Shah-e-Hamdan’s son purchased Khanqah land revenue documents prove

British-era painting shows no signs of Maha Kali temple at the site

The revenue documents produced by Shah-i-Hamdan Mission Society (SHMS) prove that Mir Syed Ali Hamadani’s son purchased the land for the present day Khanqah-e-Mua’lla shrine while a British-era painting shows no signs of Maha Kali temple’s existence at the site.
SHMS came up with original revenue agreement under which Shah-e-Hamdan son, Mir Muhammad Hamdani, purchased the land for the shrine from the then ruler, Sikander Shah Miri.
The development comes following the blaze of Khanqah-e-Mua’lla dome with some rightwing Kashmiri Pandits starting a vicious campaign on social media that the present shrine complex was built after demolishing Maha Kali temple, although Kashmiri Hindus continue to pray before a wall adjoining the shrine complex.
The agreement produced by SHMS named ‘Waqf Nama-wa-Qabala Sharief’ has been translated from Persian to Urdu language and published years back.
The document’s page 32 reads that Mir Muhammad Hamdani says his father had purchased the Sarai of Alaudinpora from the then ruler Sultan Qutubdin and laid the foundation of Khanqah-e-Mua’lla.
In the lines following the agreement part, the dimensions of the land have been provided on which the present-day shrine stands.
Pages 11 and 12 of the document detail the completion of legal formalities of the land purchased by Mir Syed Ali Hamdani from Sultan Qutubdin.
However, as per the document, the legal formalities were carried out between Shah Hamdani’s son, Mir Muhammad Hamdani and Sultan Qutubdin’s son, Sikander Shah Miri.
“Sultan Sikandar Shah, son of Sultan Qutubdin, formulated a Qabala Sharief under which three villages of Wachi, Nunwani and Tral along with the present land site of Khanqah-e-Mua’lla at Srinagar have been presented to Mir Muhammad Hamdani,” the document reads.
In the next line, the acceptance of the land by Mir Muhammad Hamdani is jotted along with the date (12 Rabi-ul-Awal 797 Hijri) and reference to the stamp of Mir Muhammad Hamdani on the document.
The document on page 12 also enunciates that the extent of Khanqah-e-Mua’lla starts from the shores of River Jhelum to the market on the front side of the shrine.
Interestingly, the Maha Kali temple, which the fringe group of Kashmiri Pandits claim is marked by Sindoorum on the wall toward the River Jhelum’s shore, as per the Qabala Sharief, belongs to the Khanqah-e-Mua’lla, with no reference of any temple.
Page 22 of the document reads that Mir Muhammad Hamdani presented one Lal-e-Darakshan (diamond) to Sultan Sikander Shah Miri as token money for the land purchased for Khanqah-e-Mua’lla.
Haji Shams-ud-Din Hamdani, Chairman SHMS and former administrator of the erstwhile Muslim Auqaf Trust, said government at New Delhi headed by the rightwing Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) was conspiring to distort history and Khanqah-e-Mua’lla was on their agenda.
Hamdani said Shradhs was started during the Dogra regime under a well-planned conspiracy against the Muslim community.
“There is no reference to Maha Kali in Kalhana’s Rajatarangini and Dogras gave permission to Hindus to perform their rituals there but no temple ever existed at the place,” Hamdani said.
The caretakers of the shrine also point to a painting of the British era depicting the side of the shrine from the other end of River Jhelum.
“In the paining, no temple adjacent to Khanqah-e-Mua’lla is visible and the shore of the River Jhelum too has no such signs,” they said.
Nafees Hamdani, a member of the caretaker organisation of the shrine, said it was unfortunate that history was being distorted brazenly and the present-day intellectual class of the society was acting a mute spectator.
He said times had changed such that the rightwing parties in India were even referring to Taj Mahal as ‘Tejo Mahal’.
“What else do you expect from them but we won’t let them change the history of Khanqah-e-Mua’lla as we have written historical proof,” he said.

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