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The generalizations and conceptual frames of
reference adopted by western scholars, which still form the broad basis of
explanation of the historical past of Kashmir and the history of its people,
deserve to be abandoned now. The Burzahom civilization has revealed a continuity
in the past of Kashmir, which dates back to the later stone-age cultures. That
the early man of the Aryan stock, whose descendants live in Haryana now, should
have been found to have lived in the later stone-age or Neolithic settlements at
Burzahom and other places in Kashmir, links the history of Kashmir to the
proto-Vedic period of Aryan civilization and refutes the traditional concept of
Aryan race movement across Kashmir into northern India. Perhaps, Kashmir was
never a theater for the Aryan immigration the way it is believed to have
occurred by Grierson and the other English scholars of Kashmir History.
The myth about migratory character of the inhabitants
of Kashmir, in ancient times or the medieval times must be discarded. The
arrival of Sanskrit Aryans from India into Kashmir, in the beginning of the
Neelmat period, which commenced with the induction of the calcolithic tools or
metals into Kashmir, most probably from the surrounding Sind Valley
civilization, indicates a cultural change, which was not dictated by any race
movement. The people living in Kashmir, from the time of the Neolithic age of
Burzahom, have been of a single racial stock. The Nagas and Pisachas were also
people of the proto-Aryan racial origin, and formed the local cultural
denominations after Sanskrit Aryans arrived in Kashmir. There is hardly any
anthropological evidence to prove that ancient people of Kashmir were racially
of a different stock than the people inhabiting the Burzahom settlements. There
is also little evidence to prove that early people of Kashmir, lived through the
millennia, following the Burzahom civilization, in remoter regions of northern
Kashmir and Baltistan, where western scholars believe the Pisachas,
particularly, took refuge after Sanskrit Aryans extended their hold over the
Kashmir Valley.
The Austroloid and the proto-Austroloid race movements
across India had a marginal impact on Kashmir. No ethnographic evidence is
available to show any proto-Austroloid elements in the people of Kashmir. The
only other race movement, which could have affected the racial content of the
people of Kashmir in ancient times, is that of the Alpanoids, who are believed
to have descended from the European Steppes and moved south-east across India.
Alpanoids, also known as western Brachycephalics, did not leave any trace on the
people of Kashmir. Brachycephalics are broader- heads, measured in accordance
with specific anthropometric methods in accordance with which various cephalic
or cranial indexes are calculated. Kashmiri people are predominantly
docile-cephalic, with specific cranial indexes, indicating longer heads and
nasal indexes, similar to that of the Aryan people.
The Austroloid, proto-Austroloid and Alpanoid race
remnants, which lingered on in remote regions, settling into endocrine social
groups in India, and very often recognized as the aborigine tribes of India have
a specific racial content and are not related to the early people of Kashmir.
There were no aborigine people in Kashmir, and Nagas and Pisachas have no
aboriginal history.
The ritual culture of the people of Kashmir grew from
its Burzahom past and is, therefore, formed of several sediments; the basic
sediments have their origin in the ritual structure of the Burzahom people and
the people of Kashmir who lived through the Neelmat period. The Vedic Grah-Sutras
and Kalpa- Sutras were adopted for the Battas of Kashmir, or the Kashmiri
Pandits, by Laugaksha Muni, a great sage, sometime in the first millennium B.C.
Before the adaptation of Sanskrit scriptures, Kashmiri Battas had already a
highly evolved and intricate ritual structure, which symbolised their
proto-Aryan origin. A part of the pre-Laugaksha ritual was integrated into the
Laugaksha adaptation. The rest lingered on and survived and in due course of
time became a part of the religious culture of the Battas. These rituals are
still extant, and preserved and practised by the Kashmiri Pandits even now. A
vast number of rituals followed by Kashmiri Pandits, in their birth, death and
marriage rituals have a phenomenal identity and theological content. Besides
there are numerous rituals, traditions and festivals of proto-Vedic origin which
the Kashmiri Pandits follow.
Perhaps, the most interesting development of the
Neelmat period was the evolution of Shakht religious system with its deep
theological basis. Shakht ultimately formed the substructure of the Bhawani
worship and Tantric Buddhism as well as Shaivism in Kashmir.
Rituals like Gada-Batta, Kaw Punim, Khachi Mavas,
Herath, etc. have an ancient past and are symbolic of a theological philosophy,
which predates the advent of the Sanskrit Aryans into Kashmir. These rituals
have a proto-Aryan origin and should not be ascribed to any aboriginity in the
ancient past of Kashmir. They have rich theological background and cannot be
explained by simplistic explanations, based upon nineteenth century
methodologies of history.
Mythology is a part of the cultural tradition of all
people, and Hindu mythology is also a part of its cultural tradition. Hindu
rituals cannot be explained by rationalisation and conjecture. Gada Batta is a
ritual form which must be traced to the Butzahom period of Kashmir history and
has a long theological tradition. Gada-Batta is a ritual associated with the
family and the clan organisation of the early Hindus of Kashmir and is not in
any way connected to superstition or the last long meal left for the aged who
were unable to migrate in winter as suggested in an article published in the
Hindi Section of the 'Koshur Samachar' (Shivratri Special: March 1994).
- by Dr. Santosh Kaul
Koshur
Samachar
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SATISAR VIDEO ON KASHMIRI PANDIT FESTIVALS
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Shivratri
