{"festivals":[{"id":"navreh-mavas","name":"Navreh Eve (Thaal Barun)","kashmiriName":"Navreh Mavas","altNames":["Chaitra Amavasya","Thaal Barun","Thal Bharun"],"rule":{"type":"relative","to":"navreh","offset":-1},"category":"puja","importance":2,"summary":"The new-moon evening before Navreh, when the family fills a thaal (platter) with symbols of plenty to be the first thing everyone sees on New Year morning.","dos":["Fill the thaal at night: unhusked rice, a little cooked rice, bread, curd, salt, sugar, walnuts, flowers, a coin, a pen and the new jantri","Cover the thaal and keep it in the prayer room overnight","Tell children to keep their eyes closed on waking until they are led to the thaal"],"donts":["Don't leave the thaal empty or half-filled; it stands for a full year","Don't let the thaal be the second thing you look at on Navreh morning"],"food":["Unhusked rice (dhaan) as the base of the thaal, a sign of the harvest to come","Walnuts, which are later dropped into a river or stream","Curd and salt, two everyday blessings of the Kashmiri kitchen"],"story":"Long ago, the family priest would knock on the door before New Year carrying the new jantri and a painted scroll called the Kreel Pach. That evening the household built a little world on a plate: grain, bread, salt, money, a pen, flowers. The idea is simple and lovely: whatever you see first in the new year, may you have plenty of it all year long.","deeper":"Navreh Mavas is the last night of the Kashmiri Pandit lunar year. Its main act is thaal barun, the filling of a platter. Families differ in detail, but most thaals hold unhusked rice, a cup of curd, salt, sugar candy, walnuts and almonds, a few flowers, a coin or small silver object, a pen and inkpot, a piece of bread, and the new year's jantri (almanac). Many families add a small mirror so the first face you see is your own, blessed.\n\nThe same custom is kept on the eve of Sonth, the spring festival that marks the start of the solar year. Writers on Kashmiri tradition describe thaal barun as a practice kept on the last day of both the solar and the lunar year.\n\nIn the valley the kul purohit (family priest) delivered the new jantri a day or two before Navreh along with the Kreel Pach, an illustrated sheet showing the presiding deities of the year. The priest was given dakshina in return. In the diaspora, families now buy the Vijayeshwar Panchang or another printed jantri from community shops or online.\n\nAfter the thaal is set, the evening is quiet. The real celebration begins at dawn on Navreh.","note":"Kept on the Amavasya that ends Chaitra Krishna paksha (Purnimanta naming). If the Amavasya is very short, families simply prepare the thaal on the evening before Navreh.","sources":["https://hindupad.com/navreh-mavas/","https://organiser.org/2024/03/24/228138/bharat/thaal-barun-a-unique-age-old-tradition-of-kashmir/","https://risingkashmir.com/navreh-the-kashmiri-lunar-new-year-and-the-living-heritage-of-kashmiri-pandits/","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navreh"],"fromBook":["Vichar Nag and Chetr Amavas. Chetr Amavas falls at the close of the year just before Navreh, and the thaal is prepared that night. In earlier times people went to Vichar Nag, a Srinagar spring, for a bath held to be auspicious. Astrologers also gathered there to discuss the right placing of rituals in the coming panchang, and vendors brought wya, a herb, which people bought to put on the thaal."]},{"id":"navreh","name":"Navreh (Kashmiri Pandit New Year)","kashmiriName":"Navreh","altNames":["Nav Varsha","Kashmiri New Year","Chaitra Shukla Pratipada","Saptarishi Samvat New Year"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Chaitra","paksha":"S","tithi":1},"category":"festival","importance":3,"summary":"The first day of the Kashmiri Pandit lunar year and of a new Saptarishi Samvat year, also the first day of Chaitra Navratri.","dos":["Look at the thaal first thing in the morning, before anything else","Take a walnut from the thaal and later drop it into flowing water","Wear new clothes and visit the temple of Sharika (Hari Parbat) or your local Devi temple","Read the new year's predictions in the jantri with the family","Call elders and exchange greetings: 'Navreh Mubarak'"],"donts":["Don't begin the day with quarrels or harsh words","Don't skip showing the thaal to anyone who slept away from it; bring them to it"],"food":["Tahar: yellow rice with turmeric and oil, offered to Sharika and shared as prasad","Walnuts and almonds from the thaal","A festive vegetarian or non-vegetarian meal according to family custom"],"story":"The story goes that on this day the Saptarishis, the seven great sages, gathered at Hari Parbat in Srinagar to bow to the goddess Sharika at the very moment the new year began. The astrologers began counting the years from then, which is why Kashmiri Pandits call their era the Saptarishi Samvat. Navreh 2026 began year 5102 of that count. So when you look at your thaal, you are keeping a time-count that is thousands of years old.","deeper":"Navreh (from Sanskrit nava varsha, 'new year') falls on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, the first day of the bright fortnight of Chaitra. It is the same day as Gudi Padwa and Ugadi elsewhere in India, but its customs are distinctly Kashmiri.\n\nThe day begins with the thaal prepared the night before. Everyone looks at it on waking. In the valley, many families then went to bathe at the Vicharnag spring in Srinagar and threw walnuts from the thaal into the water, and then climbed Hari Parbat to offer tahar to Sharika, the presiding goddess of Srinagar. In the diaspora, families visit local temples or hold a Navreh gathering.\n\nNavreh also opens the nine nights of Chaitra Navratri. In Kashmiri Shakta thought the Navratri is a spiritual ascent, and the third day (Zang Trai) is tied to it.\n\nThe jantri (almanac) is central. It names the Raja (king) and Mantri (minister) planets of the year and gives forecasts for rain, harvest and public life. Reading these aloud is a small family ritual in itself.\n\nSince 1990, displaced Kashmiri Pandit groups have used Navreh as a day of collective resolve, holding Navreh Milan and Navreh Mahotsav events in Jammu, Delhi and elsewhere, and pledging to celebrate a future Navreh in the valley.","note":"Chaitra Shukla Pratipada. When Pratipada begins after sunrise and ends before the next sunrise (a 'lost' tithi), Navreh is kept on the day Pratipada begins: in 2026 it was 19 March. In a year with an extra (adhik) month, follow the published jantri.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navreh","https://hindupad.com/navreh-kashmiri-hindu-new-year/","https://organiser.org/2025/04/06/285794/bharat/navreh-2025-kashmiri-pandit-community-celebrates-indigenous-new-year-with-resilience-amid-35-years-of-exile/","https://risingkashmir.com/navreh-the-kashmiri-lunar-new-year-and-the-living-heritage-of-kashmiri-pandits/","http://ikashmir.net/uambardar/hariparbat.html"],"fromBook":["The book says an unmarried daughter of the house, or any woman if she is absent, carries the thaal to every member of the family, even to their beds. The girl is given blessings and a present. A herb called wya was also placed on the thaal but has become rare. In Kashmir the men went to the river early to bathe, carrying walnuts from the thaal to offer to the river, where waiting boatmen picked them up. The rice from the thaal is used to make puri. A newborn baby or new bride gets special attention and blessings, and a newly married girl may go to her parents before the day and return in time for the festivities, bringing curd and cash as a good omen (shogun)."]},{"id":"chaitra-navratri","name":"Chaitra Navratri","kashmiriName":"Navreh Navratri","altNames":["Vasant Navratri","Spring Navratri"],"rule":{"type":"tithiRange","month":"Chaitra","paksha":"S","from":1,"to":9},"category":"period","importance":2,"summary":"The nine spring nights of the goddess, from Navreh to Ram Navami.","dos":["Light a lamp to the Devi each evening","Visit Hari Parbat, Kheer Bhawani or your local Devi temple if you can","Keep a lighter, simpler diet if your family observes the fast"],"donts":["Don't treat it only as a fast; the point is remembrance of the Mother"],"food":["Tahar (yellow rice) offered to Sharika","Fruit, milk and simple vegetarian meals for those fasting"],"story":"Kashmir has always been a land of the goddess: Sharika on Hari Parbat, Ragnya at Tulmul, Jwala at Khrew. Starting the new year with nine nights for the Mother is like asking her to walk with you all year. The third day is Zang Trai, and the ninth is Ram Navami.","deeper":"Chaitra Navratri begins on Navreh and ends on Ram Navami. For Kashmiri Pandits it is closely tied to Sharika of Hari Parbat, whose shrine devotees visited throughout these days.\n\nKashmiri Shakta writers describe the Navratri as a three-stage inner journey, beginning with the Vagbhava stage associated with Zang Trai on the third day.\n\nMany families keep a fast on some or all days, or at least on Ashtami (the eighth day).","note":"Nine days from Chaitra Shukla Pratipada to Navami. If a tithi is lost or repeated, the period may be eight or ten civil days.","sources":["https://sanjay-koul.blogspot.com/2025/03/zang-trai-sacred-kashmiri-pandit-ritual.html","http://ikashmir.net/uambardar/hariparbat.html","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navreh"],"fromBook":["Some families plant barley in a clean pot on day one, honour it, and water it with water and milk through all nine days. Healthy growth is read as a good sign, and the shoots are then put into flowing river water. Some families fast with one meal a day, and food during these days is mostly vegetarian. On Ashtami and Navami havans take place at holy sites such as Kheer Bhawani, Hari Parbat and the Ram Chander temple at Sathu, where temporary stalls (halwais) sell popular snacks."]},{"id":"zang-trai","name":"Zang Trai","kashmiriName":"Zang Trai","altNames":["Zangtrai","Chaitra Shukla Tritiya"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Chaitra","paksha":"S","tithi":3},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The third day of the new year, when married daughters visit their parents and go home with salt, bread and a little money.","dos":["Invite married daughters and sisters home","Send them back with noon (salt), tchot (bread) and atagat (a gift of money)","Share a meal together"],"donts":["Don't send a daughter back empty-handed"],"food":["Tchot (Kashmiri bread) given to the daughter","Salt, a symbol of lasting bonds and of the household's plenty","A family lunch at the parental home"],"story":"A folk story says that Parvati's parents forgot to invite her for Navreh. When they realised, they called her home on the third day for a feast and sent her back with gifts. Kashmiri families have done the same ever since, so no daughter feels forgotten at New Year.","deeper":"Zang Trai is kept on Chaitra Shukla Tritiya, two days after Navreh. Married women visit their parents' home and return to their in-laws with salt, bread and atagat. The salt carries the idea of a bond that cannot be broken, and the bread the idea of a full kitchen.\n\nThe day also has a place in Kashmiri Shakta practice. It is linked to the first stage of the Navratri ascent, the Vagbhava Koot, associated with awakening of wisdom.\n\nIn the diaspora, where parents and daughters may live far apart, families often mark the day with a call, a parcel, or by gathering at the nearest home.","note":null,"sources":["https://sanjay-koul.blogspot.com/2025/03/zang-trai-sacred-kashmiri-pandit-ritual.html","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navreh"]},{"id":"chaitra-durga-ashtami","name":"Chaitra Durga Ashtami","kashmiriName":"Tsithar Aetham","altNames":["Chaitra Shukla Ashtami","Annapurna Ashtami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Chaitra","paksha":"S","tithi":8},"category":"puja","importance":1,"summary":"The eighth day of spring Navratri, dedicated to the goddess and kept by many as a fast day.","dos":["Offer a lamp and flowers to the Devi","Keep a fast or simple meal if it is your family custom"],"donts":["Don't eat meat, onion or garlic if your family fasts today"],"food":["Tahar (yellow rice) as an offering","Fruit and milk for those fasting"],"story":"Ashtami, the eighth day, belongs to the goddess in her fierce, protecting form. On this day in spring, Kashmiri devotees would climb Hari Parbat to Sharika, who is pictured with eighteen arms guarding the city.","deeper":"The Shukla Ashtami of every month is sacred to the Devi, and during Navratri it is the most important of all. Many families who do not fast for all nine days fast on Ashtami.\n\nKashmiri Pandits link the monthly Ashtami with Sharika (Hari Parbat) and Ragnya Bhagavati (Kheer Bhawani).","note":"Jantris sometimes label the day by local name; 'Tsithar Aetham' is simply 'Chaitra Ashtami' in Kashmiri.","sources":["http://ikashmir.net/uambardar/hariparbat.html","https://kashmirasitis.com/hari-parbat-the-reservoir-of-religio-cultural-strength/"]},{"id":"ram-navami","name":"Ram Navami","kashmiriName":"Ram Navum","altNames":["Rama Navami","Chaitra Shukla Navami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Chaitra","paksha":"S","tithi":9,"at":"midday"},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The birthday of Lord Rama, which closes Chaitra Navratri.","dos":["Read or listen to a part of the Ramayana","Visit a Ram temple or hold a family bhajan","Fast until midday if it is your family custom"],"donts":["Don't eat meat on the day if you are fasting"],"food":["Fruit and simple sweets as prasad","A vegetarian festive lunch after the midday puja"],"story":"Rama was born at midday on the ninth day of Chaitra. Kashmir has its own Ramayana in Kashmiri, the Ramavatarcharit, written in the nineteenth century by the poet Prakash Ram Kurigami. So Kashmiri families can hear Rama's story in their own language.","deeper":"Ram Navami is kept across India on Chaitra Shukla Navami. It ends the nine nights of Chaitra Navratri that began on Navreh.\n\nThe main puja is traditionally at midday, the hour of Rama's birth. Families read from the Ramayana and sing bhajans.\n\nKashmiri literature has its own telling of the story, and Ram temples in Srinagar and across Kashmir were once busy on this day.","note":"If Navami covers midday on two days or on neither, follow the jantri; most panchangs choose the day on which Navami covers midday.","sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"],"fromBook":["A special feature at Srinagar was a visit to the temple inside the fort on Hari Parbat, which is closed to the public all year except on this day. Ram Navami is also marked at Chakreshwar and at Ram temples such as the Raghunath temple at Second Bridge and the Ram Chander temple at Sathu Barbarshah. The book mentions that a mela at Chakreshwar, where people of all faiths enjoyed the almond blossom, has died out."]},{"id":"hanuman-jayanti","name":"Hanuman Jayanti","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Chaitra Purnima"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Chaitra","paksha":"S","tithi":15},"category":"puja","importance":1,"summary":"The birthday of Hanuman, kept by north Indian and Kashmiri families on the full moon of Chaitra.","dos":["Recite the Hanuman Chalisa","Offer sindoor and sweets at a Hanuman temple"],"donts":["Don't eat meat if you are fasting today"],"food":["Laddoos or other sweets as prasad"],"story":"Hanuman leapt across the ocean to find Sita, and he is honoured as strength joined with devotion. In the Kheer Bhawani legend he is the one who carried the goddess Ragnya to Kashmir from Lanka.","deeper":"In north India, including Jammu and Kashmir, Hanuman Jayanti is kept on Chaitra Purnima. Some regions of India keep it on other dates, for example in Kartika or Margashirsha.\n\nKashmiri Pandits connect Hanuman with the Kheer Bhawani story, in which he brings Ragnya Devi to Tulmul.","note":"Other regions of India keep Hanuman Jayanti on different dates; Chaitra Purnima is the north Indian and Kashmiri practice.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kheer_Bhawani_Temple"]},{"id":"sonth","name":"Sonth (Spring Festival)","kashmiriName":"Sonth","altNames":["Vasant","Chaitra Sankranti","Meen Sankranti"],"rule":{"type":"sankranti","rashi":11},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The Kashmiri welcome to spring, kept when the sun enters Pisces (Mina), with a thaal like the one on Navreh.","dos":["Prepare a thaal the night before and look at it first thing in the morning","Take walnuts from the thaal and drop them into a river after bathing","Go outside and notice the first blossoms"],"donts":["Don't let the day pass without seeing the thaal first"],"food":["Unhusked rice, cooked rice, bread, curd, milk, walnuts, sugar and salt on the thaal","A cheerful family meal"],"story":"After the long Kashmiri winter, Sonth is the day spring is officially welcomed. Families fill a thaal the night before, just as on Navreh, and in the morning everyone goes to the river to drop walnuts into the water. It is the valley's way of saying: the cold is over, let the good season begin.","deeper":"Sonth is a solar festival. It falls on the day the sun enters Mina (Pisces), usually around 14 or 15 March, which begins the solar month of Chaitra. That is why some writers call it Chaitra Sankranti.\n\nIts rituals mirror Navreh. A plate is prepared the night before with rice, cooked rice, bread, curd, milk, nuts, flowers, a pen, money, a picture of a deity, the jantri, sugar and salt. On waking, each person looks at the plate first. After a ceremonial bath, walnuts are dropped into the river.\n\nTeela Aetham, a few weeks earlier, is said to signal the end of severe winter and the approach of Sonth. Together, Sonth and Navreh give Kashmiri Pandits two new-year thresholds, one solar and one lunar.","note":"Sidereal sankranti (sun entering Mina). Some families keep Sonth on the following day if the sankranti moment falls late at night; follow the jantri.","sources":["https://hindupad.com/sonth/","https://organiser.org/2024/03/24/228138/bharat/thaal-barun-a-unique-age-old-tradition-of-kashmir/","https://brighterkashmir.com/tila-ashtami-of-kashmiri-pandits"],"fromBook":["The book calls this Ison't, the first day of the solar month of Chaitra, which falls in the dark fortnight of Chaitra. The thal barun is done the night before. Lisa, a wild early-season vegetable, is rubbed on the body at the river bank before the first river bath of the season, and walnuts thrown into the river are picked up by waiting boatmen. Some go on an outing even if it is still cold."]},{"id":"akshaya-tritiya","name":"Akshaya Tritiya","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Akha Teej","Vaishakha Shukla Tritiya"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Vaishakha","paksha":"S","tithi":3},"category":"festival","importance":1,"summary":"A day considered naturally auspicious, good for beginnings, charity and buying something lasting.","dos":["Start something you care about","Give food, water or money to someone in need"],"donts":["Don't spend the day on quarrels or waste"],"food":["Simple sweets as prasad","Cool drinks shared with visitors as a charity in the summer heat"],"story":"Akshaya means 'that which never runs out'. Anything good started today is believed to keep growing. It is also remembered as the birthday of Parashurama.","deeper":"Akshaya Tritiya is one of the few days of the year considered auspicious in itself, so no special muhurta needs to be sought. It is used for starting new ventures, housewarmings and charity.\n\nThe day is kept across India. Kashmiri families have traditionally marked it more quietly than Navreh or Herath, usually with a puja and charity.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"zyeth-atham","name":"Jyeshtha Ashtami (Kheer Bhawani Mela)","kashmiriName":"Zyeth Atham","altNames":["Zyeshta Ashtami","Kheer Bhawani Mela","Mela Kheer Bhawani","Ragnya Devi Jayanti"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Jyeshtha","paksha":"S","tithi":8},"category":"festival","importance":3,"summary":"The great festival of Mata Ragnya (Kheer Bhawani) at Tulmul, when thousands gather at the sacred spring in Ganderbal.","dos":["Visit Tulmul or your nearest Kheer Bhawani temple, or light a lamp at home","Offer kheer (rice pudding), milk, sugar and flowers","Keep a vegetarian fast or simple meal","Look at the colour of the spring (or ask someone who went): it is read as a sign for the year"],"donts":["Don't eat meat, onion or garlic on the day; Ragnya is worshipped as a vegetarian goddess","Don't wear leather at the shrine"],"food":["Kheer: rice cooked in milk and sugar, the goddess's favourite offering","Milk poured into the spring","Luchi (fried bread) and halwa sold at the mela stalls"],"story":"A legend tells that the goddess Ragnya once lived in Lanka, where Ravana worshipped her. When Ravana turned to evil she refused to stay, and Hanuman carried her to Kashmir, to the marshy island of Tulmul. Her spring there changes colour, and devotees say a dark colour warns of hard times and a light colour promises good ones. Kheer is offered to her, which is why she is lovingly called Kheer Bhawani.","deeper":"The shrine of Mata Ragnya Bhagavati at Tulmul in Ganderbal district is the most loved pilgrimage of Kashmiri Pandits. Her main festival, Zyeth Atham, falls on Jyeshtha Shukla Ashtami, usually in late May or June. Many families regard Ragnya as their kuldevi (family goddess).\n\nThe centre of the shrine is a heptagonal spring with a marble temple in the middle. The present temple was built by Maharaja Pratap Singh in 1912. Swami Vivekananda visited in 1898. Devotees watch the colour of the spring closely. Accounts say it turned dark before troubled times, including before 1990.\n\nOn the day, pilgrims offer kheer, milk, sugar candy and flowers, and spend the night singing bhajans. The Mela Kheer Bhawani is also known for communal harmony: local Muslim neighbours traditionally sell flowers and milk and welcome pilgrims, and news reports of 2025 and 2026 describe emotional reunions between Pandits and their old neighbours.\n\nRagnya melas are also held on the same day at Tikker (Kupwara), Laktipora (Anantnag), Manzgam and other places, and in exile at Kheer Bhawani temples in Jammu, Delhi and other cities.\n\nA second, smaller festival is held at Tulmul on Ashadha Shukla Ashtami (Haar Aetham). Many devotees also visit on the Shukla Ashtami of every month.","note":"In a year with an extra Jyeshtha month (adhik maas), the mela is held in the regular (nija) Jyeshtha: in 2026 it was 22 June.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kheer_Bhawani_Temple","https://www.newsonair.gov.in/jk-mela-kheer-bhawani-marks-inter-community-harmony","https://www.etvbharat.com/en/state/kheer-bhawani-mela-2026-thousands-visit-tulmulla-temple-in-kashmirs-ganderbal-enn26062201997","http://ikashmir.net/uambardar/hariparbat.html","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["The book says Kheer Bhawani is vegetarian: anyone who has eaten meat or eggs does not enter the sacred area, and even non-Hindus respect this. The goddess is offered kheer, flowers, milk and fragrant cuttings called vena. Local shops sell lotus-root pakoras and fried lucchi. The spring water is said to change colour from rosy red to pink, light green, lemon yellow, milky white and grey. Dark grey or black is seen as inauspicious. Bubbles are said sometimes to arrange the offered flowers into the Ragnya Devi Yantra, which only the chosen devout see.","The book tells two origin stories. In one, the goddess showed herself in a dream to Pandit Govind Joo Gadru of Srinagar, who travelled by boat from Soura and poured milk into the spring. In the other, a Brahmin called Krishna Pandit was led to the place by a snake on Jyeshtha Shukla Ashtami, and so that day is observed as the goddess's birthday. The Brihmesh Samhita states that Hanuman carried Ragnya from Lanka to Satisar along with 360 nags.","The book says an annual festival is held at Kheer Bhawani on Jyeshtha Ashtami (June-July) and smaller ones on every Shukla Ashtami through the year. Dharmarth Trust built a dharamshala for pilgrims and other buildings were put up for havans.","The book says Ragnya Bhagwati is the Isht Devi (chosen deity) of most Kashmiri Pandits and is strictly vegetarian. Visitors enjoy luchi and nadamunj (lotus stem fritters in gram flour batter). The state government has declared the day a holiday. Every monthly Shukla Ashtami is also kept as a vrat day."]},{"id":"nirjala-ekadashi","name":"Nirjala Ekadashi","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Jyeshtha Shukla Ekadashi","Bhimseni Ekadashi"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Jyeshtha","paksha":"S","tithi":11},"category":"vrat","importance":1,"summary":"The strictest Ekadashi fast of the year, traditionally kept without even water.","dos":["If you fast, check with a doctor first and stay cool","Give water or cool drinks to others as charity"],"donts":["Don't attempt a waterless fast if you are young, unwell, pregnant or on medication"],"food":["No food or water for those keeping the full fast; fruit and milk for a lighter version","Break the fast on Dwadashi morning with a simple meal"],"story":"The strong Pandava Bhima could not bear to fast twenty-four times a year. The sage Vyasa told him: keep one Ekadashi without even water, and it will count for all. That is why it is called Nirjala, 'without water', or Bhimseni Ekadashi.","deeper":"Nirjala Ekadashi falls in the heat of early summer. Its merit is said to equal all the Ekadashis of the year.\n\nIt is a pan-Indian observance rather than a specifically Kashmiri one, but many Kashmiri Pandit families, especially older members, keep it. Health comes first: a fruit-and-water fast is a perfectly respectable way to observe it.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"haar-satam","name":"Haar Satam","kashmiriName":"Haar Satam","altNames":["Har Saptami","Ashadha Shukla Saptami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Ashadha","paksha":"S","tithi":7},"category":"puja","importance":2,"summary":"The first of the three Sharika days of Ashadha, when devotees gather at Hari Parbat.","dos":["Visit Hari Parbat (Chakreshwar) or a Sharika temple","Light a lamp to the Devi at home"],"donts":["Don't treat the three days as separate; many families keep all three"],"food":["Tahar (turmeric rice) offered to the goddess"],"story":"Haar is the Kashmiri name for the month of Ashadha. On its seventh, eighth and ninth bright days, the whole community used to gather at Hari Parbat, the hill of the goddess Sharika in Srinagar. Tradition also says the sacred spring at Tulmul was discovered on the Saptami of this month.","deeper":"Ashadha Shukla Saptami, Ashtami and Navami (Haar Satam, Haar Aetham and Haar Navum) are the main days for congregational prayer at the Sharika Peeth on Hari Parbat. Traditionally a Mahachandi yajna began on Haar Satam and ended on Haar Navum, Sharika's birthday.\n\nThe Tulmul (Kheer Bhawani) shrine also holds a festival in these days.","note":null,"sources":["http://ikashmir.net/uambardar/hariparbat.html","https://kashmirasitis.com/hari-parbat-the-reservoir-of-religio-cultural-strength/","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"]},{"id":"haar-aetham","name":"Haar Aetham","kashmiriName":"Haar Aetham","altNames":["Har Ashtami","Ashadha Shukla Ashtami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Ashadha","paksha":"S","tithi":8},"category":"puja","importance":2,"summary":"The Ashadha Ashtami of Sharika at Hari Parbat and the second festival of Kheer Bhawani at Tulmul.","dos":["Visit Hari Parbat or Tulmul, or a Devi temple near you","Keep a vegetarian day"],"donts":["Don't eat meat if you are going to Tulmul"],"food":["Tahar for Sharika","Kheer and milk for Ragnya at Tulmul"],"story":"On this Ashtami the goddess is honoured twice: as Sharika on Hari Parbat and as Ragnya at Tulmul. Old writers say the Tulmul festival on this day is kept with the same devotion as Zyeth Atham.","deeper":"Haar Aetham is the middle day of the Ashadha Sharika festival. A festival is also held at the Kheer Bhawani shrine on Ashadha Ashtami, described in older accounts as equal in devotion to Jyeshtha Ashtami.\n\nFamilies who cannot travel light a lamp and offer kheer or tahar at home.","note":null,"sources":["http://ikashmir.net/uambardar/hariparbat.html","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"]},{"id":"haar-navum","name":"Haar Navum (Sharika Jayanti)","kashmiriName":"Haar Navum","altNames":["Har Navami","Sharika Jayanti","Ashadha Shukla Navami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Ashadha","paksha":"S","tithi":9},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The birthday of Sharika Bhagavati, the presiding goddess of Srinagar, celebrated at Hari Parbat.","dos":["Visit Hari Parbat or a Sharika temple, or light a lamp at home","Join or listen to night-long bhajans for the Devi","Offer tahar"],"donts":["Don't forget the elders who used to climb the hill; call them today"],"food":["Tahar-charvan: turmeric rice with oil and salt, and in meat-eating families cooked liver (charvan), offered to Sharika"],"story":"Sharika is the goddess of Hari Parbat. A legend says a demon troubled the people, so the goddess took the form of a myna bird (haer) and dropped a pebble on him, which grew into the whole hill. Her birthday is celebrated on Haar Navum with offerings of yellow rice.","deeper":"Haar Navum, Ashadha Shukla Navami, is Sharika Jayanti, the birthday of the goddess. In the valley it closed the Mahachandi yajna that began on Haar Satam, and was marked with night-long singing at the Chakreshwar shrine.\n\nThe traditional offering is tahar-charvan: tahar is rice boiled with turmeric, oil and salt; charvan is cooked goat liver. Vegetarian families offer tahar alone.\n\nThe goddess is worshipped on Hari Parbat as a Shrichakra carved on a rock (hence the name Chakreshwar) rather than as an idol.","note":null,"sources":["http://ikashmir.net/uambardar/hariparbat.html","https://kashmirasitis.com/hari-parbat-the-reservoir-of-religio-cultural-strength/","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["The book says Sharika's temple on Hari Parbat is also called Chakreshwari. Its rock bears Sri Chakra lines and is anointed with sindur, and the book describes the Goddess here with 18 arms. Night-long kirtans were held on Saturday nights, and homas were done in the Navratras. The Shakta text invokes the shrine as the Pradyumna Peetha, founded by King Pravarasena."]},{"id":"bhagwan-gopinath-jayanti","name":"Bhagwan Gopinath Ji's birthday","kashmiriName":"","altNames":["Gopinath Jayanti","Bhagwan Gopinath Jayanti"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Ashadha","paksha":"S","tithi":12},"category":"puja","importance":1,"summary":"The birthday of Bhagwan Gopinath Ji (1898–1968), the Srinagar saint whom devotees call Bhagwan, kept on Ashadha Shukla Dvadashi.","dos":["Visit his ashram or a satsang if there is one near you","Read a little of the Bhagavad Gita, which he told people could serve as their spiritual master"],"donts":[],"food":[],"story":"Bhagwan Gopinath Ji was born on Friday, 1 July 1898, Ashadha Shukla Dvadashi, in Bhan Mohalla, Srinagar. He told those who came to him that the Bhagavad Gita could be their spiritual master. Devotees keep his birthday on the same tithi each year.","deeper":"","note":"His story is on the Saints page.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagwan_Gopinath","https://ikashmir.net/bhagwaangopinath/chapter1.html"]},{"id":"jwala-chaturdashi","name":"Jwala Chaturdashi","kashmiriName":"Haar Tsodah","altNames":["Jwalamukhi Jayanti","Ashadha Shukla Chaturdashi","Mela Jawalaji"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Ashadha","paksha":"S","tithi":14},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The birthday of Mata Jwala, the fire goddess of Khrew near Srinagar, with a big mela at her hilltop shrine.","dos":["Visit Jwalaji at Khrew or a Jwala shrine near you","Offer tahar and a lamp","Remember Jwala-worshipping families in your circle; for many she is the kuldevi"],"donts":["Don't wear leather at the shrine"],"food":["Tahar (yellow rice)","Shooshnor (lamb's lung) offered by families whose custom it is"],"story":"On a hill at Khrew, south-east of Srinagar, is the shrine of Jwala, the goddess of flame. On the fourteenth bright day of Haar, pilgrims climb the steps to celebrate her birthday. Many Kashmiri Pandit families call her their own family goddess.","deeper":"The Jwala Ji temple at Khrew in Pulwama district is dedicated to Jwalamukhi, the goddess as fire. Her birthday, Jwala Chaturdashi, falls on Ashadha Shukla Chaturdashi and is celebrated with a large mela.\n\nTraditional offerings are tahar (yellow rice) and, in families whose custom it is, shooshnor (lamb's lung).\n\nIn recent years the local committees have again held the annual Haar Tsodah at Khrew with visiting pilgrims.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.hindu-blog.com/2010/07/jwala-chaturdasi-at-khrew-jwalamukhi.html","https://kashmirasitis.com/haar-tschodah-jwala-chaturdashi/","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jwala_Ji_Temple_(Kashmir)"],"fromBook":["The book describes Jwala Bhagwati as non-vegetarian: tahar with cooked lamb liver is given as prasad, and raw lungs and heart of a goat or lamb are fed to the eagles and vultures that gather there. Jwala is the Ishtadevi of some Kashmiri Pandits. This falls on the Shukla Chaturdashi of Ashadha."]},{"id":"guru-purnima","name":"Guru Purnima","kashmiriName":"Haar Punim","altNames":["Vyasa Purnima","Ashadha Purnima"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Ashadha","paksha":"S","tithi":15},"category":"puja","importance":2,"summary":"The day to honour teachers, spiritual guides and the sage Vyasa.","dos":["Thank a teacher, mentor or elder who taught you","Visit your guru's ashram or remember a Kashmiri saint","Read a few lines from a text you love"],"donts":["Don't let the day go by without a word of thanks to someone who taught you"],"food":["Fruit and sweets offered to a guru or at an ashram"],"story":"The sage Vyasa, who arranged the Vedas and told the Mahabharata, is said to have been born on this full moon. Kashmir has its own long line of teachers, from Abhinavagupta to Lal Ded to Swami Lakshmanjoo. On Guru Purnima, you thank the people who opened a door for you.","deeper":"Guru Purnima falls on Ashadha Purnima across India. It honours Vyasa and all teachers.\n\nKashmiri Pandit devotees mark it at ashrams connected with Kashmir's saints and teachers, including those of Swami Lakshmanjoo and Bhagavaan Gopinath ji, and at home by honouring elders.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"shravan-purnima-amarnath","name":"Shravan Purnima (Amarnath)","kashmiriName":"Shravun Punim","altNames":["Amarnath Yatra culmination","Chhari Mubarak","Shravana Purnima"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Shravana","paksha":"S","tithi":15},"category":"festival","importance":3,"summary":"The full moon of Shravan, when the holy mace (Chhari Mubarak) reaches the Amarnath cave and the pilgrimage reaches its climax.","dos":["Offer water or milk to a Shivalinga","Watch or join the Chhari Mubarak puja if you can","Remember the pilgrims and the people who serve them"],"donts":["Don't eat meat if you are keeping the Shravan fast"],"food":["Simple vegetarian food","Fruit and dry fruit as prasad"],"story":"High in the mountains of Kashmir is the cave of Amarnath, where an ice lingam forms each year. Legend says Shiva chose this lonely cave to tell Parvati the secret of immortality, the Amar Katha, and a pair of pigeons overheard it. Pilgrims still say they sometimes see pigeons there. On Shravan Purnima the Chhari Mubarak, Shiva's holy mace, is carried into the cave.","deeper":"The Amarnath cave, at about 3,900 metres in the Lidder valley, is one of the most sacred sites of Shaivism. The yatra runs through the monsoon months and traditionally reaches its high point on Shravan Purnima (Raksha Bandhan day).\n\nThe Chhari Mubarak, a silver mace representing Shiva, is taken in procession from the Dashnami Akhara in Srinagar, stopping at shrines on the way, and is worshipped in the cave on Shravan Purnima. The mace's journey marks the formal close of the yatra.\n\nKashmiri Pandits have long associated the pilgrimage with ancient Kashmiri texts, and many families had a member who did the trek on foot from Pahalgam.","note":"The Amarnath Yatra's opening date is announced each year by the shrine board and is not a fixed tithi; the Chhari Mubarak puja at the cave is on Shravana Purnima.","sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"],"fromBook":["The book says the yatra starts about the 6th of Shravan Shukla from the Dashnami Akhara at Maisuma in Srinagar. The silver Chhari Mubarak, about ten feet long, is worshipped there and carried by mahants all the way to the cave. On Purnima morning, pilgrims leave Panchtarni for the last 7 km to the cave and bathe in the Amravati stream first. The book tells two tales of the cave's finding: a grocer called Sodhawani who followed Shiva back to the cave, and a version where a cow gave milk to Shiva daily. Swami Vivekananda visited in 1898."]},{"id":"raksha-bandhan","name":"Raksha Bandhan","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Rakhi","Shravana Purnima"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Shravana","paksha":"S","tithi":15},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"Sisters tie a rakhi on their brothers' wrists, and brothers promise to look after them.","dos":["Tie a rakhi or send one by post","Brothers: give a gift and a real promise","Cousins count too"],"donts":["Don't tie the rakhi during Bhadra kaal if your family follows the muhurta (check the jantri)"],"food":["Sweets shared between siblings"],"story":"The rakhi is a thread of protection. There are many old stories behind it, such as Draupadi tearing her sari to bandage Krishna's finger, and Krishna later protecting her. The thread is small but the promise is big.","deeper":"Raksha Bandhan falls on Shravana Purnima. It is a pan-Indian family festival that most Kashmiri Pandit families now celebrate, especially in the diaspora. In older valley practice the same full moon was chiefly known for the Amarnath pilgrimage.\n\nMany families check the jantri for Bhadra kaal, an inauspicious window during which rakhi is not tied.","note":"Same day as the Amarnath Chhari Mubarak puja.","sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"zaram-satam","name":"Zaram Satam (Janmashtami)","kashmiriName":"Zaram Satam","altNames":["Zarmae Satam","Janam Saptami","Krishna Janmashtami","Bhadrapada Krishna Saptami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Bhadrapada","paksha":"K","tithi":7},"category":"festival","importance":3,"summary":"Kashmiri Pandits celebrate Krishna's birth on the Saptami (seventh), one day before most of India, fasting all day and worshipping at midnight.","dos":["Fast through the day if you are able; many allow milk, curd, fruit and water chestnut dishes","Decorate a small shrine or cradle for baby Krishna","Gather for aarti and puja at midnight, then break the fast with prasad"],"donts":["Don't eat grains, meat, onion or garlic during the fast","Don't confuse the day with Ashtami: the Kashmiri Pandit fast is on Saptami"],"food":["Gaer halwa: sweet halwa made from singhara (water chestnut) flour, the classic prasad","Singhara fritters and lapsi for the fasting meal","Fruit, milk and curd","Dry fruits offered at midnight"],"story":"Krishna was born at midnight in a prison in Mathura, and his father carried him across a stormy river to safety. Kashmiri Pandits say that midnight falls where the seventh day meets the eighth, so they fast on the Saptami and welcome Krishna at midnight. That is why the Kashmiri name is Zaram Satam, 'the Saptami of the birth'.","deeper":"Zaram Satam falls on Bhadrapada Krishna Saptami in the Purnimanta reckoning Kashmiri Pandits use. Most of India keeps Janmashtami on the Ashtami; Kashmiri Pandits keep the fast on Saptami and hold the birth puja at midnight, which they regard as the meeting point of Saptami and Ashtami.\n\nA second explanation found in community writing is that a Kashmiri astrologer judged the birth moment to fall in a way that required the celebration a day early. Whatever the reason, the Saptami practice is long-established and printed in the jantri.\n\nThe fast is a light one in many families: water, milk, curd, fruit and dishes made of singhara (water chestnut) flour are allowed. At midnight an aarti is performed and gaer halwa and fruit are offered.\n\nIn Srinagar the community has revived public Janmashtami processions. In 2025 and 2026 jhanki processions went from temples in the old city (Katleshwar, Ganpatyar) through Habba Kadal to Lal Chowk. Temples called Thokur Kuth (Krishna shrines) were the traditional gathering places.","note":"Kashmiri Pandit practice is the Saptami, not the Ashtami. 2026: Saptami fell on 3 September (Saptami until about 2:31 am on 4 September), while pan-Indian Janmashtami processions were on 4 September.","sources":["https://kashmirasitis.com/zaramsatam-krishna-janamashtami/","https://hinducalculator.com/kashmiri/","https://kashmirreader.com/2026/09/04/kashmiri-pandits-celebrate-janmashtami-with-religious-fervour-in-srinagar/","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["Kashmiris explain the Saptami date by the idea that the birth must follow a day of fasting, and the time after birth is for rejoicing, not fasting. So the fast is kept in the day and the puja is done through the night that carries Ashtami. The festival falls in August when fruit is plentiful, and watermelon is in great demand. A newly married daughter-in-law goes to her parents a few days earlier and returns on this day with new clothes for herself, fruit, sweets and curd to share with family and neighbours, plus cash for her in-laws. Next to Herath, this is the day of greatest social visiting. Earlier a procession with tableaux of Krishna from all the city's temples set out from Ganpatyar."]},{"id":"pann","name":"Pann (Roth Puja)","kashmiriName":"Pann","altNames":["Punn","Pann Pooza","Roth Puza","Vinayak Tsoram","Beeb Garab Maej Puja"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Bhadrapada","paksha":"S","tithi":4,"at":"midday"},"category":"puja","importance":3,"summary":"A Kashmiri Pandit household puja on Vinayak Chaturthi, when roth (sweet bread) is offered to the twin goddesses Vibha and Garbha and shared with family and friends.","dos":["Make roth the evening before or that morning, with ghee, sugar, poppy seeds and dry fruit","Have the eldest woman of the house tell the Pann katha, holding cotton thread (pann) and a few grains","Share roth with neighbours and send some to married daughters","Tie the pann thread and keep it in the prayer room"],"donts":["Don't taste the roth before it is offered","Don't throw away leftover prasad; share it or eat it with respect"],"food":["Roth: thick, sweet fried bread of wheat flour, ghee and sugar, topped with poppy seeds, coconut and dry fruit","Milk-tea (kahwa or sheer chai) with the roth"],"story":"Pann means 'thread'. Long ago, when the new cotton was spun, Kashmiri women worshipped two gentle goddesses of the harvest, Vibha and Garbha, known together as Beeb Garab Maej. Roth made with the new season's grain and ghee was offered to them, and a story was told about faith and sharing. Kashmiri Pandits still do it every year, and the smell of roth frying is how many children know Pann has come.","deeper":"Pann falls on Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi, the same day as Ganesh Chaturthi elsewhere, which Kashmiris call Vinayak Tsoram. Many families offer the roth to Ganesha, as P. L. Raina describes; others tell the katha of Beeb Garab Maej, the twin goddesses Vibha and Garbha, linked to the new cotton and grain.\n\nThe central ritual is the katha. An elder woman sits with a kalash of water, cotton thread and grains in hand, and narrates the traditional story while the family listens. The thread (pann) is then tied and the roths are offered and shared.\n\nPann can be done on one of several auspicious days (saat) chosen from the jantri, not only on Chaturthi. For 2026, one published list gave five saat: 14 September (the main day), 21, 23, 24 (Vitasta Trayodashi) and 25 September (Anant Chaturdashi). Most families use Vinayak Chaturthi.\n\nSharing roth is essential. Traditionally roth was sent to married daughters' homes and to neighbours, and in the diaspora it is posted or driven across cities.","note":"Main day is Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi, taken like Ganesh Chaturthi (Chaturthi at midday), so it can differ from the sunrise tithi: in 2026 it was 14 September. Families may also choose another 'saat' day in the bright fortnight listed by the jantri.","sources":["https://moushumi.medium.com/pann-the-kashmiri-pandit-version-of-ganesh-chaturthi-cdb8c99adfe3","https://zeenews.india.com/culture/why-kashmiri-pandits-celebrate-pann-puja-on-ganesh-chaturthi-check-pann-dates-of-2026-3071545.html","https://zeenews.india.com/culture/pann-puja-on-ganesh-chaturthi-2025-how-kashmiri-pandits-celebrate-the-festival-check-pann-sath-dates-of-this-year-2952223.html","https://kashmirasitis.com/the-legend-of-pann-festival/","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["The women of the house make the roth, while children collect clean grass and flowers for the puja. A decorated pot with a sindur swastika stands for Ganesha beside his picture or idol. Each person holds a mixture of grass, flower petals and rice during the puja, and extra portions are given for absent family members and for special wishes. Narivans (sacred threads) are tied on wrists and a sindur tilak applied. The house lady ties an unspun cotton thread called pann on her wrist, which gives the festival its name. After the story, a short puja with bhajans is held and the roth is offered as bhog. At the end the grass and flower mixture is put in the pot, and prayers are said for the welfare of all beings. The roth is eaten with kehwa and shared with neighbours and relatives.","Bib Dharmmoj and the Pann story. The katha told at Pann is about Bib Dharmmoj, a pious woman who made roth every year for Ganesha. After her death people in her area kept the day in her name. A king once joined the puja without telling his wife. She saw the sindur tilak on his forehead, wrongly suspected a secret marriage, and angrily wiped it off. This disrespect brought misery on the family: an enemy king captured the king, and the queen and her daughter lived unrecognised as stable workers in another kingdom. There the ruler kept Bib Dharmmoj's day, and the queen understood her mistake. She humbly made roth from grain gathered from the stable and held the puja. Her troubles ended, the ruler helped her once she revealed who she was, her husband was freed and his kingdom restored. The story ends with a prayer that Ganesha accept the roth offering and remove all obstacles."]},{"id":"ganesh-chaturthi","name":"Ganesh Chaturthi","kashmiriName":"Vinayak Tsoram","altNames":["Vinayaka Chaturthi","Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Bhadrapada","paksha":"S","tithi":4,"at":"midday"},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The birthday of Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, kept on the same day as the Kashmiri Pandit Pann puja.","dos":["Offer durva grass, modak or roth and a red flower to Ganesha","Visit Ganpatyar or your local Ganesha temple"],"donts":["Traditionally, don't look at the moon on this night; the old story says it brings false blame"],"food":["Modak or laddoos","In Kashmiri homes, roth prepared for Pann"],"story":"Parvati made Ganesha and set him to guard her door, and Shiva gave him an elephant's head. Ganesha is worshipped first in every puja. The story also says the moon laughed at Ganesha and was cursed, which is why many people avoid looking at the moon tonight.","deeper":"Ganesh Chaturthi falls on Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi and is celebrated across India. For Kashmiri Pandits the household centrepiece of the day is the Pann puja, but Ganesha is worshipped at the start of every puja and has a famous old temple at Ganpatyar in Srinagar.\n\nIn 2025 Kashmiri Pandits held a Ganesh Chaturthi rath yatra in Srinagar, described in the press as the first since militancy began.","note":"Same date as Pann. Like Pann, it is taken on the day Chaturthi covers midday.","sources":["https://zeenews.india.com/culture/pann-puja-on-ganesh-chaturthi-2025-how-kashmiri-pandits-celebrate-the-festival-check-pann-sath-dates-of-this-year-2952223.html","https://www.deccanherald.com/india/jammu-and-kashmir/ganesh-chaturthi-first-time-since-militancy-kashmiri-pandits-hold-rath-yatra-in-srinagar-3705596","https://moushumi.medium.com/pann-the-kashmiri-pandit-version-of-ganesh-chaturthi-cdb8c99adfe3"]},{"id":"gangashtami","name":"Gangashtami (Gangabal Yatra)","kashmiriName":"Gangah Atham","altNames":["Ganga Ashtami","Harmukh Gangabal Yatra","Gengah Atham"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Bhadrapada","paksha":"S","tithi":8},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The day of the pilgrimage to the sacred lake Gangabal below Mount Harmukh, where ashes of the departed were traditionally immersed.","dos":["Remember the family members whose ashes rest at Gangabal","Support or join the Harmukh Gangabal Yatra","Offer water and a lamp for the ancestors at home"],"donts":["Don't attempt the high-altitude trek without preparation and a guided group"],"food":["Simple vegetarian food; pilgrims carry dry fruit and light rations"],"story":"Gangabal is a glacial lake at about 3,570 metres (about 11,700 feet) at the foot of Mount Harmukh, Shiva's peak. For centuries Kashmiri Pandits carried the ashes of their dead there, because to them it was the Ganga of Kashmir. It was called 'the poor man's journey to the Ganga'.","deeper":"Kashmiri Pandits call the lake Harmukh Ganga. The pilgrimage was timed for Ganga Ashtami, the Shukla Ashtami of Bhadrapada. The trek begins at Naranag, with the 8th-century Wangath temple ruins, and takes about three days.\n\nThe tradition lapsed for a long time and was revived in 2009 by the Harmukh Ganga Gangbal Trust. It is now held every year, and in 2026 the Lieutenant Governor flagged off the yatra from Naranag.\n\nAlong with Gangabal, families performed shraddha rites at Naranag and immersed ashes in the lake. The Harmukh peak is itself regarded as an abode of Shiva.","note":"The yatra's start is announced each year and usually begins a day or two before Bhadrapada Shukla Ashtami so that pilgrims reach the lake on the day.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangabal_Lake","https://www.greaterkashmir.com/kashmir/gangbal-yatra-commences-in-ganderbal-2/","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["The book says the Gangashtami day (Bhadrapada Shukla Ashtami) was the same date for both the Gangbal and the Sharda yatras, so Pandits had to pick one. At Gangbal, pilgrims carried the ashes of the dead, shraddha was done and a barber shaved the men. Pilgrims for Sharda gathered at Devi Angan on Hari Parbat or other towns, avoided leaving on Amavasya as inauspicious, and met at Gushi in Kupwara before the third tithi. They bathed in a holy stream, crossed the Shamsabari passes, and gathered at Tajganga on the Kishanganga with night recitations. On Saptami they crossed the river, and on Ashtami bathed, had darshan at Sharda and did shraddha on the Madhumati.","The book says the Gangbal route climbs over the Barath mountain to the lake Bransar and, on the way down from the Branbal pass, pilgrims call out to their ancestors by name, saying they have taken them across. The lake lies high up with Harmukh above it."]},{"id":"vyeth-truvah","name":"Vyeth Truvah (Birthday of the Vitasta)","kashmiriName":"Vyeth Truvah","altNames":["Vitasta Trayodashi","Vitasta Jayanti","Veth Truvah","Vyetha Truvah"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Bhadrapada","paksha":"S","tithi":13},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The birthday of the river Vitasta (Jhelum), the lifeline of Kashmir, honoured with lamps on the river banks.","dos":["Light a diya and float it on a river or place it by water","Read or listen to verses about the Vitasta","Keep rivers clean; pick up litter by a river near you"],"donts":["Don't pollute rivers or throw plastic in water"],"food":["Cakes of rice flour, the traditional offering","Simple vegetarian meal"],"story":"Parvati, the story says, took the form of a river to wash away the sins of Kashmir. Shiva struck the earth with his trident at Verinag on the thirteenth bright day of Bhadrapada, and the Vitasta sprang out. In the evening women would light rows of lamps along her banks, so the whole river glowed.","deeper":"The Vitasta (Jhelum) rises at the spring of Verinag, Vyeth Vatur in Kashmiri, and flows through Srinagar. In Kashmiri tradition she is a form of Uma (Parvati). Her birthday is Bhadrapada Shukla Trayodashi.\n\nTraditionally the day was marked by offering rice-flour cakes while reading from the Vitasta Mahatmya, and in the evening women illuminated the river banks with diyas.\n\nToday functions are held at Verinag, where a Maha Yagya is performed, and at Muthi Ghat in Jammu. In 2021 Kashmiri Pandits celebrated Vyeth Truvah in Srinagar for the first time in over three decades, and in 2025 it was observed on 5 September.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/kps-celebrate-vitasta-day-at-jammu-verinag-with-fervour-gaiety/","https://kashmirasitis.com/veth-truvah/","https://ikashmir.net/chanderbhat/docs/vitasta.pdf","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"]},{"id":"anta-tsodah","name":"Anant Chaturdashi","kashmiriName":"Anta Tsodah","altNames":["Ananta Chaturdashi","Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturdashi"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Bhadrapada","paksha":"S","tithi":14},"category":"vrat","importance":1,"summary":"A day to worship Vishnu as Ananta, the Endless, often by tying a thread with fourteen knots.","dos":["Offer a puja to Vishnu","Tie a thread (anant sutra) on the arm if it is your family custom"],"donts":["Don't eat meat if you are keeping the vrat"],"food":["Vegetarian meal, often with sweet dishes"],"story":"Ananta means 'without end'. Vishnu rests on the serpent Ananta in the cosmic ocean. The fourteen knots on the thread are said to stand for the fourteen worlds he protects.","deeper":"Anant Chaturdashi falls on Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturdashi. It is listed among Kashmiri Pandit festivals as Anta Tsodah. It is also one of the auspicious 'saat' days on which Pann may be performed.","note":null,"sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals","https://zeenews.india.com/culture/why-kashmiri-pandits-celebrate-pann-puja-on-ganesh-chaturthi-check-pann-dates-of-2026-3071545.html"]},{"id":"kambar-pach","name":"Pitru Paksha (Fortnight of the Ancestors)","kashmiriName":"Kambar Pach","altNames":["Shraddh Paksha","Kambir Pach","Mahalaya Paksha"],"rule":{"type":"tithiRange","month":"Ashwin","paksha":"K","from":1,"to":15},"category":"period","importance":3,"summary":"The dark fortnight when families offer shraddha to their ancestors, each on the tithi on which that person died.","dos":["Perform shraddha on the tithi of a parent's or grandparent's death, with the family priest if possible","Feed a Brahmin, a poor person, a cow or crows in the ancestor's name","Share stories and photographs of the departed with the children"],"donts":["Many families avoid starting new ventures, buying new clothes or holding celebrations in this fortnight","Don't skip shraddha because you live far away; a simple offering and a donation are enough"],"food":["Shraddha food cooked without onion and garlic, according to family custom","A portion set aside for crows, who are seen as messengers of the ancestors"],"story":"Once a year, the story goes, the ancestors come close to the world of the living for fifteen days. By offering food and water on the day each one passed away, we tell them they are remembered and loved. Kashmiri Pandits call this fortnight Kambar Pach.","deeper":"Pitru Paksha is the dark fortnight of Ashwin in Purnimanta reckoning (Bhadrapada in Amanta calendars), ending on Mahalaya Amavasya. It is the most important time of year for rites for ancestors.\n\nEach ancestor's shraddha is performed on the tithi of their death, not the Gregorian date. The jantri lists which tithi falls on which day, and community websites have asked for Kambar Pach to be printed with the shraddha date for each tithi for exactly this reason.\n\nThe rite involves pinda (rice balls), tarpan (water offering) and feeding of Brahmins or the needy. Families who do not know the death tithi perform shraddha on Mahalaya Amavasya.","note":"Ashwin Krishna Pratipada to Amavasya in Purnimanta naming; some panchangs start the Paksha on the preceding Purnima (Bhadrapada Purnima).","sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634","https://kashmirasitis.com/kashmiri-pandit-festivals-culture-rituals/"],"fromBook":["The family priest usually comes to the house on the death tithi to perform the shraddha and receive the sankalp. A fast is kept by the sons, daughters and daughters-in-law of the departed, and daughters-in-law often come to their brothers' homes that day, so it becomes a family reunion. If no shraddha can be done, a sankalp alone is performed. The book also notes that the shraddhas of saints are observed in this fortnight, such as Rupa Bhawani's on the seventh tithi at Waskura as Sahib Saptami. The book also gives Sahib Saptami as the dark Saptami of Magh, the day of her nirvana, and that is the day most families keep.","If a shraddha cannot be done in full, a sankalpa with donations of rice, fruit, clothes and cash can be made instead, and shraddha can also be done at tirthas such as Haridwar, Triveni, Gaya, Mattan and Gangbal. The book gives a slightly different pledge wording for the Kambar Pach shraddha.","Shraddha by pledge, and shraddha at holy places. When a shraddha can't be performed, one may make only a sankalpa: sprinkle water and sesame over rice, fruit, clothes and cash to be donated, say the pledge, and give them away. For the Kambar Pach shraddha slightly different wording is used. Shraddha may also be performed at any point after the first year at holy places, such as Haridwar, Triveni and Gaya, and in Kashmir at Mattan and Gangbal."]},{"id":"mahalaya-amavasya","name":"Mahalaya Amavasya","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Sarva Pitru Amavasya","Pitru Amavasya"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Ashwin","paksha":"K","tithi":15},"category":"remembrance","importance":2,"summary":"The last day of Pitru Paksha, on which shraddha can be offered for all ancestors, including those whose death tithi is not known.","dos":["Offer water and food for all ancestors","Give a donation in the family's name"],"donts":["Don't hold celebrations on the day"],"food":["Shraddha meal cooked simply, with a share kept for crows and cows"],"story":"If you forget someone's day, there is still a day for everyone. Mahalaya Amavasya is the 'all ancestors' day, when every departed member of the family is remembered together.","deeper":"Sarva Pitru Amavasya closes the Pitru Paksha. Shraddha on this day covers all ancestors. The next day Sharad Navratri begins.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"sharad-navratri","name":"Sharad Navratri","kashmiriName":"Navratri","altNames":["Durga Puja","Navaratri","Ashwin Navratri"],"rule":{"type":"tithiRange","month":"Ashwin","paksha":"S","from":1,"to":9},"category":"period","importance":2,"summary":"Nine autumn nights of the goddess, leading to Durga Ashtami, Maha Navami and Dussehra.","dos":["Light a lamp for the Devi each evening","Visit Sharika, Ragnya or Jwala temples, or your local Devi temple","Read the Durga Saptashati or listen to it"],"donts":["Don't eat meat, onion or garlic if you are fasting"],"food":["Fruit, milk and simple vegetarian food for those fasting","Tahar as an offering to the Devi"],"story":"Durga fought the buffalo-demon Mahishasura for nine days and won on the tenth. In Kashmir, where every hill seems to have a goddess, these nights were spent at Hari Parbat and other Devi shrines.","deeper":"Sharad Navratri runs from Ashwin Shukla Pratipada to Navami. It is the main Navratri of India and is observed by Kashmiri Pandits, many of whom made a daily visit to the Sharika shrine.\n\nMany families fast on Ashtami or Navami, if not for all nine days.","note":"Nine tithis; the civil-day count can be eight or ten when a tithi is lost or repeated.","sources":["http://ikashmir.net/uambardar/hariparbat.html"],"fromBook":["As in the spring Navratri, some families sow barley on the first day and worship it for the nine days. During these days the Durga Saptashati is often recited, or Durga prayers if the full text is not available."]},{"id":"durga-ashtami","name":"Durga Ashtami","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Maha Ashtami","Ashwin Shukla Ashtami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Ashwin","paksha":"S","tithi":8},"category":"puja","importance":2,"summary":"The eighth day of Sharad Navratri. In Kashmir, families went to havans at temples and shrines such as Hari Parbat and Kheer Bhawani.","dos":["Go to a havan at a temple or shrine, as families did at Hari Parbat and Kheer Bhawani","Recite the Durga Saptashati, or the Durga prayers your family says","Honour young girls as forms of the Devi (kumari puja) if it is your family's custom"],"donts":["Don't eat meat if you are observing the fast"],"food":["Fruit and milk for those fasting","Halwa, puri and chana for kanya puja: a north Indian custom many diaspora families now keep"],"story":"On Durga Ashtami, families in the valley went to the havans held at sacred places such as Hari Parbat and Kheer Bhawani, and many spent the whole day there, with stalls selling snacks to the crowds.","deeper":"Durga Ashtami falls on Ashwin Shukla Ashtami, the eighth day of the autumn Navratri: nine days of fasting and prayer, when the Durga Saptashati is recited and some families sow barley in a pot and watch it grow. In Kashmir havans were held at temples and shrines on the Ashtami and again on the Navami.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"],"fromBook":["P. L. Raina records that on the Ashtami and the Navami of Navratri havans were held at sacred places such as Kheer Bhawani and Hari Parbat, and at temples like the Ram Chander temple at Sathu, where people went for the whole day. He also notes the worship of nine young girls as the Devi's nine forms (Kumari) as one tradition of Durga worship."]},{"id":"maha-navami","name":"Maha Navami","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Ashwin Shukla Navami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Ashwin","paksha":"S","tithi":9},"category":"puja","importance":2,"summary":"The ninth day of Sharad Navratri, when the fast is completed and the goddess is thanked.","dos":["Complete the Navratri puja with a havan if it is your custom","Break the fast after the puja"],"donts":["Don't forget to share prasad"],"food":["Halwa and puri","Tahar for the Devi"],"story":"On Navami the goddess completes her victory. Families close the nine nights with a final puja and a shared meal.","deeper":"Maha Navami falls on Ashwin Shukla Navami. In many regions it includes a havan and kanya puja. Some Kashmiri families keep the kanya puja on Navami rather than Ashtami.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"dussehra","name":"Dussehra","kashmiriName":"Dussehra","altNames":["Vijaya Dashami","Ashwin Shukla Dashami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Ashwin","paksha":"S","tithi":10,"at":"afternoon"},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The victory of Rama over Ravana and of Durga over Mahishasura; a day of good beginnings.","dos":["Watch or join a Ravana-dahan","Start something new; the day is auspicious","Visit elders and receive blessings"],"donts":["Don't forget the meaning: the win of good over pride"],"food":["Festive family meal","Sweets shared with neighbours"],"story":"On the tenth day Rama defeated Ravana, the ten-headed king of Lanka. In the evening huge effigies of Ravana are burned. Before 1990, Srinagar held its own Ramlila and Dussehra celebrations.","deeper":"Dussehra (Vijaya Dashami) falls on Ashwin Shukla Dashami. It is among the festivals listed as observed by Kashmiri Pandits, and in the valley it was marked with Ramlila and the burning of Ravana effigies.\n\nThe day is also considered naturally auspicious for new ventures.","note":null,"sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["Swami Aasa Ram's reading, quoted in the book, is that the ten-headed Ravana stands for the ten senses (indriyas), so burning his effigy is an act of removing the ten defects of the senses."]},{"id":"sharad-purnima","name":"Sharad Purnima","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Kojagari Purnima","Kumar Purnima","Ashwin Purnima"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Ashwin","paksha":"S","tithi":15,"at":"night"},"category":"festival","importance":1,"summary":"The brightest full moon of autumn, when kheer is left in the moonlight and shared the next morning.","dos":["Place a bowl of kheer in the moonlight","Spend a little time outside under the moon"],"donts":["Don't waste the night indoors on screens"],"food":["Kheer left under the moon and eaten as prasad"],"story":"Sharad Purnima is said to be the one night the moon shines with all sixteen of its qualities. Kheer left in its light is believed to soak up something healing. Some writers link an old Kashmiri festival, Mitra Punim, with this autumn full moon.","deeper":"Sharad Purnima falls on Ashwin Purnima. The moonlit kheer custom is widespread in north India.\n\nSome accounts describe a festival called Mitra Punim held by Kashmiris on the Ashwin full moon in early medieval times, which later disappeared. It is best treated as history rather than current practice.","note":"The historical Mitra Punim association comes from secondary writers and is uncertain.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"]},{"id":"dhanteras","name":"Dhanteras","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Dhanatrayodashi","Dhanvantari Jayanti"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Kartika","paksha":"K","tithi":13,"at":"sunset"},"category":"puja","importance":1,"summary":"The first day of the Diwali festival, for Lakshmi and for Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods.","dos":["Clean the house and light a lamp at the door","Buy a small metal item if it is your custom"],"donts":["Don't overspend; the point is gratitude"],"food":["Sweets as prasad"],"story":"Dhanvantari rose from the churning of the ocean holding a pot of nectar. This day honours health as the first wealth.","deeper":"Dhanteras falls two days before Diwali, on Kartika Krishna Trayodashi in Purnimanta reckoning. It opens the Diwali days in north India.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"diwali","name":"Diwali (Deepamala)","kashmiriName":"Diwali","altNames":["Deepawali","Sukhasuptika","Deepamala","Lakshmi Puja"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Kartika","paksha":"K","tithi":15,"at":"sunset"},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The festival of lamps and Lakshmi puja. Kashmir's ancient Nilamata Purana describes a lamp festival on this night called Sukhasuptika.","dos":["Light diyas at doors, windows, by water and at the family shrine","Do Lakshmi puja after sunset","Visit and greet neighbours"],"donts":["Don't set off fireworks near animals or old people","Don't let lamps burn unattended"],"food":["Sweets shared between families","A festive meal after the puja"],"story":"Rama came home to Ayodhya after fourteen years, and the city lit lamps to guide him. Kashmir has its own old version: the Nilamata Purana describes Sukhasuptika, a night when lamps were placed on roads, riverbanks, temples and cowsheds, and people wore new clothes, listened to music and slept happily.","deeper":"Diwali falls on the Amavasya of Kartika in Purnimanta reckoning (Ashwin Amavasya in Amanta calendars).\n\nThe Nilamata Purana, a Kashmiri text of about the 7th or 8th century, describes Sukhasuptika-Deepamala. Earthen lamps were placed in temples, at crossroads, on the banks of rivers and lakes, at the foot of trees, in cowsheds and shops. Elders fasted and worshipped Lakshmi after sunset.\n\nToday Kashmiri Pandits celebrate Diwali much like other Indian families, with Lakshmi puja and lamps.","note":"Kartika Krishna Amavasya (Purnimanta). If Amavasya does not cover the evening on the civil day, follow the jantri; Lakshmi puja is done on the evening Amavasya prevails.","sources":["https://medium.com/@navavimarsh/the-kashmiri-roots-of-diwali-e0b1f7e7963e","https://www.morningkashmir.com/kartika-maasa-essence-of-deepamala-and-the-auspicious-festival-of-diwali/"],"fromBook":["The book says Kashmiri Pandits mark Diwali with less enthusiasm than Hindus elsewhere. Business families honour Lakshmi along with Ganesha, and some believe a win at cards that day brings luck. Devout families fast and make sweet fried breads known as sardiy, shared after the puja and handed to relatives and neighbours."]},{"id":"annakoot","name":"Annakoot (Govardhan Puja)","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Govardhan Puja","Kartika Shukla Pratipada"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Kartika","paksha":"S","tithi":1},"category":"puja","importance":1,"summary":"The day after Diwali, when a 'mountain of food' is offered to Krishna in thanks for his protection.","dos":["Offer a variety of vegetarian dishes to Krishna","Share the food with neighbours"],"donts":["Don't waste food"],"food":["Annakoot: many dishes offered together, then shared"],"story":"When the god Indra sent storms to punish the cowherds of Braj, the boy Krishna lifted Govardhan hill on his little finger to shelter everyone for seven days. Annakoot says thank you for that protection.","deeper":"Govardhan Puja falls on Kartika Shukla Pratipada, the day after Diwali. It is a north Indian observance kept by some Kashmiri Pandit families, mainly in the diaspora.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"bhai-dooj","name":"Bhai Dooj","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Bhaiya Dooj","Yama Dwitiya"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Kartika","paksha":"S","tithi":2},"category":"festival","importance":1,"summary":"Sisters put a tilak on their brothers' foreheads and pray for their long life.","dos":["Sisters: apply tilak and feed your brother","Brothers: give a gift and a promise to stay close"],"donts":["Don't forget cousins and siblings who live far away; call them"],"food":["A sweet fed by the sister to the brother"],"story":"Yama, the lord of death, visited his sister Yamuna on this day. She welcomed him with a tilak and a meal, and he promised that any brother honoured by his sister today would be protected.","deeper":"Bhai Dooj falls on Kartika Shukla Dwitiya. It is widely kept in north India and increasingly by Kashmiri Pandit families.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"prabodhini-ekadashi","name":"Prabodhini Ekadashi","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Devuthani Ekadashi","Kartika Shukla Ekadashi"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Kartika","paksha":"S","tithi":11},"category":"vrat","importance":1,"summary":"The Ekadashi on which Vishnu is said to wake from his four-month sleep, reopening the season for weddings.","dos":["Keep an Ekadashi fast or simple vegetarian meal","Offer tulsi to Vishnu"],"donts":["Don't eat grains if you are fasting"],"food":["Fruit, milk and fasting dishes"],"story":"Vishnu sleeps on the serpent Shesha for four months of the rainy season. On this Ekadashi he wakes, and the season of weddings and big ceremonies begins again.","deeper":"Prabodhini Ekadashi falls on Kartika Shukla Ekadashi. It ends the Chaturmas period. It is pan-Indian, and many families use it to restart wedding and griha-pravesh planning.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"kartik-purnima","name":"Kartik Purnima","kashmiriName":"Kartik Punim","altNames":["Dev Deepawali","Tripuri Purnima"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Kartika","paksha":"S","tithi":15},"category":"festival","importance":1,"summary":"The full moon of Kartika, for bathing in rivers, lighting lamps and charity.","dos":["Light lamps by water","Give charity"],"donts":["Don't pollute the river you bathe in or light lamps by"],"food":["Simple vegetarian food"],"story":"On this full moon Shiva destroyed the three flying cities of the demon Tripurasura, so the gods lit lamps in celebration. That is why it is also called Dev Deepawali, the Diwali of the gods.","deeper":"Kartik Purnima closes the holy month of Kartika. It is marked by river bathing and lamps across north India. Guru Nanak's birth anniversary is also celebrated on this day.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"gaad-batta","name":"Gaad Batta","kashmiriName":"Gaad Batt","altNames":["Gaad Bata","Fish and Rice offering","Ghar Devta puja"],"rule":{"type":"weekdayInTithiRange","month":"Pausha","paksha":"K","from":1,"to":15,"weekdays":[2,6],"which":"first"},"category":"puja","importance":2,"summary":"A winter offering of fish and rice to the Ghar Devta (the guardian spirit of the house), made on a Tuesday or Saturday of the dark fortnight of Poh.","dos":["Cook fish and rice and place a plate in a clean spot on the top floor or roof, with water and a small lamp","Cover the lamp with a sieve if it is your family custom","Share the rest as a family feast with relatives"],"donts":["Don't taste the food before it is offered","Don't disturb the offering overnight"],"food":["Gaad (fish) cooked in Kashmiri style, often with radish or lotus stem (nadur)","Batta (plain rice)","Vegetarian families sometimes offer a vegetable dish instead"],"story":"Gaad means fish and batta means rice. In the coldest part of winter, Kashmiri families offered fish and rice to the Ghar Devta, the guardian of the house, and asked for protection through the snow. The plate is left up on the top floor, with water and a little lamp, and the family feasts downstairs.","deeper":"Gaad Batta is kept on any Tuesday or Saturday of the dark fortnight (Poh gaet pach) of Pausha, the month Kashmiris call Poh, in December. Each family follows its own day, often fixed by tradition or chosen from the jantri.\n\nA plate of cooked rice and fish is placed on the top floor (kaanie), along with a glass of water and a small oil lamp covered with a sieve. It is an offering to the Ghar Devta, sometimes described as a protecting spirit of the home. The family then shares a feast.\n\nThe ritual became widely known outside the community after the 2025 film Baramulla showed it.\n\nIt belongs to a cluster of Kashmiri winter rites along with Khichri Amavasya and Shishur, which grew from life in a hard, snowbound valley.","note":"Families choose any Tuesday or Saturday in Pausha Krishna paksha; the engine suggests the first one. Some families keep a different fixed day by custom.","sources":["https://www.freepressjournal.in/lifestyle/netflixs-baramulla-shows-unique-kashmiri-pandit-ritual-know-more-about-gaad-batt","https://zeenews.india.com/people/what-is-gaad-batt-why-a-plate-of-fish-and-rice-in-manav-kaul-s-baramulla-holds-deep-cultural-meaning-2983513.html","https://ikashmir.net/uambardar/rituals.html","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["A raw fish rubbed with sindur is laid on a plate beside the cooked fish and boiled rice, on a Tuesday or Saturday in the first half of Paush, in a clean, quiet corner upstairs. Believers say the house deity (Gardevta) may arrive in any shape, even a cat, to take the offering. The book says the house deity used to be honoured on the eleventh bright night of Chaitra as Vasta Puja, which over time gave way to Gad Batta and Manjhor Tahar."]},{"id":"khichri-amavasya","name":"Khichri Amavasya (Yaksha Amavasya)","kashmiriName":"Khetsi Mavas","altNames":["Khech Mavas","Khichdi Amavasya","Yaksha Amavasya","Poh Gaet Pach Mavas","Khetsimavas"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Pausha","paksha":"K","tithi":15},"category":"festival","importance":3,"summary":"A winter new moon on which families cook khichri and offer it to the Yaksha, the guardian spirits of Kashmir, asking for a safe and prosperous winter.","dos":["Cook khichri with rice, moong dal, ghee and turmeric","Offer a portion outside for the Yaksha, usually on a plate on the wall or at the outer threshold","Eat the khichri together as a family in the evening"],"donts":["Don't eat before the offering is set out","Don't turn away a hungry animal that comes to the offering"],"food":["Khichri of rice and moong dal with ghee and turmeric","In some meat-eating families, khichri cooked with meat","Nadru or radish pickle and curd on the side"],"story":"Long ago, the story goes, Kashmir was home to the Yakshas, mysterious beings of the mountains. They and the humans agreed to live in peace, and every year on this winter new moon the humans would leave them a meal of khichri. In return the Yakshas would not trouble people during the long, cold winter.","deeper":"Khichri Amavasya is observed on the Amavasya of the dark fortnight of Pausha (Poh), in December or early January. It is one of the oldest-feeling festivals of the Kashmiri Pandits.\n\nThe khichri is offered to Kubera, lord of the Yakshas, and to the Yakshas themselves. Scholars read the festival as a memory of the meeting and mixing of different peoples in ancient Kashmir, and the Nilamata Purana describes Kashmir as having been home to Nagas, Pishachas and Yakshas.\n\nPopular retellings describe it as a yearly renewal of a peace treaty: humans offer food and the Yech (Yaksha) does not bother them in winter. Some also connect it to feeding dogs and other animals in the hardest season, which is why some call it a feast for Yetis and dogs.\n\nIn the diaspora the festival is kept by cooking khichri and leaving a portion outside, often with a message to children about kindness to animals in winter.","note":"Amavasya ending Pausha Krishna paksha (Purnimanta), in December or early January; 2024 fell on 30 December, and the next falls on 7 January 2027.","sources":["https://sanjogitakiduniya.wordpress.com/2024/12/16/khichdi-amavasya-celebrating-a-5000-year-old-kashmiri-pandit-tradition/","https://searchkashmir.org/khich-mavas-feast-for-yetis-and-dogs/","https://www.facebook.com/koausaorg/posts/khech-mavas-mubarakh-poshte-sarineekhech-mavas-or-khichdi-amavasya-is-a-sacred-w/1193646596283943/","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["One story says the Yakshas eat this favourite dish while wearing a red cap, and anyone who grabs the cap gains great wealth and an easy life. The Nilamata Purana is the source for the Yakshas having been promised food on this day, and the khichri is placed in a clay plate on the boundary wall at night."]},{"id":"shishur-paksha","name":"Shishur Paksha","kashmiriName":"Shishur Pachh","altNames":[],"rule":{"type":"tithiRange","month":"Pausha","paksha":"K","from":1,"to":15},"category":"period","importance":1,"summary":"The dark fortnight of Poh, the coldest weeks, when families guard newcomers and hold Shishur for a new bride or baby on a lucky day from the jantri.","dos":["If there is a new bride or baby in the family, choose a lucky day from the jantri for their Shishur"],"donts":["Traditionally, no new auspicious work is begun in this fortnight"],"food":["Tchochi and kaliya shared with relatives at the Shishur"],"story":"","deeper":"","note":"","sources":[],"fromBook":["The dark half of Paush, Shishur Paksha, is seen as an unlucky time, and no auspicious work is begun. Families guard newcomers: a lime wrapped in cloth is tied to the baby's cap or the bride's sari, and on a lucky day from the panchang relatives come to share tchocha and kaliya and drop gift money into an empty kangri set out for the newcomer."]},{"id":"shishur-sankrant","name":"Shishur Sankrant (Makar Sankranti)","kashmiriName":"Shishur Sankrat","altNames":["Makar Sankranti","Shishur","Shishur Sankranti"],"rule":{"type":"sankranti","rashi":9},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The sun's entry into Capricorn in midwinter: a day of fasting and of gifts, such as a kangri of coals for the family priest, in the names of the ancestors. Shishur for a new bride or baby is held in this season.","dos":["If there is a new bride or a baby born this year in the family, hold Shishur for them: in many families on a lucky day of Shishur Paksha chosen from the jantri, in others on or near Shishur Sankrant","Give a kangri (fire-pot) with embers, or its value, to the family priest in the name of the ancestors","Visit the family of a newborn or new bride with a small gift"],"donts":["Don't leave a new bride or baby out in the cold; the whole custom is about keeping them warm and safe"],"food":["Nuts and dried fruit given to the bride or baby's family","A family feast hosted for relatives who come for Shishur"],"story":"Shishur comes from the Sanskrit word for winter, shishira. In the coldest weeks of the year, Kashmiri families gather around a new bride or a newborn baby. A kangri, the little fire-pot Kashmiris carry under their pherans, is set before them, and relatives drop gift money into it with their blessings. The message is: we will keep you warm through your first winter with us.","deeper":"Shishur Sankrant is the Kashmiri name for Makar Sankranti, when the sun enters the sidereal sign of Capricorn, usually around 14 January. On this day Kashmiri Pandits fast and give a kangri filled with glowing coals, with other gifts, to the family priest (gor) in the name of departed ancestors, so that they too are warm.\n\nWhen is Shishur for a bride or baby held? Families give two answers. In many families, as P. L. Raina records, it is held on a lucky day chosen from the jantri during Shishur Paksha, the dark fortnight of Poh (late December to early January), with a lime in cloth tied to the baby's cap or the bride's sari until then. Other families hold it on or near Shishur Sankrant.\n\nShishur belongs with Gaad Batta and Khichri Amavasya among the winter rituals of a snowbound valley.","note":"Sidereal Makara sankranti.","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/uambardar/rituals.html","https://ghumakkadi.com/event/shishur-sankrat"],"fromBook":["The book says this is a day for fasting and for gifts made in the names of dead forebears. Devout people observe a vrat and hand the family priest a kangri filled with glowing coals, plus other gifts and money, as pitrdaan. In the plains people fast and bathe at sacred spots such as Kurukshetra or the Ganga at Haridwar. The book also mentions A. K. Kaul's argument that Makar Sankranti ought really to fall on the winter solstice, 21 December, and that North Indian panchangs are wrong by this count.","Shushr Laagun. The dark half of Paush, known as Shishur Paksha, is seen as an unlucky period, and no auspicious work is begun. People believe evil spirits roam in this cold season, so families guard newcomers. A lime wrapped in cloth is attached to the baby's cap or the bride's sari on any day in this period. Then, on a lucky day shown in the panchang, relatives and friends are called to share tchocha (bread) and kaliya (a meat dish). An empty kangri is set out as a sign of fire, and well-wishers drop gift money into it for the newcomer."]},{"id":"sahib-saptami","name":"Sahib Saptami (Mata Rupa Bhawani)","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Sahib Saptami","Rupa Bhawani Nirvana Day","Magha Krishna Saptami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Magha","paksha":"K","tithi":7},"category":"remembrance","importance":2,"summary":"The day the Kashmiri saint-poet Mata Rupa Bhawani (1621-1721) left her body, kept by her devotees with prayers and a shared meal.","dos":["Read or listen to some of Rupa Bhawani's vakhs (sayings)","Visit a Rupa Bhawani asthapan or ashram if there is one near you","Share a simple vegetarian meal"],"donts":["Don't treat it as a feast; it is a day of remembrance and devotion"],"food":["Simple vegetarian prasad shared among devotees"],"story":"Rupa Bhawani was born in Srinagar in the 1600s and became one of Kashmir's great women saints, second only to Lal Ded. She wrote spiritual verses called vakhs and spent years in meditation. Her devotees lovingly call her Sahib. She passed away on the Saptami of the dark half of Magh in 1721, and that day is remembered as Sahib Saptami.","deeper":"Mata Rupa Bhawani (c. 1621 to 1721), also known as Alakheshwari, was a Kashmiri mystic in the tradition of Lal Ded. She is remembered for her vakhs, short poetic sayings on the inner life, and for her long years of meditation at several places in the valley.\n\nShe attained mahanirvana at her father's home on the Saptami of Magha Krishna Paksha in 1721 ('maag gatta pachh satam' in Kashmiri). Her devotees observe the day as Sahib Saptami.\n\nAshrams and asthapans connected with her, in Kashmir and in exile, hold prayers, readings of her vakhs and community meals.","note":"Kashmiri naming is Purnimanta: 'maag gatta pachh' is the dark fortnight of Magh, falling in January or early February.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupa_Bhawani","https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/mata-rupa-bhawani-the-mystic-saint/"]},{"id":"gauri-tritiya","name":"Gauri Tritiya","kashmiriName":"Gaur Trai","altNames":["Gori Trai","Gour Trai","Magha Shukla Tritiya"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Magha","paksha":"S","tithi":3},"category":"puja","importance":2,"summary":"A day for Saraswati, the goddess of learning, when children are blessed for their studies.","dos":["Place books, pens and instruments before Saraswati","Children: read or write something with care today","Thank a teacher"],"donts":["Don't step over or throw books"],"food":["Simple sweets as prasad for the children"],"story":"Kashmir was once called Sharada Desh, the land of Sharada, goddess of learning. On Gaur Trai families pray to Saraswati to bless children with wisdom. In many families the family priest traditionally brought a picture of the goddess for the children.","deeper":"Gauri Tritiya falls on Magha Shukla Tritiya, two days before Vasant Panchami. In Kashmiri Pandit homes it is dedicated to Gauri as Saraswati, goddess of learning, knowledge and wisdom.\n\nKashmir's long tradition of learning, the Sharada script, the Sharada Peeth and a line of scholars from Kalhana to Abhinavagupta, gives the day special meaning.","note":null,"sources":["https://kashmirasitis.com/gauri-tritya-gaur-tray/","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["The family priest comes with a picture of Saraswati that has hymns written on it. The day is considered auspicious for starting children's learning."]},{"id":"tiky-tsoram","name":"Tiky Tsoram","kashmiriName":"Tiky Tsoram","altNames":["Tripura Sundari Chaturthi","Magha Shukla Chaturthi"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Magha","paksha":"S","tithi":4},"category":"puja","importance":1,"summary":"A festival of the goddess Tripura Sundari, kept especially by the Tiku clan of Kashmiri Pandits.","dos":["If your family keeps it, offer a puja to Tripura Sundari"],"donts":[],"food":["Family prasad according to clan custom"],"story":"Tripura Sundari, 'the beautiful one of the three worlds', is one of the most important goddesses of Kashmiri tantric Shaivism. Families of the Tiku clan keep her festival on the fourth bright day of Magh, the day before Vasant Panchami.","deeper":"Tiky Tsoram is listed among Kashmiri Pandit festivals. It falls on Magha Shukla Chaturthi and is associated in particular with the Tiku clan, whose name is popularly linked with 'Trika', the name of Kashmir Shaivism. Details of the rites are family-specific.","note":"Observed mainly by particular families; information on the rites is limited.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals","https://kashmirasitis.com/kp-culture/"],"fromBook":["The book calls this day Tripura Chaturthi, the Shukla Chaturthi of Magh, also called Shruka or Sholoka Chaturthi, on which children begin their first reading of the scriptures. Tripura Sundari is described as the goddess who rules the three worlds. Devotees also visit the Tiku family home in Karfali Mohalla, Srinagar, where she is enshrined."]},{"id":"vasant-panchami","name":"Vasant Panchami","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Basant Panchami","Saraswati Puja","Magha Shukla Panchami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Magha","paksha":"S","tithi":5},"category":"festival","importance":1,"summary":"The first breath of spring and a day for Saraswati.","dos":["Wear yellow if you like","Begin a new skill or a child's first letters"],"donts":[],"food":["Yellow sweet rice or kesar dishes"],"story":"Spring is still far away in Kashmir in Magh, but Vasant Panchami reminds everyone that it is coming. Saraswati is worshipped, and small children are sometimes given their first lesson in writing.","deeper":"Vasant Panchami falls on Magha Shukla Panchami. For Kashmiri Pandits it follows Gaur Trai, which is their own day for Saraswati.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"kaw-punim","name":"Kaw Punim (Festival of Crows)","kashmiriName":"Kaw Punim","altNames":["Kaawe Punim","Kav Punim","Magha Purnima"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Magha","paksha":"S","tithi":15},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"On the full moon of Magh, children offer rice and dal to crows on a little grass spoon and sing a song inviting them to eat.","dos":["Make a kaw-dul: tie two sticks in a cross and weave grass across the ends to make a flat spoon","Put a little cooked rice, moong dal and vegetable on it and hold it up on the roof or balcony","Sing the crow song together"],"donts":["Don't shoo the crows away today","Don't use plastic spoons; use sticks and grass"],"food":["Cooked rice with moong dal and a vegetable, offered to the crows","Khichri in some families"],"story":"On Kaw Punim, Kashmiri children climb onto the roof with a spoon made of twigs and grass, loaded with rice and dal. They sing: 'Kaw batta kawo, khetsri kawo', 'O crow, come for your khichri, bring your partner, sit on our new house'. Crows are seen as messengers of the ancestors, so feeding them is a way of sending love to those who came before us.","deeper":"Kaw Punim is kept on Magha Purnima. Crows are traditionally seen as representatives of the ancestors, and the offering is both a treat for the birds and a quiet act of remembrance.\n\nThe spoon, often called a kaw-dul, is made by tying two sticks in the shape of a cross and weaving paddy grass across the open ends to make a long-handled flat spoon. Rice, vegetable and moong dal are placed on it.\n\nThe song has several versions. One is: 'Kaw bhatta kawo, khechrey kawo, Gangabala shrana karith, gurey mechey tyoka karith, walbha saney larey pyeth, dal bata khyene' (O clever crow, lover of khichri, bathe at Gangabal, put a tilak of soil, come to the roof of our new house and eat dal and rice).\n\nChildren especially love this festival, and it is an easy one to keep in the diaspora.","note":null,"sources":["https://kashmirasitis.com/kaawe-punim-the-festival-of-crows/","https://x.com/sunilJbhat/status/2017909793667580148","https://sanjay-koul.blogspot.com/2017/02/kaw-punim.html","https://sanjogitakiduniya.wordpress.com/2025/02/12/kaw-punim-a-unique-kashmiri-pandit-tradition-honoring-ancestors/"],"fromBook":["The kaw-patlu is made from two twigs, one around six inches and the other around a foot long, crossed at right angles and lashed firmly with dried paddy straw. The long end serves as the handle. In the children's song they invite the crow to their new house to eat khichri."]},{"id":"herath-season","name":"Herath Season","kashmiriName":"Herath","altNames":["Shivratri festival period","Phagun Gaet Pach"],"rule":{"type":"tithiRange","month":"Phalguna","paksha":"K","from":1,"to":15},"category":"period","importance":3,"summary":"The fortnight-long run-up to and celebration of Herath (Shivratri), from Hurye Okdoh to Doon Mavas.","dos":["Clean the house thoroughly in the first days","Buy walnuts and puja vessels in good time","Plan who will visit whom on Salaam"],"donts":["Don't leave the cleaning to the last day"],"food":["Walnuts for the Vatuk","Fish on Gada Kah","The Herath feast"],"story":"For Kashmiri Pandits, Shivratri is not one night but a whole season. The dark fortnight of Phagun is a countdown: cleaning, shopping, visiting, cooking, then the great night of worship, and finally the walnuts shared with everyone.","deeper":"The Herath season runs through the dark fortnight of Phalguna (Purnimanta). Its named days are Hurye Okdoh (1st), Hurye Aetham (8th), Dyara Daham (10th), Gada Kah (11th), Vagur Bah (12th), Herath (13th), Salaam (14th) and Doon Mavas (15th). Many count Teela Aetham, eight days later, as the final close.\n\nThe days from Hurye Okdoh to about the sixth were kept for whitewashing and cleaning the house and collecting the things needed for the puja.","note":"Phalguna Krishna paksha in Purnimanta naming (Magha Krishna in Amanta calendars).","sources":["https://www.indica.today/long-reads/herath-mahashivratri-koshur/","https://kashmiril.com/blogs/journal/kashmiri-shivratri","https://brighterkashmir.com/shivratri-and-kashmiri-pandits","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals","https://www.panaromicspots.com/2026/02/herath-maha-shivratri-2026-kashmiri.html?m=1"]},{"id":"hurye-okdoh","name":"Hurye Okdoh","kashmiriName":"Hurye Okdoh","altNames":["Hur Okdoh","Phalguna Krishna Pratipada"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Phalguna","paksha":"K","tithi":1},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The first day of the Herath season, when the big house-cleaning begins.","dos":["Start cleaning and whitewashing the house","Make a list of what the Vatuk puja will need"],"donts":["Don't put off repairs until the festival"],"food":["Ordinary meals; the feasting comes later"],"story":"'Hur' means both singing and whitewashing in Kashmiri, and 'Okdoh' means the first day. So Hurye Okdoh is when houses were scrubbed and painted to welcome Shiva and Parvati, with songs to make the work lighter.","deeper":"Hurye Okdoh opens the Herath fortnight. From the first to about the sixth day, households cleaned and whitewashed and gathered walnuts, utensils and the samagri for the Vatuk puja. In 2026 the Herath season began on 2 February.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.indica.today/long-reads/herath-mahashivratri-koshur/","https://kashmiril.com/blogs/journal/kashmiri-shivratri","https://brighterkashmir.com/shivratri-and-kashmiri-pandits","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals","https://www.panaromicspots.com/2026/02/herath-maha-shivratri-2026-kashmiri.html?m=1"]},{"id":"hurye-aetham","name":"Hurye Aetham","kashmiriName":"Hurye Aetham","altNames":["Hur Aathum","Hora Ashtami","Phalguna Krishna Ashtami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Phalguna","paksha":"K","tithi":8},"category":"puja","importance":2,"summary":"The Ashtami of the Herath fortnight, a special day for Sharika at Hari Parbat.","dos":["Visit Hari Parbat or a Devi temple","Offer a lamp to Sharika"],"donts":[],"food":["Tahar offered to the goddess"],"story":"In the middle of the Herath preparations, Kashmiri Pandits pause to visit the goddess. Hurye Aetham was one of the great days for congregational prayer at Hari Parbat.","deeper":"Phalguna Krishna Ashtami (Hora Ashtami or Hur Aathum) is listed with the Ashadha Sharika days as one of the auspicious days for devotional congregational prayer at the Sharika Peeth on Hari Parbat.","note":null,"sources":["http://ikashmir.net/uambardar/hariparbat.html","https://kashmirasitis.com/hari-parbat-the-reservoir-of-religio-cultural-strength/"]},{"id":"dyara-daham","name":"Dyara Daham","kashmiriName":"Dyara Daham","altNames":["Dyare Daham","Phalguna Krishna Dashami"],"rule":{"type":"relative","to":"herath","offset":-3},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"A day for Lakshmi, when married daughters visit their parents and return with gifts.","dos":["Invite married daughters and sisters","Send them back with atagat (a gift of money) and, traditionally, a decorated kangri"],"donts":["Don't send a daughter home empty-handed"],"food":["A family meal at the parental home"],"story":"Dyar means money in Kashmiri. On Dyara Daham married women visit their parents and come back to their in-laws with money and gifts, including a kangri with a silver chain, a sign of good luck for the home.","deeper":"The tenth day of the Herath fortnight is devoted to the goddess Lakshmi. Married women visit their parental home and return with atagat and other gifts for their in-laws, including the kangri decorated with a silver tsalan (chain), symbolising good luck and prosperity.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.indica.today/long-reads/herath-mahashivratri-koshur/","https://kashmiril.com/blogs/journal/kashmiri-shivratri","https://brighterkashmir.com/shivratri-and-kashmiri-pandits","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["Daughters-in-law who have been visiting their parents during these days return to the in-laws' house with shaguns: a kangri, a pack of salt (noon), bread leaves (chuchi) and cash called Heyrat Bhog."]},{"id":"gada-kah","name":"Gada Kah","kashmiriName":"Gada Kah","altNames":["Gaad Kah","Phalguna Krishna Ekadashi"],"rule":{"type":"relative","to":"herath","offset":-2},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The fish day of the Herath season: most families cook fish and rice as a prelude to the big night.","dos":["Cook fish for the family (or a vegetarian dish if that is your custom)","Invite the extended family"],"donts":[],"food":["Gaad (fish), often cooked with radish or lotus stem","Rice"],"story":"Gaad means fish and kah means eleven. On the eleventh day of the dark fortnight, the family eats a special meal of fish and rice. It is also thought of as an offering to Bhairava, Shiva's guardian.","deeper":"Gada Kah is the eleventh day of the Herath fortnight. A special meal of fish and rice is shared by the extended family as a prelude to Herath and as an offering to Bhairava.\n\nVegetarian households substitute a vegetable dish.","note":"Although it falls on Ekadashi, which many Hindus keep as a fast, Kashmiri Pandit custom for this particular Ekadashi is the fish meal.","sources":["https://www.indica.today/long-reads/herath-mahashivratri-koshur/","https://kashmiril.com/blogs/journal/kashmiri-shivratri","https://brighterkashmir.com/shivratri-and-kashmiri-pandits","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["This is the Ekadashi of the Herath season. Fish is bought in large quantities and prepared but not yet cooked, and it is linked to worship of the Bhairavas."]},{"id":"vagur-bah","name":"Vagur Bah","kashmiriName":"Vagur Bah","altNames":["Vagarye Bah","Wager Bah","Phalguna Krishna Dwadashi"],"rule":{"type":"relative","to":"herath","offset":-1},"category":"puja","importance":2,"summary":"The first formal puja of Herath: an earthen pot called the vagur is set up as a messenger announcing Shiva and Parvati's arrival.","dos":["Set up the vagur pot on a grass mat in the prayer room","Offer a small puja"],"donts":[],"food":["A vegetarian or family-custom meal before the big day"],"story":"The vagur is an earthen pitcher that stands for a messenger or priest. Placed respectfully on a grass mat, it carries the good news: tomorrow, Shiva and Parvati are coming to this house.","deeper":"Vagur Bah, the twelfth day, is the first formal puja of Herath. An earthen pitcher called the vagur is placed on grass mats (asanas). It represents a messenger who brings word that Shiva and Parvati will visit the next day. Some accounts also describe dedicated Bhairava offerings on Gada Kah and Vagur Bah.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.indica.today/long-reads/herath-mahashivratri-koshur/","https://kashmiril.com/blogs/journal/kashmiri-shivratri","https://brighterkashmir.com/shivratri-and-kashmiri-pandits","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["The vagur is a water-filled pot decorated with flowers. It stands for Shiva's messenger, who went to the house of the Himalayan king Himavat with the proposal for Parvati's marriage to Shiva."]},{"id":"herath","name":"Herath (Kashmiri Shivratri)","kashmiriName":"Herath","altNames":["Herath Truvah","Hairath","Maha Shivratri","Vatuk Puja","Vatuk Barun","Hara Ratri"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Phalguna","paksha":"K","tithi":13,"at":"night"},"category":"festival","importance":3,"summary":"The greatest festival of Kashmiri Pandits: the night of Shiva, celebrated on the Trayodashi with the Vatuk puja, a pitcher of water and walnuts representing Shiva's divine family.","dos":["Fast during the day if you are able, and prepare the Vatuk in the evening","Fill the vatuk pitcher with water and walnuts and set out the other vessels and clay images","Perform the Vatuk puja at night with the family, following the jantri or the family priest's paddhati","Say 'Herath Mubarak' or 'Herath Poshte' to everyone"],"donts":["Don't eat before the puja if you are fasting","Don't move or disturb the Vatuk until Doon Mavas","Don't keep Herath on the pan-Indian Chaturdashi by mistake; Kashmiri Pandit Herath is the Trayodashi"],"food":["Walnuts soaked in the vatuk water, later given as prasad","A grand dinner after the puja: many families cook meat and fish (rogan josh, fish with radish), others keep the night strictly vegetarian by family custom","Nadru (lotus stem) dishes and dum aloo in vegetarian homes"],"story":"Herath comes from 'Hara Ratri', the night of Hara (Shiva). For Kashmiri Pandits it celebrates the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, and every home becomes the place where the divine couple arrives. A pitcher full of water and walnuts, the Vatuk, stands for Shiva's attendant Vatuk Bhairava and the whole divine household. There is also a folk story that a harsh Afghan governor once ordered Herath to be moved to summer, and it snowed on that day anyway.","deeper":"Kashmiri Pandits keep Herath on the Trayodashi (13th) of the dark half of Phalguna, not the Chaturdashi (14th) kept elsewhere in India. It is the climax of the Herath season and the most important festival of the community.\n\nThe central rite is the Vatuk puja (vatuk barun). A pitcher (the vatuk) is filled with water and walnuts and worshipped as Vatuka Bhairava, along with other vessels and clay images representing Shiva, Parvati, Kumara, Ganesha, the Bhairavas and other attendants. The walnuts are said to represent the four Vedas. The puja is elaborate, lasts for hours after a day-long fast, and is performed at night.\n\nKashmiri tradition tells of Shiva appearing as a column of flame at pradosh on this night, and the Kashmiri Pandit way of seeing Herath is very domestic: Parvati is the daughter of Kashmir, and Shiva is the honoured son-in-law.\n\nA well-known folk story tells that an Afghan governor, Jabbar Khan, ordered Kashmiri Pandits to celebrate Herath in the summer month of Haar instead. On that day, the story goes, snow fell anyway, as it usually does around Herath.\n\nIn exile, Herath has become a strong marker of identity. The J&K government declares a holiday, and in 2026 Kashmiri Pandits celebrated Herath on 14 February, with Salaam the next day.","note":"Rule for the engine: Herath is the day whose night (pradosh to midnight) is covered by Krishna Trayodashi, which can be the day before the sunrise-tithi date. 2026: 14 February (Trayodashi began in the afternoon). 2027: one source gives 6 March. 2025: sources split between the nights of 25 and 26 February. Always check the Vijayeshwar jantri. Kavbatt places Herath on the day whose night falls in Trayodashi. Printed jantris occasionally differ by a day from each other; follow your family jantri or purohit.","sources":["https://www.indica.today/long-reads/herath-mahashivratri-koshur/","https://kashmiril.com/blogs/journal/kashmiri-shivratri","https://brighterkashmir.com/shivratri-and-kashmiri-pandits","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals","https://www.therightnews.in/2026/02/14/hearath-the-maha-shivratri-of-kashmiri-pandits/","https://www.hindu-blog.com/2008/03/herath-shivaratri-of-kashmiri-pandits.html","https://hindupad.com/herath-2014-shivaratri-festival-kashmiri-pandits/","https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/herath-the-kashmiri-pandits-sacred-mahashivratri/"],"fromBook":["Herath runs for about 23 days, from the first day of the dark fortnight of Phalgun to the Ashtami of the bright fortnight. It was celebrated one day earlier than Shivaratri elsewhere in India, which the book explains by the same reasoning as Zarm Satam. A sect called gurtus stay strictly vegetarian and keep apart from other groups for three days, from the 12th to the 14th.","After the Vatuk puja, the water in the pots is changed every day and prayers are said each evening to the Vatuk deity until Amavasya. The book also describes the festival's meaning: the night of union of the soul with Shiva, and of Shiva with Shakti. It says the Nilamata Purana names Shivaratri worship as already kept in Kashmir when people first settled the valley after the lake Satisar was drained, and that King Nila asked them to keep it.","Shivratri Puja. The book places this puja on Phalgun Krishna Paksha Dvadashi. If Shivratri falls on the thirteenth, as it did in 2005, say Triyodasha in the sankalpa in place of Dvadashi. The set-up uses many pots. One large pot stands for Shiva, a smaller one for Parvati, and an open-mouthed pot called Dula for Bhairav. Four small pots stand for the Shivaganas, two still smaller ones called Sanivaris for the Kshetrapals, and one medium pot is for the Kalash. Some families also keep an open pot called Rishi Dulji for the Rishis. A large bowl holds the nirmal, the water already used in the puja. Prepare a sugar cone (kand) for each family member to put into the Shiva pot. Fill every pot except Bhairav and Rishi Dulji with water and walnuts, set each on a ring of dry paddy grass (aari), mark it with sindur, tie mauli round its neck and garland it. Cap the Shiva and Parvati pots with rounds made of fresh soft twigs. The performer sits facing east with the pots in front, and someone from the family applies zung. After Kalash sthapana, a small Shiva linga on a thaal is worshipped with Dup Dip puja, and then the sixteen-step puja is done, offering to the linga and to the pots together. Kand and milk go to the Shiva pot as naveed and madhuparka. Aarti is done with Shiva stutis, and the puja closes with Vaishvadeva bali and the closing recitation.","Why Herath is called Herath. The book gives three explanations. One says the name comes from the appearance of Vatuk Bhairava from an earthen pot, which would explain the clay vessels used. Another says it is a changed form of Hari-rat, the divine night, or night of delight. The third links it to the Persian word hairat, meaning surprise. Under Pathan rule the governor Jabar is said to have ordered the festival moved to the hot month of Ashadha. The Hindus obeyed, untimely snow fell in summer, and the Pathans were amazed. A Kashmiri couplet remembers Jabar's perversity: shame on him for turning summer into winter."]},{"id":"salaam","name":"Salaam","kashmiriName":"Salaam","altNames":["Salam","Herath Salaam","Phalguna Krishna Chaturdashi"],"rule":{"type":"relative","to":"herath","offset":1},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The day after Herath, for visiting, greetings and giving children Herath kharch (festival money).","dos":["Visit relatives and friends, or call them","Give children Herath kharch","Welcome guests with the Herath dishes"],"donts":["Don't forget the elders; they are visited first"],"food":["Leftover Herath feast shared with guests","Kahwa for visitors"],"story":"In the valley, Muslim neighbours used to come to Pandit homes on this day saying 'Herath Salaam', and they were welcomed with food. Children went from house to house and collected Herath kharch, a little pocket money from every elder.","deeper":"Salaam, the day after Herath, is a social day of visiting relatives and exchanging greetings. Historically, Muslim neighbours visited Kashmiri Pandit homes to offer greetings, which is how the day got its name. Children receive Herath kharch from elders.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.indica.today/long-reads/herath-mahashivratri-koshur/","https://kashmiril.com/blogs/journal/kashmiri-shivratri","https://brighterkashmir.com/shivratri-and-kashmiri-pandits","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals","https://www.therightnews.in/2026/02/14/hearath-the-maha-shivratri-of-kashmiri-pandits/"],"fromBook":["People who serve the community, such as washermen, barbers, postmen and electricity workers, come to greet the family and receive cash gifts. Minstrels sing and dance, especially if a baby or new bride is in the house. Muslim friends are invited, since many of these visitors greet with salami, which gave the day its name. Sons-in-law are specially invited, and daughters, sons-in-law and their children are sent Heyrath Kharach later with walnut prasad. Children get up early, go to the elders and say Salam, which is really a request for gift money."]},{"id":"doon-mavas","name":"Doon Mavas","kashmiriName":"Doon Mavas","altNames":["Walnut Amavasya","Vatuk Parmuzun","Phalguna Krishna Amavasya"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Phalguna","paksha":"K","tithi":15},"category":"puja","importance":2,"summary":"The close of Herath: the Vatuk is worshipped one last time, its water is taken to a river, and the soaked walnuts are shared as prasad.","dos":["Perform the final puja of the Vatuk","Take the vatuk water and flowers to a river or clean flowing water","Share the walnuts (doon) with relatives, neighbours and friends"],"donts":["Don't throw the walnuts away; they are prasad","Don't pour the vatuk water into a drain"],"food":["Walnuts from the Vatuk, given as prasad","Often with a piece of sweet bread or tsot"],"story":"Doon means walnut. On the new moon after Herath, the family carries the vatuk water to the river. In many homes, when they come back and knock, someone inside asks 'Kus chuo?' (who is it?) and the answer is 'Ram Bror', come with food, wealth and health for the house. Then the walnuts are shared out with everyone.","deeper":"Doon Mavas, the Amavasya that ends the dark fortnight of Phalguna, concludes the Vatuk puja. After a final worship the vessels are taken to the river or a stream, the water and flowers are immersed, and the walnut prasad is distributed to relatives and neighbours.\n\nMany families keep a charming door ritual on returning: a knock, a question from inside, and a reply announcing that the household's good fortune has arrived.\n\nIn the diaspora the vatuk water is usually poured at the root of a tree or into clean flowing water, and walnuts are often posted to relatives in other cities.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.indica.today/long-reads/herath-mahashivratri-koshur/","https://kashmiril.com/blogs/journal/kashmiri-shivratri","https://brighterkashmir.com/shivratri-and-kashmiri-pandits","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"fromBook":["On this day the women carry the Vatuk vessels to the river in the morning and empty the water there. On return the household head knocks at the door and a set exchange follows: the women ask 'Kus chuo' (who is it), he answers 'Ram Bror', and says he comes bringing cash, plenty of food and happiness. They ask him to repeat it, and then open the door. In the evening the house lady makes tamul chut (rice cakes) which are offered with walnut kernels and eaten hot as prasad. The prasad, walnuts and baked bread are sent to neighbours and relatives over the next days, and parents send their married daughters' in-laws walnuts, prasad and Heyrat Bhog."]},{"id":"teela-aetham","name":"Teela Aetham","kashmiriName":"Teela Aetham","altNames":["Tila Ashtami","Teil Atham","Tila Atham","Phalguna Shukla Ashtami"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Phalguna","paksha":"S","tithi":8},"category":"festival","importance":2,"summary":"The final farewell to the Herath season and to winter: oil lamps are lit from home to the river, and children swing old kangris in circles of fire.","dos":["Light small oil lamps at the doorway, along the path and by water","Float a lamp on a grass ring on a river or pond","Watch the kangri-swinging (safely!) and join the chant 'Jateen Tantah'"],"donts":["Don't swing burning kangris near people, cars or dry grass; supervise children"],"food":["A simple family meal"],"story":"Eight days after Doon Mavas, Kashmiri families line the way from their door to the river with little oil lamps and float one on a ring of grass. Children tie old kangris to long ropes, stuff them with dry grass, set them alight and swing them round and round, shouting 'Jateen Tantah!' It is goodbye to the cold and hello to spring.","deeper":"Teela Aetham falls on Phalguna Shukla Ashtami and is the culmination of the Herath season. It also marks the changeover from the severe cold to the pleasant season of Sonth (spring).\n\nEarthen oil lamps are placed at several points from the home to the river bank (yarbal), and one lamp is floated on the river on a grass ring (arie).\n\nChildren burn old fire-pots (kangris) stuffed with dry grass, tied to long ropes and swung in the air, all the while chanting 'Jateen Tantah'.","note":"Sources agree on Phalguna Shukla Ashtami (2025: 7 March; 2024: 17 March).","sources":["https://hindupad.com/tila-aetham/","https://brighterkashmir.com/tila-ashtami-of-kashmiri-pandits","https://kashmiril.com/blogs/journal/kashmiri-shivratri"],"fromBook":["On this Ashtami, in the evening, the flowers, garlands and the grass rings (aris) that supported the Vatuk vessels are taken to the river and immersed. A clay lamp with a lit oil wick sits on a floating grass ari, which the book likens to the lamp scene at Haridwar. Children perform Jatus-Tuun: they take an old cracked kangri pot, stuff it with dried grass, attach a rope, light it and swing it around their heads clockwise until it burns away."]},{"id":"holi","name":"Holi","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Holika Dahan","Phalguna Purnima","Dol Purnima"],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Phalguna","paksha":"S","tithi":15},"category":"festival","importance":1,"summary":"The spring full moon: a bonfire for Holika in the evening and colours the next morning.","dos":["Join a Holika bonfire in the evening","Play with natural colours the next day"],"donts":["Don't use harsh chemical colours","Don't throw colour on anyone who doesn't want it"],"food":["Gujiya and other sweets","Thandai"],"story":"The demon-king Hiranyakashipu tried to burn his son Prahlad, a devotee of Vishnu, using his sister Holika, who could not be burned. Holika burned and Prahlad walked out safe. The bonfire remembers that; the colours celebrate spring.","deeper":"Holika Dahan is on the evening of Phalguna Purnima, and colours are played the next morning (the first day of Chaitra Krishna in Purnimanta reckoning).\n\nHoli is not among the traditional core Kashmiri Pandit festivals, but it is widely celebrated today, especially in Jammu and in the diaspora.","note":"Colours are played the day after the Purnima; the rule here marks the Holika Dahan day.","sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"exodus-day","name":"Kashmiri Pandit Exodus Day","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Holocaust Day","Nishkasan Diwas","19 January"],"rule":{"type":"fixed","month":1,"day":19},"category":"remembrance","importance":3,"summary":"The anniversary of the night of 19 January 1990, which marks the mass forced exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir valley.","dos":["Light a lamp for those who were killed and those who died in exile","Listen to an elder's memory of leaving home, and write it down","Join a community remembrance event"],"donts":["Don't turn the day into anger at ordinary people; it is about truth, memory and return"],"food":["No special food; many families keep the day simple"],"story":"On the night of 19 January 1990, threats boomed from loudspeakers across Srinagar and fear swept through Pandit homes. Over the following weeks and months, hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits left their homes, many carrying almost nothing, and most never returned. The community remembers that night every year so that it is never forgotten.","deeper":"The exodus of Kashmiri Pandits followed months of targeted killings and threats in 1989. The night of 19 January 1990 is remembered by the community as the moment when fear became flight. Most of the community left the valley in 1990 and has lived since in Jammu, Delhi and around the world.\n\nCommunity organisations observe 19 January as Exodus Day or Holocaust Day, with gatherings, candlelight vigils and seminars, and with demands for justice and return.\n\nFor young people in the diaspora, the day is a chance to ask grandparents about the homes, streets and temples they left.","note":"Fixed Gregorian date.","sources":["https://www.ibtimes.co.in/taploo-exodus-why-september-14-observed-balidan-diwas-905904","https://hinducounciluk.org/2025/09/14/commemoration-of-kashmiri-pandits-hindus-martyrs-day/"]},{"id":"martyrs-day","name":"Kashmiri Pandit Martyrs' Day","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Balidan Diwas","14 September","Tika Lal Taploo Day"],"rule":{"type":"fixed","month":9,"day":14},"category":"remembrance","importance":2,"summary":"The anniversary of the killing of Pandit Tika Lal Taploo in 1989, observed to remember all Kashmiri Pandits killed during the years of terrorism.","dos":["Light a lamp and read the names of those remembered","Attend a community prayer meeting"],"donts":["Don't let the day pass unremarked in the family"],"food":["No special food"],"story":"On 13 September 1989, Tika Lal Taploo, a well-known lawyer and social worker in Srinagar, was shot dead outside his home. His killing was one of the first of many targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits. The community now remembers all its martyrs on this day.","deeper":"Tika Lal Taploo was a lawyer, social worker and political leader in Srinagar. His assassination on 13 September 1989 (his funeral was on the 14th) is seen as one of the earliest and most consequential acts of targeted violence against the community, which was driven out of the valley within months.\n\nDisplaced Kashmiri Pandits around the world observe 14 September as Martyrs' Day or Balidan Diwas, paying tribute to all those who lost their lives, including community members, nationalist leaders and security personnel.","note":"Fixed Gregorian date.","sources":["https://thenorthlines.com/14-september-kashmiri-pandit-martyrs-day/","https://www.ibtimes.co.in/taploo-exodus-why-september-14-observed-balidan-diwas-905904","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tika_Lal_Taploo","https://hinducounciluk.org/2025/09/14/commemoration-of-kashmiri-pandits-hindus-martyrs-day/"]},{"id":"vinayak-tsoram-monthly","name":"Vinayak Chaturthi (monthly)","kashmiriName":"Vinayak Tsoram","altNames":["Shukla Chaturthi"],"rule":{"type":"monthly","paksha":"S","tithi":4},"category":"monthly","importance":1,"summary":"The fourth day of every bright fortnight, dedicated to Ganesha.","dos":["Offer durva grass and a sweet to Ganesha","Start the day's work with a short prayer"],"donts":[],"food":["Modak or a small sweet"],"story":"Ganesha is worshipped first before any other god. Every bright-fortnight Chaturthi is a small Ganesha day.","deeper":"Vinayak Chaturthi recurs on every Shukla Chaturthi. The Bhadrapada one is the great Ganesh Chaturthi, which Kashmiri Pandits celebrate as Pann.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"sankashti-chaturthi","name":"Sankashti Chaturthi","kashmiriName":null,"altNames":["Sankat Chauth","Krishna Chaturthi"],"rule":{"type":"monthly","paksha":"K","tithi":4},"category":"monthly","importance":1,"summary":"The fourth day of every dark fortnight: a Ganesha fast broken after moonrise.","dos":["Fast until moonrise if you keep it, then offer water to the moon and pray to Ganesha"],"donts":[],"food":["Fasting foods; a sweet after moonrise"],"story":"Sankashti means 'freeing from trouble'. People pray to Ganesha to remove obstacles and break their fast when the moon rises.","deeper":"Sankashti Chaturthi recurs on every Krishna Chaturthi. The fast is broken after sighting the moon.","note":"Taken on the day Chaturthi prevails at moonrise, which may differ from the sunrise tithi.","sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"],"fromBook":["According to the book, the Chaturthi falling in each dark fortnight is kept as Sankat Chaturthi to keep trouble away, and the household's women observe the fast."]},{"id":"ekadashi","name":"Ekadashi","kashmiriName":"Kah","altNames":["Gyaras"],"rule":{"type":"monthly","paksha":"any","tithi":11},"category":"monthly","importance":1,"summary":"The eleventh day of each fortnight, a fast day for Vishnu, kept by many elders.","dos":["Avoid grains if you fast; eat fruit, milk and nuts","Break the fast on Dwadashi morning"],"donts":["Don't fast if it harms your health"],"food":["Fruit, milk, nuts, singhara dishes"],"story":"Twice a month, on Ekadashi, devotees of Vishnu give the stomach a rest and the mind a little extra prayer.","deeper":"Ekadashi recurs in every fortnight. Specific Ekadashis have their own names, such as Nirjala in Jyeshtha and Prabodhini in Kartika. In the Herath fortnight, the Kashmiri Pandit custom of Gada Kah (fish) takes precedence.","note":"Vaishnava traditions sometimes shift Ekadashi by a day when Dashami overlaps sunrise; follow the jantri.","sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"],"fromBook":["A Kashmiri Pandit vrat means eating one meal of cereals with cooked vegetables, avoiding vegetables like spinach, onions, turnip, carrot, beans and in some families even tomatoes. The cooking place and all utensils are cleaned, and aachman is performed before and after the meal. Fruits and tea (except salt tea) are allowed. On Shiva Chaturdashi, Krishna Janam Ashtami and Ekadashis, no cereals are taken, which is called Kaish Fakah.","The book notes that in Kashmir the place of the Shukla Ekadashi fast has largely been taken by Shukla Ashtami, though some still keep Ekadashi."]},{"id":"purnima","name":"Purnima (Full Moon)","kashmiriName":"Punim","altNames":["Full moon"],"rule":{"type":"monthly","paksha":"S","tithi":15},"category":"monthly","importance":1,"summary":"The full moon of every month, good for prayer, charity and Satyanarayan katha.","dos":["Light a lamp in the evening","Hold a Satyanarayan katha if it is your family custom"],"donts":[],"food":["Kheer or a simple sweet as prasad"],"story":"The full moon is a time when many Hindus fast, give charity and pray. In Kashmir, several full moons have their own festival: Kaw Punim in Magh, the Amarnath full moon in Shravan, Guru Purnima in Haar.","deeper":"Purnima recurs every month. Named full moons in the Kashmiri Pandit year include Chaitra (Hanuman Jayanti), Ashadha (Guru Purnima), Shravana (Amarnath, Raksha Bandhan), Ashwin (Sharad Purnima), Kartika, Magha (Kaw Punim) and Phalguna (Holi).","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"amavasya","name":"Amavasya (New Moon)","kashmiriName":"Mavas","altNames":["New moon"],"rule":{"type":"monthly","paksha":"K","tithi":15},"category":"monthly","importance":1,"summary":"The new moon of every month, a day for remembering ancestors.","dos":["Offer water (tarpan) for the ancestors if it is your custom","Give food to someone in need"],"donts":["Many families avoid starting new ventures or long journeys on Amavasya"],"food":["Simple vegetarian food"],"story":"On the darkest night of the month, families remember the ancestors. Several Kashmiri festivals fall on an Amavasya: Navreh eve, Khichri Amavasya, Doon Mavas and Diwali.","deeper":"Amavasya recurs every month. In Purnimanta naming it ends the Krishna paksha of the month. Named Kashmiri Pandit Amavasyas include Chaitra (Navreh eve), Ashwin (Mahalaya), Kartika (Diwali), Pausha (Khichri Amavasya) and Phalguna (Doon Mavas).","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"shukla-ashtami","name":"Shukla Ashtami (Devi day)","kashmiriName":"Aetham","altNames":["Masik Durgashtami","Sharika Ashtami","Kheer Bhawani Ashtami"],"rule":{"type":"monthly","paksha":"S","tithi":8},"category":"monthly","importance":1,"summary":"The eighth day of every bright fortnight, sacred to the goddess; many devotees visit Kheer Bhawani or Hari Parbat.","dos":["Light a lamp to the Devi","Visit a Devi temple if you can"],"donts":["Many devotees keep the day vegetarian"],"food":["Kheer or tahar as offering"],"story":"Every bright Ashtami belongs to the Mother. Devotees of Ragnya often visit Tulmul on every Shukla Ashtami, not only on Zyeth Atham.","deeper":"The monthly Shukla Ashtami is observed as Masik Durgashtami across north India. For Kashmiri Pandits it is associated with Sharika and Ragnya. The big Ashtamis are Zyeth Atham, Haar Aetham and Durga Ashtami.","note":null,"sources":["http://ikashmir.net/uambardar/hariparbat.html","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kheer_Bhawani_Temple"],"fromBook":["The book says shukla ashtami melas are held at Kheer Bhawani. The Jyeshtha Ashtami is a government holiday in Kashmir.","The book says all twelve Shukla Ashtamis are fast days: one vegetarian meal is taken, cooked with the kitchen and utensils cleaned, and non-vegetarian food is generally avoided. Durga is recited and some go to Tulmul to pray to Kheer Bhawani."]},{"id":"krishna-ashtami","name":"Krishna Ashtami (Kalashtami)","kashmiriName":"Aetham","altNames":["Kalashtami","Bhairava Ashtami (monthly)"],"rule":{"type":"monthly","paksha":"K","tithi":8},"category":"monthly","importance":1,"summary":"The eighth day of every dark fortnight, sacred to Bhairava and to the fierce goddess.","dos":["Offer a lamp to Bhairava or the Devi"],"donts":[],"food":["Simple offering according to family custom"],"story":"Bhairava is Shiva's fierce guardian, and Kashmir has many Bhairava shrines guarding its neighbourhoods. The dark Ashtami is his day each month.","deeper":"Kalashtami recurs on every Krishna Ashtami. The Herath fortnight's Hurye Aetham is one of these, kept for Sharika.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634","http://ikashmir.net/uambardar/hariparbat.html"]},{"id":"pradosh","name":"Pradosh Vrat","kashmiriName":"Truvah","altNames":["Pradosham","Trayodashi"],"rule":{"type":"monthly","paksha":"any","tithi":13},"category":"monthly","importance":1,"summary":"The thirteenth day of each fortnight, when Shiva is worshipped at twilight.","dos":["Offer water or milk to a Shivalinga at dusk","Chant 'Om Namah Shivaya'"],"donts":[],"food":["A light meal after the evening puja if fasting"],"story":"Pradosh is the twilight hour when Shiva is said to dance with joy. Kashmiri Pandits have a special bond with the Trayodashi: their great Herath night is a Trayodashi, not a Chaturdashi.","deeper":"Pradosh vrat recurs on each Trayodashi, observed at twilight (pradosh kaal). Two Kashmiri Trayodashis stand out: Herath (Phalguna Krishna) and Vyeth Truvah (Bhadrapada Shukla).","note":"Taken on the day Trayodashi prevails at twilight, which can differ from the sunrise tithi.","sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"masik-shivaratri","name":"Masik Shivaratri","kashmiriName":"Tsodah","altNames":["Monthly Shivaratri","Krishna Chaturdashi"],"rule":{"type":"monthly","paksha":"K","tithi":14},"category":"monthly","importance":1,"summary":"The fourteenth night of every dark fortnight, a monthly night for Shiva.","dos":["Light a lamp to Shiva at night"],"donts":[],"food":["Simple vegetarian food"],"story":"Every month has a small Shivaratri. The great one, for most of India, is in Phalguna, though Kashmiri Pandits keep their Herath a night earlier.","deeper":"Masik Shivaratri recurs on each Krishna Chaturdashi. In the Herath fortnight, the Kashmiri Pandit Chaturdashi is Salaam.","note":null,"sources":["https://www.drikpanchang.com/calendars/hindu/hinducalendar.html?geoname-id=1255634"]},{"id":"sankranti-monthly","name":"Sankranti (monthly)","kashmiriName":"Sankrat","altNames":["Solar month start"],"rule":{"type":"sankranti","rashi":"any"},"category":"monthly","importance":1,"summary":"The day the sun enters a new zodiac sign, starting a new solar month; good for charity and river bathing.","dos":["Give charity","Offer water to the sun"],"donts":[],"food":["Simple food; sesame sweets at Makar Sankranti"],"story":"Twelve times a year, the sun moves into a new sign. The Kashmiri calendar is lunisolar, so these solar moments sit alongside the lunar tithis. Two sankrantis are festivals in Kashmir: Shishur (Capricorn) and Sonth (Pisces).","deeper":"Sankranti recurs monthly. In the Kashmiri Pandit calendar the most important are Shishur Sankrat (sun into Makara) and Sonth (sun into Mina).","note":"Sidereal (nirayana) sankranti, as used in Indian panchangs.","sources":["https://hindupad.com/sonth/","https://ghumakkadi.com/event/shishur-sankrat"],"fromBook":["The first day of each of the twelve solar months is observed as a sankranti. Listening to Puranic stories of Vishnu is considered auspicious. Some families make satdev, puris fried in ghee from wheat flour mixed with sugar, and share them as prasad with neighbours and relatives.","Satnarayan Puja. It is done on Sankranti, the first day of the month in the solar Bikrami calendar. The stress is on listening to or reading the Satyanarayan katha, which tells of boons Vishnu granted to deserving people, so the ritual part is small. Do Dup Dip puja, then prepun of the sweet puris called satdev, which are made for this puja."]},{"id":"nag-panchami","name":"Nag Panchami","kashmiriName":"","altNames":[],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Shravana","paksha":"S","tithi":5},"category":"puja","importance":1,"summary":"The fifth day of the bright half of Shravan, when people go to springs and honour the snakes believed to live there.","dos":[],"donts":[],"food":[],"story":"","deeper":"","note":"","sources":[],"fromBook":["On Nag Panchami people visit springs, thought of as the dwellings of snakes (nagas), and honour the snakes by pouring milk into the water. It is an old Kashmiri connection between the valley's holy springs and the serpent spirits that guard them."]},{"id":"shrawan-bah","name":"Shrawan Bah","kashmiriName":"","altNames":[],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Shravana","paksha":"S","tithi":12},"category":"remembrance","importance":1,"summary":"The twelfth day of the bright half of Shravan, kept for rites for children who died young.","dos":[],"donts":[],"food":[],"story":"","deeper":"","note":"","sources":[],"fromBook":["Shukla Dwadashi of Shravan is kept for carrying out rites for the family's children who have died. The ceremony takes place at the spring named Kapal Mochan at Batapora in Shopian."]},{"id":"manjhor-tahar","name":"Manjhor Tahar","kashmiriName":"","altNames":[],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Margashirsha","paksha":"S","tithi":15},"category":"puja","importance":1,"summary":"A fast and house-deity offering of turmeric rice on the full moon of Margashirsha, now kept by few families.","dos":["Keep a fast, if your family keeps this day","Cook tahar and offer it to the house deity in a pot on the topmost floor of the house","Some families keep the day as Matrika puja, the worship of the seven mothers"],"donts":[],"food":["Tahar: rice boiled with turmeric, mixed with oil and salt"],"story":"","deeper":"","note":"","sources":[],"fromBook":["On Marga Purnima, a few families still keep a fast and offer tahar, rice boiled with turmeric and mixed with oil and salt. It is placed in a pot kept on the topmost floor of the house for the house deity. The day is also kept as Matrika puja, when the seven matrikas are worshipped. The book says that the house deity was once worshipped on the eleventh bright night of Chaitra as Vasta Puja, and that Gad Batta and Manjhor Tahar have taken the place of that older custom."]},{"id":"mahakali-ashtami","name":"Mahakali Ashtami","kashmiriName":"","altNames":[],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Pausha","paksha":"K","tithi":8},"category":"puja","importance":1,"summary":"The Ashtami of Shishur Paksha, the dark fortnight of Poh, kept as the birthday of Mahakali Durga.","dos":["Visit a Kali or Durga temple; in Srinagar devotees went to the Mahakali shrine on the bank of the Jhelum"],"donts":[],"food":[],"story":"","deeper":"","note":"","sources":[],"fromBook":["Ashtami of Shishur Paksha is celebrated as the birthday of Mahakali Durga. Devotees traditionally went to the Mahakali temple on the river bank, which the book notes is now overshadowed by the Muslim shrine of Shah-e-Hamdan."]