ARTIST KASHMIRI KHOSA : IN SEARCH OF TRUTH BEHIND EXISTENCE'

                                                                         

                                                                                   

                                                                         

 Kashmiri Khosa: In Search of Truth Behind Existence

“Art is an expression of what I have imbibed through what I’ve read, heard, or seen. The images are extracted from the very source of my being.”…Kashmiri Khosa

This reflection by Kashmiri Khosa offers a vital entry point into his artistic journey. His work does not emerge from surface observation or stylistic display but from deep inward absorption—an engagement with lived experience, memory, silence, and Indian philosophical thought. Over several decades, Khosa has created an oeuvre rooted in introspection, exploring the inner dimensions of existence and consciousness.

 I have long been an admirer of both his art and his person. His colours and forms evoke a serene silence that gently aligns the viewer with their surroundings. Beyond emotional response, his paintings encourage introspection, allowing one to momentarily disengage from worldly pressures and enter a contemplative space. A personal interaction with the artist affirmed this inward grace. When I requested him to record a message for my book on Bansi Parimu, he responded promptly and with warmth. Despite being a highly respected figure within the Indian art fraternity, his humility and simplicity left a deep impression.

 Khosa’s Art

Kashmiri Khosa’s paintings belong to an inward and contemplative current of modern Indian art, where the canvas becomes a site for spiritual reflection rather than visual narration. His practice moves fluidly between abstraction and figuration, allowing images to surface gradually, as if arising from silence or meditation. Colour functions as a carrier of mood and consciousness; layered earth tones, deep greens, blues, and glowing yellows are handled with restraint and sensitivity, creating a subtle inner luminosity that draws the viewer inward. These chromatic fields are not decorative but experiential, suggesting states of calm, introspection, and transcendence.

 Composition plays a central role in Khosa’s work. The frequent use of symmetry, vertical alignment, and enclosed forms establishes a sense of balance and ritual, reinforcing the meditative quality of the paintings. Figures, when present, are often faceless, elongated, or fused with their surrounding space, dissolving individuality in favour of collective or universal presence. This abstraction of the human form shifts the focus from external identity to inner being, allowing the viewer to encounter the work as an emotional and spiritual experience rather than a representation.

Stylistically, Khosa demonstrates disciplined control over gesture, texture, and surface. His brushwork is deliberate, never excessive, and negative space is used thoughtfully as a pause or breath within the composition. There is a quiet tension between solidity and dissolution, weight and light, which lends his paintings a sense of timelessness. Rooted in a modernist sensibility yet guided by spiritual inquiry, Khosa’s work resists trends and spectacle, instead offering sustained depth and introspection. It is this commitment to inner clarity and painterly integrity that has allowed his work to resonate with discerning collectors and hold a meaningful place within the broader narrative of modern Indian painting.

Among his most significant bodies of work are the Mortal Storm series, which grapples with the turbulence of human emotions and passions, and Mountains of the Mind, a contemplative exploration of psychological and spiritual landscapes. These works are less concerned with representation than with revelation, drawing the viewer away from the external world and toward the deeper source of being.

In essence, Kashmiri Khosa turns art into a bridge between the external and the internal, showing that a painting can be both a visual and spiritual journey—an experience that resonates long after the eyes leave the canvas.

In Search of Truth Behind Existence: A Retrospective (2024 Exhibition )

In the exhibition ‘In Search of Truth Behind Existence’, Kashmiri Khosa’s works were presented as more than mere paintings: they were invitations to inner reflection. Each piece encourages the viewer to pause, to observe, and to enter a meditative state.

The art exhibition “In Search of Truth Behind Existence: A Retrospective” featuring the works of Kashmiri Khosa was held in New Delhi from 6 October to 11 October 2024 at the LTC Gallery in Bikaner House, with its inauguration and book launch by Swami Dhruv Chaitanya Saraswati. Another show of a longer schedule for the same retrospective was held at Triveni Kala Sangam in New Delhi, running from 6 October to 11 November 2024. The exhibition was presented across venues or in extended form in the city. In both cases, the exhibition was designed not just as a visual experience but as a meditative and contemplative journey, showcasing decades of Khosa’s work and inviting viewers to explore deeper existential and spiritual questions through his art.

 An important documentation of this long and sustained artistic inquiry is the book In Search of Truth Behind Existence: A Retrospective, published by Art Pilgrim in collaboration with Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi. The book was released on the opening day of Khosa’s exhibition in November 2024 in New Delhi. Spanning 103 pages, the volume traces four decades of Khosa’s artistic journey, presenting a rich selection of his drawings and paintings.

 More than a visual chronicle, the book includes a thoughtful conversation with the artist, offering rare insight into his creative process, philosophical concerns, and inward gaze. The publication is further enriched by forewords from Swami Dhruv Chaitanya, Geeta Singh of Art Pilgrim Gallery, and filmmaker Rajan Khosa, who contextualise Khosa’s work within broader spiritual, cultural, and contemporary art discourses. The book also carries notes from art critics like Santo Datta and Keshav Malik about Khosa’s work. True to its title, it functions not only as a retrospective but as a meditative inquiry into the search for meaning that underlies his art.

