A well known publication based in New York, Wall Street Journal, has acknowledged the importance of Amarnath Yatra describing it as one of the world's oldest pilgrimages, with historical references dating back to more than 2000 years. This is a very significant acknowledgement in the U.S.
Many Hindus have been objecting to the fact that the government in Kashmir referred to holy Amarnath cave of Lord Shiv, as having been discovered by a Muslim shepherd a couple of centuries ago. Hindus contend that Amarnath yatra was in vogue before the advent of Islam. Hindus show proof in form of references about the yatra taking place even before the birth of Christ, including the mention to this effect in Rajatarangini, the most authortative history of Kashmir by Kalhana.
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/08/24/amarnath-pilgrimage-comes-to-quiet-close/
Atal Behair Vajpayee once remarked --- Govind Ballabh Pant's assertion that elections in Kashmir and participation by Kashmiris in these elections have set to rest, once and for all the demand for plebiscite. Pant said and Vajpayee reiterated that Kashmir assembly elections in 1950 s is India's way of holding plebiscite in the state.
Apart from regular elections, one strong point which goes in India's favor rather than Pakistani as far as Kashmir is concerned is the Amarnath Yatra. According to the Wall Street Journal report, more than 450,000 Hindus went on the pilgrimage this year. The very fact that such large numbers go on this pilgrimage shows the importance it has for India in general and Hindus in particular.
What would have happened, if Kashmir was in Pakistan ? only a small congregation or jatha of few hundred people would have gone on this pilgirmage of Amarnath like they now go to Nanakana Sahib near Lahore. Just look at the fuss created by the Pakistani authorities who think they do us a favor by giving visa to the Hindu-Sikh jathas for visiting the birth place of Guru Nanak Dev ji. The number of pilgrims on this holy shrine have reduced to a trickle.
According to the Wall Street Journal report, even the Kashmiri Muslims realize the importance of this Amarnath Yatra and sell images of Hindu gods and goddesses to the worshippers at the Cave.
In another part of Himalayas, under illegal control of China, is the Mount Kailash and Kailash Mansarovar where too a handful of Hindus are able to go for pilgrimage every year subject to visas granted by Beijing. Oh Lord Shiv!!! look..... we are the mercy of Beijing government to pay our respects to you in your seat of worship in Kailash.The pilgrimage was resumed after Vajpayee visited China as foreign minister in 1978. He remarked that the presence of a Hindu place of worship in the region is a proof of India's claim on Kailash. Since restoration of territory to India wasn't acceptable to the wily Chinese, Vajpayee argued that at least the pilgrimage should be resumed, which it did.
Vajpayee, once jokingly remarked that if Kailash parvat doesn't belong to the Hindus then the only other possibility is of Chinese establishing a Hindu place of worship under the intoxicating influence of opium. Chinese were notorious opium eaters during the colonial times and also fought with the British in what are known as the Opium wars.
If Hindus don't want the fate of Amarnath to be what it has been to Nankana Sahib in Pakistan and Kailash Mansarovar in China, they should fight all attempts of scession of Kashmir tooth and nail. Always remember that it was Lord Shiv who was the first Amarnath Yatri along with Goddess Parvati. In the eighth century, it was Jagat Guru Adi Shankaracharya who went on this pilgrimage. Sister Nivedita mentions in her memoirs about Swami Vivekananda going to Amarnath in the 1890s and having a strange feeling of calmness inside the cave.
If you go on Amarnath Yatra and climb up the Himalayas, you walk on the footsteps of Lord Shiv, footsteps of Goddess Parvati, that of Jagat Guru Adi Shankaracharya and Swami Vivekananda, something, you will never be able to do if separatist designs in Kashmir succeed.
Showing posts with label Kashmir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kashmir. Show all posts
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Hindu Friendly Is National Security Friendly
All,
It is a short write-up and doesn't require much time to read.
Those who cobble together a majority after the latest polls, should at least keep some Hindu interests in mind. To be a Hindu is not a crime. If we ask for or expect some Hindu friendly initiatives, we won't be asking for the moon. Since Hindus constitute a major part of the country, such measures will also be in favor of the country, without the risk of being branded communal.
For decades now, demands for abrogation of Article 370 and a Uniform Civil Code have been described outlandish by the secular brigade, despite the latter being mentioned in the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Indian Constitution.
