by Jia Lal Kilam

CHAPTER XVI
Rise of Pandit Dila Ram

TAIMUR SHAH, the eldest son of Abdali who was on the occasion of his father's death the Governor of Kandahar succeeded Abdaii to his vast Empire. Taimur Shah continued Amir Khan Jawansher as the Subedar of Kashmir and even bestowed the title of Diler lung on him - a title which of all people Amir least deserved. Amir Khan also paid his homage to Taimur Shah and made regular payment of the royal tribute for some time. But not long after Amir Khan also somehow conceived the notions of independence and stopped the payment of annual tribute and ceased all connection with Kabul. Amir Khan was of Shia pursuasion and after the declaration of his independence he encouraged the proselytisation of his faith by all fair and foul means, and also started a ruthless persecution of the Sunnies. The news about the revolt of Amir Khan took some time to reach Kabul, but as soon as the Shah was apprised of Amir Khan's revolt, he deputed Karim Dad Khan with a strong army for the conquest of Kashmir. It was not a mighty task to deal with a person of Amir Khan's calibre. The result was that Amir Khan was defeated without great effort - his supporters having forsaken him at the nick of time. Deserted by his friends and chief supporters, and with none to fall back for succour but the Hanji relations of his ill-fated wife, Amir Khan left the country leaving it to its own care.

The victorious Haji Karim Dad Khan triumphantly entered the city of Srinagar and became the Subedar in the year 1776 A. D. The people of Kashmir, having groaned sufficiently long under the tyrannical yoke of Amir Khan looked upon Haji Karim Dad Khan as a liberator. But in this it did not take them long to be undeceived. The Haji proved himself a worse tyrant than his predecessor. He had a natural aptitude for inventing new and novel methods of torture and generally regaled in the sufferings of others. In this he spared none. Rich and poor, high and low, all were made to drink from the bitter cup of his brutal caprices. Not a day would pass when a fine was not imposed upon some person on the mere suspicion that he was rich enough to pay. And the methods he adopted in realising the fines were no less ingeniously inhuman - infliction of degradation, disgrace and death being the normal methods. Taxes of a fantastic character were imposed upon people. One such tax came to be known as Zari Niaz which was levied upon the Mansabdars and Jagirdars. Zari Ashkhas was the tax imposed upon the trading classes. Zari Habubat was another sort of tax that was levied upon the Zamindars. These taxes, it may be stated here were in addition to the normal taxation. The strain of taxation fell so heavily upon the zamindars that they had to cut down their fruit bearing trees, sell them in the market as fuel to pay up the taxes. But then there were the Pandits also. How could they be left alone as a class when an orgy of loot and plunder was going on with unbridled lust and licence all round. Karim Dad Khan did not feel himself content with only those hardships which the Pandits had to suffer in common with the rest of the population. Somehow or other they had to be separated from others for receiving an additional dose of repression. Karim Dad Khan indeed adopted an ingenious method in roping them in. The Haji had a person by name Aslam Harkara in his employ whose duty it was to realise taxes from the people. Aslam was a paragon of ruthlessness and judging from his exploits the Haji could not have made a better choice. Even now numerous tales are repeated in Kashmir with horror and disgust about Aslam and his exploits. Karim Dad one day kept Aslam somewhere hidden and gave out that Aslam had been murdered and pretended to believe that the Pandits as a class were responsible for his murder, about whom he said that they were at the back of the conspiracy which resulted in Aslam's murder. This was the the signal for the arrest of almost all the Pandit notables, who were all of them placed in close confinement. All amenities of life were denied to them. Not satisfied with this alone, he huddled them up in a close cell, where he made them inhale cowdung smoke which was kept smouldering there for days together. Along with all this, Parkash Pandit Dar, brother of Kailas Dar, who was a prominent Pandit notable was put to death. After all this, it is no wonder if the Pandit notables agreed to secure their freedom on payment of a collective fine of fifty thousand rupees annually. This fine came to be be known as Zari-dud (Smoke money).

From the foregoing it has become abundantly clear that no pains were spared by the Haji in making a veritable desert of the nature's most favoured tract on earth. The result was that trade dwindled immensely, agriculture was neglected, and most people left their country in sheer disgust and settled in other parts of India and those who remained behind dragged their miserable existence more dead than alive. But then a benevolent Providence came to the succour of the people. The evil had now transgressed that limit when according to the accummulated wisdom and experience of ages good comes out invariably of it. There appeared on the political stage of the country a personality who turned a new leaf in the desolate and dreary chapter which was opened by Haji Karim Dad Khan in the history of the country. His name was Pandit Dila Ram, who was appointed as his Sahibkar by Haji Karim Dad Khan. Pandit Dila Ram was a man of a very great calibre, a giant amongst men, who combined in himself all the qualifications which go to make up a successful statesman. And Dila Ram undoubtedly proved himself as one. Firm, resolute, calm and with an abundant store of wit and humour, he held his own for a number of years against a number of unholy cliques, that naturally grow wherever the combat is fought on the plane of selfishness and against superior merit. Forster who came to Kashmir in 1783 A. D. has recorded his apreciation of Dila Ram in the following words:

"This person of the Hindu sect possessed a more liberal disposition than is usually found in an Indian though perhaps I am so much biassed by his indulgent treatment that my opinion may be thought partial. But his deportment seemed uniformly benevolent to all classes of people. With his companions he was affable and good humoured. He was humane to his domestics and he exercised with a reasonable temperance the duties of his office."

