Total population | |
---|---|
300,000 [1] [2] [3] to 600,000 [4] [5] [6] (est. living in the Kashmir Valley prior to 1990) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Historically: Kashmir Other communities: National Capital Region • Ladakh • Uttar Pradesh • Himachal Pradesh • Uttarakhand • Haryana • Rajasthan • Indian Punjab | |
Languages | |
Kashmiri, Hindi | |
Religion | |
Hinduism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Kashmiris (Kashmiri Hindus), Saraswat Brahmins |
The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) [7] 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 [8] from the Kashmir Valley, [9] [10] a mountainous region located within the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiri Pandits originally lived in the Kashmir Valley before Muslim influence entered the region, following which large numbers converted to Islam. They are the only remaining Hindu community native to Kashmir. [11]
The Hindu caste system of the Kashmir region was influenced by the influx of Buddhism from the time of Asoka, around the third century BCE, and a consequence of this was that the traditional lines of varna were blurred, with the exception of that for the Brahmins. [12] [13] Another notable feature of early Kashmiri society was the relative high regard in which women were held when compared to their position in other communities of the period. [14]
A historically contested region, Northern India was subject to attack from Turkic and Arab regimes from the eighth century onwards, but they generally ignored the mountain-circled Kashmir Valley in favour of easier pickings elsewhere. It was not until the fourteenth century that Muslim rule was finally established in the Valley and when this happened it did not occur primarily as a consequence of invasion so much as because of internal problems resulting from the weak rule and corruption endemic in the Hindu Lohara dynasty. [15] [16] Mohibbul Hasan describes this collapse as
The Dãmaras (feudal chiefs) grew powerful, defied royal authority, and by their constant revolts plunged the country into confusion. Life and property were not safe, agriculture declined, and there were periods when trade came to a standstill. Socially and morally too the court and the country had sunk to the depths of degradations. [16]
The Brahmins had something to be particularly unhappy about during the reign of the last Lohara king, for Sūhadeva chose to include them in his system of onerous taxation, whereas previously they appear to have been exempted. [17]
Zulju, who was probably a Mongol from Turkistan, [18] wreaked devastation in 1320, when he commanded a force that conquered many regions of the Kashmir Valley. However, Zulju was probably not a Muslim. [18] The actions of Sultan Sikandar Butshikan (1389–1413), the seventh Muslim ruler in Kashmir were also significant to the area. The Sultan has been referred to as an iconoclast because of his destruction of many non-Muslim religious symbols and the manner in which he forced the population to convert or flee. Many followers of the traditional religions who did not convert to Islam instead migrated to other parts of India. The migrants included some Pandits, although it is possible that some of this community relocated for economic reasons as much as to escape the new rulers. Brahmins were at that time generally being offered grants of land in other areas by rulers seeking to utilise the traditionally high literacy and general education of the community, as well as the legitimacy conferred upon them by association. The outcome of this shift both in population and in religion was that the Kashmir Valley became a predominantly Muslim region. [19] [20] It was during the 14th century that the Kashmiri Pandits likely split into their three subcastes: Guru/Bāchabat (priests), Jotish (astrologers), and Kārkun (who were historically mainly employed by the government). The majority of Kashmiri Brahmins are Kārkuns, and this is likely due to the conversion of the majority of Kashmiris to Islam, which led to a decrease in demand for Hindu priests, which led most Kashmiri Brahmins to seek secular employment. [21]
Butshikan's heir, the devout Muslim Zain-ul-Abidin (1423–74), was tolerant of Hindus to the extent of sanctioning a return to Hinduism of those who had been forcibly converted to the Muslim faith, as well as becoming involved in the restoration of temples. He respected the learning of these Pandits, to whom he gave land as well as encouraging those who had left to return. He operated a meritocracy and both Brahmins and Buddhists were among his closest advisors. [22]
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D.L. Sheth, the former director of the Center for the Study of Developing Societies in India (CSDS), lists Indian communities that constituted the middle class and were traditionally "urban and professional" (following professions like doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, etc.) immediately after Independence in 1947. This list included the Kashmiri Pandits, the Nagar Brahmins from Gujarat; the South Indian Brahmins; the Punjabi Khatris, and Kayasthas from northern India; Chitpawans and CKPs (Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus) from Maharashtra; the Probasi and the Bhadralok Bengalis; the Parsis and the upper crusts of Muslim and Christian communities. According to P.K.Verma, "Education was a common thread that bound together this pan Indian elite" and almost all the members of these communities could read and write English and were educated beyond school. [23] [24] [25]
The Kashmiri Pandits had been a favoured section of the population of the valley during Dogra rule (1846–1947). 20 per cent of them left the valley as a consequence of the 1950 land reforms, [26] and by 1981 the Pandit population amounted to 5 per cent of the total. [27]
