Rishi Peer Padshah
A great Kashmiri Saint
By Dr. B.N. Sharga
Kashmir
has been regarded as the land of gods and goddesses from times immemorial. Its
rich natural resources of flora and fauna have always been a great attraction
for different people since ages. In the golden period of its history it was
considered to be an ideal place for meditation and for spiritual pursuits to
become one with the supreme being. That is why it has produced a galaxy of
saints, sages, savants, ascetics, mystics, Rishis, holymen, godmen, and Peers
etc., in different periods to guide the people on the path of truth and self
realisation to attain salvation. These spiritually enlightened persons with
supernatural powers used to command a great respect among their followers. The
Kashmiri Pandits call such holymen as Rishis whereas the converts whose
ancestors embraced Islam and became Muslims for whatever reasons call them as
Peers because worshipping any body is against the tennets of Islam. That is how
this Rishi Peer tradition came into existence in Kashmir. One such holyman
became popular as Rishi Peer in the 17th century among his very large number of
both Hindu and Muslim disciples, who used to pay their obeisance to him with
same respect and devotion.
Rishi Peer's ancestors were
originally the residents of the commercial town Sopore in the Kashmir Valley and
were rich shawl merchants. They were basically Sopori Pandits. One of his
ancestors Pt. Madhav Joo Khoshoo after completing his education left his family
trade and migrated to Srinagar for a government job. He subsiquently became a
mint officer during the reign of Mughal emperor Shahjahan (1627-1658) when Ali
Mardan Khan was the governor of Kashmir. Some Shohda having some jealousy
with this mint officer poisoned the ears of Ali Mardan Khan that the mint
officer was minting under weight gold coins to earn quick buck. Ali Mardan Khan
then summoned this mint officer to his court to find out the truth. Ali Mardan
Khan ordered the mint officer to weigh the gold coins before him. He found the
gold coins accurate in weight. Impressed by the honesty of the mint officer, he
honoured the latter with a royal khilat and a jagir. Since this
mint officer was a left hander and used to do every thing very quickly by his
left hand so he was nick named as Khoshoo meaning a left hander in the Kashmiri
language.
Shrine of Rishi Peer Padshah at Batiyar, Ali Kadal, Srinagar
This mint officer Pt. Madhav
Joo Khoshoo built a house in Batiyar mohalla near Ali Kadal for the living of
his family members. His one son Pt. Govind Joo Khoshoo, who was born around 1595
was a highly orthodox and superstitious person like many Kashmiri Pandits of his
era. He used to go to Hari Parbat daily in the morning to perform its
Parikrama and then to pay his obeisance to goddess Sharika there. Due
to his spiritual bent of mind and lack of interest in worldly affairs he had no
inclination to get married. But after great pressure from his blood relations he
agreed to tight the knot and got married in 1635 at the ripe age of 40 years
with Siddhlakshmi. As to sire a son at such an advanced age generally becomes
quite difficult biologically unless the use of modern fertility techniques is
taken, which were naturally not available then So this matured couple took
recourse to meditation to invoke cosmic power to get their wish fulfilled. The
worship of Bhadrakali with full devotion and concentration brought the
dividents and Siddhlakshmi at long last became pregnant, It was a practice among
the Kashmiri Pandits in those days that the first child should be born in the
Mata Maal i.e. in-laws place. So when the time to deliver the child came
near Siddhlakshmi was taken to Srinagar her mother's place on a boat from
Handwara according to the prevalent custom in the community. While Siddhlakshmi
was in the boat on her way to Srinagar she started having delivery pains at
Sopore and gave birth to a son in 1637 who was then named as Keshav after Lord
Krishna who was also born somewhat under the same circumstances. The bank of the
Jhelum river at Sopore where this little child Keshav was born in 1637 is still
revered as the birth place of Rishi Peer and a shrine was built there in his
memory. A large number of devotees pay their obeisance in this shrine.
This little Keshav was not an
ordinary child. He was born after invoking cosmic power. So just after his birth
it is said that a mystic yogi woke up and told his disciples that a second sun
had risen on the horizon of Kashmir, to guide all of us. The mystic came out
from his hermitage and went up to the Shikara and kissed the forehead of
Keshav and placed two gold coins in his delicate hands.
Thus on the 6th day of dark
fortnight of the Baisakh month of the Hindu calendar the great spiritual
saint of Kashmir Rishi Peer was born as Keshav with divine powers to perform
miracles. Initially he refused to suck the milk from the breasts of his mother
but when another saint Sahib Kaul explained the laws of nature to him, Keshav
started sucking the milk from the breasts of his mother without any hesitation
in a natural way.
