Name;- Pallak Shah

Course;- 5EPH
HISTORY DISSERTATION
Under the Guidance of Dr. Christhu Doss

Research Proposal
Topic;- Reshism in Kashmir and their Concern for enivironment
Background of the Reshi movement in Kashmir

The meaning of Reshi is a saint or an ascetic in Sanskrit literature. The literal meaning of Reshi

refers to a singer of hymns, an inspired poet, and a sage. Kashmir was home to Rishis long before

the advent of Islam. This tradition of Rishis still exists in several villages in Kashmir, even though

some of the forests in the valley are named after them. Rishis were socially inactive as they led

secluded life either in caves or mountains. Rishis became socially active only during the emergence

of Nuruddin(founder of the Rishi order in Kashmir.). It is said that this has borrowed mortification

and ascetic exercises from yogis. Rishis developed their ideas in Buddhist and Hindu environments,

this shows that Sufis didn't hesitate to borrow ideas from Hindu ascetics. Unlike Sufism, the rishi

order didn't believe in the so-called orthodox Islamic system. It is also said that the Rishi movement

was a reaction to the forced conversations to Islam by the minister of Sultan Sikandar namely Suha

Bhatta( brahman convert to Islam)

Baba Daud Mishakati who points out the origin of the term rishi has said that before Nurudin, the

rishis were the saints among the Brahmans of Kashmir. Although in the above statement it is very

well said that Rishis believed in the co-existence of all religions, it cannot be denied that they

subordinated all activities of individual Muslims, to the service of God in strict coordination with

the religious law, Sharia. Rishis impacted society in all aspects, social, cultural, or environmental.

Talking about the environmental aspects, as said by Baba Daud Khaki praised Rishis and the

founder of this order in the following lines; “ he led a retired and solitary life, besides observing

continuing fasts, he also renounced taking flesh, onions, honey, and milk.” This clearly shows that

rishis were sensitive to their environment. The reason why Nuruddin in particular might have

renounced taking animal flesh could be because he didn't want to hurt the living beings to satisfy his
hunger. In that case, we could put this statement as evidence for Rishis being sensitive towards their

environment.

Present environmental concerns

The world today is facing the worst environmental problems. Although humans have made their life

comfortable and luxurious due to major scientific inventions, the environment has been extremely

exploited in this process. Issues like air pollution, water pollution, soil erosion, and global warming

are common these days. In the race of gaining material wealth, we human beings are disturbing our

ecological balance. Similarly, talking about Kashmir is considered the most beautiful place in the

world, having pure waters, green forests, and clean mountains but keeping the current scenario in

view these natural elements are being destroyed by humans.

We could observe how Dal Lake is experiencing a slow death. The problem of water pollution due

to drainage problems and solid waste has reached a point of crisis. Ill administration and conflict in

the state also play a major role in the environmental crisis of Jammu and Kashmir. The main cause

of these activities of environmental degradation mainly involves the lack of management and social

awareness. People keep degrading their surroundings without realizing the repercussions. They are

unaware of the high price they have to pay for this degradation. If this behavior of the current

generation continues, the environment and the beauty of nature would be all destroyed to their

worst. Not only this, Jammu and Kashmir, which is known as the paradise on earth have changed

their geographical beauty because of the solid waste that could be seen all over the land and water.

This interferes with the ecology and beauty of this place. Even if we talk about the floods of 2014

which affected Jammu and Kashmir to their roots were due to poor planning and interference of
humans with their environment. This flood damaged the property and took many lives. It was a

great disaster in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. This could be one of the repercussions of

severe human exploitation of the environment. Throwing light to this, Sufis had an interesting part

to play in the conservation of the environment long before these issues. Most of the followers of

Sufism lead a simple life and tried to be environmentally friendly. They were against those who

harmed nature to pursue great luxuries. Sufis took a leading role in spreading environmental

awareness. This paper will specifically look into the environmental concerns of the Reshi order in

Kashmir of Sufism and how they are relevant today.

As we know that in the present times, environmental awareness is the need of the hour and very

necessary to reach every individual mind. The environment has been degraded at an alarming rate

and it will need a lot of time and effort to recover to its original condition. But, if we don't pay heed

to this issue today, the future is going to suffer this at an extreme level. Therefore we need to take

up old norms to recover our environment, this could be done by accepting Sufism's point of view

regarding the environmental crises. In the below topic, we will try to understand how ancient Rishi

saints tried to solve this issue, and what was their perspective regarding the environment.

