The Balti a Scheduled Tribe of Jammu and Kashmir

FOREWORD

Traditionally, the Baltis are believed to be descendants of Celtic com- munities settled in Scandinavia. When the water level in the Baltic Sea rose and inundated their arable lands, they were forced to flee from the area. Even after the flood subsided, the land appeared to be unusable for agriculture, having been heavily saturated with mineral salts. Migration started in many directions. The Baltis of Laddakh are related to many other communities in Kazakhstan, Russia and the Ukraine.

The highlands at the approaches of the Korakoram pass, inhabited by former Buddhists converted to Shi ‘ite Islam by Mir Shamsuddin Iraqi around the turn of the 16th century, are currently receiving great attention from the news media. The present-day dispute over Kashmir may be an indication that Asia is going back to its land-based trade activities that were terminated in the 16th century.

In case such trade boom were to happen, the Balti living under Indian and Pakistani rules would be immersed in merchantile wealth as they were between the 14th and 16th centuries when they had an independent kingdom with its capital city in Skardo. Mir Samsuddin Iraqi was a saint who initiated them to the Shia faith of the Safawid Iran which held an important position on the Silk Route. What made Baltistan unique was its carvan connection with the sub-continent and, therefore, with the whole of the Spice Route.

Baltis are marginal in every way: Pakistan sees them as Shi’ite heretics; in the eyes of a mainstream Hindu they are Buddhist outcasts; for Tibetans they Moslems. May be the Shi’ite movements in Iran and Iraq are extending the only friendly hands to them.

Nevertheless, the Baltis are also unique insofar as they constitute communities where Shi’ites and Buddhists coexist. One is filled with admiration for this type of a “postmodern” tolerance in which Islam exists as a spiritual guidance for the individual and not as a monopolizing state doctrine. One wonders if this is the true and original character of Shi’ism or, are the Baltis also marginal as Shi’ites?

One thing is certain, the Balti pehnomenon could only happen in the Indian climate of social integration. India is the country on earth with the second largest population of Moslems. The Moslems of India are opposed to the idea of a religious state. The Shi’ites, although a minority among the Moslems of India, are the spearheading element in this secularist policy.

The Balti phenomenon could be advertised throughout the world as an epitomy of India as an integrated society based on tolerance. The Buddhist festival held yearly at the monastery of Kushak Narichang in Zanskar with the assistance of the Shi’ites of Wakha could be turned into an international feast of peace and tolerance.

Social darwinism’s dogmatic face is being more and more exposed as we proceed toward the 21st century. The beliefs of mankind are great values as long as they are not viewed through the linear hierarchies of evolutionism. No faith can be more celestial than another faith. No faith can claim a monopoly over “righteous path….” A society where the missionaries of a certain ideology would have been 100 per cent success- ful would be a very dull one. India is an important leader in World Islam. Islam needs India and India needs Islam. When Asia will rise from a long sleep, maybe the Silk Route and the Spice Route will be renamed Peace Route and Tolerance Route.

Dr. Baqar Raza Rizvi’s careful documentation of the Baltis in Kargil is likely to lay the foundations of a series of scholarly research on this community. Rizvi’s work is to be complimented for its comprehensive data and insight in concepts.

Professor of Ethnomusicology, Hacettepe University