Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 115

MAY, 1931)
LIFE OF RISHI PIR PANDIT PADSHAH
95
Aryan immigrants seem to have been a homogeneous community; gradually when their num. ber increased, and they found a scarcity of women among them, they went among the Dravi. dians, and took the women of the latter as their wives, and thus became mixed with the aborigines. Later, when they had bred a sufficient number of females to serve their purpose, they closed their ranks, and forbade any further marriage. Thenceforth they became endogamous like the castes of today.
We know that in all primitive societies magic or religion plays a very important role, and it was the same with India. The true explanation of caste is not to be found in economic grounds based on materialistic principles, but in their primitive faith. Since both the Aryans and the aborigines were adepts in the art of magic, it was not difficult to find one common ground on which to meet. Their magicians became the priests, and were placed at the top of the ladder, if not from the very beginning, at least very soon. By this amalgamation both the Aryans and the Dravidians were satisfied, for each secured a position for himself, each according to his merit. The Vaisyas and the Kşattriyas too became gradually mixed, and romain so to the present day. The Sadras alone are the possible remnants of the Ancient dark-skinned population of India, unless here, too, they have managed to secure a higher position for themselves either through influence, power, money, or hypergamy, or through all of them. To sum up, therefore, Caste is not an Anthropological Division, but Is the outcome of Primitive Superstitions.
LIFE OF RISHI PIR PANDIT PÅDSHAH.
A Great Hermit of Kashmir.
BY PANDIT ANAND KOUL, SRINAGAR, KASHMIR. SAINTS are apostles with superhuman energy, who appear in this world from time to time to remind the apostate of the Creator and His grace. They are founts of inspiration. Their deeds strike the chord of devotional feeling and nobler sentiment among those people who trace the gods to man's ancestors and to whom every echo of days ancestral is cheering and inspiring. Their lives are a thrilling song, and, indeed, this age does not require to harp on, or hearken to, a nobler theme. Their pure lives lead us to wider-hearted appreciation of higher values, and are a contribution to the spiritual ideas of eager-hearted mankind, like the culture of Greece and the laws of Rome. Some of the accounts seem magnified portraits of the real men and recall Shakespeare's prophetic seers, but one cannot take the risk of modifying. revising or expurgating them, considering that those pure souls were really the manifesta. tions of the power of God, and that the bygone generations, through whom the traditions have descended, were not unmindful of scrupulously preserving historical accuracy.
Rishi Pir was one of the most famous saints or supermen of Kashmir. He was born on the 6th of the dark fortnight of Baisakh V.S. 1694 (1046 A.H.; 1637 A.D.). The chronogram of his birth is given in following Persian lines :
دل و طبعم بهم کردند تدبیر
کشمير * ازو آباد بادا ملک
.: قدومش
تاریخ از بهر سال بگر تاریخ این فرخنده کلا م .
Translation - For the year of the date of his coming The heart and mind consulted each other. Say the date of this auspicious speech :
May the country of Kashmir be happy through him. Purified as he was from all earthly dross, we might fitly call Rishi Pir a peer among pirs (saints). His father, named Pandit Govind Khushu, lived at Bhattyar Mahall in Srinagar. His mother came from the village Gushi (Uttar pargana). She gave birth to him near the bridge at Sopar, while she was once on her way from her father's house to her home in Srinagar. When five years old, Rishi Pir's investiture with the sacred tbread was performed. His marriage took place when he was seven years old. Soon after, he lost his father.
* Wa = 616 + pas said wil =1091 =1707—(18+4)=13=16941