Srinagar: Rainawari
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History
By Avtar Mota, Oct 2023
RAINAWARI..
The old name of Rainawari was Rajanavatika or the 'Garden of Rajanakas or Rainas' . It is an island town connected by waterways. In fact, the canal that connects Dal Lake with Nigin Lake passes through the heart of this town. This locality is mentioned in Rajataringini. Kalhana says Brahmins of Rainawari performed Prayopavesa ( Satyagraha or fast unto death ) during the rule of Sussala, the King of the Lohara dynasty. With DAV School opened by Arya Samajis and Vishwa-Bharati institution opened for girls , Rainawari was a hub of education and learning before 1990.
Rainawari area of Srinagar city has a glorious past.If it produced saints like Jeevan Sahib, Miyan Shah Sahib, Krishen Joo Kar, Zanana Zoi and Zind Shah Peer, it was also the birthplace of Taba Ram Turki ( 1776-1847 ) and Bhawani Das Kachroo ( husband or Kashmiri poetess Arnimal ) both renowned Persian scholars and poets. Taba Ram Turki was a contemporary of Gani Kashmiri . Saiyed Mohammad Madni who later came to be known as Madin Sahib in Kashmir, had also settled peacefully in Rainawari before Sultan Zain ul Abdin made him to shift to his new capital Nowshera in Srinagar city .
Pandit Keshav Bhat Jyotshi ,a profound astrologer and a Sanskrit scholar who is responsible for documenting Karm- kaand and various other religious texts for the Kashmiri Pandits also hailed from Rainawari. So did Jaffer Ali (recipient of many awards ) the well known papier mache artist, belong to Hassanabad ,Rainawari. Poet Radhe Nath Massarat opened a shop and lived in Rainawari for the most part of his life.
Mata Bhagbhari, a saintly Kashmiri Pandit woman also lived in Rainawari . She presented a hand-woven Pashmina cloak to Guru Hargobind,the sixth Sikh Guru on his visit to the Kashmir valley. History informs us that during the Afghan rule in Kashmir , Dila Ram Quli rose to become a member of the Kabul Darbaar. Dila Ram Quli was also from Rainawari. Not only an able administrator, Dila Ram Quli was a Farsi ( Persian ) poet as well. Shiv Narain Fotedar , parliamentarian and politician was also from Rainawari. Prof P N Dhar, well-known economist and the then Principal Advisor to Mrs Indira Gandhi was also from Rainawari. His father, Vishen Joo Hakim was the headmaster of Biscoe School. He worked with Tyndale Biscoe.
This Hakim family lived at Surateng Mohalla of Rainawari in close proximity to the Mission Hospital. T N Kaul (ICS ) , Pandit Saligram Kaul (an engineer who fined his own wife for misuse of municipal water which was being used by her for irrigating the Kitchen garden.), Pandit Prem Nath Thussoo (eminent educationist associated with Vishwa Bharti Institutions ), D N Jalali ( private secretary to Maharaja Hari Singh ). Dr B K Jalali (a well known surgeon from Kashmir ), Sadiq Ali ( politician ), Samsar Chand Kaul Ganhaar ( noted ornithologist ), Shridhar Joo Dulloo ( well known teacher who educated Ladakhis ), Mir Ghulam Rasool Nazki ( well-known broadcaster and Kashmiri poet ) , Farooq Nazki ( Kashmiri poet and noted media personality ), Moti Lal Naaz ( Kashmir poet ) ,Jia Lal Tamiri ( freedom fighter), Ghulam Ahmed Sofi ( Amma Kaandhur, well known Sufiana and Chhakri singer of Kashmir ), artist P N Kachru ,artist and well known art critic Manohar Kaul ( Kataal ) and artist Gokul Dembi also lived in Rainawari.
Noted music composer and vocalist,T K Jalali is also from Rainawari. So is his brother and well-known film-maker Arun Kaul. Shyam Lal Saraf ( minister in Sheikh Abdullah's first cabinet after 1947 ) was also from Rainawari. Dr B L Kaw, the well known zoologist from the J&K UT was from Rainawari.
The illustrious Kak brothers,I mean the well-known Journalist R K Kak, Journalist M L Kak , bureaucrat S K Kak ( IAS ) and B L Kak ( author .. ‘Fall of Gilgit’ ) ) are also from Rainawari. Prof Amitabh Mattoo also belongs to an illustrious Mattoo family from Rainawari. Noted Urdu and Kashmiri scholar and a Sahitya Akademi awardee, Prof Mohammad Zaman Azurda is also from Hassanabad, Rainawari. Nand Lal Wattal, a well-known Urdu Journalist of the J&K state and former editor of the ‘Khidmat’ newspaper was also from Rainawari. Mehraj ud din Wadoo , the international football hails from Rainawari.
Mehrajuddin Wadoo has represented the Indian national team. He has represented football clubs like Sporting Club de Goa, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. The list is endless. Rainawari has another distinction of being home to Samuel Baqqal, probably the first among the educated Muslims from Kashmir who became a Christian. And in 1985-86 , Maharaj Krishen Kaul ( Bagh), the then Director Geological Survey Of India led the successful Indian expedition to Antartica . He was from Rainawari .
( Avtar Mota )
