GENOCIDE OF KASHMIRI HINDUS

 

             After the Independence of India, the one community in India which suffered for its commitment to patriotism and Indian unity was the minority community of the Hindus in the Jammu and Kashmir State. The Hindus constantly faced the accusation of the Muslims that they had conspired with the Government of India to secure the accession of the State to India against the will of the Muslims. They suffered the charge that in l947, they had, with the help of the Hindu ruler of the State, Maharaja Hari Singh and in connivance with the leaders of the National Conference, treacherously sabotaged the Muslim endeavour to achieve the integration of the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir with the Muslim homeland of Pakistan. They were also indicted for having opposed the Muslim resistance against the accession of the State to India. They bore the brunt of the Muslim precedence, the National Conference established in the State and after the National Conference broke up in 1953, they were proclaimed the enemies of the Muslim movement, the Plebiscite Front led in the State. Even after the Plebiscite Front was wound up in 1975, the condemnation to which the Hindus were subjected did not end. They continued to be charged of being the arch enemies of the Muslim nation of Kashmir, a threat to the Muslim religion and its political solidarity and the motive force behind all secular processes in the State which obstructed the Muslim struggle for Pakistan. In fact, they faced the first crucifixion for their loyalty to their country. The first shots fired by the militants were received by the Hindus. 

            Mohammad Ali Jinnah demanded a separate homeland for Muslims within British India, as explained by a 1940 speech: “The Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, and literatures. They neither inter-marry nor inter-dine together and, indeed, they belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions.”

          India got independence on 15 August, 1947 from the British rule but was divided on communal basis creating Pakistan, separate Muslim homeland. The creation of Pakistan in 1947 was a landmark in the struggle for the unification of the Muslim Ummah. Ever since Pakistan was created, it has followed a sustained policy of thrust for expansion towards the east, as a major strategy to spread across Jammu & Kashmir and take the Muslim power to the predominantly Muslim regions of Central Asia, Mongolia and Sinkiang.

          The last Dogra ruler of Jammu & Kashmir State, Maharaja Hari Singh, signed the Instrument of Accession   on 26 October 1947, to unite his domains with the State of Indian Union. Soon after, tribals and regulars from Pakistan invaded the State but the Indian security forces repulsed the attack and pushed the invaders out. In January 1949, a ceasefire agreement was concluded between India and Pakistan with one-third of the state territories still remaining under the illegal occupation of Pakistan.

            “In July 1947, just a month before partition, Mahatma Gandhi found time to visit Kashmir where he said that in an India which had become dark all around, Kashmir was the only hope with its peace amongst religions.” (Culture and Political History of Kashmir, by P.N.K. Bamzai, p.745)

            In the territories of the State, which were overrun by the invading hordes, more than thirty-eight thousand Hindus and Sikhs were massacred, just in five days. Thousands of women were abducted; hundreds of them committed suicide to escape capture. All Hindu and Sikh temples and shrines were burned down or destroyed to erase the last vestiges of the Hindu and Sikh culture and religion in the occupied territories. The whole Hindu and Sikh population of the territories occupied by the invading army, which escaped the holocaust, took refuge in Jammu. The Buddhists in Baltistan who escaped the onslaught of the invading army took refuge in Ladakh. The assertion that Jammu and Kashmir presented a heaven of peace and brotherhood while the rest of India smoldered in communal violence is a myth.

           Prof. Balraj Madhok wrote in his book, Kashmir: The Storm Center of the World, “Hardly two thousand people out of about 25 thousand living at that time in the ill-fated town (of Mirpur) managed to reach Jhangar (in India) in safety. The rest were ruthlessly butchered. The number of women abducted from there ran into thousands. Most of them were paraded and then sold in the bazaars of Jhelum, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. The barbarities of the Pakistan troops and civilians on these hapless women who were kept for some time in Alibeg camp before their dispersal to different towns put to shame the worst orgies of rape and violence associated with the hordes of Ghengiz Khan and Nadir Shah. The loot obtained by the Pakistanis from these towns, especially from Mirpur, went into crores. The floor of every house in Mirpur was dug by raiders in search of hoarded treasures.”

            “Although there are detailed accounts given by survivors of carnages in Muzaffarabad, Rajouri, Poonch, Mirpur, Deva Vatala and Kotli in Jammu region, very few written accounts on the Pandits have been published. Dr Ramesh Tamiri has worked on the oral history of tribal invasion with special focus on Hindu minorities in the Valley. Accounts of the Pandits in Muzaraffarbad, Mirpur, Kotli and Gilgit-Baltistan were collected, giving an insight into the era when J&K saw large-scale organized killings. As per his research, over 200 villages in north and central Kashmir where Pandits lived came under Pakistani occupation before their liberation by the Indian Army. More than 140 killings of the Pandits took place in the execution style. There were over 10 massacres, hundreds of houses burnt, thousands of houses looted and hundreds of cases of forced conversions, rape and mass migration.” (The Tribune October 27, 2017)                                      