},{"id":"shiva-chaturdashi","name":"Shiva Chaturdashi","kashmiriName":"","altNames":[],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Magha","paksha":"K","tithi":14},"category":"vrat","importance":1,"summary":"The fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Magh, kept with a fast and prayers to Shiva.","dos":[],"donts":[],"food":[],"story":"","deeper":"","note":"","sources":[],"fromBook":["Chaturdashi of Krishna Paksha in Magh is kept as Shiva Chaturdashi, with a fast and prayers to Lord Shiva. The book notes that some people consider this the real day of Shiva's revelation, as against the Shivaratri of Phalgun. On this day no cereals are taken.","Kah. Kah is a three-day fast on the 12th, 13th and 14th days of Krishna Paksha in Magh. On the 12th and 14th a single meal is allowed. On the 13th no meal is taken, though fruit and singhara flour dishes are allowed. It leads to Shiva Chaturdashi."]},{"id":"prakash-deva","name":"Prakash Deva","kashmiriName":"","altNames":[],"rule":{"type":"tithi","month":"Magha","paksha":"S","tithi":7},"category":"puja","importance":1,"summary":"The Shukla Saptami of Magh, a day to worship the Sun as the visible God.","dos":[],"donts":[],"food":[],"story":"","deeper":"","note":"","sources":[],"fromBook":["On Shukla Saptami of Magh the Sun is worshipped as Prakash Deva, the God who can be seen. People recite the Gayatri mantra and some perform a small havan. Some also go to Mattan to bathe in the spring dedicated to Surya Dev."]}],"weekdays":[{"weekday":0,"name":"Sunday","kashmiriName":"Aathwar","sanskrit":"Ravivara","deity":"Surya (the Sun)","planet":"Sun","summary":"The Sun's day, for health, energy and gratitude for light.","dos":["Offer water to the rising sun","Spend time with family","Begin the week's plans"],"donts":["Many families avoid salt in the one meal of a Sunday fast, if they keep one"],"lore":"Surya is the visible god who lights and warms every living thing. Sunday fasts are kept for health and for the eyes, and Saptami tithis are also sacred to Surya.","kashmiriCustoms":"Sunday has no special Kashmiri Pandit festival rule. In the valley it was an ordinary working and market day for many; in the diaspora it has become the usual day for family gatherings, havans and community events such as Navreh Milan."},{"weekday":1,"name":"Monday","kashmiriName":"Tsandrewar","sanskrit":"Somavara","deity":"Shiva","planet":"Moon","summary":"The Moon's day, sacred to Shiva, who wears the crescent moon in his hair.","dos":["Offer water or milk to a Shivalinga","Chant 'Om Namah Shivaya'","Keep a Monday fast if it is your family custom"],"donts":["Don't waste milk; if you offer it, offer a little with care"],"lore":"Shiva wears the moon on his head, so the Moon's day is his. Mondays in the month of Shravan are especially holy for Shiva devotees.","kashmiriCustoms":"Kashmiri Pandits, as Shaivas, give Monday a special place for Shiva worship, and many visit a Shiva temple or keep a light fast. Shravan Mondays, in the Amarnath season, carry extra devotion."},{"weekday":2,"name":"Tuesday","kashmiriName":"Bomwar","sanskrit":"Mangalavara","deity":"Hanuman, the Devi and Bhairava","planet":"Mars","summary":"Mars's day, for strength and protection; in Kashmiri Pandit homes a favoured day for offerings to the house guardian and for family rites.","dos":["Pray to Hanuman or the Devi","Choose Tuesday for a family rite such as Gaad Batta or Roth Khabar if the jantri agrees"],"donts":["Many families avoid haircuts and nail-cutting today","Many avoid lending money or starting a long journey on Tuesday"],"lore":"Mangal (Mars) is fiery and brave. Hanuman and the Devi are worshipped for courage, and Tuesday fasts are kept to calm the effects of Mars.","kashmiriCustoms":"For Kashmiri Pandits, Tuesday and Saturday are the two days chosen for certain household rites. Gaad Batta, the winter offering of fish and rice to the Ghar Devta, is made on a Tuesday or Saturday of the dark fortnight of Poh, and Roth Khabar, when a new bride's family sends roth and brings her home for a visit, is traditionally fixed on a Tuesday or Saturday. Like many Hindu families, many Kashmiri Pandit households avoid haircuts and cutting nails on Tuesday."},{"weekday":3,"name":"Wednesday","kashmiriName":"Budwar","sanskrit":"Budhavara","deity":"Ganesha and Vishnu","planet":"Mercury","summary":"Mercury's day, good for study, business and communication.","dos":["Start a course of study or a business task","Offer durva grass to Ganesha"],"donts":[],"lore":"Budha (Mercury) is the son of the Moon and rules speech, trade and intelligence, so Wednesday is thought good for learning and for starting work.","kashmiriCustoms":"There is no special Kashmiri Pandit rule for Wednesday. Families who consult the jantri for a good day to begin studies or a new job often find Wednesday recommended."},{"weekday":4,"name":"Thursday","kashmiriName":"Brasvar","sanskrit":"Guruvara (Brihaspativara)","deity":"Brihaspati (the guru of the gods) and Vishnu","planet":"Jupiter","summary":"Jupiter's day, for teachers, wisdom and blessings.","dos":["Honour your teachers and elders","Offer yellow flowers or sweets to Vishnu","Read something that lifts the mind"],"donts":["Many families avoid haircuts, shaving and washing hair on Thursday"],"lore":"Brihaspati is the teacher of the gods, and his day is for wisdom, marriage blessings and prosperity. Yellow is his colour.","kashmiriCustoms":"Kashmiri Pandit families broadly share the north Indian custom of avoiding haircuts on Thursday. Thursday is also a common day for visiting a guru's ashram or holding satsang."},{"weekday":5,"name":"Friday","kashmiriName":"Shokurvar","sanskrit":"Shukravara","deity":"Lakshmi and the Devi","planet":"Venus","summary":"Venus's day, for Lakshmi, beauty, harmony and the home.","dos":["Light a lamp for Lakshmi in the evening","Keep the house clean and welcoming"],"donts":["Don't quarrel at home on Friday evening"],"lore":"Shukra (Venus) rules beauty, art and comfort, and Friday is devoted to Lakshmi and the goddess. Many women keep a Friday fast for the family's prosperity.","kashmiriCustoms":"In the valley, Friday (also called Jumma in Kashmiri) was the Muslim day of prayer and markets were quieter. For Kashmiri Pandits it has no fixed rite, but many families light a lamp to the Devi on Friday evenings."},{"weekday":6,"name":"Saturday","kashmiriName":"Batwar","sanskrit":"Shanivara","deity":"Shani, Hanuman and Bhairava","planet":"Saturn","summary":"Saturn's day, for discipline, patience and protection; like Tuesday, a chosen day for some Kashmiri Pandit household rites.","dos":["Light a mustard-oil lamp or pray to Hanuman","Give to people who work hard for little","Choose Saturday for Gaad Batta or Roth Khabar if it is your family's day"],"donts":["Many families avoid haircuts and nail-cutting","Many avoid buying iron, oil or new shoes on Saturday"],"lore":"Shani (Saturn) is the slow, stern judge who rewards patience and honest work. Hanuman is believed to protect his devotees from Shani's hardships.","kashmiriCustoms":"Saturday, with Tuesday, is one of the two days on which Kashmiri Pandit families traditionally hold Gaad Batta (fish and rice for the Ghar Devta) during the dark fortnight of Poh, and on which Roth Khabar for a new bride is fixed. Many households also follow the common Hindu custom of not cutting hair or nails on Saturday."}],"tithis":[{"index":1,"paksha":"S","name":"Pratipada","kashmiriName":"Okdoh","deity":"Agni","meaning":"The first day, a threshold. Bright Pratipada is good for beginnings: Navreh itself is a Shukla Pratipada."},{"index":2,"paksha":"S","name":"Dwitiya","kashmiriName":"Doy","deity":"Brahma","meaning":"A steady, auspicious tithi, good for laying foundations, travel and lasting work."},{"index":3,"paksha":"S","name":"Tritiya","kashmiriName":"Trai","deity":"Gauri (Parvati)","meaning":"A tithi of the goddess Gauri, good for family, music and celebrations. Zang Trai, Akshaya Tritiya and Gaur Trai all fall on a bright Tritiya."},{"index":4,"paksha":"S","name":"Chaturthi","kashmiriName":"Tsoram","deity":"Ganesha","meaning":"Ganesha's tithi. It is a 'rikta' (empty) tithi, so avoided for big beginnings, but ideal for removing obstacles; Vinayak Tsoram and Pann fall on it."},{"index":5,"paksha":"S","name":"Panchami","kashmiriName":"Pantsam","deity":"The Nagas (serpent deities)","meaning":"A 'full' tithi, good for learning, medicine and auspicious work. Kashmir, home of countless springs (nag), honours the Nagas."},{"index":6,"paksha":"S","name":"Shashthi","kashmiriName":"Sheyam","deity":"Kartikeya (Skanda)","meaning":"Associated with Kartikeya, the young warrior god; considered good for courage, health and children's wellbeing."},{"index":7,"paksha":"S","name":"Saptami","kashmiriName":"Satam","deity":"Surya (the Sun)","meaning":"The Sun's tithi, good for travel, vehicles and health. Haar Satam falls on a bright Saptami."},{"index":8,"paksha":"S","name":"Ashtami","kashmiriName":"Aetham","deity":"Durga / Shiva (Rudra)","meaning":"The goddess's day. Bright Ashtami is the great Kashmiri Devi tithi: Zyeth Atham at Kheer Bhawani, Haar Aetham, Durga Ashtami and Teela Aetham."},{"index":9,"paksha":"S","name":"Navami","kashmiriName":"Navum","deity":"Durga (Ambika)","meaning":"A fierce 'empty' tithi, avoided for gentle beginnings but powerful for worship of the goddess. Haar Navum (Sharika Jayanti) and Ram Navami fall on it."},{"index":10,"paksha":"S","name":"Dashami","kashmiriName":"Daham","deity":"Yama (Dharmaraja)","meaning":"A 'full' tithi of victory and dharma, good for important work; Dussehra is a bright Dashami."},{"index":11,"paksha":"S","name":"Ekadashi","kashmiriName":"Kah","deity":"Vishnu (and the Vishvedevas)","meaning":"The fasting tithi of Vishnu. Good for prayer, study and a lighter diet."},{"index":12,"paksha":"S","name":"Dwadashi","kashmiriName":"Bah","deity":"Vishnu (Hari)","meaning":"The day the Ekadashi fast is broken. Good for charity and religious acts."},{"index":13,"paksha":"S","name":"Trayodashi","kashmiriName":"Truvah","deity":"Kamadeva / Shiva (Pradosh)","meaning":"A joyful tithi and the evening of Pradosh worship of Shiva. Vyeth Truvah, the birthday of the Vitasta, is a bright Trayodashi."},{"index":14,"paksha":"S","name":"Chaturdashi","kashmiriName":"Tsodah","deity":"Shiva","meaning":"An 'empty' tithi, strong for worship of Shiva and the fierce goddess. Jwala Chaturdashi (Haar Tsodah) and Anant Chaturdashi (Anta Tsodah) fall on it."},{"index":15,"paksha":"S","name":"Purnima","kashmiriName":"Punim","deity":"Chandra (the Moon)","meaning":"The full moon: complete, bright and generous. Good for prayer, vows and charity; Kaw Punim and Guru Purnima are full moons."},{"index":16,"paksha":"K","name":"Pratipada","kashmiriName":"Okdoh","deity":"Agni","meaning":"The first day of the dark fortnight. Hurye Okdoh, the start of the Herath season, is a dark Pratipada."},{"index":17,"paksha":"K","name":"Dwitiya","kashmiriName":"Doy","deity":"Brahma","meaning":"A calm, supportive tithi for steady work and travel."},{"index":18,"paksha":"K","name":"Tritiya","kashmiriName":"Trai","deity":"Gauri (Parvati)","meaning":"A gentle tithi of the goddess, suitable for family visits and domestic rites."},{"index":19,"paksha":"K","name":"Chaturthi","kashmiriName":"Tsoram","deity":"Ganesha","meaning":"Sankashti, the monthly Ganesha fast broken at moonrise, for freedom from trouble."},{"index":20,"paksha":"K","name":"Panchami","kashmiriName":"Pantsam","deity":"The Nagas (serpent deities)","meaning":"A 'full' tithi, generally favourable for ordinary good work."},{"index":21,"paksha":"K","name":"Shashthi","kashmiriName":"Sheyam","deity":"Kartikeya (Skanda)","meaning":"A tithi of Kartikeya; a quiet day in the Kashmiri calendar."},{"index":22,"paksha":"K","name":"Saptami","kashmiriName":"Satam","deity":"Surya (the Sun)","meaning":"The Sun's tithi. Zaram Satam (Janmashtami) and Sahib Saptami are dark Saptamis in the Kashmiri calendar."},{"index":23,"paksha":"K","name":"Ashtami","kashmiriName":"Aetham","deity":"Durga / Bhairava (Rudra)","meaning":"Kalashtami, the day of Bhairava and the fierce goddess. Hurye Aetham in the Herath season is a dark Ashtami kept for Sharika."},{"index":24,"paksha":"K","name":"Navami","kashmiriName":"Navum","deity":"Durga (Ambika)","meaning":"A fierce 'empty' tithi, avoided for new beginnings but suited to worship of the goddess."},{"index":25,"paksha":"K","name":"Dashami","kashmiriName":"Daham","deity":"Yama (Dharmaraja)","meaning":"A 'full' tithi. In the Herath season it is Dyara Daham, a day for Lakshmi and gifts to daughters."},{"index":26,"paksha":"K","name":"Ekadashi","kashmiriName":"Kah","deity":"Vishnu (and the Vishvedevas)","meaning":"A fasting tithi of Vishnu. In the Herath season it is Gada Kah, the day of the fish feast."},{"index":27,"paksha":"K","name":"Dwadashi","kashmiriName":"Bah","deity":"Vishnu (Hari)","meaning":"The fast-breaking tithi after Ekadashi. In the Herath season it is Vagur Bah, when the first puja is performed."},{"index":28,"paksha":"K","name":"Trayodashi","kashmiriName":"Truvah","deity":"Kamadeva / Shiva (Pradosh)","meaning":"Pradosh worship of Shiva. For Kashmiri Pandits the dark Trayodashi of Phalguna is Herath, the greatest night of the year."},{"index":29,"paksha":"K","name":"Chaturdashi","kashmiriName":"Tsodah","deity":"Shiva (and Kali)","meaning":"Masik Shivaratri, a monthly night for Shiva. In the Herath season it is Salaam, the day of visits and greetings."},{"index":30,"paksha":"K","name":"Amavasya","kashmiriName":"Mavas","deity":"The Pitris (ancestors)","meaning":"The new moon, for remembering ancestors; not used for new beginnings. Khichri Amavasya, Doon Mavas, Diwali and Navreh eve are all Amavasyas."}],"months":[{"key":"Chaitra","kashmiriName":"Tsithar","season":"Vasanta (spring)","gregorianApprox":"March–April","summary":"The month of new beginnings. In Purnimanta reckoning its dark fortnight comes first and ends with Navreh eve; its bright fortnight opens with Navreh, the Kashmiri Pandit New Year, and the nine nights of Chaitra Navratri.","highlights":["Navreh Mavas (thaal barun)","Navreh","Zang Trai","Chaitra Navratri","Ram Navami","Hanuman Jayanti"],"nature":"Almond trees blossom white and pink at Badamwari and across the valley, and the first tulips open by the lakes. The snow retreats up the mountains and families go out to see the blossoms."},{"key":"Vaishakha","kashmiriName":"Vahek","season":"Vasanta (spring)","gregorianApprox":"April–May","summary":"A bright, busy month of spring. Akshaya Tritiya falls in its bright half and is a favoured day for new starts.","highlights":["Akshaya Tritiya"],"nature":"Apple, pear and cherry orchards are in full bloom and the fields are ploughed for rice. Meadows turn green and the streams run full with snowmelt."},{"key":"Jyeshtha","kashmiriName":"Zeth","season":"Grishma (early summer)","gregorianApprox":"May–June","summary":"The month of the goddess Ragnya. Its bright Ashtami, Zyeth Atham, brings thousands to the Kheer Bhawani spring at Tulmul.","highlights":["Zyeth Atham (Kheer Bhawani Mela)","Nirjala Ekadashi"],"nature":"Cherries and mulberries ripen and paddy is transplanted in flooded fields. High pastures open and shepherds begin to move their flocks up the mountains."},{"key":"Ashadha","kashmiriName":"Haar","season":"Grishma (summer)","gregorianApprox":"June–July","summary":"The month of Sharika. Its bright fortnight holds Haar Satam, Haar Aetham and Haar Navum at Hari Parbat, Jwala Chaturdashi at Khrew, and Guru Purnima.","highlights":["Haar Satam","Haar Aetham","Haar Navum (Sharika Jayanti)","Jwala Chaturdashi (Haar Tsodah)","Guru Purnima"],"nature":"Long, warm days settle over the valley and the meadows of Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Pahalgam are at their greenest. Vegetables fill the floating gardens of the Dal Lake."},{"key":"Shravana","kashmiriName":"Shravun","season":"Varsha (monsoon)","gregorianApprox":"July–August","summary":"The month of Shiva and the Amarnath pilgrimage, which reaches its climax on Shravan Purnima with the Chhari Mubarak, the same day as Raksha Bandhan.","highlights":["Amarnath (Shravan Purnima)","Raksha Bandhan"],"nature":"Pink lotuses cover large parts of the Dal Lake, and pilgrims trek through the Lidder valley towards the Amarnath cave. Kashmir escapes most of the monsoon, so the valley stays mild and green."},{"key":"Bhadrapada","kashmiriName":"Bhadrapeth","season":"Varsha (late monsoon)","gregorianApprox":"August–September","summary":"A month rich in Kashmiri festivals: Zaram Satam (Janmashtami) in its dark half, and Pann, Gangashtami, Vyeth Truvah and Anant Chaturdashi in its bright half.","highlights":["Zaram Satam","Pann","Ganesh Chaturthi","Gangashtami (Gangabal)","Vyeth Truvah","Anta Tsodah"],"nature":"Maize ripens, apples begin to colour and the lotus stems (nadru) are harvested from the lakes. The high lakes such as Gangabal are free of ice, which is why pilgrims go now."},{"key":"Ashwin","kashmiriName":"Ashid","season":"Sharad (autumn)","gregorianApprox":"September–October","summary":"The dark fortnight is Kambar Pach, the fortnight of the ancestors; the bright fortnight brings Navratri, Durga Ashtami and Dussehra.","highlights":["Kambar Pach (Pitru Paksha)","Mahalaya Amavasya","Sharad Navratri","Durga Ashtami","Dussehra","Sharad Purnima"],"nature":"Paddy fields turn gold and are harvested, and apple picking is at its peak. The chinar leaves begin to turn from green to rust."},{"key":"Kartika","kashmiriName":"Kartik","season":"Sharad (autumn)","gregorianApprox":"October–November","summary":"The month of lamps: Diwali on its Amavasya, followed by Annakoot, Bhai Dooj, Prabodhini Ekadashi and Kartik Purnima.","highlights":["Diwali","Dhanteras","Annakoot","Bhai Dooj","Prabodhini Ekadashi","Kartik Purnima"],"nature":"Saffron crocuses flower in purple carpets on the Pampore plateau and are picked at dawn. The chinars blaze red and gold, the most famous sight of Kashmiri autumn."},{"key":"Margashirsha","kashmiriName":"Monjhor","season":"Hemanta (early winter)","gregorianApprox":"November–December","summary":"A quiet month of preparation for winter; its full moon is Manjhor Tahar. Families dry vegetables and stock the house for the cold.","highlights":["Monthly observances only"],"nature":"Fallen chinar leaves are gathered to make charcoal for kangris, and vegetables like turnip, aubergine and gourd are sun-dried (hokh syun) for winter. The first frosts arrive and the mountains turn white."},{"key":"Pausha","kashmiriName":"Poh","season":"Hemanta (winter)","gregorianApprox":"December–January","summary":"The heart of winter. Its dark fortnight (Poh gaet pach) holds Gaad Batta and ends with Khichri Amavasya; Shishur Sankrant falls around its end or early in Magh.","highlights":["Gaad Batta","Khichri Amavasya (Yaksha Amavasya)","Shishur Sankrant"],"nature":"Chillai Kalan, the harshest forty days of Kashmiri winter, begins around 21 December; lakes freeze at the edges and snow blankets the valley. Life gathers around the kangri and the hamam."},{"key":"Magha","kashmiriName":"Magh","season":"Shishira (late winter)","gregorianApprox":"January–February","summary":"A month of learning and remembrance: Sahib Saptami in the dark half, and Gaur Trai, Vasant Panchami and Kaw Punim in the bright half.","highlights":["Sahib Saptami","Gauri Tritiya (Gaur Trai)","Tiky Tsoram","Vasant Panchami","Kaw Punim"],"nature":"Chillai Kalan gives way to Chillai Khurd, the 'small cold', with more snow but slowly lengthening days. Crows gather on snowy rooftops, just in time for Kaw Punim."},{"key":"Phalguna","kashmiriName":"Phagun","season":"Shishira (late winter)","gregorianApprox":"February–March","summary":"The month of Herath. Its whole dark fortnight is the Herath season, from Hurye Okdoh to Doon Mavas; Teela Aetham and Holi follow in the bright half.","highlights":["Hurye Okdoh","Hurye Aetham","Dyara Daham","Gada Kah","Vagur Bah","Herath","Salaam","Doon Mavas","Teela Aetham","Holi"],"nature":"Chillai Bachha, the 'baby cold', ends the winter and the thaw begins; old saying has it that it often snows around Herath. By the end of the month the first buds appear on the almond trees."}],"calendarNotes":{"saptarishi":"Kashmiri Pandits count their years in the Saptarishi Samvat, also called the Laukika ('popular') era. Tradition places its start in 3076 BCE, and it was once used across Kashmir and the Punjab hills. The name comes from the Saptarishis, the seven great sages of the Great Bear: an old idea holds that they stay a hundred years in each of the 27 nakshatras. The story told to children is that the sages gathered at Hari Parbat on the first of Chaitra to honour the goddess Sharika, and the count of years began then. The year changes on Navreh (Chaitra Shukla Pratipada), so from Navreh onwards the Saptarishi year is the Gregorian year plus 3076: Navreh 2025 began 5101, Navreh 2026 began 5102 and Navreh 2027 begins 5103. The historian Kalhana, writing his Rajatarangini in 1148-49, used this era, and followed the old habit of leaving out the hundreds, writing only the last two digits of the year.\n\nThe calendar is lunisolar. Months are lunar and named in the Purnimanta way: each month runs from the day after one full moon to the next, so the dark fortnight (gaet pach) comes first and carries the name of the month whose bright fortnight follows. That is why Herath is Phalguna Krishna Trayodashi and Zaram Satam is Bhadrapada Krishna Saptami, even though Amanta calendars in other regions give the same days different month names. An extra month (adhik or mal maas) is added when needed to keep the lunar year in step with the sun; festivals are then kept in the regular month. Solar events, the sankrantis, run alongside: two of them are festivals, Shishur (sun into Capricorn) and Sonth (sun into Pisces).\n\nNavreh begins the night before with thaal barun. A platter is filled with unhusked rice, a little cooked rice, bread, curd, salt, sugar, walnuts, flowers, a coin, a pen and the new jantri, and often a mirror. It is covered and left in the prayer room, and in the morning each member of the family is led to it with eyes closed so that it is the first thing they see in the new year. Walnuts from the thaal are later dropped into flowing water. The same thaal is prepared on the eve of Sonth, the solar new year and the start of spring.\n\nThe jantri (almanac) is the backbone of this life. In the valley, the family priest (kul purohit or gor) visited each household before Navreh with the new jantri and the Kreel Pach, an illustrated sheet showing the deities and forecasts of the year, and received dakshina in return. The best-known almanac is the Vijayeshwar Panchang (Vijayeshwar Jantri), compiled by the Vijayeshwar Jyotishi family of Bijbehara, the ancient Vijayeshwar; archived editions include the Urdu-script Vijayeshwar Jantri of 1958-59 and 1959-60, the latter associated with Pandit Premnatha Shastri, and it continues to be published every year for the community in exile. It gives tithis, nakshatras, the Raja and Mantri planets of the year, the shraddha tithis of Kambar Pach, the saat (auspicious days) for Pann and other rites, and the dates of every festival. Community groups also publish online Koshur calendars based on it. Because some festivals depend on when a tithi prevails (at sunrise, at midday, at twilight or at midnight), families should always treat the printed jantri as the final word.","checkDates":[{"name":"Navreh","gregorian":"2025-03-30","source":"https://organiser.org/2025/04/06/285794/bharat/navreh-2025-kashmiri-pandit-community-celebrates-indigenous-new-year-with-resilience-amid-35-years-of-exile/","note":"Saptarishi Samvat 5101 began."},{"name":"Navreh","gregorian":"2026-03-19","source":"https://hindupad.com/navreh-kashmiri-hindu-new-year/","note":"Saptarishi Samvat 5102. Sunrise tithi at Srinagar was still Amavasya; Pratipada began that day and ended before the next sunrise, so Navreh is the day Pratipada begins."},{"name":"Navreh","gregorian":"2027-04-07","source":"https://hindupad.com/navreh-kashmiri-hindu-new-year/","note":"Reported as the same day as Ugadi and Gudi Padwa 2027; Saptarishi Samvat 5103."},{"name":"Hurye Okdoh (start of Herath season)","gregorian":"2026-02-02","source":"https://www.panaromicspots.com/2026/02/herath-maha-shivratri-2026-kashmiri.html?m=1","note":"First day of Phalgun Krishna Paksha."},{"name":"Herath","gregorian":"2026-02-14","source":"https://www.therightnews.in/2026/02/14/hearath-the-maha-shivratri-of-kashmiri-pandits/","note":"Night rule: Trayodashi began in the afternoon of 14 February and covered that night; the sunrise tithi on 14 February was Dwadashi. Pan-Indian Mahashivratri was 15 February."},{"name":"Herath","gregorian":"2025-02-26","source":"https://hindupad.com/herath-2014-shivaratri-festival-kashmiri-pandits/","note":"Disputed: several sources give 26 February (sunrise Trayodashi), but the Prime Minister's 'Herath Poshte' greeting was posted on 25 February, and Trayodashi covered the night of 25 February. Use as a low-confidence test."},{"name":"Herath","gregorian":"2027-03-06","source":"https://www.hindu-blog.com/2008/03/herath-shivaratri-of-kashmiri-pandits.html","note":"Low confidence: this matches the sunrise tithi; by the night rule Trayodashi covers the night of 5 March. Confirm against the jantri."},{"name":"Teela Aetham","gregorian":"2025-03-07","source":"https://hindupad.com/tila-aetham/","note":"Phalguna Shukla Ashtami."},{"name":"Teela Aetham","gregorian":"2024-03-17","source":"https://hindupad.com/tila-aetham/","note":"Outside 2025-27, included as an extra test."},{"name":"Zyeth Atham (Kheer Bhawani Mela)","gregorian":"2025-06-03","source":"https://www.newsonair.gov.in/jk-mela-kheer-bhawani-marks-inter-community-harmony","note":"Jyeshtha Shukla Ashtami."},{"name":"Zyeth Atham (Kheer Bhawani Mela)","gregorian":"2026-06-22","source":"https://www.etvbharat.com/en/state/kheer-bhawani-mela-2026-thousands-visit-tulmulla-temple-in-kashmirs-ganderbal-enn26062201997","note":"2026 had an adhik Jyeshtha; the mela was in the regular (nija) Jyeshtha."},{"name":"Zaram Satam","gregorian":"2026-09-03","source":"https://hinducalculator.com/kashmiri/","note":"Bhadrapada Krishna Saptami (Saptami until about 2:31 am on 4 September). Pan-Indian Janmashtami was 4 September."},{"name":"Pann","gregorian":"2025-08-27","source":"https://zeenews.india.com/culture/pann-puja-on-ganesh-chaturthi-2025-how-kashmiri-pandits-celebrate-the-festival-check-pann-sath-dates-of-this-year-2952223.html","note":"Same day as Ganesh Chaturthi."},{"name":"Pann","gregorian":"2026-09-14","source":"https://zeenews.india.com/culture/why-kashmiri-pandits-celebrate-pann-puja-on-ganesh-chaturthi-check-pann-dates-of-2026-3071545.html","note":"Midday rule: the sunrise tithi was Tritiya, but Chaturthi covered midday. Other listed saat days in 2026: 21, 23, 24 and 25 September."},{"name":"Vyeth Truvah","gregorian":"2025-09-05","source":"https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/kps-celebrate-vitasta-day-at-jammu-verinag-with-fervour-gaiety/","note":"Bhadrapada Shukla Trayodashi."},{"name":"Kaw Punim","gregorian":"2026-02-01","source":"https://x.com/sunilJbhat/status/2017909793667580148","note":"Post dated 1 February 2026: 'Today is Maagh Purnima ... observed as Kaw Punim'."},{"name":"Kaw Punim","gregorian":"2025-02-12","source":"https://sanjogitakiduniya.wordpress.com/2025/02/12/kaw-punim-a-unique-kashmiri-pandit-tradition-honoring-ancestors/","note":"Medium confidence: date taken from a community blog post published for the day; Magha Purnima fell on 12 February 2025."},{"name":"Khichri Amavasya","gregorian":"2024-12-30","source":"https://sanjogitakiduniya.wordpress.com/2024/12/30/khichdi-amavasya-mubarak-a-celebration-of-tradition-and-blessings/","note":"Outside 2025-27, included as an extra test; a 'Khech Mavas Poshte' greeting was also posted that day (https://x.com/JavedBeigh/status/1873742749419385144)."},{"name":"Kashmiri Pandit Martyrs' Day","gregorian":"2025-09-14","source":"https://hinducounciluk.org/2025/09/14/commemoration-of-kashmiri-pandits-hindus-martyrs-day/","note":"Fixed Gregorian date, 14 September."}]},"texts":{"books":[{"id":"rajatarangini","title":"Rajatarangini","titleMeaning":"River of Kings","author":"Kalhana","date":"1148–49 CE","language":"Sanskrit","tagline":"Kashmir's own history, told by a poet who promised to judge the past like a fair judge.","about":"The Rajatarangini is a history of the kings of Kashmir in nearly 8,000 Sanskrit verses, written by the Kashmiri Brahmin Kalhana in 1148–49 CE. It runs from the legendary draining of the valley's lake to Kalhana's own day, and it is one of the very few true histories written in pre-modern India.","readFull":[{"label":"M. A. Stein, Kalhana's Rajatarangini, vol. 1 (1900), Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/details/RajataranginiVol1"},{"label":"M. A. Stein, Kalhana's Rajatarangini (1900), another scan, Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.55354"},{"label":"J. C. Dutt, Kings of Kashmira (1879), search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=%22Kings+of+Kashmira%22+Dutt"}],"stories":[{"id":"the-lake-of-sati","title":"The Lake That Became a Valley","ref":"Taranga I, verses 25–27","era":"Legendary beginnings","summary":"Kalhana opens his history with the oldest memory of Kashmir: a vast lake called Satisaras filled the valley. The sage Kashyapa had the water drained, the demon hiding in it was slain, and the land we call Kashmir was born.","keyWords":["Satisaras","Kashyapa","Jalodbhava","Nilamata Purana","Baramulla","Nagas"]},{"id":"kalhanas-promise","title":"The Historian Who Promised to Be Fair","ref":"Taranga I, verses 1–20","era":"1148–49 CE, Kalhana's introduction","summary":"Before he tells a single story, Kalhana explains how he worked: he read old chronicles, checked inscriptions and grants, and promised to judge the past without love or hatred. It is one of the earliest statements of method by any historian in India.","keyWords":["Kalhana","Champaka","Harsha","inscriptions","shanta rasa","Nilamata Purana"]},{"id":"gonanda-and-krishna","title":"Gonanda, Krishna and the Widow Queen","ref":"Taranga I, verses 44–82","era":"Age of the Mahabharata (legendary)","summary":"The first remembered king of Kashmir, Gonanda, died fighting Krishna's brother Balarama, and his son was killed by Krishna himself. Instead of taking the valley, Krishna placed the pregnant widow on the throne, saying Kashmir was sacred.","keyWords":["Gonanda","Damodara","Yashovati","Krishna","Balarama","Jarasandha","Parvati","Kurukshetra"]},{"id":"ashoka-in-kashmir","title":"Ashoka and the City of Srinagari","ref":"Taranga I, verses 101–106","era":"3rd century BCE (Maurya age)","summary":"Kalhana remembers the great emperor Ashoka as a king of Kashmir who followed the Buddha's teaching, built stupas and founded the city of Srinagari. It is one of the first places where the chronicle touches a figure we know from outside history.","keyWords":["Ashoka","Srinagari","Pandrethan","Vijayeshvara","stupa","Buddhism in Kashmir","Maurya"]},{"id":"jalauka-and-the-witch","title":"Jalauka and the Hungry Witch","ref":"Taranga I, verses 107–152","era":"After Ashoka (legendary-historical)","summary":"Ashoka's son Jalauka drove foreign raiders out of Kashmir. When a terrifying sorceress stopped him and demanded human flesh, he offered her his own body, and his courage turned her from enemy to devotee.","keyWords":["Jalauka","Ashoka","krtya","Krtyashrama","Vijayeshvara","Ishanadevi","mleccha"]},{"id":"kushans-and-nagarjuna","title":"The Kushan Kings and the Great Teacher Nagarjuna","ref":"Taranga I, verses 168–177","era":"Around 1st–2nd century CE (Kushan age)","summary":"Three kings called Hushka, Jushka and Kanishka founded towns in Kashmir, and Buddhism flourished under them. The famous philosopher Nagarjuna, the chronicle says, lived at a place called Shadarhadvana.","keyWords":["Kanishka","Hushka","Jushka","Kushan","Nagarjuna","Harwan","Shadarhadvana","Buddhist council"]},{"id":"snows-of-the-nagas","title":"The Snows of the Angry Nagas","ref":"Taranga I, verses 177–191","era":"After the Kushans (legendary-historical)","summary":"When the rites of the Nilamata were abandoned, the chronicle says the Nagas sent terrible snowfalls that killed many people. A Brahmin named Chandradeva prayed to Nila, the Naga king, and the old rites were restored.","keyWords":["Nagas","Nila","Chandradeva","Abhimanyu","Gonanda III","Nilamata Purana","Pishachas"]},{"id":"mihirakula","title":"Mihirakula, the King Who Laughed at Suffering","ref":"Taranga I, verses 289–325","era":"Early 6th century CE (Huna period)","summary":"Mihirakula is the most cruel king in the whole chronicle. Kalhana says he delighted in the screams of dying elephants and killed countless people, yet he also founded temples, which shows how complicated power can be.","keyWords":["Mihirakula","Hunas","Chandrakulya","Chandravati","Mihireshvara","Xuanzang","Pir Panjal"]},{"id":"nara-and-the-naga-bride","title":"King Nara and the Serpent's Daughter","ref":"Taranga I, verses 197–274","era":"Legendary period","summary":"A poor young Brahmin marries the daughter of the Naga Sushravas. When greedy King Nara tries to steal her, the furious Naga destroys the king's city in a storm of fire and stones.","keyWords":["Nara","Sushravas","Chandralekha","Vishakha","Ramanya","Narapura","Nagas"]},{"id":"tunjina-and-vakpushta","title":"The Summer Snow and the Queen Who Fed Her People","ref":"Taranga II, verses 17–55","era":"Legendary-historical period","summary":"In the reign of King Tunjina, a freak snowfall destroyed the rice crop just before harvest and famine followed. The king and his queen Vakpushta gave everything they had to feed the starving.","keyWords":["Tunjina","Vakpushta","famine","Bhadrapada","rice","sati"]},{"id":"sandhimati","title":"Sandhimati, the Man Brought Back from the Stake","ref":"Taranga II, verses 62–160 (approx.)","era":"Legendary-historical period","summary":"A good minister is falsely suspected, jailed for ten years and executed. His loyal teacher finds strange words written on his skull, and in the night the yoginis restore him to life, and he becomes king.","keyWords":["Sandhimati","Aryaraja","Jayendra","Ishana","yoginis","Shiva","fate"]},{"id":"meghavahana","title":"Meghavahana, the King Who Banned Killing","ref":"Taranga III, verses 1–100 (approx.)","era":"Legendary-historical period","summary":"Meghavahana forbade the killing of animals across his kingdom and paid those who lost their living by it. The chronicle says he even offered his own life to save a man about to be sacrificed.","keyWords":["Meghavahana","ahimsa","Amritaprabha","Pragjyotisha","Yukadevi","Nadavana","Lanka"]},{"id":"matrigupta","title":"Matrigupta, the Poet Who Became King","ref":"Taranga III, verses 125–323 (approx.)","era":"About 6th century CE (dates uncertain)","summary":"A poor poet waits for years at the court of the emperor Vikramaditya in Ujjain. At last the emperor sends him to Kashmir with a sealed letter, which turns out to make him king.","keyWords":["Matrigupta","Vikramaditya","Ujjain","Mentha","Hayagrivavadha","Pravarasena","Varanasi"]},{"id":"pravarasena-builds-a-city","title":"Pravarasena and the Founding of Srinagar","ref":"Taranga III, verses 97–110 and 324–380 (approx.)","era":"About 6th century CE","summary":"Pravarasena II, born in hiding and raised in a potter's house, grew up to win back his kingdom and found a new capital, Pravarapura, the city we call Srinagar. He also built the valley's first great bridge of boats.","keyWords":["Pravarasena","Pravarapura","Srinagar","Toramana","Anjana","Brihatsetu","Pravareshvara","Vitasta"]},{"id":"ranaditya-300-years","title":"The King Who Reigned for Three Hundred Years","ref":"Taranga III, verses 383–470 (approx.)","era":"Uncertain (the chronicle's 'gap' period)","summary":"The chronicle gives King Ranaditya an impossible reign of three hundred years. His story, full of goddesses and magical caves, is a good place to ask how reliable the early chronicle really is.","keyWords":["Ranaditya","Ranarambha","Aurel Stein","chronology","Karkota","reliability"]},{"id":"durlabhavardhana","title":"The Groom Who Became King and Forgave His Rival","ref":"Taranga III, verses 489–528 and Taranga IV, verses 1–40 (approx.)","era":"Early 7th century CE (start of the Karkota dynasty)","summary":"Told that his son-in-law would take his throne, King Baladitya married his daughter to a man of humble rank. That man, Durlabhavardhana, became king anyway and founded the great Karkota dynasty.","keyWords":["Durlabhavardhana","Baladitya","Anangalekha","Khankha","Karkota dynasty","Xuanzang"]},{"id":"chandrapida-and-the-tanner","title":"The King and the Tanner's Hut","ref":"Taranga IV, verses 55–80 (approx.)","era":"Early 8th century CE (Karkota dynasty)","summary":"When King Chandrapida's builders wanted a poor tanner's hut to make way for a temple, the tanner refused to sell. Instead of seizing it, the king went to the tanner himself and bought it on the tanner's terms.","keyWords":["Chandrapida","Tribhuvanasvamin","tanner","justice","Karkota dynasty","caste"]},{"id":"lalitaditya-the-conqueror","title":"Lalitaditya Muktapida and the Sun Temple of Martand","ref":"Taranga IV, verses 126–220 (approx.)","era":"c. 724–760 CE (Karkota dynasty)","summary":"Lalitaditya was Kashmir's most powerful king, whose armies marched far across India and Central Asia. He built the great Sun temple at Martand and the city of Parihasapura, whose ruins still stand.","keyWords":["Lalitaditya","Muktapida","Martand","Parihasapura","Yashovarman","Kanyakubja","Chankuna","Tang dynasty"]},{"id":"lalitadityas-drunken-order","title":"The Drunken Order and the King's Hard Advice","ref":"Taranga IV, verses 307–355 (approx.)","era":"c. 724–760 CE","summary":"One night, drunk, Lalitaditya ordered his ministers to burn down the city of Pravarapura. Wisely, they pretended to obey but did not. Later the chronicle gives the king's political advice to his successors, some of it wise and some of it chilling.","keyWords":["Lalitaditya","Parihasapura","Pravarapura","ministers","political testament","peasants"]},{"id":"the-gauda-loyalists","title":"The Loyal Warriors of Gauda","ref":"Taranga IV, verses 322–335 (approx.)","era":"c. 8th century CE","summary":"Lalitaditya promised safety to the king of Gauda, swearing by a god, and then had him killed. The dead king's followers travelled secretly to Kashmir to avenge him, and died fighting in the temple. Kalhana praises their loyalty above all.","keyWords":["Gauda","Lalitaditya","Parihasakeshava","Ramasvamin","Sharada","oath","Trigrami"]},{"id":"jayapida","title":"Jayapida, the Wandering King","ref":"Taranga IV, verses 402–600 (approx.)","era":"Late 8th century CE","summary":"Lalitaditya's grandson Jayapida lost his throne, travelled in disguise through India, killed a lion, married a Bengal princess and fought his way back. He gathered scholars to Kashmir, but the chronicle says his last years were greedy and cruel.","keyWords":["Jayapida","Jajja","Kamala","Kalyanadevi","Pundravardhana","Devasharman","Udbhata","Kshira","Mahabhashya"]},{"id":"avantivarman","title":"Avantivarman, the Gentle King of Avantipura","ref":"Taranga V, verses 1–126 (approx.)","era":"855–883 CE (Utpala dynasty)","summary":"Avantivarman brought peace and prosperity after years of trouble, built the temples of Avantipura and gathered poets and thinkers. The chronicle says he died listening to the Bhagavad Gita.","keyWords":["Avantivarman","Shura","Avantipura","Avantisvamin","Anandavardhana","Utpala dynasty","Bhagavad Gita"]},{"id":"suyya-tames-the-floods","title":"Suyya, the Engineer Who Tamed the River","ref":"Taranga V, verses 68–120","era":"Reign of Avantivarman, 855–883 CE","summary":"A foundling raised by a low-caste woman became the engineer who saved Kashmir from floods. By tossing gold coins into the river, clearing a rocky gorge and rebuilding the river channels, Suyya made rice cheap and farmland safe.","keyWords":["Suyya","Avantivarman","Yakshadara","Baramulla","Sopore","Suyyapura","floods","Vitasta","Shadipur"]},{"id":"shankaravarman","title":"Shankaravarman, the King of Taxes","ref":"Taranga V, verses 128–225 (approx.)","era":"883–902 CE","summary":"Avantivarman's son Shankaravarman won wars abroad but squeezed his own people with new taxes and even plundered temple wealth. He died from an arrow while returning from a campaign.","keyWords":["Shankaravarman","Avantivarman","taxation","forced labour","temples","Gurjara","Utpala dynasty"]},{"id":"queen-sugandha-and-the-tantrins","title":"Queen Sugandha and the Soldiers Who Sold the Throne","ref":"Taranga V, verses 221–260 and following (approx.)","era":"c. 902–914 CE","summary":"After Shankaravarman's death, his widow Sugandha ruled first for her young sons and then in her own name. She was overthrown by the Tantrins, a corps of foot soldiers who went on to sell the throne to whoever paid most.","keyWords":["Sugandha","Tantrins","Ekangas","Gopalavarman","Unmattavanti","Shankaravarman","women rulers"]},{"id":"yashaskara-the-judge","title":"Yashaskara and the Case of the Forged Deed","ref":"Taranga VI, verses 1–70 (approx.)","era":"939–948 CE","summary":"After years of chaos, an assembly of Brahmins chose Yashaskara as king. The chronicle remembers him as a sharp-eyed judge, and tells how he unmasked a forged sale-deed by noticing an unusually large payment to a clerk.","keyWords":["Yashaskara","Brahmin assembly","stepwell","forgery","dinnara","justice"]},{"id":"queen-didda","title":"Didda, the Queen Who Ruled Alone","ref":"Taranga VI, verses 177–367 (approx.)","era":"Regent from 958 CE, sole ruler 980–1003 CE","summary":"Didda, a princess from Lohara who was lame from birth, married King Kshemagupta and then dominated Kashmir for nearly half a century. Kalhana describes her as ruthless and brilliant, and she founded the dynasty that ruled in his own day.","keyWords":["Didda","Kshemagupta","Lohara","Valga","Tunga","Samgramaraja","Shahi","Abhimanyu"]},{"id":"tunga-and-mahmud","title":"Tunga's Army and the Coming of Mahmud","ref":"Taranga VII, verses 47–69 (approx.)","era":"c. 1013–1014 CE","summary":"King Samgramaraja sent his general Tunga to help the Shahi kings of the north-west against Mahmud of Ghazni. Tunga's overconfidence led to defeat, and Kalhana mourns the fall of the Shahis.","keyWords":["Tunga","Mahmud of Ghazni","Hammira","Shahi","Trilochanapala","Samgramaraja","Lohara","Al-Biruni"]},{"id":"ananta-and-suryamati","title":"Queen Suryamati and the King Who Pawned His Crown","ref":"Taranga VII, verses 135–480 (approx.)","era":"1028–1081 CE","summary":"King Ananta ran up such debts to a betel-leaf dealer that he pledged his royal diadem. His wise queen Suryamati took charge of the finances and saved the kingdom. It was to comfort this same queen that Somadeva wrote the Kathasaritsagara.","keyWords":["Ananta","Suryamati","Padmaraja","betel","Kalasha","Somadeva","Kathasaritsagara","Kshemendra"]},{"id":"harsha-the-brilliant","title":"Harsha: Poet, Singer and Temple-Plunderer","ref":"Taranga VII, verses 610–1100 (approx.)","era":"1089–1101 CE","summary":"Harsha was the most gifted and the most destructive king of Kalhana's recent past. He loved music, poetry and fashion, but emptied his treasury, and set up an official to strip gold from the images of the gods.","keyWords":["Harsha","Kalasha","Champaka","Turushka","temple plunder","Karnata","coins","Uccala","Sussala"]},{"id":"the-fall-of-harsha","title":"The Last Night of King Harsha","ref":"Taranga VII, verses 1100–1732 (approx.)","era":"1100–1101 CE","summary":"As rebels closed in, Harsha lost his army, his son and his capital. Hiding in a poor hut with a single faithful servant, he was found and killed. Kalhana tells his end with deep pity.","keyWords":["Harsha","Bhoja","Prayaga","Uccala","Sussala","Champaka","civil war"]},{"id":"uccala","title":"Uccala, the King Who Fought Corruption","ref":"Taranga VIII, verses 1–345 (approx.)","era":"1101–1111 CE","summary":"Uccala, one of the rebels who overthrew Harsha, became a hard-working king who hunted down corrupt officials. Surrounded by jealous nobles, he was murdered in his own palace by conspirators.","keyWords":["Uccala","Sussala","kayasthas","damaras","Radda","Lohara dynasty","corruption"]},{"id":"kalhanas-own-time","title":"Kalhana's Own Time: Jayasimha and the Endless War","ref":"Taranga VIII, verses 1–3449 (the later parts)","era":"1128–1149 CE","summary":"The last book of the chronicle covers King Jayasimha, who slowly brought peace after decades of rebellion by powerful landlords and royal pretenders. Kalhana wrote as an eyewitness and ended his work in 1149.","keyWords":["Jayasimha","Sussala","Bhikshachara","damaras","Shirahshila","Bhoja","Kalhana","Aurel Stein"]}]},{"id":"rajatarangini-continuations","title":"The Later Rajataranginis","titleMeaning":"Continuations of the River of Kings","author":"Jonaraja, Srivara, Prajyabhatta and Shuka","date":"c. 1450s–1590s CE","language":"Sanskrit","tagline":"Kalhana's successors carry Kashmir's history through the sultans to the Mughal conquest.","about":"Three centuries after Kalhana, Jonaraja was asked by Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin to continue the chronicle. His pupil Srivara, and later Prajyabhatta and Shuka, carried it forward to Kashmir's annexation by Akbar in 1586.","readFull":[{"label":"J. C. Dutt, Kings of Kashmira, vol. 3 (1898), translations of Jonaraja, Srivara and the Rajavalipataka, search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=%22Kings+of+Kashmira%22+Jonaraja"}],"stories":[{"id":"jonaraja-takes-up-the-pen","title":"Jonaraja Takes Up Kalhana's Pen","ref":"Jonaraja, Dvitiya Rajatarangini, opening","era":"Written c. 1450s CE","summary":"Three centuries after Kalhana, a Kashmiri scholar named Jonaraja was asked by Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin to continue the River of Kings. He carried the story from Kalhana's time into the age of the sultans, and died before he could finish.","keyWords":["Jonaraja","Dvitiya Rajatarangini","Zain-ul-Abidin","Budshah","Srivara","Shah Mir","Prithvirajavijaya"]},{"id":"zulju-and-rinchana","title":"The Storm of Zulju and the Prince from Ladakh","ref":"Jonaraja, Dvitiya Rajatarangini","era":"c. 1320–1323 CE","summary":"In 1320 a raider called Zulju swept into Kashmir, killing and enslaving people and leaving famine behind. In the chaos a Buddhist refugee prince from Ladakh, Rinchana, seized the throne and became Kashmir's first Muslim ruler.","keyWords":["Zulju","Dulacha","Suhadeva","Rinchana","Ramachandra","Kota Rani","Devasvamin","Bulbul Shah","Ladakh"]},{"id":"kota-rani","title":"Kota Rani, the Last Hindu Queen","ref":"Jonaraja, Dvitiya Rajatarangini","era":"c. 1323–1339 CE","summary":"Kota, daughter of a commander and widow of Rinchana, held Kashmir together through invasion and intrigue. She was finally overthrown by Shah Mir, founder of the sultanate, and her end is told differently by different sources.","keyWords":["Kota Rani","Rinchana","Udayanadeva","Shah Mir","Bhikshana","Jayapura","Andarkot","Shams-ud-Din"]},{"id":"sikandar-and-suhabhatta","title":"The Dark Years of Sultan Sikandar","ref":"Jonaraja, Dvitiya Rajatarangini","era":"c. 1389–1413 CE","summary":"Under Sultan Sikandar and his minister Suhabhatta, a Brahmin who had converted to Islam, Kashmir's temples were destroyed and Hindus were persecuted. Many Pandits fled, converted or were killed. Jonaraja recorded these years with grief.","keyWords":["Sikandar","Butshikan","Suhabhatta","jizya","Martand","persecution","exodus"]},{"id":"budshah","title":"Budshah: The Sultan Who Called the Pandits Home","ref":"Jonaraja, Dvitiya Rajatarangini; Srivara, Jaina Rajatarangini","era":"1418–1470 CE (reign of Zain-ul-Abidin)","summary":"Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin reversed his father's persecution, invited Pandits back, rebuilt temples, abolished the jizya and filled Kashmir with crafts and learning. Kashmiris still call him Budshah, the great king.","keyWords":["Zain-ul-Abidin","Budshah","Shri Bhatta","jizya","Zaina Kadal","Zaina Lank","Wular","Persian translation"]},{"id":"srivara-the-musician-historian","title":"Srivara, the Musician Who Wrote History","ref":"Srivara, Jaina Rajatarangini (the 'third' Rajatarangini)","era":"1459–1486 CE","summary":"Jonaraja's pupil Srivara was a musician at Zain-ul-Abidin's court. He continued the chronicle through the sultan's last years and the reigns that followed, and also retold a Persian romance in Sanskrit.","keyWords":["Srivara","Jaina Rajatarangini","Zain-ul-Abidin","Kathakautuka","Yusuf and Zulaikha","Haji Khan","Adam Khan"]},{"id":"prajyabhatta-and-shuka","title":"Prajyabhatta and Shuka: The River Reaches Akbar","ref":"Prajyabhatta and Shuka, Rajavalipataka (the 'fourth' Rajatarangini)","era":"1486 CE to the Mughal conquest (1586) and a little after","summary":"The last Sanskrit continuation of the chronicle was begun by Prajyabhatta and finished by his pupil Shuka. It takes the story through the late sultans and the Chak rulers to Kashmir's annexation by the Mughal emperor Akbar.","keyWords":["Prajyabhatta","Shuka","Rajavalipataka","Chak dynasty","Yusuf Shah Chak","Habba Khatun","Akbar","Mughal conquest"]}]},{"id":"nilamata-purana","title":"Nilamata Purana","titleMeaning":"The Teaching of Nila","author":"Unknown Kashmiri author(s)","date":"c. 6th–8th century CE (scholarly estimates vary)","language":"Sanskrit","tagline":"Kashmir's oldest book about itself: the lake, the demon, the Nagas and the festivals of the year.","about":"The Nilamata Purana tells how the valley was born from the lake of Sati, how the demon Jalodbhava was destroyed, and how Nila, king of the Nagas, gave people the rules and festivals for living in Kashmir. Kalhana used it as a source for the Rajatarangini.","readFull":[{"label":"Nilamata Purana, search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Nilamata+Purana"}],"stories":[{"id":"why-kashmir-missed-the-war","title":"Why Kashmir Missed the Great War","ref":"Opening frame","era":"Frame story","summary":"The Nilamata begins with a question from King Janamejaya: why did no king of Kashmir fight in the Mahabharata war? The answer opens into the whole story of the valley.","keyWords":["Janamejaya","Vaishampayana","Brihadashva","Gonanda","Mahabharata","Kurukshetra"]},{"id":"nilamata-krishna-and-yashovati","title":"Krishna Crowns a Widow","ref":"Early sections (Gonanda episode)","era":"Age of the Mahabharata (legendary)","summary":"The Nilamata tells how Krishna, after killing King Damodara of Kashmir, crowned his widow Yashovati. When his companions objected, he explained that Kashmir was a holy land, the goddess herself.","keyWords":["Krishna","Yashovati","Damodara","Gonanda","Parvati","Balarama"]},{"id":"the-beauty-of-kashmir","title":"In Praise of the Valley","ref":"Descriptive sections","era":"Timeless","summary":"Brihadashva begins by describing Kashmir as a land of cool waters, sacred springs, flowers and learned people. The Nilamata's picture of the valley shaped how Kashmiris imagined their home for centuries.","keyWords":["Kashmir","Brihadashva","Pir Panjal","springs","sacred geography"]},{"id":"satisaras-and-the-nagas","title":"Sati's Lake and the Serpent People","ref":"Origin sections","era":"Mythic beginnings","summary":"Long ago, the valley was a lake known as Satisaras, the lake of the goddess Sati. It became the home of the Nagas, the serpent people, who had fled from their great enemy Garuda.","keyWords":["Satisaras","Sati","Nagas","Garuda","Kashyapa","Kadru","Vasuki"]},{"id":"nila-the-naga-king","title":"Nila Becomes King of the Nagas","ref":"Origin sections","era":"Mythic beginnings","summary":"The Nagas of the lake were given a king: Nila, son of Kashyapa. He is the guardian of the valley and the teacher whose words give the Nilamata its name.","keyWords":["Nila","Nilamata","Verinag","Nilakunda","Vasuki","Kashyapa","Chandradeva"]},{"id":"jalodbhava","title":"Jalodbhava, the Demon Born of Water","ref":"Jalodbhava episode","era":"Mythic beginnings","summary":"A demon was born in the lake and raised among the Nagas. Blessed by Brahma with invincibility in water, he began to raid and devour the peoples of the lands around.","keyWords":["Jalodbhava","Brahma","boon","Nagas","Satisaras","demon"]},{"id":"kashyapa-and-nila-seek-help","title":"Nila Goes to His Father","ref":"Jalodbhava episode","era":"Mythic beginnings","summary":"Nila travelled to find his father, the sage Kashyapa, who was on pilgrimage. Moved by what he heard, Kashyapa went with Nila to Brahma and the gods to ask for help.","keyWords":["Kashyapa","Nila","Brahma","Vishnu","Shiva","Naubandhana","Manu"]},{"id":"draining-of-satisaras","title":"The Draining of the Lake","ref":"Jalodbhava episode","era":"Mythic beginnings","summary":"Jalodbhava refused to leave the water, so Vishnu had the great serpent Ananta cut through the mountains. The lake poured away and the demon was exposed.","keyWords":["Satisaras","Ananta","Vishnu","Baramulla","Varahamula","Jhelum","Jalodbhava"]},{"id":"death-of-jalodbhava","title":"Shiva Holds the Sun and Moon","ref":"Jalodbhava episode","era":"Mythic beginnings","summary":"With the lake gone, Jalodbhava used magic to cover the world in darkness. Shiva lit the scene by holding the sun and moon, and Vishnu fought and killed the demon.","keyWords":["Jalodbhava","Shiva","Vishnu","Brahma","sun and moon","sudarshana"]},{"id":"kashyapas-curse-and-the-pishachas","title":"Kashyapa's Curse and the Winter Goblins","ref":"Settlement sections","era":"Mythic beginnings","summary":"Kashyapa wanted humans to live in the new valley, but the Nagas refused to share it. In anger he cursed them to live with the Pishachas, goblin-like spirits, and for a long age humans could only stay in the valley for half the year.","keyWords":["Kashyapa","Nila","Pishachas","Nikumbha","curse","winter"]},{"id":"chandradeva-learns-the-rules","title":"Chandradeva and the Teaching of Nila","ref":"Settlement sections","era":"Mythic beginnings","summary":"A Brahmin named Chandradeva stayed on in the valley and came before Nila, the Naga king. Nila taught him the rites and festivals that people must keep, and through Chandradeva, humans came to live in Kashmir for good.","keyWords":["Chandradeva","Nila","Nilamata","Pishachas","rites","festivals"]},{"id":"vitasta-the-river-goddess","title":"Vitasta: The Goddess Who Became a River","ref":"Vitasta sections","era":"Mythic beginnings","summary":"To purify the new land, Shiva asked the goddess to take the form of a river. She rose from a hole struck by his trident near Nila's home, and became the Vitasta, the river now called the Jhelum.","keyWords":["Vitasta","Jhelum","Vyeth","Uma","Parvati","Verinag","Nilakunda","Vyeth Truvah"]},{"id":"rivers-as-goddesses","title":"The Goddesses Who Flow Through Kashmir","ref":"Sections on rivers and goddesses","era":"Timeless","summary":"The Nilamata does not stop at the Vitasta. It describes other rivers and streams of the valley as forms of goddesses, so that the whole landscape becomes a family of the divine.","keyWords":["Vishoka","Lakshmi","Vitasta","sangama","Shadipur","Sharika","Kheer Bhawani","goddess"]},{"id":"naga-springs","title":"The Nagas of the Springs","ref":"Sections listing Nagas and sacred places","era":"Timeless","summary":"The Nilamata lists a great number of Nagas who live in Kashmir's springs and lakes, from Nila at Verinag to Mahapadma in the Wular. Many of these names survive in places people visit today.","keyWords":["Nagas","Mahapadma","Wular","Anantnag","Vasuki","Takshaka","Kokernag","Sheshnag"]},{"id":"kramasaras-and-sacred-places","title":"Footprints of the Gods: Kashmir's Holy Places","ref":"Tirtha sections","era":"Timeless","summary":"The Nilamata describes many tirthas, holy places of pilgrimage in Kashmir, linked to gods and goddesses. They include a high mountain lake said to hold Vishnu's footprint and the peaks where the gods live.","keyWords":["tirtha","Kramasaras","Kausarnag","Vishnu's footprint","Harmukh","Gangabal","Amarnath","pilgrimage"]},{"id":"iramanjari-puja","title":"The Festival of the Irā Flower","ref":"Festival sections","era":"Old Kashmiri festival calendar","summary":"Among the festivals Nila prescribed is the Iramanjari puja, the worship of a flowering plant said to be a nymph under a curse. It shows how the Nilamata wove stories into the natural world of the valley.","keyWords":["Iramanjari","Irā","apsara","Vishvavasu","Indra","flowers","festivals"]},{"id":"first-snowfall-festival","title":"The Festival of the First Snow","ref":"Festival sections","era":"Old Kashmiri festival calendar","summary":"The Nilamata prescribes a celebration when the first snow of winter falls. Instead of fearing winter, people were to greet it with worship and feasting.","keyWords":["first snowfall","winter","festivals","Nilamata","kangri","chillai kalan"]},{"id":"first-rice-and-lamps","title":"New Rice, Moonlight and Lamps","ref":"Festival sections","era":"Old Kashmiri festival calendar","summary":"The Nilamata's calendar includes the offering of the first new grain of the harvest, full-moon festivals and a night of lamps. Together they mark the turning of the agricultural year.","keyWords":["harvest","new rice","full moon","lamps","Kartika","Diwali","Navreh","Herath"]},{"id":"buddha-in-the-nilamata","title":"The Buddha's Birthday in a Hindu Book","ref":"Festival sections","era":"Old Kashmiri festival calendar","summary":"Surprisingly, the Nilamata tells Kashmiris to celebrate the birth of the Buddha, whom it treats as a form of Vishnu. It is a window onto a valley where Hindu and Buddhist traditions lived side by side.","keyWords":["Buddha","Vishnu","avatar","Vaishakha","Buddhism in Kashmir","monks","Ladakh"]},{"id":"honouring-nikumbha","title":"A Night for the Goblin King","ref":"Festival sections","era":"Old Kashmiri festival calendar","summary":"Even Nikumbha, leader of the Pishachas who once drove humans out every winter, has a place in the Nilamata's calendar. People were to honour him on a full-moon night, making peace with the spirits of the dark.","keyWords":["Nikumbha","Pishachas","full moon","autumn","festivals","spirits"]},{"id":"why-the-nilamata-matters","title":"Why the Nilamata Still Matters","ref":"Reflection on the whole text","era":"From ancient times to today","summary":"The Nilamata is Kashmir's oldest guide to its own sacred landscape and calendar. It shaped Kalhana's history and still echoes in Kashmiri Pandit customs, place-names and love for the valley.","keyWords":["Nilamata Purana","Purana","sacred geography","Kalhana","festivals","ecology"]}]},{"id":"kathasaritsagara","title":"Kathasaritsagara","titleMeaning":"Ocean of the Streams of Story","author":"Somadeva","date":"c. 1063–1081 CE","language":"Sanskrit","tagline":"A Kashmiri poet's ocean of tales: vetalas, lovers, clever wives, talking animals and flying kings.","about":"Somadeva, a Kashmiri Brahmin at the court of King Ananta, wrote the Kathasaritsagara to delight Queen Suryamati. It retells the lost Brihatkatha of Gunadhya in more than 21,000 verses, making it one of the largest story collections in the world.","readFull":[{"label":"C. H. Tawney, The Katha Sarit Sagara, vol. 1 (1880), Project Gutenberg","url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40588"},{"label":"C. H. Tawney, The Katha Sarit Sagara, vol. 1, Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.55149"},{"label":"C. H. Tawney, The Katha Sarit Sagara, vol. 2, Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.42564"},{"label":"Tawney and Penzer, The Ocean of Story, vol. 1, Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/details/oceanofstorybein01somauoft"}],"stories":[{"id":"shivas-secret-story","title":"The Story Shiva Told in Secret","ref":"Book I (Kathapitha), Taranga 1","era":"Frame story","summary":"On Mount Kailasa, Shiva told Parvati a wonderful new story in private. His attendant Pushpadanta listened in, blabbed it, and was cursed to be born as a human, and that curse is how all these stories reached the world.","keyWords":["Shiva","Parvati","Kailasa","Pushpadanta","Malyavan","Jaya","Kanabhuti","Vidyadharas"]},{"id":"vararuchi-who-heard-once","title":"Vararuchi, the Boy Who Only Needed to Hear Once","ref":"Book I (Kathapitha), Tarangas 2–4","era":"Frame story","summary":"Pushpadanta is reborn as Vararuchi, a boy who can remember anything after hearing it once. He studies with his friends Vyadi and Indradatta, and is humbled when the slow student Panini defeats him with Shiva's help.","keyWords":["Vararuchi","Vyadi","Indradatta","Varsha","Panini","Pataliputra","Kaushambi","Katyayana"]},{"id":"upakosha-and-the-four-suitors","title":"Upakosha and the Four Unwelcome Visitors","ref":"Book I (Kathapitha), Taranga 4","era":"Frame story","summary":"While her husband Vararuchi is away, the clever Upakosha is pestered by four powerful men. She invites each to visit at a different hour of the night, traps them all in a trunk and exposes them before the king.","keyWords":["Upakosha","Vararuchi","Hiranyagupta","trunk","lamp-black","Ganga","justice"]},{"id":"yogananda","title":"The King Who Was Really a Brahmin","ref":"Book I (Kathapitha), Tarangas 4–5","era":"Frame story","summary":"To get gold for their teacher, Vararuchi's friend Indradatta uses magic to enter the body of the dead King Nanda. But a wily minister burns Indradatta's real body, trapping him as the king for ever, and a long chain of revenge follows.","keyWords":["Yogananda","Indradatta","Vyadi","Shakatala","Chanakya","Chandragupta","Nanda","Pataliputra"]},{"id":"gunadhya-and-the-sweets","title":"Gunadhya's Vow and the King Who Mistook Water for Sweets","ref":"Book I (Kathapitha), Taranga 6","era":"Frame story","summary":"King Satavahana is embarrassed when he misunderstands a queen's Sanskrit and orders sweets instead of stopping a water-fight. His minister Gunadhya says learning Sanskrit takes years; a rival says six months, and Gunadhya makes a rash vow.","keyWords":["Gunadhya","Satavahana","Sharvavarman","modaka","Sanskrit","Katantra","Pratishthana","Kartikeya"]},{"id":"the-book-written-in-blood","title":"The Great Story Written in Blood","ref":"Book I (Kathapitha), Tarangas 7–8","era":"Frame story","summary":"In the forest, Gunadhya hears the great tale from the Pishacha Kanabhuti and writes it down in his own blood, seven hundred thousand verses. When the king rejects it, he burns it page by page, reading it to the animals, until only one part survives.","keyWords":["Gunadhya","Kanabhuti","Paishachi","Brihatkatha","Satavahana","Naravahanadatta","Vindhya"]},{"id":"putraka-and-pataliputra","title":"Putraka and the Magic City","ref":"Book I (Kathapitha), Taranga 3","era":"Legendary","summary":"Putraka, betrayed by his greedy uncles, tricks two quarrelling brothers out of three magic treasures: flying shoes, a bowl that gives food and a staff that makes drawings real. With them, he wins a princess and founds the city of Pataliputra.","keyWords":["Putraka","Patali","Pataliputra","Patna","magic shoes","magic staff","Asuras"]},{"id":"the-mouse-merchant","title":"The Mouse Merchant","ref":"Book I (Kathapitha), Taranga 6","era":"Legendary","summary":"A rich merchant says a clever man can make a fortune from a dead mouse. A poor young man takes him at his word, trading the mouse for a handful of peas and building up, step by step, a great fortune.","keyWords":["Mouse Merchant","Vishakhila","peas","woodcutters","trade","enterprise"]},{"id":"udayana-and-the-wooden-elephant","title":"Udayana and the Trap of the Wooden Elephant","ref":"Book II (Kathamukha)","era":"Legendary, Kaushambi and Ujjayini","summary":"King Udayana of Vatsa, a master of the lute who could tame wild elephants with music, is lured into a trap by a hollow wooden elephant full of soldiers. Captured by King Chandamahasena, he is set to teach music to a princess.","keyWords":["Udayana","Kaushambi","Ghoshavati","Chandamahasena","Ujjayini","Vasavadatta","Yaugandharayana","wooden elephant"]},{"id":"vasavadattas-escape","title":"The Flight of Vasavadatta","ref":"Book II (Kathamukha)","era":"Legendary","summary":"With the help of the minister Yaugandharayana, Udayana and Vasavadatta escape from Ujjayini on a swift she-elephant, racing through the night towards Udayana's kingdom.","keyWords":["Vasavadatta","Udayana","Bhadravati","Yaugandharayana","Chandamahasena","Ujjayini","elopement"]},{"id":"the-fire-at-lavanaka","title":"The Fire at Lavanaka","ref":"Book III (Lavanaka)","era":"Legendary","summary":"To make an alliance that will save the kingdom, the minister Yaugandharayana secretly hides Queen Vasavadatta and spreads a rumour that she has died in a fire. Udayana, believing her dead, marries Princess Padmavati of Magadha.","keyWords":["Lavanaka","Vasavadatta","Padmavati","Yaugandharayana","Magadha","Svapnavasavadattam","Bhasa"]},{"id":"devasmita","title":"Devasmita and the Four Branded Rogues","ref":"Book II (Kathamukha), Taranga 13","era":"Legendary","summary":"A merchant and his wife each receive a red lotus that will fade if the other is unfaithful. While he is away, four young men and a scheming nun try to trick the wife; she drugs, brands and humiliates them all.","keyWords":["Devasmita","Guhasena","Tamralipti","Kataha","red lotus","Yogakarandika","dog's paw"]},{"id":"jimutavahana","title":"Jimutavahana, the Prince Who Gave His Body","ref":"Book IV (Naravahanadattajanana), Taranga 22","era":"Legendary","summary":"The Vidyadhara prince Jimutavahana gives away his family's wish-fulfilling tree to end the world's poverty. Later he offers himself to the giant bird Garuda in place of a young Naga, and his sacrifice ends Garuda's hunting of the serpents for ever.","keyWords":["Jimutavahana","Vidyadharas","wish-fulfilling tree","Garuda","Nagas","Shankhachuda","Malayavati","Nagananda"]},{"id":"shaktideva-and-the-golden-city","title":"Shaktideva and the Search for the Golden City","ref":"Book V (Chaturdarika)","era":"Legendary","summary":"A princess will only marry a man who has seen the Golden City. Shaktideva lies that he has, is found out, and then sets out on a real and incredible journey across seas and islands to find it.","keyWords":["Shaktideva","Kanakarekha","Golden City","Vardhamana","Vidyadharas","Chandraprabha","Chaturdarika"]},{"id":"harisharman-the-accidental-seer","title":"Harisharman, the Accidental Fortune-Teller","ref":"Told in the early books (Tawney, vol. 1)","era":"Legendary","summary":"A poor, foolish Brahmin pretends to have magical knowledge to win respect. By sheer luck, a string of lucky accidents makes him seem like a genius, including a moment when a frog in a pot nearly exposes him.","keyWords":["Harisharman","Jihva","frog","fortune-teller","luck","king"]},{"id":"naravahanadatta","title":"Naravahanadatta, the Prince Born to Rule the Sky","ref":"Books IV–XVIII (the main story)","era":"Legendary","summary":"Udayana and Vasavadatta's son, Naravahanadatta, is destined to become emperor of the Vidyadharas, the magical beings of the air. His loves, friends and adventures form the main thread of the whole Kathasaritsagara.","keyWords":["Naravahanadatta","Udayana","Vasavadatta","Vidyadharas","Gomukha","Madanamanchuka","Kalingasena","Manasavega"]},{"id":"the-lion-and-the-hare","title":"The Lion and the Hare","ref":"Book X (Shaktiyashas), animal fables","era":"Fable","summary":"A greedy lion demands one animal a day from the forest creatures. When a small hare's turn comes, it tricks the lion into attacking his own reflection in a well.","keyWords":["lion","hare","Panchatantra","Shaktiyashas","fable","reflection"]},{"id":"the-monkey-and-the-porpoise","title":"The Monkey Who Left His Heart in a Tree","ref":"Book X (Shaktiyashas), animal fables","era":"Fable","summary":"A monkey befriends a sea creature who later tries to take him home so his wife can eat the monkey's heart. The monkey escapes by claiming he left his heart behind in his tree.","keyWords":["monkey","porpoise","crocodile","heart","Panchatantra","Jataka","friendship"]},{"id":"the-tortoise-and-the-swans","title":"The Tortoise Who Could Not Keep Quiet","ref":"Book X (Shaktiyashas), animal fables","era":"Fable","summary":"When their lake dries up, two swans offer to fly their tortoise friend to a new lake, holding a stick he grips in his mouth. He must not speak, but when people below laugh at him, he cannot resist answering.","keyWords":["tortoise","swans","drought","silence","Panchatantra","Jataka"]},{"id":"the-monkey-and-the-wedge","title":"The Monkey and the Wedge","ref":"Book X (Shaktiyashas), animal fables","era":"Fable","summary":"A curious monkey plays with a wedge stuck in a half-split log at a building site. When he pulls it out, the log snaps shut and traps him. The fable warns against meddling in what is not your business.","keyWords":["monkey","wedge","Karataka","Damanaka","Panchatantra","meddling"]},{"id":"vetala-the-king-and-the-corpse","title":"The King, the Corpse and the Vetala","ref":"Book XII (Shashankavati), Vetala frame story","era":"Frame story","summary":"King Trivikramasena agrees to carry a corpse from a cremation ground for a mysterious ascetic. The corpse is possessed by a Vetala, a spirit who tells him a riddling story on each journey, and escapes each time the king answers.","keyWords":["Vetala","Trivikramasena","Kshantishila","Vetalapanchavimshati","Vikram and Betaal","cremation ground","Pratishthana"]},{"id":"vetala-three-suitors","title":"Vetala Tale: The Bones, the Ashes and the Magic Spell","ref":"Book XII (Shashankavati), Vetala cycle","era":"Vetala riddle","summary":"Three young men love the same girl. When she dies, one carries her bones to the Ganga, one lives on her ashes and one learns a spell that brings her back to life. Which of them should be her husband?","keyWords":["Vetala","Mandaravati","three suitors","bones","ashes","Ganga","magic spell"]},{"id":"vetala-viravara","title":"Vetala Tale: Viravara, the Loyal Servant","ref":"Book XII (Shashankavati), Vetala cycle","era":"Vetala riddle","summary":"A warrior in the service of King Shudraka sacrifices his son, his family and himself to save the king's life. The king, discovering this, prepares to give his own life in return. Who was the bravest?","keyWords":["Vetala","Viravara","Shudraka","Sattvavara","Chandika","loyalty","sacrifice"]},{"id":"vetala-switched-heads","title":"Vetala Tale: The Switched Heads","ref":"Book XII (Shashankavati), Vetala cycle","era":"Vetala riddle","summary":"A young woman's husband and brother both cut off their own heads in a goddess's temple. When the goddess allows her to restore them, in her hurry she puts each head on the wrong body. Which one is now her husband?","keyWords":["Vetala","switched heads","Madanasundari","Dhavala","Durga","identity","Hayavadana","Thomas Mann"]},{"id":"vetala-three-fastidious-brahmins","title":"Vetala Tale: The Three Very Fussy Brothers","ref":"Book XII (Shashankavati), Vetala cycle","era":"Vetala riddle","summary":"Three brothers each claim to be extremely fussy: one about food, one about women, one about beds. A king tests them, and each proves his claim in an amazing way. Which one was the most delicate?","keyWords":["Vetala","fastidious brothers","rice","goat's milk","seven mattresses","hair","Princess and the Pea"]},{"id":"vetala-madanasenas-promise","title":"Vetala Tale: Madanasena's Promise","ref":"Book XII (Shashankavati), Vetala cycle","era":"Vetala riddle","summary":"A young woman promises a persistent admirer that she will visit him after her wedding. Honest to a fault, she tells her new husband, who lets her go. On the way she meets a thief. Who was the most generous?","keyWords":["Vetala","Madanasena","promise","thief","honesty","generosity"]},{"id":"vetala-three-delicate-queens","title":"Vetala Tale: The Three Delicate Queens","ref":"Book XII (Shashankavati), Vetala cycle","era":"Vetala riddle","summary":"A king has three queens so delicate that one is hurt by a falling lotus, one by moonlight and one by a distant sound. Which is the most delicate?","keyWords":["Vetala","delicate queens","lotus","moonlight","pestle","riddle"]},{"id":"vetala-lion-makers","title":"Vetala Tale: The Brothers Who Brought a Lion to Life","ref":"Book XII (Shashankavati), Vetala cycle","era":"Vetala riddle","summary":"Four brothers, each with a magical skill, decide to show off by rebuilding a dead lion from its bones. The lion comes to life and kills them all. Who was most to blame?","keyWords":["Vetala","lion","four brothers","knowledge","wisdom","Panchatantra"]},{"id":"vetala-father-and-son","title":"Vetala Tale: The Riddle the King Could Not Answer","ref":"Book XII (Shashankavati), Vetala cycle, last riddle","era":"Vetala riddle","summary":"A father and son find two sets of footprints and agree to marry their owners, the father taking the larger feet and the son the smaller. But the mother has the smaller feet. When children are born, what is their relationship? The king falls silent.","keyWords":["Vetala","footprints","riddle","family relationships","silence","Trivikramasena"]},{"id":"vetala-the-end","title":"Vetala Tale: The Ascetic's Secret Plot","ref":"Book XII (Shashankavati), end of the Vetala cycle","era":"Frame story ending","summary":"Pleased with the king, the Vetala reveals that the ascetic plans to sacrifice him to gain magical power. It tells the king how to turn the tables, and the king survives and is blessed by Shiva.","keyWords":["Vetala","Kshantishila","Trivikramasena","Shiva","Vidyadharas","boon","Vikram and Betaal"]}]},{"id":"lalla-vakh","title":"Lalla Vakh","titleMeaning":"The Sayings of Lalla","author":"Lal Ded (Lalleshwari, Lalla Arifa)","date":"14th century CE (traditional dates c. 1320–1392)","language":"Old Kashmiri","tagline":"Short, fierce, four-line poems by the mystic woman every Kashmiri still quotes.","about":"Lal Ded was a Kashmiri Shaiva mystic who left an unhappy marriage, wandered the valley and spoke her wisdom in short verses called vakhs. They were passed down by word of mouth for centuries and are loved by Kashmiri Hindus and Muslims alike.","readFull":[{"label":"Grierson and Barnett, Lalla-Vakyani (1920), search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Lalla-Vakyani"},{"label":"R. C. Temple, The Word of Lalla the Prophetess (1924), search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=%22Word+of+Lalla%22"}],"stories":[{"id":"who-was-lal-ded","title":"Lal Ded: The Woman Who Walked Out","ref":"Traditional life story","era":"14th century CE","summary":"Tradition says Lal Ded was mistreated by her mother-in-law, who hid a stone under her rice so the plate looked full. She left home, found a teacher and became Kashmir's best-loved mystic poet.","keyWords":["Lal Ded","Lalleshwari","Lalla Arifa","Pampore","Siddha Srikantha","Nund Rishi","mother-in-law"]},{"id":"vakh-searched-far-and-wide","title":"I Searched Far and Wide","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"I, Lalla, went out searching far and wide; I hunted for him day and night. Then I saw the wise one in my own house. That was my lucky star, my blessed moment.","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","self-knowledge","inner search"]},{"id":"vakh-unbaked-cups","title":"Water in Unbaked Cups","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"With a rope of loose, untwisted thread I am towing my boat across the sea. If only God would hear me and carry me over! Like water in cups of unbaked clay, I am seeping away. How my soul longs to go home.","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","longing","unbaked clay","boat"]},{"id":"vakh-from-without-to-within","title":"From Outside to Inside","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"My teacher gave me just one word: \"Go from outside to within.\" That became my lesson and my guide, and that is why I began to dance, unclothed.","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","guru","inward turn","freedom"]},{"id":"vakh-shiva-everywhere","title":"Shiva Is Everywhere","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"Shiva lives in every place, in everything. Do not divide Hindu from Muslim. If you are wise, come to know yourself; that is the true way to know the Lord.","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","Shiva","Hindu","Muslim","unity"]},{"id":"vakh-what-shall-i-offer","title":"What Shall I Offer You?","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"You are the sky and you are the earth. You are the day, the wind, the night. You are the water, the sandal paste, the flowers I bring. You are everything. What then shall I offer you?","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","puja","offering","sandal paste","flowers"]},{"id":"vakh-idol-is-stone","title":"The Idol Is Stone","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"The idol is stone, the temple is stone; from top to bottom it is all one stone. Whom will you worship, stubborn priest? Bring your mind and your breath together.","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","idol","temple","priest","breath","yoga"]},{"id":"vakh-eat-in-moderation","title":"Eat in Moderation","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"Eating and eating, you will get nowhere. Not eating at all, you will become proud of yourself. Eat in moderation, and you will stay balanced; moderation will open the doors for you.","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","moderation","fasting","balance","middle way"]},{"id":"vakh-the-ferry-fare","title":"No Coin for the Ferry","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"I came by the road, but I did not leave by the road. Halfway along the bank, the day ran out. I looked in my pocket: not a single cowrie. What shall I pay the ferryman to cross?","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","ferry","cowrie","death","journey"]},{"id":"vakh-thrones-pass","title":"Thrones Do Not Last","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"The royal fan, the parasol, the chariot and the throne; the pleasures, the music and the dancing, the soft beds: which of these will stay with you? Not one of them remains.","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","impermanence","throne","power","Rajatarangini"]},{"id":"vakh-let-them-mock","title":"Let Them Mock Me","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"Let them jeer at me, let them call me names, let them say whatever pleases them. If they throw ashes, what of it? A mirror that is truly clean is not stained by ash.","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","mockery","mirror","ash","inner strength"]},{"id":"vakh-the-herdsmen-and-the-cow","title":"The Herdsmen Who Lost the Cow","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"What shall I do with the five, the ten and the eleven? They all scraped this pot clean and went away. If they had all pulled together on one rope, how could the cow have been lost?","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","senses","mind","focus","cow","yoga"]},{"id":"vakh-garden-of-jasmine","title":"Shiva and Shakti in the Garden","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"I, Lalla, entered the garden of jasmine, and there I saw Shiva and Shakti, united as one. I was drowned in a lake of nectar. Now, alive, I am as good as dead: what can anyone do to me?","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","Shiva","Shakti","Kashmir Shaivism","mystical experience"]},{"id":"vakh-whatever-i-did","title":"Whatever I Did Was Worship","ref":"Lalla Vakh (traditional collection), no fixed numbering","era":"14th century CE","summary":"Whatever work I did, whatever I said, whatever I thought: all of it became worship of you.","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh","karma yoga","everyday life","worship"]}]},{"id":"poets-of-the-valley","title":"Poets of the Valley","titleMeaning":"Kashmiri voices from the 14th to the 19th century","author":"Nund Rishi, Habba Khatun, Rupa Bhawani, Arnimal, Parmanand and others","date":"14th–19th centuries CE","language":"Kashmiri","tagline":"Saints, queens, abandoned wives and devotees who made Kashmiri a language of poetry.","about":"After Lal Ded, a line of Kashmiri poets carried the language forward: the Sufi saint Nund Rishi, the queen-singer Habba Khatun, the mystic Rupa Bhawani, the neglected wife Arnimal and the devotional poet Parmanand, among many others.","readFull":[{"label":"Kashmiri poetry collections, search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Kashmiri+poetry"}],"stories":[{"id":"nund-rishi","title":"Nund Rishi, the Saint Who Would Not Hurt a Flower","ref":"Traditional life and shruks","era":"c. 1377–1438 CE","summary":"Sheikh Nur-ud-Din, known as Nund Rishi, founded Kashmir's Rishi order of Sufi saints. He taught compassion for all living things, and he honoured Lal Ded, who, legend says, nursed him as a baby.","keyWords":["Nund Rishi","Sheikh Nur-ud-Din","Alamdar-e-Kashmir","Rishi order","shruk","Lal Ded","Tsrar-e-Sharif","Sahajanand"]},{"id":"habba-khatun","title":"Habba Khatun, the Nightingale of Kashmir","ref":"Traditional life and lol songs","era":"16th century CE","summary":"Tradition says a village girl named Zoon, famous for her singing, became the wife of King Yusuf Shah Chak. When the Mughals took Kashmir and exiled him, she sang of her loss for the rest of her life.","keyWords":["Habba Khatun","Zoon","Chandhar","Yusuf Shah Chak","Akbar","lol","Nightingale of Kashmir"]},{"id":"rupa-bhawani","title":"Rupa Bhawani, Who Followed Lal Ded's Path","ref":"Traditional life and vakhs","era":"1621–1721 CE (traditional dates)","summary":"Rupa Bhawani was a Kashmiri Pandit mystic who, like Lal Ded, endured an unhappy marriage, turned to the spiritual path and spoke her wisdom in Kashmiri verses. Her followers still mark her day each year.","keyWords":["Rupa Bhawani","Alakheshwari","Madhav Joo Dhar","vakh","Kashmir Shaivism","Sahib Saptami","Lal Ded"]},{"id":"arnimal","title":"Arnimal and the Spinning Wheel","ref":"Traditional life and lol songs","era":"18th century CE","summary":"Arnimal was an eighteenth-century Kashmiri Pandit woman whose husband, a Persian scholar, neglected her. She poured her loneliness into songs, often imagined at the spinning wheel, that are still loved.","keyWords":["Arnimal","Bhawani Das Kachru","lol","yinder","spinning wheel","Afghan period","Kashmiri women poets"]},{"id":"parmanand","title":"Parmanand, the Devotee of Mattan","ref":"Traditional life and devotional poems","era":"1791–1879 CE","summary":"Parmanand, a village record-keeper from Mattan, became one of the greatest Kashmiri Pandit devotional poets, writing long, joyful poems about Krishna and Shiva in the Kashmiri language.","keyWords":["Parmanand","Mattan","Radha Swayamvar","Sudama Charit","Shiv Lagan","patwari","bhakti"]}]},{"id":"ramavatarcharit","title":"Ramavatarcharit (the Kashmiri Ramayana)","titleMeaning":"The Deeds of the Rama Avatar","author":"Prakash Ram Kurigami","date":"Mid-19th century CE","language":"Kashmiri","tagline":"The Ramayana retold in Kashmiri, with the valley's own songs, landscapes and twists.","about":"The Ramavatarcharit is the first full Ramayana in the Kashmiri language, composed in the nineteenth century by Prakash Ram Kurigami. It retells Rama's story in Kashmiri verse, with local feeling and some striking differences from Valmiki's version.","readFull":[{"label":"Ramavatarcharit, search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Ramavatarcharit"}],"stories":[{"id":"sita-daughter-of-ravana","title":"Sita, Daughter of Ravana","ref":"Ramavatarcharit, Sita's birth","era":"19th century CE (drawing on older regional tradition)","summary":"In a twist found in several regional Ramayanas, the Kashmiri telling makes Sita the daughter of Ravana and Mandodari, set adrift because of a prophecy and found by King Janaka.","keyWords":["Sita","Ravana","Mandodari","Janaka","prophecy","regional Ramayanas","A. K. Ramanujan"]},{"id":"lava-kusha-in-kashmiri","title":"Sita's Sons and Sita's Sorrow","ref":"Ramavatarcharit, Lav-Kush Charit","era":"19th century CE","summary":"The last part of the Kashmiri Ramayana tells of Sita's exile, the birth of her twin sons Lava and Kusha in Valmiki's hermitage, and the family's painful reunion, with Sita's grief voiced in the style of Kashmiri laments.","keyWords":["Lava","Kusha","Sita","Valmiki","Rama","Lav-Kush Charit","lament"]}]},{"id":"bilhana","title":"Bilhana: Vikramankadevacharita and Chaurapanchashika","titleMeaning":"The Deeds of King Vikramanka; Fifty Verses of the Thief of Love","author":"Bilhana","date":"c. 1080s CE","language":"Sanskrit","tagline":"A Kashmiri poet leaves home, wanders India and becomes chief poet to a southern emperor.","about":"Bilhana was an eleventh-century Kashmiri poet who left the valley as a young man, travelled across India, and became the chief court scholar of the Chalukya emperor Vikramaditya VI in the Deccan. He wrote a long poem in praise of that king, ending with a moving description of Kashmir, and is linked by tradition with a famous short love poem.","readFull":[{"label":"Vikramankadevacharita, search the Internet Archive (G. Bühler's 1875 edition and later translations)","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Vikramankadevacharita"},{"label":"Chaurapanchashika, search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Chaurapanchasika"}],"stories":[{"id":"bilhana-leaves-kashmir","title":"The Poet Who Left the Valley","ref":"Vikramankadevacharita, canto 18","era":"c. 1060s–1080s CE","summary":"In the last canto of his great poem, Bilhana tells how he left Kashmir, wandered from court to court across India, and finally found honour in the south.","keyWords":["Bilhana","Khonamukha","Khunmoh","Jyeshthakalasha","Vikramaditya VI","Kalyana","Vidyapati"]},{"id":"bilhana-praises-kashmir","title":"Bilhana Remembers Kashmir","ref":"Vikramankadevacharita, canto 18","era":"c. 1080s CE","summary":"Far away in the Deccan, Bilhana wrote a loving description of Kashmir: its saffron, its cool streams, its learned women and scholars, and its capital by the Vitasta.","keyWords":["Bilhana","Kashmir","saffron","Sharada-desha","Pravarapura","Vitasta","homesickness"]},{"id":"vikramaditya-the-hero","title":"The Emperor Who Chose His Own Path","ref":"Vikramankadevacharita, cantos 1–17","era":"11th century CE (Western Chalukya dynasty)","summary":"Bilhana's main poem tells the life of the Chalukya emperor Vikramaditya VI: his birth, his wars, his conflict with his elder brother and his triumphs. It is court praise, but it also preserves real history of the Deccan.","keyWords":["Vikramaditya VI","Chalukya","Someshvara II","Kalyana","Deccan","mahakavya","Chandralekha"]},{"id":"chaurapanchashika","title":"Fifty Verses Before Dawn","ref":"Chaurapanchashika (attributed to Bilhana)","era":"Traditionally 11th century CE","summary":"A short love poem in which every verse begins 'Even now' and remembers a secret beloved. Legend says the poet recited it on the way to his own execution, and the king was so moved that he spared him.","keyWords":["Chaurapanchashika","Bilhana","adyāpi","love poetry","legend","Edwin Arnold"]}]},{"id":"kshemendra","title":"Kshemendra: Satires and Epic Summaries","titleMeaning":"Works of Kshemendra","author":"Kshemendra","date":"c. 990–1070 CE","language":"Sanskrit","tagline":"Kashmir's great satirist mocked greedy officials, fake holy men and foolish rich people.","about":"Kshemendra was one of the most varied writers in Sanskrit. He condensed the Mahabharata, Ramayana and Brihatkatha into shorter versions, wrote on the theory of poetry, and composed sharp, funny satires about the people of eleventh-century Kashmir.","readFull":[{"label":"Kshemendra's works, search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Kshemendra"}],"stories":[{"id":"kshemendra-the-satirist","title":"Kshemendra, the Man Who Laughed at Kashmir","ref":"Life and works","era":"c. 990–1070 CE","summary":"A rich, learned Kashmiri who studied under Abhinavagupta, Kshemendra used his pen both to preserve the great epics and to mock the hypocrites around him.","keyWords":["Kshemendra","Abhinavagupta","satire","manjari","Ananta","Kalasha","Kashmir"]},{"id":"the-gauda-student","title":"The Student Who Came to Kashmir","ref":"Deshopadesha","era":"11th century CE","summary":"In his satire 'Advice for the Country', Kshemendra pokes fun at a type he saw often: the student from Bengal who arrives in Kashmir thin and humble, and soon becomes arrogant and ridiculous.","keyWords":["Kshemendra","Deshopadesha","Gauda","students","satire","stereotypes"]},{"id":"the-clerks-of-narmamala","title":"The Clerk Who Ate the Kingdom","ref":"Narmamala","era":"11th century CE","summary":"In the Narmamala, 'A Garland of Jokes', Kshemendra attacks the kayasthas, the clerks and officials who ran the kingdom's paperwork, showing how they twisted records to cheat ordinary people.","keyWords":["Kshemendra","Narmamala","kayasthas","corruption","clerks","Uccala","Kalhana"]},{"id":"samayamatrka","title":"The Old Schemer's Lessons","ref":"Samayamatrka","era":"11th century CE","summary":"In the Samayamatrka, an old, cunning woman named Kankali teaches a young woman how to survive in a world of greedy men by tricking them first. It is a satire of a whole society built on deceit.","keyWords":["Kshemendra","Samayamatrka","Kankali","satire","Kashmir","deceit"]},{"id":"the-manjaris","title":"Epic in Your Pocket: Kshemendra's Bouquets","ref":"Bharatamanjari, Ramayanamanjari, Brihatkathamanjari","era":"11th century CE","summary":"Kshemendra wrote 'bouquets', shorter versions of India's great epics and story collections, so that more people could enjoy them. His Brihatkathamanjari is an important early retelling of the lost Great Story.","keyWords":["Kshemendra","Bharatamanjari","Ramayanamanjari","Brihatkathamanjari","Brihatkatha","Bodhisattvavadanakalpalata","Tibet"]}]},{"id":"shiva-sutras","title":"Shiva Sutras","titleMeaning":"Aphorisms of Shiva","author":"Revealed to Vasugupta; commentary tradition including Bhatta Kallata and Kshemaraja","date":"c. 9th century CE","language":"Sanskrit","tagline":"The founding text of Kashmir Shaivism, said to have been found carved on a rock.","about":"The Shiva Sutras are 77 short, dense aphorisms that form the foundation of Kashmir Shaivism. Tradition says Shiva revealed them to the sage Vasugupta, who found them inscribed on a rock on Mahadeva mountain. For the full teaching, see the Shaivism section of this app.","readFull":[{"label":"Shiva Sutras, search the Internet Archive (including J. C. Chatterji's Kashmir Shaivism, 1914)","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Shiva+Sutras+Vasugupta"}],"stories":[{"id":"vasugupta-and-the-rock","title":"The Teaching on the Rock","ref":"Traditional account of the revelation","era":"c. 9th century CE","summary":"Tradition says Shiva appeared to Vasugupta in a dream and told him to find a teaching hidden on Mahadeva mountain. He found a great rock, and on it the Shiva Sutras.","keyWords":["Shiva Sutras","Vasugupta","Mahadeva","Shankarpal","Harwan","Bhatta Kallata","chaitanyam atma","Kashmir Shaivism"]}]},{"id":"kavyaprakasha","title":"Kavyaprakasha","titleMeaning":"Light on Poetry","author":"Mammata (completed by Allata)","date":"11th century CE","language":"Sanskrit","tagline":"The Kashmiri textbook that taught India how to read poetry.","about":"Mammata's Kavyaprakasha gathered the ideas of earlier Kashmiri thinkers about poetry into one clear, organised textbook. For centuries it was the standard guide to literary theory across India, with more commentaries than almost any other Sanskrit work on the subject.","readFull":[{"label":"Kavyaprakasha, search the Internet Archive (including Ganganatha Jha's translation)","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Kavyaprakasa"}],"stories":[{"id":"why-poetry","title":"Why Do We Need Poetry?","ref":"Kavyaprakasha, Ullasa 1","era":"11th century CE","summary":"Mammata begins by listing the purposes of poetry: fame, reward, understanding of life, protection from misfortune, immediate delight, and advice given as gently as a loved one gives it.","keyWords":["Mammata","Kavyaprakasha","purposes of poetry","kantasammita","poetics","definition of poetry"]},{"id":"three-grades-of-poetry","title":"Best, Middling and Mere Wordplay","ref":"Kavyaprakasha, Ullasa 1","era":"11th century CE","summary":"Following Anandavardhana, Mammata ranks poetry: the best is where the suggested meaning outshines the literal one; the middle kind has suggestion in a supporting role; and the lowest is clever decoration with no depth.","keyWords":["Mammata","dhvani","chitra-kavya","suggestion","Anandavardhana","poetics"]},{"id":"the-kashmir-school","title":"The Valley That Taught India to Read","ref":"Kavyaprakasha in its tradition","era":"7th–12th centuries CE","summary":"The Kavyaprakasha is the summit of a long Kashmiri tradition of thinking about literature, from Udbhata and Vamana to Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta. For centuries, students everywhere in India learned poetics through Kashmiri books.","keyWords":["Mammata","Udbhata","Vamana","Anandavardhana","Abhinavagupta","Kuntaka","Kashmiri poetics","rasa"]}]},{"id":"dhvanyaloka","title":"Dhvanyaloka","titleMeaning":"Light on Suggestion","author":"Anandavardhana (with Abhinavagupta's commentary, the Lochana)","date":"9th century CE","language":"Sanskrit","tagline":"The Kashmiri book that argued the soul of poetry is what it leaves unsaid.","about":"Anandavardhana, a scholar at the court of King Avantivarman, argued in the Dhvanyaloka that the soul of poetry is dhvani, suggestion: meaning that is felt rather than stated. His theory, developed by Abhinavagupta, transformed Indian literary thought.","readFull":[{"label":"Dhvanyaloka, search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Dhvanyaloka"}],"stories":[{"id":"the-soul-of-poetry","title":"The Bell That Keeps Ringing","ref":"Dhvanyaloka, Uddyota 1","era":"9th century CE","summary":"Anandavardhana argues that poetry has a meaning beyond its words, like the hum of a bell after it is struck. He calls this dhvani, suggestion, and says it is the soul of poetry.","keyWords":["Anandavardhana","Dhvanyaloka","dhvani","suggestion","rasa","Avantivarman"]},{"id":"the-fearless-pilgrim","title":"The Lion by the Godavari","ref":"Dhvanyaloka, Uddyota 1 (example verse)","era":"9th century CE (verse from older Prakrit poetry)","summary":"A famous example of suggestion: a woman tells a timid holy man that he can wander freely now, because the dog that used to bother him has been killed by a lion. What she really means is: stay away.","keyWords":["Anandavardhana","Dhvanyaloka","Godavari","Prakrit","suggestion","lion","Abhinavagupta"]},{"id":"valmiki-and-the-krauncha","title":"Grief That Became Verse","ref":"Dhvanyaloka, Uddyota 1","era":"9th century CE, drawing on the Ramayana","summary":"Anandavardhana recalls how the sage Valmiki, seeing a hunter kill one of a pair of krauncha birds, felt such grief that his words came out as the first verse of poetry. For him, this shows that the soul of poetry is feeling.","keyWords":["Valmiki","krauncha","shloka","shoka","Ramayana","Anandavardhana","Abhinavagupta","rasa"]}]},{"id":"charaka-samhita","title":"Charaka Samhita (Kashmiri redaction by Dridhabala)","titleMeaning":"The Compendium of Charaka","author":"Agnivesha (original), Charaka (reviser), Dridhabala (completer)","date":"Original centuries BCE–CE; Dridhabala's completion c. 4th–5th century CE (uncertain)","language":"Sanskrit","tagline":"India's great classic of Ayurveda, completed by a scholar tradition places in Kashmir.","about":"The Charaka Samhita is one of the founding texts of Ayurveda, India's traditional medicine. After Charaka's revision, part of it was lost, and it was completed by Dridhabala, whose home town, Panchanadapura, many scholars place in Kashmir.","readFull":[{"label":"Charaka Samhita, search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Charaka+Samhita"}],"stories":[{"id":"dridhabala-completes-charaka","title":"The Scholar Who Rebuilt a Lost Book","ref":"Charaka Samhita, closing verses of Dridhabala","era":"Uncertain, perhaps 4th–5th century CE","summary":"When parts of the great medical text were lost, a scholar named Dridhabala gathered what he could from other sources and completed it. Many scholars believe he came from Kashmir.","keyWords":["Dridhabala","Charaka","Agnivesha","Panchanadapura","Ayurveda","Kapilabala"]},{"id":"the-physicians-promise","title":"The Physician's Promise","ref":"Charaka Samhita, Vimanasthana 8","era":"Ancient","summary":"The Charaka Samhita describes the vows a medical student must take: to live simply, to care for patients even at the cost of their own comfort, never to harm them, and to keep their secrets.","keyWords":["Charaka Samhita","medical ethics","physician","confidentiality","Hippocratic Oath","Ayurveda"]},{"id":"living-with-the-seasons","title":"Eating and Living with the Seasons","ref":"Charaka Samhita, Sutrasthana 5–7","era":"Ancient","summary":"The Charaka Samhita teaches that health depends on daily habits and on adjusting food and routine to the seasons. It describes a daily routine and a seasonal routine for staying well.","keyWords":["Charaka Samhita","dinacharya","ritucharya","seasons","diet","Ayurveda","Kashmiri food"]}]},{"id":"tantrakhyayika","title":"Tantrakhyayika","titleMeaning":"Tales of Statecraft (the Kashmiri Panchatantra)","author":"Attributed within the text to Vishnusharman","date":"Composed perhaps early centuries CE; preserved in Kashmiri manuscripts","language":"Sanskrit","tagline":"The oldest surviving version of the Panchatantra, preserved in Kashmir.","about":"The Panchatantra, the famous collection of animal fables that teach wisdom and statecraft, exists in many versions. The Tantrakhyayika, preserved in Kashmiri manuscripts in the Sharada script, is widely regarded as the oldest surviving form of it.","readFull":[{"label":"Tantrakhyayika (Hertel's editions and translations), search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Tantrakhyayika"},{"label":"Panchatantra translations, search the Internet Archive","url":"https://archive.org/search?query=Panchatantra"}],"stories":[{"id":"vishnusharman-and-the-princes","title":"The Teacher Who Promised Six Months","ref":"Tantrakhyayika, introduction","era":"Frame story","summary":"A king despairs because his sons will not learn. The wise Vishnusharman promises to make them wise in six months, not with lectures, but with stories.","keyWords":["Vishnusharman","Panchatantra","Tantrakhyayika","princes","education","fables"]},{"id":"the-jackal-and-the-drum","title":"The Jackal and the Drum","ref":"Tantrakhyayika, Book 1","era":"Fable","summary":"A hungry jackal hears a terrifying booming sound in the forest. When he finally dares to look, he finds a war drum being struck by branches in the wind, and learns that loud noises can be empty.","keyWords":["jackal","drum","Damanaka","Panchatantra","Tantrakhyayika","fear"]},{"id":"the-crows-and-the-owls","title":"The Crows and the Owls","ref":"Tantrakhyayika, Book 3","era":"Fable","summary":"Crows and owls are bitter enemies. An old, wise crow pretends to have been cast out by his own side, wins the owls' trust, and then brings about their destruction. The book is a lesson in war, spies and trust.","keyWords":["crows","owls","Sthirajivin","Panchatantra","Tantrakhyayika","war","spies"]},{"id":"the-donkey-without-heart-or-ears","title":"The Donkey Without a Heart or Ears","ref":"Panchatantra tradition, Book 4","era":"Fable","summary":"A sick lion sends a jackal to trick a donkey into coming close. The donkey escapes once but is fooled a second time and killed. When the jackal eats its heart and ears, he tells the lion the donkey never had any, since otherwise it would not have come back.","keyWords":["donkey","lion","jackal","Panchatantra","flattery","experience"]}]}]},"shaivism":{"intro":{"simple":"Kashmir Shaivism is a way of understanding life that grew up in the Kashmir Valley more than a thousand years ago. Its big idea is simple and bold: everything that exists is one living awareness, which it calls Shiva, and you are that awareness too — you have only forgotten. The whole path is about remembering, or ‘recognising’, who you really are.","medium":"Kashmir Shaivism is the name modern scholars give to a family of non-dual (advaita) Shaiva traditions that flourished in Kashmir from roughly the 9th to the 12th century CE, and that Kashmiri Pandits have kept alive ever since. It teaches that reality is one free, self-aware consciousness — Shiva — whose own power, Shakti, shows itself as the world. Nothing is outside it, so the world is not an illusion to be escaped but a real expression of that consciousness. We suffer because we contract that infinite awareness into a small, anxious ‘me’. Liberation is not going somewhere else; it is recognising (pratyabhijñā) our own nature, here and now, even while living an ordinary life. Its great teachers — Vasugupta, Somananda, Utpaladeva, Abhinavagupta, Kshemaraja — wrote in Sanskrit, while later saints such as Lal Ded sang the same truths in Kashmiri.","deep":"‘Kashmir Shaivism’ is a modern umbrella term (popularised in the early 20th century, notably by J. C. Chatterji’s 1914 book of that name) for several interwoven streams of non-dual Shaiva thought and practice that were systematised in Kashmir between about 850 and 1100 CE. The tradition itself uses names such as Trika (‘the triad’), Pratyabhijñā (‘recognition’), Spanda (‘vibration’), Krama (‘sequence’) and Kula (‘family’ or ‘totality’). These grew out of a large body of scriptures called Tantras or Āgamas, which Kashmiri teachers read in a non-dualist way, in contrast to the dualist Śaiva Siddhānta that was also strong in Kashmir at the time.\n\nIts central claim is that reality is consciousness (cit, caitanya), and that this consciousness is not a blank, passive witness but is alive, self-aware and free. It has two inseparable aspects: prakāśa, the light by which anything appears, and vimarśa, the reflexive power by which that light knows itself as ‘I’. Shiva is the name for consciousness as the knower; Shakti is the same consciousness as power, freedom and creativity. Through its absolute freedom (svātantrya) consciousness contracts itself, step by step, into the thirty-six levels of reality (tattvas), from pure Shiva down to earth, and into limited beings who feel separate, incomplete and bound by action. This contraction is described through the three impurities (malas) and the power of māyā.\n\nBecause bondage is a kind of self-forgetting, liberation is a self-recognition. The Pratyabhijñā school compares it to a woman who has fallen in love with a man by reputation, but feels nothing when she first meets him — until someone tells her ‘this is he’, and then her joy is complete. Practice is organised as ‘means’ (upāyas): from the effortless recognition of anupāya, through the sudden insight of śāmbhava, the refinement of thought in śākta, to the concrete supports of breath, mantra and ritual in āṇava. Grace (śaktipāta) and the living teacher are central. The goal is jīvanmukti: freedom while still living in the body, in which the world is not rejected but seen as one’s own radiance.\n\nThe high point of the tradition is Abhinavagupta (c. 950–1016), whose Tantrāloka gathers the whole scriptural and philosophical heritage into one vision, and whose work on aesthetics (rasa) still shapes Indian theories of art. After the 12th century the Sanskrit commentarial tradition thinned, but the ideas lived on in Kashmiri devotion — in Lal Ded’s vākhs, in hymns sung at Herath (Shivaratri), in the worship of Sharika, Ragnya and Jwala, and in the teachers of the 19th and 20th centuries, culminating in Swami Lakshmanjoo, who taught the texts to Indian and Western scholars and so carried the tradition to the wider world."},"gurus":[{"id":"durvasa","name":"Durvasa (Durvāsā)","dates":"Legendary; outside historical time","place":"Mount Kailasa (in legend)","lineage":"Shrikantha (Shiva) → Durvasa → Tryambaka, Amardaka and Shrinatha (his three ‘mind-born’ sons)","works":[],"simple":"Durvasa is a sage from old stories, famous for his short temper. In Kashmir Shaivism he is remembered as the one Shiva asked to bring the secret teachings back to the world when they had been forgotten.","medium":"Durvasa appears in the Purāṇas and epics as a powerful, irritable sage. In the Kashmiri tradition he has a gentler role. The legend, told by Abhinavagupta and earlier by Somananda, says that in the Kali age the Shaiva teachings had disappeared. Shiva in the form of Shrikantha appeared on Mount Kailasa and asked Durvasa to spread them again. Durvasa created three sons from his mind: Tryambaka to teach non-dualism, Amardaka dualism, and Shrinatha the dual-cum-non-dual view. The Kashmiri non-dual lineage traces itself back to Tryambaka.","deep":"Durvasa is best understood as a figure of sacred history rather than of documented history. The story of his mission is the tradition’s way of saying that its teachings are not human inventions but a revelation that is periodically renewed. Somananda gives a version of the lineage in the seventh chapter of his Śivadṛṣṭi, and Abhinavagupta draws on these accounts in the Tantrāloka.\n\nThe three sons map neatly onto the three Shaiva outlooks the Kashmiri authors knew: dualist (the Siddhānta), dual-and-non-dual, and fully non-dual. By placing all three under one sage, the legend acknowledges that the schools share roots, while giving pride of place to Tryambaka’s non-dual line. In some accounts a ‘half’ lineage (ardha-tryambaka) through Tryambaka’s daughter is linked with the Kula teachings.\n\nSomananda presents himself as a descendant of this line: a teacher named Sangamaditya is said to have come to Kashmir, and the lineage passed through several generations to Somananda. The details cannot be checked historically, but they show how the Kashmiri teachers saw themselves — as heirs of a very old transmission, not founders of a new sect.","teachings":["Teachings are renewed in every age by grace, not invented.","Three Shaiva views — dual, dual-non-dual, non-dual — share one source.","The non-dual line is traced through Tryambaka."],"story":"Legend: When the age of darkness began and the teachings were lost, Shiva as Shrikantha appeared on Kailasa and told Durvasa to revive them. Rather than taking disciples in the usual way, Durvasa brought forth three sons from his own mind and gave each a different teaching to carry into the world.","quote":null},{"id":"vasugupta","name":"Vasugupta","dates":"c. late 8th – mid 9th century CE","place":"Mahadeva mountain, near Harwan, Srinagar","lineage":"Shiva (revelation) → Vasugupta → Bhatta Kallata","works":["Shiva Sutras (received as revelation)","Spanda Karika (attributed to him by Kshemaraja; others credit Kallata)"],"simple":"Vasugupta was a holy man who lived near Srinagar. The story says Shiva showed him, in a dream, where a set of short sayings was carved on a rock. These became the Shiva Sutras, the starting point of Kashmir Shaivism.","medium":"Vasugupta is honoured as the first human teacher of the historical tradition. He lived in the forested hills above Harwan, on the edge of Srinagar, probably in the first half of the 9th century. According to tradition he received the Shiva Sutras — 77 terse aphorisms in three sections — through a revelation from Shiva. His pupil Bhatta Kallata spread the teaching, and the Spanda Karika, a short verse text on the dynamic nature of consciousness, came out of this circle. Whether Vasugupta or Kallata composed the Spanda Karika has been debated since medieval times.","deep":"We know very little about Vasugupta as a person; nearly everything comes from later commentators. Kshemaraja, writing around 1000 CE, says Shiva appeared to Vasugupta in a dream and told him that the sutras were inscribed on a large rock on Mahadeva mountain; Vasugupta found the rock, which turned over at his touch, and copied the text. Bhaskara, another commentator, gives a slightly different account in which a siddha (perfected being) revealed the sutras to him in a dream. Both versions agree that the text was not composed but received.\n\nThe Shiva Sutras open with ‘caitanyam ātmā’ — ‘Consciousness is the Self’ — and lay out three paths: through Shiva (śāmbhava), through Shakti (śākta), and through the individual (āṇava). This structure becomes the basic frame of later Kashmiri teaching on practice.\n\nThe Spanda Karika presents the same vision in a more experiential way: consciousness is spanda, a ‘pulse’ or subtle vibration, never static. Kshemaraja held Vasugupta to be its author; earlier writers such as Ramakantha and the Vaishnava Utpala credit Kallata. Many scholars today think Kallata at least gave it its final form. Either way, the Shiva Sutras and Spanda Karika together are the foundation of the Spanda school.\n\nThe rock associated with the revelation, known as Shankarpal (Śaṅkaropala), is still pointed out near Harwan and is a place of pilgrimage for Kashmiri Pandits.","teachings":["Consciousness is the Self (caitanyam ātmā).","Ordinary knowledge, taken as final, is bondage (jñānaṃ bandhaḥ).","Effort that springs up from within is Bhairava (udyamo bhairavaḥ).","Consciousness is dynamic — a pulse (spanda), not a still void."],"story":"Legend: Shiva appeared to Vasugupta in a dream and told him that a secret teaching was written on a rock on Mahadeva mountain. In the morning he climbed the hill, found the rock, and when he touched it, it turned over to reveal the sutras. The rock, Shankarpal, is still shown to pilgrims near Harwan.","quote":{"sanskrit":"caitanyam ātmā","english":"Consciousness is the Self.","source":"Shiva Sutras 1.1"}},{"id":"kallata","name":"Bhatta Kallata","dates":"fl. second half of 9th century CE (reign of Avantivarman, 855–883)","place":"Kashmir","lineage":"Vasugupta → Bhatta Kallata → Pradyumnabhatta and others","works":["Spanda Vritti (commentary on the Spanda Karika)","Spanda Karika (credited to him by some authorities)","Tattvarthacintamani (lost)","Madhuvahini (lost)"],"simple":"Bhatta Kallata was Vasugupta’s student. He explained his teacher’s ideas so clearly that the teaching spread across Kashmir. A royal history of Kashmir even names him as a holy man of his time.","medium":"Kallata is one of the few early teachers who is mentioned in an outside historical source: Kalhana’s Rājataraṅgiṇī (12th century) says that in the reign of King Avantivarman (855–883) ‘siddhas such as Kallata’ came down to earth for the good of the people. He wrote the earliest surviving commentary on the Spanda Karika and may have written, or at least finalised, the Karika itself. His writing is short and practical, focused on recognising the ‘pulse’ of consciousness in everyday experience.","deep":"Kallata’s importance is partly historical: the Rājataraṅgiṇī reference gives scholars a fixed point, allowing the Spanda school to be dated to the later 9th century. Through him we can date Vasugupta a generation earlier.\n\nHis Spanda Vṛtti is terse and close to the text. Unlike the later, heavily philosophical Pratyabhijñā writers, Kallata treats Spanda as something to be noticed directly — at the beginning of a strong emotion, in a moment of surprise, in the gap between two thoughts. This practical emphasis runs through the whole Spanda tradition.\n\nLater authors mention other works by him, such as the Tattvārthacintāmaṇi, now lost. Bhaskara’s lineage for the Shiva Sutras runs from Vasugupta through Kallata to his own teachers, showing Kallata as the key link between the revelation and the later schools.","teachings":["Spanda can be found directly in intense moments of experience.","The inner pulse of consciousness is never interrupted, even in deep sleep.","Teaching should lead to experience, not just argument."],"story":"History, not legend: Kalhana’s chronicle of Kashmir’s kings records that during Avantivarman’s reign ‘siddhas such as Kallata’ descended to bless the world — a rare case of a Shaiva teacher appearing in a royal history.","quote":null},{"id":"somananda","name":"Somananda","dates":"c. 875–925 CE","place":"Kashmir","lineage":"(Tryambaka lineage) → Somananda → Utpaladeva","works":["Shivadrishti (Śivadṛṣṭi)","Commentary (Vivṛti) on the Paratrishika (lost, known through Abhinavagupta)"],"simple":"Somananda was the first person to argue carefully, like a philosopher, that everything is Shiva. His book is called ‘Shiva’s Vision’ (Shivadrishti). He was the teacher of Utpaladeva.","medium":"Somananda founded what became the Pratyabhijñā (Recognition) school. His Śivadṛṣṭi, in seven chapters, defends the view that all things — pots, people, thoughts — are Shiva, and it takes on rival schools one by one: Buddhists, grammarians, Vedantins and dualist Shaivas. He is also said to have written a commentary on the Parātrīśikā. He claimed descent from Tryambaka, the non-dual son of the sage Durvasa.","deep":"Somananda marks the moment when Kashmiri non-dualism turned from scripture and experience to systematic philosophy. The Śivadṛṣṭi argues that there is one reality, Shiva, whose nature is will, knowledge and action, and that the variety of the world is Shiva’s own play. He famously insists that even a pot is Shiva — not symbolically, but in its very being.\n\nHe is sharp in debate. He criticises the grammarian Bhartṛhari’s idea that ultimate reality is ‘speech’ (paśyantī), arguing that it leaves out the agency and freedom of consciousness. He rejects the Vedanta view that the world is an illusion superimposed on a passive Brahman, and argues against the Buddhist denial of a real self.\n\nHis style is dense and sometimes rough; the refined presentation came with his student Utpaladeva, whose Īśvarapratyabhijñā-kārikā acknowledges Somananda as its source. In the seventh chapter of the Śivadṛṣṭi, Somananda gives an account of his lineage back to Tryambaka, which is the main source for the Durvasa legend in the Pratyabhijñā tradition.","teachings":["Everything, even a pot, is Shiva.","Shiva is not passive: he wills, knows and acts.","The world is Shiva’s free play, not an illusion.","Shiva exists fully in every being, not partly."],"story":"Tradition (from his own account): Somananda describes a lineage going back to Tryambaka, the son born from Durvasa’s mind. A descendant named Sangamaditya is said to have wandered until he came to Kashmir, and settled there; the teaching then passed down the family until it reached Somananda.","quote":null},{"id":"utpaladeva","name":"Utpaladeva","dates":"c. 900–950 CE","place":"Kashmir","lineage":"Somananda → Utpaladeva → Lakshmanagupta (and his son Vibhramakara)","works":["Ishvara Pratyabhijna Karika (with his own short Vritti and long Vivriti, the latter mostly lost)","Shivastotravali (hymns, collected by disciples)","Siddhitrayi: Ajadapramatrsiddhi, Ishvarasiddhi, Sambandhasiddhi","Commentary on the Shivadrishti"],"simple":"Utpaladeva was Somananda’s student. He wrote the key book of the ‘Recognition’ school, explaining how we can recognise that we are Shiva. He also wrote beautiful, heartfelt songs to Shiva.","medium":"Utpaladeva gave the Recognition (Pratyabhijñā) philosophy its classic form in the Īśvarapratyabhijñā-kārikā, ‘Verses on the Recognition of the Lord’. The book argues carefully that the self is the Lord, and that liberation is simply recognising this. At the same time Utpaladeva was a poet of devotion: his hymns, gathered as the Śivastotrāvalī, are full of longing, humour and joy. He shows that deep philosophy and warm love for God can live together.","deep":"The Īśvarapratyabhijñā-kārikā is organised in four parts: on knowledge (jñāna), action (kriyā), scripture (āgama) and a summary of reality (tattva-saṅgraha). Utpaladeva argues that memory, recognition and the unity of experience can only be explained if there is one self-aware consciousness that holds everything together. Things appear to us because they rest in the light of consciousness (prakāśa), and that light is not dead like a mirror: it is aware of itself (vimarśa).\n\nUtpaladeva wrote two auto-commentaries: a short Vṛtti and a long Vivṛti (or Ṭīkā), which survives only in fragments. Abhinavagupta later wrote commentaries on both: the Vimarśinī on the verses and the massive Vivṛti-vimarśinī on the lost Vivṛti. His three shorter works (the Siddhitrayī) prove that consciousness is an active knower, that there is a Lord, and that relations exist only in a unifying mind.\n\nThe Śivastotrāvalī consists of twenty hymns, collected after his death by his disciples Rama and Adityaraja and arranged into twenty titled hymns by Vishvavarta; Kshemaraja wrote a commentary on it. The hymns are personal — at times he complains to Shiva, at times he laughs at his own foolishness — and they insist that devotion (bhakti) is itself a taste of liberation. Kashmiri Pandits still recite them.\n\nUtpaladeva’s son Vibhramakara was his pupil, as was Lakshmanagupta, through whom the teaching reached Abhinavagupta.","teachings":["Liberation is recognition of what we already are.","Consciousness is both light (prakāśa) and self-awareness (vimarśa).","Memory and recognition prove a unifying self.","Devotion to Shiva is itself a taste of freedom."],"story":"Utpaladeva opens his great work by saying he writes having somehow attained the state of being a servant of the Lord, wishing to help others too — a scholar describing himself first as a devotee. His hymns were scattered in his lifetime and only later collected into one book by his disciples.","quote":{"sanskrit":"kathaṃcid āsādya maheśvarasya dāsyaṃ janasyāpy upakāram icchan / samastasampatsamavāptihetuṃ tatpratyabhijñām upapādayāmi","english":"Having somehow attained the state of servant of the great Lord, and wishing to help others too, I set out the recognition of Him, which brings the attainment of every fulfilment.","source":"Ishvara Pratyabhijna Karika 1.1.1"}},{"id":"lakshmanagupta","name":"Lakshmanagupta","dates":"fl. c. 950–1000 CE","place":"Kashmir","lineage":"Utpaladeva → Lakshmanagupta → Abhinavagupta","works":[],"simple":"Lakshmanagupta was the link between Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta. He taught the young Abhinavagupta the philosophy of Recognition.","medium":"Lakshmanagupta was a disciple of Utpaladeva and the teacher from whom Abhinavagupta learned the Pratyabhijñā philosophy, as well as parts of the Krama and Trika teachings. No works of his survive, but Abhinavagupta names him with great respect as a teacher.","deep":"Our knowledge of Lakshmanagupta comes almost entirely from Abhinavagupta’s tributes. He is one of the many teachers Abhinavagupta lists in the Tantrāloka, and is the direct channel for the Pratyabhijñā line: Somananda → Utpaladeva → Lakshmanagupta → Abhinavagupta.\n\nHis role reminds us that the Kashmiri tradition was carried by living transmission as much as by books. Much of what Abhinavagupta wrote about Utpaladeva’s thought he first heard explained aloud.","teachings":["The teaching passes through living teachers, not only through texts."],"story":"Abhinavagupta, a restless student who studied with many masters, singles out Lakshmanagupta as the teacher who opened for him the meaning of Utpaladeva’s Recognition philosophy.","quote":null},{"id":"abhinavagupta","name":"Abhinavagupta","dates":"c. 950–1016 CE (dated works 990/91 to 1014/15)","place":"Srinagar, Kashmir","lineage":"Lakshmanagupta (Pratyabhijñā), Shambhunatha (Trika/Kula), Bhutiraja and others, Bhatta Tauta and Induraja (aesthetics) → Abhinavagupta → Kshemaraja, Kshemaraja’s circle","works":["Tantraloka","Tantrasara","Tantravatadhanika","Paratrishika Vivarana","Malinivijaya Varttika","Ishvara Pratyabhijna Vimarshini","Ishvara Pratyabhijna Vivriti Vimarshini","Abhinavabharati (on the Natyashastra)","Dhvanyaloka Locana","Gitarthasangraha (on the Bhagavad Gita)","Paramarthasara","Bodhapanchadashika","Kramastotra","Bhairavastava","Anuttarashtika"],"simple":"Abhinavagupta is the greatest teacher of Kashmir Shaivism. He studied with many masters and wrote huge books that brought all the teachings together. He also explained why music, poetry and drama move us so deeply. Legend says he walked into a cave with his students and never came out.","medium":"Abhinavagupta was a philosopher, mystic, and critic of art whose output is enormous. His Tantrāloka, ‘Light on the Tantras’, is a vast synthesis of Trika Shaivism in 37 chapters, and his Tantrasāra is its prose summary. His commentaries on Utpaladeva made the Recognition philosophy complete. In aesthetics, his commentaries on Bharata’s Nāṭyaśāstra and Ānandavardhana’s Dhvanyāloka set out the theory of rasa — the ‘taste’ of emotion in art — that still shapes Indian aesthetics. He never married, and lived and taught in Srinagar with his extended family and disciples.","deep":"Abhinavagupta tells us about himself at the end of the Tantrāloka. His ancestor Atrigupta, a learned Brahmin from Madhyadesha (the Ganges plains), was invited to Kashmir by King Lalitaditya in the 8th century. His father was Narasimhagupta, also called Cukhulaka, and his mother Vimalakala died when he was a child — a loss he says turned his mind towards the spiritual. His dated works fall between 990/91 and 1014/15 CE.\n\nHe was an insatiable student. He lists some twenty teachers, including Lakshmanagupta for Pratyabhijñā, Bhutiraja, and — most important for him — Shambhunatha, who came from Jalandhara and initiated him into the Kula and Trika. For poetics and drama he studied with Bhatta Tauta and Induraja. He compares himself to a bee going from flower to flower.\n\nHis Tantrāloka reorganises a huge scriptural literature around the Mālinīvijayottara Tantra, which he treats as the essence of Trika. It moves from the nature of consciousness, through the four means (upāyas), to ritual, initiation, and the lineage of teachers. His Parātrīśikā-vivaraṇa is a profound meditation on the ‘I’ (aham) and on the Sanskrit alphabet as the unfolding of consciousness.\n\nIn aesthetics, Abhinavagupta argued that rasa is neither in the actor nor simply in the spectator’s private feelings, but is a ‘tasting’ in which the viewer’s heart, freed from personal limits, rests in a universal emotion. At its best, this tasting is close to the bliss of consciousness itself; he singled out peace (śānta) as a rasa too. This made art a doorway to the sacred.\n\nTradition remembers him as more than a scholar: Madhurāja Yogin, a later admirer, describes him seated in a garden surrounded by disciples, in a state of divine absorption. The legend of his entering the Bhairava cave near Beerwah is still told in Kashmir.","teachings":["Everything is the free self-expression of consciousness.","The ‘I’ (aham) is the heart of reality, containing all things.","There are many paths (upāyas), suited to different seekers.","Art, when truly tasted, opens onto the bliss of consciousness.","Freedom is lived in the world, not by rejecting it."],"story":"Legend: One day, it is said, Abhinavagupta, reciting his hymn to Bhairava, walked with some 1,200 disciples into a cave in the hills near Beerwah (the Bhairava cave at Mangam). They were never seen again. Pilgrims still visit the cave, and Kashmiri Pandits tell the story as a sign that he merged into Shiva.","quote":null},{"id":"kshemaraja","name":"Kshemaraja","dates":"c. 975–1050 CE","place":"Kashmir","lineage":"Abhinavagupta → Kshemaraja → Yogaraja","works":["Pratyabhijnahridayam","Shiva Sutra Vimarshini","Spanda Nirnaya","Spanda Sandoha","Svacchanda Uddyota","Netra Uddyota","Commentary on the Vijnana Bhairava (partial)","Commentaries on the Shivastotravali and the Stavacintamani","Parapraveshika"],"simple":"Kshemaraja was Abhinavagupta’s leading student. He wrote a short, clear book called ‘The Heart of Recognition’ so that everyone — not only experts — could understand the teaching.","medium":"Kshemaraja was Abhinavagupta’s foremost disciple, and possibly a relative. He was a gifted explainer. His Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam, twenty short sutras with his own commentary, is the most widely read introduction to Kashmir Shaivism, written, as he says, for those who are not trained in logic. He also wrote major commentaries on the Shiva Sutras, the Spanda Karika, and on scriptures such as the Svacchanda and Netra Tantras, bringing them into the non-dual fold.","deep":"If Abhinavagupta was the architect, Kshemaraja was the builder who made rooms people could live in. The Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam starts with ‘citiḥ svatantrā viśvasiddhihetuḥ’ — ‘free consciousness is the cause of the world’s manifestation’ — and in twenty steps explains how consciousness becomes the limited mind, and how the mind can expand again into consciousness.\n\nHis Śivasūtra-vimarśinī is the standard commentary on the Shiva Sutras, and his Spanda-nirṇaya on the Spanda Karika. He is the source of the story of Vasugupta’s rock. He attributes the Spanda Karika to Vasugupta, disagreeing with earlier writers.\n\nHis commentaries on the Svacchanda and Netra Tantras are historically important: these were widely used ritual scriptures, and Kshemaraja read them in a non-dual way, bringing ordinary Kashmiri temple and household ritual into the orbit of Trika thought. His commentary on the Vijñāna Bhairava breaks off early and was completed centuries later by Shivopadhyaya.\n\nKshemaraja’s student Yogaraja carried the line on.","teachings":["Free consciousness is the cause of the world.","The mind is consciousness that has contracted itself.","Shiva’s five acts happen within us every moment.","Even ordinary ritual can be understood non-dually."],"story":"Kshemaraja is the teller of the famous story of Vasugupta finding the Shiva Sutras on a rock that turned over at his touch — so much of how Kashmiris remember their own origins comes through him.","quote":{"sanskrit":"citiḥ svatantrā viśvasiddhihetuḥ","english":"Consciousness, which is free, is the cause of the manifestation of the universe.","source":"Pratyabhijnahridayam, sutra 1"}},{"id":"yogaraja","name":"Yogaraja","dates":"11th century CE","place":"Kashmir","lineage":"Kshemaraja → Yogaraja","works":["Vivriti (commentary) on Abhinavagupta’s Paramarthasara"],"simple":"Yogaraja was a student of Kshemaraja. He wrote an explanation of Abhinavagupta’s short book ‘The Essence of the Highest Truth’ (Paramarthasara).","medium":"Yogaraja is known for one work: his commentary on the Paramārthasāra, Abhinavagupta’s 105-verse summary of non-dual Shaiva teaching. The commentary is clear and helpful and is the standard way the text has been read ever since. He learned from Kshemaraja and so stands two steps from Abhinavagupta.","deep":"The Paramārthasāra is Abhinavagupta’s non-dual reworking of an older text by Ādiśeṣa. Yogaraja’s commentary explains each verse, drawing on Kshemaraja and Abhinavagupta, and often quoting scripture.\n\nYogaraja’s work shows the ‘second generation’ after Abhinavagupta turning to teaching: making short summaries accessible rather than writing new systematic works.","teachings":["The whole teaching can be condensed and made clear for students."],"story":"Yogaraja is an example of a quiet transmitter: remembered not for legends but for making a small text readable for a thousand years.","quote":null},{"id":"jayaratha","name":"Jayaratha","dates":"late 12th – early 13th century CE","place":"Kashmir","lineage":"(Later Trika lineage; his teacher is named as Kalyana) → Jayaratha","works":["Viveka (commentary on the Tantraloka)","Alamkaravimarshini (on Ruyyaka’s Alamkarasarvasva)","Commentary on the Vamakeshvarimata"],"simple":"Jayaratha wrote the explanation of Abhinavagupta’s giant book, the Tantraloka. Without him, many of its hard passages would be almost impossible to understand today.","medium":"Jayaratha lived about two centuries after Abhinavagupta. His commentary Viveka on the Tantrāloka is a heroic work: it explains all 37 chapters and quotes a great many Tantras that are otherwise lost, so it is also a treasure-house of scripture. He was also a scholar of poetics, writing on Ruyyaka’s work on figures of speech, and wrote on the Vāmakeśvarīmata, a Śrīvidyā scripture.","deep":"Jayaratha came from a family of scholars and court officials. He says he struggled to find a teacher who could explain the Tantrāloka and finally learned it from a master named Kalyana. His commentary is our main guide to the Tantrāloka, and modern scholarship depends heavily on it.\n\nBecause he quotes widely, Jayaratha preserves passages from dozens of scriptures that no longer survive independently, making his work essential for the history of Tantra.\n\nHis interest in Śrīvidyā shows the growing importance of the goddess Tripurasundari in Kashmir, which later becomes central in the worship of Sharika.","teachings":["Scripture and philosophy must be read together.","Careful commentary keeps a tradition alive."],"story":"Jayaratha himself tells how hard it was to find someone who truly understood the Tantraloka — a reminder that by his time the living tradition had already thinned.","quote":null},{"id":"maheshvarananda","name":"Maheshvarananda","dates":"c. 12th century CE","place":"Chola country (Tamil Nadu), South India","lineage":"Mahaprakasha → Maheshvarananda","works":["Maharthamanjari (Prakrit verses) with his own Sanskrit commentary Parimala"],"simple":"Maheshvarananda lived in South India, but he followed the Kashmiri teachings. He wrote a small book of verses called ‘The Flower-Cluster of the Great Meaning’ about finding God in ordinary life.","medium":"Maheshvarananda shows that Kashmiri non-dual Shaivism travelled beyond the Valley. Living in the Tamil country, he wrote the Mahārthamañjarī, seventy verses in Prakrit with a rich Sanskrit commentary. It teaches the Mahārtha or Krama view: that the Goddess of consciousness cycles through creation, maintenance, dissolution and the nameless, in every act of perception.","deep":"The Mahārthamañjarī draws on Kashmiri authors — especially Abhinavagupta and the Krama tradition — while adding its own voice. Maheshvarananda received the teaching from Mahaprakasha, and says it came to him in a vision of a yoginī.\n\nHis work stresses that liberation is found not by withdrawing from the senses but by recognising consciousness shining through them. It is valuable evidence of the non-dual Kashmiri teachings being studied in South India, where they also influenced Śrīvidyā.","teachings":["Every perception is a cycle of the Goddess of consciousness.","The senses can be doorways, not obstacles."],"story":"Maheshvarananda says the inspiration for his verses came when a yogini appeared to him in a dream and urged him to write — the kind of story told of many Tantric authors.","quote":null},{"id":"shivopadhyaya","name":"Shivopadhyaya","dates":"18th century CE (governorship of Sukh Jiwan Mal, 1754–1762)","place":"Srinagar, Kashmir","lineage":"(Later Kashmiri Shaiva lineage) → Shivopadhyaya","works":["Vivriti (commentary) on the Vijnana Bhairava, completing Kshemaraja’s unfinished commentary"],"simple":"Shivopadhyaya lived in Kashmir in the 1700s. He finished explaining the Vijnana Bhairava, a famous book of meditation methods, after the old commentary had been left incomplete.","medium":"Kshemaraja’s commentary on the Vijñāna Bhairava stops early in the text. Some seven centuries later, Shivopadhyaya completed it, writing during the rule of Sukh Jiwan Mal in Kashmir. His work is the standard traditional commentary on the text’s 112 contemplative methods and shows the Kashmiri Shaiva teaching still alive in 18th-century Srinagar.","deep":"Shivopadhyaya’s commentary is sometimes mixed with Vedanta ideas, reflecting the intellectual climate of his time, but he explains the methods of the Vijñāna Bhairava in detail and connects them with the classical Kashmiri texts.\n\nHis work is one of several pieces of evidence (with Bhaskarakantha’s writings) that the Shaiva tradition in Kashmir was not dead after the 13th century, but continued in smaller, family-based circles of Pandits.","teachings":["The tradition continued quietly for centuries.","The Vijñāna Bhairava’s methods are all ways into the same centre."],"story":"Shivopadhyaya picked up a task left unfinished for seven hundred years — completing the explanation of the Vijnana Bhairava that Kshemaraja had begun.","quote":null},{"id":"bhaskara","name":"Bhaskara (Bhaskaracharya of the Varttika)","dates":"uncertain; probably 10th–11th century CE","place":"Kashmir","lineage":"Vasugupta → Kallata → Pradyumnabhatta → Prajnarjuna → Mahadevabhatta → Shrikanthabhatta → Bhaskara","works":["Shiva Sutra Varttika"],"simple":"Bhaskara wrote a commentary in verse on the Shiva Sutras. His explanation follows a different line of teachers from Kshemaraja’s, so it gives us a second view of the same text.","medium":"Bhaskara, son of Divakara, wrote the Śivasūtra-vārttika, a verse commentary on the Shiva Sutras. He traces his lineage directly from Vasugupta through Kallata and several generations of teachers. His version of the origin story differs from Kshemaraja’s: in his telling, a siddha revealed the sutras to Vasugupta in a dream. Comparing Bhaskara and Kshemaraja helps scholars see how the text was read in different circles.","deep":"The Vārttika is valuable precisely because it is independent of Abhinavagupta’s circle. Its readings of some sutras differ from Kshemaraja’s, and it preserves a lineage otherwise unrecorded.\n\nHe should not be confused with Bhaskarakantha (18th century), a separate Kashmiri scholar who wrote the Bhāskarī commentary on Abhinavagupta’s Īśvarapratyabhijñā-vimarśinī and rendered sixty of Lal Ded’s vākhs into Sanskrit verse (the Lallāvākyāni).","teachings":["The Shiva Sutras were read in more than one lineage.","Revelation came through a teacher in a dream."],"story":"In Bhaskara’s version, it was not a rock that revealed the sutras but a siddha — a perfected being — who taught them to Vasugupta in a dream.","quote":null},{"id":"bhaskarakantha","name":"Bhaskarakantha","dates":"18th century CE","place":"Srinagar, Kashmir","lineage":"(Later Kashmiri Shaiva lineage) → Bhaskarakantha","works":["Bhaskari (commentary on the Ishvara Pratyabhijna Vimarshini)","Lallavakyani (Sanskrit versions of 60 vakhs of Lal Ded)"],"simple":"Bhaskarakantha was an 18th-century Kashmiri scholar. He explained Abhinavagupta’s difficult philosophy and also translated Lal Ded’s Kashmiri songs into Sanskrit.","medium":"Bhaskarakantha’s Bhāskarī is a clear commentary on Abhinavagupta’s commentary on the Recognition verses, and remains a key aid for students. He also rendered sixty of Lal Ded’s vākhs into Sanskrit, linking the Kashmiri-language devotional tradition with the Sanskrit philosophical one — a sign that Pandits saw Lalla as a Shaiva saint.","deep":"Along with Shivopadhyaya, Bhaskarakantha shows that Kashmiri Shaivism was studied in 18th-century Srinagar. The Bhāskarī was edited in the 20th century and is used alongside Abhinavagupta’s text.