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In the barbaric period of 1988-89, when Kashmiri Pandits of the Valley were forced to pass through untold miseries, the only solace came from the glorious philosophic and spiritual traditions enriched by the saints over years. Although the saints belong to all times and to all nations, they transcend the bonds of communities and conventions, place and time. They are born to serve God by serving his creatures and that is why a saint, a seer and a sage is, indeed, a universal phenomenon. In the last millennium, Kashmir produced a galaxy of great saints, seers and savants who have enriched, elevated and refined life and helped the people at large in distress.

 

 

However, the prolific and high calibre Kashmiri pandit scholars and intellectuals having scaled heights in creative achievements based on an all-embracing outlook and psychical diversity were mercilessly reviled, humiliated and tortured to death in Kashmir during 1989-90.

 

 

All the Brahmans in Kashmir who were learned and had mastery over theology were exterminated from the valley by late 90s. The fanatical intolerance and inveterate hatred were exhibited against Hindu lore and learning and especially scholars of the valley.

 

 

 

 

Pandit Anand Ji Razdan of Chowgam in Anantnag District was a saintly person. A reputed saint, Divakak Ji lived at his place for a considerable period of time. It was at his initiation that Anand Ji chose and vowed to be a celibate. He would spend most of his time in worship and finally took to meditation. His fame as a saint spread through most of the villages where from devotees would throng his house for blessings. He was in close contact with Gasha Kak Ji and Sarwanand Ji who were acknowledged as reputed saints with achievements in mystical realms. Pandit Anand Ji had lots of books mostly devotional in contents which he had stuffed in fifteen wooden boxes. He had some original manuscripts on Kashmiri Shaiva saints including Siddha Sri Kanth who was the celebrated preceptor of Lal Ded the mystical lark of Kashmir. He was a poet and wrote religious hymns. Some of them were printed also and were made available to his devotees. He in his ecstasy would sing the hymns he himself had written. All his poems, books and manuscripts are looted by the Muslim looters.

 

 

Pandit Anand Ji Razdan’s family was a renowned and very respected one in Mattan. His neighbours remembered him fondly as a soft spoken and humble man.

 

 

It is widely known that a man impelled by his natural instincts and drives can procreate anything, but he is absolutely incapable of procreating a book symbolising his culture as an accumulated store-house of values, traditions, customs and mental patterns. A book invests a man with self-articulation. It gives him a definition and invests him with a high sense of pride.

 

 

There has been a special class of Muslim marauders who while dumping a huge stock of invaluable books in their residential quarters sold them to retailers who in turn tore them page by page and converted them into cones and other geometrical shapes to vend off their retail items like tea, sugar, salt, spices et al. There were Muslim fanatics of the Jammaat-i-Islami breed who made a pile of the looted books in the isolated corner of lanes and set it afire chanting "death to Pandit Kaisers." A few more cunning among them harnessed the services of Kashmiri Pandit hostages staffing back in the valley and despatched them to Jammu and other metropolises to mobilise the sale of old manuscripts in Sharda script at a lucrative price. The horoscopes looted from Kashmiri Pandit houses too were used to be a saleable item with the looters.