No problem, put it on the backburner, let us not waste time debating on this at the moment, but there are other issues, which are Hindu friendly and equally important for national security as well.
For example, infiltration of Bangladeshis along the porus eastern border. I want to ask, will there not be even half-a-dozen serious members among the ruling benches in the next Lok Sabha, who can adopt the attitude of an Otto Von Bismarck and ensure through administrative and politicial acumen that this menace is addressed, nipped in the bud before it becomes another communal tinderbox? Hindu friendly means National Security friendly.
Another example is the displacement of Hindus from Kashmir Valley. Those who created trouble in Kashmir Valley are facing the music in Swat Valley - but that is another story for another day - as of now, time is ripe to rehabilitate Hindus, the hundreds of thousands of them, who became internally displaced persons in their home land. Excuses, such as, "hindus aren't keen to return to Kashmir", won't work. I want to ask, will there not be even half-a-dozen serious members among the ruling benches in the next Lok Sabha, who make it their parliamentary term's mission to resettle by some way or the other at least a small number of 15,000 Hindus back in Kashmir. Let at least a small beginning be made somewhere.
Can there be even not one small group of members in the next Lok Sabha, who can come forward to say, they will extend support to the next government only if there is a time-table to do two things, one each for North-west India and East India. One - reverse the exodus of Hindus from Kashmir, resettle them. Two - set the ball rolling to brutally suppress all infiltration from Bangladesh.
If you have any doubts, about the feasibility of these things getting accomplished, read how Bismarck went ahead, using a range of tactics for the unification of Germany. Realpolitik can accomplish anything, creation of Bangladesh and silently going ahead with the 1998 nuclear blasts in Pokhran are two examples. There are many more, but this was supposed to be a short write-up.
It is a short write-up and doesn't require much time to read.
Those who cobble together a majority after the latest polls, should at least keep some Hindu interests in mind. To be a Hindu is not a crime. If we ask for or expect some Hindu friendly initiatives, we won't be asking for the moon. Since Hindus constitute a major part of the country, such measures will also be in favor of the country, without the risk of being branded communal.
For decades now, demands for abrogation of Article 370 and a Uniform Civil Code have been described outlandish by the secular brigade, despite the latter being mentioned in the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Indian Constitution.
No problem, put it on the backburner, let us not waste time debating on this at the moment, but there are other issues, which are Hindu friendly and equally important for national security as well.
For example, infiltration of Bangladeshis along the porus eastern border. I want to ask, will there not be even half-a-dozen serious members among the ruling benches in the next Lok Sabha, who can adopt the attitude of an Otto Von Bismarck and ensure through administrative and politicial acumen that this menace is addressed, nipped in the bud before it becomes another communal tinderbox? Hindu friendly means National Security friendly.
Another example is the displacement of Hindus from Kashmir Valley. Those who created trouble in Kashmir Valley are facing the music in Swat Valley - but that is another story for another day - as of now, time is ripe to rehabilitate Hindus, the hundreds of thousands of them, who became internally displaced persons in their home land. Excuses, such as, "hindus aren't keen to return to Kashmir", won't work. I want to ask, will there not be even half-a-dozen serious members among the ruling benches in the next Lok Sabha, who make it their parliamentary term's mission to resettle by some way or the other at least a small number of 15,000 Hindus back in Kashmir. Let at least a small beginning be made somewhere.
Can there be even not one small group of members in the next Lok Sabha, who can come forward to say, they will extend support to the next government only if there is a time-table to do two things, one each for North-west India and East India. One - reverse the exodus of Hindus from Kashmir, resettle them. Two - set the ball rolling to brutally suppress all infiltration from Bangladesh.
If you have any doubts, about the feasibility of these things getting accomplished, read how Bismarck went ahead, using a range of tactics for the unification of Germany. Realpolitik can accomplish anything, creation of Bangladesh and silently going ahead with the 1998 nuclear blasts in Pokhran are two examples. There are many more, but this was supposed to be a short write-up.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Amarnath: World's Oldest Pilgrimage
Those who try to question the simple fact that there was no pilgrimage in this world, in the strict sense of the term, before Amarnath pilgrimage, should remember that it was Lord Shiva himself who first visited Amarnath with Godess Parvati.
