KASHMIRI PANDITS - traditional ‘phiran, taranga and dijhor’

 

Clothes are a kind of language that proclaims one’s identity. These convey, I am a girl, a man, a doctor, a footballer or a policeman. The white dress of an American or European bride tells us she hasn’t been married before. Clothes could tell us about one’s faith, race or group. All over the World, men are differentiated from women by dress which is very true since ancient times. Clothes vary from country to country, region to region, class to class and even within the communities itself.

         

Catholic girls wore square knobs on their head dresses while as the girls who wore round knobs were Protestants. These traditions in dress have developed either by fascination, circumstances or force. In Japan, there were strict rules as regards clothes to be worn by each social group. In ancient Peru the lower classes were restricted from wearing gold or silver ornaments. In France, at one time, there were hard and fast rules about shoes and there use but the French revolution relieved the masses from such restrictions.

         

The Indians who lived at the tail end of South America were not in the habit of wearing warm dresses in cold. But they used to walk absolutely bare footed in the snow. By the passage of time, people started making use of animal fur because it was pleasantly warm to protect the body from winter. The Kashmiris in this context seemed to be quite wise enough as far as the protection from winter was concerned. So, the 'phiran' proclaims one to be a Kashmiri. 

 

The ‘phiran’ most famous dress of Kashmiris is different in look and cutting especially the one used by women folk of both communities, the Muslims and Hindus- Kashmiri Pandits. The ‘phiran’ with “korab nareh”, neck and arms well embroidered,   having a half cut at the elbows and folded. The loose gown ‘phiran’ among the Muslims of the valley is up to knees only. The ‘phiran’ used by both, Men and Women, Kashmiri Pandits earlier in Kashmir and now in Jammu falls up to ankles. It is comparatively loose than the one used by Muslims.

         

The ‘phiran’ then used by Kashmiri Pandit ladies was really a peculiar one with the red fillet bordered (ddoor) at the bottom and around the neck. Kashmiri Pandits would wear always a ‘posch’ another light white cloth under phiran to get more protection from cold. Kashmiri Hindu ladies (Panditani’s) would turn over the both outer and inner ‘phiran’ at arms to give it an impressive white look and then border it with a printed clothe (Narehwar) over the white edge and stitch to make it more presentable and attractive in look. But this feature was being permitted for women whose husband use to be alive, and disallowed for widows, possibly because a women looked more attractive with it and in order to safeguard a widow from any uneventful happening.

         

The ‘phiran’ itself was forced on Kashmiris, as an act of statecraft on the part of Mughal Emperor, Akbar who wished to tame the brave people of the Zain-ul-Abedin (Budshah) from 1420-70 in his effort to reduce the proud spirit of Hindus in Kashmir, especially the Kashmiri Pandits, and insisted upon three things i.e., the use of ‘Kangar’, ‘phiran’ and ‘turun-baht’, the food prepared one day earlier. The traditional dress of Kashmiri Pandit women was always incomplete in absence of the ‘taranga’ and red headgear with white fillet around and a ‘Zuij and poesch’ hanging from the back. The ‘taranga’ was essential item for all ranks of female folk with certain stringent rules for married, according to the respective stages.

The ‘taranga’ has in real terms both, religious and historical importance for Kashmiri Pandits. Some argue that the ‘taranga’ is associated with the great philosopher Shankaracharya who visited the Valley in the eighth century and lodged atop the hill in a shed with Brahmans of the temple. Swami Abinaugupta was the Acharya of the then head institution here, since Kashmir was one of the chief centre of learning and called the ‘‘Shardapeetha’’. Students from distant parts of the World used to come there to study Sanskrit. A simple discussion between the two, Swami Abinaugupta and Swami Shankaracharya brought the latter to the Shakti cult.

         

Some claim that the Goddess Sharda administered the final test to Shankaracharya to prove to the World his power to ascend the throne of learning and character when he defeated all the participants in the discussion except the Brahman’s daughter-in-law who discussed the Shakti doctrine with him. He was extremely pleased with her mastery of the subject and awarded her a skull cap called ‘taranga’ to dress the head.

         

Before the arrival of the ‘Sari’ to Kashmir almost every Kashmiri Pandit lady used ‘taranga’ and ‘phiran’. It gradually faded away from the advent of Indian dresses after the accession in 1947. Today, there are a couple of shrines under the name of ‘Sharda’ but the main shrine is situated on a small hill, above the junction of the Kishenganga river with a small stream to this day as  Madhumati which flows to the south east. The pilgrimage to this place was considerably known in the old days. The valley has earned a proud title as a home of scholarship and special attention abroad to the tirtha which bore the name of ‘Sharda’ for its above explained importance.

The ‘dijhor’, elegantly shaped is a golden ornament, all most the size of an almound, suspended through both the ears either by golden chain or coloured thread up to chest from the day of the marriage. The ‘dijhor’ is to Kashmiri Hindu women (Panditani) what ‘Mangalsutra’ is to the Hindu women in rest of India. The ‘dijehor’ is suspended through the ears to strike with the women’s chest for wishing the long life of her husband.

Now the ‘taranga’ has remained confined to a few hours on the day of marriage of a bride. Further, there is a grave danger to ‘tranga’ once the Kashmiri Pandits are out of the valley with the arrival of the militancy on the scene. Currently, the Kashmiri Pandit community is no doubt under a tremendous strain and facing a great threat on every front and it shall be then their fundamental duty to save the cultural heritage and traditions if they have to live for tomorrow.

         

The Kashmiri Pandit community shall have to take care of ‘dijhor’ and ’taranga’ to  maintain customs and traditions in keeping with culture  to save these from extinction. A collective sincere spirit within the community will ensure a safe future for the cultural heritage taking it to the other parts of the world by foreigners who have already shown a lot of interest for ‘khawa, sheer chai (salt tea), Kashmiri dishes and dresses’. Let us wish a similar future for these traditions as the ‘phiran’ etc.

The ‘phiran, Taranga and dijhor’ are the last three left with Kashmiri Pandit community especially women as a result of mass migration from the valley of Kashmir. No matter, if confined or restricted to the event of ‘Yaganopavit ceremony or marriages but the community can afford to take it along in future too.

Interestingly, with the revival of the ethnic look in ladies dresses and gents clothing, the ‘phiran’ in an ersatz form can be seen worn by non-Kashmiri ladies in most urban centers of the country. Perhaps an example of a cultural mix.