58-630: Ethnic language Kashmiri The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins ) 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
116-689: A Kashmiri language movement have been challenged by the scattered nature of the Kashmiri-speaking community in Azad Kashmir. The Kashmiri language is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India . It was a part of the Eighth Schedule in the former constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. Along with other regional languages mentioned in the Sixth Schedule , as well as Hindi and Urdu, the Kashmiri language
174-523: A clandestine exodus been a subject of controversy. Many of the refugee Kashmiri Pandits have been living in abject conditions in refugee camps of Jammu. The government has reported on the terrorist threats to Pandits still living in the Kashmir region. 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
232-454: A consequence of this was that the traditional lines of varna were blurred, with the exception of that for the Brahmins. 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. A historically contested region, Northern India was subject to attack from Turkic and Arab regimes from
290-540: A decrease in demand for Hindu priests, which led most Kashmiri Brahmins to seek secular employment. 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
348-427: 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. Wanvun singing is an integral part of Kashmiri Pandit religious ceremonies. Harmukh is traditionally revered by Kashmiri Pandits and in 2009 there
406-568: A meritocracy and both Brahmins and Buddhists were among his closest advisors. 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
464-424: A modest set of reports and booklets. More than 130 journals are received regularly. Apart from works on contemporary themes, the library houses a collection of works on Asia and Africa, the arms race and peace movement, non-European perspectives, science studies, ecology and environment, and human rights. There is a separate collection of Hindi books covering a broad range of subjects including literature. The access to
522-446: A number of authors, approximately 100,000 of the total Kashmiri Pandit population of 140,000 left the valley during the 1990s. Other authors have suggested a higher figure for the exodus, ranging from the entire population of over 150,000, to 190,000 of a total Pandit population of 200,000, to a number as high as 800,000. The nature of the planned exodus has remain controversial, with the involvement of then Governor Jagmohan in organising
580-504: A political party in Jammu and Kashmir, advocates for two Union Territories in Kashmir, one being Panun Kashmir for Kashmiri Hindus. According to the 1941 census, there were 78,800 Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir Valley. They were distributed into the two districts of Valley, the Baramulla district, where Hindus constituted 2.1 per cent of the population; 12,919 Hindus out of 612,428 total. and
638-485: 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. There are zones set up with offices for relief. Many Orders, Circulars and recommendations have been issued for relief of Kashmiri Pandits. The Jammu And Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection And Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997, provides that "Any person who
SECTION 10
#1732858864088696-415: 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 . They also wear the mekhalā, which is a type of girdle . There are many references to
754-587: Is a Dardic Indo-Aryan language spoken by around 7 million Kashmiris of the Kashmir region , primarily in the Kashmir Valley and Chenab Valley of the Indian-administrated union territory of Jammu and Kashmir , over half the population of that territory. Kashmiri has split ergativity and the unusual verb-second word order . Since 2020, It has been made an official language of Jammu and Kashmir along with Dogri , Hindi , Urdu and English. Kashmiri
812-437: Is a fusional language with verb-second (V2) word order. Several of Kashmiri's grammatical features distinguish it from other Indo-Aryan languages . Kashmiri nouns are inflected according to gender, number and case. There are no articles , nor is there any grammatical distinction for definiteness , although there is some optional adverbial marking for indefinite or "generic" noun qualities. The Kashmiri gender system
870-540: Is also among the 22 scheduled languages of India. Kashmiri is spoken by roughly five percent of Pakistani-administrated Azad Kashmir 's population. There are about 6.8 million speakers of Kashmiri and related dialects in Jammu and Kashmir and amongst the Kashmiri diaspora in other states of India. Most Kashmiri speakers are located in the Kashmir Valley , Chenab valley and other areas of Jammu and Kashmir. In kashmir valley and Chenab valley they form Majority. Kashmiri