Even though the exact date of the origin of Amarnath pilgirmage isn't known but based on sound historical references it is now widely recognised as the world's oldest pilgrimage, which Hindus have been undertaking since the start of historical times or even in the pre-historic age. The Amarnath tradition is deeply imbibed in Kashmiri history. It will be unfair to encourage dubious myths, arguing that the pilgirmage was the result of any recent discovery, 100 or 200 years ago by a Muslim shepherd.
Jagat Guru Adi Shankaracharya, founder of the four maths in four corners of the country, went on this pilgrimage of Lord Shankara. Another, venerable pilgrim is Swami Vivekananda.
The Amarnath Cave is referred to in the Bhrngish Samhita, Nilmat Purana, Kalhana’s Rajtarangini, and the Mahatmayas of Amarnatha and Amreshvara Kalpa. According to Kalhana’s Rajtarangini, Samdimat (34 BCE-17 CE), a great devotee of Shiva who rose from the position of minister to be the king of Kashmir, “used to worship a linga of snow above the forests, which is not found elsewhere in the world, during the delightful Kashmir summers”.
Kalhana also narrates the legend of Naga Surava, who gave his daughter Chandralekha in marriage to a Brahmin youth and carved a place for him besides his own abode in Shushram Naga (Seshnag). Kalhana says, “It is seen to this day (ie, 1148-49) by pilgrims proceeding to Amareshvara (Amarnath).”
Regular pilgirms to Amarnath via the traditional Pahalgam route, are well aware that Seshnag is 19 kilometers from the Holy Amarnath Cave.
One of the earliest references to Amarnath is in the Nilamata Purana, a 6th century Sanskrit text which depicts the religious and cultural life of early Kashmiris and mentions about origin of Kashmir itself.
The pilgrimage to the holy cave has been described with full topographical details in the Bhringish Samhita and the Amarnatha Mahatmya, both ancient texts said to have been composed even earlier. References to Amarnath appear in historical chronicles like the Rajatarangini and its sequels and accounts of several Western travellers. The original name of the tirtha, as given in the ancient texts, is Amareshwara.
Turning again to Rajtarangini; Kalhana gives the history of the Naga Suruva, who in his fury burnt to ashes the kingdom of King Nara when he tried to abduct his daughter already married to the Brahmin youth, and after the carnage took his abode in the lake now known as Sheshnag (Kashmiri Sushramnag).
Kalahana writes: “The lake of dazzling whiteness [resembling] a sea of milk (Sheshnag), which he created [for himself as residence] on a far off mountain, is to the present day seen by the people on the pilgrimage to Amareshwara.”(Rajatarangini, Book I v. 267.Translation: M. A. Stein).
There is yet another reference to Amareshwara or Amarnath in the Rajatarangini (Book VII v.183). According to Kalhana, Queen Suryamati, the wife of King Ananta (1028-1063), “granted under her husband’s name agraharas at Amareshwara, and arranged for the consecration of trishulas, banalingas and other [sacred emblems]”.
In his Chronicle of Kashmir, a sequel to Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, Jonaraja relates that that Sultan Zainu’l-abidin (1420-1470) paid a visit to the sacred tirtha of Amarnath while constructing a canal on the left bank of the river Lidder (vv.1232-1234). The canal is now known as Shah Kol.
In the Fourth Chronicle named Rajavalipataka, which was begun by Prjayabhatta and completed by Shuka, there is a clear and detailed reference to the pilgrimage to the sacred site (v.841,vv. 847-849). According to it, in a reply to Akbar’s query about Kashmir Yusuf Khan, the Mughal governor of Kashmir at that time, described among other things the Amarnath Yatra in complete detail.
Amareshwara (Amarnath) was a famous pilgrimage during the time of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. In his eulogy of Shah Jahan’s father-in-law Asif Khan, titled “Asaf Vilas”, the famous Sanskrit scholar and aesthete Panditraj Jagannath makes clear mention of Amareshwara (Amarnath) while describing the Mughal garden Nishat laid out by Asif Khan. The King of gods, Indra himself, he says, comes here to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva”.
Francois Bernier, a French physician, accompanied Emperor Aurangzeb during his visit to Kashmir in 1663. In his book “Travels in the Mughal Empire”, he writes an account of the places he visited in Kashmir that he was “pursuing journey to a grotto full of wonderful congelations, two days journey from Sangsafed” when he “received intelligence that my Nawab felt very impatient and uneasy on account of my long absence”. The editor of the second edition of the English translation of the book, Vincient A. Smith, writes in his introduction: “The grotto full of wonderful congelations is the Amarnath cave, where blocks of ice, stalagmites formed by dripping water from the roof are worshipped by many Hindoos......as images of Shiva…..”
