by Jia Lal Kilam

CHAPTER XII
Sukh Jiwan's Meteoric Career

SUKH JIWAN a native of Gujrat was serving in the Army of Ahmad Shah Abdali when he was deputed to serve under Aqasi in his Kashmir campaign. Aqasi appointed him as Sahibkar to Abdulla Khan Kabuli. But, as already stated, Sukh Jiwan soon after assumed the reins of the office of the Subedarship and appointed Abul Hassan Bandey as his Prime Minister. For some time Sukh Jiwan carried on Government in the name of Abdali. Ahmad Shah Abdali too did not deem it expedient to take any serious action against Sukh Jiwan and even issued an appointment order to him. For some time the affairs were carried on smoothly when Abdali made a peremptory demand for a huge sum of money, over and above the annual tribute. Sukh Jiwan could ill afford to fulfil this demand. The people of Kashmir were already impoverished beyond measure, and any further burden on them would have meant the complete ruination of the country. The result was that Sukh Jiwan refused to comply with this order. This left him no other alternative but to declare his independence which he did. After this Sukh Jiwan set himself in right earnest in giving relief to the people, and the first step that he took in this direction was to establish a strong Government. He strengthened the frontiers and made it penal for the frontier people to allow any Pathan to cross the frontier. Besides this he organised the army on a sound footing, and imported Sikhs and Sansis from the Punjab and enlisted them in his army. Troops were also raised from the Frontier Muslim tribes. A terrible famine occured in Kashmir during these very days. Various measures were adopted by him to successfully cope with the calamity. He ordered a census of the whole population of Srinagar and on this basis he issued ration slips to the people. The names of the inmates of a household were noted on the Ration Slips and these were issued to the head of the household. The rations were supplied to the people from State granaries at the rate of one anna a seer. To the peasantry he made a Taqavi grant of a lac of kharwars of paddy for seeds. He after all, succeeded in establishing a settled and a humane Government which stood in such a glaring contrast to the chaotic conditions which prevailed before him, that the people without any distinction of creed or caste gathered under his banner.

The news that Raja Sukh Jiwan had declared his independence, made Abdali furious. Again did he depute Aishaq Aqasi with a considerable force to effect the conquest of Kashmir. Sukh Jiwan also made mighty preparations to meet his formidable foe. A prominent Khukhal chief Beera Khan cast his lot on the side of Sukh Jiwan. Aishaq Aqasi- elated with his former success, started a whirl-wind compaign, unmindful of consequences. But at Hyderabad, a village near Srinagar, he was offered a stout resistance by Sukh Jiwan. The battle lasted some time, resulting in a complete discomfiture for the Afghans. Aqasi flea from the field, leaving behind him a number of his soldiers either dead or prisoners in the hands of Sukh Jiwan. Sukh Jiwan returned to Srinagar, an independant and a victorious ruler and was given a right royal reception by the people.

But all was not to go well with Kashmir. Mir Muqim who was all these years biding time at Kabul having learnt of the Afghan discomfiture at the hands of Sukh Jiwan, thought it useless to wait any longer at Kabul, and started for Kashmir. On arrival there, he found his former power and influence gone, to regain which he could trust in nothing better than his favourite weapon of intrigue. In a short while he succeeded in bringing about a rupture in the harmonious relations that existed till then between Sukh Jiwan and his Prime Minister Abul Hassan Bandey. The result was that Abul Hassan was sent to prison and Mir Muqim was appointed in his stead in the year 1757 A. D. But Mir Muqim could not maintain his position for more than a year. His intrigue came to the light of the day with the result that he was himself sent to prison. Abul Hassan again came to power, but this time his career was quite short lived. Sukh Jiwan had gone out on a military campaign towards Sialkot, but in his absence the Bomba tribes rose in rebellion. Abul Hassan who was in charge of affairs in his absence, failed to suppress the rising Sukh Jiwan hurried back from his Sialkot campaign and having suppressed the rising dispensed with the services of Abul Hassan who was suspected of treachery, not without good reason. Mir Muqim again succeeded in getting his former appointment. In the meantime Mir Khan Khuka raised the standard of revolt and Sukh Jiwan went in person to quell down the rising. Abul Hassan Bandey, chafing under the wrong which he perhaps believed was done to him unmeritingly, took advantage of Sukh Jiwan's absence and rose in rebellion. Having destroyed all the bridges of the Srinagar city, he drew all the boats to his side and waited for Sukh Jiwan. It did not take much time for Sukh Jiwan to suppress the rising, but the happenings of the past one or two years, left him no other alternative but that of chalking out a new policy for future. Ever since Mir Muqim's return the whole country had become a hotbed of intrigue and the whole politics of the country had resolved itself into a continuous game of seesaw between the two rival Muslim courtiers. He decided to put a stop to this game, and in pursuance thereof he ousted both Mir Muqim and Abul Hassan from all positions of power and made his choice from the Kashmiri Pandits and appointed Pandit Mahanand Dar, a Kashmiri Pandit notable, as his Prime Minister.