\n\nHis Lallāvākyāni is one of the earliest written collections of Lal Ded’s sayings, important evidence for how her poems were understood.","teachings":["Lalla’s vakhs belong to the Shaiva tradition.","Hard texts deserve patient explanation."],"story":"By turning Lal Ded’s simple Kashmiri songs into Sanskrit verse, Bhaskarakantha treated the words of a wandering woman saint with the same respect as the classics.","quote":null},{"id":"lal-ded","name":"Lal Ded (Lalleshwari, Lalla)","dates":"14th century CE (traditionally c. 1320–1392)","place":"Pandrethan / Sempore near Pampore; wandered across the Valley","lineage":"Siddha Srikantha (Sed Bayu) → Lal Ded","works":["Vakhs (Lalla Vakh) — short Kashmiri verse sayings, transmitted orally"],"simple":"Lal Ded was a woman saint who lived in Kashmir about 700 years ago. She left an unhappy home, wandered freely, and sang short poems called vakhs about finding Shiva inside yourself. Kashmiris of every faith still quote her.","medium":"Lal Ded (‘Granny Lal’), also called Lalleshwari or Lalla, is Kashmir’s best-loved mystic and one of the founders of Kashmiri literature. She was married young into a family in Pampore, where, tradition says, her mother-in-law treated her cruelly. She left to become a wandering ascetic under the guidance of a teacher called Siddha Srikantha (Sed Bayu). Her vākhs — four-line sayings in old Kashmiri — express the non-dual Shaiva vision in everyday language: God is within, ritual and bookish learning are not enough, and the Self is found by turning inward. Both Kashmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims revere her.","deep":"Almost everything we know about Lal Ded comes from tradition and from her sayings, which were passed on by word of mouth for centuries before being written down. Scholars agree she lived in the 14th century, a time of change when Islam was spreading in Kashmir. Her vākhs are among the oldest surviving works in the Kashmiri language.\n\nHer poetry is full of Kashmir Shaiva ideas: the self as Shiva, the breath and its centre, the letters and sound (nāda), the Void, and above all recognition — finding at home what she had searched for everywhere. She mocks empty ritual, animal sacrifice, and pride in learning, yet her tone is deeply devotional.\n\nKashmiri Muslims know her as Lalla Arifa, and the Sufi saint Sheikh Nooruddin (Nund Rishi) is said to have been nourished by her as a baby. This shared reverence has made her a symbol of Kashmir’s pluralist spirit.\n\nHer sayings were collected by George Grierson and Lionel Barnett (Lalla-Vakyani, 1920) and later translated by many, including Jaishree Kak Odin and Ranjit Hoskote. Because the oral versions vary, the exact wording of any vākh differs between collections.","teachings":["God is found within, not in outer ritual.","The guru’s one teaching: go from outside to inside.","Pride in learning is an obstacle; love and inwardness are the way.","Shiva is everywhere; do not divide Hindu from Muslim."],"story":"Legend: Lalla’s mother-in-law is said to have hidden a stone under the rice in her plate, covering it so it looked like a full meal; Lalla never complained. A Kashmiri saying remembers this: whether they killed a big sheep or a small one, Lalla always had a stone on her plate. Another legend says that on catching sight of the Sufi saint Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani she cried that at last she had seen a true man, leapt into a baker’s blazing oven to cover herself, and emerged clothed in golden garments.","quote":{"sanskrit":"Gwaran wonnam kunuy vatsun, nebra dopnam andar atsun; suy gav Lalli me vaakh ta vatsun, tavay hyotum nangay natsun","english":"My teacher gave me only one precept: ‘From outside, go within.’ That became for Lalla word and teaching, and so I began to dance unclothed.","source":"Lalla Vakh (Kashmiri; transliteration and wording vary between collections)"}},{"id":"rupa-bhawani","name":"Rupa Bhawani (Alakheshwari)","dates":"1621–1721 CE (traditional)","place":"Srinagar; practised at Vaskura, Manigam and other places","lineage":"Pandit Madhav Joo Dhar (her father and guru) → Rupa Bhawani","works":["Vakhs (Kashmiri sayings), often called Rahasyopadesha by her devotees"],"simple":"Rupa Bhawani was a woman saint of Srinagar. Her father was her teacher. Though her marriage was unhappy, she became a great yogini, and Kashmiri Pandits still celebrate her every year on Sahib Saptami.","medium":"Rupa Bhawani was born into the Dhar family of Srinagar; her father, Pandit Madhav Joo Dhar, was a devoted worshipper of Sharika at Hari Parbat and became her spiritual teacher. Like Lal Ded, she suffered in her marriage (to a man of the Sapru family) and turned wholly to spiritual practice, living for long periods in retreat. Her vākhs, in a mix of Kashmiri and Sanskrit terms, express Shaiva non-dual experience. She is called Alakheshwari (‘goddess of the unseen’), and her followers observe Sahib Saptami in her honour.","deep":"Rupa Bhawani’s traditional dates (1621–1721) place her in the Mughal period. Many stories of her life come from family memory in the Dhar clan and her devotees; they should be read as sacred biography.\n\nHer vākhs are harder than Lalla’s, packed with yogic and Shaiva terms: the void (śūnya), the unmanifest, the breath, and the dissolution of the self into Shiva. Devotees have written commentaries on them.\n\nHer memory is kept alive in ashrams and shrines dedicated to her, and in the annual observance of Sahib Saptami, when her followers prepare special offerings and gather to recite her sayings.","teachings":["Find the unseen (alakh) in your own heart.","Hardship can become the ground of spiritual strength.","Worship of the Goddess and knowledge of Shiva are one path."],"story":"Legend: Her father, who climbed Hari Parbat daily to worship Sharika, is said to have prayed that the Goddess be born in his home; devotees regard Rupa Bhawani as that blessing.","quote":null},{"id":"swami-ramji","name":"Swami Ram (Swami Ramji)","dates":"1854–1915 CE","place":"Fateh Kadal, Srinagar","lineage":"Swami Ram → Swami Mahtab Kak (and Swami Vidyadhar, Swami Govind Kaul) → Swami Lakshmanjoo","works":["Oral teaching; established the Swami Ram Trika Ashram, Fateh Kadal (1884)"],"simple":"Swami Ram was a Kashmiri holy man of the 1800s who kept the teaching of Abhinavagupta alive. He was the teacher of Swami Lakshmanjoo’s teacher.","medium":"Swami Ram (1854–1915) was the most important Shaiva teacher in 19th-century Kashmir. From his ashram at Fateh Kadal in Srinagar, founded in 1884, he taught Trika philosophy and practice to a circle of devoted students, including Swami Mahtab Kak, Swami Vidyadhar and Swami Govind Kaul. Before he died he placed the young Lakshman Raina — the future Swami Lakshmanjoo — under Mahtab Kak’s care, linking the old tradition to its best-known modern master.","deep":"In the 19th century Kashmir Shaivism survived mostly in the homes of a few learned Pandit families. Swami Ram gathered and taught these scattered threads. His ashram became a centre where the Tantrāloka and other texts were studied alongside practice.\n\nSwami Lakshmanjoo’s family were devotees of Swami Ram, and Lakshmanjoo spoke of him as his paramaguru (grand-teacher). Through Mahtab Kak and Lakshmanjoo, Swami Ram’s influence reached the scholars who translated the Kashmiri texts in the 20th century.","teachings":["Trika is a living practice, not just a library.","The line of teachers must be kept unbroken."],"story":"Before his passing, Swami Ram is said to have entrusted the boy Lakshman, then only a child, to his disciple Mahtab Kak — as if already seeing who would carry the tradition forward.","quote":null},{"id":"mahtab-kak","name":"Swami Mahtab Kak","dates":"19th century – 1943 CE","place":"Srinagar","lineage":"Swami Ram → Swami Mahtab Kak → Swami Lakshmanjoo","works":[],"simple":"Swami Mahtab Kak was Swami Lakshmanjoo’s own teacher. He guided him in meditation from childhood.","medium":"Mahtab Kak was a close disciple of Swami Ram and the guru of Swami Lakshmanjoo, who revered him deeply. He left no writings; his influence lived on through his student’s teaching and experience.","deep":"Lakshmanjoo described Mahtab Kak as the guru who guided his early practice and experiences. Mahtab Kak attained mahāsamādhi in 1943.\n\nHis life illustrates a quiet feature of the tradition: many of its key links were householders or ascetics who never wrote a line, but passed on practice and grace in person.","teachings":["Grace and guidance pass through the living teacher."],"story":"Lakshmanjoo told how, as a boy, he had spontaneous meditative experiences and was brought to Mahtab Kak, who recognised them and guided him.","quote":null},{"id":"lakshmanjoo","name":"Swami Lakshmanjoo (Lakshman Raina)","dates":"9 May 1907 – 27 September 1991","place":"Srinagar; Ishwar Ashram, Nishat","lineage":"Swami Ram → Swami Mahtab Kak → Swami Lakshmanjoo → students including Jaideva Singh, Lilian Silburn, André Padoux, Alexis Sanderson, John Hughes","works":["Kashmir Shaivism: The Secret Supreme (from his lectures)","Many recorded lectures and translations of the Shiva Sutras, Vijnana Bhairava, Bhagavad Gita (Abhinavagupta’s commentary), Tantraloka chapters and more","Hindi and Sanskrit writings including Lalla verses"],"simple":"Swami Lakshmanjoo was the last great master of the living Kashmir Shaivism tradition. From his ashram in Srinagar he taught the old texts to people from all over the world, and made sure the teaching would not be lost.","medium":"Born in Srinagar in 1907, Lakshman Raina was drawn to meditation as a child and studied under Swami Mahtab Kak. He also learned Sanskrit and the texts from Pandit Maheshwar Razdan. He devoted his life to Kashmir Shaivism, living simply at Ishwar Ashram near Nishat. He taught Kashmiri devotees and many scholars from India and abroad; his careful oral explanations underlie many modern translations. He is widely regarded as the last fully trained representative of the unbroken oral tradition.","deep":"Lakshmanjoo combined deep practice with traditional learning. He knew the Tantrāloka and the other classics intimately and could explain difficult passages from his own experience. Scholars who studied with him include Jaideva Singh (who translated the Shiva Sutras, Spanda Karika, Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam, Vijñāna Bhairava and Parātrīśikā-vivaraṇa), Lilian Silburn and André Padoux in France, and Alexis Sanderson at Oxford.\n\nFrom the 1970s, John Hughes and others recorded his lectures on many texts; these recordings have been transcribed and published, forming a major source for students. His talks, collected as Kashmir Shaivism: The Secret Supreme, remain a standard introduction.\n\nHe emphasised that Shaivism is universal — open to all, regardless of caste, sex or nationality — and he taught through direct examples. He died in 1991, at a time when Kashmiri Pandits were being forced from the Valley; his work ensured that the tradition went with them and beyond.","teachings":["Kashmir Shaivism is universal, for all people.","Understanding must become experience.","Recognise Shiva in every moment of daily life.","Grace (śaktipāta) and the teacher are central."],"story":"Lakshmanjoo recalled that even as a small child he would sit still and experience a deep inner light. When the elders noticed, he was taken to Swami Mahtab Kak, who, understanding what was happening, became his guru — the start of a life devoted entirely to the tradition.","quote":null},{"id":"nand-lal","name":"Swami Nand Lal Ji","dates":"b. 1902 CE; 20th century","place":"Born at Zaina Kadal, Srinagar; ashrams at Sharada (Tangdhar) and later Tikker (Kupwara)","lineage":"Kashmiri yogic and devotional tradition → Swami Nand Lal Ji → a wide circle of devotees","works":["No written works; teaching by example and devotion"],"simple":"Swami Nand Lal Ji was a 20th-century Kashmiri saint. He lived for years near the ancient Sharada temple and later at Tikker in Kupwara, and many people came to him for blessings and guidance.","medium":"Born in Srinagar in 1902, Swami Nand Lal Ji spent years in spiritual practice and then settled at Sharada, the ancient seat of learning in the Neelum valley, keeping a small ashram near the temple. When the area was cut off in 1947, he moved with his followers to Tikker village in Kupwara, where he built an ashram on a hill. He is remembered by Kashmiri Pandits as a yogi (‘Yogiraj’) of great simplicity and compassion, whose ashrams served people of every background.","deep":"Swami Nand Lal Ji belongs to the tradition of Kashmiri saints whose Shaivism was lived rather than written: through meditation, service and devotion to the Goddess and to Shiva. His link with Sharada connects him with the most ancient symbol of Kashmiri learning.\n\nDevotees celebrate his birth anniversary on Tila Ashtami. Details of his life are preserved mostly in devotees’ accounts, and some dates (including that of his passing) vary between sources.","teachings":["Simplicity, service and devotion are the path.","The sacred sites of Kashmir are living places of practice."],"story":"When the Sharada region was overrun in 1947, Swami Nand Lal Ji and his followers had to leave the ancient temple; he re-founded his ashram at Tikker, which became a place of pilgrimage in its own right.","quote":null},{"id":"sahib-kaul","name":"Sahib Kaul","dates":"17th century CE (active c. 1640s–1660s)","place":"Srinagar","lineage":"(Kashmiri Shakta lineage) → Sahib Kaul","works":["Devinamavilasa (poetic elaboration of the thousand names of Bhavani)","Kalpavriksha (a multilingual ‘picture-poem’)","Ritual manuals (paddhatis) and devotional hymns"],"simple":"Sahib Kaul was a Kashmiri poet of the 1600s who wrote in Sanskrit. His most famous work celebrates the thousand names of the Goddess.","medium":"Sahib Kaul was a learned Kashmiri Pandit of the Mughal period who wrote devotional poetry and ritual handbooks. His Devīnāmavilāsa is a dazzling, highly refined Sanskrit poem based on the Bhavānī-sahasranāma, the thousand names of the Goddess. He also composed the Kalpavṛkṣa, a puzzle-like poem in several languages meant to be displayed on cloth. Scholars see his circle as bringing new Shakta influences into Kashmiri devotion.","deep":"Sahib Kaul’s works show that learned Sanskrit culture continued among Kashmiri Pandits in the 17th century, alongside Persian court culture. The Devīnāmavilāsa was published in the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies in 1942.\n\nAlexis Sanderson has argued that Sahib Kaul’s lineage introduced into Kashmir forms of Goddess worship common in eastern India, which blended with the local worship of Sharika and Bhavani. His work is thus part of the story of how Kashmiri Pandit religion took its later shape.","teachings":["The names of the Goddess are a path of contemplation.","Beauty in language can be a form of worship."],"story":"His Kalpavriksha (‘wish-fulfilling tree’) was designed as a visual poem — lines in several languages arranged like a crossword on a large cloth, to be read in many directions.","quote":null},{"id":"parmanand","name":"Parmanand (Swami Parmanand)","dates":"1791–1879 CE","place":"Seer village, near Mattan (Martand), Anantnag","lineage":"Kashmiri devotional (bhakti) tradition → Parmanand","works":["Radha Swayamvar","Sudama Charit","Shiv Lagan","Many devotional songs (lilas)"],"simple":"Parmanand was a 19th-century Kashmiri poet-saint. He wrote songs about Krishna and Shiva in the Kashmiri language, which Pandits still sing at prayers and festivals.","medium":"Born in 1791 at Seer near Mattan, the site of the ancient Martand Sun temple, Parmanand worked as a village official (patwari) while writing Kashmiri devotional poetry. He also knew Persian and Sanskrit. His three long ‘lila’ poems — Shiv Lagan (the wedding of Shiva), Radha Swayamvar and Sudama Charit — present the soul’s longing for God as divine play, and are a treasure of Kashmiri Pandit devotional song.","deep":"Parmanand blended Krishna devotion with the Kashmiri Shaiva outlook: the lila (play) of God is at the same time the play of consciousness. His language draws on everyday Kashmiri life, making deep ideas homely.\n\nHis songs are still sung in Kashmiri Pandit homes, especially lila singing at gatherings. He is regarded as one of the greatest Kashmiri poets of the 19th century.","teachings":["Life is the lila (play) of the divine.","Love and work in the world can go together with devotion."],"story":"Parmanand kept his job as a village record-keeper all his life. Tradition says he saw no conflict between keeping accounts and singing to God — his poems often use images from farming and household life.","quote":null},{"id":"krishna-joo-razdan","name":"Krishna Joo Razdan","dates":"1850 – 1926 CE","place":"Vanpoh (Wanpoh), Anantnag","lineage":"Kashmiri devotional (bhakti) tradition → Krishna Joo Razdan","works":["Shiv Lagan (Shiva’s wedding)","Shiva Parinayah (collected poems, published 1914–1924 with Sanskrit renderings)","Many leela songs to Shiva"],"simple":"Krishna Joo Razdan was a Kashmiri poet who loved Shiva. His songs, especially about Shiva’s wedding, are still sung by Kashmiri Pandits.","medium":"Krishna Joo Razdan of Vanpoh was a devotional poet whose Kashmiri songs praise Shiva in all his forms. His long poem on Shiva’s wedding (Shiv Lagan) and his many leelas are sung at Herath (Shivaratri) and other gatherings. His collected poems were published as Śiva-pariṇayaḥ by the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, with Sanskrit renderings, between 1914 and 1924.","deep":"Razdan’s poetry turns the Shaiva vision into song: Shiva as the beloved, the ascetic, the bridegroom and the inner Self. His work is a key bridge between the philosophical tradition and the everyday worship of Kashmiri Pandit families.\n\nSources give slightly different years for his death (1924–1926); 1926 is most often cited.","teachings":["Shiva can be loved as a person and known as the Self.","Song is a form of worship."],"story":"A popular story tells of the Maharaja of Kashmir seeking him out after hearing his songs — an example of how much respected he was in his own lifetime.","quote":null},{"id":"jaideva-singh","name":"Jaideva Singh","dates":"1893–1986 CE","place":"India; studied in Srinagar","lineage":"Swami Lakshmanjoo → Jaideva Singh","works":["English translations of the Shiva Sutras, Spanda Karika, Pratyabhijnahridayam, Vijnana Bhairava and Paratrishika Vivarana"],"simple":"Jaideva Singh translated the main books of Kashmir Shaivism into English, after studying them with Swami Lakshmanjoo.","medium":"Jaideva Singh was a philosopher and musicologist. In later life he studied with Swami Lakshmanjoo and published a series of English translations (with Sanskrit texts and notes) that brought Kashmir Shaivism to a wide English-speaking readership.","deep":"Jaideva Singh’s translations, published by Motilal Banarsidass from the 1960s onward, remain among the most used by students. He was also an authority on Indian music. His work reflects Lakshmanjoo’s oral explanations and is valued for its clarity.","teachings":["The classics can be made accessible without losing depth."],"story":"Already an established scholar of music, Jaideva Singh became a student again in later life, sitting with Swami Lakshmanjoo to read the texts line by line.","quote":null},{"id":"kc-pandey","name":"K. C. Pandey (Kanti Chandra Pandey)","dates":"20th century","place":"Lucknow","lineage":"Modern academic scholarship","works":["Abhinavagupta: An Historical and Philosophical Study (1935; 2nd ed. 1963)","Comparative Aesthetics"],"simple":"K. C. Pandey wrote the first big modern study of Abhinavagupta’s life and thought.","medium":"K. C. Pandey’s book on Abhinavagupta, first published in 1935 and expanded in 1963, was a pioneering work. It collected what is known of Abhinavagupta’s life, dated his works and explained his philosophy and aesthetics.","deep":"Pandey’s study remains a standard reference, especially for Abhinavagupta’s biography and works, although later scholarship has refined some details. His Comparative Aesthetics set Abhinavagupta’s rasa theory alongside Western aesthetics.","teachings":["Abhinavagupta deserves a place among the world’s great thinkers."],"story":"His book on Abhinavagupta grew from about 300 pages to over a thousand in its second edition — a lifetime’s work on one thinker.","quote":null},{"id":"bn-pandit","name":"B. N. Pandit (Balajinnath Pandit)","dates":"1916–2007 CE","place":"Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla","lineage":"Kashmiri Shaiva scholarship; associated with Swami Lakshmanjoo’s circle","works":["Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism","History of Kashmir Shaivism","Aspects of Kashmir Shaivism","Translations and Kashmiri/Sanskrit works"],"simple":"B. N. Pandit was a Kashmiri Pandit scholar who wrote clear books explaining Kashmir Shaivism and its history.","medium":"Balajinnath Pandit was a Sanskrit scholar and professor of Sanskrit and philosophy at Himachal Pradesh University. His books explain the key ideas of Kashmir Shaivism and trace its history, written by someone from within the tradition.","deep":"B. N. Pandit combined traditional learning with academic method. His History of Kashmir Shaivism and Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism are widely read introductions. He was honoured by the President of India for his work and died in 2007.","teachings":["Kashmir Shaivism can be explained systematically and simply."],"story":"As a Kashmiri Pandit teaching his own heritage, B. N. Pandit wrote both for scholars and for the community, helping keep the tradition known after 1990.","quote":null}],"concepts":[{"id":"shiva","term":"Shiva","devanagari":"शिव","oneLine":"Consciousness itself — the one aware reality that is everything and everyone.","simple":"In Kashmir Shaivism, Shiva is not only a god on a mountain. Shiva is the awareness that lets you know anything at all — the ‘knowing’ in you right now. Everything is made of it.","medium":"Shiva means ‘the auspicious one’. In this tradition, Shiva is the name for pure consciousness: the one subject that knows, wills and acts in all beings. Shiva is not outside the world as a maker outside a pot; the world is Shiva’s own appearance. When we feel small and separate, it is Shiva playing at being limited. The images of Shiva — the ascetic, the dancer, the lingam — are ways of pointing at this.","deep":"Shiva is the first of the thirty-six tattvas and also the whole of them: the tradition distinguishes Shiva as the highest level from Paramashiva, the all-inclusive reality in which every level is contained. Shiva is characterised as prakāśa (light of awareness), always united with Shakti as vimarśa (self-awareness).\n\nUnlike the dualist Śaiva Siddhānta, in which Shiva, souls and matter are eternally distinct, the non-dual Kashmiri teachers hold that souls and matter are Shiva himself in contracted form. Somananda puts it bluntly: even a pot is Shiva. Liberation is therefore not becoming Shiva but recognising that one always was.","related":["shakti","prakasha-vimarsha","chit","pratyabhijna","tattvas"]},{"id":"shakti","term":"Shakti","devanagari":"शक्ति","oneLine":"The power of consciousness — its energy, freedom and creativity — inseparable from Shiva.","simple":"Shakti means ‘power’. If Shiva is the light, Shakti is its shining. They are never apart, like fire and its heat. Shakti is also worshipped as the Goddess.","medium":"Shakti is consciousness as dynamic power. Kashmiri teachers say Shiva without Shakti would be ‘shava’, a corpse — pure light with no ability to know itself or to act. Shakti has countless forms, summed up as will (icchā), knowledge (jñāna) and action (kriyā). The whole universe is Shakti’s expression, and the Goddesses of Kashmir — Sharika, Ragnya, Jwala — are worshipped as Shakti in person.","deep":"Shiva and Shakti are two aspects of one reality, often compared to a word and its meaning, or the moon and its light. Shakti is identical with vimarśa and with svātantrya, the absolute freedom of consciousness.\n\nIn Trika, Shakti is worshipped in three forms — Parā (supreme), Parāparā (supreme-and-non-supreme) and Aparā (non-supreme) — corresponding to unity, unity-in-difference, and difference. In the Krama she is Kālī in her cycles. Many practices are described as ‘entering Shakti’ as the doorway to Shiva: ‘the energy is the door’.","related":["shiva","iccha-jnana-kriya","svatantrya","sharika","trika"]},{"id":"prakasha-vimarsha","term":"Prakasha and Vimarsha","devanagari":"प्रकाश-विमर्श","oneLine":"Light and self-awareness: consciousness both shows things and knows that it shows them.","simple":"Prakasha is the light that lets things appear. Vimarsha is that light knowing itself — like a lamp that could say ‘I am shining’. Consciousness has both.","medium":"Prakāśa means ‘light’ or ‘manifestation’: whatever appears, appears in consciousness. Vimarśa means ‘reflection’ or ‘self-awareness’: consciousness is not a blank mirror but knows itself as ‘I’. The Recognition school insists on vimarśa to distinguish its view from Vedanta, where pure consciousness is often described as a passive witness. For the Kashmiri teachers, awareness is alive and self-aware.","deep":"Utpaladeva writes that the essence of light is self-reflection; without it, light would be like an inert crystal that takes on colours but knows nothing (Īśvarapratyabhijñā-kārikā 1.5.11). Vimarśa is identified with the supreme Word (parā vāk), with Shakti, and with the ‘I’ (aham).\n\nPrakāśa and vimarśa are the Shiva and Shakti aspects of one consciousness. This pair is the philosophical core of Pratyabhijñā: because consciousness is self-aware, it can freely will, know and act, and so can manifest a world.","related":["shiva","shakti","aham","pratyabhijna"]},{"id":"spanda","term":"Spanda","devanagari":"स्पन्द","oneLine":"The subtle, ever-present ‘pulse’ or vibration of consciousness.","simple":"Spanda means a gentle throb or pulse. Consciousness is not still like a stone; it is alive, like a heartbeat. You can feel it in moments of surprise, wonder or strong feeling.","medium":"Spanda is the teaching that consciousness is inherently dynamic. It is not physical movement but a ‘movement without moving’ — the freedom of awareness to express and withdraw itself, like the opening and closing of Shiva’s eyes. The Spanda Karika teaches that this pulse can be found directly: at the start of anger or joy, when running, when at a loss what to do. Catch that moment and you touch your deepest nature.","deep":"The Spanda school rests on the Shiva Sutras and the Spanda Kārikā, with commentaries by Kallata, Ramakantha and Kshemaraja. It describes Spanda as unmeṣa (opening, emergence) and nimeṣa (closing, withdrawal) — two phases of one pulse.\n\nSpanda Kārikā 1.22 lists intense states — great anger, great joy, uncertainty, running — in which Spanda is established; a yogi who attends to such moments can recognise the ground of awareness. The school also stresses that Spanda is never interrupted, even in deep sleep; what changes is only our attention to it.","related":["shakti","svatantrya","pratyabhijna"]},{"id":"pratyabhijna","term":"Pratyabhijna (Recognition)","devanagari":"प्रत्यभिज्ञा","oneLine":"Liberation is recognising what you already are: Shiva.","simple":"Pratyabhijna means ‘recognition’ — like suddenly recognising an old friend. We do not need to become something new; we only need to recognise who we always were.","medium":"The Recognition school, founded by Somananda and systematised by Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta, teaches that bondage is a kind of forgetting and freedom is recognising. Its favourite example: a woman loves a man she has only heard of; when she meets him, she feels nothing, until someone tells her ‘this is he’ — and then her joy is complete. Our nature as Shiva is already present; we need the recognition that makes it felt.","deep":"Philosophically, the school argues that phenomena like memory, recognition, and the unity of experience require a single, self-aware subject. It debates Buddhist and other opponents with careful logic, while presenting recognition as a direct experience, not merely a conclusion.\n\nRecognition does not add anything new: it is ‘seeing again’ (prati-abhi-jñā). This is why the tradition speaks of liberation as immediate, and of the path as removing a misunderstanding rather than building a new self.","related":["shiva","aham","prakasha-vimarsha"]},{"id":"tattvas","term":"The 36 Tattvas","devanagari":"षट्त्रिंशत् तत्त्वानि","oneLine":"Thirty-six levels of reality, from pure consciousness down to earth.","simple":"Tattva means ‘that-ness’, a level of reality. Kashmir Shaivism describes 36 of them, like steps on a staircase from pure Shiva at the top down to solid earth at the bottom. All the steps are made of consciousness.","medium":"The 36 tattvas map how the one consciousness becomes the many. The top five are ‘pure’: consciousness knowing itself as the whole. Then comes māyā, which creates the sense of separation, along with five ‘coverings’ (kañcukas) that limit our power. Below that are the limited soul (puruṣa) and nature (prakṛti), then mind, senses and the elements — the 25 tattvas of the older Sāṃkhya system, which Kashmir Shaivism accepts and completes.","deep":"The pure tattvas: (1) Śiva — pure ‘I’; (2) Śakti — its power and bliss; (3) Sadāśiva — ‘I am this’, with emphasis on ‘I’; (4) Īśvara — ‘this am I’, with emphasis on ‘this’; (5) Śuddhavidyā — ‘I and this’ held in balance.\n\nThe pure-impure: (6) Māyā; and the five kañcukas: (7) kalā — limited agency; (8) vidyā — limited knowledge; (9) rāga — attachment, a sense of lack; (10) kāla — time; (11) niyati — spatial and causal restriction.\n\nThe limited individual: (12) puruṣa — the limited soul; (13) prakṛti — nature, the three guṇas. The inner instrument: (14) buddhi — intellect; (15) ahaṃkāra — ego; (16) manas — mind.\n\nThe five organs of knowing: (17) ear, (18) skin, (19) eye, (20) tongue, (21) nose. The five organs of action: (22) speech, (23) hands, (24) feet, (25) excretion, (26) generation. The five subtle elements (tanmātras): (27) sound, (28) touch, (29) form, (30) taste, (31) smell. The five gross elements: (32) space, (33) air, (34) fire, (35) water, (36) earth.\n\nThe scheme is both a map of creation and a map of meditation: the practitioner moves ‘upwards’ by recognising each level as consciousness.","related":["maya","kanchukas","purusha","shiva","shakti"]},{"id":"malas","term":"The Three Malas (Impurities)","devanagari":"मल","oneLine":"Three kinds of ‘dirt’ that make us feel small: incompleteness, separation, and being bound by action.","simple":"The malas are like three layers of dust on a mirror. The first makes you feel ‘not enough’. The second makes you feel separate from everything else. The third makes you feel trapped by what you do. Clean the dust and the mirror shines.","medium":"Āṇava mala is the basic sense of being a small, incomplete individual. Māyīya mala is the sense of difference — seeing oneself and things as separate. Kārma mala is the sense of being a doer bound by the results of good and bad actions. In Kashmir Shaivism these are not substances but forms of contraction that consciousness freely takes on. They are removed by grace, knowledge and practice.","deep":"Āṇava mala is the root and is itself twofold: loss of freedom while keeping awareness, and loss of awareness while keeping a sense of freedom. Māyīya and kārma malas grow from it.\n\nIn the dualist Siddhānta the malas are real substances removed only by ritual initiation; in Trika they are fundamentally ignorance (ajñāna), which can therefore be dispelled by knowledge — hence Shiva Sutra 1.2, ‘jñānaṃ bandhaḥ’, limited knowledge is bondage.","related":["maya","kanchukas","shaktipat","upayas"]},{"id":"upayas","term":"The Upayas (Means)","devanagari":"उपाय","oneLine":"Four approaches to realisation, from effortless recognition to practice with body, breath and mantra.","simple":"Upaya means ‘means’ or ‘way’. Kashmir Shaivism gives different ways for different people. Some just need to be told the truth. Others work with their thoughts. Others use breathing, repeating sacred words, or meditation on objects.","medium":"Anupāya (‘no-means’): realisation through a single word of the teacher or pure grace, without practice. Śāmbhava upāya (Shiva’s means): sudden entry into awareness beyond thought, through will. Śākta upāya (Shakti’s means): purifying and refining thought, holding a pure idea such as ‘I am Shiva’ until it becomes real. Āṇava upāya (the individual’s means): concrete supports like breath, mantra repetition, visualisation and ritual.","deep":"The three classic upāyas come from the Mālinīvijayottara Tantra (2.21–23), which defines āṇava, śākta and śāmbhava immersion (samāveśa). Abhinavagupta adds anupāya and organises the first chapters of the Tantrāloka around them. They correspond to Shiva Sutras sections 1, 2 and 3.\n\nThe upāyas are not rigid ranks. Each lower means naturally leads into the higher, and the same person may use different means at different times. Abhinavagupta relates them to action (āṇava), knowledge (śākta) and will (śāmbhava).","related":["iccha-jnana-kriya","shaktipat"]},{"id":"anuttara","term":"Anuttara","devanagari":"अनुत्तर","oneLine":"‘Nothing higher’ — the supreme reality beyond all comparison.","simple":"Anuttara means ‘there is nothing beyond this’. It is a name for the very highest, which is also the closest thing to you.","medium":"Anuttara is the supreme, all-including reality of Trika. It is linked with the letter ‘a’, the first sound, from which all others arise. The Parātrīśikā begins with the Goddess asking Shiva how the Anuttara is attained, and Abhinavagupta’s commentary is a long meditation on it.","deep":"Abhinavagupta offers many explanations of ‘anuttara’: that beyond which there is nothing; that which admits no question or answer (because it is the questioner); that which is not a stage on the path but its ground.\n\nAnuttara is equated with Paramashiva and with the unconditioned ‘I’. In the matrika, ‘a’ is anuttara, ‘ā’ its bliss, and the whole alphabet is its unfolding, returning into ‘ha’ and the dot of the bindu to form ‘aham’.","related":["aham","matrika","shiva"]},{"id":"svatantrya","term":"Svatantrya (Absolute Freedom)","devanagari":"स्वातन्त्र्य","oneLine":"The complete freedom of consciousness to be and do anything, including to limit itself.","simple":"Svatantrya means ‘being your own master’. Consciousness is completely free. It can even choose to pretend it is small — like an actor choosing a role — and it can choose to remember.","medium":"Svātantrya is the key feature that distinguishes Kashmir Shaivism from many other philosophies. Reality is not only aware but free. Creation is not a mistake or illusion but the free play of consciousness. The same freedom explains bondage: consciousness freely conceals itself. And it explains grace: consciousness freely reveals itself.","deep":"Kshemaraja’s first sutra — ‘citiḥ svatantrā viśvasiddhihetuḥ’ — makes freedom the cause of the universe. Abhinavagupta identifies svātantrya with Shakti and with vimarśa.\n\nBecause freedom is ultimate, there is no need for an external cause (like māyā in Vedanta) to explain the world. This is why Kashmir Shaivism is sometimes called svātantryavāda, ‘the doctrine of freedom’.","related":["shakti","prakasha-vimarsha","panchakritya","maya"]},{"id":"chit","term":"Chit / Chaitanya (Consciousness)","devanagari":"चित् / चैतन्य","oneLine":"Awareness — the one reality from which everything is made.","simple":"Chit means awareness. Right now, you are aware of these words. That awareness is what Kashmir Shaivism says is your truest self.","medium":"Chit and chaitanya both mean consciousness. The Shiva Sutras begin ‘caitanyam ātmā’ — ‘Consciousness is the Self’. Kshemaraja explains that chaitanya means consciousness that is free, full of the power to know and to act. It is not an object; it is what knows all objects.","deep":"Kashmir Shaivism holds a doctrine sometimes called ‘idealism’, but with a difference: the world is not an idea in an individual mind; it is the self-expression of universal consciousness, which is real and free.\n\nChiti (the feminine form, stressing power) is the subject of Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam 1 and 5: consciousness descends from its universal state and becomes the individual mind (citta), contracted according to what it knows.","related":["shiva","prakasha-vimarsha","aham"]},{"id":"ananda","term":"Ananda (Bliss)","devanagari":"आनन्द","oneLine":"The joy of consciousness resting in itself.","simple":"Ananda means bliss or deep joy. It is not the thrill of getting something new. It is the quiet joy of being yourself, needing nothing.","medium":"In Kashmir Shaivism, ānanda is Shakti’s own nature: consciousness delighting in itself. We experience it, in small ways, whenever our mind rests completely — in love, in beauty, in music, in the satisfaction of a finished task. Abhinavagupta links this with aesthetic delight (rasa) and with the sense of wonder (camatkāra).","deep":"Ānanda is one of the five main powers of Shiva: cit (awareness), ānanda (bliss), icchā (will), jñāna (knowledge) and kriyā (action). It corresponds to the Śakti tattva.\n\nThe tradition speaks of levels of bliss in meditation, from the joy of the body at rest to jagadānanda, ‘the bliss of the world’ — the delight of seeing the whole universe as one’s own self.","related":["shakti","rasa","iccha-jnana-kriya","turya"]},{"id":"iccha-jnana-kriya","term":"Iccha, Jnana, Kriya (Will, Knowledge, Action)","devanagari":"इच्छा-ज्ञान-क्रिया","oneLine":"The three great powers of consciousness.","simple":"Before you do anything, you want to (will), you know how (knowledge), and then you do it (action). These three powers are Shiva’s powers — and yours.","medium":"Icchā (will), jñāna (knowledge) and kriyā (action) are the triad of Shakti. They correspond to the three goddesses of Trika — Parā, Parāparā and Aparā — and to the three upāyas (śāmbhava, śākta, āṇava). In the limited soul they become the three guṇas and the three malas; in the liberated soul they are free and complete.","deep":"The tattvas Sadāśiva, Īśvara and Śuddhavidyā are associated with the emphasis of will, knowledge and action respectively. Somananda makes these powers the definition of Shiva: to be conscious is to will, know and act.\n\nThe trident (triśūla) of Shiva is read as a symbol of these three powers.","related":["shakti","trika","upayas","tattvas"]},{"id":"panchakritya","term":"The Five Acts of Shiva (Panchakritya)","devanagari":"पञ्चकृत्य","oneLine":"Creation, maintenance, dissolution, concealment and grace — done by Shiva, and in every moment by us.","simple":"Shiva does five things: creates, keeps things going, dissolves, hides himself, and reveals himself. You do these too — every time you notice something, hold it, let it go, forget, and wake up.","medium":"The five acts are sṛṣṭi (emission, creation), sthiti (maintenance), saṃhāra (withdrawal), tirodhāna or vilaya (concealment) and anugraha (grace, revelation). Kshemaraja teaches that the individual performs these same acts in every experience: we bring a perception into being, enjoy it, withdraw from it, leave a trace of doubt or impression, and — when we recognise the process — reabsorb it in consciousness.","deep":"Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam sutra 10 says that even in the contracted state, the individual does the five acts ‘just like Shiva’. Sutra 11 gives the inner version: manifesting (ābhāsana), savouring (rakti), considering (vimarśana), planting the seed (bījāvasthāpana), and dissolving (vilāpana).\n\nRecognising oneself as the author of these five acts is itself a method of recognising one’s divinity. The dancing Shiva (Naṭarāja) is often read as an image of the five acts.","related":["svatantrya","shiva","shaktipat"]},{"id":"matrika","term":"Matrika (the Sanskrit alphabet)","devanagari":"मातृका","oneLine":"The ‘little mothers’: the letters of the alphabet as powers of consciousness.","simple":"Matrika means ‘little mother’. Kashmir Shaivism sees the letters of Sanskrit as living powers. Words shape how we think and feel — so understanding sound can free us.","medium":"The Shiva Sutras say (1.4) that the mātṛkā is the ground of limited knowledge: unrecognised, the letters form words and thoughts that bind us. Recognised, they are the unfolding of Shiva’s own power. Abhinavagupta describes the fifty letters, from ‘a’ to ‘kṣa’, as the self-expression of consciousness, from Anuttara (‘a’) to the ‘ha’ of visarga.","deep":"In the Parātrīśikā-vivaraṇa and Tantrāloka chapter 3, the vowels are the powers of Shiva (anuttara, bliss, will, knowledge…), and the consonants correspond to the tattvas: the ka- to ma- groups map the elements through to puruṣa, and the semi-vowels and sibilants the higher levels.\n\n‘Aham’ (I) is the whole alphabet in one word: ‘a’ (first letter) + ‘ha’ (last) + the dot (bindu) that unites them. The related goddess Mālinī arranges the letters in a mixed order and is central to the Mālinīvijayottara Tantra.","related":["mantra","aham","anuttara"]},{"id":"mantra","term":"Mantra","devanagari":"मन्त्र","oneLine":"Sacred sound that awakens the mind to its source.","simple":"A mantra is a sacred word or sound repeated with attention. In Kashmir Shaivism it works not because of magic, but because it turns the mind back to the awareness it comes from.","medium":"The Shiva Sutras say ‘cittaṃ mantraḥ’ (2.1): the mind itself is mantra, when it is turned towards its source. A mantra is powerful (has vīrya, potency) when it is filled with the awareness of the one who repeats it. Important Trika mantras include ‘sauḥ’, the ‘heart’ mantra of the Parātrīśikā, and ‘aham’.","deep":"The tradition distinguishes a mantra’s letters from its life (mantravīrya). Shiva Sutra 1.22 speaks of experiencing the potency of mantra through union with the ‘great lake’ of consciousness.\n\nMantra practice belongs primarily to āṇava and śākta upāya, but its goal is the dissolution of the mantra into its source, where it becomes the silent vibration of ‘I’.","related":["matrika","aham","upayas"]},{"id":"kundalini","term":"Kundalini","devanagari":"कुण्डलिनी","oneLine":"The coiled energy of consciousness in the body.","simple":"Kundalini is described as energy coiled like a sleeping serpent in the body. When it awakens, it rises and a person becomes more aware and free. Kashmir Shaivism teaches that it is simply Shakti — consciousness — inside us.","medium":"In Kashmir Shaivism, kuṇḍalinī is Shakti in the body. Abhinavagupta describes different forms: as the power of the supreme Word, as prāṇa (breath) rising in the central channel, and as sexual/creative energy. Its awakening can happen through grace, breath practice, or deep absorption, and should be guided by an experienced teacher.","deep":"The Tantrāloka and later Kashmiri teachers describe the rising of kuṇḍalinī through the central channel (suṣumnā) and the energy centres, but they emphasise that the real ‘rising’ is an expansion of awareness.\n\nSwami Lakshmanjoo distinguished between cit-kuṇḍalinī, prāṇa-kuṇḍalinī and a more physical form, and warned against treating kuṇḍalinī as an end in itself.","related":["shakti","shaktipat","dharanas"]},{"id":"shaktipat","term":"Shaktipat (Descent of Grace)","devanagari":"शक्तिपात","oneLine":"Grace: consciousness freely revealing itself to a seeker.","simple":"Shaktipat means ‘descent of power’. It is grace — a gift from Shiva, often through a teacher — that wakes a person up. It cannot be earned; it comes freely.","medium":"Śaktipāta is the fifth act of Shiva: anugraha, revelation. Abhinavagupta describes its intensities — very intense, medium, and mild — each with different effects, from instant liberation to a slow maturing. It shows itself in signs like devotion to Shiva, a longing for truth, and meeting a real teacher. Grace is not given for merit; it comes from the freedom of consciousness.","deep":"Tantrāloka chapter 13 analyses śaktipāta in nine degrees (intense, medium and mild, each divided into three). Abhinavagupta argues against the view that grace depends on the ‘ripening’ of karma or impurity: it is free.\n\nInitiation (dīkṣā) in the Tantric tradition is the ritual expression of grace, but the Kashmiri teachers insist the inner descent of grace is primary.","related":["panchakritya","svatantrya","upayas"]},{"id":"bhairava","term":"Bhairava","devanagari":"भैरव","oneLine":"Shiva in his fierce, all-embracing form — and a name for the fully awake state.","simple":"Bhairava is a fierce form of Shiva. In Kashmir Shaivism, Bhairava is also the name for being fully awake: fearless, open and aware of everything. At Herath, Kashmiri Pandits worship Shiva-Bhairava.","medium":"Bhairava literally means ‘terrifying’, but in Kashmir Shaivism he is also the one who removes fear. The Shiva Sutras say ‘udyamo bhairavaḥ’ (1.5): the sudden upsurge of awareness is Bhairava. The Vijñāna Bhairava teaches 112 ways to experience the Bhairava state. In Kashmiri homes, Bhairava is honoured in the Vatuk worship at Herath and as guardian deities of neighbourhoods.","deep":"Kashmiri commentators explain the syllables bha-ra-va as maintenance (bharaṇa), withdrawal (ravaṇa) and emission (vamana) — so Bhairava is the one who performs all acts of the universe.\n\nMany Trika scriptures belong to the ‘Bhairava Tantras’, and Abhinavagupta’s poem Bhairavastava celebrates this state. Bhairava is always paired with Bhairavī, his Shakti.","related":["shiva","dharanas","svacchanda"]},{"id":"trika","term":"Trika","devanagari":"त्रिक","oneLine":"‘The Triad’ — the main system of Kashmir Shaivism, built around threes.","simple":"Trika means ‘group of three’. It is the name of the main school of Kashmir Shaivism because it explains everything in threes: Shiva, Shakti and the individual; will, knowledge and action.","medium":"Trika is the tradition Abhinavagupta treated as the highest. Its triads include: Shiva, Shakti and Nara (the individual); the goddesses Parā, Parāparā and Aparā; will, knowledge and action; and unity, unity-in-difference and difference. Its root scripture, in Abhinavagupta’s reading, is the Mālinīvijayottara Tantra.","deep":"Historically, Trika began as a cult of three goddesses in the Vidyāpīṭha Tantras. Abhinavagupta reshaped it into a comprehensive system that included the Pratyabhijñā philosophy, the Spanda teaching, the Kula and Krama practices.\n\nBecause he did this so successfully, ‘Trika’ is often used as a synonym for Kashmir Shaivism as a whole.","related":["shakti","iccha-jnana-kriya","kula","krama"]},{"id":"kula","term":"Kula","devanagari":"कुल","oneLine":"‘Family’ or ‘totality’ — the tradition of Shakti as the whole universe.","simple":"Kula means ‘family’. In this teaching, the whole universe is one family, and its heart is Shakti. Kula practice tries to see the whole of life — even the senses — as sacred.","medium":"The Kula (or Kaula) tradition sees reality as a ‘body’ (kula) of powers centred on the union of Shiva and Shakti. Abhinavagupta received it from Shambhunatha. It uses the whole of experience, including the senses and emotions, as a means of realisation, and speaks of the ‘Kula’ as the totality and ‘Akula’ as Shiva beyond it.","deep":"Kaula rituals originally included transgressive elements (offerings of meat and wine, sexual ritual) as a means of breaking ordinary divisions of pure and impure. Abhinavagupta discusses these in Tantrāloka chapter 29, while stressing that their purpose is inner expansion.\n\nIn the later Kashmiri Pandit tradition, Kula ideas survived mostly in symbolic and devotional forms, especially in worship of the Goddess.","related":["shakti","trika","krama","sharika"]},{"id":"krama","term":"Krama","devanagari":"क्रम","oneLine":"‘Sequence’ — the tradition of the Goddess Kali unfolding through cycles of awareness.","simple":"Krama means ‘step by step’. This teaching looks at how every experience moves through phases — appearing, lasting, dissolving — and worships the Goddess Kali in each phase.","medium":"The Krama tradition, strongly Kashmiri, sees consciousness as a cycle: creation (sṛṣṭi), maintenance (sthiti), withdrawal (saṃhāra) and the nameless (anākhya), sometimes with a fifth, light (bhāsā). Each phase is worshipped as a form of the Goddess Kali. Its ultimate goddess is Kālasaṅkarṣiṇī — ‘she who devours time’.","deep":"Krama teaches that every act of knowing passes through these phases: an object appears, is held, is withdrawn into the knower, and dissolves into pure awareness. Worshipping the ‘wheel’ of Kalis means recognising this in every perception.\n\nAbhinavagupta’s Kramastotra and his teacher Lakshmanagupta’s instruction link him with the Krama; the Mahārthamañjarī of Maheshvarananda is a later Krama work.","related":["kali-naya","mahartha","panchakritya","trika"]},{"id":"kali-naya","term":"Kali-naya (The Way of Kali)","devanagari":"कालीनय","oneLine":"Another name for the Krama path — worship of consciousness as the Goddess who devours time.","simple":"Kali is the Goddess who ‘eats time’. The Way of Kali teaches that when you are completely present, time disappears — and that presence is the Goddess.","medium":"Kālīnaya is an older name for the Krama tradition, emphasising its focus on Kālī. It worships twelve Kālīs representing the stages of perception in the subject, the means of knowing and the object. By recognising Kālī in each phase, the practitioner ‘devours’ duality and time.","deep":"The twelve Kālīs are described in Tantrāloka chapter 4 and Tantrasāra. Abhinavagupta treats Krama as a form of śākta upāya, based on purifying thought and perception.\n\nThe name ‘Kālī’ is connected with kāla (time) and kalana (impelling, counting, devouring).","related":["krama","mahartha","shakti"]},{"id":"mahartha","term":"Mahartha (The Great Meaning)","devanagari":"महार्थ","oneLine":"A name for the highest Krama teaching: all is the play of the one Goddess of consciousness.","simple":"Mahartha means ‘the great meaning’. It is a name for the deepest part of the Krama teaching, which sees every moment as the Goddess’s dance.","medium":"Mahārtha is often used as a synonym for the Krama system in its most developed form. Maheshvarananda’s Mahārthamañjarī presents it: the supreme consciousness, as Goddess, cycles through the five acts in every experience, and the yogi recognises this in the flow of daily life.","deep":"Maheshvarananda’s Parimala commentary quotes many earlier Krama sources, preserving lost teachings.\n\nMahārtha emphasises that liberation is compatible with ordinary sensory life when the senses are recognised as the goddesses of consciousness.","related":["krama","kali-naya","panchakritya"]},{"id":"rasa","term":"Rasa and Aesthetics","devanagari":"रस","oneLine":"Abhinavagupta’s theory that art gives us a ‘taste’ of universal emotion — close to the joy of the Self.","simple":"Rasa means ‘taste’ or ‘flavour’. When a story, song or dance truly moves you, you ‘taste’ a feeling — sadness, love, courage — that is bigger than your own life. Abhinavagupta said this tasting is a small glimpse of the joy of consciousness.","medium":"The Nāṭyaśāstra of Bharata named eight rasas (love, humour, pity, anger, heroism, fear, disgust, wonder). Abhinavagupta, in his Abhinavabhāratī and Locana, argued that rasa arises when the sensitive spectator (sahṛdaya, ‘one with a heart’) experiences an emotion freed from personal self-interest — generalised or universalised. That experience is relished in consciousness, and its enjoyment resembles the bliss of Brahman.","deep":"Abhinavagupta built on Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka’s idea of generalisation (sādhāraṇīkaraṇa) and on Ānandavardhana’s theory of suggestion (dhvani). He defended śānta rasa, peace, as a ninth rasa — and as the one underlying all others.\n\nThe key word is camatkāra, ‘wonder’: the moment of pure delight when the mind rests in what it experiences. For Abhinavagupta, this is continuous with the spiritual experience of consciousness resting in itself. This is why art is not a distraction from spiritual life but can be a door into it.","related":["ananda","turya"]},{"id":"jivanmukti","term":"Jivanmukti (Liberation while Living)","devanagari":"जीवन्मुक्ति","oneLine":"Freedom here and now, while still living in the body.","simple":"Jivanmukti means being free while you are still alive. You do not have to die or leave the world to be free. You can be free while eating, working and talking with friends.","medium":"Kashmir Shaivism holds that liberation is recognition, and recognition can happen now. A jīvanmukta continues to live in the world, but sees it as the play of his or her own consciousness. The world is not rejected; it is embraced as one’s own. Such a person still experiences life’s ups and downs, but is not bound by them.","deep":"The Shiva Sutras (3.9–3.11) describe the liberated self as a dancer, the inner self as the stage, and the senses as the spectators — a joyful image of a free life lived in full awareness.\n\nAbhinavagupta’s Paramārthasāra teaches that one who knows the truth is liberated at the moment of knowledge, wherever and however the body later falls away.","related":["pratyabhijna","turya"]},{"id":"maya","term":"Maya","devanagari":"माया","oneLine":"The power of consciousness to make itself appear limited and divided.","simple":"Maya is often translated as ‘illusion’, but in Kashmir Shaivism it is more like a magic trick consciousness plays on itself: making one appear as many.","medium":"In Kashmir Shaivism māyā is the sixth tattva, the power by which the one appears as many and the whole appears as parts. It is real, not an illusion, because it is Shiva’s own power. It gives rise to the five kañcukas, which limit our sense of power, knowledge, fullness, time and space.","deep":"This differs from Advaita Vedanta’s view of māyā as an indescribable principle that superimposes an illusory world on Brahman. For the Kashmiri teachers, māyā is māyā-śakti, a power of freedom.\n\nMāyā is also sometimes called the ‘womb’ of the impure creation, from which the lower tattvas emerge.","related":["tattvas","kanchukas","malas","svatantrya"]},{"id":"purusha","term":"Purusha","devanagari":"पुरुष","oneLine":"The limited individual soul — consciousness contracted by maya and its coverings.","simple":"Purusha is the ‘person’ you feel you are — someone small, in one place, knowing only a little. Kashmir Shaivism says this person is really Shiva in disguise.","medium":"Puruṣa is the twelfth tattva: the individual subject, limited by māyā and the kañcukas. In Sāṃkhya it is the pure witness, distinct from nature; in Kashmir Shaivism it is the contracted form of Shiva, which can recognise itself and expand.","deep":"Puruṣa and prakṛti (nature) together form the pair of subject and object at the limited level. The Kashmiri teachers accept the Sāṃkhya analysis but add eleven higher tattvas above it.","related":["tattvas","kanchukas","maya","malas"]},{"id":"kanchukas","term":"The Kanchukas (Five Coverings)","devanagari":"कञ्चुक","oneLine":"Five ‘cloaks’ that limit infinite consciousness into a finite person.","simple":"Kanchuka means ‘cloak’ or ‘jacket’. Consciousness puts on five cloaks that make it feel limited: able to do only a little, know only a little, always wanting something, stuck in time, stuck in place.","medium":"The five kañcukas are: kalā (limited power to act), vidyā (limited knowledge), rāga (attachment, the sense of lack), kāla (time) and niyati (restriction of cause and space). They limit Shiva’s five powers: all-doership, all-knowing, fullness, eternity and all-pervasiveness.","deep":"The kañcukas are tattvas 7–11 and emerge from māyā. Removing them is not done by changing the world but by recognising their nature as self-imposed contractions.\n\nSome lists count māyā as a sixth kañcuka.","related":["maya","tattvas","purusha"]},{"id":"turya","term":"Turya and Turyatita","devanagari":"तुर्य / तुर्यातीत","oneLine":"The ‘fourth’ state beyond waking, dreaming and deep sleep — and the state beyond even that.","simple":"We know three states: awake, dreaming and deep sleep. Turya is the ‘fourth’, a state of pure awareness that is behind all three. Turyatita is when that awareness fills everything, even ordinary waking life.","medium":"Turya (or turīya) is pure consciousness that witnesses and pervades waking, dreaming and deep sleep. Shiva Sutra 1.7 says that the joy of turya can arise even in the midst of the three states. Turyātīta, ‘beyond the fourth’, is the state in which the whole world is experienced as one with consciousness — not a separate state, but the fulfilment of all states.","deep":"Kashmiri teachers describe the passage from turya to turyātīta as the difference between withdrawing from the world into the Self (nimīlana samādhi) and experiencing the Self with open eyes in the world (unmīlana samādhi).\n\nShiva Sutra 1.8–1.10 describe waking as knowledge, dream as imagination, deep sleep as unawareness — and consciousness as their enjoyer.","related":["jivanmukti","ananda"]},{"id":"aham","term":"Aham (I-consciousness)","devanagari":"अहम्","oneLine":"The pure ‘I’ — the self-awareness of Shiva, which includes everything.","simple":"Aham means ‘I’. The small ‘I’ says ‘I am this body, I want that.’ The big ‘I’ — pure I-consciousness — is just the feeling ‘I am’, which includes everything. Kashmir Shaivism says the big ‘I’ is Shiva.","medium":"Pūrṇāhantā, ‘full I-ness’, is the self-awareness of Shiva. It is not the ego (ahaṃkāra), which is one of the lower tattvas and identifies with body and mind. The pure ‘I’ is vimarśa, the power that makes consciousness conscious of itself. Contemplating ‘I’ without adding ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’ is a direct practice.","deep":"In the Parātrīśikā-vivaraṇa, Abhinavagupta analyses ‘aham’ as ‘a’ (Anuttara, Shiva) + ‘ha’ (Shakti in emission) + ‘ṃ’ (the dot, the individual reabsorbed): the whole universe emerging from and returning to the I.","related":["prakasha-vimarsha","matrika","anuttara","pratyabhijna"]},{"id":"dharanas","term":"The 112 Dharanas of the Vijnana Bhairava","devanagari":"धारणा","oneLine":"112 short methods of meditation to enter the state of Bhairava.","simple":"The Vijnana Bhairava gives 112 simple ways to meditate — watching the breath, noticing the gap between two thoughts, looking at the open sky, feeling the moment of a sneeze. Each one can open a door to deep awareness.","medium":"Dhāraṇā means ‘holding’ or ‘concentration’. The Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra, set as a dialogue between Bhairava and Bhairavī, gives 112 methods (the traditional count; editions divide them slightly differently). They include attention to the breath and the pause between breaths, the space between thoughts, sounds, the body as empty, the joy of eating or meeting a friend, and the vast sky.","deep":"The practices range across the upāyas: from breath (āṇava) to the dissolution of thought (śākta) to sudden recognition (śāmbhava). Their common key is the ‘centre’ (madhya) — the gap or junction where one state ends and another has not begun.\n\nVerses 24–27 teach attention to the breath’s turning points; verse 74 says ‘wherever the mind finds satisfaction, let it rest there’; verse 106 says that the yogi’s distinction lies in alertness to the relation of knower and known.","related":["bhairava","spanda","upayas"]},{"id":"svacchanda","term":"Svacchanda Tantra","devanagari":"स्वच्छन्द","oneLine":"The main ritual scripture of Kashmir, worshipping Shiva as Svacchandabhairava.","simple":"The Svacchanda Tantra is an old book of worship. Much of the Shaiva ritual done in Kashmiri homes and temples comes from it.","medium":"The Svacchanda Tantra is a ritual scripture of the Mantramārga that was central to Kashmiri Shaiva practice. It worships Svacchandabhairava (the ‘independent’ Bhairava) with his consort Aghoreśvarī. Kshemaraja’s commentary, the Uddyota, reads it non-dually. Its rites shaped Kashmiri initiation, fire rituals and life-cycle rites.","deep":"Sanderson and others have shown that the Svacchanda was the basis of much everyday Kashmiri Shaiva ritual, even for families that did not follow Trika. Kshemaraja’s commentary thus brought this common ritual culture under the non-dual interpretation.\n\nThe text is also important for its descriptions of cosmology and yoga.","related":["bhairava"]},{"id":"sharika","term":"Sharika and Shakti Worship in Kashmir","devanagari":"शारिका","oneLine":"The Goddess Sharika at Hari Parbat, and the living worship of Shakti among Kashmiri Pandits.","simple":"Sharika is the protecting Goddess of Srinagar, worshipped on Hari Parbat hill. Kashmiri Pandits also worship the Goddess as Ragnya (Kheer Bhawani) at Tulmul and as Jwala at Khrew. For them, the Goddess is Shakti — the power of Shiva.","medium":"Sharika is worshipped at the Chakreshwar shrine on Hari Parbat, where a rock is venerated as a self-manifest Shrichakra. She is identified with Tripurasundari and often shown with eighteen arms. Her birthday, Har Navum, and the new year Navreh are important. Ragnya Devi at Tulmul is honoured at Jyeshtha Ashtami (the Kheer Bhawani mela); Jwala Devi at Khrew is honoured in summer. These are the lived face of Shakti theology.","deep":"Legend tells that the Goddess took the form of a myna (sharika) bird and dropped a pebble on a demon, which grew into Hari Parbat, pinning the demon beneath. The hill thereby became her seat.\n\nThe worship of Sharika shows how the philosophical ‘Shakti’ of the texts and the Goddess of daily devotion are one in Kashmiri experience. Later Pandit religion, shaped by Sahib Kaul and others, blended Śrīvidyā with local Shaiva-Shakta traditions.","related":["shakti","kula"]}],"texts":[{"id":"shiva-sutras","title":"Shiva Sutras (Śivasūtra)","author":"Revealed to Vasugupta","date":"c. early-mid 9th century CE","about":"Seventy-seven terse aphorisms in three sections, corresponding to the three means: Shiva’s way (śāmbhava, 22 sutras), Shakti’s way (śākta, 10 sutras) and the individual’s way (āṇava, 45 sutras). Tradition holds that Vasugupta found them inscribed on a rock on Mahadeva mountain. The main commentaries are Kshemaraja’s Vimarśinī and Bhaskara’s Vārttika. Section numbering follows Kshemaraja.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"1.1","sanskrit":"caitanyam ātmā","english":"Consciousness is the Self.","explain":"The whole tradition in two words. Your true self is not the body or the thoughts, but the awareness in which they appear — and that awareness is free and active."},{"ref":"1.2","sanskrit":"jñānaṃ bandhaḥ","english":"(Limited) knowledge is bondage.","explain":"Bondage is not a chain but a way of knowing: taking oneself to be small, incomplete, separate. Because bondage is a kind of knowledge, a truer knowledge can undo it."},{"ref":"1.5","sanskrit":"udyamo bhairavaḥ","english":"The upsurge (of consciousness) is Bhairava.","explain":"A sudden flash of awareness, springing up from within, is itself the state of Bhairava — Shiva fully awake."},{"ref":"2.1","sanskrit":"cittaṃ mantraḥ","english":"The mind is mantra.","explain":"When the mind turns back to its source and rests in it, the mind itself becomes the sacred formula; mantra is not just words but awakened awareness."},{"ref":"3.9","sanskrit":"nartaka ātmā","english":"The Self is a dancer.","explain":"The liberated self plays all its roles like an actor-dancer, knowing they are roles. The following sutras add: the inner self is the stage (3.10), the senses are the spectators (3.11)."}]},{"id":"spanda-karika","title":"Spanda Karika (Spandakārikā)","author":"Vasugupta (per Kshemaraja) or Bhatta Kallata (per earlier commentators)","date":"9th century CE","about":"About fifty verses (the count differs between commentators, roughly 51–53) that present consciousness as Spanda, a subtle pulse. It is practical: it teaches how to find the ground of awareness in intense moments of life. Commentaries by Kallata, Ramakantha and Kshemaraja (Spanda-nirṇaya). Numbering below follows Kshemaraja’s arrangement.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"1.1","sanskrit":"yasyonmeṣanimeṣābhyāṃ jagataḥ pralayodayau / taṃ śakticakravibhavaprabhavaṃ śaṅkaraṃ stumaḥ","english":"We praise Shankara, the source of the glory of the wheel of powers, by whose opening and closing of the eyes the world dissolves and arises.","explain":"Creation and dissolution are compared to Shiva opening and closing his eyes — effortless, rhythmic, and happening within one consciousness. Kshemaraja notes that opening the eyes (to the world) is a closing to the inner state, and vice versa."},{"ref":"1.22","sanskrit":"atikruddhaḥ prahṛṣṭo vā kiṃ karomīti vā mṛśan / dhāvan vā yat padaṃ gacchet tatra spandaḥ pratiṣṭhitaḥ","english":"When very angry, overjoyed, wondering ‘what shall I do?’, or running — the state one reaches then: there Spanda is established.","explain":"In intense moments, ordinary thinking stops for an instant. If you notice that instant, you touch the pulse of consciousness itself. A very practical teaching: do not waste strong experiences."}]},{"id":"shivadrishti","title":"Shivadrishti (Śivadṛṣṭi, ‘Vision of Shiva’)","author":"Somananda","date":"c. 900 CE","about":"The first systematic work of the Pratyabhijñā school, in seven chapters (āhnikas). It argues that everything is Shiva, whose nature is will, knowledge and action, and refutes rival views — the grammarians, Vedanta, Buddhists and dualist Shaivas. Chapter 7 gives Somananda’s account of his lineage. Utpaladeva wrote a commentary, now incomplete.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"1.1","sanskrit":"asmadrūpasamāviṣṭaḥ svātmanātmanivāraṇe / śivaḥ karotu nijayā namaḥ śaktyā tatātmane","english":"May Shiva, who has entered into our form, offer homage by his own power to himself, extended as all things, in order to remove (the obstacles) he has placed on himself.","explain":"The opening salutation is itself non-dual: Shiva is the one who bows, the one bowed to, and the obstacle removed. Worship becomes Shiva honouring himself."}]},{"id":"ishvara-pratyabhijna-karika","title":"Ishvara Pratyabhijna Karika (Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā)","author":"Utpaladeva","date":"first half of 10th century CE","about":"‘Verses on the Recognition of the Lord’: the classic text of the Recognition school, in four sections — knowledge, action, scripture, and a summary of the tattvas. With Utpaladeva’s own short Vṛtti and his long Vivṛti (mostly lost), and Abhinavagupta’s two great commentaries, the Vimarśinī and Vivṛti-vimarśinī. Numbering: section.chapter.verse.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"1.1.1","sanskrit":"kathaṃcid āsādya maheśvarasya dāsyaṃ janasyāpy upakāram icchan / samastasampatsamavāptihetuṃ tatpratyabhijñām upapādayāmi","english":"Having somehow attained the state of servant of the great Lord, and wishing to help others too, I set out the recognition of Him, the cause of attaining every fulfilment.","explain":"The philosopher begins as a devotee. Abhinavagupta comments at length on ‘somehow’ (kathaṃcit) — grace comes in ways we cannot explain — and on how ‘servant of the Lord’ means sharing in the Lord’s freedom."},{"ref":"1.5.11","sanskrit":"svabhāvam avabhāsasya vimarśaṃ vidur anyathā / prakāśo 'rthoparakto 'pi sphaṭikādijaḍopamaḥ","english":"They know that the essential nature of light is reflective awareness (vimarśa); otherwise light, even though coloured by objects, would be like an inert crystal.","explain":"The key difference between a mirror and a mind: both show things, but only the mind knows it shows them. This self-awareness is vimarśa."},{"ref":"4.16 (numbering may differ)","sanskrit":"iti prakaṭito mayā sughaṭa eṣa mārgo navo mahāgurubhir ucyate sma śivadṛṣṭiśāstre yathā","english":"Thus I have laid out this new and easy path, as it was taught by my great teacher in the treatise Śivadṛṣṭi.","explain":"Near the end, Utpaladeva credits Somananda: the ‘new’ path of recognition is new only in presentation."}]},{"id":"tantraloka","title":"Tantraloka (Tantrāloka, ‘Light on the Tantras’)","author":"Abhinavagupta","date":"late 10th – early 11th century CE","about":"Abhinavagupta’s masterwork: 37 chapters (āhnikas), about 5,800 verses, synthesising the whole Trika tradition around the Mālinīvijayottara Tantra. It moves from the nature of consciousness and bondage, through the four means (upāyas), to time and space, the tattvas, initiation, ritual, the Kula rites, and finally the lineage and Abhinavagupta’s own biography. Jayaratha’s commentary Viveka is indispensable.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"1.1","sanskrit":"vimalakalāśrayābhinavasṛṣṭimahā jananī bharitatanuś ca pañcamukhaguptarucir janakaḥ / tadubhayayāmalasphuritabhāvavisargamayaṃ hṛdayam anuttarāmṛtakulaṃ mama saṃsphuratāt","english":"The mother, whose greatness is ever-new creation resting on pure power, and the father, full in form, whose radiance is guarded by five faces: may the heart born of the emission of their united pulsing — the nectar-family of the Supreme — shine forth in me.","explain":"A layered opening. On one level it praises the Goddess and Shiva and their union as the heart of reality. On another, it names Abhinavagupta’s own parents — Vimalakalā (vimala-kalā, ‘pure power’) and Narasiṃhagupta (‘pañcamukha’, five-faced, is a name for the lion, siṃha) — and himself, abhinava, ‘ever-new’."}]},{"id":"tantrasara","title":"Tantrasara (Tantrasāra, ‘Essence of the Tantras’)","author":"Abhinavagupta","date":"early 11th century CE","about":"A prose summary of the Tantrāloka in 22 chapters, each closing with a verse summary. Abhinavagupta wrote it for readers who could not tackle the full work. It is the most practical entry point to Trika in Abhinavagupta’s own words.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"opening verse","sanskrit":"vitatas tantrāloko vigāhituṃ naiva śakyate sarvaiḥ / ṛjuvacanaviracitam idaṃ tu tantrasāraṃ tataḥ śṛṇuta","english":"The Tantrāloka is vast and not everyone can plunge into it; so listen to this Tantrasāra, composed in plain words.","explain":"A great scholar openly writing a simpler version for ordinary students — a model of teaching."}]},{"id":"paratrishika-vivarana","title":"Paratrishika Vivarana (Parātrīśikāvivaraṇa)","author":"Abhinavagupta (commentary on the Parātrīśikā)","date":"late 10th – early 11th century CE","about":"A long, profound commentary on the Parātrīśikā (also Parātriṃśikā), a short Tantra of about 35 verses said to belong to the Rudrayāmala. It is a dialogue in which the Goddess asks Shiva about Anuttara. Abhinavagupta explores the ‘I’ (aham), the heart-mantra ‘sauḥ’, and the Sanskrit alphabet as the self-unfolding of consciousness. Jaideva Singh translated it with Swami Lakshmanjoo’s guidance.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"1","sanskrit":"anuttaraṃ kathaṃ deva sadyaḥ kaulikasiddhidam / yena vijñātamātreṇa khecarīsamatāṃ vrajet","english":"O God, how does the Anuttara (the Supreme) bestow at once the attainment of the Kula, by merely knowing which one reaches equality with the Khecarī (the power that moves in the sky of consciousness)?","explain":"The Goddess asks the ultimate question. Abhinavagupta notes that in asking, she is already the answer: the question arises within the very consciousness it asks about."}]},{"id":"pratyabhijnahridayam","title":"Pratyabhijnahridayam (Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam, ‘The Heart of Recognition’)","author":"Kshemaraja","date":"early 11th century CE","about":"Twenty sutras with Kshemaraja’s own commentary, written, he says, for those not trained in logic. It explains how free consciousness becomes the world and the limited mind, and how recognition reverses the process. The most widely used introduction to Kashmir Shaivism.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"1","sanskrit":"citiḥ svatantrā viśvasiddhihetuḥ","english":"Consciousness, which is free, is the cause of the manifestation of the universe.","explain":"No outside cause is needed: consciousness, by its own freedom, is the source of everything."},{"ref":"2","sanskrit":"svecchayā svabhittau viśvam unmīlayati","english":"By her own will, she unfolds the universe on her own screen.","explain":"Consciousness is both the painter and the canvas. The world is not projected onto something else but appears within consciousness itself."},{"ref":"5","sanskrit":"citir eva cetanapadād avarūḍhā cetyasaṅkocinī cittam","english":"Consciousness itself, descending from the state of pure awareness and contracting in accordance with its objects, becomes the mind.","explain":"The mind is not something different from consciousness; it is consciousness that has narrowed itself. So the mind can widen again."},{"ref":"10","sanskrit":"tathāpi tadvat pañcavidhakṛtyāni karoti","english":"Even so (as a limited being), he performs the five acts just like Shiva.","explain":"Every moment we create, sustain, withdraw, conceal and reveal — the same five acts as Shiva. Recognising this is recognising our divinity."}]},{"id":"vijnana-bhairava","title":"Vijnana Bhairava Tantra (Vijñānabhairava)","author":"Anonymous scripture (said to belong to the Rudrayāmala)","date":"probably 7th–9th century CE (uncertain)","about":"A dialogue of about 163 verses between Bhairava and the Goddess Bhairavī, giving 112 methods (dhāraṇās) of contemplation for entering the Bhairava state. Loved for its directness. Commentaries by Kshemaraja (partial) and Shivopadhyaya (completing it); translated by Jaideva Singh and Swami Lakshmanjoo. Verse numbers vary slightly between editions.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"24","sanskrit":"ūrdhve prāṇo hy adho jīvo visargātmā paroccaret / utpattidvitayasthāne bharaṇād bharitā sthitiḥ","english":"The supreme (Goddess), whose nature is emission, pulses up as the out-breath and down as the in-breath. By holding the mind at the two points where they arise, one reaches the state of fullness.","explain":"The first method: notice the moments where the breath turns — after breathing in and after breathing out. In that tiny pause, awareness can rest in its fullness."},{"ref":"74","sanskrit":"yatra yatra manas tuṣṭir manas tatraiva dhārayet / tatra tatra parānandasvarūpaṃ sampravartate","english":"Wherever the mind finds satisfaction, let it be held right there; there, again and again, the nature of supreme bliss shines forth.","explain":"A gentle and surprising teaching: don’t fight enjoyment — attend to it. Every real delight is a doorway to the bliss of consciousness."},{"ref":"106","sanskrit":"grāhyagrāhakasaṃvittiḥ sāmānyā sarvadehinām / yogināṃ tu viśeṣo 'sti sambandhe sāvadhānatā","english":"Awareness of object and subject is common to all embodied beings; but yogis have this distinction: alertness to the relation between them.","explain":"Everyone perceives. The yogi pays attention to the act of perceiving itself — the living link between knower and known."}]},{"id":"malinivijayottara","title":"Malinivijayottara Tantra (Mālinīvijayottaratantra)","author":"Anonymous scripture","date":"before 10th century CE (probably 7th–9th century)","about":"A Tantra of the Trika, which Abhinavagupta regarded as the essence of all scripture and on which he based the Tantrāloka. Named after Mālinī, the goddess of the alphabet in its mixed order. It contains the classic definitions of the three kinds of immersion (samāveśa) — āṇava, śākta and śāmbhava. Abhinavagupta’s Mālinīvijayavārttika comments on its first verse at great length.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"2.21 (numbering may vary)","sanskrit":"uccārakaraṇadhyānavarṇasthānaprakalpanaiḥ / yo bhavet sa samāveśaḥ samyag āṇava ucyate","english":"The immersion that arises through breath, bodily postures, meditation, sound and the placing of focus is rightly called āṇava.","explain":"The individual’s means: using concrete supports."},{"ref":"2.22","sanskrit":"uccāraṇarahitaṃ vastu cetasaiva vicintayan / yaṃ samāveśam āpnoti śāktaḥ so 'trābhidhīyate","english":"The immersion one attains by contemplating reality with the mind alone, without recitation, is here called śākta.","explain":"Shakti’s means: purifying thought itself."},{"ref":"2.23","sanskrit":"akiñciccintakasyaiva guruṇā pratibodhataḥ / jāyate yaḥ samāveśaḥ śāmbhavo 'sāv udīritaḥ","english":"The immersion that arises in one who thinks of nothing, awakened by the teacher, is declared to be śāmbhava.","explain":"Shiva’s means: sudden entry into awareness beyond thought, through the teacher’s grace."}]},{"id":"svacchanda-tantra","title":"Svacchanda Tantra (Svacchandatantra)","author":"Anonymous scripture","date":"probably before 9th century CE","about":"A major ritual scripture worshipping Svacchandabhairava and his consort Aghoreśvarī, in 15 chapters. It shaped much everyday Shaiva ritual in Kashmir — initiation, daily worship, fire ritual and cosmology. Kshemaraja’s commentary, the Svacchandoddyota, reads it through non-dual Trika philosophy. No key verses are given here, as we have not verified exact wording.","keyVerses":[]},{"id":"paramarthasara","title":"Paramarthasara (Paramārthasāra, ‘Essence of the Highest Truth’)","author":"Abhinavagupta","date":"early 11th century CE","about":"105 verses (āryā metre) giving a compact overview of non-dual Shaiva teaching, adapted from an older Vaishnava-Vedanta text of the same name attributed to Ādiśeṣa. Commentary by Yogaraja. Translated by Swami Lakshmanjoo and others.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"83","sanskrit":"tīrthe śvapacagṛhe vā naṣṭasmṛtir api parityajan deham / jñānasamakālamuktaḥ kaivalyaṃ yāti hataśokaḥ","english":"Whether he leaves the body at a holy place or in an outcaste’s house, even if he has lost his memory — being liberated at the very moment of knowledge, he goes to freedom, his sorrow destroyed.","explain":"A radical teaching against superstition about death: freedom is knowledge, and once known it is not undone by where or how the body dies."}]},{"id":"bodhapanchadashika","title":"Bodhapanchadashika (Bodhapañcadaśikā, ‘Fifteen Verses on Awareness’)","author":"Abhinavagupta","date":"late 10th – early 11th century CE","about":"Fifteen verses of teaching (plus a closing verse), written, it is said, for students who asked for a short summary. It presents Shiva, Shakti, the world as reflection, bondage and liberation, in compact form. Translated by Swami Lakshmanjoo.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"4","sanskrit":"sa eva bhairavo devo jagadbharaṇalakṣaṇaḥ / svātmādarśe samagraṃ hi yacchaktyā pratibimbitam","english":"That God alone is Bhairava, whose nature is to sustain the world; for by his power the whole universe is reflected in the mirror of his own Self.","explain":"The ‘mirror’ image is central to Abhinavagupta: the world appears in consciousness like a reflection in a mirror — real as an appearance, never separate from the mirror."}]},{"id":"lalla-vakh","title":"Lalla Vakh (Vākhs of Lal Ded)","author":"Lal Ded (Lalleshwari)","date":"14th century CE (oral; written collections from the 18th century onwards)","about":"Some 250 or more four-line sayings in old Kashmiri, attributed to Lal Ded and passed down orally. They express non-dual Shaiva experience in everyday images, criticise empty ritual and pride, and are loved by Kashmiris of all faiths. Collections include Bhaskarakantha’s Sanskrit Lallāvākyāni and Grierson and Barnett’s Lallā-Vākyāni (1920). Wording and spelling vary between collections; the transliterations below are approximate.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"vakh (Grierson–Barnett numbering varies)","sanskrit":"Gwaran wonnam kunuy vatsun, nebra dopnam andar atsun; suy gav Lalli me vaakh ta vatsun, tavay hyotum nangay natsun","english":"My teacher gave me only one precept: ‘From outside, go within.’ That became for Lalla word and teaching, and so I began to dance unclothed.","explain":"The whole path in one instruction: turn from the outer to the inner. Her ‘nakedness’ is often read as freedom from all outward coverings and conventions."},{"ref":"vakh","sanskrit":"Lal bo drayas lolare, tshandan lustum dyan kyoh raath; vuchum pandit panunuy gare, suy me rotum nechatur ta saath","english":"I, Lalla, went out with longing, searching for Him day and night; I found the wise one in my own house — that became my lucky star and moment.","explain":"Recognition in a song: she searched everywhere, and found the Beloved within. This is the Pratyabhijñā teaching in the language of the heart."}]},{"id":"shivastotravali","title":"Shivastotravali (Śivastotrāvalī, ‘Garland of Hymns to Shiva’)","author":"Utpaladeva","date":"first half of 10th century CE","about":"Twenty hymns of devotion to Shiva, compiled after Utpaladeva’s death by his disciples (Rama and Adityaraja), and arranged into twenty hymns with titles by Vishvavarta. Kshemaraja wrote a commentary. The hymns combine deep non-dual philosophy with personal, emotional devotion, and are recited by Kashmiri Pandits.","keyVerses":[{"ref":"1.1","sanskrit":"na dhyāyato na japataḥ syād yasyāvidhipūrvakam / evam eva śivābhāsas taṃ numo bhaktiśālinam","english":"We bow to the one rich in devotion, in whom the manifestation of Shiva arises just so — without meditating, without reciting mantras, without following any rule.","explain":"Utpaladeva’s opening makes devotion itself the highest path: for one full of love, Shiva shines without technique."}]}],"practices":[{"id":"self-recognition","name":"Daily recognition (pratyabhijñā in ordinary life)","simple":"A few times a day, stop and notice: ‘I am aware.’ Before you think about anything else, just feel that awareness. Kashmir Shaivism says this is Shiva in you.","medium":"The Recognition school does not ask you to leave your life, but to recognise what is already present. A simple way to practise is to pause during ordinary activities and turn attention to the one who is aware — not to a thought about it, but to the living sense ‘I am’. Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam sutra 10 adds a second step: notice that you are the author of every experience — you bring it forth, hold it, let it go. Done gently and often, this reshapes how you live."},{"id":"centre-pause","name":"Resting in the centre (madhya) — the pause between breaths and thoughts","simple":"Watch your breath. After you breathe in, there is a tiny pause; after you breathe out, another. Rest your attention there for a moment. Do the same with the gap between two thoughts.","medium":"Many of the Vijñāna Bhairava’s methods point to the ‘centre’: the junction between two breaths, two thoughts, two states. The first practices (verses 24–27) use the breath’s turning points. Nothing needs to be forced; the method is simply to notice the gap and let awareness rest in it. Kashmiri teachers warn against strain, and advise learning breath practices from an experienced teacher."},{"id":"spanda-moments","name":"Catching the Spanda in strong moments","simple":"When you feel a burst of surprise, joy or even anger, notice the first instant before you start thinking. That flash is full of energy — it is the ‘pulse’ of consciousness.","medium":"The Spanda Kārikā (1.22) teaches that intense moments — great anger, joy, uncertainty, running — briefly stop ordinary thought, and in that stop the pulse of consciousness is exposed. The practice is not to seek strong emotions but to use the ones that come, turning attention to their very beginning. Over time, one learns to find the same aliveness in quiet moments."},{"id":"mantra-japa","name":"Mantra and remembrance","simple":"Kashmiri Pandits often repeat sacred sounds and Shiva’s name. Saying a mantra slowly, with your full attention, helps the mind settle and turn inward.","medium":"Mantra repetition (japa) is an āṇava practice that naturally leads into subtler states. The Shiva Sutras teach that ‘the mind is mantra’ (2.1): the power of a mantra comes from awareness. The traditional teaching is that powerful mantras such as ‘sauḥ’ are received from a teacher; anyone can, however, repeat ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ or simply dwell on ‘aham’ (I) as a contemplation of pure I-consciousness."},{"id":"stotra-bhakti","name":"Singing hymns and leelas (devotion)","simple":"Kashmiri Pandit families sing devotional songs (leelas) and recite hymns like Utpaladeva’s Shivastotravali. Singing with love is itself a way to meet Shiva.","medium":"Utpaladeva taught that devotion (bhakti) is not a lower stage but a taste of liberation itself. Kashmiri Pandits carry this on in hymn-singing: Sanskrit stotras such as the Śivastotrāvalī and Bhavānīsahasranāma, and Kashmiri leelas by poets such as Parmanand and Krishna Joo Razdan. Singing together, especially at Herath, is a living form of the tradition."},{"id":"herath","name":"Herath (Shivaratri) and Vatuk worship","simple":"Herath is Kashmiri Pandits’ biggest festival, their Shivaratri. Families set up a group of pots, called the Vatuk, as Shiva and his companions, and worship through the night with walnuts, water and prayers.","medium":"Kashmiri Pandits celebrate Shivaratri as Herath (from Hara-rātri, ‘night of Hara/Shiva’), traditionally on the trayodaśī (13th) of the dark half of Phalguna, a day earlier than most of India. The Vatuk — a set of vessels representing Bhairava, Shiva and attendant deities — is installed and worshipped, with walnuts soaked in water that are later shared as prasad (naivid). Many families read the event as the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, and it is a time of song and family gathering."},{"id":"goddess-worship","name":"Worship of the Goddess: Sharika, Ragnya, Jwala","simple":"Kashmiri Pandits worship the Goddess at Hari Parbat (Sharika), at Tulmul (Ragnya or Kheer Bhawani) and at Khrew (Jwala). Circling the holy hill and offering milk and rice pudding are much-loved traditions.","medium":"Shakti worship is the everyday face of Kashmir Shaivism. Devotees circumambulate Hari Parbat (the pradakshina), celebrate Sharika’s birthday on Har Navum, and gather at Tulmul on Jyeshtha Ashtami for the Kheer Bhawani mela, offering kheer and milk into the sacred spring, whose changing colours are traditionally read as omens. These places are held to be Shakti in visible form."},{"id":"guru-and-grace","name":"The teacher and grace (guru and śaktipāta)","simple":"In Kashmir Shaivism a good teacher is very important. The teacher helps you see the truth that is already in you. Waking up is a gift of grace.","medium":"The Shiva Sutras say ‘the guru is the means’ (gurur upāyaḥ, 2.6). The tradition places great weight on the living teacher and on grace (śaktipāta), which it sees as the free act of consciousness itself. In practice this means studying the texts with a qualified teacher, receiving initiation where appropriate, and cultivating receptivity and humility rather than seeking powers."},{"id":"aesthetic-practice","name":"Art as a doorway (rasa)","simple":"When music, poetry or a story truly moves you, stay with that feeling. Abhinavagupta taught that deep enjoyment of art can give you a taste of your deepest self.","medium":"Abhinavagupta’s rasa theory suggests a practice: engage with art with full attention, as a sahṛdaya, ‘one with a heart’. Let personal concerns fall away and rest in the universal feeling the work evokes. The moment of wonder (camatkāra) that follows is, he says, close to the joy of consciousness resting in itself. Kashmiri musical and poetic culture carries this sensibility."}],"path":[{"step":1,"title":"Start with the big idea","text":"Read the introduction and the entries on Shiva and Shakti. Take one idea home: everything is one awareness, and you are that awareness. Don’t worry about the Sanskrit yet.","conceptIds":["shiva","shakti","chit"]},{"step":2,"title":"Meet the teachers","text":"Read the simple stories of Vasugupta, Lal Ded, Abhinavagupta and Swami Lakshmanjoo. Seeing how real people lived the teaching makes it come alive. Notice which stories are history and which are legend.","conceptIds":["pratyabhijna"]},{"step":3,"title":"Try a first practice","text":"Try ‘daily recognition’ and ‘resting in the centre’ for a week. A minute or two, a few times a day, is enough. Notice what changes.","conceptIds":["spanda","dharanas"]},{"step":4,"title":"Learn the first sutras","text":"Read Shiva Sutras 1.1, 1.2 and 1.5 and their explanations. Memorise ‘caitanyam ātmā’ — consciousness is the Self.","conceptIds":["chit","malas","bhairava"]},{"step":5,"title":"Understand light and self-awareness","text":"Study Prakasha–Vimarsha, Svatantrya and Aham. These three explain why this tradition says consciousness is alive and free, not a blank screen.","conceptIds":["prakasha-vimarsha","svatantrya","aham","iccha-jnana-kriya"]},{"step":6,"title":"Map reality: the 36 tattvas","text":"Learn how the one becomes many, and how we become small: the 36 tattvas, māyā, the five kañcukas and the three malas. Try to name the top five tattvas and the five coverings.","conceptIds":["tattvas","maya","kanchukas","purusha","malas"]},{"step":7,"title":"Read the Heart of Recognition","text":"Work through Kshemaraja’s Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam, ideally in Jaideva Singh’s translation. Pay special attention to sutras 1, 2, 5 and 10 and the five acts of Shiva.","conceptIds":["pratyabhijna","panchakritya","svatantrya"]},{"step":8,"title":"The ways of practice","text":"Study the four upāyas and the role of grace and the teacher. Read the Vijñāna Bhairava slowly, trying one method at a time. Explore mantra and the alphabet (mātṛkā).","conceptIds":["upayas","shaktipat","dharanas","mantra","matrika"]},{"step":9,"title":"The wider tradition","text":"Explore Trika, Kula, Krama and Abhinavagupta’s theory of rasa. Read the Spanda Kārikā and Utpaladeva’s hymns alongside the Īśvarapratyabhijñā. Connect the philosophy with the Goddess worship of Kashmir.","conceptIds":["trika","kula","krama","kali-naya","rasa","sharika"]},{"step":10,"title":"Towards the summit","text":"With a teacher or a serious study group, approach the Tantrasāra, the Parātrīśikā-vivaraṇa and chapters of the Tantrāloka. Reflect on Anuttara, turya and turyātīta, and jīvanmukti — freedom lived in the world.","conceptIds":["anuttara","turya","jivanmukti","aham"]}]},"people":[{"id":"dridhabala","name":"Dridhabala","dates":"c. 4th–5th century CE (uncertain)","era":"Ancient","field":"Physician & Editor","oneLine":"The scholar who completed and restored the Charaka Samhita, the great classic of Ayurveda.","story":"The Charaka Samhita is one of the founding texts of Ayurveda, India's traditional medicine. But the version we read today is not exactly what Charaka left behind. Centuries after Charaka, parts of the work had been lost or damaged, and a physician named Dridhabala set out to repair it. In the text itself, Dridhabala says he added seventeen chapters to one section and completed two whole sections that were missing, drawing on other medical works of his time.\n\nDridhabala tells us he was the son of Kapilabala and came from a town called Panchanadapura, 'the city of five rivers'. Many scholars identify this with Panjnor (Pantsinor), a village near the meeting of streams in Kashmir, which would make him one of the earliest Kashmiri scholars whose name we know. Others place Panchanada in the Punjab, the 'land of five rivers'. The Kashmir identification is widely repeated and plausible, but it is not proven, so it is fair to say he was probably, not certainly, Kashmiri.\n\nWhat is certain is that careful editors like Dridhabala are the reason ancient knowledge survived at all. Without his patient work of filling gaps and joining pieces, one of the world's oldest medical encyclopaedias would have reached us broken. Kashmir later became famous as a land of scholars and manuscript copyists, and Dridhabala may be the first link in that long chain.","didYouKnow":"Dridhabala openly tells readers which parts of the Charaka Samhita he wrote himself, an early and honest example of an editor crediting his own additions.","keyWords":["Ayurveda","Charaka Samhita","medicine","Panchanadapura","editor"]},{"id":"vasugupta","name":"Vasugupta","dates":"c. late 8th – early 9th century CE","era":"Ancient","field":"Philosopher & Sage","oneLine":"The sage credited with revealing the Shiva Sutras, the starting point of Kashmir Shaivism.","story":"Kashmir Shaivism, one of the most admired schools of Indian philosophy, traces its written beginning to a quiet sage named Vasugupta who lived near the Mahadev mountain above Srinagar. Its central teaching is that the whole universe is the free, joyful expression of one consciousness, called Shiva, and that each of us can recognise that we are not separate from it.\n\nAccording to tradition, Shiva appeared to Vasugupta in a dream and told him that a secret teaching was carved on a rock on the mountainside. When Vasugupta went looking, the rock turned over at his touch, and on it he found seventy-seven short verses: the Shiva Sutras. A large boulder in the Harwan area, called Shankarpal, is still pointed out as that rock. This is a traditional story, told with love for centuries; historians simply note that Vasugupta is the first teacher to whom the Shiva Sutras are attributed.\n\nThe Sutras are very short and packed with meaning, such as 'Chaitanyam atma' — 'Consciousness is the Self'. Later Kashmiri masters, including Kshemaraja, wrote long commentaries on them. Vasugupta is also connected with the Spanda Karikas, verses about the 'divine pulse' or vibration of consciousness, which his disciple Kallata helped to spread. Every Kashmiri Pandit who has ever heard the word 'Trika' or 'Pratyabhijna' is, in a sense, a grandchild of Vasugupta's discovery.","didYouKnow":"The first sutra of the Shiva Sutras is just two words in Sanskrit: 'Chaitanyam atma' — 'The Self is consciousness'.","keyWords":["Shiva Sutras","Kashmir Shaivism","Mahadev","Shankarpal","Spanda"]},{"id":"somananda","name":"Somananda","dates":"c. 875–925 CE","era":"Ancient","field":"Philosopher","oneLine":"Founder of the Pratyabhijna ('Recognition') school of Kashmir Shaivism.","story":"If Vasugupta planted the seed of Kashmir Shaivism, Somananda was the first to build it into a full philosophical system with arguments. He wrote the Shivadrishti, 'The Vision of Shiva', in which he argued, point by point, against rival schools of thought, including Buddhist philosophers and grammarians, and explained why he believed everything is Shiva.\n\nSomananda's big idea is simple to say but deep to think about: there is nothing that is not Shiva. A pot, a tree, a thought, a person — all of them are forms of the same divine consciousness. So the spiritual path is not about travelling somewhere far away. It is about recognising what is already true. That is why the school he started is called Pratyabhijna, which means 'recognition'.\n\nSomananda also left a family story of his lineage. He wrote that his ancestors had been teachers of Shaiva wisdom since ancient times, and that the teaching was once lost and then revived in Kashmir. Whether every step of that story is historical is hard to know, but it shows how proud Kashmiri teachers were of passing knowledge from teacher to student.\n\nHis most famous student was Utpaladeva, who turned Somananda's ideas into elegant verse. Through Utpaladeva and then Abhinavagupta, Somananda's 'vision of Shiva' became the heart of Kashmiri spiritual thought.","didYouKnow":"The name of his school, Pratyabhijna, means 'recognition' — like suddenly recognising an old friend in a crowd.","keyWords":["Shivadrishti","Pratyabhijna","Recognition","philosophy","Utpaladeva"]},{"id":"utpaladeva","name":"Utpaladeva","dates":"c. 900–950 CE","era":"Ancient","field":"Philosopher & Poet","oneLine":"The poet-philosopher whose verses on 'recognising' the divine became the backbone of Kashmir Shaivism.","story":"Utpaladeva was a student of Somananda, and he took his teacher's bold ideas and made them clear, careful and beautiful. His great work, the Ishvara Pratyabhijna Karika ('Verses on the Recognition of the Lord'), explains in tight logical steps why the world is the expression of one conscious Self, and how a person can come to recognise their own true nature.\n\nUtpaladeva was also a heartfelt devotional poet. His Shivastotravali, a collection of hymns to Shiva, is full of longing, wonder and humour, and it is still sung and read by devotees today. In one line he asks Shiva for nothing but the joy of worshipping him — not heaven, not powers. It is rare to find someone who could write both hard philosophy and tender poetry, and do both so well.\n\nHe had a family life too; tradition remembers that he had a son named Vibhramakara, and his disciple Lakshmanagupta became a teacher of Abhinavagupta. So Utpaladeva is a key link in a living chain of teachers. You are allowed to question hard, and to love deeply, at the same time.","didYouKnow":"Utpaladeva's hymns, the Shivastotravali, were gathered and arranged after his death by later disciples, which is why they are grouped into twenty separate 'stotras'.","keyWords":["Ishvara Pratyabhijna","Shivastotravali","devotion","philosophy","Kashmir Shaivism"]},{"id":"anandavardhana","name":"Anandavardhana","dates":"c. 820–890 CE","era":"Ancient","field":"Literary Theorist","oneLine":"The Kashmiri thinker who discovered 'dhvani' — the power of suggestion — as the soul of poetry.","story":"Why does a good poem move us more than a plain sentence saying the same thing? Anandavardhana, a scholar at the court of King Avantivarman, gave an answer that changed Indian literature for ever. In his book the Dhvanyaloka ('Light on Suggestion') he argued that the soul of poetry is dhvani: meaning that is suggested rather than said directly.\n\nHere is an example in the spirit of his teaching: if a poem says 'the village is on the Ganga', we know it cannot literally be on the water — it means on the riverbank, and it also suggests coolness, holiness and peace. That hidden layer is what makes poetry glow. Anandavardhana said that the most important suggested meaning is rasa, the emotional flavour a work leaves in us, such as love, courage or peace.\n\nThis idea was so powerful that later critics across India built on it for a thousand years. Abhinavagupta, the great Kashmiri philosopher, wrote a famous commentary on the Dhvanyaloka.\n\nAnandavardhana was also a poet himself, though his poems are less known today. Kalhana's Rajatarangini mentions him as one of the famous scholars of Avantivarman's reign. When your English teacher talks about 'subtext' or 'reading between the lines', you can remember that a Kashmiri scholar explained it brilliantly over eleven hundred years ago.","didYouKnow":"Anandavardhana's theory is still taught in Indian literature departments, and scholars compare it with modern Western ideas about 'implied meaning'.","keyWords":["Dhvanyaloka","dhvani","rasa","poetics","Avantivarman"]},{"id":"abhinavagupta","name":"Abhinavagupta","dates":"c. 950–1016 CE (later dates debated)","era":"Ancient","field":"Philosopher, Mystic & Aesthetician","oneLine":"Kashmir's greatest philosopher, who united spiritual practice, art and beauty in one vision.","story":"Abhinavagupta is often called the brightest mind Kashmir ever produced. He wrote more than forty works on philosophy, ritual, poetry, music and drama, and many of them are still studied by scholars across the world.\n\nHis biggest book, the Tantraloka ('Light on the Tantras'), is a huge guide to the spiritual teachings of the Trika tradition of Kashmir Shaivism. He also wrote the Abhinavabharati, a commentary on Bharata's Natyashastra, the ancient manual of drama. In it he explained how art lets us taste emotions in a pure, joyful way — even sad stories — because for a moment we forget our small selves. For him, enjoying art beautifully could be a doorway to the divine.\n\nAbhinavagupta tells us a little about himself: his father was Narasimhagupta, his mother Vimala died when he was young, and he studied with many teachers, travelling from one to another with great hunger to learn. He never married and devoted himself to study and teaching, with his disciples and family members around him.\n\nThe ending of his life is a famous traditional story. It is said that he walked into the Bhairava cave near Beerwah with about twelve hundred disciples, reciting a hymn, and was never seen again. This is a legend, not a recorded historical event, but the cave is still visited. Scholars today, in India and abroad, still write about him, and Kashmiri Pandit families remember him as a proud part of their heritage.","didYouKnow":"Abhinavagupta's name contains a pun: 'abhinava' means 'ever new', and tradition says his teacher gave it to him for his fresh, original thinking.","keyWords":["Tantraloka","Abhinavabharati","Trika","aesthetics","Bhairava cave"]},{"id":"kshemaraja","name":"Kshemaraja","dates":"c. 975–1025 CE","era":"Ancient","field":"Philosopher","oneLine":"Abhinavagupta's leading disciple, who wrote the short classic 'Heart of Recognition'.","story":"Kshemaraja was the student of Abhinavagupta, and many think he was also his cousin. While his teacher wrote huge, complex books, Kshemaraja had a gift for explaining things clearly. That is why his works are often the first ones students of Kashmir Shaivism read.\n\nHis best-known book is the Pratyabhijnahridayam, 'The Heart of the Doctrine of Recognition'. It has just twenty short sutras with his own explanations. It begins with a big statement: 'Consciousness, free and independent, is the cause of the universe.' In other words, the world is not a trap or an illusion to escape, but the creative play of divine awareness. Kshemaraja wrote the book, he says, for people who were not trained in hard logic but still wanted to understand the truth.\n\nKshemaraja also wrote important commentaries on the Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta, the Spanda Karikas, and several Tantras, and a commentary on the hymns of Utpaladeva. Without him, much of the teaching might have stayed locked in difficult language.\n\nIn the twentieth century, Swami Lakshmanjoo of Srinagar taught the Pratyabhijnahridayam to students from India and abroad, and it has been translated into many languages. A thousand years after it was written, this small Kashmiri book is still helping people think about who they really are.","didYouKnow":"The Pratyabhijnahridayam has only twenty sutras, yet it is considered a complete summary of a whole philosophical system.","keyWords":["Pratyabhijnahridayam","Shiva Sutras","commentary","Abhinavagupta","Kashmir Shaivism"]},{"id":"lalitaditya-muktapida","name":"Lalitaditya Muktapida","dates":"reigned c. 724–760 CE","era":"Ancient","field":"King","oneLine":"The most celebrated king of the Karkota dynasty, builder of the Martand Sun Temple.","story":"Lalitaditya Muktapida is remembered as Kashmir's great conquering king. Kalhana's Rajatarangini, written about four hundred years later, describes him leading campaigns far beyond the valley — to the plains of India and into Central Asia. Historians agree he was powerful and that Kashmir was at a high point under him, but many think Kalhana's stories of endless victories are partly legend, so it is wise to enjoy them as epic tales rather than exact history. Chinese records do confirm that a Kashmiri king of this era sent envoys to the Tang court.\n\nWhat we can still see with our own eyes is his building work. Lalitaditya is credited with the Martand Sun Temple near Mattan, whose grand ruins still stand on a plateau with a view of the valley. He also founded a new capital called Parihasapura (today's Parihaspora near Srinagar), with temples, a Buddhist monastery and a huge stupa. His ministers included Chankuna, a Buddhist from Tukhara (Central Asia), which shows how open the court was to people of different faiths and lands.\n\nThe Rajatarangini also tells of his wise and foolish moments — once ordering a town burnt in anger while drunk, and later being glad his ministers had disobeyed. Kalhana wanted readers to learn from kings' weaknesses as well as their glories. For Kashmiris, Lalitaditya remains a symbol of a confident, outward-looking Kashmir.","didYouKnow":"The Martand temple is built from huge limestone blocks without mortar, and its courtyard once held 84 small shrines around the main temple.","keyWords":["Karkota","Martand","Parihasapura","Rajatarangini","conquest"]},{"id":"jayapida","name":"Jayapida","dates":"reigned c. 770s–800s CE","era":"Ancient","field":"King","oneLine":"Karkota king and grandson of Lalitaditya, remembered as a great patron of scholars.","story":"Jayapida was a grandson of Lalitaditya. Kalhana's Rajatarangini tells many adventurous stories about him, including one where he travelled in disguise to the kingdom of Gauda in Bengal and won the hand of a princess named Kalyanadevi. These tales are colourful and should be read as legend as much as history.\n\nWhat stands out is his love of learning. Kalhana says Jayapida gathered scholars from all over and made sure the study of the great grammar text, the Mahabhashya, was revived in Kashmir, which had fallen out of use. Poets and critics at his court included Udbhata, a famous writer on poetics, and Vamana, whose book on style is still studied. The king was said to be so keen that he himself studied grammar with a teacher named Kshira.\n\nKalhana also records the darker side: in later life Jayapida is described as greedy and harsh, taxing people and quarrelling with Brahmins. The historian did not hide the faults of rulers, which is one reason his work is so valuable.\n\nJayapida's story is a good reminder that Kashmir's reputation as 'Sharada Desh', the land of the goddess of learning, did not happen by accident. It was built by people — kings, teachers and students — who valued books and ideas.","didYouKnow":"Kalhana says that in Jayapida's time there were so many learned people in Kashmir that it became hard to find an unlearned man.","keyWords":["Karkota","patronage","Udbhata","Vamana","Mahabhashya"]},{"id":"avantivarman","name":"Avantivarman","dates":"reigned 855/856–883 CE","era":"Ancient","field":"King","oneLine":"Founder of the Utpala dynasty, whose peaceful reign brought flood control, temples and learning.","story":"After the Karkota dynasty ended, Avantivarman became king and began the Utpala dynasty. Unlike Lalitaditya, he is remembered not for wars but for peace and good government.\n\nHis reign was a golden time for scholarship. The literary thinker Anandavardhana and the poet Ratnakara were among the famous men of his court, according to Kalhana. Most importantly, Avantivarman supported his engineer Suyya, who carried out a remarkable project to control the floods of the Vitasta (Jhelum) river. Before this, floods regularly ruined crops and rice was very expensive. After Suyya's work, Kalhana says, the price of rice fell sharply and new land came under cultivation.\n\nAvantivarman founded the town of Avantipura on the banks of the Jhelum, about 30 km from Srinagar, and built two temples there: Avantiswami, dedicated to Vishnu, and Avantishvara, dedicated to Shiva. Their ruins, with beautiful carvings, can still be visited today in modern Awantipora.\n\nKalhana also tells a moving story about his death: as he lay dying, Avantivarman asked to hear the Bhagavad Gita and passed away listening to it. He was known as a devotee of Vishnu while respecting Shiva too. His reign shows a king's greatest achievements can be dams, canals and schools as much as battles.","didYouKnow":"Avantivarman's brother Suravarman and his minister Shura were also great patrons, and the town of Suramatha was named after them.","keyWords":["Utpala dynasty","Avantipura","Suyya","flood control","temples"]},{"id":"suyya","name":"Suyya","dates":"9th century CE","era":"Ancient","field":"Engineer","oneLine":"The brilliant engineer who tamed the floods of the Jhelum and founded the town of Sopore.","story":"Suyya is one of the most surprising heroes in Kashmiri history: not a king or a warrior, but an engineer. Kalhana tells us that Suyya was a foundling — a baby found by a low-caste woman in an earthen pot and raised by her — who grew up to be a respected teacher. That humble start is part of why his story is so loved.\n\nIn King Avantivarman's time, the Vitasta (Jhelum) regularly flooded, drowning fields and causing famines. Suyya claimed he could solve it. According to the Rajatarangini, he threw pots of gold coins into the river near a blocked gorge. Villagers dived for the coins and in doing so cleared the rocks and debris blocking the water. Whether that exact trick happened or is a legend, the larger engineering work is taken seriously by historians: he had stone walls built, cleared the riverbed, changed the course and meeting points of rivers, and drained marshes to create new farmland.\n\nKalhana says rice became much cheaper after this. The town of Sopore, near Wular Lake, takes its name from Suyyapura, 'the town of Suyya'.\n\nSuyya's story is a lovely lesson for young people: problems like floods and food shortages can be solved by clever thinking, careful study of nature, and a bit of daring — and a person's worth does not depend on where they were born.","didYouKnow":"The town of Sopore, famous for its apples, is named after Suyya — its old name was Suyyapura.","keyWords":["Sopore","Suyyapura","flood control","Jhelum","engineering"]},{"id":"queen-didda","name":"Queen Didda","dates":"c. 924–1003 CE; regent from 958, ruled in her own name 980–1003","era":"Medieval","field":"Queen","oneLine":"One of the most powerful women in Indian history, who ruled Kashmir for nearly half a century.","story":"Didda was a princess from Lohara (in today's Poonch area) who married Kshemagupta, king of Kashmir. When he died in 958, their young son became king, and Didda became regent — the real ruler behind the throne. Over the next years her son and then her grandsons came to the throne and died young, and in 980 she took the crown in her own name, ruling until her death in 1003.\n\nKalhana, writing about 150 years later, does not like her very much. He describes her as clever but ruthless, removing rivals and even being blamed for the deaths of her own grandsons. Historians today point out that he was a man writing about a woman who broke every rule of his time, so his judgement may be harsh, but his facts show that she was an extraordinarily able politician. She survived rebellions, handled ministers and generals, and kept the kingdom together for decades. Tradition also remembers that she walked with a limp, and Kalhana records it, which made her achievement even more remarkable to him.\n\nDidda chose her nephew Samgramaraja as her heir, and so began the Lohara dynasty, which ruled Kashmir for the next two centuries. She also founded temples and monasteries, including Diddamatha in Srinagar. Whether you see her as a heroine or a warning, she proves that Kashmiri history is not only a story of kings.","didYouKnow":"Coins minted in Didda's name survive today, with her name on them — solid proof of her reign.","keyWords":["Lohara","regent","queen","Rajatarangini","women in history"]},{"id":"kshemendra","name":"Kshemendra","dates":"c. 990–1070 CE","era":"Medieval","field":"Poet & Satirist","oneLine":"Witty Sanskrit poet who mocked greedy officials and retold India's great epics in short form.","story":"Kshemendra was a student of Abhinavagupta, but he became famous for something quite different from philosophy: sharp, funny writing about everyday life. He was born into a wealthy family and saw close up how officials, priests, doctors, merchants and courtiers could cheat ordinary people.\n\nIn books like the Narmamala ('Garland of Jokes') and Deshopadesha ('Advice to the Nation'), he poked fun at corrupt clerks called kayasthas, false holy men, quack doctors and show-offs. His Kalavilasa describes the tricks of cheats and fraudsters. Reading him today feels surprisingly modern — you can find the same characters in any office or city.\n\nKshemendra also wrote serious works. He made shortened versions of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and of the Brihatkatha, a huge lost collection of stories. His Bodhisattvavadana Kalpalata retells stories of the Buddha's past lives, showing how Buddhist tales were still loved in Kashmir. He even wrote guides for poets on how to write well and on 'aucitya', the idea that every word should fit its setting.\n\nIn a time when most writers praised kings, Kshemendra laughed at the powerful. That makes him one of the first great satirists of India, and a proud example of Kashmiri wit.","didYouKnow":"Kshemendra's Buddhist stories became so popular in Tibet that they were translated into Tibetan and painted on temple scrolls there.","keyWords":["satire","Narmamala","Brihatkathamanjari","aucitya","Buddhist tales"]},{"id":"somadeva","name":"Somadeva","dates":"11th century CE (wrote c. 1063–1081)","era":"Medieval","field":"Storyteller & Poet","oneLine":"Author of the Kathasaritsagara, 'The Ocean of the Streams of Story', one of the world's largest story collections.","story":"Imagine a book with hundreds of stories — of kings and clever thieves, talking animals, magicians, lovers, ghosts and sea voyages — each one leading into another. That is the Kathasaritsagara, written in Sanskrit by a Kashmiri Brahmin named Somadeva.\n\nSomadeva tells us he wrote it for Queen Suryamati, wife of King Ananta of Kashmir, to comfort and entertain her. The queen was known for her piety and was troubled by the problems in the royal family, and the stories were meant to delight her mind. Somadeva based his work on an older, lost collection called the Brihatkatha, originally written in a language called Paishachi.\n\nThe Kathasaritsagara includes the famous Vetala stories — twenty-five tales told by a ghost (vetala) to King Vikramaditya, each ending with a riddle. If you have ever watched or read 'Vikram aur Betaal', you have enjoyed Somadeva's heritage. It also contains versions of stories from the Panchatantra.\n\nThe book was translated into English in the nineteenth century, and scholars have compared it to the Arabian Nights. Its name is beautiful: story-rivers flowing into an ocean.","didYouKnow":"The Kathasaritsagara has about 22,000 verses, arranged in 18 books.","keyWords":["Kathasaritsagara","Vetala","Brihatkatha","storytelling","Queen Suryamati"]},{"id":"bilhana","name":"Bilhana","dates":"11th century CE","era":"Medieval","field":"Poet","oneLine":"Kashmiri poet who travelled across India and became court poet to a Chalukya king in the Deccan.","story":"Bilhana was born in the village of Khonamusha (today's Khunmoh, near Srinagar), into a learned family. In the eleventh century, like many talented Kashmiris, he left the valley to seek fame. He travelled to Mathura, Kannauj, Prayag, Varanasi, Gujarat and further south, and finally settled at the court of King Vikramaditya VI of the Western Chalukya dynasty in Kalyani (in present-day Karnataka). The king made him his chief poet, 'Vidyapati'.\n\nThere he wrote the Vikramankadevacharita, a long poem about the king's life. At the very end, Bilhana describes his own home village in Kashmir with great affection — its saffron fields, its springs and its learned people. It is one of the loveliest early descriptions of rural Kashmir, written by someone homesick far away.\n\nBilhana is also linked to the Chaurapanchashika ('Fifty Verses of the Thief'), a famous love poem. A popular legend says Bilhana fell in love with a princess, was sentenced to death, and recited these verses on his way to execution — and the king was so moved that he forgave him. This is a legend; scholars are not even fully sure that the poem is his.\n\nFor diaspora families, Bilhana's story may feel familiar: a Kashmiri who made his name far from home but never stopped remembering the valley.","didYouKnow":"The village of Khunmoh near Pampore, famous for saffron, is Bilhana's birthplace, and he describes its saffron in his poem.","keyWords":["Vikramankadevacharita","Chaurapanchashika","Khunmoh","Chalukya","travel"]},{"id":"mammata","name":"Mammata","dates":"c. 11th century CE","era":"Medieval","field":"Literary Theorist","oneLine":"Author of the Kavyaprakasha, the most widely studied textbook of Sanskrit poetics.","story":"Mammata was a Kashmiri scholar who wrote the Kavyaprakasha, 'Light on Poetry'. For almost a thousand years, anyone in India who studied how poetry works — its figures of speech, its flaws, its hidden meanings — studied Mammata. More than seventy commentaries have been written on his book, which tells you how important it became.\n\nMammata took the great ideas of Kashmiri thinkers before him, especially Anandavardhana's theory of dhvani (suggestion) and Abhinavagupta's ideas about rasa (emotional flavour), and organised them into one clear system. He defined poetry as words and meaning that are free from faults, have good qualities, and are ornamented, 'though sometimes without obvious ornaments'. He then explained in detail the different kinds of poetry, from the best, where suggestion is the main thing, to the lowest.\n\nThere is a traditional story that Mammata was the uncle of the poet Shriharsha, author of the Naishadhacharita, and that he read his nephew's poem and complained that he had not seen it earlier because it would have given him great examples of faults. This is a popular legend; historians doubt it.\n\nMammata's gift was to take complex ideas and teach them clearly. That is why students in Sanskrit colleges still begin their study of poetics with the Kavyaprakasha.","didYouKnow":"Mammata's book is said to have been completed by another scholar, Alaka or Allata, after Mammata left it unfinished.","keyWords":["Kavyaprakasha","poetics","dhvani","rasa","textbook"]},{"id":"harsha-of-kashmir","name":"King Harsha of Kashmir","dates":"reigned 1089–1101 CE","era":"Medieval","field":"King & Poet","oneLine":"A brilliant, cultured Lohara king whose reign ended in cruelty, temple plunder and tragedy.","story":"Harsha is one of the most dramatic figures in the Rajatarangini. Kalhana's own father, Champaka, served at Harsha's court, so Kalhana knew the story closely.\n\nHarsha began as a dazzling king. He was a poet, spoke several languages, loved music and fine clothes, and brought new fashions to the court. He was generous to artists and scholars. But his spending was huge, and to pay for it he raised taxes and, most shockingly, appointed an officer to seize treasures and melt down images from temples. Kalhana, a Brahmin historian, records this in plain words and compares him to a Turk (Turushka), which in Kalhana's time was a way of describing foreign invaders.\n\nFamine, plague and floods hit the kingdom. Harsha grew suspicious and cruel, and turned on his own family. Rebellions broke out, led by his cousins Uccala and Sussala. In the end, Harsha's son was killed, and the king himself died alone, betrayed, in 1101.\n\nKalhana tells this story not to shock but to teach. For him, a king's talent means little without self-control and justice. Young readers can see Harsha as a warning: a gifted person who loses their way when they stop listening to good advice.","didYouKnow":"Kalhana's own father served Harsha loyally, and Kalhana writes of the king's final days with a mixture of anger and pity.","keyWords":["Lohara","Rajatarangini","temple plunder","tragedy","Champaka"]},{"id":"kalhana","name":"Kalhana","dates":"12th century CE (wrote 1148–1149)","era":"Medieval","field":"Historian & Poet","oneLine":"Author of the Rajatarangini, the first true history-writing in Sanskrit and Kashmir's greatest record of itself.","story":"Most ancient Indian texts are about gods, heroes and philosophy. Kalhana did something rare: he wrote the history of his own land, king by king, over thousands of years. His Rajatarangini, 'River of Kings', has nearly 8,000 verses in eight books, and he completed it in 1148–49.\n\nKalhana was the son of Champaka, a minister of King Harsha. He studied old records, royal grants, inscriptions, temple documents and earlier histories, including the Nilamata Purana. He said a historian should be like a judge, free from love and hate, telling the past without bias. That is an idea many modern historians still admire.\n\nThe early parts of the Rajatarangini mix legend and history — some kings seem to reign for impossibly long times. But when Kalhana reaches the centuries closer to his own, especially the Lohara kings, his account becomes detailed and vivid: court plots, famines, floods, brave soldiers and foolish rulers.\n\nWithout Kalhana, we would know very little about Lalitaditya, Avantivarman, Suyya, Queen Didda or Harsha. Later historians Jonaraja and Shrivara continued his work, and the Rajatarangini was translated into Persian in the Mughal era and into English by M.A. Stein in 1900. It is a treasure Kashmiris can be proud of: our ancestors wrote their own story down.","didYouKnow":"Kalhana calls his book a 'river' — the Rajatarangini — because, like the Vitasta, the line of kings flows on and on.","keyWords":["Rajatarangini","history","Champaka","Aurel Stein","Sanskrit"]},{"id":"kota-rani","name":"Kota Rani","dates":"died 1339 CE","era":"Medieval","field":"Queen","oneLine":"The last Hindu ruler of Kashmir, whose fall opened the way to the Shah Mir Sultanate.","story":"Kota Rani lived in a turbulent time. In 1320, the Mongol raider Dulucha (Zulju) devastated Kashmir, and the weak king Suhadeva fled. Rinchana, a Buddhist prince from Ladakh who had taken refuge in Kashmir, seized power, married Kota Rani (the daughter of the commander Ramachandra), and later became a Muslim, known as Sultan Sadr-ud-Din. When Rinchana died, Kota married Udayanadeva, a relative of the old dynasty, and after his death she ruled in her own name.\n\nKota Rani is praised by the historian Jonaraja for her courage. When another invader, Achala, attacked, she organised the defence of Kashmir. But her greatest challenge came from within. Shah Mir, a minister who had come to Kashmir from outside and risen at court, was building his power. In 1339 he moved against her. Jonaraja's account says that, facing capture, Kota Rani took her own life rather than surrender; some later retellings add dramatic details. Shah Mir then became the first Sultan of Kashmir.\n\nAround Kota Rani, legends have grown — including one that she helped drain floods and built the Kutte Kol canal in Srinagar, which is said to be named after her. That link is a popular tradition rather than proven history.\n\nHer story marks the end of more than two thousand years of Hindu and Buddhist rule, and the beginning of the Sultanate.","didYouKnow":"The Kutte Kol, a canal in Srinagar, is popularly believed to carry Kota Rani's name.","keyWords":["Shah Mir","Rinchana","Sultanate","Jonaraja","queen"]},{"id":"lal-ded","name":"Lal Ded (Lalleshwari)","dates":"c. 1320–1392 (traditional dates)","era":"Medieval","field":"Mystic Poet","oneLine":"The beloved mystic whose short Kashmiri verses, the vakhs, are cherished by Pandits and Muslims alike.","story":"Every Kashmiri, Hindu or Muslim, grows up hearing Lal Ded's words. She is called Lalleshwari, Lalla Arifa and simply Lal Ded, 'Grandmother Lal'. Her vakhs, short four-line verses in old Kashmiri, are among the earliest poems in the Kashmiri language.\n\nAccording to tradition, she was born near Pampore to a Pandit family, married young into a family in Pandrethan, and was treated cruelly by her mother-in-law. A famous story says her mother-in-law put a stone on her plate and covered it with rice so she would look well-fed, and Lal Ded, when asked, said calmly that whether they killed a sheep or not, she would get only her stone. Unhappy, she left home, became a disciple of a Shaiva teacher named Sed Bayu (Siddha Srikantha), and wandered as a free spiritual seeker, singing her truths.\n\nHer vakhs speak of looking for God within yourself rather than in rituals and idols, of patience and self-discipline, and of Shiva being everywhere. One of her lines says that Shiva is present in every place, so do not separate Hindu from Muslim.\n\nSince her verses were passed on by memory for centuries, we cannot be sure which lines are exactly hers, and the details of her life are tradition, not documented history. But her spirit is certain: honest, brave and deeply spiritual. Nund Rishi, the great Muslim saint of Kashmir, is said to have revered her as a mother figure.","didYouKnow":"Many Kashmiri everyday sayings come from Lal Ded's vakhs, so people quote her without even knowing it.","keyWords":["vakh","mysticism","Shaivism","Kashmiri language","Nund Rishi"]},{"id":"shah-i-hamadan","name":"Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani (Shah-i-Hamadan)","dates":"1314–1384","era":"Sultanate & Mughal","field":"Sufi Scholar","oneLine":"Persian Sufi teacher whose visits to Kashmir shaped its Islamic culture and, by tradition, its crafts.","story":"Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani was a Sufi scholar from Hamadan in Persia. He came to Kashmir in the 1370s and 1380s, during the early Sultanate, with a group of followers. Kashmiri Muslims revere him as Shah-i-Hamadan and Amir-i-Kabir, and he is regarded as one of the most important figures in the spread of Islam in the valley.\n\nThe Khanqah-e-Moula, a beautiful wooden mosque and shrine on the bank of the Jhelum in Srinagar, is named after him, though it was built after his time. It is one of the finest examples of Kashmiri wooden architecture. Kashmiri Pandits also have a tradition connected with the site: many believe it stands where an ancient shrine of the goddess Kali once stood, and some Pandits used to offer worship at a stone on its outer wall. This is a community belief, handed down orally.\n\nKashmiri tradition also credits Shah-i-Hamadan and the craftsmen who came with him with bringing or encouraging Persian crafts such as shawl weaving and fine textile work. Historians say the story is probably simplified — crafts developed over a long time — but Persian influence on Kashmiri art is real.\n\nFor a heritage app for Pandit families, he matters because Kashmir's story is shared: Pandits and Muslims have lived side by side for centuries, sometimes in harmony and sometimes in pain.","didYouKnow":"The Khanqah-e-Moula has been rebuilt more than once after fires, but it keeps the traditional Kashmiri style of layered wooden roofs.","keyWords":["Sufism","Khanqah-e-Moula","Persian influence","crafts","shared heritage"]},{"id":"nund-rishi","name":"Nund Rishi (Sheikh Nooruddin Wali)","dates":"1377–1438 (traditional dates)","era":"Sultanate & Mughal","field":"Mystic Poet & Saint","oneLine":"Kashmir's patron saint, founder of the Rishi order, loved by Muslims and Pandits alike.","story":"Nund Rishi, also called Sheikh Nooruddin Wali and Alamdar-e-Kashmir ('Flag-bearer of Kashmir'), was born in Kaimoh village near Kulgam. He is regarded as the founder of the Rishi order, a gentle Kashmiri Sufi tradition known for simple living, vegetarianism, planting trees, and kindness to all creatures.\n\nA much-loved traditional story links him to Lal Ded. It is said that as a newborn he would not take his mother's milk, until Lal Ded came, fed him, and told him that since he had not been ashamed to be born, he should not be ashamed to feed. Whether or not this happened, it shows how Kashmiris have always seen these two saints as spiritually connected.\n\nNund Rishi composed shruks, short Kashmiri verses full of wisdom about honesty, humility and God. One of his best-known lines says 'Ann poshi teli yeli wan poshi', meaning 'Food will last only as long as the forests last' — an environmental message six hundred years ahead of its time.\n\nHis shrine at Chrar-e-Sharief was a place of pilgrimage for people of all faiths. It was burnt down during a militant siege in 1995 and later rebuilt. Kashmiri Pandits call him Sahazanand, and many families visited his shrine. Nund Rishi stands for the best of Kashmir's shared spirit, often called Kashmiriyat.","didYouKnow":"Nund Rishi's line about food lasting only as long as forests do is displayed on signs by the Jammu and Kashmir forest department.","keyWords":["Rishi order","shruk","Chrar-e-Sharief","Kashmiriyat","Lal Ded"]},{"id":"zain-ul-abidin","name":"Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin (Budshah)","dates":"reigned 1418–1419 and 1420–1470","era":"Sultanate & Mughal","field":"King","oneLine":"The 'Great King' who welcomed Pandits back, protected all faiths and brought new crafts to Kashmir.","story":"Zain-ul-Abidin is remembered by Kashmiris of every faith as Budshah, 'the Great King'. He came to the throne after the reign of his father, Sultan Sikandar, during which temples had been destroyed and many Pandits had been forced to convert, flee, or face death.\n\nBudshah changed course. He invited Pandits who had fled to return, allowed temples to be repaired, removed the jizya tax on non-Muslims, and appointed Pandits to high posts. A well-loved tradition says a Pandit physician, Shri Bhatt, cured the king of a dangerous illness, and when offered a reward, asked only that his community be allowed to live and worship freely. The details are traditional, but Shri Bhatt is mentioned in the chronicles as a physician and official.\n\nHe loved learning. He had Sanskrit works such as the Mahabharata and Kalhana's Rajatarangini translated into Persian, and supported the historians Jonaraja and Shrivara, who wrote about his reign. He is also credited with encouraging crafts like papier-mâché, carpet weaving and bookbinding, by bringing skilled workers from Central Asia. He built Zaina Kadal bridge in Srinagar and the artificial island of Zaina Lank in Wular Lake.\n\nFor Kashmiri Pandits, Budshah remains a symbol of what a just ruler can do: heal wounds and let every community flourish.","didYouKnow":"The Zaina Kadal bridge in Srinagar, the fourth of the old bridges over the Jhelum, carries his name.","keyWords":["Budshah","tolerance","crafts","Zaina Kadal","Shri Bhatt"]},{"id":"jonaraja","name":"Jonaraja","dates":"died 1459","era":"Sultanate & Mughal","field":"Historian & Scholar","oneLine":"Continued Kalhana's Rajatarangini, recording Kashmir's history into the Sultanate period.","story":"Kalhana's Rajatarangini ended in 1149–50. Nearly three hundred years later, a Pandit scholar named Jonaraja picked up the story. Under the patronage of Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin, he wrote the Dvitiya Rajatarangini, 'the Second River of Kings', covering the period from Kalhana's time to his own.\n\nJonaraja's work is our main Sanskrit source for some of the most important events in Kashmiri history: the Mongol raid of Dulucha in 1320, the reign of Rinchana, the fall of Kota Rani, the rise of Shah Mir, and the harsh reign of Sultan Sikandar, when temples were destroyed and Pandits persecuted. He then describes the early years of Zain-ul-Abidin, whom he praises for restoring peace.\n\nJonaraja was also a respected commentator on classical Sanskrit poems, such as the Kiratarjuniya of Bharavi and the Prithvirajavijaya, a poem about the Chauhan king Prithviraj. His commentary on the Prithvirajavijaya is especially valuable because the poem survives only in a single damaged manuscript found in Kashmir.\n\nHe died in 1459 before finishing his history, and his student Shrivara continued it. Thanks to this chain of writers — Kalhana, Jonaraja, Shrivara and Prajyabhatta — Kashmir has one of the longest continuous written histories in South Asia.","didYouKnow":"The only surviving manuscript of the Prithvirajavijaya, a poem about Prithviraj Chauhan, was found in Kashmir with Jonaraja's commentary.","keyWords":["Rajatarangini","Sultanate","Zain-ul-Abidin","history","Prithvirajavijaya"]},{"id":"shrivara","name":"Shrivara","dates":"15th century","era":"Sultanate & Mughal","field":"Historian, Poet & Musician","oneLine":"Jonaraja's student who continued the Rajatarangini and translated a Persian love story into Sanskrit.","story":"Shrivara was a student of Jonaraja and a courtier of Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin. When his teacher died, he took up the family business of Kashmiri history-writing and composed the Jaina Rajatarangini ('Jaina' after Zain), covering the years from 1459 to 1486.\n\nShrivara saw many events himself, so his history is lively and personal. He describes the last years of Budshah, the quarrels among his sons after his death, and the troubles that followed. He writes admiringly of the Sultan's love of music, festivals, and learning, and he also records floods, famines, and fires.\n\nShrivara was a musician too, and he describes performances at court. One of his most interesting works is the Kathakautuka, a Sanskrit retelling of the Persian poet Jami's romance of Yusuf and Zulaikha. This is a fine example of Kashmir's mixed culture in the Sultanate period: a Pandit scholar turning a Persian Muslim poem into Sanskrit verse for a Kashmiri audience. They were administrators, scholars and artists who helped shape the culture of the Sultanate court. Many Pandits learned Persian at this time and became known for it for centuries afterwards.","didYouKnow":"Shrivara translated a Persian romance, Yusuf and Zulaikha, into Sanskrit — a rare cross-cultural book.","keyWords":["Jaina Rajatarangini","Kathakautuka","Persian","music","history"]},{"id":"habba-khatun","name":"Habba Khatun","dates":"16th century (traditional)","era":"Sultanate & Mughal","field":"Poet & Singer","oneLine":"The 'Nightingale of Kashmir', whose songs of love and separation are still sung across the valley.","story":"Habba Khatun is one of Kashmir's most romantic figures. According to tradition, she was born as Zoon ('moon') in the village of Chandhara near Pampore. She was a peasant girl with a beautiful voice, unhappily married at first. One day, the story goes, Prince Yusuf Shah Chak heard her singing in a saffron field, fell in love, and married her. She took the name Habba Khatun.