Literature Review

Rationale and Scope of Study

Research problem and Research Questions

Methodology

The methotodoly that i would mostly be using would be a qualitative research method as this

research needs a complete observation to be conducted rather than providing assumptions and
predictions this research requires a complete contextualization and interpretation of data. To answer

my research question which includes how environmental concerns with what people were not aware

during 9th century, but still how sufis tried to be sensitive towards the environment. This could be

done through analysing the secondary literature, such as some books like Noorname, by Anwar

Hussain, which consists of various poems(shruks) written by Sheikh Noor-ud-din Wali, a Kashmiri

saint who introduced sufism in Kashmir, these poems could be analysed to contexualize them with

how sufis have sensitized environment through their writings. Also, the books such as Kashmir’s

transition to Islam by Isaq Khan and Kashmir exposing the myth behind the narrative by Khalid

Bashir can also be used during the research to trace the history of Sufism in Kasmir. Moreover

existing Research papers could also be referred during the research to get a clearer concept of the

research topic which could finally lead us towards addressing te research questions. These were the

secondary data collection methods where I have gathered data from secondary sources and analysed

and interpreted them. There is als the use of primary data collection method where data will be

collected by me personally. This includes visiting various shrines located in Kashmir and analyse

their location and day to day practices. The interviewing method will also be one of the very

important methods during the research. This method will target a particular audience which include

the people who follow te sufi saints and could tell us about what practices are followed in their day

to day lives to save environment and how are these ideas related to sufism. Although this research

will try to look each and every aspect of environmental conservation in sufi writings in Kashmir,

there could still occur limitations in searching for the right literature. Another limitation that can be

faced during the research is that there definitely was a sufi movement during 9th century in

Kashmir, but there is no evidence for an environmental movement during that time, hence to relate
both the aspect is going to limit the researcher in some areas. Moreover it is difficult to reach out to

the relevant audience and make them understand the purpose of interviewing them. There is not

much possibility for them to understand or answer the questions relevantly.

Tentative Chapters

Introduction

This chapter would include, the geography of the region, the pre-sufi period the background of sufi

movement in India and then in Kashmir.

Chapter II- Sufi traditions and environmental concerns

This chapter would include the sufi traditions and the environmental concern of the present times

and how sufi practices have tried to solve these problems which are relevant in todays context.

Chapter III- Colonial Construct on Sufi traditions

This chapter will try to look into how colonial writings have tried to portray the practices of sufism.

It looks into the question that whether they tried to reconstruct the sufi practices or deconstruct

them.

Chapter IV- Contemporary Perspective

This chapter will look into the relevance of the sufi ideas in contemporary times. It will study on

how people in recent times approach these ideas.

Chapter V- Sufism in contemporary times

In this chapter I plan to interview few people and know their take on sufism and how following the

ideas of sufism have helped them to get closer to their environment and how it gives them a sense

of sensitising environment.

Bibliography

1. Khan, M. (2005). Kashmir's Transition to Islam. Gulshan Books.

2. Ahmad, K. Kashmir.‘Kashmir exposing the myth behind the Narrative.

3. Qadri, b. (2022). Sheikh Nur-ud-Din Wali (RA) as an Environmentalist.

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1ODA4ODgwOCZpZ3VpZD1lYWY2MDgxNy0zZmYzLTRlNDAtOGJkMC0yOGNjZjBmMzdiNjYma
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 4. Ahmad, z., & Wani, t. (2022). ECO-FRIENDLY TEACHINGS OF RESHISM IN
KASHMIR WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SHEIKH NOOR-UD-DIN (R A)
“NUNDRESH”. ddeku.edu.in. Retrieved 17 July 2022, from
http://ddeku.edu.in/Files/2cfa4584-5afe-43ce-aa4b-ad936cc9d3be/Journal/320969cf-b54a-
4273-bc08-75e15d570a89.pdf.

5.Sheikh noor-ud-din wali poems. Kashmirsufis.files.WordPress. (2012). Retrieved 18 July 2022,

from https://kashmirsufis.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/sheikh_noor-ud-din_wali_2012_7.pdf.