Languages | |
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Sacred language Sanskrit Ethnic language Hindi, Urdu, English | |
Religion | |
Majority Kashmir Shaivism Minority Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Kashmiri people, Kashmiri Muslims |
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Hinduism in India |
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Kashmiri Hindus are ethnic Kashmiris who practice Hinduism and are native to the Kashmir Valley of India. [1] With respect to their contributions to Indian philosophy, Kashmiri Hindus developed the tradition of Kashmiri Shaivism. [2] After their exodus from the Kashmir Valley in the wake of the Kashmir insurgency in the 1990s, most Kashmiri Hindus are now settled in the Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country. The largest group of Kashmiri Hindus are the Kashmiri Pandits.
During the reign of Ashoka (304–232 BCE), Kashmir became a part of the Maurya Empire and Buddhism was introduced in Kashmir. During this period, many stupas, some shrines dedicated to Shiva, and the city of Srinagari (Srinagar) were built. Kanishka (127–151 CE), an emperor of the Kushan Empire, conquered Kashmir and established the new city of Kanishkapur. [3]
The Karkota dynasty (625–855 CE) ruled over the Kashmir and parts of northern Indian subcontinent and their rule saw political expansion, economic prosperity and emergence of Kashmir as a centre of culture and scholarship. [4] [5] Lalitaditya Muktapida (724–760 CE) was a powerful ruler of the Karkota dynasty of Kashmir region in the Indian subcontinent. After the seventh century, significant developments took place in Kashmiri Hinduism. In the centuries that followed, Kashmir produced many poets, philosophers, and artists who contributed to Sanskrit literature and Hindu religion. Among notable scholars of this period was Vasugupta (c. 875–925 CE) who wrote the Shiva Sutras which laid the foundation for a monistic Shaiva system called Kashmir Shaivism. [6]
After the dawn of the Lohara dynasty, Islam had penetrated into countries outside Kashmir and in the absence of support from Hindus, who were in the majority, Rinchana needed the support of the Kashmiri Muslims. Shah Mir's coup on Rinchana's successor secured Muslim rule and the rule of his dynasty in Kashmir. [7]
The largest community within the Kashmiri Hindus are the Kashmiri Pandits (Kashmiri Brahmins), [8] [9] who are divided into several gotras, [10] such as the priests (gor or bhasha Bhatta), astrologers (Zutshi), and workers (Karkun). [11]
The Wani are historically Banias, with subcastes, such as the Kesarwani. [12] During the Mughal era, many Kesarwanis migrated to other parts of India such as Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. [13]
According to officials, 98,600 Kashmiri Hindus were issued domicile certificates of Jammu and Kashmir up to the end of June 2021. They further state, "90,430 domicile certificates were issued to displaced Kashmiri Pandits, while 2,340 families of displaced Kashmiri Pandits were registered as fresh migrants. Of these, 8,170 individuals received the domicile certificate." [14]
On 16 May 2020, Order 52 was issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Department of Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (JK DMRRR) which states that: "Bonafide migrants and bonafide displaced persons who are not yet registered with the relief and rehabilitation commissioner (migrant), Jammu and Kashmir, can apply before the competent authority for registration for purpose of issuance of a domicile certificate only." This is as long as one of the necessary documents is provided. The timeframe for registration (and claiming domicile) of Kashmiri migrants and displaced persons was later extended for the final time up to 15 May 2022. [15]
Under the rule of Sultan Sikander Butshikan in the 14th century CE, many Kashmiri Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam. [16] [17] They began to leave the valley in much greater numbers in the 1990s during the eruption of militancy following large scale militarization of Valley.
This is a list of notable Kashmiri Hindus.
The history of Kashmir is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent in South Asia with influences from the surrounding regions of Central, and East Asia. Historically, Kashmir referred to only the Kashmir Valley of the western Himalayas. Today, it denotes a larger area that includes the Indian-administered union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Pakistan-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Chinese-administered regions of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract.
The Kashmiri Pandits are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, located within the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiri Pandits are Hindu Kashmiris native to the Kashmir Valley, and the only remaining Hindu Kashmiris after the large-scale of conversion of the Valley's population to Islam during the medieval times. Prompted by the growth of Islamic militancy in the valley, large numbers left in the exodus of the 1990s. Even so, small numbers remain.
Bhat is a surname in the Indian subcontinent. Bhat and Bhatt are shortened renditions of Brahmabhatta or Bhatta.
Kashmiris are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group speaking the Kashmiri language and originating from the Kashmir Valley, which is today located in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
Dhar is a surname commonly found among the Hindu Bengali Kayastha community in West Bengal, India. Dhar or Dar is also used by some Kashmiri clans and communities native to the Kashmir Valley in Jammu and Kashmir, India, and common today among Kashmiri Hindus and Kashmiri Muslims.
Panun Kashmir is a proposed union territory of India in the Kashmir Valley, which is intended to be a homeland for Kashmiri Hindus. The demand arose after the Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus in 1990. The vision of the homeland was elucidated in the Margdarshan Resolution of 1991. Panun Kashmir is also the name of an eponymously named organization.