           The Muslimisation of the various political and economic processes had begun in the State, soon after Sheikh Abdullah came to power in 1948 and the minorities in Kashmir were at the receiving end.  Under the pretext of economic reforms, the Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, 1950, was drawn up that year. It placed a ceiling on land ownership at 186 kanals. The rest of the land of a landlord was redistributed among share-croppers and landless labourers, without any compensation to the landlord. Most of the landlords worst affected were Kashmiri Hindus. During 1954, India accorded special status under Art.370 to the State. The admissions to higher educational courses and institutions to Hindus were reduced. Simultaneously, their opportunities to enter state government employment were slashed. Not only had such drastic actions taken, the State government changed the names of 684 villages, which had Hindu names by a government order No. REV/S/340 of 1981 dated 13-10-1981.

           “The terrorist violence raging in Jammu and Kashmir is another ‘Direct Action’ that Pakistan and Muslim secessionists inside the state have launched to force a second partition on India. The campaign of terror spread in Jammu and Kashmir follows the same pattern which the ‘Direct Action’ followed in 1946; genocide of Hindus, their ethnic cleansing by forced exodus from the Muslim majority provinces of India and the destruction of their religious identity. The Jihad which Pakistan launched in Kashmir in 1990, to liberate Jammu and Kashmir from the Indian hold, mounted its first attack on the Hindus in Kashmir. The terrorist assault on the Hindus in Kashmir commenced in the fall of 1989, and by the summer of 1990, more than seven hundreds of them had been assassinated in cold blood. Among those killed were people from all section of the Hindu Society; teachers, lawyers, political activists, media men, intellectuals, and men of small means. The massacre of the Hindus was accompanied by a widespread campaign of intimidation and threat to drive out the Hindus from the Kashmir province, burn their temples and religious shrines and homes and loot their property.” (Bitter Truth by Dr. M.K.Teng and C.L.Gadoo)

           The ethnic cleansing of the Hindus of Kashmir in 1990 is one of the few episodes, in which a whole community of people was subjected to genocide and driven out of its natural habitat. The armed struggle, the cross-border terrorism sponsored and supported by Pakistan after active military efforts and negotiations failed several times to win over Jammu & Kashmir, made a covert armed militancy a strategy through which it could fight against India avoiding war and negotiations. Pakistan trained and assisted the militants to implement a guerrilla war in Jammu & Kashmir, to inflict heavy casualties on minorities and Para-military forces. Pakistan also planned a proxy war against India, to impose a heavy military and economic burden on India. Pakistan received funds from the Muslim countries and organizations to finance the proxy war. 

            The genocide, the Hindus in Kashmir, were subjected to and the exodus forced upon them by the terrorist regimes, right from the moment they began their military operations in the State, was undertaken in accordance with a well laid out plan. The division of the State in between India and Pakistan had been proposed as a basis for settlement of the dispute over Jammu & Kashmir, by the United Nations mediator on Kashmir Sir Owen Dixon in 1950. The plan envisaged the ethnic extermination of the Hindus in the Kashmir province and the Muslim majority regions of the Jammu province to bring about the de-Sanskritisation of the part of the State situated to the west of the river Chenab and prepare the ground for its separation from the Shivalik plains, situated to the east of the river Chenab. When the terrorist regimes, extended their military operations to the Muslim majority districts of the Jammu province, they followed the same policy there to bring about the ethnic extermination of the Hindus.

             Gen. Zia-Ul-Haq President of Pakistan addressing a top secret meeting in April, 1988 at Islamabad said; “Gentlemen, let there be no mistake, however, that our aim remains quite clear and firm the liberation of the Kashmir Valley. Our Muslim Kashmiri brothers can't be allowed to stay with India for any length of time now. The Kashmiris have a few qualities, which we can exploit. First, his shrewdness and intelligence; second his power to persevere under pressure, and the third, if I may say so, he is a master of political intrigue. If we provide him with means through which he can utilize these qualities he will deliver the goods". He elaborated his Kashmir Plan OPERATION TOPAC; “we plant our chosen men in all the key positions and whip up anti-Indian feelings amongst the students and peasants preferably on some religious issues.”  (Inter Service Intelligence Services)

             The terrorist organisations carried out systematic operations to massacre the Hindus and flush them out of the Kashmir Valley. As the death toll of the Hindus increased, they began to evacuate from the Valley in larger numbers. The State Government reacted to the elimination of the Hindus with utter passivity and indifference. The Janata Dal Government at the Centre lacked the will to deal with terrorist violence. With the Home Department of the Government of India, placed under Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, a Kashmiri Muslim, who too was committed to the precedence of the Muslim majority in the State, and who carried out the behests of the powerful Muslim lobbies in the Janata Dal, the State Government, could not deal with the terrorist violence with any firmness. The ludicrous drama of the kidnapping of Rubiya Sayeed, the daughter of the Home Minister and the consequent breakdown of the Central Government, had left little moral strength with the State Government to face the terrorist challenge.        

