Abdul Rehman—Kashmir’s Hakim of Shri Bhatt’s progeny

Kashmiris of yore (it is hoped that plenty still exist) would be very familiar with the word “Hakim’’, the traditional physician who ran the predominant private  and parallel health system of Kashmir actively even up to 1970s, after which we notice a declining trend in people’s attitudes towards acceptance of their  traditional line of treatment.

   These Hakims would in the eyes of common Kashmiris possess  “Daste-e-Shifa’’. Translated into English, it means the curing hand. These Hakims were believed to possess legendry powers and the patients on their deathbeds are reported to have reverted to life by their able hands and talents, something bestowed on them by God Almighty.

During the late 1940s, like so many Europeans, many a traveler took keen interest in Kashmir and began to write new travelogues which paved the way to add information and value to the already existing ones  regarding the land of Kashmir and its people.

An Encounter with Hakim Abdul Rehman

In his tremendously famous book “This is Kashmir’’  published by Messrs Cassel and Company Limited, Queen Victoria Street London (1954), the author of the book Pearce Gervis  refers to  a very interesting encounter  with a Kashmiri Hakim Abdul Rehman. In fact, Mr. Gervis got introduced to our Hakim Saheb through one Colonel about whose nationality,  the author makes no mention.

       This Colonel   reposed such faith in the Hakim, that he insisted Abdul Rehman be included as a person of interest in Mr. Gervis’ travelogue.

So, Pearce Gervis writes about the Hakim—Abdul Rehman: “ He wore the voluminous effeminate gown….. On his head was an enormous spotless white turban so big that I might have taken him for a Hindu, had the `Tika’ mark not been present on his forehead.’’

Gervis was made to meet the Hakim through a jumble of intersecting lanes and by-lanes, crisscrossing shabby clusters of huts and was assured into a large hall of a very big house where everybody would be seated cross-legged beside small low-level tables. The walls of this room where   adored with Mughal era paintings and this would serve as a big consultation room. The same was proportionally partitioned by curtains to separate the consulting room and the dispensary.

 The Colonel confessed that he was indebted to the Hakim Saheb. Some 20 years before (which roughly comes to somewhat late 1930s), this Colonel had actually developed appendicitis. While the doctors had recommended   a surgical procedure,  he had avoided himself coming under the surgical knife. He was advised to give a vague try with “Dast-e-Shifa” of our Hakim. So, the services of Abdul Rehman were sought who in his very graceful and humble manner brought  a bottle of Kashmiri medicine  along with him. Next day, when the doctors in the Military Hospital examined the Colonel, he was declared to have been cured of his medical condition, which was naturally, a thing of wonder!

    Mr. Gervis writes that when he brought-up the issue of Colonel’s medical condition  before  Abdul Rehman, he not only  testified the same but also claimed   to be the descendant of the same Yogi who had cured  King Zain-ul-Abedin—the Budshah .So much so for Shri Bhatt’s progeny!