 Spiritual Resonance

The growing resurgence of spirituality in contemporary art finds a powerful echo in Khosa’s practice. Renowned Iranian artist Parviz Tanavoli observes:

“Wars, conflicts, and consumerism seem to have prompted a desire for transcendence, for refuge, for essence. Increasingly, artists are aiming for the essence of spirituality in their work.”

Khosa’s paintings embody this search for essence: quiet, inward, and sustained. There is a gravity in his work—a seriousness that creates a magnetic pull, drawing viewers into sustained reflection. Spirituality in his art is not decorative or rhetorical; it is experiential. Regardless of personal belief systems, his paintings invite a pause, a turning inward, and an engagement with the deeper self. The concept of the “invisible force” in his art represents the underlying spiritual energy behind the visible world. Drawing from traditions like Vedanta, Khosa suggests that what we see is only a reflection of a deeper, unseen reality. His paintings do not merely depict; they gesture toward the eternal, the formless, and the universal essence. colours, forms, and spatial compositions in his works function almost like visual mantras. They guide the mind inward, allowing the viewer to experience subtle shifts in perception, emotions, and awareness. Rather than telling a story, the paintings invite contemplation, transforming the act of looking into an act of self-exploration. Well-known English poet Kathleen Raine, a long-time admirer of Khosa, writes about his work:

 “Khosa’s pictorial context is not limited to any school or period—Michelangelo and Picasso are clearly present—but these works are profoundly Indian in spirit. As if the titan-prisoners, now freed, had flowed into movement and colours which have the crystalline purity of a world newly created, we recognise—remember, as it were—that the cosmos lives with a powerful non-human life. These are sacred presences. Khosa’s majestic paintings reassure me—they restore to our sick human world great life-giving presences of the Imagination.”

 Life and Legacy

Born in 1940, Kashmiri Khosa has been a professional painter since 1962. Rooted in family tradition and inspired by Indian philosophy, he has evolved a modern visual language that earned him the President of India’s Silver Plaque (1974) and the National Award (1981). His works are held in major public institutions, including the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, Sahitya Kala Parishad, College of Art (Delhi), and the International Airport Authority of India, as well as in prominent private collections across India, Europe, North America, and Asia.

Kashmiri Khosa's father, Som Nath Khosa, was a revered artist renowned for his monumental visual narratives chronicling the life of Mahatma Gandhi. These works are preserved in Gandhian institutions worldwide. Som Nath Khosa’s Delhi studio functioned as a vital cultural space, frequented by leading figures of independent India, including Indira Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and Babu Jagjivan Ram.

Khosa’s daughter, Anjali Khosa Kaul, is an accomplished sculptor and painter. Her works form part of the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, and are represented in significant private collections internationally. She is a recipient of the AIFACS Award and a Fellowship from the Ministry of Culture. Her husband, Ashok Kaul, is a distinguished photographer known for his contributions to industrial and fine-art photography. Khosa’s son, Rajan Khosa, is an award-winning filmmaker and visual artist whose work has received sustained international recognition. His feature film GATTU won Best Feature Film at the New York Indian Film Festival (2012) and received a Special Mention at the Berlin International Film Festival (2012). Together, this family’s intergenerational engagement with painting, sculpture, photography, and cinema constitutes a rare and enduring contribution to the cultural and artistic history of modern India.

Khosa studied ancient Indian texts like the Upanishads and drew inspiration from Vedic and philosophical ideas about Being, consciousness, and the nature of existence. His aim is to go beyond surface appearances and express truths about the self and universal spirit. His work frequently symbolises the soul’s journey; themes of ascension, flight, inner freedom, and transcendence. These motifs suggest liberation from material constraints and exploration of inner realms.

Khosa’s interdisciplinary approach to art, literature, and theatre earned him the Department of Culture Senior Fellowship (1979–82) for “Integrating visual language and content.” His paintings have been widely recognised, featured in the International Design Journal (Seoul) and Temenos 13 (London). He has exhibited globally, including the Sixth Babylon International Festival of Art (Iraq, 1994), an Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts seminar (2004), Stichting White Cube Global Village (Europe, 2014), and Scope Miami Art (2015), and has participated in numerous national and international art camps.

A 28-minute documentary on Kashmiri Khosa’s life and art was released by Doordarshan and broadcast on DD National, DD World, and Prasar Bharti channels during 2003–2004. Several of his interviews and films are also available on digital platforms, offering further insight into his artistic philosophy.

Kashmiri Khosa’s art ultimately functions as a visual meditation, an invitation to slow down, to look within, and to encounter the luminous stillness that lies beneath the surface of existence.

