DEVASTATING PLAGUE AND THE MIRWAIZ’S MIRACULOUS INTERVENTION
KHALID BASHIR AHAMAD
On 28 February 1902, over a dozen prominent citizens of Srinagar made a petition to Maharaja Pratap Singh, ruler of Jammu & Kashmir, seeking urgent services of a Bengali medical doctor to rescue local population from an imminent outbreak of plague that had created havoc in the neighbouring Punjab and Jammu province. The signatories to the neatly calligraphed petition in Urdu language included ‘Waiz Raool’ or Mirwaiz Molvi Rasool Shah (1855–1909), a highly respected religious leader and social figure popularly known as the Sir Sayyid of Kashmir for setting up the first educational institution — Islamia School- in 1905 under the aegis of his Anjuman Nusrat ul Islam, for the Muslims of Kashmir. Other signatories included Lala Shankar Das Beopari, Abbil Joo Jeweller, and Khawaja Hassan Shah. The petition opened with a show of utmost submission:
“Excellency! With profound respect and humility and in acknowledgment of your regale justice, we, the following few persons whose names are given below, dare to make a submission on behalf of all the citizens of Srinagar, fully aware as we are that the officials of Your Highness always show interest in considering lawful submissions of their subjects.”
The petitioners drew the attention of the ruler to the great anxiety and fear caused to the people by the spread of plague in the Punjab and districts adjoining Jammu & Kashmir. “This has caused great scare among the subjects of Your Highness”, they wrote, and, “with utmost respect” requested the Maharaja to send to Srinagar Dr. Ashutosh Mitra, better known as Dr. A. Mitra, who was “familiar with the temperament and social life of Your Highness’s subjects” and whose “efficient services during the recent outbreak of cholera in Kashmir had endeared him to the people of the Valley”.
A medical administrator, Dr. A. Mitra was the first Chief Medical Officer of Kashmir & Sanitary Advisor to the administration appointed as such in 1885 at the age of 27. In this capacity, he managed the State Hospital, previously known as the Maharaja’s Hospital, then situated at the Hazuri Bagh (Iqbal Park). In the terrible cholera epidemics of 1888 and 1892, he was known to have worked in Kashmir with ‘superhuman energy’. He was later elevated to the position of Public Works Minister on the Maharaja’s State Council and also accorded the title of Rai Bahadur. Hailing from Calcutta where he was born in 1858, Dr. Mitra obtained medical degree from the Calcutta University and, later, went to England for post-graduate study at Edinburgh. He introduced a proper water-supply to Srinagar and saved lives of masses through various measures of sanitation. He was allotted, on lease, 2 acres of land in Srinagar by Maharaja Pratap Singh. Dr. Mitra died of diabetics in 1941 at the age of 83. When the petition was made to the ruler, Dr. Mitra was at Jammu with the annual Darbar Move.
It may be recalled that between 1850 and 1947, the Punjab (including the North West Frontier Province) was affected by fifteen major epidemics claiming 51,77,407 lives. By 1904–5, the plague had spread to 26 districts, including Dera Ghazi Khan across the Indus. The House of Commons was informed on 7 June 1905 that 273,679 deaths had taken place in India in 1901, 577,427 in 1902, 851, 263 in 1903, and 1,022,299 in 1904. [Deaths from Plague in India. (Hansard, 7 June 1905) (parliament.uk)] The Secretary of State for India, Lord Hamilton, informed the British Parliament that between autumn of 1901 and mid-March 1902, as many as 69,010 plague deaths were reported from the Punjab. Since Jammu & Kashmir was connected to the Punjab through its both surface routes — the Jhelum Valley Road in the north leading to Rawalpindi and the Banihal Cart Road in the south leading to Sialkot — there was great alarm in Kashmir in view of the increasing number of deaths in the Punjab. Rawalpindi, from where most of the tourist traffic and trade flowed into and out of Kashmir via the Jhelum Valley Road, got plague every year.
In Jammu, plague was present since 1901. An idea of the amount of fear and scare it caused there can be obtained from the autobiography of Qudratullah Shahab, the first Muslim Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer from Jammu & Kashmir. The Shahab Nama begins with the chapter, ‘Plague in Jammu’. He writes [translation]:
“During those days, ten to fifteen people died every day in Jammu city due to plague. The streets and lanes were overcast with fear. Customers would first cast a sideway look in the shops to ensure that there were no rats near sacks, boxes and canisters. Shopkeepers looked at customers with suspicion as if they had come from an infected home. People had stopped socializing and visiting each other’s homes. Pedestrians would steer clear of each other while walking on the roads. Each house in the city was isolated from the rest and had turned into a fortress of sorts where the inmates frozen with fear silently waited for [inguinal] glands to appear. The officials of the Municipal Committee would smell the walls to trace the patients of plague. Where their raid was successful, they, like the Marginaa of Ali Baba, marked the door with lime powder. By paying a little bribe, one could have this mark erased from one’s door and instead an adversary’s door marked. While a victim of plague died of the affliction the other members of the family would hide their faces like criminals on the run. The custom of shaking hands had almost vanished and people greeted each other at a distance.” [Shahab Nama, Shahab, Qudratullah, p 20–21]
“Thus, plague being in existence so near Kashmir”, wrote Dr. A. Mitra in the Indian Medical Gazette (April 1907), “it was obvious that sooner or later it was highly probable that Kashmir would be visited by the disease.” The Government made arrangements for examination of travellers coming to Kashmir from Jammu and Rawalpindi.
