Pandit Sham Lal Saraf - A Gandhian & A Freedom Fighter

Pandit Sham Lal Saraf

 - A Gandhian and a Freedom Fighter

I knew him very closely. He was my uncle, married to my father's sister, to be precise. He was simple, clean and tidy, modest, unpretentious, had strict principles and was a true Gandhian. He was reserved and unrevealing about his accomplishments. Though an introvert he still managed to be in politics and public life. Had I not seen him I would not have believed that a person called Mahatma Gandhi, whose disciple he was, ever lived and walked on this earth. 

Sham Lal Saraf was born on July 4, 1904, in Rainawari, Srinagar (Kashmir) in a Kashmiri Pandit family with the surname 'Tikoos' though they were generally known as  'Sarafs'. Maybe some of his ancestors worked as goldsmiths. The family observed the festival 'Tike Tchorum' which showed their belonging to Tikoos originally. His father's name was Pandit Sansar Chand Saraf who as I learnt was a strict disciplinarian.  

Saraf Sahab was educated at the famous CMS High School, Srinagar known for quality education, sports and character building. He participated in sports and was a member of the school hockey team besides cultural activities. On completion of his schooling, he graduated from S P College, Srinagar. Thereafter, he plunged into business and owned two shops of Kashmir handicrafts bearing the name 'Sudesh Arts & Crafts', one situated on the Bund over the bank of river Jhelum, next to Shaw Bros, and the other in the Central Market (Shop No 115). My father also joined him in his business later on.  Once Saraf Sahab joined the freedom movement of the state called the 'Quit Kashmir Movement', he handed over both the shops to my father who managed them single-handedly up to 1962 when he too sold them, One of the Bund changed the signboard to 'Ganymede' (See picture below) and the other was thereafter called as 'Desh Arts & Crafts'. Despite giving up his studies after B A, he kept in touch with books and current affairs all his life. In 1968 when I was preparing for my graduation, he dictated two essays to me titled, 'Students Unrest in India' and 'Arab Israel War' that opened my eyes to the depth of his knowledge on the subjects. I was fortunate to use both in my final examination because students were asked to appear in the English paper again as some students had gone on strike in the first one.  

Sham Lal Saraf was married on March 20, 1923, to Tarashwari Budki (Gunwati Saraf after marriage) who was the daughter of Pt Ram Chand Budki residing at Krala Teng, S R Gunj, Srinagar. She was a humble, devoted, pious and highly spiritual lady who did not eat non-vegetarian food from the very childhood though she cooked tons of meat and fish for her husband, family and guests all her life. Despite getting married to a person who later became a State Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament, she never changed her lifestyle nor participated in official dinners and banquets. She was a devotee of Lord Shiva and had a dedicated puja room in her house, called 'Thokur Kuth' in Kashmiri, where she would sit for many hours performing puja. She had no ego, no pride and no self-conceit. Gunwati bore him more than a dozen children but only one daughter, Sudesh Saraf survived. Sudesh became a lecturer at Women's College, Srinagar after her post-graduation in Hindi and was married to K L Zutshi, an engineer by profession. Unfortunately, Sudesh left for her heavenly abode a few years ago.  

Pt Sham Lal Saraf initially became a member of a Kashmiri Pandit organization called Yuvak Sabha which later merged with J&K National Conference. The latter got associated with the National Movement of Congress before 1930. Other members of the organisation were Jia Lal Kilam, P N Bazaz, and Kashyap Bandhu. He was a signatory of the National Demands Document presented to the then Maharaja demanding inter alia freedom of speech, adult franchise, self-governance and reservation of vacancies for the state subjects. He became a member of the J&K Constituent Assembly in 1951 proclaimed by the then Sadre Riyasat J&K.

Saraf Sahab was a Member of the State legislature, from September 1951 to April 7, 1962, and was later nominated as a Member of Parliament 3rd Lok Sabha for the next 5 years by the President of India. He served as a Cabinet Minister in the State of J&K from 1947 to April 1962. His first assignment was as Minister of Tourism and Education. 

 Besides, he was a member of several associations and societies interested in social, cultural educational and religious movements. He travelled widely and visited Sri Lanka, the USSR, Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Poland and Sweden. 

