In past, Kashmiris were naïve & simple. It was the time when the gradual progression of science in Europe had not yet crossed the mountains of valley of Kashmir. Modern technology & fast modes of communication were not yet discovered.
The material prosperity & modernization had not yet touched the people of this landlocked country. So, in those situational conditions of simple & straight living, the people generally ascribed the causes of their misfortunes, even the ones that were caused by ecological & geographical disorders of inclement weathers, storms, floods, famines, earthquakes, & even by diseases, whenever they befell them, to the curse of their past sins & crimes.
Hardly a day passed, records Sir Walter Roper Lawrence, when he did not find during his days in Kashmir, the Kashmiris making reference to the curse and the sins that brought about the curse.
They “believe themselves to be under a curse”. The sins,they were told by priests, were their “lying & malice”. So, “they rarelylaugh or smile, but are easily moved to tears.” Kashmiris think that the curseis not always result of their own sins but, sometimes, they trace the origin oftheir suffering to the sins & crimes of others. It happened so with thecarpet weavers of Kashmir in past who, despite toiling hard & long, earnedminimum money & failed to lay by something for future.
They ascribed the cause of their ‘penury’ to the ‘sin’ which their forefathers had, in the beginning of 17th century, committed ‘by rebuking’ their original ‘trainer, benefactor’, who had traveled to far off Persia to learn & rediscover the declining art of carpet weaving in Kashmir.
Named, Akhun Sahab, was the master, to whom their forefathers, thankless disciples, had turned their backs when he was in need of help from them whereupon he denounced upon them curse in these Kashmiri words: Zindus dung-dawal marit nirnak nah kafan ti [ translation: ” During lifetime they may live in plenty and when dead even cloth for their shroud may not be forthcoming.”
The guilt burdens a wrongdoer when some suffering or pain befalls him after his sin or crime. If no suffering or pain visits him, thereafter, the sense of guilt does not engage his mind.
The concept is masterly explained in S T Coleridge’s classic poem, The Rime of Ancient Mariner (1798) where the Mariner did not have initially feeling of guilt & fear after killing Albatross that was following the ship. It came to him & the sailors only when in the aftermath of Albatross- killing, the ship was lost & wandered in a thick fog for several days, attacked by dreadful spirits of death & destruction.
The sailors blamed the Mariner for their torturous suffering & pain which, they said to him, was caused by his sin & crime of killing an innocent sea bird & so, they put the corpse of Albatross around his neck like a cross symbolizing execution for his wrong deed.
They all died of thirst in the excruciating pain that ensued killing of Albatross with Mariner, however, left alone to survive by the Spirits of Death, but only to tell the world the story of his sin & crime, & the curse he carried for it. The suffering & pain of sailors before dying, one by one, was also curse on them for rejoicing & supporting his wrong deed.
The metaphors in Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner about sins& crimes & their consequential curse of suffering & pain, ofpunishment & penance, have its origin in all religious Scriptures of theworld. ….. But as the societies progressed & developed towards modernism& democracy, bringing with them substantial changes in people’s thinking& beliefs, more freedoms & liberties, the two concepts got disconnected& separated, leaving punishment for sin to God’s realm, while punishment forcrime has been placed in jurisdiction of law courts. Nonetheless, the vividsymbolism of Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner continues to have application equallyto both crime & sin.
But where “dark is the nation, insane the king” what willhappen, you must be already aware of the story behind this Urdu idiom, AndherNagari, Chaupat Raja. Yes, the king sentenced a thin man, who was innocent, tothe gallows instead of the fat man, actual guilty, whose guilt was provenbeyond doubt. Why? Because the noose of gallows did not fit the neck of the fatman. But it does not happen where the kings in olden times & judges inmodern times are awake & watching. So, we saw two prominent cases, sent toprison (curse) for their crimes. But the question that begs an honest answerfrom all is: Were there only those two who did the crimes in our heavilycrime-ridden society? The answer is: No. Our society is infested with largenumber of ills & evils of criminals & the arms of law are not longenough, to reach them who go away scot free.
There are so many such guilty persons, authorities-in-power,or hand-in-hand-with -power, in our organisations, semi-government institutions& government departments trampling upon the rights of the most deserving& meritorious candidates as their minds are hag-ridden with nepotism,favouratism, bribery, personal likes & dislikes, deep seated biases &prejudices.
There are so many in our society who have converted bloominggardens of others into desolate deserts by their black deeds. One such, onceholding high rank in an organisation, once said before a gathering of employeesthat a “meritorious” employee working in his institution was worthless &naught till his pen confirmed & decided it in his favour.
The words smacked of a typical post-medieval monarchial mindset.It seemingly stunned one & all in that crowd of employees. I remember of that sick-minded “corporatemonarch” once promoted such officers who were “not-eligible even” for nextscale of promotion in his institution, which he erroneously thought he owned,as privy purse of an ex-prince of British India, and the only one officer whowas “only eligible, senior most & much more qualified & experiencedthan those promoted” was singled out for non-promotion by him for “personalgrudges”.
It was a gross misuse of official power & breach of”fiduciary duty” by a ‘corporate monarch’, not different from what was done bya BOPEE chairman. 700 years before Henry Bracton, the English Judge hassaid: Even if “the king is under no man,
[but]
he is under God and law”. LordMacmillan has pithily summarises the whole idea in these words: “If noprofession is nobler in its right exercise, so no profession can be baser inits abuse”.
As a person who used sacred emotions, his “alleged” moralturpitude saddened the society, so “poor girls”‘ “alleged” exploitation &sex scandal ‘involving’ top notch politicians, bureaucrats & executives ofKashmiri society shook the moral pedestal of the Kashmiri-community. For morethan a decade, the criminal proceedings against the ‘accused’ remained pendingbefore a trial court at Chandigarh.
Tragedy is that while some suffer “curse” for their criminalwrongs, more neither suffer, nor feel guilty, no remorse, for their crimesagainst innocent Albatross. Reason being they don’t undergo any consequentialsuffering or pain for their crimes. They face neither curse nor cross ofAlbatross that represents unfortunate wretch of their wrongs in our society.
They fail to understand something that they have to say tothemselves: “They are guilty, they are wrong”. They belong to socio-economic elite class of Kashmiris who can “buy goodlegal brains” to defend themselves before courts & protract the criminalproceedings under procedural laws. Their lawyers know the “skill” of twistingand turning facts into mere allegations or vice versa. Their sermons hog theheadlines.
These “white collar or occupational” criminals are respected& eulogised, admired & invited-special-guests on special occasions& functions where they deliver, thus, sweet sermons on things ofself-interest for self-aggrandizement. Amid rousing cheers of the audience, Iin a corner soliloquize: Has long arm of law failed to clasp its fingers aroundthe thick necks of these scot-free killers & their accomplice in thekilling of Albatross.