For the Kashmiri Pandits, Dila Ram came like an angel with a fresh message of life and for the country his presence brought about its rehabilitation. Thus we see that even in the Haji's regime the Pandit undid most of that mischief which was the creation of Haji himself. And in this he obviously succeeded in winning the consent of the Haji also. In the light of all that is known about the Haji, all this is a great achievement indeed. But then the Pandit proceeded with great caution, knew as he full well, that he had to conduct the affairs with a monster at the helm. Dila Ram, like a true statesman, made a full study of the existing conditions obtaining in the country. He found that the reign of terror that was started by the Haji had killed all the initiative in the people, and the world renowned industries of Kashmir, were well-nigh on the verge of destruction. The famous shawl industry was decaying. The shawl weavers left their profession in sheer disgust, for it paid them nothing in return. There was no wealth left in the country and there were no purchasers to buy the articles produced here. And what little income they made out of it that went to the coffers of the Haji in the shape of the exorbitant taxes levied by him. It is no wonder then that the shawl industry came to a standstill. But Dila Ram paid his serious attention to this. He called the shawl weavers together and by dint of various concessions made them resume their work. One of their pressing grievances was that on a single shawl they prepared, they had to pay a tax a number of times. And this was a fact As long as a shawl remained unsold; any concerned state official could realize its tax as many times as he liked for the simple reason that no receipts were issued. All the prayers and protests of the weavers went in vain. Besides this the tax itself was very exhorbitant. Dila Ram realised this hardship of the weavers. He introduced the method of affixing a dag (a stamp mark) on each shawl for which a tax was paid, in token of its payment. This came to be known later on as Dag Shawl, and the concerned department was also called by the same name. Regular accounts were kept henceforth and the possibility of undue harrasment of the poor weavers was reduced almost to a nullity. The exorbitance of the tax on shawl weavers did not escape his attention. He reduced the tax to an anna per rupee of the sale price. All this had the desired effect. The shawl weavers freed from the yoke of unbearable taxation and the harrasment of the tax-collectors devoted themselves to their art with great zest and the industry flourished day by day.

Having dealt with the shawl industry Pandit Dila Ram turned his attention towards the general welfare of the people as a whole. The agricultural conditions obtaining in the country had greatly deteriorated. There was no incentive for the peasantry to take to land, groaning as they were under the burden of a heavy taxation. Pandit Dila Ram abolished all those unnecessary taxes that had made the life of the peasantry unbearable. All the taxes such as Zari Niaz, Zari Habubat and Rasadat were abolished. In order to create a zeal in the famished and half star ved peasantry the Pandit fixed the share of the Government in the produce of land at one-fourth. Besides this gigantic irrigation schemes were introduced and worked. The rehabilitation of the country was almost complete and Nature seemed to smile gracefully once again upon the unhappy people of the Happy Valley.

Haji Karim Dad having been freed from the anxieties of his own creation turned his attention towards extending his frontiers. He made an attack upon Iskardu and won a victory there. The news was received with much eclat at Kabul and Taimur Shah bestowed the title of Shuja Ulmulk upon the Haji. Raja Ranjit Deo of Jammu made an attack upon Kashmir during these very days, but he was defeated and repulsed back with great loss. The Kanths, whose propensity for intrigue was unbounded, were suspected of having invited the Raja for the conquest of Kashmir, with the active connivance of certain Bomba and Khokha chieftains. His vendetta against the Kanths was terrible. They were simply exterminated root and branch. A number of them were massacred and many more were flung into jail. At the same time he deputed Tar Qulikhan with a huge army to chastise the Khokha and Bomba chieftains. But he returned back discomfitted. His defeat was ascribed to his inefficiency resulting in his murder.

Thus ended Haji Karim Dad's regime - a Haji in name but a veritable monster in his actions. During the closing years of his rule a devastating earthquake took place in Kashmir to which were added the rigours of a severe cold wave which passed over the whole country. Rivers including the Jhelum and all lakes were frozen and the sufferings of the people were beyond measure. In the year 1783 A. D. the Haji laid down the reigns of his office, and left them in the hands of his son Azad Khan to carry on the administration of the country.