Another traveler, Vigne, in his book “Travels in Kashmir, Ladakh and Iskardu” writes about the pilgrimage to the sacred spot in detail, mentioning that “the ceremony at the cave of Amarnath takes place on the 15th of the Hindoo month of Sawan” and that “not only Hindoos of every rank and caste can be seen collecting together and traveling up the valley of Liddar towards the celebrated cave……” Vigne visited Kashmir after his return from Ladakh in 1840-41 and published his book in 1842. His book claims that the Amarnath Yatra drew pilgrims from the whole of India in his time and was undertaken with great enthusiasm. Vigne himself, after returning from Ladakh and Tibet by 1840-41, during the rule of Maharaja Sher Singh, son of Ranjit Singh, attempted to visit Amarnath along the traditional route via Seshnag in late season, but was forced to return from the Wawjan Pass due to bad weather.
Walter R Lawrence mentions in Valley of Kashmir (1895) that Brahmins of Mattan joined the pilgrims to Amarnath and further up at Batkot, the Maliks used to take charge of the pilgrimage. According to Lawrence, the Maliks were supposed to keep the track in order, guide and escort the pilgrims, carry the sick, and ensure nothing was stolen.
Guru Arjan Dev is said to have granted land in Amritsar for the ceremonial departure of Chari Mubarak, the holy mace of Lord Shiva which marks the beginning of the Yatra to the Holy Cave.
In 1819, the year in which the Afghan rule came to an end in Kashmir, Pandit Hardas Tiku “founded the Chhawni (Cantonement) Amarnath at Ram Bagh in Srinagar where the Sadhus from the plains assembled and where he gave them free rations for the journey, both ways from his own private resources”, as the noted Kashmiri naturalist Pandit Samsar Chand Kaul has pointed out in his booklet titled “The Mysterious cave of Amarnath”.
Even though the exact date of the origin of Amarnath pilgirmage isn't known but based on sound historical references it is now widely recognised as the world's oldest pilgrimage, which Hindus have been undertaking since the start of historical times or even in the pre-historic age. The Amarnath tradition is deeply imbibed in Kashmiri history. It will be unfair to encourage dubious myths, arguing that the pilgirmage was the result of any recent discovery, 100 or 200 years ago by a Muslim shepherd.
Jagat Guru Adi Shankaracharya, founder of the four maths in four corners of the country, went on this pilgrimage of Lord Shankara. Another, venerable pilgrim is Swami Vivekananda.
The Amarnath Cave is referred to in the Bhrngish Samhita, Nilmat Purana, Kalhana’s Rajtarangini, and the Mahatmayas of Amarnatha and Amreshvara Kalpa. According to Kalhana’s Rajtarangini, Samdimat (34 BCE-17 CE), a great devotee of Shiva who rose from the position of minister to be the king of Kashmir, “used to worship a linga of snow above the forests, which is not found elsewhere in the world, during the delightful Kashmir summers”.
Kalhana also narrates the legend of Naga Surava, who gave his daughter Chandralekha in marriage to a Brahmin youth and carved a place for him besides his own abode in Shushram Naga (Seshnag). Kalhana says, “It is seen to this day (ie, 1148-49) by pilgrims proceeding to Amareshvara (Amarnath).”
Regular pilgirms to Amarnath via the traditional Pahalgam route, are well aware that Seshnag is 19 kilometers from the Holy Amarnath Cave.
One of the earliest references to Amarnath is in the Nilamata Purana, a 6th century Sanskrit text which depicts the religious and cultural life of early Kashmiris and mentions about origin of Kashmir itself.
The pilgrimage to the holy cave has been described with full topographical details in the Bhringish Samhita and the Amarnatha Mahatmya, both ancient texts said to have been composed even earlier. References to Amarnath appear in historical chronicles like the Rajatarangini and its sequels and accounts of several Western travellers. The original name of the tirtha, as given in the ancient texts, is Amareshwara.
