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].
Source:
Koshur
Samachar
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