928-572: 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." 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
986-470: Is distinct from, although still intelligible with, the Kashmiri of the Neelam Valley to the north. In Neelam Valley, Kashmiri is the second most widely spoken language and the majority language in at least a dozen or so villages, where in about half of these, it is the sole mother tongue. The Kashmiri dialect of Neelum is closer to the variety spoken in northern Kashmir Valley, particularly Kupwara . At
1044-449: Is divided into masculine and feminine. Feminine forms are typically generated by the addition of a suffix (or in most cases, a morphophonemic change, or both) to a masculine noun. A relatively small group of feminine nouns have unique suppletion forms that are totally different from the corresponding masculine forms. The following table illustrates the range of possible gender forms: دُکاندار دُکانداریٚنؠ Centre for
1102-405: Is one of the major festivals of Kashmiri Pandits. Navreh or the Kashmiri lunar new year is also an important Pandit festival. 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
1160-412: 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
1218-471: Is pronounced as / t͡s / instead of / ʒ / . However, the vowel inventory of Kashmiri is significantly larger than other Perso-Arabic derived or influenced South Asian Perso-Arabic scripts. There are 17 vowels in Kashmiri, shown with diacritics , letters ( alif , waw , ye ), or both. In Kashmiri, the convention is that most vowel diacritics are written at all times. Despite Kashmiri Perso-Arabic script cutting across religious boundaries and being used by both
SECTION 20
#17328588640881276-466: Is recognized as the official script of Kashmiri language by the Jammu and Kashmir government and the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages . The Kashmiri Perso-Arabic script has been derived from Persian alphabet . The consonant inventory and their corresponding pronunciations of Kashmiri Perso-Arabic script doesn't differ from Perso-Arabic script, with the exception of the letter ژ , which
1334-541: Is spoken by roughly five percent of Azad Kashmir 's population. According to the 1998 Pakistan Census , there were 132,450 Kashmiri speakers in Azad Kashmir. Native speakers of the language were dispersed in "pockets" throughout Azad Kashmir, particularly in the districts of Muzaffarabad (15%), Neelam (20%) and Hattian (15%), with very small minorities in Haveli (5%) and Bagh (2%). The Kashmiri spoken in Muzaffarabad
1392-406: The 2017 Census of Pakistan , as many as 350,000 people declared their first language to be Kashmiri. A process of language shift is observable among Kashmiri-speakers in Azad Kashmir according to linguist Tariq Rahman , as they gradually adopt local dialects such as Pahari-Pothwari , Hindko or move towards the lingua franca Urdu . This has resulted in these languages gaining ground at
1450-489: 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. Panun Kashmir has made demands for a separate homeland for the community in the southern part of Kashmir. Ikkjutt Jammu ,
1508-454: The Anantnag district, where they were 7.84 per cent of the population. Scholar Christopher Snedden states that the Pandits made up about 6 per cent of the Kashmir Valley's population in 1947. 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
1566-735: The Dogra rule . In 2020, Kashmiri became an official language in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the first time. Poguli and Kishtwari are closely related to Kashmiri, which are spoken in the mountains to the south of the Kashmir Valley and have sometimes been counted as dialects of Kashmiri. The people in the Chenab region of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir mainly speak kashmiri but accent and some words are little bit different and they are sometimes referred as Chenabi Kashmiris meaning Kashmiris of Chenab Valley . Kashmiri has
1624-606: The Jammu Division of the State and the National Capital Region of India. Some emigrated to other countries entirely. By 2011, only an estimated 2,700-3,400 Pandits remained in the Kashmir Valley . According to Indian government, more than 60,000 families are registered as Kashmiri migrants including some Sikh and Muslim families. Most families were resettled in Jammu, NCR and other neighbouring states. Kashmir has also been
1682-773: The Kashmiri Hindus and the Kashmiri Muslims , some attempts have been made to give a religious outlook regarding the script and make Kashmiri Perso-Arabic script to be associated with Kashmiri Muslims , while the Kashmiri Devanagari script to be associated with some sections of Kashmiri Hindu community. The Kashmiri language was traditionally written in the Sharada script after the 8th Century A.D. The script grew increasingly unsuitable for writing Kashmiri because it couldn't adequately represent Kashmiri peculiar sounds by
