Saint-Poet Mirza Kak And
Vakh Parampara
by Rajinder Premi
KASHMIR
through its recorded history has been the land of saints, scholars and mystics.
After Lal Ded, Sahzanand and Roopa Bhawani, the Valley was again blessed with
the birth of one more saint- poet Mirza Kak, who contined the Vakh parampara in
Kashmir. Vakhs are the quintessence of spiritual and religious sayings and
utterances of mystics and saints.
Kashmir has been a sacred
land where tirthas, sacred springs and places of worship are found in abundance.
One such tirtha is dedicated to goddess Hingla Devi in Brang Pargana. According
to Brangesh Samhita, the Brang Pargana has been named after Brangesh Muni, the
author of this Samhita. The Brangi river, which runs through this pargana, also
bears his name. The village has thus got the name of Hingalagund which later got
abridged to Hangalgund. In this village near Kokernag lived a pious Brahmin
named Lassa Pandit. He had two sons - Bhulla Pandit and Mirza Pandit.
Aversion Towards Worldly
Bhulla Pandit got married and
lived a householder's life, while Mirza Pandit remained a bachelor throughout
his life. From the early childhood, Mirza Pandit remained engrossed in Bhakti
and prayers. He developed aversion towards wordly pleasure and led a very simple
life. For this, he was nicknamed as a simpleton. Mirza Pandit, when a grown-up
boy, was adopted by his mother's sister who lived in village Acchan in Pulwama
Tehsil. He used to help her in domestic chores and also worked with his adopted
father in his fields. Some time after Mirza Pandit's father died, his mother
also passed away. Mirza Pandit returned to Hangalgund and continued to live
there with his elder brother, Bhulla Pandit.
One incident relating to
Mirza Kak's life merits mention here. One day after his father's death, when he
got busy in the fields, his mother forgot to send him his mid-day meals. With
scorching heat from above and hard labour in the fields, Mirza Kak felt pangs of
hunger. He waited for some time under the shade of a tree, where he fell asleep.
The Divine Mother of the Universe, realising the pangs of hunger of Her true
Bhakta, appeared before Mirza Kak with a large plate of sweet Kheer and offered
it to him with Her own benevolant hands. Mirza Kak mistook her as his own mother
and partook of the Divine Kheer. The Mother disappeared and Mirza Kak set to
work again. Some time later, his mother arrived there greatly lamenting her
forgetfulness. Mirza Kak took no notice of this and remained busy with his work.
This indifference of her son was misunderstood by his mother as a silent protest
for having been kept hungry. She begged for pardon for her mistake and requested
that he should partake of the meal which she had brought, after much delay
though, Mirza Kak was greatly surprised and told her that he had already eaten
to his fill the Kheer served to him earlier. His mother was surprised to know
this. She affirmed that she had not brought anything for him to eat earlier.
Realising this, Mirza Kak understood that it was the Divine Mother, Who had fed
him with Kheer earlier.
Miracles Recounted
There are many such stories
recounted about the miracles he did or experienced. Lalleshwari (Lal Ded) is
reported to have appeared before him in the guise of a virgin and showered her
blessings on him. Since then he began reciting Vakhs. It was the Pathan (Durrani)
rule in Kashmir then and forced and unpaid labour was exacted from the Kashmiri
Pandits. A Pathan soldier forced Mirza Kak to carry a load of rice from the
village to Srinagar and to bring a receipt for its delivery. On his way to
Srinagar near Achhabal, the Divine Mother appeared before him and took off the
load and sent him back to the village with a proper receipt of delivery. When it
was handed over to the Pathan, he thought it was a fraud being played on him. He
got the receipt verified and from that moment became a disciple of Mirza Kak. A
yearly pension was sanctioned by the Pathan rulers to Mirza Kak, which lapsed in
1949 when the government led by the National Conference withdrew the grants. A
kardar from Srinagar, a great spiritual saint, gave Guru Dakhshina to Mirza Kak
under instructions of Shri Sharika Bagwati.
Mahatma Parmanand of Oma
Nagri along with his disciples came to Hangalgund to meet Mirza Kak. Many used
to come to seek his help and blessings. The stones of his miracles are a legion.
Mirza Kak was born on the
first day of the dark fortnight of Posh 1805-Bikrami. He attained Nirvana on the
second day of dark fortnight of Jesht 1891. Hundreds of his Vakhs are available
in print.
[Shri Premi is a
freelance writer and resides at 13/497, Lodi Colony, New Delhi-110003].
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