 

(Avtar Mota)

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

BOOK REVIEW : HAYAAT E MEHROOM - TILOK CHAND MEHROOM- LIFE AND PERSONALITY

                                                                       

Hayaat-e-Mehroom: Tilok Chand Mehroom – Life and Personality

by Jagan Nath Azad
(Hindi transliteration and compilation by Mukta Lall)

By presenting Hayaat-e-Mehroom in Hindi, Mukta Lall makes the life and contribution of Tilok Chand Mehroom accessible to readers who may not read Urdu but remain deeply interested in the literary heritage of the subcontinent. The book serves both as a personal tribute and a serious literary biography, helping restore Mehroom to the Indian literary horizon. The book is more than a conventional literary biography. Its birth is an act of intimate and emotional remembrance by Mukta Lall, the granddaughter of Tilok Chand Mehroom. The narrative weaves together family memories, anecdotes, poetic excerpts, and historical context to create a portrait of a poet whose life spanned colonial India, the freedom struggle, and the trauma of Partition. Priced at ₹350, the book runs to 322 pages and includes a valuable preface by Jagan Nath Azad, himself a distinguished poet of the subcontinent. Copies can be obtained directly from Mukta Lall by calling on 011-46100812 or 9810129749.

The book is divided into many engaging chapters titled,  Historical and Social Background, The Indus River, ‘Akbar, Abdul Qadir and Allama Iqbal’, The Colourful Period of My Entry into the World of Poetry, On the Banks of the Ravi, The Sorrow Storm, Iqbal and His Poems, My Heart Is Torn Like a Flower Petal in This Environment, A Friend’s Sorrow, Rawalpindi, Partition of India, Punjab University Camp College, Hafeez and Josh, From Old Delhi to New Delhi, The Last Ailment, The Morning of Doomsday, After One Month, Creative Work of Mehroom, and Habits and Conduct. The book also informs us that Tilok Chand Mehroom and Allama Muhammad Iqbal were in correspondence with each other. A significant letter from Iqbal, dated September 23, 1915, praises Mehroom’s poetry and recommends it for a wider readership, even suggesting its inclusion in school textbooks, which evidences mutual literary respect. However, Mehroom did not fully agree with Iqbal’s later philosophical and ideological trajectory. Reflecting on this divergence, Mehroom wrote:

 

" Iqbal ne  jo chhorri  rah e watan parasti,

Ga kar naya tarana sara jahaan hamaara,

Hum ne bhi ek misre mein baat khatm kar di,

Sara jahaan tumhara hindustan hamara"

 (When Iqbal turned away from the path of patriotism
and sang a new anthem, “The whole world is ours,”
We ended the debate in a single line:
“The whole world may be yours — Hindustan is ours.”)

In 1955, the humanist and patriot within Mehroom was deeply hurt when the celebrated Urdu poet Josh Malihabadi decided to migrate to Pakistan, despite his secular credentials and personal friendship with Jawaharlal Nehru. Mehroom responded with biting irony:

“Josh Sahib bhi huve aaj se Pakistani

 Ab vo Lahore Karachi mein gazalkhwaan honge

Mehfil e vaaz milegi evaz e maikhaana

Som o sajdaah o tasbeeh ke saamaan honge”

 (Josh Sahib, from today, has become a Pakistani;
Now he will recite ghazals in Lahore and Karachi.
He will find sermon gatherings in place of the Winehouse.
fasts, prostrations, and prayer-beads will fill the scene.)

Tilok Chand Mehroom was born on 1 July 1887 in the village of Mousa Noor Zaman Shah, in the Mianwali district of Punjab Province, British India—an area that later became part of Pakistan. His birthplace, a small riverside village on the banks of the Indus, was prone to flooding, forcing his family to relocate to nearby Isakhel. The Indus River frequently appears in his poetry as a silent witness to history, flowing steadily as empires, rulers, and ideologies rise and fall.

“Aey Sindh teri yaad mein Jamuna ke kinaare

Aankhon se ubal aaye hain ehsaas ke dhaare

 Tu aur talaatum vo meray zauk e nihaan ka

Afsos kahaan mein huun ye kissa hai kahaan ka ”…( From his Poem on the Indus River)

 

(O Sindh, in your remembrance, on the banks of the Yamuna,

Streams of feeling have surged and spilt from my eyes.

You are the turbulence of my hidden longing,

Alas, where am I now, and where does this tale belong?)

Mehroom devoted his life to education, serving as a teacher, headmaster, college lecturer, and professor. He attended numerous Mushairas and was actively engaged in the Urdu literary circles of his time. After moving to Rawalpindi, he became a regular invitee to annual Mushairas organised by Khwaja Abdul Raheem in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), alongside poets such as Jigar Moradabadi and Hafeez Jalandhari.

What lends the book its particular value is its intimate family perspective. Drawing upon oral history, family memories, and literary anecdotes, it captures Mehroom’s relationships with fellow poets, his professional life, and the emotional toll of Partition and displacement. Alongside narrative, the book presents selected poems that reveal Mehroom’s range, from lyrical Ghazals to patriotic verse and restrained elegies shaped by personal loss.