                                        (Meeting with Turkish press delegation in March 1952)

In 1953 he got embroiled in a confrontation with his mentor and leader Sheikh Mohd Abdullah who had delivered the notorious secessionist Ranbir Singh Pora speech as a consequence of which his cabinet planned his ouster. As a retaliation, Sheikh Abdullah tried to dismiss him from the cabinet and even planned to put him behind bars but before he could execute his plans, Sheikh Abdullah himself was ousted as Prime Minister of J&K in 1953 and Bakshi Ghulam Mohd took over the charge instead. Allegations levelled against Saraf Sahab were that his brother-in-law (Sala), who was serving in the Jail Department, had stolen a clock from Saraf's office which was recovered from his car. This is documented in his autobiography 'Atish-e-Chinar' written by a ghostwriter, M Y Taing. Unfortunately, the writer had not verified the facts. Saraf Sahab had only one brother-in-law and that was my father who was a shopkeeper and till 1962 had never worked in any government office.  Moreover, the truth about allegations of corruption can be gauged by comparing the assets left by Sheikh Abdullah and all other Ministers during Sheikh's and Bakshi's regimes vis-a-vis what was left by Sham Lal Saraf. He possessed just one incomplete three-story building in Gugji Bagh, Srinagar and that too was built after he demitted his office. In this regard, I asked him once, "Hindus don't credit you with the ouster of Sheikh Sahab saying it was Bakshi who did it while Muslims blame you entirely for dethroning him? So you get no credit whatsoever." He replied, "My direct confrontation could have taken a communal colour and my community would have to bear the brunt of it if I had openly come out against Sheikh Sahab on that occasion. In fact, I preferred to lay low for a long time and even refused to join the new cabinet of Bakshi Sahab for many days to avoid public gaze."    

As has been written earlier, Pt Sham Lal Saraf was a member of the Cabinet of Sheikh Abdullah from 1947 to 1953 and later Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed from 1953 onwards to 1962. In the photo on the right, he can be seen taking the oath of Office as Minister in Bakshi's Cabinet. The oath was administered by the then Sadre Riyasat, Dr Karan Singh. He acquitted himself with unparalleled integrity and industry. He was a stickler for principles and I always thought he could have been more successful as a bureaucrat than a politician. This trait of his made him unpopular among the public, especially the Kashmiri Pandits, who approached him to bestow them with undue favours but he did not oblige them. Examples of this could be seen that his own daughter was neither a doctor nor an engineer and he could not manage a medical seat for me or my sister though he was in power at that time. On my asking that Muslim students with far lesser marks got the seats, he replied, "For a Muslim of Kashmir, who doesn't feel integrated with the country due to indoctrination since 1953, India is from Uri to Qazigund while for you India spans from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari. If I don't give him preference in education and employment in J&K and bottle him up, he will surely break that bottle upon my head one day." How prophetic! Subversive forces used this very plank in the 1990s to incite young Kashmiris to take up the gun. I appreciated his viewpoint and in fact, it changed the course of my life. He too acknowledged it before his wife saying, "This fellow never turned his back to seek help. Whatever he has achieved is all on his own."  

Saraf Sahab was a true nationalist. He stood his ground in 1953, and later, on 11 September 1964 he despite being a member of J&K Congress supported a bill introduced by an independent Member of Parliament, Prakash Vir Shastri demanding the removal of Article 370 from the Constitution. During the debate, he said:

"In these 17 years, our state has suffered by not having been brought at par with the rest of the states in the country. Our people have suffered. Everybody has suffered. Let the people have the proper benefit of what flows from the Centre to other states. As it is, people suffer in a number of ways, for instance, in getting scholarships, getting seats in colleges and universities in other places etc. Not only that, there is the non-application of labour laws."

Saraf Sahab also highlighted what he said was the plight of the working classes in the state then: 

"In my state, there are lakhs of people working in various forests, handicrafts and factories, and all the beneficial laws that we have in the Centre, and which are applicable to the rest of the states, they are not benefitted by them. I know the feelings of workers in that State. Every time they say: why do you keep this wall of separation, let us also get the benefits as the rest of our countrymen." 

It was my good fortune to know him personally and watch his behaviour closely. He was very serious and did not indulge in loose talk. He was a true Gandhian and held Nehru in great esteem. I never heard him speak ill against anyone behind his back not even Sheikh Sahab despite the great betrayal by the latter. He would often tell me not to be so facetious and take life seriously. He had a high moral standard which often touched spiritual realms. Notwithstanding the climatic conditions, he would get up early in the morning, take bath and do some routine yoga exercises, then read Gita, Ramayana and Jap ji every day. He would constantly emphasize that a person has three facets of his personality i.e Physical, Mental and Spiritual and one must nurture them all. On this, I would often disagree with him. I used to argue that a person cannot achieve excellence in one field if he lays equal emphasis on all three, for example, if he wants to become a Dara Singh he has to ignore the other two aspects except the physical aspect, if he wants to become a Buddha he cannot afford to develop the physical side and in case he wants to emulate Shakespeare, he has to ignore the physical and spiritual faculties. The issue, however, remained unresolved. 

Saraf Sahab left his mortal remains on 26 July 1983. May his soul rest in peace. Om Shanti.

