PROF SRIKANTH TOSHKHANI: A PIONEERING LINGUIST, SOCIAL REFORMER, SCHOLAR AND ORIGINAL THINKER

PROF SRIKANTH TOSHKHANI: A PIONEERING LINGUIST, SOCIAL REFORMER, SCHOLAR AND ORIGINAL THINKER

 

                                                                           

                                                            ( Prof S K Toshkhani )                      

 

Toshkhanis are Kauls . This nickname got attached to them on account of the employment of some of their ancestor as Toshakhana officer with the Dogra rulers. In this Toshkhani family of Gankhan ( Zaina Kadal ), Srinagar, Srikanth Toshkhani was born sometime in 1895. He was a pioneer in many spheres. A person who gave the first novel ( Leela ) to Kashmiri literature. A pioneer who produced and directed the first film in Kashmiri and also helped in staging the first play in the Kashmir valley. It was through his initiative that the first ever Kashmiri poetic symposium was held in Kashmir sometime in 1940. He remained an undisputed and widely respected authority on the Kashmiri language and culture. Apart from Kashmiri, he was well-versed in Shina, Dardi, Pali, Prakrit, Sanskrit, Persian, Hindi, Urdu English and some other Indian languages. A pioneer of women’s education in the Kashmir valley, he, along with some trusted like-minded friends set up the Women’s Welfare Trust in the Kashmir valley that opened schools and also imparted skills to women to enable them independently. Srikanth Toshkhani graduated from S P College, Srinagar and did his post-graduation in philosophy from Allahabad University. He also did LLB from Agra. At Agra, he developed a close lifelong friendship with Gulzari Lal Nanda, former Prime Minister of the country. After returning to Srinagar, he started practising as a lawyer. However, he was soon fed up with this profession and joined S P College as a professor of philosophy.

 

SETTING UP WOMEN’S WELFARE TRUST

 

Sometime in 1926, he decided to embark upon women’s education in the Kashmir valley as to tool to improve their living conditions in the orthodox society. For this, a Trust, known as the Women’s Welfare Trust was created. The founding members of the Trust were: Mrs Margaret Cousins and Mrs L D Van Gheel Gildemeester, Srikanth Toshkhani, Shridhar Kaul Dullo, and Aftab Kaul Nizamat. Srikanth Toshkhani played a key role in creating the Trust. This was a group of theosophists working under the influence of Annie Besant. Women’s Welfare Trust was launched to advance the welfare of Kashmiri women by imparting them knowledge, stimulating the home industry among them and by promoting their physical health and well-being. The trust opened Vasanta Girls School ( Vasanta was also the daughter of Srikanth Toshkhani ) followed by Kashaypa Girls School. In 1929 the Trust was emboldened to start Maitriya, the first Muslim school for girls. Mrs Sajida Zameer Ahmed who subsequently became the Director of School Education was a student of Maitiya. These schools proved instrumental in changing the life and living conditions of many women in the orthodox Kashmiri Pandit society. Later, Srikanth Toshkhani also brought Dina Nath Hanjura and Damodar Hanjura to the Women’s Welfare Trust.

 

SEVA SADAN

 

Srikanth Toshkhani also played a key role in the setting of SEVA SADAN. The Seva Sadan was created to introduce skills in women so that they could earn for themselves. It was aimed at ameliorating the lot of young widows and women in general who were discriminated against in the orthodox society. The Seva Sadan also organized adult literacy classes apart from teaching hygiene and cleanliness. 

 

 WRITING THE FIRST KASHMIRI NOVEL ”LEELA “ AND MAKING THE FIRST FILM IN KASHMIRI 

 

The sad plight of women in the tradition-bound and orthodox Kashmiri Pandit society was powerfully conveyed in “ Leela “, a novel in Kashmiri written by Srikanth Toshakhani in 1923. The novel was serialized in “ Bahaar e Kashmir “, a magazine published in Lahore. Dr Shashi Shekhar Toshkhani informs that the novel had crisp dialogues and powerfully put forth the miserable plight of women in the Kashmiri society apart from suggesting ways and means to ameliorate their suffering and pitiable living conditions. Through the novel, Srikanth Toshkhani projected a dire need to educate women and girls and provide them access to modern healthcare. It also supported widow remarriage. The novel was written in Devanagari script. In 1927, he also made a film in Kashmiri. The film was produced and directed by Srikanth Toshkhani. The film projected certain bad practices prevailing in the orthodox Kashmiri Pandit society apart from making a strong plea for women’s education and widow remarriage. Aggrieved over the subject of the film, a group of orthodox Pandits attacked Srikanth Toshkhani and also stoned his house. The film made a strong case for access to modern healthcare for women to stop heavy maternal and infant mortality in families .T N Kaul and Jagan Nath Saqi played prominent roles in this film. The conservatives won the battle and the screening of the film was stopped by the Maharaja.

 After him in 1928, another attempt was made by R C Kak to make a film on prevailing social evils in Kashmiri society. Named ‘Chinar’, the film was scripted by R C Kak ( who later became the Prime Minister of J&K ) and Jay Lal Kaul ( who later became principal of S P College, Srinagar ) played key roles in it. The film also met the same fate at the hands of the orthodox Kashmiri society.

