The Forgotten Nobility of Flame and Fragrance
A chance encounter that opened a vanished chapter
Recently, on the occasion of Urs-e-Shah-e-Hamdan, I found myself visiting the historic Khanqah-e-Moula in Srinagar after a long hiatus. The air was thick with the scent of rosewater and the mosque resonated with soul-stirring recitations and reflections on the teachings of Mir Syed Ali Hamadaani.
Later that evening, a craving for authentic Wazwan took me to a reasonable takeaway outlet in downtown Srinagar. I was greeted by a well-dressed, courteous young man behind the counter, fluent in English and impressively articulate, a touch unexpected still pleasant, a striking blend of modern grace and cultural rootedness.
In the course of our brief conversation, he casually asked my whereabouts. I told him, originally am a down town boy but now living on northern outskirts of the city and that my purpose was to visit Khanaquah e Moulla and pay homage to Shah-e-Hamdan, the benefactor of Kashmiri culture and ethos.
What he revealed next caught me off guard! “We too come from that respectable lineage. Our ancestors came with Amir e Kabir’s dignified entourage of Sadaat, elites that accompanied Shah-e-Hamdan to Kashmir, with roots in Central Asia. To my next quick question about the record of their links to Islamic Honorific Lineages (IHL) like the Sayyids, Hashemites, Quraysh, and Ansaris, he responded, these narratives live in our family’s memory and are passed seena-ba-seena (chest to chest), our oral histories may not possess written genealogical records, he argued and continued; Sadly, the record was lost in the course of time. Primarily due to ignorance and apathy of our previous generations with more than a century long systematic hardships and suppression.
Some individual households from the entourage, however, may have succeeded in preserving and periodically updating and passing down their genealogies, from oral memory and parchments to paper scrolls and revenue documents. Certain families maintained their nasbnamas (genealogical scrolls), preserved in khanqahs or shrines. Others, for various reasons, were unable to maintain such written records.
Nevertheless, the authenticity of these preserved lineages remains open to scrutiny, and for most families, the essence of ancestral identity still rests on trust, tradition, and the spoken word. Anyone interested in this subject may choose to further explore through modern DNA testing platforms.
His words stayed with me. Could there be a forgotten nobility hiding behind the smoke and flame of Kashmir’s ceremonial “wuer”, fireplace created on the ground with logs of firewood used for live-cooking of wazwan.
That interaction lingered in my mind. It became the beginning of a journey through texts, oral traditions, and conversations, to explore whether the Waza identity was simply culinary, or something richer.
Wazwan and the artistry of the Waza
Wazas are formally acknowledged in wider Kashmiri history as the custodians of culinary culture; Wazwan, the ceremonial multi-course feast that dominates weddings, occasions and festivals is the hallmark of Kashmiri hospitality, tradition, and diplomacy served aesthetically on a copper plate known as Trami.
The word Wazwan itself means “Show of the Chef,” combining “Waz” (chef) and “Wan” (exhibition, display or show). The Wusta Waza (master chef) leads the team, managing precision, ritual, and performance.
Linguistically, “Waza” resonates with Persian words like Ashpaz (chef), and phonetically Wazir (counselor), and Waz-khawan (preacher). In Sufi circles of Konya, chefs like Ateşbaz Veli were spiritual guides who cooked with discipline and love.
Colloquially, the word “Waza” may stem from Persian-Arabic roots like wazan (weight) and meezan (balance or scale), aptly reflecting the essence of a master chef. In wazwan tradition, the ability to intuitively balance spices on fingertips with textures and aromas is central; a skill learned by observation and perfected by practice. It is therefore entirely plausible that the term “Waza” originated as a cultural recognition of this role, the title earned by those who embodied balance, discipline, and weight in both technique and taste. Blending intuition with inherited discipline comes from a deeply internalized sense of “wazan” and “meezan”.
Intriguingly, the Arabic word “wazzah”,(وازه), meaning goose or swan, also suggests elegance and versatility. Just as the swan glides between water and land, the Waza balances skill and soul, sustenance and symbolism. It’s possible the title “waza” may have evolved even inspired by preparing signature dishes out of wazzah (goose) for spiritual gatherings and ceremonial feasts, earning a name that stuck as their art gained reverence.
Here, I’m reminded, one of our cordon bleu chef who once said with pride in a typical Kashmiri tone,“Waze gov su yus anzeas banavi sath sean”; “A true Waza is the one who can craft a standard seven course wazwan from just a single goose!”