Kashmiri Muslims are ethnic Kashmiris who practice Islam and are native to the Kashmir Valley, an area that includes the India-administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Pakistan-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Chinese-administered territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract. The majority of Kashmiri Muslims are Sunni. They refer to themselves as "Koshur" in their mother language.
The Kesarwani, also known as Kesarvani, Keshri or Kesri, are sub Bania caste found in India. They originated in the Kashmir region and are now found in other parts of northern India, to which they migrated during the Mughal era. Kesar refers to saffron, which they traded, and Wani refers to the Kashmiri caste to which they belong.
Sapru, also spelled as Sipru or Saproo is a Kashmiri Pandit clan and surname native to the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Haksar is a Kashmiri Pandit surname and clan. They are native to the Kashmir Valley within the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and they have a long tradition of Indian administrative service based on fluency in a link language - Persian under the Mughals and English under the British. In light of this fact, the Haksar family historically became a prominent administrative family in other parts of India, namely in Indore and Gwalior.
The Kashmiri diaspora refers to Kashmiris who have migrated out of the Kashmir into other areas and countries, and their descendants.
The culture of Kashmir encompasses the spoken language, written literature, cuisine, architecture, traditions, and history of the Kashmiri people native to the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. The culture of Kashmir was influenced by the Persian as well as Central Asian cultures after the Islamic rule of Kashmir. Kashmiri culture is influenced by Hinduism, Buddhism and later by Islam.
Zutshi is a Kashmiri Pandit clan and surname, originating from the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India.
The Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, or Pandits, is their early-1990 migration, or flight, from the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley in Indian-administered Kashmir following rising violence in an insurgency. Of a total Pandit population of 120,000–140,000 some 90,000–100,000 left the valley or felt compelled to leave by the middle of 1990, by which time about 30–80 of them are said to have been killed by militants.
Wani/Vani is a surname of a caste found throughout India and Pakistan, especially in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Maharashtra. Both Wain and Wani/Vani are acceptable pronunciations.
Razdan is a Kashmiri Pandit surname and clan that refers to the royal or aristocratic bloodline of old Kashmir, mostly attributed to the warriors of the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India. They are Saraswat Brahmins from the Kashmir Valley, belonging to the larger community of Pancha-Gauda Brahmins, and are widely known for their allegiance to Lord Shiva.
The Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) is a political party in Jammu and Kashmir, India, founded by Altaf Bukhari in March 2020. It is a controlled opposition decoy party established by the Bharatiya Janata Party administration.
The Kashmir Files is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri. The film presents a fictional storyline centred around the 1990 exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Indian-administered Kashmir. It depicts the exodus and the events leading up to it as a genocide, a framing considered inaccurate by scholars. The film claims that such facts were suppressed by a conspiracy of silence.
Kashmiri Muslims represent the majority population in Kashmir Valley, while Kashmiri Hindus represent a small but significant minority community.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Hindus of the Kashmir Valley, known as Pandits, are mostly upper caste Brahmins.
Taking into account decennial growth rates and migration patterns, the 1981 census data suggests that there would have been 161,000 Hindus, most of them Kashmiri Pandits, in the valley in 1991.
'Kashmiri Brahmins are said to have originally belonged to only six gotras, -By intermarriage with other Brahmins the number of gotras multiplied to 199' ( Koul 1924).
The Hindus belong with few exceptions to the Brahman caste and are known as 'Pandits', while in other parts of India they are generally called 'Kashmiri Pandits'. These Kashmiri Brahmans are divided into three subcastes consisting, namely, of priests (gor or bhasha Bhatta), astrologers (jyotishi), and workers (karkun).
The Indic influence extends across caste and clan. The last name of Burhan Wani, the slain jihadist now deified by separatists, is derived from the Hindu bania caste, and it further devolved into specific subcastes depending on what they traded in — for instance, those who trade in saffron became Kesarwani.
A community sometimes referred to as Kesarwani, they are reported from Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, they provide histories of migration and origin which are somewhat similar. In Bihar, the Kesarwani or Kesri Bania believe that their community name indicates their original occupation of trade in kesar (saffron). They were originally the inhabitants of Kashmir who migrated to different parts of India during Mughal rule.
Then came the fanatical and tyrannical rule of Sultan Sikander, the iconoclast (1398-1420 CE) who let loose a sort of hell against the non-Muslims through forced conversions and widespread destruction of their religious shrines all over the Valley. Possibly, by this time, the lower Hindu castes had got converted to Islam with the help of passionate zeal of the Islamic missionaries moving freely among the socially backward and rigid Hindu caste hierarchies already shaken by the spread of the Buddhist creed when Kashmir was from a considerable period one of the staunchest centres of the anti-caste movement of the Buddhist cult.
This community prior to their conversion was divided amongst the Brahmin, Kshatria, Vaish, and Shudr castes.
Even now there are many distinguished scholars of Persian among the Kashmiri Brahmins in India. Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and Raja Narendranath to mention two of them.