HVK Archives: The saffron sage (letter)
The saffron sage (letter) - The Economic Times
Ikbal Kaul, New Delhi
()
December 18, 1998
Title: The saffron sage (letter)
Author: Ikbal Kaul, New Delhi
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: December 18, 1998
The whole saffron belt of Kashmir is presently a riot of colour,
flaunted by the purple petals and bed stigmas. The sweet smelling
saffron flowers are lending an alluring charm and ethereal enchantment
to the environment. However, this very charm has been despoiled by the
fundamentalist dons of the Kashmir University who are falsifying
recorded history.
Its fundamentalists are deliberately falsifying history and culture of
the state. By producing the lavish documentary, The Saffron Saga, in all
conscience, it has pulled a fast one on all Indians, indicating the
brazen brief of the producer/director. Base disinformation is dished out
in its script. "The present day saffron cultivation n Kashmir," it
gloats, "owes its origin to Iran." But the narrator gives gratuitously
additional information. He says that a Muslim dervish brought the
saffron from Iran and planted them in Kashmir, and his shrine is at
Zewan! There are references galore to the sweet smelling herb from
Kashmir, in the sanskrit and Pali literature. the Brahmins and Buddhists
have woven legends around it. Amarsinha, Kalidasa, Sri Harsa, Bilhana,
Kshemendra and Kalhana are some of the famed literatures who have
extensively mentioned it. However, during the Mughal times, the
Kishtwar variety had the top rating. A ser (about 600 gm) of it fetched
Rs (Akbari) 28 to 32. On the contrary, the Pampur specie was valued at
Rs 20 to 24, as recorded by Francisco Pelsaert, the Dutch Factor at
Agra.
The Kashmir University premise is hoist on its own petard! The Iranian
saffron is the most inferior in the world. Even in the ancient times,
the low quality of the Iranian variety was known.
The Kashmir saffron, says the royal dramatist, Sri Harsha (606-48), in a
telling comment in the Ratnavali, is preferred to the herb from Iran,
which he calls the land of the Pasisikas and Bahilikas. The Valley
variety is top-grade, parallel with the Spanish product. In the middle
ages, it was rather difficult to clone a better variety from an inferior
specie. In times of need, Pampur, the centre of the saffron belt of
Kashmir, could have imported the seed from Kishtwar, as happened in
1857, during the reign of Maharaja Ranbir Singh. The Kishtwar specimen
was sold at a premium, as is attested by the foreign travellers and
Mughal documents.
The don's assertion that the so-called shrine at Zewan belongs to the
Muslim divine is a total travesty of truth. The Rajatarangini mentions
that the spring of Zewan, besides which the shrine is standing, was the
abode of Takshaka Naga, the patron deity of the saffron fields. An
annual festival, in honour of the Serpent King, was celebrated here at
the start of the saffron season. Kalhana says it was held on the 12th
day of the dark fortnight of Jaistha, which fell this year on May 23.
The festival, Abul Fazal mentions, continued right up to Akbar's time.
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