 

DEBUNKING GRIERSON’S THEORY ABOUT THE DARDIC ORIGIN OF THE KASHMIRI LANGUAGE  

 

Prof S K Toshkhani was always doubtful about many theoretical conclusions of Grierson about the origin of the Kashmiri language and its grammar. To arrive at the bottom of truth and study Shina and some other Dardic languages, he travelled to Gilgit and Gurez in 1941. On his return, he wrote a scholarly paper debunking Grierson’s theory while scientifically proving through his research that Kashmiri was an ancient Vedic language that had Vedic and even pre-Vedic roots. He concluded that Grierson was wrong in saying that Kashmiri was a non-Sanskrit language that had Dardic roots. He also proved that Shina and other Dardic languages were a part of the Aryan family of languages that had deep roots in Sanskrit wherefrom most of the vocabulary had come to these languages. Even the eminent linguist Dr Siddeshwar Verma agreed with his research and findings. His scholarly write-ups were published by international magazines and newspapers in France ( Le Monde ) and Japan( Asahi Shimbun ). He remained connected with many National Conventions of linguists in the country. In 1967, he wrote the Kashmiri portion of the book, ’ Indian Language Highway For All ’ compiled by A P Sita Devi, a Polish Scholar and theosophist settled in India. He, along with three other scholars, translated the constitution of India into Kashmiri.

 

CREATING THE FIRST DEVANAGARI SCRIPT FOR KASHMIRI LANGUAGE

 

He was the first to create the Devanagari script for the Kashmiri language. He created diacritical marks for transcribing Kashmiri vowel sounds in Devanagari and roman and published them in the form of a book as a guide to every learner. This script was used by Master Zinda Kaul for writing Kashmiri poetry. In 1931, he also wrote books like "Achhar-Zaan "and "Achhar-Maal" to facilitate the usage of the Devanagri script for the Kashmiri language. He wrote several textbooks in Kashmiri for students of the schools run by the Women’s Welfare Trust. These included one on mathematics having ‘Granz Vyad’ ‘ग्रन्ज़ व्यद’ as its title, another on geography and a third one on letter writing in Kashmiri (meant for adult learners ).

 

PUBLISHING AND POPULARISING KRISHEN JOO RAZDAN'S BHAKTI POETRY

 

It was through his efforts that the Bhakti poetry of Krishen Joo Razdan and Parmanand reached every household in Kashmir. In 1927, he published selected Bhakti poems of Krishen Joo Razdan in a book titled, ‘ Krishna Vani’ in Devanagari script. Later, he wrote two books on saint poet Parmanand.

                                                                                       

                                                                ( Prof Srikanth Toshakhani )
                           

 

 PUBLISHING THE FIRST KASHMIRI TO KASHMIRI AND URDU -KASHMIRI DICTIONARIES

 

Given his scholarship, the J&K Academy of Art, Culture And Languages appointed him as Chief Editor of the Kashmiri dictionary project. Despite various constraints, he prepared the first Kashmiri to Kashmiri and Urdu-Kashmiri dictionaries in record time. For this, he had to face tough resistance from many quarters and even his staff who wanted to flood the dictionaries with words of Perso –Arabic origin that had not naturally come to Kashmiri.

 

Dr S S Toshkhani, eminent scholar and son of Prof Srikanth Toshakhani says this:-

 

“As thinker and philosopher, he was suffused with wit and wisdom. Unconventional and fresh in his outlook on life, his thinking did not fit into traditional moulds and groves, nor did it offer any cut-and-dry or readymade answers to problems. His solutions always emerged from dialogue and discussions. He always avoided entering into any discussion with fake, and narrow-minded scholars who lacked global vision. He had studied major works of eastern and western philosophical thinkers. His interpretation of Kashmiri Shaiva texts and Bhagwat Geeta was uniquely original and interesting. Yet he did not believe in any outward trammels of rituals or religion. I am more than sure that had he been born in some other system and society where the contribution is acknowledged and icons are remembered, he would have been duly rewarded and recognised as an original thinker and contributor. Alas! he remains unknown and ignored to this day."

 

 All along his life, Srikanth Toshkhani remained an ardent follower of J Krishnamurti. Both J Krishnamurti and Srikanth Toshkhani were born in the same year,1895.  He loved simple food and had simple living habits. One could always see him in a neat white dhoti and Kurta. He was a poet as well who faced many tragedies in his personal life. His wife died young. He married a second time but she too died young. His son died in the prime of his youth. Yet, he remained tied to truth, research and free thinking all along his life. He faced envy and jealousy from many fake and half-baked intellectuals of his period who made every effort to pull him down. He left peacefully for his heavenly abode on December 3, 1981. Shall we ever recognise our real icons?

 

 "Hum kahaan ke daana thay kis hunar mein yakta thay,

,Be-sabab hua 'Ghaalib' dushman aasmaan apna."………Ghalib

 

( When was I wise in any way, had any skills unique?

 For no reason, ‘Ghalib’ , heaven's hostility to my fate )

 

( Avtar Mota )

 

PS

 ( Inputs from Dr S S Toshkhani, Unmesh Issue Vol..3, 19th January- March 2000 and various write-ups in Sheeraza published by J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages)

 

 

 

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