FIRST CASE OF PLAGUE IN KASHMIR
On 8 October 1903, one ‘very probable’ case of plague coming from Rawalpindi died at Uri. Following this incident, arrangements were to be made for disinfection of clothes of incoming travelers at Uri when on 13 November a tonga with a veiled Kashmiri woman, whom Dr. Mitra identifies as Mrs. B, and two servants passed Uri. In this tonga came the first case of plague in Kashmir. The inspectors had failed to detect the disease. Recalling the incident, Mitra writes:
“On the evening of the 18th November 1903, a man was found at the gate of State Hospital in Srinagar with following symptoms: Fever, temperature 100F., anxious look, slightly wandering mind, inguinal glands of both sides swollen. He was left there by a hired ponyman from Kralpura, a village six miles [9.65 km] from Srinagar. The man said he was a servant of a Mrs B, who was camping at Kralpura. The symptoms at once suggested plague, and the man was immediately removed in a tent away from the city in a large open ground. Mrs. B., a Kashmiri woman, lived near Rawalpindi. She left that place by tonga with two servants on the 11th November. The tonga was booked in the name of Mrs. B who had a Burka (veil) on her They reached Murree the same evening and stayed for the night in Curzon Rest House. Ghulam Mohamed was the cook and Abdul Rahman was the khidmatgar [helper]. Next day, they left Murree and passed Kohala at mid-day where they were examined at the inspection post and provided with the usual passports in which they were entered as “In good health.” They reached Ghari at night. Ghulam Mohamed was not feeling well that night and could not cook food for his mistress. They left Ghari next morning, passed Uri at mid-day. where at the inspection post they were again examined and passed. They reached Srinagar at 10 p.m., and engaged a boat. Ghulam Mohamed did his usual work that night. They were in this boat for two days. On the 16th, Mrs. B left in a dandy for Kralpura, the two servants accompanying her on foot. There they went into the house of Subhan But, a relative of Mrs. B. Glulam Mohamed occupied a small room on the ground floor of the house. On the 16th, 17th, and 18th Ghulam Mohamed could not do his usual work and was laid up in the room. Several grain- dealers and cloth merchants stopped in this house during this period. The patient Ghulam Mohamed died on the night of the 19th. This was the first imported case in Kashmir.” [Mitra, Dr. A, The Indian Medical Gazette, April 1907, p 134.]
The body of Ghulam Mohammad was buried in a grave 10 feet deep with 2 feet of carbolate of lime surrounding it. All articles like bedding, tents, etc., which came in contact with the patient, were burnt. The three contacts — a hospital assistant, one khidmatgar and one sweeper — were segregated in camp. The house of Subhan But at Kralpura was burnt together with everything contained in it, besides the grains kept in the compound of the house by dealers. The lady, her servants and all members of Subhan But’s house, the ponyman who brought the patient to the hospital, and all suspected contacts were segregated in camp. However, none developed plague.
The second case was detected about 500 yards from the tent in which the plague case was kept.
A police guard of four constables was camped to prevent any communication with the plague victim. Following his death, the attendants were in segregation and the police guards were on watch over them. On the morning of November 25th, one of the constables was found ill “with slight rise of temperature, pain in the chest, very anxious look, and spitting of blood-tinged sputum.” On physical examination, he was found unwell with slight dullness, rough breathing and temperature at 101F. There was no glandular enlargement. The man died at night and his body was buried in a deep grave in an open ground. Some relatives of the deceased and a molvi assisted in the burial. The family had requested that the body be allowed to be buried near their house but the request was disallowed.
How the second case contracted plague remained a mystery, especially when he was supposed not to have gone near the patient. An unconfirmed account, however, unveiled the mystery. According to it, the constable with the connivance of his brother who was the hospital attendant in the first plague case, went into the tent and handled the dead body with the purpose of stealing whatever that could have been found. He put his mouth on the finger of the deceased in order to bring out a ring, biting it with his teeth. “If this story is correct, which I believe it to be, plague commenced in Kashmir with a crime”, writes Dr. Mitra. Two days after the death of the police constable, his brother, the hospital attendant, went missing and died at some unknown place.