              The brief spell, during which Sh. Jagmohan tried to retrieve the situation, was a half-hearted endeavour, which ultimately ended in a fiasco.  On January 4, 1990, a local newspaper had published a press release issued by Hizbul Mujahideen. The group had urged young people to wage jihad for secession from India and accession to Pakistan. The release had also ordered Hindus to leave the valley. A campaign to incite the Muslim population was carried out. Inflammatory speeches were made from loudspeakers of mosques. Posters were stuck on the houses and shops of Kashmiri Pandits ordering them to either embrace Islam or leave the valley. They were threatened with their lives. Reports of Kashmiri Pandits being killed had started to come out. Posters were also pasted outside Mosques and at selected busy places labeling Kashmiri Pandits as agents of India and branding them as traitors. The ‘Alsafa’ was in the vanguard publishing these gory threats. This paper virtually became the mouth piece of the terrorists and played a capital role in fanning its flames and carrying them to remote corners of the Valley. Kashmiri Muslims were clear in their slogan; ‘Asi gache Pakistan, Batav ros Batnev san’ (we want Pakistan, inclusive of Kashmiri women and exclusive of Kashmiri Pandits). ‘Kashmir main rehna hai, Allah-ho- Akbar kahna hoga’ ‘Musalmano jago, Kafiro bhago’, ‘Islam hamara maqsad ha Kuran hamara dastur hai, jehad hamara rasta hai’, Kashmir banega Pakistan. Newspapers ‘Aftab’ and ‘Azaan’ joined in the choice songs in praise of the mujahids.

               As a major terrorist assault on the Hindus was delivered in January 1990, the Hindu temples, shrines, Hindu religious institutions, and their homes, came under heavy attack of the terrorists. Almost all over the Kashmir province, temples were desecrated, subjected to bomb attacks and at many places, set on fire. The forced displacement of Kashmiri Hindus and their targeted killings were organized with a clear objective of ensuring that Kashmir valley is cleansed of Hindus. As such, about 85,000 Kashmiri Pandit families were forced out from their ancient indigenous habitat by terrorists and religious extremists.

            The terrorist violence struck the Hindus in its full fury in January 1990. The death and destruction it brought to the Hindus was widespread. Not much of what happened those days in Kashmir is known in the rest of the country as a concerted campaign of disinformation was carried on to camouflage the ravages the community of the Hindus was subjected to. By the end of the year, the death toll of the Hindus had risen to about eight hundred.  The white paper on Kashmir, the Joint Human Rights Committee, Delhi, issued in 1996 noted: “A computation of the data of the massacred Hindus on the basis of reports in the local press, news papers published in Srinagar, and the other townships in Kashmir, reveals that the number of the Hindus killed ran into several thousands.”The White Paper notes further “Among the killed were several hundred Hindus who were reported missing. Among the missing were many Hindus whose bodies were never identified and were disposed off by the State Government agencies at their will. Many of the people killed and still to be identified were Hindus.”           

            The exodus of the Hindus picked up pace as the summer set in. By the end of the year 1990, the larger part of the Hindu community of Kashmir had left. The rest followed as the terrorist violence intensified. The White Paper noted: “In the rural areas of the Valley, cadres of the secessionist organisations and their supporters, almost of every shade and commitment, the supporters of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front in the vanguard, did not hide their hostility towards the Hindus. At many places, even in Srinagar and the other townships, Kashmiri, Hindus were openly charged of espionage for India. The indictment spelt death”. While the Hindus began to leave Kashmir the Jihadi flanks unfolded their plans to destroy the Sanskrit heritage of the Kashmir. The homes and religious shrines the Hindus left-behind, were ransacked and their properties were looted, burnt down. According to late Ghulam Mohammad Sofi, former editor of daily Srinagar Times “nearly 32,000 Kashmiri Pandits’ houses have been burnt since 1991”

                  Shri Jagmohan in his book “Shaping India's New Destiny’ states; ‘OnJuly 13, 1989, Tikka Lal Taploo, an advocate and vice president of BJP, was shot dead near his house. Judge N.K. Ganjoo, who had sentenced Maqbool Butt, was killed on November 4, 1989, in broad day light at the busy Hari Singh Street. Pran Nath Butt, a noted journalist was done to death on December 29, 1989. The murder of these three prominent leaders of the Kashmiri Pandit community was in line with the terrorist policy of killing one and frightening one thousand. The objective was to secure exodus of the Pandits from the Valley. No one was arrested and tried for these crimes.”                                                                  

 

 Selective Killings:

             The first staggering blow which the Jihad delivered to the Hindus in Kashmir was the assassination of Pandit Tika Lal Taploo, on September 14, 1989, a Kashmiri Hindu leader, who was widely respected in his community. A member of the National Executive of the Bharatiya, Janata Party, Taploo was an indefatigable man, who had fought untiringly against the marginalisation of the Hindus in the State. Taploo was given a tearful farewell by thousands of the people of his community, who accompanied his funeral procession.

