Kashmir as is universally recognised vitas a pivotal centre of Sanskrit learning and erudition and as such had been a locus of attraction for a galaxy of scholars and savants with urges to satiate their thirst for knowledge and up-date their learning levels and scales. Kalhan, Jonraj, Srivar, Abhinavgupta, Somanand, Utpaldev, Somdev, Kshemendra et al transformed Kashmir into an intellectual centre of tremendous reputation through their scholarly attainments.

 

 

However, the fundamentalist forces in Kashmir that were in the process of spreading their tentacles opened their agenda with the declaration of war on books that were not of Islamic brand and hue. The Muslim insurgents with religious motivations ethnically cleansed Kashmir of its original natives and there had been a consistent drive to destroy their cultural and religious heritage thereby robbing them of the characteristics of a religious minority with a deep-seated consciousness of its distinctive identity.

 

 

As the ruling cliques of Muslims sharing their ethos of intolerance, strife and disorder with their co-religionists inhabiting various regions and belts of territory were in pursuit of the malignant objective of genocide of Kashmiri Pandits, it would have remained an unfinished task of a set agenda had they not burnt their books on a stunning scale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As is well-known the Muslim insurgency backed up by the militarised Islamic forces opened its ruinous agenda in 1988 and touched a crescendo in 1989. The Muslim marauders could not but suppress their innate urge and proclivity to loot, plunder and arson the properties and estates left behind by the fleeing Pandits. They desecrated and destructed their temples, harvested their crops and annexed their lands and to cap it all looted and burnt their books as repositories of learning and knowledge. Targeting each Kashmiri Pandit house for loot and ravage as per the delineated plans the ruthless marauders acting in the name of Islam destroyed paintings in oils or in water colours and sketches of inestimable value and images of gods and goddesses and human figures sculpted out of bronze and other materials to quench their savage thirst for the annihilation of their religious foes.

 

 

The Muslim destructionists chasing the grand plan of ethnic cleansing have been following to a dot the objective of uprooting and destructing the indigenous patterns of culture which are embedded and enshrined in books in the native language. As the Muslim revanchists in their designs are out to destroy the community of Pandits, numerically a minority, they are destroying their books to give a hiatus to their 5000-year old cultural and civilisational process and also break their un-interrupted tryst with the goddess of learning.

 

 

There is much of pith in the statement "If you want to destroy a community, burn its books." Man can beget sons, but he cannot beget books.

 

All the Brahmans who were learned and had mastery over theology were exterminated. The fanatical intolerance and inveterate hatred that was exhibited against Hindu lore and learning and especially scholars irrigating them led to the demise of an ethos that had fostered plenitude and plenteousness of scholarship and learning. Nona Dev, Jaya and Bhima Brahman with their depth of knowledge and breadth of vision were forced to commit suicide by leaping into the rivers. The Kashmiri Pandit scholars who were highly venerated for their varied contributions to learning and aesthetics were subjected to the mutilation of body-parts and gruesome killings. Some Pandits extra-keen to save their tomes and manuscripts from the Muslim destructionists crossed the mountain ramparts girting the valley to the plains of India.

 

 

"I have lived my life. What even if they kill me and what will they gain by killing me?" These were the words of Pandit Dina Nath Muju, a saintly son of Saraswat, Pt. Dina Nath Multi, who was robbed of his life at mid-night by the Muslim killers. Was this eighty-year old man really a threat to their plans of establishing an Islamic state? The day he was ruthlessly killed the Pakistan media blared out that a patron of Indian informers was exterminated. And the progeny of so-called Rishis believed in what was drummed into their ears.

 

 

Pandit Dina Nath was a real Pandit and a saintly scholar. He was brutally murdered by some assailants at his residence in Srinagar in 1990 when he was alone with his wife after having persuaded their children to leave Srinagar over continuous threats from the Muslim terrorists. Pt Dina Nath was not only an efficient teacher but also a guide and friend to one and all who encountered him. A follower of principles of universal brotherhood as enshrined in the basic principles of the theosophical thought, and very considerate to all living beings. He would be busy reading and writing with his back erect till late in the midnight. His study stacked and stuffed with books on variegated branches of learning, from historic to philosophy, from J. Krishnamurti to Vivekanand, from Socrates to Democritus conveyed all about the man. He has written innumerable articles which are mostly un-published and his son, Dr. GK Muju, is collecting them to give them a book form.

 

 

He had a distinct style of his own and his exposition was lucid and expressive. His essay on "Spanda" (what it means) has won him acclaim from the American scholars working on Kashmir Shaivism. "Shine ever more rightly" is his essay which he starts, "Today all of us have electric light in our houses. The light in our room shines through a bulb. If there is no bulb there is no light and the light cannot shine without the bulb. But the bulb itself cannot give us the light. There must be current of light flowing into it."

 

 

Pt. Dina Nath Muju had nearly five thousand books which the Muslim looters have looted. His treasure of books included a ) Valuable manuscripts in Sharda (pothies) b) All works and lectures of J. Krishnamurti c) All studies on J. Krishnamurti d) "Song of Life" as a rare collection of poems by J. Krishnamurti e) Complete file of "Theosophist" f) Theosophist literature g) Nearly two dozen old Kashmiri Paintings h) All works on Kashmir Shaivism from Vasugupta to Abhinavgupta i) All studies on Kashmir Shaivism j) Rare works on Indian Philosophy especially Vendanta k) His own writings on various topics are lost l) A 200-paged book "Kashmiri Language and Grammar" in Devanagari script was authored by him and was ready for publication. If it is retrieved or was looted as booty is yet to be confirmed.

 

Books in the words of Jean Paul Sartre are "Culture objects" replete with value-based conceptualizations about the inter-action that humanity in general had between itself and the surrounding milieu. Books are a sure key to self-discovery and also provide a safe corridor to the past. Books establish the continuity and coherence of a civilization.