\n\nYusuf Shah became Sultan of Kashmir, but in 1586 the Mughal emperor Akbar's forces took over Kashmir, and Yusuf Shah was taken away and kept in exile in Bihar, where he died. Habba Khatun, left behind, is said to have wandered the valley singing songs of longing for her lost husband. These songs, in the lol form of Kashmiri lyric, are about love, separation and waiting.\n\nIt is honest to say that Persian histories of the time do not mention her clearly, and some scholars think much of her life story grew in later centuries. But the songs attributed to her are real and loved, and they changed Kashmiri poetry by giving a woman's personal voice to love and grief.\n\nA peak near Gurez, Habba Khatun Peak, is named after her. Her songs are sung at weddings and on radio, and many Pandit grandparents know them by heart.","didYouKnow":"A pyramid-shaped mountain in Gurez valley is called Habba Khatun Peak, after the poet.","keyWords":["lol","Yusuf Shah Chak","songs","Pampore","Gurez"]},{"id":"rupa-bhawani","name":"Rupa Bhawani (Alakheshwari)","dates":"1621–1721 (traditional dates)","era":"Sultanate & Mughal","field":"Mystic Poet & Saint","oneLine":"The Pandit woman saint whose vakhs and devotion are remembered every year on Sahib Saptami.","story":"Rupa Bhawani was born in Srinagar into the family of Pandit Madhav Joo Dhar, who was himself a devotee of the goddess. Tradition says her father became her first spiritual teacher. She was married young into the Sapru family, but the marriage was unhappy and her in-laws did not understand her spiritual nature.\n\nShe eventually left household life to follow a path of meditation, spending long years in places such as Vasakur and Manigam, and at the Sharika shrine at Hari Parbat. She became known as Alakheshwari, 'the goddess of the unseen', and people of all backgrounds, including Muslim Sufis, came to respect her. Many Pandit families, especially the Dhars, consider her their spiritual ancestor.\n\nLike Lal Ded, she expressed her experience in vakhs, short Kashmiri verses mixing Shaiva ideas with Sufi-like language. Her verses are more difficult than Lal Ded's, and scholars debate how many of the surviving lines are hers.\n\nKashmiri Pandits remember her every year on Sahib Saptami, when devotees gather and offer a simple meal. Her followers maintain shrines and ashrams dedicated to her, and after 1990 new ones were set up in Jammu and elsewhere. She shows that Kashmiri Pandit women have been spiritual leaders, not just followers.","didYouKnow":"Rupa Bhawani's annual remembrance day is called Sahib Saptami, and it is still marked by Pandit families across the diaspora.","keyWords":["Alakheshwari","vakh","Sahib Saptami","Dhar","saint"]},{"id":"rishi-peer","name":"Rishi Peer","dates":"1637–1697","era":"Sultanate & Mughal","field":"Saint","oneLine":"The Pandit saint of Ali Kadal, known as 'Peer Pandit Padshah', who comforted Kashmiris in Aurangzeb's time.","story":"Rishi Peer was born in 1637 into the family of Pandit Govind Kaul, who lived in Batayar Mohalla near Ali Kadal in Srinagar. According to family tradition, he was born while his mother was travelling, near Sopore. From childhood he showed little interest in ordinary schooling and a great deal in prayer and meditation.\n\nHe became a disciple of a saint known as Mastana, identified in tradition with Pandit Krishna Kar. After long years of meditation and a very simple life, Rishi Peer became famous as a holy man who helped anyone who came to him, whatever their religion. Many stories of miracles are told about him — of healing the sick and helping people in trouble. These are devotional stories, cherished by believers.\n\nHe lived during the Mughal period, including the reign of Aurangzeb, when some Mughal governors made life hard for Pandits. For the community, Rishi Peer was a source of courage. People of the valley, Muslims included, called him 'Peer Pandit Padshah', and a Kashmiri saying calls him the one who makes difficult things easy.\n\nHis home in Ali Kadal became a shrine, and his anniversary is still observed by devotees. His life is a good example of how the words 'Rishi' and 'Peer' — Hindu and Sufi terms for a holy person — meet in Kashmir.","didYouKnow":"His title 'Peer Pandit Padshah' combines a Sufi word (Peer), a Pandit word and a Persian royal word (Padshah).","keyWords":["Ali Kadal","saint","Mughal era","Batayar","devotion"]},{"id":"raj-kaul","name":"Pandit Raj Kaul","dates":"early 18th century","era":"Sultanate & Mughal","field":"Scholar","oneLine":"The Kashmiri scholar whose move to Delhi around 1716 began the Nehru family's story.","story":"The story of India's most famous political family begins with a Kashmiri Pandit scholar called Raj Kaul. Jawaharlal Nehru tells it in his Autobiography: Raj Kaul was a Sanskrit and Persian scholar who came to the notice of the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar when the emperor visited Kashmir. Around 1716, at the emperor's invitation, the family moved to Delhi.\n\nRaj Kaul was granted a house and some land, a jagir, on the bank of a canal (nahar). Because they lived by the canal, the family became known as 'Kaul-Nehru', and later simply as 'Nehru'. Over time, the Kaul part was dropped.\n\nThis account comes from family tradition as recorded by Jawaharlal Nehru; historians have no separate document for every detail, but there is no reason to doubt the outline. The family later lost much of its property during the troubled years of the Mughal decline and the 1857 revolt, and eventually settled in Allahabad.\n\nRaj Kaul's journey is also part of a bigger pattern. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many Kashmiri Pandit families moved to Delhi, Lahore, Lucknow, Agra and Allahabad, working as scholars, clerks and administrators because of their skill in Persian. These families kept their Kashmiri identity, surnames and customs for generations. The Nehrus are the most famous example of this early diaspora.","didYouKnow":"The surname 'Nehru' comes from 'nahar', the Persian-Urdu word for canal.","keyWords":["Nehru","Farrukhsiyar","Delhi","diaspora","Persian"]},{"id":"arnimal","name":"Arnimal","dates":"18th century (exact dates uncertain)","era":"Sultanate & Mughal","field":"Poet","oneLine":"Kashmiri Pandit poet of longing whose vatsun songs are among the most loved in the language.","story":"Arnimal was a Kashmiri Pandit woman who lived in the 18th century. She is traditionally said to have been born in the village of Palhalan and to have married Munshi Bhawani Das Kachru, a Persian scholar and poet of Rainawari who served at the court of the Afghan governors.\n\nThe story passed down is a sad one. Her husband grew distant and neglected her, and she went back to live with her parents, waiting for him to return. Out of that loneliness came her songs. She wrote in the vatsun form, a Kashmiri lyric with a refrain, and her songs are full of longing, with images of nature — flowers, rivers, spinning wheels — that make them easy to sing and remember.\n\nMuch of this is oral tradition, and the dates given for her life vary between sources, so it is best to say she lived in the 18th century. What is not in doubt is her place in literature. Kashmiri scholars rank her with Habba Khatun as one of the greatest voices of the love lyric, and she is one of the few Kashmiri Pandit women poets of that era whose name has survived.\n\nHer name is a lovely Kashmiri one: 'Arni' is a wild flower, the hollyhock, so Arnimal is often read as 'garland of wild flowers'.","didYouKnow":"'Arin' or 'Arni' is the Kashmiri name of a wild flower (hollyhock), which gives the poet her lovely name.","keyWords":["vatsun","love lyric","Palhalan","Kachru","women poets"]},{"id":"birbal-dhar","name":"Pandit Birbal Dhar","dates":"late 18th – early 19th century","era":"Sultanate & Mughal","field":"Statesman","oneLine":"The Pandit official who risked everything to invite Maharaja Ranjit Singh to free Kashmir from Afghan rule.","story":"From 1753 to 1819, Kashmir was ruled by Afghan governors from Kabul. This period is remembered in Kashmiri memory as one of the harshest times for all Kashmiris, and especially for Pandits, who faced heavy taxes, humiliation and violence. Some governors were known for their cruelty.\n\nPandit Birbal Dhar was a revenue official under the Afghan governor Azim Khan. According to widely told accounts, he decided that the only hope was to appeal to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Sikh ruler of the Punjab. With his son Raja Kak, he escaped the valley secretly and made his way to Lahore to ask Ranjit Singh to invade.\n\nThe accounts say his family paid a terrible price while he was away: his wife and daughter-in-law suffered at the hands of the governor's men. These details come mainly from later Pandit and Sikh-era tellings and vary in detail, but his role in going to Lahore is well established.\n\nIn 1819, Sikh forces entered Kashmir and defeated the Afghan army, and Birbal Dhar accompanied them. Kashmir became part of the Sikh empire. Although Sikh rule brought its own difficulties, many Pandits remembered the end of Afghan rule as a liberation, and Birbal Dhar as a brave man who put his community above his own safety.","didYouKnow":"A popular Kashmiri saying of the time lists the Afghan era as the worst of all rules the valley had seen.","keyWords":["Afghan rule","Ranjit Singh","1819","Sikh empire","courage"]},{"id":"daya-shankar-kaul-nasim","name":"Pandit Daya Shankar Kaul 'Nasim'","dates":"1811–1843","era":"Sultanate & Mughal","field":"Urdu Poet","oneLine":"Lucknow-based Kashmiri Pandit poet whose Gulzar-e-Nasim is a classic of Urdu literature.","story":"Pandit Daya Shankar Kaul, who wrote under the pen name 'Nasim' (gentle breeze), belonged to a Kashmiri Pandit family settled in Lucknow, the cultural capital of Awadh. He was a pupil of the famous Urdu poet Khwaja Haidar Ali Atish.\n\nHis masterpiece is the Gulzar-e-Nasim, a long narrative poem (masnavi) that retells the fairy tale of Gul-e-Bakawali, about a prince who goes on a quest for a magical flower that can cure his father's blindness. Nasim told the story in tight, clever, musical verses, and it quickly became one of the most famous masnavis in Urdu. Students of Urdu literature still read it.\n\nThe poem even caused a famous literary debate in the early twentieth century, when the poet Brij Narayan Chakbast, another Kashmiri Pandit, defended Nasim's work against a critic, Abdul Halim Sharar. That debate is known as the 'Maarka-e-Chakbast-o-Sharar'. In Lucknow, Delhi and Lahore, they were known for their poetry, scholarship and fine manners, while still keeping their Kashmiri customs at home. He died young, around the age of thirty-two.","didYouKnow":"Gulzar-e-Nasim was so popular that it was printed and reprinted many times in the 19th century and taught in schools.","keyWords":["Urdu","Lucknow","masnavi","Gul-e-Bakawali","diaspora"]},{"id":"gulab-singh","name":"Maharaja Gulab Singh","dates":"1792–1857","era":"Dogra","field":"King","oneLine":"The Dogra founder of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir under the Treaty of Amritsar, 1846.","story":"Gulab Singh was a Dogra Rajput from Jammu who rose to power in the service of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh empire. Ranjit Singh made him Raja of Jammu in 1822. Gulab Singh was a skilled soldier and a shrewd politician, and his general Zorawar Singh led famous campaigns into Ladakh and Baltistan.\n\nAfter Ranjit Singh's death, the Sikh empire weakened and fought the British in the First Anglo-Sikh War. When the war ended in 1846, the British took Kashmir from the Sikhs, and through the Treaty of Amritsar (16 March 1846) they transferred it to Gulab Singh for 75 lakh Nanakshahi rupees. This created the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, ruled by the Dogra dynasty until 1947.\n\nMany Kashmiris have long resented the idea that their land and people were 'sold', and the treaty is still discussed critically. At the same time, the Dogra period brought a more settled administration, and many Kashmiri Pandits served in the state government, education and revenue offices.\n\nFor Pandit families, the Dogra era is remembered in mixed ways: a time of relative security and Hindu rulers, but also of poverty for most Kashmiris of all faiths, heavy taxes on peasants, and unequal treatment. Gulab Singh's story helps us understand how modern Jammu and Kashmir came into being.","didYouKnow":"The Treaty of Amritsar that created the state had just ten articles.","keyWords":["Treaty of Amritsar","1846","Dogra","Jammu","princely state"]},{"id":"parmanand","name":"Parmanand","dates":"1791–1879","era":"Dogra","field":"Poet & Mystic","oneLine":"The village record-keeper of Mattan who became Kashmir's great devotional poet of Krishna and Shiva.","story":"Parmanand was born in Seer, near Mattan in south Kashmir. By day he worked as a patwari, a village revenue official who kept land records. But his real life was poetry and devotion. He is one of the most important Kashmiri Pandit poets of the 19th century.\n\nParmanand wrote long devotional poems in Kashmiri, called leelas, about Radha and Krishna and about Shiva. His works include Radha Swayamvar, Sudama Charit and Shiva Lagun (the wedding of Shiva). He used the everyday Kashmiri language of farmers and villagers, and images from their life, to talk about deep spiritual ideas. In Sudama Charit, the story of Krishna's poor friend Sudama, many readers see Parmanand's own simple life reflected.\n\nHe also wrote about his work life with humour, turning his job as a patwari into a spiritual metaphor: the body is the field, and one should keep honest accounts with God.\n\nHis leelas were sung at family gatherings, festivals and bhajan sessions in Pandit homes for generations.","didYouKnow":"Parmanand kept village land records by profession — and wrote poems comparing spiritual life to keeping honest land accounts.","keyWords":["leela","Mattan","Krishna","Shiva Lagun","devotional poetry"]},{"id":"krishna-joo-razdan","name":"Krishna Joo Razdan","dates":"1850–1926","era":"Dogra","field":"Devotional Poet","oneLine":"Beloved composer of Kashmiri leelas to Shiva, still sung at Pandit gatherings and festivals.","story":"Krishna Joo Razdan was born in Wanpoh in south Kashmir. He is one of the best-loved Kashmiri devotional poets, and many of the bhajans sung in Pandit homes today, especially at Herath and other festivals, are his.\n\nRazdan wrote leelas, devotional songs, mostly addressed to Shiva, but also to the goddess and to Krishna. His best-known work is Shiv Parinay, a long poem on the marriage of Shiva and Parvati, told with the warmth and detail of a Kashmiri wedding. His songs are full of love, gentle humour and devotion, and they use simple Kashmiri that ordinary people understand.\n\nHe lived a simple life and was known for his personal devotion; tradition says he spent much time in worship and in composing songs. His works were collected and printed, and they have been sung by generations of singers at Pandit gatherings.\n\nFor diaspora families, singing a Razdan leela is one of the easiest ways to connect with Kashmiri language and faith. Even children who don't speak much Kashmiri often learn the tunes from grandparents. When you hear a room full of people singing to Shiva on Herath night, there is a good chance Krishna Joo Razdan wrote the words.","didYouKnow":"Razdan's Shiv Parinay describes Shiva's wedding as if it were a Kashmiri Pandit wedding, with local customs and foods.","keyWords":["leela","Shiv Parinay","Wanpoh","bhajan","Herath"]},{"id":"ratan-nath-dhar-sarshar","name":"Ratan Nath Dhar 'Sarshar'","dates":"1846–1903","era":"Dogra","field":"Novelist","oneLine":"Kashmiri Pandit of Lucknow who wrote Fasana-e-Azad, a founding work of the Urdu novel.","story":"Ratan Nath Dhar, known by his pen name 'Sarshar', was born in Lucknow into a Kashmiri Pandit family that had settled there. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Urdu novel.\n\nHis most famous work is Fasana-e-Azad, 'The Tale of Azad'. It first appeared in instalments in the newspaper Awadh Akhbar from 1878, and readers eagerly waited for each new part. The book follows Azad, a restless young hero, and his comic servant Khoji, through adventures in Lucknow and beyond. It gives a funny, vivid picture of Lucknow society — its nawabs, poets, cooks, gamblers and street characters — and of the changes brought by British rule.\n\nFasana-e-Azad is often compared with Don Quixote, and it influenced many later Urdu writers. Sarshar also translated works and wrote other novels, such as Sair-e-Kohsar.\n\nSarshar edited the Awadh Akhbar and later worked in Hyderabad. His life shows how Kashmiri Pandit families living outside Kashmir made important contributions to the culture of their new homes. At the same time, they kept Kashmiri surnames like Dhar, married within the community and kept many customs — something diaspora Pandits today will recognise.","didYouKnow":"Fasana-e-Azad was published in newspaper instalments, a bit like a TV series today, with readers waiting for each episode.","keyWords":["Urdu novel","Fasana-e-Azad","Lucknow","Awadh Akhbar","Khoji"]},{"id":"brij-narayan-chakbast","name":"Brij Narayan Chakbast","dates":"1882–1926","era":"Dogra","field":"Urdu Poet","oneLine":"Kashmiri Pandit poet of Lucknow whose patriotic Urdu verse inspired India's freedom movement.","story":"Brij Narayan Chakbast was born in Faizabad and grew up in Lucknow in a Kashmiri Pandit family. He trained as a lawyer, but he is remembered as one of the finest Urdu poets of the early twentieth century.\n\nChakbast wrote about love of country at a time when India was under British rule. His poems spoke of freedom, social reform, the dignity of labour, and national unity. His collection Subh-e-Watan ('Dawn of the Nation') brought many of these poems together. His famous verse 'Ramayan ka ek Scene' movingly describes Rama saying farewell to his mother before going into exile.\n\nChakbast also took part in literary debates and, as a Kashmiri Pandit, cared deeply about his community's customs and reform. He famously defended the poet Daya Shankar Kaul Nasim's Gulzar-e-Nasim against critics.\n\nOne of his lines is often quoted: life is only the order of elements, and death is their falling apart. He died suddenly in 1926, collapsing at a railway station in Rae Bareli, at just forty-four.\n\nChakbast shows how Kashmiri Pandits in the plains became part of India's national awakening, a path that later led to figures like Tej Bahadur Sapru and the Nehrus.","didYouKnow":"The surname Chakbast is a Kashmiri Pandit family name, one of many unusual surnames that the community carried into north India.","keyWords":["Urdu poetry","patriotism","Lucknow","Subh-e-Watan","freedom movement"]},{"id":"maharaja-hari-singh","name":"Maharaja Hari Singh","dates":"1895–1961","era":"Dogra","field":"King","oneLine":"Last ruling Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, who signed the Instrument of Accession to India in 1947.","story":"Hari Singh became Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir in 1925. He began with reforming ideas: he is credited with making primary education compulsory, passing laws against child marriage, and in the 1930s opening temples to people of all castes.\n\nBut his reign was also a time of unrest. In 1931, protests against his rule, led largely by Kashmiri Muslims who felt excluded and poor, grew into a political movement. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah emerged as its leader. In 1945–47 his Prime Minister was a Kashmiri Pandit, Ram Chandra Kak.\n\nIn 1947, when the British left India, rulers of princely states were asked to join India or Pakistan. Hari Singh hesitated, hoping for independence. In October 1947, armed tribesmen from Pakistan invaded the state. On 26 October 1947 Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession to India, and Indian troops were flown into Srinagar. The war that followed left the former state divided, a dispute that continues.\n\nHari Singh left Kashmir in 1949, and his son Karan Singh became regent. He spent his last years in Bombay, where he died in 1961. As he wished, his ashes were brought back and scattered in Jammu and Kashmir. His story is complicated, and people judge him in very different ways, but it is central to understanding the Kashmir of today.","didYouKnow":"The Instrument of Accession Hari Singh signed was the same standard form used by hundreds of other princely states.","keyWords":["1947","Instrument of Accession","Dogra","Karan Singh","princely state"]},{"id":"master-zinda-kaul","name":"Master Zinda Kaul","dates":"1884–1966","era":"Dogra","field":"Poet & Teacher","oneLine":"Teacher-poet whose collection Sumran won the first Sahitya Akademi Award for Kashmiri.","story":"Zinda Kaul was born in Srinagar and spent much of his early life as a schoolteacher, which is why everyone called him 'Master-ji'. He later worked in government offices, but teaching and poetry were his true calling.\n\nHe wrote in Persian, Urdu and Hindi, but his most famous work is in Kashmiri. His collection Sumran ('Remembrance' or 'Rosary') is a book of devotional and philosophical poems in simple, heartfelt Kashmiri. In 1956 it won the Sahitya Akademi Award, making Master Zinda Kaul the first writer honoured by India's national academy of letters for work in the Kashmiri language.\n\nHis poems speak of God, the soul, honesty and human kindness. They are influenced by Kashmir Shaivism, Lal Ded's vakhs, and the Bhakti tradition. He was also known for his humility and gentleness — the kind of person students remember for life.\n\nIn a time when Urdu and Persian were seen as the languages of 'serious' writing, Master Zinda Kaul helped show that Kashmiri itself could carry deep spiritual poetry. He is a good figure for young people in the diaspora who wonder whether their home language matters: for him, it did, and it helped keep the soul of a culture alive.","didYouKnow":"'Master-ji' was a nickname from his years as a schoolteacher, and it stuck even after he became a famous poet.","keyWords":["Sumran","Sahitya Akademi","Kashmiri language","teacher","devotion"]},{"id":"mahjoor","name":"Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor","dates":"1887–1952","era":"Dogra","field":"Poet","oneLine":"The 'Poet of Kashmir' who brought nature, freedom and everyday life into modern Kashmiri poetry.","story":"Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor was born in Mitrigam in Pulwama district. Like Parmanand a century earlier, he worked as a patwari, a village revenue official, and he spent his life among ordinary villagers — which you can hear in his poetry.\n\nMahjoor is often called the father of modern Kashmiri poetry. Before him, Kashmiri poetry was mostly mystical or religious, and Persian was the language of prestige. Mahjoor wrote about the beauty of Kashmir's hills, fields and flowers, about farmers and boatmen, about love, and about the need for Kashmiris to wake up and work for their freedom and dignity. His poems were set to music and became hugely popular.\n\nHe also wrote about unity between Hindus and Muslims of Kashmir. In several poems he urges the Hindus and Muslims of Kashmir to see themselves as one people and to work together to make their homeland flourish.\n\nMahjoor's village home in Mitrigam is remembered, and his grave is in Srinagar. He helped create a proud sense of Kashmiri identity that belongs to everyone who calls the valley home — which is why he appears in a Kashmiri Pandit heritage collection.","didYouKnow":"Mahjoor's poems were so loved that many became folk songs, sung by people who did not know who had written them.","keyWords":["modern Kashmiri poetry","nature","Pulwama","Kashmiriyat","songs"]},{"id":"ram-chandra-kak","name":"Pandit Ram Chandra Kak","dates":"1893–1983","era":"Dogra","field":"Archaeologist & Prime Minister","oneLine":"Kashmiri Pandit archaeologist who became Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in 1945–47.","story":"Ram Chandra Kak was born in Srinagar and became one of the first Kashmiris trained in modern archaeology. He worked for the state's archaeology department and excavated important sites in Kashmir. His book Ancient Monuments of Kashmir (1933) is still used today by anyone studying the temples of Martand, Avantipora, Pandrethan and Parihaspora.\n\nKak rose through the state's administration and in 1945 was appointed Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir by Maharaja Hari Singh — the first and only Kashmiri Pandit to hold that office under the Maharaja. He served during the critical years before Indian independence.\n\nHis time in office was controversial. He was seen as favouring independence for Jammu and Kashmir rather than joining India or Pakistan, and he was strongly opposed to Sheikh Abdullah's Quit Kashmir movement, during which Sheikh Abdullah was arrested. In August 1947, just before independence, the Maharaja dismissed him, and he was later placed under arrest for some time.\n\nKak spent many of his later years outside Kashmir. Historians still debate his political role, but his scholarly contribution is not in doubt: his careful work helped preserve knowledge of Kashmir's ancient heritage. For young people, he is an example of a Kashmiri Pandit who was both a scholar and a statesman at a turning point in history.","didYouKnow":"His 1933 book 'Ancient Monuments of Kashmir' is still quoted in guidebooks and research on Kashmir's temples.","keyWords":["archaeology","Ancient Monuments of Kashmir","Prime Minister","1947","Hari Singh"]},{"id":"kashyap-bandhu","name":"Kashyap Bandhu","dates":"1899–1985","era":"Dogra","field":"Social Reformer & Journalist","oneLine":"'Bulbul-e-Kashmir' who fought for widow remarriage, girls' education and simpler weddings.","story":"Kashyap Bandhu was born Tara Chand in 1899. As a young man he went to Lahore, came under the influence of the Arya Samaj reform movement, and was given the name Kashyap Bandhu — 'brother of Kashyap's land', a reference to the sage Kashyap of the Kashmir origin legend.\n\nReturning to Kashmir in 1931, he worked with Prem Nath Bazaz, Shiv Narain Fotedar and Jia Lal Kilam in organising Pandit youth. He took part in the Roti Agitation of 1933–34, when Pandits protested against high food prices and unemployment. He was a journalist and editor, and he joined the wider political movement in Kashmir, working alongside Sheikh Abdullah's National Conference.\n\nHis most lasting work was social reform within the Kashmiri Pandit community. He campaigned for widows to be allowed to remarry, for girls to go to school, and for weddings to be simpler and less expensive, so families would not fall into debt. These ideas were controversial at the time, and he faced opposition from conservative members of the community.\n\nPeople called him 'Bulbul-e-Kashmir', the nightingale of Kashmir, for his powerful speeches. Many changes that Pandit families now take for granted — educated daughters, remarriage without shame — owe something to reformers like him.","didYouKnow":"His name, Kashyap Bandhu, was a title given by Arya Samaj leaders in Lahore; he was born Tara Chand.","keyWords":["social reform","widow remarriage","education","Roti Agitation","journalism"]},{"id":"bhagwan-gopinath","name":"Bhagwaan Gopinath Ji","dates":"1898–1968","era":"Dogra","field":"Saint","oneLine":"Srinagar mystic, born Gopinath Bhan, revered by Kashmiri Pandits as a living saint.","story":"Bhagwaan Gopinath Ji was born Gopinath Bhan on 1 July 1898 in Bhan Mohalla, Srinagar. He lost his mother at twelve and his father in his late twenties. He worked for a time in ordinary jobs, but from a young age he was drawn to meditation and devotion to the goddess and to Shiva.\n\nHe went through long periods of intense spiritual practice, often staying silent, living simply and eating very little. Over time, people came to see him as a jivanmukta, someone liberated while still living. Devotees began calling him 'Bhagwaan' in the 1940s and 1950s. He did not give formal lectures or write books; people simply came to sit with him, and many describe feeling peace in his presence. He was known for his devotion to the goddess Sharika of Hari Parbat.\n\nHis ashram at Kharyar, near Habba Kadal in Srinagar, became a centre of devotion. After 1990, his followers set up ashrams in Jammu, Delhi, Bangalore and elsewhere, and his birthday is celebrated each year by Pandit families around the world.\n\nIn 1998, for his birth centenary, the Government of India issued a postage stamp in his honour. For many Pandit families, his photograph sits in the prayer room alongside the family gods.","didYouKnow":"India Post issued a stamp for his birth centenary on 3 July 1998.","keyWords":["saint","Kharyar","Srinagar","ashram","devotion"]},{"id":"swami-lakshmanjoo","name":"Swami Lakshmanjoo","dates":"1907–1991","era":"Modern","field":"Philosopher & Saint","oneLine":"The last great living master of Kashmir Shaivism, who taught its thousand-year-old texts to the world.","story":"Swami Lakshmanjoo was born in Srinagar in 1907 into a Kashmiri Pandit family. From childhood he was drawn to meditation, and he studied the texts of Kashmir Shaivism under traditional teachers, learning them in the old way — line by line, from teacher to student.\n\nBy the twentieth century, very few people could still read and explain the difficult works of Vasugupta, Utpaladeva, Abhinavagupta and Kshemaraja. Swami Lakshmanjoo was one of the last who knew the living oral tradition that goes with them. He lived simply at his ashram at Ishber, near Nishat on the edge of the Dal Lake, where he taught, meditated and looked after his garden.\n\nScholars and seekers came to him from India, Europe and America. With their help, his teachings on the Shiva Sutras, the Vijnana Bhairava, the Tantraloka and other texts were recorded and translated into English. Because of him, universities around the world now study Kashmir Shaivism with a direct link to its source.\n\nHe was known for his gentle humour and his insistence that philosophy must be lived, not just read. He passed away in 1991. His birthday is still celebrated by devotees in India and abroad, and his recorded lectures are available to anyone who wants to listen.","didYouKnow":"Many of Swami Lakshmanjoo's lectures were audio-recorded in English, so you can still hear him explaining Kashmir Shaivism in his own voice.","keyWords":["Kashmir Shaivism","Ishber","teacher","Tantraloka","Shiva Sutras"]},{"id":"motilal-nehru","name":"Motilal Nehru","dates":"1861–1931","era":"Modern","field":"Lawyer & Freedom Fighter","oneLine":"Leading Allahabad lawyer of Kashmiri Pandit descent who gave up luxury for India's freedom struggle.","story":"Motilal Nehru was born in Agra into the Kashmiri Pandit family descended from Raj Kaul. His father had died shortly before his birth, and he was raised by his elder brother. He became one of the most successful lawyers in India, based in Allahabad, and built a grand family home, Anand Bhawan.\n\nMotilal loved Western comforts — fine clothes, good food, English schools for his children. But after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 and under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi and his son Jawaharlal, he changed his life. He gave up his legal practice, adopted khadi, and joined the national movement. He was president of the Indian National Congress in 1919 and again in 1928.\n\nIn 1923 he co-founded the Swaraj Party with C.R. Das. In 1928 he chaired the committee that wrote the Nehru Report, one of the first Indian drafts of a constitution for a free India. He was jailed by the British and his health suffered; he died in 1931.\n\nHe donated Anand Bhawan's older building, renamed Swaraj Bhawan, to the Congress. The Nehru family remained proud of its Kashmiri Pandit roots, and Motilal spoke of his community's customs and traditions throughout his life.","didYouKnow":"The Nehru family home in Allahabad (Prayagraj), Anand Bhawan, is now a museum open to visitors.","keyWords":["Nehru Report","Swaraj Party","Allahabad","Anand Bhawan","freedom struggle"]},{"id":"jawaharlal-nehru","name":"Jawaharlal Nehru","dates":"1889–1964","era":"Modern","field":"Statesman & Writer","oneLine":"India's first Prime Minister, a Kashmiri Pandit by descent, known everywhere as 'Pandit-ji'.","story":"Jawaharlal Nehru was born in Allahabad, the son of Motilal Nehru. He studied at Harrow, Cambridge and the Inner Temple in England, and returned to India to become one of the leaders of the freedom movement alongside Mahatma Gandhi. He spent about nine years in British prisons.\n\nWhen India became independent on 15 August 1947, Nehru became its first Prime Minister and served until his death in 1964. His famous 'Tryst with Destiny' speech was given at midnight as India became free. He shaped modern India's democratic institutions, its science and industry, and its foreign policy of non-alignment. He is also remembered for decisions that are still debated, including his handling of Kashmir in 1947–48 and of China in 1962.\n\nNehru never forgot his Kashmiri Pandit roots. He was often called 'Pandit Nehru' or 'Panditji', and he wrote affectionately about Kashmir's beauty and about his ancestor Raj Kaul in his Autobiography.\n\nHe was also a gifted writer. The Discovery of India and Glimpses of World History (written as letters from prison to his daughter Indira) are still read today. Because he loved children, his birthday, 14 November, is celebrated in India as Children's Day.","didYouKnow":"'Glimpses of World History' began as letters Nehru wrote from prison to teach his teenage daughter, Indira.","keyWords":["Prime Minister","Tryst with Destiny","Discovery of India","Children's Day","freedom movement"]},{"id":"kamala-nehru","name":"Kamala Nehru","dates":"1899–1936","era":"Modern","field":"Freedom Fighter","oneLine":"Kashmiri Pandit woman from Delhi who became a brave leader of women in the freedom struggle.","story":"Kamala Nehru was born Kamala Kaul in Delhi, into a traditional Kashmiri Pandit family. At seventeen she married Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1916, in a Kashmiri-style wedding. She had grown up in a much more traditional home than the Westernised Nehrus, and at first she found life at Anand Bhawan difficult.\n\nBut Kamala found her own voice in the freedom movement. During the Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience movements, she organised women in Allahabad, led protests against shops selling foreign cloth and liquor, and was arrested by the British. At times when the male leaders were in prison, she stepped forward to lead.\n\nShe also set up a small dispensary at home to treat injured freedom fighters, which later grew into the Kamala Nehru Hospital in Allahabad.\n\nKamala suffered from tuberculosis for many years. In 1936 she died in a sanatorium in Lausanne, Switzerland, with Jawaharlal and their daughter Indira near her. Nehru later dedicated his book The Discovery of India to her memory. Many schools, colleges and hospitals across India carry her name. Her story shows courage in a young woman who, from a quiet Kashmiri home, stepped into history.","didYouKnow":"Kamala Nehru College in Delhi and Kamala Nehru Hospital in Allahabad both honour her.","keyWords":["freedom struggle","women leaders","Kaul","Allahabad","Lausanne"]},{"id":"vijaya-lakshmi-pandit","name":"Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit","dates":"1900–1990","era":"Modern","field":"Diplomat & Politician","oneLine":"The first woman to preside over the United Nations General Assembly.","story":"Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was born Swarup Kumari Nehru, daughter of Motilal Nehru and sister of Jawaharlal. She married Ranjit Sitaram Pandit, a lawyer and scholar, and took the name Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.\n\nShe joined the freedom struggle and was jailed several times. In 1937 she became a minister in the government of the United Provinces, one of the first Indian women to hold a cabinet post.\n\nAfter independence she became one of India's leading diplomats. She served as India's ambassador to the Soviet Union, the United States and Mexico, and as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. In 1953 she was elected President of the United Nations General Assembly — the first woman ever to hold that position. She later served as Governor of Maharashtra.\n\nIn her later years she criticised her niece Indira Gandhi's Emergency, showing she would speak her mind even against family. She wrote a memoir, The Scope of Happiness. Her daughter, Nayantara Sahgal, became a well-known novelist. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit is a great role model for young people, especially girls, who want to work on the world stage.","didYouKnow":"She was the first woman to preside over the UN General Assembly, in 1953.","keyWords":["United Nations","diplomat","first woman","Nehru family","ambassador"]},{"id":"indira-gandhi","name":"Indira Gandhi","dates":"1917–1984","era":"Modern","field":"Prime Minister","oneLine":"India's first and only woman Prime Minister, daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru and of Kashmiri Pandit descent.","story":"Indira Gandhi was born Indira Nehru in Allahabad, the only child of Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru. She grew up surrounded by the freedom movement, and as a child she organised a 'monkey brigade' of children to help freedom fighters. She married Feroze Gandhi in 1942.\n\nShe became Prime Minister in 1966 and served until 1977, and again from 1980 until 1984. Her time in office was full of major events. In 1971 she led India during the war that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. She pushed forward the Green Revolution in farming and India's first nuclear test in 1974.\n\nHer record also includes serious controversy. From 1975 to 1977 she declared a national Emergency, suspending civil liberties, jailing opponents and censoring the press. She lost the 1977 election because of it, but returned to power in 1980. In 1984 she ordered Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and later that year, on 31 October, she was assassinated by two of her bodyguards.\n\nIndira Gandhi was proud of her Kashmiri roots and visited Kashmir often. Whatever one thinks of her politics, she remains one of the most powerful leaders of the twentieth century.","didYouKnow":"As a girl, Indira led a children's 'Vanar Sena' (monkey brigade) that carried messages for freedom fighters.","keyWords":["Prime Minister","1971","Emergency","Nehru family","leadership"]},{"id":"nayantara-sahgal","name":"Nayantara Sahgal","dates":"born 1927","era":"Modern","field":"Novelist","oneLine":"Novelist and essayist from the Nehru family, known for defending free expression.","story":"Nayantara Sahgal is the daughter of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and Ranjit Sitaram Pandit, and a niece of Jawaharlal Nehru. Through the Nehru side, she is of Kashmiri Pandit descent. She grew up in Allahabad during the freedom movement and studied in the United States.\n\nShe became one of the earliest Indian women novelists writing in English. Her novels often look at politics and power in India after independence, at how people behave when they have authority, and at the lives of women. Her novel Rich Like Us, set during the Emergency, won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1986.\n\nSahgal was a strong critic of the Emergency declared by her cousin, Indira Gandhi, in 1975, and she wrote about it openly, which was brave given the family connection.\n\nIn 2015, she returned her Sahitya Akademi Award in protest against what she saw as rising intolerance and attacks on writers and free speech in India. Many other writers followed her example. Whether readers agree or disagree with her views, her life shows a long commitment to speaking freely.","didYouKnow":"She wrote a memoir, Prison and Chocolate Cake, about growing up in the Nehru household during the freedom struggle.","keyWords":["novelist","English writing","Emergency","free speech","Nehru family"]},{"id":"tej-bahadur-sapru","name":"Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru","dates":"1875–1949","era":"Modern","field":"Lawyer & Statesman","oneLine":"Brilliant Kashmiri Pandit lawyer and Liberal leader who helped shape India's constitutional path.","story":"Tej Bahadur Sapru was born in Aligarh into a Kashmiri Pandit family whose ancestors had moved to the plains. He became one of India's most respected lawyers, based at the Allahabad High Court.\n\nSapru was a leader of the Liberal Party, which believed in winning self-government through negotiation and constitutional reform rather than mass protest. He served as Law Member on the Viceroy's Executive Council from 1920 to 1923 and helped repeal some repressive laws. He took part in the Round Table Conferences in London in the early 1930s, where Indian and British leaders discussed India's future constitution.\n\nAlthough he disagreed with Gandhi's methods at times, he respected the Congress leaders and often acted as a bridge between them and the British. In 1945 he joined the defence team, with Bhulabhai Desai and Jawaharlal Nehru, for the officers of the Indian National Army tried at the Red Fort — trials that stirred the whole country.\n\nSapru was also a lover of Urdu and Persian poetry and promoted Hindustani. The Sapru House in New Delhi, home of the Indian Council of World Affairs, is named after him. The Sapru surname remains one of the well-known Kashmiri Pandit family names.","didYouKnow":"Sapru House in New Delhi, a centre for foreign affairs research, is named after him.","keyWords":["Liberal Party","Round Table Conference","INA trials","Allahabad","law"]},{"id":"kailash-nath-katju","name":"Kailash Nath Katju","dates":"1887–1968","era":"Modern","field":"Lawyer & Politician","oneLine":"Kashmiri Pandit lawyer who defended freedom fighters and later served as Union Home and Defence Minister.","story":"Kailash Nath Katju was born in Jaora, in present-day Madhya Pradesh, into a Kashmiri Pandit family. He became a leading lawyer at the Allahabad High Court, known for his sharp arguments.\n\nKatju used his legal skill for the freedom movement. He was among the lawyers who defended the Meerut Conspiracy case accused, and in 1945 he joined the defence of the officers of the Indian National Army in the Red Fort trials.\n\nAfter independence he held many high offices. He was Governor of Odisha and then of West Bengal, served in the Union Cabinet as Home Minister and later as Defence Minister, and from 1957 to 1962 was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. He wrote memoirs and books about his experiences.\n\nThe Katju family continued in public life: his grandson Markandey Katju later became a judge of the Supreme Court of India. Like the Sapru, Nehru and Haksar families, the Katjus are an example of the Kashmiri Pandit families of north India who kept their community identity for generations while playing a major part in national life.","didYouKnow":"His grandson, Markandey Katju, later became a judge of the Supreme Court of India.","keyWords":["INA trials","Home Minister","Madhya Pradesh","law","diaspora"]},{"id":"hriday-nath-kunzru","name":"Hriday Nath Kunzru","dates":"1887–1978","era":"Modern","field":"Parliamentarian & Reformer","oneLine":"Independent-minded Kashmiri Pandit parliamentarian and president of the Servants of India Society.","story":"Hriday Nath Kunzru was born in Agra into a Kashmiri Pandit family. He joined the Servants of India Society, founded by Gopal Krishna Gokhale to train dedicated public workers, and later became its president.\n\nKunzru was known for his honesty, careful study and independent judgement. He served in the central legislature under British rule and, after independence, in the Constituent Assembly and in the Rajya Sabha for many years. Other members respected his speeches because he always came prepared with facts.\n\nHe was a member of the States Reorganisation Commission of 1953–55, which recommended redrawing India's states largely along language lines — one of the most important decisions in the country's history. He also took a keen interest in defence, foreign affairs, education and the welfare of Indians abroad, and helped found the Indian Council of World Affairs.\n\nKunzru is an example of quiet public service rather than fame.","didYouKnow":"He was a member of the three-person commission whose 1955 report reshaped India's state boundaries along language lines.","keyWords":["Servants of India Society","Rajya Sabha","States Reorganisation","public service","Agra"]},{"id":"kn-wanchoo","name":"Kailas Nath Wanchoo","dates":"1903–1988","era":"Modern","field":"Judge","oneLine":"Chief Justice of India in 1967–68, and a Kashmiri Pandit from the civil service rather than the bar.","story":"K.N. Wanchoo was born in 1903 into a Kashmiri Pandit family in north India. He joined the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and moved into the judicial side of the service, serving as a district and sessions judge in the United Provinces.\n\nAfter independence he rose rapidly. He became Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, then a judge of the Supreme Court of India in 1958, and finally Chief Justice of India from April 1967 to February 1968.\n\nWanchoo is often remembered as the only Chief Justice of India who had not obtained a formal law degree — his legal training came through the ICS and many years of hearing cases. This makes his rise even more remarkable. He was involved in many important constitutional cases of his time.\n\nAfter retirement he chaired a committee on direct tax laws, known as the Wanchoo Committee, which studied tax evasion and black money in India.\n\nThe Wanchoo surname is a well-known Kashmiri Pandit name. His career is part of a long tradition of Kashmiri Pandits in law and administration, from Persian-era munshis to modern judges.","didYouKnow":"The Wanchoo Committee of 1971 was one of India's first major studies of black money and tax evasion.","keyWords":["Chief Justice","Supreme Court","ICS","law","tax reform"]},{"id":"pn-haksar","name":"P.N. Haksar","dates":"1913–1998","era":"Modern","field":"Diplomat & Civil Servant","oneLine":"Indira Gandhi's powerful principal secretary, central to India's 1971 decisions and the Simla Agreement.","story":"Parmeshwar Narayan Haksar was born in Gujranwala (now in Pakistan) into a Kashmiri Pandit family whose ancestors had moved to the plains generations earlier. He studied at the London School of Economics and practised law before joining India's foreign service after independence.\n\nIn 1967 he became secretary to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and from 1971 her principal secretary. He was one of the most influential civil servants in India's history. He played a central part in bank nationalisation, in India's diplomacy before and during the 1971 war that led to the creation of Bangladesh, in the Indo-Soviet Treaty of 1971, and in the Simla Agreement with Pakistan in 1972.\n\nHaksar was known for his strong principles. When the Emergency was declared in 1975, he was no longer in the PM's office; members of his family were harassed during that period, and he did not bend. Later he was Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.\n\nHe loved books, cooking and good conversation, and wrote a memoir about his early life called One More Life. Many young diplomats and civil servants still see him as a model of intellectual honesty.","didYouKnow":"Haksar's memoir of his early years is called One More Life.","keyWords":["1971","Simla Agreement","Indira Gandhi","diplomacy","civil service"]},{"id":"dp-dhar","name":"D.P. Dhar","dates":"1918–1975","era":"Modern","field":"Diplomat & Politician","oneLine":"Srinagar-born Kashmiri Pandit who negotiated the 1971 Indo-Soviet Treaty.","story":"Durga Prasad Dhar was born in Srinagar and became active in Kashmiri politics in the 1940s as part of the National Conference movement. After 1947 he served as a minister in the Jammu and Kashmir government, holding important portfolios.\n\nDhar moved to national service and became India's ambassador to the Soviet Union. In 1971 he played the key role in negotiating the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation, which gave India strong backing during the Bangladesh crisis and war that year. He was part of the small group of close advisers to Indira Gandhi — along with P.N. Haksar, P.N. Dhar and T.N. Kaul, all Kashmiri Pandits — who shaped India's policy at that time.\n\nHe later became chairman of the Policy Planning Committee of the Ministry of External Affairs and Union Minister of Planning. He returned to Moscow as ambassador and died there in 1975.\n\nD.P. Dhar is a good example of a Pandit from Srinagar itself, not from the older plains diaspora, who reached the heart of national government.","didYouKnow":"Four of Indira Gandhi's most trusted advisers in 1971 — Haksar, D.P. Dhar, P.N. Dhar and T.N. Kaul — were Kashmiri Pandits.","keyWords":["Indo-Soviet Treaty","1971","diplomacy","Srinagar","Planning"]},{"id":"tn-kaul","name":"T.N. Kaul","dates":"1913–2000","era":"Modern","field":"Diplomat","oneLine":"Veteran Kashmiri Pandit diplomat, India's Foreign Secretary and ambassador to the US and USSR.","story":"Triloki Nath Kaul was born in 1913 into a Kashmiri Pandit family. He joined the Indian Civil Service before independence and then moved into India's new foreign service.\n\nKaul served India in many important postings over several decades. He was India's Foreign Secretary from 1968 to 1972, during the time of the Bangladesh war, and was part of Indira Gandhi's close team of advisers. He then served as ambassador to the United States from 1973 to 1976, at a time when India–US relations were difficult, and was ambassador to the Soviet Union twice.\n\nHe wrote several books about Indian diplomacy and his experiences, and after retiring he continued to be active in public life.\n\nKaul's career spanned the whole of India's early foreign policy, from non-alignment to the close friendship with the Soviet Union. For young Kashmiri Pandits in the diaspora considering careers in international relations, he is an example of how far a Kashmiri Pandit boy could go.","didYouKnow":"T.N. Kaul served twice as India's ambassador in Moscow.","keyWords":["Foreign Secretary","diplomacy","Soviet Union","United States","1971"]},{"id":"pn-dhar","name":"P.N. Dhar","dates":"1919–2012","era":"Modern","field":"Economist","oneLine":"Srinagar-born economist who was principal secretary to Indira Gandhi and a founder of Indian economic institutions.","story":"Prithvi Nath Dhar was born in Srinagar. He became an economist, taught at Delhi University and helped build the Institute of Economic Growth in Delhi, becoming its director. He was known for his careful research on small industries and economic development.\n\nIn 1970 he joined the Prime Minister's Secretariat, and in 1973 he succeeded P.N. Haksar as principal secretary to Indira Gandhi. He was closely involved in the 1972 Simla talks with Pakistan and was in office during the Emergency of 1975–77. He later wrote a memoir, Indira Gandhi, the 'Emergency', and Indian Democracy, in which he gave his own honest, sometimes critical account of that period.\n\nAfter leaving government, he worked with the United Nations and continued writing on economics.\n\nP.N. Dhar's life shows how Kashmiri Pandits brought their long tradition of learning into modern fields such as economics and public policy. His memoir is still read by students trying to understand one of the most difficult chapters in Indian democracy.","didYouKnow":"P.N. Dhar's memoir is considered one of the most important insider accounts of the Emergency.","keyWords":["economics","Institute of Economic Growth","Simla","Emergency","Srinagar"]},{"id":"tn-raina","name":"General T.N. Raina","dates":"1921–1980","era":"Modern","field":"Soldier","oneLine":"Kashmiri Pandit soldier, Maha Vir Chakra recipient in 1962 and Chief of the Army Staff 1975–78.","story":"Tapishwar Narain Raina was born into a Kashmiri Pandit family and was commissioned into the Army during the Second World War, in which he served.\n\nIn the 1962 war with China, he commanded a brigade in Ladakh defending the Chushul sector, one of the few areas where Indian troops held firm against heavy odds. For his leadership he was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, India's second-highest award for gallantry in war.\n\nHe continued to rise, commanding forces in the 1971 war, and in 1975 he became Chief of the Army Staff, the head of the Indian Army, serving until 1978. He is remembered as a professional soldier who kept the Army out of politics during the Emergency period.\n\nAfter retiring, he was appointed India's High Commissioner to Canada, and he died in Ottawa in 1980 while in office.\n\nGeneral Raina is one of the highest-ranking Kashmiri Pandits ever to serve in India's armed forces.","didYouKnow":"He died in Ottawa in 1980 while serving as India's High Commissioner to Canada.","keyWords":["Army","Maha Vir Chakra","1962","Chushul","Chief of Army Staff"]},{"id":"sheikh-abdullah","name":"Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah","dates":"1905–1982","era":"Modern","field":"Political Leader","oneLine":"'Sher-e-Kashmir', the towering and still-debated leader of modern Kashmiri politics.","story":"Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was born in Soura, near Srinagar, in a family of shawl traders. In his autobiography, Aatish-e-Chinar, he wrote that his ancestors were Kashmiri Pandits who had converted to Islam some generations earlier — an example of the shared roots of many Kashmiri families. (Accounts differ on the details of that ancestry.)\n\nAfter studying at Aligarh, he returned to lead protests in 1931 against the Maharaja's rule, speaking for poor Kashmiri Muslims who felt shut out of education and jobs. He founded the Muslim Conference in 1932 and turned it into the National Conference in 1939, open to all faiths; some Pandits, such as Prem Nath Bazaz and Kashyap Bandhu, worked with him. He led the 'Quit Kashmir' movement against the Maharaja in 1946.\n\nAfter 1947 he became Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. His 'land to the tiller' reforms gave land to peasants — welcomed by many, but they also took land from Pandit and other landowners without compensation. In 1953 he was dismissed and jailed, spending most of the next two decades in detention. He returned as Chief Minister in 1975 and served until his death in 1982.\n\nKashmiri Pandits hold very mixed views of him. He belongs in this collection because modern Kashmir cannot be understood without him.","didYouKnow":"His autobiography, Aatish-e-Chinar ('Flames of the Chinar'), was written in Urdu.","keyWords":["National Conference","land reform","1947","Kashmiri politics","shared roots"]},{"id":"prem-nath-bazaz","name":"Prem Nath Bazaz","dates":"1905–1984","era":"Modern","field":"Journalist & Historian","oneLine":"Outspoken Kashmiri Pandit writer and political thinker who argued for a secular Kashmir.","story":"Prem Nath Bazaz was born in Srinagar. In the 1930s he became one of the first Kashmiri Pandits to join hands with Sheikh Abdullah in the political movement against the Maharaja's rule. He believed that Hindus and Muslims of Kashmir had to work together, and he encouraged the change of the Muslim Conference into the more inclusive National Conference.\n\nBazaz was a journalist and newspaper editor and a fearless writer. He later broke with Sheikh Abdullah and became a critic of many political leaders, sometimes landing in jail. His views often made him unpopular with his own community as well as with those in power, but he did not stop writing what he believed.\n\nHis books are still important for anyone studying modern Kashmir. Inside Kashmir (1941) and The History of Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir (1954) describe the politics and social conditions of his time from the viewpoint of someone who took part. He also wrote on Hindu–Muslim relations and on the idea of a democratic, secular society.\n\nBazaz shows that the Kashmiri Pandit community has always had strong internal debates and independent thinkers. You do not have to agree with all his views to value his honesty.","didYouKnow":"Bazaz helped organise the Kashmiri Pandit youth reform movement in the early 1930s along with Kashyap Bandhu.","keyWords":["journalism","secularism","Inside Kashmir","politics","history"]},{"id":"anand-narain-mulla","name":"Anand Narain Mulla","dates":"1901–1997","era":"Modern","field":"Urdu Poet & Judge","oneLine":"Lucknow judge and Urdu poet of Kashmiri Pandit descent, winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award.","story":"Anand Narain Mulla was born in Lucknow into a Kashmiri Pandit family. His surname is unusual for a Pandit — 'Mulla' — and it is said to have been a title given to an ancestor for his learning in Persian and Arabic. This is a family tradition often told about the name.\n\nMulla was a lawyer and then a judge of the Allahabad High Court. He became famous for a 1950s judgement in which he criticised police misconduct in unusually strong words, saying that there was not a single lawless group whose record of crime came anywhere near that of the organised unit known as the Indian police. The remark became famous and was widely quoted.\n\nAfter retiring, he became a Member of Parliament in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.\n\nHe was also a respected Urdu poet, writing ghazals and nazms on love, humanity and patriotism. His poetry collection Meri Hadees-e-Umr-e-Gurezan won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1964. He was proud of Urdu as a language shared by Hindus and Muslims and worked for its promotion.\n\nMulla is part of the long Lucknow tradition of Kashmiri Pandit Urdu poets, alongside Nasim, Sarshar and Chakbast.","didYouKnow":"His surname 'Mulla' is traditionally said to have been a title of learning given to a Kashmiri Pandit ancestor.","keyWords":["Urdu poetry","judge","Lucknow","Sahitya Akademi","Parliament"]},{"id":"gulzar-dehlvi","name":"Gulzar Dehlvi (Anand Mohan Zutshi)","dates":"1926–2020","era":"Modern","field":"Urdu Poet","oneLine":"Old Delhi's beloved Kashmiri Pandit Urdu poet, a living symbol of the city's shared culture.","story":"Anand Mohan Zutshi, known by his pen name Gulzar Dehlvi, was born in Old Delhi into a Kashmiri Pandit family that had lived in the city for generations. His family were learned in Urdu and Persian, and he grew up surrounded by poetry.\n\nHe became one of the best-known Urdu poets of Delhi, famous at mushairas (poetry gatherings) for his sherwani, his warm humour and his love of the old city. He often called himself a 'Kashmiri Pandit of Delhi' and saw Urdu as a language that belongs to everyone, not to any one religion. He wrote patriotic poems, ghazals and nazms, and spoke often about Hindu–Muslim unity.\n\nHe also worked for the Government of India and edited Science ki Duniya, an early Urdu science magazine, helping bring modern science to Urdu readers.\n\nGulzar Dehlvi remained active into his nineties and was a familiar face at literary events. He passed away in June 2020, aged 93, shortly after recovering from Covid-19. His life shows how Kashmiri Pandit families woven into Delhi's culture for centuries helped keep the city's Ganga-Jamuni (shared Hindu–Muslim) spirit alive.","didYouKnow":"He edited Science ki Duniya, one of the first Urdu-language science magazines.","keyWords":["Urdu","Delhi","mushaira","Zutshi","shared culture"]},{"id":"dina-nath-nadim","name":"Dina Nath Nadim","dates":"1916–1988","era":"Modern","field":"Poet & Playwright","oneLine":"Pioneer of modern Kashmiri poetry who wrote the first Kashmiri opera, Bombur ta Yemberzal.","story":"Dina Nath Kaul 'Nadim' was born in Srinagar and worked as a schoolteacher. He began writing in Hindi and Urdu, but around the time of independence he made a big decision: to write in Kashmiri. He became one of the most important modern Kashmiri poets.\n\nNadim brought new forms into Kashmiri, such as free verse and the sonnet, and wrote about ordinary people, social justice, peace, and hope. One of his best-loved poems, 'Mye chham aash paghuch', means 'I have hope for tomorrow' — a message that feels especially meaningful to Kashmiris after everything the valley has seen.\n\nIn 1953 he wrote Bombur ta Yemberzal ('The Bumblebee and the Narcissus'), the first opera in Kashmiri, using flowers and insects of Kashmir to tell a story of good and evil. He also wrote other musical plays and many songs for children.\n\nNadim encouraged a whole generation of young writers, both Pandit and Muslim, and his home was a meeting place for poets. His collection Shihil Kul ('The Shady Tree') won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1986. He showed that Kashmiri could be a modern language of ideas, not only of old devotional songs.","didYouKnow":"Bombur ta Yemberzal is sung and staged by Kashmiri cultural groups in the diaspora to this day.","keyWords":["modern Kashmiri poetry","opera","Bombur ta Yemberzal","hope","Sahitya Akademi"]},{"id":"rahman-rahi","name":"Rahman Rahi","dates":"1925–2023","era":"Modern","field":"Poet","oneLine":"Kashmiri Muslim poet, the first Kashmiri writer to win the Jnanpith Award.","story":"Abdur Rahman Mir, known as Rahman Rahi, was born in Srinagar. He grew up in modest circumstances and worked at different jobs before becoming a teacher of Persian and later a professor at the University of Kashmir.\n\nRahi began writing in Urdu and then turned to Kashmiri, where he became one of the most admired poets of the language. His poetry is thoughtful and modern, drawing on Persian and Sufi traditions as well as on modern Western ideas. He wrote about the search for meaning, loneliness and the pain of Kashmir's troubled times.\n\nHis collection Siyah Rood Jaeren Manz ('In Black Drizzle') won the Jnanpith Award for 2004 — India's highest literary award — making him the first writer in Kashmiri to receive it. He also received the Padma Shri and the Sahitya Akademi Award, and he translated works into Kashmiri.\n\nRahi was close to many Kashmiri Pandit writers, including Dina Nath Nadim, and belonged to the same literary circles. His inclusion here reflects the shared literary heritage of the Kashmiri language, which belongs to all Kashmiris. He died in January 2023 at the age of 97.","didYouKnow":"He was the first writer in the Kashmiri language to receive the Jnanpith Award.","keyWords":["Kashmiri poetry","Jnanpith","Sufi","shared heritage","University of Kashmir"]},{"id":"agha-shahid-ali","name":"Agha Shahid Ali","dates":"1949–2001","era":"Modern","field":"Poet","oneLine":"Kashmiri-American poet who wrote about Kashmir in English and made the ghazal popular in America.","story":"Agha Shahid Ali was born in New Delhi and grew up in Srinagar in a Kashmiri Muslim family of scholars. He studied in Kashmir and Delhi and later in the United States, where he became a professor and one of the most admired poets in English of his generation.\n\nHis poetry is full of memory, loss and longing for Kashmir. His best-known collection, The Country Without a Post Office (1997), was written in response to the violence that began in Kashmir in 1990. Its poems mourn the valley's suffering. In the poem 'Farewell', the speaker addresses a Kashmiri Pandit friend who has left, lamenting the separation of the valley's two communities — a poem that many Pandits have found moving.\n\nShahid also introduced American readers to the ghazal, the classic form of Urdu and Persian poetry, and edited an anthology of English ghazals, Ravishing DisUnities. His last collection, Rooms Are Never Finished, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2001.\n\nHe died of cancer in 2001 in the United States. He is included here as a Kashmiri whose poetry about home speaks to Pandit and Muslim readers alike, and to anyone who has had to leave the place they love.","didYouKnow":"Agha Shahid Ali popularised the formal ghazal in English, with its repeated refrain at the end of each couplet.","keyWords":["English poetry","ghazal","The Country Without a Post Office","exile","shared heritage"]},{"id":"braj-kachru","name":"Braj B. Kachru","dates":"1932–2016","era":"Modern","field":"Linguist","oneLine":"Srinagar-born linguist who changed how the world thinks about English with his idea of 'World Englishes'.","story":"Braj Bihari Kachru was born in Srinagar and studied in Kashmir, at Allahabad, and at the University of Edinburgh. He later became a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the United States, where he taught for many years.\n\nKachru's most famous idea is 'World Englishes'. He argued that English is no longer owned only by Britain or America. Indian English, Nigerian English, Singaporean English and others are valid varieties with their own rules and creativity — not 'mistakes'. He described this with a model of three circles: the 'inner circle' of traditional English-speaking countries, the 'outer circle' of countries like India where English has an official role, and the 'expanding circle' where it is learned as a foreign language. This idea changed the teaching of English around the world.\n\nKachru also wrote scholarly works on the Kashmiri language and its grammar and literature, helping preserve knowledge of his mother tongue.\n\nHe was married to Yamuna Kachru, also a distinguished linguist. For diaspora teenagers who speak English at home and Kashmiri with grandparents, Braj Kachru is a great reminder that every way of speaking carries real value.","didYouKnow":"The journal 'World Englishes', which he co-founded, is still a leading journal in linguistics.","keyWords":["linguistics","World Englishes","Kashmiri language","Illinois","three circles"]},{"id":"rahul-pandita","name":"Rahul Pandita","dates":"born 1979","era":"Modern","field":"Journalist & Author","oneLine":"Journalist whose memoir Our Moon Has Blood Clots told the story of the Pandit exodus to the world.","story":"Rahul Pandita was born in Srinagar in 1979. In 1990, when he was a boy, his family was forced to leave their home as militancy and targeted violence drove the Kashmiri Pandit community out of the valley. They lived in difficult conditions in Jammu and elsewhere, like many thousands of other displaced families.\n\nPandita became a journalist and war reporter, covering conflicts in India and abroad, including the Maoist insurgency in central India, which he wrote about in the book Hello, Bastar.\n\nHis best-known book is Our Moon Has Blood Clots (2013), a memoir of his family's life in Kashmir, the fear and violence of 1989–90, and the long years of exile. It was one of the first widely read books in English to describe the exodus from a Pandit family's point of view, and it made many readers in India and abroad aware of the community's story. He has also written the novel The Lover Boy of Bahawalpur about the 2019 Pulwama attack investigation and worked on screenplays.\n\nFor young people in the diaspora, his memoir is a powerful, honest way to understand what their parents and grandparents lived through.","didYouKnow":"Our Moon Has Blood Clots was one of the first widely read English books to tell the 1990 exodus from inside a Pandit family.","keyWords":["exodus","memoir","journalism","1990","Our Moon Has Blood Clots"]},{"id":"siddhartha-gigoo","name":"Siddhartha Gigoo","dates":"born 1974","era":"Modern","field":"Writer & Filmmaker","oneLine":"Novelist whose The Garden of Solitude is one of the first novels about Kashmiri Pandits in exile.","story":"Siddhartha Gigoo was born in Srinagar in 1974. His family, like almost all Kashmiri Pandit families in the valley, left in 1990 and lived in Jammu, where many families spent years in migrant camps.\n\nHe went on to study literature and work in the corporate world, while writing on the side. His first novel, The Garden of Solitude (2011), tells the story of a Kashmiri Pandit boy, Sridar, and his family through the exodus and their life as migrants. It is one of the first English novels to deal with the Pandit exile from the inside, and it is gentle, sad and full of detail about everyday life.\n\nGigoo has also written short stories, including the collection A Fistful of Earth, and other novels. His story 'The Umbrella Man' won the regional prize for Asia in the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2015. He has also made short films about memory, loss and exile, and co-edited a collection of writings by Kashmiri Pandits about their homes.\n\nHis work shows how fiction can help a community remember and heal, and how a new generation of Pandit writers is telling its own story in its own words.","didYouKnow":"His story 'The Umbrella Man' was chosen as the Asia winner of the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize from about 4,000 entries.","keyWords":["novel","exile","The Garden of Solitude","short stories","memory"]},{"id":"raaj-kumar","name":"Raaj Kumar","dates":"1926–1996","era":"Modern","field":"Film Actor","oneLine":"Hindi film star born Kulbhushan Pandit, famous for his unique voice and dialogue delivery.","story":"Raaj Kumar was born Kulbhushan Pandit in 1926 in Loralai, Balochistan (now in Pakistan), into a Kashmiri Pandit family that had moved there from Srinagar. As a young man, he moved to Bombay and became a sub-inspector in the Bombay Police.\n\nAccording to the popular story, people around him kept telling him that his looks and style belonged in films. He resigned from the police and began acting in the early 1950s. He played Nargis's husband in Mother India (1957), and went on to star in about seventy films over four decades, including Paigham, Waqt, Pakeezah, Heer Raanjha, Saudagar and many more.\n\nRaaj Kumar was famous for his deep voice, his slow, stylish way of delivering dialogue, and his confident screen personality. Many of his film lines became catchphrases. Off screen he was known for being blunt and witty, and many stories about him circulate in the film world.\n\nHe married Jennifer, an Anglo-Indian air hostess, who took the name Gayatri. His son Puru Raaj Kumar also became an actor. Raaj Kumar was one of several Kashmiri Pandits who became stars of Hindi cinema.","didYouKnow":"Before becoming a film star, Raaj Kumar was a sub-inspector in the Bombay Police.","keyWords":["Hindi cinema","actor","Loralai","Waqt","Pakeezah"]},{"id":"jeevan","name":"Jeevan (Omkar Nath Dhar)","dates":"1915–1987","era":"Modern","field":"Film Actor","oneLine":"Srinagar-born actor who played Narad Muni dozens of times and became a famous film villain.","story":"Omkar Nath Dhar was born in 1915 in Srinagar into a well-off Kashmiri Pandit family. As a teenager he dreamed of acting, and at eighteen he ran away to Bombay, reportedly with only a small sum of money in his pocket, to try his luck in films.\n\nHe began by working behind the scenes in a studio before getting acting roles. Under the screen name Jeevan, he found a special place in mythological films of the 1940s and 1950s, playing the sage Narad Muni, the wandering messenger of the gods, so many times — dozens of films — that audiences came to think of him as Narad himself.\n\nLater, Jeevan became one of the best-known villains of Hindi cinema in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, appearing in hits such as Amar Akbar Anthony and many others. His sly smile and distinctive voice made him instantly recognisable.\n\nHis son, Kiran Kumar (born Deepak Dhar), also became a well-known film and television actor. Jeevan's journey from Srinagar to Bombay's film studios is one of the most colourful stories of Kashmiri Pandits in Indian cinema.","didYouKnow":"Jeevan played Narad Muni so often that he is still remembered as the 'official' Narad of old Hindi mythological films.","keyWords":["Hindi cinema","Narad Muni","villain","Srinagar","Kiran Kumar"]},{"id":"anupam-kher","name":"Anupam Kher","dates":"born 1955","era":"Modern","field":"Actor","oneLine":"One of India's most prolific actors, and a vocal voice for the Kashmiri Pandit community.","story":"Anupam Kher was born in Shimla in 1955 into a Kashmiri Pandit family; his father worked as a clerk in the forest department. He trained at the National School of Drama in Delhi and moved to Bombay to act.\n\nHis breakthrough came in Saaransh (1984), in which, at around 28, he played an elderly retired schoolteacher grieving his son. His performance won wide praise and a Filmfare Award. Since then he has acted in more than 500 films in Hindi, other Indian languages and international productions, including comedies, dramas and serious roles. He has also appeared in British and American films and TV, such as Bend It Like Beckham and Silver Linings Playbook.\n\nKher has headed the Film and Television Institute of India and the Central Board of Film Certification, and he runs an acting school. He has received the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan.\n\nHe has spoken publicly for many years about the Kashmiri Pandit exodus; members of his own extended family were among those forced to leave in 1990. He starred in The Kashmir Files (2022), a film about the exodus, which was a major box-office success and also provoked strong debate. Whatever people's views, his voice has made many more people aware of the Pandit story.","didYouKnow":"In Saaransh he played a man in his sixties when he was still in his twenties.","keyWords":["cinema","Saaransh","National School of Drama","exodus","Padma Bhushan"]},{"id":"sanjay-suri","name":"Sanjay Suri","dates":"born 1971","era":"Modern","field":"Actor & Producer","oneLine":"Srinagar-born actor and producer who lost his father in 1990 and made films on difficult social themes.","story":"Sanjay Suri was born in Srinagar in 1971 into a Kashmiri Pandit family. In 1990, during the wave of targeted violence against Pandits, his father was killed by militants. The family left Kashmir for Jammu and then Delhi.\n\nSuri trained and worked in Delhi and then moved into films. He made his debut in Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi (1999) and is known for thoughtful performances in films such as Jhankaar Beats, Filhaal and My Brother… Nikhil (2005), which dealt with a young man living with HIV.\n\nWith director Onir, he co-founded a production company and co-produced I Am (2010), an anthology film made with crowdfunding. One of its stories, 'Megha', is about a Kashmiri Pandit woman who returns to Srinagar after years in exile and meets her childhood Muslim friend. The film won the National Film Award for Best Hindi Film.\n\nSuri has spoken about the loss of his father and about the need for truth, justice and dialogue. His work shows how personal tragedy can be turned into art that asks audiences to listen to each other.","didYouKnow":"The film I Am, which he co-produced, was partly funded by hundreds of ordinary people through early crowdfunding.","keyWords":["cinema","producer","I Am","1990","Srinagar"]},{"id":"mohit-raina","name":"Mohit Raina","dates":"born 1982","era":"Modern","field":"Actor","oneLine":"Jammu-raised Kashmiri Pandit actor famous as Lord Shiva in Devon Ke Dev… Mahadev.","story":"Mohit Raina was born in 1982 into a Kashmiri Pandit family and grew up in Jammu, where his father was a doctor. He studied at Kendriya Vidyalaya and the University of Jammu before moving to Mumbai to act.\n\nHe became a household name playing Lord Shiva in the television series Devon Ke Dev… Mahadev (2011–2014), watched by millions of families across India. It is fitting that a Kashmiri Pandit played Shiva, the god at the heart of Kashmiri Pandit devotion.\n\nRaina went on to act in films and web series, including Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019) and the medical drama Mumbai Diaries 26/11. He is known for choosing roles carefully.\n\nIn interviews he has said that being a Kashmiri, his family had to live in Jammu but Kashmir lives in his heart — words that many diaspora Pandits can relate to. His success shows how a generation raised outside the valley still carries its identity with pride.","didYouKnow":"His role as Shiva made him one of the most recognised faces on Indian television.","keyWords":["television","Mahadev","Jammu","Uri","actor"]},{"id":"kunal-khemu","name":"Kunal Khemu (Kemmu)","dates":"born 1983","era":"Modern","field":"Actor & Director","oneLine":"Srinagar-born child star turned actor and director, from a family of Kashmiri theatre artists.","story":"Kunal Khemu was born in Srinagar in 1983 into a Kashmiri Pandit family of performers. His parents, Ravi and Jyoti Kemmu, were actors, and his grandfather Moti Lal Kemmu was a celebrated Kashmiri playwright honoured with the Padma Shri. The family left Srinagar for Mumbai around 1989, as life for Pandits in the valley became dangerous.\n\nKunal became a child star in the 1990s, appearing in films such as Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke and Zakhm, and in the TV series Gul Gulshan Gulfaam, a show set in Kashmir. As an adult he starred in Kalyug (2005) and comedies such as Golmaal 3 and Go Goa Gone, and the web series Abhay.\n\nIn 2024 he made his debut as a writer-director with the comedy Madgaon Express.\n\nKhemu has spoken about his memories of Kashmir and what it means to be a Kashmiri Pandit who grew up away from home. His family story — from Kashmiri folk theatre to Bollywood — shows the creativity that the community carried with it wherever it went.","didYouKnow":"His grandfather Moti Lal Kemmu was a leading playwright of the Kashmiri language.","keyWords":["cinema","child actor","Moti Lal Kemmu","Srinagar","director"]},{"id":"mk-raina","name":"M.K. Raina","dates":"born 1948","era":"Modern","field":"Theatre Director","oneLine":"Srinagar-born theatre director who worked to revive Kashmir's folk theatre, the Bhand Pather.","story":"Maharaj Krishan Raina was born in Srinagar in 1948 and trained at the National School of Drama in Delhi, from which he graduated in 1970. He became a respected actor and director in Indian theatre, working with many theatre groups and directing plays in Hindi and other languages.\n\nRaina is especially known for his long work with the Bhand Pather, the traditional folk theatre of Kashmir. Bhands are hereditary performers, mostly Kashmiri Muslims, who perform satirical plays full of music, comedy and social commentary. During the years of conflict, this tradition struggled to survive. Raina worked with Bhand families to revive performances, train young artists and bring their work to wider audiences.\n\nHe has also been active in cultural work promoting dialogue and peace, and in documenting Kashmir's living traditions.\n\nRaina's work is a great example of a Kashmiri Pandit helping to preserve a heritage shared by all Kashmiris. It shows that culture can build bridges even when politics divides.","didYouKnow":"Bhand Pather performances often mock the powerful — a tradition of satire going back centuries, like Kshemendra's writings.","keyWords":["theatre","Bhand Pather","National School of Drama","folk arts","shared heritage"]},{"id":"bansi-kaul","name":"Bansi Kaul","dates":"1949–2021","era":"Modern","field":"Theatre Director & Designer","oneLine":"Srinagar-born theatre visionary who founded the Rang Vidushak group, known for its clowning and folk style.","story":"Bansi Kaul was born in Srinagar in 1949 and trained at the National School of Drama in Delhi. He became one of India's most original theatre directors and designers.\n\nIn Bhopal he founded the theatre group Rang Vidushak ('the jester of colour'), which developed a style using clowning, folk forms, physical comedy and music. His productions often mixed humour with serious social comment, and they toured across India and abroad. He also trained many young actors in this style.\n\nKaul was a skilled visual designer too, and he worked on the design of major national cultural events and festivals. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Padma Shri in 2014.\n\nThough he spent most of his working life outside Kashmir, he often spoke of his roots in the valley and its traditions of storytelling and satire. He passed away in 2021. For young people interested in the arts, his life shows how a playful, imaginative approach can carry deep meaning.","didYouKnow":"'Vidushak' is the clown figure of classical Sanskrit drama — the witty friend who can tell the king the truth.","keyWords":["theatre","Rang Vidushak","Bhopal","clowning","Padma Shri"]},{"id":"bhajan-sopori","name":"Pandit Bhajan Sopori","dates":"1948–2022","era":"Modern","field":"Santoor Maestro","oneLine":"Santoor master from Kashmir's Sufiana music family who took Kashmir's instrument to world stages.","story":"Bhajan Sopori was born in Srinagar in 1948 into a family that had played Kashmiri Sufiana music on the santoor for generations. The santoor, a hammered string instrument, was originally used in Sufiana Kalam, Kashmir's classical Sufi music, which both Muslims and Pandits performed and enjoyed.\n\nHe began learning as a small child from his grandfather and father, and gave public performances at a very young age.\n\nSopori developed a distinctive playing style, often called the 'Sopori baaj', which allowed the santoor to play the full range of Indian classical ragas. He performed around the world and composed music for many songs, including patriotic songs and music in different Indian languages. With his family he founded SaMaPa (Sopori Academy of Music and Performing Arts) to teach young musicians and promote peace through music.\n\nHe received the Padma Shri and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, among many honours. He passed away in 2022. His son Abhay Rustum Sopori continues the family tradition.","didYouKnow":"The Sopori family traces its santoor tradition back several generations in Kashmir's Sufiana music.","keyWords":["santoor","Sufiana","classical music","SaMaPa","Padma Shri"]},{"id":"abhay-rustum-sopori","name":"Abhay Rustum Sopori","dates":"born 1979","era":"Modern","field":"Santoor Player & Composer","oneLine":"Santoor player and composer carrying the Sopori family's Kashmiri music into a new generation.","story":"Abhay Rustum Sopori was born in 1979, the son of the santoor maestro Bhajan Sopori. He began learning from his father and grandfather as a child, continuing the family's long connection to the Sufiana gharana of Kashmir.\n\nHe is known both as a santoor soloist in the Indian classical tradition and as a composer who writes for orchestras, films and large ensembles. He has composed music combining Indian and Western instruments and has performed in many countries.\n\nAbhay has been active in bringing music back to Kashmir after years of conflict. He has organised concerts and festivals in the valley, including large public performances in Srinagar, and he has worked with young musicians from Jammu and Kashmir.\n\nFor young Kashmiris in the diaspora learning music, the Soporis show that tradition is not something to be kept in a museum. It can be played, changed and shared with the world.","didYouKnow":"He has organised large public concerts in Srinagar to bring live classical music back to the valley.","keyWords":["santoor","composer","Sufiana gharana","Kashmir music","young musicians"]},{"id":"kailash-mehra-sadhu","name":"Kailash Mehra Sadhu","dates":"born 1956","era":"Modern","field":"Singer","oneLine":"'Malika-e-Ghazal', one of the most beloved voices of Kashmiri song, especially among Pandit families.","story":"Kailash Mehra Sadhu was born in 1956 in Nainital into a Dogra family. She studied music, earning a master's degree from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and a music qualification from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad. In 1979 she became a music lecturer at the Government Women's College in Anantnag, Kashmir, and there she fell in love with the Kashmiri language and its songs.\n\nThough Kashmiri was not her mother tongue, she became one of its best-loved singers. She sang Kashmiri ghazals, leelas, wedding songs (vanvun) and devotional songs, and her recordings became part of daily life in Pandit homes. Her voice is especially associated with devotional songs sung at Kashmiri Pandit festivals, and with the works of poets like Krishna Joo Razdan and others.\n\nShe has sung in many languages, including Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Persian and Sanskrit, and performed across India. People call her 'Malika-e-Ghazal', the queen of the ghazal.\n\nHer story is a lovely one for diaspora young people: she learned Kashmiri as an adult, out of love, and became one of its most treasured voices. If she could do it, anyone can learn a few Kashmiri songs.","didYouKnow":"Kashmiri was not her first language — she learned it after moving to Anantnag to teach music.","keyWords":["Kashmiri songs","ghazal","devotional music","Anantnag","leela"]},{"id":"raj-begum","name":"Raj Begum","dates":"1927–2016","era":"Modern","field":"Singer","oneLine":"The 'Melody Queen of Kashmir', whose Radio Kashmir songs are loved by every Kashmiri family.","story":"Raj Begum was born in Srinagar in 1927. She started singing at weddings and family gatherings as a young woman, and when Radio Kashmir began its music programmes in the late 1940s and 1950s, she became one of its first and most popular female singers.\n\nFor decades her voice was heard in almost every Kashmiri home. She sang Kashmiri folk songs, ghazals, wedding songs and the works of poets like Mahjoor, Habba Khatun and many modern writers. Her clear, sweet voice earned her the title 'Melody Queen of Kashmir'. Many Kashmiri Pandit families, even decades after leaving the valley, still play her songs at home and at weddings.\n\nIn her time, it was unusual and difficult for a woman from a conservative family to sing publicly, but she persevered. She was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2002, among other awards.\n\nShe passed away in 2016. Raj Begum belongs to the whole of Kashmir, and her songs connect Pandit and Muslim families to the same memories of home.","didYouKnow":"She was one of the first women to sing regularly on Radio Kashmir.","keyWords":["Radio Kashmir","folk songs","Melody Queen","Padma Shri","shared heritage"]},{"id":"suresh-raina","name":"Suresh Raina","dates":"born 1986","era":"Modern","field":"Cricketer","oneLine":"World Cup-winning Indian cricketer whose family roots are in Rainawari, Srinagar.","story":"Suresh Raina was born in 1986 in Muradnagar, Uttar Pradesh. His family are Kashmiri Pandits; his father, Trilok Chand Raina, came from Rainawari in Srinagar and moved away from Kashmir, later working for an ordnance factory. Raina has spoken with pride about his Kashmiri roots.\n\nA left-handed batsman and useful off-spin bowler, Raina made his debut for India in 2005. He was known for his fearless batting, especially in limited-overs cricket, and for being one of the best fielders India has produced. He was part of the Indian team that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup, playing important innings in the knockout matches.\n\nRaina became the first Indian to score a century in all three international formats — Test, one-day and T20 international cricket. In the Indian Premier League he was a star for the Chennai Super Kings for many seasons, earning the nickname 'Mr IPL' for his consistency.\n\nHe retired from international cricket in 2020. For Kashmiri Pandit youngsters playing sport around the world, Raina is proof that the community can shine on the biggest sporting stages too.","didYouKnow":"He was the first Indian to score centuries in Test, ODI and T20 international cricket.","keyWords":["cricket","World Cup 2011","IPL","Rainawari","sport"]},{"id":"parvez-rasool","name":"Parvez Rasool","dates":"born 1989","era":"Modern","field":"Cricketer","oneLine":"From Bijbehara, the first cricketer from the Kashmir valley to play for India.","story":"Parvez Rasool was born in 1989 in Bijbehara, in south Kashmir's Anantnag district. He grew up playing cricket in the valley, where facilities were limited and the conflict made sport difficult.\n\nAn all-rounder who bats and bowls off-spin, he became a leading player for the Jammu and Kashmir team in India's domestic competitions. In 2013 he was signed by an Indian Premier League team, and in 2014 he made his one-day international debut for India against Bangladesh, becoming the first cricketer from the Kashmir valley to play for the national team. He later also played a T20 international.\n\nHis success was celebrated across Jammu and Kashmir and encouraged many young people in the valley to take up cricket.\n\nWe include Parvez Rasool as part of Kashmir's shared story. Bijbehara, his hometown, is also an ancient town with deep Kashmiri Pandit connections — its old name, Vijayeshwara, comes from a famous Shiva temple. Sport, like music and poetry, is one of the places where Kashmir's communities can take pride together.","didYouKnow":"His home town Bijbehara takes its name from Vijayeshwara, an ancient Shiva shrine mentioned in the Rajatarangini.","keyWords":["cricket","Bijbehara","Jammu and Kashmir","shared heritage","sport"]},{"id":"tika-lal-taploo","name":"Tika Lal Taploo","dates":"1930–1989","era":"Modern","field":"Lawyer & Community Leader","oneLine":"Srinagar lawyer and community leader whose killing in September 1989 marked the start of targeted attacks on Pandits.","story":"Tika Lal Taploo was a lawyer and social worker in Srinagar who was widely known in his neighbourhood for helping people of all communities with their problems. He was active in politics as a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu and Kashmir.\n\nOn 13 September 1989, he was shot dead outside his home in Srinagar by militants. He is widely regarded as one of the first prominent Kashmiri Pandits killed in the wave of targeted violence that grew over the following months and led to the mass exodus of the community in early 1990.\n\nHis killing was followed by others, including that of the retired judge Neelkanth Ganjoo in November 1989. As these murders continued, fear spread through the Pandit community.\n\nToday, 14 September is observed by many Kashmiri Pandit organisations as 'Martyrs' Day' (Balidan Diwas), to remember Taploo and all members of the community who were killed. For young people, learning his name is part of understanding why their families left the valley, and why the community continues to ask for justice and remembrance.","didYouKnow":"14 September is remembered by many Kashmiri Pandit groups each year as Martyrs' Day.","keyWords":["1989","exodus","remembrance","Martyrs' Day","Srinagar"]},{"id":"sarwanand-kaul-premi","name":"Sarwanand Kaul 'Premi'","dates":"1924–1990","era":"Modern","field":"Poet & Translator","oneLine":"Gentle poet and translator of Anantnag, killed with his son in 1990.","story":"Sarwanand Kaul 'Premi' was born in 1924 in Soaf Shali, near Kokernag in Anantnag district. He was a teacher, a journalist, a Gandhian who had taken part in the independence movement, and a poet who wrote in Kashmiri, Hindi and Urdu.\n\nPremi was known as a man of peace who respected all faiths. He translated religious and literary works into Kashmiri, including the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana and Tagore's Gitanjali, and wrote devotional and social poems. He was loved in his village by Hindus and Muslims alike.\n\nIn 1990, when most Pandits in the valley were leaving because of threats and killings, Premi chose to stay, believing his neighbours would protect him. On the night of 29–30 April 1990, armed militants came to his home, took him and his 27-year-old son Virender away, and both were tortured and killed. The murder of an elderly poet and his son shocked Kashmiris across communities.\n\nPremi is remembered today by the Pandit community and by Kashmiri literary circles as a poet whose life stood for harmony and whose death showed the cruelty of those times. Remembering him is a way of honouring the many ordinary people who suffered in 1990.","didYouKnow":"Premi translated the Bhagavad Gita into Kashmiri so ordinary villagers could read it in their own language.","keyWords":["poet","translator","Anantnag","1990","remembrance"]}],"places":[{"id":"martand-sun-temple","name":"Martand Sun Temple","kashmiriName":"Martand","type":"Temple","district":"Anantnag","coords":[33.745,75.221],"oneLine":"Majestic 8th-century ruins of a temple to the Sun god, built by King Lalitaditya.","story":"On a high plateau above the town of Mattan in south Kashmir stand the grey limestone ruins of the Martand Sun Temple. Even in ruins, it is breathtaking: a tall central shrine surrounded by a large rectangular courtyard lined with small cells, with the mountains of the valley behind it.\n\nThe temple was built in the 8th century by King Lalitaditya Muktapida of the Karkota dynasty, according to Kalhana's Rajatarangini, and dedicated to Surya, the Sun god, under the name Martanda. Its design mixes Kashmiri traditions with influences from Gandhara and further west — trefoil arches, fluted columns and triangular pediments.\n\nAccording to Jonaraja's chronicle and Kashmiri tradition, the temple was deliberately destroyed during the reign of Sultan Sikandar in the late 14th or early 15th century. Earthquakes over the centuries added to the damage.\n\nFor Kashmiri Pandits, Martand is a symbol of both the greatness and the losses of their history. Down the hill in Mattan town, the Martand tirtha springs are still a living pilgrimage place. The ruins are protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, and in recent years there have been calls to restore worship at the site, a subject of public debate.","legend":"The name Martanda is linked in the Puranas to the Sun as the son of Aditi, born from an 'egg that seemed dead' (mrita anda) which came to life.","visit":"The ruins are a protected ASI monument, open to visitors; there is no regular worship, and the structure is roofless and damaged.","keyWords":["Surya","Lalitaditya","Karkota","ruins","Mattan"],"fromBook":["Martand Temple and the ancient temples of the Hindu kings. The book lists ancient temples from the age of Hindu kings (up to the 14th century), most built of large limestone blocks without mortar and mostly to Shiva. They include Shankaracharya, Martand, Avantipura, Narastan, Pandrethan, Pattan, Payech, Wangat, the Bumzu caves and Mamal at Pahalgam. Martand, near Anantnag on the Karewa plateau, stands in a large quadrangle with 84 columns. The book says 84 is sacred because it is 7 days times 12zodiac signs, and ties the colonnade to King Lalitaditya. Awantipura has the ruins of two Shiva temples built by King Avantivarman. The Pandrethan temple stands in a tank, and the name is a changed form of Puranadhisthana, the old name of Srinagar. The Payech temple is made of only ten stones and still has its linga. The Bumzu caves on the Lidder hold a cave temple that Stein links to the Bhima Keshava temple, and Lawrence thinks it is the earliest perfect Kashmir temple. Near Wangat, old temple ruins by the Nagbal spring sit on the path to Gangbal, and the book thinks returning pilgrims built them as thank-offerings."]},{"id":"avantipora-temples","name":"Avantiswami and Avantishvara Temples","kashmiriName":"Wantipor","type":"Temple","district":"Pulwama","coords":[33.923,75.012],"oneLine":"Twin 9th-century temples built by King Avantivarman at his capital Avantipura.","story":"About 30 km from Srinagar on the road to Anantnag is Awantipora, the Avantipura that King Avantivarman (855–883) founded on the Vitasta. Stein records that the site was holy before the town, under the old name Vishvaikasara. Avantivarman built two great temples here, Avantiswami and Avantishvara, which Kalhana names in the Rajatarangini.\n\nAvantiswami, in the town, was dedicated to Vishnu. It stands inside a walled courtyard with a colonnade of carved pillars, and its stone panels show Vishnu, the river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna, and scenes of court life. In Kalhana's own time its courtyard was used as a fort and was besieged. Avantishvara, the larger temple, half a mile down the river, was dedicated to Shiva.\n\nBoth were buried by silt and debris over the centuries, which kept some of the carving safe, and were dug out in the early 20th century. They belong to the years when Avantivarman's engineer Suyya had tamed the floods and the scholar Anandavardhana worked at his court.","legend":null,"visit":"Both ruins are protected by the Archaeological Survey of India and are open to visitors beside the Srinagar–Jammu highway; they are roofless and damaged.","keyWords":["Avantivarman","Utpala","Vishnu","Shiva","sculpture"],"source":{"label":"M. A. Stein, Memoir on the Ancient Geography of Kashmir (1899), with his Rajatarangini notes","url":"https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.30952"}},{"id":"kheer-bhawani","name":"Kheer Bhawani (Tulmul)","kashmiriName":"Tulmul / Ragnya Bhagwati","type":"Temple","district":"Ganderbal","coords":[34.216,74.769],"oneLine":"The most beloved shrine of Kashmiri Pandits: the spring of Mata Ragnya at Tulmul.","story":"In the village of Tulmul, about 25 km from Srinagar, surrounded by ancient chinar trees and streams, lies the holiest place for many Kashmiri Pandits: the shrine of Mata Ragnya Bhagwati, better known as Kheer Bhawani. The goddess is worshipped in a sacred spring, in the middle of which stands a small white marble temple, built in the early 20th century under the Dogra Maharajas.\n\nThe name 'Kheer Bhawani' comes from the offering of kheer (rice pudding) and milk that devotees pour into the spring. Worshippers also offer flowers, especially roses, and many observe a vegetarian fast.\n\nThe spring is famous for changing colour. Devotees believe the colour reflects the fortune of Kashmir: light colours are good omens, and a dark or black colour is considered a warning of bad times. Many elders say the water turned dark before the troubles of 1990. This is a matter of faith, not science, but it is deeply felt.\n\nThe biggest gathering is on Jyeshtha Ashtami, in late May or June. Since 1990, local Kashmiri Muslims have often helped host visiting Pandits, selling flowers and milk. Temples to Kheer Bhawani have also been built in Jammu, Delhi and elsewhere by displaced families.","legend":"Tradition says the goddess was once worshipped by Ravana in Lanka, but displeased by his wicked ways she asked Hanuman to carry her to Kashmir, where she settled at Tulmul.","visit":"Active and well-maintained shrine; a major mela on Jyeshtha Ashtami draws thousands of Pandits from across India, with security arrangements in place.","keyWords":["Ragnya","spring","Jyeshtha Ashtami","kheer","goddess"]},{"id":"hari-parbat-sharika","name":"Hari Parbat and the Sharika Shrine","kashmiriName":"Hari Parbat / Sharika Devi","type":"Mountain","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.105,74.81],"oneLine":"The hill in Srinagar that is home to Mata Sharika, the city's guardian goddess.","story":"Hari Parbat is a hill in the middle of Srinagar, crowned by a fort built by the Afghan governors in the 18th century and surrounded by a wall built under the Mughal emperor Akbar. For Kashmiri Pandits, it is above all the home of Mata Sharika, a form of the goddess Durga/Tripurasundari and the guardian deity of Srinagar.\n\nOn the western side of the hill, the goddess is worshipped as a large rock face covered in sindoor (vermilion), which devotees see as a natural Shri Chakra, a sacred geometric symbol. Pandits walked around the hill in parikrama, visiting many small shrines — including Ganesh and Chakreshwar — along the way.\n\nThe hill also holds the shrine of the Sufi saint Makhdoom Sahib and a gurdwara linked to Guru Hargobind, making it a place sacred to three faiths.\n\nPandits celebrate Har Navum, Sharika's birthday, on the ninth day of the bright half of Ashadha, with offerings of rice cooked with liver (for some families) or yellow rice. On Navreh, the Kashmiri new year, many families traditionally visited Hari Parbat.","legend":"The Nilamata-linked tradition says demons troubled the land; the goddess took the form of a mynah bird (hari) and dropped a pebble, which grew into a hill and crushed them — hence Hari Parbat, 'hill of the mynah'.","visit":"The Sharika shrine is active and visited, with a walking path; the fort and wall are partly restored. Visitors should check local access arrangements.","keyWords":["Sharika","Chakreshwar","Har Navum","parikrama","Makhdoom Sahib"],"fromBook":["Hari Parbat shrines. The book says that in the legend Durga took the form of a Sharika bird, carried a piece of Mount Meru in her beak and dropped it to seal in the demons living in the remains of the Satisar lake. Her hill is called Hari Parbat, since Haer is the bird. In early times people just walked around the hill. Later rocks were smeared with sindur, and small shelters came up. At Chakreshwar, Sharika is worshipped in a sindur-smeared rock of about 20 by 15 feet that carries Sri Chakra lines. It sits about 300 feet up on the east side, and she is the Isht Devi of some Pandit families. Others are the Swayambhu Ganesh at Ganeshbal, where priests arrive about 4 a.m. and pilgrims pray before the parikrama, the small Saptarishi rock cave, the Mahakali shrine at the foot, and Devi Angan, a ground at the foot of Chakreshwar for those who do not climb. There are also Hari Asthapan with the Ram Kaul temple, a rock-carved Hanuman on the route and the Pokribal spring temple, where bhajans were held on Saturday nights. A temple inside the Dogra fort holds a black Kali idol and opens to the public only on Ram Navami."]},{"id":"shankaracharya-hill","name":"Shankaracharya Temple (Gopadri Hill)","kashmiriName":"Shankaracharya / Takht-e-Sulaiman","type":"Temple","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.077,74.843],"oneLine":"Ancient Shiva temple on a hilltop above the Dal Lake with views of all Srinagar.","story":"On top of a hill rising about 300 metres above Srinagar stands the Shankaracharya temple, dedicated to Shiva. The hill has several names: Gopadri in older Sanskrit tradition, Shankaracharya Hill in Hindu usage, and Takht-e-Sulaiman ('Throne of Solomon') in Persian and local Muslim usage.\n\nThe temple is built of grey stone on a high octagonal platform, reached by a long flight of steps. Inside is a Shiva lingam. The age of the temple is debated: tradition makes it very old, while many historians date the present structure to around the 9th century or later, with repairs since. Dogra rulers and later devotees added features such as the electric lights and the steps.\n\nKashmiri tradition says that Adi Shankaracharya, the 8th-century philosopher, came to Kashmir and stayed on this hill, which is why the temple carries his name. The story that he composed his hymn Saundarya Lahari here is a popular belief rather than documented history.\n\nFrom the top, you can see the Dal Lake, the Jhelum winding through the old city, and Hari Parbat across the way. It is a favourite spot for visiting families, and on Mahashivratri and in the month of Shravan devotees climb the hill in large numbers.","legend":"Tradition holds that Adi Shankaracharya meditated here and was inspired by the goddess, recognising the unity of Shiva and Shakti.","visit":"Active temple reached by road and about 240 steps; mobile phones and cameras are often restricted, and security checks are routine.","keyWords":["Shiva","Gopadri","Adi Shankaracharya","Dal Lake","Takht-e-Sulaiman"]},{"id":"amarnath-cave","name":"Amarnath Cave","kashmiriName":"Amarnath / Amareshwar","type":"Temple","district":"Anantnag / Ganderbal","coords":[34.215,75.5],"oneLine":"High Himalayan cave where an ice lingam forms, the goal of a famous summer pilgrimage.","story":"The Amarnath cave lies at a height of about 3,880 metres in the mountains east of Pahalgam. Inside, water dripping from the roof freezes into a tall ice formation that devotees worship as a Shiva lingam. Smaller ice forms nearby are seen as Parvati and Ganesh.\n\nEach summer, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all over India make the Amarnath Yatra, walking or riding ponies along mountain paths from Pahalgam via Chandanwari and Sheshnag, or along a shorter, steeper route from Baltal. The pilgrimage traditionally ends on Shravan Purnima, the full moon of Shravan (usually August), when the holy mace known as Chhari Mubarak is carried to the cave.\n\nKashmiri Pandit priests and families took part in this pilgrimage for centuries, and it is mentioned in old texts, including Kalhana's Rajatarangini. A popular story says the cave was rediscovered in the 19th century by a Muslim shepherd, Buta Malik, whose family long received a share of the offerings — a tradition that shows the shared nature of Kashmiri pilgrimage.\n\nThe yatra today is organised by a shrine board, with medical camps, registration and heavy security. The ice lingam's size varies each year, and climate change and crowds are causing concern.","legend":"Shiva is said to have chosen this remote cave to tell Parvati the secret of immortality (amar katha), leaving behind his companions along the route. Two pigeons are said to have overheard and become immortal; devotees still look for pigeons at the cave.","visit":"Open only during the summer yatra season with mandatory registration and health certificates; the trek is demanding and weather can be dangerous.","keyWords":["ice lingam","yatra","Shravan Purnima","Pahalgam","Baltal"],"fromBook":["Amarnath Cave and Yatra route. The book gives the older account of Amarnath. The cave is mentioned in the Nilamata Purana and the Rajatarangini, and Jonaraja describes the visit of Zain-ul-Abidin. It says the pilgrimage lapsed in the 16th-18th centuries and was revived in the 19th century when a Muslim named Malik found the cave again. His family still gets a share of the offerings. The yatra begins at the Dashnami Akhara in Srinagar, where the silver Chhari Mubarak is worshipped, and it halts at Pampore, Avantipora, Bijbehara, Thajiwara and Ganeshbal before Pahalgam. From Pahalgam the route has night halts at Chandanwari, Wayjan (near the Sheshnag lake) and Panchtarni, so called for its five streams. The trek crosses the Pissu climb and the Mahagunas pass at about 4350 metres, then the flower meadow of Poshpather. On the last morning pilgrims bathe in the Amravati stream, enter the cave and smear white chalk from its walls on their bodies. Two small lingas beside the main one are worshipped as Parvati and Ganesh. The book says the ice linga grows and shrinks with the moon. An alternate one-day route starts at Baltal."]},{"id":"sharada-peeth","name":"Sharada Peeth","kashmiriName":"Sharda","type":"Temple","district":"Neelum (Pakistan-administered Kashmir)","coords":[34.792,74.188],"oneLine":"Ruined ancient temple of Sharada, goddess of learning, from which Kashmir took the name 'Sharada Desh'.","story":"Sharada Peeth stands in ruins in the village of Sharda, in the Neelum valley, on the far side of the Line of Control in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. For more than a thousand years it was one of the most famous centres of learning and pilgrimage in the Indian subcontinent.\n\nThe temple was dedicated to Sharada, a form of Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge. Scholars travelled from across India to study here, and Kashmir came to be called 'Sharada Desh', the land of Sharada. The Sharada script, in which Kashmiri Pandits wrote Sanskrit and Kashmiri for centuries, is named after her. Even today, many Pandits begin prayers with a verse praising Sharada, 'who lives in Kashmir'. The 11th-century scholar Al-Biruni also mentioned the shrine.\n\nWhat remains is a stone structure on a raised platform, with a flight of steps, near the meeting of the Neelum (Kishanganga) and Madhumati streams. Since 1947, Pandits have not been able to visit freely.\n\nIn recent years, Kashmiri Pandit groups have campaigned for a pilgrim corridor, similar to the Kartarpur corridor for Sikhs. In 2023 a temple of Sharada was consecrated at Teetwal, on the Indian side of the Line of Control, as a place where devotees can pray facing towards the old shrine.","legend":"Tradition says the goddess Sharada appeared to the sage Shandilya after long penance, and that the shrine marks that place.","visit":"The ruins lie in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and are effectively inaccessible to Indian pilgrims; a new Sharada temple at Teetwal (Kupwara) on the Indian side is open.","keyWords":["Saraswati","Sharada script","learning","Neelum valley","Teetwal"],"fromBook":["Sharda Peeth , Neelam Valley. Kashmir is also called Sharda Desh, the land of Goddess Sharda, and the old Kashmiri script is called Sharda lipi. The main temple stands at the village of Shardi in the Neelam valley, on the right bank of the Kishanganga, beyond the Shamsabari range. The book says it was probably built by a local lord around the middle of the 12th century, in the time of King Jaisimha, and records that King Zain-ul-Abidin visited it in 1422. A stone stair of 63 steps leads up to a walled square court, and the temple stands in the middle of it. Inside is a flat stone slab, about six by seven feet, believed to cover the kund or spring from which the Goddess appeared to Sage Shandalya. Pilgrims smeared this stone with a paste of sindur and ghee. The legend says the sage bathed at Krishna Nag on the way, and his body turned golden. He then saw the Goddess dance in a meadow called Rangavatika and recited the hymn Sharda Varda Devi. Later he made a water offering for the ancestors with water from the Madhumati stream, now called Sharda Ganga, and shraddha is done on its bank. Since the area was taken over after 1947, the yatra has stopped. South Indian Hindus still greet Sharda each morning facing north."]},{"id":"gangabal-harmukh","name":"Gangabal Lake and Harmukh","kashmiriName":"Gangabal / Haramukh","type":"Lake","district":"Ganderbal","coords":[34.43,74.93],"oneLine":"High alpine lake beneath Mount Harmukh, where Pandits once immersed the ashes of their loved ones.","story":"Gangabal is a large, clear lake at about 3,570 metres at the foot of Mount Harmukh (Haramukh), one of Kashmir's most sacred mountains, believed to be an abode of Shiva. The lake is often called the Ganga of Kashmir.\n\nFor centuries, Kashmiri Pandits made a pilgrimage to Gangabal, especially around Durga Ashtami in the month of Bhadrapada, to perform shraddha rites and immerse the ashes (asthi) of family members who had died during the year. The trek begins near the ancient temple complex at Naranag and climbs through forests and meadows. Nundkol, another lake just below Harmukh, lies close by.\n\nAfter 1990 the pilgrimage stopped for many years. In 2009 it was revived by community groups, and small groups of Pandits have made the trek in several years since then.\n\nToday Gangabal is also famous among trekkers for the Kashmir Great Lakes trek, and it is a place of spectacular beauty, with trout in its waters and wild flowers in summer.","legend":"Local tradition says Shiva's consort Parvati, or the Ganga herself, came to rest here, and that Harmukh is the mountain from which Shiva watches over the valley.","visit":"Reachable only by a two-day trek from Naranag; the Pandit pilgrimage has been revived in some years but is small, and weather limits access to summer.","keyWords":["Harmukh","asthi","trek","Naranag","pilgrimage"],"fromBook":["Gangbal Lake and the Harmukh yatra. The book describes the old Harmukh-Gangbal yatra, which in Dogra times had police, medical staff, tents and porters, and about ten thousand people in a normal year. Pilgrims gathered at Nuner near Ganderbal and halted the first night at Prang and the second at Chattergul. On the third day they climbed over the Barath mountain, past the lake Bransar, to Ramradhan, where water from Gangbal oozes from rocks and the first rites for ancestors were done. On the fourth day, at the Branbal pass, pilgrims called out to the names of their ancestors that they had been brought across. They passed the springs Dokhsar (hot) and Sokhsar (cold), then Kolsar, where coins were thrown, and the springs Nund and Koul. Ashes were immersed in the lake, shraddha was done and a barber on the spot shaved the men, all on Gangashtami. The return was by Buthsher and Wangath to Naran Nag, where the Sun was worshipped. The book says an early snowfall once killed a very large number of pilgrims, and the yatra died out after 1947."]},{"id":"vaishno-devi","name":"Mata Vaishno Devi","kashmiriName":null,"type":"Temple","district":"Reasi (Jammu)","coords":[33.03,74.949],"oneLine":"Famous cave shrine of the goddess in the Trikuta hills of Jammu, visited by millions each year.","story":"Mata Vaishno Devi is not in the Kashmir valley but in the Jammu region, in the Trikuta hills above the town of Katra. It is one of the most visited Hindu shrines in India, drawing millions of pilgrims a year.\n\nPilgrims walk (or ride ponies, or take helicopters partway) about 12–13 km uphill to the cave, where the goddess is worshipped in the form of three natural rock formations called pindis, representing Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati. The shrine is managed by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.\n\nWe include it here for context. Vaishno Devi is part of Dogra and wider north Indian devotion, and it is not one of the old Kashmiri Pandit tirthas mentioned in the Nilamata Purana or Rajatarangini. But since 1990, when most Pandit families moved to Jammu, many have made it part of their lives, and it is common for Pandit families to visit before or after important events.\n\nIt is a helpful place for young people to learn the difference between Kashmir's own ancient sacred geography and the wider Hindu traditions of the Jammu region, which are also part of the story of Jammu and Kashmir.","legend":"Tradition tells of a devout girl, Vaishnavi, who was pursued by the tantrik Bhairon Nath and, taking refuge in the cave, revealed herself as the goddess and destroyed him; pilgrims also visit the Bhairon temple nearby.","visit":"Active shrine with online registration, a paved path, battery cars and helicopter services from Katra; very busy in Navratri.","keyWords":["Jammu","Trikuta","Katra","pindis","pilgrimage"]},{"id":"pandrethan","name":"Pandrethan Temple","kashmiriName":"Pandrethan","type":"Temple","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.053,74.874],"oneLine":"A small stone temple standing in a pond, at the site of Srinagar's 'old capital'.","story":"On the eastern edge of Srinagar, near the Badami Bagh cantonment, a small stone temple stands in the middle of a pond. The village is Pandrethan, from Puranadhishthana, 'the old capital'. Kalhana's Rajatarangini knows the site by that name, and Aurel Stein thought it the likeliest place for the city of Srinagari that Kalhana says the emperor Ashoka founded, before King Pravarasena II built his new capital where the old city of Srinagar stands now.\n\nThe temple is known today as a Shiva temple. Stein, following Alexander Cunningham, identified it with the Vishnu temple that the minister Meruvardhana built here at the beginning of the 10th century. It is square, with a pyramid-shaped roof and a carved ceiling inside, and the water around it has helped keep it whole.\n\nIt stands within an army area, so getting there can be difficult.","legend":null,"visit":"Protected monument within a cantonment area; visits may require permission, and there is no regular worship.","keyWords":["Puranadhishthana","old capital","Shiva","Srinagar","medieval temple"],"source":{"label":"M. A. Stein, Memoir on the Ancient Geography of Kashmir (1899), with his Rajatarangini notes","url":"https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.30952"}},{"id":"parihaspora","name":"Parihaspora","kashmiriName":"Parispor","type":"Town","district":"Baramulla","coords":[34.1,74.62],"oneLine":"Ruins of Lalitaditya's 8th-century capital, with Buddhist and Hindu monuments on a plateau.","story":"Parihaspora, near Pattan on the road between Srinagar and Baramulla, was Parihasapura, the capital King Lalitaditya Muktapida founded in the 8th century. The name means 'city of laughter'.\n\nKalhana describes great temples and images here: a silver image of Vishnu, a golden Buddha, and a great stupa built by Lalitaditya's minister Chankuna, who came from Tukhara in Central Asia. What can be seen now are the stone foundations of a large stupa, a monastery with cells around a courtyard, a chaitya hall and other buildings, uncovered in the 20th century.\n\nThe city did not last. Kalhana says King Shankaravarman took materials from it to build his own town at Pattan, and the monuments were damaged further over the centuries.","legend":null,"visit":"Protected archaeological site on a plateau near Pattan; ruins are low foundations and open to visitors.","keyWords":["Lalitaditya","Buddhist stupa","Chankuna","ruins","capital"],"source":{"label":"M. A. Stein, Memoir on the Ancient Geography of Kashmir (1899), with his Rajatarangini notes","url":"https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.30952"}},{"id":"payar-temple","name":"Payar Temple","kashmiriName":"Payar","type":"Temple","district":"Pulwama","coords":[33.8608,74.9402],"oneLine":"A tiny, nearly complete stone Shiva temple from about the 10th–11th century.","story":"In the village of Payar, south of Srinagar in Pulwama, stands one of the best-preserved old temples in Kashmir. It is small, only a few metres across, and almost complete, with its pyramid roof still in place. It is a protected monument of national importance.\n\nIt is a Shiva temple: a square shrine open on all four sides, each side with a carved trefoil arch. From its style it is dated to about the 10th or 11th century, and it is close in design to the larger temple at Pandrethan. Because it is whole, it shows how the roofs of the bigger Kashmiri temples once looked.","legend":null,"visit":"Protected monument in a village setting; access is by road and the temple can be seen from outside.","keyWords":["Shiva","stone temple","Pulwama","architecture","medieval"],"source":{"label":"Archaeological Survey of India, list of protected monuments in Jammu and Kashmir","url":"https://jkarchives.nic.in/Arch_ASI_Protected_Monuments.htm"}},{"id":"naranag","name":"Naranag","kashmiriName":"Naran Nag","type":"Temple","district":"Ganderbal","coords":[34.35,74.98],"oneLine":"Ancient temple complex in a forest valley, starting point for the Gangabal pilgrimage.","story":"Naranag is a beautiful village in the Wangath valley, north-east of Srinagar beyond Kangan, where a stream rushes past ruins of two groups of ancient stone temples dedicated to Shiva. They are often dated to around the 8th century and linked by scholars with the Karkota kings, including Lalitaditya.\n\nThe temples are set among pine forests and mountain streams, a peaceful place that makes it easy to imagine ancient pilgrims resting here. The site was sacred to Shiva as Bhutesha, and Kalhana mentions the shrine of Bhutesha in this area.\n\nNaranag was for centuries the starting point of the pilgrimage to Gangabal Lake at the foot of Harmukh, where Pandits went to immerse the ashes of their dead. Today it is also a base for trekkers doing the Kashmir Great Lakes trek. Kashmiri Pandit elders who made the Gangabal pilgrimage before 1990 often remember Naranag as the place where the real journey began: families would rest here, pray at the old temples, and then start the steep climb through the forest together, carrying food, blankets and the small urns holding their loved ones' ashes.","legend":"The springs and streams here are said to flow from Harmukh, Shiva's mountain, carrying his blessing.","visit":"Ruins are protected and open; the village has basic facilities for trekkers.","keyWords":["Bhutesha","Gangabal","Karkota","trek","Shiva"]},{"id":"buniyar","name":"Buniyar Temple","kashmiriName":"Buniyar","type":"Temple","district":"Baramulla","coords":[34.1443,74.1893],"oneLine":"Well-preserved ancient temple with a colonnaded courtyard on the road to Uri.","story":"On the Jhelum valley road between Baramulla and Uri, the village of Buniyar (Boniyar) has one of the most complete old temple complexes in Kashmir. The main shrine stands in a courtyard surrounded by a colonnade of cells and pillars, entered through a large gateway: the same plan as Martand and Avantipora, on a smaller scale.\n\nAurel Stein, passing it in the 1890s, noted its well-preserved ruins and wrote that its name and date cannot be traced in the old records. Later scholars date it to around the 9th or 10th century. It is often called a Vishnu temple, though that too is uncertain.","legend":null,"visit":"Protected monument beside the Baramulla–Uri road, near a military area; can usually be seen from the road.","keyWords":["Baramulla","Uri","temple architecture","colonnade","ancient"],"source":{"label":"M. A. Stein, Memoir on the Ancient Geography of Kashmir (1899)","url":"https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.30952"}},{"id":"verinag","name":"Verinag","kashmiriName":"Vyeth Vatur / Nilanag","type":"Spring","district":"Anantnag","coords":[33.537,75.249],"oneLine":"The deep blue spring traditionally regarded as the source of the Vitasta (Jhelum).","story":"At the foot of the Pir Panjal mountains in south Kashmir lies Verinag, a deep, still spring of intense blue-green water. Kashmiri tradition regards it as the source of the Vitasta, the river we now call the Jhelum. The Nilamata Purana associates it with the serpent king Nila, which is why it is also called Nilanag.\n\nIn the 17th century, the Mughal emperor Jahangir, who loved Kashmir deeply, had the spring enclosed in an octagonal stone tank with arched alcoves, and his son Shah Jahan added a garden and water channels. An inscription records the work. Jahangir loved Verinag so much that he is said to have wished to be buried there, though he was eventually buried in Lahore.\n\nFor Pandits, Verinag was a tirtha, a sacred bathing place connected with the birth of their holy river. It is a lovely example of how Hindu sacred geography and Mughal garden design meet in Kashmir.","legend":"The Nilamata says the goddess Parvati took the form of the Vitasta at Shiva's request to purify the land, springing forth at Verinag.","visit":"A popular Mughal garden and spring, open to visitors and well maintained by the tourism department.","keyWords":["Vitasta source","Jahangir","Mughal garden","Nilanag","spring"],"fromBook":["Verinag and Vethvatru. Verinag is sacred as the source of the Vitasta, the Jhelum. The Mughal emperor Jahangir built the octagonal spring tank that tourists see. There are two small temples with Shivalingas, one around the spring and one in the garden, and local worshippers decorate them every day. About a km away is Vethvatru, a small spring regarded as the true birthplace of Mother Vitasta. A festival is held there on the 13th of Shukla Bhadrapada, and a few idols are worshipped daily."]},{"id":"nagbal-anantnag","name":"Anantnag and the Nagbal Spring","kashmiriName":"Anatnag","type":"Spring","district":"Anantnag","coords":[33.73,75.15],"oneLine":"The town of 'endless springs', whose sacred Nagbal spring is linked to the serpent Ananta.","story":"Anantnag is the chief town of south Kashmir, and its name is usually explained in two ways: 'Ananta Naga', the serpent Ananta (Shesha) on which Vishnu rests, and 'countless springs', because the town is full of them. The largest, Nagbal, is a sacred spring associated with Ananta, beside which a temple stood for centuries.\n\nAnantnag district was home to many Kashmiri Pandit villages and to several of the most important tirthas — Martand and Mattan, Verinag, Achabal, Kokernag, and the route to Amarnath. Pandit families from Anantnag spoke a slightly different accent of Kashmiri from those in Srinagar. In many families, grandparents still use the old names of Anantnag's villages and springs, and the district's tirthas — Mattan, Verinag, Kokernag, Achabal — appear again and again in family stories of summer pilgrimages and picnics. Learning these names is a simple way for young people to connect with where their families came from.","legend":"The spring is said to be the dwelling of the serpent Ananta, who guards the waters of the valley.","visit":"The Nagbal spring area remains in the town; the temple exists but Pandit presence is very small since 1990.","keyWords":["Ananta","springs","south Kashmir","naga"],"fromBook":["Anantnag, Uma Nagri and Lok Bhawan temple complexes. The book lists a number of temple complexes that developed around springs in the Anantnag area. The complex at the Anantnag spring contains four Shiva temples and further shrines for Radha Krishna and Durga, as well as four dharamshalas where many sadhus stay in summer. Uma Nagri (Brari Angan) at Uttarsoo, about 18 km away, was founded in 1781 by Swami Shivanand, and his followers kept his duni fire burning until 1990. A yagnya took place there on Ram Navami and Gangashtami, and even harsh rulers gave the shrine a big jagir. Lok Bhawan (Tirth Raj Asthapan), about 8 km from Anantnag, features a big spring with a Shivalinga in the middle, and hosts the Ashadh Shukla Dwadashi mela, which includes a holy bath. At Mattan, the mela is held on Shukla Saptami of Magh."]},{"id":"mattan","name":"Mattan (Martand Tirtha)","kashmiriName":"Mattan","type":"Spring","district":"Anantnag","coords":[33.772,75.217],"oneLine":"Sacred springs full of fish, where Pandits performed rites for ancestors and priests kept family records.","story":"Mattan, in the valley below the Martand ruins, is home to the Martand tirtha, a group of sacred springs and tanks full of fish that are fed by pilgrims and never caught. It was one of the most important pilgrimage places for Kashmiri Pandits, especially for shraddha, the rites for ancestors.\n\nLike Haridwar and Gaya, Mattan had families of priests (pandas) who kept records of the families who came to them, sometimes over many generations. Many Pandit families could trace their visits to Mattan back through these records.\n\nMattan is also connected with the 19th-century poet Parmanand, who lived at nearby Seer. The town has a gurdwara as well, linked to Guru Nanak's visit to Kashmir.\n\nAfter 1990, most Pandit families left, but the temple and springs remained, and in recent years some priests and families have returned. Mattan also has a transit colony for Pandit employees. For diaspora families, Mattan is a good example of how important record-keeping has been in Kashmiri Pandit culture — from Kalhana's chronicle to the priests' family registers.","legend":"Pilgrims believed rites performed at Martand tirtha benefit ancestors as much as those at Gaya.","visit":"Temple and springs are active and visitable; Pandit presence is small, and rites can be arranged with local priests.","keyWords":["shraddha","pandas","sacred fish","Martand","Parmanand"],"fromBook":["Martand Tirth, Mattan. The Martand Tirth at Mattan, about 4 km from Anantnag on the Pahalgam road, has a chain of springs and a temple of Surya, and people visit all year. It is a tirtha where shraddha is performed for dead ancestors, and a bath in the main spring in the Mala Masa months is thought very sacred. The Pandas of Mattan keep family records of those who come, including those who do the Amarnath yatra, as is done at Haridwar, Gaya and Pushkar. Many sadhus stay here in summer, and it is a halting place on the Amarnath yatra route."]},{"id":"kausar-nag","name":"Kausar Nag","kashmiriName":"Kramsar / Kausar Nag","type":"Lake","district":"Kulgam","coords":[33.5123,74.7688],"oneLine":"High mountain lake in the Pir Panjal, once the goal of a Pandit pilgrimage to Vishnu's footprint.","story":"Kausar Nag is an alpine lake high in the Pir Panjal range, south of the valley, at nearly 4,000 metres. Kashmiri tradition identified it with Kramasaras, and a nearby mountain is known as Vishnu Pad, 'the footprint of Vishnu'.\n\nFor Kashmiri Pandits, a pilgrimage to Kausar Nag was a demanding trek done in the summer months. The lake is also traditionally considered a source of the Veshaw stream, which flows past the famous Aharbal waterfall.\n\nThe trek has become popular again with trekkers; attempts to restart a formal pilgrimage have faced objections and restrictions at times.\n\nKashmiri sacred geography is full of such high lakes, often linked to Vishnu, Shiva or the nagas, and in the old days whole groups of villagers would trek together, singing and praying along the way.","legend":"Tradition says Vishnu, in his form that fought the demon of Satisar, left his footprint on the mountain above the lake.","visit":"Reachable only by multi-day trek via Aharbal; open in summer, with permits sometimes required.","keyWords":["Pir Panjal","Vishnu Pad","Aharbal","trek","alpine lake"]},{"id":"zeashta-devi","name":"Zeashta Devi (Zeethyar)","kashmiriName":"Zeethyar","type":"Temple","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.0782,74.8726],"oneLine":"Hillside shrine of the goddess Jyeshtha near Chashma Shahi, set among springs and chinars.","story":"The shrine of Zeashta Devi, also called Jyeshtha Mata or Zeethyar, lies on the slopes of the Zabarwan hills near the Mughal garden of Chashma Shahi, above Srinagar's Dal Lake. The goddess is worshipped here as Jyeshtha, and the site includes a spring and old trees.\n\nFor many Srinagar Pandit families, Zeethyar was a place for regular visits and special prayers, especially in the month of Jyeshtha (May–June) and on Ashtami days. The shrine was one of several goddess temples, along with Sharika at Hari Parbat and Ragnya at Tulmul, that together formed the spiritual map of Pandit life in and around Srinagar.\n\nThe temple remained in use after 1990, with security, and it continues to receive visitors, including Pandits who come on visits from Jammu and elsewhere. It is a quiet, green place, and a good example of how Kashmiri shrines are often built around natural springs — water being sacred in Kashmiri tradition.","legend":"Local tradition connects the shrine with the goddess who guards the eastern side of Srinagar, much as Sharika guards the city from Hari Parbat.","visit":"Active shrine near Chashma Shahi, accessible by road, with a security presence.","keyWords":["Jyeshtha","goddess","Zabarwan","spring","Srinagar"],"fromBook":["Jeshta Devi Temple, near Cheshmashahi. The Jeshta Devi temple sits at the foot of the hills near Chashma Shahi in Srinagar, close to the Governor's house. A little shrine stands within a spring and houses the Goddess's idol. People like to come for darshan on Thursdays, above all in the month of Jyeshtha."]},{"id":"uma-devi-brari-angan","name":"Uma Devi, Brari Angan","kashmiriName":"Brari Angan","type":"Temple","district":"Anantnag","coords":null,"oneLine":"Spring shrine of the goddess Uma in south Kashmir, a traditional family pilgrimage.","story":"Brari Angan, in the Uma Nagri area of Anantnag district in south Kashmir, is the site of a spring shrine dedicated to the goddess Uma (Parvati). The name is often explained as 'the courtyard of Bhairavi' or of the goddess, and the shrine was traditionally visited by Pandit families from the villages of south Kashmir.\n\nLike many Kashmiri goddess shrines, it centres on a natural spring, which devotees believe is the goddess's presence. Families came to offer prayers for health, marriage and children, and to take part in annual festivities held here.\n\nInformation about this shrine is mostly local and oral, and published historical details are limited, so it is best to learn about it from families who visited it. After 1990 visits became rare, though in recent years small groups of Pandits have returned for prayers and some restoration work has been reported.\n\nPlaces like Brari Angan remind us that Kashmir's sacred map was not only the famous tirthas — every area had its own beloved shrine.","legend":"Local tradition holds that the goddess Uma appeared at the spring to bless the land and its people.","visit":"Local shrine with limited information; visitors should ask community groups in Jammu or Anantnag about current access.","keyWords":["Uma","spring shrine","south Kashmir","goddess","local pilgrimage"]},{"id":"sheshnag","name":"Sheshnag Lake","kashmiriName":"Sheshnag / Zamatnag","type":"Lake","district":"Anantnag","coords":[34.09,75.49],"oneLine":"Turquoise mountain lake on the Amarnath route, named after the serpent Shesha.","story":"Sheshnag is a stunning glacial lake at around 3,590 metres, surrounded by snowy peaks, on the traditional pilgrimage route from Pahalgam to the Amarnath cave. Its turquoise water changes colour with the light.\n\nThe lake takes its name from Shesha (Sheshnag), the many-headed serpent on whom Vishnu rests and who, in Kashmiri tradition, is one of the great nagas (serpent spirits) who guard the valley's waters. Kashmiri sacred geography is full of nagas — the word 'nag' in so many Kashmiri place names means a spring or a serpent deity associated with water.\n\nPilgrims to Amarnath traditionally camp near Sheshnag on the second night of the yatra. On clear days, the peaks around it reflect in the water. It is a place to remember that for Kashmiri Pandits, mountains, lakes and springs were not just scenery but sacred beings. Pilgrims often describe the first view of the lake at dawn as one of the most moving moments of the whole yatra.","legend":"Tradition says that on his way to Amarnath, Shiva left the serpent Shesha behind at this lake, so that no one would overhear the secret of immortality he was about to tell Parvati.","visit":"Reached only on the Amarnath yatra route during the summer season; camping facilities are provided for pilgrims.","keyWords":["Amarnath yatra","naga","glacial lake","Pahalgam","Shesha"]},{"id":"tarsar-marsar","name":"Tarsar and Marsar","kashmiriName":"Tarsar / Marsar","type":"Lake","district":"Anantnag / Srinagar","coords":[34.1465,75.155],"oneLine":"Twin high-altitude lakes on either side of a mountain ridge, wrapped in folklore.","story":"Tarsar and Marsar are two alpine lakes, separated by a mountain ridge, high in the mountains between the Lidder valley and Dachigam. Tarsar's water flows towards the Lidder river near Aru, while Marsar feeds the stream that runs through Dachigam into Srinagar's Dal Lake area.