by Jia Lal Kilam

CHAPTER IX
Pandits after Aurangzeb

WITH the passing of Aurangzeb, the forces of turbulent lawlessness that had found place of safety underground now appeared on the political firmament. Aurangzeb had, even before he ascended the throne, perceived that the external pomp and magnificence of the grand Mogul had succeeded in only hiding the weaknesses which had silently crept into the fabric of the Mogul rule. He wanted to strengthen the rule. This he aimed at by crushing the opposition and giving an indelible Muslim complexion to the administration. While doing so, he alienated all those who were not of his religious persuasion. By this he created an opposition for himself which gathered so much strength in course of time that it did ultimately destroy the Mogul rule for all time. He undertook useless wars in Deccan against Muslim States which stood as a bulwark between him and the rising Marhatta power. The Deccan Muslim States having been removed from the field, Aurangzeb came face to face with the rising Marhatta power. Unlike Akbar, Aurangzeb had lost his faith in the people. At the most he could rely either upon his army or the handful of Muslims who were of his way of thinking. For twenty long years he remained in Deccan to fight the Marhattas and others. These useless wars exhausted his treasury and weakened his army and threw into prominence a set of people who were difficult to manage and impossible to subdue. The result was that for his sons he left a weak legacy which they could not maintain. The army, though weak, became the sole arbiter and during the reign of the latter Moguls, it was the military leaders who swayed the pendulum backward and forward.

In Kashmir we have already noticed that the policy of the Moguls was not to encourage the local Muslims. But though the feudal Muslims families were crushed, other families had come into prominence who amassed huge wealth by following trade and commerce as their profession. Along with them there arose another class of commercial magnates who had migrated from the neighbouring provinces of the Punjab and Delhi. These were invariably Khatri Hindus. They conducted a brisk business and had a great hand in the export trade. They had established a colony of theirs in Mohalla Gulshan near Hariparbat close to the royal palaces. The high class Pandits had taken their residence at Rainawari which is a suburb of Srinagar close by the seat of the Government, which existed then inside the fort surrounding the Hariparbat hill. The Pandits were employed in the Government offices. Thus at the close of the rule of Aurangzeb three classes had appeared on the top: Muslim commercial class, Punjabi. Khatri traders and the Pandits. It may be mentioned that the Khatri traders were greatly encouraged by the Mogul rulers and it was under their patronage that they settled in Kashmir. May be that they were encouraged to give a set back to the Kashmiri Muslim commercial enterprise. Whatever may have been the reason, a struggle between the Hindu Khatri commercial class and the Muslim commercial class was inevitable. The Muslim traders had an advantage over the Hindu traders in so far as they had an approach to the Muslim masses whom they could inflame in the name of religion against the "infidel" traders who for no fault of theirs robbed the Muslims of their wealth. The Khatri could rely only on the Government protection. This he go in an abundant measure as long as the Government was strong. The Pandits too had by now become very influential and affluent. They passed their days very peacefully and the local bureaucracy was mainly manned by them. Their ascendency in the political field was unrivalled in Kashmir.

Aurangzeb died in the year 1707 A.D. Within 12 years of his death when Mohammad Shah ascended the throne the Government was very much weakened. Many provinces declared their independence, but Kashmir dragged itself on as a Mogul province. Mohammad Shah ascended the throne in the year 1719 A.D Within a few months of his ascending the throne, the struggle in Kashmir came to a head. Muhatta Khan, who was perhaps a Kashmiri, wandered in his boyhood outside Kashmir, till he got access to Bahadur Shah who succeeded his father Aurangzeb in 1707 A.D. Muhatta Khan secured a Jagir for himself, but lost it soon after Bahadur Shah's death. Destitute and forlorn he came back to Kashmir in sheer dismay and frustration. On arrival here he saw the Hindus passing their days in great ease and comfort. Trade and commerce had greatly passed into their hands and the administrative business was mostly conducted by them. Muhatta Khan who was credited with a deep knowledge of Islamic laws, somehow or other found fault with the policy followed by the Naib Subedar Mir Ahmad Khan towards the Hindus and made it plain that ascendency of the Hindus was intolerable from every point of view. He in pursuance laid a prayer before the Subedar to the following effect:

(1) No Hindu should ride a horse, nor should a Hindu wear a shoe;
(2) that they should not wear Jama (an article of Mogul dress);
(3) that they should not bear arms;
(4) that they should not visit any garden
(5) that they should not have Tilak mark on their foreheads;
(6) that their cildren should not receive any education.
 

The Subedar refused to agree to these proposals. But Muhatta Khan who was of a sterner stuff could not take this lying down and he took the law into his hands. He established his seat in a mosque and there from he issued orders in furtherance of his proposals. He collected a huge following who were deputed to harass and humiliate the Hindus in general. He issued an edict that wherever a Hindu is seen riding a horse he should be pulled down, Tilak mark should be erased from a Hindu's forehead and his turban and shoe should be snatched away. Besides that, orders were issued that no Hindu should attend any school or visit a garden, nor should he wear decent dress and so on. This was a signal for a general rising and an orgy of loot, plunder and murder was let loose. A Hindu Khatri trader Majlis Rai by name, who was a native of Jullundar and possessed more than a crore of rupees worth property in Kashmir was feeding at the close of a religious ceremony a number of Brahmans in a garden, was attacked there by the followers of Muhatta Khan. The Brahmans ran helter-skelter in all directions and Majlis Rai himself ran into the house of the Subedar Mir Ahmad. Muhatta Khan and his men surrounded the houses of both the Subedar and Majlis Rai. Mir Ahmad Khan somehow or other left his residence and collected a small force to fight Muhatta Khan. But he was soon overpowered and was ousted from his post on the accusation of his being partial to the Hindus. Muhatta Khan himself assumed all powers of the State. Having done so, he ordered a systematic attack upon the Hindu areas. Hundreds of them were killed and maimed and most of them were looted and their houses burnt. Majlis Rai Chopra was killed with great ruthlessness and his property was plundered. The Hindus thus crushed, began to run away in large numbers and hid themselves in mountaneous areas. And those who remained behind lived under the humiliating conditions imposed by Muhatta Khan and his band.

