Pandit Kashyap Bandhu - A Tribute

Prof. S. L. Pandit, New Delhi

It so chances that prior to the historical watershed that shook Jammu and Kashmir by the mid summer of 1931, I had never met Pandit Kashyap Bandhu.  By 1930 I had completed my educational career when someone informed me that he had worked as a petty revenue official at my rural birth-place of Kulgam, District Anantnag, under the name of "Tara Chand Kaul Bulbul".  Some time later, as I learnt, he had left Kashmir for the Punjab and worked for the Arya Samaj reformist movement and also edited a journal, Arya Gazette, through the medium of Urdu.  Then came the political upheaval of 1931 which shook our community and we were sort of stirred out of a sense of complacency nurtured during the sway of the Jammu based Dogra Maharajas since 1846.  Pandit Kashyap Bandhu suddenly swept into this scene with the impact of a storm.  By this time some of the young enthusiasts of our community, like Prem Nath Bazaz, and Damodhar Bhat of Hanjura had laid the foundation of Kashmir Pandit Yuvak Sabha to replace our older and traditional social organization Sanatan Dharam Sabha, based at Raghunath Mandir and controlled by older persons, the most vocal of them being Pandit Hargopal Kaul.  Then, propelled by a historical earth tremor, a new set of leaders came on the stage at the now well-nigh demolished historic K.P. Site of Shital Nath temple, Srinagar.  Among these new activists could be mentioned, besides some younger enthusiasts, Pandit Jia Lal Kilam, a leading legal practitioner and Pandit Kashyap Bandhu just returned from his. voluntary exile from outside the valley of Kashmir.  By 1930, I had completed my post-graduate course at the University of Lucknow with distinction and was waiting for securing a decent teaching assignment.  So, apart from engaging myself in private coaching assignments, I was completely free to attend the K.P. public meetings and had just established a cordial social relationship with Pandit Jia Lal Kilam a promising youthful legal practitioner an association that lasted till Shri Kilam's exit from life.

Into this scene almost suddenly burst Pandit Kashyap Bandhu about whom I had learnt only by
report till then.  So, when I first heard him address at a crowded K.P. gathering at Shital Nath, I felt thrilled by the sheer power of his oratory in Urdu.  When I say this, let me mention that during my student days at Lucknow (1928-30) I had occasions to listen to the orations of some of our outstanding contemporary national leaders, like Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Pandit Motilal Nehru, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, and, lastly, that wonderful dreamer, poet, and unequalled orator, Sarojini Naidu, known as the Nightingale of India.  Even so I felt it then and I recall that Pandit Bandhu impressed me as an orator fit to rank among our stalwarts of the Indian freedom movement.  I can even now at my very advanced age of over ninety two years recall with a thrill and quote an Urdu couplet with which Bandhuji opened his oration and captured the full attention of his crowded audience : -

"Fir bahar ayi hai gulshan main meray nalay huay,
Fir meray dagay - janoon aatish kay parkalay huay"

I may not venture to cover here the events of 1931-32 nor the years that followed (1932-1938) after the two commissions forced on the Maharaja, -headed by Glancy and Middleton, both senior British officers of the I.C.S. cadre - and how later the Imperial British Power had extracted more than a pound of flesh from Maharaja Hari Singh, by taking possession of the Gilgit base and by thrusting a British Premier, Colonel Colvin, and other lent officers - both British and Indian - on his unwilling shoulders and all consideration for the grievances of Kashmiri Muslims - some of which were no doubt genuine were forgotten by the world till the latest historic watershed of 1947-48.

During this phase of partial rehabilitation of our minority community - 1932 to 1938 - Bandhuji distinguished himself as a powerful and unmatched journalist through his wonderful' editorship of our community organ, The Daily Martand, and by a vigorous movement for social reform, paving the way for encouragement of higher education among our women folk, for discarding the outworn traditional female dress of pheran with its complicated costly trimmings, and even encouraging weddings of our young and children widows.  He also initiated a genuine movement for curtailing our extravagances alas, now revived beyond limits with a vengeance relating to our weddings and other traditional and elaborate ceremonials related to our normal careers from birth to death.

In this movement Bandhuji was vigorously assisted by Mrs. Vimla Bandhu, an educated girl whom Bandhuji had married during his earlier sojourn outside Kashmir before 1931, and , if I recall correctly, Vimlaji was the first woman student to join the S.P. College, Srinagar, for her degree course of the Punjab University, Lahore.  As for Bandhuji's distinction as a journalist, a reputed contemporary Publicity Secretary of  J & K Government once told me that, during that period - 1932 to 1938 - practically all the ministers and senior administrators would regularly peruse The Daily Martand, for its local coverage, its unbeatable editorials and its special humorous write ups.

Then the year 1938 stands out as the start of a new chapter in Kashmir history.  During that year several Muslim leaders initiated the so-called "National Demand" raised mainly by the Muslim leaders for a substantial move towards a fullfledged democratic constitution for Jammu and Kashmir.  This was followed by a phase of agitation, mostly peaceful, in which non-Muslim K.P. political activists like Pandit Jia Lal Kilam, Pandit Prem Nath Bazaz, Dr. S.N. Peshim, Bandhuji and Sardar Budh Singh participated.  Some of them were sentenced to short term imprisonments for participating in anti-Government demonstrations.  Pandit Shiv Narayan Fotedar, rather a late participant in active politics, stood aloof and did not join the National Conference, which emerged out of this movement.  Fotedar Sahib, however, continued to serve his community till his demise without risking any unpopularity among the Muslims.

Next came the ill-fated movement of "Quit Kashmir" in 1946, into the genesis of which I need not go now.  Then came the blood soaked partition of 1947 and withdrawal of British authority, while the National Conference leaders, including Pandit Kashyap Bandhu of Pandit Shamlal Saraf, were still in jail.  This was followed by the tribal invasion of 1947 aided and abetted by Pakistan and the emergence internationally of what is called the 'Kashmir Problem", which is still alive causing irreparable damage to Kashmir, India and the minority community of Kashmiri Pandits.  But when in 1948 political power was passed on to the National Conference under the leadership of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Bandhuji was appointed Director, Cooperative Department.  During this phase of  his career I can claim that, as a leading Government functionary, he discharged his responsibilities with exemplary integrity and made a substantial contribution towards the development of our rural areas.  During this period it was my good fortune to meet him socially on many occasions and I came to understand his political and social outlook with appreciation as also his understanding of the "Kashmir problems".  Moreover, unlike the current huge crop of whole time politicians all over India, Bandhuji voluntarily sought rest and retirement in his native rural hamlet of Geru, Tahsil Badgam.  The last occasion I met him was when Dr. S.N. Peshin and myself approached him, during his brief visit to Srinagar, with a request to address a gathering of K.P.'S at Shital Nath premises on Janam Ashtami; 1980.  He did come to the meeting and advised us to generate what he called "Jana Shakti", under a united leadership.  If there is any existence after death, let me close by praying for eternal peace to his spirit !

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