DAMARAS: AN INTRODUCTION

The Western scholars to whim Kashmir shall perpetually remain indebted for their extensive research on history and culture of the Vale include Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943), the Hungarian-born British archaeologist. A prominent Great Game character, Stein is most known for his frequent forays into Central Asia. To Kashmir, however, he is known as the bachelor sahib who would live in a tent pitched at Mohand Marg (Kangan) while shuttling between Lahore and Central Asia and translating Rajatarangni from Sanskrit into English. Apart from local resource persons, only his dog, Dash, would live with him. Between 1888 and 1943, he is in Kashmir almost every year. In his memory, a small museum is coming up at the spot he would live in the meadows. In this excerpt from his work is a detailed introduction to the origin and actions of the Damaras, Kashmir’s perpetual feudal lords

- Sir Marc Aurel Stein

The term Damara is one of common occurrence in the chronicle, and the persons whom it designates play a prominent part in the later portions of the narrative. It is, hence, important to ascertain its significance with as much precision as our materials will permit. The word damara, in the sense in which it is used in the Rajatarangini and the later chronicles, has not yet been traced outside Kasmir (sic, it is Kashmir in the Sanskrit literature). Neither Kalhana nor his successors have thought it necessary to define or explain the term. It cannot, therefore, surprise us that its true bearing has not been recognized by earlier interpreters.

(Dr H H ) Wilson, owing apparently to some misunderstanding of the first passage in which the word occurs, had formed the opinion that the damaras were a fierce intractable tribe inhabiting the mountains to the north of Kasmir. He had accordingly treated the subsequent notices of the damaras as referring to inroads made by that tribe into Kasmir. It may well be doubted whether that distinguished scholar would have expressed this opinion if the last two Books’ (of Rajatarangini ) had been accessible to him, or if his text for the first six had been less defective. His view, however, has been followed by all subsequent interpreters of the chronicle.