Adventurism
runs through the veins of Parimoos as such called Parium. The outsiders, in
kashmiri called Aparium or one who does
not stick at a particular place for a long time .Later got corrupted first into Parium
and thereafter Parimoo. An itch to wander has developed a trait in
them. To quench unsatisfying thirst to explore, understand the varied
facts of civilisation, cultures, heritage and nature, around the globe in
one’s life time.
At the same time east or west home is still the best syndrome draws
them back to their soil of Satisar. The
Gilgit province has always been dear to us for two reasons. Because of its a
melting pot of influences from Kashmir, Central Asia and China where five
ethnic groups speak five different languages with 36 dialects.
It has
been was a major trade centre of the silk
route. A bridge between the East and West. Facilitated
trade between the ancient empires of China, India, Persia and Rome.
The
other one for the Parimoos has been in its association with the digging
of the oldest manuscript ever found so far in Asia.
The
late Tara Chand Parimoo, grandfather of this writer ,a revenue official ,was
instrumental in supervising digging out the Gilgit Manuscript in 1931. He was
contemporary of the State poet Mehjoor, both joined their service as
Patwaris. They were known to have started reciting Kaseedaas before the
royal court.
While Mahjoor got name and fame, grandfather was bugged with the
Russian Revolution ideology, firmly believed sooner or later the State
shall hold the reign and hence made him refuse the Jaggir of Raj Bagh, or
offer for prime piece of land from Nedous.
Elders from Naupur village , about two miles west of Gilgit
cantonment, one day
approached him with an unusual surprising news that the
boys above Naupur
village who were tendering flocks said
to have cleared a piece of timber from top of a small stone-covered mound.
Where under semblance of a big wooden box appeared beneath.
Matter was immediately reported to his superiors and instruction receied to go
ahead to find what lies buried there. Instructions were carried in letter and
spirit with due diligence, Little they
would have anticipated that that the box contained one of the world’s oldest
manuscripts which could hold the key to the exact evolution of Sanskrit,
Buddhist, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Tibetan literatures.
Further digging laid bare a circular
chamber within the ruins of a Buddhist stupa filled with hundreds of small
votive stupas and relief plaques common in Central Asia and Tibet. After
further excavations, a great mass of ancient manuscripts was found packed in a
wooden box. The site is said to appear to be an ancient ruin which may have
been the residence of Buddhist monks.
There were five wooden boxes, the fifth
containing the other four, which kept all the manuscripts discovered in Gilgit,
hence Gilgit manuscripts. Based on the
palaeographical evidence, scholars agree that local Buddhist devotees compiled
these texts between the fifth and sixth century AD, among the oldest in
the world, and the oldest manuscript collection surviving in the subcontinent.
Though some more manuscripts were discovered in
the succeeding centuries, which were classified too as Gilgit manuscripts. These are of major
significance in the areas of Buddhist studies and the evolution of Asian and
Sanskrit Literature. The main scripture
is the Lotus Sutra which even today is an important scripture in Japan and
deeply influences the cultural and political life of the country.
Several
researchers and scholars have attempted to transcribe the text but till date
the manuscript has not been deciphered in its entirety .
These manuscripts were written on the birch bark and similar to those
discovered by Aurel Stein (Khotan) in Central Asia.
The language of these texts is Sanskrit in the Sharda or Sharada script while the vocabulary is derived
from ancient, the Buddhist form of Pali text.
The Manuscript
contains four sutras, the pages were approximately 23”long and 5” wide,
with almost ten lines per page. Two famous travellers, Faxian and Xuanzang
traversed Gilgit according to their accounts. Gilgit , crown nest of Jamuu and
Kashmir a symbol of pride Envied world over for its preserving a
uninterrupted rich and varied foot prints of history on the sand
of time from medieval ,ancient till date.
These were nominated
in 2006 to be included on the UNESCO Memory of the World register,
but without success. According to Jens Uwe Hartmann,
the text is written probably travelled west from one of the Buddhist kingdoms
along the Silk Route. They cover a wide range of themes such as iconometry
,folk tales, philosophy, medicines and several related areas of life and
general knowledge .
At that Sir Aurel Stein the great explorer and
archaeologist of the Central Asian fame at that time was passing
through Gilgit on May 31, 1931. These newly discovered manuscripts were brought to
his notice. He was requested to study them, but declined saying the task must
be left to the care of local experts.
Perhaps Stein was too shy to handle the
manuscripts after his failed fourth expedition to Chinese Turkestan where the
Chinese had accused him as the plundered of their heritage and for that even dubbed
his as the “most pernicious thief” of their culture and
heritage. Nonetheless, Stein after reaching Srinagar two months later announced
to the world about the discovery of these manuscripts in his dispatches to
The Statesman and Times, London on July 28, 1931.