           Soon after Taploo’s death, Justice Nilkanth Ganjoo, a retired session judge of Srinagar, who had sentenced Maqbool Bhat founder JKLF, to death, was shot dead. As a Sessions court judge, he had presided over the trial of Maqbool Bhat in the murder of police inspector Amar Chand. He sentenced Bhat and one other to death. On November 4, 1989, a group of three terrorists surrounded Ganjoo as he was in the Hari Singh Street market near the High Court in Srinagar, was shot in broad daylight and was not allowed to move to hospital, till he died on spot.

              Pandit Prem Nath Bhat, a leading advocate of Anantnag in Kashmir, a selfless social activist, a journalist par excellence, writer of repute and patriot of the core, was assassinated on December 27, 1989 at his house by masked Jihadis.

             In November 1989, Sheela Tikoo was gunned down near Habba Kadal.   In December 1989, JKLF members kidnapped Dr Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, demanding the release of five militants, which was subsequently fulfilled. On January 4, 1990, Srinagar-based newspaper Aftab released a message, threatening all Hindus to leave Kashmir immediately, sourcing it to the militant organization Hizbul Mujahideen.  

           On February 2, 1990, Satish Tikoo, a young Hindu social-worker, was murdered near his own house in Habba Kadal, Srinagar.

             Pandit Lassa Kaul, 45-year old, Director Doordarshan Kashmir, was accused of relaying anti-militancy news. He was visiting his ailing parents at Banamohla. As he stepped out of his vehicle, he was gunned down by terrorists on 13th February 1990.

            Pandit Avtar Krishan Koul, Deputy Director Food Supplies was gunned down by masked terrorists in his office. He had enquired into the disappearance of some truckloads of food grain supplies reportedly taken away by JKLF activists at gun point.

            Ms. Girija Tickoo, a laboratory assistant in a Government school in Bandipora, Kashmir, was coming out of the school building after collecting her salary when she was accosted by gunmen who kidnapped her to some unknown place where she was gang raped. The assailants, fearing she might disclose their identity, forcibly put her under machine saw and cut her body into pieces.  The startling fact is that she was still alive when she was gang-raped and sliced in half. Her husband was killed as well       

           Professor Nilakanth Raina (Lala) of Jammu & Kashmir Government Higher Education Department, an eminent historian and researcher was called by masked and armed gunmen at about dusk at his home in Fateh Kadal locality in Srinagar and gunned down at point blank range. Professor Nilakanth was conducting researches into the Buddhist antiquity of Jama Masjid mosque in Nowhatta, Srinagar.

            On 4th of March, 1990, Mrs. M.N Paul, the wife of an Inspector of BSF was kidnapped, raped and then murdered because she happened to be the wife of a government official. Also in March 1990, B.K. Ganjoo, an engineer in Telecommunication Department was brutally gunned down while he tried to hide himself in an empty drum used for storing rice. The assailants climbed the third floor of his house to catch hold of him. His wife begged the murderers to kill her too but only to receive the sadist remark, "there should be someone left to cry over his dead body".               

            In April 1990, a nurse named Sarla Bhat was kidnapped and continuously raped for several days before her dead body was thrown on the roadside. In May 1990, Mrs. Prana Ganjoo and her husband Prof. K.L. Ganjoo were kidnapped in Sopore where the woman was raped and then both of them were murdered.

             Pandit Sarwanand Kaul Premi (64) was a famous poet, journalist, research scholar, Gandhian, social reformer and activist living in Anantnag district, Kashmir. He had translated the Bhagwat Gita, Gitanjali and Ramayan into Kashmiri. He along with his young married son, Verinder (27) was kidnapped when four armed terrorists forced entry into their house dragged him out along with his son in the nearby jungle for enquiry and both were gunned down on 30.4.1990.  

        In June 1990, Mrs. J.L. Ganjoo, her husband and her sister-in-law (husband's sister) were killed in their home in BanaMohalla, Srinagar. In July 1990, a working woman, namely Teja Dhar was shot dead on the roadside in Ali Kadal, Srinagar. In July 1990, a Pandit lady named Nanaji was gunned down on the roadside in Batamaloo, Srinagar. In July 1990, Dr. Shani was locked up in her house in Karan Nagar and then the house was set on fire. Flames consumed her alive. 

         In August 1990, Babli Raina was raped in front of her family members in her house and then shot dead. Rattan Lal Raina was employed in Jammu and Kashmir Bank. He was led to the trap of death laid for him by a Muslim friend who led him to a lane of the locality where the Muslim killers were waiting for him. He was shot dead by them on August 18, 1990. Radha Krishen Kaw was a veteran teacher and had retired as a Tehsil Education Officer. He all through his career had taught thousands of Muslim scholars and was busy in the teaching processes even after his retirement. The Muslim assassins entered the school where he was teaching a class and forcibly took him out from the back door of the school and sprayed him over with bullets on August 24, 1990.

