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Kashmir: The History and Pandit Women’s FOR its composite cultural heritage, vast hoard of dynasts and tempestuous last few decades, Kashmir has ever served as an inexhaustible, monumental subject of history. However, what oriented Suneethi Bakshi to tread the often beaten track of writing Kashmir’s history—the valorous, valiant Kashmir Pandit women who have preserved their identity and culture despite a history of ordeals and vicissitudes they braved? "In their patriarchal society, Kashmiri Pandits have always treated women as lesser beings `85 it is difficult to visualise a time when she was not a victim of grave injustice and tyranny, used and abused by men in her life." Hence, an oppressive patriarchal framework has been the bane of Kashmiri Pandit women, says the author.
However, the author enumerates illustrious women, who, despite cramping, crippling encroachments, fought the cause of their identity, flouting stifling patriarchal norms and contributed to Kashmir’s prestige and honour. The author has written this book to raise their hitherto scanted status and to bring into prominence the pioneering Pandit women in various fields in the post-Independence period, the author. Hence a feminist perspective has been adopted to the chronology, culture and available records of Kashmir. She deplores the fact no material or written treatise of Kashmiri women from antecedent times has survived. She praises the historian Kalhana for his voracious, unbiased interpretation of his times and accentuates his Rajatarangini, the monumental extant record of Kashmir having information about extraordinary Kashmir women till the 11th century. Besides Kalhana, she credits Bilhana, an 11th-century Kashmiri poet laureate, for recording the high intellectual attainments of his contemporary women. She attacks the patriarchal biases of the Hindu historians of the time for not mentioning Lal Ded (Lalleshwari), the 14th-century mystic and spiritual adept, best known for her vaakhs in Kashmiri language. The foremost resister to Brahmin patriarchy, thus, died unrecognised. Only Muslim historians recognised her much later. The author highlights the similarities in Habba Khatoon, Arnimal and Roopabhavani, the renowned Kashmiri women poets and saints—victims of abuse by their husband or in-laws. They freed themselves from the tyranny of patriarchy, created a niche for themselves in literary and spiritual world. A close connection persists between history and biography. Hence, a long line of biographical sketches of the rulers of Kashmir form nucleus of the historical narrative, explaining major influences on Kashmir. If the dissolute, spendthrift rulers are denounced for ruining Kashmir, Kota Rani, the last of the Hindu queens, is specifically eulogised for her indomitable energy. Her administrative calibre and keen sense of diplomacy are particularly underlined, with which she confronted the corruptions of her times and resuscitated the Hindu dynasty. The last part of the book expresses concern about the contemporary appalling conditions of Kashmir. Her critical assessment of Kashmir problem has both retrospective and prospective value; it aims to aid Kashmiri youth to extricate themselves from the historical predicament. This well-researched historical narrative inspires a degree pf loyalty to Kashmiri Pandit identity and culture in the new generations of Kashmiri Pandits, alienated from the Valley, binding them to their cultural moorings. Written in the honour of Kashmiri Pandit women, the value of the saga of feminine valour to women’s studies is significant.
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Besides, Bakshi
discusses how the Kashmiri Pandit community, especially the women
folk, fared through the vast array of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh
dynasties. Her conclusion is that in the exclusive Hindu eras,
Kashmiri Pandit women relatively had an easier time and a batter
status. However, their lot deteriorated with the advent of Islam and
regular persecutions in its wake. To save them, their movement was
restricted by their menfolk. And to prevent their abduction, the
stifling purdah system was adopted. In brief, the rampant violence in
Kashmir has jeopardised women’s freedom and been the other cause of
their victimisation, besides patriarchy.