Concepts of Malamas and Bhanumas

Dr S N Wakhaloo 

It is heartening to learn from an article by Shri RC. Hakku in the Juno '91 issue of the

KOSHUR SAMACHAR that some headway has been made in the matter of resolving the problem of the genesis of Malamasis and Bhanumasis which constitute the two recognised divisions of the Kashmiri Hindu Society. The main thrust of the topic has been laid on the references made to the excerpts from the two books: one by Mr. Walter Lawrence on the "Valley of Kashmir'' and the other by Pandit Anand Kaul on "Kashmiri Pandit" According to Lawrence, the indigenous inhabitants in the Hindu fold were known as Malamasis whereas those having migrated later to Kashmir from Deccan were designated as Bhanumasis, Pandit Anand Kaul, too, is emphatic in adopting this concept. Both these learned authors were holding fast to the concept of Malamasis being the indigenous Hindu inhabitants in contradistinction to Bhanumasis who, they thought, were the people coming from the South (Deccan). Shri Hakku has also mentioned that Malamasis were followers of Lunar Calendar whereas the Bhanumasis stuck to the solar almanac.

Genesis of the concept

The question arises as to what was the necessity of making this diversification of Hindu society only in Kashmir whereas nowhere else in the country such a division of local people from outsiders existed on even mass migration of people from one State/ province to the other. We have the recent experience of the mass exodus of Hindus and Sikhs from erstwhile Punjab to the various northern states in view. To the best of my knowledge, nowhere has there been an attempt made to distinguish them from the local indigenous people by any kind of artificial nomenclature.

One is bound to ask the question that if there had been a mass movement of people from the South into Kashmir, they were bound to maintain their original customs, language, culture and to some extent even dress. But what we find is that nowhere in the valley are there even small pockets showing this separate class of Hindus from the local ones. All are homogenous folk indistinguishable from one another in their culture and behaviour, and speak the same language. There is, however, local concentration of Sikhs who having migrated to Kashmir during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh have settled notably at two places viz., Traal in Pulwama district and Singapore in Baramulla district. At both these places, they have maintained their original culture, language, dress and their special mode of worship in Gurdwaras. This sets at naught the premise that there has been any mass migration of Hindus from outside Kashmir as is alluded to in the references made to the two books by eminent authors.

Some years back I had come across a paper on: "Sidelights into Ideological and Religious attitude in Punjab during the 17th Century" by Mr. M. Athar Ali presented by him at the Indian History Congress Session in Varanasi in 1969. At that time I did not feel interested into delving on this issue of diversification in our Kashmiri Hindu society. But now on seeing that there is discussion going on in ascertaining their origin, I think it to be an appropriate time for giving vent to my feelings which I have been harbouring in my mind all these years.

Malamatiya School

The paper that I am referring to is according to Mr. Ali about a manuscript in verse form written in Persian by one Mr. Surat Singh, a Brahmin from the Punjab who served as a Karkun at Bhatinda and wrote it in A.D. 1644-47. His manuscript is about the life of a saint, Pir Hassu Teili whose followers were both Hindus and Muslims. Though he belonged to the latter faith, yet he did not observe any one of the five tenets of Islam viz., five times prayer during the day including congregational prayer on Fridays, keeping dusk to dawn fast during the month of Ramzan, paying of religious tax, Zakath, making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once during the life time and above all maintaining faith in one God. He was a pious man but did not make public his piety.

He appeared to be a follower of Sufi cult and indulged in Mysticism. Among his close followers, in fact his chief disciple, was one Shaikh Kamal who introduced a term MALAMATIYA to designate his master's school. This class as is so obvious has a link with our Malamasi category of people. What might have happened is that the Kashmiri Hindus being subjected to persecution in the time of Afghan rule were left only with two alternatives: one was to migrate to other places in India and the other was to get reconciled to the conditions obtaining in the valley without getting converted.

It is a known fact that the Hindus in general have a special trait of resilience in their character which is evident from their circumventing the wave of mass conversion to Buddhism in the third century B.C. by making Buddha the epitome of Lord Shiva and worshipping him as their deity. There was an onslaught of this wave, too, in Kashmir but its inhabitants at that time were all Hindus and so had no difficulty in adopting this new cult of Mahayana Buddhism which is distinguished from the Hinayana school which confines to the teachings of Buddha in the original form. My own feeling is that when in Pathan rule Islam rose as a challenge to Hinduism in Kashmir, the Hindus there followed the Sufi cult as preached by Malamatiyya school of Pir Hassau Teili. When conditions became favourable later on as is alleged in the benevolent rule of Zainul-Abidin, the Malamatiyas had not difficulty of coming back to the Hindu fold under the garb of Malamasis. It needs to be stressed that being basically at heart and in action Hindus there was no difficulty of their being recognised as such by the entire population. Personally I think that it is a plausible explanation. What is also most characteristic is that the followers of Malamatiya school were nearly all vegetarians abstaining from any sort of meat. That could have made the Kashmiri Hindus easily adopt this cult, especially when according to the tenets of that school they had not to make religion a public affair.

That the Malamasis are following the lunar calender also goes in favour of this theory of their reconversion from Malamatiya school, as the people in that cult being mostly Muslims are the followers of the lunar calendar. This is yet another proof if needed of my viewpoint.

In regard to Bhanumasis, my feeling is that they represent the eleven genuine Hindu families which survived by not succumbing to any sort of pressure and thus emerged supreme and unscathed in the whole history of tyranny and persecution of the Hindus under Afghan rulers. They are, therefore, undoubtedly noted for their valour in having braved the situation under adverse circumstances.

In closing, may I emphasise that I have no intention of imposing my views on any one, and so criticism and comments from all those interested are most welcome.

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Courtesy: - Dr S N Wakhaloo  and 1991 December Koshur Samachar