Kashmir in Sunlight & Shade

---

Book Review

Reviewer: Irfan Tramboo
Book Name: Kashmir in Sunlight & Shade
Author: C.E. Tyndale Biscoe
Publisher: Gulshan Books, Srinagar.
Pages: 294
Price: 175/-
ISBN: 81-8339-002-1

---

The book “Kashmir in Sunlight & Shade” has tried to show the things which have been either forgotten, or the historians have never thought to narrate them to their people. While doing that, the author Tyndale Biscoe has exaggerated certain things and, what I can say that the author has joined the race of character assassination of Kashmiris. Such things are visible from the beginning to the end of the book.

Tyndale Biscoe, a missionary, who came to Kashmir in 1890 and stayed here for about 30 years. As a part of the mission, he has a contribution in adding to the already setup education system. The author brags in the book, while saying that Kashmiris should thank God that the ‘Missionaries’ are here for their help. There, I would like say that Mirwaiz Rasool Shah of Mirwaiz Family had already set up a proper education system in Srinagar. The author in his book criticizes the traditional ‘Madrassas’, saying that there the students were taught Arabic and Persian, so that they could read the Quran and not to understand the same. They were only bothered to read the text.

...The author Tyndale Biscoe has exaggerated certain things and, what I can say that the author has joined the race of character assassination of Kashmiris. Such things are visible from the beginning to the end of the book.

The author has maintained in the book that Kashmiris are dirty, filthy and they hardly bath. A sensible and a decent man, that too from England, shouldn’t have brought this thing into his book, even if it was true.

Another statement which the author has made about Kashmiris in the book is “I must say that the ordinary Kashmiri, as I have known for thirty years is a coward, a man with no self respect with deceitful nature” [p: 79] I agree with this statement made by Biscoe, and I myself was in search of such a material which would ever tell me about the nature of a Kashmiri. But, the author is fast to add that what the Kashmiris have seen in the past (the turbulence), if that would have happened to Britishers, we would have lost our manhood. There, he contradicts himself, to what he had stated above.

The author testifies to the fact that the Kashmiri Muslims, whom he refers to as Mohamadens, were given the lower positions, when it came to the administration. Kashmiri Pandits, and the people from rest of the India were given the important positions. The history of Kashmir also narrates the same things and the statement made by the author seconds that narrative.

As a part of the mission, he has a contribution in adding to the already setup education system. The author brags in the book, while saying that Kashmiris should thank God that the ‘Missionaries’ are here for their help. There, I would like say that Mirwaiz Rasool Shah of Mirwaiz Family had already set up a proper education system in Srinagar.

I fail to understand, what made the author write that Sayed Ali Hamadani fled from Iran and came to Kashmir. Preached Islam and inflicted miseries onto Hindus. The author has maintained it in the book that the religious buildings, erected by Muslims, have been built on the places which actually belonged to Hindus. Like, he says that the Jamia Masjid (which he writes as Juma Masjid) was erected by Afghans on the Temple of Kali, which actually belonged to Hindus.  The reader can notice while reading the book, that the author has been redundant in this regard. One fails to understand, what was the need of writing about such issues, when he was in Kashmir to do the social service and nothing much.  He was no historian. And the readers have got no reason to accept what he had stated about the land or the buildings: what belonged to whom!

While the author writes that Dr. Elmslie, from Scotland, was the first person who came to India (he meant Kashmir) as the medical missionary, he also writes about Robert Thorpe, who came to Kashmir on a mission. But here, his eyes caught the attention of the miseries of common Kashmiris, who were nothing more than slaves. The author has applauded Thorpe’s efforts and has discussed his role widely in the book. With the efforts of Thorpe, world for the first time came to know about the miseries of common Kashmiris under the Dogra rule.

The leper hospital, which is situated near Ashai Bagh, was built to treat the leprosy patients separately. At that time, it was thought that the disease is contagious. There we find a colony. Colony: where the people who have suffered due to leprosy live. But what came as a surprise to me, was that the Christian missionaries tried to baptize them: the patients which were being treated there. As per the author, some of them were baptized and the first person who was baptized was KK. Author writes that: ‘He (KK) is intelligent, independent and certainly best among the lepers”[p:238]

There, the question arises that, what actually was the reason to build a separate hospital for them? To the let missionaries carry on with their mission? Was that the reason? Were they forcing the patients to leave their religion?

The book, what I could infer, is the combination of different elements, and with those elements being different in their nature, it gave birth to the confusion; Confusion: Which is visible in the book pertaining to the identity of the common Kashmiri.

All in all, the book is good to be read selectively. I didn’t find the book worth to be read cover to cover. The readers will have to choose what they want and what not, and proceed accordingly.

About the Reviewer

Irfan Tramboo studies Media at Media Education Research Centre (MERC). With an interest in Literature and International Relations (IR). Author is also a poet.

---