THE DOOM TRIBE
Since the valley of Kashmir has been ruled by many dynasties and rulers from the very beginning, our history has become complicated so has our vision thinking, and decision-making. Many things have become taboos and we hold an opinion that has been told to us to frame and is not our own. This is only because we don’t look at things from our perspective or in a border way.
This is in the backdrop of the comment our brothers / Sisters made on our “ Ganie the intellectuals ” titled reel on Instagram: ALL DOOMS ARE GANAIES!
This shows how ignorant we have become. We judge and conclude without knowing the context of the video or the information shared on any social media platform.
Anyways one should create content very responsibly come what may, So the topic of discussion was: Are All Dooms Ganies? But we should first know who were these people called Dums’. there were/are three Dum categories: First one Hindu Dums, Second one Muslim Dums & Third one Sikh Dums. The Sikh Dums are/were only in Jammu writes M M Fauq in his book giving the reference of the 1911 census of Jammu & Kashmir.
Kalhana in his Raj Tarangani has written that when Raja Chakar Varman took to the throne after killing 5000 religious scholars in 934 AD. He ruled the valley with arrogance fell prey to many bad habits and associated himself with “Rang” named Dum who used to sing. During this association, this tribe became influential in official matters and many of their ladies were made queens of the palaces. These were called “ Patranis” which gave a new status to this tribe and they started having political powers. The ladies of this tribe were the status of Ranis while as men from this tribe used to rule as courtiers of the King. But, “this status could not alleviate their mindsets,’ writes the Kalhana.
The Dum is mentioned by Sir Walter Lawerance in his book “The Valley Of Kashmir” on page 311. The Dums of Kashmir are an important tribe and have up to quite recent times had great power in the villages. The watchman was always a Dum, and in addition to his police functions, he was entrusted by the state with the duty of looking after the crops. This implies how important was their role when the whole state machinery was ruled by the economy driven by taxes labeled on different crops.
According to Lawernace Dums had never stolen any state treasure but still, they were labeled as having predatory instincts and were never trusted as private citizens. Despite that large amounts of silver were brought from the tehsil treasuries to Srinagar. Imagining a village watchman in the 1880s meant a sort of owner of the village who had immense opportunities to do any good or bad thing to anyone in the village.
Here arises a question, If this was the level of their influence then why was this tribe demeaned so much that members from this tribe took to other castes and assumed surnames like Dars, ganies, Mallas, and others?
If one tries to apply his / her common sense it is easy to infer the saying, “Power tends to corrupt. and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” ____John Emmerich Edward.
There are records of how village watchmen and village heads used to inflict physical, economic, and mental injuries to the villagers through their status in the name of taxes and other dues.
Read Dr. Afaq Aziziz’s book, “Tareekh E Siyasat-E-Kashmir” page number 49 for more minutes detailing the conditions that prevailed in villages during the 1880s-1947. Due to the cruelty of these watchmen and other officials like Saaz e Awal, people might have cursed them for their harsh nature in the villages. Maybe this could be the reason that this tribe got demeaned over the period and the people from this tribe started assuming other surnames as mentioned above.
As per Lawrence,” Many fables are told by Dums about their origin, some say that the Dums are descendants of the old Tsaks.” they always claim descent from a Hindu King, who afraid of his numerous sons, scattered them all over the valley, but it is believed that they are of Sudra extraction.
The whole subject of Kashmir Krams is fraught with difficulty, and this is increased by the fact that men of low occupations are arrogating high-sounding names. Thus in recent years, the Dums of Kashmir have steadily assumed the Kiram of Ganai, much to the annoyance of the original Ganais. To make matters worse the gardeners and butchers have also taken a fancy to the Kiram name Ganai.
Therefore it is mentioned nowhere that, “ALL DUMS ARE GANAI’S” Neither Lawrence wrote this statement anywhere in his book The Valley Of Kashmir nor did any writer like Munshi Mouhhamad Ud Din Fauq Sahab.
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