HHHHIIIISSSSTTTTOOOORRRRYYYY OOOOFFFF AAAAGGGGRRRRIIIICCCCUUUULLLLTTTTUUUURRRREEEE IIIINNNN KKKKAAAASSSSHHHHMMMMIIIIRRRR PRE-GREEN REVOLUTION ERA ( ) THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D) IN HISTORY BY Abdul Waheed Bhat UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF Dr. Mohammad Yusuf Ganai Associate Professor PG DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY THE UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR, HAZRATBAL, SRINAGAR-190006 February 2011 1 POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR SRINAGAR Ref. no……. Dated……. CCCCeeeerrrrttttiiiiffffiiiiccccaaaatttteeee Certified that the present research work entitled History of Agriculture in Kashmir (Pre-Green Revolution Era) submitted by Mr. Abdul Waheed Bhat for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, is an original piece of research work to be considered for the award of Ph.D degree. I recommend that the dissertation be placed before the examiners for evaluation. Head of the Department Supervisor Prof. Bashir Ahmad Khan Dr. Mohammad Yusuf Ganai Associate Professor 2 CONTENTS S. No. Name of the Chapter Page No. Acknowledgement 04 Introduction 08 1 Face of the Land 17 2 Beginning of Agriculture in Kashmir 35 3 Land Reclamation 45 4 Land and Tiller 80 5 Fertilizers 94 6 Tools 112 7 Crops 135 8 Live Stock 190 9 Harvesting and Storage 209 10 Conclusion 225 Glossary 237 Bibliography 243 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The preparation of this dissertation has engaged me for not less than three years. And this period has been really a testing time for me. However, thank Almighty during these hard times I enjoyed the company of some noble souls who encouraged me and thus enabled me for the submission of this project. I feel bound to record my thankfulness to all those people who helped me through out the course of this research journey. First of all I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Mohammad Yousf Ganai Department of History University of Kashmir. Need less to say it was his guidance and encouragement that led me to go for research and successfully complete it. In spite of being busy in academic assignments and official work he managed to spend a good time with me suggesting improvements and clearing doubts. Besides his family was so cooperative that I always felt at home. While Dr. Yousf held my hand with warmth and in true spirit of teacher taught relationship, it was at the same time my good fortune that I happen to be a student of Pro. Mohammad Ashraf Wani - a researcher in true sense of the word. It was mainly because of his grasp on the potential research areas of regional history that I selected the theme under discussion as a topic for the pursuit of doctorate degree. Besides his lessons on research techniques and new trends in historiography were greatly beneficial. How to cross correct the facts, the beauty of participant observation, the importance of inter-disciplinary approach, the vast scope of multi-causal approach and the limitations of mono- causal method or determinism were some of the fruitful lessons on research that we learnt from him. Added to this all the emphasis that he laid on research students to go outside valley, interact with the academia there and benefit from the rich libraries, was his additional quality that added to the beauty of a research work. I also feel obliged to acknowledge the debt that I owe to the other 4 members of the faculty family of the History Department. In this regard it is worth to mention the names of Prof. Mohammad Ishaq Khan ex-faculty member of the Department, Prof. Bashir Ahmad Khan [HOD], Dr. Farooq Fayaz and Dr. Parvez Ahmad Khan. The encouragement that they showered on me kept my spirits always high. They taught me in an inspiring manner, relieved me from the research exertion by their smiles and equipped my efforts with optimism. The friendly approach of Departmental administrative staff is worth to be noted. They quickly delivered my papers for onward action. No less encouraging was the attitude of the in charge seminar library. The fact remains that sometimes they were more than generous in issuing books pertaining to my research project. I am no less thankful to Prof. Harbans Mukhia, ex-faculty member of the Center of Historical Studies Jawaharlal Nehru University who showed me some rare agricultural photographs of Kashmir meticulously painted by hand and generously gave me their xerox copies. These photographs greatly facilitate the understanding of the agricultural operations of Kashmir in pre-green revolution era. In fact they represent a live picture of agriculture operations of our period of study. Thanks are due to the library staff of the ICHR, JNU, AMU, Sapru House and ICSS [New Delhi] for they gave me easy access to the material crucial to my topic. Besides visiting these reputed knowledge centers I sometimes came across a book so relevant to my topic lying unattended on the stalls of hawkers selling second hand books in Pahar Ganj [Delhi] and Sunday market Srinagar. They compensated the visit to some big institutions or persons. One must acknowledge the services of these people who don’t know what is written on the pages of the books they are selling. Truly speaking I feel indebted to a long list of respondents residing in various parts of Kashmir from Khanbal to Khadanyar. As their number is