                        (With Sadre Riyasat Dr Karan Singh & Foreign dignitaries. Mir Qasim, Sadiq,

                         GLDogra & Bakshi can also be seen)

I must confess that whatever I achieved in my life was all because of his teachings that guided me to lead an honest and to some extent principled life though I could not match him. I am reminded of a couplet of Allama Iqbal:

                  Hazaron   saal   Nargis    apni   be - noori    pe   roti   hai,

                Badi mushkil se hota hai chaman mein deeda-var paida. 

*****

 

My Grandfather-Some Recollections:(English); Author: Deepak Budki

 

My Grandfather-Some Recollections:(English) Author: Deepak Budki  

My grandfather, Pandit Neel Kanth Nehru, my mother’s father to be precise, lived a life of an ascetic and a true bhakt of the Supreme Goddess, Ma Sharika whose abode is in Chakreshwar temple, Hari Parbat, Srinagar, Kashmir. Right from his childhood he was devoted to the Mother Goddess and often walked the distance of 5-6 kms from his residence in Chandapora, near Gadood Bagh, Habbakadal to the temple of the Hari Parbat, the most venerated place in the city. This distance was beside appx 2-3 hundred steps to be climbed to reach the temple and the Parikrama (appx 2-3 km) to be performed around the hill after performing pooja in the temple. He had inherited devotion to Mata Sharika from his father Lal Chand Nehru who took him to the temple at the age of 11. In his later life he shifted to Sanat Nagar from where his visits were occasional.

The legend behind the formation of Hari Parbat is available in the history texts of Kashmir. It was formed by a Mynah (Haer in Kashmiri) which threw a stone carried in her beak in the great Satisar lake, hence the name Hari Parbat, the hill made by the Mynah. During the Mughal period, a fortress was constructed on the hilltop with a surrounding wall around the hill in order to defend the city from external aggression. A few gates were provided in the wall to suit the direction of marching troops. The Chakreshwar temple is below the summit of the hill yet there are numerous steps to be climbed to reach the actual temple. Pt Neel Kanth Nehru even in his nineties would climb these stairs without any external assistance. Except for a few years when he had to reside in Baramulla due transfer of his son, he would regularly visit the temple, especially on Saturdays. On the intervening nights of Saturday-Sunday, he would attend the temple and stay awake organizing pooja and bhajans in the adjoining hall of Chakreshwar Mandir. He himself had an impressive and resonant voice and would often recite mantras and sing bhajans during the night. We used to hear his devotional songs at our residence about 3-4 km away from the foothills and my mother used to say, “Tatha Ji (His pet name) has come to the temple”. At times while on his way back to his house, he visited our house at Maharaj Ganj.

Pt Neel Kanth was a member of the Chakreshwar temple trust and worked as its President for a number of years. His grandson, Sanatan Nehru specifically says the period was about 60 years. It was due to his efforts that a beautiful white marble Mandir was constructed on the top of the Sharika Devi. Mata Sharika had appeared in a dream to him while he was fast asleep in Pokhribal temple at the foothills of Hari Parbat and questioned him as to why she did not have a cover overhead and proper stairs up to her abode. I am told by my cousin, Sanatan Nehru that it was on his instance that the festival, Zang Tri, was organized every year, and all married ladies used to carry the Zang (Salt) to their in-laws house as a good omen. This was particularly reassuring for those who did not have anyone living in the parental home. 

He once shared his experience of 1947 when Pakistan Tribals (Qabailies) had invaded Kashmir and reached Baramulla besides indulging in loot and rape. He visited Hari Parbat early in the morning as usual and saw Mata Sharika Devi on a lion moving from her abode towards the north of Kashmir ie Baramulla. He asked her, "Mata, what are you up to?" She replied," Some miscreants have invaded this Reshwaer (the land of Rishis) and I am proceeding to halt and clean them up (The word used was SAMHAR) before they reach Srinagar. As per him the next day i.e 27th October 1947 the Indian troops landed in Srinagar by air and the advance of the tribals was halted and reversed.

Nehru Sahab had knowledge of Persian, Urdu, Kashmiri and English and was working in the State revenue department. He had a very good knowledge of astrology and would often read the horoscopes of people. It is said that he had foretold the death of his only daughter and elder son long before they actually died. He was revered as a spiritual seer by most of Kashmiri Pandits but he never used his position for any personal gain or derive any service from any of his followers. He once confided in me that he did not allow women to touch his body under any pretext. My Mama Ji used to often tell an anecdote about his father. He once asked his father, "Tatha Ji, how is it that you take dinner at 9 pm and go off to sleep without any delay and you are up and awake in the morning at 6 am?" His father answered, "Dear, you keep reading too many books and I suppose must have read hundreds of books which give you sleepless nights because you get confused by different ideas put forward by different authors. On the contrary, I have read just one book, The Bhagavad Gita all my life without attempting to understand the meaning of the same fully, not to speak of the philosophy contained therein. So I am not at all confused like you. That is the secret of my getting sleep comfortably." Moral: This is the spirit of Bhakti Marga, Ignorance is bliss, and faith in the Almighty is supreme.