The attack upon Majlis Rai is symbolic of the real class basis of the struggle. The general Hindu population was made to suffer because they shared with him his religion though not his wealth. But the general Muslim masses did not participate in this orgy in any large numbers. Rather we have it on the authority of a non-Muslim his torian that many Muslims gave shelter to a large number of Hindus and kept them concealed in their houses till better times dawned. This by itself is indicative of the fact that the struggle was merely at the top and the masses were dragged into it by exploiting their religious sentiments only.

Muhatta Khan continued to be in the saddle. Mir Ahmad Khan left the country and was succeeded by Abdulla Khan. But he too could not suppress the rising and Muhatta Khan took possession of the State treasury. Another Subedar by name Momin Khan arrived in the meanwhile. The struggle now entered another phase. The two sons of Muhatta Khan were killed at the instigation of Abdullah - a local Rais. But as ill luck would have it, some of the participants in the murder were Shias. The Shias themselves were a hated class because the Shawl manufacture was in their hands, and the factory workers were mostly Sunni Muslims. A Shia Sunni riot also occurred which brought untold miseries upon the former. This was followed by the murder of Muhatta Khan himself, when Momin Khan arrived in the country. Even then Momin found himself unable to cope with the forces of disorder rampant in the country. As a stroke of policy he recognized the son of Muhatta Khan by name Sharafuddin as successor to his father in the exalted office of Sheikh-ul-Islam. The son improved upon the methods of his father and inflicted various kinds of tortures mental and physical upon the Hindus. He did not spare even those Muslims who had in any way sympathised with the Hindus. Momin Khan also failed to establish order and had to make room for Abdul Samad Khan. The new Subedar came with a strong force, captured Sharaf and put him to death along with his fifty confederates who were hanged publicly. The orders against the Hindus were withdrawn and it was after an agonising period of a number of years that the Hindus were permitted to use a turban, to put on good clothes, to wear the Tilak, and to send their children to schools and to perform their religious ceremonies.

During the period the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits was miserable beyond measure. Their houses were burnt and property looted. Many were killed and the conditions that were imposed upon those who lived were worse than death. But the Pandits had an invincible faith in themselves and continued to drag on their existence though miserably, in wait for better times. And better times did at last come. Abdus Samad Khan having established order in the country betook himself in all seriousness towards the task of rehabilitating the Pandits. Sufficient relief measures were adopted and unbounded benevolence was shown to them by the State. Again they came to be associated with the administration of the country. During the Subedarship of Abu Barkat Khan who succeeded Abdus Samad, the Pandits regained their former prestige and power. Abu Barkat Khan condcned even the serious mistakes of the Pandits and appointed one of them by name Mukund Ram Khar as his Peshkar. All the powers of the State were vested in the Peshkar who wielded them with great skill and consideration. Abu Barkat Khan was very popular with the Pandits and it was through their propaganda and similar kind offices that he came to be appointed as Subedar of Kashmir, no less than five times.

The Pandits or better known as Kashmiri Pandits had by now risen very high at the Mogul court at Delhi. Important State business was conducted through them. Pandit Jai Ram Bhan held a Mansab. He was the head of the small community of Kashmiri Pandits who were living at Delhi and Agra. For long did he wield enormous influence at the Mogul court. But even there the Pandits had their enemies. On a complaint by Raja Raushan Rai Kamboh before Qamar-ud-Din, Wazir of Emperor Mohammad Shah, the Pandit was incarcerated andhis property was confiscated and his sons also were sent to prison; He was later on sent to Muradabad but on the way to that place, he was murdered at the instigation of the Raja. An order was communicated to Inayat Khan, the Subedar at Kashmir, for the confiscation of the property of Pandit Jai Ram. Inayat Ullah Khan had many reasons to be grateful to the Pandits. He sent word to Jai Ram's brothers to conceal whatever they possessed of value before a formal search was made of their houses. The result was that though a search was made of the houses, nothing valuable could be found there.

The closing years of Mohammad Shah's reign, which was greatly weakened by the attack of Nadir Shah witnessed a considerable lawlessness and disorder in Kashmir. The Subedars refused to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Mogul overlord. There were insurrections and wars which reduced the people to the lowest ebb of penury. Trade and commerce, art and industry died. Agriculture was abandoned and the people witnessed a huge famine. So many died of hunger and starvation that it became impossible to manage the dead. Srinagar was looted and burnt a number of times. Other towns fared no better. Fields once rich in harvests were lying desolate and beautiful hamlets which studded the country were mere heaps of ruins with no signs of life in them. It was during these unsettled days that Mohammad Shah the Mogul Emperor died in the year 1747 A. D.