The Amarnath killings have certainly left most of the sane Indians, especially the Hindus shell shocked. Being one of the first attacks on civilians under the Modi government, the Central Government has been subjected to immense pressure to act correctly and give a strong retribution to the perpetrators of the attack. In this melee, stepped in a tweet from ex Miss Asia Pacific, and former actress-producer, Dia Mirza:-
Now without indulging into character assassinations, as most of the extremists are upto, let me simply deduct her stated fact in two parts.
One, Amarnath is an ancient cave, and was certainly not discovered by Buta Malik, a Muslim shepherd, as purported by Mrs. Dia Mirza.
Two, I’m not just another opinion maker, and have a precise set of facts, presented with logic, that will bring down this lie, currently being used by the so called Indian liberals, to maintain the utopian Ganga Jamuni tehzeeb of Indian democracy, or Kashmiriyat, for a more local insight.
Okay, now for some facts. Buta Malik is not the first person to have discovered the Amarnath Cave, this is a carefully crafted lie devised by apologists to deny Indians knowledge of their true heritage. Legend has it, though a correct documentation is yet to be discovered, that Lord Bhrigu, a revered Sage, had dredged out the submerged Kashmir Valley, and subsequently discovered the holy Amarnath Cave, becoming the first human, as per the Nilmata Purana, to have sought the blessings of the divine abode of Lord Shiva. Thereafter, blessed by Lord Shiva, he advertised the holy cave to millions of Indians, who flocked to receive the blessings of the holy deity, Lord Shiva.
Coming back to modern history, 8 years before Malik, in 1842, a British traveler, Godfrey Thomas Vigne, had visited the holy Caves, and wrote a detailed chapter about it in his book, as titled below:-
“Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the countries adjoining the mountain-course of the Indus, and the Himalaya, north of the Panjab”
He wrote about Amarnath Yatra and its entire course in 1842, in much more detail than Buta Malik or Dia Mirza can ever think of. Normally, I don’t accept anything as a fact blindly, but after some extensive research, and thanks to the benevolence of links supplied by an informative page on Indian history, @TrueIndology, I’ve come to know how genuine Mr. Vigne is on his depictions of the Amarnath Yatra, irrespective of his lineage. Following are some snippets from his book describing the Yatra:-
Before the Prophet of Islam was born, in a book titled Nilamata Purana, written in probably sixth Century AD, following is mentioned:-
For your record, the Amaresha tirtha mentioned here is the breathtaking Sheshnag Lake near the holy Amarnath Caves. Don’t believe me, then check it out yourself:-
Even in Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, a treatise on the ancient Kashmiri history, it is mentioned that the ancient Kashmiri rulers visited the holy Shrine on a regular basis, as mentioned in verses 130-141 of Kalhana’s Rajataringini.
Even after repeated onslaughts by the Islamic rulers, the Hindus have continued this Amarnath Yatra. The Islamists couldn’t destroy this cave either; it was too cold for them to survive even a day. Besides, who can escape the wrath of the Destroyer of the Evil, if irritated beyond redemption?
Even Francois Bernier, a French traveler, who had visited India, during the times of Aurangzeb, the Islamic tyrant, had visited the caves in late 1670s, and had written an account on the same. Do you need any more proofs?
If the caves were already visited by the ancient Kashmiri rulers, and even visited by some foreign travelers, how come Buta Malik was the first discoverer of the same? Either Mrs. Dia Mirza hasn’t read history properly, or she is serving the vicious agenda that Islamic imperialists wish to impose first in Kashmir Valley, and then on the entire Indian territory. Is that so, Mrs. Dia Mirza?
To be truthful, the lies that such people peddle in the name of maintaining the communal harmony is more vicious than the communal forces breaking India on communal lines directly, for it weakens any resolve that is raised to fight such enemies. Certainly, it is not bad if somebody other than the native religion discovers this shrine, but this should not come at the cost of the interests of the nation, where facts are twisted to suit one narrative, and used to Divide and Rule. If only Mrs. Dia Mirza had understood this simple fact. But as immortalized surprisingly in Dibakar Bannerjee’s ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy’ ‘A good lie is never far from the actual truth.’ We need to extricate that good lie out, and it’s high time we do it seriously.
Sources:-
True Indology’s Twitter Handle
“Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the countries adjoining the mountain-course of the Indus, and the Himalaya, north of the Panjab” by Mr. Godfrey Thomas Vigne, 1842