OUTBREAK OF PLAGUE IN SRINAGAR
There was no incident of plague reported during the next 10 days until 11 December when several deaths in two houses in Srinagar took place. In the house of the police constable who had died earlier two persons died, one each on 10 and 11 December. In another part of the town,
the first case occurred in the house of a relative of the police constable who himself was also a police constable and had attended the two patients in the first house. Five deaths had already taken place within six days and three persons were found ill. They were all relatives of the police constable, his father, mother, sister, wife and children. A sister-in-law living in the next house also died. In a matter of few days, eight different centres of infection appeared in Srinagar. Astoundingly, all patients were relatives and contacts of the cases in the house of the police constable who had died in camp.
Two possible reasons were cited for the spread of infection. According to one, the dead body of the police constable, who died in camp and who was buried outside the city, was secretly exhumed by his relatives, brought in his house and reburied there. According to the other, the hospital attendant who got ill in camp went to his relatives’ house in a village 17 miles from Srinagar. His relatives from Srinagar went to attend on him there and probably brought the dead body to Srinagar. So, the infection started from either the police constable or his brother, the hospital attendant. At this time, news about the outbreak of plague at village Geru was received.
While measures to arrest the spread of infection including evacuation and burning of houses with infected occupants were taken, people in Srinagar were generally cynical about the infection. They refused to believe that it was plague and thought it was pneumonia. Absurd stories were circulated and it was thought that the police constable and his relatives suffered because of their sins. Many educated people were no less cynical. Dr. Mitra noted with regret that in the carrying out of plague measures no help of any kind was received either from the people or their leaders. Everything was done through the official agencies. However, when plague ceased in Srinagar and reports of its outbreak in rural areas began pouring in “a large deputation awaited on us begging to do something to prevent its re-introduction into the city and to repeat the measures which were previously taken, should it take place.”
In village Geru, the headman, the richest person of the village with a large house and relations far and wide in Geru and adjoining areas, was the first man to die of plague. Soon thereafter, his three sons died. As relatives from different areas came to visit the family, the infection spread to Charsu, Sail and Tral, a populous town 44 kms from Srinagar. From Srinagar, the infection travelled to Kripalpur in Pattan through a relative of the police constable. Deaths due to plague also occurred in villages in the neighbourhood of the Wular Lake where a large number of men died suddenly in a few days. It was found out that plague of virulent type was raging there for over two weeks, and about 20 persons died. The news of plague was concealed by the Police Chowkidar and Village Headman, both of whom afterwards died of plague which rapidly began to spread in the neighbouring villages. A man came from Geru to Gund Jahangir and died there on the day of his arrival. Those who helped in the burial of the corpse next got the disease. Mercifully, the infection did not return to Srinagar from these villages from where a dozen boats with water-nuts would arrive in the city daily.
“The plague lasted in Kashmir from November 1903 to August 1904, but the virulence was only from December to March. In the city of Srinagar its duration was for one and a half month only; the total number of cases were 56, all fatal. In the districts there were altogether 1,443 cases with 20 recoveries.”
MIRWAIZ PRAYERS TO WARD OFF PLAGUE
The outbreak of plague caused great concern to the administration which discussed immediate measures to arrest the epidemic. The administration’s worry was that the people in general were not ready to accept that the deaths were caused by an epidemic. They thought that the victims had died due to their sins. At this stage, the British Resident in Kashmir, Sir Francis Younghusband, held a meeting with the prominent citizens of Srinagar City to plan ways to combat the epidemic. The group of prominent citizens advised the Resident to rope in the Mirwaiz of Kashmir, Molvi Rasool Shah, who could influence the behaviour of the masses. When the Mirwaiz was called and told that the administration was planning to burn the houses of infected people along with household items and the bereaved members of the dead would be evacuated to isolated places away from population, he sought a week’s time before the administration could execute its plan. During that period, the Mirwaiz asked the people to hold special prayers invoking the blessings of Allah to rid them of the scourge. The supererogatory prayers began and, lo and behold, the plague was gone before the deadline ended.
