The lost moral social universe

What we lost finally will hardly be regained. That is our moral social universe. In a point of time, when holistic narratives have again found space, exclusive stories are enough to tell us due to what Kashmir has turned into a cursed land. It is the loss of its moral social universe that was an illustration of one of the finest universal lived traditions.

Trika philosophy, an existential mode of living, gave us a blending moral tradition that had the best of past, intricacies of present and premonitions of future, mingled together not as synchronic culture but a lived religion. Undoubtedly, Lal Ded is its harbinger and Nund Rishi its agency. Bata–Muslman dichotomy were blended in this common moral social universe of Rishi order, originated by Nund Rishi.

The blending was internalized in the realm of moral conduct. The differences between the two communities were internalized as sacramental differences that majority would respect. For essences were akin, connected with historical shared memory. The dress and food preferences were similar but modes of preparation had its intricacies.

The knowledge realm was intact; the modes of religious worship were different. The insider-outsider subjectivities were similar, but linguistic variations were subtle. Sacred geographies were common, but social geography was discernible.

The collective world view of moral realm was similar, but its justification could be subjective. Despite the fact that non-native rulers, from time to time, tried to dislocate the epistemological realm by producing alternate tradition of formalism, it failed to change the moral world view subjectivity of multitudes.

Other than making symbolic changes in the language of religiosity, social and ethical blending of both the traditions at micro level did not break. What monarchies could not alter for centuries, the manufactured referent from 1960s, with complicit local political elite, destroyed the social universe.

It was gradually fractured and finally dismantled by unleashing of terrorism in 1990s when Pandits were driven out, when Bata became Kashmiri Pandits and Musalmans turned Kashmiri Muslims.

The credit should go to the present political dispensation that we are able to review the holistic narratives and are not only left to decipher the exclusive stories. What we have gained and what we have lost might be subject to general interpretations.

A section of Muslims in the valley have gained positions in the government services, abandoned by the pandits, as well as from the non-movable assets of pandits, like lands and houses to a substantial measure.

Pandits outside the valley have grown due to employability of their children and overall materiality, to an unbelievable extent. Kashmiri Muslims are well spread all over the world and so are Kashmiri Pandits. Despite political claims of cultural syncretism, both live in distinct religious realms of Diaspora, quite active in their ambition of retaking their distinctness.

What is lost then? It is the naturalness of our social universe. Let us examine this case study reported by a Japanese sociologist, Dr Taru Takahashi in his PhD dissertation:

It is a narrative of August 18, 2007, when Dr Taru for his PhD field work had visited a migrant camp at Mattan.” An offer came from a pandit migrant to have lunch together with them. The author agreed with some hesitation and the pandit went away to bring the meal. Meanwhile, a Muslim volunteer brought a plate of meal for this author.

There was no reason to refuse it. But they waited for Pandit to join them. When pandit found his guest has already a plate of meat by brought by a Muslim, he requested him to taste his meal also. There was no reason to reject it. Now a piece of Hindu prepared meat was put in the plate. There were two pieces of meat, one prepared by Hindu, light-colored gravy and on the left side a Muslim prepared meat slightly darker colored gravy.

It looked a bit strange not only to this author but also to others in the room, who were chuckling over it. When the two gravies were mixed, it tasted a bit strange too”. The author concludes that it was his idea of syncretism/secularism, which was not in Kashmiri ethos. Kashmir Hindu-Muslim mode of distinctness continued with subtleties that could not be observed by an outsider, yet its genius of nativity produced a moral social universe in which the society would live.

This social universe was compression of time, space and language of subaltern in different eras of the monarchy, producing a moral universe of symbolism and metaphors. It was the lived tradition of common existence that had been dismantled. The three constituents essential to its continuity were people place and language. It stands fractured.

Therefore its replica outside the valley is not a substitution for the original in the perfect measure. Inside the valley, homes without the essence of Trika are houses devoid of moral universe. Non-native traditions cannot blend the moral internalization though it can make you a religious professional.

Similarly, the cultural reproduction outside the valley may look real, but its being cannot be as unsullied, as it used to be in the valley. The lost social universe had three intrinsic ingredients, known as sociological fact (Durkheim). One was moral power of familiarity; known as ‘lihaz’ and the second was exteriority of persona, elderliness, recognized as ‘zechhar’ and the third was the celebrating the sacrament difference with respect.

These three intrinsic moral ingredients would cut across all manmade distinctions of caste, class, religion, rank, and generation gaps. This is lost. These fundamental living principles of our moral edifice have been robbed by militancy and displacement.

This has caused disintegration in the families, loss of warmth in the relationships, disempowerment of elderly people in their homes and most importantly loss of conversations and regeneration of exclusive literature. Could we bring it back? That needs real intellectual exploration.

Prof. Ashok Kaul, Retired Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Banaras Hindu University