         Chuni Lal Shalla, Inspector of J&K Police, was posted at Langate near Kupwara. He wanted to visit his family at Sopore. To avoid being identified he had grown beard. A Muslim constable working under him at Langate also accompanied him in the same bus to Sopore. On reaching Sopore, two militants came searching for him but could not recognise him. They had hardly left when the Muslim Constable called them back. The Constable himself took out a dagger and slashed off his entire right cheek along with the beard. The cruel Constable jolted him saying "You suar (pig). I will not allow you to have Jamat-i-Islami type beard on your other cheek also. He slashed off his left cheek too. The two militants and the Muslim Constable then battered his face with hockey sticks shouting "Bastard, we won't waste a bullet on you". They fled the scene and left him bleeding to die.

Mass Massacres:                    

            As the Jehadi war groups and the terrorist regimes settled down to carry on a prolonged war of attrition in Jammu and Kashmir, they changed their tactics. They reduced the frequency of sporadic surprise strikes on specifically identified targets to pre-planned major military strikes on Hindu localities to carry out mass-massacres. The mass massacres were brutal and had s staggering effect on the entire community of the Hindus in the State.  The massacres were carried out at different places in the Kashmir province : at Sangrahampora where eight people were killed; at Wandahama in North Kashmir, in January 1998, where twenty three Hindus were killed; at Anantnag in South Kashmir, where twelve Bihari labourers were killed in July 1999; at Chattisinghpora where thirty-six Sikhs were killed in March 2000, at Pahalgam, where thirty-two Hindus, including twenty-nine pilgrims to Amarnath Shrine, were killed in August 2000; and at Nadimarg, where twenty-four Hindus were killed in March 2003.   

 

                                         Wandahama Massacre

           In the Jammu province, the mass massacres were widespread and the death-toll heavier. Seventeen Hindus were killed in Kishtwar during 13-14 August 1993; sixteen Hindus were killed in Kishtwar in January 1996; Seventeen Hindus were killed in Simber, Doda in May 1996; twenty-nine Hindus were killed in Dakhikot Prankot, Doda in January 1998; Eleven Hindus (defence committee members) were killed in Dessa, Doda in May 1998, twenty nine Hindus were killed in Chapnari Doda, in June 1998; twenty Hindus were killed in separate terrorist attacks in Chinathakuri, and Shrawan, Doda in July 1998; seventeen Hindus were killed in Surankot Poonch in June 1999; fifteen Hindus wee killed in Thatri, Doda, in July 1999; seventeen Hindus were killed in Manjakot Rajouri in March 2001; fifteen Hindus were killed in Cherjimorah, Dodain July 2001’, Sixteen Hindus were killed in Sarothdhar, Doda in August 2001’, Thirty four Hindus were killed in Kaluchak, Jammu in May 2002; twenty-nine Hindus were killed in Rajiv Nagar, Jammu in July 2002; seventeen Hindus March2003; twelve Hindus were killed in Surankote, Poonch in June 2004; ten Hindus were killed in Budhal, Rajouri in October 2005; three of a Hindu family were killed in Chaal, Udhampur in April 2006 and thirty Hindus were killed in Thana Kulhand, Doda in April 2006.

          Terrorism has taken a very heavy toll of the personnel of the security organizations of the State. A fairly large numbers of the personnel of the para-military forces and the Indian army have been killed in the hit and run guerrilla attacks mounted on them by terrorists. The attacks have involved sudden assaults on para-military pickets in civil areas, ambush of army and para-military convoys, mine blasts, rocket and bomb blasts on police stations and other security installations.                 

          Different organizations of Kashmiri Pandits jointly petitioned the National  Human Rights Commission (NHRC) from 1994-1996 for the enforcement of their human rights and right to life, the NHRC way in 1998-99, in its historical full commission judgment, headed by Justice Venkatchaliah, former Chief Justice of India, held the systematic/planned Ethnic Cleansing inflicted on Kashmiri Pandits by terrorists that forced them to exit their homeland. In the ruling on June 11, 1999 stated that, “the commission is constrained to observe that acts akin to genocide have occurred with respect to Kashmiri Pandits.’ UN Secretary General at the 60th session on Human Rights in Geneva on 7th April, 2004 observed, “When civilians are deliberately targeted because they belong to a particular community, we are in the presence of potential, if not actual genocide.”  The US based non-profit, International Commission for Human Rights and Religious freedom has called upon the Government of India and the Government of Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir to acknowledge and recognise the 1989-1991 atrocities on Kashmiri Hindus as an act of genocide.

       A PROTEST DEMONSTRATION AGAINST WANDHAMA MASSACRE                                 

       The Indian Government and the State Government never made their stand clear on the genocide of the Hindus and the exodus forced upon them. They did not make their stand clear on the reversal of the genocide, which formed the precedent condition for the return of the Hindus to their homes. In fact, the Indian Government never made any formal commitment in respect of the return of Hindus to their homes and made no concrete proposals for their rehabilitation during last 32 years.       

