Padi Samyik - A Treatise
"I feel the instinctive vibration of the earth and visualise my
'connect' with the terra-firma',
said MF Hussain once, when asked, 'why does he
walk bare-footed? After reading Majboor Saheb's
book 'Padi Samyik', I feel he has laid his 'padi' (bare feet) firmly on the eons of
Kashmir history in a unique manner, demonstrating
amply his 'innate vibrations' and his 'inalienable
connect' with his mother-land, Kasheer. Medium of
expression may be different but, euphemistically
speaking the inspiration is the same.
'Padi Samyik' (The foot prints of time) is a 'Kaveya' written in
nine Sargas (chapters).
It starts with the turmoil in
Kashmir and goes into imaginary world to trace the
early days of the man in Kashmir. The two
characters which narrate the whole 'longer' poem
are Sangur (The top of a hill) and the Sangarmal
(The early Prakasha seen in wee hours of the day
on the circular range of high mountains
surrounding the Valley.
The characters meet at a crystal clean vast spring. They begin to
love each other and make their home under a very
big stone, which covers their house hold. They get
the experience of living from the nature, their
hands and brain. Once the 'Sangur' goes to
a forest for hunting, he is caught by some alien
Tribal people. They beat him up and keep him in
custody for the night. His beloved is frightened
when her lover does not return till late. She
weeps and wails. In the morning "Sangur" is
taken to the Sardar of the tribe. He falls under
his feat and requests him not to kill him,
moreover he has done no harm to them. He is
released and runs to his beloved. She is full of
joy when she sees him alive.
After that comes the story of birth of
Kashmir Valley - Running of various rivers,
settlements in the hilly areas, Coming of various
people to Kashmir from Central Asia and Aryans
from the Ganges and Sindh Valleys.
There are about nine capitals of
Kashmir which were constructed by various kings.
These are Puranadisthan (now Pandrenthan),
Pravarpur, Shrinagri (Shri is the first name of
Vitasta), Awantipur, Nowshahar, Nagarnagar,
Inderkoot, and Parihaspur. These have been
described briefly. The main historic places have
been pinpointed. Coming of various religions,
philosophies and there mixing has been poetically
described.
Last chapters describe the beauty of various bountiful seasons of
Kashmir, especially the glow, breeze and abundance
of self-grown flowers in spring. Coming of
visitors in summer season which too is pleasant
and attractive.
All the famous fairs and some festivals during these seasons have
also been picturized. The Autumn is covered with
golden colour, the fields are ripe, the red colour
and sweet juice seen in various fruits of
Kashmir. The Valley presents a look like a queen
having decorated her body with various ornaments.
The winter of
Kashmir
too has its own colour and charm. The life in
Kashmir
during winter has been pictured with words which
give a poetic colour to the nicities and
difficulties of this season.
In the end the poet says that in the words of keats "when the
winter comes, can spring be far behind.”
The versification of 'Padi Samyik' is embellished with the
vignettes of similes, onomatopoeic, metaphors,
alliterations and above all free-flowing usage of
'personification', which not only 'elevates the
thought-process, but also lends grace and
sublimity to the content. The sensitive poet has
used his wordplay in weaving the fabric of various
patterns of
Kashmir, presenting a Kaleidoscopic picture of the
Valley.
thokmut, tshyonmut, sangrav rochhmut
akh lolu hota pev vatith ot
dalas manz balu thang vathimut chhi shranas
kulev volmut sabuz vardan chhu panas
shod saph sarah akh son dyuthun
mudyah kamas tay prazunovun
bihith singasanas badnas valith tos
karan os razusi gatul sethah os
As a chronicler Majboor Saheb has traced the history of Satisar (Kashmir)
from the 'Treaty between Nagas and Pishachas' in
the prehistoric times, as documented in the 'Neelmat
Purana'. Then he menders us through the annals of
our history unfolding the noble and the wicked,
the munificent and the treacherous, the tolerant
and the bigoted, the liberal and the illiberal
reign of the rulers of the host of dynasties which
ruled Kashmir from time to time. One could,
perhaps, read Kalhan, Hassan or Bamzai to delve
into the chronicle records of Kashmir. But the
peculiarity of Majboor Saheb's 'Padi Samyik'
(history of Kashmir) is that he touches such
topics, which historians either skip or treat
superficially; like rites, rituals, vegetables
(common then, forgotten now like sotsal, nunar,
lisu, hak), costumes and crops etc.