\n\nTarsar is known for its almond-shaped, clear blue water surrounded by meadows, and is a favourite with trekkers. Marsar is often covered in mist and is harder to reach.\n\nKashmiri folklore says the two lakes are sisters. One tradition says that the waters of Tarsar are gentle and those of Marsar are dangerous, and warns that no one should try to cross Marsar. These are folk tales, told to children in the valley, but they show how Kashmiris gave personalities to their mountains and lakes.\n\nThe lakes are not major Pandit tirthas, but they belong to the sacred landscape of nagas and springs that Pandits have always honoured.","legend":"Folk tradition calls the lakes two sisters; Marsar's water is said to be forbidden, and Tarsar kind.","visit":"Reached by a multi-day trek from Aru, Pahalgam; open only in summer.","keyWords":["alpine lakes","trek","folklore","Lidder","Dachigam"]},{"id":"mahadev-peak","name":"Mahadev Peak","kashmiriName":"Mahadev","type":"Mountain","district":"Srinagar / Ganderbal","coords":[34.18,75],"oneLine":"The mountain above Srinagar linked to Vasugupta and the Shiva Sutras.","story":"Mahadev is a mountain of about 3,960 metres that rises north-east of Srinagar, above the Dachigam forest. On clear days it can be seen from the city. Its name means 'Great God', one of Shiva's names.\n\nFor Kashmiri Pandits, Mahadev is linked with the beginning of Kashmir Shaivism. Tradition says that the sage Vasugupta lived near here and, guided by a dream, found the Shiva Sutras carved on a rock. A large boulder known as Shankarpal, on the Harwan side of the mountain, is still pointed out as that rock.\n\nThere was a traditional pilgrimage to Mahadev on Shravan Purnima, and some families climbed the mountain in summer. Today, the mountain is part of protected wildlife areas, and access is restricted. For families interested in Kashmir Shaivism, Mahadev is a place where philosophy and landscape meet: the whole tradition of Vasugupta, Somananda, Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta, as Kashmiris remember it, begins with a sage, a dream and a rock on this mountainside. Even seeing the peak from Srinagar can be a way to connect with that story.","legend":"Shiva appeared to Vasugupta in a dream and told him that the secret teachings were written on a rock on this mountain; the rock turned over at his touch.","visit":"Largely within protected forest and security zones; the Shankarpal rock can sometimes be visited from Harwan with local guidance.","keyWords":["Vasugupta","Shiva Sutras","Shankarpal","Harwan","Kashmir Shaivism"]},{"id":"shadipora","name":"Shadipora (Prayag)","kashmiriName":"Shadipur / Prayag","type":"Spring","district":"Ganderbal","coords":[34.18,74.67],"oneLine":"The sacred confluence of the Sindh and Vitasta rivers, Kashmir's own 'Prayag'.","story":"Near the village of Shadipora, north-west of Srinagar, the Sindh river flows into the Vitasta (Jhelum). Kashmiri Pandits call this confluence Prayag, after the famous meeting of the Ganga and Yamuna at Allahabad.\n\nIn the middle of the river, on a small platform, stands an ancient chinar tree, which Pandits regarded as sacred. Families came here to perform shraddha and to immerse the ashes of loved ones, and to bathe on holy days. The site had small temples and ghats (steps down to the water).\n\nSince 1990 far fewer Pandits have visited, but the chinar still stands on its platform and the place is remembered by older generations as one of the most peaceful spots in Kashmir. Its name, Prayag, shows how Kashmiri Pandits mapped the sacred places of India onto their own valley. Just as Kashmir had its own 'Ganga' at Gangabal and its own 'Prayag' here, it also had its own 'Kashi' and other tirthas — a way of saying that the holiness of all India was present in Kashmir too.","legend":"The chinar in the river is said to have stood for centuries without harm from floods, which devotees take as a sign of its holiness.","visit":"Accessible by road from Srinagar; the chinar platform can be reached by boat. Visits by Pandits are occasional.","keyWords":["confluence","Sindh","Vitasta","ashes","chinar"],"fromBook":["Dashar at Shadipur. At Shadipur, about 15 miles downstream from Srinagar, the Jhelum meets the Sind. The Sangam is very sacred to Pandits. A chinar tree called Prayag Bun marks the spot, and there is a small temple. Ashes of the dead were immersed here. When the stars stood in the alignment called Ashtgreh, thousands came to bathe and perform shraddha. This was called Dashar, and it should not be confused with Vijayadashami. The date was known beforehand from the local panchangs, and Dharmarth took part in the arrangements. It came about once in ten years or after longer gaps, and the book says the last one was around 1972, lasting three days. Hundreds of tents were pitched under the chinars and people came in buses from Srinagar by Manasbal."]},{"id":"sheetal-nath","name":"Sheetal Nath","kashmiriName":"Sheetal Nath","type":"Temple","district":"Srinagar","coords":null,"oneLine":"Old Srinagar temple and ashram near Habba Kadal, once a hub of Pandit religious and community life.","story":"Sheetal Nath is a temple and ashram in the Habba Kadal area of downtown Srinagar, dedicated to Shiva as Sheetal Nath, 'the Lord who is cool', associated with a spring. For much of the 20th century it was also a centre of Pandit community life, hosting meetings, religious gatherings and organisations.\n\nSheetal Nath was especially known for its Basant Panchami celebrations in spring, when families gathered and children flew kites. Sanskrit classes, pravachans (religious talks) and Hindu welfare organisations also used its premises.\n\nAfter 1990 the complex was largely abandoned. In the 2010s, community members and some local volunteers began efforts to clean and reopen it, and in 2021, prayers were held there again after decades. Its revival has become a symbol of hope for many displaced Pandits. Many older Pandits remember Sheetal Nath not only as a temple but as the place where they learned songs, heard speeches, and met friends. Its story, from centre of community life to empty building to careful revival, mirrors the story of the community itself.","legend":null,"visit":"The temple has been partly restored and reopened for prayers on special occasions; it is in a dense old-city area.","keyWords":["Habba Kadal","Basant Panchami","ashram","downtown Srinagar","revival"]},{"id":"habba-kadal","name":"Habba Kadal","kashmiriName":"Habba Kadal","type":"Neighbourhood","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.083,74.803],"oneLine":"The second bridge of old Srinagar, and the Pandit lanes around it: one of the oldest parts of the city.","story":"Habba Kadal is the second of the old bridges over the Jhelum in Srinagar, counting downstream, and the name of the neighbourhood around it. The lanes on both banks, among them Ganpatyar, Karfali Mohalla, Sheetal Nath, Purushyar and Somayar, were home to Pandit families for generations, with tall brick-and-timber houses, temples and bathing ghats along the river.\n\nWalter Lawrence noted in 1895 that the bridge had not long before carried rows of shops, like old London Bridge. It is one of the oldest parts of the city. On the left bank, the quarter between the river and the Kut Kul canal is Kathiil, the Kasthila of Kalhana's Rajatarangini; the poet Bilhana, in the 11th century, wrote of it as a quarter where Brahmins lived. Near the bridge on the same bank stood the palace of the later Hindu kings: King Ananta (1028–63) moved the royal house here, beside a shrine of Sadashiva, and King Harsha kept a bridge of boats across the river by his palace. In the 1890s Aurel Stein found an old linga on the ghat at Purushyar that the local priests still called Sadashiva.\n\nJust below the bridge on the right bank is Somayar ghat, the Somatirtha of the Rajatarangini, where a bath in the Vitasta was said to heal. In Stein's time it was still visited as a tirtha, with old lingas by the water. The quarter around it is named after a math built there by Queen Samudra, wife of King Ramadeva, in the 13th century.\n\nAnand Koul, in The Kashmiri Pandit (1924), records that Shivopadhyaya, who wrote on Shaiva philosophy in the 18th century, had his home at Habba Kadal.\n\nPandits who grew up here remember the temple bells in the morning, the ghats on the river, and the markets busy before Herath and Navreh. After 1990 almost all Pandit families left, and many houses fell into ruin or were sold. If your family lived here, tell us which lane was yours.","legend":null,"visit":"A busy downtown neighbourhood; a few Pandit families remain, and some temples such as Ganpatyar and Sheetal Nath are active.","keyWords":["kadal","downtown","old city","memory","Jhelum"],"source":{"label":"M. A. Stein, Memoir on the Ancient Geography of Kashmir (1899); Anand Koul, The Kashmiri Pandit (1924); Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)","url":"https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.30952"}},{"id":"karan-nagar","name":"Karan Nagar","kashmiriName":"Karan Nagar","type":"Neighbourhood","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.083,74.793],"oneLine":"A Srinagar neighbourhood named after Karan Singh, home to many Pandit families before 1990.","story":"Karan Nagar is a neighbourhood of Srinagar, about two kilometres from Lal Chowk, with Ali Kadal to the south, Batmaloo to the west, Safa Kadal to the north and Nawab Bazar to the east. It is named after Karan Singh, son of Maharaja Hari Singh, the last Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, whose family owned the land; their Dharmarth Trust later sold it to the state government. One part of it, Deewan Bagh, was laid out in 1942 as the princely state's first civil colony.\n\nThe SMHS hospital and the Government Medical College are here, and so is All Saints Church.\n\nMany Kashmiri Pandit families lived in Karan Nagar until the exodus of 1990, when almost all of them left. If your family lived here, tell us which lane was yours, and what the neighbourhood was like.","legend":null,"visit":null,"keyWords":["Karan Singh","SMHS","Deewan Bagh","Srinagar"],"source":{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karan_Nagar"}},{"id":"safa-kadal","name":"Safa Kadal","kashmiriName":"Safa Kadal","type":"Neighbourhood","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.096,74.797],"oneLine":"The seventh and last of the old bridges of Srinagar, and the neighbourhood around it.","story":"Safa Kadal is the seventh and last of the old bridges over the Jhelum in Srinagar, counting downstream, and the name of the neighbourhood around it. Walter Lawrence, writing in 1895, called it the Safr Kadal, the bridge of departure. The bridge is said to have been built by Saif Khan in the reign of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb; the dates given are 1664 and 1670.\n\nLike the other old city bridges, it stood on piers of deodar logs laid crosswise, on foundations of boats filled with stones and sunk in the river. The great flood of 1893 swept away six of the seven. Near the bridge, the Kut Kul canal, which leaves the river by the Sher Garhi palace, flows back into it, as Aurel Stein noted.\n\nFor Pandits, Safa Kadal is the birthplace of the saint-poet Mata Rupa Bhawani (1621–1721), and the place is kept as one of her asthapanas. The neighbourhood's Ram Mandir was vandalised in 1990; plans to restore it were announced in 2022.\n\nIf your family lived here, tell us which lane was yours.","legend":null,"visit":null,"keyWords":["kadal","Rupa Bhawani","Ram Mandir","old city","Jhelum"],"source":{"label":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895); M. A. Stein (1900); Wikipedia","url":"https://archive.org/details/valleyofkashmir00lawruoft"}},{"id":"rainawari","name":"Rainawari","kashmiriName":"Rainawor","type":"Neighbourhood","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.1,74.825],"oneLine":"Lakeside Srinagar neighbourhood full of waterways, once a major Pandit locality.","story":"Rainawari is an old neighbourhood of Srinagar lying between the Dal Lake and the old city, crossed by canals and waterways such as the Nallah Mar (now filled in). It was one of the largest Pandit localities in Srinagar, home to many families, temples and schools.\n\nThe name is often linked to the Raina surname, one of the most common Kashmiri Pandit family names; this is a popular explanation rather than a proven origin. The cricketer Suresh Raina's family came from Rainawari, and the 18th-century poet Munshi Bhawani Das Kachru lived here.\n\nRainawari was known for its lanes along the water, boats bringing vegetables from the floating gardens of the Dal, and landmarks like the Jogi Lankar area. Today it is also home to a large government hospital.\n\nLike Habba Kadal, Rainawari emptied of most Pandit families in 1990. Many former residents still describe their homes here in loving detail.","legend":null,"visit":"A lively residential area; few Pandit families remain and some temples are maintained.","keyWords":["Dal Lake","canals","Raina","old Srinagar","memory"]},{"id":"karfali-mohalla","name":"Karfali Mohalla","kashmiriName":"Karfal Mohal","type":"Neighbourhood","district":"Srinagar","coords":null,"oneLine":"A densely packed old Pandit neighbourhood in the Habba Kadal area of Srinagar.","story":"Karfali Mohalla is a neighbourhood in the Habba Kadal area of downtown Srinagar, close to the Jhelum. It was one of the most densely populated Pandit localities in the old city, with tall houses built so close together that neighbours could talk across the lanes from their windows.\n\nThe mohalla had its own temples and was near Ganpatyar and Sheetal Nath. Families here often had members working in schools, offices and small trades, and many well-known Pandit families had roots here.\n\nPeople who grew up in Karfali Mohalla remember shared festivals, children playing in the lanes, and the sense that everyone knew everyone. After 1990, the Pandit community here dispersed, mostly to Jammu, Delhi and beyond.\n\nThe mohalla is a good example of how Srinagar's Pandits lived in close-knit neighbourhoods clustered around temples and the river — a way of life that diaspora families now try to recreate through community associations.","legend":null,"visit":"Still a residential old-city neighbourhood; few Pandit families remain.","keyWords":["Habba Kadal","old city","mohalla","community","memory"]},{"id":"ganpatyar","name":"Ganpatyar","kashmiriName":"Ganpatyar","type":"Neighbourhood","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.0782,74.8068],"oneLine":"Riverside Srinagar locality named after its ancient Ganesh temple on the Jhelum.","story":"Ganpatyar is a neighbourhood near Habba Kadal on the bank of the Jhelum in downtown Srinagar. It is named after its Ganesh (Ganpati) temple, which stands by the river and is one of the oldest continuously used temples in the city. The word 'yar' in Kashmiri place names often means a riverbank or ghat area.\n\nThe temple was a centre of devotion for Pandit families of the area, especially during Ganesh Chaturthi and before weddings and other important events, when families came to seek Ganesh's blessings for a smooth start. Nearby lanes housed many Pandit families, shops and small businesses.\n\nAfter 1990, the Ganpatyar temple remained open, looked after by a few families and priests, and it has been one of the places where Pandits returning to visit Srinagar come to pray. Many Pandit families traditionally began important journeys, exams and weddings with a visit to a Ganesh temple, because Ganesh is the remover of obstacles. For Srinagar families, Ganpatyar was that place. Diaspora families who return on visits often make a point of going there first.","legend":null,"visit":"The Ganesh temple is active; the neighbourhood is part of Srinagar's crowded old city.","keyWords":["Ganesh","temple","ghat","downtown","Jhelum"]},{"id":"fateh-kadal","name":"Fateh Kadal","kashmiriName":"Fateh Kadal","type":"Neighbourhood","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.0867,74.808],"oneLine":"Old Srinagar bridge and locality near the Khanqah-e-Moula, with a long mixed history.","story":"Fateh Kadal is the third of the old bridges over the Jhelum in Srinagar, counting downstream, and the neighbourhood around it. Its name is associated with Sultan Fateh Shah of the late 15th century.\n\nThe area lies close to the Khanqah-e-Moula, the great wooden shrine of Shah-i-Hamadan, and was a mixed neighbourhood of Muslim and Pandit families. Pandits lived in lanes on both banks, with their own temples and ghats, alongside traders and craftspeople.\n\nFateh Kadal is part of the old core of Srinagar, where you can still see traditional houses with carved wooden windows and balconies leaning over the river. Many of these houses have suffered from fires, floods and neglect.\n\nFor Pandits, Fateh Kadal is part of the living memory of the old city, where the rhythm of the river, the call to prayer and the temple bell were all part of everyday life. Older residents remember the river at Fateh Kadal busy with boats and bathers.","legend":null,"visit":"Busy old-city neighbourhood; heritage houses are fragile, and few Pandit families remain.","keyWords":["kadal","old city","Khanqah-e-Moula","heritage houses","Jhelum"]},{"id":"ali-kadal","name":"Ali Kadal","kashmiriName":"Ali Kadal","type":"Neighbourhood","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.0956,74.8028],"oneLine":"Downtown Srinagar locality home to the shrine of the Pandit saint Rishi Peer.","story":"Ali Kadal is one of the old bridges over the Jhelum in Srinagar and the neighbourhood around it. It is traditionally associated with Sultan Ali Shah of the 15th century.\n\nFor Kashmiri Pandits, Ali Kadal is most closely linked with Rishi Peer, the 17th-century saint born into the family of Pandit Govind Kaul of Batayar Mohalla nearby. His home became a shrine that was visited by Pandits and Muslims alike.\n\nThe Rishi Peer shrine's anniversary was a major community event, with devotional singing and the offering of food. After 1990, devotees continued to mark the anniversary in Jammu and elsewhere, while the original shrine has been maintained with difficulty. Many diaspora families still keep a photo of Rishi Peer in their prayer room.","legend":"Stories are told of Rishi Peer's miracles in the lanes of Ali Kadal, where he helped the poor and the sick.","visit":"Old-city locality; the Rishi Peer shrine exists but Pandit presence is very small.","keyWords":["Rishi Peer","saint","shrine","downtown","Batayar"]},{"id":"srinagar","name":"Srinagar","kashmiriName":"Sirinagar","type":"Town","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.083,74.797],"oneLine":"Kashmir's capital on the Jhelum, a 1,400-year-old city of bridges, shrines and lakes.","story":"Srinagar is the largest city of Kashmir and its summer capital. Its name is usually explained as 'city of Shri' — Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity — or 'city of the sun' (Surya-nagar).\n\nKalhana says the first Srinagari was founded by the emperor Ashoka near today's Pandrethan. The present city grew from Pravarapura, founded in the 6th century by King Pravarasena II. Over the centuries, Hindu kings, Sultans, Mughals, Afghans, Sikhs and Dogras all left their mark.\n\nThe old city grew along both banks of the Jhelum, joined by a series of bridges — Amira Kadal, Habba Kadal, Fateh Kadal, Zaina Kadal, Ali Kadal, Nawa Kadal and Safa Kadal. Above it rise Hari Parbat, with the Sharika shrine, and Shankaracharya hill. To the east lie the Dal Lake and the Mughal gardens of Nishat, Shalimar and Chashma Shahi.\n\nFor Kashmiri Pandits, Srinagar was the centre of learning, work and faith. Its neighbourhoods, schools, and temples appear in almost every family's story. Since 1990 only a small number of Pandits remain, but the city still holds the memories of most displaced families.","legend":"The Nilamata tells that the valley was once a lake called Satisar, drained with divine help so that people could settle here.","visit":"Busy modern city and tourist centre; temples such as Sharika, Shankaracharya, Ganpatyar and Zeashta Devi are active.","keyWords":["capital","Pravarapura","bridges","Dal Lake","old city"]},{"id":"baramulla","name":"Baramulla","kashmiriName":"Varmul","type":"Town","district":"Baramulla","coords":[34.198,74.364],"oneLine":"The 'gateway' town of western Kashmir, named after Vishnu's boar incarnation.","story":"Baramulla lies where the Jhelum leaves the Kashmir valley through a gorge on its way to the plains. Its name comes from Varahamula, 'the place of the boar', after Varaha, the boar incarnation of Vishnu, who, according to tradition, rescued the earth from the waters.\n\nFor centuries Baramulla was the gateway to Kashmir for travellers coming from the west. It had important temples and tirthas, including an old Varaha temple mentioned in the histories, and Pandit communities lived here for centuries.\n\nIn October 1947 Baramulla was attacked by tribal raiders from Pakistan, who killed and looted many residents of all communities, including nuns and patients at the St Joseph's mission hospital. The town suffered terribly before Indian troops arrived.\n\nToday Baramulla is a district headquarters, and its old temples and Pandit localities are mostly gone. It remains an important place in the story of both ancient Kashmir and 1947. Families with roots in Baramulla often remember its temples, orchards and the view of the river rushing out of the valley.","legend":"Vishnu as Varaha is said to have struck the mountains here to let the waters of Satisar drain out through the gorge.","visit":"District town with modern facilities; old temple sites are largely lost.","keyWords":["Varahamula","Varaha","1947","gateway","Jhelum"]},{"id":"sopore","name":"Sopore","kashmiriName":"Sopur","type":"Town","district":"Baramulla","coords":[34.3,74.47],"oneLine":"Apple town near Wular Lake, named after Suyya, the ancient flood-control engineer.","story":"Sopore sits on the Jhelum just downstream from Wular Lake. Its old name was Suyyapura, 'the town of Suyya', after the 9th-century engineer who, according to Kalhana's Rajatarangini, drained floods and controlled the rivers of Kashmir under King Avantivarman.\n\nToday Sopore is famous for its apple orchards and has one of the largest fruit markets in India. The town had a Pandit community for centuries, including many families involved in trade, teaching and government service.\n\nSopore suffered badly during the years of militancy, and its Pandit families left in 1990. The name itself keeps alive the memory of a clever Kashmiri engineer from a humble background — a good story to tell children when they eat a Kashmiri apple. Sopore's position near Wular Lake also made it an important river port in the days when boats carried goods and people up and down the Jhelum. Pandit families from the Sopore area remember its markets, orchards and schools, and many can still name the lanes where their homes once stood.","legend":"Suyya is said to have thrown gold coins into the river so that villagers diving for them would clear the rocks blocking the water.","visit":"Busy market town, known for its apples; no significant Pandit presence remains.","keyWords":["Suyya","apples","Wular","Rajatarangini","engineering"]},{"id":"bijbehara","name":"Bijbehara","kashmiriName":"Vejibror","type":"Town","district":"Anantnag","coords":[33.793,75.107],"oneLine":"Ancient town on the Jhelum named after the Vijayeshwara Shiva shrine.","story":"Bijbehara lies on the Jhelum in south Kashmir. Its name comes from Vijayeshwara, a famous shrine of Shiva mentioned in Kalhana's Rajatarangini. The old town had many temples and a Pandit community with long roots.\n\nIn later centuries Bijbehara was also known for the Mughal garden associated with Prince Dara Shikoh on the river and for its chinar trees.\n\nBijbehara was home to many Pandit families who lived in the old town near the river until 1990. It is also the hometown of cricketer Parvez Rasool, the first cricketer from the Kashmir valley to play for India.\n\nBijbehara is also a good example of how Kashmiri place names carry history. Many towns and villages still have names that come from Sanskrit temple names, even when the temples themselves have long gone — Vijayeshwara became Bijbehara, Varahamula became Baramulla, Suyyapura became Sopore. Learning these links is a fun way for young people to discover Kashmir's past hidden in its everyday language, and to see that history is not only in books but in the names people use every day.","legend":null,"visit":"Town on the Srinagar–Anantnag road; Vijayeshwara's ancient site is not easily identifiable today.","keyWords":["Vijayeshwara","Shiva","Jhelum","Rajatarangini","south Kashmir"]},{"id":"pampore","name":"Pampore","kashmiriName":"Pampur","type":"Town","district":"Pulwama","coords":[34.017,74.933],"oneLine":"Kashmir's saffron town, founded in the 9th century and linked with Lal Ded.","story":"Pampore, just south-east of Srinagar, is known around the world for its saffron fields, which bloom purple in October and November. The saffron crocus has been grown here for many centuries, and Kashmiri saffron is prized for its colour and aroma.\n\nThe town's old name was Padmapura, founded by Padma, a minister of the 9th-century king Cippata-Jayapida, according to the Rajatarangini. Tradition says the great mystic Lal Ded was born in a village near Pampore. The saffron village of Khunmoh nearby was the birthplace of the poet Bilhana, who praised its saffron in his writing. Habba Khatun's traditional birthplace, Chandhara, is also nearby.\n\nPandit families used saffron in food, in worship (to make tilak), and in special dishes for festivals. Saffron farming today faces challenges from climate change and lower yields. For many Pandit children, the smell of saffron is the smell of festival cooking at home.","legend":"A folk story says two Sufi saints gave saffron to a local chieftain in return for curing an illness, which is how saffron came to Kashmir — a legend told in the Pampore area.","visit":"Saffron fields are visible along the highway in autumn; shops sell local saffron.","keyWords":["saffron","Padmapura","Lal Ded","Khunmoh","autumn"]},{"id":"vitasta-jhelum","name":"Vitasta (Jhelum)","kashmiriName":"Vyeth","type":"River","district":"Anantnag to Baramulla","coords":null,"oneLine":"Kashmir's holy river, honoured by Pandits with its own birthday, Vyeth Truvah.","story":"The river called the Jhelum in English and Urdu is known in Sanskrit as the Vitasta and in Kashmiri as the Vyeth. It rises near Verinag, flows north-west through the whole valley, passes through Srinagar in a series of graceful curves, feeds Wular Lake, and leaves the valley at Baramulla to flow into Pakistan.\n\nFor Kashmiri Pandits, the Vitasta is a goddess. The Nilamata Purana says the goddess Parvati took the form of the river to purify Kashmir. Pandits celebrate the river's birthday, Vyeth Truvah, on the thirteenth day of the bright half of Bhadrapada, lighting lamps and floating them on the water.\n\nFor centuries, life in Srinagar was organised around the river: ghats for bathing and prayer, houseboats and doongas for transport, and the old kadals (bridges) connecting neighbourhoods. Many temples stood on its banks.\n\nThe Vitasta also brought floods — from Suyya's time to the terrible floods of September 2014, which damaged much of Srinagar.","legend":"The Nilamata says Parvati became the Vitasta at Shiva's request; where Shiva struck the ground with his trident (vitasti, a span wide), she sprang forth.","visit":"Flows through Srinagar with walkways and ghats; Vyeth Truvah is marked by Pandits at ghats and in the diaspora on riverbanks.","keyWords":["Vyeth Truvah","river goddess","ghats","Nilamata","floods"]},{"id":"dal-lake","name":"Dal Lake","kashmiriName":"Dal","type":"Lake","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.117,74.867],"oneLine":"Srinagar's famous lake of houseboats, floating gardens and lotus flowers.","story":"The Dal Lake is the jewel of Srinagar, surrounded by mountains, Mughal gardens and shrines. It is known for its shikaras (small boats), houseboats, and floating vegetable gardens.\n\nThe lake is also where nadru (lotus stem) grows — one of the favourite ingredients in Kashmiri Pandit cooking, used in dishes like nadru yakhni and nadir monji. In summer, the lake is covered in pink lotus flowers.\n\nAround the lake are the Mughal gardens of Nishat and Shalimar, the Hazratbal shrine, the Char Chinar island, and on nearby slopes the Shankaracharya temple and Zeashta Devi shrine. Rainawari, a traditional Pandit neighbourhood, lies on its south-western edge.\n\nThe Dal faces serious environmental problems from pollution, shrinking area and weeds. Restoration efforts continue. For Kashmiri Pandits, the Dal is also part of daily life, not just a postcard view. Vegetable growers from the floating gardens sold produce to families in nearby neighbourhoods, and boat trips to Nishat and Shalimar gardens were a favourite family outing on spring and summer days, with samovars of kahwa and baskets of food.","legend":null,"visit":"A major tourist attraction with shikara rides and houseboats; environmental conservation is an ongoing concern.","keyWords":["shikara","houseboats","lotus","nadru","Mughal gardens"]},{"id":"wular-lake","name":"Wular Lake","kashmiriName":"Wular","type":"Lake","district":"Bandipora / Baramulla","coords":[34.36,74.6],"oneLine":"One of Asia's largest freshwater lakes, known in ancient texts as Mahapadmasaras.","story":"Wular Lake, in north Kashmir between Bandipora and Sopore, is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia. The Jhelum flows through it, and the lake acts as a natural flood basin for the valley.\n\nIn ancient Sanskrit texts it is called Mahapadmasaras, after Mahapadma, a serpent king (naga) believed to live in its waters. The Nilamata Purana and Kalhana both mention it.\n\nSultan Zain-ul-Abidin built a small artificial island in the lake, Zaina Lank, in the 15th century as a resting place for travellers crossing the often stormy waters.\n\nThe lake supports fishermen and water chestnut (singhara) harvesters, and many migratory birds. It too faces shrinking and siltation, and conservation projects have been started. Pandit families from the villages around Wular and Sopore remember how storms could make the lake dangerous for boats, and the lake appears in folk songs and stories about travel across the valley in the days before roads were common. It is a place where Kashmir's ancient naga legends and today's environmental challenges meet.","legend":"The naga Mahapadma is said to have made his home in Wular after being given refuge in Kashmir.","visit":"Accessible from Bandipora and Sopore; boat rides are possible; a protected wetland.","keyWords":["Mahapadmasaras","naga","Zaina Lank","wetland","fisheries"]},{"id":"manasbal-lake","name":"Manasbal Lake","kashmiriName":"Mansbal","type":"Lake","district":"Ganderbal","coords":[34.25,74.67],"oneLine":"Quiet, deep lake north of Srinagar, famous for its lotus flowers and Mughal garden.","story":"Manasbal is a small, deep lake north of Srinagar, near the village of Safapora. It is often described as one of the deepest lakes in the valley and is known for its clear water.\n\nIn summer, Manasbal is covered with lotus flowers, and it is a favourite spot for bird-watchers. On its bank are the remains of a Mughal garden, the Jarokha Bagh, associated with Empress Nur Jahan.\n\nThe name is often linked to the Manasarovar lake of Tibet, sacred to Hindus and Buddhists. Pandit families visited Manasbal for outings and picnics, and it remains a peaceful alternative to the busy Dal. The lake is also a good place to see lotus plants up close — the same plants whose stems (nadru) end up in the Kashmiri Pandit kitchen. Showing children the lotus leaves on the water and then cooking nadru at home is a lovely way to link place and food, and to talk about how the natural world of Kashmir shaped its culture.","legend":"Local belief compares the lake with Manasarovar and says its waters are pure and sacred.","visit":"Open to visitors with gardens and boating; less crowded than the Dal.","keyWords":["lotus","Mughal garden","Nur Jahan","birds","Ganderbal"]},{"id":"jammu-city","name":"Jammu","kashmiriName":"Jomm","type":"Diaspora","district":"Jammu","coords":[32.726,74.857],"oneLine":"The city of temples that became home to most Kashmiri Pandit families after 1990.","story":"Jammu is the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir and the largest city of the Jammu region, known as the 'City of Temples' for its many shrines, including the Raghunath temple.\n\nIn early 1990, as violence and threats drove Kashmiri Pandits out of the valley, most families fled to Jammu, often with only what they could carry. They stayed with relatives, in rented rooms, in schools, and in tented camps. The heat of the plains was a shock to people from the cool valley, and many elderly people died in the first years from heat, snake bites, stress and illness.\n\nOver time, many families built or bought homes in neighbourhoods like Durga Nagar, Janipur, Talab Tillo, Bohri, Roop Nagar and others, which became new centres of Pandit life. Kheer Bhawani and Sharika temples were built here as replicas of the shrines back home.\n\nJammu today has the largest population of Kashmiri Pandits anywhere. For many diaspora families, it is where grandparents live, where weddings are held, and where the community's newspapers, organisations and temples are based.","legend":null,"visit":"A large city with many Pandit neighbourhoods, temples and community organisations.","keyWords":["exodus","1990","winter capital","migrant","community"]},{"id":"jagti-township","name":"Jagti Township","kashmiriName":null,"type":"Diaspora","district":"Jammu","coords":null,"oneLine":"Township near Nagrota built in 2011 to rehouse Pandit families from migrant camps.","story":"Jagti is a township near Nagrota, on the outskirts of Jammu, built by the government to rehouse Kashmiri Pandit families who had been living for two decades in camps. It was inaugurated in 2011 and has about 4,000 two-room flats, along with a school, a health centre, shops and a community hall.\n\nThe township was a big improvement on the one-room tenements and tents of the old camps. But residents have often raised concerns about crowded living, poor maintenance, water shortages, limited jobs, and the sense of being set apart from the rest of the city.\n\nFor young people growing up in Jagti, it is a place of both community and frustration: a home and not a home. Families maintain their customs, celebrate Herath and Navreh, and keep in touch with relatives across the diaspora.\n\nSimilar colonies were built elsewhere in Jammu, and some families have moved on to other areas.","legend":null,"visit":"A residential township near Nagrota; residents continue to campaign for better services.","keyWords":["migrant camp","rehabilitation","Nagrota","housing","displaced families"]},{"id":"muthi-camp","name":"Muthi and the Jammu Migrant Camps","kashmiriName":null,"type":"Diaspora","district":"Jammu","coords":null,"oneLine":"The camps where displaced Pandit families lived in tents and one-room tenements after 1990.","story":"After the exodus of 1990, thousands of Kashmiri Pandit families who had no relatives or means to rent homes were placed in migrant camps in and around Jammu — at Muthi, Purkhoo, Mishriwala, Nagrota and other places. At first they lived in tents, often several families sharing space, in the heat of the plains.\n\nLater, one-room tenements (ORTs) were built — small rooms, sometimes for a whole family of five or six, with shared toilets and water points. Children studied, families cooked, and elders prayed in these single rooms for years. Many people who grew up in the camps have written about the loss of privacy, the heat, and the stress, as well as about the support that came from neighbours in the same situation.\n\nMost camp residents were moved to Jagti township and other housing by the 2010s. The camps are remembered as a symbol of the hardship of the exodus, and memoirs by writers such as Rahul Pandita and Siddhartha Gigoo describe this life.","legend":null,"visit":"Most camps have been closed or converted; some Pandit families still live in the Muthi area.","keyWords":["migrant camps","tents","one-room tenements","1990","hardship"]},{"id":"delhi","name":"Delhi","kashmiriName":null,"type":"Diaspora","district":"Delhi","coords":[28.61,77.21],"oneLine":"Home to a Kashmiri Pandit community since the 18th century, and one of the largest after 1990.","story":"Kashmiri Pandits have lived in Delhi for centuries. In the Mughal era, Pandits such as Raj Kaul, ancestor of the Nehrus, came to Delhi as scholars and officials, and families such as the Zutshis of Old Delhi (the poet Gulzar Dehlvi's family) lived there for generations.\n\nIn the 20th century, more Pandits came for work in government and education. Colonies such as Pamposh Enclave in south Delhi were set up by Kashmiri Pandits even before 1990 — 'Pamposh' is the Kashmiri word for the lotus flower.\n\nAfter 1990, Delhi received a large number of displaced families. Some lived in relief camps for years, while others settled in areas across the city and in the National Capital Region, including Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad.\n\nToday Delhi has many Pandit organisations, temples of Kheer Bhawani and Sharika, and cultural events for Herath, Navreh and other festivals. It is also where many community campaigns are organised.","legend":null,"visit":"Large, established community across Delhi-NCR with temples and community centres.","keyWords":["Pamposh Enclave","Old Delhi","exodus","diaspora","organisations"]},{"id":"lucknow-allahabad","name":"Lucknow and Allahabad (Prayagraj)","kashmiriName":null,"type":"Diaspora","district":"Uttar Pradesh","coords":null,"oneLine":"Cities where Kashmiri Pandit families settled in the 18th–19th centuries and shaped Urdu culture and national politics.","story":"Long before 1990, Kashmiri Pandit families migrated to the cities of north India, especially Lucknow, Allahabad (now Prayagraj), Agra, Delhi and Lahore. Many came in the 18th and 19th centuries to serve Mughal, Awadh and later British administrations because of their skill in Persian and administration.\n\nIn Lucknow there is still a neighbourhood called Kashmiri Mohalla. Kashmiri Pandit families there produced famous Urdu writers, including Daya Shankar Kaul Nasim, Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar and Brij Narayan Chakbast.\n\nAllahabad was home to the Nehrus, the Sapru family of Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, the Katjus and others. Anand Bhawan, the Nehru family house, is now a museum.\n\nThese families kept their Kashmiri surnames, married within the community and preserved many customs, even as they became thoroughly at home in north Indian culture. Their story shows that the Kashmiri Pandit diaspora is not only a result of 1990 — it has a history of more than two centuries, and those older families helped shape the literature and politics of modern India.","legend":null,"visit":"Kashmiri Mohalla in Lucknow and Anand Bhawan in Prayagraj can be visited; older families maintain community associations.","keyWords":["Kashmiri Mohalla","Urdu","Nehru family","old diaspora","Persian"]},{"id":"pune","name":"Pune","kashmiriName":null,"type":"Diaspora","district":"Maharashtra","coords":[18.52,73.856],"oneLine":"A western Indian city where many Pandit families settled for education and IT jobs.","story":"Pune, in Maharashtra, became home to a growing Kashmiri Pandit community after 1990. Families came for education, because the city's colleges and universities welcomed students from displaced families, and later for jobs in engineering and information technology.\n\nIn Pune, as in other cities, Kashmiri Pandits formed community associations to celebrate Herath, Navreh, Janam Dyun and other occasions together. These associations help young people meet others from the community and learn Kashmiri songs, food and customs.\n\nThe city's armed forces institutions also brought many Pandit families in military service. Pune's Pandit community is an example of how the exodus led to the spread of the community across all of India. Young Pandits in Pune today often combine careers in technology or the armed forces with active roles in community events, where they learn songs such as Krishna Joo Razdan's leelas and help prepare traditional food for festivals. The city shows how the community has adapted to new places while keeping its core traditions alive.","legend":null,"visit":"Established community with active cultural associations.","keyWords":["education","IT","community associations","diaspora","Maharashtra"]},{"id":"bengaluru","name":"Bengaluru","kashmiriName":null,"type":"Diaspora","district":"Karnataka","coords":[12.972,77.594],"oneLine":"India's tech capital, now home to a sizeable community of young Kashmiri Pandit professionals.","story":"Bengaluru (Bangalore), India's technology hub, has attracted many young Kashmiri Pandits since the 1990s. Many came as students or IT professionals and then settled with their families.\n\nThe community here is relatively young, and its members are often second-generation displaced Pandits who grew up in Jammu, Delhi or elsewhere. Community groups organise festivals, pujas and cultural gatherings, and there are efforts to teach children Kashmiri language and customs.\n\nFor young people, Bengaluru is an example of how the community is rebuilding its identity in completely new surroundings — far from Kashmir, but holding on to Herath, Navreh and the Kashmiri kitchen. Community events here often include sessions for children on Kashmiri words, stories and songs, and gatherings where families cook dishes such as rogan josh, dum aloo and haak together. For many young professionals far from their parents, these gatherings are a way to feel at home in a new city and to meet others who share their story.","legend":null,"visit":"Active community groups and events, especially around Herath and Navreh.","keyWords":["IT","young professionals","diaspora","festivals","identity"]},{"id":"united-kingdom","name":"United Kingdom","kashmiriName":null,"type":"Diaspora","district":"United Kingdom","coords":null,"oneLine":"A smaller but active overseas community of Kashmiri Pandits, many in professions like medicine and engineering.","story":"Kashmiri Pandits have lived in the United Kingdom for several decades, many first arriving as doctors, engineers and academics from the 1960s onwards. After 1990, the community grew as more families settled abroad.\n\nPandit families in the UK are spread across London, the Midlands, the North and Scotland. Community groups organise celebrations of Herath, Navreh and other festivals, and help children learn about Kashmiri customs, food and language. Events often bring together families from different parts of the country.\n\nThe UK community also plays a role in raising awareness of the exodus, holding remembrance events around 19 January each year. For children growing up in Britain, these gatherings are often where they first hear Kashmiri songs and taste traditional dishes cooked in the community way. Young British Pandits often describe feeling both fully British and proudly Kashmiri — and community events are one place where they can be both at once.","legend":null,"visit":"Community associations hold regular events; check local groups for dates.","keyWords":["overseas","professionals","festivals","remembrance","community"]},{"id":"united-states","name":"United States","kashmiriName":null,"type":"Diaspora","district":"United States","coords":null,"oneLine":"Home to one of the largest overseas Kashmiri Pandit communities, with long-running associations.","story":"Kashmiri Pandits began settling in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, often as students, doctors, scientists and engineers. The linguist Braj Kachru, who taught at the University of Illinois, was one well-known example.\n\nThe community grew after 1990. Organisations such as the Kashmir Overseas Association (KOA) have for decades brought families together for festivals like Herath and Navreh, held youth camps and conventions, and supported displaced families in India.\n\nMany American Pandit families live in areas such as New Jersey, New York, California, Texas and the Washington, D.C. region. Young people growing up there often learn Kashmiri traditions through community events, online resources and visits to grandparents in India.\n\nThe US community has also campaigned to raise awareness of the exodus and of Kashmiri Pandit human rights. Some families also travel to India each year so children can visit grandparents and relatives.","legend":null,"visit":"Active associations across major US regions; events are regularly held for festivals and remembrance.","keyWords":["overseas","KOA","festivals","youth","awareness"]},{"id":"valley-transit-camps","name":"Transit Camps in the Valley","kashmiriName":null,"type":"Diaspora","district":"Various districts of Kashmir","coords":null,"oneLine":"Secured housing colonies in Kashmir for Pandit employees who returned under the Prime Minister's package.","story":"From around 2010, under the Prime Minister's employment package for Kashmiri migrants, several thousand young Pandits took government jobs in Kashmir. To house them, the government built transit accommodation in guarded colonies at places such as Vessu (Kulgam), Sheikhpora (Budgam), Mattan and others.\n\nFor many, this was the first time since 1990 that their families had a presence in the valley. Employees worked in schools, offices and departments, and some married and raised children in the camps.\n\nLife in the camps has been difficult. Targeted killings of Pandit employees and others, especially in 2021–22, including Rahul Bhat in May 2022, led to protests and demands for transfer to Jammu. Many employees remain, while others have left or sought transfers.\n\nThe transit camps are at the centre of debates about whether and how Pandits can return to Kashmir safely and with dignity. For young Pandits, the camps raise hard questions about home, safety and belonging.","legend":null,"visit":"Secured colonies with restricted access; conditions and security remain a concern for residents.","keyWords":["return","PM package","employment","security","rehabilitation"]},{"id":"harwan","name":"Harwan","kashmiriName":"Harvan","type":"Town","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.16,74.9],"oneLine":"Village near Srinagar with the terraced remains of an ancient Buddhist site and famous moulded tiles.","story":"Harwan is a village at the foot of the Zabarwan hills, north-east of Srinagar, near the Shalimar garden and the gateway to Dachigam. Excavations in the 1920s uncovered the remains of an ancient Buddhist site built on terraces up the hillside, with a stupa, a courtyard and other structures.\n\nThe most famous finds at Harwan are its moulded terracotta tiles, dated by many scholars to around the 4th–5th century CE. They are decorated with lively images: dancers, musicians, archers on horseback, animals, flowers, and faces of people who look as if they came from Central Asia. The tiles are a window into the rich, international culture of ancient Kashmir, which traded with lands to the north and west.\n\nKalhana mentions a place called Shadarhadvana, where the Buddhist teacher Nagarjuna is said to have lived, and some scholars have identified it with Harwan — but this identification is uncertain.\n\nHarwan is also on the traditional route towards Mahadev mountain, and the Shankarpal rock, linked with Vasugupta and the Shiva Sutras, is in this area.","legend":"Tradition identifies the Shankarpal rock near Harwan as the stone on which Vasugupta found the Shiva Sutras.","visit":"The excavated terraces are a protected site near Harwan village; some tiles are displayed in museums.","keyWords":["Buddhism","terracotta tiles","Shankarpal","Dachigam","archaeology"]},{"id":"achabal","name":"Achabal","kashmiriName":"Achhabal","type":"Spring","district":"Anantnag","coords":[33.68,75.225],"oneLine":"A powerful spring in south Kashmir turned into a Mughal garden associated with Nur Jahan.","story":"Achabal lies at the foot of the hills south-east of Anantnag. Its large spring gushes out of the hillside with great force, and in the Mughal period it was made into a terraced garden with channels, fountains and pavilions, associated with Empress Nur Jahan.\n\nThe spring was known long before the Mughals. In older Sanskrit tradition the place is called Akshavala, and like almost every major spring in Kashmir, it was regarded as sacred. Pandits of the nearby villages treated springs as the homes of nagas, the serpent spirits who guard water, and a spring like Achabal was a place for prayers as well as picnics.\n\nAchabal is part of a chain of spring-gardens in south Kashmir — together with Verinag and Kokernag — where the Mughal love of flowing water met a much older Kashmiri reverence for springs. Kashmiri Pandit families from Anantnag often remember visiting these gardens on holidays, with the cool water running through stone channels and chinar trees giving shade.\n\nFor young people, Achabal is a good example of how one place can hold many layers of history: an ancient sacred spring, a Mughal royal garden, and a family picnic spot, all at once.","legend":null,"visit":"A maintained Mughal garden open to visitors, especially popular in spring and summer.","keyWords":["spring","Mughal garden","Nur Jahan","naga","south Kashmir"]},{"id":"mamaleshwar","name":"Mamaleshwar (Mamal) Temple","type":"Temple","district":"Anantnag","coords":[34.0098,75.3118],"oneLine":"An ancient Shiva temple in Pahalgam.","story":"A small, old stone temple to Shiva on the bank of the Lidder river at Pahalgam, about 2,200 metres up.","source":{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamal_Temple"},"keyWords":[],"legend":"The story told here is that Parvati set Ganesha at the door to keep everyone out, and that this is where Shiva, not knowing him, cut off his head, and then gave him the head of an elephant."},{"id":"akingam","name":"Shiva Bhagwati Temple, Akingam","type":"Temple","district":"Anantnag","coords":[33.7,75.33],"oneLine":"Shiva Bhagwati Temple Akingam is a temple of Jagad Amba Shri Shiva Bhagwati.","story":"Shiva Bhagwati Temple Akingam is a temple of Jagad Amba Shri Shiva Bhagwati. The temple is famous in Kashmir valley.","source":{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_Bhagwati_Temple_Akingam"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"bumzuva","name":"Bumzuva Cave and Temple","type":"Temple","district":"Anantnag","coords":[33.7719,75.2131],"oneLine":"Old temples and hand-cut caves at Bumazuv in the Lidder valley.","story":"A group of old Hindu temples and caves cut by hand into the hillside at Bumazuv, in the Lidder valley of Anantnag.","source":{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumzuva_Cave_and_Temple"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"kokernag","name":"Kokernag","type":"Spring","district":"Anantnag","coords":[33.5847,75.3086],"oneLine":"A spring town in the Breng valley, named after the shape of its springs.","story":"A town at the foot of the hills in the Breng valley, about 25 km from Anantnag. Its springs are its fame: people say the water rises in channels shaped like a hen's foot, which gives the place its name (kokur, a hen; nag, a spring). Gardens and a trout farm now sit beside the springs, and it is a favourite day out from Srinagar.","source":{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokernag"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"shankaragaurishvara","name":"Shankaragaurishvara Temple, Pattan","type":"Temple","district":"Baramulla","coords":[34.101,74.562],"oneLine":"A 9th-century Shiva temple at Pattan, built by King Shankaravarman.","story":"A Shiva temple at Pattan, between Srinagar and Baramulla, built in the 9th century by King Shankaravarman of the Utpala dynasty, who ruled from 883 to 902. It stands in ruins today.","source":{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankaragaurishvara_Temple"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"sugandhesa","name":"Sugandhesa Temple, Pattan","type":"Temple","district":"Baramulla","coords":[34.153,74.5625],"oneLine":"9th century Hindu temple ruins","story":"","source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q59657855"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"pratapswami","name":"Pratapswami Temple, Pattan","type":"Temple","district":"Baramulla","coords":[34.203,74.5075],"oneLine":"11th century Hindu temple northwest of Pattan Kashmir","story":"","source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q117151238"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"fatehgarh","name":"Shiva Temple, Fatehgarh","type":"Temple","district":"Baramulla","coords":[34.1746,74.3221],"oneLine":"9th century temple ruins","story":"","source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q117138551"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"bandi-uri","name":"Datta Temple, Bandi (Uri)","type":"Temple","district":"Baramulla","coords":[34.0829,74.0586],"oneLine":"9th to 10th century Hindu temple near Jhelum river","story":"","source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q117168333"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"maharani-gulmarg","name":"Maharani Temple, Gulmarg","type":"Temple","district":"Baramulla","coords":[34.0554,74.3974],"oneLine":"A Hindu temple in Gulmarg.","story":"","source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134433820"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"ladhoo","name":"Ancient Temple, Ladhoo","type":"Temple","district":"Pulwama","coords":[33.9922,74.9936],"oneLine":"A 7th–8th century Shiva temple standing in the middle of a spring-fed pond.","story":"An old Shiva temple, from the 7th or 8th century, standing in the middle of a spring-fed pond, Sanz Haer Nag (also called Sanyasar Nag), in the village of Ladhoo in Pulwama, about 18 km from Srinagar.","source":{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Temple%2C_Ladhoo"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"jwala-ji-khrew","name":"Jwala Ji Temple, Khrew","type":"Temple","district":"Pulwama","coords":[34.0217,74.9949],"oneLine":"The shrine of Jwala Ji, the goddess as flame, in Khrew, Pulwama.","story":"The shrine of Mata Jwala, the goddess as flame, on a hill at Khrew in Pulwama. On her birthday, Jwala Chaturdashi, a large mela gathers at the hilltop.","source":{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jwala_Ji_Temple_(Kashmir)"},"keyWords":[],"fromBook":["Jwala Ji Temple, Khrew. The Jwala Ji temple stands on a hill spur about 250 feet above Khrew village, 25 km east of Srinagar. Late Raja Daya Krishna Kaul built it in the 20th century. About 300 dressed stone steps lead up to a simple timber and iron-sheet shrine. The book says Jwala Ji appeared there as a flame about a century before the temple was built. It is now covered by a four-foot stone smeared with sindur, which has natural lines forming Sri Chakra. In the legend, demons trying to reach Kuber's treasure were stopped here, and she stayed at the request of a Brahmin who was praying there. Pilgrims bathe in the Anu Nag spring at the hill's foot before climbing, and a mela is held there on Shukla Chaturdashi of Ashadh."]},{"id":"kakapora","name":"Shiva Temple, Kakapora","type":"Temple","district":"Pulwama","coords":[33.9468,74.9292],"oneLine":"10th century Hindu temple ruins","story":"","source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q117156127"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"narastan","name":"Shiva Temple, Narastan","type":"Temple","district":"Pulwama","coords":[34.0554,75.1005],"oneLine":"10th century stone temple in Kashmir","story":"","source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q117193861"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"vichar-nag","name":"Vichar Nag","type":"Spring","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.1344,74.8054],"oneLine":"Named after its ancient spring and Shiva temple, east of Anchar Lake; mentioned in the Rajatarangini.","story":"An old spring and Shiva temple on the east side of Anchar Lake in Srinagar, which give the area its name. It was long a place of pilgrimage and learning, and Kalhana mentions it more than once in the Rajatarangini.","source":{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichar_Nag"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"raghunath-srinagar","name":"Raghunath Mandir, Srinagar","type":"Temple","district":"Srinagar","coords":[34.0857,74.8054],"oneLine":"A temple to Rama in Srinagar.","story":"A temple to Rama in Srinagar, begun by Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1835 and finished by Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1860. It was attacked, and after the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits it stood empty. It is now being restored.","source":{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghunath_Temple%2C_Srinagar"},"keyWords":[]},{"id":"wangath","name":"Wangath Temple Complex","type":"Temple","district":"Ganderbal","coords":[34.3528,74.9761],"oneLine":"Ruined 8th-century temples at Wangath, near Naranag.","story":"A group of ruined stone temples at Wangath, near Naranag, about 77 km north-east of Srinagar. They are said to have been built by King Lalitaditya Muktapida of the Karkota dynasty in the 8th century. The path to Gangabal lake, below Mount Harmukh, starts nearby.","source":{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangath_temple_complex"},"keyWords":[]}],"communities":{"groups":[{"id":"kashmiri-pandits","name":"Kashmiri Pandits","oneLine":"The Hindu community of the Kashmir valley — almost entirely Saraswat Brahmins — with a written history going back over two thousand years.","story":"Kashmiri Pandits are the Hindus native to the Kashmir valley. Unlike most Hindu communities in India, which include many castes, the Hindus of the valley were almost all of one group: Saraswat Brahmins. The word 'Pandit' was originally a title for a learned person, and over time it became the name of the whole community.\n\nPandits trace their traditions to the Nilamata Purana and to the great scholars of ancient Kashmir — Kalhana, Abhinavagupta, Kshemendra and others. For centuries, they were known for learning: Sanskrit first, then Persian during the Sultanate and Mughal periods, and later English. This made them important as teachers, record-keepers, administrators and priests under many different rulers.\n\nPandits speak Kashmiri (Koshur), and they developed their own customs, including a distinctive wedding ceremony, the festival of Herath (Shivratri), Navreh (new year) and Khichri Amavasya, and a cuisine that uses meat but traditionally avoids onion and garlic. Women wore the pheran and the traditional headdress called tarang, and married women wore the dejhoru, gold ear ornaments on a thread.\n\nKashmiri Pandits have faced several waves of persecution and migration — under Sultan Sikandar, the Afghans, and most recently in 1990, when almost the entire community left the valley. Today they live across India and the world, working hard to keep their language, faith and identity alive."},{"id":"karkun-and-bhasha","name":"Karkun and Bhasha Bhatta (Gor)","oneLine":"The traditional division of Kashmiri Pandits into the Karkun (officials, working in secular jobs) and the Bhasha Bhatta or Gor (priests).","story":"Within the Kashmiri Pandit community, there was traditionally a division by occupation rather than by caste. The large majority were Karkun, a Persian word meaning 'worker' or 'official'. Karkun families worked in administration, revenue, teaching, trade and later all kinds of modern professions. Many learned Persian in the Sultanate and Mughal periods and served as clerks, accountants and ministers.\n\nA smaller group were the Bhasha Bhatta ('Brahmins of the language', meaning those who kept up Sanskrit learning), whose members served as priests. The family priest is called the Gor (from 'guru') in Kashmiri. The Gor performed rituals at births, sacred thread ceremonies, weddings and deaths, and read the calendar and horoscopes. Gor families passed their knowledge down from father to son, and each Gor had a set of client families, sometimes for generations.\n\nA third, smaller group, the Jotish, were astrologers who worked out the calendar (the Kashmiri panchang) and gave auspicious dates.\n\nIn the past, marriages between Karkun and priestly families were uncommon, and Karkun families sometimes considered themselves higher in status, while priests held religious authority. Today these distinctions are much weaker. Many families from priestly backgrounds are in other professions, and marriages across groups are common. But families still rely on the Gor for rituals, and the Gor's role has become even more precious since 1990, as fewer young people learn to perform the rites."},{"id":"malmasi-banamasi","name":"Malmasi and Banamasi","oneLine":"A traditional division linked to the persecution under Sultan Sikandar and the return of Pandits under Zain-ul-Abidin.","story":"Kashmiri Pandit tradition tells a dramatic story about the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Under Sultan Sikandar (reigned c. 1389–1413) and his minister Suha Bhatta, temples were destroyed and Pandits were forced to convert, flee, or face death. According to community tradition, so few Pandit families remained in the valley that only about eleven families are said to have survived there. This number is traditional and cannot be verified; historians accept that there was severe persecution and large-scale migration and conversion, but the exact numbers are unknown.\n\nWhen Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin came to power, he invited the Pandits who had fled to return. The tradition says that the Pandits who had stayed and those who returned followed slightly different calendar practices. Those who had stayed became known as the Malmasi, and those who came back as the Banamasi.\n\nThe names are linked to the 'mal-masa', the extra intercalary month added to the Hindu lunar calendar to keep it in line with the seasons. One explanation says the two groups differed in how they observed this month or dated their festivals; other explanations exist, and families tell the story in different ways.\n\nToday the Malmasi–Banamasi distinction has almost no practical meaning. But the story matters to the community because it shows how Kashmiri Pandits remember near-extinction and survival, and how a just ruler like Budshah is still honoured for bringing them home."},{"id":"buhir","name":"Buhir","oneLine":"A trading sub-group among Kashmiri Pandits, traditionally shopkeepers and grocers.","story":"Among Kashmiri Pandits, the Buhir (sometimes spelled Bohri or Buher) were families who traditionally worked as shopkeepers, grocers and small traders, particularly dealing in groceries, spices and daily goods.\n\nIn older times, Buhir families were sometimes seen as a separate sub-group within the Pandit community, and marriages between Buhir and other Pandit families were less common. The origins of this distinction are not well documented. Some think it simply reflected occupation, since most Pandits worked in administration or priesthood and trade was seen differently.\n\nThe Buhir were an important part of the valley's economy and of Pandit neighbourhood life. The Pandit grocer's shop, selling everything from rice to incense, was a familiar sight in Srinagar's old city.\n\nToday, like the older Karkun and priestly distinctions, the Buhir label has largely faded. Families of Buhir background work in all professions and marry across the community. It is a reminder that the Pandit community, though often described as one group, always had its own internal variety and history."},{"id":"purohits","name":"Purohits (Family Priests)","oneLine":"The Kashmiri Pandit family priests who keep the rituals, calendar and Sanskrit prayers alive.","story":"Every traditional Kashmiri Pandit family had its own purohit, called the Gor. The Gor was not just a priest for special occasions — he knew the family's history, its gotra, its ancestors' names and its customs.\n\nThe Gor conducted the main life-cycle rituals: Kahnethar (naming), Zarakasai (first haircut), Mekhal (sacred thread), weddings, and death rites including Shraddha. He also guided families through festivals like Herath, reading the Kashmiri panchang to tell them the right dates and times.\n\nKashmiri Pandit rituals use texts and prayers specific to Kashmir, sometimes called the Karmakanda of the Kashmiri tradition, written in Sanskrit and traditionally in the Sharada script. Many ritual books were handwritten and passed down in priestly families.\n\nThe Kashmiri Pandit calendar, the Vijayeshwar Panchang and other almanacs, is still published and used by families across the world. Priests calculate the saptarishi era year and festival dates.\n\nAfter 1990, many priestly families were scattered like everyone else, and fewer young people chose the profession. Today, priests travel from Jammu and Delhi, rituals are sometimes conducted over video calls, and community groups run training programmes to teach Kashmiri Pandit rituals to a new generation."},{"id":"plains-diaspora","name":"Kashmiri Pandits of the Plains (18th–19th century Diaspora)","oneLine":"Pandit families who settled in Delhi, Lahore, Lucknow, Agra and Allahabad centuries before 1990.","story":"The Kashmiri Pandit diaspora did not begin in 1990. From the late 17th century onwards, many Pandit families left the valley — some escaping the harsh rule of Mughal and Afghan governors, others seeking opportunities with the Mughal court, the Nawabs of Awadh, the Sikh rulers of Lahore, and later the British.\n\nBecause Pandits were skilled in Persian, the language of government, they found work as secretaries, accountants, judges and ministers. They settled in cities like Delhi, Lahore, Lucknow, Agra, Allahabad, Jaipur, Gwalior and Indore.\n\nThese families became famous in their new homes. In Lucknow, Kashmiri Pandits wrote classics of Urdu literature — Daya Shankar Kaul Nasim, Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar and Brij Narayan Chakbast. In Allahabad and Delhi, families like the Nehrus, Saprus, Katjus, Kunzrus and Haksars became leaders in law, politics and public life.\n\nThe plains Pandits kept their surnames, married within the community (they had their own networks, sometimes called 'Kashmiri Pandits of the plains' or 'biradari'), and preserved customs such as the Kashmiri-style wedding, though many adopted local dress and language. They often spoke Urdu and Hindi rather than Kashmiri.\n\nBy the 20th century, some of these families had lived outside Kashmir for many generations. Their story shows how Kashmiri identity could survive distance and time — something today's diaspora can learn from."},{"id":"exodus-community","name":"The 1990 Exodus Community","oneLine":"The Kashmiri Pandits forced to leave the valley in 1990, and the generations that grew up in exile.","story":"In late 1989 and early 1990, as an armed insurgency grew in Kashmir, Kashmiri Pandits faced targeted killings, threats and intimidation. Prominent Pandits — including Tika Lal Taploo, Neelkanth Ganjoo and many ordinary people — were murdered. Threats appeared in newspapers and on posters, and on the night of 19 January 1990, slogans broadcast from loudspeakers in many places created fear across the community.\n\nOver the following weeks and months, almost the entire Pandit population of the valley — estimates vary from over 100,000 to around 350,000 people — left their homes, mostly for Jammu and Delhi. Many believed they would return in a few weeks. Instead, their exile has lasted more than three decades.\n\nFamilies lived in tents, one-room tenements and rented rooms. Elderly people suffered from the heat and trauma. Many lost property, livelihoods and loved ones. At the same time, the community showed great resilience: children studied in camp schools and went on to careers in every field.\n\nToday the exodus community includes those who left as adults, those who left as children, and a new generation born outside Kashmir. They remember the exodus every year on 19 January, and continue to ask for justice, recognition and a safe, dignified return."},{"id":"non-migrant-pandits","name":"Pandits Who Stayed","oneLine":"The small number of Kashmiri Pandit families who never left the valley after 1990.","story":"Not every Kashmiri Pandit family left in 1990. A small number — often estimated at a few hundred to around eight hundred families — stayed in the valley through the years of violence, living in villages and in Srinagar alongside their Muslim neighbours.\n\nLife for these families was difficult. They faced the same dangers as those who left, and some were killed, including in massacres such as those at Wandhama (1998) and Nadimarg (2003). Many felt isolated, with temples and community life reduced to a few people. Young people struggled to find jobs and marriage partners within the community.\n\nThe non-migrant Pandits have their own organisations, which speak for their interests, including jobs and the protection of temples and property. They have often argued that their needs are overlooked because they are not officially 'migrants'.\n\nThese families have kept alive temples, festivals and customs in Kashmir itself — lighting lamps at Kheer Bhawani, celebrating Herath in Srinagar homes, and welcoming visitors from the diaspora. Their story is an important and often forgotten part of the community's history."},{"id":"kashmiri-sikhs","name":"Sikhs of Kashmir","oneLine":"A long-settled Sikh community in the valley, present since at least the Sikh rule of 1819–1846.","story":"Sikhs have lived in Kashmir for at least two centuries. Some families arrived during Sikh rule (1819–1846), when Maharaja Ranjit Singh's governors ruled the valley, while others trace their roots to older Punjabi and local families, and some to Kashmiri Brahmin families who embraced Sikhism. Guru Hargobind, the sixth Sikh Guru, is remembered for visiting Kashmir, and there are gurdwaras at places associated with his visit, including at Hari Parbat.\n\nKashmiri Sikhs live mainly in villages of Baramulla, Budgam and Srinagar districts and speak Kashmiri and Punjabi. They have shared many customs with Pandits and Muslims, including food and dress.\n\nA widely told Sikh tradition says that in 1675 a group of Kashmiri Pandits, led by Pandit Kirpa Ram of Mattan, travelled to Anandpur to seek the help of Guru Tegh Bahadur against forced conversions under the Mughal governor, and that the Guru's martyrdom in Delhi followed his stand for their freedom of faith. This story is cherished by both communities.\n\nUnlike the Pandits, most Sikhs stayed in Kashmir after 1990. In March 2000, 35 Sikh villagers were massacred at Chittisinghpura. The Sikh community continues to live in the valley and is part of its shared life."},{"id":"kashmiri-muslims","name":"Kashmiri Muslims and the Rishi Tradition","oneLine":"The majority community of the valley, sharing language, history and many customs with the Pandits.","story":"Kashmiri Muslims make up the large majority of the valley's population. Most are descendants of people who were Hindu or Buddhist before converting to Islam, mainly between the 14th and 17th centuries. Many Kashmiri Muslim families still carry surnames also used by Pandits, such as Bhat, Dar (Dhar), Raina, Kaul and Pandit, and some families preserve memories of their Pandit ancestors.\n\nIslam in Kashmir was shaped by Sufi teachers such as Shah-i-Hamadan, and by the local Rishi order founded by Nund Rishi (Sheikh Nooruddin Wali). The Rishis lived simply, often as vegetarians, planted trees, and taught love for all creatures. Their shrines — like Chrar-e-Sharief — were visited by both Muslims and Pandits. Lal Ded is revered in Muslim tradition as Lalla Arifa.\n\nFor centuries, Pandits and Muslims shared the Kashmiri language, food, dress, music and many festivals. Muslim craftspeople made the Pandits' kangris and wedding decorations; Pandit teachers taught Muslim children. This shared culture is often called Kashmiriyat.\n\nThis shared life also had painful chapters, including persecution in certain periods and, in 1990, the violence and exodus. Many Muslims helped their Pandit neighbours, and many also suffered in the decades of conflict. Understanding both the closeness and the wounds is part of understanding Kashmiri heritage honestly."},{"id":"dogras","name":"Dogras","oneLine":"The people of the Jammu region, whose Dogra dynasty ruled Jammu and Kashmir from 1846 to 1947.","story":"The Dogras are the people of the Jammu region, south of the Pir Panjal mountains. They speak Dogri, a language related to Punjabi and recognised as one of India's official languages. The Dogra community includes Rajputs, Brahmins and other groups, and both Hindus and Muslims historically lived in the region.\n\nIn 1846, the Dogra ruler Gulab Singh became Maharaja of the new princely state of Jammu and Kashmir under the Treaty of Amritsar. The Dogra dynasty — Gulab Singh, Ranbir Singh, Pratap Singh and Hari Singh — ruled until 1947. Under Dogra rule, many Kashmiri Pandits worked in the state administration, and some temples in Kashmir, such as the Kheer Bhawani temple, were built or restored with royal patronage.\n\nAfter 1990, Jammu became the main refuge for displaced Kashmiri Pandits. The Dogra people, and Jammu as a city, took in hundreds of thousands of refugees, although tensions over jobs, housing and resources sometimes arose.\n\nToday, many Pandit families have lived in Jammu for over thirty years and consider it home. Dogra and Kashmiri Pandit cultures have influenced each other in food, festivals and marriages."},{"id":"gujjars-bakarwals","name":"Gujjars and Bakarwals","oneLine":"Pastoral communities of the mountains, who move with their herds between the plains and high meadows.","story":"The Gujjars and Bakarwals are communities who live in the hills and mountains of Jammu and Kashmir. Traditionally, Gujjars kept cattle and buffaloes, while Bakarwals herded goats and sheep ('bakri' means goat). Many of them are nomadic or semi-nomadic, moving with their animals between the warm plains of Jammu in winter and the high meadows (margs) of Kashmir and Ladakh in summer.\n\nThey mostly speak Gojri and are largely Muslim. They have their own rich culture of music, dress and oral stories, and deep knowledge of the mountains, animals and medicinal plants.\n\nFor Kashmiri Pandit pilgrims going to high places like Amarnath, Gangabal or Kausar Nag, Gujjars and Bakarwals were often guides, pony handlers and hosts. Pandit families picnicking in the meadows of Gulmarg, Sonamarg or Pahalgam would see their herds and tents on the hills.\n\nGujjars and Bakarwals are recognised as Scheduled Tribes in Jammu and Kashmir. Their way of life faces challenges from changing laws, climate and land use. They are an important part of the region's diverse heritage."}],"surnames":[{"name":"Aarm","origin":"Tax collectors from vegetable growers, called \"Aramak\" in the Rajatarangini.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Akhoon","origin":"Teachers, called \"akhoon\" under Muslim rule.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Ambardar","origin":"From Persian 'anbardar', keeper of a granary or storehouse — an administrative post.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Keepers of the great rice stores (\"ambar\")."},{"name":"Aoonth/Woonth","origin":"Collected tax from camel drivers.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Arazbeige","origin":"Read petitions in court under the Sikhs and Pathans.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Atal","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"A nickname for an ancestor with a broad forehead."},{"name":"Badam","origin":"Almond merchants.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Baghati","origin":"Lived near orchards.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Bakaya","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Officer appointed during Sikh/Pathan rule to collect outstanding taxes; descendants nicknamed after the role."},{"name":"Bakshi","origin":"From the Persian title 'bakhshi', a paymaster or official in charge of military pay and records. Used by both Pandit and Muslim families.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Pandit clerk to Punjabi officer or military clerk; name derived from professional position."},{"name":"Bali","origin":"A mountain family (\"bal\", mountain).","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Bambroo","origin":"Dark like a bumblebee (\"bombur\").","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Bamzai","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["P.N.K. Bamzai (historian)"],"tradition":"In the service of the Bamzai Pathans."},{"name":"Bazaz","origin":"From Persian 'bazzaz', a cloth merchant.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Prem Nath Bazaz"],"tradition":"Ancestor was a cloth merchant."},{"name":"Bhan","origin":"Sometimes linked with Sanskrit 'bhanu', the sun; uncertain.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Bhagwaan Gopinath Ji (born Gopinath Bhan)"],"tradition":"Ancient nickname for residents of \"Bhan Mohalla\"; possibly related to a place of sun worship."},{"name":"Bhandari","origin":"In charge of the great government storehouses.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Bhat","origin":"From 'Bhatta', an old title for a learned Brahmin. Also very common among Kashmiri Muslims, reflecting shared ancestry.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Bhatt","origin":"A spelling variant of Bhat, from 'Bhatta', a learned Brahmin.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Bohgun","origin":"A nickname linked with the brass cooking vessel \"bohgun\", by tradition.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Booni","origin":"Lived by a great chinar (\"boon\").","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Braroo","origin":"A blue-eyed ancestor (\"braer\", cat).","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Buju","origin":"An old Kashmiri mohalla.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Chacchbali","origin":"Took refuge in Chattabal under the Afghans.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Chagtu","origin":"Worked for the Chagatais.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Chak","origin":"Employees of the Chak kings.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Chakbast","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Brij Narayan Chakbast"],"tradition":"Officers maintaining accounts of large land holdings called \"Chaks\"."},{"name":"Chakoo","origin":"A sharp-tempered ancestor (\"chouk\", sour), or a twelfth son.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Chakru","origin":"From the village of Chikur.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Chaku","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Chengaloo","origin":"A cheerful ancestor (\"chengun\", jubilant).","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Cheru","origin":"Traded spinning-wheel rods made of apricot wood.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Chhot","origin":"A short ancestor.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Chrungoo","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"A nickname from an ancestor's character, by tradition."},{"name":"Daftari","origin":"From Persian 'daftar', office or register — an ancestor who kept official records.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Danji","origin":"Lived by a ravine on the bank of the Chaka stream.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Daraz","origin":"A tall ancestor.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Darbari","origin":"Courtiers under the Pathans.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Dembi","origin":"Possibly from the Kashmiri 'demb', reclaimed marshy land used for vegetable growing near lakes; uncertain.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Dev","origin":"An ancestor of great strength.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Dewan","origin":"From Persian 'diwan', a minister or senior official, a title held by some Pandit families in state service.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Dhar","origin":"One of the oldest Pandit names, often derived from Sanskrit 'dhara' (holder, bearer). The Kashmiri Muslim surname Dar is widely thought to share the same root.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["D.P. Dhar","P.N. Dhar","Pandit Birbal Dhar","Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar","Jeevan (Omkar Nath Dhar)"],"tradition":"A gotra name (Dhar Bharadvaja), or descendants of the Damara chiefs."},{"name":"Diwan","origin":"A Pandit office in the Sikh court.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Draboo","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Dral","origin":"Brokers.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Dulloo","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Durrani","origin":"Worked under the Durrani rulers.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Fotedar","origin":"From Persian 'fotadar', a treasurer or cashier (from 'fota', a money bag).","gotraNote":null,"famous":["M.L. Fotedar"],"tradition":"Trusted keepers of the royal treasury."},{"name":"Gadva","origin":"Always carried a metal tumbler (\"gadva\").","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Gagroo","origin":"A small, quick person.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Gamkhwar","origin":"One who shares others' sorrows; a title given to Sadanand Koul by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Gandnoo","origin":"Sold cosmetics and \"gandan dasta\".","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Ganjoo","origin":"Popularly linked with a Kashmiri word for baldness, a nickname for a bald ancestor. Folk etymology.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Justice Neelkanth Ganjoo"],"tradition":"A bald man, or the official in charge of the \"ganj\", the treasury."},{"name":"Ganju","origin":"A spelling variant of Ganjoo.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Gigoo","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Siddhartha Gigoo"]},{"name":"Goja","origin":"From Goja Mohalla, Anantnag.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Gooru","origin":"Kept the tax accounts of cattle for the village accountants.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Gurtoo","origin":"Sometimes linked with the Kashmiri 'gur', horse, suggesting ancestors who kept or traded horses; folk etymology.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Gurtu","origin":"By tradition a fair-coloured ancestor; also used for Pandits who do not cook meat on Shivratri.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Guzarwan","origin":"The official in charge of an excise check-post outside the town.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Hak","origin":"Grew haakh, the leafy greens.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Hakhoo","origin":"A nickname from an ancestor's appearance, by tradition.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Hakim","origin":"From 'hakim', a physician in the Unani (Greek-Arabic) medical tradition — suggesting an ancestor who practised medicine.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Ancestors were traditional doctors."},{"name":"Haksar","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["P.N. Haksar"],"tradition":"Emigrants from the village of Hakchar in Baramulla."},{"name":"Haloo","origin":"From the village of Hal.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Handoo","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Linked with sheep: a stout, healthy person, or keepers of flocks."},{"name":"Hangloo","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"From Hangalgund."},{"name":"Hashia","origin":"Drew margins (\"hashi\") on paper for documents.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Hastwaloo/Hastu","origin":"Looked after the royal elephants.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Hazari","origin":"From Persian 'hazari', a commander of a thousand, an old military rank; uncertain in this case.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Servant of a Hazari Pathan."},{"name":"Ishbari","origin":"From Ishber.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Jalali","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Jalla","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"A Rainawari family by the Dal; fishermen's nets (\"zal\")."},{"name":"Jallali","origin":"Clerks appointed by the Jalali family.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Jawansher","origin":"Assistant to the Afghan governor Jawansher.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Jogi","origin":"An ancestor became a yogi.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kachroo","origin":"A red-haired ancestor.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kachru","origin":"Commonly explained as coming from the Kashmiri 'kachur', meaning brown- or reddish-haired, a nickname for a fair ancestor.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Braj B. Kachru","Munshi Bhawani Das Kachru"]},{"name":"Kadal Buju","origin":"Bujus who lived near a bridge.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kadhari","origin":"In the service of an official from Kandahar.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kak","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Ram Chandra Kak"],"tradition":"\"Kakh\", a respectful word for an elder brother or uncle."},{"name":"Kakroo","origin":"From Kokernag.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kalla","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Personal assistant to a Colonel Watt."},{"name":"Kalpoosh/Kalpooshu","origin":"Sold the women's caps called kalpoosh.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kar","origin":"From Karhama village.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Karihaloo","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Kariholu","origin":"A nickname from an ancestor's appearance, by tradition.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Karwani","origin":"Served traders of groundnuts.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kathju","origin":"A family from Kathleshwar in Tanki Pora, Srinagar.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Katju","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Kailash Nath Katju","Markandey Katju"]},{"name":"Katwa","origin":"A branch of cooks who used small cooking vessels.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kaul","origin":"One of the most common Pandit names. Often connected with the Sanskrit 'kula' (family, lineage) or the 'Kaula' spiritual tradition of Kashmir; neither derivation is certain.","gotraNote":"Kauls belong to many different gotras; the surname does not tell you the gotra.","famous":["T.N. Kaul","Master Zinda Kaul","Bansi Kaul","Kamala Nehru (born Kaul)"],"tradition":"From Sanskrit \"Kaula\", well-born; a very old name, said by many to be the original name of most Pandit families."},{"name":"Kaw","origin":"Popularly linked with the Kashmiri 'kav', crow. Folk etymology; the real origin is unknown.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"A dark-complexioned ancestor (\"kaw\", crow)."},{"name":"Kemmu","origin":"Also written Khemu. Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Kunal Khemu","Moti Lal Kemmu"]},{"name":"Kenoo","origin":"A nickname from a dish, by tradition.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Khachoo","origin":"Collected taxes from boatmen of the boats called \"khoch\".","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Khaibri","origin":"Influential chiefs.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Khan-mushu","origin":"From Khanmoh.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Khar","origin":"From the Kashmiri 'khar', a blacksmith or metalworker — probably an old occupational nickname.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"A Pandit who collected taxes from donkey drivers (\"khar\" is donkey in Kashmiri)."},{"name":"Kharoo","origin":"A bald ancestor.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Khashoo","origin":"A left-handed ancestor.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kher","origin":"Often said to be linked to a place name in Kashmir; family traditions vary.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Anupam Kher"]},{"name":"Kichloo","origin":"\"Long-bearded\" in Kashmiri.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kilam","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Jia Lal Kilam"],"tradition":"From Kulgam."},{"name":"Kissu","origin":"A nickname from an ancestor, by tradition.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kitchlu","origin":"Origin uncertain. The name is found among both Pandits and Muslims; the freedom fighter Saifuddin Kitchlew came from a Muslim family of Kashmiri Pandit ancestry.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Kotha","origin":"In charge of granaries.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kotru","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Kept large flocks of pigeons."},{"name":"Koul","origin":"A spelling variant of Kaul, used by many families; the difference usually reflects how an ancestor chose to write it in English.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Kral","origin":"Residents of places like Kralpur; also a name for potters.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kranzoo","origin":"From the village of Kanzar.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kuli","origin":"In the service of the Afghan officers Tarkuli Khan and Noor Kuli Khan.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Kunzru","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Hriday Nath Kunzru"]},{"name":"Labroo","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"An ancestor who prospered (\"labh\", profit)."},{"name":"Lal","origin":"Served Punjabi lalas.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Langar/Langroo","origin":"Manager of the government kitchen; descendants inherited the name.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Madan","origin":"From Madanyar.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Magazine","origin":"Widely said to come from an ancestor who was in charge of an ammunition store (magazine) in the Dogra or British period — one of the few Pandit surnames from an English word.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"A great-grandfather titled by the Maharaja for service in the army magazine."},{"name":"Malla","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Mantoo","origin":"\"Half a seer\"; by tradition an ancestor won a rice-eating contest.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Manwati","origin":"The official who collected the rice tax by standard weight.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Mattoo","origin":"Popularly linked with the Kashmiri 'mot', meaning carefree or 'mad' — a nickname for a light-hearted ancestor. Folk etymology.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Mattu","origin":"From Sanskrit \"Math\"; an ancestor founded or managed a monastery.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Mirakhur","origin":"From Persian 'mir-akhur', master of the royal stables — a court office.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"In charge of the royal horses."},{"name":"Mirza","origin":"From the Persian noble title 'Mirza'. A few Pandit families took Persian titles as surnames during Muslim rule.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Pandits in the service of a Mirza family."},{"name":"Miskeen","origin":"Very kind to the poor.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Misri","origin":"Popularly linked with 'misri', crystallised sugar, perhaps from an ancestor who traded in it; uncertain.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Vikram Misri"],"tradition":"A Pandit employed by a trader from Egypt (Misr)."},{"name":"Mota","origin":"A nickname from an ancestor's appearance, by tradition.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Moza","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Mujoo","origin":"From Mujjgund.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Muju","origin":"Popularly linked with the Kashmiri 'muj', radish — a nickname for ancestors who grew or sold radishes. Folk etymology.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Mulla","origin":"Said in family tradition to have been a title of learning given to an ancestor skilled in Persian and Arabic.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Anand Narain Mulla"]},{"name":"Munshi","origin":"From Persian 'munshi', a secretary or scribe — given to families who served as writers and clerks in Persian-era administrations.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Pandit employed as clerk during Sikh/Pathan rule; became famous for intelligence and efficiency."},{"name":"Musa","origin":"Refreshed travellers (\"muskadun\").","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Mushran","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"A nickname from an ancestor's appearance, by tradition."},{"name":"Nad","origin":"Lived beside a ravine (\"nad\").","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Nagari","origin":"Officials of the royal heralds.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Nagri","origin":"From Nagri Malpora, Pulwama.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Nala","origin":"Guards, or a family living by a rivulet (\"nala\").","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Nasti","origin":"Sold snuff.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Nazir","origin":"Managers of government kitchens, or court clerks.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Nehru","origin":"From 'nahar', canal: according to Jawaharlal Nehru, his ancestor Raj Kaul was given a house by a canal in Delhi around 1716, and the family became 'Kaul-Nehru', later just Nehru.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Motilal Nehru","Jawaharlal Nehru","Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (born Nehru)"],"tradition":"Kouls who lived beside a canal (\"nahar\")."},{"name":"Nikka","origin":"An affectionate name for a small boy that stayed for life.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Ogra","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Distributed rice gruel in a famine (\"wugra\" became Ogra)."},{"name":"Pampori","origin":"From Pampore.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Pandit","origin":"Originally a title for a learned person, later used as a surname. Note that 'Pandit' is also a surname in other Indian communities, so not every Pandit is Kashmiri.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Raaj Kumar (Kulbhushan Pandit)"]},{"name":"Pandita","origin":"A form of 'Pandit', learned person.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Rahul Pandita"],"tradition":"Derived from \"Pandit\", as all Kashmiri Hindus were called Pandits."},{"name":"Parmoo/Parimoo","origin":"From the Pir Panjal side.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Peshin","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Government workers of the afternoon shift."},{"name":"Pir","origin":"Disciples of the saint Pir Pandit Padshah.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Puran","origin":"An ancestor who quoted the Puranas often.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Purbi","origin":"A family from Lucknow (\"purab\", the east).","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Raghu","origin":"A slight, frail ancestor.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Raina","origin":"Often linked with 'Rajanaka', a medieval Kashmiri title of honour given to scholars and officials (as in Rajanaka Ruyyaka). Some also connect it with the Srinagar locality of Rainawari; that link is popular but unproven.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Suresh Raina","Gen. T.N. Raina","M.K. Raina","Mohit Raina"],"tradition":"Pandits originally from Rainawari who settled in the city."},{"name":"Razdan","origin":"Probably from 'Rajanaka', the medieval title of honour. A popular Persian-style explanation, 'raz-dan' (knower of secrets), is folk etymology.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Krishna Joo Razdan"],"tradition":"From Sanskrit \"Rajanak\"; a title for services to the king."},{"name":"Sadhu","origin":"From 'sadhu', a holy man, perhaps for a pious ancestor.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Kailash Mehra Sadhu (by marriage)"],"tradition":"An honest, self-realised ancestor."},{"name":"Safaya","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"A lover of cleanliness (\"safai\")."},{"name":"Sahib","origin":"Spiritually accomplished, learned Pandits; linked with the saint Sahib Koul.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Sapru","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded. Sheikh Abdullah wrote that his own Pandit ancestors were Saprus.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru"],"tradition":"Linked by tradition to the ancient Iranian king Shapur; settlers absorbed into the Kashmiri Brahman community."},{"name":"Saraf","origin":"From Persian-Arabic 'sarraf', a money-changer or banker.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Sas","origin":"A nickname from a dish (a thick lentil preparation), by tradition.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Sathu","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Sedhu","origin":"Ancestors were spiritually advanced; few families remain.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Shagali","origin":"An ancestor of extraordinary build.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Shah","origin":"Originally Bhans; a title given for good deeds.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Shair","origin":"Distinguished poets.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Shalla","origin":"Popularly linked with the Kashmiri 'shal', jackal — a nickname. Folk etymology.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Shangloo","origin":"An ancestor with six fingers.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Sharga","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"From \"shogo\", parrot; a nickname from an ancestor's looks."},{"name":"Sher","origin":"An ancestor of great courage, said to have killed a lion.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Shora","origin":"In charge of gunpowder makers.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Sopori","origin":"From the town of Sopore in north Kashmir.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Bhajan Sopori","Abhay Rustum Sopori"],"tradition":"Ancestors came from Sopore, or descend from its founder Soya Pandit."},{"name":"Sukhia","origin":"An ancestor named Sukh.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Sultan","origin":"Kouls who worked as clerks for the Sultans.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Sum","origin":"Lived by a bridge over a stream (\"sum\").","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Sumbly","origin":"Probably from the town of Sumbal in north Kashmir.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Taimini","origin":"A Pandit in the service of the Taimini Pathans of Kabul.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Taku","origin":"Ate only from fresh earthen pots.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Tankha","origin":"Possibly from Persian 'tankhwah', salary, suggesting an ancestor who handled pay; uncertain.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Taploo","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Tika Lal Taploo"]},{"name":"Thusoo","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Thussoo","origin":"Emigrants from the village of Thus in Kulgam to Srinagar.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Tickoo","origin":"A spelling variant of Tikoo.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Tikoo","origin":"Popularly said to come from 'tika' or 'tyok', the forehead mark, perhaps for an ancestor known for applying it; this is folk etymology.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"From \"Trika\"; devotees of the goddess Tripura, or a family marked with the sacred tika."},{"name":"Trakroo","origin":"A strict, hard-working ancestor (\"trakur\", hard).","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Trisal","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"A Dhar son adopted in the village of Trisal."},{"name":"Tufchi","origin":"An officer of gunners (\"toof\" is cannon).","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Turki","origin":"A Pandit clerk employed by a Turkish trader.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Tut","origin":"A man with a long chin.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Vani","origin":"Shopkeepers.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Vichari","origin":"From Vicharnag.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Wakhloo","origin":"Lived by stone mortars for washing wool, or collected the washers' tax.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Wakhlu","origin":"Sometimes linked with the Kashmiri 'wakhul', a stone mortar; folk etymology.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[]},{"name":"Wali","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"The first to build a chimney in the house (\"wol\" is chimney in Kashmiri)."},{"name":"Wanchoo","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["K.N. Wanchoo"],"tradition":"\"Wantu\" is a hard walnut; by tradition an ancestor was compared to one for his thrift."},{"name":"Wangnoo","origin":"Fond of brinjal (\"wangun\").","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Wattal","origin":"A very old Kashmiri family name; one tradition links it to followers of the saint Wattal Nath.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Waza","origin":"Professional cooks.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Wazir","origin":"Pandits serving Wazirs during Pathan/Mughal rule adopted the name from their employer.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Yachh","origin":"From \"Yaksha\"; linked with the Yaksha offerings.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Zadoo","origin":"Origin uncertain; family traditions differ and no reliable explanation is recorded.","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"From wet, marshy land (\"zadoo\")."},{"name":"Zalpuri","origin":"Probably from a village name ('-pur' or '-pora' is a common ending for Kashmiri places).","gotraNote":null,"famous":[],"tradition":"Employees of traders from Zabulistan."},{"name":"Zaraboo","origin":"In charge of the government mint.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Zradchob","origin":"Traders of turmeric.","source":"Traditional explanation, from Fauq's Martand, Koshur Samachar and others, compiled at kashmirasitis.com"},{"name":"Zutshi","origin":"Often said to come from 'Jyotishi', astrologer, pointing to an ancestor's profession; plausible but not proven.","gotraNote":null,"famous":["Gulzar Dehlvi (Anand Mohan Zutshi)"],"tradition":"A corrupt form of \"Jyotshi\"; distinguished astrologers and Sanskrit scholars."}],"history":[{"year":"Legendary past","title":"Satisar: the Lake of Sati","text":"According to the Nilamata Purana and Kalhana's Rajatarangini, the Kashmir valley was once a huge lake called Satisar, the lake of the goddess Sati. A demon named Jalodbhava ('born of water') lived in it and terrorised the land. The sage Kashyapa prayed to the gods, and with the help of Vishnu, Shiva and other deities the waters were drained — in one version, through a gap cut at Baramulla — and the demon destroyed. The land that appeared was named Kashmir, often explained as 'Kashyapa-mira' or 'land drained of water'. This is a sacred legend, not recorded history, but geologists do agree that the valley was once covered by a great lake."},{"year":"c. 6th–8th century CE (dates debated)","title":"The Nilamata Purana","text":"The Nilamata Purana is a Sanskrit text that describes Kashmir's sacred geography, its nagas (serpent deities of springs and lakes), its festivals and rituals. It takes its name from Nila, king of the nagas. The text tells how people came to live in Kashmir alongside the nagas, and lists many festivals — some, like the celebration of the first snowfall and the birthday of the Vitasta, still remembered today. Kalhana used it as a source. Scholars date it variously between the 6th and 8th centuries, but it preserves older traditions. It is one of the key texts for understanding Kashmiri Pandit customs."},{"year":"3rd century BCE","title":"Ashoka and early Buddhism","text":"Kalhana writes that the great Mauryan emperor Ashoka ruled Kashmir and founded the city of Srinagari, near today's Pandrethan, and built Buddhist stupas. Historians are cautious about details, since Kalhana wrote over a thousand years later, but it is widely accepted that Buddhism reached Kashmir around this time. For many centuries Kashmir became a major centre of Buddhist learning, sending teachers and texts to Central Asia, Tibet and China. Hinduism and Buddhism existed side by side, and Kashmiri culture drew on both."},{"year":"c. 1st–2nd century CE","title":"The Kushans and the Fourth Buddhist Council","text":"Kashmir came under the Kushan empire, whose most famous king was Kanishka. Buddhist tradition says that a great Buddhist council — often called the Fourth Buddhist Council — was held in Kashmir under Kanishka's patronage, at a place often identified with Kundalvana, possibly near Harwan. Scholars there are said to have compiled important commentaries on Buddhist teachings. Some details of this council are debated, and different Buddhist traditions tell it differently. Kalhana also mentions Kushan kings (Hushka, Jushka and Kanishka) who founded towns in Kashmir."},{"year":"6th century CE","title":"Pravarasena II founds Pravarapura","text":"King Pravarasena II founded a new capital called Pravarapura, which grew into the Srinagar we know today, on the banks of the Vitasta. Kalhana describes the city's fine buildings and a great bridge across the river. Before this, the capital was at the older Srinagari near Pandrethan. This period also saw the rule of the Huna king Mihirakula, remembered in Kalhana's history as a cruel ruler. The founding of Pravarapura marks the beginning of Srinagar's long history as Kashmir's capital."},{"year":"c. 625–855 CE","title":"The Karkota Dynasty","text":"The Karkota dynasty, founded by Durlabhavardhana, brought Kashmir to a peak of power and prosperity. The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang visited Kashmir around 631 CE and described its learned monks and many monasteries. The most famous Karkota king, Lalitaditya Muktapida (c. 724–760), built the Martand Sun Temple and the city of Parihasapura and, according to Kalhana, campaigned far beyond the valley. His grandson Jayapida was a great patron of scholars. Karkota art and architecture set the style for Kashmiri temples for centuries."},{"year":"855–939 CE","title":"The Utpala Dynasty","text":"King Avantivarman founded the Utpala dynasty in 855. His reign was peaceful and prosperous. His engineer Suyya carried out flood-control works on the Vitasta, lowering the price of rice and bringing new land under cultivation. Avantivarman built the temples of Avantipura, and scholars such as the literary theorist Anandavardhana worked at his court. His son Shankaravarman expanded the kingdom but was known for heavy taxes. After him, the dynasty weakened amid court intrigues and the power of palace guards."},{"year":"9th–11th century CE","title":"The golden age of Kashmiri thought","text":"Between roughly 850 and 1100, Kashmir produced a remarkable number of great thinkers and writers. Kashmir Shaivism developed through Vasugupta, Somananda, Utpaladeva, Abhinavagupta and Kshemaraja. Literary theory flourished with Anandavardhana, Abhinavagupta and Mammata. Storytellers and poets like Kshemendra, Somadeva and Bilhana wrote works read across India. Kashmir became known as Sharada Desh, the land of Sharada, goddess of learning. Scholars from other parts of India came to Kashmir to study, and Kashmiri scholars were welcomed at courts far away."},{"year":"958–1003 CE","title":"Queen Didda","text":"Didda, a princess of Lohara, became regent in 958 after the death of her husband, King Kshemagupta, and ruled in her own name from 980 until her death in 1003. Kalhana describes her as clever, ambitious and ruthless. She held power for about half a century through rebellions and court conspiracies. Before she died, she chose her nephew Samgramaraja as heir, founding the Lohara dynasty. She is one of the most powerful women in the history of South Asia."},{"year":"1003–1339 CE","title":"The Lohara Dynasty and decline","text":"The Lohara kings ruled Kashmir for over three centuries. The period had brilliant moments — King Harsha (1089–1101) was a cultured poet-king — but also much turmoil: Harsha himself plundered temple treasures, and the kingdom suffered famines, floods, rebellions and the growing power of landowning Damaras. Kalhana, whose father served Harsha, describes these events vividly. Around the early 11th century, Mahmud of Ghazni twice tried to invade Kashmir but failed to cross the mountains, according to historians."},{"year":"1148–1149 CE","title":"Kalhana writes the Rajatarangini","text":"In 1148–49, the poet-historian Kalhana completed the Rajatarangini, 'River of Kings', a history of Kashmir in nearly 8,000 Sanskrit verses. He used older chronicles, the Nilamata Purana, inscriptions and royal records, and tried to write without bias. His work is the most important source for early Kashmiri history, and it was later continued by Jonaraja, Shrivara and Prajyabhatta. It was translated into Persian in the Mughal period and into English by Aurel Stein in 1900."},{"year":"1320 CE","title":"The raid of Dulucha and the rise of Rinchana","text":"In 1320, a Mongol commander named Dulucha (Zulju) invaded Kashmir with a large army, killing and enslaving many people and burning towns. King Suhadeva fled. After the invaders left, a Buddhist prince from Ladakh named Rinchana, who had taken refuge in Kashmir, seized the throne. He married Kota Rani and later converted to Islam, becoming Sultan Sadr-ud-Din — traditionally remembered as Kashmir's first Muslim ruler. A later Kashmiri tradition says he first wished to become a Hindu but was turned away; this story is popular but not well documented."},{"year":"1339 CE","title":"Shah Mir founds the Sultanate","text":"After Rinchana's death, Kota Rani ruled Kashmir. Shah Mir, a courtier who had come to Kashmir from outside the valley and risen to power, took control in 1339. According to Jonaraja, Kota Rani took her own life rather than submit. Shah Mir became Sultan Shams-ud-Din, founding the Shah Mir dynasty that ruled for over two centuries. This marked the end of Hindu rule in the valley and the start of the Sultanate period, during which Persian became the language of government and Islam spread widely."},{"year":"14th–15th century CE","title":"Lal Ded, Shah-i-Hamadan and Nund Rishi","text":"The 14th century brought great spiritual figures to Kashmir. Lal Ded (Lalleshwari), a Pandit woman mystic, sang her vakhs about finding the divine within. The Persian Sufi Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani (Shah-i-Hamadan) visited Kashmir and influenced the spread of Islam. Nund Rishi (Sheikh Nooruddin Wali) founded the Rishi order, a gentle Kashmiri Sufi tradition. Lal Ded and Nund Rishi are revered by both Pandits and Muslims, and are at the heart of what Kashmiris call Kashmiriyat."},{"year":"c. 1389–1413 CE","title":"Sultan Sikandar 'Butshikan'","text":"Sultan Sikandar is remembered as Butshikan, 'the breaker of idols'. Encouraged, according to Jonaraja, by his minister Suha Bhatta, a convert from Hinduism, he ordered the destruction of many temples, including Martand, banned Hindu practices, and imposed the jizya tax. Many Pandits were forced to convert, fled the valley, or were killed. Pandit tradition says only a handful of families remained. Some historians argue that Persian sources give a different picture, but the destruction of temples in this period is well attested in both Sanskrit and Persian accounts."},{"year":"1420–1470 CE","title":"Budshah: Zain-ul-Abidin","text":"Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin reversed his father's policies. He invited Pandits back, allowed temples to be rebuilt, removed the jizya, employed Pandits in high office and supported Sanskrit learning. He had Sanskrit works translated into Persian and patronised the historians Jonaraja and Shrivara. He encouraged crafts such as papier-mâché, carpet weaving and bookbinding. Kashmiris of all faiths still call him Budshah, 'the Great King'. Pandit tradition links the Malmasi and Banamasi groups to those who stayed and those who returned in his time."},{"year":"1561–1586 CE","title":"The Chaks and the Mughal conquest","text":"After the Shah Mir dynasty weakened, the Chak dynasty took power in 1561. Their rule saw sectarian conflict and instability. Yusuf Shah Chak, remembered with the poet Habba Khatun, became Sultan in 1579. In 1586, the Mughal emperor Akbar's army took Kashmir, and Yusuf Shah was taken into exile in Bihar, where he died. Kashmir became a province of the Mughal empire. Many Kashmiris remember 1586 as the end of Kashmir's independence."},{"year":"1586–1753 CE","title":"The Mughal period","text":"Mughal emperors, especially Jahangir and Shah Jahan, loved Kashmir and built its famous gardens — Shalimar, Nishat, Achabal and Verinag. Akbar built the wall around Hari Parbat. Pandits worked as officials and Persian scholars, and some, like Raj Kaul, moved to Delhi. Life under some governors was harsh, especially under Aurangzeb (reigned 1658–1707). A cherished Sikh tradition says Pandits led by Kirpa Ram of Mattan appealed to Guru Tegh Bahadur in 1675 against forced conversions, and that his martyrdom followed his stand for their freedom of faith."},{"year":"1753–1819 CE","title":"Afghan rule","text":"In 1753, Ahmad Shah Durrani's Afghan forces took Kashmir. For the next 66 years, Kashmir was ruled by governors appointed from Kabul. This period is remembered by all Kashmiris as especially cruel — heavy taxes, forced labour, and violence. Pandits faced particular persecution under some governors, and many fled to the plains. Stories of this period describe humiliations and killings. In 1819, the Pandit official Birbal Dhar travelled to Lahore to ask Maharaja Ranjit Singh for help."},{"year":"1819–1846 CE","title":"Sikh rule","text":"In 1819, the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh defeated the Afghans and Kashmir became part of the Sikh empire. Many Pandits welcomed the change. Sikh rule brought some relief, but also heavy taxation and famines, including a severe famine in the 1830s. Kashmiri Pandits continued to serve in the administration. After Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, the Sikh empire weakened, and it was defeated by the British in the First Anglo-Sikh War of 1845–46."},{"year":"1846 CE","title":"Treaty of Amritsar and Dogra rule","text":"On 16 March 1846, the British transferred Kashmir to Gulab Singh, the Dogra ruler of Jammu, for 75 lakh Nanakshahi rupees under the Treaty of Amritsar. This created the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Dogra dynasty — Gulab Singh, Ranbir Singh, Pratap Singh and Hari Singh — ruled until 1947. Pandits served widely in the state administration and education, while most Kashmiris, Muslim and Hindu alike, lived in poverty. Temples were built or restored, and modern schools and roads came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries."},{"year":"1931–1946","title":"Political awakening","text":"In July 1931, protests against the Maharaja's rule in Srinagar ended in police firing, and 13 July became a significant date in Kashmiri politics. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah emerged as leader, founding the Muslim Conference in 1932 and turning it into the National Conference in 1939. Some Pandits, like Prem Nath Bazaz and Kashyap Bandhu, joined the movement; others worried about their place in a changing Kashmir. The period also saw Pandit reform movements for education, widow remarriage and simpler weddings. In 1946, the 'Quit Kashmir' movement demanded the Maharaja's removal."},{"year":"1947","title":"Partition, invasion and accession","text":"When British India was partitioned in August 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh delayed deciding whether to join India or Pakistan. In October 1947, armed tribesmen from Pakistan invaded, attacking towns including Baramulla. On 26 October 1947, Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession to India, and Indian troops arrived in Srinagar the next day. The war that followed ended with a ceasefire in 1949, leaving the former state divided along what is now the Line of Control. Sheikh Abdullah became head of the government in Jammu and Kashmir."},{"year":"1950s–1980s","title":"Land reform and a changing valley","text":"In 1950, Sheikh Abdullah's government passed land reforms giving land to the tillers who worked it, without compensation to landowners. This helped many poor farmers but took land from many Pandit and other landowners. In 1953 Sheikh Abdullah was dismissed and jailed. Over the next decades, Pandits continued to live in the valley, working in government, education and business, though many young Pandits moved out for jobs. In February 1986, riots in Anantnag district saw Pandit homes and temples attacked — an early warning of what was to come."},{"year":"1989","title":"The beginning of targeted killings","text":"After the disputed state elections of 1987, an armed insurgency grew in Kashmir, supported from across the border. On 13 September 1989, Tika Lal Taploo, a lawyer and political leader, was shot dead in Srinagar. On 4 November 1989, retired judge Neelkanth Ganjoo, who had sentenced the separatist Maqbool Bhat to death, was killed. Other Pandits — teachers, officials, nurses, ordinary people — were murdered in the following months. Threats were published and posted on walls. Fear spread through the Pandit community."},{"year":"19 January 1990","title":"The night of fear and the exodus","text":"On the night of 19 January 1990, loudspeakers in mosques and crowds on the streets in many parts of the valley broadcast slogans, some threatening Pandits and telling them to leave. Many families describe it as the most frightening night of their lives. In the following weeks and months, almost the entire Pandit community left the valley, mostly for Jammu and Delhi. Estimates of the number vary widely, from over 100,000 to around 350,000. Kashmiri Pandits observe 19 January each year as a day of remembrance, often called Exodus Day."},{"year":"1990s–2000s","title":"Life in exile and later massacres","text":"Displaced families lived for years in tents and one-room tenements in camps at Muthi, Purkhoo, Mishriwala, Nagrota and elsewhere in Jammu, and in Delhi. Many elders died from heat, disease and trauma. Pandits who had stayed in the valley faced continued danger: massacres at Sangrampora (1997), Wandhama (January 1998) and Nadimarg (March 2003) killed dozens of Pandits, including women and children. Despite hardship, children in the camps studied hard, and the community rebuilt its life across India and abroad."},{"year":"2008–2011","title":"Rehabilitation packages and Jagti","text":"In 2008 the Government of India announced a package for the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants, including government jobs in the valley for young Pandits and transit accommodation. From around 2010, several thousand Pandit employees took up these jobs, living in guarded transit camps. In 2011, the Jagti township near Jammu, with about 4,000 flats, was opened to rehouse families from the old camps. These measures helped, but many in the community say they have not addressed the deeper questions of justice and safe return."},{"year":"2019–today","title":"Recent years","text":"On 5 August 2019, the Indian government ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and reorganised it into two union territories. Pandit opinions on this and on its effects have varied. Targeted killings of minorities and migrant workers, including Pandit employees such as Rahul Bhat in May 2022, led to protests and fears among those who had returned. In 2023, a new Sharada temple was opened at Teetwal near the Line of Control. Today, Kashmiri Pandits live across India and the world, keeping their heritage alive while many still hope for a dignified return."}]},"gotras":{"source":"Pandit Anand Koul, The Kashmiri Pandit (Thacker, Spink & Co., Calcutta, 1924), as reproduced at ikashmir.net/names/gotras.html","sourceUrl":"https://ikashmir.net/names/gotras.html","intro":"Every Kashmiri Pandit family belongs to a gotra: a line traced back to a rishi, whose name the gotra carries. It is said in the sankalp at every puja, and two people of the same gotra, on the father's or the mother's side, traditionally do not marry. Anand Koul wrote in 1924 that there were at first six gotras (Dattatreya, Bharadwaja, Paladeva, Aupamanyava, Maudgalya and Dhaumyayana) and that by his time they had become 199. He listed them in the two old divisions of the community, the Banamasis and the Malamasis, with the family names found in each.","caution":"One surname can belong to several gotras: there are Razdans, Bhatts and Kaks in many lines. Your gotra is the one your family and your purohit have always used.","divisions":[{"name":"Banamasi","gotras":[{"gotra":"Bhava Kapishthala","families":["Khoru","Zadu","Sibbu","Vantu","Chandra","Kalla","Khaibri","Lattu"]},{"gotra":"Bhava Kapishthal Aupamanyava","families":["Wanikhan"]},{"gotra":"Bhuta Vatsya Aupamanyava","families":["Peshin"]},{"gotra":"Bhuta Vatsya Lauaakshi","families":[]},{"gotra":"Dar Bharadwaja","families":["Bangi","Dar","Jawansher","Misri","Parikala","Qandahari","Thalatsur","Tritsha","Tshut","Turki","Uthu","Vichari","Waguzari"]},{"gotra":"Dar Varshaganya","families":["Bakhshi","Kachru","Safaya","Shali"]},{"gotra":"Dar Wasak Shandilya","families":["Safaya"]},{"gotra":"Deva Bharadwaja","families":["Jatu","Khurdi","Sabani","Yachh","Zaru","Kallu"]},{"gotra":"Deva Vardhatta Shalan Kaushika","families":["Tsrungu"]},{"gotra":"Deva Varshaganya Shandilya","families":["Safaya"]},{"gotra":"Datthtreya (Koul)","families":["Aima","Babu","Bamtsunt","Bamzai","Buju","Chowdhri","Dandar","Dangar","Drabi","Dout","Hak","Jalali","Jinsi","Jota","Kak","Keni","Kissu","Kothdar","Ladakhi","Mekhzin","Mandal","Moza","Muhtasib","Nagari","Padar","Pahalwan","Ratiz","Sahib","Shargha","Shoga","Singhari","Salman","Sultan","Tota","Ugra","Zamindar"]},{"gotra":"Kantha Dhaumyana Laugakshi Gautama","families":["Bandar","Breth","Hastiwal","Muhtasib","Kav","Razdan","Shah","Shair","Wangani","Wat","Zari"]},{"gotra":"Paldeva Vasagargya","families":["Pat","Kukru","Khoshu","Kav","Pir","Malla"]},{"gotra":"Pat Svamina Kaushika","families":["Amhardar","Bira","Braru","Chacha","Chaghat","Durani","Fotedar","Ganju","Jala","Kachru","Kalu","Khurdi","Kyani","Mam","Mattu","Misri","Pandit","Panzu","Salman","Shanglu","Sulu","Teng","Tritshal","Unt","Vashnavi","Wufa","Wanchu","Waza","Zithu"]},{"gotra":"Pat Svamina Deva Ratra Parwara","families":["Pandit","Watal"]},{"gotra":"Raj Kaushika","families":["Khod"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Bharadvaja","families":["Bazari","Garyali","Jan","Khar","Miskin","Miyan","Munshi","Tikku"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gautama","families":["Gagar","Tava","Padora","Parimu","Keni","Kak","Razdan","Fehrist","Tarivala"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gautama Laugakshi","families":["Fata"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Koshk Bharadwaja","families":["Bhatt","Kukru"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Maudgalya","families":["Lala","Kandar","Buni"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Laugakshi","families":["Tur"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Vasishtha Vatsya Laugakshi","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Was Atreya","families":["Thusu"]},{"gotra":"Shalan Kautsa Sharman Gusha Watsya Aupamanyava","families":["Tilwan Koul","Mukka"]},{"gotra":"Wasadeva Palagargya","families":["Bindri"]}]},{"name":"Malamasi","gotras":[{"gotra":"Atri Bhargaya","families":["Hapa"]},{"gotra":"Artha Varshaganya Shandalya","families":["Choudhri"]},{"gotra":"Bharadwaj","families":[]},{"gotra":"Bhava Atreya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Bhava Devalya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Bhava Kapishthala Kaushika","families":["Patar"]},{"gotra":"Bhava Kapishthala Manana","families":[]},{"gotra":"Bhava Aupamanyava","families":["Variku"]},{"gotra":"Bhuta Laugakshi Dhaumyayana Gautama","families":[]},{"gotra":"Bhuta Laugakshi Gautama","families":[]},{"gotra":"Bhuta Raja Laugakshi Dhaumyayana Gautama","families":[]},{"gotra":"Bhuta Aupamanyava Laugakshi","families":[]},{"gotra":"Bhuta Aupamanyava Shalan Kayana","families":["Giru"]},{"gotra":"Bhuta Aupamanyava Vatsya Laugakshi","families":["Pishen"]},{"gotra":"Bhuta Was Aupamanyava Laugakshi","families":["Peshen","Thakur","Zalpari"]},{"gotra":"Dar Bharadwaja Paladev Vasagargya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Dar Dev Shalan Kapi","families":["Mota"]},{"gotra":"Dar Dev Shalana Kaushika","families":["Muttu"]},{"gotra":"Dar Dev Shalana Kuayana","families":[]},{"gotra":"Dar Kapisthala","families":["Lidi","Bhatt"]},{"gotra":"Dar Kapisthala Upamanuva","families":["Mich"]},{"gotra":"Dar Shandalya","families":["Jogi"]},{"gotra":"Dar Sharman Kautsa","families":[]},{"gotra":"Dipat Saman Aupamanyava","families":["Sapru"]},{"gotra":"Dat Dat Shalan Kautsa","families":["Bhatt","Kasab","Khaumush","Malik"]},{"gotra":"Dhaumyayana","families":["Razdan"]},{"gotra":"Datta Kaushika","families":[]},{"gotra":"Dat Sharman Kantha Kashyapa","families":["Raina"]},{"gotra":"Dat Varshaganya","families":["Sazawul"]},{"gotra":"Dat Was","families":["Khari"]},{"gotra":"Deva Bharadwaja","families":["Bhatt","Gadar","Kallu"]},{"gotra":"Deva Bharadwaja Kaushika","families":["Deva"]},{"gotra":"Deva Gargya","families":["Bhan"]},{"gotra":"Deva Gautama","families":["Bhatt","Purbi"]},{"gotra":"Deva Gautama Laugakshi","families":["Hakim"]},{"gotra":"Deva Kaushika","families":["Bhatt"]},{"gotra":"Deva Kantha Kashyapa","families":["Kar"]},{"gotra":"Deva Kucha Atreya","families":["Badgami"]},{"gotra":"Deva Kashyap Maudgalya Kashyap","families":["Bradi"]},{"gotra":"Deva Laugakshi","families":["Mantapuri","Pandit"]},{"gotra":"Deva Parashara","families":["Thogan","Tulsi","Yachh","Kak"]},{"gotra":"Deva Patsvamina Aupamanyava Kaushika","families":[]},{"gotra":"Deva Patsvamina Koshk","families":["Kalpush"]},{"gotra":"Deva Rishi Kaushika","families":[]},{"gotra":"Deva Svamina Gautama Kaushika Maudgalya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Deva Sharmanya Kautsa","families":[]},{"gotra":"Deva Shandalya","families":["Bataphalu","Karawani"]},{"gotra":"Dev Svamina Maudgalya","families":["Bradi"]},{"gotra":"Dev Chahanda Shandalya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Dev Aupamanyava","families":["Kalu","Khashu","Meva","Pandit"]},{"gotra":"Dev Vasishta Bharadwaja","families":[]},{"gotra":"Dev Wasishta","families":["Shopuri","Hukku"]},{"gotra":"Dev Vishamitra Varshaganya","families":["Kem","Vangar"]},{"gotra":"Dev Wasishta","families":["Ukhlu"]},{"gotra":"Ishwar Shandalya Kusha","families":["Nakhasi","Raval"]},{"gotra":"Kautsa Atreya","families":["Bhatt"]},{"gotra":"Kaushika Bhardwaja","families":["Bhatt","Nagari"]},{"gotra":"Kanth Kasahap","families":["Bhatt","Dassu","Razdan","Tangan"]},{"gotra":"Karchanda Shandale","families":["Chandru","Kar"]},{"gotra":"Kara Shandalya","families":["Mantu"]},{"gotra":"Kash Aupamanyava","families":["Bhatt"]},{"gotra":"Mitra Atreya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Mitra Kaushika","families":[]},{"gotra":"Mitra Kashyapa","families":["Handu"]},{"gotra":"Mitra Shandalya","families":["Bhatt"]},{"gotra":"Mitra Svamina Kaushika Atreya","families":["Said"]},{"gotra":"Nanda Kaushika Bharadwaja","families":["Pandit"]},{"gotra":"Nanda Kotsa","families":[]},{"gotra":"Nanda Koshk","families":["Bhatt"]},{"gotra":"Deva Parashara","families":["Yechh"]},{"gotra":"Paladeva Vasgargya","families":["Bangru","Bakaya","Kadalabuju","Khashu","Kichlu","Kokru","Mala","Mam","Mirakhur","Misri","Munga","Pir","Put","Sopuri-Pandit"]},{"gotra":"Raj Dat Atreya Shalan Kautsa","families":["Bhatt"]},{"gotra":"Raj Bhut Logaskhi Deval","families":["Bhan"]},{"gotra":"Ratra Bhargava","families":["Zitshoo","Chacha"]},{"gotra":"Raj Dhattatreya","families":["Partazi"]},{"gotra":"Ratna Kucha","families":[]},{"gotra":"Raj Kaushika","families":["Hakachar"]},{"gotra":"Rishi Kaushika","families":["Kashgari"]},{"gotra":"Raj Kautsa","families":[]},{"gotra":"Rishi Kavigargya","families":["Zaru"]},{"gotra":"Ratna Maudgalya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Rama Ratra Vishwamitra Agastya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Rama Ratra Vishwamitra Vasishta","families":[]},{"gotra":"Raj Shandalya","families":["Duru"]},{"gotra":"Raj Soma Shandale","families":[]},{"gotra":"Ratra Varshaganya","families":["Kotar"]},{"gotra":"Raj Vasisht","families":["Shunglu"]},{"gotra":"Ratra Vishwamitra Agastya Aupamanyava","families":[]},{"gotra":"Ratra Vishwamitra Vasishta","families":["Trakari"]},{"gotra":"Ratra Vishwamitra Agastya","families":["Mattu"]},{"gotra":"Sharman Atreya","families":["Gaddu"]},{"gotra":"Sharman Bharadwaja","families":["Bhatt"]},{"gotra":"Shandalya Bharadwaja","families":["Bhatt"]},{"gotra":"Sharman Kautsa","families":["Bhatt","Mogal","Sav","Thela"]},{"gotra":"Sharman Kanth Kashyapa","families":[]},{"gotra":"Shalan Kayana Atreya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Sharman Kaushika","families":[]},{"gotra":"Sharman Shandalya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Shila Shandalya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Soma Gargya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Shandalya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Soma Shandalya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Soma Vatsa Gargya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Atreya","families":["Chaka","Handu","Gadwali","Kala","Shal","Sikh"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Bhargava","families":["Bali","Battiv"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Bharadwaja","families":["Khar","Kutsru"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Bharadwaja Vatsa Atreya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Bharadwaja Kaushika Vatsa","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Bharadwaja Vas Atre","families":["Kalu"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Bharadwaja Kaushika","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Bharadwaja Shandalya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Bharadwaja Kaushika","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Bharadwaja Dhuni, Kashypa, Gautama, Laugakshi Divali","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Deva Gargya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gargya","families":["Machama"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gautama","families":["Bazaz","Badam","Charangu","Chillum","Gurut","Kak","Khosa","Kakapuri","Labru","Langer","Manwotu","Naqib","Padora","Piala","Qazi","Razdan","Thalatsur","Thapal","Zari"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gautama Atreya Shalan Kucha","families":["Raina"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gan Kaushika","families":["Padi"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gotam Bharadwaja","families":["Kemdal","Karihalu"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gotam Laugakshi","families":["Choku","Chhotu","Turi"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gotam Shandalya","families":["Labru","Razdan"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gotam Kaushika","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gotam Shalan Kucha Atreya","families":["Razdan"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gotam Gosh Vas Aupamanyava","families":["Chakan"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gotam Atreya","families":["Tsul"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Gotam Shalan Kucha","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Hasya Dvaseya","families":["Khanakatu"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Kaushika","families":["Thakur","Watal"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Kantha Kashyapa","families":["Labru"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Laugakshi","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Maudgalya","families":["Bhuni","Chana","Dewani","Galikrapa","Kanth","Khazanchi","Mazari","Muj","Madan","Mushran","Put","Shora","Taku","Zahi","Razdan","Zitu","Zotan"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Maudgalya Parashara","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Parashara","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Rishi Kanya Gargya","families":["Koul (Kulin)"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Rishi Kanya Vatsya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Shandalya","families":["Bhatt","Bakhshi","Nari"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Aupamanyava","families":["Gigu"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Kautsa Atreya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Vasishta","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Vasishta Bharadwaja","families":["Bhatt","Handu","Hukhu"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Vaaa Gulak","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Vara Mitra Vatsya Guna Kaushika","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Vasa Gargya","families":["Langer","Sum"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Vatsya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Svamina Vas Atreya","families":["Ghasi","Thusu","Waza"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Vatsya Aupamanyava","families":["Bhatt","Wallu"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Warshaganya","families":["Chothai","Duda","Hangal","Kathju","Lange","Kasid"]},{"gotra":"Svamina Was","families":[]},{"gotra":"Chhanda Shandalya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Varshayani","families":["Barbuz","Karnel"]},{"gotra":"Vatsya Atreya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Vatsya Gusha Aupamanyava","families":["Pandit"]},{"gotra":"Vishnu Bharadwaja","families":[]},{"gotra":"Vishnu Gargya","families":[]},{"gotra":"Vishnu Shaunaka","families":[]},{"gotra":"Vasishta Svamina Maudgalya","families":["Bhandari"]},{"gotra":"Vasa Aupamanyava Laugakshi","families":[]},{"gotra":"Wasishta","families":["Bhatt","Rangateng"]},{"gotra":"Wasishta Dhatta Shalana Kucha","families":[]},{"gotra":"Wardhatta Shalana Kucha","families":["Muki"]},{"gotra":"Wata Shalana Kucha","families":[]}]}]},"customs":{"lifeEvents":[{"id":"kahnethar","name":"Kahnethar (Naming Ceremony)","kashmiriName":"Kahnethar","oneLine":"The naming ceremony held for a newborn, traditionally on the eleventh day after birth.","description":"Kahnethar is the ceremony in which a Kashmiri Pandit baby is formally given a name. The word is usually explained as coming from 'kah', the Kashmiri word for eleven, because the ceremony was traditionally held on the eleventh day after birth. Today many families hold it on a convenient day around that time, or later, after consulting the family priest (Gor).