Finding a Land of Their Own

Author and critic Manju Kak is tracing the origins of Kashmiri Pandits through a photo documentation

Written by Vandana Kalra

August 5, 2013 12:03 AM IST

4 min read

Their turbulent past is known,but not their faces. Once residents of the pristine valley,they were left homeless,alone to carve their own fate. Now,author and critic Manju Kak is tracing their origins. Sifting through a huge collection of photo archives,she has shortlisted a few hundred to depict the lives and fates of Kashmiri Pandits and their glorious past. He has an interesting story, she says,looking at the photograph of a man in traditional Kashmiri attire,complete with a cap. This man,Mohanlal Kashmiri,is the grandson of Raja Mani Ram Zutshi,a court advisor of Emperor Shah Alam whose ancestral land was seized by the British. Mohanlal,however,adapted to the new rules. He acted like a Britisher and worked for them. He impressed them so much that he travelled to England and got an audience with the queen. But when he came home,he was rejected by his own community, says Kak.

Mohanlal will occupy a frame with hundreds more Kashmiri Pandits in an exhibition titled Kashmiri Pandits A Vintage Album that will open at India International Centre in Delhi on August 6. The display will go back to the legends. According to the Kashmiri Purana (ancient text),Nilamata,Rishi Kashyap and Lord Vishnu drained out a huge water body covering the Kashmir Valley and repopulated the new land with people chosen by Kashyap. Kak moves from the legend to Kashmiri Pandits who were forced out of their homeland. She adds,When they migrated to the Northern plains,they easily adapted to the cultures they inhabited.

The chronology stops with Indias Independence. Before that,however,the panels introduce the Kashmiri Pandits settled in Delhis Bazaar Sita Ram. The ebbing of Mughal power led several of them to move to princely states such as Ferozepur,Patiala,Jaipur and Ratlam. Several of them occupied important posts: if Atma Ram Kitchlu was in the Mughal army,Pandit Shanker Nath Zutshi was a renowned poet and scholar. They were spread across different cities,yet a close-knit community, says Kak,pointing out how Babu Bihari Lal Pandit was a prominent landlord in Orissa,and that his family still maintains the Jagannath Temple of Puri. Ram Narain Dar was the first judge to the Chief Court of Lahore,and prominent lawyer Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru was called for constitutional reforms.

Kak divides the display into various segments,including panels documenting the history,and thematically,putting together poets,men in traditional dresses and those who participated in the freedom struggle. Some faces are more familiar,including that of Jawaharlal Nehru with his father,Vijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit as an eight-year-old,and Pandit Nain Sukh,a famous miniature painter.

In the process of tracing the history of Kashmiri Pandits,Kak also traced her own. It was her desire to revisit the Kashmiri Mohalla in Lucknow that she had visited as a kid,which led her on the quest. During my visit to Lucknow a few years ago,I realised that the mohalla does not exist any more. The streets are named differently,with few Kashmiris still there. Among them,Dr BN Sharga,who is more than 80 years old,is trying to document this rich history of the small community, says Kak.

This photo documentation is a tribute to the past of a resilient community, she adds.

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kashmiri pandits