Wattan ki ulfat mein ho zubaan par swadeshi vastu swadeshi vastu

Suna do hindustaan ke ghar ghar swadeshi vastu swadeshi vastu …….( A patriotic Poem During Swadeshi Movement )

 

(In devotion to the nation, “Swadeshi goods” should be upon the tongue;

Make “Swadeshi goods” heard in every household of Hindustaan.

 A recurring theme in Mehroom’s work is faith in human dignity beyond religion or politics. His patriotism is ethical rather than slogan-driven, rooted in justice, education, and mutual respect. After the death of his wife, his poetry acquired a quiet elegiac tone—grief expressed with restraint rather than despair. One poem written in exile captures the irony of refugee life in Delhi:

”Tangiye kashaana kyon hai ba-isse afsurdagi

Ye zameen tere liye ye aasmaan tere liye

 Aey dil e nadaan makaam e shukr hai shikvon ko chhorr

Mil nahin sakta jo Delhi mein makaan tere liye.”

 (Why this cramped dwelling, this cause for sorrow?
The earth is yours, the sky is yours.
O naïve heart, this is a time for gratitude,abandon complaint:
What if  Delhi denied you a home to live in?)

When he was forced to leave his homeland after the Partition, Mehroom wrote with controlled anguish:

“Teri aazadi ke sadke mein hamein hijrat mili

Jazba e zauq e vafa ki hum ko yeh qeemat mili

 Tu huva dushman hamaara hum tere dushman na thay

 Tu huva kyon hum se badhzan tujh se hum badhzan na thay

Dekhiye kya rang ho aage teri taareekh ka

Khoon e naahak se hai pehla baab tau likha gaya..)

 

(At the altar of your freedom, we received exile;

 This was the price we were paid for our passion for loyalty.

You became our enemy—yet we were never yours.

Why did you grow suspicious of us when we bore you no suspicion?

Let us see now what colours the future pages of your history will take:

Its very first chapter has been written in innocent blood.)

 

Mehroom was a great admirer of Pandit Brij Narayan Chakbast, whom he wanted to meet in person. When Chakbast died, Mehroom wrote,’ Nauh e Chakbast…  Elegy for Chakbast.

 

 “Zubaan pe jab kabhi aata tha Lucknow ka naam

 Tau iss khayaal se hota tha khush dil e nakaam

 Kabhi tau aayegi aesi s’aadaat e ayyaam

Milenge hazrat e Chakbast se ba shauq e tamaam

Milenge ab bhi magar kab kahaan kyonkar

Ye raaz apni nigaahon se hai nihaan yaksar…”

 

 (Whenever the name of Lucknow rose to my lips,

My unfulfilled heart would find a moment of joy.

I would think: surely such gracious days will come again,

When I shall meet the venerable Chakbast, with eager devotion.

We may yet meet—but when, where, and how?

This secret remains wholly hidden from my eyes.)

Beyond his own poetry, Tilok Chand Mehroom’s lasting legacy is closely tied to his role as the father and first mentor of the eminent poet Jagan Nath Azad. He nurtured Azad’s literary sensibility from an early age, instilling linguistic precision, classical taste, and intellectual independence. Many scholars observe that Azad’s clarity of expression and humanistic outlook were deeply influenced by his father’s guidance. Tilok Chand Mehroom passed away on 6 January 1966, at the age of seventy-eight, after a brief illness.

Hayaat-e-Mehroom succeeds not merely as a biography, but as a living tribute; bringing forward the voice, humanity, and moral clarity of a poet whose world was torn apart by history, yet never surrendered its faith in human dignity. It is a book that honours the past while inviting new generations to rediscover Mehroom’s verse.

(Avtar Mota)

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

HAS KASHMIRI VANVUN EVOLVED FROM BRAHT-SAMA AND SHAIVA TATTVAS?

( Photo source.. Dr Advaitvadini Kaul . Family photo of Mekhla ceremony of her brothers 1954 )

HAS KASHMIRI VANVUN EVOLVED FROM BRAHT-SAMA AND SHAIVA TATTVAS?

In the Bhagwad Gita, ( Sloka 35 of Chapter 10) Sri Krishna tell Arjuna:-

“ Bṛhat-sāma tathā sāmnāṁ
Gāyatrī chhandasām aham |
Māsānāṁ mārgaśīrṣho ’ham
Rtūnāṁ kusumākaraḥ ||

(Among the Sāma hymns, I am the Bṛhat Sāma;
Among poetic metres, I am the Gāyatrī.
Among months, I am Mārgaśīrṣa,
And among seasons, I am spring, the source of flowers.)