lot, here due to the constraints of space I am helpless to mention their name one by one. However I must admit that if my dissertation is worth submission it is mainly because of the information they provided to me. They listen me patiently, 5 spent precious time with me and shared the valuable experiences of their life and calling with me. The more I sat with them the more I was enriched. For me their deeply sunk eyes spoke volumes and their life long experiences provided a readily available orientation of the times they lived in. In certain cases these living sources supplied the whole material required for a chapter where even big libraries returned me empty handed. Besides the external support it is pertinent to mention here that it was the support that my family gave me in the course of my study that shaped my carrier. Parents sacrificed their preferences for my priorities and always prayed for my academic excellence. The pen that my mother, like other mothers, got from the shrine of Mukhdoom sahib, her daily tiffs to persuade me for school, her utmost care to reserve coins in the corner of her scarf for my fee and fine so that I do not have any excuse for truancy; And at the latter stage, in the midst of my studies her arrival in my room un noticeably without any knock, leaving mutely with out saying a word, returning a little latter with a cup of tea; watching my belongings with warmth and affection in my absence. These are important landmarks of my academic journey. Really she is ‘to me like heavens caring arms’ [Poem My Mother, Wings of Fire. A P J Abdul Kalam]. Father was all the more helpful. For him education is first priority. He left me free for the pursuit of education and didn’t demand for my help at the field even at the peak seasons of sowing or harvesting when as per peasants say ‘the mere shadow of a canine near the field is a matter of encouragement’. Besides he served a mine of information on agriculture. He gave ready replies to the enquiries that surfaced in my mind during the course of my research. Sisters vied with each other to congratulate me when ever I met with success in the struggle of my carrier. My wife Naseema, little Zain-ul-abidin, Ashob and Zulkarnain proved great source of strength for me; though the fact remains that they didn’t get the care that was due to them since the ‘itch’ of research kept me tensely engaged in collection of material, reading, writing, canceling, reshaping and waiting for submission of the thesis that sometimes seemed a distant dream impossible to get a practical shape. The frequent reminders of fellow scholars, friends and colleagues regarding the submission of 6 my thesis were most annoying and irritating which I avoided by whatever excuses available. My thanks are due to my friends Riyaz Ahmad Mir, Dr Abdul Majeed Pandith, Dr Mohammed Sayid Bhat, Dr Ashraf, Mahboob Ahmad Khan, Seema and Fayaz Ahmad Bhat. Fellow scholars namely Hidayatullah Tak, Nisar Ahmad Mir, Muzaffer Rasool, Ghulam Mohammad, Raffiq Ahmad, Shabir Ahmad and Nazir Ahmad Kotay gave a nice company at the campus hostel. The attendants at the hostel served their best. Besides I feel it my duty to thank all my well wishers whose number is quite exhaustive to pen here, for the interest they showed in my studies, for the topic related information they collected for me, for the encouragement they showered at various occasions, for the suggestions regarding the subject matter of the topic and for the helping hand whenever I asked for the same. In this regard I am particularly thankful to institutions like GBHSS Kulgam, GHSS Sumbal Sonawari, GBHSS Nawakadal Srinagar and Government Degree College Baramulla where I had a chance to work with people of high academic tastes. This note of acknowledgement would be incomplete if I do not say a word of thanks to the people serving or having served the University of Kashmir, who as a policy matter believe in ‘quality oriented research programmes’. They rose to the occasion, expanded the frontiers of research aspirants and for that matter amended the statutes, turned them flexible and thus made the part-time research permissible. That way they accommodated the genuine demand of a section of student’s community interested in pursuing research on part-time basis. In this regard my parent department [Department of School Education Kashmir] was no less magnanimous. I am highly obliged to Directorate of School Education Kashmir J&K Government for the ‘grant of permission to undergo Ph.D course on part-time basis.’ It certainly facilitated the completion of this long cherished dream. Abdul Waheed Bhat 7 INTRODUCTION Ninety six percent people of Kashmir lived in countryside and drew their sustenance from land during the period of our study.1 This countryside was dotted by villages situated near a spring or a stream. Around existed a vast expanse of land and this land supplied the required food by a technological system generally known as agriculture. This phenomenon has been in operation from ages together. It has been so common that treated as a routine it was never taken note of. With the result its common prevailence become an easy cause of its record-lessness. How this system originated and evolved, what are its dynamics. How land framed the contours of local agriculture, how the slopes were terraced and swamps reclaimed for cultivation, when where streams diverted to