The world was
delighted by the news to draw the attention of scholars to this important
find. Scores of archaeologists and scholars of fame
from all parts of the world also rushed to the actual site of discovery
to unravel the mysteries locked up in the box.
Ironically in 1897 just 34 years before these
were discovered – the Buddhist Text Society of Calcutta had published
references to the Gilgit Manuscript saying that if it were ever to be found it
would unravel the ancient history of several communities as it is considered to
be the oldest Buddhist manuscript.
In the meantime Maharaja Hari Singh ordered for
their safe custody at Srinagar. The manuscripts were shifted from the Gilgit to
the custody of Kashmir Darbar. Maharaja entrusted to the care of his Prime
Minister Raja Hari Krishen Kaul. Soon they were inspected by R.C.Kak, the
famous native archaeologist. Even as Hari Krishen Kaul again requested Stein to
study them he declined the offer fearing a similar condemnation he had suffered
at the hands of Chinese authorities.
Instead, Stein suggested that the
manuscripts could be sent to Paris for study by famous French scholar Jules
Bloch or he be invited to Kashmir by the Darbar to undertake their proper
scientific study. This proposal was however, not accepted by Raja Hari Krishen
Kaul because he considered it as “impractical” and burdensome for the
“State Exchequer”. It was time about when Kashmir had been gripped by
the 1931 riots against the rule of the Maharaja.
For the next seven
years the Gilgit Manuscripts lay forlorn in locked cupboards of the
Darbar. The intervening seven years had seen a couple of Prime Ministers
changed. In 1938 Gopalswamy Iyyengar was the Prime Minister. He was seized of
these important manuscripts by R.C.Kak yet again as by the time he had become
the Chief Secretary of the State.
After due consultations, Iyyengar brought the
matter into the notice of his friend and at the time Vice Chancellor of the
University of Calcutta, Shyama Prasad Mukerjee and later the founder of
Bhartiya Jan Sangh. Shyama Prasad suggested that the manuscripts may be
entrusted to Neelanaksha Dutt for study, editing and publication. Maharaja Hari
Singh agreed with the proposal and Dutt completed the task in next four years.
The Gilgit Manuscripts found in 1931 were published in a series of volumes
between 1939 and 1943. The majority of the Gilgit manuscripts are now
held at the Indian national archives in New Delhi, India followed by the Shri
Partap Singh Museum in Srinagar, while a small collection is held at the
British Library, London and Karachi Museum.
Opinions vary about the date of
these manuscripts as one group of scholars says that the Gilgit manuscripts
were written in the second century, while the other group places them between the
sixth and seventh century. In August 1938, seven
years after the discovery of the texts, the archaeologist Madhusudan Kaul
Shastri led a systematic excavation of the Naupur site and discovered another
larger chamber at the base of the structure.
The chamber contained another set
of the Gilgit Manuscripts inscriptions on these bronzes “reveal that they were
produced and dedicated due to the generosity and the religious zeal of a Patola
Shahi. The Patola Shahis, also known as Palola Shahis, were the rulers of
Gilgit and Baltistan from the late sixth to the early eighth centuries AD.
These are the oldest surviving collection of religious texts in the
subcontinent. With the exception of only a few scripts, all the manuscripts
were written on birch bark in Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit language in the Gupta
Brahmi and post-Gupta Brahmi script.
The Gilgit Manuscripts deciphered thus far
cover a wide range of subjects such as religion, religious rituals, philosophy,
iconometry, monastic discipline, folk tales and medicine . Those discovered by
Madhusudan Kaul were also later published by him and Pandit Jagadhar Zadoo
under the Kashmir Sanskrit Series and Texts in 1947.
The seventeen centuries old
Gilgit Manuscript has been giving historians a hard time, as no one has yet
been able to fully decipher it. The lamination of the manuscript by the
National Archives of India sometime ago has once again put the limelight back
on this all-important literature concerning India, Tibet, China, Japan and
other neighbouring countries. Regarding the dialectical peculiarities of the
text, Prof.
Dutt says that though the language of the prose portion is Sanskrit
it bristles with Buddhist religious and philosophical terms and uses Prakrit
language quite liberally. Suggests that the text’s versified portion is
extremely confusing as it disregards the elementary canons of grammar, meter,
and even vocabulary.
A sweet melody seems to be language. It doesn’t use
convenient forms of verbs or singular or plurals or masculine or feminine
genders – all of which makes him to suspect
that the author of the original text was a versatile linguist and could play
around with languages and blend of traditions…
Bushan Parimoo
(The writer is a Jammu based environmentalist and a regular contributor to this Website.)
(Feedback at: blparimoo@gmail.com)
