From Hanjis to Nava Narain | Kashmiri Boats, Bahatch, Doonga and Houseboat

My grandmother used to tell me about the existence of signs of water life on the top of our mountains which surround us including remnants of what look like objects used to tie boats.

Even in Rajatarangni the 12^th century chronicle on kings of Kashmir, there is a mention about ancient canals lined by trees with their ageing trunks and ropes meant for anchoring boats. This is the only written proof to boatmen’s existence in ancient Kashmir.

The boatmen are called Hanjis (Haaenz) in Kashmir and have professional similarities to Manjhis and Mallahs – the traditional boatmen and fishermen of North, East, North East India and Pakistan. The Hanjis have not forgotten history.

For centuries they have been carrying with them the oral history of changing geography of Kashmir, stories of cities being born and withering away, routes appearing and dissolving, water rising and falling; they have witnessed all that happened near and far from water bodies.

I have spent a considerable part of my childhood in my Maasi’s house in Kani Kadal on the banks of a branch of the river Jhelum called the Kutte Kol. It was a navigational canal believed to be commissioned by Kota Rani, the last ruler of the Hindu Lohara dynasty of Kashmir. The original plan, however, being to regulate floods on the Jhelum.

This river used to be full of water in the years before 1970’s with lot of boats moored on both the sides with Hanjis and their families living in them. These boats used to have slanting roofs of thatch and were called bahatch. Various variants of it are Khoch and Demba-Nav. These basically used to carry heavy loads like timber. Hanjis are a group of muscular, tough and hardworking people.

They along with their families live a hard life cramped up in small space divided into a few rooms. Their knowledge of the craft of boating is phenomenal. Their physical strength is clearly visible when a group of them is rowing the bahatch against the current of the river often strong. While rowing hard they move on the longer part of the deck with their heart shaped oars and chanting “Ya Peer Dasta Geer”.

These words give them the courage and strength to cross the hurdles. Many of them believe that they are the descendants of Hazrat Nuh, known as Noah, which in Islam is recognized as a Prophet and the messenger of God.

The river also would show Hanjis of different classes periodically coming in their smaller boats without roofs. Some of them were Gari-Hainz (water nut or singhada), Dembi-Haenz (Vegetable growers), Gada Hainz (Fishermen), Haka-Hainz (collectors of wood from the water bodies).

We would also see Doongas which are large and better-looking boats with wood and singles with rooms and kitchen carrying people going for picnics and at times pilgrimages to Kheer Bhawani or Dargah Shareef (Hazratbal).

They would eventually from Kutta Kol go to main Jhelum and then enter Dal Lake at the Dal Gate, near the beginning of Boulevard. Shikaras, comfortable boats with a roof and with spring mattresses ferrying tourists wanting to visit the canals of the city would often be seen traversing the river. These nostalgic days while I was studying MBBS in Delhi, are still so fresh in my mind.

House Boat

Their history in Kashmir started during the British Raj. European visitors started frequenting the valley and were so enchanted that many of them would like to stay for very long periods and have a place of stay of their own. However, no outsider even from the neighbouring parts of the country could buy land as per the laws made during the period of the Dogra Maharaja Ranbir Singh. This law also applied to Swami Vivekananda when he wanted to make an Ashram in Kashmir. This practice continued till recently when the law was lifted in August 2019.

The Maharaja, however, had permitted a British missionary school in a rented building. This mission school had my maternal grandfather, Vishna Joo Hakeem at a later stage as the sports teacher. One of the first batches’ students of this school had Pandit Narain Joo Raina (often called Narain Das) and few more Kashmiri Pandits as students.

They were the only English-speaking Kashmiris of that time. After schooling Pandit Narain Joo started a shop catering to the needs of the foreigners. The shop became an immediate success and he made a good living. Unfortunately, this wooden shop got gutted in fire, not a sabotage but it was a common phenomenon those days for wooden structures.

Not getting demoralized he opened a similar shop in a Donga parked nearby in Dal which he bought from a local Hanji. He then moored it to a suitable touristic site in the Dal Lake. It started doing very well financially. He started improving its looks, put in nice matted walls, made a toilet, and used wooden shingles on the interiors. This was the prototype of the first houseboat of Kashmir.

A sport loving Britisher Mr M T Kennard also had floated an idea of a “Floating Boat” when foreigners were toying with the idea of “How to spend long periods holidaying in the valley” because of the laws of the Jammu and Kashmir. For this reason, these house boats made and popularised by Narain Joo were also called “Kennath Sahib’s Boats” as mentioned in Younghusband’s well known book on Kashmir.

Narain Joo”s boat was bought by a European at a good price. This prompted him to make this as his business despite the fact that Kashmiri Pandits were not known to be into this craft. He went on to make about 300 house boats which his family managed very well.

Kashmiris who are well known for giving nick names gave him the name “Nava Narain” (or Boat Narayan). Narain Joo however gave up this business after independence of India when the foreign tourist business started dwindling.

There was, however, an upsurge in the house boat industry in years to come as tourism boomed in the valley. Unfortunately, it has slackened and dwindled in the last few decades after 1990 and the ensuing political instability. Thus, from a big number of around 3500 house boats today’s number is only 900.

The administration should once again encourage it and bring it back to its past glory. Even today these beauties can be seen lining the Dal Lake as one moves around on the boulevard road with very catchy names like; Butt’s Clermont, Naaz e Kashmir, New Jacqueline, butterfly etc. It should be remembered that the first House Boat of Naran Joo had the name “The Kashmir Princess”.

Many people may not know that Narain Joo also was the father of the very well-known mystic scholar of Kashmiri Shaivism, Swami Lakshman Joo. Born on 9^th May 1907, as a child he showed clear signs of spirituality and renounced the family of his birth.

He preached Shaivism till his death in September 1991. As a dutiful father Narain Joo built a house for him on the Zabarwan hill forests, near Nishat Bagh. Swamijee did his meditation there after spending many years with Shri Swami Ram Ji, his Guru. Today Narain Joo is known more as the father of Swami Lakshman Joo rather than the builder of the house boats in Kashmir.

Prof Upendra Kaul, Founder Director Gauri Kaul Foundation