\n\nThe days after a birth were once treated as a special period of rest and ritual purity for mother and child. In many families, a first ritual bath for the mother and baby, sometimes called Shran Sonder, was held earlier, around the sixth day. Kahnethar marks the end of this early period and the formal welcome of the child into the family and community.\n\nAt Kahnethar, the Gor performs a havan (fire ritual) and prayers to the family deities and the planets. The baby is often dressed in new clothes, and the priest, having looked at the time of birth, may suggest a starting letter for the name. The father or an elder whispers the name into the baby's ear. A horoscope (zatuk or janampatri) may be prepared.\n\nRelatives visit with gifts, and the child's maternal family (the mother's parents and relatives) traditionally sends clothes, sweets and gifts for the baby and mother. A festive meal is served, and in many families tahar (yellow rice) is cooked and shared as a sign of good fortune.\n\nFor diaspora families, Kahnethar is often combined with a naming or welcome party, but many keep the core ritual: the havan, the whispered name and the blessings of elders. It is a lovely way to connect a newborn to a long chain of Kashmiri tradition.","symbols":["Havan fire — purification and invoking blessings","Tahar (yellow rice) — auspiciousness and plenty","New clothes from the maternal family — the mother's family welcoming the child","Horoscope (zatuk) — the child's place in time and the family's hopes","Whispered name — the first gift of identity"]},{"id":"zarakasai","name":"Zarakasai (First Haircut)","kashmiriName":"Zarakasai","oneLine":"The ceremony of a child's first haircut, often held at a sacred place or at home with a havan.","description":"Zarakasai is the Kashmiri Pandit ceremony of a child's first haircut. The name comes from 'zar', hair, and 'kasun', to cut or shave. It is the Kashmiri version of the mundan or chudakarana samskara found across Hindu India.\n\nThe ceremony is usually performed in the child's first few years, often in an odd-numbered year of age, on a date chosen with the family priest. Traditionally, many families performed it at a sacred place such as Kheer Bhawani at Tulmul, the Sharika shrine at Hari Parbat, or a family's special tirtha. Others hold it at home.\n\nA havan is performed, and prayers are offered to the family deity. The barber (or today sometimes a family member) cuts the child's hair while relatives watch. In many families, a few locks are cut first by the priest or an elder. The child's maternal uncle (mama) often has a special role and brings gifts. The cut hair is not thrown away casually; traditionally it was mixed with flour or wrapped and offered into a river or spring, or left at the shrine.\n\nAfterwards the child is bathed, dressed in new clothes, and blessed with a tilak. A feast follows, often with tahar, kheer and other festive dishes.\n\nThe idea behind Zarakasai is purification and growth — removing the hair the child was born with and marking a new stage of life. Diaspora families often do it at a local temple or during a visit to Jammu or Kheer Bhawani.","symbols":["First hair — the past being offered away for a fresh start","River or spring — returning the offering to nature","Havan — purification","Maternal uncle's gifts — the mother's family's love and protection","Tilak — blessing"]},{"id":"mekhal","name":"Mekhal (Sacred Thread Ceremony)","kashmiriName":"Mekhal / Yagnopavit","oneLine":"The initiation ceremony in which a boy receives the sacred thread, with celebrations almost as big as a wedding.","description":"Mekhal is the Kashmiri Pandit name for the Yagnopavit or Upanayana ceremony, in which a boy (traditionally between about seven and twelve years old) is given the sacred thread (yagnopavit, 'yonya' in Kashmiri) and formally begins his life as a student of sacred knowledge. The word Mekhal comes from 'mekhala', the girdle of munja grass that the boy wears during the ritual.\n\nIn Kashmiri tradition, Mekhal is one of the grandest family celebrations, and it shares many customs with the wedding. The house is cleaned in the Livun ritual, women sing wanvun songs for days, there is a Maenziraat (henna night), and a Devgon ceremony of worship.\n\nOn the main day, the boy's head is shaved except for a tuft (the 'tsoka' or shikha), he wears simple clothes and the mekhala, and the priest performs a long havan. The boy is given the sacred thread and receives the Gayatri mantra from his guru, often his father or the family priest, whispered under a cloth. He then symbolically begs for alms (bhiksha) from his mother and relatives, who give him money and gifts: a student lives humbly, on what is given.\n\nHe may also act out setting off for Kashi to study, and being persuaded by his maternal uncle to return home — a playful custom shared with other Hindu communities.\n\nAfterwards the boy is dressed in fine clothes, sometimes a turban, and the family holds a feast. Today, some diaspora families hold smaller Mekhals, while others travel to Jammu or hold them at community halls with full wanvun singing.","symbols":["Yagnopavit (sacred thread) — the three strands of duty and knowledge","Mekhala of munja grass — discipline and purity","Gayatri mantra — the beginning of spiritual learning","Bhiksha (alms) — humility of the student","Shaved head with tuft — a new beginning"]},{"id":"kasamdry","name":"Kasamdry (Engagement)","kashmiriName":"Kasamdry","oneLine":"The betrothal ceremony that formally joins two families before a Kashmiri Pandit wedding.","description":"Kasamdry is the Kashmiri Pandit betrothal. The word is usually explained as coming from 'kasam', an oath or promise, and 'dyun' or 'dry', to give — the families give their word to each other.\n\nTraditionally, once a match had been agreed, often with the help of relatives or a matchmaker and after matching horoscopes, the two families met at a temple or at the bride's home. The family priests of both sides were present. Prayers were offered, often to Ganesh, and the elders of the two families exchanged flowers, sweets and sometimes a small amount of money as a symbol of the promise.\n\nIn many families, the groom's side brought gifts for the bride, such as clothes and jewellery, and sometimes the date of the wedding was fixed at this ceremony by the priests, after consulting the Kashmiri panchang.\n\nKasamdry was traditionally a small, simple event, often attended mainly by close family, because the big celebrations were saved for the wedding. After Kasamdry, the two families began visiting each other and preparing for the wedding.\n\nIn the diaspora, Kasamdry is often held as a ring ceremony or engagement party, but many families still include a short prayer with the Gor and the exchange of flowers, keeping the heart of the old custom.","symbols":["Flowers — goodwill and beauty","Sweets (often misri or sugar candy) — sweetness in the new relationship","Temple setting — divine witness to the promise","Exchange between elders — families, not just individuals, joining"],"fromBook":["The book calls the betrothal Gandun, meaning tying up, also known as the ring ceremony or kath-bath. The girl's family invites the boy's elders to a high tea, the girl is introduced and blessed, gifts are swapped and dates and terms are discussed. The couple are bound to marry morally but not legally, and today it is often replaced by a ring ceremony with rings swapped before close relatives.","Gandun. Gandun, meaning 'tying up', is the formal betrothal, also known as the ring ceremony or kath-bath. On a lucky day the girl's family calls the boy's near relatives, especially the elders, to a high tea. The girl is dressed, introduced to her future in-laws and blessed. Gifts are swapped for the future bride and groom, and dates, venues and other terms are talked over. The couple are seen as bound to marry in a moral sense, but not a legal one. Nowadays it is often replaced by a ring ceremony in which the two also swap rings in front of close relatives."]},{"id":"livun","name":"Livun (House Cleansing)","kashmiriName":"Livun","oneLine":"The ritual cleaning and plastering of the house that marks the start of wedding or Mekhal preparations.","description":"Livun is one of the first rituals of a Kashmiri Pandit wedding or Mekhal. The word comes from 'livun', to plaster or smear. In the days of mud-plastered floors and walls, women of the family and neighbourhood came together to plaster the house fresh, especially the kitchen, the prayer room and the main entrance.\n\nThe day was chosen by the family priest. Married women gathered, the house was cleaned from top to bottom, and the walls and floors were smoothed with fresh mud and clay mixed with water. This was both practical — the house had to be ready for guests — and symbolic, making the house pure and auspicious for the ceremonies to come.\n\nLivun was also a social occasion. Women sang traditional wanvun songs as they worked, and relatives and neighbours were fed with tea, sweets and simple food. Invitations to the wedding were often given out around this time.\n\nToday, very few homes have mud floors, so Livun has become symbolic. Families might clean the house thoroughly, touch a small area with a paste, or simply have the women of the family gather, sing and begin the preparations. In the diaspora, Livun may be a small gathering over tea, but many families still mark it as the moment the wedding 'begins'.","symbols":["Fresh plaster — purity and a new start","Singing women — community blessing","Entrance and kitchen — the heart of the home made ready for guests and food"],"fromBook":["The book calls the house cleaning and plastering garanavay and places it after the betrothal.","The book adds that the Livun begins on an auspicious day that can be a few days before the wedding, and that the bride is bathed and her hair let loose and oiled by her loved ones with music and burning of isband. She does not tie her hair again until her wedding day, and the singing continues late into the night until the wedding. The close relatives and neighbours served the special V'ar rice porridge."]},{"id":"wanvun","name":"Wanvun (Wedding Songs)","kashmiriName":"Wanvun","oneLine":"The traditional songs sung by women throughout a Kashmiri Pandit wedding and Mekhal.","description":"Wanvun is a special style of Kashmiri singing, performed mostly by women at weddings, Mekhals and other happy occasions. It has a call-and-response pattern: one group sings a line, and the other group repeats or answers it, with a slow, rhythmic, chant-like melody.\n\nWanvun songs are sung at almost every stage of the wedding — from Livun and Maenziraat to the Devgon, the arrival of the groom, the main ceremony, and the bride's departure. Each stage has its own songs. They praise the bride and groom, welcome guests, call on the gods and goddesses (especially Shiva and Parvati, whose wedding is the model for the human wedding), and sometimes gently tease the other family.\n\nMany wanvun songs are old and were passed down orally from grandmother to granddaughter. Some are addressed to the family's guardian deities; some describe the bride as a goddess; some are sad, sung as the bride leaves her parents' home. Poems by devotional poets like Krishna Joo Razdan and Parmanand are also sung.\n\nThe tumbaknari, a clay drum, is often played by women during lively songs and dances called roff.\n\nSince 1990, many families have worried that wanvun would be lost. Today, community groups and online recordings are helping young people learn it, and wanvun singing has become one of the most emotional parts of weddings in the diaspora.","symbols":["Call-and-response — the community singing together","Shiva–Parvati songs — the divine model of marriage","Tumbaknari drum — celebration","Farewell songs — the bride's journey from one family to another"],"fromBook":["The book says wanavun always starts with the call Hanzae, is led by an older woman called the Wanavun-gar, and is sung as couplets with the second line shorter and the syllables stretched. It traditionally begins with a verse to Ganesha. A scholar quoted in the notes holds that Hanzae represents Vedic chants that changed over time. Separate verses exist for each social step such as Krul Kharun, Maenziraat, Devgon, Mekhal, Abid, Lagan and Posh Pooza.","Wanavun: Form and Singing. Wanavun always opens with the word Hanzae, a call inviting the women to join the ceremonial chanting. The older woman who leads is named the Wanavun-gar. Its form is a couplet in which the second line is shorter than the first, and it is sung by drawing out and repeating syllables. Custom is to begin with a verse calling on Ganesha, whose first words mention Shuklam. There are verses for each social stage of a wedding or Mekhal, such as Krul Kharun, Maenziraat, Devgon, Abid and Posh Pooza. One scholar quoted by the author argues that Hanzae preserves Vedic chants that altered over time. For general music, recitation of Lalla Ded's vakhs often comes first, ahead of musical singing, on the henna night."]},{"id":"maenziraat","name":"Maenziraat (Henna Night)","kashmiriName":"Maenziraat","oneLine":"The henna night before a Kashmiri Pandit wedding, full of singing and dancing.","description":"Maenziraat means 'the night of mehndi (henna)'. It is held in both the bride's and the groom's homes, usually on the night before the wedding or a few nights before.\n\nOn Maenziraat, the bride's hands and feet are decorated with henna. In Kashmiri tradition, the groom also has henna applied, usually a simple dot or small design on his hands, by his aunts or sisters. Her father's sister (the bua) or other female relatives traditionally begin the application.\n\nThe night is full of music. Women sing wanvun songs and dance roff, a Kashmiri folk dance in which women stand in rows, arms linked, and sway back and forth while singing. The tumbaknari drum sets the rhythm. Relatives and neighbours come in large numbers, and sweets, kahwa and snacks are served late into the night.\n\nIn some families, the maternal relatives of the bride or groom bring special gifts and sweets on this night. The bride often wears simple clothes on Maenziraat, saving her finest for the wedding.\n\nThe mehndi's deep colour is believed to show love and good fortune — families often joke that the darker the colour, the more the bride will be loved by her in-laws. In the diaspora, Maenziraat is often one of the most fun and relaxed parts of a Kashmiri wedding, uniting young and old in song.","symbols":["Henna — beauty, joy and good fortune","Roff dance — women's shared celebration","Tumbaknari drum — festivity","Gifts from maternal relatives — family bonds"],"fromBook":["The henna night opens with the Bua anointing the boy or girl with henna while the ladies sing henzei wanvun and isband burns. The Bua receives cash and gifts (Manzizang) for this and has drawn the Krul welcome design at the door. The singing troupe often sings Lalla Ded's vakhs, and as the evening warms up everyone present is led into the centre to join the fun. Dinner is served as the singing continues into the early morning.","Bua at the Henna Night. The father's sister, known as Bua, takes charge of the Maenziraat events. She is the first to apply henna to the boy or girl, as the women sing wanvun and isband is burned, and afterwards she applies it to the guests. In return she receives cash presents, called Manzizang, from the parents and near relatives. On that day she also draws a flower design called Krul at the entrance to the house, often with a greeting reading 'Welcome to the wedding of so and so'. She performs V'ar at several points and prepares the Kheer for the Devgon. Nowadays hired henna artists often draw flower designs on the bride's hands and feet."]},{"id":"devgon","name":"Devgon","kashmiriName":"Devgon","oneLine":"The ritual worship that prepares the bride or groom spiritually for the wedding, when the bride receives the dejhoru.","description":"Devgon is a key ritual held separately at the homes of the bride and the groom, usually a day or two before the wedding. The name is often explained as meaning 'worship of the gods'. It marks the transition of the bride or groom from ordinary life into the sacred state of marriage.\n\nThe family priest performs a havan, invoking the gods and the ancestors, and the bride or groom sits for a long ritual. Many families perform a ritual bath and the bride or groom is dressed in new clothes brought by the maternal family.\n\nFor the bride, Devgon holds a very special moment. In many families, the dejhoru — the gold ear ornaments on a thread that are the most important sign of a married Kashmiri Pandit woman — is tied through the pierced upper part of her ears by the priest or her family. Traditionally the dejhoru is provided by the bride's parents. After the wedding, the atahor, the thread or chain on which the dejhoru hangs, is traditionally provided by the in-laws. Families' customs vary in exactly when and how these are given.\n\nAfter Devgon, the bride or groom is considered to be in a holy state and, in traditional practice, should not leave the house until the wedding. The family's guardian deities are worshipped and elders give blessings.\n\nIn the diaspora, Devgon is often a smaller ceremony but is kept by most families as one of the essential rituals.","symbols":["Dejhoru — the sign of a married Kashmiri Pandit woman","Havan — purification and divine witness","New clothes from maternal relatives — love and protection","Ancestor worship — the family line blessing the marriage"],"fromBook":["The book says Devgon takes place the day before the wedding or the Mekhal. Bride and groom are purified with water from the Pradhan Kalash, and at the groom's house little happens that day while the bride's house is busy. The bride has a sacred bath (kanya shran) and receives gold ornaments that she wears during the homa. The utensils of her dowry are also purified through the homa, and she puts on the Dejhor.","At the Devgon the Bua cooks kheer and moong cakes (mungvor) on a seven-opening hearth for the seven mother goddesses, and seven plates are offered in the worship while the rest are given as prashad. The boy or girl then takes the Kanishran bath with consecrated water poured over the head, with no soap, while a cloth is held above. A bride's gold ornaments are consecrated first and put on without disturbing her loosened hair, using mulberry twigs rather than a comb. All taking part wear the Tektal paper mark.","Varidan and Kanishran. At the Devgon the Bua cooks kheer and cakes of moong flour (mungvor) for the seven Mother deities, the Saptamatrikas. This is done on a portable stove with seven holes, called Varidan, on a spot cleaned and plastered with earth, though a gas stove is now commonly used. The kheer is put into several clay plates, each topped with a mungvor and a walnut. Seven plates are offered to the seven deities during worship and the others are handed out as prashad. The ritual bath that comes next is called Kanishran. Two people hold a clean cloth above the head of the boy or girl while others pour consecrated water mixed with herbs over the head, as senior women recite wanvun. No soap is used, and an ordinary bath may follow. For a bride, the gold ornaments are first consecrated and then put on. Care is taken not to disturb her loosened hair, so no comb is used and mulberry twigs may be used to touch the hair."]},{"id":"lagan-and-posh-pooza","name":"Lagan and Posh Pooza (The Wedding Ceremony)","kashmiriName":"Lagan / Posh Pooza","oneLine":"The main wedding ceremony, ending with Posh Pooza, when the couple are showered with flowers as Shiva and Parvati.","description":"The main Kashmiri Pandit wedding ceremony is called Lagan, after the auspicious time (lagna) fixed by the priests. The groom arrives with his party (the baraat) at the bride's home, where he is welcomed at the door by the bride's family. In many families, the groom stands on a decorated rangoli pattern called the Vyug at the entrance and the bride's mother or aunts perform an aarti.\n\nThe ceremony itself takes place around the vedi and the sacred fire. The priests of both families recite Sanskrit mantras. Key moments include Kanyadan (the bride's parents giving their daughter in marriage), the tying of the couple's garments, the Saptapadi or seven steps around the fire, and promises made to each other. In Kashmiri tradition, the bride and groom are regarded during the ceremony as the forms of Shiva and Parvati.\n\nThe most distinctively Kashmiri moment comes at the end: Posh Pooza, 'flower worship'. The bride and groom sit together, a red cloth is held over their heads, and all the relatives and guests shower them with flowers while the priests chant blessings. For those few minutes, the couple are worshipped as the divine couple themselves.\n\nAfter the ceremony, the bride's departure (called 'vidaai' in Hindi) is often tearful, with farewell songs. The couple travel to the groom's home, where they are welcomed with rituals and games.\n\nKashmiri Pandit weddings traditionally took place at night, though many today are held in the daytime for convenience.","symbols":["Vyug (rangoli) — auspicious welcome","Sacred fire — divine witness","Posh Pooza — the couple honoured as Shiva and Parvati","Red cloth — protection and blessing","Seven steps — lifelong partnership"],"fromBook":["The book says the groom is received at the mandap gate, worshipped as Vishnu and given madhuparka. The wedding rites include the mirror look (Sammukhikarana), Kanyadana, vows, the seven steps, the ghee homa, the Laya homa with parched rice, the bride stepping on a stone, and the couple eating from one plate (Dayabatta). Posh Pooza is last, and the names of sages and heroic figures recited then suggest names for the couple's children.","The book describes the groom stepping onto a Vyug for Aarti by his mother, then riding in a procession of cars to the bride's home, where he and the elders are garlanded and received to the sound of conchs and shehnai, and the dwar puja is done at the door before the main ceremony. The bride wears a red silk sari and taranga, with gold bangles, necklaces, rings and henna. The religious rites take six to eight hours and the baratis are served a large, nearly always vegetarian meal. The Jaimalla garland exchange is a recent, non-religious addition.","Groom's Dress and Procession. On the morning of the wedding the groom has his hair cut, is shaved and bathed while guests arrive and take light refreshments. To the sound of wanvun and isband he is helped into an achkan and churidar. His uncle or a skilled elder winds on a turban in pink or pale yellow, with a small flap of cloth visible in front. A saffron tilak goes on his forehead. An attendant holds a flowery umbrella (Chattar) above him and another blows a big conch now and then to announce him. He stands on the Vyug facing east and his mother does Aarti, while the women sing and scatter petals, dates and sugar pellets over him. He sits among a group of children, one dressed as a baby bridegroom called Poth Maharaza. His car heads the procession of the baratis."]},{"id":"after-the-wedding","name":"Satraat and Phirsal (After the Wedding)","kashmiriName":"Satraat / Phirsal","oneLine":"The visits and small ceremonies after the wedding that help the bride move between her two families.","description":"A Kashmiri Pandit wedding does not end on the wedding day. A series of smaller customs follow in the days and weeks afterwards, helping the bride settle into her new home while keeping close ties with her parents. Customs and names vary a great deal between families and regions, so it is best to ask elders how your own family did it.\n\nPhirsal (literally 'returning' or 'visiting back') is the first visit of the newly married couple to the bride's parents' home after the wedding. The couple are welcomed with food and gifts, and the groom is treated as an honoured guest. The bride's family often sends her back with clothes, sweets and gifts for her new family.\n\nSatraat, which is often explained as relating to the 'seventh night' or a set of visits after the wedding, is another occasion when the bride's family and the groom's family exchange visits and food. In some families it involves the bride returning to her parents for a short stay.\n\nAnother old custom is the sending of gifts, food and clothes by the bride's family to her new home on festivals during the first year — for example on Herath, when a gift of money and dry fruits (Herath kharch) may be exchanged.\n\nThe atahor, the thread or chain from which the dejhoru hangs, is traditionally provided by the in-laws after the wedding in many families, marking the bride as part of her husband's family.\n\nThese customs show how Kashmiri marriage joins two families, not just two people.","symbols":["Atahor — the bond with the husband's family","Gifts of food and clothes — ongoing care from the bride's family","Visits between homes — two families becoming one"],"fromBook":["The book notes that the bride gives ten walnuts, received from the groom, to her father-in-law during the wedding, as a sign of the ten children she is blessed with.","The book gives these steps: Vidai, with the bride lifted out by her maternal uncle and placed on the Vyug, then at the groom's home Nosh Annin with Zembrand, in which the groom's sister holds the door until promised a gift, the eldest lady lifting the bride's veil, then Satrat, Phirsal and the optional Garachun, an exchange of grand invitations between the two sides. The cotton thread of the dejhoru is replaced with a gold Ath and Athor.","Satrat, Phirsal and Garachun in Detail. On the evening of the wedding, or the next day if that happens to be a Saturday, the couple go to the bride's parental home for Satrat. They eat with the family, and the son-in-law meets the girl's near relatives and is given new clothes, normally a suit, to put on there. They return to the groom's house very late at night, carrying another pot of yogurt and crystal candy. Phirsal is an invitation from the bride's family for the couple to remain several days, so that the groom gets to know her relatives, with more gifts, new dishes and at times picnics. Garachun is an optional lavish invitation that each side owes the other, with the groom's relatives hosted by the bride's side and the reverse. Guests are greeted with Aalai when they arrive, and it is an occasion for finest clothes and jewellery. The author remarks that it has grown more extravagant through competition, and that Garachun is now replacing Phirsal.","Sweets Given at Weddings: Nabad Noti and Dud Dull. As the bride leaves her parents' home she takes a pot of yogurt (Dud Dull) and big bowls of crystal candy (Nabad Noti); when the couple return from the Satrat dinner they carry back a new pot and bowls for the groom's family. During the Aarti the couple also take three bites of a single piece of sweet or sugar candy, and sugar pellets are thrown over the groom as he departs."]},{"id":"death-rites","name":"Death Rites (The Ten-to-Twelve-Day Cycle)","kashmiriName":"Antim Sanskar, Dahim, Kah, Bah","oneLine":"The Kashmiri Pandit rituals after a death, from cremation to the ceremonies of the tenth, eleventh and twelfth days.","description":"When a Kashmiri Pandit dies, the family follows a sequence of rituals meant to help the soul on its journey and to support the grieving family. Customs vary, and the family priest guides every step.\n\nThe body is bathed, dressed and laid on the floor with the head facing north, and relatives gather to pray. The cremation is traditionally held the same day or the next, with the eldest son or a close male relative lighting the pyre. On the third or fourth day, the ashes and bones (asthi) are collected. Before 1990, many families immersed the ashes at Gangabal, Shadipora (Prayag) or in the Vitasta; today many immerse them at Haridwar or elsewhere, and some still take them to Kashmiri tirthas.\n\nDuring the following days the family observes mourning. Traditionally, no cooking happens in the house on the first days, and relatives and neighbours bring food. Simple vegetarian food is eaten.\n\nThe key rituals come on the tenth day (Dahim), when the chief mourner and family members bathe, men may shave their heads, and offerings are made; the eleventh day (Kah), when offerings of rice balls (pind) are made for the soul and gifts are given to the priest; and the twelfth day (Bah or sapindikaran), when the soul is believed to join the ancestors. The period of formal mourning ends around this time.\n\nMonthly rituals (masvar) may follow in the first year, and the first death anniversary (Barsi or Varshik) is a significant ceremony. Families who keep these rites find they provide structure and comfort in grief.","symbols":["Asthi (ashes) — return to the elements","Pind (rice balls) — nourishment for the departed","Head shaving — mourning and humility","Twelfth-day rite — the soul joining the ancestors","Lamp — guiding the soul"],"fromBook":["The social customs of mourning include removal of the women's gold neck chains, morning weeping for the first ten days (Bak Travn), a bath on a chosen day before the tenth for all except the elder son(s) and widow, and a public gathering on the tenth day when in-laws of the sons supply new clothes and a shawl for the ghat and refreshments for mourners. The widow bathes and changes clothes on the thirteenth day. The spouse of the dead person does not take part in the rituals.","The book explains the idea behind the cycle: the departed is called a preta for about one human year, hovering near the home in a subtle body, and then becomes a pitr. The year-long rites for the preta were compressed into a thirteen-day sequence, so the rites of all ten days are folded into the tenth day. The book counts the death day from sunrise to sunrise, so a death before sunrise is counted as the previous tithi.","Mourning Customs: Punndaya Cham, Bak Travn, Dahim Doh. Shortly after an elder dies, the women of the household and closely related women remove the gold chains they wear at the neck, as the first sign of mourning, and put them back on when mourning is over. Throughout the first ten days the older women of the house cry and wail every morning for roughly half an hour to display their sorrow, called Bak Travn. Everyone apart from the eldest son or sons and the widow selects a date before the tenth day, falling on a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, for bathing and changing clothes (Chhalun). The widow bathes and changes on the thirteenth day. On the tenth day, Dahim Doh, relatives and neighbours come to share in the family's sorrow as the men return from the bathing ghat, and it marks the last day of public mourning. The married sons who will have their heads shaved at the ghat receive new clothes and a shawl from their in-laws, who also supply milk, tea and fruit for those in mourning. If a wife has died, her husband bathes on this day."]},{"id":"shraddha-and-barsi","name":"Shraddha and Barsi","kashmiriName":"Shraad / Barsi","oneLine":"The yearly rites remembering ancestors, both on the death anniversary and during the fortnight of the ancestors.","description":"Kashmiri Pandits, like other Hindus, remember their ancestors with rituals called shraddha. These are held on the death anniversary of a family member according to the lunar calendar (tithi), and during Pitru Paksha, the dark fortnight in the month of Ashwin (usually September–October) dedicated to all ancestors.\n\nThe first death anniversary is called Barsi or Varshik, and it is usually a larger ceremony with more relatives present. After that, the annual shraddha is observed each year by the son or other relatives.\n\nOn the day of shraddha, the family priest comes, and offerings of rice balls (pind), sesame seeds, water and flowers are made to the ancestors, whose names are recited going back several generations. A meal is cooked for the priest and family, and a portion is set aside for crows, cows and dogs, which are believed to carry offerings to the ancestors. In Kashmir, many families performed special shraddha at Mattan (Martand tirtha), where priests kept family records.\n\nThe food cooked for shraddha is traditionally simple and often vegetarian, though customs vary among Kashmiri Pandit families.\n\nFor young people, shraddha can be a good time to learn the names of great-grandparents and to hear stories about them. It connects each generation to the family's history.","symbols":["Pind — nourishment for ancestors","Sesame seeds — purity and remembrance","Food for crows — reaching the ancestors","Recited names — keeping the family line alive in memory"],"fromBook":["The book adds that mourning lasts a year, until the first shraddha, with an earthen lamp (Sandya Chong) kept burning at a window each evening to guide the spirit of the departed. A homa and dinner are held at six months (Shadmos), and on the first death anniversary (Vaherver) a dinner for close relations marks the end of mourning.","Year-Long Mourning, Shadmos and Vaherver. Strictly, mourning goes on for one year, up to the first shraddha. In this time the widow joins in no celebrations outside the house, and none are held at home, though religious rites are performed exactly as needed. Close relations call on the family on major festival days to share its sorrow. A clay lamp called Sandya Chong is left burning in the evening at a window to guide the departed spirit. Six months after the death a homa is held in the house and loved ones are asked to dinner (Shadmos). On the first death anniversary, Vaherver, after the shraddha, a dinner for close relations marks the close of mourning. The book also notes that the dead person's spouse takes no part in the death rituals, since only blood relatives carry them out."]},{"id":"janam-dyun","name":"Janam Dyun (Birthday by Lunar Date)","kashmiriName":"Janam Dyun","oneLine":"The traditional Kashmiri Pandit birthday, celebrated on the lunar date of birth with prayers, tahar and kheer.","description":"In many Kashmiri Pandit families, birthdays are traditionally celebrated not on the date in the solar (Western) calendar, but on the tithi — the lunar day — on which the person was born, according to the Kashmiri Pandit panchang. This is called Janam Dyun ('day of birth'); some families use other names for it as well. Because the lunar calendar shifts, the Janam Dyun falls on a different date each year.\n\nOn Janam Dyun, the person whose birthday it is often wakes early, bathes, and wears new or clean clothes. A small puja is done at home, often with the family priest or an elder, and prayers are said for long life and health. Many families tie a thread (called 'narivan' in some families) around the wrist.\n\nThe traditional special foods are tahar (yellow rice cooked with turmeric and oil) and kheer (rice pudding). A portion of tahar is often offered to the gods or given to neighbours and relatives. Some families also cook a festive meal.\n\nAn older custom involves the person offering food to birds or giving something in charity. Elders give blessings and sometimes money.\n\nMany diaspora families today celebrate both birthdays — the Western one with cake and friends, and Janam Dyun with tahar and kheer at home. The panchang or a Kashmiri calendar app can help you find your lunar birthday each year.","symbols":["Tahar — good fortune","Kheer — sweetness of life","Wrist thread — protection","Lunar date — connection to the traditional calendar"]},{"id":"herath","name":"Herath (Shivratri)","kashmiriName":"Herath","oneLine":"The biggest Kashmiri Pandit festival: a night-long worship of Shiva and Parvati, welcomed into the home like wedding guests.","description":"Herath is the Kashmiri Pandit name for Mahashivratri, and it is the most important festival of the community. The word is usually derived from 'Hararatri', the night of Hara (Shiva). Kashmiri Pandits celebrate it on the trayodashi (thirteenth lunar day) of the dark half of Phalguna, which is usually one day earlier than Shivratri elsewhere in India.\n\nPreparations begin weeks earlier. The house is cleaned, and new pots are bought. On Herath night, families perform Vatuk Puja: a set of clay or metal vessels (vatuk) filled with water and walnuts is arranged in the prayer room and worshipped as Shiva, Parvati, their attendants and the family's guardian deities. The ritual is often seen as welcoming Shiva and Parvati into the home, like a wedding party arriving — which is why Herath has been described as a 'homecoming' for the gods. Many families recite the story of how Shiva appeared as a column of fire (jwala-linga).\n\nMost families cook a special feast; many cook meat and fish on Herath, while some families are vegetarian on the day. The walnuts soaked in the vatuk are later distributed as prasad, and elders give children money called Herath kharch.\n\nThe day after Herath is called Salam, when Muslim neighbours used to visit to offer greetings. On Doon Mavas (the new moon), the vatuk is taken to a river or stream and ritually immersed.\n\nFor diaspora families, Herath is the one festival most families still celebrate, often with a family priest joining by video call.","symbols":["Vatuk — Shiva, Parvati and their companions","Walnuts — prasad, plenty and the four Vedas (in some explanations)","Herath kharch — elders' blessing money for children","Salam — shared greetings with Muslim neighbours","Immersion of walnuts on Doon Mavas — ending the festival"]},{"id":"navreh","name":"Navreh (New Year)","kashmiriName":"Navreh","oneLine":"The Kashmiri Pandit new year, begun by looking at a plate of auspicious items first thing in the morning.","description":"Navreh is the Kashmiri Pandit new year, falling on the first day of the bright half of the month of Chaitra (usually March or April). It marks the start of a new year in the Saptarishi calendar used by Kashmiri Pandits. The word comes from 'nava varsha', new year.\n\nThe most special custom of Navreh happens the evening before. A thaal (plate) is filled with auspicious items: unhusked rice, a bowl of yogurt or milk, walnuts, a small loaf of bread, salt, a pen, a coin or money, flowers, a mirror, and the new year's panchang (the Kashmiri almanac). In the morning, the first thing each family member does on waking is to look at this thaal, so that the new year begins with a vision of plenty, learning and good fortune. This is called Thaal Barun.\n\nAfterwards, family members bathe (some with walnut and flower water), wear new clothes, and visit temples. In Kashmir, many families went to Hari Parbat to worship Sharika. Relatives visit each other, and the day is celebrated with a festive meal.\n\nA few days later comes Zang Trai, a day that many families traditionally linked with visits between married daughters and their parents' home; customs vary.\n\nNavreh is a lovely festival for children: they can help fill the thaal and remember to look at it first thing in the morning. Diaspora families increasingly celebrate Navreh together at community events.","symbols":["Rice — food and plenty","Walnut — life and strength","Pen and panchang — learning and the new year's calendar","Mirror — self-reflection and seeing good fortune","Money — prosperity"]},{"id":"khichri-amavasya","name":"Khichri Amavasya (Yaksha Amavasya)","kashmiriName":"Khetsri Mavas","oneLine":"A winter festival when khichri is offered to the Yaksha, a spirit believed to bring luck and prosperity.","description":"Khichri Amavasya, known in Kashmiri as Khetsri Mavas, falls on the new moon (amavasya) of the month of Pausha (usually December or January), during the coldest part of winter. It is also called Yaksha Amavasya, because it honours the Yaksha — a nature spirit, associated in Kashmiri tradition with Kubera, the god of wealth.\n\nIn the evening, families cook khichri (rice and lentils, often moong, with ghee, salt and spices). Before the family eats, a portion of khichri is placed on a plate or a grass mat (or on a stone, in some families) on the outer wall of the house, the rooftop or near the door, for the Yaksha to eat. A mark of tilak is sometimes put on the spot.\n\nA popular traditional belief says the Yaksha wears a special cap, and if you can snatch it, you will be granted great wealth. Children in Kashmir loved this story and would sometimes stay up hoping to catch a glimpse of the Yaksha. This is a folk belief and part of the festival's fun.\n\nThe khichri is eaten with ghee and sometimes with side dishes; in some families meat or fish is also cooked. The festival is associated with prosperity and the winter period of Chilla Kalan, the forty coldest days.\n\nIn the diaspora, families often keep the custom of cooking khichri and setting out a portion, sharing the story of the Yaksha with children.","symbols":["Khichri — warmth and nourishment in winter","Yaksha — a friendly spirit of wealth","Offering outside — sharing with the unseen world","Ghee — richness and plenty"]},{"id":"gaad-batta","name":"Gaad Batta","kashmiriName":"Gaad Batta","oneLine":"A winter ritual offering of fish and rice to the guardian deity of the home.","description":"Gaad Batta means 'fish and rice'. It is a Kashmiri Pandit ritual held in the month of Pausha (Poh, December–January), usually on a date chosen by each family according to its own tradition, often a Saturday or Tuesday in the dark fortnight.\n\nOn this day, families cook fish, most often with radish (muj gaad) or with lotus stem (nadru), along with rice. At night, a portion of the fish and rice is offered to the Ghar Devta, the guardian spirit or deity of the house, who is believed to protect the family. The offering is usually placed in a quiet, clean part of the house, sometimes in the attic (kani) or storeroom, and left overnight. The next morning, the family eats the prasad.\n\nThis custom shows how Kashmiri Pandit religion includes very old local beliefs about household spirits and nature, alongside the great Sanskrit traditions. Eating fish, though unusual for Brahmins in many other parts of India, is common among Kashmiri Pandits, especially in winter.\n\nGaad Batta was a time for families to be together on cold winter nights. In the diaspora, many families still cook muj gaad on a Poh evening and set aside a plate for the Ghar Devta.","symbols":["Fish — the bounty of Kashmir's rivers and lakes","Rice — the staple food","Ghar Devta — protection of the home","Night offering — the unseen guardians of the house"]},{"id":"pann","name":"Pann (Roath Ritual)","kashmiriName":"Pann","oneLine":"A family ritual in the month of Bhadrapada when women make roath (sweet bread) and tell a traditional story.","description":"Pann is a Kashmiri Pandit ritual held in the month of Bhadrapada (August–September), often associated with the worship of Lord Ganesh (Vinayak) or the goddess. The name 'Pann' is usually connected with thread (pan), because cotton thread is part of the ritual.\n\nThe centre of Pann is the roath, a sweet fried or baked bread made from flour, sugar, ghee and poppy seeds, often decorated with dry fruits. The women of the house make the roath with care, and an elder woman often leads the ritual.\n\nThe family gathers, and a kalash (pot of water) is set up with the roath and a piece of cotton thread. The women hold a few grains or a piece of roath and listen to a traditional story (katha) told by the eldest woman. There are different versions of the story, often about a poor woman whose faith in the goddess or Vinayak brought her blessings. Families differ in the details, so it is worth asking grandparents for your own family's version.\n\nAfter the ritual, the roath is shared as prasad with family, relatives and neighbours. Married daughters are often sent roath by their parents.\n\nPann is a beautiful example of a women-led ritual in Kashmiri Pandit tradition, passing on stories, recipes and faith from grandmothers to granddaughters.","symbols":["Roath — sweetness and offering","Cotton thread — protection and continuity","Katha (story) — faith passed from generation to generation","Kalash — divine presence"]},{"id":"bhumi-puja","name":"Bhumi Puja (laying the foundation of a building)","kashmiriName":"Bhumi Pujan (Shanku-Pratishtha)","oneLine":"Five pots, each with a small figure, are put underground at the building site before work starts, on a lucky day.","description":"Before construction begins, five holes are dug in the plot, one at each corner and one in the centre, deep enough that the pots stay safe once building starts. Start digging on a lucky day, and skip Tuesdays and Panchak days. Where foundation trenches are already cut, the holes at the corners and centre are dug deeper and outlined in lime. Five clay pots are each filled with the same amount of water drawn from seven holy sites, together with seven metals, seven grains, seven healing herbs and seven clays. Add five kinds of flowers (none black), five dried fruits and five fragrant foods such as cardamom. Each pot also holds one figure: a bull, a horse, an elephant and a person, engraved on copper plates, plus a silver-wire snake. Mark each pot with Shri in sindur and put a garland on it. Also set aside five one-foot pegs cut from a fruit tree, five square corner stones and some bricks to cap the pots. The pots are honoured together in sixteen steps, and water from the cleansed pranit patra is poured in to bring them to life. Each is then carried to its hole and given a brief puja: the bull goes to the northeast, the horse to the southeast, the person to the southwest, the elephant to the northwest and the snake pot to the middle. The chief mason closes each pot inside a box of brick and cement. Puris and tehri are offered as naveed in the prepun that follows. Vishvakarma is honoured too, through the mason and his tools.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true},{"id":"greh-pravesh-puja","name":"Greh Pravesh Puja (entering a new house)","kashmiriName":"Greh Pravesh Puja","oneLine":"A house-entering ceremony is held outside the door, with a knife carried through every room and the first meal dedicated to Annapurna.","description":"The worship is held outside the entrance, in the courtyard, or for an apartment at a convenient spot beyond the door. Gather pictures of Ganesh and the Isht Devi, a sacred text such as the Gita, five red flags for the four corners and the door, a knife, hot coals with fragrant gugal, lime water to paint a tree-like krul on three sides of the building (leaving out the front), and household tools such as a mortar and pestle, broom, grinding stone, winnowing tray and umbrella. Also bring water, milk, ghee, rice, paddy, flour and all cooking supplies. The one performing it puts on a fresh yagnopavit and zung. After Dup Dip puja and tarpan for the Devas, Rishis and Pitrs by the door, the sixteen-step puja is carried out, treating the main door as the object of worship. The performer enters with the knife and slashes the air in all directions in every room, driving off evil forces. Relatives and visitors bring in the household articles and put them down. Sweets, nabad and raisins are laid before Ganesh and the Isht Devi, a brief prepun is done, and the sweets are distributed. The first kitchen meal is made for Annapurna: the lady of the house joins her palms and recites the Annapurna verse, marks the stove with a sindur tilak, offers arga and flowers, and prepares tehri and roti or puri as naveed. Bhajans end the day.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true},{"id":"seemantonnayana","name":"Seemantonnayana (Hair Parting in Pregnancy)","kashmiriName":"Dvd Anun","oneLine":"A rite performed in the fourth or fifth month of pregnancy to protect the mother and the child she carries.","description":"The book lists this among the samskaras done before birth. It is held about four or five months into the pregnancy, or even later, on a day when the moon is in a male constellation. Kashmiri Hindus call it Dvd Anun, and the book compares it to a baby shower. It has three aims: to keep away evil spirits thought to endanger mother and child, to bring the mother good health and the child a long life, and to support the child's mental development. The husband prays to the goddess Shri to protect his wife and child. The mother fasts through the day, and the same opening rites are done as for Bij Vapn. The wife sits beside the fire pit while the husband parts her hair and draws it upward with a bunch of green udumbara fruits (an even number) or mulberry twigs, along with three blades of darbha grass, chanting Bhur Bhuvah Svah. To keep her in good spirits she is served her favourite foods and told not to carry heavy loads.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true},{"id":"bij-vapn-and-pumsavana","name":"Bij Vapn and Pumsavana (Rites Before Birth)","kashmiriName":"Bij Vapn","oneLine":"The first two rites of the series: the couple's prayer before conceiving, and a protective rite in the third month of pregnancy.","description":"The book begins its list of samskaras with Bij Vapn (also called Garbhadana). The couple perform it before they first come together in the fertile days, between the fourth and sixteenth day after the wife's monthly period. The book stresses that Hindu marriage is meant for good children, not for desire alone. The rite includes a sankalpa, Ganesh puja, the worship of the Sapta Matrika (seven mother goddesses) and Nandimukha shraddha. Pumsavana follows in the third month of pregnancy, on a day when the moon is in a male constellation, to protect the unborn child. Some say it is also for the birth of a son. It uses the same ritual as Bij Vapn. The book notes that these early rites are among those now kept with little enthusiasm, and that in practice Upanayana and Vivah get most of the attention.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true},{"id":"dapan-batta","name":"Dapan Batta (Inviting Relatives in Person)","kashmiriName":"Dapan Batta","oneLine":"Before a wedding or Mekhal, the boy or girl visits close relatives in person to invite them, and is given a feast.","description":"Ahead of a wedding or Mekhal, custom calls for inviting near relatives face to face and not only by card. The young person to be married makes the visits, and calling on the mother's parents' home or her brother's family is thought essential. The date is set beforehand. The hosts lay on a feast, which gives the custom its name, Dapan Batta. Before the guests depart, the mother is presented with a new sari and some cash (called Atgath), the small gold ornament Athor worn on the dejhoru, and a packet of common salt. The young person also receives gifts and blessings. The author observes that these visits, intended as personal invitations, often turn into a feast hosted by the boy or girl for those invited.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true},{"id":"isband-zalun","name":"Isband Zalun (Burning Isband Seeds)","kashmiriName":"Isband Zalun","oneLine":"Burning aromatic isband seeds while blessing someone, done at weddings and other happy occasions.","description":"Isband is a dry herbal seed that gives off a sweet smell when burnt. Burning it, called Isband Zalun, is a custom on auspicious occasions such as weddings and Mekhal. A few seeds are held in the fingers of the right hand and touched to the forehead of the person being blessed, with a prayer for that person's good health and prosperity. The seeds are then dropped into a fire pot, usually a kangri. Each person present takes a turn. The smoke is a regular part of the henna night, the Livun, the dressing of the groom and many other moments of a wedding.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true},{"id":"krul","name":"Krul (Floral Design at the Door)","kashmiriName":"Krul","oneLine":"A floral design painted at the entrance of the house by the paternal aunt at the start of wedding celebrations.","description":"Krul is a floral design painted at the doorway of the house for weddings. It is drawn by the Bua, now usually with ready-made paints applied over a base of lime. On the henna night it often carries a welcome message to the guests naming the family whose child is being married.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true},{"id":"lagnan-chamit-and-loose-hair-of-the-bride","name":"Lagnan Chamit and Loose Hair of the Bride","kashmiriName":"Lagnan Chamit","oneLine":"From the start of preparations the bride's hair stays loose, and bride and groom remain near home until the wedding.","description":"When Livun starts, the bride is bathed and her hair is loosened and carefully oiled by affectionate women, amid songs, music and burning isband. She does not bind her hair again until her wedding day. Both bride and groom are told not to stray far from their locality or make any long journey before the wedding, lest something go wrong. This waiting time is called lagnan chamit, which the author describes as a period of hibernation before the day. Singing in the house continues late into every night until the wedding.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true},{"id":"tektal","name":"Tektal (Paper Mark Worn by Women at Rituals)","kashmiriName":"Tektal","oneLine":"A small paper, often cut from gold sheet, pinned to the sari or hair of women who take part in Devgon and Mekhal rites.","description":"Every woman who joins the Devgon ritual pins a Tektal to her sari. It is a little piece of paper, ideally cut from gold sheet, on which the seven mother goddesses (Saptamatrikas) are drawn, or just seven dabs of sindur tika. It stays on the head until the puja finishes. At the Mekhal, the wives of the boy's father's relatives also wear a Tektal when they put on the Narivan.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true},{"id":"vyug","name":"Vyug (The Ritual Diagram for the Couple)","kashmiriName":"Vyug","oneLine":"A four-foot circle drawn on the ground in coloured powders, on which the groom, and later the couple, stand at key moments.","description":"The Vyug is a symbolic picture of the planets, also known as Suryamandal. A circle about four feet wide is marked on the floor and filled with lime powder. Flower patterns of the planets are drawn over it using colours or dyed sawdust. Two clay plates of rice, each topped with a coin, are set at two corners on the east side to represent the presence of Shiva and Shakti. The groom stands on it facing east before setting out for the bride's house. He and the bride stand on it again at her house before and after the wedding rites, and on reaching his home. Some families also draw a Vyug on certain lucky days, for instance Ashadha Shukla Saptami.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true},{"id":"aarti-performance-in-four-steps","name":"Alai (the Aarti for the Couple)","kashmiriName":"Aarti, Alai","oneLine":"The welcome for the couple, in four steps with water, lamps, sweets and blessings.","description":"The Aarti for the bride and groom consists of four steps. The first is Alai, in which a glass of water is swung clockwise in a circle over the couple's heads. Next, a plate holding seven lit wicks, set in rice-flour lamps, is swung clockwise over their heads. Third, the couple are given a bit of sweet or sugar candy and bite it three times. Fourth, they are blessed with kisses and flower petals scattered on their heads. The groom's mother performs the Aarti when he stands on the Vyug before setting off for the wedding.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true},{"id":"vidai-and-nosh-annin","name":"Vidai and Nosh Annin (Farewell and Arrival at the Groom's Home)","kashmiriName":"Vidai, Nosh Annin, Zembrand","oneLine":"The bride's farewell with yogurt and crystal candy, and her welcome at the groom's door, where his sister bars the door for a gift.","description":"After the religious ceremony the close baratis who remain assemble for the farewell, Vidai. The groom stands on the Vyug, and the bride is helped out through the window, carried by her mother's brother, and set on the Vyug to the groom's left. They go through Aarti, biting the same sweet three times, and swap their mananmalas, the golden chains tied round their heads. As they depart, petals are scattered, songs sung and tears shed. She brings along a pot of yogurt (Dud Dull) and big bowls of crystal candy (Nabad Noti). At the groom's house, called Nosh Annin, young girls sing and the couple again stand on a Vyug for Aarti, performed by the eldest woman. Their mananmalas are taken off. The groom's sister bolts the door from within and admits them only after her brother promises a gift, a custom called Zembrand. The couple are taken to the kitchen and seated, where they are given token food and blessed to be a happy household. The eldest woman is first to raise the bride's veil, and the bride gives her a gold ring or chain she has brought for her.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true},{"id":"matchmaking-tekni-and-manzimyor","name":"Matchmaking: Tekni and Manzimyor","kashmiriName":"Tekni, Manzimyor","oneLine":"How matches were made: the priest's Tekni horoscope summary, a professional matchmaker, and a first meeting over tea.","description":"When seeking a match, a family weighs social and financial position, education and career, looks and the horoscope. The family priest prepares a Tekni, the astrological summary, from the horoscope. It goes, with a simple biodata and the close family tree, to a professional matchmaker called a Manzimyor, who compares it with his list of potential brides or grooms. Some families find matches through friends and relatives instead. Once the Teknis agree and other preferences are satisfied, the young man and woman meet over tea or a meal, and a second or third meeting is usual before anything is settled. A formal ring ceremony generally comes next. Since the exodus, many young people living far from home choose their own spouses.","symbols":[],"fromRaina":true}],"foods":[{"id":"pandit-spice-way","name":"The Kashmiri Pandit Way with Spices","kashmiriName":"Masala","oneLine":"Hing, saunf, sonth and Kashmiri chilli instead of onion and garlic — the base of Pandit cooking.","occasion":"Everyday cooking","recipeShort":"Key ingredients: asafoetida (hing), fennel powder (saunf), dry ginger powder (sonth), Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric, green and black cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, yogurt, mustard oil. Traditional Pandit cooking uses no onion, garlic or tomato (tomato is used in some modern dishes). 1) Heat mustard oil until it smokes, then cool slightly to remove its sharpness. 2) Add whole spices and a pinch of hing dissolved in water. 3) For red dishes, add Kashmiri chilli mixed with water for colour without much heat. 4) For yogurt gravies, whisk yogurt well and add it slowly while stirring so it does not split. 5) Add saunf and sonth powders — these give the typical Pandit flavour. 6) Finish with garam masala or dried mint as the dish requires."},{"id":"rogan-josh","name":"Rogan Josh","kashmiriName":"Rogan Josh","oneLine":"Rich red lamb or mutton curry — the most famous Kashmiri Pandit dish.","occasion":"Weddings, festivals, Herath, Sunday family meals","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 1 kg mutton (with bone), mustard oil, hing, cloves, green and black cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, Kashmiri red chilli powder, 1 cup whisked yogurt, 1.5 tsp saunf powder, 1 tsp sonth powder, salt, garam masala; optional ratanjot for extra colour. 1) Heat mustard oil to smoking, cool slightly, add whole spices and hing. 2) Add meat and salt, and fry on high heat until well browned and the water dries. 3) Add Kashmiri chilli mixed in water and fry until the oil turns red. 4) Lower heat and add whisked yogurt gradually, stirring constantly. 5) Add saunf and sonth, then water, cover and simmer until tender (about 1–1.5 hours, or use a pressure cooker). 6) Finish with garam masala; the gravy should be red with a layer of oil on top."},{"id":"yakhni","name":"Yakhni","kashmiriName":"Yakhen","oneLine":"Delicate mutton cooked in a white yogurt gravy with fennel and cardamom.","occasion":"Festivals, weddings, family feasts","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 1 kg mutton, 2 cups yogurt, mustard oil or ghee, hing, cloves, green and black cardamom, bay leaves, 2 tsp saunf powder, 1 tsp sonth powder, dried mint, salt. 1) Boil the meat in water with salt, whole spices and a pinch of hing until three-quarters cooked; keep the stock. 2) Whisk yogurt until very smooth. 3) In another pot heat oil or ghee, add the yogurt slowly, stirring constantly in one direction until it thickens and boils. 4) Add saunf and sonth powders. 5) Add the meat and some stock, and simmer until tender. 6) Finish with crushed green cardamom and dried mint."},{"id":"dum-olav","name":"Dum Aloo (Kashmiri Pandit style)","kashmiriName":"Dum Olav","oneLine":"Small potatoes, fried and slow-cooked in a fiery red yogurt gravy.","occasion":"Festivals, weddings, vegetarian days","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 500 g small potatoes, mustard oil, hing, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf, Kashmiri chilli powder, 1/2 cup yogurt, 1.5 tsp saunf powder, 1 tsp sonth powder, salt, garam masala. 1) Boil potatoes until just cooked, peel and prick all over with a fork. 2) Deep-fry them in mustard oil until golden brown. 3) In a pan, heat oil, add whole spices and hing, then Kashmiri chilli mixed with water. 4) Add whisked yogurt slowly, stirring. 5) Add saunf, sonth, salt and a little water, then add the potatoes. 6) Cover tightly and cook on low heat (dum) for 15–20 minutes, until the gravy clings to the potatoes. 7) Sprinkle with garam masala."},{"id":"haak","name":"Haak","kashmiriName":"Haakh","oneLine":"Simple Kashmiri collard greens cooked with mustard oil and hing — the everyday soul food.","occasion":"Everyday meals, especially with rice","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 500 g haak (Kashmiri collard greens; kale or spring greens can substitute), 2–3 tbsp mustard oil, a pinch of hing, 2–3 dried red chillies or green chillies, salt, water. 1) Wash the leaves well; remove thick stems and keep leaves whole or halved. 2) Heat mustard oil until smoking, then cool slightly. 3) Add hing and chillies. 4) Add the greens, salt and a cup of water. 5) Cover and cook on medium heat until tender but still bright, about 10–15 minutes. 6) Serve hot with rice."},{"id":"nadru-yakhni","name":"Nadru Yakhni","kashmiriName":"Nadir Yakhen","oneLine":"Lotus stem simmered in a creamy yogurt and fennel gravy.","occasion":"Festivals, vegetarian feasts, Herath","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 250 g lotus stem (nadru), mustard oil, hing, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf, 1.5 cups yogurt, 1.5 tsp saunf powder, 1 tsp sonth powder, dried mint, salt. 1) Scrape and wash the lotus stem well, cut diagonally into pieces, and boil until tender. 2) Whisk yogurt until smooth. 3) Heat oil, add whole spices and hing. 4) Add yogurt slowly, stirring constantly until it boils. 5) Add saunf, sonth, salt and the lotus stem with some of its cooking water. 6) Simmer 10 minutes; finish with cardamom and dried mint."},{"id":"monji-haak","name":"Monji Haak","kashmiriName":"Monj Haakh","oneLine":"Kohlrabi cooked with its leaves in mustard oil and chillies.","occasion":"Everyday meals","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 3–4 kohlrabi (monji) with leaves, mustard oil, hing, dried red chillies, salt, water. 1) Peel kohlrabi bulbs and cut into thin slices; wash and chop the leaves. 2) Heat mustard oil to smoking, cool slightly, add hing and chillies. 3) Add the kohlrabi slices and fry briefly. 4) Add leaves, salt and water. 5) Cover and cook until the kohlrabi is tender. 6) Serve with rice."},{"id":"chaman-qaliya","name":"Chaman Qaliya (Lyodur Tschaman)","kashmiriName":"Tschaman Qaliyeh / Lyodur Tschaman","oneLine":"Soft paneer in a fragrant yellow turmeric and milk gravy.","occasion":"Festivals, weddings, vegetarian feasts","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 250 g paneer (tschaman), ghee or mustard oil, hing, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf, 1 tsp turmeric, 1.5 cups milk, 1.5 tsp saunf powder, 1 tsp sonth powder, salt. 1) Cut paneer into large squares and lightly fry until golden; soak in warm salted water to keep soft. 2) Heat ghee, add whole spices and hing. 3) Add turmeric with a little water. 4) Add milk slowly, stirring. 5) Add saunf, sonth and salt, and simmer. 6) Add paneer and cook for 5–10 minutes until the gravy thickens slightly. 'Lyodur' means yellow, and many families use this name for the same dish."},{"id":"tamatar-tschaman","name":"Tamatar Tschaman","kashmiriName":"Ruwangan Tschaman","oneLine":"Paneer in a red tomato gravy — a newer Pandit favourite.","occasion":"Family meals and parties","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 250 g paneer, 3–4 tomatoes (pureed), mustard oil, hing, cloves, cardamom, Kashmiri chilli powder, 1 tsp saunf powder, 1/2 tsp sonth, salt, garam masala. 1) Fry paneer squares lightly and soak in warm water. 2) Heat oil, add whole spices and hing. 3) Add tomato puree and chilli and cook until the oil separates. 4) Add saunf, sonth, salt and water. 5) Add paneer and simmer 10 minutes. 6) Finish with garam masala. Tomatoes came into Kashmiri cooking relatively recently, so this is a modern classic."},{"id":"kahwa","name":"Kahwa","kashmiriName":"Kehew","oneLine":"Golden green tea with saffron, cardamom, cinnamon and almonds, traditionally brewed in a samovar.","occasion":"Guests, winter mornings, weddings, festivals","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 4 cups water, 1.5 tsp Kashmiri green tea leaves, a few strands of saffron, 3–4 green cardamoms (crushed), a small piece of cinnamon, sugar or honey, slivered almonds. 1) Boil water with cinnamon and cardamom for 5 minutes. 2) Add saffron and simmer 2 minutes. 3) Add green tea leaves, turn off the heat and let it steep 2 minutes. 4) Strain into cups. 5) Add sugar or honey and top with almonds. Traditionally made in a copper samovar and served in small cups."},{"id":"sheer-chai","name":"Sheer Chai (Noon Chai)","kashmiriName":"Sheer Tsai / Noon Tsai","oneLine":"Pink, salty Kashmiri tea made with a special green tea and a pinch of baking soda.","occasion":"Everyday breakfast and afternoon tea, with bread","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 2 tbsp special Kashmiri tea leaves (often labelled 'noon chai' or 'Kashmiri pink tea'), 4 cups water, a pinch of baking soda, 2 cups milk, salt to taste, optional crushed cardamom and almonds. 1) Boil tea leaves in water for 15–20 minutes until reduced by half. 2) Add baking soda — the tea will darken and turn reddish. 3) Add a cup of cold water and whisk or pour from a height to aerate; this helps create the pink colour. 4) Add milk and bring to a boil; it turns pink. 5) Add salt. 6) Serve with tsot, kulcha or lavaas; many people add a little butter or malai on top."},{"id":"tsot","name":"Tsot (Girda)","kashmiriName":"Tsot","oneLine":"Round, dimpled bread from the Kashmiri baker, eaten with butter and tea.","occasion":"Breakfast every day","recipeShort":"Traditionally bought each morning from the local baker (kandur). Home version: 3 cups flour, 1 tsp yeast, 1 tsp sugar, salt, warm water, sesame or poppy seeds. 1) Mix flour, yeast, sugar and salt with warm water into a soft dough. 2) Let it rise for 1–2 hours. 3) Divide into balls, flatten into rounds about 1 cm thick. 4) Press fingers into the top to make dimples; sprinkle with seeds. 5) Bake at 230°C until golden. 6) Serve warm with butter and sheer chai."},{"id":"kulcha","name":"Kashmiri Kulcha","kashmiriName":"Kulch","oneLine":"Small, crumbly baked biscuits-breads from the baker, sweet or salty, topped with poppy seeds.","occasion":"With tea, festivals, gifts for guests","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup ghee, 1/2 cup sugar (or salt for savoury), a pinch of baking soda, milk, poppy or sesame seeds. 1) Rub ghee into the flour until crumbly. 2) Add sugar or salt and baking soda. 3) Bind with a little milk into a stiff dough. 4) Shape into small, thick rounds and press seeds on top. 5) Bake at 180°C until lightly golden. 6) Cool and serve with tea. Traditionally made by bakers in tandoor ovens."},{"id":"lavaas","name":"Lavaas","kashmiriName":"Lavaas","oneLine":"Thin, soft flatbread from the Kashmiri bakery, often rolled with butter.","occasion":"Breakfast and tea time","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 3 cups flour, salt, water, a little yeast (optional). 1) Make a soft dough from flour, salt and water (with a pinch of yeast if you like). 2) Rest for an hour. 3) Divide and roll into thin, large rounds. 4) Cook on a very hot griddle or oven until blistered but still soft. 5) Keep covered in a cloth. 6) Serve with butter and sheer chai, or wrap around a filling."},{"id":"gaad-nadru","name":"Gaad te Nadru (Fish with Lotus Stem)","kashmiriName":"Gaad Nadur","oneLine":"Fish cooked with lotus stem in a spicy red gravy.","occasion":"Winter meals, Gaad Batta, Herath in some families","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 500 g fish (traditionally river fish; any firm fish works), 200 g lotus stem, mustard oil, hing, Kashmiri chilli powder, 1.5 tsp saunf powder, 1 tsp sonth powder, cloves, cardamom, turmeric, salt. 1) Clean fish, rub with turmeric and salt, and shallow-fry lightly. 2) Cut lotus stem into pieces and fry lightly. 3) Heat mustard oil, add hing and whole spices, then chilli in water. 4) Add water, saunf, sonth and salt, and bring to a boil. 5) Add lotus stem and cook until almost tender. 6) Add fish gently and simmer 10 minutes without stirring too much."},{"id":"muj-gaad","name":"Muj Gaad (Fish with Radish)","kashmiriName":"Mujh Gaad","oneLine":"Fish cooked with white radish — the classic dish for Gaad Batta in winter.","occasion":"Gaad Batta, winter meals","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 500 g fish, 2 white radishes (mooli), mustard oil, hing, Kashmiri chilli powder, 1.5 tsp saunf powder, 1 tsp sonth powder, turmeric, salt, optional dried red chillies. 1) Clean fish, rub with turmeric and salt, and fry lightly. 2) Peel radish and cut into thick round slices; fry them lightly. 3) Heat oil, add hing and chilli in water. 4) Add water, saunf, sonth and salt. 5) Add radish and cook until soft. 6) Add fish and simmer gently 10 minutes. Serve with rice."},{"id":"khichri","name":"Khichri (for Khichri Amavasya)","kashmiriName":"Khetsar","oneLine":"Rice and lentils cooked with ghee, offered to the Yaksha on Khichri Amavasya.","occasion":"Khichri Amavasya (Yaksha Amavasya), winter","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 1 cup rice, 1/2 cup split moong dal, ghee, a pinch of hing, cumin (optional), turmeric, salt, 4–5 cups water. 1) Wash rice and dal together and soak 20 minutes. 2) Heat ghee, add hing (and cumin if using). 3) Add rice, dal, turmeric and salt, and fry for a minute. 4) Add water and cook until soft and mushy. 5) Stir in more ghee at the end. 6) Set aside a portion on a plate for the Yaksha before the family eats; serve the rest with ghee and side dishes."},{"id":"kheer","name":"Kheer","kashmiriName":"Kheer","oneLine":"Creamy rice pudding with cardamom and nuts, made for birthdays and festivals.","occasion":"Janam Dyun (birthdays), festivals, offering at Kheer Bhawani","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 1 litre full-fat milk, 1/4 cup rice (washed and soaked), 1/3 cup sugar, 4 green cardamoms (crushed), almonds and raisins, a few saffron strands (optional). 1) Bring milk to a boil in a heavy pan. 2) Add rice and simmer on low heat, stirring often, until the rice is soft and the milk thickens (40–60 minutes). 3) Add sugar and cook 5 more minutes. 4) Add cardamom, saffron and nuts. 5) Serve warm or cool.","fromBook":["The book says kheer is cooked by the Bua for the seven mother goddesses at the Devgon, on a seven-opening hearth, and served in earthen plates topped with a mung cake (mungvor) and a walnut. Seven plates are offered in worship and the rest are given out as prashad."]},{"id":"tahar","name":"Tahar","kashmiriName":"Tahar","oneLine":"Yellow rice cooked with turmeric and mustard oil — offered on auspicious days.","occasion":"Janam Dyun, Har Navum, naming ceremonies, prayers","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 1 cup rice, 2 tbsp mustard oil, 1 tsp turmeric, salt, 2 cups water. 1) Wash and soak rice 20 minutes. 2) Heat mustard oil until smoking, then cool slightly. 3) Add turmeric and salt. 4) Add rice and stir well to coat each grain. 5) Add water and cook until done. 6) Offer a portion to the gods first, then share with family and neighbours.","fromBook":["The book does not describe tahar but says the evening of the Mekhal and other occasions feature special set meals, such as moong dal and vegetables with boiled rice served as prashad. See the Mekhal prashad dinner."]},{"id":"tsarvan","name":"Tsarvan (Cooked Liver)","kashmiriName":"Tsarvan","oneLine":"Liver cooked simply with oil and spices, traditionally offered with tahar on Har Navum.","occasion":"Har Navum (Sharika's birthday) and other goddess days in some families","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 250 g lamb liver, mustard oil, hing, turmeric, Kashmiri chilli (optional), saunf powder, salt. 1) Wash and cut liver into small pieces; boil briefly and drain. 2) Heat mustard oil and add hing. 3) Add liver, turmeric and salt, and fry. 4) Add a little water, saunf and chilli if using. 5) Cook until the water dries and the liver is cooked but tender. 6) Offer with tahar ('tahar-tsarvan') to the goddess before eating."},{"id":"nadir-monji","name":"Nadir Monji","kashmiriName":"Nadir Monji","oneLine":"Crispy lotus stem fritters — Kashmir's favourite snack.","occasion":"Tea time, festivals, street food","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 250 g lotus stem, 1/2 cup rice flour, 2 tbsp gram flour (optional), Kashmiri chilli powder, a pinch of hing, salt, water, oil for frying. 1) Scrape and wash lotus stem and cut into thin diagonal slices or strips. 2) Mix flours, chilli, hing and salt with a little water into a thick batter. 3) Coat the lotus stem pieces. 4) Deep-fry in hot oil until golden and crisp. 5) Drain and serve hot with walnut or radish chutney."},{"id":"kabargah","name":"Kabargah (Tabakh Maaz)","kashmiriName":"Kabargah","oneLine":"Lamb ribs boiled in spiced milk and then fried crisp in ghee.","occasion":"Weddings, feasts, special occasions","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 1 kg lamb ribs (in strips), 1 litre milk, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf, 1.5 tsp saunf powder, 1 tsp sonth powder, a pinch of hing, salt, ghee for frying. 1) Put ribs in a pot with milk, whole spices, saunf, sonth, hing and salt. 2) Simmer until the meat is tender and the milk has almost dried. 3) Remove the ribs and let them cool. 4) Heat ghee in a pan. 5) Fry ribs on both sides until crisp and golden. 6) Serve hot."},{"id":"methi-maaz","name":"Methi Maaz","kashmiriName":"Meth Maaz","oneLine":"Mutton offal cooked with dried fenugreek leaves — a bold Pandit wedding classic.","occasion":"Weddings, festivals","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 500 g cleaned lamb offal (tripe and intestines), mustard oil, hing, cloves, cardamom, Kashmiri chilli powder, turmeric, 1 tsp saunf powder, 1/2 tsp sonth, 3 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (methi), salt. 1) Clean the offal very thoroughly and boil until tender; cut into small pieces. 2) Heat oil, add hing and whole spices. 3) Add offal, turmeric and salt, and fry well. 4) Add chilli and a little water. 5) Add saunf, sonth and plenty of dried methi. 6) Cook until dry and fragrant."},{"id":"shufta","name":"Shufta","kashmiriName":"Shufta","oneLine":"A rich sweet of fried paneer and dry fruits in spiced sugar syrup.","occasion":"Weddings, festivals, special guests","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 200 g paneer (cubed), almonds, cashews, walnuts, raisins, dried coconut, dates, ghee, 1/2 cup sugar, water, crushed black pepper, dry ginger powder, saunf, cardamom, saffron. 1) Fry paneer cubes in ghee until golden. 2) Lightly fry the dry fruits. 3) Make a thick sugar syrup with water. 4) Add saffron, cardamom, black pepper, dry ginger and saunf to the syrup. 5) Add paneer and dry fruits and mix gently until coated. 6) Serve warm in small portions."},{"id":"roath","name":"Roath","kashmiriName":"Roath","oneLine":"Sweet bread with poppy seeds and dry fruits, made for the Pann ritual.","occasion":"Pann","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 3 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup ghee, milk or water, poppy seeds, cardamom powder, chopped dry fruits, a pinch of baking soda (optional), oil for frying. 1) Rub ghee into flour. 2) Dissolve sugar in warm milk and mix with flour to make a stiff dough; add cardamom. 3) Shape into thick round breads. 4) Press poppy seeds and dry fruits on top in a pattern. 5) Deep-fry on low heat until golden and cooked through (or bake). 6) Offer during Pann, then share as prasad."},{"id":"matsch","name":"Matsch","kashmiriName":"Matsch","oneLine":"Long minced-meat koftas in a spicy red gravy — a Pandit favourite.","occasion":"Weddings, feasts, family meals","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 500 g minced mutton, a little mustard oil, hing, Kashmiri chilli powder, saunf powder, sonth powder, cardamom powder, salt, cloves, yogurt (optional). 1) Pound or knead the mince with salt, hing, a spoon of saunf and cardamom until sticky. 2) Shape into long finger-shaped koftas. 3) Heat mustard oil, add cloves and hing, then Kashmiri chilli in water. 4) Add water, saunf, sonth and salt, and bring to a boil. 5) Add koftas carefully and simmer until cooked through, 20–25 minutes. 6) Add a little whisked yogurt if you like a richer gravy."},{"id":"tsok-wangun","name":"Tsok Wangun (Sour Brinjal)","kashmiriName":"Tsok Wangun","oneLine":"Fried brinjal cooked in a tangy tamarind gravy.","occasion":"Everyday meals, vegetarian days","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 4 long brinjals, mustard oil, hing, Kashmiri chilli powder, 1 tsp saunf, 1/2 tsp sonth, tamarind pulp, salt, a little sugar or jaggery (optional). 1) Cut brinjals lengthwise into quarters and fry in mustard oil until soft and brown. 2) In the same oil, add hing and chilli in water. 3) Add tamarind water, saunf, sonth and salt. 4) Add the fried brinjals. 5) Simmer 10 minutes until the gravy thickens. 6) Serve with rice."},{"id":"razma-gogji","name":"Razma Gogji (Kidney Beans with Turnip)","kashmiriName":"Razmah Gogji","oneLine":"Kashmiri red kidney beans cooked with turnips — warming winter food.","occasion":"Winter family meals","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 1 cup Kashmiri rajma (soaked overnight), 2 turnips (gogji), mustard oil, hing, cloves, Kashmiri chilli powder, 1 tsp saunf, 1/2 tsp sonth, turmeric, salt. 1) Pressure-cook the rajma until soft. 2) Peel and cut turnips into chunks and lightly fry. 3) Heat oil, add hing and cloves, then chilli and turmeric in water. 4) Add rajma with its water, turnips, saunf, sonth and salt. 5) Simmer until the turnips are soft and the gravy thickens. 6) Serve with rice."},{"id":"al-yakhni","name":"Al Yakhni (Bottle Gourd in Yogurt)","kashmiriName":"Al Yakhen","oneLine":"Mild bottle gourd cooked in yogurt with fennel — a gentle everyday dish.","occasion":"Everyday meals, vegetarian days","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 1 bottle gourd (al), 1.5 cups yogurt, ghee or oil, hing, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf, 1.5 tsp saunf powder, 1/2 tsp sonth, dried mint, salt. 1) Peel and cut the gourd into pieces; boil until just tender. 2) Whisk yogurt smooth. 3) Heat ghee, add whole spices and hing. 4) Add yogurt slowly, stirring until it boils. 5) Add saunf, sonth, salt and the gourd. 6) Simmer and finish with dried mint."},{"id":"muj-chetin","name":"Muj Chetin (Radish Chutney)","kashmiriName":"Mujh Chetin","oneLine":"Fresh grated radish and walnut chutney in yogurt with chilli.","occasion":"Side dish with any meal","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 1 white radish, 1 cup yogurt, a few walnuts, green chilli, salt, optional dried mint. 1) Peel and grate the radish; squeeze out extra water. 2) Crush walnuts roughly. 3) Chop green chilli finely. 4) Mix radish, walnuts and chilli into whisked yogurt. 5) Add salt and dried mint. 6) Serve cool."},{"id":"doon-chetin","name":"Doon Chetin (Walnut Chutney)","kashmiriName":"Doon Chetin","oneLine":"Walnut chutney with yogurt, chilli and mint.","occasion":"Side dish, especially with fritters and rice","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 1 cup walnuts, 1/2 cup thick yogurt, 1–2 green chillies (or Kashmiri chilli powder), mint leaves, salt. 1) Soak walnuts briefly in warm water. 2) Grind walnuts with chilli and mint to a coarse paste. 3) Mix with yogurt. 4) Add salt to taste. 5) Serve with nadir monji or rice."},{"id":"modur-pulav","name":"Modur Pulav (Sweet Saffron Rice)","kashmiriName":"Modur Pulav","oneLine":"Sweet rice with ghee, saffron, dry fruits and whole spices — a festive treat.","occasion":"Weddings, feasts, special occasions","recipeShort":"Ingredients: 2 cups basmati rice, 1/2 cup ghee, 1/2–3/4 cup sugar, saffron soaked in milk, cloves, cinnamon, green cardamom, almonds, cashews, raisins, 4 cups water. 1) Wash and soak rice 30 minutes. 2) Heat ghee, fry dry fruits and set aside. 3) Add whole spices to the ghee. 4) Add rice and water, and cook until almost done. 5) Add sugar and saffron milk, stir gently, cover and cook on low heat until the sugar melts and the rice is done. 6) Mix in fried dry fruits and serve."},{"id":"v-ar","name":"V'ar (Festive Rice Porridge)","kashmiriName":"V'ar","oneLine":"A special rice porridge cooked with oil, spices and lamb intestine or walnuts, served at Livun and other events.","occasion":"","recipeShort":"V'ar is a dish made for special events, such as the Livun, when close relatives and neighbours are called and served it. It is a rice porridge made by boiling rice with oil, a few spices and salt, with either lamb intestine (called Chicher) or crushed walnut kernels added for vegetarians. The Bua makes it on various occasions.","fromRaina":true},{"id":"kaliya-and-shami","name":"Kaliya and Shami","kashmiriName":"Kaliya, Shami","oneLine":"A light spicy meat dish and minced meat cooked in curd, named among the Pandit non-vegetarian dishes.","occasion":"","recipeShort":"Besides rogan josh, yakhni, kabargah and chicken, the book lists two other meat dishes: Kaliya, a light spicy meat curry, and Shami, minced meat cooked in curd. It also says that migratory fowl that shelter in watery places in winter are a delicacy.","fromRaina":true},{"id":"shakerparas","name":"Shakerparas (Water Chestnut Cookies)","kashmiriName":"Shakerparas","oneLine":"Cookies made from water chestnut flour, served at the Mekhal as a special treat.","occasion":"","recipeShort":"Shakerparas are cookies made from the flour of the water chestnut. The book calls them a delicacy for the gourmet and says they are served to guests at the Mekhal while they take refreshments after making offerings to the fire.","fromRaina":true}],"home":[{"id":"kangri","name":"Kangri","story":"The kangri is a small, portable fire pot that Kashmiris carry to keep warm in the cold winters. It is made of an earthen pot (kondul) set inside a woven wicker basket with a handle. Hot coals or embers are placed in the pot, and people hold it under their pheran, close to their bodies.\n\nFor generations, every Kashmiri — Pandit and Muslim — owned a kangri. It was so much a part of life that there is a well-known saying comparing the kangri to a loved one. Kangris were also used to dry clothes, warm hands, and even roast potatoes or chestnuts. Special decorated kangris were given as wedding gifts. Pandits sometimes used the kangri in rituals, too.\n\nThe kangri has dangers: long use against the skin is linked to 'kangri cancer', a skin cancer recognised by doctors in Kashmir, and it can cause burns or fires. Today, many diaspora families keep a kangri at home as a symbol of Kashmir, even if they never light it."},{"id":"pheran","name":"Pheran","story":"The pheran is the traditional long, loose gown worn by Kashmiri men and women. It usually reaches below the knee and has wide sleeves. Winter pherans are made of wool or tweed; summer ones of cotton. Because it is loose, a kangri can be held underneath for warmth.\n\nKashmiri Pandit women traditionally wore pherans with wide sleeves turned back at the cuff, and often tied a cloth belt called a lungi around the waist. Festive pherans were decorated with tilla (golden thread) embroidery around the neck and sleeves, and brides wore rich pherans on their wedding day. Men's pherans were plainer.\n\nIn the past, Pandit and Muslim pherans had small differences in cut and style, and people could sometimes tell communities apart by these details. Today, pherans are worn on festivals and at weddings, and diaspora families often buy pherans for children to wear on Herath and Navreh.","fromBook":["The book adds that the older men's pheran was worn over a matching white cotton poch as lining, while women's pherans were dyed cotton or fine wool with red woven tape along borders and sleeves. Women tied a long band called longi around the waist to keep the pheran snug during work, and children also wore pherans with caps. The male pheran is still worn in winter for warmth.","Traditional Kashmiri Pandit Dress. The book describes the older Pandit costume as quite unlike that of the rest of India. The men's pheran was a long, loose wool robe reaching below the knee, worn over a matching white cotton robe called poch that serves as lining. The dastar, or saafa, is a muslin cloth about five yards long and one wide, plain or dyed, wound round the head with a notch at the front. Women likewise wore a dyed cotton or fine wool pheran with a poch, with red woven tape on the borders and sleeves. A long coloured band called longi was knotted at the waist to keep the pheran snug during work. Children also wore a pheran with a cap. Footwear was wooden clogs called khraw or grass slippers called pulhor. The book says the only parts of the old dress still worn are the male dastar and the female taranga worn at weddings."]},{"id":"dejhoru","name":"Dejhoru and Atahor","story":"The dejhoru is the most important ornament of a married Kashmiri Pandit woman. It is a pair of small, usually hexagonal gold pendants that hang from the ears on a long chain or thread passed through a hole in the upper part of the ear.\n\nIn many families the dejhoru is given by the bride's parents and tied at the Devgon ceremony before the wedding. The atahor is the long thread or chain (traditionally of silk thread, later often gold) on which the dejhoru hangs, and it is traditionally given by the in-laws after the wedding. Together, they are a sign that a woman is married, much as sindoor or the mangalsutra are in other communities.\n\nThe dejhoru's shape and design have symbolic meaning for many families, sometimes linked with Shiva and Shakti. Many women today wear a simpler version, clipped on, for special occasions. Even in the diaspora, the dejhoru remains a treasured symbol of Kashmiri Pandit womanhood and marriage.","fromBook":["The book calls the dejhoru a triangular pair of gold ornaments, each with two holes, worn on each ear on a thread or gold chain about a foot long, and says it takes the place of the mangalsutra worn elsewhere. After marriage the cotton thread is replaced with a gold chain called Ath, with an Athor fixed below the dejhoru on both sides. Pandit women do not wear sindur in the parting nor a mangalsutra. The bride gets her consecrated ornaments at the Devgon.","Dejhor: Meaning of the Wedding Ear Ornament. The book states that the Kashmiri Pandit bride wears the Dejhor, there being no mangal sutra in the Kashmiri wedding, and that it marks her married status for the rest of her life. At Devgon, the day before the wedding, she has a sacred bath (kanya shran), receives gold ornaments that she wears during the homa, and the Dejhor is fastened on. The utensils in her dowry are likewise purified through the homa. The Dejhor consists of two small oval gold balls with holes, hanging from the ears on a gold or thread chain. Symbolically, the two ornaments are two triangles for Shivakona and Shaktikona, the masculine and feminine sides of the Supreme Power, Para Shakti. The left triangle points down and the right one up. Their three sides stand for will, knowledge and action, and the centre of each is the bindu, the source of Para Shakti.","Ath, Dejhoru and Athor Worn by the Married Woman. At the groom's house the bride receives new clothes and further gold jewellery. One key item is a gold chain named Ath, which takes the place of the cotton cord of the dejhoru she brought from her parents' house. An Athor dangles from the lower end of the Ath, beneath the dejhoru on each side of the ear. The Ath, Dejhoru and Athor are worn at all times as a mark of being married. The book says Kashmiri Pandit women use neither sindur in the hair parting nor a mangalsutra, and that the dejhoru is what stands in for the mangalsutra worn elsewhere in India."]},{"id":"tarang","name":"Tarang","story":"The tarang was the traditional headdress of married Kashmiri Pandit women. It consisted of a close-fitting cap (kalaposh) covered by layers of fine white cloth that were wound around the head and fell down the back to the waist or lower, almost like a veil at the back.\n\nThe tarang was a sign of a married woman, and wearing it properly was an art passed down from mother to daughter. Brides wore special tarangs on their wedding day, and older women wore them daily.\n\nBy the mid-20th century, the tarang was worn less often in daily life, partly because of changing fashions and social reform, and today it is mostly seen at weddings, cultural programmes and in old photographs. For many families, old pictures of grandmothers in their tarangs are among their most precious memories of Kashmir.","fromBook":["The book describes the taranga as a long cap with a gold-thread (sarbab) top, a starched white cotton band about two inches wide round the head, and a decorated zooji cloth worn over it. Married women add a puuch at the back, a long twisted starched cotton strip running from head to feet and patterned like a hooded snake. A bride wears the taranga on the wedding day, and the author says it, with the male dastar, is the only traditional dress still worn at weddings.","Taranga and Puuch. The taranga is a tall cap whose top is covered with sarbab, a cloth woven with gold thread. Around the head goes a stiffly starched and glossy band of white cotton ribbon roughly two inches wide. Over the cap is laid a zooji, a rectangle of fine cotton about a yard long and half a yard wide, richly decorated with woven designs. Married women also attach a puuch to the back of the taranga, a long thin strip of twisted, stiffly starched cotton hanging from head to foot and patterned like a hooded snake. The bride wears the taranga on her wedding day."]},{"id":"kalaposh","name":"Kalaposh","story":"The kalaposh is a small, close-fitting cap that Kashmiri Pandit women wore beneath the tarang headdress. The word is often explained as 'head-covering' (kala = head, posh = covering).\n\nThe kalaposh was usually made of cloth, sometimes embroidered, and held the tarang in place. Brides wore decorated kalaposh caps, often red or with golden thread, as part of their wedding attire.\n\nWhen the tarang went out of daily use, the kalaposh also became rare. It is now mainly worn at weddings, especially by brides for certain rituals, and in cultural performances. Some families still keep an old kalaposh from a grandmother's wedding as a family heirloom."},{"id":"samovar","name":"Samovar","story":"The samovar is a large metal urn, usually of copper or brass, used in Kashmir to brew and serve tea, especially kahwa. It has a central chimney in which hot coals are placed, and water and tea leaves go in the surrounding chamber. The coals keep the tea hot for hours.\n\nSamovars came to Kashmir through contact with Central Asia and Persia, and Kashmiri coppersmiths make beautiful ones decorated with engraved patterns. A shining samovar is a proud possession in many homes.\n\nAt weddings and festivals, kahwa is served from large samovars to guests, and families took small samovars on picnics to the Mughal gardens. Many diaspora families keep a samovar on display, and some still use it for kahwa on special days.","fromBook":["The book says the samovar was used at breakfast and evening tea to brew kahwa, hot sweetened tea without milk flavoured with cinnamon, saffron, ground almonds and cardamom, but that Lipton-style milk tea is now taking its place. Sheer chai is described as the drink particularly of village people, made with hot tea, milk, salt and baking soda."]},{"id":"traditional-house","name":"The Traditional Kashmiri House","story":"Traditional Kashmiri Pandit houses in Srinagar and the villages were tall buildings of brick and wood, often three or four storeys high, with sloping roofs to shed snow. Many were built using 'taq' (timber-laced masonry) or 'dhajji dewari' (timber frames filled with brick or stone), building methods that engineers now recognise as good at resisting earthquakes.\n\nKey parts of the house had their own names. The dab was a projecting wooden balcony or bay, often with carved latticework (pinjrakari), where family members could sit and watch the street. The kani (or kaeni) was the top floor or attic, used for storage and sometimes as a place for the Gaad Batta offering. Many homes had a thokur kuth, the prayer room, where the family's gods and the Herath vatuk were kept. The kitchen (daan kuth) was a special, clean space. Ground floors often had a raised front porch.\n\nMany Pandit homes had wooden ceilings in khatamband style. After 1990, many of these houses were abandoned, sold or damaged, and today they are a powerful symbol of loss and memory for the community."},{"id":"kani-shawl","name":"Kani Shawl and Pashmina","story":"Kashmir is famous for its fine shawls. The pashmina shawl is woven from the soft underwool of the Changthangi goat of Ladakh, and it is prized for its lightness and warmth. The kani shawl is a special kind of woven shawl, made on a loom using small wooden bobbins (kanis) to weave intricate patterns, such as paisleys and flowers, directly into the fabric. A single kani shawl can take months or even years to finish.\n\nShawl weaving grew under the Sultans and Mughals and became world-famous in the 18th and 19th centuries, when Kashmiri shawls were fashionable in Europe. The 'paisley' pattern spread across the world from Kashmir.\n\nThe craft involves many artisans, mostly Kashmiri Muslim families, while Pandits were often involved in trade and administration of the industry. For Pandit families, a fine shawl was an important part of a bride's trousseau and was passed down through generations. The Kani shawl has a Geographical Indication (GI) tag to protect its authenticity."},{"id":"papier-mache","name":"Papier-mâché","story":"Kashmiri papier-mâché is a craft in which paper pulp is moulded into boxes, vases, trays, bowls and ornaments, then painted with beautiful designs — flowers, birds, chinar leaves — in bright colours and gold. The painting (naqashi) is very fine and done by hand.\n\nKashmiri tradition says the craft came from Persia and Central Asia during the Sultanate period, and that Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin encouraged it. The artisans are mostly Kashmiri Muslim families who have practised the craft for generations.\n\nPandit homes often had papier-mâché boxes for jewellery, spices or sindoor, and Christmas ornaments made in Kashmir are sold across the world. Today the craft faces competition from cheaper imitations, and it has a GI tag to protect genuine Kashmiri papier-mâché."},{"id":"namda-and-wagu","name":"Namda and Wagu","story":"The namda is a felted wool rug, made by pressing and rolling wool together rather than weaving it, and then decorated with colourful chain-stitch embroidery of flowers and vines. The wagu is a mat woven from dried reeds or grass that grow in Kashmir's lakes and marshes.\n\nIn traditional Kashmiri homes, people sat on the floor, so these rugs and mats were essential. The wagu was laid first, to insulate against the cold floor, and namdas or carpets were placed on top. Families sat together on them to eat, pray, talk and sleep in winter.\n\nBoth crafts are part of Kashmir's shared heritage and are made mostly by Kashmiri Muslim artisans. Today, handmade namdas are rarer, and efforts are being made to revive the craft."},{"id":"khatamband","name":"Khatamband","story":"Khatamband is the art of making wooden ceilings from small, thin pieces of wood (usually walnut or deodar) fitted together without nails into geometric patterns, such as stars and hexagons. The pieces are carefully cut and joined so that the ceiling looks like a jigsaw puzzle of beautiful shapes.\n\nKhatamband ceilings were found in the best rooms of wealthy homes, houseboats and shrines. The technique is believed to have come from Persia and Central Asia and was developed by Kashmiri craftsmen over centuries.\n\nSome Pandit homes in Srinagar had khatamband ceilings in their main rooms. The craft is still practised by artisans in Srinagar and is sometimes used in modern homes and hotels."},{"id":"tumbaknari","name":"Tumbaknari","story":"The tumbaknari is a Kashmiri drum made of clay (or sometimes metal), shaped like a long-necked pot with an open end, and covered with skin at the wide end. It is held under the arm and played with the fingers.\n\nIn Kashmiri Pandit homes, the tumbaknari is mainly played by women at weddings, Mekhals and other celebrations, especially during Maenziraat (the henna night) and the lively roff dances. Its bright, echoing sound is instantly recognisable and brings everyone to their feet.\n\nMuslim women and men also play the tumbaknari at weddings and festivals, making it part of Kashmir's shared musical heritage. Many diaspora families keep a tumbaknari at home, and learning a few rhythms is a fun way for children to join in at family celebrations.","fromBook":["The book describes the tumbaknari as a cylindrical drum of hard baked clay, about four inches across and fifteen inches long, with a wider end of about eight inches covered with sheep skin. It is held tight under the left arm and beaten with both hands. It is used alongside the metal ghagar struck with keys, the earthen nott, the chumla with its discs, plates and cups, and a harmonium if available.","Household Instruments at Celebrations. Besides the tumbaknari, which is a clay drum held under the left arm and beaten with both hands, Pandit women have long made music from household items. The metal pitcher (Ghagar) is struck with a bunch of house keys. The Nott, like an earthen water pitcher with a narrow neck, is beaten with both hands. The Chumla is a long metal tong fitted with small discs and shaken to the rhythm. A metal plate (That) or cup (Khos) may also be struck, and a harmonium joins in if someone can play. The author notes that Pandits include fine professional players of sitar, santoor, flute, rabab and tabla, but these are not part of the social customs."]},{"id":"vyugs-nachun","name":"Vyugs Nachun (Women's Circle Dance)","story":"Vyugs Nachun is described as the only traditional Pandit dance. After a religious function such as the Mekhal is near its end, ladies form a circle and move round, each taking a turn in the middle. They sing short couplets of joy and prayer, naming the woman in the centre, and the beat is faster than in wanavun. In one rhyme a bird (Haer), standing for prettiness, is replaced with the dancer's name, and the second line is repeated with demands such as a bangle or a chandan har, a gold necklace. Other rhymes celebrate the boy as a little maharaza who has finished the rites and stands on the vyug, and sing of a brother who has climbed the chariot with hands full of jewels. Rouf, a dance of Muslim women in two facing groups, has also been taken up by Pandit ladies.","fromRaina":true}]},"nakshatras":[{"name":"Ashwini","deity":"the Ashwini Kumaras, the twin healers of the gods","symbol":"a horse's head","line":"Quick starts and healing. Tradition links it with speed, fresh beginnings and the gift of helping others get well."},{"name":"Bharani","deity":"Yama, lord of dharma and of death","symbol":"the womb","line":"The star of carrying and bearing. Tradition links it with duty, patience and seeing things through."},{"name":"Krittika","deity":"Agni, the sacred fire","symbol":"a blade or a flame","line":"The star that cuts and purifies. Tradition links it with sharp minds, courage and the cleansing power of fire."},{"name":"Rohini","deity":"Brahma the creator","symbol":"an ox cart","line":"The moon's favourite star, the stories say. Tradition links it with growth, beauty and making things flourish."},{"name":"Mrigashira","deity":"Soma, the moon","symbol":"a deer's head","line":"The searching star. Tradition links it with curiosity, gentleness and a love of seeking and travel."},{"name":"Ardra","deity":"Rudra, the storm form of Shiva","symbol":"a teardrop","line":"The star of the storm that clears the air. Tradition links it with deep feeling, effort and renewal after hard times."},{"name":"Punarvasu","deity":"Aditi, mother of the gods","symbol":"a quiver of arrows","line":"The star of return. Tradition links it with coming home, generosity and starting again with a light heart."},{"name":"Pushya","deity":"Brihaspati, teacher of the gods","symbol":"a cow's udder","line":"Counted among the most auspicious stars. Tradition links it with nourishing others, learning and steady goodness."},{"name":"Ashlesha","deity":"the Nagas, serpent spirits","symbol":"a coiled serpent","line":"The serpent's star, close to Kashmir's own Naga lore. Tradition links it with insight, subtlety and hidden strength."},{"name":"Magha","deity":"the Pitris, the ancestors","symbol":"a royal throne","line":"The star of the ancestors. Tradition links it with family pride, honour and remembering where you come from."},{"name":"Purva Phalguni","deity":"Bhaga, giver of good fortune","symbol":"the front legs of a bed","line":"The star of rest and enjoyment. Tradition links it with warmth, creativity and friendship."},{"name":"Uttara Phalguni","deity":"Aryaman, guardian of friendship and marriage","symbol":"the back legs of a bed","line":"The star of promises kept. Tradition links it with loyalty, kindness and helping those around you."},{"name":"Hasta","deity":"Savitr, the sun at dawn","symbol":"an open hand","line":"The star of the skilled hand. Tradition links it with craft, cleverness and a good sense of humour."},{"name":"Chitra","deity":"Tvashtr, the divine craftsman","symbol":"a bright jewel","line":"The star of beautiful making. Tradition links it with art, design and an eye for detail."},{"name":"Swati","deity":"Vayu, the wind","symbol":"a young shoot swaying in the wind","line":"The independent star. Tradition links it with freedom, adaptability and finding your own way."},{"name":"Vishakha","deity":"Indra and Agni together","symbol":"a decorated gateway","line":"The star of the goal. Tradition links it with determination and reaching what you set out to reach."},{"name":"Anuradha","deity":"Mitra, god of friendship","symbol":"a lotus","line":"The star of devotion and friendship. Tradition links it with loyalty and making things bloom in hard places."},{"name":"Jyeshtha","deity":"Indra, king of the gods","symbol":"a round amulet","line":"The eldest star. Tradition links it with responsibility, protection and leadership."},{"name":"Mula","deity":"Nirriti, goddess of dissolution","symbol":"a bundle of roots","line":"The root star. Tradition links it with getting to the bottom of things and a love of deep questions."},{"name":"Purva Ashadha","deity":"Apas, the waters","symbol":"a winnowing basket","line":"The star that cannot be defeated, the stories say. Tradition links it with energy, conviction and cleansing."},{"name":"Uttara Ashadha","deity":"the Vishvedevas, all the gods together","symbol":"an elephant's tusk","line":"The star of lasting victory. Tradition links it with patience, fairness and winning in the end."},{"name":"Shravana","deity":"Vishnu","symbol":"an ear","line":"The star of listening. Tradition links it with learning by hearing, stories and wisdom passed down."},{"name":"Dhanishtha","deity":"the eight Vasus, gods of the elements","symbol":"a drum","line":"The star of rhythm and plenty. Tradition links it with music, generosity and good fortune."},{"name":"Shatabhisha","deity":"Varuna, lord of the waters and cosmic order","symbol":"an empty circle","line":"The star of a hundred healers. Tradition links it with healing, secrets and independent thinking."},{"name":"Purva Bhadrapada","deity":"Aja Ekapada, the one-footed goat","symbol":"the front of a funeral cot","line":"The fiery star of transformation. Tradition links it with intensity, idealism and inner change."},{"name":"Uttara Bhadrapada","deity":"Ahirbudhnya, serpent of the deep","symbol":"the back of a funeral cot","line":"The deep, calm star. Tradition links it with wisdom, self-control and quiet strength."},{"name":"Revati","deity":"Pushan, guardian of travellers","symbol":"a fish","line":"The last star, the safe journey. Tradition links it with care for others, gentleness and a happy ending."}],"rituals":{"intro":"A Kashmiri Pandit life is marked by samskaras, rites that carry a person from birth to death and beyond, into remembrance. Here they are in order, simply explained. Kavbatt works out the days that apply to your own family. Every family's customs differ a little, and the family purohit (Gor) guides the full rites.","review":"Verses are complete and checked against published texts (sanskritdocuments.org, shlokam.org). The order of each puja follows published accounts of Kashmiri Pandit practice; it has not yet been reviewed by a purohit.","stages":[{"id":"trui","phase":"Birth","name":"Trui","kashmiriName":"Trui","when":{"type":"afterBirth","day":3},"whenText":"3rd day after birth","oneLine":"The first small observance after a birth, on the third day.","what":"Families mark the third day after a birth with a small observance at home. Customs differ a great deal between families, so ask your elders what yours did.","sources":["https://www.shehjar.com/blog/Kashmiri-Pandits-&-their-rituals2745"],"stepByStep":["On the third day after the birth, the family marks the occasion at home.","In earlier times, a messenger was sent to the mother's parents to tell them of the safe delivery.","Today the day is kept by exchanging gifts.","Since customs differ a great deal from family to family, ask your elders what your family did."],"meaning":"Trui is the small observance kept on the third day after a baby is born. In older days there were no mobile phones and no easy transport to pass a message faster, so a messenger was sent to the mother's parents to tell them that the delivery had gone safely. Today the occasion is kept by exchanging gifts. It is one of the post-birth sanskars that Kashmiri Pandits still observe. How it is done varies a good deal from household to household, so the best guide is what your own elders did."},{"id":"shraan-sonder","phase":"Birth","name":"Shraan Sonder","kashmiriName":"Shraan Sonder","when":{"type":"afterBirth","day":7,"alt":10},"whenText":"7th or 10th day after birth","oneLine":"The mother's purifying bath after childbirth.","what":"Shraan Sonder is the bath that ends the mother's first period of rest after childbirth. Traditionally it was a medicinal bath, and it marks the start of her return to the household's daily life. It is held separately from Kahnethar.","sources":["http://autarmota.blogspot.com/2020/07/jatakarma-in-india-jatakarma-in-bali.html"]},{"id":"kahnethar","phase":"Birth","name":"Kahnethar","kashmiriName":"Kah-nethar","customId":"kahnethar","when":{"type":"afterBirth","day":11},"whenText":"11th day after birth","oneLine":"Naming, the first havan and the child's welcome into the family line.","what":"Kah means eleven. On the eleventh day the purohit performs a havan, the child is named, and a horoscope (zatuk) may be drawn up. A little honey and ghee is touched to the baby's tongue. The mother's family sends clothes and gifts, and guests eat the food as prasad. Tradition holds that Kahnethar comes before every later rite in a person's life.","items":["Havan materials (the purohit brings most)","New clothes for the baby","Honey and ghee","Tahar for the guests","Gifts from the maternal family"],"sources":["http://autarmota.blogspot.com/2020/07/jatakarma-in-india-jatakarma-in-bali.html"],"stepByStep":["On the eleventh day after the birth, or on a convenient day around that time or later as advised by the family priest (Gor), the family gathers for Kahnethar.","The Gor performs a havan and prayers to the family deities and the planets.","The baby is often dressed in new clothes.","At the ceremony a little honey and ghee is touched to the baby's tongue.","The priest, having looked at the time of birth, may suggest a starting letter for the name.","The father or an elder whispers the name into the baby's ear.","A horoscope (zatuk or janampatri) may be prepared.","Relatives visit with gifts, and the child's maternal family sends clothes, sweets and gifts for the baby and mother.","A festive meal is served, tahar (yellow rice) is cooked and shared in many families, and guests eat the food as prasad."],"meaning":"Kahnethar is the day a Kashmiri Pandit child is formally given a name. Kah means eleven, and the ceremony was traditionally held on the eleventh day after birth. The days just after a birth were treated as a special period of rest and ritual purity for mother and child, and Kahnethar marks the end of that early period and the formal welcome of the child into the family and community. The havan stands for purification and for calling down blessings. Tahar stands for auspiciousness and plenty. The new clothes from the maternal family are that family's welcome to the child. The whispered name is the child's first gift of identity.","fromBook":["The book says that Jatakarma, the birth rite, and Namakarna, the naming, are usually performed together, ideally on the eleventh day. It gives scriptural rules for names: a boy's name should have an even number of syllables and not end in L or R, and a girl's name should have an odd number and generally end in the vowel i or a.","Rules for Choosing a Child's Name. The book notes that Jatakarma and Namakarna are normally combined, best done on the eleventh day after the birth, although later is allowed. According to the scriptures a name should indicate three things: the child's gender, the family's caste and varga, and the child's likely qualities. A boy's name should have an even count of syllables and not finish with L or R. A girl's name should suggest gentleness and beauty, have an odd count of syllables, and normally finish with the vowel i (long ee) or a. The ritual runs in the same way as Bij Vapn."]},{"id":"annaprashan","phase":"Childhood","name":"First rice (Annaprashan)","kashmiriName":null,"when":{"type":"afterBirthMonths","months":6},"whenText":"Around six months","oneLine":"The baby's first taste of rice, on a day the purohit chooses.","what":"Around the sixth month, the baby is fed its first grains, usually a little kheer or rice, after a short puja. Elders bless the child. The exact day is chosen with the family purohit.","sources":["https://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/concepts/samskara.asp"],"stepByStep":["The family consults the purohit to fix the day, usually around the baby's sixth month.","A short puja is held.","The baby is fed its first grains, usually a little kheer or rice.","Elders bless the child."],"meaning":"Annaprashan is the rite in which the baby is given its first grains. It is usually done around the sixth month. The exact day is chosen with the family purohit. On that day a short puja is held first. After the puja, the baby is fed a little kheer or rice. That is the child's first taste of grain food. Then the elders of the family bless the child. These are the parts of the rite as our families keep them: the day set with the purohit, the short puja and the first grains, and the blessings of the elders.","fromBook":["The book says the mantra used to purify the food before the baby is fed is the same as that used in the Agni Mukha part of the homa. Surya Darshan, showing the child the sun after three months, and Chandr Darshan, showing the moon at about six months, come before this rite.","Surya Darshan and Chandr Darshan. Two small samskaras come between the naming and the first rice. In Surya Darshan, the parents show the child the sun for the first time on a suitable day after three months, reciting the Bhur Bhuvah Svah mantras of Agni and Prajapati. There is no major ritual. Chandr Darshan is similar. After about six months the child is shown the bright light of the moon, coming from the southern side, and the same ceremony as Surya Darshan is followed."]},{"id":"first-birthday","phase":"Childhood","name":"First Kashmiri birthday","kashmiriName":"Janam Dyun","customId":"janam-dyun","when":{"type":"lunarBirthday","n":1},"whenText":"The first return of the birth tithi","oneLine":"The first lunar birthday, kept with the birthday puja, tahar and kheer.","what":"The first time the birth tithi comes round in the birth month, the family keeps the child's first Kashmiri birthday. It follows the same birthday puja as every year after, with tahar and kheer.","puja":"birthday","stepByStep":["Find the child's birth tithi in the Kashmiri Pandit panchang, and keep the first Kashmiri birthday when that tithi comes round again in the birth month.","On the day, the child is bathed early and dressed in new or clean clothes.","A small puja is done at home, often with the family priest or an elder, with prayers for long life and health.","Many families tie a thread, called narivan in some families, around the child's wrist.","Tahar, yellow rice cooked with turmeric and oil, and kheer, rice pudding, are cooked for the day.","A portion of the tahar is offered to the gods or given to neighbours and relatives, and some families cook a festive meal as well.","In an older custom, food is offered to birds or something is given in charity.","Elders give their blessings, and sometimes money."],"meaning":"Janam Dyun means 'day of birth'. In many Kashmiri Pandit families the birthday is kept not on the Western calendar date but on the tithi, the lunar day of birth, in the Kashmiri Pandit panchang. Because the lunar calendar shifts, the day falls on a different date each year. The first Janam Dyun is the first time the birth tithi returns in the birth month, and it follows the same puja the child will keep every year after. Prayers are said for long life and health. Tahar stands for good fortune, kheer for the sweetness of life, the wrist thread for protection, and the lunar date for connection to the traditional calendar."},{"id":"zarakasai","phase":"Childhood","name":"Zarakasai","kashmiriName":"Zarakasai","customId":"zarakasai","when":{"type":"afterBirthMonths","months":24,"approx":true},"whenText":"In the first few years, often an odd year of age","oneLine":"The first haircut, offered away for a fresh start.","what":"Zar is hair and kasun is to cut. After a havan, the child's first hair is cut, often at a shrine such as Kheer Bhawani or Hari Parbat, or at home. The maternal uncle brings gifts, and the hair is offered to a river or spring.","stepByStep":["With the family priest, choose a date in the child's first few years, often in an odd-numbered year of age.","Hold the ceremony at a sacred place such as Kheer Bhawani at Tulmul, the Sharika shrine at Hari Parbat, or a family tirtha, or at home.","Perform a havan and offer prayers to the family deity.","Let the priest or an elder cut a few locks first in many families, then have the barber, or today sometimes a family member, cut the child's hair while relatives watch.","Give the maternal uncle (mama) his special role; he brings gifts.","Mix the cut hair with flour or wrap it, and offer it into a river or spring, or leave it at the shrine.","Bathe the child, dress the child in new clothes, and bless the child with a tilak.","Share a feast, often with tahar, kheer and other festive dishes."],"meaning":"Zarakasai is the first haircut. The name comes from zar, hair, and kasun, to cut or shave. It is the Kashmiri form of the mundan or chudakarana samskara found across Hindu India. The idea behind it is purification and growth: the hair the child was born with is removed, and a new stage of life begins. The first hair stands for the past being offered away for a fresh start, and giving it to a river or spring returns the offering to nature. The havan is for purification, the maternal uncle's gifts show the mother's family's love and protection, and the tilak is a blessing. Families in the diaspora often do it at a local temple, or on a visit to Jammu or Kheer Bhawani.","fromBook":["The book gives nine months to three years as the usual age for this first head-shaving of a boy, and explains that hair grown in the womb is thought inauspicious and so is taken off. The father divides and cuts the hair in portions using kusha blades, a barber shaves the scalp but leaves a lock called shekha or choti, and the mother buries the cut hair with walnuts from the kalash; any walnut saplings that come up are moved to suitable spots.","Zarakasai: The Tonsure Steps. The book sets a boy's first head-shaving at an age between nine months and three years. Hair that grew while he was in the womb is held to be inauspicious and has to go. First the father massages the head with a mix of hot and cold water and a bit of butter or curd. The boy sits facing east and his hair is divided into portions on the south, west and north sides. Each portion is held with three kusha blades while being cut, and the father recites a mantra for each side. The cut hair goes into an earthen pot of cow dung placed on the north. For the portions on the east side, nothing is said. Then a barber shaves the scalp but leaves a lock at the top, known as shekha or choti. The mother gathers the hair, and it is at last buried in the earth together with some walnuts from the kalash. If walnut saplings come up there, they are moved to suitable spots to grow and fruit. To close the rite, the mother takes ash from the havan fire on the base of the sruva ladle and, using the fourth finger of her right hand, touches it to herself and to the boy. She marks the forehead, neck, the base of the right shoulder and the heart, one for each line of the final mantra, which asks for the child's long life. The priest is then given dakshina and the Brahmins who helped are fed."]},{"id":"mekhal","phase":"Youth","name":"Mekhal","kashmiriName":"Mekhal / Yagnopavit","customId":"mekhal","when":{"type":"afterBirthMonths","months":96,"approx":true},"whenText":"Traditionally between seven and twelve","oneLine":"The sacred thread, and the start of life as a student.","what":"A day or two before, Divagon welcomes the gods: five unmarried girls bathe the boy (kani-shran), a havan is lit, and seven earthen plates of kheer (divta tabuchi) are laid out. A krul of flowering creepers is painted on the door. On the day, the chief priest, called tsandra taruk, gives the thread and the Gayatri mantra, and the boy begs alms from his mother and relatives. Samavartana at the riverbank and a thanksgiving koshal hom close the cycle.","sources":["https://www.ikashmir.net/sstoshkhani/mekhal.html"],"stepByStep":["The house is cleaned in the Livun ritual, women gather to sing wanvun for days, and the family holds a Maenziraat henna night.","A day or two before the main day comes Divagon, the ceremony that invokes the presence of the gods, especially Ganesha and the seven mother goddesses.","Divagon begins with the kani-shran bath, in which five unmarried girls bathe the boy, four holding a thin muslin cloth over his head while the fifth pours consecrated water.","A havan is performed, with the boy offering oblations facing east, and the kalpavriksha motif is painted on the eastern wall in lime and vermilion.","Kheer is poured into seven earthen plates called divta tabuchi, topped with rot of rice flour and fried moong cakes, consecrated and offered to the seven matrikas, and then shared as naivedya.","At the end of Divagon the women carry the seven plates in procession to the river for visarjana, singing hymns and folksongs for the boy's long life and happiness.","The paternal aunt paints the krul, a flowering creeper scroll with Om at the top, on the outer door, while women sing outside and veri with rice-flour rot is shared.","On the main day the yajna is performed, with the jyotistambha drawn at the head of the agnikunda and the chief priest, the tsandra taruk, leading the mantras.","The boy is taken under the canopy, his father lights the sacred fire, and the barber shaves his head, leaving the tuft, the tsoka or shikha.","He is bathed and dressed simply in a loincloth held by a cotton cord called atya pan, and he wears the mekhala, the girdle of munja grass.","The priest gives him the sacred thread, the yonya, and his guru, often his father or the family priest, gives him the Gayatri mantra, whispered under a cloth.","The boy then begs for alms, bhiksha, from his mother and relatives, who give him money and gifts.","He may also act out setting off for Kashi to study and being persuaded by his maternal uncle to come home.","Afterwards he is dressed in fine clothes, sometimes with a turban, and the family holds a feast.","The cycle closes with samavartana at the riverbank, marking the end of studentship, and a thanksgiving koshal hom."],"meaning":"Mekhal is the Kashmiri Pandit name for upanayana or yagnopavit, the giving of the sacred thread. It was first an educational rite, performed when a teacher took charge of a boy's learning, and it is still the day a boy formally becomes a student of sacred knowledge. Receiving the Gayatri mantra allows him to read the Vedas, and the boy so initiated is regarded as dvija, twice-born. The name comes from the mekhala, the munja grass girdle, which stressed vows of celibacy and purity of conduct before going to the Acharya. Begging alms from mother and relatives is a reminder that a student lives humbly. For Kashmiri families it is also one of the grandest celebrations, sharing many customs with the wedding.","fromBook":["The book says Upanayana is the most important samskara after marriage for Kashmiri Pandits, that about four priests are needed, and that the boy wears a triple cotton girdle called Mekhla, which gives the ceremony its Kashmiri name. In Kashmir the initiation also includes the first shave of the beard and tonsure, even if tonsure was done earlier, and the symbolic begging round begins with the boy's mother's sister (masi).","The book says a boy cannot marry before he has been given the sacred thread. Along with the havan, the boy dresses in yellow cotton and animal skin, with a shaved head apart from a tuft on the crown, a saffron dot and a Narivan on his wrist, and he symbolically begs money (Abid) to pay the priest. His mother's parents are hosted at the Durbatta lunch and bring gifts. The next day the yellow thread is swapped for a white one (Kushathom), and the family's married daughters are given Atgath. After the ceremony the boys go to the temple in new clothes, and the women dance Vyugs Nachun.","Mekhal: Priests, Dress and Staff. The book says Upanayana is the most important samskara after marriage among Kashmiri Pandits, and that Kashmiri Pandits call the ceremony Mekhla after the triple cotton girdle the boy wears. It was meant for boys of seven or eight, but the book notes boys are now initiated much later, and sometimes it is done a day or two before the wedding so the groom can wear the sacred thread needed for the marriage rites. About four priests are needed. The first is a learned acharya called Chandr Taruk, who recites the Vedas, guides the ceremony and sits in a place of honour. An assistant recites the Gayatri mantra, up to twelve thousand times, on the father's behalf, and also recites the Bhagavad Gita. The family priest does all the rites such as the homa. His assistant puts tilak on those present, ties the raksha thread (narivan) on their wrists, right for men and left for women, and performs Ayu Darshan. A large pavilion is built with the fire pit in the middle and good ventilation for the smoke. Devgon is held the day before. On the day, the boy first receives a long yellow kurta and a cap, standing for simplicity and purity of thought. He then ties on the triple cotton girdle, with a strip of cloth called shranpath passed from front to back and held by the girdle. The sacred thread is purified with water and then put on at the hour fixed by the astrologers. Next he wears yellow garments and a deer skin as a scarf, which stands for holiness. Finally he takes a staff of palasha or mulberry wood about his own height in his right hand, which stands for long life.","Mekhal: Taking the Boy as a Student. After the boy is dressed, the family priest, acting as the kulguru, pours water three times into the boy's cupped hands, and the boy prays to live a hundred years. The kulguru touches the boy's heart as a sign of taking charge of him. The boy is made to step on a stone, a pestle, to show he will stay firm as a student. The guru holds his right hand and asks his name, which he answers along with his gotra, and asks whether he will remain a celibate student, to which he agrees. The boy then bows to the six directions: east, south, west, north, down and up. He walks around the fire pit and sits beside his guru. The father offers flowers, sandalwood and cloth to the priest, who accepts. The homa follows, and afterwards the priest is paid dakshina. The guru then whispers the secret Brahmajnan in the boy's ear and gives him a short list of rules, which the boy accepts after each line: do the sipping rite after meals, study the Vedas, feed wood to the fire each day, do not sleep at midday, and stay silent while eating and relieving himself. The boy then takes his seat facing west and the acharya teaches him the Gayatri mantra. They sit facing each other, and teacher and boy write and recite it together in three rounds, ending with Om Svasti. The boy salutes the fire, the sun and the acharya, giving his own gotra and pravara, and is blessed with Ayushman Bhava. He then touches the feet of his parents, elders and teachers.","Mekhal: The Begging Round and Closing Rites. At the end of the Mekhal, the boy goes round the assembly with a bowl in one hand and his staff in the other, asking for alms with the words Bhavati Bhiksham Dehi. In the Kashmiri tradition he begins with his mother's sister (masi); elsewhere the first alms come from his mother. The scriptures say the alms should be cooked grain, and each giver says Om Svasti. The boy sets the alms before the acharya, and when the acharya says Bhaikshyam Bhunkshva, the boy may eat. The book adds that in Kashmir the collection of alms begins as soon as the thread is put on, before the initiation proper, and that the alms are in cash. The homa ends with a final offering (purn ahuti) of barley, rice and flowers with peace mantras. Then the Brahmins, the boy and all close relatives who have fasted are fed, and the rest of the gathering is served prasad.","Samskaras Added to the Mekhal. The book says it is the Kashmiri karmakanda tradition to do other samskaras together with Upanayana, some of which other traditions do separately. Because boys are now initiated late, the Kashmiri ritual also recites the earlier samskaras from Garbhadhana onwards, though the author finds this only lengthens the ceremony. Tonsure is also done at the Mekhal even if it was done earlier, which differs from the scriptures. The added rites include Traividyakam, the start of Vedic study through hymns recited with the guru, and a series of vows: of Vedic study, of serving cows, and of studying the Upanishads. Godana or Keshanta is the first shave of the beard, a samskara for a boy of around sixteen when his beard grows. In Kashmir, prayers to the gods who govern the beard are said with the Mekhal. The last is Snanavrata or Samavartana, which marks the end of studentship, meaning return home from the guru's house. Bathing is its main act, and after it a man is free to marry at a suitable age.","Mekhal Social Functions. The Mekhal follows the pattern of a wedding, with visits to invite guests, Livun, Maenziraat and Devgon, and the boy is called the groom throughout. One additional event is Durbatta, a special lunch around the henna night for the boy's maternal grandparents along with their relatives, friends and neighbours. They are treated as honoured guests and bring costly clothes for the boy, his parents and other relatives. On the Mekhal day the boy wears yellow cotton robes and an animal skin, his head shaved except for a short tuft at the crown, with a saffron mark on his forehead and a Narivan tied around his wrist. In Narivan Kharun, the wives of the father's relatives tie a band of mauli (Narivan) into their hair along with mulberry twigs and wear Tektal, standing in for the family (same gotra) during the rites. In Abid, the boy symbolically begs relatives for money to pay the priest, and his mother's sister (Masi) is the first to give. Shakerparas, cookies made of water chestnut flour, are served. When the havan is over, the boy changes into new clothes and a turban and is taken to a temple. The meal for the boy, the priest and everyone who fasted is moong dal and vegetables with boiled rice, distributed among the guests as prashad. While the boys are at the temple, the women perform Vyugs Nachun. On the following day, in Kushathom, the yellow thread is replaced with a plain white one, a short homa is held and close relatives are served lunch. Each married daughter of the family who attended receives a cash gift called Atgath.","Mekhal Prashad Dinner. On the day of the Mekhal, the area around the fire pit is cleaned and coated with water and earth while the boys are at the temple. A plain dinner is then served to the boys, the priest and everyone who fasted through the day: cooked moong dal and vegetables with boiled rice. It is then passed around to all the guests as prashad."]