1740-604: 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. According to
1798-615: The CSDS. It was housed initially in a building owned by the Indian Adult Education Association at Indraprastha Estate, Delhi. CSDS later moved in 1966–1967 to its present location. The library at CSDS started with a few bookshelves in the basement of IAEA and grew into a fully-fledged one by 1970. It is meant primarily for research and higher learning in the field of social sciences and humanities. The collection consists of about 29,000 books and 5,000 bound volumes of journals and
Kashmiri Pandits - Misplaced Pages Continue
1856-534: The Hindu Lohara dynasty . 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. The Brahmins had something to be particularly unhappy about during
1914-765: The Indo-Aryan mainstream. One is the partial maintenance of the three sibilant consonants s ṣ ś of the Old Indo-Aryan period. For another example, the prefixing form of the number 'two', which is found in Sanskrit as dvi- , has developed into ba-/bi- in most other Indo-Aryan languages, but du- in Kashmiri (preserving the original dental stop d ). Seventy-two is dusatath in Kashmiri, bahattar in Hindi-Urdu and Punjabi, and dvisaptati in Sanskrit. Certain features in Kashmiri even appear to stem from Indo-Aryan even predating
1972-782: 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
2030-596: The Kashmiri language: the Perso-Arabic script , the Devanagari script and the Sharada script . The Roman script is also sometimes informally used to write Kashmiri, especially online. Today Kashmiri is primarily written in Perso-Arabic (with some modifications). Among languages written in the Perso-Arabic script, Kashmiri is one of the scripts that regularly indicates all vowel sounds. The Kashmiri Perso-Arabic script
2088-635: The Study of Developing Societies The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies ( CSDS ) is an Indian research institute for social sciences and humanities . It was founded in 1963 by Rajni Kothari and is largely funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research . It is located in New Delhi , close to Delhi University . Kothari left his position as assistant director of the National Institute of Community Development in 1963 to establish
2146-553: 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. 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
2204-667: The Vedic period. For instance, there was an /s/ > /h/ consonant shift in some words that had already occurred with Vedic Sanskrit (This tendency was complete in the Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian), yet is lacking in Kashmiri equivalents. The word rahit in Vedic Sanskrit and modern Hindi-Urdu (meaning 'excluding' or 'without') corresponds to rost in Kashmiri. Similarly, sahit (meaning 'including' or 'with') corresponds to sost in Kashmiri. There are three orthographical systems used to write
2262-620: The collection has been computerised and the catalogue can be accessed through any computer in the centre. The CSDS library is a member of the Developing Libraries Network and the Social Science Libraries Network . The CSDS Data Unit, established in 1965, maintains an archive of survey data on political behaviour and attitudes, spanning over four decades. The unit also holds a number of secondary data sets, especially on elections in India. Programmes operated by
2320-399: 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
2378-468: The expense of Kashmiri. There have been calls for the promotion of Kashmiri at an official level; in 1983, a Kashmiri Language Committee was set up by the government to patronise Kashmiri and impart it in school-level education. However, the limited attempts at introducing the language have not been successful, and it is Urdu, rather than Kashmiri, that Kashmiri Muslims of Azad Kashmir have seen as their identity symbol. Rahman notes that efforts to organise
Kashmiri Pandits - Misplaced Pages Continue
2436-710: The financial means to do so. 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. The Kashmiri Pandits have a tradition of consuming meat, including mutton and fish, but they obey restrictions laid down by the shastras of not eating the meat of forbidden animals such as beef and pork. Frederick J. Simoons says that according to some reports, Kashmiri Pandits also consume fish as part of their diet. The Kashmiri Pandits are divided into three subcastes: Guru/Bāchabat (priests), Jotish (astrologers), and Kārkun (who were historically mainly employed by
2494-446: The first year of the Kashmiri insurgency. 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. 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. As of 2016,
