By Prof. Mushtaq Ahmad Kaw - Greater Kashmir - Srinigar, India
Monday, January 22, 2007
Based on the empirical study, I venture to record some observations about my recent visit to Tajikistan regarding a research project. Geographically speaking, the two [Tajikistan and Indian Kashmir] have been in close proximity with each other. Only the Pamir Mountains bisected them by a mere distance of 100 kilometres [62 miles] or so.
Notwithstanding this, the two were intimately connected through Gilgit-Wakhan Corridor: thanks to the factors of unprecedented political integration, dynamism of Silk Route and the heydays of Buddhism, Islam and Sufism.
Being profound enough, neither political convulsions and dynastic upheavals nor geographical hazards could ever infringe them. The most plausible reason, interalia, was that these bilateral relations characterized the lifeline of two peoples which in sequence nurtured and kept alive quite a free movement of men, material and ideas across the borders.
No wonder, therefore, to notice a great deal of religio-spiritual affinity between Tajiks and Kashmiris from this and other side of the Pamirs into Badakhshan and Tajikistan.
As I had read and heard about Tajikistan so exactly I found it during my one and a half months stay. A very beautiful land mass situated in the lap of the Pamir Mountains. Its people of the Iranian descent, quite hospitable and gentle, resemble Kashmiris much more than any other peoples of the Central Asia. As a result, both share many things together in several fields. One of them is indeed religio-cultural and spiritual domain.
(...)
They [the Tajiks] believe in power of intercession and advocacy for multitude of mundane and spiritual ends; hence, they respect saints and their mausoleums. As a result, the country is dotted with innumerable number of shrines dedicated to the holy and the great men of the country including martyrs, Sufis, saints and the like.
A mausoleum just outside the Hissar Fort, 25 kilometres from the capital city of Dushanbe, is dedicated to one thousand Arabs who, by tradition, are reported to have sacrificed their lives for the sake of Islam in and around the 8th century.
This renovated dome-shaped mausoleum, is regularly thronged by the Muslim devotees to pay respects to the departed souls as a means to achieve their worldly and other ends.
One comes across similar other mud and brick-made shrines dating around 12th-16th centuries in Tajikistan. These include the shrines devoted to the holy man like Zainulabidin at Khotlan/Koolab and Makhdoom-i Azam at Hissar.
Popular faith in holy shrines is so preponderant that people even esteem the places which, by tradition, are believed to have been visited by champions of Islam in Tajikistan. Two such sites dedicated to Khalifa Hazrat Ali and Khalid Bin Walid at Hissar, Dushanbe, offer the best example.
As a matter of fact, all the three major oblasts of Badakhshan, Koolab and Soghd are dotted with numerous shrines, some abandoned for want of care and others well maintained so as to soothe the devotees. However, one of the most popular shrines is that of Sayyid Ali Hamadani at Koolab in southern Tajikistan bordering Afghanistan.
Being buried at Koolab, the great saint Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani is revered to an appreciable extent in whole Tajikistan. Quite exactly, after the most devastating Civil War, the Tajik government with the support of the Irani government renovated the shrine on the most modern lines.
Besides containing an impressive façade, the present structure features several chambers bearing separate domes over each of them. While the central chamber houses the grave of Mir Sayyid Ali, the adjacent chambers possesses the graves of his wife, son Mir Muhammad Hamadani, and the children.
The cloistered courtyard of the shrine is marked with hanging wooden and metal tablets conveying Sayyid Ali’s message about statehood and the like.
During the process of resuscitating its rich past and culture, the present government has accorded the Sayyid the status of a national saint. Accordingly, it dedicated a remarkable museum to his name just in front of his shrine.
The museum contains, inter alia, abundant literature on Sayyid Ali’s life, performance and philosophy in the form of books and manuscripts published from different parts of the region including India, Pakistan, Iran etc.
Given the tremendous state patronage and the strong popular faith, large gatherings of devotees pay obeisance at the shrine. Indeed, the saint is reverential for them. So is the breath-taking view of the shrine and its surroundings: beautiful gardens, flowers, fruit and chinar trees and resting places, really a scintillating and a panoramic view.
Though one does not find any traces of the original shrine at the site, yet some of its architectural elements have been meticulously reflected in the newly designed tomb of Sayyid Ali—the well-looking domes, semi-arched gates, stone windows and carved wooden doors and other reminiscences of medieval architecture.
The grave is in itself wrapped with a Jaama or a green piece of cloth marvelled with the Qur’anic verses: all these features exactly symbolize the shrine culture of medieval Kashmir.