Keshav was a very bright and
intelligent child. When he became 5 years old in 1642 his yagnopavit sanskar
was performed as per social traditions in the community. He was then admitted in
a school for his formal education. But he was more interested in spiritual
pursuits. He used to go to Hari Parbat daily with his father, who was a deeply
religious person. The ambience of the holy hill with abode of goddess Sharika
had a great impact on the mind of young Keshav and sparked the fire of
spiritualism in him. Here he came into close contact with two other enlightened
persons Naan Shah and Atma Ram and thus his journey to be one with the ultimate
divine power began. In the company of these two ascetics he built an Ashram
in Devi Aangan in front of Hari Parbat. When his parents observed that
their son was taking no interest in worldly affairs they married him with a
beautiful girl to change his mind, but their all efforts could not distract
young Keshav from the path of spiritualism. Meanwhile his father Pt. Govind Joo
Khoshoo left for his heavenly abode and his mother Siddhlakshmi then sent him to
his maternal uncle's village for studies. But he continued the same routine
there without any change.
One day when his maternal
uncle under whose care he was living went away for some work young Keshav left
the Goshi village secretly and came to Hari Parbat straight from there to
continue his spiritual pursuits. He then performed the circumbulation of Hari
Parbat on naked knees for full forty days with great devotion and succeeded in
getting darshan of goddess Sharika in flesh and blood, who blessed
him and asked for a boon Keshav humbly said I simply want a Guru who can lead
me to the ultimate truth to which the goddess Sharika replied that
the first person who will come in your way will be your Guru and then
disappeared.
The first person who came in
front of Keshav was Kishan Joo Kar a shabbily dressed fakir. Keshav paid
no attention to this fakir as he was looking for someone in the attire of
a Brahmin to make him his Guru. Kishan Joo Kar then went to Keshav's residence
and after taking a few puffs from the hubble bubble kept there told Keshav's
mother that hence on no one would use this hubble bubble till the return of
Keshav. When Keshav came back home his mother informed him about the visit of
Kishan Joo Kar. Keshav then realised that Kishan Joo Kar came to his house on
the command of goddess Sharika and made him his Guru. Keshav then took a
few puffs from the same hubble bubble and soon he went into trance and felt the
realization of the ultimate truth. He then expressed his desire to his mother to
become a saint. But his mother was not prepared to partake the company of her
only son. So to keep his mother happy Keshav then started doing deep meditation
in his own house, with great devotion and concentration.
Keshav did tapasiya
for 14½ years during which period he only took milk, honey and fruits as his
diet. After this his body started radiating a glow like sun and became a great
saint of very high spiritual order with supernatural powers to perform miracles.
The people started coming to his house in hordes to pay their obeisance to him
and he became famous as Rishi Peer all over the Valley among his large number of
followers. He became a Rishi for the Hindus and a Peer for the
Muslims of the Valley. It was then decided to offer him 14½ paise as Niyaz.
Rishi Peer had performed a
number of miracles during his life span, but it will not be possible for me to
write about all of them in this piece. In 1675 when Iftikhar Khan was the
subedar of Kashmir a big fire broke out and engulfed the entire Ali Kadal
area. When the leaping flames could not be controlled by all possible means then
the people in utter panic approached Rishi Peer for his divine help who then
threw his one wooden sandle into the fire and lo behold the fire was extinguised
within no time.
Once his mother Siddhlakshmi
expressed the desire to take her to Shadipore for a holy dip in the confluence
of Sindh and Jhelum rivers there. But due to her poor health it was not possible
for her to bear the strain of that arduous journey. To fulfill her wish Rishi
Peer brought the Harmukh Ganga on her door step. This became famous as a shrine
between the Ali Kadal bridge and Batiyar ghat.
One day a renowned Muslim
seer requested Rishi Peer to pay a visit to the former's place for a dinner.
Rishi Peer agreed on one condition that all the dishes should be prepared in
pure ghee and without any part being missing. At the appointed time mouth
watering Mughlai delicacies were served to Rishi Peer and his disciples. Rishi
Peer before taking them recited a few mantras and sprinkled some water on
them. To utter surprise of every one the cooked dishes came back to life in
original form and a cock was found with one leg. Its another leg was eaten away
by the Muslim cook while cooking. In anger Rishi Peer scolded the Muslim seer
who had invited him for the dinner for breaking his promise which would only be
compensated when he would give his own leg. Rishi Peer refused to take anything
for not fulfilling the laid down conditions and went away cursing his host.
Due to all such miracles and
Rishi Peer's various other acts of benevolence providing succour to the poor and
needy his popularity among the masses started growing very fast. The people out
of sheer reverence began to address him as Padshah or king. This development
rang the alarm bells for the subedar Saif Khan who took it as a big
challenge to his power and position. To cut Rishi Peer to size Saif Khan then
wrote a nasty letter to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb at Delhi that a person here
moves in a palanquin with thousands of his followers both Hindus and Muslims,
who claims himself to be a king. He puts a mark of his ring like a royal seal on
the orders he passes and accepts offerings according to his own sweet will. On
reading this letter Aurangzeb became red with anger and issued a royal decree to
arrest this man and to bring him to the former's court for awarding a suitable
punishment to challenge the authority of the Mughal empire. When the sepoys went
to Rishi Peer's house to arrest him for producing him before Aurangzeb at Delhi
Rishi Peer told the sepoys about his inability and requested them to come the
next morning.
