” Badkar pano khudra drakhu, che na yaad rodie ni kein,
Tawan chu duniya your kyazi aakhou che na yaad rodie ni kein “
This Kashmiri poetic couplet is of a great sofi poet cum saint whom we popularly call as Socha Kraal.
Arif Kraal and his wife Zooni of Koil Pulwama hadn’t a child for a long time and suddenly a God fearing saint visited the village. People from the village went for their pleas to this saint. Arif Kraal and Zooni too requested the saint for special prayers in their favour. The God fearing Saint gave two sweet candies each to Arif and his wife Zooni. It was told them that the male child when born be given back to him after twelve years. After some time a male child was born and they named him Ismail. Exactly after twelve years same saint visited again their residence and renamed him as Socha and took him to Inder village of Pulwama.
Socha Kraal is among the great sofi saints our valley has given birth to. When his poetic compositions are studied and comprehended , his great stature gets unfolded. It is being revealed that when Socha Kraal was busy in making pottery at his native Inder village of Pulwama district , he occasionally went to mosque for prayers.
Villagers of Inder were displeased with this act of Socha Kraal and they decided not to allow him to be buried in local graveyard after his death. Somehow this news reached Socha Kraal and he enquired from few villagers if this has been decided in his favour. They replied ” yes you have heard right.”
Socha Kraal in his reply told them ” you think so about me but i know what I am. I am one of the worst human beings on this planet. I am not yet so pure to stand before almighty during my prayers. Once I offered two rakat salah in mosque with you , i think i am still busy in those two rakats. Because the crux of salah is much deeper and difficult to understand. One who prays regularly in mosque with utmost faith and belief can’t be a lier. He can’t be a cheater. He won’t kill an innocent being and never be a wrong doer. When I introspect myself, I think despite offering prayers I am still a wrong doer”.
These are the divine qualities of great saints through which they consider themselves as low as dust particles.
Once more than hundred people gathered at Socha Kraals residence, his wife got worried about the tea and lunch to be served to guests. Socha Sahib only assured his wife. Every guest took both tea and lunch but the vessels were still containing the tea and food for lunch.
At another time, Socha Sahib was selling earthen pots at Ratnipora and he saw a number of people chiding an already dead bull. When enquired it was revealed that the bull died before returning back his credit. Socha Sahib told the bull ” By Allah’s orders kindly get up and return your credit “. The bull came back to life and went back to his master. Every body at Ratnipora was astonished to see this.
At some another time, a person came to Socha Kraal sahib and told him ” I had bought a cow. She was yielding enough milk for us but since yesterday she stopped her milk “. Upon hearing this Socha sahib gave him some water in a bowl and told him to massage the milk sucking portion of cow. The cow yielded so much milk that every vessel in the house got filled with milk.
Socha Kraal was among the great saints and his greatness can also be realised from these verses.
” Krouth peum yaari doud bi weanith zani kas,
Soi doud chum mei jigras.
Ander achthi kan mei deutmas dil kis sitaras,
Ha Socha Kraalo muhram sapan tas
Soi doud chum mei jigras.”
Also Read : Rape- Crime Against Humanity
Only a persons with super natural intellect and vision can say and understand this. Sofi Poets and saints of Kashmir expressed their happenings and feelings only to a level they belonged to , but so for as Socha Kraal is concerned he is among those great saints who like Alama Iqbal (RA) expressed his feelings in the form of Jiwabi Shikwa. Socha Kraal expresses his feelings in these verses also…….
“Dapomie balyaras yaer lagow,
Temi dopnum bozwun chus koni lagow,
Dapomus kein chi abad kein wearan,
Temi dopnum ami seith cham keam nearan,
Dapomus kya chu ander kya chu neabar,
Temi dopnum yie chu ander tie chu neabar.”
It is a fact that in Socha Kraal’s neighbourhood there lived a pandit man who was caught in a severe disease. He was a highly literate man and knew that Socha Kraal wasn’t an ordinary person. He often visited Socha Kraal’s residence to get some relief from the ailment. His prayers he considered not less than an effective medicine .Before his death, Pandit ji had told his spouse ” when Socha Sahib passes away, he should be buried in our land because the people of his locality have decided not to allow his burial in the local graveyard “. After Socha Sahib’s death he was buried in Pandit ji’s piece of land which he had bought from him from the income which he had collected by selling earthen pots and still his tomb is there.
May Socha Kraal’s soul rest in peace and may almighty Allah grant him highest place in Jannah.
Author is a columnist and teaches at
Govt Secondary School Anderwan Ganderbal