Pandit Mahanand Dar was a person of great tact and resourcefulness, and fully justified the choice which his master made in appointing him as Prime Minister. The intriguers having been made powerless for the time being, there ensued a lull in the war storms that had broken with so much frequency in the near past, and with the assistance of the Pandit, Sukh Jiwan betook himself to the task of setting right his administration. Various measures were adopted for the betterment of the lot of the peasantry. Many beneficent projects of a public utility were undertaken. Learning was greatly patronised. Poetry was encouraged. Sukh Jiwan who himself wrote exquisite poetry took a lively interest in poetical symposiums. All this bespeaks an era of peace which again seemed to dawn upon the country, after Sukh Jiwan had utilised the co-operation of his Pandit Prime Minister. Some Muslim historians accuse Pandit Mahanand Dar of inimical tendencies towards the Muslims and in their support they state that it was at his suggestion that cow - killing was made an offence by Sukh Jiwan. But inspite of what the later day historians may have to say, the popularity of Pandit Mahanand Dar with the Muslims was certainly at a very high level. He had adopted measures of a most beneficent character for the amelioration of the lot of the masses. This could not but make him rise in the people's estimation and his popularity with the Muslims can be gauged from the following Persian verses that were addressed by a contemporary poet, Mohammad Jan Beg to Sukh Jiwan, in which reference is made to the Pandit in most glowing terms:

Kar Pardazi tu Mahanand ast
Anki hast az qabilai- Dar ha
Me numai banami o tankha
Naqd o jins o barat u chakar ha
Guft dar babi justane rozi
Saadi agah az mukkadar ha
Rizik har chand be guman birasad
Sharti aql ast justan az Dar ha

"Mahanand, who comes from the clan
of the Dars is your Chief Minister;
you have rightly made him master
of all cash, kind and administration,
Saadi who is well versed in reading
the mysterious working of the decrees
of Fate, has said, that God certainly
gives bread to all, but the condition
that one has to fulfil is that he must
possess wisdom, and then seek it from Dars."

Even after Sukh Jiwan's fall both Pandit Mahanand Dar and his cousin Pandit Kailas Dar maintained their former position of prestige and power. This could never have been possible if their actions were characterised by a spirit of bigotry. That would have naturally made them lose the support of masses which they had gained in the past, and but for which they would have sunken into oblivion with no claims on history to mention their achievements.

But the independent rule of Sukh Jiwan assisted by a Pandit Prime Minister was more than the powerful Muslim upper classes could tolerate. So when they found all their former prestige and power gone, they could not be expected to sit idle. Fresh conspiracies were hatched up by them, and this time they succeeded in making a tool of a Balkhi prince who having been expelled from his own country, was enjoying the hospitality of Sukh Jiwan for a number of years. The prince made a most cowardly attack upon the person of the Raja and wounded him seriously. He no doubt paid the price of the dastardly outrage with his life, but naturally enough this brought in its train a general disorder. The opportunity was at once seized by the conspirators who again extended an invitation to Abdali. Nurud-Din Khan Bamezai, a veteran General in the army of Abdali, was deputed this time to effect the conquest of Kashmir. Sukh Jiwan also made mighty preparation to meet him and waited for him near Cheraudar on Tosa Maidan side. But just when the battle was on, the Commander of his forces Bakhat Mal, a Hindu, joined the other side. This disheartened the Raja. He left the field, but was soon caught while running away. His eyes were taken out and was later imprisoned.

Sukh Jiwan was a brave man with a rare capacity for organisation. Judging from the standard of the times, his methods were both humane and just. His name is even now a household word in Kashmir where good old people are seen making reference in their daily parlance to"Waqti Sukhju" meaning thereby " the good old days of Sukh Jiwan." His reign came to an end in the year 1762 A. D. Henceforth the real Afghan Rule begins in Kashmir.