So’nth has found a mention in local folklores & poetry also. Some proverbs that relate to So’ nth are: So’nth Chu Tsali, Te Harud Chu Bali which means spring is just a temptation, which one could avoid, while harud (autumn) could not be as it was a liability.
In Dogra Period, the Kashmiri peasants were given seed for sowing in spring which was a temptation or inclination but at the time of autumn the government took its share in the harvest nolens volens the peasants. So’nthe Kiuth Zav Yuth Athe Av which means one was born in spring as one was delivered in the hands (of midwife, Warin, those days).
Some phrasal-nouns & verbs or idioms of so’nth are: So’nth e Doh (spring days), Sont e Posh (spring flower), So’nth e Phal (like mustard & wheat), So’nth e Pot (born in spring), So’nth e Phuli( sping blossoms), So’nth e Hawa( sping breeze), So’nth e Sul (predawn time of spring) So’nth Yun (coming of youth), So’nth Cha’wun (enjoyments of youthful days), So’nth e Kal ( time of spring) & So’nth e Mawas ( Brahman festival of spring).
So’nth e Mawas:
So’nth e Mawas is Nau Reh ( new year) festival of Kashmiri Brahmans which they celebrate day before the start of So’nth with much religious fervour & gaity in their households, according to their Brahmanical traditions. A platter (Thal) full of rice on top of which are placed flowers, curd, rice-cakes( tomli Choyt) , rupee notes, walnuts, almond, candy, lights, mirror, gold or silver coins & many other articles, is placed on the Eastside of the bed of the head of the household & in the morning of the festival day , that is next day, when family members wake up each member takes a flower & a walnut from it and then bathes & casts it into the river. The rice is cooked into “Tehri”. The morning is celebrated with traditional hyms & joys in the household. The arranging of platter is called “Thal Barun”. Previously, a basket was used for platter & paddy for rice. With the passage of time, new variety of articles are placed on the platter the day before So’nth e Mawas.
Gon’gul:
Once upon a time in Kashmir, the peasantry class celebrated a festival of So’nth, that marked the beginning of the preparations for the fresh peasantry life in old rural Kashmir.
It was called Gon’gul. It meant the commencement of peasantry activities for sowing the Kharief crop like rice & maize. The peasant would drive his pair of bullocks to his cultivable land with a wooden plough on his shoulders, and yoke them together with wooden plough .
It was the traditional method of ploughing the fields of agricultural land. At the end of Wandeh (winter season), the farmers geared up for ploughing their farmlands, cleaning, mending & sharpening the peasantry tools of shovels, spades, sickles, scythes, hoes, trowels, etc, for the purpose.
The wooden plough & a pair of oxen were given a look of hope & care for starting the tilling of the farm fields & sowing of seeds for growing paddy- crop, the most dominant part of staple food of vale’s masses from time immemorial. To mention, it was the time when machines & tractors for tilling had not appeared in the farmlands of the vale’s peasants.
Gon’gul was a cultural festival of spring season among Kashmiri peasants in which peasants of a village or two villages owning the farmlands ( khet, zamin) in the same “khata” or adjoining “Khatas”,/revenue specified areas of “Kheti Badi”, jointly participated & celebrated the festivity of Gon’gul. Kashmir peasant with bullocks & plough moving towards his zamin or khet (farm field) was often followed by little jouous children of the village upto the site where the cultivation procedure was to be followed. The women distributed rice cooked with ingredients of turmeric , oil & shallot, locally known as “Tehri” among children & elders. I have been informed that sugar too was added to it for a sweet taste.
The womenfolk were as much a part of the festival as the men. They would prepare “Tahri”, distribute it among all present at the cultivable field. They would distribute uncooked rice which was called “Chirmi Tomul” or “Be’yil Tomul” .
They prepared lunch & tea at home & carried it in baskets on their heads & shoulders for the men working in the fields. The lunch was eaten in the shade of some big tree standing on the field or the edge of a water canal flowing nearby like “Kul” or “Nahir” or “Nale” or “Arah”. Generally, the peasants choice for lunch in Gon’gul festival was “Gade Te Zag Bate”( cooked spicy fish & cooked yellow-rice).
On the day of start of Gon’gul in the cultivating field, walnuts were distributed among elders & children. They were called “Gon’gal Do’oin” (Gon’gul walnut). Gon’gul is also used in folklore as , for example, any person who is a rollypolly figure is nicknamed as “Gon’gul Do’oin Hue”( looking like a Gongal Walnut).
But, times changed. Gon’gul became just a hunting memory of the past like many more age old but rich traditions of Kashmiri people. Gon’gul was not connected with any religious tradition. It did not have any Islamic coloration unlike So’nth e Mawas of Kashmiri Brahmans. It was an age old cultural tradition prevelant among peasantry class of the valley, both Muslim & non-Muslim, like Nav-Roz of Iran & Basant of Punjab.
Mystic aspect of Gon’gul:
The word “Gon’gul” finds earliest mention in unambiguous terms in a shruikh, a four-liner poem, of the mystic Sheikh Noor Ud Din of Kashmir, which is laden with deep interplay of sowing & harvesting, doing in present & getting in future ; avoiding delay for avoiding regrets in future. The shruikh goes like this:
Adan So’nth Chui, Zchi’ an Awal Ti,
Bozit Ghari Rut Ma Panun Thav,
Path Yuth Ni Gazchikh So’nth Chui Chal Ti,
Yuss Kari Gon”Gul Su Kari Krav.
O, peasant, O man, So’nth is the call of time, feel it earliest,
Good news has come to you, dont confine it to your home only,
Don’t be left behind, So’nth is a call, a temptation to do, to act at present,
One who acts in Gon’gul will reap harvest of fruit of one’s labour in autumn!!
Bottom-line:
Once on the foothills of Kohi Maran, large Bagh i Waris Khan laid out within Emperor Akbar’s Nagar Nagar city had almond & other fruit bearing trees, flower gardens, palaces and pavilions of Mughal Emperors, their royal household & nobles. Durani Rulers too had seat of power in these gardens which were spoiled & destroyed in early Sikh Rule.
After 1947, these large gardens got reduced to a show-piece of Badamwari with Waris Khanun Chah to showcase cruelty, “death well”, built by Muslim Rulers of Kashmir. Under these fantasies, the name “Waris Khan” in a gross error was attributed to Mughal & Afghan Eras of the valley by “writers” in their overzealous approach to imageries like Waris Khan, Afghan /Mughal king of Kashmir.
The fancied “death well” is what has been ingrained in the minds of the people by local regimes & their henchmen through political propaganda. The actual history has not only been forgotten but actively falsified as in 1947, the Budshah Chowk after the name of benevolent Sultan Zainul Abidin was changed to Lal Chowk following Soviet model of Red Square of Moscow, reported an eyewitness, Soviet /Tass Journalist in Delhi, O. Orestov, quoted by New Times Moscow, 20-09-1948.
M J Aslam, Author & Historian
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.