Talking about the costumes, one knows that women of
Kashmir have all along been presented wearing the
Muslim costume. Here is some one, who has potrayed
sartorially elegant costume of Panditani:
zananan ari taranga sheri asan
kalas kalposh, anzul zuj shuban
saraph chale timan putsah avezan
pheran nalas khoran pulhar lagan
hatis hanzrah, hale lungyah zabar jan
bilay achh asu tihunzay zun zotan
How can one forget savouring 'makayi vachi' with 'dungoji'?
pinglah, sholah, makayah mith katsah
vachen mechhar tu pal pal dun gujah
Post-exodus many a poet have given vent to the poignancy they
suffered in the 'tandav' of militancy, but
Majboor Saheb's anguish at the 'demonic dance'
unleashed by the militants has lacerated his
sensitive soul that every verse of the first 'Sarag'
of his book 'Padi Samyik' is
'sigh and cry'. The poet's deep pain is unplugged
at the turn of the events which has ravaged his
beloved 'Kasheer', with fire and sword.
Enveloped by the fear-psychosis, Majboor recounts how people,
nearly paralysed, turned mute spectators on seeing
spectre of destruction all around. He seems
particularly appalled at the apathetic attitude of
neighbours, who till yestreday were his
concomitants and swore by each other. Dismayed and
shaken, he could not bear the emotional distress
of mass exodus of his community members who were
compelled to abandon their homes and hearths and
seek refuge in alien and inhospitable land. He
sighed:
garuch vath sopnu mayaye chhi garan
panun olah vopar jayan chhi tsharan
Being peace-loving by nature, Majboor Saheb has given more space to
the tolerant Brahminical thought and influence of
benevolent Muslim preceptors who arrived in
Kashmir
in early 14th Century, which gave birth to much
envied synergy now called 'Kashmiriyat':
reshav sophev revayath thav kayim
rutsar prath kansi kanchhun rud lazim
Even after the perdition that shook Kashmir, the optimistic streak
of Majboor Saheb looks solicitously for peace and
harmony to return to his 'resh var' and he
makes 'Biblical' wish 'follow peace with all men'
and entreats people thus:
kariv kanh pay yinu gatshi ha yi resh var
me nazran dag azabas lusmuts kar
Majboor Saheb is thoroughly disgusted with post independence
dispensation of governance. He thought, with
independence all the wounds inficted upon us by
the various regimes would be healed by our own
democratically elected government, but alas!
khabar asi as gayi azad sari
gulami hund balan von dad sari
ama tarze hakumath kyazi pronuy
andur kin tshots nebur kyah nundubonuy
Denoucing, the games played by the politicians, as a scourge of the
society, the poet laments:
agar zar chhuy tu teli mushkil gatshi hal
pakan kakaz hava bar zore botal
chhu asan val sund prath kanh gulamah
chhe ma khali athav neran kamah
Cursing even now prevalent corruption in all the walks of life, the
poet sighs:
siyasatuken dukanan phand bazi
chhi hathiyaran hevan az kam sari
dyutukh naru tu mulkas chhuy lagan nar
phakath votuk tsovapari chhu bapar
Majboor Saheb feels that he is really helpless
(majboor) to live in an alien land, for he
misses the snow-capped mountains, rustle of the
chinars, the sheen of turquoise lakes, the
fragrance of 'bradmushk and 'yamburzal'
the mouth-watering viands of his Kasheer and
above all his social intercourse with his friends
of yore. What a regret to live with!
'Padi Samyik'
is a book for all times and for ages - for the
contemporaneous to evoke their nostalgia and for
the posterity to know their roots.
*The author is a well-known writer, based in Mumbai. He contributes
regularly to Milchar, the publication of Kashmiri
Pandit Association, Mumbai. He has also authored
an anthology of short stories - Kenh Non Kenh Son.
Source: Kashmir
Sentinel
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