They began to leave in much greater numbers in the 1990s during the eruption of militancy, following persecution and threats by radical Islamists and militants. The events of 19 January 1990 were particularly vicious. On that day, mosques issued declarations that the Kashmiri Pandits were Kafirs and that the males had to leave Kashmir, convert to Islam or be killed. Those who chose to the first of these were told to leave their women behind. The Kashmiri Muslims were instructed to identify Pandit homes so they could be systematically targeted for conversion or killing. [28]
According to a number of authors, approximately 100,000 of the total Kashmiri Pandit population of 140,000 left the valley during the 1990s. [29] Other authors have suggested a higher figure for the exodus, ranging from the entire population of over 150,000, [30] to 190,000 of a total Pandit population of 200,000, [31] to a number as high as 800,000. [32] The nature of the planned exodus has remain controversial, with the involvement of then Governor Jagmohan in organising a clandestine exodus been a subject of controversy. [33] Many of the refugee Kashmiri Pandits have been living in abject conditions in refugee camps of Jammu. [34] The government has reported on the terrorist threats to Pandits still living in the Kashmir region. [35] [36]
Some Hindus across India tried to help the Pandits. Bal Thackeray from Maharashtra got seats reserved in engineering colleges for the children of these Pandits. He was one of the first persons to help them after which Punjab also followed suit. [37] [38] [39]
In 2009 the Oregon Legislative Assembly passed a resolution to recognise 14 September 2007, as Martyrs Day to acknowledge ethnic cleansing and campaigns of terror inflicted on non-Muslim minorities of Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists seeking to establish an Islamic state. [40]
In 2010, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir noted that 808 Pandit families, comprising 3,445 people, were still living in the Valley and that financial and other incentives put in place to encourage others to return there had been unsuccessful. According to a J&K government report, 219 members of the community had been killed in the region between 1989 and 2004 but none thereafter. [41] The local organisation of pandits in Kashmir, Kashmir Pandit Sangharsh Samiti after carrying out a survey in 2008 and 2009, said that 399 Kashmiri Pandits were killed by insurgents from 1990 to 2011 with 75% of them being killed during the first year of the Kashmiri insurgency. [42] [43]
The exiled community had hoped to return after the situation improved. They have not done so because the situation in the Valley remains unstable and they fear a risk to their lives. [44]
As of October 2015, only 1 Kashmiri Pandit family returned to the Kashmir valley since 1990 according to the Jammu & Kashmir government despite the financial assistance being given for rehabilitation. [45] As of 2016, a total of 1,800 Kashmiri Pandit youths have returned to the valley since the announcing of Rs. 1,168-crore package in 2008 by the UPA government. [46]
There are zones set up with offices for relief. [47] Many Orders, Circulars and recommendations have been issued for relief of Kashmiri Pandits. [48] [49] [50]
The Jammu And Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection And Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997, provides that "Any person who is an unauthorised occupant or recipient of any usufruct of any immovable property of the migrant shall pay to the migrant such compensation for the period of unauthorised occupation and in such a manner as may be determined by the District Magistrate." [51]
Following the migration of the Kashmiri Pandit community, various socio-political organisations have sprung up to represent the cause of the displaced community. The most prominent among these are the All India Kashmiri Samaj or AIKS, All India Kashmiri Pandit conference, Panun Kashmir & Kashmiri Samiti. These organisations are involved in rehabilitation of the community in the valley through peace negotiations, mobilisation of human rights groups and job creation for the Pandits. [52]
Panun Kashmir has made demands for a separate homeland for the community in the southern part of Kashmir. [53] Ikkjutt Jammu, a political party in Jammu and Kashmir, advocates for two Union Territories in Kashmir, one being Panun Kashmir for Kashmiri Hindus. [54]
According to the 1941 census, there were 78,800 Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir Valley. [55] [56] They were distributed into the two districts of Valley, the Baramulla district, where Hindus constituted 2.1 percent of the population; 12,919 Hindus out of 612,428 total. [57] and the Anantnag district, where they were 7.84 percent of the population. [58]
Scholar Christopher Snedden states that the Pandits made up about 6 per cent of the Kashmir Valley's population in 1947, [59] which is a slight overestimate. [lower-alpha 1] By 1950, their population declined to 5 per cent as many Pandits moved to other parts of India due to the uncompensated land redistribution policy, the unsettled nature of Kashmir's accession to India and the threat of economic and social decline. [26] [27]
In the 1981 census, the Kashmir Division had 124,078 Hindus, the majority of whom were Pandits. [60] Scholar Alexander Evans estimates by 1990, there would have been 160,000–170,000 Pandits in the Kashmir Valley. [55]
Following the 1989 insurgency, a great majority of Pandits felt threatened and left the Kashmir Valley to other parts of India. A large number settled in the Jammu Division of the State and the National Capital Region of India. Some emigrated to other countries entirely. [9] [59] By 2011, only an estimated 2,700-3,400 Pandits remained in the Kashmir Valley. [10]
According to Indian government, more than 60,000 families are registered as Kashmiri migrants including some Sikh and Muslim families. [61] Most families were resettled in Jammu, NCR and other neighbouring states. [62]
Kashmir has also been a land of Sun worship with shrines such as Martand Sun Temple established by Lalitaditya Muktapida. Sun worship is believed to have been brought into Kashmir by Kushan kings from Iran. Lalitaditya's predecessor, Ranaditya, is said to have built the first sun temple. [63] Wanvun singing is an integral part of Kashmiri Pandit religious ceremonies.