The same night Aurangzeb
while sleeping in his bedroom at Delhi observed a unique phenomenon. He saw a
man approaching his bed room sitting on a lion. He became so much frightened
that his whole body started trembling. With a choked voice he asked that man
who are you. The man politely replied that I am Rishi Peer from Srinagar
whome you have summoned by your firman. Aurangzeb became so much
frightened with this awe inspiring sight that he begged for forgiveness for the
foolish act of his subedar. He asked Risi Peer to sit on the throne and
to issue a new firman in which the subedar was dictated to address
Rishi Peer as Peer Pandit Padshah, Hardul Jahan Mushkil Asan with full
respect to him. From hence on he became popular as Peer Pandit Padshah.
It is also said that Rishi
Peer had a spiritual discourse with his contemporary saint poetes's Roopa
Bhawani and some Sufis from Baghdad. When his mother Siddhlakshmi died he
dedicated everything whatever he gained in her memory. He then performed
tapasiya again for another 14 years taking only milk, honey and water to
attain salvation. Due to all this he became very weak and it became impossible
for him even to stand on his own feet. He left his mortal frame in 1697 at the
age of 60 years. His Hindu disciples took his mortal frame for consigning it in
fire, but when his Muslim disciples came to know about his death they insisted
that his body should be buried as per Muslim customs. When the tussel was going
on between these two groups over the issue of performing the last rites some
body uncovered the bier carrying the dead body and found only 27 flowers in
place of the dead body. The Muslims then went away and the Hindus consigned
those flowers in a fire on the bank of river Jhelum in Batiyar mohalla. A temple
was built at that site in his memory which still stands even today.
Rishi Peer had a son Rihanand
who also developed spiritual bent of mind under the influence of his father. The
death of Rishi Peer gave such a shock to his son Rihanand that he became an
ascetic with no interest in this materialistic world. He too started living on a
frugal diet and died around 1700 AD. He had two sons Kashi Pandit and Lal Pandit.
Kashi Pandit did not marry and became a saint whereas Lal Pandit led a happy
married life. Lal Pandit's descendants adopted the surname Peer. Why they
preferred a Muslim term Peer over the Hindu term Rishi is not clear. May
be under the influence of the majority community in the Valley they did so.
Rishi Peer and
Lucknow
The Kashmiri Pandits who
settled down at Kashmiri Mohalla in Lucknow during the Nawabi period between
1775 and 1778 had a very great admiration for Rishi Peer as their ancestors were
mostly his disciples. So when the British annexed Oudh in 1856, the Kashmiri
Pandits of Lucknow started a caste festival Rishi Peer Ka jaag in memory
of this great saint to keep their flock togather and to prevent their social
customs and traditions from the onslaught of the western way of life.
This yearly caste festival
was being organised in the Bagia of Pt. Bhola Nath Bakshi (Angoori Bagh)
on a very large scale, but it had to be abandoned in 1906 when some serious
differences cropped up in the community over its continuation. Some liberal and
progressive Kashmiri Pandits with western ideas under the leadership of Pt. Brij
Narain Chakbast dubbed this caste festival as dogmatic and emphasized the need
for bringing reforms in the community to enable it to face the fast changing
social scenario. Since then no caste festival could be organised at Lucknow on
such a massive scale till date.
Angoori Bagh
The famous Urdu poet of
Lucknow Pt. Ratan Nath Dar Sarshar composed the following couplets in the
honour of Rishi Peer as his tribute to that great saint.
Maddah-e-janab-e-Rishi Peer aiya hai
Darbar mein shahon ke fakir aiya hai
Khursheed ki aankh kyon na jhapke Sarshar
Ek zarra-e-khak-e-Kashmir aiya hai
After the mass exodus of the
Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in 1990 due to terrorist's violence a new trend
has started of building replicas of various Kashmiri shrines in different parts
of the country outside the Valley. A replica of Rishi Peer's shrine has been
built at Palora Top, in Suraksha Vihar, Jammu, whose foundation was laid by
Padma Shree Pt. Jagan Nath Kaul on 24th April, 2006. The white marble statue of
Rishi Peer was installed in this shrine on 21st March, 2008. Rishi Peer's one
wooden sandle was brought from Ali Kadal, Srinagar to be kept in this shrine as
his relic.
Before the mass exodus every
year on the birthday and nirvan divas of Rishi Peer a big Mela
used to take place at Ali Kadal. A large number of devotees used to come at this
shrine to pay their obeisance to the holy relic of Rishi Peer. Kulcha and
black seeds of Ishband after touching them with the holy relic used to be
served to the devotees as naveed. Rishi Peer left this world about three
centuries back, but the fragrence of his aura still continues. A spoon does not
know the taste of the soup, an ignorant does not know the pleasure of the
supreme bliss.
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