[Reader-list] Kashmiriyat minus Kashmiri Pandits

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

Kashmiriyat minus Kashmiri Pandits by Autar Krishan Lidhoo

Link - http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=134756

THE ABORIGINES of Kashmir - the community of Kashmiri Pandits (KPs), it is
said, had a glorious past with a rich history of over 5000 years. However,
during the past 18 years, the community stands nowhere on the Kashmir soil.
It has become rootless and its rich history now appears to be almost lost,
with the new generation of Kashmiri Muslims even unaware of a community
called Kashmiri Pandits. Is this the concept of Kashmiriyat, which President
Pratibha Patil talked about as a living legend during her just concluded
visit to the Valley?

About two decades back, this was not the case. The multi-ethnic culture was
what Kashmir was known for but now it is the other way around. It is the
ugly side of Kashmir. There is unfortunately no one amongst the old lot
mustering courage to tell the new generation of Kashmiri Muslims as to, who
the KPs - locally known as 'Battas'- were and how they talked, moved,
studied and tutored fellow Kashmiris. Now the new generation of both the
communities are faced with a cultural and generational gap.

It could be possibly because of this reason that an Institute of Kashmir
Studies (IKS) was inaugurated in the Kashmir University by President Patil
on May 26. In the inaugural address, she talked highly about the amalgam of
pristine beauty, enchanting landscape, rich culture, and seat of learning
and a melting pot of ideas. She said, Kashmir has lived as the finest centre
of learning. She talked about cultural cohesion and contributions of various
spiritual and philosophical saints and seers to Kashmiriyat.

But Patil seems to have forgotten the hard fact that the Pandits, who were
once an important component of the legacy of Kashmiriyat, are now nowhere on
the canvas of Kashmir. Is this the concept of Kashmiriyat (minus Kashmiri
Pandits) she was referring to? A big contradiction.

The President was absolutely right when she recalled the contributions of
great Kashmiris of yesteryears like Charaka, Bhartrihari, Bilhana and
Kalhana and all those saints and sages, who lived in Kashmir, the
'Reshiwari' - an abode of sages.

But then that was the concept of Kashmiriyat of yesteryear. Now this concept
seems to have changed for the moment. It is now Kashmir minus the KPs. One
has to accept this reality. The IKS will recall and work on the dead but
what about those, who are dying every day away from Kashmir?

The circumstances have forced the Kashmiri Pandits to get scattered, forget
the roots and everything linked with Kashmir. The irony is that the future
generation cannot speak and understand their own mother-tongue. The reason
being that in culturally alien places, there is no one to teach them
Kashmiri, which they want to speak. They are forced to live in exile and go
for intercaste marriages. The elders and middle-aged community members, who
want to go back are told that situation is not yet ripe for their so-called
honourable return.

Isnt it a genocide and annihilation of the culture and the community? Where
is then the concept of Kashmiriyat everybody talks about?

The new generation of Kashmiri Muslims, brought up during the past 20 years
in a society sans KPs, is unfortunately unaware of the ethos and culture of
the Pandits. They are not to be blamed for it. So is the case with the
exiled KP generation, whose young ones have unwillingly got amalgamated with
other cultures. Then what is this legacy of the so-called Kashmiriyat?

Kashmiriyat now needs to be redefined since it misses the important
component - KPs. Now there are no sages and saints in Kashmir. No Charaka or
Bilhana or, for that matter, Kalhana to write a new chapter of Rajtarangni.