KP's --- people with an eventful past....IV

The blessings of the gods played their part every time whenever the worst was to happen with Pandits in Kashmir. There was no stone unturned to remove all the traces of Hindu culture in the valley from time to time. Not to speak of the famous temple complexes, grand learning institutions, museums and libraries along with their magnificent buildings all of them razed to the ground one by one, numerous temples of less importance in far off villages and towns were not spared. The modest temples in small towns and villages were preferably converted into mosques after their total population got converted. In this way Kashmir lost her rich treasury of Hindu culture and civilization collected through thousands of years of pristine glory. All libraries and museums full of rare manuscripts on language and literature, culture and art, religion and theology and above all recorded history of thousands of years were burnt to ashes as the forces ensured that no old records survive to bear testimony to the old Hindu culture. Efforts were made to write histories afresh in place of the old and hide the facts about old glorious Hindu past.
In spite of this all a good number of important Hindu installations remained in tact, probably the forces couldn’t face the obvious spiritual powers invested in them. There are many legends attached with these left over temples and places of worship, though in the memory lane only how the forces were compelled to stop arson when unable to face the strange miraculous powers invested in them. Certain highly awakened living saints and wandering ascetics from time to time played their essential role in saving various Pandits from converting and places of worship from destruction by standing guard with their personal and spiritual influence. It’s essential to mention here that more than ninety five percent of the Muslim population in Kashmir are descendents of converted Hindus excepting a few families whose forefathers had been called from outside and settled in different places to propagate Islam and help conversion. These recent converts continued with some of their age-old customs and celebrations including due reverence for some important Hindu gods and temples and strangely the trend still continues with Kashmir Muslims. Some Hindu temples in the valley are equally revered by Muslims as some Muslim Dargahs are places for frequent visits by Pandits and the common man proudly calls it Kashmiriyat or a mixed culture with sufficient tolerence for each other's religious sentiment though the facts are quite different....... (to be continued)