Nilkanth Gurtoo's Nirvana - Orphans Kashmiri Sanskrit Heritage

Mrinal Kaul

Another towering Kashmirian Sanskritist has passed away and Kashmiris are orphaned of their Sanskrit heritage perhaps for the last time. The death of every Kashmirian Sanskrit scholar is perhaps a warning in itself to the Kashmiri Pandits of losing their heritage of which they are unhesitatingly boastful, but are unimaginably ignorant of, and yet they call themselves 'Shaivites'. This scrutinises the irony of history of civilizations that people belonging to a particular civilization display their unperturbed desire to learn about it when it is already dead, but when a civilization is surviving, no one ever would be bothered to record it authentically. This, in particular, has been a major problem with Indian historiography. I can only hope to record its present survival by studying it analytically.

In the past couple of decades Kashmir has lost the remaining towering Sanskrit pandits, who were also the ambassadors of Sanskrit learning in Kashmir, like Pandit Raghunath Kukiloo, Prof Baljinath Pandit and Pandit Dinanath Yaksh only to name a few and their obituaries were evident warnings for 'Kashmiris' that should have made them take their "glorious past" rather seriously. Professor Gurtoo is no more and a few second-generation Sanskrit pandits (I cannot count more than three of them) who at least know something about Shaivism and Sanskrit treatises are in the waiting list. I am attempting this life sketch of Prof Nilkanth Gurtoo not only to inform the world about this unsung hero, but also to produce it as a warning for all those Kashmiris who would not think that these traditional pedagogical systems should be saved in India, but rather should be lived for. Kashmir, as it used to be a hub of Persian and Sanskrit studies in India half a century back, is today notorious worldwide for its terrorist activities. Today, Kashmiris know neither Persian, nor Sanskrit and are ashamed of talking to their children in Kashmiri. Needless to say that unfortunately this is what is happening with most of the Indian languages.

I have noticed a strong desire among some Kashmiris to learn about their past, but I always developed differences with them owing to my distinct academic approach and their irrationally stern preconceived bias for research-oriented academic study of Shaivism. Contrary to that I have also come across some so called 'overnight experts' in "Kashmir Shaivism" who are misusing this system for gaining popularity among common masses. All I can say is 'Good luck to them'. Nobody ever showed a faithful wish to learn, but everyone was pretending to "know" and I could always sense the unwanted ego working in the background. Here I must also mention that one has to treat academic study separately from spirituality that is always misunderstood by common masses in case of Sanskrit studies or Shaivism in particular. Prof Gurtoo was one such great academician with a flair for research orientation in both these fields. Kashmiris in general are happy being in their orthodox well and never want to come out of it. To them, my historical approach to Kashmirian studies makes me an 'unwelcome intruder' in the subject. At least that is what they have made me feel all these years since when I began studying Shaivism. They would call me a "child" when their orthodox theories are criticised by my rational approach. Well, this irony will continue to survive as far as I am lungful of air, but my sole purpose of introducing the life of Professor Nilkanth Gurtoo is just this that they should come out of their well and develop the sensitivity and patience to learn Shaivism rather academically, I think this is what was the pursuit of Prof Gurtoo's life and this is what we should learn from his death, I am writing this because I think he was the last 'Kashmiri' who knew Shaivism to such a depth.

Early Life

I do not know how many Kashmiris would know Professor Nilkanth Gurtoo whom I regarded as the last traditional Sanskrit pandit of Kashmir. He passed away on December 18, 2008, in New Delhi. With him the Kashmirian tradition of Sanskrit scholarship comes to an end. He was born on January 2, 1925, in Srinagar (Kashmir) and was the son of Pandit Tarachand Gurtoo. He was initiated into Sanskrit studies by Pandit Maheshwar Nath Nehru. Pandit. Jankinath Dhar (Vanaprastha) of Arya Samaj taught him the Astadhyayi of Panini. Later, he learned advanced texts of Sanskrit grammar and linguistics with Pandit Lalkak Langoo and Pandit Sarvadananda Handoo of Dharmarth Council taught him several texts of Sanskrit literature. He also qualified the traditional degrees of Prajna, Visharada and Shastri in Sanskrit from Government Sanskrit College in Srinagar that was affiliated to the undivided University of Punjab in Lahore. After qualifying for Prabhakar degree in Hindi he went ahead and earned a B.A. in Sanskrit. This allowed him to have a solid foundation and develope deep grounding in Sanskrit language and literature.