              Genocide of the Hindus in Kashmir and their exile for decades has changed the geographical alignments of their community in the province of Kashmir and destroyed their social and economic base. The terrorist violence has obliterated the Hindu religious heritage of Kashmir and almost effaced the Hindu cultural identity. The return of Hindus to Kashmir can assume meaning and effect only in case the genocide is reversed. The perpetrators of genocide punished.              

             Kashmiri Hindus became refugees in their own country for more than 32 years now! No enquiry commission has been constituted by State or Central Government so far to bring culprits to book who are responsible for genocide and ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus, nor has Hon’ble Supreme Court of India acted so far. The Indian people must realize that history does not move on dotted line. It takes its own course. It does not forget. It does not forgive.

          

ADI SHANKARACHARYA

 

Adi Shankaracharya with his four disciples: –

Padmapadacharya, Sureshwaracharya, Hastamalakacharya & Totakacharya

I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, and I am Shiva.

 Without hate, without infatuation, without craving, without greed;
Neither arrogance, nor conceit, never jealous I am;
Neither dharma, nor artha, neither kama, nor moksha am I;
I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Without sins, without merits, without elation, without sorrow;
Neither mantra, nor rituals, neither pilgrimage, nor Vedas;
Neither the experiencer, nor experienced, nor the experience am I,
I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Without fear, without death, without discrimination, without caste;
Neither father, nor mother, never born I am;
Neither kith, nor kin, neither teacher, nor student am I;
I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Without form, without figure, without resemblance am I;
Vitality of all senses, in everything I am;
Neither attached, nor released am I;

I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, and I am Shiva.

—Adi Shankara, Nirvana Shatakam, Hymns 3–6

Adi Shankara, also known as Jagatguru Shankaracharya, was an iconic religious leader and philosopher. Adi Shankaracharya consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanata and revived it at a time when Hindu culture was on decline.

            Adi Shankaracharya is considered to be the ideal Sanyasi. Adi Shankara was born in Kalady, Kerala during 788 AD and he disappeared at Kidarnath at the young age of 32 in year 820 AD.   It is commonly accepted that he lived about one thousand two hundred years ago though there are historical sources which indicate that he lived in earlier period. His accomplishments during short life span of 32 years seem a marvel even today, with our modern conveyances and other facilities.         

             At the tender age of eight, burning with the desire for Liberation, he left home in search of his Guru. From the southern state of Kerala, the young Shankara walked about 2000 kilometers— to the banks of the river Narmada, in the central plains of India, to his Guru— Govindapada. He stayed there serving his Guru for four years. Under his teacher’s compassionate guidance, the young Shankaracharya mastered all the Vedic scriptures.

            The word ‘Veda’ is derived from the Sanskrit vid to know. Sayanacarya has defined Veda ‘as a book which reveals the knowledge of supernatural methods for the achievement of the desired object and avoidance of the undesirable’. The term ‘Veda’ is used by the Hindus to denote four collections of sacred books, called respectively, The Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda.        

          At the age of twelve, his Guru deemed that Shankara was ready to write commentaries on major scriptural texts. At his Guru’s command Shankara wrote commentaries elucidating the subtle meanings hidden in the teachings of the scriptures. At the age of sixteen, he dropped his pen having completed writing all the major treatises. From the age of sixteen to thirty-two Shankaracharya went forth, travelling across the length and breadth of ancient India bringing to the hearts of the masses the life-giving message of the Vedas. “Brahman, Pure Consciousness, is the Absolute Reality. The world is unreal. In essence the individual is not different from Brahman.” Thus by the statement “Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithya, Jeevo Brahmaiva Na Para”, he condensed the essence of the voluminous scriptures.

            Apart from his immense intellectual and organizational abilities, Shankaracharya was an exquisite poet with a heart brimming with Love of the Divine. He composed 72 devotional and meditative hymns like Soundarya Lahari, Sivananda Lahari, Nirvana Shalkam, Maneesha Panchakam. He also wrote 18 commentaries on the major scriptural texts including the Brahma Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and 12 major Upanishads. He also authored 23 books on the fundamentals of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy which expound the principles of the non-dual Brahman. These include Viveka Chudamani, Atma Bodha, Vaakya Vritti, Upadesa Sahasri, among others.

           At the age of fifteen, Shankara reached Kashi and started to spread the Advaita philosophy, and started writing the commentaries on the Brahma Sutras, the Upanishads, and Bhagvad Gita. During his stay at Kashi, he wrote Bhaja Govindam. In a very short time, he had established himself as an authority on Vedanta philosophy. Shankara proceeded to tour the vast country of India and to establish his philosophy. This is often referred to as his Dig-Vijaya. His spiritual insights and vast knowledge won him many debates, and subsequently many disciples.