Neel Kanth Nehru was well built and had a charming and glowing face till his last breath. He lived a simple life and used to wear a long smock, called 'Pheran' in Kashmir throughout the year. He used to smoke a Huqqah and did not like cigarettes. He would never recline with any wall or pillow while sitting or smoking Hubble-bubble and would often scold me for adopting a reclining posture. He remained active all through his life. Nehru Sahab lived a family life till his last breath but was totally detached a person. He had three sons, Shambu Nath, Jawahar Kaul, and Makhan Lal besides a daughter, Kamala. Late Shambu Nath had sought employment in Delhi as a School teacher and settled there permanently. He died prematurely at the age of 50 when he was likely to be promoted as Director in the Education Deptt in Delhi. Late Jawahar Kaul (originally his name was Janki Nath Nehru as I had learned but I am not sure) was his second son who had been given by Nehru Sahab to his friend, Mr. T Kaul, for adoption since he himself was a knowledgeable astrologer and found the course of adoption as a way to ward off evils of destiny to the boy and the parental family. Surprisingly, Jawahar Kaul made it to Bollywood and not only acted in several films like Kathputli, Dekh Kabira Roya, Daag, Bhabi, Ek Shola, Adalat, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam, Pehli Jhalak, Sheesh Mahal, etc. He also produced the film, Agni Putra. His daughter, Shabnam Kapoor, and son-in-law, Lalit Kapoor also produce films. His son, Ajay Kaul is a social worker and an educationist who runs his own school/College in Versova, Mumbai. A road has been named in honor of his wife, Clara J T Kaul in Versova itself. The third son was Late Makhan Lal who was serving in State Forest Department, he was married to Uma Nehru, a State Best Teacher awardee in 1980, and left behind a son, Sanatan Nehru working in Mumbai and a daughter, Sushma Nehru alias Simran Maehar who is working in health services in Sydney, Australia. Kamla Nehru, Pt Neel Kanth Nehru’s daughter got married to Radha Krishen Budki, my father, and acquired the name Somawati Budki. She bore four children.

Pt Neel Kanth faced several tragedies in his life, the accidental death of his wife, Lilawati, about 25 years before he himself attained nirvana, the death of his daughter at the age of 40, and the death of his elder son at the age of around 50. But Neel Kanth had unflinching faith in Goddess Sharika, he took all such happenings in his stride besides overcoming the grief due to the said misfortunes. He attained his moksha at the age of 94 as far after a short stint of illness. All my life I had never seen him falling ill or going to a doctor. For minor ailments, if any, he would use indigenous methods of cure.

It was my fortune to have a grandfather with such spiritual power and devotion to the almighty yet unassuming and down to earth. May his soul rest in peace.

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Kashmiri Surnames - Nehru & Budki (English)

Kashmiri Surnames - Nehru & Budki: (English)

deepak budki 31st December 2009	There is a misconception that 'Nehru' surname in Kashmiri Pandits has been drawn from Nehar, a canal..There is no evidence to show that Nehrus lived by the side of a canal and therefore were called Nehrus, Can any one name the Canal that Nehrus lived near to. Infact in Kashmiri the surname is actually NOUR (singular) or NAER (plural) which means Duct or Drain for carrying of waste water.Hence, the common belief that Nehrus got the surname because they lived by the side of a canal is misconceived.
Deepak Kumar Budki 18th May 2009	The surname 'Budki' does not mean 'Burki'  but as per folk lore 'Budk'i word was used for gold coins in ancient time in Kashmir and somebody had found these coins hidden under the soil which had been uncovered at the time of rebuilding of the ancestoral house. Needless to mention that in olden days such a practice was prevalent in absence of the banks. As a result people started calling the household as 'Budkiwallahs' which later got metamorphosed into 'Budki'.
deepak budki (delhi) 6th April 2009	It has appeared in wikipaedia that 'Budki' surname is essentially a derivative of 'Burki' which has not been substantiated by factual data.Infact Budkis were the gold coins which had been found in the house of our ancestors while rebuilding the house. Eversince the nickname 'Budkiwallahs' and later 'Budkis' came into existence. There are hardly a few households by this name, 5 in Jammu,1 in Mumbai, 2 in Varanasi and 2 in Delhi at present.