},{"id":"nethur","phase":"Marriage","name":"Wedding (Nethur)","kashmiriName":"Nethur","customId":"lagan-and-posh-pooza","when":{"type":"chosen"},"whenText":"A day fixed with the purohit","oneLine":"From Kasamdry to Posh Pooza: the longest and happiest sequence of rites.","what":"The wedding runs over many days. Kasamdry is the engagement. Livun cleans and plasters the house. Women sing wanvun throughout. Maenziraat is the henna night, and at Devgon the bride receives the dejhoru. On the day comes the Lagan, ending in Posh Pooza, when the couple are showered with flowers as Shiva and Parvati. Satraat and Phirsal follow.","related":["kasamdry","livun","wanvun","maenziraat","devgon","lagan-and-posh-pooza","after-the-wedding"],"sources":["http://www.ikashmir.net/sstoshkhani/marriage.html"],"stepByStep":["The families check that the match is not sagotra or sapinda, and the horoscopes are matched before anything is settled.","Kasamdry, the engagement, is held.","After the betrothal, Livun or garanavay follows, when the house is cleaned and plastered.","Women sing wanvun, the wedding songs, through all the days.","On maenziraat, the henna night, henna is applied to the bride's hands and feet, and to the groom's as well.","At Devgon the blessings of the gods are invoked, and the bride, specially dressed, is given the dejhoru to wear for the first time.","A day or two before the Lagan, the bride's family priest carries the lagnachir, a scroll of invitation giving the day, date and auspicious hour, to the groom's house, where he is received and given dakshina.","On the wedding day the groom, in a new suit, ceremonial turban and flower garlands, stands on the vyug in his own courtyard, with a plate of rice, a coin and salt beside it, while the eldest lady of the house waves a lighted lamp around his head.","His arrival is announced by the sounding of a conch.","At the bride's house the groom again stands on a vyug facing east, a parasol is held over him, and an elderly lady of the house waves a pot of water around his head in the alat.","The bride is brought out and stands on the groom's left.","The couple sit at the vedi before the sacred fire, and the priests of both families recite the mantras.","The bride's parents perform Kanyadan, the couple's garments are tied, and they take the seven steps, Saptapadi, around the fire and make their promises.","At the close comes Posh Pooza: the couple sit together under a red cloth held over their heads while the relatives and guests shower them with flowers and the priests chant blessings.","The bride leaves her home with farewell songs, and the couple travel to the groom's house, where they are welcomed with rituals and games.","Satraat and Phirsal follow."],"meaning":"Kashmiri Pandits call marriage nethur and regard it as the most important of all the samskaras. It carries the family and the community forward through children, and it has religious sanctity: through it a person pays the debt owed to the ancestors and to the gods. Our tradition holds the householder's life in the highest esteem, because it supports the whole social structure. The rites rest on a Vedic foundation with Shaiva and Shakta forms built upon it. The vyug is a circular mandala standing for the cosmic circle. During the ceremony the bride and groom are regarded as Shiva and Parvati, and at Posh Pooza they are worshipped as the divine couple.","fromBook":["The book says the groom's party, the baraatis, travels with the family priest, who conducts the rites at the bride's home, and that if he is absent the bride's father arranges a priest. The wedding mandap at the bride's home is about twenty feet square, and the couple are received at its gate before the main rites begin. The Kashmiri wedding has no mangal sutra, and the Dejhor serves as the sign of a married woman.","Dvar Pujan: Receiving the Groom. The book describes the wedding as held at the bride's house, in a mandap roughly twenty feet on each side built for the occasion. The baraatis, the groom's party, are welcomed in the large hall or shamiana. After resting a while, the groom and bride stand at the gate of the mandap, where the bride's father and the priest meet them. The ground there is spread with dry grass or darbha blades. The groom is honoured as a form of Vishnu with the sixteen-part offering and is given a thread of six strands to wear during the rites; from then on he always wears a six-strand thread. He receives madhuparka, a drink of water, milk, curd and honey, blessed by the priest after a short puja to Ganesha and the other deities of the Panchayatan. The pair then go into the mandap, and the priest speaks mantras to Varuna to guard them. At the groom's own house, the book says, no ritual takes place that day. He puts on fine clothes and a turban and sets off with relatives and friends, and the family priest who will lead the rites at the bride's house goes along.","Sammukhikarana and Kanyadana. Inside the mandap the groom worships the kalash, the yoginis, the ancestors (Nandimukha shraddha) and the nine planets, and the fire is lit for the homa. The bride worships Ganesha. In Sammukhikarana, the bride's father asks the couple to look at each other, through a mirror, and the groom recites a mantra asking that all the gods join their hearts. In Kanyadana, the bride's father places her right hand in the groom's right hand and recites a long sankalpa. It asks that his ancestors be made happy and that twelve generations before and after him be purified through the children born to her. He gives her away adorned with gold, as to Vishnu, and asks that Lakshmi and Narayana be pleased. He asks that she not be transgressed against in dharma, wealth and desire, and the groom answers that he will not. A dakshina is then given to the priest. The book says the shakhopachara, the recital of both families' ancestry, is not done in the Kashmiri wedding.","Wedding Vows and the Seven Steps. The groom takes the bride's right hand, and each makes vows. He promises to hold her hand for wealth, good children and happiness, to stay faithful in love and to live a pure married life. She promises to accept him as her lord, to remain true and faithful, and to carry out her household duties as dharma demands. They then walk seven steps around the fire. The book says that in the Kashmiri tradition they hold hands, while elsewhere their garments are knotted together. A blessing is asked at each step: food, strength, wealth, learning, children, health, and love and friendship. The book remarks that in Kashmiri custom the couple tread on seven currency notes during Sapt Padi, which some think inauspicious since money represents Lakshmi. It adds that in law the marriage counts as complete only once Sapt Padi is done.","Wedding Homa: Ghee, Walnuts and Parched Rice. The groom first makes Brahma pujan, giving the priest gifts and tying a thread on his wrist, and then lights the sacred fire. He offers 21 oblations with the names recited, and 18 more as the closing part of the homa. In the ghee homa, mantras ask Agni to keep the bride's children safe from death. As part of the tradition, the bride receives ten walnuts from the groom and hands them to her father-in-law, a sign that she will give the family ten children. In the Laya homa, the couple stand together facing the fire with cupped hands joined. The bride's brother, or in the Kashmiri custom a maiden, pours parched rice into the bride's hands and she offers it to the fire three times while repeating the mantra the groom recites first. The groom then holds her right hand and says mantras asking for her long life with him, and says that though they belong to different gotras they have performed the marriage rite.","Shilarohana, Dayabatta and Posh Pooza. In Shilarohana, the bride steps with her right foot only onto a stone, usually a pestle, kept to the north, at her husband's command. The mantra asks that she be as steady and firm as the stone. Hymns in praise of Sarasvati are then recited. In Dayabatta, the cooked food offered at the end of the homa is shared by the couple from the same plate, each feeding the other morsels as a sign of affection. In the last rite, Posh Pooza, the parents of the bride and groom shower flowers on the couple, who sit under a canopy that stands for their bedroom and for the coming Garbhadhana rite. Vedic hymns are recited together with the names of sages, warriors, heroic mothers and famous kings and queens, which suggests names for their children. With this the marriage ceremony ends.","Rules and Types of Marriage. The book describes Vivah as the most important of all samskaras and says Manu named eight forms of marriage: Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Prajapatya, Asura, Gandharva, Rakshasa and Paishacha. The first four are regarded as honourable and the remaining four are not. Today only Brahma and Asura are accepted. In a Brahma marriage the father gives his daughter, with ornaments, to a learned man of good character, receiving him warmly and taking nothing in return. In an Asura marriage the groom pays the bride's father some money, which the book says is common among lower castes. The Vedic principles that it says weddings still follow are that the boy must have been a student and studied the Vedas, the bride must be mature and younger than the groom, and the two must not share a gotra. The rites copy the marriage of Surya, the Sun's daughter, to Soma in the Rigveda, and the couple are blessed through Soma, Gandharva and Agni. The book adds that most hymns recited at Kashmiri weddings come from the Atharvaveda, while Rigveda hymns are common across northern India, and that the standard text is Vivah Vidhi, compiled by Pandit Nath Ram Shastri in 1922."]},{"id":"anatsreth","phase":"Death","name":"The last rites","kashmiriName":"Anatsreth","customId":"death-rites","when":{"type":"afterDeath","day":1},"whenText":"The day of death","oneLine":"The last bath, the pindas and the cremation.","what":"The body is given its last bath (anatsreth), and a brief shraddha, a kalash puja and a homa are performed, usually by the eldest son. Three pindas of barley flour are offered. At the cremation ground a diagram called chittavasa is drawn and worshipped before the pyre is lit. On the way back, a little straw is burnt outside (tshay zalin, burning the shadow) to free the mourners.","sources":["https://www.ikashmir.net/sstoshkhani/funerary.html"],"stepByStep":["When a death happens in the family, the body is bathed, dressed and laid on the floor with the head facing north, and relatives gather to pray.","The priest guides the pre-cremation rites: the ritual last bath (anatsreth), a brief shraddha, a kalash puja, a homa and the recitation of expiatory verses.","These rites are performed by the eldest son or a close relative, and he alone is entitled to perform the cremation.","The bier is then carried in procession to the cremation ground, with those walking reciting as they go.","On the way, three pindas of barley flour are offered to the deceased.","At the cremation ground the place for the pyre is cleansed and smeared with cow dung, and the priest draws the figures of brahma kalasha, jwala linga, agnikunda and chittavasa with barley flour.","The sacred fire is lit on the jwala linga drawing, the brahma kalasha is worshipped with flowers and saffron paste, and oblations of clarified butter are offered into the fire.","Before the pyre is lit, the deities of the chittavasa are worshipped.","The pyre is built on the chittavasa, the body is placed on it with the head to the south, and the performer lights it with a piece of burning wood, from the head if the deceased is a man and from the feet if a woman.","He then goes round the burning pyre three times, sprinkling water from a pot carried on his left shoulder, and at the end of the third round breaks the pot on an axe or a stone near the head.","Everyone present throws a piece of wood on the pyre as a last tribute.","Those who attended wash at a nearby stream, or these days wash hands and face at the crematorium and bathe at home.","Before leaving, a fire of dry straw is lit outside the cremation ground; this is tshay zalin, burning the shadow, after which all except the family and very close relatives are free from the defilement of death."],"meaning":"For a Kashmiri Pandit family, death is not the end of life but the moving on of the departed to the pitriloka, the world of the ancestors. The rites of the first day are prayers for the lasting peace of the soul, with gifts and offerings so that life as an ancestor goes smoothly. The mantras used show that the cremation itself is treated as a yajna, an offering into the sacred fire. The chittavasa, drawn like a mesh or net, is a Kashmiri Shaiva element and stands for the soul's release from the snares of this illusory world. The burning of straw afterwards frees the other mourners from the defilement of death. Customs differ from family to family, and the family priest guides every step.","fromBook":["The body lies with head to the south on a bed of grass, darbha and black sesame, with a lamp near the head. A white cap carries Gayatri written in saffron, and a man's sacred thread is replaced after the bath. At the cremation ground the karta carries the sacred fire, lamp, kalash pots and cooked rice in a willow basket, and women do not go to the cremation ground.","Last wishes at the deathbed. When a person is close to death, the family does a few quiet things before the end. A pot holding about ten kilos or more of rice is set beside the person with their clean clothes on top. If possible the person touches it, as a pledge of giving. If they cannot, a family member can do it for them. The eldest son, or anyone present if he is away, then softly recites a Vedic mantra, the Brahma Jnan or the person's guru mantra into the right ear. He also holds the head in his lap and puts a spoonful of Ganga water into the mouth. Near relatives who are there may do the same. If there is no Ganga water, water blessed at a Saligram puja is used.","Preparing the body and the Yama Homa. Once life has gone, the floor is cleaned and smeared with cow dung if possible, and spread with grass, darbha and black sesame. The body is lifted gently onto this bed with the head to the south, since Yama, the deity of the south, takes charge of the departed. A lit clay oil lamp is placed near the head. The limbs are straightened, and the Gita or sacred mantras are recited until the body is taken away. Weeping loudly beside the body is avoided, because the departed is thought to hear everything and cannot answer. The family reminds the soul that life in this world is passing. In a cleaned corner of the compound, or on a balcony in a flat, a Yama Homa is done with extra kalash pots: Gayatri, Bairov and Astra. The fire of this homa is kept alive, because it is carried to the cremation ground. Families used to buy all the needed items from community shops called Kriya Samagri Bandar, often on credit.","Bathing and dressing the departed. The body is bathed on a wooden platform in lukewarm water mixed with water from the three extra kalash pots, plus milk, curd, ghee, mustard seed and black sesame. It is held partly upright during the bath while the Gayatri mantra is recited. Afterwards a new loincloth is put on. A man's sacred thread is changed for a new one. The nine openings of the body are closed with small balls of incense. A darbha ring goes on the ring finger, a sindur mark on the forehead, and a red-yellow thread on the right arm for a man, the left for a woman. A coin is placed in the mouth. The body is wrapped in a white shroud and a white cap with Gayatri written in saffron. Honey and cotton go on the soles of the feet, with grass slippers or a woollen sock. Hands and feet are tied loosely and the body is placed on the bier. A saffron-dyed sheet is laid over an elder, and a shawl and flowers over all. A lamp stays burning where the bath took place until the cremation is over.","Aarti and the first pinda. The body is brought to a convenient spot with its head to the south, so everyone can look at the face one last time and offer flowers. An aarti is sung with a camphor lamp, using Vishnu aarti and Om Jai Jagdish, with conch and bell if available. The karta makes a pledge naming the date and gotra. Three balls of barley flour are offered along the way, the first on the bier at home, the second at the halt outside the cremation ground, the third at the cremation ground. Each is offered with the words that it is given to satisfy the preta in this last rite.","The funeral procession. Before the bier is lifted the face is covered. Children shower parched rice on the departing soul, and others scatter flowers, dry fruits, sweets and coins. The karta first puts his shoulder under the head end, then others take over. He then carries a willow basket holding the burning agni pot, the lit lamp, the kalash pots, leftover bread from the homa, two barley pindas and about a kilo of cooked rice. He leads the procession with a cloth tied round his waist as a sign of mourning. Mourners recite Shiv Shiv Shiv, Shri Mahadev Shambhu on the way. By Kashmiri Pandit custom women stay at home. The bier is rested on a platform outside the cremation ground called Thak-Pend, with the head south, and exposed briefly to sunlight. A second pinda is offered there. The bier is circled clockwise, then lifted again. Some traditions halt four times, for the four stages of life.","At the cremation ground. At the cremation ground the third pinda is offered. A small area is cleaned and a Brahma kalash drawn in barley flour, and the fire carried from home is set on an eight-petal diagram beside it. The Yama homa is repeated, with sixteen ahutis. Then the chitvas puja is done: a kalash diagram is drawn where the body will lie, nine wooden pegs are set around it, and cooked rice carried from home is placed at the foot of each peg. Dry logs are laid over the diagram and the body laid on them, head south, with more logs on top. The karta lights cotton-wrapped sticks dipped in ghee and places the first beneath the head. The ghee pot and a walnut go on the fire. The karta and others walk round the pyre three times clockwise. When the body is about half burnt, an axe or stone is placed near the head. The karta pours a steady stream of water around the pyre in three rounds and on the third breaks the clay pot on the axe or stone, to keep evil spirits away.","After leaving the cremation ground. Once the cremation is over, everyone present gathers at a river, spring or other water and bathes. All offer sesame water for the departed, stating their own gotra. A bundle of dried grass is lit on the bank and everyone circles it three times, never glancing back at it. This is called Tehay Zalen. At home, the lamp left burning is extinguished. Ashes and bones are gathered soon after on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday into wide-necked clay pitchers, and the cremation site is cleaned, coated with clay and offered flowers and a silent prayer. In Kashmir the ashes were carried to Shadipur, where the Sind joins the Jhelum, and a homa like the home one was performed there. A small part may be kept sealed for Haridwar or another holy place later. The book notes that ashes are not kept in the house."]},{"id":"dahim","phase":"Death","name":"Tenth day","kashmiriName":"Dahim","when":{"type":"afterDeath","day":10},"whenText":"10th day after death","oneLine":"Head-shaving at the river, and water and sesame for the departed.","what":"The chief mourner's head is shaved at the riverbank, and water with sesame is offered. Rice pindas are made for the departed soul and for Yama.","sources":["https://www.ikashmir.net/sstoshkhani/funerary.html"],"stepByStep":["On the tenth day after the cremation, the chief mourner goes to the bank of a river and has his head shaved, which marks the end of mourning.","All blood relations and other relatives gather there too and offer oblations of water and sesame to the deceased.","Rice is cooked on the spot and made into pindas, which are offered to the departed soul and to Vaivasvata Yama to satisfy their hunger.","The performer of the rites then takes a bath and offers libations with handfuls of water."],"meaning":"For a Kashmiri Pandit family, death is not the end of life but its continuation in the pitriloka, the world of the ancestors. The last rites, the antyeshti, carry prayers for the lasting peace of the departed soul, along with gifts and offerings so that life as an ancestor goes smoothly. The tenth-day shraddha is one of the post-funerary ceremonies, and it follows the standard procedures of the Hindu religious texts, with a few local customs. The shaving of the chief mourner's head at the riverbank shows that the period of mourning has ended. The rice pindas are offered to feed the departed soul and Vaivasvata Yama.","fromBook":["On the tenth day the karta makes ten rice pindas, one for each day, and offers sesame water for each. Afterwards a clay pitcher representing the preta, paired with a plate for Yama's messenger, is given to the river. A man called Achur receives the departed's clothes and belongings. Back home the karta pushes an iron rod and stone pestle at the door to mark the end of mourning.","The ten-day offering at the river. The tenth day rite is done on a river bank or beside a spring, lake or pond, in the morning, with relatives told in advance. It is really the rites of all ten days done in one sitting. The karta offers sesame water for each day, then makes ten rice balls, each about 150 grams, mixed with sesame, ghee, honey and milk, and lays them in two lines from south to north. Each is offered with a pledge naming the day, then dressed with wool, a cap of cooked rice, sandal paste, flowers, incense and vegetables. Each pinda is then put into the flowing water along with sesame water. Four more barley-flour pindas follow with an offering of food for a Brahmin. The head of the karta and any other sons is shaved. Then a clay pitcher standing for the preta and a plate standing for Yama's messenger are filled with water, milk, honey, sesame, rice, ghee and sweets. They are tied together with white and red cloth, a flower garland, a twig and a sacred thread, and the karta, after a bath, pushes them into the water without looking back.","The Achur at the river. Kashmiri Pandits follow a custom in which a man, treated as a Brahmin and known as Achur or Panyuch, is invited to the riverbank on the tenth day. The karta greets him respectfully and washes his feet. He receives a glass of milk with dry fruits and then the departed person's clothes, which he takes home to wear himself, or gives to his wife if the dead person was a woman. The bundle also holds everyday necessities: money, shoes, a mirror, a knife, needle and thread, soap, a comb, dry fruits, a walking stick, a kangri, and sometimes cigarettes with matches or snuff. As he leaves, someone in the crowd throws a small pebble at his back, meant to prevent such deaths from happening again in the family.","Ending mourning at the door. When the karta reaches home after the tenth day rite, someone from the family does his aalat welcome. An iron rod and a stone pestle have been placed at the door. He pushes the rod inside with his right foot and the pestle outside with his left. He then goes out, walks between the mourners standing on both sides, and returns. The mourners disperse and the family's mourning period is over. Today this last part is often done at the river bank so guests can go home. The next two days are religious rites in which only close relatives take part."]},{"id":"kah","phase":"Death","name":"Eleventh day","kashmiriName":"Kah","when":{"type":"afterDeath","day":11},"whenText":"11th day after death","oneLine":"Shraddha with flowers, incense, ghee and sesame.","what":"A full shraddha is performed with scents, flowers, incense, ghee, sesame and water, and priests are honoured with gifts.","sources":["https://www.ikashmir.net/sstoshkhani/funerary.html"],"stepByStep":["On the eleventh day after the cremation, the family performs the shraddha, offering scents, flowers, incense, ghee, sesame and water to the departed soul and to the pitaras.","The performer propitiates them with fruit, roots and obeisance.","On this day the performer worships Brahmanas."],"meaning":"For a Kashmiri Pandit family, death is not the end of life but its continuation in the pitriloka, the abode of the ancestors. The last rites, called antyeshti, carry prayers for the lasting peace of the departed soul, along with gifts and offerings so that life after death as an ancestor goes smoothly. The eleventh-day shraddha is part of this. The family offers scents, flowers, incense, ghee, sesame and water to the departed soul and to the pitaras. Fruit, roots and obeisance are offered to propitiate them. Brahmanas are worshipped on this day.","fromBook":["A photo of the departed, garlanded and marked with saffron, is placed on the south side facing north. Seventeen rice pindas are made, or eighteen in a thirteen-month year: sixteen in four rows of four and one for the Mulpurush. Brahmins, including those from married daughters' families, are fed and given dakshina, and the priest who conducts the rite receives new utensils and clothes. Leftover rice is fed to cows or put in the river.","The eleventh day food offering and pindas. The first gauna shraddha, on the eleventh day, occupies the whole day. Brahmins are called to recite the Gita and hymns, including Brahmins from the married daughters' in-law families, and they are fed and given dakshina at the end. A photo of the departed, garlanded and marked with saffron, is set on the south side facing north. Food for one person is laid on a plate with the cooked vegetables, and a little rice is placed outside the flour line for the world's beings. Then 17 pindas are shaped from rice, ghee, milk, sesame and honey, or 18 in a lunar year of thirteen months. Sixteen go in four rows of four, one for each month of the year up to the annual shraddha. The seventeenth represents the Mulpurush, the first ancestor. The karta also offers new clothes, rice caps, sandal paste, incense, lamp and fruit. The Brahmin who conducts the rite receives new utensils and clothes, the others get cash. Afterward, rice is given to cows, and the leftover food is put into the river or fed to cows."]},{"id":"bah","phase":"Death","name":"Twelfth day (Sapindikaran)","kashmiriName":"Bah / bahim doh","when":{"type":"afterDeath","day":12},"whenText":"12th day after death","oneLine":"The departed joins the ancestors.","what":"In Sapindikaran the pinda of the departed is joined with those of the ancestors, and tradition holds that the soul passes to the world of the pitris. Formal mourning ends around this time.","sources":["https://www.ikashmir.net/sstoshkhani/funerary.html"],"stepByStep":["On the twelfth day after the cremation, the family performs the ceremony of sapindikaran, called 'pyand milvan' in Kashmiri.","The pinda of the departed is joined with the pindas of the ancestors."],"meaning":"Sapindikaran is the twelfth-day rite, coming after the tenth- and eleventh-day shraddhas. In it the pinda offered for the one who has died is joined with the pindas of the ancestors. By tradition, this is when the departed soul passes on to the world of the pitris, the abode of the ancestors. For a Kashmiri Hindu family, death is not the end of life but its continuation in that separate world. That is why the last rites are performed with prayers, gifts and offerings, so that the life of the departed as an ancestor is as smooth as possible.","fromBook":["Five pindas are made on the twelfth day: three small ones for three generations of pitras, one large one for the departed, and one for the Mulpurush. The large one is cut with a wire into three and merged with the three small ones. Men join the male ancestors and women the female ones.","The twelfth day joining. The twelfth day unites the preta with the pitras of three generations, men with the men's line and women with the women's line. It follows the eleventh day rite with some changes. Three plates of cooked rice are laid out, for the pitras, for the departed and for the Vaishvadevas. In place of 17 pindas, five are made: three small ones of roughly 125 grams for the three pitras, one big one of roughly 500 grams for the departed, and one medium one for the Mulpurush. The big pinda is sliced into three parts with a wire, and each part is blended into one of the three pindas. The merged pindas are set on darbha south of the fire while saying Vasubhyo, Rudrebhyo and Adityebhyo svadha in turn."]},{"id":"masvar","phase":"Remembrance","name":"Monthly rites in the first year","kashmiriName":"Masvar","when":{"type":"monthlyTithi"},"whenText":"On the death tithi each month in the first year","oneLine":"A small shraddha each month on the tithi of death.","what":"In the first year many families keep a small rite each month on the tithi of death. Kavbatt shows those days for anyone you have added who passed away within the last year.","stepByStep":["In the first year after a death, note the tithi on which the person passed away.","On that tithi each month, keep a small rite for the first year.","If you have added the person in Kavbatt, check the app, which shows these monthly days for anyone who passed away within the last year."],"fromBook":["The book describes a fuller sequence in the first year: Pakshyar, a mini shraddha on the death tithi each fortnight for three months, then Masvar monthly for the next three months, then Shadmas, a full shraddha at six months. The book notes that some of these have no scriptural sanction but are kept as tradition.","Year-round mini rites. In the first year after death a number of smaller rites are kept, some of which the book says have no scriptural basis but have become tradition. For the first three months a mini shraddha is done on the death tithi in each fortnight (Pakshyar). For the next three months it is done monthly on the death tithi of the bright fortnight (Masvar). At six months a full shraddha is done (Shadmas). Daughters of the deceased may do a brief Nun Shraddh on the eleventh day, with salt as the main offering to the priest along with rice and clothes. There is also a Teel Shraddh in which cooking oil is offered. Items for daily use, such as umbrellas, heaters and kangris, are often given to the priest for the departed. The book says this looks like a later, economic addition."]},{"id":"barsi","phase":"Remembrance","name":"Barsi","kashmiriName":"Barsi / Varshik","customId":"shraddha-and-barsi","when":{"type":"deathTithiYearly"},"whenText":"Each year on the death tithi","oneLine":"The yearly shraddha, the first one larger than the rest.","what":"Each year, on the tithi of death in its month, the family offers shraddha: pinda, water with sesame, and food for a priest and for the crows. The first barsi is the biggest gathering.","stepByStep":["Each year, on the tithi of the death in its month, the family holds shraddha, with the first one, called Barsi or Varshik, being the largest gathering with more relatives present.","The family priest comes to the house for the rite.","Rice balls (pind), sesame seeds, water and flowers are offered to the ancestors.","The names of the ancestors are recited, going back several generations.","A meal is cooked for the priest and the family, and a portion is set aside for crows, cows and dogs.","Many families in Kashmir performed special shraddha at Mattan (Martand tirtha), where priests kept family records.","After the first year, the annual shraddha is observed each year by the son or other relatives."],"meaning":"Barsi is how a family remembers someone who has died, on the same tithi each year. The first one is the biggest, and relatives come together for it. The pind is nourishment for the ancestors, the sesame seeds stand for purity and remembrance, and the food set aside for crows, cows and dogs is believed to carry the offerings to the ancestors. Reciting the names keeps the family line alive in memory. The food is traditionally simple and often vegetarian, though customs vary among families. For young people, the day is a good time to learn the names of great-grandparents and hear stories about them, connecting each generation to the family's history.","fromBook":["At the annual shraddha four pindas are made, of about 250 grams each. They stand for the father, grandfather and great-grandfather, or the mother, paternal grandmother and great-grandmother, and the fourth stands for the Mulpurush. The year's other shraddhas are done on the same lunar tithi as the death."]},{"id":"kambar-pach","phase":"Remembrance","name":"Kambar Pach shraddha","kashmiriName":"Kambar Pach","customId":"shraddha-and-barsi","when":{"type":"pitruPaksha"},"whenText":"In the dark fortnight of Ashwin","oneLine":"Remembering every ancestor in the fortnight of the ancestors.","what":"In the dark fortnight of Ashwin, families offer shraddha to their ancestors, each on the tithi on which that person died. Names are recited going back generations. It is a good time for children to learn their great-grandparents' names.","stepByStep":["In the dark fortnight of Ashwin, the family observes shraddha for each ancestor on the tithi on which that person died.","The family priest comes to the home for the ritual.","Offerings of rice balls (pind), sesame seeds, water and flowers are made to the ancestors.","The names of the ancestors are recited, going back several generations.","A meal is cooked for the priest and the family.","A portion of the food is set aside for crows, cows and dogs, which are believed to carry the offerings to the ancestors.","Many families in Kashmir performed special shraddha at Mattan (Martand tirtha), where priests kept family records."],"meaning":"Shraddha is how we remember those who came before us. It is held on the death anniversary by the lunar calendar, and through the dark fortnight of Ashwin, which is given to all the ancestors. The pind offered is nourishment for them. Sesame seeds stand for purity and remembrance. Food left for crows is believed to reach the ancestors. Reciting the names keeps the family line alive in memory. The food cooked is traditionally simple and often vegetarian, though customs differ from family to family. For young people, this is a good time to learn the names of their great-grandparents and hear stories about them, and so to feel joined to the family's history."},{"id":"birthday","phase":"Every year","name":"Kashmiri birthday","kashmiriName":"Janam Dyun","customId":"janam-dyun","when":{"type":"lunarBirthdayYearly"},"whenText":"Each year on the birth tithi","oneLine":"Puja for a long life, tahar for the neighbours, salt in return.","what":"On the lunar birthday the family keeps a small puja for a long, healthy life. Tahar (yellow rice) is offered and shared with neighbours, who traditionally return the plate with a little salt, for Lakshmi. A new thread is tied at the wrist.","puja":"birthday","sources":["https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/koshur-birthday-frozen-in-time/"],"stepByStep":["Find the lunar birth tithi for the year from the Kashmiri Pandit panchang or a Kashmiri calendar app, since the date shifts each year.","On that day the birthday person wakes early, bathes, and wears new or clean clothes.","A small puja is done at home, often with the family priest or an elder; traditionally the priest came with a potli holding all the material needed for the puja.","Prayers are said for a long and healthy life.","A thread, called narivan in some families, is tied around the wrist.","Tahar (rice cooked yellow with a pinch of turmeric, and oil) and kheer are cooked.","The tahar is offered to the deity and then shared by the family.","Tahar is also taken to neighbours and relatives, and neighbours traditionally fill the returning plate with a handful of salt, which is linked to Goddess Lakshmi.","In an older custom, the person offers food to birds or gives something in charity.","Elders give their blessings, and sometimes money.","Some families also cook a festive meal, and many families abroad today keep both birthdays \\u2014 the Western one with cake and friends, and Janam Dyun at home with tahar and kheer."],"meaning":"Janam Dyun means 'day of birth'. It is kept on the tithi, the lunar day of birth in the Kashmiri Pandit panchang, rather than the Western date, which keeps the family connected to the traditional calendar. The day is considered auspicious and spiritually beneficial. The puja at home is for long life and health, and the wrist thread is for protection. Tahar stands for good fortune and kheer for the sweetness of life. Sharing tahar with neighbours, and receiving salt in return, links the house to Goddess Lakshmi and to the people around it. Elders' blessings, food for birds and charity are part of the same day.","fromBook":["The book says this puja is a Kashmiri Pandit custom, held on the lunar tithi of birth. The solar date is also noted, since the family priest used to bring the Varshaphal, the forecast for the coming year, on that day. Men wear a new yagnopavit if initiated, and zung is applied as it is changed. A married woman wears a new saree and athoor. Tehri (yellow rice) is the naveed, with curd and sugar. Seven Rishis are invoked (Ashvatthama, Bali, Vyasa, Hanuman, Kripacharya, Markandeya, Parashurama), shown as seven knots in a length of mauli. The strand rests on an inverted kawli so it stays out of the water, and seven tilaks are put on the knots. It is tied on the wrist afterwards, the right wrist for men and the left for women, and the puja ends with a Vishnu stuti as aarti."]}],"pujas":[{"id":"birthday","name":"Birthday puja","kashmiriName":"Janam Dyun puja","about":"A short home puja for a Kashmiri birthday, which you can follow step by step. It uses the prayers found in Kashmiri Pandit birthday pujas: Ganesha first, the lamp, your family goddess, Markandeya and the chiranjeevis (the long-lived ones), Shashthi Devi, the Mahamrityunjaya, the offering of tahar and the tying of the naervan. A purohit's full puja, as in the Samarpan birthday manual, is longer and includes a bath of fifteen substances (panchdashang snan).","minutes":25,"items":["A lamp with ghee, and a match","Incense","Flowers","A little uncooked rice","Saffron or sandal paste for the tilak","A small pot (kalash) of clean water","Tahar (yellow rice) and kheer, freshly cooked","A new thread (naervan) for the wrist","A coin","New or clean clothes for the birthday person"],"steps":[{"id":"prepare","title":"Get ready","do":"Bathe and put on new or clean clothes. Set the lamp, water, flowers, rice, tahar and kheer before the family's deities. The birthday person sits facing east.","seconds":30},{"id":"ganesha","title":"Remember Ganesha","do":"Fold your hands. Every puja begins with Ganesha, the remover of obstacles.","mantra":{"deva":"शुक्लाम्बरधरं विष्णुं शशिवर्णं चतुर्भुजम् ।\nप्रसन्नवदनं ध्यायेत् सर्वविघ्नोपशान्तये ॥","iast":"śuklāmbaradharaṃ viṣṇuṃ śaśivarṇaṃ caturbhujam |\nprasannavadanaṃ dhyāyet sarvavighnopaśāntaye ||","meaning":"I think of the one dressed in white, present everywhere, bright as the moon, with four arms and a gracious face, so that every obstacle falls away."}},{"id":"lamp","title":"Light the lamp","do":"Light the lamp and bow to its flame.","mantra":{"deva":"शुभं करोति कल्याणम् आरोग्यं धनसम्पदा ।\nशत्रुबुद्धिविनाशाय दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते ॥","iast":"śubhaṃ karoti kalyāṇam ārogyaṃ dhanasampadā |\nśatrubuddhivināśāya dīpajyotir namo'stu te ||","meaning":"Light of the lamp, you bring what is good and auspicious, health and plenty, and you end ill will. I bow to you."}},{"id":"sankalpa","title":"Say why you are here","do":"Hold a little water and rice in your right hand. Say the sankalpa below, putting in your gotra and name where marked, then let the water and rice fall into a plate.","sankalpa":true},{"id":"guru","title":"The teacher","do":"Remember the teachers and elders whose blessings you ask today.","mantra":{"deva":"गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः ।\nगुरुः साक्षात् परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥","iast":"gurur brahmā gurur viṣṇuḥ gurur devo maheśvaraḥ |\nguruḥ sākṣāt paraṃ brahma tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ ||","meaning":"The teacher is Brahma, the teacher is Vishnu, the teacher is Maheshvara; the teacher is truly the supreme reality. I bow to that teacher."}},{"id":"tilak","title":"Tilak","do":"An elder puts a tilak of saffron or sandal paste on the birthday person's forehead and scatters a few grains of rice over their head as a blessing.","seconds":20},{"id":"devi","title":"The family goddess","do":"Offer a flower to your kuladevi: Sharika, Ragnya (Kheer Bhawani), Jwala, Bala or whichever goddess your family worships.","mantra":{"deva":"या देवी सर्वभूतेषु मातृरूपेण संस्थिता ।\nनमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः ॥","iast":"yā devī sarvabhūteṣu mātṛrūpeṇa saṃsthitā |\nnamas tasyai namas tasyai namas tasyai namo namaḥ ||","meaning":"To the goddess who dwells in every being as a mother: I bow to her, I bow to her, again and again I bow to her.","source":"Devi Mahatmya, chapter 5"}},{"id":"markandeya","title":"Markandeya","do":"Offer a flower to the sage Markandeya, who by Shiva's grace outlived death. He is remembered on every birthday for a long life.","mantra":{"deva":"मार्कण्डेय महाभाग सप्तकल्पान्तजीवन ।\nआयुरारोग्यसिद्ध्यर्थम् अस्माकं वरदो भव ॥","iast":"mārkaṇḍeya mahābhāga saptakalpāntajīvana |\nāyurārogyasiddhyartham asmākaṃ varado bhava ||","meaning":"Blessed Markandeya, who lives to the end of seven ages: grant us long life and good health.","note":"The second line differs a little between families and books."}},{"id":"chiranjeevi","title":"The long-lived ones","do":"Remember the eight chiranjeevis, whose names are said on birthdays so that the birthday person may live a full hundred years.","mantra":{"deva":"अश्वत्थामा बलिर्व्यासो हनुमांश्च विभीषणः ।\nकृपः परशुरामश्च सप्तैते चिरजीविनः ॥\nसप्तैतान् संस्मरेन्नित्यं मार्कण्डेयमथाष्टमम् ।\nजीवेद्वर्षशतं साग्रम् अपमृत्युविवर्जितः ॥","iast":"aśvatthāmā balir vyāso hanumāṃś ca vibhīṣaṇaḥ |\nkṛpaḥ paraśurāmaś ca saptaite cirajīvinaḥ ||\nsaptaitān saṃsmaren nityaṃ mārkaṇḍeyam athāṣṭamam |\njīved varṣaśataṃ sāgram apamṛtyuvivarjitaḥ ||","meaning":"Ashvatthama, Bali, Vyasa, Hanuman, Vibhishana, Kripa and Parashurama are the seven long-lived ones. Whoever remembers these seven, and Markandeya as the eighth, lives a full hundred years, free of untimely death."}},{"id":"shashthi","title":"Shashthi Devi","do":"Offer a flower to Shashthi Devi, the goddess who protects children.","mantra":{"deva":"ॐ षष्ठीदेव्यै नमः ॥","iast":"oṃ ṣaṣṭhīdevyai namaḥ ||","meaning":"Om, I bow to Shashthi Devi."}},{"id":"navagraha","title":"The nine planets","do":"Bow to the nine planets, that the year ahead be peaceful.","mantra":{"deva":"ब्रह्मा मुरारिस्त्रिपुरान्तकारी भानुः शशी भूमिसुतो बुधश्च ।\nगुरुश्च शुक्रः शनिराहुकेतवः सर्वे ग्रहाः शान्तिकरा भवन्तु ॥","iast":"brahmā murāris tripurāntakārī bhānuḥ śaśī bhūmisuto budhaś ca |\nguruś ca śukraḥ śani-rāhu-ketavaḥ sarve grahāḥ śāntikarā bhavantu ||","meaning":"May Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, and the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu: may all the planets bring peace."}},{"id":"mrityunjaya","title":"Mahamrityunjaya","do":"Say the great prayer to Shiva for life and health. Many families say it three times.","mantra":{"deva":"ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् ।\nउर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान् मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मामृतात् ॥","iast":"oṃ tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭivardhanam |\nurvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor mukṣīya māmṛtāt ||","meaning":"We worship the three-eyed one, fragrant, who makes us grow strong. As a ripe cucumber is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, and not from immortality.","source":"Rigveda 7.59.12"}},{"id":"naivedya","title":"Offer the tahar","do":"Place the tahar and kheer before the deities and offer them. The food is now prasad.","mantra":{"deva":"ॐ नैवेद्यं समर्पयामि ॥","iast":"oṃ naivedyaṃ samarpayāmi ||","meaning":"Om, I offer this food."}},{"id":"naervan","title":"Tie the naervan","do":"An elder ties the new thread at the birthday person's right wrist (the left for married women in many families).","mantra":{"deva":"येन बद्धो बली राजा दानवेन्द्रो महाबलः ।\nतेन त्वामनुबध्नामि रक्षे मा चल मा चल ॥","iast":"yena baddho balī rājā dānavendro mahābalaḥ |\ntena tvām anubadhnāmi rakṣe mā cala mā cala ||","meaning":"With the thread that bound the mighty King Bali, I bind you. Protection, hold fast; do not waver.","note":"This is the verse said across India when a protective thread is tied. Some families say other words."}},{"id":"kshama","title":"Ask forgiveness","do":"Fold your hands and ask forgiveness for anything missed in the puja.","mantra":{"deva":"करचरणकृतं वाक्कायजं कर्मजं वा श्रवणनयनजं वा मानसं वापराधम् ।\nविहितमविहितं वा सर्वमेतत्क्षमस्व जय जय करुणाब्धे श्रीमहादेव शम्भो ॥","iast":"karacaraṇakṛtaṃ vākkāyajaṃ karmajaṃ vā śravaṇanayanajaṃ vā mānasaṃ vāparādham |\nvihitam avihitaṃ vā sarvam etat kṣamasva jaya jaya karuṇābdhe śrīmahādeva śambho ||","meaning":"For any wrong done with my hands or feet, by word or body or deed, through ears or eyes or in the mind, whatever was done or left undone: forgive it all. Victory to you, ocean of compassion, great god Shambhu.","source":"Shiva Manasa Puja of Adi Shankaracharya, verse 5"}},{"id":"blessings","title":"Blessings and sharing","do":"Touch the elders' feet and receive their blessings. Share the tahar with the family, and send a plate to neighbours; by custom they return it with a little salt, for Lakshmi. Many people also give something in charity or feed the birds today.","seconds":30}],"sources":["https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/12198035/birthday-puja-manual-of-kashmiri-pandits-tuefnuiwtk","https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/koshur-birthday-frozen-in-time/"],"purpose":"perform this birthday puja for a long life, good health and happiness, and ask the blessings of our family goddess, our elders and our ancestors","purposeSa":"आयुरारोग्य-अभिवृद्ध्यर्थं जन्मदिवस-पूजनं"},{"id":"herath","name":"Herath puja at home","kashmiriName":"Vatuk puja (short form)","festival":"herath","minutes":45,"about":"A shorter Herath night puja for families without a purohit, built around the Vatuk: the pitcher of water and walnuts that holds Vatuk Bhairava and Shiva's household. It keeps the heart of the night: Ganesha, the lamp, your intention, Shiva's meditation, the Panchakshara hymn, bel leaves, Parvati, a puja offered in the mind, the Mahamrityunjaya, japa and a prayer for forgiveness. The full Vatuk puja from the jantri or your family paddhati is longer still.","purpose":"worship Shiva and Parvati and Vatuk Bhairava on this night of Herath, and ask their blessings for our whole family, near and far","items":["The vatuk pitcher, filled with clean water and walnuts","Other vessels and clay images as your family sets them out","A lamp with ghee","Incense","Flowers, and bel leaves if you can find them","Uncooked rice","Saffron or sandal paste","A plate of walnuts for prasad"],"steps":[{"id":"prepare","title":"Set out the Vatuk","do":"After the day's fast, bathe and put on clean clothes. Fill the vatuk with water and walnuts and set it, with the other vessels, where the family will sit. Tradition says the walnuts stand for the four Vedas.","seconds":40},{"id":"ganesha","title":"Remember Ganesha","do":"Fold your hands. Every puja begins with Ganesha, the remover of obstacles.","mantra":{"deva":"शुक्लाम्बरधरं विष्णुं शशिवर्णं चतुर्भुजम् ।\nप्रसन्नवदनं ध्यायेत् सर्वविघ्नोपशान्तये ॥","iast":"śuklāmbaradharaṃ viṣṇuṃ śaśivarṇaṃ caturbhujam |\nprasannavadanaṃ dhyāyet sarvavighnopaśāntaye ||","meaning":"I think of the one dressed in white, present everywhere, bright as the moon, with four arms and a gracious face, so that every obstacle falls away."}},{"id":"lamp","title":"Light the lamp","do":"Light the lamp and bow to its flame.","mantra":{"deva":"शुभं करोति कल्याणम् आरोग्यं धनसम्पदा ।\nशत्रुबुद्धिविनाशाय दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते ॥","iast":"śubhaṃ karoti kalyāṇam ārogyaṃ dhanasampadā |\nśatrubuddhivināśāya dīpajyotir namo'stu te ||","meaning":"Light of the lamp, you bring what is good and auspicious, health and plenty, and you end ill will. I bow to you."}},{"id":"sankalpa","title":"Say why you are here","do":"Hold a little water and rice in your right hand. Say the sankalpa below, putting in your gotra and name where marked, then let the water and rice fall into a plate.","sankalpa":true},{"id":"guru","title":"The teacher","do":"Remember the teachers of your family and of the tradition, from whom this worship comes.","mantra":{"deva":"गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः ।\nगुरुः साक्षात् परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥","iast":"gurur brahmā gurur viṣṇuḥ gurur devo maheśvaraḥ |\nguruḥ sākṣāt paraṃ brahma tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ ||","meaning":"The teacher is Brahma, the teacher is Vishnu, the teacher is Maheshvara; the teacher is truly the supreme reality. I bow to that teacher."}},{"id":"vatuk","title":"Vatuk Bhairava","do":"Offer rice, flowers and a walnut to the vatuk, the pitcher that holds Vatuk Bhairava and Shiva's whole household.","mantra":{"deva":"ॐ वटुकभैरवाय नमः ॥","iast":"oṃ vaṭukabhairavāya namaḥ ||","meaning":"Om, I bow to Vatuk Bhairava.","note":"Also written Batuk. The full puja honours many more of Shiva's attendants by name."}},{"id":"dhyana","title":"Meditate on Shiva","do":"Close your eyes and picture Shiva with Parvati, arriving at your home tonight as the honoured son-in-law.","mantra":{"deva":"कर्पूरगौरं करुणावतारं संसारसारं भुजगेन्द्रहारम् ।\nसदा वसन्तं हृदयारविन्दे भवं भवानीसहितं नमामि ॥","iast":"karpūragauraṃ karuṇāvatāraṃ saṃsārasāraṃ bhujagendrahāram |\nsadā vasantaṃ hṛdayāravinde bhavaṃ bhavānīsahitaṃ namāmi ||","meaning":"White as camphor, compassion in bodily form, the heart of all that is, wearing the king of serpents as a garland, living always in the lotus of the heart: I bow to Shiva, together with Bhavani."}},{"id":"panchakshara","title":"The Panchakshara hymn","do":"Recite the five verses slowly. With each verse offer a flower to the vatuk, one for each syllable of na-ma-shi-va-ya.","mantra":{"deva":"नागेन्द्रहाराय त्रिलोचनाय भस्माङ्गरागाय महेश्वराय ।\nनित्याय शुद्धाय दिगम्बराय तस्मै नकाराय नमः शिवाय ॥ १॥\nमन्दाकिनीसलिलचन्दनचर्चिताय नन्दीश्वरप्रमथनाथमहेश्वराय ।\nमन्दारपुष्पबहुपुष्पसुपूजिताय तस्मै मकाराय नमः शिवाय ॥ २॥\nशिवाय गौरीवदनाब्जवृन्दसूर्याय दक्षाध्वरनाशकाय ।\nश्रीनीलकण्ठाय वृषध्वजाय तस्मै शिकाराय नमः शिवाय ॥ ३॥\nवसिष्ठकुम्भोद्भवगौतमार्यमुनीन्द्रदेवार्चितशेखराय ।\nचन्द्रार्कवैश्वानरलोचनाय तस्मै वकाराय नमः शिवाय ॥ ४॥\nयक्षस्वरूपाय जटाधराय पिनाकहस्ताय सनातनाय ।\nदिव्याय देवाय दिगम्बराय तस्मै यकाराय नमः शिवाय ॥ ५॥\nपञ्चाक्षरमिदं पुण्यं यः पठेच्छिवसन्निधौ ।\nशिवलोकमवाप्नोति शिवेन सह मोदते ॥","iast":"nāgendrahārāya trilocanāya bhasmāṅgarāgāya maheśvarāya |\nnityāya śuddhāya digambarāya tasmai nakārāya namaḥ śivāya || 1 ||\nmandākinīsalilacandanacarcitāya nandīśvarapramathanāthamaheśvarāya |\nmandārapuṣpabahupuṣpasupūjitāya tasmai makārāya namaḥ śivāya || 2 ||\nśivāya gaurīvadanābjavṛndasūryāya dakṣādhvaranāśakāya |\nśrīnīlakaṇṭhāya vṛṣadhvajāya tasmai śikārāya namaḥ śivāya || 3 ||\nvasiṣṭhakumbhodbhavagautamāryamunīndradevārcitaśekharāya |\ncandrārkavaiśvānaralocanāya tasmai vakārāya namaḥ śivāya || 4 ||\nyakṣasvarūpāya jaṭādharāya pinākahastāya sanātanāya |\ndivyāya devāya digambarāya tasmai yakārāya namaḥ śivāya || 5 ||\npañcākṣaram idaṃ puṇyaṃ yaḥ paṭhec chivasannidhau |\nśivalokam avāpnoti śivena saha modate ||","meaning":"Five verses, one for each syllable of na-ma-śi-vā-ya. They praise Shiva who wears the serpent king as a garland, is anointed with Ganga water and sandal, makes Gauri's face bloom like the sun opens a lotus, has the sun, moon and fire as his eyes, and holds the Pinaka bow. Whoever recites these five near Shiva reaches his world and rejoices with him.","source":"Shiva Panchakshara Stotram of Adi Shankaracharya (text: sanskritdocuments.org)"}},{"id":"bilva","title":"Offer bel leaves","do":"Offer bel leaves to Shiva, one with each verse. If you have no bel, offer flowers or a walnut.","mantra":{"deva":"त्रिदलं त्रिगुणाकारं त्रिनेत्रं च त्रियायुधम् ।\nत्रिजन्मपापसंहारं एकबिल्वं शिवार्पणम् ॥ १॥\nत्रिशाखैः बिल्वपत्रैश्च ह्यच्छिद्रैः कोमलैः शुभैः ।\nशिवपूजां करिष्यामि ह्येकबिल्वं शिवार्पणम् ॥ २॥\nअखण्डबिल्वपत्रेण पूजिते नन्दिकेश्वरे ।\nशुद्ध्यन्ति सर्वपापेभ्यो ह्येकबिल्वं शिवार्पणम् ॥ ३॥\nमूलतो ब्रह्मरूपाय मध्यतो विष्णुरूपिणे ।\nअग्रतः शिवरूपाय ह्येकबिल्वं शिवार्पणम् ॥ ८॥\nबिल्वाष्टकमिदं पुण्यं यः पठेत् शिवसन्निधौ ।\nसर्वपापविनिर्मुक्तः शिवलोकमवाप्नुयात् ॥","iast":"tridalaṃ triguṇākāraṃ trinetraṃ ca triyāyudham |\ntrijanmapāpasaṃhāraṃ ekabilvaṃ śivārpaṇam || 1 ||\ntriśākhaiḥ bilvapatraiś ca hy acchidraiḥ komalaiḥ śubhaiḥ |\nśivapūjāṃ kariṣyāmi hy ekabilvaṃ śivārpaṇam || 2 ||\nakhaṇḍabilvapatreṇa pūjite nandikeśvare |\nśuddhyanti sarvapāpebhyo hy ekabilvaṃ śivārpaṇam || 3 ||\nmūlato brahmarūpāya madhyato viṣṇurūpiṇe |\nagrataḥ śivarūpāya hy ekabilvaṃ śivārpaṇam || 8 ||\nbilvāṣṭakam idaṃ puṇyaṃ yaḥ paṭhet śivasannidhau |\nsarvapāpavinirmuktaḥ śivalokam avāpnuyāt ||","meaning":"Offering bel leaves. The three-part leaf stands for Shiva's three eyes, three qualities and trident. With tender, whole leaves I worship Shiva: one bel leaf offered to Shiva. Its root is Brahma, its middle Vishnu, its tip Shiva.","source":"Bilvashtakam, verses 1, 2, 3 and 8 with the closing verse (text: sanskritdocuments.org)"}},{"id":"parvati","title":"Parvati","do":"Offer flowers and a little saffron to Parvati, the daughter of Kashmir, whose wedding to Shiva the night celebrates.","mantra":{"deva":"सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके ।\nशरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥","iast":"sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalye śive sarvārthasādhike |\nśaraṇye tryambake gauri nārāyaṇi namo'stu te ||","meaning":"Auspicious above all that is auspicious, gracious one who brings every aim to fulfilment, our refuge, three-eyed Gauri: I bow to you.","source":"Devi Mahatmya 11.10"}},{"id":"manasa","title":"A puja in the mind","do":"Sit still and offer everything in your mind as you read: a jewelled seat, water, clothes, food, music, and finally your whole life.","mantra":{"deva":"रत्नैः कल्पितमासनं हिमजलैः स्नानं च दिव्याम्बरं नानारत्नविभूषितं मृगमदामोदाङ्कितं चन्दनम् ।\nजातीचम्पकबिल्वपत्ररचितं पुष्पं च धूपं तथा दीपं देव दयानिधे पशुपते हृत्कल्पितं गृह्यताम् ॥ १॥\nसौवर्णे नवरत्नखण्डरचिते पात्रे घृतं पायसं भक्ष्यं पञ्चविधं पयोदधियुतं रम्भाफलं पानकम् ।\nशाकानामयुतं जलं रुचिकरं कर्पूरखण्डोज्ज्वलं ताम्बूलं मनसा मया विरचितं भक्त्या प्रभो स्वीकुरु ॥ २॥\nछत्रं चामरयोर्युगं व्यजनकं चादर्शकं निर्मलं वीणाभेरिमृदङ्गकाहलकला गीतं च नृत्यं तथा ।\nसाष्टाङ्गं प्रणतिः स्तुतिर्बहुविधा ह्येतत्समस्तं मया सङ्कल्पेन समर्पितं तव विभो पूजां गृहाण प्रभो ॥ ३॥\nआत्मा त्वं गिरिजा मतिः सहचराः प्राणाः शरीरं गृहं पूजा ते विषयोपभोगरचना निद्रा समाधिस्थितिः ।\nसञ्चारः पदयोः प्रदक्षिणविधिः स्तोत्राणि सर्वा गिरो यद्यत्कर्म करोमि तत्तदखिलं शम्भो तवाराधनम् ॥ ४॥","iast":"ratnaiḥ kalpitam āsanaṃ himajalaiḥ snānaṃ ca divyāmbaraṃ nānāratnavibhūṣitaṃ mṛgamadāmodāṅkitaṃ candanam |\njātīcampakabilvapatraracitaṃ puṣpaṃ ca dhūpaṃ tathā dīpaṃ deva dayānidhe paśupate hṛtkalpitaṃ gṛhyatām || 1 ||\nsauvarṇe navaratnakhaṇḍaracite pātre ghṛtaṃ pāyasaṃ bhakṣyaṃ pañcavidhaṃ payodadhiyutaṃ rambhāphalaṃ pānakam |\nśākānām ayutaṃ jalaṃ rucikaraṃ karpūrakhaṇḍojjvalaṃ tāmbūlaṃ manasā mayā viracitaṃ bhaktyā prabho svīkuru || 2 ||\nchatraṃ cāmarayor yugaṃ vyajanakaṃ cādarśakaṃ nirmalaṃ vīṇābherimṛdaṅgakāhalakalā gītaṃ ca nṛtyaṃ tathā |\nsāṣṭāṅgaṃ praṇatiḥ stutir bahuvidhā hy etat samastaṃ mayā saṅkalpena samarpitaṃ tava vibho pūjāṃ gṛhāṇa prabho || 3 ||\nātmā tvaṃ girijā matiḥ sahacarāḥ prāṇāḥ śarīraṃ gṛhaṃ pūjā te viṣayopabhogaracanā nidrā samādhisthitiḥ |\nsañcāraḥ padayoḥ pradakṣiṇavidhiḥ stotrāṇi sarvā giro yad yat karma karomi tat tad akhilaṃ śambho tavārādhanam || 4 ||","meaning":"A puja offered in the mind. A seat of jewels, a bath of Himalayan water, fine clothes, sandal and musk, jasmine and bel, incense and lamp: accept them, Lord, as my heart has made them. A golden dish of ghee and kheer, fruit and cool drinks; a parasol, fans, music and dance; every bow and every hymn. And the last verse: you are my self, Parvati is my understanding, my breath your companions, my body your temple; my sleep is meditation, my walking goes round you, all my words are hymns, and whatever I do is your worship.","source":"Shiva Manasa Puja of Adi Shankaracharya, verses 1 to 4 (text: shlokam.org)"}},{"id":"mrityunjaya","title":"Mahamrityunjaya","do":"Say the great prayer for life three times, together.","mantra":{"deva":"ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् ।\nउर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान् मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मामृतात् ॥","iast":"oṃ tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭivardhanam |\nurvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor mukṣīya māmṛtāt ||","meaning":"We worship the three-eyed one, fragrant, who makes us grow strong. As a ripe cucumber is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, and not from immortality.","source":"Rigveda 7.59.12"}},{"id":"japa","title":"Japa","do":"Repeat Shiva's name 108 times with a mala, or for as long as the family sits together.","mantra":{"deva":"ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥","iast":"oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||","meaning":"Om, I bow to Shiva. Say it slowly, 11 or 108 times; a mala helps you count."}},{"id":"kshama","title":"Ask forgiveness","do":"Fold your hands and ask forgiveness for anything missed or done wrong in the puja.","mantra":{"deva":"करचरणकृतं वाक्कायजं कर्मजं वा श्रवणनयनजं वा मानसं वापराधम् ।\nविहितमविहितं वा सर्वमेतत्क्षमस्व जय जय करुणाब्धे श्रीमहादेव शम्भो ॥","iast":"karacaraṇakṛtaṃ vākkāyajaṃ karmajaṃ vā śravaṇanayanajaṃ vā mānasaṃ vāparādham |\nvihitam avihitaṃ vā sarvam etat kṣamasva jaya jaya karuṇābdhe śrīmahādeva śambho ||","meaning":"For any wrong done with my hands or feet, by word or body or deed, through ears or eyes or in the mind, whatever was done or left undone: forgive it all. Victory to you, ocean of compassion, great god Shambhu.","source":"Shiva Manasa Puja of Adi Shankaracharya, verse 5"}},{"id":"close","title":"Herath Mubarak","do":"Bow to the vatuk. Wish everyone Herath Mubarak and sit down to the Herath dinner. The vatuk stays in place: tomorrow is Salaam, when friends and neighbours visit, and on Doon Mavas the water goes to a river and the soaked walnuts are shared with everyone as prasad.","seconds":30}],"purposeSa":"श्रीशिव-भैरव-पूजनं","night":true},{"id":"navreh","name":"Navreh morning","kashmiriName":"Navreh thaal","festival":"navreh","minutes":10,"about":"The Kashmiri new year begins the night before, when a thaal (plate) is prepared, and in the morning, when the first thing everyone sees is the thaal. What goes on the thaal differs a little from family to family.","purpose":"begin this new Saptarishi year looking first at the gifts of the goddess Sharika, and ask her blessings on our family for the whole year","items":["A thaal (large plate) of uncooked rice","Walnuts","Bread or a kulcha","A small bowl of curd","Salt","Flowers","A coin or some money","A pen and paper","A small mirror","The new jantri (almanac)","A picture of Sharika or your family goddess"],"steps":[{"id":"night","title":"The night before","do":"Fill the thaal with rice and arrange the other things on it: walnuts, bread, curd, salt, flowers, a coin, a pen, a mirror, the new jantri and a picture of Sharika. Cover it and keep it where you will see it first in the morning.","seconds":40},{"id":"look","title":"Look at the thaal first","do":"On waking, before anything else, an elder brings the thaal and each person opens their eyes on it, looking at the riches of the year to come. Many families look into the mirror on the thaal too.","seconds":40},{"id":"sharika","title":"Bow to Sharika","do":"Bow to Sharika, the goddess of Hari Parbat, at whose feet, tradition says, the Saptarishis began counting the years.","mantra":{"deva":"या देवी सर्वभूतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता ।\nनमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः ॥","iast":"yā devī sarvabhūteṣu śaktirūpeṇa saṃsthitā |\nnamas tasyai namas tasyai namas tasyai namo namaḥ ||","meaning":"To the goddess who dwells in every being as power: I bow to her, I bow to her, again and again I bow to her.","source":"Devi Mahatmya, chapter 5"}},{"id":"walnut","title":"A walnut for the water","do":"Take a walnut from the thaal. Later in the day, drop it into flowing water, as families once did at the Vicharnag spring in Srinagar.","seconds":25},{"id":"jantri","title":"Read the new jantri","do":"Open the new jantri together and read aloud what it says about the year: its king and minister planets, the rain and the harvest. Kavbatt's calendar has the new year's days too.","seconds":30},{"id":"close","title":"Navreh Mubarak","do":"Wear new clothes, cook tahar and offer it to Sharika, then share it. Call the elders and greet everyone: Navreh Mubarak.","seconds":25}],"purposeSa":"नववर्ष-प्रारम्भे श्रीशारिका-पूजनं"},{"id":"daily","name":"A short daily prayer","kashmiriName":null,"minutes":10,"about":"Ten minutes, morning or evening: waking prayer, Ganesha, the lamp, the teacher, the Gayatri, Shiva's five syllables, the Goddess, a moment of stillness and a prayer for everyone.","purpose":"begin this day remembering the divine, and ask for a clear mind and a kind heart","items":["A lamp or a candle","A flower, if you have one","A quiet corner"],"steps":[{"id":"karagre","title":"On waking","do":"Before you get up, look at your open palms.","mantra":{"deva":"कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः करमध्ये सरस्वती ।\nकरमूले तु गोविन्दः प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ॥","iast":"karāgre vasate lakṣmīḥ karamadhye sarasvatī |\nkaramūle tu govindaḥ prabhāte karadarśanam ||","meaning":"Lakshmi lives at the tips of the fingers, Saraswati in the middle of the hand, Govinda at its base: so look at your hands when you wake."}},{"id":"ganesha","title":"Ganesha","do":"Remember Ganesha before the day begins.","mantra":{"deva":"वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ ।\nनिर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा ॥","iast":"vakratuṇḍa mahākāya sūryakoṭisamaprabha |\nnirvighnaṃ kuru me deva sarvakāryeṣu sarvadā ||","meaning":"Lord with the curved trunk and mighty body, bright as a million suns: keep every obstacle from all I do, always."}},{"id":"lamp","title":"Light the lamp","do":"Light the lamp and bow to its flame.","mantra":{"deva":"शुभं करोति कल्याणम् आरोग्यं धनसम्पदा ।\nशत्रुबुद्धिविनाशाय दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते ॥","iast":"śubhaṃ karoti kalyāṇam ārogyaṃ dhanasampadā |\nśatrubuddhivināśāya dīpajyotir namo'stu te ||","meaning":"Light of the lamp, you bring what is good and auspicious, health and plenty, and you end ill will. I bow to you."}},{"id":"guru","title":"The teacher","do":"Bow to your teachers.","mantra":{"deva":"गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः ।\nगुरुः साक्षात् परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥","iast":"gurur brahmā gurur viṣṇuḥ gurur devo maheśvaraḥ |\nguruḥ sākṣāt paraṃ brahma tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ ||","meaning":"The teacher is Brahma, the teacher is Vishnu, the teacher is Maheshvara; the teacher is truly the supreme reality. I bow to that teacher."}},{"id":"gayatri","title":"The Gayatri","do":"Sit straight and say the Gayatri slowly, once or three times.","mantra":{"deva":"ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः ।\nतत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।\nधियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥","iast":"oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ |\ntat savitur vareṇyaṃ bhargo devasya dhīmahi |\ndhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt ||","meaning":"We meditate on the glorious light of the divine sun, the source of all. May it awaken and guide our minds.","source":"Rigveda 3.62.10","note":"In many families the Gayatri is said by those who have had their Mekhal; others say it freely. Follow your family's way."}},{"id":"shiva","title":"Shiva","do":"Bring to mind Shiva, who in Kashmir Shaivism is your own awareness.","mantra":{"deva":"कर्पूरगौरं करुणावतारं संसारसारं भुजगेन्द्रहारम् ।\nसदा वसन्तं हृदयारविन्दे भवं भवानीसहितं नमामि ॥","iast":"karpūragauraṃ karuṇāvatāraṃ saṃsārasāraṃ bhujagendrahāram |\nsadā vasantaṃ hṛdayāravinde bhavaṃ bhavānīsahitaṃ namāmi ||","meaning":"White as camphor, compassion in bodily form, the heart of all that is, wearing the king of serpents as a garland, living always in the lotus of the heart: I bow to Shiva, together with Bhavani."}},{"id":"panchakshara","title":"The five syllables","do":"Recite the first verse of the Panchakshara hymn, or all five if you have time.","mantra":{"deva":"नागेन्द्रहाराय त्रिलोचनाय भस्माङ्गरागाय महेश्वराय ।\nनित्याय शुद्धाय दिगम्बराय तस्मै नकाराय नमः शिवाय ॥ १॥\nमन्दाकिनीसलिलचन्दनचर्चिताय नन्दीश्वरप्रमथनाथमहेश्वराय ।\nमन्दारपुष्पबहुपुष्पसुपूजिताय तस्मै मकाराय नमः शिवाय ॥ २॥\nशिवाय गौरीवदनाब्जवृन्दसूर्याय दक्षाध्वरनाशकाय ।\nश्रीनीलकण्ठाय वृषध्वजाय तस्मै शिकाराय नमः शिवाय ॥ ३॥\nवसिष्ठकुम्भोद्भवगौतमार्यमुनीन्द्रदेवार्चितशेखराय ।\nचन्द्रार्कवैश्वानरलोचनाय तस्मै वकाराय नमः शिवाय ॥ ४॥\nयक्षस्वरूपाय जटाधराय पिनाकहस्ताय सनातनाय ।\nदिव्याय देवाय दिगम्बराय तस्मै यकाराय नमः शिवाय ॥ ५॥\nपञ्चाक्षरमिदं पुण्यं यः पठेच्छिवसन्निधौ ।\nशिवलोकमवाप्नोति शिवेन सह मोदते ॥","iast":"nāgendrahārāya trilocanāya bhasmāṅgarāgāya maheśvarāya |\nnityāya śuddhāya digambarāya tasmai nakārāya namaḥ śivāya || 1 ||\nmandākinīsalilacandanacarcitāya nandīśvarapramathanāthamaheśvarāya |\nmandārapuṣpabahupuṣpasupūjitāya tasmai makārāya namaḥ śivāya || 2 ||\nśivāya gaurīvadanābjavṛndasūryāya dakṣādhvaranāśakāya |\nśrīnīlakaṇṭhāya vṛṣadhvajāya tasmai śikārāya namaḥ śivāya || 3 ||\nvasiṣṭhakumbhodbhavagautamāryamunīndradevārcitaśekharāya |\ncandrārkavaiśvānaralocanāya tasmai vakārāya namaḥ śivāya || 4 ||\nyakṣasvarūpāya jaṭādharāya pinākahastāya sanātanāya |\ndivyāya devāya digambarāya tasmai yakārāya namaḥ śivāya || 5 ||\npañcākṣaram idaṃ puṇyaṃ yaḥ paṭhec chivasannidhau |\nśivalokam avāpnoti śivena saha modate ||","meaning":"Five verses, one for each syllable of na-ma-śi-vā-ya. They praise Shiva who wears the serpent king as a garland, is anointed with Ganga water and sandal, makes Gauri's face bloom like the sun opens a lotus, has the sun, moon and fire as his eyes, and holds the Pinaka bow. Whoever recites these five near Shiva reaches his world and rejoices with him.","source":"Shiva Panchakshara Stotram of Adi Shankaracharya (text: sanskritdocuments.org)"}},{"id":"devi","title":"The Goddess","do":"Bow to the Goddess, Shakti, the power in every being.","mantra":{"deva":"या देवी सर्वभूतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता ।\nनमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः ॥","iast":"yā devī sarvabhūteṣu śaktirūpeṇa saṃsthitā |\nnamas tasyai namas tasyai namas tasyai namo namaḥ ||","meaning":"To the goddess who dwells in every being as power: I bow to her, I bow to her, again and again I bow to her.","source":"Devi Mahatmya, chapter 5"}},{"id":"still","title":"A moment of stillness","do":"Close your eyes and simply rest, aware of your breath, for a minute. Kashmir Shaivism teaches that in the pause between two breaths you can glimpse your own true nature.","seconds":60},{"id":"shanti","title":"For everyone","do":"End with a prayer for all beings.","mantra":{"deva":"सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः ।\nसर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु मा कश्चिद्दुःखभाग्भवेत् ॥\nॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥","iast":"sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ sarve santu nirāmayāḥ |\nsarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu mā kaścid duḥkhabhāg bhavet ||\noṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||","meaning":"May all be happy, may all be free from illness, may all see what is good, may no one suffer. Om, peace, peace, peace."}}],"purposeSa":"नित्य-पूजनं"},{"id":"ancestors","name":"Remembering the ancestors at home","kashmiriName":null,"minutes":15,"festival":"kambar-pach","about":"A simple way to remember those who have gone before, on a barsi, in Kambar Pach or on any day. It is not the purohit's shraddha with pindas; it is a family's own remembrance, which anyone can keep.","purpose":"remember our ancestors with love and gratitude, and offer them water and sesame","items":["A lamp","Their photographs","A glass of water with a few black sesame seeds (til)","A little cooked food, set aside for the crows"],"steps":[{"id":"lamp","title":"Light the lamp","do":"Light the lamp and bow to its flame.","mantra":{"deva":"शुभं करोति कल्याणम् आरोग्यं धनसम्पदा ।\nशत्रुबुद्धिविनाशाय दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते ॥","iast":"śubhaṃ karoti kalyāṇam ārogyaṃ dhanasampadā |\nśatrubuddhivināśāya dīpajyotir namo'stu te ||","meaning":"Light of the lamp, you bring what is good and auspicious, health and plenty, and you end ill will. I bow to you."}},{"id":"ganesha","title":"Ganesha","do":"Begin, as every rite begins, with Ganesha.","mantra":{"deva":"वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ ।\nनिर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा ॥","iast":"vakratuṇḍa mahākāya sūryakoṭisamaprabha |\nnirvighnaṃ kuru me deva sarvakāryeṣu sarvadā ||","meaning":"Lord with the curved trunk and mighty body, bright as a million suns: keep every obstacle from all I do, always."}},{"id":"sankalpa","title":"Say why you are here","do":"Sit facing south, the direction of the ancestors. Hold a little water and rice in your right hand, say the sankalpa below with your gotra and name where marked, then let the water and rice fall into a plate.","sankalpa":true},{"id":"names","title":"Say their names","do":"Say aloud the names of those you remember, going back as far as your family knows: parents, grandparents, great-grandparents. Tell a child one story about each.","ancestors":true,"seconds":60},{"id":"gita","title":"What does not die","do":"Read, slowly, the verse from the Gita on the self that is never born and never dies.","mantra":{"deva":"न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन् नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।\nअजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥","iast":"na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin nāyaṃ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ |\najo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṃ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre ||","meaning":"The self is never born and never dies; having been, it does not cease to be. Unborn, eternal, everlasting and ancient, it is not killed when the body is killed.","source":"Bhagavad Gita 2.20"}},{"id":"water","title":"Water and sesame","do":"Pour a little of the water with sesame onto the ground or into a plant, slowly, three times, with the ancestors in mind.","mantra":{"deva":"ॐ पितृभ्यः स्वधा नमः ॥","iast":"oṃ pitṛbhyaḥ svadhā namaḥ ||","meaning":"Om, to the ancestors, this offering; I bow to them.","note":"The purohit's shraddha uses longer mantras for each generation."}},{"id":"crows","title":"Food for the crows","do":"Put the food out for the crows, and if you can, give something to someone in need today. Tradition says the crows carry the offering to the ancestors.","seconds":30},{"id":"kshama","title":"Ask forgiveness","do":"Ask forgiveness for anything left undone for those who have gone.","mantra":{"deva":"करचरणकृतं वाक्कायजं कर्मजं वा श्रवणनयनजं वा मानसं वापराधम् ।\nविहितमविहितं वा सर्वमेतत्क्षमस्व जय जय करुणाब्धे श्रीमहादेव शम्भो ॥","iast":"karacaraṇakṛtaṃ vākkāyajaṃ karmajaṃ vā śravaṇanayanajaṃ vā mānasaṃ vāparādham |\nvihitam avihitaṃ vā sarvam etat kṣamasva jaya jaya karuṇābdhe śrīmahādeva śambho ||","meaning":"For any wrong done with my hands or feet, by word or body or deed, through ears or eyes or in the mind, whatever was done or left undone: forgive it all. Victory to you, ocean of compassion, great god Shambhu.","source":"Shiva Manasa Puja of Adi Shankaracharya, verse 5"}},{"id":"shanti","title":"Peace","do":"End with a prayer of peace.","mantra":{"deva":"सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः ।\nसर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु मा कश्चिद्दुःखभाग्भवेत् ॥\nॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥","iast":"sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ sarve santu nirāmayāḥ |\nsarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu mā kaścid duḥkhabhāg bhavet ||\noṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||","meaning":"May all be happy, may all be free from illness, may all see what is good, may no one suffer. Om, peace, peace, peace."}}],"purposeSa":"पितृ-स्मरण-पूजनं"},{"id":"pann","festival":"pann","name":"Pann (Roth puja)","kashmiriName":"Pann","minutes":40,"about":"The household puja of Vinayak Tsoram, offered to the twin goddesses Vibha and Garbha (Beeb Garab Maej). A water pot is dressed with cotton thread and dramun grass, the eldest woman tells the Pann katha, and the roths are offered and shared.","purpose":"offer roth to Beeb Garab Maej and share it, for a home full of plenty","purposeSa":"गृहे समृद्धि-कामनया पन्न-पूजनं","items":["Roths, made the evening before or that morning","A lota (water pot) of clean water","Cotton thread (pann)","A handful of dramun (runner grass)","Marigold flowers","A few grains of rice","A lamp with ghee, and a match"],"sources":["https://ikashmir.net/sstoshkhani/festivals.html","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals","https://www.goya.in/blog/kashmiri-pandit-roth-and-sufi-muslim-kheer-puri-food-as-a-symbol-of-allyship","https://moushumi.medium.com/pann-the-kashmiri-pandit-version-of-ganesh-chaturthi-cdb8c99adfe3"],"steps":[{"id":"ready","title":"Get ready","do":"Make the roths with ghee, sugar, poppy seeds and dry fruit. No one tastes a roth before it is offered."},{"id":"pot","title":"Dress the pot","do":"Place the lota of water at the centre of the puja place. Tie the cotton thread round its neck and put the handful of dramun grass inside. Set marigolds beside it and stack the roths on or by the pot."},{"id":"ganesha","title":"Remember Ganesha","do":"Begin, as every Kashmiri puja begins, with Ganesha.","mantra":{"deva":"वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ ।\nनिर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा ॥","iast":"vakratuṇḍa mahākāya sūryakoṭisamaprabha |\nnirvighnaṃ kuru me deva sarvakāryeṣu sarvadā ||","meaning":"Lord with the curved trunk and mighty body, bright as a million suns: keep every obstacle from all I do, always."}},{"id":"lamp","title":"Light the lamp","do":"Light the ghee lamp before the pot.","mantra":{"deva":"शुभं करोति कल्याणम् आरोग्यं धनसम्पदा ।\nशत्रुबुद्धिविनाशाय दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते ॥","iast":"śubhaṃ karoti kalyāṇam ārogyaṃ dhanasampadā |\nśatrubuddhivināśāya dīpajyotir namo'stu te ||","meaning":"Light of the lamp, you bring what is good and auspicious, health and plenty, and you end ill will. I bow to you."}},{"id":"sankalpa","title":"Say why you are here","do":"Hold a little water and rice in your right hand. Say the sankalpa below, putting in your gotra and name where marked, then let the water and rice fall into a plate.","sankalpa":true},{"id":"katha","title":"The Pann katha","do":"The eldest woman of the house sits by the pot holding cotton thread and a few grains, and tells the Pann katha while the family listens. Kavbatt does not yet have a checked text of the katha: if your family tells it, record it in Community, under Lend your voice so others can hear it."},{"id":"thread","title":"Tie the thread","do":"When the katha is done, the pann thread is tied and kept in the prayer room."},{"id":"share","title":"Offer and share the roth","do":"Offer the roths, then share them: with the family, with neighbours, and send some to married daughters' homes. Leftover prasad is shared or eaten with respect, never thrown away."},{"id":"forgive","title":"Ask forgiveness","do":"Close by asking forgiveness for anything done wrongly.","mantra":{"deva":"करचरणकृतं वाक्कायजं कर्मजं वा श्रवणनयनजं वा मानसं वापराधम् ।\nविहितमविहितं वा सर्वमेतत्क्षमस्व जय जय करुणाब्धे श्रीमहादेव शम्भो ॥","iast":"karacaraṇakṛtaṃ vākkāyajaṃ karmajaṃ vā śravaṇanayanajaṃ vā mānasaṃ vāparādham |\nvihitam avihitaṃ vā sarvam etat kṣamasva jaya jaya karuṇābdhe śrīmahādeva śambho ||","meaning":"For any wrong done with my hands or feet, by word or body or deed, through ears or eyes or in the mind, whatever was done or left undone: forgive it all. Victory to you, ocean of compassion, great god Shambhu.","source":"Shiva Manasa Puja of Adi Shankaracharya, verse 5"}}]},{"id":"khetsimavas","festival":"khichri-amavasya","name":"Khichri Amavasya (Khetsimavas)","kashmiriName":"Khetsimavas","minutes":30,"about":"On the winter new moon of Poh, a pestle is worshipped as Kubera, lord of the Yakshas, and khichri is offered to him. A portion is set on the outer wall for the Yaksha, and the family eats together.","purpose":"offer khichri to Kubera and the Yaksha, for a safe winter","purposeSa":"यक्षेश्वर-कुबेर-पूजनं","items":["Khichri of rice, moong dal, ghee and turmeric","A pestle (or a clean stone)","Sandalwood paste and vermilion","A lamp, and a match","A plate for the portion outside"],"sources":["https://ikashmir.net/sstoshkhani/festivals.html","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals","https://searchkashmir.org/khich-mavas-feast-for-yetis-and-dogs/"],"steps":[{"id":"cook","title":"Cook the khichri","do":"Cook khichri with rice, moong dal, ghee and turmeric. No one eats before the offering is set out."},{"id":"pestle","title":"Prepare the pestle","do":"In the evening, wash a pestle, or any clean stone if you have none, and anoint it with sandalwood paste and vermilion. It is worshipped as Kubera, lord of the Yakshas."},{"id":"ganesha","title":"Remember Ganesha","do":"Begin with Ganesha.","mantra":{"deva":"वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ ।\nनिर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा ॥","iast":"vakratuṇḍa mahākāya sūryakoṭisamaprabha |\nnirvighnaṃ kuru me deva sarvakāryeṣu sarvadā ||","meaning":"Lord with the curved trunk and mighty body, bright as a million suns: keep every obstacle from all I do, always."}},{"id":"lamp","title":"Light the lamp","do":"Light the lamp before the pestle.","mantra":{"deva":"शुभं करोति कल्याणम् आरोग्यं धनसम्पदा ।\nशत्रुबुद्धिविनाशाय दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते ॥","iast":"śubhaṃ karoti kalyāṇam ārogyaṃ dhanasampadā |\nśatrubuddhivināśāya dīpajyotir namo'stu te ||","meaning":"Light of the lamp, you bring what is good and auspicious, health and plenty, and you end ill will. I bow to you."}},{"id":"offer","title":"Offer the khichri","do":"Offer khichri to Kubera with the naivedya mantras your family uses. Kavbatt does not yet have a checked text of them; if your elders say them, record them in Community, under Lend your voice."},{"id":"outside","title":"A portion outside","do":"Set a portion of khichri on a plate on the outer wall or at the threshold, for the Yaksha. Do not turn away a hungry animal that comes to it."},{"id":"eat","title":"Eat together","do":"Eat the khichri together as a family in the evening."}]},{"id":"gaadbatt","festival":"gaad-batta","name":"Gaad Batt","kashmiriName":"Gaad Batt","minutes":20,"about":"In the dark fortnight of Poh, on a Tuesday or Saturday, families leave a plate of fish and rice for the Ghar Devta, the guardian of the house, upstairs overnight, and then feast together.","purpose":"offer fish and rice to the Ghar Devta, for a protected home","purposeSa":"गृहदेवता-पूजनं","items":["Fish cooked in Kashmiri style (vegetarian families: a vegetable dish)","Plain rice","A glass of water","A small oil lamp, and a sieve if that is your custom"],"sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals","https://www.freepressjournal.in/lifestyle/netflixs-baramulla-shows-unique-kashmiri-pandit-ritual-know-more-about-gaad-batt","https://ikashmir.net/uambardar/rituals.html"],"steps":[{"id":"day","title":"The day","do":"Keep it on a Tuesday or Saturday of the dark fortnight of Poh, on the day your family keeps."},{"id":"cook","title":"Cook fish and rice","do":"Cook the fish and the rice. No one tastes the food before it is offered."},{"id":"plate","title":"The plate upstairs","do":"Place a plate of rice and fish in a clean spot on the top floor (the kaanie), with a glass of water and a small oil lamp. Cover the lamp with a sieve if that is your family custom."},{"id":"lamp","title":"Light the lamp","do":"Light the lamp beside the plate.","mantra":{"deva":"शुभं करोति कल्याणम् आरोग्यं धनसम्पदा ।\nशत्रुबुद्धिविनाशाय दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते ॥","iast":"śubhaṃ karoti kalyāṇam ārogyaṃ dhanasampadā |\nśatrubuddhivināśāya dīpajyotir namo'stu te ||","meaning":"Light of the lamp, you bring what is good and auspicious, health and plenty, and you end ill will. I bow to you."}},{"id":"leave","title":"Leave it overnight","do":"Leave the offering for the Ghar Devta overnight, undisturbed."},{"id":"feast","title":"The family feast","do":"Share the rest as a feast with the family."}]},{"id":"zyethatham","festival":"zyeth-atham","name":"Zyeth Atham at home","kashmiriName":"Zyeth Atham","minutes":30,"about":"For families who cannot go to Tulmul on Zyeth Atham: a lamp, incense and hymns to Mata Ragnya, with kheer, milk, sugar and flowers offered at home.","purpose":"worship Mata Ragnya (Kheer Bhawani) on Zyeth Atham","purposeSa":"श्रीराज्ञा-भगवती-पूजनं","items":["Kheer (rice cooked in milk and sugar)","Milk","Sugar candy","Flowers","A lamp and incense"],"sources":["https://ikashmir.net/sstoshkhani/festivals.html","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kheer_Bhawani_Temple","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Hindu_festivals"],"steps":[{"id":"ready","title":"Get ready","do":"Keep the day vegetarian: no meat, onion or garlic. Make the kheer and set out milk, sugar candy and flowers."},{"id":"ganesha","title":"Remember Ganesha","do":"Begin with Ganesha.","mantra":{"deva":"वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ ।\nनिर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा ॥","iast":"vakratuṇḍa mahākāya sūryakoṭisamaprabha |\nnirvighnaṃ kuru me deva sarvakāryeṣu sarvadā ||","meaning":"Lord with the curved trunk and mighty body, bright as a million suns: keep every obstacle from all I do, always."}},{"id":"lamp","title":"Lamp and incense","do":"Wave the lamp and burn incense before the goddess.","mantra":{"deva":"शुभं करोति कल्याणम् आरोग्यं धनसम्पदा ।\nशत्रुबुद्धिविनाशाय दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते ॥","iast":"śubhaṃ karoti kalyāṇam ārogyaṃ dhanasampadā |\nśatrubuddhivināśāya dīpajyotir namo'stu te ||","meaning":"Light of the lamp, you bring what is good and auspicious, health and plenty, and you end ill will. I bow to you."}},{"id":"sankalpa","title":"Say why you are here","do":"Hold a little water and rice in your right hand. Say the sankalpa below, putting in your gotra and name where marked, then let the water and rice fall into a plate.","sankalpa":true},{"id":"goddess","title":"The Goddess","do":"Bow to the Goddess.","mantra":{"deva":"या देवी सर्वभूतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता ।\nनमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः ॥","iast":"yā devī sarvabhūteṣu śaktirūpeṇa saṃsthitā |\nnamas tasyai namas tasyai namas tasyai namo namaḥ ||","meaning":"To the goddess who dwells in every being as power: I bow to her, I bow to her, again and again I bow to her.","source":"Devi Mahatmya, chapter 5"}},{"id":"offer","title":"Offer kheer, milk and flowers","do":"Offer the kheer, milk, sugar candy and flowers to Mata Ragnya."},{"id":"sing","title":"Hymns","do":"Sing the hymns and bhajans your family sings to the Goddess. If you know them, record them in Community, under Lend your voice."},{"id":"forgive","title":"Ask forgiveness","do":"Close by asking forgiveness.","mantra":{"deva":"करचरणकृतं वाक्कायजं कर्मजं वा श्रवणनयनजं वा मानसं वापराधम् ।\nविहितमविहितं वा सर्वमेतत्क्षमस्व जय जय करुणाब्धे श्रीमहादेव शम्भो ॥","iast":"karacaraṇakṛtaṃ vākkāyajaṃ karmajaṃ vā śravaṇanayanajaṃ vā mānasaṃ vāparādham |\nvihitam avihitaṃ vā sarvam etat kṣamasva jaya jaya karuṇābdhe śrīmahādeva śambho ||","meaning":"For any wrong done with my hands or feet, by word or body or deed, through ears or eyes or in the mind, whatever was done or left undone: forgive it all. Victory to you, ocean of compassion, great god Shambhu.","source":"Shiva Manasa Puja of Adi Shankaracharya, verse 5"}}]}]},"remembrance":{"title":"We remember","intro":"In 1989 and 1990, as militancy rose in the Kashmir valley, Kashmiri Pandits were threatened, and many were killed. Almost the whole community left their homes, most in the first months of 1990. Many never went back. This page is a quiet place to remember them: those who lost their lives, and the homes, temples and neighbours left behind.","silence":"Take a moment of silence. Light a lamp for them, or in the name of someone you remember.","facts":[{"label":"People who left the valley","text":"Estimates of the number who left range from about 100,000 to more than 300,000 people. Families registered as migrants in Jammu, Delhi and across India."},{"label":"Lives lost: the official count","text":"In March 2010 the Jammu and Kashmir government told its Legislative Assembly that militants killed 219 Kashmiri Pandits between 1989 and 2004. Source: J&K Legislative Assembly, written answer, March 2010."},{"label":"Lives lost: the police count in 2008","text":"A 2008 Jammu and Kashmir Police report said militants had killed 209 Kashmiri Pandits since 1989, 109 of them in 1990. Source: J&K Police report, 2008."},{"label":"Lives lost: the community's count","text":"After surveys in 2008 and 2009, the Kashmir Pandit Sangharsh Samiti counted 399 Kashmiri Pandits killed between 1990 and 2011, three quarters of them in the first year. Other community organisations give higher figures. Source: Kashmir Pandit Sangharsh Samiti survey, 2008–09."},{"label":"19 January","text":"The community marks 19 January as the day of the exodus. Many families remember the night of 19 January 1990, when fear drove thousands to leave."},{"label":"14 September","text":"On 14 September the community marks Martyrs' Day for Tika Lal Taploo, shot dead outside his home in Srinagar on 13 September 1989. His funeral was on the 14th."},{"label":"The National Human Rights Commission","text":"In 1994 the community approached the National Human Rights Commission. In June 1999 the Commission found that acts akin to genocide had been committed against Kashmiri Pandits. No court has ruled on the term. Source: NHRC order, June 1999."},{"label":"Lives lost: Panun Kashmir's count","text":"Panun Kashmir, a political organisation of displaced Pandits, has published a list of about 1,341 Kashmiri Pandits killed in and after 1990, including people who disappeared. Source: Panun Kashmir's list."}],"remembered":[{"name":"Tika Lal Taploo","when":"13 September 1989","who":"Lawyer and community leader in Srinagar, shot outside his home."},{"name":"Neelkanth Ganjoo","when":"4 November 1989","who":"Retired judge, killed in Srinagar."},{"name":"Lassa Kaul","when":"13 February 1990","who":"Director of Doordarshan Srinagar, killed outside his home."},{"name":"Sarwanand Kaul Premi","when":"29 April 1990","who":"Poet and translator, killed with his son Virender near their home in Anantnag district."},{"name":"Wandhama","when":"25 January 1998","who":"Twenty-three Kashmiri Pandits, among them women and children, were killed in the village of Wandhama in Ganderbal."},{"name":"Nadimarg","when":"23 March 2003","who":"Twenty-four Kashmiri Pandits were killed in the village of Nadimarg in Shopian."}],"note":"Names here are limited to people and events recorded in public sources. Light a lamp to add someone you remember. A reviewer checks every dedication before it appears.","sources":[{"label":"Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus (Wikipedia)","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_of_Kashmiri_Hindus"},{"label":"ThePrint, 2019: a book excerpt comparing the official and community counts","url":"https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/right-wing-exaggerates-number-of-kashmiri-pandits-killed-militants-targeted-muslims-more/271666/"}],"stories":[{"name":"Tika Lal Taploo","date":"13 September 1989","place":"Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir","who":"Tika Lal Taploo (1930–1989) was a Kashmiri Pandit advocate who practised in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. He was vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu and Kashmir, an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and a social and political activist with a large following.","what":"On 13 September 1989 JKLF militants shot Tika Lal Taploo dead outside his home in Srinagar as he left for the High Court. L. K. Advani and Kidar Nath Sahni were among the leaders at his funeral the next day. In March 2022 a school in Rohini, Delhi, was named Shaheed Tika Lal Taploo in his memory. In September 2022 the Supreme Court declined to hear his son Ashutosh's plea for an investigation into the killing.","source":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tika_Lal_Taploo"},{"name":"Neelkanth Ganjoo","date":"4 November 1989","place":"Hari Singh Street market, near the High Court, Srinagar","who":"A retired sessions judge of Srinagar, who in 1968 had sentenced Maqbool Bhat to death.","what":"On 4 November 1989, three militants shot Neelkanth Ganjoo dead at the Hari Singh Street market, near the High Court in Srinagar. In the late 1960s, as a sessions court judge, he had presided over the trial of Maqbool Bhat, founder of the JKLF, for the murder of police inspector Amar Chand in 1966. In August 1968 he sentenced Bhat and one other to death. The Supreme Court of India upheld the sentence in 1982, and Bhat was executed in Tihar jail in 1984. That same year, militants bombed Ganjoo's house. No trial for his killing is on record.","source":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neelkanth_Ganjoo"},{"name":"Girija Tickoo","date":"Abducted 19 June 1990; her body was found on 25 June 1990","place":"Kupwara, Kashmir (her home was in Arigam, Bandipora)","who":"Girija Tickoo was a Kashmiri Pandit schoolteacher from Arigam, Bandipora, who taught at a government high school in Trehgam, Kupwara. She was married to Kanya Lal Tiku and had a young son and daughter. Sources disagree on her age.","what":"Girija Tickoo had moved with her family to Jammu in early 1990, during the displacement of Kashmiri Hindus from the Valley. In June 1990 she returned to collect her pay and stayed with a former colleague. On 19 June militants abducted her. They gang raped her and cut her in two on a mechanical saw. Her body was found on 25 June 1990. No trial for her killing is on record. Her killing was later raised in hearings of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2000 and in testimony before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in 2019. It is also recounted in Rahul Pandita's memoir Our Moon Has Blood Clots.","source":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girija_Tickoo"},{"name":"Sangrampora massacre: seven members of the Bhat family","date":"21 March 1997","place":"Sangrampora village, Budgam district, Jammu and Kashmir","who":"Seven Kashmiri Pandit villagers of Sangrampora, all members of the Bhat family. They lived in the village in Budgam district.","what":"On 21 March 1997, unknown gunmen led the victims away, lined them up and shot them. Seven people were killed and several others were injured. The attackers fled in the dark. The killings were one of a series of attacks that targeted minorities in Jammu and Kashmir. Militants have been thought to be behind them, but police closed the case as untraced. The last rites were performed by residents of the village and were attended by Muslims and Sikhs from neighbouring areas. The state government gave survivors ration and Rs 100,000, and provided two-room flats in a colony at Sheikhpora, Budgam.","source":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Sangrampora_massacre"},{"name":"Wandhama, 23 people","date":"25 January 1998","place":"Wandhama, Ganderbal District, Jammu and Kashmir, India","who":"The 23 victims were mainly members of four Kashmiri Pandit families who stayed in the village after the displacement of the early 1990s. They included nine women and four children, and five relatives who were visiting from Jammu.","what":"On the evening of 25 January 1998, about 28 armed men came to the homes disguised as Indian Army soldiers. They gathered the family members and shot them. The houses and a nearby temple were then set on fire. Fourteen-year-old Vinod Kumar Dhar, who hid in an attic, was the only survivor of the four households. No group claimed responsibility. The Indian government blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba, and other accounts named Hizbul Mujahideen. An FIR was registered, but the investigation was inconclusive and the perpetrators were described as untraced. In 2012 the state government said 20 of 21 alleged perpetrators had been killed in encounters and one was absconding, without naming them. On 24 August 2026 the State Investigation Agency reopened the case.","source":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Wandhama_massacre"},{"name":"Nadimarg massacre: 24 Kashmiri Pandits","date":"23 March 2003","place":"Nadimarg village, Pulwama District, Jammu and Kashmir","who":"The 24 victims were Kashmiri Pandits who remained in Nadimarg after most of the community left the Valley in 1990. They were 11 men, 11 women and two small boys, aged from 2 years to 65 years.","what":"Between 11 pm and midnight on 23 March 2003, armed men in military-style uniforms came to Nadimarg, near Shopian. They lined up the 24 villagers and shot them. The attackers belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba and were led by district commander Zia Mustafa. Mustafa was arrested in 2003 and spent about 18 years in jail. In October 2021, he was taken by security forces to identify hideouts in a forest in Poonch and is said to have been killed in crossfire. No trial or conviction is on record. Three other militants killed by Mumbai police on 29 March 2003 were suspected of involvement.","source":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Nadimarg_massacre"}],"names":{"list":[{"name":"Prabhavati","date":"1989-03-14"},{"name":"Dina Nath Raina","date":"1989-08-15"},{"name":"Tika Lal Taploo","date":"1989-09-13","place":"Srinagar (EFSAS gives Bhan Mohalla; ThePrint gives Chinkral Mohalla)","who":"A lawyer and the president of the BJP's Kashmir chapter.","what":"He was shot dead by gunmen on 13 September 1989 as he walked to the High Court. His killing is described as the first targeted killing of a Kashmiri Pandit leader in this period, and it deepened fear in the community.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Smt. Sheela Tickoo","date":"1989-11-01","place":"Near Habba Kadal, Srinagar","who":"A Kashmiri Pandit woman of Srinagar.","what":"She was shot dead near Habba Kadal in November 1989.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Neel Kant Ganjoo","date":"1989-11-04","place":"Maharaj Bazaar, Srinagar","who":"A retired sessions judge who had sentenced JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat to death.","what":"He was shot dead in daylight near the Srinagar High Court in early November 1989. The killing was the second in a few weeks to alarm the Pandit community.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/","img":{"url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:FilePath/Neelkanth_Ganjoo.jpg&width=400","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neelkanth_Ganjoo.jpg","license":"Public domain"}},{"name":"Prem Nath Bhat","date":"1989-12-27","place":"Anantnag","who":"A lawyer and journalist, well liked by people of all communities.","what":"Armed men came to his home, took him out and shot him dead. His killing came soon after that of Judge Ganjoo.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"M.L.Bhan","date":"1990-01-15"},{"name":"P.K.Kotru","date":"1990-01-19"},{"name":"Satish Kumar Tickoo","date":"1990-02-02","place":"Habba Kadal, Srinagar","who":"A young man and social worker who knew a future militant from his neighbourhood.","what":"He was shot dead near his own home. The account says he was killed because he had seen a weapon at an acquaintance's house.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Tej Krishen Razdan","date":"1990-02-12"},{"name":"Lassa Kaul","date":"1990-02-13","place":"Bhan Mohalla, Srinagar","who":"The station director of Doordarshan (television) in Srinagar.","what":"He was shot dead outside his house on 13 February 1990. He had been accused of relaying anti-militancy news.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Anil Bhan","date":"1990-02-16"},{"name":"Ashok Qazi","date":"1990-02-23"},{"name":"Naveen Saproo","date":"1990-02-27"},{"name":"P.N. Handoo","date":"1990-03-01"},{"name":"Jagar Nath","date":"1990-03-03"},{"name":"Nirmala Raina","date":"1990-03-06"},{"name":"Kashi Nath","date":"1990-03-06"},{"name":"Rattan Lal","date":"1990-03-10"},{"name":"T.K.Razdan","date":"1990-03-15"},{"name":"A.K.Raina","date":"1990-03-19"},{"name":"B. K. Ganjoo","date":"1990-03-19","place":"Kashmir Valley","who":"An engineer in the Telecommunication Department.","what":"He was shot dead in his home by armed men in March 1990.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Gulshan Lal Raina","date":"1990-03-19"},{"name":"Avtar Krishan Raina","date":"1990-03-20"},{"name":"Gulshan Lal Lamba","date":"1990-03-21"},{"name":"P.L.Foteadar","date":"1990-03-22"},{"name":"Soom Nath Tickoo","date":"1990-03-23"},{"name":"B.L.Misiri","date":"1990-03-23"},{"name":"Triloki Nath Ambardar","date":"1990-03-23"},{"name":"Bansi Lal","date":"1990-03-24"},{"name":"A.K.Bazaz","date":"1990-03-26"},{"name":"Prem Nath Koul","date":"1990-04-05"},{"name":"Prem Nath Tickoo","date":"1990-04-05"},{"name":"K.K.Koul","date":"1990-04-05"},{"name":"Radha Krishan","date":"1990-04-05"},{"name":"Radha Krishan Koul","date":"1990-04-06"},{"name":"Ashok Kumar","date":"1990-04-06"},{"name":"H.L.Khera","date":"1990-04-06"},{"name":"Rameesh Peer","date":"1990-04-06"},{"name":"Kari Lal","date":"1990-04-09"},{"name":"Makhan Lal Wanganoo","date":"1990-04-10"},{"name":"Sarla Bhat","date":"1990-04-19","place":"Kashmir Valley","who":"A nurse.","what":"She was abducted in April 1990 and later found dead by the roadside.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Makhan Lal","date":"1990-04-21"},{"name":"Susheel Kr. Kotru","date":"1990-04-23"},{"name":"Sushil Kr Kotru","date":"1990-04-23"},{"name":"Niranjan Nath","date":"1990-04-24"},{"name":"Bansi Lal Sapru","date":"1990-04-24"},{"name":"Narender Nath","date":"1990-04-24"},{"name":"Narender Nath","date":"1990-04-24"},{"name":"Ravinder Kr. Pandit","date":"1990-04-25"},{"name":"Kashi Ram","date":"1990-04-25"},{"name":"Bushan Lal","date":"1990-04-26"},{"name":"Dr. Raj Nath","date":"1990-04-26"},{"name":"Brij Nath","date":"1990-04-26"},{"name":"Raj Nath Raina","date":"1990-04-26"},{"name":"Bansi Lal","date":"1990-04-27","night":"27–28"},{"name":"Bharat Bhushan","date":"1990-04-27","night":"27–28"},{"name":"Predhiman Krishan Bhat","date":"1990-04-28"},{"name":"Gushi Lal","date":"1990-04-29"},{"name":"M.L.Pandita","date":"1990-04-29"},{"name":"Dileep Kumar","date":"1990-04-30"},{"name":"Heera Lal Khar","date":"1990-04-30"},{"name":"Sarwanand Koul Premi","date":"1990-04-30","place":"Anantnag district","who":"A 64-year-old poet and scholar who had translated the Bhagavad Gita into Kashmiri.","what":"Armed men took him from his home with his son for 'enquiry' and killed them both in a nearby wooded area, around 30 April 1990.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/","img":{"url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:FilePath/Sarwanand_Koul_Premi.jpg&width=400","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sarwanand_Koul_Premi.jpg","license":"CC0"}},{"name":"Virender Kumar","date":"1990-04-30","place":"Anantnag district","who":"The 27-year-old son of the poet Sarwanand Koul Premi (named in the account as Virender Koul).","what":"He was taken from the family home along with his father and killed with him in a nearby wooded area, around 30 April 1990.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Dawarika Nath","date":"1990-05-01"},{"name":"Chuni Lal Shalla","date":"1990-05-01"},{"name":"Makhan Lal Thaploo","date":"1990-05-02"},{"name":"Avtar Krishan","date":"1990-05-02"},{"name":"Chuni Lal Shalla","date":"1990-05-02"},{"name":"Prof. K. L. Ganjoo","date":"1990-05-02","night":"02–03","place":"Sopore","who":"A professor, husband of Prana Ganjoo.","what":"He and his wife were abducted in May 1990 and both were killed.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Smt. Prana Ganjoo","date":"1990-05-02","night":"02–03","place":"Sopore","who":"The wife of Prof. K.L. Ganjoo.","what":"She and her husband were abducted in May 1990 and both were killed.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Vinod Kr. Chatta","date":"1990-05-03"},{"name":"Vinod Kumar","date":"1990-05-03"},{"name":"Daya Krishn","date":"1990-05-03"},{"name":"Suriend Chand","date":"1990-05-04"},{"name":"Mohan Lal Bhat","date":"1990-05-04"},{"name":"Ramesh Kr. Raina","date":"1990-05-05"},{"name":"Surinder Dhar","date":"1990-05-05"},{"name":"Vinod Kumar","date":"1990-05-06"},{"name":"Vinod Kumar","date":"1990-05-06"},{"name":"Kundan Lal Ganjoo","date":"1990-05-07"},{"name":"Dolly","date":"1990-05-07"},{"name":"Ramesh Kr Raina","date":"1990-05-07"},{"name":"Bihari Lal Labaroo","date":"1990-05-09"},{"name":"Rattan Lal","date":"1990-05-10"},{"name":"Babli Raina","date":"1990-05-10"},{"name":"Surinder Kumar","date":"1990-05-10"},{"name":"Moti Lal Bhat","date":"1990-05-10"},{"name":"Babli Raina","date":"1990-05-10"},{"name":"Amar Nath Bagati","date":"1990-05-11"},{"name":"Omkar Nath","date":"1990-05-11"},{"name":"Poshkar Nath","date":"1990-05-11"},{"name":"Mohan Lal","date":"1990-05-13"},{"name":"Inderjeet","date":"1990-05-13"},{"name":"Veer Ji (also called Vaid Ji Bhat)","date":"1990-05-13"},{"name":"Ashok Kumar","date":"1990-05-13"},{"name":"Bushan Lal","date":"1990-05-13"},{"name":"Daya Krishen Dullo","date":"1990-05-13"},{"name":"Mam Mohan Sharma","date":"1990-05-15"},{"name":"Saroop Nath","date":"1990-05-15"},{"name":"A.K.Wazir","date":"1990-05-15"},{"name":"Bushan Lal Koul","date":"1990-05-16"},{"name":"Bushan Lal","date":"1990-05-17"},{"name":"Sham Lal Sharma","date":"1990-05-17"},{"name":"Chuni Lal","date":"1990-05-17"},{"name":"Suresh Kr. Kissu","date":"1990-05-17"},{"name":"Manmohan Bachloo","date":"1990-05-18"},{"name":"Jiya Lal Kaw","date":"1990-05-18"},{"name":"Minor","date":"1990-05-18"},{"name":"Dileep Kumar","date":"1990-05-19"},{"name":"Moti Lal Raina","date":"1990-05-20"},{"name":"Dileep Ji","date":"1990-05-21"},{"name":"Prathivi Nath Hakim","date":"1990-05-21"},{"name":"Chaman Lal Pandit","date":"1990-05-22"},{"name":"Prem Nath Bhat","date":"1990-05-23"},{"name":"Shambu Nath","date":"1990-05-24"},{"name":"Bansi Lal Sharma","date":"1990-05-24"},{"name":"Prem Nath Bhat","date":"1990-05-25"},{"name":"Shanker Dass","date":"1990-05-26"},{"name":"Chaman Lal Tickoo","date":"1990-05-28"},{"name":"Seema Alias Babli","date":"1990-05-28"},{"name":"Ramesh Kr Raina","date":"1990-05-28"},{"name":"Maharaj Krishen","date":"1990-05-30"},{"name":"Jawahir Lal Wanchoo","date":"1990-05-30"},{"name":"Krishan Lal Wagroo","date":"1990-05-31"},{"name":"Chaman Lal Tickoo","date":"1990-05-31"},{"name":"Avtar Krishen","date":"1990-05-31"},{"name":"Jagar Nath","date":"1990-05-31"},{"name":"J.L. Ganjoo","date":"1990-06","place":"Ban Mohalla, Srinagar","who":"A resident of Ban Mohalla.","what":"He was killed in his home in June 1990, with members of his family.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Ramesh Kumar","date":"1990-06-01"},{"name":"Kana Ya Lal Bhat","date":"1990-06-01"},{"name":"Badri Nath","date":"1990-06-02"},{"name":"Damodhar Raina","date":"1990-06-02"},{"name":"Bushan Lal Koul","date":"1990-06-02"},{"name":"Damodar Swaroop Raina","date":"1990-06-02"},{"name":"Satish Lal Kalla","date":"1990-06-03"},{"name":"Shiban Krishen Kulla","date":"1990-06-03"},{"name":"Aftab Ram","date":"1990-06-04"},{"name":"Gokal Nath","date":"1990-06-04"},{"name":"Radha Krishan Patwari","date":"1990-06-06"},{"name":"Jawahir Lal Bhat","date":"1990-06-06"},{"name":"Ramesh Kr. Raina","date":"1990-06-07"},{"name":"Raj Kr. Jailkhani","date":"1990-06-07"},{"name":"Sham Lal","date":"1990-06-07"},{"name":"Radha Krishan","date":"1990-06-07"},{"name":"Smt. Girija Tickoo","date":"1990-06-11","place":"Kupwara district","who":"A teacher at a government school.","what":"She was abducted as she left the school after collecting her salary, and was killed in June 1990.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Inder Kumar","date":"1990-06-11"},{"name":"Kanaya Lal","date":"1990-06-11"},{"name":"Soom Nath","date":"1990-06-11"},{"name":"Girja Kumari Tickoo","date":"1990-06-11","place":"Kupwara district","what":"She was abducted as she left the school after collecting her salary, and was killed in June 1990.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Ashok Kr. Pandita","date":"1990-06-12"},{"name":"Kanya Lal","date":"1990-06-12"},{"name":"Triloki Nath","date":"1990-06-12"},{"name":"Chuni Lal","date":"1990-06-13"},{"name":"Dayaram Koul","date":"1990-06-13"},{"name":"Rugh Nath","date":"1990-06-14"},{"name":"Rugh Nath","date":"1990-06-14"},{"name":"A.K.Safaya","date":"1990-06-15"},{"name":"Dayaram Koul","date":"1990-06-15"},{"name":"Ramchand","date":"1990-06-15"},{"name":"Saroop Nath","date":"1990-06-16"},{"name":"Gopi Chand","date":"1990-06-17"},{"name":"Badri Nath Koul","date":"1990-06-18"},{"name":"Jawahir Lal Ganjoo","date":"1990-06-18"},{"name":"Smt. Parana Ganjoo","date":"1990-06-18"},{"name":"Smt. Durga Koul","date":"1990-06-18"},{"name":"Rajinder Kr. Tickoo","date":"1990-06-20"},{"name":"Sanjay Thusoo","date":"1990-06-21"},{"name":"Smt. Gigari","date":"1990-06-22"},{"name":"Bal Krishen Tatoo","date":"1990-06-22"},{"name":"Baljee","date":"1990-06-22"},{"name":"Makhan Lal Raina","date":"1990-06-22"},{"name":"Makhan Lal Raina","date":"1990-06-22"},{"name":"M.L.Bhat","date":"1990-06-22","night":"22–23"},{"name":"Ashok Kumar","date":"1990-06-23"},{"name":"Prathavi Nath Tickoo","date":"1990-06-23"},{"name":"Ashwani Kumar","date":"1990-06-23"},{"name":"Ashok Kr. Kotha","date":"1990-06-24"},{"name":"Soom Nath","date":"1990-06-24"},{"name":"Chaman Lal Tickoo","date":"1990-06-24"},{"name":"Soom Nath Koul","date":"1990-06-24"},{"name":"Badri Nath Wattal","date":"1990-06-25"},{"name":"Satish Kr Raina","date":"1990-06-25"},{"name":"Brij Lal Raina","date":"1990-06-26"},{"name":"Satish Kumar","date":"1990-06-26"},{"name":"Gopal Nath","date":"1990-06-26"},{"name":"Ramesh Razdan","date":"1990-06-26"},{"name":"T.N.Raina","date":"1990-06-26"},{"name":"Yogesh Kumar","date":"1990-06-26"},{"name":"Gopi Nath Raina","date":"1990-06-26"},{"name":"Brij Lal Raina","date":"1990-06-26"},{"name":"Ramesh Razdan","date":"1990-06-26"},{"name":"Brij Lal Raina","date":"1990-06-26"},{"name":"Smt. Babli","date":"1990-06-28"},{"name":"Smt. Roopawati","date":"1990-06-28"},{"name":"Vivak Labaroo (also called Shabajee)","date":"1990-06-29"},{"name":"Omkar Nath Mattoo","date":"1990-06-30"},{"name":"Prof. Neel Kant Raina","date":"1990-06-30","place":"Fateh Kadal, Srinagar","who":"A professor in the state higher education department, an historian and researcher, known as Lala.","what":"Masked gunmen called him out at dusk at his home and shot him. He had been researching the Buddhist history of the Jama Masjid in Nowhatta.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Rajinder","date":"1990-06-30"},{"name":"Omkar Nath Mattoo","date":"1990-06-30"},{"name":"Dr. Shani","date":"1990-07","place":"Karan Nagar, Srinagar","who":"A doctor.","what":"She was killed when her house was set on fire, in July 1990.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Trilkoi Nath","date":"1990-07-01"},{"name":"N.G.Sadhu","date":"1990-07-01"},{"name":"Dina Nath","date":"1990-07-01"},{"name":"Raj Nath Dhar","date":"1990-07-01"},{"name":"Smt. Girja Dhar","date":"1990-07-01"},{"name":"Smt. Teja Dhar","date":"1990-07","place":"Ali Kadal, Srinagar","who":"A working woman.","what":"She was shot dead on the roadside in July 1990.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Predhiman Krishan","date":"1990-07-02"},{"name":"Smt. Arandatti","date":"1990-07-02"},{"name":"Makhan Lal","date":"1990-07-03"},{"name":"Mohan Lal","date":"1990-07-03"},{"name":"Satish Kumar","date":"1990-07-06"},{"name":"Jawahir Lal Bhat","date":"1990-07-06"},{"name":"Gopi Nath Raina","date":"1990-07-07"},{"name":"Dina Nath Mujoo","date":"1990-07-07"},{"name":"Gopi Nath Raina","date":"1990-07-07"},{"name":"Shiban Koul","date":"1990-07-08"},{"name":"Gouri Shanker","date":"1990-07-09"},{"name":"Avtar Krishan","date":"1990-07-09"},{"name":"Inder Krishan","date":"1990-07-10"},{"name":"Shambu Nath","date":"1990-07-11"},{"name":"Inder Kumar","date":"1990-07-11"},{"name":"Nanaji","date":"1990-07","place":"Batamaloo, Srinagar","who":"A Kashmiri Pandit woman.","what":"She was shot dead on the roadside in July 1990.","source":"https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"},{"name":"Shiban Lal Koul","date":"1990-07-11"},{"name":"Jiwan Lal","date":"1990-07-15"},{"name":"Bishambar Nath Koul","date":"1990-07-15","night":"15–16"},{"name":"Radha Krishan Koul","date":"1990-07-15","night":"15–16"},{"name":"Vaid Prakesh Koul","date":"1990-07-16"},{"name":"Brij Nath Koul","date":"1990-07-16"},{"name":"Ananad Narayan","date":"1990-07-17"},{"name":"Chand Ram Kher","date":"1990-07-17"},{"name":"Dr. Soni","date":"1990-07-18"},{"name":"Brij Nath Koul","date":"1990-07-19"},{"name":"Janki Nath","date":"1990-07-20"},{"name":"Nath Ji","date":"1990-07-26"},{"name":"Vaid Lal","date":"1990-07-26"},{"name":"Janki Nath","date":"1990-07-26"},{"name":"Gouri Shanker","date":"1990-07-29"},{"name":"Adarsh Jee","date":"1990-07-29"},{"name":"O. N. Motta","date":"1990-07-29"},{"name":"Jai Krishan","date":"1990-08-02"},{"name":"Ram Nath Bhat","date":"1990-08-06"},{"name":"R.K.Handoo","date":"1990-08-09"},{"name":"Saroop Narayan","date":"1990-08-10"},{"name":"Manoj Kumar","date":"1990-08-10"},{"name":"Prathavi Nath Bali","date":"1990-08-10"},{"name":"Vasudev Pandit","date":"1990-08-11"},{"name":"D.N.Choedhary","date":"1990-08-11"},{"name":"Rashanlal Chowdhary","date":"1990-08-11"},{"name":"Vasudev Pandita","date":"1990-08-11"},{"name":"Autar Krishen Pandita","date":"1990-08-12"},{"name":"Darshan Koul","date":"1990-08-15"},{"name":"Masher Nath","date":"1990-08-16"},{"name":"Rattan Lal Raina","date":"1990-08-18"},{"name":"Shanker Nath Tiku","date":"1990-08-21"},{"name":"Bansi Lal Raina","date":"1990-08-28"},{"name":"Omkar Nath Koul","date":"1990-08-29"},{"name":"Shadi Lal Bhat","date":"1990-09-04"},{"name":"Prathvi Nath","date":"1990-09-05","night":"05–06"},{"name":"Makhan Lal","date":"1990-09-08"},{"name":"Hiday Nath","date":"1990-09-09"},{"name":"Gouri Shanker","date":"1990-09-10"},{"name":"Smt. Trikaji","date":"1990-09-10"},{"name":"Triloki Nath","date":"1990-09-11"},{"name":"Ramesh Kumar","date":"1990-09-12"},{"name":"Avtar Krishen","date":"1990-09-12","night":"12–13"},{"name":"Dawarika Nath","date":"1990-09-13"},{"name":"Avtar Krishan Raina","date":"1990-09-14"},{"name":"Rattan Lal Pandita","date":"1990-09-17"},{"name":"Pairay Lal Raina","date":"1990-09-23"},{"name":"Durga Prasad","date":"1990-10-05"},{"name":"D.P.Khazanchi","date":"1990-10-06"},{"name":"Jagar Nath","date":"1990-10-07"},{"name":"Zind Lal","date":"1990-10-07"},{"name":"Jagar Nath Pandita","date":"1990-10-07"},{"name":"Poshkar Nath Razdan","date":"1990-10-12"},{"name":"Smt. Usha Ji","date":"1990-10-14"},{"name":"Ausha Koul","date":"1990-10-14"},{"name":"Dr. Shiban Ji Khirdi","date":"1990-10-14"},{"name":"Rajinder Koul","date":"1990-10-14"},{"name":"Satush Koul","date":"1990-10-14"},{"name":"Smt. Neeta Ji","date":"1990-10-14"},{"name":"Smt. Nancy Koul","date":"1990-10-14"},{"name":"Usha Kumari Koul","date":"1990-10-14"},{"name":"Ratinder Koul","date":"1990-10-14"},{"name":"Radha Krishen Bhat","date":"1990-10-15"},{"name":"Makhan Lal Bhat","date":"1990-10-17"},{"name":"Prem Nath Bhat","date":"1990-10-17"},{"name":"Poshker Nath","date":"1990-10-18"},{"name":"Smt. Pinki Koul","date":"1990-11-09"},{"name":"Mohan Lal Koul","date":"1990-11-19"},{"name":"Omkar Natn Wali","date":"1991-01-02"},{"name":"Baldev Raj Dutta","date":"1991-01-19"},{"name":"Madan Mohan","date":"1991-06-11"},{"name":"Kashi Nath Koul","date":"1991-06-13"},{"name":"Nanajee","date":"1991-06-13"},{"name":"Smt. Rohini","date":"1991-06-22"},{"name":"Smt. Rohini","date":"1991-06-22"},{"name":"Mohan Lal Mattoo","date":"1991-07-01"},{"name":"Smt. Vijay Bhat","date":"1991-07-31"},{"name":"Surinder Kumar","date":"1991-08-26"},{"name":"Mohan Lal","date":"1991-10-08"},{"name":"Ramesh Kumar","date":"1991-10-09"},{"name":"Poshkar Nath","date":"1991-10-12"},{"name":"Mehesher Nath","date":"1991-10-15"},{"name":"Sham Lal Pandith","date":"1991-10-15"},{"name":"Kanhaya Lal Peshin","date":"1991-10-18"},{"name":"Kanaya Lal","date":"1991-10-19"},{"name":"Janki Nath Koul","date":"1991-12-14"},{"name":"Archana Braroo","date":"1992-03-30"},{"name":"Smt. Bimala Braroo","date":"1992-03-30"},{"name":"Sohan Lal Braroo","date":"1992-03-30"},{"name":"Rattan Lal Hali","date":"1992-05-20"},{"name":"Dura Nath Rafiz","date":"1992-06-03"},{"name":"Chaman Lal Koul","date":"1992-10-11"},{"name":"Soom Nath Raina","date":"1992-10-11"},{"name":"H.N.Wanchoo","date":"1992-12-05","place":"Srinagar","who":"Hriday Nath Wanchoo, a trade unionist who worked for sanitation workers and documented human rights abuses.","what":"He was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on 5 December 1992. Who was behind his killing is disputed.","source":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hriday_Nath_Wanchoo"},{"name":"Smt. Asha Pandit","date":"1992-12-29"},{"name":"Tej Krishen","date":"1993-02-12"},{"name":"Prem Nath Bhat","date":"1993-06-06"},{"name":"Jagar Nath","date":"1993-07-06"},{"name":"Neel Kant Lala","date":"1993-07-25"},{"name":"Kanya Lal Dudha","date":"1993-08-14"},{"name":"Avtar Krishen","date":"1993-10-24"},{"name":"Pradeep Kumar Bhat","date":"1994-01-28"},{"name":"Sanjay Kumar (also called Chako)","date":"1994-05-10"},{"name":"Piyar Lal Raina","date":"1994-07-13"},{"name":"Tej Krishen Bhat","date":"1994-12-03"},{"name":"Sona Ram","date":"1995-07-25"},{"name":"Chuni Lal Bhat","date":"1996-05-12"},{"name":"Raj Nath","date":"1996-06-05"},{"name":"Avtar Krishan","date":"1997-03-21","night":"21–22"},{"name":"Bushan Lal Bhat","date":"1997-03-21","night":"21–22"},{"name":"Deeleep Bhat","date":"1997-03-21","night":"21–22"},{"name":"Pairay Lal Pandit","date":"1997-03-21","night":"21–22"},{"name":"Sanjay Bhat","date":"1997-03-21","night":"21–22"},{"name":"Triloki Nath","date":"1997-03-21","night":"21–22"},{"name":"Vijay Bhat","date":"1997-03-21","night":"21–22"},{"name":"Akshay Kumar","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Badri Nath","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Jyoti","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Kashi Nath","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Meenakshi","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Moti Lal Bhat","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Rakesh Kumar","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Sanjay Kr. Bhat","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Sarika","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Sarla Kumari","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Seema Kumari","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Smt. Choti","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Smt. Dulari","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Smt. Neeru Ji","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Sudarshan","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Triloki Nath","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Vijay Kumar","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Vikas Kumar","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Vinod Kumar","date":"1998-01-25"},{"name":"Ashok Kumar","date":"2000-02-04"},{"name":"Unshoo","date":"2000-02-04"},{"name":"Veer Ji","date":"2000-02-04"},{"name":"Brij Nath Bhat","date":"2000-03-04"},{"name":"Smt. Lakhshmi Devi","date":"2001-12-21"},{"name":"Smt. Soni","date":"2001-12-21"},{"name":"Amit Kher","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Avtar Krishan","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Bansi Lal","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Bansi Lal","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Jiga Kumari","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Lasa Koul","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Lok Nath","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Mohan Lal","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Muna","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Pretam Krishen","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Pretam Kumari","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Princy Kumari","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Radha Krishen Bhat","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Rajani","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Rajini Kumari","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Radha Krishen Bhat","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Rajani","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Rajini Kumari","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Rakesh Kumar","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Smt. Suman Ji","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Smt. Soomavati","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Smt. Asha","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Suraj","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Triloki Nath","date":"2003-03-24"},{"name":"Tej Krishan","date":"2004-12-03"},{"name":"Ajay Pandita","date":"2020-06-08","place":"Lukbawan, Larkipora, Anantnag","who":"The elected sarpanch of Lukbawan village.","what":"He was shot dead by militants in his orchard on the evening of 8 June 2020.","source":"https://scroll.in/latest/964178/j-k-congress-sarpanch-killed-by-militants-in-anantnag-political-parties-condemn-attack"},{"name":"Makhan Lal Bindroo","date":"2021-10-06","place":"Iqbal Park, Srinagar","who":"A chemist who had stayed in the valley through the 1990s.","what":"He was shot dead at his pharmacy on 6 October 2021.","source":"https://www.outlookindia.com/national/kashmiri-pandit-cop-killings-and-kashmir-s-unending-blood-trail-news-196496"},{"name":"Rahul Bhat","date":"2022-05-12","place":"Chadoora, Budgam","who":"A 36-year-old government clerk, employed under the Prime Minister's package for Kashmiri Pandits.","what":"He was shot dead inside his office on 12 May 2022.","source":"https://www.outlookindia.com/national/kashmiri-pandit-cop-killings-and-kashmir-s-unending-blood-trail-news-196496"},{"name":"Sunil Kumar Bhat","date":"2022-08-16","place":"Shopian","who":"A Kashmiri Pandit apple grower.","what":"He was shot dead while working in his orchard on 16 August 2022; his brother was wounded.","source":"https://hindupost.in/terrorism/kashmiri-hindu-sunil-bhat-shot-dead-brother-injured-in-latest-targeted-killing/"},{"name":"Puran Krishan Bhat","date":"2022-10-15","place":"Shopian","who":"A 56-year-old Kashmiri Pandit.","what":"He was shot dead near his home on 15 October 2022.","source":"https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/kpss-questions-bjps-intentions-after-another-kashmiri-pandit-killed-in-shopian"},{"name":"Sanjay Sharma","date":"2023-02-26","place":"Achhan, Pulwama","who":"A Kashmiri Pandit who worked as a bank guard.","what":"He was shot dead in his village on 26 February 2023.","source":"https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/j-k/sia-kashmir-files-charge-sheet-against-12-in-kashmiri-pandit-atm-guards-killing-case-583068"}],"source":"https://kashmirblogs.wordpress.com/2019/03/30/small-list-of-kashmiri-pandits-killed-by-militants/","note":"Names and dates as compiled by community organisations and republished online in 2019, with later names and details added from the news reports and studies linked beside them. Some dates differ between records. The list is incomplete: community organisations count more people than it names."},"community":{"sections":[{"heading":"What happened in 1989–90 and after, as these voices describe it","text":"Speakers in these sources describe the winter of 1989–90 as the moment when the Hindu community of the Kashmir Valley was driven out of its homes. Ajay Chrungoo describes a pattern he calls \"kill one, frighten a hundred\": prominent individuals singled out and killed in ways meant to terrify everyone else, alongside what he describes as burnings, mutilations and bodies left for families to find, with police and hospital help, in his account, often withheld. He says the community was small, scattered across villages and mohallas rather than concentrated, which left it exposed.  He says that by his community's own count roughly 1,200 people were killed up to 1991, and that in that early period the civilian killings were of Hindus. He also describes himself being targeted at the hospital where he worked. Sushil Pandit describes families leaving in mid-winter with only what they could carry, not telling neighbours or even relatives for fear, so that friends later met in Jammu unable to meet each other's eyes.  Rahul Pandita, a journalist who lived through it, cautions that the scale of killing is sometimes exaggerated in retelling, and argues the story must be told in a documented, truthful way."},{"heading":"How they explain why it happened","text":"The speakers reject the description of these events as an \"azadi\" or freedom struggle.  Sushil Pandit puts it the same way: being Kashmiri did not help them, being Hindu was treated as the offence, and the fight, as he sees it, was for Islam and for a Muslim-majority Kashmir to leave a Hindu-majority India. Chrungoo places this in a much longer frame, describing earlier waves of forced conversion and temple destruction in Kashmir, and arguing that what is called Kashmiriyat and \"Rishi Islam\" was in fact a conversion process, not a shared culture. His broadest claim concerns ideology. Discussing Brigadier S. K. Malik's book The Quranic Concept of War, which he says was published in Zia-ul-Haq's time and used in Pakistani military training, he argues that it presents war as continuous rather than episodic, that it treats terror in the hearts of opponents as the objective rather than a by-product, and that ordinary words — peace, justice, aggression, defence — carry different meanings inside that framework. He argues this is a \"total war\" aimed at a people's symbols, language, dress and memory, not only their faith. He says non-Muslims must understand this frame of reference rather than judge it by their own. Rahul Pandita's emphasis is different: he stresses accuracy over large words."},{"heading":"What they say governments, courts and the media did and did not do","text":"These are the speakers' own charges, and they are directed across the political spectrum. Chrungoo argues that the Indian state called the events \"migration\" and the people \"migrants\" rather than recognising a genocide, and says it even described the displacement in one official communication as self-imposed. He says no law exists in India to address the crime of genocide despite India's early support for the UN convention. In his essay he criticises the National Human Rights Commission for, as he sees it, sticking too closely to legal form, searching for a specific intent, and concluding that the killings were \"akin to genocide\" but short of it; he also objects to widening the period examined to 1989–97, which he says blurs the fact that Pandits alone were targeted early on. He says the Congress, the National Conference and the BJP all failed the community, and recounts meetings with officials in which, he says, responsibility was passed from one desk to another. Sushil Pandit speaks of betrayal by the media, by Hindus elsewhere in India, and by successive governments in Delhi.  On the other side, Chrungoo acknowledges that the abrogation of Article 370 removed what he calls the de jure Muslim-state structure, while arguing the de facto arrangement remains."},{"heading":"What they ask for","text":"Panun Kashmir's position, as Chrungoo states it, rests on three pillars. First, official recognition that what happened was genocide, not migration — he argues that without this, any talk of return amounts to what he calls denial or consolidation of genocide, and that telling victims their issue is over is itself part of the harm. Second, a law: he says the organisation has handed the government a draft bill so that genocide can be addressed within Indian law, since no such provision exists. Third, that return be addressed inside that framework rather than separately. On territory, Panun Kashmir asks for a Union Territory east and north of the river Jhelum — he gives a figure of about 8% of the land — where displaced Hindus can be resettled. He is explicit that he frames this as a remedy for genocide victims, not as a demand for a religious state, and argues it also makes strategic sense because it would create land passages from Kashmir towards both Jammu and Ladakh. He notes the area has a mixed population and says there is space to create what he calls a foothold. On elections, Panun Kashmir has urged Kashmiri Hindus not to vote, arguing that postal voting from outside constituencies one no longer lives in is a contradiction and that participation risks legitimising a process that does not acknowledge the genocide; he stresses they are persuading, not coercing, and that they themselves value democracy."},{"heading":"Life in exile","text":"The speakers describe displacement as a second long ordeal rather than an end to the first. Chrungoo recalls tents, broken tent flaps, blocked drains, protests about sanitation, and the move from tents to one-room tenements. He says roughly 15,000 people died in those first years, and suggests that cremation-ground registers from that period in Jammu would show mainly Kashmiri Hindu deaths. He describes the community as dispersed across the country, holding that survival owed much to ordinary Hindu sympathy and to small openings — he mentions reserved college seats beginning in Maharashtra — rather than to state or party support, and says that wherever people went they contributed to the economy and to intellectual life. He speaks of houses occupied and then sold under pressure at a fraction of their value, and of court cases still running. He describes government jobs created for returnees as non-transferable and non-pensionable posts, and transit accommodation still incomplete, and says fewer than 800 families have gone back. He objects strongly to the suggestion that the displaced are comfortable, calling such remarks dismissive and hurtful. Sushil Pandit describes the shame that settled into relationships because people fled without telling one another, and argues the official word \"migrants\" wrongly implies a voluntary move, as though people were simply seeking better jobs. Chrungoo also notes a generation born outside Kashmir who did not see the exodus, which is why he frames his appeal as political education rather than mobilisation."}],"messages":["Speakers describe the winter of 1989–90 as a targeted campaign against the Kashmir Valley's Hindus — killings meant to terrify, followed by the destruction or occupation of homes and temples — not as a voluntary migration.","They reject the description of these events as a freedom struggle, arguing that the first and deliberate target was neighbours who were Hindu.","Ajay Chrungoo argues that the violence must be understood through an ideology of continuous war, citing Brigadier S. K. Malik's The Quranic Concept of War, in which he says terror is the objective and familiar words like peace and justice carry different meanings.","Panun Kashmir's central demand is that the Indian state officially recognise what happened as genocide and enact a law to address it, arguing that return cannot be meaningful without this.","Panun Kashmir asks for a Union Territory east and north of the Jhelum for resettlement, framed by Chrungoo as a remedy for genocide victims rather than a religious demand.","Speakers level their criticism across parties — Congress, the National Conference and the BJP alike — and at the media and the National Human Rights Commission, saying the community's case was minimised or avoided.","They describe exile as a second ordeal of camps, lost homes, insecure jobs and dispersal, and reject the suggestion that the displaced are now comfortable.","Rahul Pandita, who lived through it, cautions that retelling has sometimes exaggerated the scale of killing, and argues the story must be documented truthfully rather than carried by big words."],"links":[{"title":"Ajay Chrungoo with Sanjay Dixit: the Quranic concept of war","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_9jlvw3GzQ"},{"title":"Ajay Chrungoo on the ANI podcast","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu3EwievqAs"},{"title":"Ajay Chrungoo with Sanjay Dixit: Kashmiriyat and Rishi Islam","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4G5j7PucGE"},{"title":"Ajay Chrungoo: on secular Kashmir, jihad and ghar wapsi","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahF8pfToj1E"},{"title":"Ajay Chrungoo: Islamic terrorism and hate, why and how","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qEfYVLT7sw"},{"title":"Ajay Chrungoo: the Kashmir conundrum, Islam, Article 370 and the Supreme Court","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfAc3RhS-HQ"},{"title":"Sushil Pandit: Kashmir tragedy 1990, truth, tears and testimony","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfW_OG4yOYY"},{"title":"Rahul Pandita: Pandit exodus, beyond rhetoric","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTcHHeNofdA"},{"title":"ThePrint, Cut the Clutter: 36 years since the exodus, what happened in 1990","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtXtm8vEIGc"},{"title":"Sushil Pandit, From Manushi's introduction to a video conversation with Madhu Kishwar, the first in a series on the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits","url":"https://manushi.in/?p=7660"},{"title":"Ajay Chrungoo, Essay on the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits","url":"https://ikashmir.net/ajaychrungoo/genocide.html"}],"note":"A summary of what Kashmiri Pandit voices say in the talks and writings linked below; their views, in their words, not Kavbatt's conclusions.","brief":"Kashmiri Pandit voices describe the winter of 1989–90 as a targeted campaign against the valley's Hindus, killings meant to terrify, followed by the loss of homes and temples, not a voluntary migration. They say governments of every party, the courts and the media played it down, and they describe exile as a second ordeal of camps, lost homes and insecure jobs. Panun Kashmir asks for official recognition of genocide, a law to address it, and a homeland in the valley for return. Rahul Pandita, who lived through it, asks that the story be told truthfully, without exaggeration."}},"geo":{"note":"Places in Jammu and Kashmir from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with the community's original list marked featured. 