Turning again to Rajtarangini; Kalhana gives the history of the Naga Suruva, who in his fury burnt to ashes the kingdom of King Nara when he tried to abduct his daughter already married to the Brahmin youth, and after the carnage took his abode in the lake now known as Sheshnag (Kashmiri Sushramnag).
Kalahana writes: “The lake of dazzling whiteness [resembling] a sea of milk (Sheshnag), which he created [for himself as residence] on a far off mountain, is to the present day seen by the people on the pilgrimage to Amareshwara.”(Rajatarangini, Book I v. 267.Translation: M. A. Stein).
There is yet another reference to Amareshwara or Amarnath in the Rajatarangini (Book VII v.183). According to Kalhana, Queen Suryamati, the wife of King Ananta (1028-1063), “granted under her husband’s name agraharas at Amareshwara, and arranged for the consecration of trishulas, banalingas and other [sacred emblems]”.
In his Chronicle of Kashmir, a sequel to Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, Jonaraja relates that that Sultan Zainu’l-abidin (1420-1470) paid a visit to the sacred tirtha of Amarnath while constructing a canal on the left bank of the river Lidder (vv.1232-1234). The canal is now known as Shah Kol.
In the Fourth Chronicle named Rajavalipataka, which was begun by Prjayabhatta and completed by Shuka, there is a clear and detailed reference to the pilgrimage to the sacred site (v.841,vv. 847-849). According to it, in a reply to Akbar’s query about Kashmir Yusuf Khan, the Mughal governor of Kashmir at that time, described among other things the Amarnath Yatra in complete detail.
Amareshwara (Amarnath) was a famous pilgrimage during the time of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. In his eulogy of Shah Jahan’s father-in-law Asif Khan, titled “Asaf Vilas”, the famous Sanskrit scholar and aesthete Panditraj Jagannath makes clear mention of Amareshwara (Amarnath) while describing the Mughal garden Nishat laid out by Asif Khan. The King of gods, Indra himself, he says, comes here to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva”.
Francois Bernier, a French physician, accompanied Emperor Aurangzeb during his visit to Kashmir in 1663. In his book “Travels in the Mughal Empire”, he writes an account of the places he visited in Kashmir that he was “pursuing journey to a grotto full of wonderful congelations, two days journey from Sangsafed” when he “received intelligence that my Nawab felt very impatient and uneasy on account of my long absence”. The editor of the second edition of the English translation of the book, Vincient A. Smith, writes in his introduction: “The grotto full of wonderful congelations is the Amarnath cave, where blocks of ice, stalagmites formed by dripping water from the roof are worshipped by many Hindoos......as images of Shiva…..”
Another traveler, Vigne, in his book “Travels in Kashmir, Ladakh and Iskardu” writes about the pilgrimage to the sacred spot in detail, mentioning that “the ceremony at the cave of Amarnath takes place on the 15th of the Hindoo month of Sawan” and that “not only Hindoos of every rank and caste can be seen collecting together and traveling up the valley of Liddar towards the celebrated cave……” Vigne visited Kashmir after his return from Ladakh in 1840-41 and published his book in 1842. His book claims that the Amarnath Yatra drew pilgrims from the whole of India in his time and was undertaken with great enthusiasm. Vigne himself, after returning from Ladakh and Tibet by 1840-41, during the rule of Maharaja Sher Singh, son of Ranjit Singh, attempted to visit Amarnath along the traditional route via Seshnag in late season, but was forced to return from the Wawjan Pass due to bad weather.
Walter R Lawrence mentions in Valley of Kashmir (1895) that Brahmins of Mattan joined the pilgrims to Amarnath and further up at Batkot, the Maliks used to take charge of the pilgrimage. According to Lawrence, the Maliks were supposed to keep the track in order, guide and escort the pilgrims, carry the sick, and ensure nothing was stolen.
Guru Arjan Dev is said to have granted land in Amritsar for the ceremonial departure of Chari Mubarak, the holy mace of Lord Shiva which marks the beginning of the Yatra to the Holy Cave.
In 1819, the year in which the Afghan rule came to an end in Kashmir, Pandit Hardas Tiku “founded the Chhawni (Cantonement) Amarnath at Ram Bagh in Srinagar where the Sadhus from the plains assembled and where he gave them free rations for the journey, both ways from his own private resources”, as the noted Kashmiri naturalist Pandit Samsar Chand Kaul has pointed out in his booklet titled “The Mysterious cave of Amarnath”.
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