‘Among the Sama hymns, I am the Bṛhat Sāma’

I will only refer to the first line of this great Sloka. Bṛhat Sāma is one of the most splendid and spread-out hymns of the Sāma Veda, sung during important Vedic rituals. It is a specific, highly elaborate chant of the Sāma Veda. It belongs to the Vedic Yajna tradition, sung by trained priests. It is scriptural, liturgical, and ritual-specific, with strict melodic structures (sāmans). Its purpose is cosmic alignment through sacred sound, not social or folk expression. So Bṛha-Sāma is: elite Vedic ritual music, preserved in textual and priestly lineages. It symbolises grandeur, spiritual resonance, and devotional depth. Sri Krishna means that wherever sacred sound reaches its highest elevation, that brilliance is His manifestation. The word “Sāma” means melody or song, and the Samaveda is revered as the Veda of Chants. It is the very soul of Indian music, the sacred foundation where Bhakti (devotion), Shraddha (faith), and Swara (melody) unite to create a profound spiritual experience. Sri Krishna elevates the Samaveda to the highest place when he tells Arjuna:

“Among the Vedas, I am the Samaveda; among the celestial gods, I am Indra. Among the senses, I am the mind; among living beings, I am consciousness.”— (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 10, Verse 22)

 Kashmiri Vāṇvun does not descend directly from the Bṛhat-Sāma of the Sāma Veda in a linear historical sense. However, both emerge from a shared and ancient Indian understanding of sacred sound as an operative, world-constituting force, rather than as aesthetic music. Vanvun is not just a poetic form; it is ritualised memory. Traditionally sung by women during rites of passage in Kashmir, such as birth, marriage, and seasonal change. It works as a living archive, carrying history, myth, and collective emotion through rhythm and repetition. This makes it a powerful bridge between cosmic myth and human experience.

In the Sāma Veda—especially in expansive chants such as Bṛhat-Sāma—sound is not composed for pleasure or artistic display. It is elongated, vowel-dominant, ritualised, and effective. The chant functions to align the human, cosmic, and divine orders through nāda. Meaning is secondary to resonance; grammar dissolves into vibration. Time is ritual time, not chronological time.

A strikingly similar sound logic governs Kashmiri Vāṇvun. Though situated in domestic and communal life rather than in yajña ritual, Vāṇvun is likewise non-entertainment sound. It is obligatory, performative, and efficacious. Sound does not describe auspiciousness; it produces it. Like Sāma chanting, Vāṇvun prioritises vowel elongation, cyclical unfolding, collective voicing, and suspension of ordinary temporal awareness.

The conceptual bridge between these two traditions becomes clearer when viewed through Kashmiri Śaiva metaphysics. Kashmir was not merely a recipient of Vedic culture, but a region where Vedic sound-ritual consciousness was reinterpreted through Tantric Śaivism. In Śaiva philosophy, particularly in the doctrines of Nāda and Spanda, sound is Śakti in motion, emerging from the silent luminosity (Prakāśa) of Śiva.

Vāṇvun embodies this metaphysics in lived ritual form. The silence preceding the chant corresponds to Śiva as unmoving awareness. The first elongated voice marks the awakening of Śakti as vibration. As voices gather and individual authorship dissolves into collective resonance, the chant enacts the Śaiva movement from pure consciousness to manifested communal form. Māyā is not negated but embraced, allowing metaphysics to enter human life through marriage, birth, and blessing.

In this sense, Vāṇvun may be understood as a domestic, feminised, vernacular enactment of an ancient nāda-centric worldview, one that also underlies the Sāma Veda. The connection is not musical genealogy, but ontological continuity—a shared civilizational intuition that sound, when ritually released, alters reality.

Kashmiri Vāṇvun may be better understood, within a Kashmiri Śaiva interpretive framework, as a domestic and communal enactment of the Śiva–Śakti tattva schema, in which sound emerges from stillness, assumes ritual form, and resolves into collective resonance. Typically, Vāṇvun begins with silence—the attentive stillness of the gathered women. In Śaiva philosophy, Śiva tattva is Prakāśa, pure and unmoving awareness, and this silence may be read as corresponding to that ground of consciousness. Vāṇvun consistently arises from silence rather than from ambient noise, indicating that sound is released deliberately as a ritual act.

The first vocal intonation, often initiated by an elder woman, introduces an elongated sound. In Śaiva doctrine, Śakti is vibration (Spanda), and the onset of sound may be interpreted as the activation of this vibratory principle. As the lead voice names the ritual context, such as the bride, groom, or blessing, sound acquires referential form while remaining expansive, corresponding to the Sadāśiva stage in which awareness begins to recognise itself through differentiation. With the emergence of a collective response, individual vocal identity dissolves into shared resonance, a movement that may be aligned with Īśvara tattva, wherein the relation between subject and object is reorganised, and the community itself becomes the locus of articulation.

Repetition, emotional inflexion, and human variation situate Vāṇvun within Śuddha-Vidyā and Māyā tattvas. Here, Māyā is not a defect but the principle that allows metaphysical sound consciousness to enter lived, domestic ritual life. In this sense, Vāṇvun may be seen as Śaiva metaphysics enacted through practice rather than articulated through formal doctrine.

