by Jia Lal Kilam

CHAPTER XXIII
Pandits and End of Afghan Rule

AZIM KHAN received the stipulated sum of money from Mirza Pandit and was naturally happy over the whole affair. In token of his pleasure and also to wash off the bitter memory of his complicity in a base conspiracy against the Pandits, he appointed Mirza Pandit, Birbar Dar and Sukh Ram Safaya, three leading Pandits as the revenue collectors. All went well for some time when fresh intrigues came to be hatched. The ignominous fall of a prominent Muslim notable like Nur Shah at the hands of Mirza Pandit, was too bitter a pill for other Muslim notables to swallow. But yet for the time being they were impotent to do anything effective. Naturally they bided their time.

It transpired that as Revenue Collector a sum of a lac of rupees remained due from Pandit Birbar Dar. This sum could not be realized from the zamindars as due to a bad weather a major portion of the crops had remained unripe. But the Subedar perhaps under the pressure exerted upon him by some interested people from behind the scenes, pressed hard upon Pandit Birbar to make the payment. Birbar argued and argued to his best power and merit that the failure of the crops was no fault of his and that the zamindars could not be forced to make a payment which was beyond their means; but with all this, he failed to make an effect upon the mind of the Subedar. At last in sheer exasperation he spoke at the face of the Subedar in open Durbar when the latter was surrounded by his courtiers and others:

Ma Khamiye fasl az khudai
shuma Mujra megiram."

" Am I to get credit for the failure of crops from your God.''

This insult flung at the face of the Subedar was more than he could bear, but yet dared not take any drastic action. The demand upon Pandit Birbar was continued and one hundred Qazlibashes (soldiers) where deputed to his house for securing the payment from him. There was a general consternation amongst the Pandits. They had not forgotten the reprisals which Azim had taken against them on a mere suspicion that they were connected with the Sikh invasion. What were they to do ? It seemed that Azim Khan was out to ruin them. A secret meeting was held by them which was attended by almost all the Pandit notables. It was resolved in the meeting that Maharaja Ranjit Singh be invited to effect a conquest of the country. It was also settled that Pandit Birbar accompanied by his minor son Raja Kak shall secretly run away to Lahore and present to the Sikh ruler a petition signed by the Pandit notables by which, an invitation was extended to him to occupy Kashmir. TheSubedar did somehow get scent about the intentions of Pandit Birbar, and he inquired of Mirza Pandit, if Birbar had proposed flight from the country. Mirza Pandit denied the truth underlying his suspicions and even stood surety for Birbar's stay in Kashmir. Subedar thus satisfied, Mirza Pandit went to Birbar and told him that time was ripe for his flight and any further delay will spell ruin. In consequence Birbar left Srinagar along with his minor son Pandit Raja Kak and having stayed at Deosar for sometime, he effected a secret flight and crossed the Pir with the help of the local Muslim Maliks. The news about his flight could not remain a secret for long and in due course reached the Subedar also. Pursuit parties were organized and sent after Pandit Birbar but they returned back unsuccessful. Attention was turned towards the Maliks who had kelped Birbar to cross the Pir Panchal pass. Some of the Maliks were killed, their houses were burnt to ashes and their property looted. But all this went in vain. Pandit Birbar safely crossed the pass. Mirza Pandit was summoned. And the dialogue that ensued between them is given here in extenso:

Subedar: Where is Birbar ?
Mirza Pandit: I do not know.
Subedar: I hear that he has run away.
Mirza Pandit: May be that he has run away.
Subedar: What will he do if he has run away.
Mirza Pandit: If he feels disgusted with the world's ways, he might turn a recluse and go to Ganga to practise his austerities there, or else he will bring the Sikhs on you.
Subedar: What do you advise ?
Mirza Pandit: Killing of Mirza Pandit.
Subedar: What about the money due from Birbar ?
Mirza Pandit: Debit it in the name of Mirza Pandit.

This dialogue is given verbatim from Hassan's history which was written a little less than a century ago and is fully corroborated by other historians. At the time Hassan wrote his history, there must have been many people living who were eye witnesses to all this.

But far from being satisfied with these answers, the answers only added fire to the burning rage of the Subedar. He was totally upset and in sheer exasperation he began to plan fresh reprisals against Pandit Birbar Dar and his family. Birbar having gone away beyond his reach, the Subedar turned his attention towards his lady-folk. A search was made for his wife and daughter-in-law but no trace of them could be found anywhere. The Pandits had already foreseen the fate which would befall upon these two ladies after Birbar's flight and they were therefore kept concealed in the house of a trusted Muslim gentleman, Qadus Gojwari. The Subedar could not bear all this. He caught hold of Pandit Basa Kak 'Harkara Bashi' to trace them out. Pandit Basa Kak knew the place where the ladies were hiding but he refused point blank to divulge the secret. All sorts of conceivable tortures were practised upon Pandit Basa Kak. For nine days he was made to pay a fine of nine thousand rupees, as a penalty for his refusal to trace the ladies. On the tenth day his belly was ripped open and he was killed in a most ruthless manner. But yet the ladies could not be found. However the secret could not remain a secret for long. The ladies were traced in Qadus Gojwari's house. Soldiers were deputed to bring them. The ladies were caught. Pandit Birbar's wife swallowed a piece of diamond on her way to Sherghari which was the seat of the Government. The ladies were produced before Azim Khan. Pandit Birbar's wife thunderd out at the face of Azim Khan that the cruel tortures to which she and other Pandits were being subjected would have its effect one day and the result would be the end of Afghan rule. She had not yet finished when she fell dead on the floor due perhaps to the effects of diamond which she had swallowed. The younger lady was forcibly converted to Islam and handed over to some Afghan notable, who carried her to Kabul.