Origins: Central Asian echoes and migratory threads
It is worth mentioning that there are some prominent waza households of wazpora, mainly Arams and Bhandaries etc. who link their origin to the Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani’s entourage that migrated from Hamdan and other areas in Central Asia into Kashmir. Others, like the Khosas of Naid Kadal, are believed to have their ancestries to Sistan (Iran) and Balochistan (Pakistan), while the Khans of Fateh Kadal locality also known as Shaitan wazas (devil chefs) for their mastery and innovation draw their connection to the later Timur’s expeditions from Samarkand. Notably, another distinguished culinary family from Wazpora/Sokhali Pora are the Khans, trace their ancestry to Azam Khan Barakzai, the last Durrani governor/Administrator of Kashmir before the Sikh conquest.
Historical texts like Baharistan-i-Shahi, Tareekh-e-Hassan, and Muhammad Din Fauq mention that Mir Syed Ali Hamadani came with a retinue of over 700 scholars, artisans, and missionaries, many of them Sayyids.
Among these groups were craftsmen skilled in textile, metalwork, calligraphy, shawl-weaving and carpet-making etc. but do not explicitly list or specifically mention chefs (wazas); suggests that cooking wasn’t viewed as a distinct profession at that time, but as an integral part of communal life, especially in Sufi khanqahs where food was linked to hospitality, humility, and spiritual service.
In Sufi traditions, the act of preparing food especially within khanqahs (Sufi hospices) was regarded as an act of worship (ibadat), so the role was communal not occupational
As these missionary groups settled, Sufi hospitality institutionalized in Kashmir, and the need for larger-scale food preparation during festivals, gatherings, and public feasts increased. The repetitive performance of this role by certain families likely led to familiarity, skill, and mastery, distinguishing them over time, began to refine recipes, techniques, and presentation. Their growing reputation would naturally attract demand especially for large ceremonies like weddings. This process led to the emergence of specialization, and thus, the foundation of Waza as a distinct identity.
During the Shah Mir dynasty and successive regimes till early 19th century , when courts emphasizing refined cuisine as a symbol of power and prestige, these skilled cooks were likely invited or commissioned to prepare grand feasts. Patronage would have elevated cooking into a professional art, complete with its rituals, hierarchy (Wusta Waza, assistants), and codified menu, what we now call Wazwan.
Guild-like transmission and hereditary continuity
Much like weavers, calligraphers, or metalworkers, culinary artisans began transmitting their craft orally within families, forming hereditary lines. Over time, this led to the institutionalization of the Waza community, with its own codes, standards, and internal prestige.
The noble profession: From courts to khanqahs
While broad sources of historical records and some oral traditions more convincingly connect the roots of the Kashmiri chef community (Wazas) to the grand culinary traditions of Persia, Central Asia, and the Arab world as elite craftsmen. Additionally, the similarities in cooking methods, presentation, and flavour profiles strongly suggest a direct culinary inheritance from Central Asian traditions.
In the broader Muslim and Sufi world, places like Konya, Turkey, the cook, often a respected elder was referred to as “Muallim” (a learned person), in Mevlevi lodges combining spiritual training with preparing meals for their disciples. This suggests that the chefs were regarded as cultural custodians of taste, tradition, and refined identity within elite circles.
In Persian and Ottoman traditions, chefs held courtly rank. Ashpaz in Iran and Saray Helvacısı in the Ottoman Empire were culinary elite, curators of taste and tradition in imperial kitchens (Matbah-i Amire)
Medieval Persian cookbooks like Kitab al-Ṭabikh and Sofra-ye At’ema by royal chef Ali Akbar Khan Ashpaz-bashi reflect an intellectualized culinary tradition. These chefs were literate, organized into guilds, and transmitted knowledge through tightly knit familial lines.
This mirrors the Wusta Waza tradition in Kashmir, where senior cooks oversee training, recipes, and ritual protocols, suggesting a shared elite chef culture as stewards of heritage.
Fall from grace
The early 19th-century after the down fall of Durranis marked a painful decline of waza and wazwan tradition. As dietary laws, cultural norms changed and tastes shifted. Once-honoured chefs were now reduced to carry a broader diminishment of status and identity.