In 2015, I visited Bali, Indonesia. I visited several temples during the evening, when the deity was being worshipped with both vocal and instrumental music. I could feel a strong resemblance to Sāma Veda chants. I was told the following by a Balinese scholar:

“Balinese temple music aligns strongly with Vedic sound logic, particularly that of the Sāma Veda, at the level of principle rather than melody. I mean sound as operative power. Like Vedic chant, Balinese temple music is not meant for entertainment but for ritual efficacy—to sanctify space, invoke presence, and regulate cosmic order. Much Balinese sacred music emphasises sustained sonority, cyclical repetition, and layered vibration rather than linear melodic development—an approach consistent with the aesthetics of Vedic chanting. Performances unfold according to ritual sequence, not concert duration, echoing Vedic yajña-time rather than aesthetic time. Some forms of Balinese temple chanting, such as kakawin recitation and priestly mantra intonation, show features comparable to Vedic chant: elongation of vowels, controlled pitch zones rather than melodic freedom, collective or antiphonal sound fields, and the dissolution of individual vocal identity into ritual sound. These features closely resemble Sāma-style sound behaviour, even though the musical languages differ.”

Every verse of the Vanvun may be understood as a generative seed (bīja), containing within it a latent cosmology that becomes actualised through sound. When articulated within the sonic discipline exemplified by the Sāmaveda and interpreted through the metaphysical framework of Shaiva Tattvas, these verses are not merely recited but brought into manifestation. Sound, in this tradition, is not a vehicle for meaning alone; it is a transformative force that unfolds concealed potential into audible and experiential form. Our ancestors did not approach these verses as static repositories of wisdom. Rather, they engaged them as living structures, animated through rhythm, pitch, and collective utterance. Chanting functioned as an act of ontological participation, wherein speech moved beyond symbolic reference to assume a world-creating role. Each Vanvun chant thus enacts a progression—from articulated word to embodied world, and from the manifested world toward the divine principle that underlies it. This movement reflects a Shaiva understanding of reality in which the sacred is not opposed to the worldly but revealed through it, and where sound serves as the mediating power that bridges human expression and transcendent order.

Thus, Kashmiri Vāṇvun stands not as “folk music” but as Śaiva metaphysics and Vedic sound consciousness lived through voice, preserved outside texts yet faithful to one of India’s oldest understandings of sacred sound.

( Avtar Mota )

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

HARI KRISHEN KAUL : THE ENTHRALLING STORY AND PLAYWRIGHT OF KASHMIR

                                               

THE STORIES OF HARI KRISHEN KAUL: "FOR NOW IT IS NIGHT" 

Hari Krishna Kaul (1934–2009) was born in Kashmir and lived there for most of his life. He taught Hindi literature in various colleges of the University of Kashmir until he was forced to leave in 1990. Kaul started his literary career writing short stories in Urdu and Hindi but switched to writing in Kashmiri in the mid-1960s. His first collection of short stories in Kashmiri, Pata Laraan Parbat, was published in 1972 and immediately established him as a major writer. Three other collections of short stories and numerous television and radio plays followed, cementing his position as an important figure in the modern literary landscape of Kashmir. His only novel, Vyath Vyatha, was published in 2005. He was the recipient of many awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award for Kashmiri fiction in 2000.

I have been an admirer of Hari Krishen Kaul since my college days. He is  Maupassant when he presents social realities , he is Chekhov when he probes below the surface of life of his characters and he is Manto when he uses biting sarcasm against double talk , false prestige, corruption and myopic thinking .All in one. 

Hari Krishen Kaul's stories are like a mirror to Kashmiri life, reflecting the intricacies of human relationships, cultural traditions, and the turmoil of conflict. These stories are woven with wit, satire, and a deep understanding of the human condition. These stories often critique societal norms, bureaucracy, and politics. Kaul's relatable characters come to the reader with their struggles, hopes, and fears. He has the skill to blend humour and pathos.

Hari Krishen Kaul's stage, radio and television plays instantly touch deep chords with Kashmiris .With his pen and sharp observation, he enters households of middle class families wherefrom most of the situations and characters of his plays evolve touching multiple issues of life and existence . The characters come alive in are real flesh and blood to whom one can easily relate to. The character of Lala Sahib of his drama Yeli Watan Khur Chu Yevan lives( When Paths are confusing) in the hearts of Kashmiris to this day. Lala Sahib , the widower and father of two middle aged sons tragically finds himself getting sidelined in the affairs of the family. His sons then live separately and he finds himself irrelevant in both the families. He can't decide where to go as he has nowhere to go. This character has become immortal in the minds of Kashmiris who heard the play on Radio or saw it on the television.

Another example of remarkable characters created by Harikrishna Kaul is the old accountant of the comedy Dastaar. The famous lines from Dastaar ," Rama Lagay Chaanya Lilaye" resonated in Kashmiri families even decades after the play was first telecast on Doordarshan.

