a
historical account of
Kashmir from ancient times to the period of Maharaja Partap Singh.
The history is written in free flowing style in
Urdu and has impacted the popular mind in a
large measure. The prologue to the book informs
that the erudite Pandit had sent it to Col.
Halride who was the Director of the Punjab
Department of Education for his critical
evaluation and comments.
That he was invested with the sensibilities of a
poet as well is established by the type of
poetry he has penned down for posterity to get a
feel of the times he lived in. He wrote both in
Persian and Urdu. He was a master of mathnavi
and the same is buttressed by his 'Gopalnama' in
which he dilates upon his externment by the
Maharaja from his native place. The legend of
'Hemal and Nagirai' was
also dilated upon in the mathnavi form and
style, but the work is not available. Some of
his available gazals establish his capacity to
express himself in this form of poetry as well.
The gazal at the end of his 'Gulzari
Fawayid' is translated here to help the
readers get a feel of his sensibilities.
What I saw in the world
is God's glory and manifestation everywhere
I saw the world as free
Whatever I saw is subject to death and decay
The breath in a man is not lasting
The breath always I saw fleeting away
In the meshes of the world
I saw close kins getting drowned
I, Khasta, searched every nook
but was unable to find a kin in adversity.
Pandit Hargopal Koul Khasta, as a dominating and
innovative personality of his times inspires us
even today . With him as our guide and
philosopher the exiled Pandit community will
certainly emerge out of the crisis for a new
political role of giving a tough battle to the
forces that are out to separate the state from
the constitutional dispensation of Indian
nation-state with the aid of Muslim
international with its hub in Pakistan.
Source: Kashmir
Sentinel
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