Covered Extra Mile

Professor Nilkanth Gurtoo not only taught in academic institutions, but also covered that extra mile and went ahead to learn about the 1 Kashmirian Shaiva schools from his teachers like Professor Baljinath Pandit and Swami Lakshman Joo. It was the former who introduced him to Shaiva exegesis and taught him the Isvarapratyabhija-vimarsini of Abhinavagupta along with Bhaskara's commentary and the 1 Paratrisika-vivarana. When I read these texts with him, I was simply amazed to note his in-depth understanding of such tedious texts and I appreciated his sincerity with which he explained it to me. Pandit Baljinath was not only his teacher but also a very close associate with whom he worked on several projects. The remarkable work both of them undertook together was the compilation of the Kashmira-saiva-darsana brahat-kosa that was published in two volumes from the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan in Jammu. I must also mention that both of them had worked closely together with a team of leading Sanskritists for almost 30 years to make this 'Encyclopaedia of Kashmir Shaivism'. This book will survive as a monumental reference work on the Shaiva schools of Kashmir.

Prof Gurtoo also learnt some texts of Kashmirian Trika and Spanda schools with the well-known savant Swami Lakshman Joo during the sixties, seventies and eighties of the last century. In his famous Sunday classes Lakshman Joo, several times, used to offer Prof Gurtoo to teach his students various Sanskrit texts. Besides learning many other texts with him, Professor Gurtoo also studied the Paratrisikavivarana with him from 1981-82 that he later translated into Hindi while Jaidev Singh translated it into English.

Professor Gurtoo was not only an original Shaiva thinker, but also a pioneering critic and a prolific writer with a deep insight into the subject of his choice. His writings are a testimony to this fact. He also had a deep understanding of several other important schools of Indian philosophy. In his works, he clearly reflects his knowledge of major Kashmirian schools of Buddhism and Shaiva dualists. His mind was pregnant with remarkable understanding of Vedanta, Samkhya and Yoga schools. He had very passionately studied the theories of Indian aestheticians and rhetoricians. Even though he mainly dealt with Abhinavagupta throughout his life, but with his matchless knowledge of diverse schools of Indian thought he was always trying to look for his fitting place in the broader domain of Indian philosophy. I think what makes him distinct is his right understanding of the Tantric systems of Kashmir and their place in the socio-political milieu of early mediaeval Kashmir. He indeed was a man of distinct academic calibre and authentic achievements.

It was strange enough to find out, while I was writing this piece, that Professor Gurtoo never received any honour, neither from the State of Jammu & Kashmir nor from the Government of India for his noteworthy service to Indology in general and Shaiva studies in particular. Today, his publications are a part of every leading library in the world and scholars engaged in research in Shaivism are making full use of them, but the author remained uncared for and never received any encouragement from any side. Besides publishing many books and papers, he was always busy teaching the Shaiva texts to numberless students. He was available to one and all, including academic students and religious devotees. I think it is my moral responsibility not to let his academic pursuit go waste. In his passing away Kashmiri Pandits should learn that there is a dying need of time that we try and make sincere efforts to learn about Shaivism but rather academically and try to know about facts rather than displaying our ignorance cultivated from untrusted sources to the specialists in the subject. For this pursuit a full time study of Sanskrit language and allied disciplines is the basic requirement. My life is one such tribute to my reverend teacher and I salute him in fervent gratitude.                                (The writer is a University of Oxford Sanskrit scholar)

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Courtesy:- Mrinal Kaul and January 2009, Koshur Samachar