04 February 2013, 02:37 PM IST
Habba Khatun's journey from an ordinary peasant girl to Kashmir's preeminent cultural icon began with a rebellion in the 16th century. She walked out of an unhappy marriage, divorced her husband and began wandering, singing songs of mystic love and melancholy from village to village.
The power of her voice was so mesmerizing that Kashmir's last independent ruler, Yousaf Shah Chak, fell in love at first sight with her while he was on a hunting trip and heard Habba Khatun singing under a Chinar tree. The commoner Zoon, as she was earlier called, was rechristened Habba Khatun (loved woman) as she became Chak's Queen. But her newfound love was short-lived. Mughal Emperor Akbar soon invaded Kashmir and sent Chak into exile. The Queen was plunged into grief again and she fell back upon Islamic mysticism, singing and wandering.
"…At home I was secluded, unknown, When I left home, my fame spread far and wide, The pious laid all their merit at my feet…'' wrote Habban Khatun (translation: Tariq Ali, LRB). She compared herself "to a flower that flourishes in fertile soil and cannot be uprooted''.
It has remained so even five centuries later, as Habba Khatun's legacy continues to flourish and her poetry remains the most enduring imprint on Kashmir culture and popular imagination. Her folk and devotional songs remain the most played on the local radio stations.
She followed in the great tradition of another woman mystic poetess, Lal Ded, who had left her oppressive husband and in-laws two centuries earlier, and women rulers before her. Lal Ded is said to have later come under the influence of Kashmir's patron Sufi saint Mir Saiyyad Ali Hamadani to influence and enrich the Valley's composite culture as much as Habba Khatun.
Many such women like Arnimal later carried forward their legacy, but the two remain the most remarkable of their kind in Kashmir's history.
Their achievements can be better understood in the context of the times they lived in. Habba Khatun divorced her first husband while divorce was an alien concept across most of the subcontinent, and among the dominant faith, it was introduced only four hundred years later courtesy the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955. Similarly for the self-proclaimed civilizers of world – the Europeans – marriage, in the words of author Antonia Fraser in the 16th century, was still "the triumphal arch through which women, almost without exception, had to pass in order to reach the public eye''. She continued, ``And after marriage followed, in theory, the total self-abnegation of the woman."
It is particularly relevant to remember the legacy of these remarkable women in the backdrop of furore over abuses on social media that has forced Kashmir's first all-girl band to quit live performances. A counter social media support campaign, besides outpouring of public and official support has encouraged the girls to vow to bounce back with an album as a "fitting reply to the hate mongers".
But that has not prevented people with a particular mindset to gloat and repeat `here go these Muslims again' argument. It has not happened for the first time. Kashmir's unique demographic nature in the larger Indian context puts it under greater scrutiny vis-à-vis misogyny thanks to historical and continued portrayal of Muslims as the monolithic other. The recent debate over the Delhi gang rape has settled the debate over misogyny being ingrained in our society. Kashmir being a part of it is not immune either. But why single out anyone.
Importantly, Kashmiris resent their mechanical lumping, for instance, with "camel herders" arguing that they have their own enviable legacy and history. "Name one thing the Arab or Muslim world invented that is significant in the last 1000 year's (sic)? How many Muslim Nobel Prize winner's (sic) are Muslim? Contribute nothing ban everything? Such fools,'' wrote one in response to the band story. The last sentence is clearly better suited for the anonymous person but that is not the point. Other comments full of communal bile were not even publishable.
But even a cursory look at Kashmir's history makes it clear that Kashmiri women have historically enjoyed better status compared to their counterparts elsewhere in the subcontinent. The purdha system has been all but alien to Kashmir unlike the rest of the region, where social reformers addressed it as one of the evils along with things like child marriages, sati and treatment of widows.
Further, this vitriolic, anonymous hate and intimidation on social media that tends to get even uglier due to the anonymity that cyberspace offers is not confined to Kashmir. A look at reactions to the story mentioned earlier confirms it. It has provoked sweeping, toxic communal abuses targeting Muslims that is a common feature anyway on the cyberspace. Paranoid right-wing communal trolls are known be the dominant voices over there. Ideally such insanity is best ignored. But since anonymous netizens have provoked the furore in the first place and face potential police action why should not hate mongers of other hues on cyberspace face the music as well. Having said that it is a no-brainer that hate on internet is uncontrollable.
The mainstream media tends to be a bit more sophisticated in such cases but often mechanically reflects popular prejudices to strengthen stereotypes. Disproportionate attention to the Kashmiri band story is a case in point and in contrast to how, for instance, the shameful police rampage in Maharashtra's Dhule town and killing of six youth in their firing against all norms following communal clashes was largely ignored. Groups liked to Hindutva organisations have targeted Kashmiri youth across the country but failed to draw any media attention.
There have been several such instances, where coverage of issues concerning Kashmir has been based on sweeping generalisations and bordered on dehumanisation. Perhaps a few lessons in Kashmir's history may be a way of addressing such mindsets.
This seems to follow a pattern and keeps the image of `crazy fundamentalists' in Kashmir alive in the public memory and further makes lives difficult particularly for Kashmiris living across the country. In any case, they find it virtually difficult to even get houses and are invariably pushed to live in community ghettos under sub-human conditions.
In fact, J&K government's scheme of ensuring jobs for Kashmiri youth elsewhere in the country to address chronic unemployment problem failed due to the inability of many of them to find proper housing. How often have this sort of bigotry been taken up with the same zeal?
The broad-brushed approach has prevented the undoing of many measures necessary for dialogue and reconciliation process due to the want of public support in the face of the projection of Kashmiris as the threatening `fundamentalist other' and the need to have `special', inhuman measures to keep them in check
It seems to be a part of a pattern. Earlier, it was reflected in how the debate over alcohol consumption in the Valley was orchestrated in the media to buttress the projection in 2011 even while several bars remain functional. For many, the concern for alcohol seemed to be bigger than challenging the miscarriage of justice in the state and revocation of the oppressive inhuman laws.
This was again done when an overzealous cleric, known as a publicity seeker with little credibility, tried to hound out a Christian priest over alleged conversions. The debate surrounding this despicable `order' to the priest to leave the state never took into account widespread condemnation of the vigilantism. The cleric waded into the latest controversy as well only after it was played up.
Earlier, anonymous letters warning Sikhs to leave Kashmir at the height of 2010 killings was sought to be painted as example of Kashmiri bigotry to divert attention from mass civilian killings that year.
Truth and reconciliation has been proposed as a peace dividend in Kashmir amid the virtual return of peace. But as the order of the word suggests truth has to follow reconciliation, if we do not want to let this opportunity go begging. And aberrations cannot cloud the larger truth.
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