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 continued the Vakh parampara (tradition) 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 the 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 early childhood, Mirza Pandit remained engrossed in Bhakti and prayers. He developed an aversion towards worldly 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.
