A thread on “Aborgines” of Kashmir.

Often we see Kashmiri Muslims being told to go to Pakistan and so that “real aborigines” could be settled. But who are they? Here I punch a hole in this aborigine theory that’s being bandied about in Hindutva circles every now and then. https://twitter.com/glmahajan/status/1291631893138399232

1: The earliest written document narrating the history of Kashmir is Nilmata Purana. The Purana also provides background and context to a successor document called Rajatarangini. As per Nilamata, the earliest from of life that flourished in Kashmir are Nagas and Pisacas.

2: Nilmata is a mahatmya and as per KM Pannikar, a mahatmya is a written text dedicated to glorification of sacred site and it is not entirely free of fabrications.

3: Further, there are more reasons to believe that nature of legends associated with presence of Nagas in Kashmir may be unoriginal and not exclusive.

Legends like some folk hero draining water and making the land habitable for humans are not uncommon, and nobody knows which of these has the distinction of being the mother of all such fables. Nearer home, an analogous legend is told in China.

5: In central India, many Rajput tribes claim their right on the Hemaal Nagrai kind of tale where a Naga prince falls in love with a girl of their tribe. Gulshan Majeed traces the origin of the Hemaal Nagrai folktale to Chota Nagpur.

6: The story of Kashmir’s origin and its people, as given in the Nilamata Purana, rests on the existence of the Nagas. If there are no Nagas, the edifice of the story tumbles. That’s why the excavations from Pahalgam discovered in 1969 cast a huge doubt over authenticity of Nagas

7: A close examination of excavated artefacts suggests that the man who used them lived in Kashmir at least 7.8 lakh years before the present.

Experts tell us this man was a nomad who lived in mountains and then came down after the iconic lake Satirsar was drained.

8: The Burzahom and Gofkral sites have thrown up evidence of the thus far known first human settlements in Kashmir and these relate to 3000
BC —1000 BC. Geologists have no argument with the claim that Kashmir was originally a lake formed with the rise of the Pir Panjal range.

9: However, as against the Nilamata premise of a folk hero Kashyapa draining the lake water, they have scientific explanation to offer with regard to the emergence of the Valley and credit the drainage of water to tectonic changes.

10: So is the existence of Nagas and Pisacas as result of an imaginative mind with knack for fables? In the absence of archaeological evidence of Naga presence, it is hard to take them as historical entities. The soil of Kashmir also has no evidence to confirm their existence.

11: On the other hand, Burzahom and Gofkral give us ample idea about the earliest dwellers in Kashmir. The numismatic finds from the Gofkral and Buzahoum sites show Kashmir’s connection with Indo-Greeks as does a standing Greek deity on a clay seal excavated from the site.

12: So how did Nilmata came to decisively proclaim the “Hindu” credentials of Kashmiri aboriginals? Answer lies here: The period during which the Nilamata was composed coincides with the annihilation of Buddhism in Kashmir.

13: The Buddhist religious signs were demolished or converted into temples and the followers of the religion persecuted.

14: The remnants of the religion were assimilated into Shaivism so much so that the founder of the religion, Gautama, too was absorbed into the Hindu Pantheon as an incarnation of Visnu who, in popular Hindu belief, is considered as the preserver and upholder of dharma.

15: The Brahmans who had Shaivite king Mihirakula’s patronage and were now holding power and influence propagated Shaivism and built a new religious narrative through the Nilamata Parana.

16: Mahatmyas were written as guides to the newly set up or the converted shrines and religious places, consecrating these to various Hindu gods and highlighting merits of their pilgrimage.

17: Religious literature, including the Nilamata Parana and the mahatmyas, was written in Sanskrit language as against the language spoken by the local people. The Brahmans engaged in this task came from Vedic India where Sanskrit was the language of their scriptures.

19: The Nilamata, thus, marked an orbit round which the history and culture of Kashmir was constructed. The text became the argument and the evidence on the ‘Hindu origin’ of Kashmir and its people.

20: Scientifically, we know little about aboriginals of Kashmir. That means complete reliance on dubious texts full of legends, fables & fairy tales to decide who is aboriginal & who isn’t is a dishonest practice especially when it is used to justify oppression of other people