by Dr Nisar Farhad
Over the previous millennium, Kashmir has been house to a distinguished array of saints, seers, and students, whose contributions have considerably influenced and refined the lives of the native populace. Many of those revered figures selected to pursue intervals of meditation in caves, mountains, and forests.
The Ruma Reshi Cave, located in Rahmoo, derives its title from the esteemed Islamic saint Hazrat Ruma Reshi. Rahmoo, a sprawling village adorned with verdant orchards of apple, walnut, and almond timber, lies 7 kilometres to the west of Pulwama district.
The Kashmir Valley, celebrated for its scenic attract, holds a definite place as a sacred land the place the influential forces of Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism have intersected. In antiquity, earlier than the arrival of Islam within the medieval period, Kashmir was recognised because the land of Parvati or Rishi Bhumi. Over time, it got here to be often known as Pir Waer, signifying an abode of Sufis and saints. This non secular presence manifests by the sanctified shrines and caves devoted to those revered figures.
Traditionally, throughout Mahmud Ghaznavi’s invasions of India and Kashmir, quite a few saints arrived within the area. Via their exemplary conduct, virtues, accomplishments, revelations, and miracles, they successfully facilitated the conversion of the native populace to Islam. The individuals bestowed upon them the title of Rishi. This transition is palpable within the enduring legacy of shrines and caves that stand as testaments to the non secular transformation caused by these influential figures.
Over the previous millennium, Kashmir has been house to a distinguished array of saints, seers, and students, whose contributions have considerably influenced and refined the lives of the native populace. Many of those revered figures selected to pursue intervals of meditation in caves, mountains, and forests. Amongst them is Ruma Reshi, acknowledged by Hazrat Sheikh Ul Aalam within the following verses:
Awal reshi ahmed reshi doyim owais qarni aow
Treyim reshi zulka reshi churim reshi pulaas aow
Panchim reshi ruma reshi sheyim hazrat miran aow
Satmis skerhum dish naheshi bo kuss reshi ti meh kiya naav
In decoding Sheikh Ul Aalam Nooruddin Rishi’s, also called Nunda Reshi, speech, it turns into evident that Ahmed Reshi refers to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and Owais Reshi pertains to Hazrat Owais Qarni. The remaining 5 Rishis, with Hazrat Sheikh Ul Aalam being the fifth, are distinctly Kashmiri. Zulka Reshi is linked to Dandak Van Kamraj, a forest within the Hamal space, the place Hazrat Sheikh Ul Aalam locates Zulka Reshi’s abode.
Relating to Miran Reshi, Sheikh Ul Aalam describes his incessant wrestle with the nafs, offering it with minimal sustenance solely for dental hygiene. Ruma Reshi is attributed to creating a spot in paradise, main some students to equate him with Hazrat Khidr (as).
Nonetheless, this correlation is dismissed, as Hazrat Khidr (as) is believed to persist till the Day of Judgement, making the idea of a spot in heaven irrelevant. Hazrat Sheikh Ul Aalam pays homage to those Reshis, asserting their devotion to Allah within the bygone period, and expressing his deep reverence for his or her non secular legacy.
Hazrat Ruma Rishi’s historic origins hint again to the period of Kashmir’s final Queen, Kota Rani, reigning from 1323 to 1338. Legend has it that in Raja Jaishankar’s conquest of India, Ruma Reshi accompanied his military on a tour of Kashmir. He sought seclusion in a collapse Rahmoo Pulwama, a village that also bears his title. Preferring a eating regimen of untamed herbs and greens, he abstained from meat and grains, sustaining a silent and solitary existence.
As his life ended, Ruma Rishi consumed solely milk, lowering his once-blessed body to mere pores and skin and bones. Dawar Reshi, Sheeban Reshi, and Angun Reshi served him till their passing, after which he lived in solitude, with mountain goats seemingly offering milk as wanted. Miraculously, when a hearth was required, moisture on a tree department would ignite upon blowing, able to kindle a flame, thus goes the legend.
Throughout his wanderings within the Yaron forests, wild animals would accompany him. A stint within the Nagarkot space noticed him embrace a reclusive life for quite a few years. His encounter with a thorn led to a painful damage, and his exclamation, “It’s a really unhealthy thorn, its seed is misplaced,” resulted within the disappearance of thorns from Punjab for sixteen years by divine intervention, goes one other legend.
In his later years, Lederman Reshi attended to Hazrat Ruma Rishi, who, having heard of his feats, was approached by Mahmud Ghaznavi throughout his encampment in Kashmir in 1021 CE. The sage supplied the king with a chunk from his saddle, asserting that attaching it to his flag would preserve his sword sharp all through the warfare.
As soon as, affected by extreme winter chilly, Ruma Reshi exclaimed concerning the hidden solar, prompting its look and the following absence of snow and chilly in Kashmir for six years. Legend holds that Ruma Reshi lived to be 322 years outdated, with every passing 12 months bringing forth new enamel. It’s believed that he entered the cave, by no means to return, spending his prolonged life in meditation.
Kashmiris, when bestowing blessings upon the youthful era, usually recite the phrases, Gaach Aasinay Ruma Reshyuon Aay. Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor, in his famend poem Volla Karayo Lolamata Laay Madno, eloquently captures the enduring legacy of Ruma Rishi’s prolonged existence:
chashmi unhealthy door aesinayi husnuk bosh
(you’re stunning…the evil eye is spared!
however your magnificence makes you useless!youforget )
Tharri akkis aeyi chhi folimaet isaasbaedi posh
(every bush bears a thousand equivalent flowers)
rum reyshina eyilogyoaayimadno
(could you reside so long as ruma rishi)
The revered Sufi Mystic poet Shamas Fakir from the nineteenth century referenced Hazrat Ruma Reshi (RA) in his speech, expressing admiration for the non secular qualities related to him:
“shamas faqeerun karsa pai,
(do a favour to Shamas Faqeer)
Rum Reshunde ta saai,
(like you granted to Rumreshi)
ishqeh tangal peyemtatiyeh
(oh! my good friend convey this to my beloved)
mounvantaslatyeh
(my beloved take me too frivolously)
khaarehthonummarimatiyemounvantaslatyeh
(oh! my good friend convey this to my beloved)”
The cave, measuring roughly 5 meters in width and three meters in top, is believed to have a number of rooms, extending past attain. Attributable to its historic, mystic, and spiritual significance, devotees go to the cave to hunt blessings, tying threads in niches and providing prayers as a right boons. Regardless of its profound historic and non secular significance, the neglect from each the administration and the Archaeological Division has left the sacred collapse disrepair, with solely a small mosque remaining inside.
Preserving this holy web site, together with others within the valley, just isn’t solely a cultural or non secular concern; it’s recognised as a human proper below worldwide legislation. Article 25 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples asserts that “Indigenous peoples have the correct to take care of and strengthen their distinctive non secular relationship with their historically owned or in any other case occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and different assets and to uphold their obligations to future generations on this regard.”
(The writer teaches Chemistry within the Division of College Schooling. Particulars within the write-up haven’t been fact-checked by the editor. Concepts are private.)
#Secrets and techniques #Lie #Ruma #Reshi #Cave #Kashmir