But all this was useless, when compared to the successes which Pandit Birbar was achieving in his mission. After he had fled from Kashmir, some more Pandits secretly followed him. They all reached Jammu. Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu received them well, and gave them an introductory letter to his brother Dhian Singh who was then the Prime Minister of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Least did Raja Gulab Singh know then that the drama that was being enacted then on the soil of Kashmir and in which the Kashmiri Pandits were the chief actors was designed by an inscrutable providence onty to pave the path for his mastery over this land. Pandit Birbar through the kind offices of Raja Dhian Singh, and the help he received from Kashmiri Pandit notables at the Sikh Ruler's Court got an audience with the Sikh Ruler and laid before him the petition of the Kashmiri Pandits, and further apprised him of all the happenings in Kashmir. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, as has already been noticed in these pages, had met with a complete discomfiture in his previous Kashmir campaign and was therefore not willing to embark upon a fresh campaign about the sequel of which he was not very sure. But he succumbed before the advocacy of Pandit Birbar and other Pandits and ordered the organization and equipment of a considerable force, but not without making Birbar stand a surety for any mishap or loss that might befall upon the army and for t.his purpose asked him to leave his only son Pandit Raja Kak, who was a minor, behind as a hostage . To all this Pandit Birbar consented.

Azim Khan was all the time, when Pandit Birbar was negotiating with the Sikh Chief, busy tormenting those Pandits whom he suspected of being in Birbar's confidence. Many Pandit notables were detained in a concentration camp at Nishat Bagh. But when the news reached that Birbar was successfully negotiating with the Sikh Ruler, he lost all nerve and sought advice from Pandit Sahaj Ram Dar. The Pandit pointed out to him the disaster which lay ahead of him, and in particular advised him to send off his harem to Kabul which was the only way to save them from that fate which Azim Khan had meted out to the wife and daughter-in-law of Pandit Birbar. In this the Pandit stood in a glaring contrast to those Muslim notables who by their ill advised counsel goaded Azim Khan. against the Pandits and brought disaster on his head.

Forlorn and foresaken by all, and disgusted with his own methods, Azim Khan made a request to Pandit Sahaj Ram to accompany the ladies of his house-hold to Kabul. Sahaj Ram readily acceded to his request and escorted his ladies to Kabul and also carried his property consisting of cash and other articles to that place.' Sahaj Ram returned from Kabul and in due course Azim Khan also left the country, leaving the reins of the country's rule in the hands of his brother Jabbar Khan whose career was both shortlived and ignominous. On his way to Kabul Azim took Pandit Suraj Tiku son of Pandit Haradas with himself with the hope that some money may be forced out of him. But having failed to get anything out of him, he put the Pandit to death near Baramulla.

But to return to Birbar. Birbar having consented to all the conditions which Maharaja Ranjit Singh had iaid, an army of 30,000 strong under the command of such veteran Generals as Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu, Hari Singh Nalwa, Sardars Jawala Singh, Hukum Singh and Sham Singh was sent along with him. Jabbar Khan also collected a strong army to meet Pandit Birbar and his Sikh supporters. The Sikh army encamped at Sidhaw, a Karewa near Shopyan and Jabbar Khan went via Chrar Sharif, where a coloured piece of cloth was tied round his turban as a mark of good omen. The Sikh Generals having heard of the approach of the Afghan forces, ordered a march, and also began to study the enemy forces with binoculars. Sardar Phul Singh who saw a Pathan riding a horse with something strange tied round his turban, inquired of Birbar Dar, as to who this strange person was. Birbar saw him throught he binocular and at once recognized him as Jabbar Khan. Phul Singh aimed his gun at him, and wounded him in his thigh. He would have fallen from his horse but for the timely help he received from a faithful servant of his who kept him tied with the horse. There was a general consternation and the Afghan army fell back in a melee. Some of them left the ccuntry along with Jabbar Khan who died at Baramulla and others went into hiding and many more were killed. On 20th of June 1819 A. D. Pandit Birbar Dar and his valiant band of the Pandits along with the Sikh army made a triumphant entry into the city of Srinagar, and demonstrated to a wondering world, that even a handful of people if actuated by selfless motives, can make even mountains move.

Pandit Birbar was a man of a very high character and in his eyes no sacrifice was too great if offered in a right cause. Unmindul of the suicide of his noble wife, forcible conversion and abduction of his daughterin-law and death by torture inflicted upon his closest friends and relatives, he pursued his course with an undaunted spirit and achieved success in his mission which was to drive out the Afghans from his country. But in his success he did not forget the duty he owed to his countrymen, the majority of whom were Muslims. The Sikhs wanted to plunder the city, but he stood in their way. And when Phul Singh wanted to demolish the sacred mosque of Shah Hamdan, it was Pandit Birbar Dar who at considerable risk to his life stood in his way, and made him desist from a coursel which would have blackened Phul Singh's name in the pages of history for all time. For this act alone even if we forget his other achievements Birbar Dar is destined to live in history as an upholder of those traditions which have always stood for the Pandits as a bulwark to protect them from the onslaughts of time.

Thus ended the Afghan rule in Kashmir.