             At this time, he received the tidings of his mother’s grave illness. He rushed to the bedside to his dying mother at Kaladi. He tried to explain to her the majestic philosophy of Advaita, the image of the illusionary world, and Nirgun Brahman. However, this frightened the poor woman who lacked the philosophical acumen of Shankara. Then the Shankara, the king among Janis, resorted to bhakti and composed various hymns in praise of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. The chanting of these verses calmed her and she reached Brahmaloka. He performed the cremation rites for her despite opposition from the ritualistic kinsmen. It is said that a visit to Kaladi is unfulfilled unless one visits this place of cremation and the spot where Shankara was granted Sanyas by his loving mother. Shortly after the death of his mother, Shankara had to endure the blow of another death – his guru, Govinda. He paid his last respects to Govinda and established a temple in his honour.

            Shankara travelled across the country to propagate his philosophy through discourses and debates with other thinkers.  Shankara has an unparalleled status in the tradition of Adyaita Vedanta. He travelled all over India to help restore the study of the Vedas. During his travels across the length and breadth of India, he established four maths (ashrams) to unify the scattered and diverse groups of Sanyasis. Four maths were established, about 700 AD, in four different corners of India. He selected four of his senior most disciples to head each of these maths. Each of these maths were assigned the task of maintaining and preserving for posterity, one of the four Vedas and a Maha Vakya. Shankaracharya reorganized all the Sanyasis in India into ten main groups (the Dasanami Sannyasa Tradition) allocated to different maths. Historical and literary evidences also exist which prove that the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt at Kancepuram, in Tamil Nadu, was also founded by Shankaracharya. Establishing four maths in the four quadrants of the country, opening temples, organizing halls of education, this mighty master left nothing undone in maintaining what he achieved. Among the four Maths two of them in the East and West were set up on the sea shore, while the Maths in the North and South were set up in the mountain regions. Shankaracharya had four prominent disciples who carried on his work. These four disciples were Padmapada (Sanandan), Hastamalak, Mandan Mishra, Totak (Totacharya). Sri Sureshwaracharya, who hailed from the North, was placed in charge of the Math in the South, while Totaka from the South was sent to Badri in the North. He made it mandatory that the Nampootiris from Kerala should perform Puja at Badri, while the Brahmins from Karnataka were assigned for Nepal. Likewise He ordained Maharashtra Brahmins to do Pujas at Rameshwaram. This shows what a broadminded he had been when it came to leadership in matters of national interest.

        His next journey was to Kashmir where he again held his philosophical acumen and triumphed in various debates including debates on tantric practices which were prevalent at that time. Dr. Ved Kumari in 'The Nilamata Purana’ writes that according to writer of 'Sankara Digvijaya' -- 'Sankara visited Kashmir after giving a final blow to Buddhism in the rest of India". PN Magazine, a research scholar of repute, writes in 'Shankaracharya Temple and Hill' that Shankaracharya visited Kashmir with the intention of advancing Vedantic knowledge. That time Kashmiris were culturally and spiritually much advanced and believed strongly in the greatness of both Shiva and Shakti. Shankara did not, at that time, when he visited Kashmir, believe in Shakti cult PN Magazine mentions that Shankaracharya with his party camped outside the city of Srinagar, without any boarding and lodging arrangements. Seeing the plight of visitors a virgin was sent to meet Shankara. She found the party uneasy and frustrated because of not being able to cook as no fire was made available to them. The first glimpse of Shakti was exhibited to Shankara by this girl, when Shankara expressed his inability to make a fire, in reply to girl's question that you are so great, cannot you make fire. The girl picked up two thin wooden sticks (samidhas) into her hand, recited some mantras and rubbed the sticks and fire was produced to the surprise of Shankara. PN Magazine further adds that later a Shastrarth (religious discourse) was arranged between Shankara and a Kashmiri woman. This discourse continued for 17 days. Shankaracharya yielded before the lady in discussion and accepted the predominance of Shakti cult (greatness of Devi). According to PN Magazine, after accepting predominance of Shakti cult, Shankara wrote Saundarya Lahari, in praise of Shakti, at the top of the hill, known till then as Gopadari Hill.

          The method of yoga, encouraged in Shankara's teachings notes Comans; includes withdrawal of mind from sense objects as in Patanjali's system, but it is not complete thought suppression, instead it is a “meditative exercise of withdrawal from the particular and identification with the universal, leading to contemplation of oneself as the most universal, namely, Consciousness.”  Describing Shankara's style of yogic practice, Comans writes in Philosophy East & West: “ the type of yoga which Sankara presents here is a method of merging, as it were, the particular (visesa) into the general (samanya). For example, diverse sounds are merged in the sense of hearing, which has greater generality insofar as the sense of hearing is the locus of all sounds. The sense of hearing is merged into the mind, whose nature consists of thinking about things, and the mind is in turn merged into the intellect, which Sankara then says is made into 'mere cognition' (vijnanamatra); that is, all particular cognitions resolve into their universal, which is cognition as such, thought without any particular object. And that in turn is merged into its universal, mere Consciousness (prajnafnaghana), upon which everything previously referred to ultimately depends”.

