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Restoration at Charar
Restoration at Charar
By S.R. Goel
The GOI has made a commitment that the dargah destroyed by Islamic
terrorists at Charar will be rebuilt more magnificiently. oliticians of
all hues have concurred. No one has cared to consult recorded history or
archeological reports regarding how this muslim monument was raised in
the first instance in the reign of Sultan Zain al-Abidin of Kashmir
(1420-1470), the patron saint of Indian secularism, next to Akbar, the
Great Mughal.
Nothing definite is known about Sheikh Nuruddin Nur - neither his
chronology, nor his parentage, nor yet his teachings. All we have is a
set of mutually conflicting myths. His other name, Nund Rishi, sounds
suspiciously like a corruption of Narendraswamin whose temple in Srinagar
was destroyed and replaced by what is known as Nur Pirastan. In any case,
his name figures in none of the famous collection of Sufi biographies
such as Siyar al-Arifin of Jamali Kamboh Dihlwali written between 1530
and 1536, or Akhbar al-Akhyar of Abdul Haqq Muhaddis Dihlawi written
between 1588 and 1591, or Safinat al-Auliya of Dara Shikoh completed in 1640.
On the other hand, the Dvitiya (Second) Rajatarangani of Jonraja and many
Muslim chronicles of Medieval times, particularly Tarikh-i-Kashmir,
Baharistan-i-Shahi, Tabqat-i-Akbari and Tarikh-i-Farishta, tell us in
some detail the story of how thousands of Hindu Temples and monastaries
were destroyed and a majority of Kashmiri Hindus were forcibly converted
to Islam, starting with the reign of Sultan Shamsuddin (1320-1342) and
climaxing in the reign of Sikandar Butshikan (1389-1413). Modern
archeologists, particularly Sir Aurel Stein, have explored practically
all famous mosques, mazars and dargahs in Kashmir, and pointed out that
most of them stand on the sites of Hindu temples and monastaries or have
architectural and sculptural fragments from Hindu monuments embedded in
their masonry. In many cases, the Hindu monuments which were replaced by
Muslim monuments, have also been named.
The two facts stand out most prominently in this historical and
archeological record. Firstly, the inspiration for doing what the Sultans
did to Hindus and their places of worship in Kashmir, came from the Sufis
who had flocked in from the Islamic world outside. Secondly, quite a few
of the Muslim monuments which stand on Hindu sacred sites, came up during
the reign of Zain-ul Abidin. He buried his mother in the ruins of a Hindu
temple and raised a mazar over her grave. He used the rubble of many
Hindu temples to create an island, Zain Lanka, in the Wular Lake and
built his palace and mosque on it. The dargah of the so-called Sufi
Sheikh Nuruddin Nur also dates from this time.
More to the point, no government at Delhi at that time raised a voice
aganist what was happening in Kashmir or promised that Hindu places of
worship would be restored. In fact, every government at Delhi since 1192
had been doing the same, namely, destroying Hindu places of worship and
converting Hindus to Islam by force wherever its writs ran. So also the
provincial governments that arose at a later stage in Bengal, Malwa,
Gujarat, the Deccan and at Jaunpur and Mathura.
It was expected that now that we have a parliamentary democracy, a
powerful media, many learned historians and archeologists, any number of
human rights protectors, and several Hindutva organisations, some voices
of dissent would be raised against the Government of India's
announcement. But what one notices is a defeaning silence about the
rightful claim on the site at Charar. It seems that what passes for
secularism in this country has scored again.
Courtesy: Organiser, June 25, 1995
