A KASHMIRI PANDIT TAILORING SHOP IN BATYAAR ALI KADAL
SRINAGAR
(Photograph by R.E.Shorter 1911 . The Tailor Master is at work with his SINGER FOOT PEDAL SEWING
MACHINE while a group of Pandits are seated on the shop front and busy in
gossiping and posing for the photograph
)
According to Walter Lawrence ( From “Valley of Kashmir “ published in 1895 ),
"The vast majority of the Pandits belong to the Karkun class
and have usually made their livelihood in the employment of the State. But as
State employment became harder to obtain and the numbers of the Pandits
increased, the Brahmans of Kashmir sought other occupations. Briefly, it may be said that a Pandit may
follow any trade or occupation except those of the cobbler, potter, corn-friar,
porter, boatman, carpenter, Mason, or Fruit-seller etc.
Pandits have been known
to adopt the profession of Acting and Music, and a Pandit now in my employment
was once a cavalry soldier in the army of His Highness the Maharana of
Oodeypore ( Udaipur ). As time goes on
these intelligent and quick-witted people will no doubt take to new occupations.
But the present Karkun
Pandit regards the pen as his natural destiny, and though many have taken to
agriculture and many more are looking to land as a means of employment and
subsistence, they would infinitely prefer to spend their lives as clerks in
some office. The Pandits of the villages consider it no degradation to follow
the plough and to carry manure; but the city Pandit, who has not severed
himself from the literary atmosphere of the capital, is inclined to look down
upon the Brahman agriculturist, and though he will take a wife from the
villages he will not, if a man of any position, permit his daughter to marry
into a village family.
The future of the city Pandits is a matter of some
anxiety. They have not the keen trading instinct of the natives of the Panjab,
and may neglect the chances of commerce which easier communications with India
should now offer. "
From the above statement of Walter lawrence , it appears
that Pandits had no hesitation towards taking up Tailoring as a profession in
19th century .
I have also heard that
cinema Actor A K HANGAL ( 1914-2012 ) , Born in a kashmiri Pandit
family of Peshawar , started his
early life as a Tailor ; But then this kashmiri Pandit Family had
migrated out from Kashmir valley long back and as
such was far away from the mainstream
and Core Kashmiri Pandit society .
For sure , Kashmiri Pandits had some aversion towards joining any Business activity .
A job that required a pen in hand or meant writing work was generally sought after
by them .That is why no kashmiri Pandit was an Artisan . By artisan I mean carpenter , Tailor ,
Masson , Blacksmith, Papier Mache Artist
, Shawl embroider , Carpet weaver , Plumber etc . etc. During my childhood , I could
see just one Masson , One carpenter and
some drivers from kashmiri Pandit community.
Although many Pandits
had Bakery ( Kaandhar vaan )
shops or worked as professional cooks but for marriage within the core kashmiri Pandit society , these
men could not get a match. Accordingly , Most of them had to get married to
Girls from nearby hilly areas of
Kishtawar , Bhaderwah and Ramban
You can see from the
above photograph clicked in 1911 that there were Kashmiri Pandit Tailoring
shops in Srinagar city .. I am informed
by elders that there was a problem for Boys engaged in this business when they
had to look for a match to get married . Kashmiri Pandit society considered
this business as something inferior and later shunned this occupation
altogether .
But then again ,Some time around 1940 , Lamboodhar Nath Tikoo , An educated and enterprising kashmiri Pandit , belonging to an affluent and infuential family, surprised his community members when he opened a tailoring shop under the name and style of “ NAVYUG TAILORS ” at Habba Kadal Srinagar. Pandit Kashyap Bandhu , A reformist leader amongst Kashmiri Pandits during those days, personally attended the opening cermony of this shop at Habba Kadal. To attract VIP and European customers , the Business location was immediately shifted to Amira Kadal in srinagar City .
Son of an Engineer who had built BC Road during Maharaja's rule, Lamboodhar Nath went to Bombay to study engineering but returned to valley after learning professional Tailoring . He would cater to VIP customers and was much in demand for stitching stylish suits, Tweed coats and fashionable shirts. Very soon, NAVYUG TAILORS opened another branch at Residency Road in Srinagar city. Pandit Triloki Nath Tikoo , a young kashmiri pandit with modern outlook , joined his brother Lamboodhar Nath Tikoo in this venture from day one . For Tikoo brothers , it was also a step towards reforming the community and motivating youth for starting such like business ventures that were tradionally shunned . Tikoo family was from Reshi Peer Mohalla in downtown Srinagar .
Pandit Laxman Joo Tikoo ( Father of Lamboodhar Nath and Triloki Nath ), felt sad and disillusioned at the venture of his sons . Lamboodhar Nath had to start an urdu Newspaper “ NAVYUG “ simultaneously to protect his father from recurring satires from relations and friends for this Tailoring venture looked down upon by orthodox kashmiri Pandit society during those days. Young Nand lal wattal ( who later joined as editor of Urdu newspaper Khidmat ) from Rainawari was brought in as Editor of this news paper . Tailoring Business of Tikoo brothers was directly hit by the second world war as most of their European clients had to move out of kashmir . The tribal raid of 1947 dried up almost all the residual clientele of NAVYUG TAILORS .The News Paper had to be closed down for various reasons . "NAVYUG TAILORS " also pulled down its shutters permanently after sometime .
Some Muslim Boys, who worked as Apprentices at these shops , became excellent Tailor masters and opened independent tailoring shops in Srinagar city .
Eminent Scholar Dr Shashi Shekhar Toshakhani comments on My Facebook Page as under :
“ Pandits
have been throughout taunted and
stereotyped as people who despise all manual work or business and prefer only
to Weild the pen , their objection to
other jobs being that they are "derogatory to their Brahmin
identity". This, however, is highly exaggerated and Autar Mota Ji's post
provides one evidence for this. While Pandits living in rural areas would
cultivate their own fields, tend their cows and attend to other farming jobs,
many among those living in urban areas had long discarded their objection to
occupations other than white collar jobs. Though belonging to an
"intellectual class", there were many who would even go for work in
the factories like the silk-weaving factory of Srinagar, for instance, or take
up jobs like that of a plumber, electrician, mechanic, driver etc., besides
work as shopkeepers or small traders. Of course being Brahmins they may still
not "engage in polluting activities such as Barbering, removing and
skinning dead animals, making shoes, winnowing pans and drums, slaughtering
goats and sheep and sheep", as eminent sociologist Prof. T. N. Madan has
pointed out in his study of the Pandits of Uttarsu-Umanagri. I knew A Kashmiri
Brahmin who worked as a barber and had his shop at Fateh Kadal, Srinagar. He
sported a rather large Tilak on his forehead, perhaps to attract Kashmiri
Pandit clients. I have had several haircuts done at his shop when was in my
teens. And now Mota Ji tells us about this KP tailor. Perhaps there were some
more like him or like the Barber I have mentioned.”
Sometime upto 1975, There was a Tailoring shop at kraal Khod Habba Kadal run by One Shamboo Nath ji under the name and style of LAKSHMI TAILORS . Pandit Shamboo Nath ji was himself a expert Tailor Master who could stitch Three piece suits also.
( Autar Mota )
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