Hari Krishen Kaul's play Naatuk Kariv Band remains a milestone in Kashmiri literature .It was first staged at Srinagar's Tagore Hall and also telecast on Doordarshan. Based on Ramayana , in this play Hanumana is shown revolting against Rama's decision to banish Sita. Rama was shown representing the powerful politicians while Sita represented the common masses. Shiekh Mohammad Abdullah paid standing ovation to the playwright and the actors after he saw its live performance in Tagore Hall, Srinagar.About Hari Krishen Kaul's plays, noted actor and producer Bihari Kak says this :-

"Natuk Kariv Band was the play we performed on stage through the Rangmanch Theatre. It was directed by Jawahar Wanchoo, and I portrayed the character of Hanuman. The play was adjudged Best Play at the Academy competition, and I was honoured with the Best Actor Award. Prof.G  L Labroo was among the three judges on the panel. Later , we performed this play in Mumbai between 1976 and 1978. I have carefully preserved the original brochure of those performances.Prof Hari Krishen Koul was a great writer and intellectual. After exile,  we once shared an Ashtami lunch at his residence in Delhi—myself, Shadi Lal Kaul  and Prof Hari Krishen Kauk. During that meeting, we discussed many creative and cultural matters, especially his work Rajatarangini, which I was keen to make serial. He graciously gave me the script in his own handwriting, prepared as a screenplay. Unfortunately, before the project could be realised, he passed away. The handwritten screenplay is still in my possession, preserved with deep respect."

( Hari Krishen Kaul with his family )

The English translation of his popular stories is in the market . The stories are well translated and very well selected across his various  story books. 

A master in humanising his observations, Kaul  captivates his reader through authenticity, emotional connection and engaging narrative techniques.The reader  immediately strikes familiarity with his characters. They are people with whom one  deals almost everyday. That is why readers instantly  identify with his situations and characters. Premonition of what is going to happen in the valley is visible in his stories . Alienation and loneliness of elders is another subject that he deals with. Biting wit is the hall mark of his Stories Through his stories , he carves portraits of everyday living, and if one looks closely, these stories present a world of desire and yearnings that is by and large absent in Kashmiri prose.

In his story , Na vanini layak katha  (That which we can not speak of) , Magga , Rahman Gadda ,Gir Gagur,   are  some  a character that all of us know. He doesn't hesitate to bring in Hema Malini, Sheikh Abdullah , Mirza Afzal Beg to create authenticity.

 

Poshkuj of "Taaf"  or "Sunshine" comes close to everyone's grandmother. She is simple, affectionate , obstinate and undemanding at the same time. She doesn't know double talk. But her observation  is deep and meaningful.She feels happy to see a bigger and clear sky in Delhi where she can breathe freely. She feels relaxed to see no Muslims  around her  in Delhi . Possibly she has not to indulge in double talk . She is  also relaxed in Delhi  since  her elder daughter in law is not around  , who as per Poshkuj,  torments her . This is a story of the 1960s or a period of  the early second half of the last century.  

Reviewing the book for The Hindustan Times, Saudamini Jain writes this :-

"Kashmir shines through these stories. And not just in curfews, fear and feelings of loss. There are localities and landmarks of Srinagar, life around its historical bridges, the Jhelum river. Windowpanes glisten in the sun, soft muslin curtain flow like waterfalls. Whiskey is served with walnuts and apples.A writer recalls the medieval Kashmiri mystic poet Lal Ded — the story goes, he recounts, that Lal could spin wool into fine threads, but angered by her mother-in-law’s unappreciation, she threw it all into the lake and lotus stalks sprang from it. In To Rage or to Endure, another surreal story and the last in this collection, published a decade after Kaul had to leave Kashmir almost overnight during the troubles in 1990, every year a grandmother makes garlands of dried sliced gourd and aubergine to welcome or guard herself against Shenĕ-Buddĕ, the Kashmiri Old Man Winter."

                                        

  ( L to R  Friends..Hari Krishen Kaul, Moti Lal Kemu and C L Sapru ) 

Except through  his stories , where else can one  find characters like Nath Ji, Pyari, Jawa Lal  ,Billoo,, Dyedh, Roop Ji, Atandhati,Setha, Tarzan, Pahalwan, Pedro ,Swami Ji, Makhan ,Usha Ji, Vosta Mohammad, Master Neelkanth, Molvi Sahib, Tara Chand, Sonamaal ,Gaasha and many more . Molvi Sahib is a school teacher who forgets to check homework  but  demands Shivratri walnuts from every student once  the school opens after a long winter break . All  full of life and easily identifiable .

The book, 'For Now ,It Is Night' is a collection of 17 stories written from 1969 to 2001.The stories  gradually capture the erosion of shared living and old value system in the Kashmiri society. The stories also present a backdrop of what happened in Kashmir in 1990.

Read the book to know more about situations and characters created by Hari Krishnen Kaul who comes out as the most readable story writer from Kashmir.

I wish he wrote in English for  wider  recognition and  readership.   Very late , his stories have come to the English speaking world through the book, "For Now It Is Night " . I recommend the book to everyone who loves literature .

( Avtar Mota)

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CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

MY POEM "HOMELAND"

                                       

FOR  JANUARY 19, 1990 , THE DAY WE WERE EXILED  

This Hudson Riverfront in Jersey  City has given birth to my five poems on exile . One titled ," Homeland" goes as under 

(Homeland ) 

When I was young, 

Father once said this to me,

“Son, remember this truth of life:

A child's growth, like a flower,  needs

The nourishment of mother's tender love alone.