2552-444: The following phonemes. The oral vowels are as follows: The short high vowels are near-high , and the low vowels apart from /aː/ are near-low . Nasalization is phonemic. All sixteen oral vowels have nasal counterparts. Palatalization is phonemic. All consonants apart from those in the post-alveolar/palatal column have palatalized counterparts. Kashmiri, as also the other Dardic languages, shows important divergences from
2610-700: The government). All three subcastes interdine and interteach, but only the Jotish and Kārkun subcastes intermarry. Kashmiri Hindus are Saraswat Brahmins and are known by the exonym Pandit . Kashmiri Hindus society reckons descent patrilineally. Certain property and titles may be inherited through the male line, but certain inheritances may accrue through the female line. Some prominent Kashmiri Pandit krams include: Kashmiri language Kashmiri ( English: / k æ ʃ ˈ m ɪər i / kash- MEER -ee ) or Koshur (Kashmiri: کٲشُر ( Perso-Arabic , Official Script ) , pronounced [kəːʃur] )
2668-456: The members of these communities could read and write English and were educated beyond school. 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, and by 1981 the Pandit population amounted to 5 per cent of the total. They began to leave in much greater numbers in
2726-424: 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. 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
2784-417: 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. Zulju, who was probably a Mongol from Turkistan , wreaked devastation in 1320, when he commanded a force that conquered many regions of the Kashmir Valley. However, Zulju was probably not a Muslim. The actions of Sultan Sikandar Butshikan (1389–1413),
2842-648: The schwa-like vowel [ə] & elongated schwa-like vowel [əː] and a new stand alone vowel ॵ and vowel sign कॏ for the open-mid back rounded vowel [ɔ] which can be used instead of the consonant व standing-in for this vowel. Vowel mark 𑆘 = 𑆘𑆳 𑆛 = 𑆛𑆳 𑆟 = 𑆟𑆳 𑆓 = 𑆓𑆶 𑆙 = 𑆙𑆶 𑆚 = 𑆚𑆶 𑆝 = 𑆝𑆶 𑆠 = 𑆠𑆶 𑆨 = 𑆨𑆶 𑆫 = 𑆫𑆶 𑆯 = 𑆯𑆶 𑆓 = 𑆓𑆷 𑆙 = 𑆙𑆷 𑆚 = 𑆚𑆷 𑆝 = 𑆝𑆷 𑆠 = 𑆠𑆷 𑆨 = 𑆨𑆷 𑆫 = 𑆫𑆷 𑆯 = 𑆯𑆷 Kashmiri
2900-417: 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
2958-470: The threat of economic and social decline. In the 1981 census, the Kashmir Division had 124,078 Hindus, the majority of whom were Pandits. Scholar Alexander Evans estimates by 1990, there would have been 160,000–170,000 Pandits in the Kashmir Valley. Following the 1989 insurgency , a great majority of Pandits felt threatened and left the Kashmir Valley for other parts of India. A large number settled in
SECTION 50
#17328588640883016-563: The usage of its vowel signs. Therefore, it is not in common use today and is restricted to religious ceremonies of the Kashmiri Pandits . There have been a few versions of the Devanagari script for Kashmiri. The 2002 version of the proposal is shown below. This version has readers and more content available on the Internet, even though this is an older proposal. This version makes use of
3074-450: The vowels ॲ/ऑ and vowel signs कॅ/कॉ for the schwa-like vowel [ə] and elongated schwa-like vowel [əː] that also exist in other Devanagari-based scripts such as Marathi and Hindi but are used for the sound of other vowels. Tabulated below is the latest (2009) version of the proposal to spell the Kashmiri vowels with Devanagari. The primary change in this version is the changed stand alone characters ॳ / ॴ and vowel signs कऺ / कऻ for
3132-442: 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
3190-580: Was an attempt by them to revive pilgrimages to the site. The Mata Kheerbhawani temple shrine in Srinagar , considered one of the holiest Hindu shrines, saw the largest gathering of Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley in 2012. The shrine is located in Tullamulla village, 24 km from Srinagar in Ganderbal district. The Kashmiri Pandits festivals include Shivratri (or Herath in the Kashmiri language) which
3248-608: Was one of the first persons to help them after which Punjab also followed suit. 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 . In 2010, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir noted that 808 Pandit families, comprising 3,445 people, were still living in
3306-420: Was that the Kashmir Valley became a predominantly Muslim region. 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
3364-418: Was to be developed in the state. After Hindi , Kashmiri is the second fastest growing language of India , followed by Meitei ( Manipuri ) as well as Gujarati in the third place, and Bengali in the fourth place, according to the 2011 census of India . Persian began to be used as the court language in Kashmir during the 14th centuries, under the influence of Islam. It was replaced by Urdu in 1889 during
#87912