August 13th, 2001

Communal riots: did they occur earlier than the British Period of Indian History [1757-1947]?

Is it right to hold the British responsible for creating and nurturing the Hindu-Muslim divide which led to the Partition of India in August 1947?

While the entire blame for the Hindu-Muslim divide cannot be ascribed to the British it can be said in all fairness is that wherever and whenever they found hairline cracks created by parties wanting to exploit religion in order to seize power they manipulated the situation until the condition became a complicated fracture.

In contrast, during Mughal times whenever troubles occurred the attempt of the administration was to deal with it as a law and order problem rather than build upon the situation as an opportunity to ‘Divide and Rule’.

We shall illustrate this point by referring to a communal riot which took place in Srinagar Kashmir. We are indebted to that treasure house of history, the Maasir-ul-Umaraa [Biographies of nobles from the beginning of the Mughal Rule to the middle of the 18th Century for this nugget,

Our chronicler, Samsaamuddowlah Shahnawaaz Khan is giving us a sketch of the life of Mir Ahmad Khan Saani. The word ‘Saani’ is used in Urdu and Persian for denoting ‘the second’.

We are informed that Mir Ahmad is the second to bear this name. And his father, the first to bear the name, was ‘killed defending Burhanpur from the “Kaafir’ or unbeliever Marathas’.

After stating that Mir Ahmad was unsuccessful in his posting as deputy governor [ naib-subedar] of Srinagar and had to suffer great indignities there the chronicler proceeds to provide details of the discomfiture. The idea of reporting a communal riot is far from the narrator’s mind as such incidents were rare and no part of an overall plan.

According to Samsamuddowlah Shahnawaaz Khan, the chronicler, the eruption of unrest and trouble, riots and mayhem can take place only when there is a weakening of the state administration. He is right. 1719 was a traumatic year for the Mughal Empire. No less than four Emperors struck coin in that year. Farrukhsiyar, Rafiu’d Darjat, Rafiu’dDowlah and Muhammad Shah (28th September 1719).

Although Muhammad Shah remained Emperor until his death in 1749 the administration was rent apart by internal dissension amongst the nobles, the rebellions of the Marathas the Jats and the Sikhs and the invasion of Nadir Shah.

The chronicler states that selfwilled and headstrong people find times of trouble most propitious for their activity. In Srinagar there was a theologian well versed in the Quran and the Shariat called Mahtawee Khan Abdunnabi. He developed theories of Islamic law based on insufficient understanding and wrong interpretation and used them to gather support from the Muslim masses [Aawaam] and fools [beywakoof]. When he had adequate numbers Mahtawee Khan called on the Qazi [Judge] and the Deputy Governor to press his case.

The case was that Hindus were not being disciplined and suppressed as should have been done to make their lifestyles accord to their zimmi status. They were to be seen riding horses wearing silk and gold and sporting arms and ornaments on their person. This was just not right in an Islamic state and the authorities should put a stop to it in the interest of the state, the Muslims and the ignorant and wayward Hindus themselves.

Mir Ahmad and the Qazi did not agree with Mahtawee Khan and his cohorts. They pointed out that the city of Srinagar was observing the same customs and practices as were prevalent in the other cities of the empire such as Shahjahanabad Dillee. Unless the Caliph of the Age, the Emperor himself changed the rules and established new ones the past practices would continue.

The discussion became heated and tempers rose. Neither side would yield and the visitors left the officials in a very disturbed state of mind. They attacked Hindu localities on their route and set fire to shops and houses.

The garden party of a prominent Hindu nobleman, Majlis Rai was attacked and the Brahmins he was entertaining to a feast molested and humiliated. Majlis Rai himself escaped and took shelter in the house of the Deputy Governor, Mir Ahmad Sa’ani as he expected to be safe there. He was to be proved wrong but that incident will be the subject of another column.