by Jia Lal Kilam

CHAPTER XV
Murder of Kailas Dar

KHURRAM KHAN succeeded in installing himself as the Subedar for the second time in the year 1770 A. D. In this his sole supporter, guide and friend, was nobody but Kailas Dar. But Khurram Khan was of a very weak clay. The weakest spot in his character was his opportunism which resulted in his unfaithfulness towards his own loyal friends who counted no sacrifice as too great in furthering his cause. Kailas Dar was one of them. Not only did the Pandit leave his hearth and home and his dear ones behind to bear company to Khurram at such a distant place as Kabul, but also helped him in no small measure in retrieving his lost honour. But how does Khurram Khan repay him the debt of gratitude under which he was placed by the Pandit? Kailas Dar was the rightful claimant for the post of the Prime Minister. He had by his services proved himself fully worthy of Khurram Khan's trst. But on his part Khurram Khan proved himself devoid of that human virtue which demands of a person fidelty to one's loyal friends. Khurram Khan appointed Mir Hassan Kanth as his Peshkar, knowing fully well the enmity that existed between the Kanths and the Pandit.

This greatly impaired the dignity and the prestige of Kailas Dar, but Khurram Khan had to pay a dearer price for his perfidious conduct towards one who did not hesitate to stake all to raise him up from the mire of disgrace to which he had fallen by his own actions. Hassan Kanth was a novice in the art of Government. The result was that disorder again set in the country, which neither the Kanth nor Khurram Khan could cope with. Lal Mohammad Khan was unsubdued and he became a terror for the villages which adjoined his fort. After much shilly-shallying Amir Khan Jawansher who was the head of the army was sent to suppress him but his campaign failed and he returned back without achieving anything. After Jawansher's discomfiture Lal Mohammad was further emboldened and he took his marauding expeditions right into the heart of the city of Srinagar. He looted and laid waste the Parganas of Bangil and Beru. But Amir Khan laid the blame for his discomfiture solely upon the vacillating and weak policy of Khurram Khan and his Peshkar, and submitted a formal complaint before Abdali against both of them. As a result Khurram Khan was deposed and in his stead A mir Khan Jawansher himself was appointed as the Subedar of the province in the year 1771 A. D. Khurram Khan fallen into disgrace, left Kashmir - a care-worn and unhappy person, who thereafter was to be heard no more in history.

Amir Khan Jawansher was an indolent and ease loving person and preferred luxuries of a rich harem to devoting himself to the administrative affairs of the country. He appointed Mir Fazil Kanth as his Madar-ul-miham and virtually delegated all the administrative functions to him. Lal Mohammad Khan who was unsubdued again raised the standard of rebellion, and plundered the town of Magam. His brother Saifulla made an attack upon Srinagar and set fire to the magnificent palaces of Sukh Jiwan situate at Zaldragar in Srinagar. After a few skirmishes; Lal Mohammad Khan died a natural death and with him died his infructuous rebellion. All opposition gone, Amir Khan reverted back to his luxurious ways of life with a redoubled vigour. He built an artificial island in the Dal Lake and laid a magnificent garden with palatial buildings. He also built a palace and a fort on the banks of Jhelum and named it Sher Ghar after his own name. Besides this he constructed the Amira Kadal bridge.

While Amir Khan was busy with his own affairs, Mir Fazil Kanth also made an unbridled use of the powers that were delegated to him. How could he leave the Panlits alone ? Old scars were revived, and the old quarrel between Mir Muqim and Kailas Dar was to be settled. It has already been stated here that the Kanths were one and all under the impression that Kailas Dar was at the back of Mir Muqim's murder, and all these years the Kanths were one after another projecting and planning the destruction of the Pandit. But the great influence that the Pandit wielded and the vast powers that he possessed, left him unscathed. It were, rather the Kanths who were obliged to remain in exile. But, thanks to the ill-starred and unwise step taken by Khurram Khan, Kailas Dar was flung to the background. This greatly impaired the Pandit's prestige and power wllich afforded a propitious time for Fazal Kanth to wreak his time-worn vengeance. Amir Khan was consulted and he, it appears, gave his fullest consent to the outrageous act that was soon to follow. On the fateful day Kailas Dar was sitting in the Darbar Hall, when he was abruptly accosted by the vindictive Kanth and felled on the floor. The Pandit thus taken by surprise, could offer no resistance and before he could collect himself the Kanth unsheathed his sword and struck him dead then and there. His dead body was cast unceremoniously into the river Jhelum flowing close by. Not content with this, the Kanth ordered a search for the Pandit's house people. But somehow or other they took scent of the impending danger and prepared for a secret flight, " All of them men, women and children including Mahanand Dar who at one time was the Prime Minister of Sukh Jiwan secretly left the country and took refuge in the inaccessible mountain fastnesses of Poonch.'' Other Pandit notables also left the country and some of them along with Gobind Pandit Dar reached Kabul and stayed there in wait for better times. Thus died Kailas Var, unsung, unwept and unmourned - a collosal figure in the history of Kashmir who more than once changed the course of its history. The Pandit was a man of great courage, fortitude and resourcefulness. He was a great Persian scholar. Even in the unsettledness that characterised the days he lived in, he found time to lay his offering at the shrine of the Muse. He wrote exquisite Persian verses with real poetic merit about them.

With Kailas Dar dead, and the other Pandit notables living in exile in far off places, the Pandits were reduced to the lowest pitch of humiliation and distress. Without support and disorganised as they were, a terrible demoralization crept into their ranks and it came to be believed then that their days were numbered. But then it was not destined to be so. Amir Khan sunken into debaucheries of a degraded character took a bride from amongst the Hanji clan living at Nandpura, a village on the banks of Dal Lake. He got himself surrounded by the caste fellows of his wife, who made themselves a terror for all. Disorder became rampant on all fours. The affairs went on in such an unsettled manner, when the news reached Srinagar about the death of Abdali who died in the year 1772 A. D.