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 Brahmin surname in the Indian subcontinent. Bhat and Bhatt are shortened renditions of Brahmabhatta or Bhatta.
Music of Jammu and Kashmir reflects a rich musical heritage and cultural legacy of the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Two different regions of Jammu and Kashmir consists the Jammu region and Kashmir Valley. Music of Kashmir Valley has influences of Central Asian music while music from Jammu region is similar to that of other regions of North India.
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, and also between China and India in the northeastern portion of the region. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claimed the entirety of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a dispute over the region that escalated into three wars between India and Pakistan and several other armed skirmishes. India controls approximately 55% of the land area of the region that includes Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, most of Ladakh, the Siachen Glacier, and 70% of its population; Pakistan controls approximately 30% of the land area that includes Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan; and China controls the remaining 15% of the land area that includes the Aksai Chin region, the mostly uninhabited Trans-Karakoram Tract, and part of the Demchok sector.
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 an Indian surname. It is commonly found among the Hindu Bengali Kayastha and Baniks including Subarnabanik community in Bengal region. Dhar or Dar is also used by some Kashmiri and Punjabi-Kashmiri clans and communities native to the Kashmir Valley and Punjab, and common today among Kashmiri Hindus and Kashmiri Muslims.
Kashmiriyat is the centuries-old indigenous tradition of communal harmony and religious syncretism in the Kashmir Valley in Indian-administered Kashmir. Emerging around the 16th century, it is characterised by religious and cultural harmony, patriotism and pride for their mountainous homeland of Kashmir.
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.
Sharada Peeth is a ruined Hindu temple and ancient centre of learning located in the Neelum Valley of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. Between the 6th and 12th centuries CE, it was among the most prominent temple universities in the Indian subcontinent. Known in particular for its library, stories recount scholars travelling long distances to access its texts. It played a key role in the development and popularisation of the Sharada script in North India, causing the script to be named after it, and Kashmir to acquire the moniker "Sharada Desh", meaning "country of Sharada".
Kashmiri Muslims are ethnic Kashmiris who practice Islam and are native to the Kashmir Valley of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. They refer to themselves as "Koshur" in the Kashmiri language.
The Kashmiri diaspora refers to ethnic 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.
Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir 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), and Border Security Personnel (BSF) have been accused of committing severe human rights abuses against Kashmiri civilians. According to Seema Kazi, militant groups have also been held responsible for similar crimes, but the vast majority of abuses have been perpetrated by the armed forces of the Indian government.
A pandit is an individual with specialised knowledge or a teacher of any field of knowledge in Hinduism, particularly the Vedic scriptures, dharma, or Hindu philosophy; in colonial-era literature, the term generally refers to lawyers specialized in Hindu law. Whereas, today the title is used for experts in other subjects, such as music. Pandit entered English as the loanword pundit, referring to a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area, usually through the mass media. Ustad is the equivalent title for a Muslim man in the musical sense. The equivalent titles for a Hindu woman are Vidushi, Pandita, or Panditain; however, these titles are not currently in widespread use.
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. 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.
Pheran or Phiran is the traditional outfit for both males and females in Kashmir.
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.
Bacha Nagma is one of the major folk dance forms found in the Kashmir valley. It is also referred to as Bacha Gyavaun in certain parts of Kashmir. Afghans of Kabul are credited with the parentage of this dance. It is a derivative of the Hafiza Nagma. During the Bacha Nagma, a teenaged boy dressed as a girl dancer, who is trained in the Hafiza style of dancing sings Kashmiri Ballad and dances. This dance is popular in the villages, mainly at the harvest time. It is also popular for being performed in social gatherings and parties by young boys who disguise themselves as women in long skirts. Bacha Nagma is common in Kashmir during wedding celebrations and when the wedding processions are taken out on boats on the Jhelum river. This dance form is much appreciated and has the ability to engage large audiences. It is accompanied by instruments like rabab, sarangi, and drums. It involves quick spinning movements just like in the Hafiza dance form and some may even resemble those of kathak. The song-dance proceeding is known as Bach Nagma Jashan - Kid Dancer's Celebration. The dancer is known as The Bacha - the Kid - usually a thin and graceful boy/man who dances, sometimes comically, is always attired like a woman in a multi-colored frock-like dress.
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.