A young man's dreams, ambitious, and free,

Require the fuel of money's golden might.

And when life's autumn leaves begin to fall,

A person needs a hand that will not let go.

A companion's presence is the heart's last light at that time.

Unlucky, indeed, are those who miss these precious gifts, 

At life's appointed time.”

I believed him,

Until 1990 arrived.

Until my homeland was torn from my arms

And we were driven into the heat and dust of distant plains,

Where memories burned hotter than the sun,

And exile settled deep in our bones.

Then I learned what father never knew.

A child needs a homeland

Before he knows his mother’s name.

A man needs a homeland 

Before he learns the value of money.

And in old age,

When strength fades,

When faces blur,

When even companionship grows silent,

One needs nothing

But the soil that remembers his footsteps.

For homeland is the first lullaby,

The last prayer,

The breath between birth and death.

(Avtar Mota)

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

SWAMI FROM MADURAI

                                     

SWAMI FROM MADURAI 

Before 1990, there used to be a low budget hotel in Karan Nagar run under the name  of Madras Hotel. I have seen many  people , mostly door to door sellers of ladies dresses, petty  traders who thronged Kashmir in summer season, foot path dentists, magicians , many hawkers from South India  staying in the Hotel and  paying rent on monthly basis in advance. That worked cheaper. The hotel provided normal accommodation and hot water bucket  on extra payment. Dosa, Vada, Sambhar , coffee and Idli was also served at this hotel's  restaurant. 

One Swami from Madurai (Tamilnadu) would stay at the Madras Hotel for full summer season. He would rent a bicycle for the season and move in the  localities inhabited by Kashmiri Pandits selling   Saris to them. He brought cheap Kanjivaram and Tussar silk  Saris and  sold them to Pandit families  who would pay in installments. These Saris were bought for dowry of girls. Swami had understood the entire social rituals in a Pandit household. I have heard him saying this :-

" Didi Kalavalinu anjah Sari  kam hoyenga. Ondeh Sari Saas Lenga . Nallah Tussar Silk ." 

( For distribution to relations in her in-laws house, five saris shall be insufficient for my   sister. Take one for her mother in law . I shall give one good Tussar silk Sari .)

 

It was through Swami  that I first saw the famous and graceful  Madurai Sungudi cotton Sari. Later , Swami also started selling bed covers and bed sheets .  With this new item, Swami became popular in some Muslim households. At my mother's insistence, Raja our neighbour and wife of Mohammad Sidiq baker , purchased two double bed covers  as dowry items for her daughters.Raja would save money that her husband gave her . She kept this money  with my mother who always advised her to buy something for her daughters. It was my mother who forced her to buy copper utensils for her daughters from Zaina Kadal . 

Swami would start clearing his stocks by October end and he would return to Madurai after Deepawali . He would devote his last one week exclusively for collecting what was due to him. This last collection he would carry by hand in the specially created pocket of his undershirt. A loose kurta and a Lungi was all that he wore . However, he would move with woollen gloves, woollen  socks, fur cap, muffler right from mid- October. No shoes , just simple Bata bathroom sandals with socks . Swami was a Shaivite. He would go to Shankaracharya Temple on Sundays . He was vegetarian and never ate anything except Dosa, Rasam, and his favourite Saapad-curd( Dahi -chawal ). Swami would come to my bank branch to exchange currency notes or ask for notes of bigger denomination when he had to leave Kashmir. 

Swami had a unique style of packing up after selling some Sari or bed cover or bed sheet. He would count the remaining stock  to be packed on his fingers saying softly, ' randeh, mund, naala anjeh...',  etc. Move his head in confirmation that  everything was okay. Thereafter, he would put his stuff neatly one over the other in  a cloth  and tie the bundle with a thin rope. The bundle was then tied to the  back carrier of the bicycle with a piece of similar rope . The back carrier was wide enough to hold the bundle safely.  And he would leave saying," amma , didi, thambi , vanakam vanakam ".

One day Swami saw  a purse falling from the hands of a woman as she boarded the  local bus at Surateng in Rainawari.  The bus sped away towards Khanyar . Swami picked up the purse and followed the bus upto Shiraz cinema where he fell down and got some bruises on his arm and leg. He put the purse in his pocket, went to JLNM Hospital to get the minor  wounds dressed up . Thereafter , he came to Rainawari Police station and handed over the purse to police . Later, Chuni Lal Watloo ( shopkeeper) , who was well connected with Rainawari  Police Station  , told me that the purse had three gold rings  and one gold chain apart from twelve hundred rupees in cash . It belonged to a Muslim lady of Khanyar who had come with  some ailing relative  to  JLNM Hospital. 

Beete huve lamhon ki khushboo hai meray ghar mein ,

Book rack pe rakhe hain yaadon ke kayi  album. 

( Avtar Mota )

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.