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(Book Review of ” Kashmir Under The Dogras- Transition into Peace, Progress and Modernity by Dr. S.N.Pandita, Shubhi Publications, Gurugram, India- 2023 ) |
A new chapter and a new view into modern Kashmir history was inaugurated at the 2023 Maharaja Gulab Singh Memorial Lecture delivered by Dr. S.N.Pandita, Bodleian Reader, Oxford, when his book “Kashmir Under The Dogras- Transition to Peace, Progress and Modernity” was also released by Dr. Karan Singh, the scion of the Royal Dogra House, in a glittering ceremony held at the iconic Darbar Hall, Amar Mahal, Jammu on October 21, 2023.
The function was attended by a select audience of about one hundred people which included the members of the royal family, academics of the Department of History, Jammu University and the intellectual Who’s Who of Jammu. The most important ,respected and decorated among the audience was the Indian military veteran and brave Dogra soldier Lt. Gen. ( Ret) Goverdan Singh aged 97, but physically active and mentally agile.
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| Dr. S.N. Pandita |
Elaborating on his lecture: Life & Legacy of Maharaja Gulab Singh and the Intellectual Legacy of the successive Maharajas to Dogra History, Dr. Pandita recalled several aspects of the until now unknown facts of Dogra history that included the role and contribution of the Dogra Rulers to the mountaineering history of the Korakoram, Pamir and the Himalayan Ranges, in showcasing India’s heritage glory in the just concluded G-20 Summit held recently at New Delhi and the contributions of Dogras by way of gifting three manuscript gems, namely the unique Paippalada Cakha of the Atherva Veda, Kalhana’s Rajatarangini and the Gilgit Manuscripts to World heritage.
Of equal importance has been the founding of the Raghunath Temple Manuscript Library, Jammu that became a magnet to attract West’s iconic scholars like Buhler, Stein, Vogel , Egerton and others. The patronage the successive Dogra Maharajas lent to the collaborative scholarship between the Kashmiri and Western scholars stands out as one of the most glorious chapters in the indological history of the world. This patronage lent by the Dogra Rulers puts the Kashmiri scholarship on a new pedestal. The book also delves deep into the foundation and development of modern healthcare and education by the pragmatic missionary initiative supported and encouraged by the Dogra Maharajas. Evidently, it were the D9gra Maharajas who brought the miraculous medical benefits of modern allopathy in the state saving lacs of population from epidemic diseases like cholera, smallpox, tuberculosis, dysentery and diaoherrea and leprosy. It was the initiative of the Dogras that build hospitals and dispensaries in every district of the state during their rule.
It is significant to note that it was the benevolent grant of Maharaja Ranbir Singh, the first and the only Maharaja among all the Maharajas of India that helped build the famous Panjab University in Lahore way back in 1867 followed by it becoming functional by 1882 as a result Maharaja Ranbir Singh became the First benefactor and the First Member of the University’s Senate.
This singular contribution of the Dogras resulted in the foundation of the first major central University in entire North India. Before it only three other central universities that existed in India were at then Bombay, Calcutta and Madras established in 1857.
Hence, it were the Dogras that brought modern education to the door steps of all Indians in North India.
The book also highlights the foundation of the Sri Pratap Museum at Srinagar in 1898 during the rule of Maharaja Pratap Singh that initiated the trend establish modern museums in India from the Royal collection of other princely states in India.
Significantly the book explores and has reFinterpreted the unique indigenous but presently unknown Kashmiri Numeral System of Kashmiri language independent of dependence on script and language invoices Kashmiri numbers are written. The discovery of this special number scheme has laid to rest the notion that Kashmiri Language has no Number System of its own. The well researched archival sources discussed in the book show ample evidence that this scheme was developed during the rule of Maharaja Pratap Singh and adopted for use in the revenue system of the state during the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh.
The book therefore reintroduces a defunct and unknown Number System and adds a new orthographic numeral scheme to Indian languages.