In the environment of repression and suffocation many Wazas were forced to hide or simplify their craft. Some took refuge in localities like contemporary Wazpora, Sokhalipora, and Mahraj Gunj, where they lived through economic depression and social marginalization. Legends say that peers (Muslim clerics) and spiritual guides fled to mountainous terrains for safety in that era. Yet, the Wazas, preserved their craft in silence, in absence of state patronage and newly imposed stigma made it harder for them to sustain their old ways. Over time, their role became largely functional, rather than ceremonial or cultural.
Moreover, caste consciousness inherited from ruling elite, over nightly reduced once royal culinary artists to the bawarchi status and categorized cooks, other artisans and service providers as lower castes. Societal practice often borrowed from the caste logic seeped into the Muslim psyche also. Even today, in Kashmiri “arranged” marriages, caste biases subtly influence alliances. Though people eat from the same platter and pray together shoulder to shoulder, caste lines remain, said a nagging young manager at a wazwan outlet.
Post-Independence: recognition without reservation
After 1947, while many trades gained state reservations, the Wazas were overlooked in that reservation policy. Ironically, their exclusion was out of a complex recognition of their “elite past.” Perhaps policymakers then believed Wazas, being traditionally forward, didn’t require state-sponsored upliftment.
“Yes, it was matter of dignity and pride for us and our craft, but we were also poor and in economic decline, the recognition never brought prosperity that should have followed”, recalled an elder chef. It is true a handful from the community did attain educational and administrative positions, but many chose to conceal their roots due to the lingered stigma surrounding the Waza identity, pondered another aged wusta waza.
During Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad’s tenure, however, Wazas experienced resurgence. The state intervened to regulate wages for chefs during marriages and official events. This not only elevated their economic standing but allowed some affluence to return.
Heritage, identity, and the DNA debate
It is historically and culturally valid that culinary roles were integral, not inferior, to early Islamic and Sufi missions, often carrying spiritual and communal significance. While the Waza tradition is firmly rooted in documented Central Asian culinary heritage, claims of Sayyid lineage remain unverifiable. Still, it’s plausible that some spiritually elite families took on cooking roles as a form of service and adaptation, making the Waza identity a complementary blend of cultural skill and noble intent, reflecting the inclusive and dignified ethos in Kashmir.
In another conversation with a senior Waza from Wazpora, I asked, “Historical records trace your lineage to Central Asia, but not specifically to Sayyid lines. How do you reconcile the oral tradition with missing documentation?”
His response was clear and bold: “Our claim is oral, not documented, many records were lost to persecution, but that doesn’t make it invalid. I’m willing to take a DNA test to support it.”
As someone with a scientific background, I explained the limitations of genetic testing after 700 years. DNA signals dilute over generations, and results tend to show broad regional affinity, not conclusive links to patrilineal ancestry.
In truth, the Waza community’s living legacy, rooted in devotion, hospitality, and cultural resilience is a far more authentic tribute than genetic validation could ever be.
The Waza today: revival through recognition
Despite setbacks and political shifts that once dimmed its flame, the Waza tradition has endured, sustained by a resilient hereditary system, oral transmission of culinary wisdom, and a profound spiritual bond with the craft. In recent years, Wazwan has seen a powerful resurgence, not just among traditional families, but across a broad and growing spectrum of people, locally, nationally, and internationally. From home-grown takeaways to fine-dining restaurants, hotel kitchens to global food festivals, individuals outside the hereditary families are now embracing and investing in this iconic culinary tradition. Through social media, tourism, and cultural events, Wazwan is being celebrated once more, not merely as food, but as a symbol of Kashmir’s enduring heritage of flame, fragrance, and finesse.
Across the world, chefs are celebrated as cultural ambassadors, from French chefs honoured with knighthoods, to Turkish Ustads revered as teachers, to Japanese Sushi Masters celebrated artists and in India we have chef Sanjeev Kapoor conferred with prestigious Padma Shri award, nations have recognized the dignity of culinary excellence.
Tail piece: Great civilizations are built on the shoulders of their craftsmen. Our Wazas are custodians of tradition, masters of ceremony, and storytellers of a people’s soul. Let the Trami (Platter) become a platform—for dignity and history, and more than a feast.
Final note: This piece is a tribute to the silent generations who preserved Kashmir’s most beloved tradition against all odds. It is also a call to the younger generation to reclaim it with pride and purpose.
The author is an Entrepreneur, Advocate for Innovation & Quality in Diagnostics.