Harmukh is traditionally revered by Kashmiri Pandits and in 2009 there was an attempt by them to revive pilgrimages to the site. [64] The Mata Kheerbhawani [65] temple shrine in Srinagar, considered one of the holiest Hindu shrines, saw the largest gathering of Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley in 2012. [66] [ failed verification ] The shrine is located in Tullamulla village, 24 km from Srinagar in Ganderbal district. [67]
The Kashmiri Pandits festivals include Shivratri (or Herath in the Kashmiri language) which is one of the major festivals of Kashmiri Pandits. Navreh or the Kashmiri lunar new year is also an important Pandit festival. [68]
Kshemendra's detailed records from the eleventh century describe many items of which the precise nature is unknown. It is clear that tunics known as kanchuka were worn long-sleeved by men and in both long- and half-sleeved versions by women. Caps were worn, as well as a type of turban referred to as a shirahshata, while footwear consisted of leather shoes and boots, worn with socks. Some items were elaborate, such as the peacock shoes – known as mayuropanah – worn by followers of fashion, and steel-soled shoes adorned with floral designs, lubricated internally with beeswax. [69] They also wear the mekhalā, which is a type of girdle. [70]
There are many references to the wearing of jewellery by both sexes, but a significant omission from them is any record of the dejihor worn on the ear by women today as a symbol of their being married. Kaw has speculated that this item of jewellery may not have existed at the time. The texts also refer to both sexes using cosmetics, and to the women adopting elaborate hairstyles. Men, too, might adopt stylish arrangements and wear flowers in their hair, if they had the financial means to do so. [71]
Henzae is an ancient traditional form of singing practised by Kashmiri Pandits at their festivals. It appears to have archaic features that suggest it is the oldest form of Kashmiri folk singing. [72] [73]
The Kashmiri Pandits eat mutton and fish, but obey restrictions laid down by the shastras of not eating the meat of forbidden animals. [70] Frederick J. Simoons says that according to some reports, Kashmiri Pandits also consume fish as part of their diet. [74]
The Kashmiri Pandits are divided into three subcastes: Guru/Bāchabat (priests), Jotish (astrologers), and Kārkun (who were historically mainly employed by the government). All three subcastes interdine and interteach, but only the Jotish and Kārkun subcastes intermarry. [21]
Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompasses a larger area that includes the Indian-administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Pakistani-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Chinese-administered territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract.
The history of Kashmir is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions, comprising the areas of Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia. Historically, Kashmir referred to the Kashmir Valley. 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.
Bhat is a surname in the Indian subcontinent. Bhat and Bhatt are shortened rendition of Bhatta.
The Shah Mir dynasty was a dynasty that ruled the region of Kashmir in the Indian subcontinent. The dynasty is named after its founder, Shah Mir. During the rule of the dynasty from 1339 to 1561, Islam was firmly established in Kashmir.
Kashmiris, also known as Koshurs, are first-language speakers of the Kashmiri language living mostly, but not exclusively, in the Kashmir Valley in the portion of the disputed Kashmir region administered by India.
Dhar or Dar is a Kashmiri surname. It is native to the Kashmir Valley in India, and common today among Kashmiri Hindus and Kashmiri Muslims of Hindu lineage. Outside Kashmir, it is used by members of the Kashmiri diaspora, in places like Punjab, Bengal, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, and more commonly in recent times by the global Kashmiri Pandit diaspora following the Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus in 1989–1990.
Ghiyas-ud-Din Zain-ul-Abidin was the eighth sultan of Kashmir. He was known by his subjects as Bod Shah.
Kashmiriyat is the centuries-old indigenous tradition of communal harmony and religious syncretism in the Kashmir Valley. Emerging around the 16th century, it is characterised by religious and cultural harmony, patriotism and pride for their mountainous homeland of Kashmir.