           The teachings of Shankara can be summed up in half a verse: “Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithya Jivo Brahmaiva Na Aparah— Only the Brahman (the self) is real. He taught that supreme Brahman (self) is Nirguna (without the Gunas), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without attributes) and Akarta (non-agent). Brahman (self) is above all needs and desires. This world is unreal and the Jiva or the individual soul is non-different from Brahman (Self). The soul is identical with Brahman (self).This is the quintessence of his philosophy.

           When Shankaracharya decided to enter ‘samadhi,’ the foremost disciple of Shankara, requested that the essentials of his teaching may be summarized and given to them. Adi Shankara then said the Dasa Shlokas, or ten verses, which elaborated the omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence of Brahman – the core concept of Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma); 

1. The five elements do no express my real nature; I am changeless and persist forever.

2. I am above caste and creed. I am seen when ‘maya’ is removed, and do not need concentration or worship as shown in Yoga Sutras.

3. I have no parents I need no Vedas as proclaimed in the scriptures, no sacrifices, no pilgrimages. I am the eternal witness.

4. All the teachings of various religions and philosophies do not reveal my true nature and are but shallow views of my deep being.

5. I pervade the whole universe and am above, in the middle and below, in all directions.

6. I am colorless, formless, light being my form.

7. I have no teacher, scripture or any disciples, nor do I recognize Thou or I, or even the universe and am changeless and the absolute knowledge.

8. I am neither awake, in deep sleep nor dreaming, but above consciousness with which the three are associated. All these are due to ignorance and I am beyond that.

9. I pervade everything, everywhere and the eternal reality and self-existent. The whole universe depends on me and become nothing without me.

10. I cannot be called one, for that implies two, which is not. I am neither isolated nor non-isolated, neither am I empty or full.

              Adi Shankara, Madhava and Ramanuja, were the three great masters who actively involved in the revival of Hinduism. They formed philosophical doctrines that are still followed by their respective sects. They have been revered as the most important figures in the history of Hindu philosophy.

              There are at least fourteen different known biographies of Adi Shankara's life. Many of these are called the Sankara Vijaya, while some are called Guruvijaya,  Sankarabhyudaya and Shankaracaryacarita. Of these, the Brhat-Sankara-Vijaya by Citsukha is the oldest biography but only available in excerpts, while Sankaradigvijaya by Vidyaranya and  Sankaravijaya by Anandagiri are the most cited. (Mayeda, Sengaku (2006). A thousand teachings: Upadesasahasri of Sankara. Other significant biographies are the Madhaviya Sankara Vijayaṃ (of Madhava, 14th century), the Cidvilsiya Saṅkara Vijayaṃ (of Cidvilasa, between the 15th and 17th centuries), and the Keraļiya Saṅkara Vijayaṃ (of the Kerala region, extant from the 17th century). These, as well as other biographical works on Shankara, were written many centuries to a thousand years after Shankara's death, in Sanskrit and non-Sanskrit languages. The biographies vary in their description of where he went, who he met and debated and many other details of his life. Most mention Shankara studying the Vedas, Upanishads and Brahmasutra with Govindapada, and Shankara authoring several key works in his youth, while he was studying with his teacher.  (Isaeva, Natalia (1993) Shankara and Indian Philosophy)

Adi Shankaracharya Jayanti is celebrated every year by his devotees during the Shukla Paksha Panchami Tithi of Vaishakha or the fifth day of the Full Moon lunar fortnight.

The Legend of Shankaracharya Jayanti:

              Shankara was born to a humble Nambudri Brahmin couple in Kaladi (in the present day Kerala) in 788CE. His parents, Shivaguru and Aryamba, who were a childless couple, had prayed to Lord Shiva to bless them with a child. Soon, they had a baby boy who went on to become a great teacher. A legend associated with Shankaracharya considers him an incarnation of Lord Shiva himself, who had appeared in Aryamba’s dream and promised to take birth as her child. Some believed that Lord Shiva incarnated on earth to restore order at a time when there was absence of harmony and mankind was deprived of spirituality.

             As he grew up, Shankaracharya traveled several places to find a suitable Guru. After observing severe penance, he found the ashram of Govinda Bhagavathpada, better known as Patanjali. He was a learned philosopher of the Vedanta School of Thought. Shankara became the disciple of Govinda, under whose guidance he learnt about the Vedas and the six Vedangas. Govinda also guided Shankara to preach the tenets of Advaita Vedanta. It is said that Lord Vishnu visited Shankara at Badrinath and asked him to make a statue of the deity in Alaknanda River. In the present time, the temple is popular as Badrinarayan Temple.

(Compiled by Chaman Lal Gadoo)