--To be concluded
(The author is Director Centre for Central Asian Studies)
Monday, January 22, 2007
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Monday, January 22, 2007
Tajikistan & Kashmir part 1: Saints and Shrines
Monday, January 22, 2007
Based on the empirical study, I venture to record some observations about my recent visit to Tajikistan regarding a research project. Geographically speaking, the two [Tajikistan and Indian Kashmir] have been in close proximity with each other. Only the Pamir Mountains bisected them by a mere distance of 100 kilometres [62 miles] or so.
Notwithstanding this, the two were intimately connected through Gilgit-Wakhan Corridor: thanks to the factors of unprecedented political integration, dynamism of Silk Route and the heydays of Buddhism, Islam and Sufism.
Being profound enough, neither political convulsions and dynastic upheavals nor geographical hazards could ever infringe them. The most plausible reason, interalia, was that these bilateral relations characterized the lifeline of two peoples which in sequence nurtured and kept alive quite a free movement of men, material and ideas across the borders.
No wonder, therefore, to notice a great deal of religio-spiritual affinity between Tajiks and Kashmiris from this and other side of the Pamirs into Badakhshan and Tajikistan.
As I had read and heard about Tajikistan so exactly I found it during my one and a half months stay. A very beautiful land mass situated in the lap of the Pamir Mountains. Its people of the Iranian descent, quite hospitable and gentle, resemble Kashmiris much more than any other peoples of the Central Asia. As a result, both share many things together in several fields. One of them is indeed religio-cultural and spiritual domain.
(...)
They [the Tajiks] believe in power of intercession and advocacy for multitude of mundane and spiritual ends; hence, they respect saints and their mausoleums. As a result, the country is dotted with innumerable number of shrines dedicated to the holy and the great men of the country including martyrs, Sufis, saints and the like.
A mausoleum just outside the Hissar Fort, 25 kilometres from the capital city of Dushanbe, is dedicated to one thousand Arabs who, by tradition, are reported to have sacrificed their lives for the sake of Islam in and around the 8th century.
This renovated dome-shaped mausoleum, is regularly thronged by the Muslim devotees to pay respects to the departed souls as a means to achieve their worldly and other ends.
One comes across similar other mud and brick-made shrines dating around 12th-16th centuries in Tajikistan. These include the shrines devoted to the holy man like Zainulabidin at Khotlan/Koolab and Makhdoom-i Azam at Hissar.
Popular faith in holy shrines is so preponderant that people even esteem the places which, by tradition, are believed to have been visited by champions of Islam in Tajikistan. Two such sites dedicated to Khalifa Hazrat Ali and Khalid Bin Walid at Hissar, Dushanbe, offer the best example.
As a matter of fact, all the three major oblasts of Badakhshan, Koolab and Soghd are dotted with numerous shrines, some abandoned for want of care and others well maintained so as to soothe the devotees. However, one of the most popular shrines is that of Sayyid Ali Hamadani at Koolab in southern Tajikistan bordering Afghanistan.
Being buried at Koolab, the great saint Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani is revered to an appreciable extent in whole Tajikistan. Quite exactly, after the most devastating Civil War, the Tajik government with the support of the Irani government renovated the shrine on the most modern lines.
Besides containing an impressive façade, the present structure features several chambers bearing separate domes over each of them. While the central chamber houses the grave of Mir Sayyid Ali, the adjacent chambers possesses the graves of his wife, son Mir Muhammad Hamadani, and the children.
The cloistered courtyard of the shrine is marked with hanging wooden and metal tablets conveying Sayyid Ali’s message about statehood and the like.
During the process of resuscitating its rich past and culture, the present government has accorded the Sayyid the status of a national saint. Accordingly, it dedicated a remarkable museum to his name just in front of his shrine.
The museum contains, inter alia, abundant literature on Sayyid Ali’s life, performance and philosophy in the form of books and manuscripts published from different parts of the region including India, Pakistan, Iran etc.
Given the tremendous state patronage and the strong popular faith, large gatherings of devotees pay obeisance at the shrine. Indeed, the saint is reverential for them. So is the breath-taking view of the shrine and its surroundings: beautiful gardens, flowers, fruit and chinar trees and resting places, really a scintillating and a panoramic view.
Though one does not find any traces of the original shrine at the site, yet some of its architectural elements have been meticulously reflected in the newly designed tomb of Sayyid Ali—the well-looking domes, semi-arched gates, stone windows and carved wooden doors and other reminiscences of medieval architecture.
The grave is in itself wrapped with a Jaama or a green piece of cloth marvelled with the Qur’anic verses: all these features exactly symbolize the shrine culture of medieval Kashmir.