Kashmiri kinship and descent is one of the major concepts of Kashmiri cultural anthropology. Hindu and Muslim Kashmiri people living in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India and other parts of the world are from the same ethnicity.
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 ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus in 1990.
Islam is the major religion which is practiced in Kashmir, with 67.16% of the region's population identifying as Muslims, as of 2014. The religion - Islam, came to the region with the influx of Muslim Sufis preachers from Central Asia and Persia, beginning in the early 14th century. Kashmiri Muslims are natives to the Kashmir Valley. The majority of Kashmiri Muslims are Sunni. They refer to themselves as "Koshur" in their mother language. Sometime back majority of the Kashmiri Muslims were of the Sunni religious persuasion, but now with rapid business influx makes Kashmiri Shias account for about and rapidly increasing. Non-Kashmiri Muslims in Kashmir include semi-nomadic cowherds and shepherds, belonging to the Gurjar and Bakarwal communities.
The Kashmiri diaspora refers to Kashmiris who have migrated out of the Kashmir Valley into other areas and countries, and their descendants.
The culture of Kashmir is part of Indian culture that 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 effected by the Persian as well as Central Asian cultures after the Islamic invasion of Kashmir. Kashmiri culture is heavily influenced by Hinduism, Buddhism and later by Islam.
A damara was a feudal landlord of ancient Kashmir.
Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir union territory are an ongoing issue in northern parts of India. The abuses range from mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech. The Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Personnel (BSF) and various separatist militant groups have been accused and held accountable for committing severe human rights abuses against Kashmiri civilians.
Kashmiri Hindus are ethnic Kashmiris who practice Hinduism and are native to the Kashmir Valley of India. With respect to their contributions to Indian philosophy, Kashmiri Hindus developed the tradition of Kashmiri Shaivism. Most of Hindus are now mostly settled in Jammu and other parts of India, mainly after their exodus.
The Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, also known as the Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, refers to the series of anti-Hindu attacks and Pogroms that took place shortly after the inception of the Muslim-dominated insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989, which eventually forced native Kashmiri Hindus out of the Kashmir Valley. The peak phase of the exodus was in the early 1990s, when Hindus, as a result of being targeted by both independence-seeking militant groups such as the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front as well as Islamist pro-Pakistan insurgents, fled from the Kashmir Valley to seek refuge elsewhere in India. As of 2016, only 2,000–3,000 Kashmiri Hindus remain in the Kashmir Valley compared to approximately 300,000–600,000 in 1990. Consequently, 19 January 1990 is widely observed by native Kashmiri Hindu communities as "Exodus Day" to memorialize the Hindus who were either killed or forced out of Kashmir by Muslim insurgents.
The Kashmiris in Punjab are muslims who claim to historically migrate from the Kashmir Valley and settled in the Punjab. While they were spread out in entire Punjab Region however after Partition, Kashmiris living in East Punjab migrated en masse to West Punjab.
Baharistan-i-shahi is a chronicle of medieval Kashmir. The Persian manuscript was written by an anonymous author, presumably in 1614.
Ikkjutt Jammu is a political party based in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It advocates for the creation of a separate Jammu state out of the districts of Jammu Division. Ikkjutt Jammu also demands the bifurcation of Kashmir Division into two Union Territories, one being Panun Kashmir for Kashmiri Hindus. It was founded in November 2020 and is currently led by Ankur Sharma.
Kashmiri Hindus are all Saraswat brahmins, known by the exonym Pandit (the endonym being Batta), a term first reserved for emigrant Kashmiri brahmins in Mughal service.
...its main adherents came from those in government service, qualified professionals such as doctors,engineers and lawyers,business entrepreneurs,teachers in schools in the bigger cities and in the institutes of higher education, journalists[etc]...The upper castes dominated the Indian middle class. Prominent among its members were Punjabi Khatris, Kashmiri Pandits and South Indian brahmins. Then there were the 'traditional urban-oriented professional castes such as the Nagars of Gujarat, the Chitpawans and the Ckps (Chandrasenya Kayastha Prabhus)s of Maharashtra and the Kayasthas of North India. Also included were the old elite groups that emerged during the colonial rule: the Probasi and the Bhadralok Bengalis, the Parsis and the upper crusts of Muslim and Christian communities. Education was a common thread that bound together this pan Indian elite...But almost all its members spoke and wrote English and had had some education beyond school
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(help)There are even reports of certain Brahmin (Bengali Brahmins, Oriya Brahmins, Brahmins of certain parts of Bihar, Saraswat Brahmins of northern India, and Kashmiri Pandits) eating fish.
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