Shriya Bhat – Hakeem, Great Statesman & Savior of Kashmiri Hindus

Shri Bhat was a legendry Kashmiri Pandit,a capable, able Hakim, a great statesman and above all the saviour of Kashmiri Pandits. Kashmiri Pandits are indebted to this great man for having ensured their saving and for having made Budsha to cease persecution of Kashmiri Pandits. Not only he persuaded King Zanul-ab-Din to end the persecution of Kashmiri Hindus but also ensured the communities return and rehabilitation. For all this the Kashmiri Pandits are remembering and commemorating the birth anniversary of Shri Bhat. So long as there is sun in this universe,the name of Shriya Bhat will remain etched deeply in the memory of the Kashmiri Pandits.Shriya Bhat also spelled as Shri Bhat was a 15th century Kashmiri Pandit Physician ,surgeon,and advisor to the Kashmiri sultan Zain-ul-Abdin (1420-1470), widely revered for reviving Hindu culture after persecution by Muslim rulers He treated Sultan, and in gratitude ,used his influence to abolish the Zazia tax and restored temples. Shriya Bhat was a brilliantb Kashmiri Pandit Hakeem, who had mastered the art of healing with Unani-Tibb and Ayurveda, saving the life of great Sultan zain -ul-Abdin (Budshah) suffering from a devastating skin disease. So it is safely said that Shriya Bhat was a physician who became a legendary and historical figure who earned immense honour from the Sultan. Shriya Bhat was the 15th century Kashmiri physician and social scientist. He in fact was a big crusader of Kashmiri Hindu renaissance and every KP remembers this great saviour of the community.    

In the middle period of Kashmir the life of Shri Bhat, a brave Sanskrit scholar, is a gleaning page of history but besides this his life is a guide in the work and attitude for bringing the Muslim mind to the national stream in the present and in the future. Modern historians have not set their eyes on this type of great man who converted a Sultan, belonging to the family of heartless, cruel and destroyers of the roots of Indianness, to a nationalist and a secular king. In this context Shri Bhat had the capacity to change the course of the era and as such he was a great man of this era. Because of the efforts of Shri Bhat when Hindu families returned to Kashmir for resettlement, the problem of their houses and earning cropped up. Under the guidance of Shri Bhat and under the permission and plan of the Government everyone was appointed on different posts in the Government as per their calibre. Shri Bhat resolved successfully all the problems connected with their resettlement, their family arrangements, their security and their identity while linking them with the then administrative setup.

There were many castes and subcastes in Kashmir. This system had been demolished because of the atrocities committed by Muslim rulers. There was need to give new shape to this caste system in the light of the migration and then the return of the displaced Hindus in miserable conditions. In such a situation Shri Bhat categorised all in one community of Brahmins. Dr. Triloki Nath Ganjoo has made a detailed reference to it in his book "Mahashri Shribhat". He has said that possibly there was no need for analysing the socio-political development of Kashmiri Hindus but Shri Bhat has, through his revolutionary reforms, organised a classless and one class society not only in the history of Kashmir but for the entire Hindu society of India, on the scientific lines, while looking a thousand years ahead of him. It is surprising that the reforms for which Bhakti revolution, Brahma Samaj, Arya Samaj and Vishwa Hindu Parishad wanted to implement the bugle of this reform was sounded several hundred years ago by Shri Bhat in 1420 A.D. 

It was an instance of his deep insight in future. He has said that the modern historians have, without fully understanding the Rajtarangani of Joanraj, considered the identity of Shri Bhat nothing beyond a minister of health. In this connection P.N. Koul (Bamzai), Dr. R.K Parimoo and Dr. Mohibul Hassan are worth reference. But according to Joanraj Shri Bhat was a health minister but Zainul had given him the powers to look after all departments and he would take care of other departments and activities of the Government. Historians have forgotten to note that, because of his unique and lovely personality he had not only influenced the Sultan but had also attracted him. He had eclipsed the biased influenced of Muslim ministers and the Syeds who had come from central Asia by his extraordinary personality. Thus Shri Bhat is one such great man of the history of Kashmir who, through innumerable qualities and matchless calibre of his grand personality, again linked defunct Kashmiri Hindus with the land of Kashmir.