--To be concluded
(The author is Director Centre for Central Asian Studies)
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saints and shrines
By Prof. Mushtaq Ahmad Kaw - Greater Kashmir - Srinigar, IndiaMonday, January 22, 2007
Based on the empirical study, I venture to record some observations about my recent visit to Tajikistan regarding a research project. Geographically speaking, the two [Tajikistan and Indian Kashmir] have been in close proximity with each other. Only the Pamir Mountains bisected them by a mere distance of 100 kilometres [62 miles] or so.
Notwithstanding this, the two were intimately connected through Gilgit-Wakhan Corridor: thanks to the factors of unprecedented political integration, dynamism of Silk Route and the heydays of Buddhism, Islam and Sufism.
Being profound enough, neither political convulsions and dynastic upheavals nor geographical hazards could ever infringe them. The most plausible reason, interalia, was that these bilateral relations characterized the lifeline of two peoples which in sequence nurtured and kept alive quite a free movement of men, material and ideas across the borders.
No wonder, therefore, to notice a great deal of religio-spiritual affinity between Tajiks and Kashmiris from this and other side of the Pamirs into Badakhshan and Tajikistan.
As I had read and heard about Tajikistan so exactly I found it during my one and a half months stay. A very beautiful land mass situated in the lap of the Pamir Mountains. Its people of the Iranian descent, quite hospitable and gentle, resemble Kashmiris much more than any other peoples of the Central Asia. As a result, both share many things together in several fields. One of them is indeed religio-cultural and spiritual domain.
(...)
They [the Tajiks] believe in power of intercession and advocacy for multitude of mundane and spiritual ends; hence, they respect saints and their mausoleums. As a result, the country is dotted with innumerable number of shrines dedicated to the holy and the great men of the country including martyrs, Sufis, saints and the like.
A mausoleum just outside the Hissar Fort, 25 kilometres from the capital city of Dushanbe, is dedicated to one thousand Arabs who, by tradition, are reported to have sacrificed their lives for the sake of Islam in and around the 8th century.
This renovated dome-shaped mausoleum, is regularly thronged by the Muslim devotees to pay respects to the departed souls as a means to achieve their worldly and other ends.
One comes across similar other mud and brick-made shrines dating around 12th-16th centuries in Tajikistan. These include the shrines devoted to the holy man like Zainulabidin at Khotlan/Koolab and Makhdoom-i Azam at Hissar.
Popular faith in holy shrines is so preponderant that people even esteem the places which, by tradition, are believed to have been visited by champions of Islam in Tajikistan. Two such sites dedicated to Khalifa Hazrat Ali and Khalid Bin Walid at Hissar, Dushanbe, offer the best example.
As a matter of fact, all the three major oblasts of Badakhshan, Koolab and Soghd are dotted with numerous shrines, some abandoned for want of care and others well maintained so as to soothe the devotees. However, one of the most popular shrines is that of Sayyid Ali Hamadani at Koolab in southern Tajikistan bordering Afghanistan.
Being buried at Koolab, the great saint Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani is revered to an appreciable extent in whole Tajikistan. Quite exactly, after the most devastating Civil War, the Tajik government with the support of the Irani government renovated the shrine on the most modern lines.
Besides containing an impressive façade, the present structure features several chambers bearing separate domes over each of them. While the central chamber houses the grave of Mir Sayyid Ali, the adjacent chambers possesses the graves of his wife, son Mir Muhammad Hamadani, and the children.
The cloistered courtyard of the shrine is marked with hanging wooden and metal tablets conveying Sayyid Ali’s message about statehood and the like.
During the process of resuscitating its rich past and culture, the present government has accorded the Sayyid the status of a national saint. Accordingly, it dedicated a remarkable museum to his name just in front of his shrine.
The museum contains, inter alia, abundant literature on Sayyid Ali’s life, performance and philosophy in the form of books and manuscripts published from different parts of the region including India, Pakistan, Iran etc.
Given the tremendous state patronage and the strong popular faith, large gatherings of devotees pay obeisance at the shrine. Indeed, the saint is reverential for them. So is the breath-taking view of the shrine and its surroundings: beautiful gardens, flowers, fruit and chinar trees and resting places, really a scintillating and a panoramic view.
Though one does not find any traces of the original shrine at the site, yet some of its architectural elements have been meticulously reflected in the newly designed tomb of Sayyid Ali—the well-looking domes, semi-arched gates, stone windows and carved wooden doors and other reminiscences of medieval architecture.
The grave is in itself wrapped with a Jaama or a green piece of cloth marvelled with the Qur’anic verses: all these features exactly symbolize the shrine culture of medieval Kashmir.
--To be concluded
(The author is Director Centre for Central Asian Studies)
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