different areas for irrigation, what tools were employed to till the soil and exploit its capacities or how the fertility of the soil was restored after its exhaustion, what crops were sowed and why, which animals were domesticated, what were storage techniques, academia never attended or addressed these crucial questions, not at least in commensurate with its significance. As a matter of fact those who wielded pen had a disdain for agriculture. They minutely recorded details regarding religious ceremonies and court procedures but forget about the major preoccupation of silent majority. With the result we are badly lacking a written record of so crucial a subject which has been referred by Gordon Childe as ‘the first great transition’2, as ‘the basis of culture’ by Will Durant3 or as ‘the foundation of civilization’ by David Rindos.4 _______________________ 1. Gazetteer of India Jammu and Kashmir State, Vol.1, 2004 [Naya Kashmir], p. 310. 2. Gordon V. Childe, Man Makes Himself, p.122. 3. Will Durant, The Story of Civilization; Our Oriental Heritage, p. 57 4. David Rindos, The Origins of Agriculture- An Evolutionary Perspective, p. 4. 8 Given to this dearth of information about so important a subject of Kashmir history the present study makes an attempt to bring together and preserve in a documented form the scattered information pertaining to the history of agriculture in Kashmir. It has rightly been said by E. H. Carr that ‘the division of history into periods is not a fact but a necessary hypothesis or tool of thought, valid in so far as it is illuminating…. ’.5 As a ‘necessary hypothesis’ we selected pre-green revolution era of agriculture which ends around the seventies of the 20th century. Needless to say after this date agriculture in Kashmir witnessed tremendous changes. The introduction of package technology, mechanization and usage of chemical fertilizers gave a new shape to the farming sector. Needless to say mechanization of agriculture has altogether different social implications which widely differ with traditional system. In order to avoid this confusion we reasonably stopped where the traditional system gave way to the mechanization. Thus limiting our study to a particular period is self explanatory. Ibn Khaldun the 14th century philosopher historian in ‘the greatest work of its kind’ i.e. Muqaddimah, remarks that ‘the [writing of history] requires numerous sources and much varied knowledge. It also requires a good speculative mind and thoroughness, which lead the historian to the truth and keep him from slips and errors’’.6 In pursuance of this inspiring guidance an attempt has been made to cover all possible material pertaining to agriculture so that its past is reconstructed as accurately as possible. Our primary and ‘capital sources’ include archeological findings, written records, field work, participant observation, travelogues and face to face deliberations with the people involved in this sector. Fortunately a good number of these ‘ordinary participants’ of pre- ________________________ 5 . E. H. Carr, What is History?, p. 60. 6 . Ibn Khaldun, An Introduction to History, The Muqaddimah, Tr. Franz Rosenthal, abr. and ed. By N. J. Dawood, p. 11. 9 modern phase of agriculture still survive in our society and posses the invaluable information required for the reconstruction of this vibrant theme of Kashmir history.7 No less inspiration has been drawn from the parallel or secondary works throwing light on the agriculture of the bordering areas of Kashmir. Besides sharing knowledge of their agriculture system they greatly guide in the adoption of methodology required to tackle such a vast and complicated subject where one has to wait for long time just to decide where to start and how to begin. So far as remote past or pre-recorded period is concerned we mainly relay on archeological sources. Needless to say archeology and particularly agriculture archeology of Kashmir is quite rich in composition and dates back to several millennia’s. The chief archeological sites include Burzohom, Semthan, Gofkral, Harwan, Parihaspora [8thcentury AD] and Avantipora [9thcentury AD]. The excavation conducted on these sites during ‘Operation Jehlum’ changed the whole perception about the past of Kashmir.8 Besides other things it has tremendous palaeoethnobotanical significance. It is here that for the first time we come across carbonized grains of wheat, barley, rice, specimens of dry fruits such as nuts, engravings of grapes and tools like harvesters. This at least resolves the debate regarding the beginning of agriculture in this part of the globe. Next to archeological evidence we have been greatly benefited by the recorded material or written word. Our written accounts date back to 6th century AD. The earliest is Nilamata Purana written in verses. It is actually a mythological work suggesting the followers of Hinduism what rituals should be performed while proceeding to the pilgrimage of different tirthas [sacred sites]. However certain verses throw much valuable light on economic life of Kashmir. References pertaining to agriculture are also enclosed in a few verses. For ________________________ 7. For a detailed discussion on Participant Observer and Ordinary Participant see Participant Observation, Spradley P James, pp. 53-62. 8. The project was launched by ASI during 1960. See S.L Shali, Kashmir History and Archaeology 10