Giving an account of this incident and the general situation during 1904 (1322 AH) in Srinagar, Molvi Mohammad Shah Sa’dat, author of Tarikh-i-Kashmir ki Rozana Diary, writes [translation]:
“In 1322 AH, there appeared plague that spread all over the country. Kashmir turned into a house of mourning. Communication was snapped. People were scared. Only a few close relatives would participate in burial of the dead. The doors of sympathy and attending to or enquiring after the ill were closed. A patient would die soon after getting infected. In an infected home, no one would survive. The municipality and health departments spent huge money but could not stop the spread of plague. The Resident in Kashmir, Sir Francis Younghusband, called prominent persons of the city like Mirza Ghulam Mustafa, Mir Hassan Shah Qadri, Khawaja Hassan Shah Naqshbandi et al, and offered his suggestion for prevention of the plague. The suggestion was that the house where someone died of plague be burnt down along with the dead and tall the household items, and the bereaved be left alone in a tent outside the populated area with food provided to them from a distance. If someone from them died the body would also be burnt or buried in a grave filled with lime powder. The prominent citizens made a unanimous suggestion to rope in Mirwaiz Molvi Rasool Shah because if he agreed to the suggestion then only people would fall in line. On the following day, Molvi Rasool Shah was called and the suggestion was put before him. The Mirwaiz sought weeks’ time so that the Muslims would supplicate and offer supererogatory prayers. He expressed the hope that due to the blessings of the prayers the plague would go away. The Muslims engaged themselves in supplication and prayers at mosques and shrines and in the same week their prayers were answered and the plague was gone.” [Sa’dat, p 638]
HISTORY OF PLAGUES IN KASHMIR
The chronicles on ancient Kashmir are silent on occurrence of plague. It is only from the Mughal period that we come across mention of plagues in Kashmir. Historian Hassan Khuihami has recorded 10 such occurrences from Jahangir’s time to Maharaja Ranbir Singh’s rule. [Tarikh, vol 2, pp 465–68] The first occurrence is related to 1615 AD [Mughal rule] during the governorship of Ahmad Beg Khan when ‘bodies were thrown into the streams instead of shrouding and burying them.’ This continued for 40 days. Jahangir gives us an account of plague that had struck Kashmir during his rule. On a particular day, he was presented a report sent by his official scribe from Kashmir, stating that the plague had taken firm hold of the country and that many had died. He mentions fire consuming 3000 houses in the ward wherefrom the plague had started and a strange incident, which he thought was against the cannons of reason, taking place in the city and its environs followed immediately by diminution in the epidemic. He writes:
“The symptoms were that the first day there was headache and fever and much bleeding at the nose. On the second day the patient died. In the house where one person died all the inmates were carried off. Whoever went near the sick person or a dead body was affected in the same way. In one instance the dead body was thrown on the grass, and it chanced that a cow came and ate some of the grass. It died, and some dogs that had eaten its flesh also all died. Things had come to such a pass that from fear of death fathers would not approach their children, and children would not go near their fathers. A strange thing was that in the ward in which the disease began, a fire broke out and nearly 3,000 houses were burnt. During the height of the plague, one morning when the people of the city and environs got up, they saw circles on their doors. There were three large circles, and on the face of these (i.e. inside them) there were two circles of middle size and one small one. There were also other circles which did not contain any whiteness l (i.e. there were no inner circles). These figures were found on all the houses and even on the mosques. From the day when the fire took place and these circles appeared, they say there was a diminution of the plague. This has been recorded as it seems a strange affair. It certainly does not agree with the canons of reason, and my intellect cannot accept it. Wisdom is with God! I trust that the Almighty will have mercy on his sinful slaves, and that they will be altogether freed from such calamity.”
During Azad Khan’s governorship [Afghan rule], ‘plague claimed thousands of lives in the city in 1825 AD while no deaths were reported from rural areas.’ During the governorship of Diwan Moti Ram in 1826 AD [Sikh rule], plague ‘killed thousands of people.’ Another occurrence of plague is related to the governorship of Diwan Kripa Ram when in 1827 AD [Sikh rule] it ‘ravaged Kashmir for a month and devoured thousands of people.’ In 1845 AD [Sikh rule], during the governorship of Sheikh Mohiuddin, ‘plague started in the month of Rajab and continued through the fasting month of Ramadan. The dead were covered with paddy straw, instead of cloth, and buried.’ During the reign of Ranbir Singh [Dogra rule], plague lasting for four months caused death of thousands of people in 1867 AD. His reign proved very inauspicious as natural calamities like floods, fires, famines and plagues kept on visiting people one after another. In 1872 AD, 1876 AD and 1878 AD also plague struck Kashmir with duration of four months, 13 months and 40 days, respectively. The calamities claimed unspecified number of lives.
The devastations caused by frequent visitation of plagues (together with famines and a long oppressive rule) took a heavy toll of human endurance so much so that the masses in Kashmir made it a part of their daily prayers to seek Allah’s protection from this scourge. During group prayers, especially at Fajr namaz, they chanted:
Ya Ilahi bakhsh ma ra aafiyat az har bala
Door daar az khalq-i-aalam zulm, qehat-o-ham waba
(O’ Allah! Grant me protection from every disaster. Keep oppression, famine and plague away from the people of the world.)