Equally impressive is the author’s great research accumen in accessing hundreds of letters written by Western scholars to many KashmiriSanskrit Savants during the Dogra Rule that defines the history of Kashmiri scholarship and works of Indic themes that are internationally well known masterpieces of Kashmiri literature.
Of equal significance in the book are the details describing the history of several works of Kashmiri language, literature and history that have never been known before.
The essential argument of the book informs the readers that it was the Dogra Rule that ushered modernity in Kashmir for the first time through several measures after several centuries of chaos, mal- administration and barbaric exploitation.
The book leans on documentary and archival evidence to show that Dogras were the harbingers of modernity in Kashmir considering education, healthcare and scholarship as the three main parameters to judge the measures of having converted a medieval society into modern one.
The book is a unique document that alters the flase narrative of contemporary accounts of Kashmir that the Dogracrule was unjust and tyrannical. Instead, the author has demolished this view of the Dogra history so far peddled by the majoritarian politics of the former State.
The book for the first time highlights, as says the author” that it was the balance of power and the prestige of colonial influence that propelled high attainments in education. healthcare and scholarship for the good of general masses of Jammu & Kashmir During the Dogra Rule. while showing that it came as a consequence of conformity to the ideals of humanistic orientalism, the intellectual and scholarly capacity of the 18th- 19th century Western spirit of enquiry and understanding coupled with respect, empathy and sympathy that revolutionised the whole European outlook about the people and culture of India and the East through the study of its arts, language, literature, culture, history,vphilosophy etc as part of common inheritance of every civilized man on earth and gave India also the awareness of her own identity bereft of egregious colonial approach with its all- pervading power axiom in which everything had a political meaning or implication.”
In a way this book lifts the veil that had obscured the inherent humanism of shared splendour between the East and the West.
The book is a first time document to prove that it was the Dogra establishment that awakened the Kashmiris, whose spirit had been subdued by harshvrule for entries, who lived a passive and docile life of fatalist content to a life of modernity and emancipation.
The book shows, as a result, Kashmir underwent a rapid change to the extent never seen before. The material welfare of the people became evident . Likewise the creation of land reforms,streamlinedctaxation System, vreorganization of financial, public works, postal telegraph, forest, agriculture, sericulture, industries,band other departments ushered a new zeal of administration on modern lines. The introduction of reformation social and judicial measures to bring social justice and equality before law for all revolutionised a medieval society into a modern one during the Dogra period.
Evidently, the colonial rule in India influenced circumstances under the Dogras that brought Kashmir the boons from the harvest of which, the Kashmiris, ever since, have never looked back.
The book is a timely curative that sets the record of Dogracrule straight.
The well researched and well written book is expected to sensitize the people of Jammu & Kashmir as to how falsehood was peddled under the name of contemporary history by hostile politics of the state in post 1947 era.
The colour plates of original and rare letters of European scholars is a feast for the eye. The author deserves praise for his stunning ability in searching and piecing the Dogra era documents to tell an untold story.
The exceptional book carries a highly illuminating Foreword by Dr. Karan Singh who has succinctly brought into reader’s attention the core essence of this important publication.
In the conclusion it may be stated that the book, from the consideration of history, separates the grain from the chaff which must catalyse a healthy political debate to assess the merits and defects of the Dogra Rule viz-viz the post independent political dispensations of the former State now a Union Territory .
While no praise is adequate for the author for his indefatigable scholarship and authority on the subject dealt in the book, the publisher Shubhi Publication has also rendered a yeoman service to the people of Jammu & Kashmir by publishing this unmissable and important book for which it deserves the gratitude of the people in general.
The only, disincentive the book bears is its exorbitant price.
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| Bushan Parimoo (The writer is a Jammu based environmentalist & a regular contributor to this Website.) (Feedback at: blparimoo@gmail.com) Ph.No: 9469163100 |
