Culture Neutral: Persian Archives Meet (Almost) the Same Fate as Sanskrit Archives

Iqbal finds that after Sanskrit was replaced by Persian in the late 14th century, Kashmiri Sultans did not do much for preserving Persian documents either. Now, the situation is even more pressing: who will archive the material?

(Mr. Iqbal Ahmad, 48, was born in Parigam Chek, Kulgam. He is a graduate with Diploma in Numastics, Archaeology and Heritage. He is an archaeologist, writer, and a cultural historian. Mr. Iqbal Ahmad has published 12 reference books on Kashmir archaeology and heritage.)

Neglected Persian records of Kashmir

Apart from Sanskrit records of Kashmir which have been neglected and are decaying in various manuscript collections, our Persian documents and manuscripts too have not been given any special or deserving treatment. As a result, most of them are facing a similar crisis.

Most of these manuscripts are still undescribed and un-translated. Resultantly, many of the manuscript collections are un-catalogued and undocumented.

Like Sanskrit works, these Persian documents have also become an outdated literature which have got very few scholars who can decipher and explain the meaning of these works to the common reader. For a layman it is better to know what is Persian and what does it really mean? Perhaps, very few people may be aware of Persians glorious heritage. While for the rest of our educated youth Persian is no more than an Iranian language.

No doubt when we define Persian in simple terms we can say that it is an Iranian dialect which is still prevalent there. But for Persian scholars and historians, it significance in context of Kashmiri culture and history is very much established. Since the decline of Sanskrit, it was Persian who filled a literary gap here. Historically speaking, Persian evolved here in late 14th century AD when Shahmiri Sultans founded Muslim Sultanate in Kashmir.

Since the 14th Century to 20th Century, Persian found a strong base in the whole of Kashmir. It served as the official language of the people here for centuries together; besides it was also taught formerly in local madarrases. It was in the period of NC’s founder and former Kashmir prime minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah that a new education policy was formulated and Persian was introduced as one of the languages for school education.

Kashmiri Pandits had also learned this language and their contribution to its promotion was very much outstanding. Persian originally emerged from Persian present Iran but it got cultivated in Kashmir. Of its religious significance, most of religious scripts for Muslims where available in this script. It was much earlier than Arabic. It was also language of Muslim missionaries who introduced it in Kashmiri Khanqah’s and Madarassas.

Just like Arabic, it was obligatory for every Muslim of the sub-continent to learn it. In fact the contribution of Muslims to promotion of this Iranian dialect was well understood. Because they then needed it to learn so as to understand their religious teachings. What was more significant and surprising, obviously, was the role which Pandits played in development of this language and its literature.

Among Kashmiri Pandits, the name of Munshi Bhawanidas Kachru stands pre-eminently among Persian writers and poets. The original style of his Bahri-tavil is held in high esteem. Pandit Taba Ram Turki, Satram Baqaya, Daya Kachru, Aftab Bhan, Gobind Koul, Kailash Dhar and a number of other Pandits’ contributions to development of Persian literature are well mentioned in several Persian accounts of this land.

When we classify our written and official languages, we know that Prakrit was the earliest dialect of northern India, it was followed by Sanskrit. When Sanskrit discontinued it was Persian which took over Sanskrit learning in this part of the world. Thousands of books were written in this language which covered almost all the fields of education and literature.

Those were the glorious periods for Persian language and literature. However, things changed, Persian could not stand the new cultural and literary invasions. A time reached when this script became outdated. Consequently, it was dropped from the school curriculum. The Urdu and English languages filled the official language vacuum. Notwithstanding the fact that Persian is still taught in few government universities and colleges, but it is totally abandoned from local Muslim madarassas; which in fact is shocking.

Despite its religious and literary significance and background, Persian should never have got such a punishment from the Muslim Darasgahs. Why the present Darasgahs dropped it from their curriculum? No one knows better than the management of these religious institutions. They may have some logic in neglect of this Iranian dialect.

To promote Persian as a language is not my point, my concern is about its neglected heritage. Like Sanskrit manuscripts, the Persian manuscripts are scattered in a number of collections, which are mostly unidentified and undescribed.

Its translations have not been taken up so seriously. At most of these places, the manuscripts are neither documented nor catalogued. Although we know that we cannot revive and restore back its pristine glory, still we could have made an effort to accord it a better treatment.

We need to bring its scattered manuscripts and documents under one umbrella and preserve those for future generations. To understand the philosophy, history, culture and moral values hidden in these Persian manuscripts, we could have encouraged its systematic translation into new and prevalent languages of this land.

Almost all the sufic philosophic traditions and rituals are preserved in this language. Let us not again wait for Kashmiri Pandits to undertake the documentation of these manuscripts and free ourselves from this moral responsibility. The job is ours. Lets do it.