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Dhabi","at":[24.45,54.38]},{"id":"doha","name":"Doha","at":[25.29,51.53]},{"id":"singapore","name":"Singapore","at":[1.35,103.82]},{"id":"hong-kong","name":"Hong Kong","at":[22.32,114.17]},{"id":"tokyo","name":"Tokyo","at":[35.68,139.69]},{"id":"sydney","name":"Sydney","at":[-33.87,151.21]},{"id":"melbourne","name":"Melbourne","at":[-37.81,144.96]},{"id":"auckland","name":"Auckland","at":[-36.85,174.76]},{"id":"frankfurt","name":"Frankfurt","at":[50.11,8.68]},{"id":"berlin","name":"Berlin","at":[52.52,13.4]},{"id":"munich","name":"Munich","at":[48.14,11.58]},{"id":"amsterdam","name":"Amsterdam","at":[52.37,4.9]},{"id":"paris","name":"Paris","at":[48.86,2.35]},{"id":"zurich","name":"Zurich","at":[47.38,8.54]},{"id":"stockholm","name":"Stockholm","at":[59.33,18.07]},{"id":"india-other","name":"India","label":"Elsewhere in India","at":[22.5,79]},{"id":"usa-other","name":"the USA","label":"Elsewhere in the USA","at":[39.8,-98.6]},{"id":"uk-other","name":"the UK","label":"Elsewhere in the UK or Ireland","at":[53.5,-2]},{"id":"canada-other","name":"Canada","label":"Elsewhere in Canada","at":[53,-100]},{"id":"anz-other","name":"Australia or New Zealand","label":"Elsewhere in Australia or New Zealand","at":[-27,140]},{"id":"europe-other","name":"Europe","label":"Elsewhere in Europe","at":[50,10]},{"id":"gulf-other","name":"the Gulf","label":"Elsewhere in the Gulf","at":[25,52]},{"id":"other","name":"another country","label":"Somewhere else"}]},"facts":[{"id":"f001","text":"Kalhana finished the Rajatarangini, the 'River of Kings', in 1149–50 CE. It is often called the first true work of history written in Sanskrit, because he tried to check his sources rather than simply repeat legends.","category":"History","keyWords":["Kalhana","Rajatarangini"]},{"id":"f002","text":"Kalhana's father, Champaka, served at the court of King Harsha of Kashmir. So when Kalhana wrote about Harsha's reign, he was writing about events his own family had lived through.","category":"History","keyWords":["Kalhana","King Harsha"]},{"id":"f003","text":"Queen Didda ruled Kashmir for about half a century, first as regent and then in her own name until her death in 1003 CE. Kalhana describes her as clever, ruthless and very hard to defeat.","category":"History","keyWords":["Queen Didda","Lohara dynasty"]},{"id":"f004","text":"Didda was the daughter of the king of Lohara, a hill kingdom near Poonch. Her marriage to King Kshemagupta later brought her family, the Lohara dynasty, onto the throne of Kashmir.","category":"History","keyWords":["Queen Didda","Lohara"]},{"id":"f005","text":"According to Kalhana, when the pregnant widow Yashovati was placed on the throne of Kashmir, Krishna himself told doubting advisers that the women of Kashmir are a form of the goddess Parvati.","category":"History","keyWords":["Yashovati","Rajatarangini"]},{"id":"f006","text":"Lalitaditya Muktapida, of the Karkota dynasty, ruled in the 8th century CE and led campaigns far beyond the valley. He is remembered as the builder of the great Martand Sun Temple.","category":"History","keyWords":["Lalitaditya","Martand"]},{"id":"f007","text":"Lalitaditya built a new capital called Parihaspora, near present-day Shadipora. Its ruined stupa and temple platforms can still be seen on a plateau above the Jhelum.","category":"History","keyWords":["Parihaspora","Lalitaditya"]},{"id":"f008","text":"King Avantivarman, who ruled from 855 to 883 CE, founded the town of Avantipur. The ruins of two of his temples, Avantiswami (to Vishnu) and Avantishvara (to Shiva), still stand beside the Srinagar–Jammu highway.","category":"History","keyWords":["Avantivarman","Avantipur"]},{"id":"f009","text":"Kalhana tells how Suyya, Avantivarman's engineer, threw pots of coins into a blocked river so that villagers would dive in and clear the rocks while hunting for money. The drained land was then used for farming.","category":"History","keyWords":["Suyya","Avantivarman"]},{"id":"f010","text":"The town of Sopore takes its name from Suyya, the 9th-century engineer: its old name was Suyyapura.","category":"History","keyWords":["Sopore","Suyya"]},{"id":"f011","text":"Kalhana names the Hun ruler Mihirakula as one of the cruellest kings of Kashmir. A story in the Rajatarangini says he enjoyed the cries of an elephant falling from a cliff on the Pir Panjal.","category":"History","keyWords":["Mihirakula","Rajatarangini"]},{"id":"f012","text":"Kalhana credits King Meghavahana with forbidding the killing of animals throughout his kingdom. It is one of the earliest recorded animal-protection laws in South Asia, though its date is legendary.","category":"History","keyWords":["Meghavahana","Rajatarangini"]},{"id":"f013","text":"The Rajatarangini says Jalauka, a son of the emperor Ashoka, ruled Kashmir and was a devoted worshipper of Shiva. Historians treat much of this early part of the chronicle as tradition rather than proven fact.","category":"History","keyWords":["Jalauka","Ashoka"]},{"id":"f014","text":"Srinagar's old site, Pandrethan, comes from 'Puranadhishthana', meaning 'the old capital'. The present city grew from Pravarapura, founded by King Pravarasena II.","category":"History","keyWords":["Pandrethan","Pravarasena"]},{"id":"f015","text":"King Harsha of Kashmir (ruled 1089–1101) was a gifted poet and musician, yet Kalhana records that he appointed an official to strip temple images of their gold and silver to fill his treasury.","category":"History","keyWords":["King Harsha","Kalhana"]},{"id":"f016","text":"Kota Rani was the last Hindu ruler of Kashmir. After her death in 1339, Shah Mir founded the Shah Mir dynasty of sultans.","category":"History","keyWords":["Kota Rani","Shah Mir"]},{"id":"f017","text":"Sultan Sikandar, who ruled from about 1389 to 1413, is remembered as 'Butshikan', the idol-breaker. The chronicler Jonaraja records temple destruction and pressure on Pandits during his reign.","category":"History","keyWords":["Sultan Sikandar","Jonaraja"]},{"id":"f018","text":"Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin (ruled roughly 1420–1470) is still lovingly called 'Budshah', the Great King. He invited back Pandits who had fled, restored their right to follow their faith and employed them at court.","category":"History","keyWords":["Zain-ul-Abidin","Budshah"]},{"id":"f019","text":"Tradition says Zain-ul-Abidin fell seriously ill and was cured by a Pandit physician, Shri Bhatta. Asked to name his reward, Shri Bhatta asked only for his community's freedoms to be restored.","category":"History","keyWords":["Shri Bhatta","Zain-ul-Abidin"]},{"id":"f020","text":"Zain-ul-Abidin had the Rajatarangini and other Sanskrit works translated into Persian. The Zaina Kadal bridge in Srinagar is named after him.","category":"History","keyWords":["Zain-ul-Abidin","Zaina Kadal"]},{"id":"f021","text":"The Mughal emperor Akbar annexed Kashmir in 1586. The last independent Chak king, Yusuf Shah Chak, the husband of the poet Habba Khatoon, died in exile in Bihar.","category":"History","keyWords":["Akbar","Yusuf Shah Chak"]},{"id":"f022","text":"Afghan (Durrani) rule over Kashmir lasted from 1752 to 1819 and is remembered as a harsh time. Pandit Birbal Dhar is said to have travelled to Lahore to ask Maharaja Ranjit Singh for help, which led to Sikh rule from 1819.","category":"History","keyWords":["Birbal Dhar","Ranjit Singh"]},{"id":"f023","text":"By the Treaty of Amritsar in 1846, the British handed Kashmir to Gulab Singh, founder of the Dogra dynasty, for 75 lakh rupees.","category":"History","keyWords":["Treaty of Amritsar","Gulab Singh"]},{"id":"f024","text":"Maharaja Hari Singh, the last Dogra ruler, signed the Instrument of Accession to India on 26 October 1947.","category":"History","keyWords":["Hari Singh","Instrument of Accession"]},{"id":"f025","text":"Kashmir's famous houseboats became popular in the late 1800s partly because the Dogra rulers did not allow outsiders, including the British, to buy land in the valley. Living on the water got round the rule.","category":"History","keyWords":["Houseboats","Dal Lake"]},{"id":"f026","text":"Kalhana dates events using the Laukika or Saptarishi era, a count of years still used in the Kashmiri Pandit almanac. Navreh marks the start of a new year in this era.","category":"History","keyWords":["Saptarishi era","Navreh"]},{"id":"f027","text":"Tradition divides Kashmiri Pandits into Banamasi and Malamasi. The story goes that families who stayed through Sikandar's persecution and those who returned under Zain-ul-Abidin came to follow slightly different calendar customs.","category":"History","keyWords":["Banamasi","Malamasi"]},{"id":"f028","text":"The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang reached Kashmir around 631 CE and stayed for about two years, studying Buddhist texts with local teachers.","category":"History","keyWords":["Xuanzang","Buddhism in Kashmir"]},{"id":"f029","text":"Buddhist tradition says the Fourth Buddhist Council was held in Kashmir under the Kushan emperor Kanishka, around the 1st–2nd century CE. The site is often placed near Harwan, above Srinagar.","category":"History","keyWords":["Fourth Buddhist Council","Kanishka"]},{"id":"f030","text":"At Harwan, archaeologists found moulded terracotta floor tiles showing dancers, archers, animals and even people in Central Asian dress, which reveal Kashmir's links along trade routes.","category":"History","keyWords":["Harwan","terracotta tiles"]},{"id":"f031","text":"The scholar Al-Biruni, writing around 1030 CE, noted that Hindu learning had retreated to places such as Kashmir and Benares, where outsiders could not easily reach it.","category":"History","keyWords":["Al-Biruni","Sharada Desha"]},{"id":"f032","text":"For centuries Kashmiri Pandits served rulers of every faith as administrators and record-keepers. Pandits who worked in government were known as 'Karkun', while priests formed a separate group.","category":"History","keyWords":["Karkun","Kashmiri Pandits"]},{"id":"f033","text":"Under the Mughals and later rulers, many Kashmiri Pandits became masters of Persian and wrote Persian poetry and official records alongside their Sanskrit learning.","category":"History","keyWords":["Persian","Karkun"]},{"id":"f034","text":"Kalhana says that in the early 12th century Kashmir suffered from a feudal class of landlords called Damaras, who often fought the kings.","category":"History","keyWords":["Damaras","Kalhana"]},{"id":"f035","text":"The chronicle begun by Kalhana was continued by Jonaraja, then by his pupil Shrivara, and later by Prajyabhatta and Shuka, carrying the story of Kashmir into Mughal times.","category":"History","keyWords":["Jonaraja","Shrivara"]},{"id":"f036","text":"Kalhana wrote that at the start of Kashmir's history, the land was ruled by a king called Gonanda I, who he says lived at the time of the Mahabharata war.","category":"History","keyWords":["Gonanda","Rajatarangini"]},{"id":"f037","text":"Kashmir became part of a union territory on 31 October 2019, after Parliament changed the special status the region had held under Article 370.","category":"History","keyWords":["Article 370","Jammu and Kashmir"]},{"id":"f038","text":"The Jawahar Tunnel under the Banihal Pass opened in 1956 and for decades was the main road link between Kashmir and the rest of India in winter.","category":"History","keyWords":["Jawahar Tunnel","Banihal"]},{"id":"f039","text":"In 2025 trains began running across the Chenab Bridge, the world's highest railway arch bridge, finally linking the Kashmir valley to India's national rail network.","category":"History","keyWords":["Chenab Bridge","railway"]},{"id":"f040","text":"The ruins of Martand's Sun Temple are thought to have been damaged in the reign of Sultan Sikandar. Even ruined, its great colonnaded courtyard shows how grand it once was.","category":"History","keyWords":["Martand","Sultan Sikandar"]},{"id":"f041","text":"Pandit Kalhana listed eleven earlier histories he had consulted, most now lost, and said he also studied inscriptions and coins, much as a modern historian would.","category":"History","keyWords":["Kalhana","historical method"]},{"id":"f042","text":"Shankaravarman, who followed Avantivarman, founded the town of Pattan, where the ruins of the Shankaragaurishvara and Sugandhesha temples still stand.","category":"History","keyWords":["Pattan","Shankaravarman"]},{"id":"f043","text":"Queen Sugandha, wife of Shankaravarman, ruled Kashmir herself around 904–906 CE and gave her name to the Sugandhesha temple at Pattan.","category":"History","keyWords":["Queen Sugandha","Pattan"]},{"id":"f044","text":"The Nilamata Purana tells how Kashmir was once a vast lake called Satisar, the lake of the goddess Sati. The sage Kashyapa had it drained so that people could live in the valley.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Nilamata Purana","Satisar"]},{"id":"f045","text":"In the Nilamata story, the lake was home to a demon called Jalodbhava, 'born of water', who could not be defeated while he stayed in the water. Once the lake was drained, the gods destroyed him.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Jalodbhava","Nilamata Purana"]},{"id":"f046","text":"The Nilamata is named after Nila, king of the Nagas (serpent spirits), who is said to have given Kashmiris the rules for their rites and festivals.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Nila Naga","Nilamata Purana"]},{"id":"f047","text":"The Nilamata tells that at first people could live in the valley only in summer, sharing it with Pishachas (goblin-like beings), until Nila's rites made year-round life possible.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Pishachas","Nilamata Purana"]},{"id":"f048","text":"Kalhana used the Nilamata Purana as one of his sources, which shows it was already an old and respected text by the 12th century.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Nilamata Purana","Kalhana"]},{"id":"f049","text":"The Rajatarangini is written in eight books called 'tarangas', meaning waves, and runs to nearly 8,000 Sanskrit verses.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Rajatarangini","taranga"]},{"id":"f050","text":"The explorer-scholar Aurel Stein produced the famous English translation of the Rajatarangini in 1900. He worked closely with a Kashmiri Pandit scholar, Pandit Govind Kaul.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Aurel Stein","Govind Kaul"]},{"id":"f051","text":"Aurel Stein loved Kashmir so much that he spent many summers working in a tent at Mohand Marg, a meadow high above the Sindh valley.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Aurel Stein","Mohand Marg"]},{"id":"f052","text":"Kalhana wrote that learning, tall houses, saffron, icy water and grapes, things hard to find even in heaven, were everyday things in Kashmir.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Kalhana","saffron"]},{"id":"f053","text":"The Kathasaritsagara, the 'Ocean of the Streams of Stories', was written by the Kashmiri poet Somadeva in the 11th century. It holds hundreds of tales, including early versions of the Vetala (ghost) stories.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Kathasaritsagara","Somadeva"]},{"id":"f054","text":"Somadeva wrote the Kathasaritsagara to cheer up Queen Suryamati, wife of King Ananta of Kashmir.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Somadeva","Suryamati"]},{"id":"f055","text":"The German scholar Johannes Hertel identified a Kashmiri version of the Panchatantra, called the Tantrakhyayika, as one of the oldest surviving forms of these famous animal fables.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Tantrakhyayika","Panchatantra"]},{"id":"f056","text":"The Kashmiri poet Kshemendra wrote clever satires about greedy officials, fake holy men and quack doctors, making him one of India's earliest satirists.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Kshemendra","satire"]},{"id":"f057","text":"Kshemendra's Dashavatara-charita retells the ten avatars of Vishnu, and unusually for its time it includes the Buddha among them.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Kshemendra","Dashavatara"]},{"id":"f058","text":"The poet Bilhana left Kashmir, travelled across India and became court poet to the Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI, whose life he told in the Vikramankadevacharita.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Bilhana","Chalukya"]},{"id":"f059","text":"Bilhana is also linked to the Chaurapanchashika, fifty verses of love poetry. Legend says he wrote them while waiting to be executed for loving a princess, but historians treat that as a story.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Bilhana","Chaurapanchashika"]},{"id":"f060","text":"The Kashmiri poet Mankha, in his 12th-century poem Shrikanthacharita, describes a real gathering of scholars at his brother's house in Kashmir, giving a rare snapshot of literary life.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Mankha","Shrikanthacharita"]},{"id":"f061","text":"The Kuttanimata, a witty 8th-century Sanskrit poem about a courtesan's advice, was written by Damodaragupta, a minister of King Jayapida of Kashmir.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Damodaragupta","Kuttanimata"]},{"id":"f062","text":"Kalhana recorded that King Jayapida gathered scholars at his court and restored the study of Patanjali's Mahabhashya, the great commentary on Sanskrit grammar.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Jayapida","Mahabhashya"]},{"id":"f063","text":"Many Kashmiri manuscripts were written on the inner bark of the Himalayan birch, called 'burza' in Kashmiri and 'bhurja' in Sanskrit.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["birch bark","burza"]},{"id":"f064","text":"The German scholar Georg Bühler toured Kashmir in 1875 searching for Sanskrit manuscripts and found many rare works, some on birch bark, in Pandit family collections.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Georg Bühler","manuscripts"]},{"id":"f065","text":"The Mahanaya Prakasha, a Shaiva text by Shitikantha, is often cited as one of the earliest works written in the Kashmiri language itself rather than Sanskrit.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Mahanaya Prakasha","Old Kashmiri"]},{"id":"f066","text":"Kashmir Shaivism teaches that everything is one consciousness, called Shiva, and that the goal of life is to recognise that you were never separate from it.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Kashmir Shaivism","non-dualism"]},{"id":"f067","text":"Tradition says the sage Vasugupta was guided in a dream to a rock on Mahadev mountain, above Harwan, where the Shiva Sutras were inscribed. The rock, called Shankar Pal, is still visited.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Vasugupta","Shiva Sutras"]},{"id":"f068","text":"The Shiva Sutras contain 77 short aphorisms arranged in three sections, one for each of the main paths (upayas) to realising Shiva.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Shiva Sutras","upaya"]},{"id":"f069","text":"'Pratyabhijna' means 'recognition'. The school founded by Somananda and Utpaladeva teaches that liberation is like suddenly recognising someone you already know.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Pratyabhijna","Utpaladeva"]},{"id":"f070","text":"'Spanda' means 'vibration' or 'pulse'. The Spanda school teaches that consciousness is never still but always gently throbbing with creative energy.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Spanda","Spanda Karika"]},{"id":"f071","text":"The name 'Trika' means 'threefold'. It refers to the three principles of Shiva, Shakti and the individual (Nara), and to three goddesses: Para, Parapara and Apara.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Trika","Shakti"]},{"id":"f072","text":"Abhinavagupta (c. 950–1016 CE) is the most famous master of Kashmir Shaivism. His Tantraloka, 'Light on the Tantras', runs to 37 chapters.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Abhinavagupta","Tantraloka"]},{"id":"f073","text":"Tradition says Abhinavagupta walked into the Bhairava cave near Beerwah with about 1,200 disciples, reciting a hymn, and was never seen again.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Abhinavagupta","Bhairava cave"]},{"id":"f074","text":"Kashmir Shaivism counts 36 tattvas, or levels of reality, from pure Shiva-consciousness down to solid earth. The older Samkhya system counts only 25.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["tattvas","Kashmir Shaivism"]},{"id":"f075","text":"The Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, much loved in Kashmir, describes 112 short meditations, many using everyday moments such as a sneeze, a yawn or the space between two breaths.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Vijnana Bhairava","meditation"]},{"id":"f076","text":"Kshemaraja, Abhinavagupta's pupil, wrote the Pratyabhijnahridayam, 'Heart of Recognition', a short guide to the philosophy that is still a favourite starting point.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Kshemaraja","Pratyabhijnahridayam"]},{"id":"f077","text":"Utpaladeva wrote not only hard philosophy but also the Shivastotravali, a collection of heartfelt hymns to Shiva that are still sung in Kashmiri Pandit homes.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Utpaladeva","Shivastotravali"]},{"id":"f078","text":"Somananda, who lived in the 9th–10th century, wrote the Shivadrishti, 'Vision of Shiva', which laid the ground for the Pratyabhijna school.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Somananda","Shivadrishti"]},{"id":"f079","text":"Swami Lakshmanjoo (1907–1991) is called the last living master of the Kashmir Shaiva tradition. He taught at his ashram at Ishber, near Nishat, where scholars from many countries came to study.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Swami Lakshmanjoo","Ishber"]},{"id":"f080","text":"Kashmir Shaivism holds that the world is real, not an illusion, because it is Shiva's own creative play. This sets it apart from schools that call the world 'maya' in the sense of unreal.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Kashmir Shaivism","maya"]},{"id":"f081","text":"The Krama school of Kashmir focuses on the goddess Kali and on the 'sequence' (krama) by which consciousness creates, sustains and withdraws the world.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Krama","Kali"]},{"id":"f082","text":"Abhinavagupta taught that Shiva performs five acts at every moment: creating, sustaining, dissolving, concealing and revealing.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["five acts of Shiva","Abhinavagupta"]},{"id":"f083","text":"The Paratrishika Vivarana is Abhinavagupta's commentary on a short tantra of just 35 verses. He finds a whole philosophy of language and sound inside it.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Paratrishika","Abhinavagupta"]},{"id":"f084","text":"Kashmir Shaivism was taught openly to people of any caste or gender, according to its own texts, because the goal is a state of awareness rather than a birthright.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Kashmir Shaivism","Abhinavagupta"]},{"id":"f085","text":"Abhinavagupta names Lakshmanagupta as one of his teachers in Pratyabhijna, and tells us he studied with many masters, travelling to learn from each.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Abhinavagupta","Lakshmanagupta"]},{"id":"f086","text":"The word 'Bhairava', used for a fierce form of Shiva, is also the name Kashmir Shaivism gives to the highest state of awareness in its Vijnana Bhairava text.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Bhairava","Vijnana Bhairava"]},{"id":"f087","text":"Kashmiri Pandits traditionally kept the Shaiva texts alive by copying them in the Sharada script, and many survived only in family libraries in Srinagar.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Sharada script","manuscripts"]},{"id":"f088","text":"In 1911 the Maharaja of Kashmir's government began the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies, which printed many Shaiva works for the first time.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies","publishing"]},{"id":"f089","text":"Kashmir Shaivism uses the image of a mirror: just as a mirror holds a whole city without being changed, consciousness holds the whole world within itself.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["mirror metaphor","Abhinavagupta"]},{"id":"f090","text":"Lal Ded, also called Lalleshwari or Lalla, was a 14th-century Shaiva mystic whose short four-line poems, called 'vakhs', are among the oldest poetry in the Kashmiri language.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh"]},{"id":"f091","text":"'Ded' in Lal Ded's name means 'granny' or 'elder mother'. Kashmiris of every faith still call her by this loving family word.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Lal Ded","Ded"]},{"id":"f092","text":"Lal Ded's vakhs were passed down by word of mouth for centuries before anyone wrote them down, so versions differ slightly from family to family.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Lal Ded","oral tradition"]},{"id":"f093","text":"In one famous vakh, Lal Ded says her guru gave her just one teaching: turn from the outside to the inside. 'Gorun dopnam kunuy vatsun' — 'My guru told me only one precept.'","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Lal Ded","guru"]},{"id":"f094","text":"In another vakh, Lal Ded compares her struggle to towing a boat across the sea with a rope of untwisted thread, a picture of how fragile our efforts can feel.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Lal Ded","vakh"]},{"id":"f095","text":"Tradition says Lal Ded's mother-in-law treated her harshly and put a stone under her rice to make the plate look full. The line 'whether they killed a big sheep or small, Lalla always had a stone' is still quoted.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Lal Ded","folk tradition"]},{"id":"f096","text":"Sheikh Nur-ud-din Wali, known as Nund Rishi (1377–1438), is honoured by Muslims and Pandits alike. Kashmiri tradition holds that Lal Ded nursed him as a baby.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Nund Rishi","Lal Ded"]},{"id":"f097","text":"Nund Rishi's line 'Ann poshi teli yeli wan poshi' — food will last only as long as the forests last — is often quoted today as Kashmir's first environmental message.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Nund Rishi","forests"]},{"id":"f098","text":"Rupa Bhawani (1621–1721) was a Kashmiri Pandit woman saint and poet, also called Alakheshwari. Her vakhs continue the mystical tradition of Lal Ded.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Rupa Bhawani","Alakheshwari"]},{"id":"f099","text":"Kashmiri Pandits mark Sahib Saptami in memory of Mata Rupa Bhawani, and many families cook a special meal and remember her teachings on that day.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Rupa Bhawani","Sahib Saptami"]},{"id":"f100","text":"Habba Khatoon, the 16th-century 'Nightingale of Kashmir', was a village girl who became queen to Yusuf Shah Chak. Her songs of longing are still sung across the valley.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Habba Khatoon","Yusuf Shah Chak"]},{"id":"f101","text":"Arnimal was an 18th-century Kashmiri Pandit poet whose songs of love and longing are compared with Habba Khatoon's. She was married into the Kachru family.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Arnimal","Kashmiri poetry"]},{"id":"f102","text":"Parmanand (1791–1879), a Pandit poet from Mattan, wrote long devotional poems in Kashmiri such as Radha Swayamvar and Sudama Charit, bringing Krishna's stories into everyday Kashmiri.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Parmanand","Mattan"]},{"id":"f103","text":"Krishna Joo Razdan (1850–1926) wrote the Shiv Lagan, songs about Shiva's wedding that are still sung at Kashmiri Pandit gatherings.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Krishna Joo Razdan","Shiv Lagan"]},{"id":"f104","text":"Prakash Ram Kurigami wrote the Ramavatarcharit in the 19th century, one of the earliest tellings of the Ramayana in the Kashmiri language.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Prakash Ram","Ramayana"]},{"id":"f105","text":"Master Zinda Kaul (1884–1966) became the first Kashmiri writer to win the Sahitya Akademi Award, in 1956, for his poetry collection 'Sumran'.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Zinda Kaul","Sahitya Akademi"]},{"id":"f106","text":"Dina Nath Nadim (1916–1988) is often called the father of modern Kashmiri poetry. His 'Bombur ta Yambarzal' (The Bumblebee and the Narcissus) is celebrated as the first Kashmiri opera.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Dina Nath Nadim","Bombur ta Yambarzal"]},{"id":"f107","text":"Rishi Pir (1637–1697) was a Kashmiri Pandit saint of Srinagar whose shrine in the old city was visited by people of all communities.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Rishi Pir","Srinagar"]},{"id":"f108","text":"Bhagwan Gopinath (1898–1968) was a Kashmiri Pandit mystic of Srinagar. Devotees remember him as quiet, simple and often lost in inner silence.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Bhagwan Gopinath","Srinagar"]},{"id":"f109","text":"Mahjoor (Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor, 1887–1952) wrote Kashmiri songs of nature and freedom. He is remembered as a poet whose work is shared by all Kashmiris.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Mahjoor","Kashmiri poetry"]},{"id":"f110","text":"Rehman Rahi became the first Kashmiri-language writer to win the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honour, for 2004.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Rehman Rahi","Jnanpith"]},{"id":"f111","text":"'Leela' is the name for devotional songs sung by Kashmiri Pandits in praise of gods and goddesses, often at evening gatherings in homes and temples.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Leela","devotional songs"]},{"id":"f112","text":"Lal Ded's vakhs are loved by Kashmiri Muslims as well as Pandits. Many Kashmiris of both faiths can quote a line or two from memory.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Lal Ded","Kashmiriyat"]},{"id":"f113","text":"The Urdu poet Brij Narayan Chakbast (1882–1926) came from a Kashmiri Pandit family settled in Lucknow and is remembered for his patriotic verse.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Chakbast","Lucknow"]},{"id":"f114","text":"Pandit Daya Shankar Kaul 'Nasim' of Lucknow wrote the Urdu verse romance Gulzar-e-Nasim in the 19th century. Kashmiri Pandits there were famous for their Urdu and Persian.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Daya Shankar Nasim","Gulzar-e-Nasim"]},{"id":"f115","text":"Ratan Nath Dhar 'Sarshar', from a Kashmiri Pandit family in Lucknow, wrote the huge comic Urdu novel Fasana-e-Azad in the 1870s and 1880s.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Ratan Nath Sarshar","Fasana-e-Azad"]},{"id":"f116","text":"Lal Ded is said to have wandered freely, singing her verses, at a time when that was very unusual for a woman. Tradition says she left her married home to follow her spiritual path.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Lal Ded","women saints"]},{"id":"f117","text":"The poet Anand Narain Mulla (1901–1997), from a Kashmiri Pandit family in Lucknow, was both an Urdu poet and a judge of the Allahabad High Court.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Anand Narain Mulla","Urdu poetry"]},{"id":"f118","text":"Kashmiri is one of India's 22 scheduled languages, listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Speakers call it 'Koshur'.","category":"Language","keyWords":["Koshur","Eighth Schedule"]},{"id":"f119","text":"Kashmiri is a 'verb-second' language: the verb usually comes second in the sentence, much like in German. This is very rare among the languages of India.","category":"Language","keyWords":["verb-second","Kashmiri grammar"]},{"id":"f120","text":"In Kashmiri, the valley is called 'Kasheer', and the word 'Koshur' means both the Kashmiri language and a Kashmiri person.","category":"Language","keyWords":["Kasheer","Koshur"]},{"id":"f121","text":"Kashmiri belongs to the Indo-Aryan family. Linguists often group it with the Dardic languages of the north-western mountains.","category":"Language","keyWords":["Dardic","Indo-Aryan"]},{"id":"f122","text":"Kashmiri Pandits traditionally wrote Sanskrit and Kashmiri in the Sharada script, which developed in the region from about the 8th century.","category":"Language","keyWords":["Sharada script","Kashmiri Pandits"]},{"id":"f123","text":"Today Kashmiri is officially written in a Perso-Arabic script with extra marks for its special vowels. Many Pandit families also write it in Devanagari.","category":"Language","keyWords":["Perso-Arabic script","Devanagari"]},{"id":"f124","text":"In 2020 Kashmiri became one of the official languages of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, along with Dogri, Hindi, Urdu and English.","category":"Language","keyWords":["official language","Kashmiri"]},{"id":"f125","text":"Kashmiri has sounds that trip up English speakers, such as 'ts' and 'tsh'. The word for bread, 'tsot', and for four, 'tsor', both begin with 'ts'.","category":"Language","keyWords":["pronunciation","tsot"]},{"id":"f126","text":"Kashmiri Pandits call themselves 'Batta', from the Sanskrit 'Bhatta', a title for a learned person. It is also why a Pandit neighbourhood could be called a 'Batta mohalla'.","category":"Language","keyWords":["Batta","Bhatta"]},{"id":"f127","text":"The Kashmiri word 'batt' means cooked rice, and a meal in general. For a rice-loving people, 'to eat rice' simply meant 'to eat'.","category":"Language","keyWords":["batt","rice"]},{"id":"f128","text":"'Haakh-batt', greens and rice, is the Kashmiri way of saying 'daily bread'. It stands for simple, everyday food.","category":"Language","keyWords":["haakh","batt"]},{"id":"f129","text":"The Kashmiri word 'kadal' means bridge. That is why so many Srinagar places end in it: Habba Kadal, Amira Kadal, Zaina Kadal, Fateh Kadal.","category":"Language","keyWords":["kadal","Srinagar"]},{"id":"f130","text":"'Nag' in a Kashmiri place name means a spring, from the old worship of Naga spirits. Verinag, Kokernag, Anantnag and Sheshnag are all named after springs.","category":"Language","keyWords":["nag","springs"]},{"id":"f131","text":"'Marg' in Kashmiri place names means meadow: Gulmarg is the meadow of flowers and Sonamarg the meadow of gold.","category":"Language","keyWords":["marg","Gulmarg"]},{"id":"f132","text":"'Pora' in Kashmiri place names comes from the Sanskrit 'pura', a town. Pampore was once Padmapura, and Sopore was Suyyapura.","category":"Language","keyWords":["pora","place names"]},{"id":"f133","text":"The Jhelum river is called 'Vyeth' in Kashmiri, from its Sanskrit name 'Vitasta'.","category":"Language","keyWords":["Vyeth","Vitasta"]},{"id":"f134","text":"The Kashmiri word for saffron is 'kong', related to the Sanskrit 'kunkuma'.","category":"Language","keyWords":["kong","saffron"]},{"id":"f135","text":"Kashmiri Pandit speech keeps many words from Sanskrit, while the speech of Kashmiri Muslims has more Persian and Arabic words. Both are the same language.","category":"Language","keyWords":["Kashmiri dialects","Sanskrit"]},{"id":"f136","text":"The Kashmiri word 'posh' means flower, and 'pamposh' is the lotus. 'Pamposh' also became a popular name and the name of a Delhi neighbourhood built by Kashmiri Pandits.","category":"Language","keyWords":["posh","pamposh"]},{"id":"f137","text":"The English word 'cashmere', for soft goat-wool, is simply an old spelling of Kashmir.","category":"Language","keyWords":["cashmere","Pashmina"]},{"id":"f138","text":"Some Kashmiri numbers look familiar: 'akh' for one, 'zah' for two and 'tre' for three are cousins of Sanskrit 'eka', 'dva' and 'tri'.","category":"Language","keyWords":["Kashmiri numbers","Sanskrit"]},{"id":"f139","text":"'Vakh', the name for Lal Ded's poems, comes from the Sanskrit 'vak', meaning speech.","category":"Language","keyWords":["vakh","Lal Ded"]},{"id":"f140","text":"Kashmiri Pandit homes use the word 'naveed' for food blessed by the gods, from the Sanskrit 'naivedya'.","category":"Language","keyWords":["naveed","prasad"]},{"id":"f141","text":"The Kashmiri word for Kashmiri Pandit women's traditional ear ornament, 'dejhor', has no English equivalent, because the ornament itself is unique to the community.","category":"Language","keyWords":["dejhor","jewellery"]},{"id":"f142","text":"Kashmiri has around 7 million speakers in India, according to the 2011 census, as well as speakers in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and around the world.","category":"Language","keyWords":["Kashmiri speakers","census"]},{"id":"f143","text":"The Kashmiri word 'yarbal' means a riverbank landing where people once fetched water and washed. Women's conversations at the yarbal were a lively part of old Srinagar life.","category":"Language","keyWords":["yarbal","Jhelum"]},{"id":"f144","text":"Kashmir was so famous for learning that it was called 'Sharada Desha', the land of Sharada, goddess of knowledge.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Sharada Desha","Sharada"]},{"id":"f145","text":"Anandavardhana, at King Avantivarman's court in the 9th century, wrote the Dhvanyaloka. It argued that the heart of great poetry is 'dhvani', meaning suggested by the words rather than said directly.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Anandavardhana","dhvani"]},{"id":"f146","text":"Abhinavagupta wrote the Abhinavabharati, the most important surviving commentary on the Natyashastra, India's ancient treatise on drama and performance.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Abhinavagupta","Natyashastra"]},{"id":"f147","text":"Abhinavagupta argued for 'shanta rasa', the flavour of peace, as a ninth emotional flavour in art, alongside the eight listed in the Natyashastra.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["shanta rasa","rasa theory"]},{"id":"f148","text":"Mammata's Kavyaprakasha, written in Kashmir around the 11th century, became one of the most studied handbooks of Sanskrit poetics in all of India.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Mammata","Kavyaprakasha"]},{"id":"f149","text":"Kuntaka, a Kashmiri critic, argued that the soul of poetry is 'vakrokti', clever or striking turns of speech.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Kuntaka","vakrokti"]},{"id":"f150","text":"Vamana, at the court of King Jayapida, taught that the soul of poetry is 'riti', or style.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Vamana","riti"]},{"id":"f151","text":"So many of the great theorists of Sanskrit poetics were Kashmiri — Anandavardhana, Abhinavagupta, Mammata, Kuntaka, Vamana, Rudrata, Udbhata — that the valley was the powerhouse of Indian literary criticism.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Sanskrit poetics","alankara"]},{"id":"f152","text":"The Charaka Samhita, a founding text of Ayurveda, was completed by Dridhabala. Many scholars believe Dridhabala came from Kashmir.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Charaka Samhita","Dridhabala"]},{"id":"f153","text":"Tradition says Charaka himself was a physician at the court of the Kushan emperor Kanishka, whose empire included Kashmir, though historians debate this.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Charaka","Kanishka"]},{"id":"f154","text":"Bhattotpala, a Kashmiri astronomer of the 10th century, wrote famous commentaries on the works of Varahamihira, India's great astronomer-astrologer.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Bhattotpala","astronomy"]},{"id":"f155","text":"Sarngadeva, author of the Sangita Ratnakara, one of the key texts of Indian classical music, came from a family that had moved to the Deccan from Kashmir.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Sarngadeva","Sangita Ratnakara"]},{"id":"f156","text":"Kaiyata, a Kashmiri grammarian, wrote the 'Pradipa', a respected commentary on Patanjali's Mahabhashya that students of Sanskrit grammar still use.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Kaiyata","Sanskrit grammar"]},{"id":"f157","text":"Jayanta Bhatta, a 9th-century Kashmiri philosopher, wrote the Nyayamanjari, a lively defence of Nyaya logic. He also wrote a play poking fun at religious quarrels.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Jayanta Bhatta","Nyaya"]},{"id":"f158","text":"Kashmir was a major centre of Buddhist scholarship. The Sarvastivada school's great work, the Mahavibhasha, is traditionally said to have been compiled there.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Mahavibhasha","Sarvastivada"]},{"id":"f159","text":"As a boy, the great translator Kumarajiva studied Buddhist texts in Kashmir before taking Buddhism to China in the early 5th century.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Kumarajiva","Buddhism"]},{"id":"f160","text":"The Tibetan translator Rinchen Zangpo brought Kashmiri artists to western Himalayan monasteries around 1000 CE. The wall paintings at Alchi in Ladakh show their style.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Rinchen Zangpo","Alchi"]},{"id":"f161","text":"The Kashmiri scholar Shakyashribhadra travelled to Tibet in 1204 and had a lasting influence on Tibetan Buddhism.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Shakyashribhadra","Tibet"]},{"id":"f162","text":"The Kashmiri Pandit almanac, the 'jantri', is calculated using traditional astronomy. The best known is the Vijayeshwar Jantri, named after the old temple town of Bijbehara.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["jantri","Vijayeshwar"]},{"id":"f163","text":"Kashmiri horoscopes, called 'zatukh', were traditionally long paper scrolls written and illustrated by hand, often in the Sharada script.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["zatukh","horoscope"]},{"id":"f164","text":"Kshirasvamin, an early medieval Kashmiri scholar, wrote a well-known commentary on the Amarakosha, the classic Sanskrit thesaurus.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Kshirasvamin","Amarakosha"]},{"id":"f165","text":"The linguist Braj B. Kachru, a Kashmiri Pandit, founded the study of 'World Englishes', showing how English changes as people around the world make it their own.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Braj Kachru","World Englishes"]},{"id":"f166","text":"The sociologist T. N. Madan wrote 'Family and Kinship', a classic study of Kashmiri Pandit village life based on his research in rural Kashmir.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["T. N. Madan","Family and Kinship"]},{"id":"f167","text":"Linguist Omkar N. Koul compiled a Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs, collecting about twelve hundred sayings used in everyday speech.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Omkar N. Koul","proverbs"]},{"id":"f168","text":"Rudrata, a 9th-century Kashmiri theorist, wrote the Kavyalankara and was one of the first to treat 'rasa', emotional flavour, as central to poetry and not just drama.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["Rudrata","rasa"]},{"id":"f169","text":"The critics Bhatta Lollata, Shankuka and Bhatta Nayaka, all linked with Kashmir, debated how audiences feel emotion in drama, a debate Abhinavagupta summed up and settled.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["rasa theory","Bhatta Nayaka"]},{"id":"f170","text":"Kashmiri Pandit scholars kept the tradition of Sanskrit learning alive in their homes for centuries, teaching children at home through 'pathshalas' run by family priests and scholars.","category":"Scholarship","keyWords":["pathshala","Sanskrit"]},{"id":"f171","text":"Traditional Kashmiri Pandit cooking uses no onion or garlic. Instead it gets its flavour from asafoetida (yang), fennel powder, dried ginger (shonth) and yoghurt.","category":"Food","keyWords":["asafoetida","fennel"]},{"id":"f172","text":"Pandit-style rogan josh gets its deep red colour from Kashmiri chillies and often from 'ratanjot', a dried root, rather than from tomatoes.","category":"Food","keyWords":["rogan josh","ratanjot"]},{"id":"f173","text":"Kashmiri red chillies are famous for giving food a bright red colour with only gentle heat.","category":"Food","keyWords":["Kashmiri chilli","marchwangun"]},{"id":"f174","text":"Haakh is a leafy green in the collard family. Cooked simply with mustard oil, asafoetida and a whole chilli, it is eaten with rice in almost every Kashmiri home.","category":"Food","keyWords":["haakh","collard greens"]},{"id":"f175","text":"'Nadur' is lotus stem, harvested from the lakes of Kashmir such as the Dal and Anchar. Nadir yakhean (lotus stem in yoghurt) and nadir monje (lotus-stem fritters) are favourites.","category":"Food","keyWords":["nadur","lotus stem"]},{"id":"f176","text":"'Monje' means kohlrabi in Kashmiri. Monje haakh, kohlrabi with its leaves, is a classic Pandit dish.","category":"Food","keyWords":["monje","kohlrabi"]},{"id":"f177","text":"Kashmiri 'noon chai' or 'sheer chai' is a salted tea that turns pink. The colour comes from brewing green tea leaves for a long time with a pinch of bicarbonate of soda, then adding milk.","category":"Food","keyWords":["noon chai","sheer chai"]},{"id":"f178","text":"'Kahwa' is a golden green tea brewed with saffron, cardamom, cinnamon and slivered almonds, traditionally in a copper samovar.","category":"Food","keyWords":["kahwa","samovar"]},{"id":"f179","text":"A Kashmiri samovar has a hollow tube down the middle that holds burning charcoal, so the tea stays hot for hours.","category":"Food","keyWords":["samovar","kahwa"]},{"id":"f180","text":"Every Kashmiri neighbourhood had its 'kandur', the baker, who sold fresh breads such as tsot, girda, tsochvor and kulcha early each morning.","category":"Food","keyWords":["kandur","tsot"]},{"id":"f181","text":"'Dum olav', the Kashmiri dum aloo, is made by pricking small potatoes, frying them, and simmering them in a spiced yoghurt gravy.","category":"Food","keyWords":["dum olav","potato"]},{"id":"f182","text":"'Lyodur tsaman' is paneer cooked in a yellow turmeric and milk gravy, while 'tsaman kalia' is its creamy cousin. Both are Pandit feast dishes.","category":"Food","keyWords":["tsaman","kalia"]},{"id":"f183","text":"'Yakhni' is a delicate yoghurt curry flavoured with fennel, cardamom and dried mint, made with lamb, lotus stem or even kohlrabi.","category":"Food","keyWords":["yakhni","yoghurt"]},{"id":"f184","text":"Kashmiri winters were once long and cut off, so families dried vegetables in the autumn sun. These dried vegetables are called 'hokh syun'.","category":"Food","keyWords":["hokh syun","dried vegetables"]},{"id":"f185","text":"'Al hachi' is dried bottle gourd and 'wangan hachi' is dried aubergine. Threaded on strings and hung in the sun, they were cooked in winter when fresh vegetables were scarce.","category":"Food","keyWords":["al hachi","wangan hachi"]},{"id":"f186","text":"'Hogaad' is sun-dried fish, a pungent winter treat that many Pandit families still love, often cooked with radish or greens.","category":"Food","keyWords":["hogaad","dried fish"]},{"id":"f187","text":"Kashmiri Pandits are among the few Brahmin communities in India who traditionally eat meat and fish.","category":"Food","keyWords":["Kashmiri Pandits","diet"]},{"id":"f188","text":"'Gaad ta monje', fish cooked with kohlrabi, is a much-loved Pandit dish, especially in winter.","category":"Food","keyWords":["gaad","monje"]},{"id":"f189","text":"'Chok wangun' means sour aubergine: slices of aubergine cooked in tamarind with Kashmiri spices.","category":"Food","keyWords":["chok wangun","aubergine"]},{"id":"f190","text":"'Muj chetin' is a fresh chutney of grated radish, walnuts and yoghurt, often served alongside a feast.","category":"Food","keyWords":["muj chetin","chutney"]},{"id":"f191","text":"Many Pandit families cook 'tahar', yellow rice made with turmeric and oil, on birthdays and auspicious days, and offer some to the goddess.","category":"Food","keyWords":["tahar","turmeric rice"]},{"id":"f192","text":"'Modur pulav' is a sweet rice cooked with sugar, saffron, ghee and dried fruits, served at Kashmiri Pandit weddings and celebrations.","category":"Food","keyWords":["modur pulav","saffron"]},{"id":"f193","text":"'Shufta' is a rich sweet of dried fruits, nuts and paneer cubes in a sugary syrup spiced with pepper and ginger.","category":"Food","keyWords":["shufta","sweets"]},{"id":"f194","text":"'Kanaguch' are Kashmiri morel mushrooms, gathered wild in the forests in spring. They are among the most expensive mushrooms in the world.","category":"Food","keyWords":["kanaguch","morels"]},{"id":"f195","text":"Many Kashmiri Pandit families use 'ver', a flat cake of ground spices, less than Kashmiri Muslims do; Pandits more often reach for fennel and dry ginger powder.","category":"Food","keyWords":["ver","spices"]},{"id":"f196","text":"Kashmiri Pandits call a traditional feast a 'saal'. The Muslim multi-course feast is called 'wazwan'.","category":"Food","keyWords":["saal","wazwan"]},{"id":"f197","text":"'Kabargah' is a Pandit festive dish of lamb ribs simmered in milk and spices and then fried until crisp.","category":"Food","keyWords":["kabargah","lamb ribs"]},{"id":"f198","text":"Rajmah (kidney beans) with rice is a much-loved comfort meal across Jammu and Kashmir, and the small red beans of Bhaderwah are especially prized.","category":"Food","keyWords":["rajmah","Bhaderwah"]},{"id":"f199","text":"'Roth' is a sweet, thick bread decorated with patterns and dried fruit. It is made for the household festival of Pann.","category":"Food","keyWords":["roth","Pann"]},{"id":"f200","text":"'Phirin' is a Kashmiri milk-and-semolina pudding, often set in clay bowls and topped with nuts and saffron.","category":"Food","keyWords":["phirin","dessert"]},{"id":"f201","text":"Kashmir is India's main walnut-growing region, which is why walnuts turn up everywhere, from chutneys to Herath offerings.","category":"Food","keyWords":["walnuts","doon"]},{"id":"f202","text":"Kashmiri apples are grown in huge orchards, especially around Sopore and Shopian, and are sent all over India each autumn.","category":"Food","keyWords":["apples","Sopore"]},{"id":"f203","text":"'Hand', or dandelion greens, were gathered in early spring and cooked as a fresh green after the long winter.","category":"Food","keyWords":["hand","dandelion"]},{"id":"f204","text":"Many older Kashmiri Pandit households did not traditionally eat chicken or eggs, even though they ate lamb and fish. Customs have changed a great deal since.","category":"Food","keyWords":["diet","Kashmiri Pandits"]},{"id":"f205","text":"A Kashmiri feast is often followed by a cup of kahwa, which families believe helps digestion after a rich meal.","category":"Food","keyWords":["kahwa","feast"]},{"id":"f206","text":"Navreh is the Kashmiri Pandit New Year, falling on the first day of the bright half of the month of Chaitra. It is the start of the new year in the Saptarishi calendar.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Navreh","Saptarishi calendar"]},{"id":"f207","text":"On the night before Navreh, families fill a 'thaal' (plate) with rice, a new almanac, walnuts, a pen, a mirror, bread, curd, salt, flowers and a coin, and cover it until morning.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["thaal barun","Navreh"]},{"id":"f208","text":"On Navreh morning, the first thing each person looks at on waking is the thaal of good things, as a wish for plenty in the year ahead.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["thaal","Navreh"]},{"id":"f209","text":"Tradition says the new year began when the Saptarishis, the seven sages, gathered at Hari Parbat to honour the goddess Sharika.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Saptarishi","Hari Parbat"]},{"id":"f210","text":"On Zang Trai, the third day of Navreh, married daughters traditionally visit their parents' home and return with salt and a gift of money, called 'atgath'.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Zang Trai","atgath"]},{"id":"f211","text":"Sonth is the Kashmiri spring festival, and families prepare a thaal of good things the night before it too, just like at Navreh.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Sonth","spring"]},{"id":"f212","text":"Herath is the Kashmiri Pandit name for Mahashivratri. It is celebrated a day earlier than in most of India, on the thirteenth day of the dark half of Phalgun.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Herath","Shivratri"]},{"id":"f213","text":"At Herath, families worship the 'Vatuk', a set of pots representing Shiva, Parvati and their attendants, filled with water and walnuts.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Vatuk","Herath"]},{"id":"f214","text":"After Herath, the walnuts soaked in the Vatuk pots are shared as blessed food among family and friends.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["walnuts","naveed"]},{"id":"f215","text":"The day after Herath is called 'Salaam'. Traditionally, Muslim neighbours and friends came to wish Pandit families on this day, and children got pocket money called 'Herath kharch'.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Salaam","Herath kharch"]},{"id":"f216","text":"Kashmiri tradition says Shiva and Parvati stay in each home as honoured guests from Herath until Doonya Mavas, the new-moon day, when the Vatuk is taken to be immersed.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Doonya Mavas","Vatuk"]},{"id":"f217","text":"Tila Aetham, on the eighth day of the bright half of Phalgun, ends the Herath season. Families light earthen lamps for their ancestors, and old kangris were traditionally thrown away as winter ended.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Tila Aetham","kangri"]},{"id":"f218","text":"Zyeth Aetham, the eighth day of the bright half of Jyeshtha, is the great festival of Mata Kheer Bhawani at Tulmul, when thousands of devotees gather at the sacred spring.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Zyeth Aetham","Kheer Bhawani"]},{"id":"f219","text":"At Kheer Bhawani, pilgrims offer milk and 'kheer' (rice pudding) into the spring, which gives the goddess her popular name.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Kheer Bhawani","Tulmul"]},{"id":"f220","text":"Gori Trai falls on the third day of the bright half of Magh. The family priest brings a picture of the goddess Saraswati, especially for a new baby or a new bride in the home.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Gori Trai","Saraswati"]},{"id":"f221","text":"Kaw Punim, on the full moon of Magh, honours crows. In Kashmiri tradition crows are messengers linked to the ancestors, and children call them to share food.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Kaw Punim","crows"]},{"id":"f222","text":"Khetsimavas, the new-moon day of Paush, is when families cook khichdi and offer some of it outside for the 'yaksha', a protective spirit of the home.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Khetsimavas","khichdi"]},{"id":"f223","text":"Gaad Batta, meaning 'fish and rice', is an offering of fish made to the household deity on a Tuesday or Saturday in the dark half of Paush.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Gaad Batta","ghar devta"]},{"id":"f224","text":"'Shishur' is the special care given in the first winter to a newborn baby or a new bride, marked by a family celebration around Makar Sankranti.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Shishur","winter"]},{"id":"f225","text":"Janmashtami is called 'Zaram Satam' by Kashmiri Pandits, and many families fast and visit temples on the day.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Zaram Satam","Janmashtami"]},{"id":"f226","text":"Vyeth Truvah celebrates the 'birthday' of the river Vitasta (Jhelum) on the thirteenth lunar day (truvah) of the month of Bhadrapad, when lamps were once floated on the river.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Vyeth Truvah","Vitasta"]},{"id":"f227","text":"The Amarnath Yatra ends on Shravan Purnima, when the holy mace called the 'Chhari Mubarak' reaches the cave shrine.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Amarnath","Chhari Mubarak"]},{"id":"f228","text":"Kashmiri Pandits call the fortnight of remembering ancestors in autumn 'Kambar Pach'.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Kambar Pach","ancestors"]},{"id":"f229","text":"The Nilamata Purana lists dozens of old Kashmiri festivals, including ones for snowfall, for the Nagas, and for the river Vitasta, showing how festivals followed the seasons.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Nilamata Purana","festivals"]},{"id":"f230","text":"Durga Aetham, the eighth day of Navratri, is a big day for worship at the Sharika temple on Hari Parbat.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Durga Aetham","Sharika"]},{"id":"f231","text":"Diwali in Kashmir came as winter was closing in, and families lit clay lamps called 'tsong' along windows and doorways.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Diwali","tsong"]},{"id":"f232","text":"In exile, Kashmiri Pandit families around the world still set the Navreh thaal and hold Herath puja, often joining together as a community.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Navreh","diaspora"]},{"id":"f233","text":"Pann is a late-summer household festival for which families make 'roth', a sweet bread, and gather to hear a traditional story before sharing it.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Pann","roth"]},{"id":"f234","text":"'Dejhor' are the gold ear ornaments worn by married Kashmiri Pandit women, hung from threads passed through a piercing high on the ear.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["dejhor","marriage"]},{"id":"f235","text":"The long gold chain that hangs from the dejhor is called 'atahor'. Together they are a sign of marriage, much like a mangalsutra elsewhere in India.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["atahor","dejhor"]},{"id":"f236","text":"'Taranga' is the traditional head-dress of a Kashmiri Pandit bride, a white cloth piece that falls down the back, worn over a cap called the 'kalpush'.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["taranga","kalpush"]},{"id":"f237","text":"The 'pheran' is Kashmir's long, loose woollen gown. In winter people hold a kangri, a small fire-pot, underneath it to keep warm.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["pheran","kangri"]},{"id":"f238","text":"A 'kangri' is an earthen pot of glowing embers inside a woven wicker basket. Many Kashmiris carry one under their pheran all winter.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["kangri","winter"]},{"id":"f239","text":"'Devgon' is a pre-wedding ceremony in which the bride or groom is blessed by the gods, and for the bride it is when she first wears the dejhor.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["Devgon","wedding"]},{"id":"f240","text":"'Maenziraat', the henna night, is when the bride's hands are decorated with henna and women sing traditional songs late into the night.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["Maenziraat","henna"]},{"id":"f241","text":"In the 'Posh Puza' at a Kashmiri Pandit wedding, the couple sit together under a red cloth held above them while family members shower them with flowers, honoured as Shiva and Parvati.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["Posh Puza","wedding"]},{"id":"f242","text":"When the bride and groom first arrive, they stand on a 'vyug', a circle of colourful patterns drawn on the floor, to be welcomed into the home.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["vyug","wedding"]},{"id":"f243","text":"'Wanvun' are traditional songs sung by women at Kashmiri Pandit weddings, often to the beat of the 'tumbaknaer', an earthen drum.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["wanvun","tumbaknaer"]},{"id":"f244","text":"'Livun' is the ritual cleaning and plastering of the home before a wedding, a sign that the family is ready to welcome guests.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["livun","wedding"]},{"id":"f245","text":"'Mekhal' is the sacred-thread ceremony for Kashmiri Pandit boys. The sacred thread itself is called 'yonya' in Kashmiri.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["mekhal","yonya"]},{"id":"f246","text":"'Zarakasai' is a child's first haircut, an important family ceremony that is often done at a temple or holy spring.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["zarakasai","childhood"]},{"id":"f247","text":"'Kahnethar' is the naming ceremony held on the eleventh day after a baby is born. 'Kah' means eleven in Kashmiri.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["kahnethar","naming"]},{"id":"f248","text":"Kashmiri Pandits often celebrate birthdays by the lunar calendar, on the 'tithi' of birth, and cook tahar for the occasion.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["birthday","tithi"]},{"id":"f249","text":"'Atgath' is money given by parents to a married daughter when she leaves after a visit, a small blessing she carries back to her new home.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["atgath","daughters"]},{"id":"f250","text":"The 'tyok' or 'tilak' is the forehead mark worn after worship. Older Kashmiri Pandits often wore it every day.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["tyok","tilak"]},{"id":"f251","text":"Blessed food in a Kashmiri Pandit home is 'naveed'. At a temple, a piece of rock sugar (nabad) is a common naveed.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["naveed","nabad"]},{"id":"f252","text":"'Taher-charvan', yellow rice with cooked liver, is a traditional offering to the goddess at shrines such as Sharika on Hari Parbat.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["taher-charvan","Sharika"]},{"id":"f253","text":"Nearly every Kashmiri Pandit family has a family priest called 'gor', from the Sanskrit 'guru', who leads its rituals across generations.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["gor","priest"]},{"id":"f254","text":"In the old Kashmiri house, the family's everyday life happened around the kitchen hearth, called 'daan', and meals were eaten sitting on the floor on mats.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["daan","kitchen"]},{"id":"f255","text":"Traditional Kashmiri houses were built with 'dhajji dewari', a frame of wood filled with brick or stone. It bends in earthquakes rather than cracking.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["dhajji dewari","architecture"]},{"id":"f256","text":"'Pinjrakari' is the lattice woodwork seen in the windows of old Srinagar houses, made of small wooden pieces fitted together in geometric patterns.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["pinjrakari","woodwork"]},{"id":"f257","text":"Ashes of the dead were traditionally carried by Kashmiri Pandits to Gangabal, a lake at the foot of Mount Harmukh, which they held as sacred as the Ganga.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["Gangabal","Harmukh"]},{"id":"f258","text":"Traditionally, in many Kashmiri Pandit families a new daughter-in-law was given a new first name by her husband's family at the wedding.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["names","wedding"]},{"id":"f259","text":"In old Kashmir, neighbours of different faiths joined each other's celebrations, a spirit of shared life often called 'Kashmiriyat'.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["Kashmiriyat","neighbours"]},{"id":"f260","text":"Almost all Kashmiri Pandits belong to a single Brahmin community, so family 'gotra' and surname matter more for identity than caste.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["gotra","Kashmiri Pandits"]},{"id":"f261","text":"The Martand Sun Temple near Anantnag, built by King Lalitaditya in the 8th century, stands on a high plateau and its courtyard was once lined by a colonnade of 84 columns.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Martand","Sun Temple"]},{"id":"f262","text":"The Kheer Bhawani temple at Tulmul, near Ganderbal, sits in the middle of a sacred spring. Tradition says the colour of the water changes, and that a dark colour warns of trouble ahead.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Kheer Bhawani","Tulmul"]},{"id":"f263","text":"Hari Parbat in Srinagar is the hill of the goddess Sharika. Tradition says she took the form of a myna bird ('hari') and dropped a pebble on a demon, and the pebble grew into the hill.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Hari Parbat","Sharika"]},{"id":"f264","text":"At the Sharika shrine on Hari Parbat, the goddess is worshipped in the form of a rock face (shila) marked with vermilion, which devotees see as a natural Shri Chakra.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Sharika","Shri Chakra"]},{"id":"f265","text":"The Shankaracharya temple stands on a hill above the Dal Lake, once called Gopadri. Tradition says the philosopher Adi Shankaracharya visited and meditated there.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Shankaracharya temple","Gopadri"]},{"id":"f266","text":"Sharada Peeth, a ruined temple and ancient seat of learning in the Neelum valley, is now across the Line of Control. It gave its name to the Sharada script.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Sharada Peeth","Sharada script"]},{"id":"f267","text":"The Amarnath cave, high in the Himalayas at about 3,900 metres, holds an ice formation that devotees worship as a Shiva lingam.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Amarnath","ice lingam"]},{"id":"f268","text":"Tradition says that on the way to the Amarnath cave, Shiva left his bull Nandi at Pahalgam, the moon at Chandanwari, his snake at Sheshnag and Ganesha at Mahagunas.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Amarnath","Pahalgam"]},{"id":"f269","text":"A popular legend says the Amarnath cave was rediscovered by a Muslim shepherd, Buta Malik, whose descendants long had a role at the shrine.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Amarnath","Buta Malik"]},{"id":"f270","text":"Verinag spring is traditionally seen as the source of the Jhelum. The Mughal emperor Jahangir, who loved the spot, had an octagonal stone tank and arcade built around it.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Verinag","Jahangir"]},{"id":"f271","text":"Anantnag takes its name from the Ananta Nag spring, and the town is famous for its many springs.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Anantnag","springs"]},{"id":"f272","text":"Mattan, near Martand, is a holy spring town where Kashmiri Pandits traditionally went to perform rites for their ancestors. The spring is full of fish that pilgrims feed.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Mattan","springs"]},{"id":"f273","text":"The Jwala Mukhi temple at Khrew, near Pampore, is dedicated to the fire goddess Jwala, and her festival is celebrated in summer.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Khrew","Jwala Mukhi"]},{"id":"f274","text":"Kokernag is known for its many-branched spring. One popular explanation says the name comes from its streams spreading like a hen's foot ('koker' is hen).","category":"Places","keyWords":["Kokernag","springs"]},{"id":"f275","text":"The temple at Pandrethan, on the edge of Srinagar, is a small stone shrine standing in a pool of water, a design seen in several old Kashmiri temples.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Pandrethan","temple"]},{"id":"f276","text":"The small Payar temple, built from just a few huge stone blocks, is one of the best-preserved old temples in Kashmir.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Payar","temple"]},{"id":"f277","text":"The Mamaleshwar temple at Pahalgam is a small old stone shrine beside a spring. Tradition links its name to the words 'mam mal', 'do not enter', said by Ganesha as he guarded Parvati's door.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Mamaleshwar","Pahalgam"]},{"id":"f278","text":"Naranag, high in the Wangath valley, has ruins of two groups of old stone temples and is the starting point for the trek to Gangabal lake.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Naranag","Gangabal"]},{"id":"f279","text":"Kashmiri temples have a special look: steep pyramid roofs, triangular stone pediments and trefoil arches, very different from temples in the plains.","category":"Places","keyWords":["temple architecture","trefoil arch"]},{"id":"f280","text":"Shalimar Bagh in Srinagar was laid out by the Mughal emperor Jahangir in 1619 for his queen Nur Jahan.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Shalimar Bagh","Jahangir"]},{"id":"f281","text":"Nishat Bagh, the 'garden of joy', was built by Asaf Khan, Nur Jahan's brother. It rises in twelve terraces from the Dal Lake towards the Zabarwan hills.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Nishat Bagh","Asaf Khan"]},{"id":"f282","text":"The Chashme Shahi garden in Srinagar is built around a spring whose cool water many Kashmiris believe helps digestion.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Chashme Shahi","springs"]},{"id":"f283","text":"Pari Mahal, 'the palace of fairies', is a terraced garden above the Dal Lake built by the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh for his Sufi teacher, Mulla Shah.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Pari Mahal","Dara Shikoh"]},{"id":"f284","text":"Old Srinagar grew along the Jhelum, crossed by a series of wooden bridges. Pandit neighbourhoods such as Habba Kadal, Rainawari and Ganpatyar lay close to the river.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Habba Kadal","Rainawari"]},{"id":"f285","text":"The Sheetalnath temple in Srinagar hosted a famous Basant Panchami gathering, and was a centre of Kashmiri Pandit community life.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Sheetalnath","Basant Panchami"]},{"id":"f286","text":"The Ganpatyar temple in Srinagar, dedicated to Ganesha, stands near the banks of the Jhelum in the old city.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Ganpatyar","Ganesha"]},{"id":"f287","text":"Zeethyar, near Chashme Shahi, is the shrine of Jyeshtha Devi, a goddess much loved by Kashmiri Pandits.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Zeethyar","Jyeshtha Devi"]},{"id":"f288","text":"The ruins of Avantipur's temples were buried in silt for centuries and were excavated in the early 20th century, revealing carved stone panels.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Avantipur","archaeology"]},{"id":"f289","text":"Bijbehara, on the Jhelum, was once called Vijayeshwara after its ancient Shiva temple, and is famous for its huge old chinar trees.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Bijbehara","Vijayeshwara"]},{"id":"f290","text":"Mount Harmukh, rising above Gangabal lake, is sacred to Kashmiri Pandits. Tradition says it is one of Shiva's homes.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Harmukh","Gangabal"]},{"id":"f291","text":"Kausar Nag, a high mountain lake in the Pir Panjal, is linked in tradition with a footprint of Vishnu and was an old pilgrimage site.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Kausar Nag","Pir Panjal"]},{"id":"f292","text":"The Kashmir valley lies at around 1,600 metres above sea level, ringed by the Pir Panjal range to the south-west and the Great Himalaya to the north-east.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["Pir Panjal","Himalaya"]},{"id":"f293","text":"Wular Lake, fed by the Jhelum, is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia. Its size changes greatly with the seasons.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["Wular Lake","Jhelum"]},{"id":"f294","text":"The chinar tree, called 'boen' in Kashmiri, turns brilliant red and gold in autumn. The Mughals planted many chinars in their gardens.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["chinar","boen"]},{"id":"f295","text":"Kashmir's coldest spell is 'Chillai Kalan', the forty days from 21 December to 31 January. It is followed by 'Chillai Khurd' (20 days) and 'Chillai Bachha' (10 days).","category":"Nature","keyWords":["Chillai Kalan","winter"]},{"id":"f296","text":"The hangul, or Kashmir stag, is a rare red deer found mainly in Dachigam National Park near Srinagar.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["hangul","Dachigam"]},{"id":"f297","text":"The golden oriole is called 'poshnool' in Kashmiri. Its bright yellow feathers and flute-like call are a sign of summer in the valley.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["poshnool","golden oriole"]},{"id":"f298","text":"Saffron comes from the crocus flower, which blooms in the fields around Pampore in late October and November. Each flower gives only three red threads.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["saffron","Pampore"]},{"id":"f299","text":"It takes well over a hundred thousand crocus flowers, picked by hand, to make just one kilogram of saffron.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["saffron","kong"]},{"id":"f300","text":"Kashmiri saffron received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2020, recognising it as a unique product of the region.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["saffron","GI tag"]},{"id":"f301","text":"The Dal Lake has 'floating gardens', called 'raad', where farmers grow vegetables on mats of weeds and soil that rise and fall with the water.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["Dal Lake","floating gardens"]},{"id":"f302","text":"Lotus flowers cover parts of the Dal Lake in summer, and the lotus stem (nadur) is dug out of the lake bed for Kashmiri kitchens.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["lotus","Dal Lake"]},{"id":"f303","text":"Kashmir's seasons in Kashmiri are 'sonth' (spring), 'retkol' (summer), 'harud' (autumn) and 'wandh' (winter).","category":"Nature","keyWords":["seasons","harud"]},{"id":"f304","text":"Gulmarg's cable car climbs towards the top of Mount Apharwat, to nearly 4,000 metres, making it one of the highest cable cars in the world.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["Gulmarg","gondola"]},{"id":"f305","text":"The Kolahoi glacier near Pahalgam feeds the Lidder river. Like many Himalayan glaciers, it has been shrinking.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["Kolahoi","Lidder"]},{"id":"f306","text":"Gangabal lake lies at about 3,500 metres at the foot of Harmukh, and its ice-cold waters feed streams that join the Sindh river.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["Gangabal","Harmukh"]},{"id":"f307","text":"The Himalayan black bear and brown bear both live in the forests of Kashmir. 'Haput' is the Kashmiri word for bear.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["haput","bears"]},{"id":"f308","text":"The Jhelum rises in the Kashmir valley, flows north-west through Srinagar and Wular Lake, and leaves through Baramulla gorge.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["Jhelum","Baramulla"]},{"id":"f309","text":"'Yambarzal' is the Kashmiri word for narcissus, one of the first flowers of spring, celebrated in Kashmiri songs and in Nadim's opera.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["yambarzal","narcissus"]},{"id":"f310","text":"Tarsar and Marsar are twin alpine lakes above the Lidder valley. Their names end in 'sar', an old word for lake.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["Tarsar","Marsar"]},{"id":"f311","text":"The Zoji La pass, at about 3,500 metres, links the Kashmir valley with Ladakh and is snowbound for months each winter.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["Zoji La","Ladakh"]},{"id":"f312","text":"Tulip gardens in Srinagar, laid out at the foot of the Zabarwan hills, bloom each spring with more than a million flowers.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["tulips","Srinagar"]},{"id":"f313","text":"Willow trees grow along Kashmir's rivers and marshes, and Kashmir willow is used to make cricket bats.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["willow","cricket bats"]},{"id":"f314","text":"Kashmir lies in an active earthquake zone. In 2005 a powerful quake centred near Muzaffarabad caused great damage on both sides of the Line of Control.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["earthquake","Kashmir"]},{"id":"f315","text":"Kashmiri Pandit family names are called 'kram'. Many began as nicknames describing a trade, a place, a job or a quirk of some ancestor.","category":"Names","keyWords":["kram","surnames"]},{"id":"f316","text":"The family name 'Nehru' is said to come from 'nahar', a canal, because the family's ancestor Raj Kaul lived beside a canal in Delhi in the 18th century.","category":"Names","keyWords":["Nehru","Raj Kaul"]},{"id":"f317","text":"'Bhat' and 'Bhatt' come from 'Bhatta', a Sanskrit title for a learned man. Kashmiri Pandits as a whole are sometimes called 'Batta'.","category":"Names","keyWords":["Bhat","Bhatta"]},{"id":"f318","text":"'Raina' and 'Razdan' are often traced to 'Rajanaka', an old Kashmiri title given to learned men and officials, though the history is not certain.","category":"Names","keyWords":["Raina","Rajanaka"]},{"id":"f319","text":"'Munshi' as a Kashmiri Pandit surname comes from the Persian word for a secretary or scribe, reflecting the many Pandits who served as record-keepers.","category":"Names","keyWords":["Munshi","Persian"]},{"id":"f320","text":"The surname 'Hakim' comes from the word for a physician, and 'Wazir' from a minister. Surnames like these recall ancestors' jobs.","category":"Names","keyWords":["Hakim","Wazir"]},{"id":"f321","text":"'Bakaya' is said to come from 'baqaya', the word for revenue arrears, perhaps linked to an ancestor who dealt with overdue taxes.","category":"Names","keyWords":["Bakaya","surnames"]},{"id":"f322","text":"Some Kashmiri Pandit surnames are said to come from foods or animals. 'Gadoo' is linked to 'gaad' (fish) and 'Kaw' to 'kaav' (crow), though these are family traditions rather than proven history.","category":"Names","keyWords":["Gadoo","Kaw"]},{"id":"f323","text":"Common Kashmiri Pandit surnames include Kaul, Koul, Dhar, Raina, Bhat, Pandit, Tikoo, Zutshi, Wali, Kachru, Razdan, Handoo, Mattoo, Sapru and Haksar.","category":"Names","keyWords":["surnames","kram"]},{"id":"f324","text":"Kashmiri Pandit families also keep their 'gotra', the name of the ancient sage from whom a family traces its line, such as Dattatreya or Bharadwaj.","category":"Names","keyWords":["gotra","ancestry"]},{"id":"f325","text":"Many Kashmiri Pandits have a pet name used only at home, such as 'Bitta', 'Kaka', 'Babli' or 'Tathi', alongside their official name.","category":"Names","keyWords":["pet names","home names"]},{"id":"f326","text":"The surname 'Zutshi' is found among several well-known Kashmiri Pandit families of Srinagar and of the Pandit communities that settled in north India.","category":"Names","keyWords":["Zutshi","surnames"]},{"id":"f327","text":"The surname 'Kotwal' comes from the title for a city police chief, a post some Pandit ancestors once held.","category":"Names","keyWords":["Kotwal","surnames"]},{"id":"f328","text":"The Katju family of Kashmiri Pandits settled in central India and produced a Chief Minister, Kailash Nath Katju, and a Supreme Court judge, Markandey Katju.","category":"Names","keyWords":["Katju","Kailash Nath Katju"]},{"id":"f329","text":"The poet Muhammad Iqbal wrote that his ancestors were Kashmiri Pandits of the Sapru clan who had embraced Islam generations earlier.","category":"Names","keyWords":["Iqbal","Sapru"]},{"id":"f330","text":"Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, came from a Kashmiri Pandit family that had moved to the plains in the 18th century. He often called himself a Kashmiri.","category":"People","keyWords":["Jawaharlal Nehru","Kashmiri Pandits"]},{"id":"f331","text":"Indira Gandhi, India's first woman Prime Minister, was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Kaul, both from Kashmiri Pandit families.","category":"People","keyWords":["Indira Gandhi","Kamala Nehru"]},{"id":"f332","text":"Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, a leading lawyer and moderate statesman of India's freedom struggle, came from a Kashmiri Pandit family settled in Uttar Pradesh.","category":"People","keyWords":["Tej Bahadur Sapru","freedom movement"]},{"id":"f333","text":"P. N. Haksar, a Kashmiri Pandit, was one of the most influential civil servants in India as principal secretary to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.","category":"People","keyWords":["P. N. Haksar","civil service"]},{"id":"f334","text":"General T. N. Raina, a Kashmiri Pandit, served as Chief of the Army Staff of India from 1975 to 1978.","category":"People","keyWords":["T. N. Raina","Indian Army"]},{"id":"f335","text":"The actor Anupam Kher was born into a Kashmiri Pandit family and has often spoken about the community and its exodus.","category":"People","keyWords":["Anupam Kher","actors"]},{"id":"f336","text":"The film star Raaj Kumar, famous for his dramatic dialogue, was born Kulbhushan Pandit into a Kashmiri Pandit family.","category":"People","keyWords":["Raaj Kumar","Bollywood"]},{"id":"f337","text":"Pandit Bhajan Sopori, a Kashmiri Pandit from the Sopori family of musicians, was a master of the santoor, Kashmir's hammered string instrument.","category":"People","keyWords":["Bhajan Sopori","santoor"]},{"id":"f338","text":"Gopi Krishna (1903–1984), a Kashmiri Pandit from Srinagar, wrote books about kundalini yoga that were read around the world.","category":"People","keyWords":["Gopi Krishna","kundalini"]},{"id":"f339","text":"Pandit Kashyap Bandhu (1899–1985) was a social reformer who campaigned for simpler weddings, women's education and widow remarriage among Kashmiri Pandits.","category":"People","keyWords":["Kashyap Bandhu","reform"]},{"id":"f340","text":"The journalist Rahul Pandita wrote 'Our Moon Has Blood Clots', a memoir of his Kashmiri Pandit family's exodus in 1990.","category":"People","keyWords":["Rahul Pandita","memoir"]},{"id":"f341","text":"Motilal Nehru, father of Jawaharlal, was a leading lawyer of Allahabad and twice president of the Indian National Congress.","category":"People","keyWords":["Motilal Nehru","Allahabad"]},{"id":"f342","text":"Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, became the first woman president of the United Nations General Assembly in 1953.","category":"People","keyWords":["Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit","United Nations"]},{"id":"f343","text":"D. P. Dhar and T. N. Kaul, both Kashmiri Pandits, were senior diplomats who played key roles in India's foreign policy in the early 1970s.","category":"People","keyWords":["D. P. Dhar","T. N. Kaul"]},{"id":"f344","text":"Swami Lakshmanjoo, the Kashmir Shaivism master, recorded many of his teachings on audio and film, so students today can still hear his voice.","category":"People","keyWords":["Swami Lakshmanjoo","recordings"]},{"id":"f345","text":"Kalhana, Abhinavagupta, Lal Ded and Kshemendra lived in the same small valley over a few centuries, one reason Kashmir is remembered as a treasure-house of Indian thought.","category":"People","keyWords":["Kalhana","Abhinavagupta"]},{"id":"f346","text":"The actor Sanjay Suri, a Kashmiri Pandit, left Srinagar with his family in 1990 after his father was killed, and later produced films on difficult social issues.","category":"People","keyWords":["Sanjay Suri","actors"]},{"id":"f347","text":"Kamala Nehru, born Kamala Kaul in Delhi to a Kashmiri Pandit family, was a freedom fighter and the wife of Jawaharlal Nehru.","category":"People","keyWords":["Kamala Nehru","freedom movement"]},{"id":"f348","text":"The paisley pattern, a curved teardrop shape, became famous in Europe through Kashmir shawls. The Scottish town of Paisley made so many copies that the design took its name.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["paisley","Kashmir shawl"]},{"id":"f349","text":"Pashmina comes from the soft under-fleece of the Changthangi goat of the high plateaus of Ladakh. It is spun and woven by hand in Kashmir.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["Pashmina","Changthangi goat"]},{"id":"f350","text":"A 'kani' shawl is woven using dozens of small wooden bobbins called kanis, each carrying a different colour. One shawl can take many months, even years, to finish.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["kani shawl","weaving"]},{"id":"f351","text":"'Sozni' is fine needle embroidery done on shawls and pherans, often so delicate that the pattern looks almost painted.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["sozni","embroidery"]},{"id":"f352","text":"Kashmiri papier-mâché, called 'kar-i-kalamdani', is made from paper pulp, shaped, then painted with fine brushes in bright flowers and birds.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["papier-mâché","kar-i-kalamdani"]},{"id":"f353","text":"Kashmiri walnut-wood carving is so detailed that a single screen may show whole vines, chinar leaves and birds cut deep into the wood.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["walnut wood carving","woodwork"]},{"id":"f354","text":"'Khatamband' is a Kashmiri ceiling made of small wooden pieces fitted together in geometric patterns without nails.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["khatamband","ceilings"]},{"id":"f355","text":"A 'namda' is a felted wool rug, pressed rather than woven, and embroidered with bright chain-stitch patterns.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["namda","felt rugs"]},{"id":"f356","text":"A 'gabba' is a rug made from old woollen blankets, dyed, cut and stitched together, a clever form of recycling from Kashmir.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["gabba","recycling"]},{"id":"f357","text":"Tradition says the Sufi saint Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani brought craftsmen from Persia to Kashmir in the 14th century, helping to start crafts such as shawl-weaving and carpet-making.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani","crafts"]},{"id":"f358","text":"Zain-ul-Abidin is remembered for encouraging crafts such as paper-making, bookbinding and carpet-weaving in Kashmir.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["Zain-ul-Abidin","paper-making"]},{"id":"f359","text":"'Tilla' is embroidery with gold or silver thread, used on the necklines and sleeves of women's pherans.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["tilla","pheran"]},{"id":"f360","text":"Kashmiri coppersmiths engrave samovars and trays with fine patterns. 'Traam' is the Kashmiri word for copper.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["copperware","traam"]},{"id":"f361","text":"Shahtoosh, the finest shawl wool of all, came from the Tibetan antelope. Trade in it is now banned to protect the animal.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["shahtoosh","Tibetan antelope"]},{"id":"f362","text":"'Wagu' is a traditional Kashmiri floor mat woven from marsh reeds and grasses, once found in nearly every home.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["wagu","mats"]},{"id":"f363","text":"Kashmir's hand-knotted carpets can have hundreds of knots per square inch. Weavers follow a coded pattern script called 'talim', often read out in a sing-song voice.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["carpets","talim"]},{"id":"f364","text":"Kashmir shawls were so prized in 19th-century Europe that they became a fashionable wedding gift; Empress Josephine of France is said to have owned many.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["Kashmir shawl","Josephine"]},{"id":"f365","text":"In 1990, most of Kashmir's Pandit community was forced to leave the valley amid violence and threats. Estimates of those displaced range well over a hundred thousand people.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["exodus","1990"]},{"id":"f366","text":"Many Kashmiri Pandits mark 19 January as Exodus Day, remembering the night in 1990 that began the mass departure.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["Exodus Day","19 January"]},{"id":"f367","text":"After 1990 many displaced families lived for years in tents and one-room tenements in camps around Jammu, such as Muthi and Purkhoo.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["migrant camps","Jammu"]},{"id":"f368","text":"Jagti township near Jammu was built for displaced Kashmiri Pandit families and opened in 2011 with around four thousand flats.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["Jagti","Jammu"]},{"id":"f369","text":"Kashmiri Pandits had migrated to the plains long before 1990. In the 18th and 19th centuries, families settled in Delhi, Lucknow, Allahabad, Agra and Lahore, often working in Persian and law.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["migration","Lucknow"]},{"id":"f370","text":"Lucknow once had a lively Kashmiri Pandit quarter, and its families became famous for their Urdu and Persian poetry.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["Lucknow","Urdu poetry"]},{"id":"f371","text":"Today Kashmiri Pandits live all over India and the world, with large communities in Jammu, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, the USA, the UK and the Gulf.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["diaspora","community"]},{"id":"f372","text":"Community groups abroad, such as the Kashmiri Overseas Association in the USA, organise Navreh, Herath and Shivratri celebrations and teach children the Kashmiri language.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["Kashmiri Overseas Association","community"]},{"id":"f373","text":"Because the community is spread so widely, many young Kashmiri Pandits are learning Koshur through online classes, apps and videos made by family and community volunteers.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["Koshur","language learning"]},{"id":"f374","text":"Families who left in 1990 often carried only a few things. A kangri, a samovar, a copper plate or a family horoscope scroll became treasured links to home.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["exodus","family heirlooms"]},{"id":"f375","text":"The exodus scattered families, so many grandparents and grandchildren now live in different cities or countries. Keeping festivals and recipes alive has become a way of keeping the family together.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["diaspora","family"]},{"id":"f376","text":"Many displaced Pandits still return each year for the Kheer Bhawani mela at Tulmul, which remains one of the biggest gatherings of the community in the valley.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["Kheer Bhawani","pilgrimage"]},{"id":"f377","text":"In Delhi, Kashmiri Pandits built temples and community halls, and in Jammu new temples recreate some of the holy places of the valley.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["temples","diaspora"]},{"id":"f378","text":"The 2020 film 'Shikara' told a love story set against the Kashmiri Pandit exodus, and many of its extras were Pandits who had lived through it.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["Shikara","film"]},{"id":"f379","text":"The word 'Kashmir' has two popular folk explanations: some say it means 'land drained of water', others link it to the sage Kashyapa. Scholars are not certain.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["Kashmir","etymology"]},{"id":"f380","text":"A Kashmiri Pandit's Navreh thaal often includes a mirror, so that on the first morning of the year you see yourself surrounded by good things.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["thaal","Navreh"]},{"id":"f381","text":"The shikara, Kashmir's elegant wooden boat, is paddled with a heart-shaped paddle.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["shikara","Dal Lake"]},{"id":"f382","text":"A traditional kangri can hold its heat for hours, and some Kashmiris even carry it to bed in winter, which the elders warn against.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["kangri","winter"]},{"id":"f383","text":"Kashmir has a floating vegetable market on the Dal Lake, where farmers trade from boats at dawn.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["floating market","Dal Lake"]},{"id":"f384","text":"Srinagar's houseboats are named rather like ships and are often carved inside with walnut-wood panels and khatamband ceilings.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["houseboats","khatamband"]},{"id":"f385","text":"The Kashmiri Pandit calendar counts years in the Saptarishi era, which is over 5,100 years old by its own reckoning.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["Saptarishi era","calendar"]},{"id":"f386","text":"Kalhana tells of King Lalitaditya ordering that his instructions given while drunk should not be carried out, a story told to show a wise ruler who knew his own weakness.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["Lalitaditya","Rajatarangini"]},{"id":"f387","text":"The chinar leaf is one of Kashmir's best-loved designs, appearing on papier-mâché, embroidery, woodwork and jewellery.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["chinar leaf","crafts"]},{"id":"f388","text":"The santoor, a hammered dulcimer with around a hundred strings, was used in Kashmir's Sufiana music long before it reached concert halls across India.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["santoor","Sufiana music"]},{"id":"f389","text":"The first snowfall of winter has always been greeted with excitement in Kashmir, and the Nilamata Purana is said to describe a festival to celebrate it.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["first snowfall","childhood"]},{"id":"f390","text":"Kalhana's poem mentions that Kashmir can be conquered by the power of merit but not by the power of soldiers, a line proud Kashmiris still quote.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["Kalhana","Kashmir"]},{"id":"f391","text":"In old Kashmir the Jhelum was the main highway of Srinagar, and people travelled through the city by boat far more than by road.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["Jhelum","boats"]},{"id":"f392","text":"The Srinagar–Leh road and the Mughal Road over the Pir Panjal are closed by snow for part of every winter, cutting some areas off for months.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["Mughal Road","winter"]},{"id":"f393","text":"Old photographs show many Kashmiri Pandit women wearing the taranga head-dress as part of everyday dress, not only on their wedding day.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["pheran","taranga"]},{"id":"f394","text":"The Rajatarangini opens with a prayer to Shiva as Ardhanarishvara, half-man and half-woman, before Kalhana begins his history.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Rajatarangini","Ardhanarishvara"]},{"id":"f395","text":"Kalhana said a historian should be like a judge, free of love or hatred, when telling of the past. It is one of the earliest statements of this idea in India.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Kalhana","impartiality"]},{"id":"f396","text":"The Nilamata Purana is written as a conversation in which the sage Vaishampayana answers the questions of King Janamejaya, the great-grandson of Arjuna.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Nilamata Purana","Vaishampayana"]},{"id":"f397","text":"Tradition connects the name of the Jhelum's Sanskrit name, Vitasta, to 'vitasti', a hand-span, the width of the opening Shiva made with his trident for the river to spring out.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Vitasta","Verinag"]},{"id":"f398","text":"Jonaraja's Rajatarangini, the second of the chronicles, was written in the 15th century at the court of Zain-ul-Abidin.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Jonaraja","Zain-ul-Abidin"]},{"id":"f399","text":"Kshemendra wrote the Bharatamanjari and Ramayanamanjari, short 'bouquet' versions of the great epics, as well as the Brihatkathamanjari, a retelling of a lost book of stories.","category":"Texts","keyWords":["Kshemendra","Brihatkatha"]},{"id":"f400","text":"In Kashmir Shaivism, Shakti, divine energy, is never separate from Shiva, just as heat is never separate from fire.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Shakti","Kashmir Shaivism"]},{"id":"f401","text":"The Spanda Karika, a short text of about fifty verses, is traditionally linked to Vasugupta or his pupil Bhatta Kallata.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["Spanda Karika","Bhatta Kallata"]},{"id":"f402","text":"'Chit' means consciousness and 'ananda' means bliss. Kashmir Shaivism teaches that Shiva is consciousness full of bliss and freedom, called 'svatantrya'.","category":"Shaivism","keyWords":["svatantrya","chit"]},{"id":"f403","text":"Lal Ded taught that God is present everywhere: 'Shiv chhuy thali thali rozaan', 'Shiva lives in every place', so do not divide Hindu from Muslim.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Lal Ded","Shiva"]},{"id":"f404","text":"The Kashmiri Sufi poets Shams Faqir, Wahab Khar and Rahman Dar drew on the same mystical language as Lal Ded and the Shaiva saints.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Sufi poetry","Shams Faqir"]},{"id":"f405","text":"Mahmud Gami, an 18th-century Kashmiri poet, retold Persian romances such as Yusuf-Zulaikha and Laila-Majnun in Kashmiri.","category":"Saints & Poets","keyWords":["Mahmud Gami","Kashmiri poetry"]},{"id":"f406","text":"'Tsochvor' is a small round Kashmiri bread topped with sesame or poppy seeds, often eaten with tea in the afternoon.","category":"Food","keyWords":["tsochvor","bread"]},{"id":"f407","text":"'Lavasa' is a thin, soft flatbread, and 'girda' is a round bread dimpled with fingertip marks. Both were bought fresh from the kandur.","category":"Food","keyWords":["lavasa","girda"]},{"id":"f408","text":"'Kokur' is the Kashmiri word for chicken, and 'gaad' means fish. You'll hear both when a Kashmiri grandparent plans a feast.","category":"Food","keyWords":["kokur","gaad"]},{"id":"f409","text":"Many Kashmiri Pandit families sing the 'Shiv Lagan', songs about Shiva's wedding, at Herath and at family weddings.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["Shiv Lagan","Herath"]},{"id":"f410","text":"At Herath, the Vatuk is set up in a special room of the house, often called the 'thokur kuth' or prayer room.","category":"Festivals","keyWords":["thokur kuth","Vatuk"]},{"id":"f411","text":"'Thokur kuth' means the prayer room of a Kashmiri Pandit house, where images of the family's deities are kept and worshipped.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["thokur kuth","prayer room"]},{"id":"f412","text":"Visitors to a Kashmiri Pandit home are almost always offered a cup of tea, and refusing it more than once can seem impolite.","category":"Customs","keyWords":["hospitality","tea"]},{"id":"f413","text":"Srinagar's Dal Lake has several parts, including Gagribal, Lokut Dal and Bod Dal; 'lokut' means small and 'bod' means big in Kashmiri.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Dal Lake","Bod Dal"]},{"id":"f414","text":"Ganderbal, where Kheer Bhawani stands, lies at the mouth of the Sindh valley on the road to Sonamarg.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Ganderbal","Sindh valley"]},{"id":"f415","text":"The Raghunath temple complex in Jammu, finished in the 19th century under the Dogra rulers, is one of the largest temple complexes in north India.","category":"Places","keyWords":["Raghunath temple","Jammu"]},{"id":"f416","text":"The Kashmir valley gets most of its snow between December and February, and elders still tell tales of legendary snowfalls that buried houses to their windows.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["snow","winter"]},{"id":"f417","text":"Almond trees bloom in Srinagar's Badamwari garden in March, one of the first signs that spring has come to the valley.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["Badamwari","almond blossom"]},{"id":"f418","text":"The Himalayan monal, a pheasant with shimmering rainbow feathers, lives in the high forests around Kashmir.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["Himalayan monal","birds"]},{"id":"f419","text":"The markhor, a wild goat with corkscrew horns, lives in the Kajinag range in north-west Kashmir.","category":"Nature","keyWords":["markhor","Kajinag"]},{"id":"f420","text":"The hand-painted designs on Kashmiri papier-mâché often use real gold leaf and colours once ground from minerals and plants.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["papier-mâché","gold leaf"]},{"id":"f421","text":"The 'Kashmir willow' cricket bat industry is centred around Bijbehara and Anantnag, where willow clefts are dried and shaped by hand.","category":"Crafts","keyWords":["cricket bats","Bijbehara"]},{"id":"f422","text":"Some Kashmiri Pandit families still hold on to the house keys of the homes they left in 1990, a quiet reminder of what was lost.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["exodus","memory"]},{"id":"f423","text":"Since 1990, the Kheer Bhawani mela at Tulmul has become a moment of reunion, where displaced Pandits and local Muslim neighbours often meet again.","category":"Diaspora","keyWords":["Kheer Bhawani","reunion"]},{"id":"f424","text":"The Kashmiri kangri is so much part of life that people joke it is a Kashmiri's best friend in winter.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["kangri","winter"]},{"id":"f425","text":"The Hari Parbat hill in Srinagar is topped by a fort built in the early 19th century under Afghan governor Atta Mohammad Khan, while an older outer wall dates from Akbar's time.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["Hari Parbat","fort"]},{"id":"f426","text":"Many Kashmiri Pandit elders who have lived away from the valley for decades still quietly count in Kashmiri: akh, zah, tre, tsor...","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["Kashmiri numbers","language"]},{"id":"f427","text":"In Kashmiri, 'Herath mubarak' and 'Navreh mubarak' are the usual festival greetings, using the word 'mubarak' for congratulations.","category":"Trivia","keyWords":["Herath mubarak","greetings"]}],"words":[{"word":"Mouj","script":"मोज","meaning":"mother","example":"Mouji, bu chhus garah yiwaan. (Mother, I am coming home.)","note":"The most loving word in any Kashmiri home; children call 'Mouji!' when they come in.","category":"Family","hindi":"माँ"},{"word":"Bab","script":"बब","meaning":"father","example":null,"note":"Many Pandit families say 'Babb' or 'Babji' for father.","category":"Family","hindi":"पिता"},{"word":"Mael","script":null,"meaning":"father (also 'Mol')","example":null,"note":"An older and slightly more formal word for father than 'Bab'.","category":"Family","hindi":"बाप"},{"word":"Dyad","script":"द्यद","meaning":"grandmother; an elderly, respected woman","example":null,"note":"The same word as 'Ded' in Lal Ded, 'Granny Lal'.","category":"Family","hindi":"दादी; बुज़ुर्ग सम्मानित महिला"},{"word":"Naan","script":"नान","meaning":"grandmother (in many families, mother's mother)","example":null,"note":"Also said 'Nani'; which grandmother is called what varies between families.","category":"Family","hindi":"नानी"},{"word":"Bobeh","script":null,"meaning":"grandmother or an elderly woman of the family (usage varies)","example":null,"note":"Some families use 'Boba' or 'Bobeh' for a grandmother; ask your elders which word your family used.","category":"Family","hindi":"घर की बुज़ुर्ग महिला"},{"word":"Budbab","script":null,"meaning":"grandfather","example":null,"note":"Literally 'old father'; families use several words for grandparents, so ask your elders what yours said.","category":"Family","hindi":"दादा"},{"word":"Mam","script":"माम","meaning":"mother's brother, maternal uncle","example":null,"note":"The Mam's home is often a child's favourite place for holidays.","category":"Family","hindi":"मामा"},{"word":"Maemi","script":null,"meaning":"wife of the maternal uncle","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Family","hindi":"मामी"},{"word":"Masi","script":"मासी","meaning":"mother's sister, maternal aunt","example":null,"note":"Also said 'Maas'.","category":"Family","hindi":"मौसी"},{"word":"Pofe","script":"पोफ","meaning":"father's sister, paternal aunt","example":null,"note":"Also spelt 'Poph' or 'Poff'. The Pofe often has a special role in family ceremonies.","category":"Family","hindi":"बुआ"},{"word":"Boy","script":"बोय","meaning":"brother","example":null,"note":"Pronounced with a long 'o', like 'bo-y'.","category":"Family","hindi":"भाई"},{"word":"Beni","script":"बेनि","meaning":"sister","example":null,"note":"Sisters are often called 'Beni' with the name, as in 'Rani beni'.","category":"Family","hindi":"बहन"},{"word":"Nechuv","script":null,"meaning":"son","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Family","hindi":"बेटा"},{"word":"Koor","script":"कूर","meaning":"daughter; girl","example":null,"note":"'Koor' is also used for any young girl.","category":"Family","hindi":"बेटी; लड़की"},{"word":"Gobur","script":null,"meaning":"son; child","example":null,"note":"Often used affectionately: 'myon gobur', my boy.","category":"Family","hindi":"बेटा; बच्चा"},{"word":"Shur","script":null,"meaning":"child","example":null,"note":"The plural 'shur' also means 'the children' of the house.","category":"Family","hindi":"बच्चा"},{"word":"Nosh","script":"नोश","meaning":"daughter-in-law","example":null,"note":"A new 'nosh' was traditionally welcomed with the Shishur celebration in her first winter.","category":"Family","hindi":"बहू"},{"word":"Zaamtur","script":null,"meaning":"son-in-law","example":null,"note":"Sons-in-law are traditionally treated as very honoured guests.","category":"Family","hindi":"दामाद"},{"word":"Hash","script":null,"meaning":"mother-in-law","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Family","hindi":"सास"},{"word":"Hihur","script":null,"meaning":"father-in-law","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Family","hindi":"ससुर"},{"word":"Run","script":null,"meaning":"husband","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Family","hindi":"पति"},{"word":"Aashen","script":null,"meaning":"wife","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Family","hindi":"पत्नी"},{"word":"Maharaaz","script":"महाराज","meaning":"bridegroom","example":null,"note":"From 'maharaja', great king: the groom is king for the day. Elders also use it lovingly for little boys.","category":"Family","hindi":"दूल्हा"},{"word":"Maharenz","script":null,"meaning":"bride","example":null,"note":"The bride is 'queen' for the day. 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(polite)","example":"Myon naav chhu Asha. (My name is Asha.)","note":null,"category":"Greeting","hindi":"आपका नाम क्या है?"},{"word":"Myon naav chhu...","script":null,"meaning":"My name is...","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Greeting","hindi":"मेरा नाम ... है"},{"word":"Wolo","script":null,"meaning":"Come here! (informal)","example":"Wolo, yetyi! (Come here!)","note":"Used with children and close friends.","category":"Greeting","hindi":"यहाँ आ!"},{"word":"Kyah gov?","script":null,"meaning":"What happened?","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Greeting","hindi":"क्या हुआ?"},{"word":"Aa","script":null,"meaning":"yes","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Greeting","hindi":"हाँ"},{"word":"Na","script":null,"meaning":"no","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Greeting","hindi":"नहीं"},{"word":"Herath mubarak","script":null,"meaning":"Happy Herath (Shivratri)!","example":null,"note":"The greeting heard in every Pandit home on Herath and on 'Salaam' day.","category":"Greeting","hindi":"हेरथ की शुभकामनाएँ!"},{"word":"Navreh mubarak","script":null,"meaning":"Happy New Year (Navreh)!","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Greeting","hindi":"नव वर्ष मुबारक!"},{"word":"Jaan","script":null,"meaning":"good, fine","example":"Yi chhu jaan. (This is good.)","note":null,"category":"Greeting","hindi":"अच्छा, ठीक"},{"word":"Kal","script":null,"meaning":"head","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"सिर"},{"word":"Mas","script":null,"meaning":"hair (of the head)","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"बाल"},{"word":"Buth","script":null,"meaning":"face","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"चेहरा"},{"word":"Achh","script":null,"meaning":"eye","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"आँख"},{"word":"Kan","script":null,"meaning":"ear","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"कान"},{"word":"Naast","script":null,"meaning":"nose","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"नाक"},{"word":"Aes","script":null,"meaning":"mouth","example":null,"note":"'Aesas posh' — flowers to your mouth — is said when someone gives good news.","category":"Body","hindi":"मुँह"},{"word":"Dand","script":null,"meaning":"tooth","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"दाँत"},{"word":"Zev","script":null,"meaning":"tongue","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"जीभ"},{"word":"Athh","script":null,"meaning":"hand","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"हाथ"},{"word":"Ongij","script":null,"meaning":"finger","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"उँगली"},{"word":"Nyoth","script":null,"meaning":"thumb","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"अंगूठा"},{"word":"Zang","script":null,"meaning":"leg","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"टाँग"},{"word":"Khor","script":null,"meaning":"foot","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"पैर"},{"word":"Yad","script":null,"meaning":"belly, stomach","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"पेट"},{"word":"Dil","script":null,"meaning":"heart","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"दिल"},{"word":"Nam","script":null,"meaning":"fingernail","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Body","hindi":"नाखून"},{"word":"Akh","script":null,"meaning":"one (1)","example":null,"note":"Related to Sanskrit 'eka'.","category":"Number","hindi":"एक"},{"word":"Zah","script":null,"meaning":"two (2)","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Number","hindi":"दो"},{"word":"Tre","script":null,"meaning":"three (3)","example":null,"note":"Related to Sanskrit 'tri'. 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(This is a red flower.)","note":null,"category":"Colour","hindi":"लाल"},{"word":"Lyodur","script":null,"meaning":"yellow","example":null,"note":"As in 'lyodur tsaman', yellow paneer curry.","category":"Colour","hindi":"पीला"},{"word":"Zard","script":null,"meaning":"yellow, pale","example":null,"note":"From Persian.","category":"Colour","hindi":"पीला, फीका"},{"word":"Nyul","script":null,"meaning":"blue; also used for green","example":null,"note":"Like several languages, Kashmiri sometimes uses one word across blue and green.","category":"Colour","hindi":"नीला (हरे के लिए भी)"},{"word":"Sabz","script":null,"meaning":"green","example":null,"note":"From Persian.","category":"Colour","hindi":"हरा"},{"word":"Kruhun","script":null,"meaning":"black","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Colour","hindi":"काला"},{"word":"Safed","script":null,"meaning":"white","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Colour","hindi":"सफ़ेद"},{"word":"Gulaebi","script":null,"meaning":"pink (literally 'rose-coloured')","example":null,"note":"The colour of a good cup of sheer chai.","category":"Colour","hindi":"गुलाबी"},{"word":"Az","script":null,"meaning":"today","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"आज"},{"word":"Pagah","script":null,"meaning":"tomorrow","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"कल"},{"word":"Raath","script":null,"meaning":"yesterday; also night","example":null,"note":"The same word can mean 'yesterday' and 'night'; context makes it clear.","category":"Time","hindi":"बीता कल; रात"},{"word":"Subhan","script":null,"meaning":"morning","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"सुबह"},{"word":"Shaam","script":null,"meaning":"evening","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"शाम"},{"word":"Doh","script":null,"meaning":"day","example":null,"note":"'Doh ta raath' means day and night.","category":"Time","hindi":"दिन"},{"word":"Vunyi","script":null,"meaning":"now","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"अब"},{"word":"Hafta","script":null,"meaning":"week","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"हफ़्ता"},{"word":"Reth","script":null,"meaning":"month","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"महीना"},{"word":"Wari","script":null,"meaning":"year","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"साल"},{"word":"Retkol","script":null,"meaning":"summer","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"गर्मी"},{"word":"Harud","script":null,"meaning":"autumn","example":null,"note":"Harud is chinar-leaf and saffron-harvest season.","category":"Time","hindi":"पतझड़"},{"word":"Wandh","script":null,"meaning":"winter","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"सर्दी"},{"word":"Chillai Kalan","script":null,"meaning":"the forty coldest days of winter (21 Dec – 31 Jan)","example":null,"note":"From Persian 'chilla', forty.","category":"Time","hindi":"सर्दी के चालीस सबसे ठंडे दिन"},{"word":"Chillai Khurd","script":null,"meaning":"the 'small chill', the twenty days after Chillai Kalan","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"छोटी ठंड, उसके बाद के बीस दिन"},{"word":"Chillai Bachha","script":null,"meaning":"the 'baby chill', the last ten days of hard winter","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"कड़ी सर्दी के आख़िरी दस दिन"},{"word":"Aathwaar","script":null,"meaning":"Sunday","example":null,"note":"From 'aaditya', the sun.","category":"Time","hindi":"रविवार"},{"word":"Tsaendrewaar","script":null,"meaning":"Monday","example":null,"note":"From 'chandra', the moon.","category":"Time","hindi":"सोमवार"},{"word":"Bomwaar","script":null,"meaning":"Tuesday","example":null,"note":"From 'bhauma', Mars.","category":"Time","hindi":"मंगलवार"},{"word":"Bodwaar","script":null,"meaning":"Wednesday","example":null,"note":"From 'Budha', Mercury.","category":"Time","hindi":"बुधवार"},{"word":"Brasvaar","script":null,"meaning":"Thursday","example":null,"note":"From 'Brihaspati', Jupiter.","category":"Time","hindi":"गुरुवार"},{"word":"Shukurvaar","script":null,"meaning":"Friday","example":null,"note":"From 'Shukra', Venus.","category":"Time","hindi":"शुक्रवार"},{"word":"Batvaar","script":null,"meaning":"Saturday","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"शनिवार"},{"word":"Tsithur","script":null,"meaning":"Chaitra, the first lunar month (March–April)","example":null,"note":"Navreh falls at the start of Tsithur's bright half.","category":"Time","hindi":"चैत्र"},{"word":"Vahek","script":null,"meaning":"Vaishakh (April–May)","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"वैशाख"},{"word":"Zeth","script":null,"meaning":"Jyeshtha (May–June)","example":null,"note":"Zyeth Aetham at Kheer Bhawani falls in this month.","category":"Time","hindi":"ज्येष्ठ"},{"word":"Haar","script":null,"meaning":"Ashadh (June–July)","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"आषाढ़"},{"word":"Shravun","script":null,"meaning":"Shravan (July–August)","example":null,"note":"The month of the Amarnath pilgrimage.","category":"Time","hindi":"श्रावण"},{"word":"Bhaadrapeth","script":null,"meaning":"Bhadrapad (August–September)","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"भाद्रपद"},{"word":"Aeshid","script":null,"meaning":"Ashwin (September–October)","example":null,"note":"Also spelt 'Ashid'.","category":"Time","hindi":"आश्विन"},{"word":"Kartik","script":null,"meaning":"Kartik (October–November)","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"कार्तिक"},{"word":"Monjhor","script":null,"meaning":"Margashirsha (November–December)","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Time","hindi":"मार्गशीर्ष"},{"word":"Poh","script":null,"meaning":"Paush (December–January)","example":null,"note":"Gaad Batta and Khetsimavas fall in Poh.","category":"Time","hindi":"पौष"},{"word":"Magh","script":null,"meaning":"Magh (January–February)","example":null,"note":"Kaw Punim and Gori Trai fall in Magh.","category":"Time","hindi":"माघ"},{"word":"Phagun","script":null,"meaning":"Phalgun (February–March)","example":null,"note":"The month of Herath.","category":"Time","hindi":"फाल्गुन"},{"word":"Batt","script":"बत","meaning":"cooked rice; a meal","example":"Batt tayaar chhu. (The meal is ready.)","note":"Rice is so central that 'batt' simply means 'food'.","category":"Food","hindi":"भात; खाना"},{"word":"Tsot","script":null,"meaning":"bread (a round baked bread from the kandur)","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Food","hindi":"रोटी"},{"word":"Haakh","script":"हाख","meaning":"collard greens","example":null,"note":"Kashmir's everyday green, cooked simply with mustard oil and asafoetida.","category":"Food","hindi":"हाक (पत्तेदार साग)"},{"word":"Monje","script":null,"meaning":"kohlrabi","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Food","hindi":"गांठ गोभी"},{"word":"Nadur","script":null,"meaning":"lotus stem","example":null,"note":"Also said 'nadru' outside Kashmir.","category":"Food","hindi":"कमल ककड़ी"},{"word":"Gogji","script":null,"meaning":"turnip","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Food","hindi":"शलजम"},{"word":"Muj","script":null,"meaning":"radish","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Food","hindi":"मूली"},{"word":"Olav","script":null,"meaning":"potato","example":null,"note":"As in 'dum olav'.","category":"Food","hindi":"आलू"},{"word":"Wangun","script":null,"meaning":"aubergine (brinjal)","example":null,"note":"A 'phata wangun', burst aubergine, is a sly young man who is too clever for his own good.","category":"Food","hindi":"बैंगन"},{"word":"Ruwangun","script":null,"meaning":"tomato","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Food","hindi":"टमाटर"},{"word":"Marchwangun","script":null,"meaning":"red chilli","example":null,"note":"Kashmiri chillies give colour more than fire.","category":"Food","hindi":"लाल मिर्च"},{"word":"Al","script":null,"meaning":"bottle gourd","example":null,"note":"Dried in strips it becomes 'al hachi'.","category":"Food","hindi":"लौकी"},{"word":"Hand","script":null,"meaning":"dandelion greens","example":null,"note":"Gathered wild in early spring.","category":"Food","hindi":"कंडाई का साग"},{"word":"Kanaguch","script":null,"meaning":"morel mushroom","example":null,"note":"Found wild in spring forests; 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(It is snowing today.)","note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"बर्फ़"},{"word":"Ruud","script":null,"meaning":"rain","example":"Az chhu ruud pewaan. (It is raining today.)","note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"बारिश"},{"word":"Wav","script":null,"meaning":"wind","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"हवा"},{"word":"Naar","script":null,"meaning":"fire","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"आग"},{"word":"Poen","script":null,"meaning":"water","example":null,"note":"Pandits usually say 'poen'; 'aab' is also used.","category":"Nature","hindi":"पानी"},{"word":"Aab","script":null,"meaning":"water","example":null,"note":"From Persian.","category":"Nature","hindi":"जल"},{"word":"Zoon","script":null,"meaning":"moon","example":null,"note":"Also a girl's name, as in the poet Habba Khatoon's birth name, Zoon.","category":"Nature","hindi":"चाँद"},{"word":"Siriy","script":null,"meaning":"sun","example":null,"note":"From Sanskrit 'surya'.","category":"Nature","hindi":"सूरज"},{"word":"Taarukh","script":null,"meaning":"star","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"तारा"},{"word":"Aasmaan","script":null,"meaning":"sky","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"आसमान"},{"word":"Nag","script":null,"meaning":"spring (of water)","example":null,"note":"From the Nagas, serpent spirits who guard springs.","category":"Nature","hindi":"चश्मा, सोता"},{"word":"Sar","script":null,"meaning":"lake","example":null,"note":"As in Tarsar, Marsar and Satisar.","category":"Nature","hindi":"झील"},{"word":"Kol","script":null,"meaning":"stream, canal","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"नहर, नाला"},{"word":"Kul","script":null,"meaning":"tree","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"पेड़"},{"word":"Posh","script":null,"meaning":"flower","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"फूल"},{"word":"Pamposh","script":null,"meaning":"lotus","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"कमल"},{"word":"Boen","script":null,"meaning":"chinar tree","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"चिनार का पेड़"},{"word":"Yambarzal","script":null,"meaning":"narcissus","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"नरगिस"},{"word":"Gulaab","script":null,"meaning":"rose","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"गुलाब"},{"word":"Kaav","script":null,"meaning":"crow","example":null,"note":"Fed on Kaw Punim.","category":"Nature","hindi":"कौआ"},{"word":"Tsaer","script":null,"meaning":"sparrow","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"गौरैया"},{"word":"Poshnool","script":null,"meaning":"golden oriole","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"पीलक"},{"word":"Bulbul","script":null,"meaning":"bulbul, songbird","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"बुलबुल"},{"word":"Haput","script":null,"meaning":"bear","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"भालू"},{"word":"Shaal","script":null,"meaning":"jackal","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"सियार"},{"word":"Hun","script":null,"meaning":"dog","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"कुत्ता"},{"word":"Braer","script":null,"meaning":"cat","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"बिल्ली"},{"word":"Gaav","script":null,"meaning":"cow","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"गाय"},{"word":"Gur","script":null,"meaning":"horse","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"घोड़ा"},{"word":"Hangul","script":null,"meaning":"Kashmir stag","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Nature","hindi":"कश्मीरी बारहसिंगा"},{"word":"Koshur","script":"कॉशुर","meaning":"the Kashmiri language; a Kashmiri person","example":"Bu chhus Koshur. (I am Kashmiri.)","note":null,"category":"Other","hindi":"कश्मीरी"},{"word":"Kasheer","script":null,"meaning":"Kashmir","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Other","hindi":"कश्मीर"},{"word":"Batta","script":null,"meaning":"a Kashmiri Pandit","example":null,"note":"From Sanskrit 'Bhatta', a learned man.","category":"Other","hindi":"कश्मीरी पंडित"},{"word":"Kadal","script":null,"meaning":"bridge","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Other","hindi":"पुल"},{"word":"Yarbal","script":null,"meaning":"riverside landing, ghat","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Other","hindi":"घाट"},{"word":"Doonga","script":null,"meaning":"large flat-bottomed boat used as a home on the water","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Other","hindi":"हाउसबोट"},{"word":"Kharaab","script":null,"meaning":"bad","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Other","hindi":"बुरा"},{"word":"Bod","script":null,"meaning":"big","example":null,"note":"As in Bod Dal, the big part of the Dal Lake.","category":"Other","hindi":"बड़ा"},{"word":"Lokut","script":null,"meaning":"small","example":null,"note":"As in Lokut Dal.","category":"Other","hindi":"छोटा"},{"word":"Lokchaar","script":null,"meaning":"childhood","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Other","hindi":"बचपन"},{"word":"Garm","script":null,"meaning":"hot, warm","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Other","hindi":"गरम"},{"word":"Kyah","script":null,"meaning":"what","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Other","hindi":"क्या"},{"word":"Kus","script":null,"meaning":"who","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Other","hindi":"कौन"},{"word":"Kati","script":null,"meaning":"where","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Other","hindi":"कहाँ"},{"word":"Aab dabbe","script":null,"meaning":"a person with no substance (literally 'a box made of water')","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Other","hindi":"पानी का बुलबुला, थोथा आदमी"},{"word":"Akh ta akh gayi kah","script":null,"meaning":"One and one make eleven: together we are stronger.","example":null,"note":"Kashmir's version of 'unity is strength'.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"एक और एक ग्यारह होते हैं।"},{"word":"Naar veez krool khanun","script":null,"meaning":"Digging a well when the fire breaks out: acting too late.","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Proverb","hindi":"आग लगने पर कुआँ खोदना।"},{"word":"Acher vaalav seeth kond kadun","script":null,"meaning":"Pulling out a thorn with one's eyelashes: the deepest, gentlest love and care.","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Proverb","hindi":"पलकों से काँटा निकालना यानी बेहद प्यार से सेवा करना।"},{"word":"Chai tani ya gani, magar tech gatshi tsyen","script":null,"meaning":"Tea, weak or strong, must be drunk hot.","example":null,"note":"A saying every Kashmiri grandparent agrees with.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"चाय हल्की हो या कड़क, गरम ही पीनी चाहिए।"},{"word":"Kahilo, tsaengis di phokh, ach vativ, tsong gatsi tshet panay","script":null,"meaning":"Lazy one, blow out the lamp! — Close your eyes and it will go out by itself: laziness is a curse.","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Proverb","hindi":"आलसी से कहा दीया बुझा दे, बोला आँख मूँद लो, अपने आप बुझ जाएगा।"},{"word":"Haakh-batt","script":null,"meaning":"Greens and rice: simple daily food, one's bread and butter.","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Proverb","hindi":"साग-भात, यानी रोज़ की रूखी-सूखी रोज़ी।"},{"word":"Batah gajih ruhun","script":null,"meaning":"Like garlic on a Pandit's hearth: someone or something unwelcome.","example":null,"note":"Because traditional Pandit kitchens avoided garlic.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"पंडित के चूल्हे पर लहसुन जैसा, यानी बिन बुलाया और अनचाहा।"},{"word":"Adyav kheyiv chinih, adyav kheyiv taki","script":null,"meaning":"Half ate from big dishes, half from small ones: a badly arranged feast.","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Proverb","hindi":"आधों ने बड़ी थाली में खाया, आधों ने छोटी में, यानी बेढंगी दावत।"},{"word":"Akh duda, biyi maji kyut toak","script":null,"meaning":"An uninvited guest who also wants a plateful for his mother: someone never content with what is offered.","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Proverb","hindi":"बिन बुलाया मेहमान, ऊपर से माँ के लिए भी थाली माँगे।"},{"word":"Akh chhiwyov masah, byak hakah rasah","script":null,"meaning":"One is drunk on wine, another on the juice of greens: rich or poor, everyone has pride.","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Proverb","hindi":"कोई शराब के नशे में, कोई साग के पानी के, घमंड सबको होता है।"},{"word":"Aliph laam wanun","script":null,"meaning":"To tell it from alif (A) onwards: to tell a story in endless detail.","example":null,"note":"Wording varies ('aliph lael wanin').","category":"Proverb","hindi":"अलिफ़ से शुरू करना, यानी बात को लंबा खींचना।"},{"word":"Aesas posh","script":null,"meaning":"Flowers to your mouth!: a lovely reply to good news or kind words.","example":null,"note":"Like saying 'may your words come true'.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"तुम्हारे मुँह में फूल पड़ें!"},{"word":"Phata wangun","script":null,"meaning":"A burst aubergine: a sly young man too clever for his own good.","example":null,"note":null,"category":"Proverb","hindi":"फटा हुआ बैंगन, यानी ज़्यादा चालाक छोकरा।"},{"word":"Kaanger peyi","script":null,"meaning":"May a kangri fall on you! — a playful Kashmiri curse.","example":null,"note":"Usually said half-jokingly.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"तुझ पर कांगड़ी गिरे!"},{"word":"Ann poshi teli yeli wan poshi","script":null,"meaning":"Food will last only as long as the forests last.","example":null,"note":"A line of Nund Rishi, quoted today as an environmental warning.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"जब तक जंगल हैं, तभी तक अन्न है।"},{"word":"Gorun dopnam kunuy vatsun","script":null,"meaning":"My guru told me only one precept: go from the outside to the inside.","example":null,"note":"A line of Lal Ded, quoted as a saying.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"गुरु ने एक ही बात बताई, बाहर से भीतर की ओर चलो।"},{"word":"Aami pana sodras naavi chhas lamaan","script":null,"meaning":"I am towing my boat across the sea with a rope of untwisted thread: my efforts feel frail.","example":null,"note":"A line of Lal Ded.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"कच्चे धागे से समुद्र में नाव खींच रही हूँ।"},{"word":"Shiv chhuy thali thali rozaan","script":null,"meaning":"Shiva lives in every place: do not divide people by faith.","example":null,"note":"A line of Lal Ded.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"शिव हर जगह बसे हैं, मज़हब से लोगों को मत बाँटो।"},{"word":"Lal bo drayas lolare","script":null,"meaning":"I, Lalla, set out full of longing: the seeker's journey begins with love.","example":null,"note":"A line of Lal Ded.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"मैं ललद्यद चाह लिए चली, प्रेम से ही खोज शुरू होती है।"},{"word":"Hond maeritan ya kath, Lali nalvath tsali na zanh","script":null,"meaning":"Whether they kill a big ram or a small sheep, Lalla's stone will never leave her plate: some hardships never change.","example":null,"note":"Tradition says this was said about Lal Ded's harsh mother-in-law; wording varies.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"बड़ा मेढ़ा कटे या छोटी भेड़, लल्ला की थाली में पत्थर ही रहेगा।"},{"word":"Haputs yaeri","script":null,"meaning":"A bear's friendship: a foolish friend who does more harm than good.","example":null,"note":"Wording varies between speakers.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"भालू की दोस्ती, यानी मूर्ख मित्र से नुक़सान।"},{"word":"Nyoth hawun","script":null,"meaning":"To show the thumb: to cheat someone or refuse them flatly.","example":null,"note":"Wording varies between speakers.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"अंगूठा दिखाना।"},{"word":"Pantsh ongij chhe na barabar","script":null,"meaning":"The five fingers are not all equal: people are not all alike.","example":null,"note":"Wording varies between families.","category":"Proverb","hindi":"पाँचों उँगलियाँ बराबर नहीं होतीं।"},{"word":"Su kot gov?","script":null,"meaning":"Where did he go?","example":null,"note":"Taught by a Kashmiri Pandit speaker (Kavbatt's founder), 2026-10-10.","category":"Questions","hindi":"वह कहाँ गया?"}],"quiz":[{"q":"Who wrote the Rajatarangini, the 'River of Kings'?","options":["Kalhana","Somadeva","Kshemendra","Bilhana"],"answer":0,"explain":"Kalhana completed the Rajatarangini in 1149–50 CE.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"Roughly when was the Rajatarangini completed?","options":["16th century CE","12th century CE","8th century CE","5th century CE"],"answer":1,"explain":"Kalhana finished it in 1149–50 CE.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"What does 'Rajatarangini' mean?","options":["Garland of Queens","Ocean of Stories","Light on the Tantras","River of Kings"],"answer":3,"explain":"'Raja' means king and 'tarangini' means river.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"The Rajatarangini is divided into eight books. What is each book called?","options":["Adhyaya","Parva","Kanda","Taranga"],"answer":3,"explain":"Each book is a 'taranga', a wave.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"According to the Nilamata Purana, what was Kashmir before people lived there?","options":["An island in the sea","A great lake called Satisar","A desert","A forest of chinars"],"answer":1,"explain":"The Nilamata says Kashmir was the lake Satisar, drained with the help of the sage Kashyapa.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"Which sage is linked with draining the lake of Satisar?","options":["Agastya","Kashyapa","Valmiki","Vasishtha"],"answer":1,"explain":"Tradition credits Kashyapa with having the lake drained.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"What was the name of the water demon in the Satisar story?","options":["Jalodbhava","Mahishasura","Vritra","Ravana"],"answer":0,"explain":"Jalodbhava means 'born of water'.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"The Nilamata Purana is named after Nila. Who was he?","options":["A Buddhist monk","A king of Kashmir","A Mughal governor","King of the Nagas"],"answer":3,"explain":"Nila was the king of the Nagas, the serpent spirits.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"Who translated the Rajatarangini into English in 1900?","options":["Georg Bühler","Max Müller","William Jones","Aurel Stein"],"answer":3,"explain":"Aurel Stein's translation, made with Pandit Govind Kaul's help, is still the standard one.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"Which Kashmiri poet wrote the Kathasaritsagara, the 'Ocean of Stories'?","options":["Mammata","Somadeva","Jonaraja","Kalhana"],"answer":1,"explain":"Somadeva wrote it in the 11th century for Queen Suryamati.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"Who continued Kalhana's chronicle in the 15th century?","options":["Bilhana","Abhinavagupta","Lal Ded","Jonaraja"],"answer":3,"explain":"Jonaraja, and then his pupil Shrivara, continued the story.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"Kshemendra is best known today for writing...","options":["Persian poetry","Books on astronomy","Satire and retellings of epics","Music theory"],"answer":2,"explain":"He mocked greedy officials and fake holy men, and wrote short versions of the epics.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"What material were many old Kashmiri manuscripts written on?","options":["Palm leaf","Clay tablets","Birch bark","Silk"],"answer":2,"explain":"Himalayan birch bark, 'burza', was a common writing surface.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"Which poet left Kashmir to become court poet to the Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI?","options":["Kalhana","Bilhana","Kuntaka","Mankha"],"answer":1,"explain":"Bilhana wrote the Vikramankadevacharita about his patron.","category":"Texts"},{"q":"Which queen ruled Kashmir until her death in 1003 CE?","options":["Yashovati","Kota Rani","Didda","Sugandha"],"answer":2,"explain":"Didda ruled as regent and then in her own right for about 50 years.","category":"History"},{"q":"Who was the last Hindu ruler of Kashmir before the sultans?","options":["Didda","Suryamati","Kota Rani","Sugandha"],"answer":2,"explain":"Kota Rani died in 1339, and Shah Mir founded a new dynasty.","category":"History"},{"q":"Which king built the Martand Sun Temple?","options":["Avantivarman","Lalitaditya Muktapida","Harsha","Zain-ul-Abidin"],"answer":1,"explain":"Lalitaditya of the Karkota dynasty built it in the 8th century.","category":"History"},{"q":"Which town did King Avantivarman found?","options":["Anantnag","Avantipur","Pampore","Sopore"],"answer":1,"explain":"Avantipur still has the ruins of his two temples.","category":"History"},{"q":"Suyya, the 9th-century engineer, got villagers to clear a blocked river by...","options":["Throwing coins into the water","Blessing the river","Paying them in rice","Using elephants"],"answer":0,"explain":"Kalhana says he threw coins into the river so people would dive in and clear the rocks.","category":"History"},{"q":"The town of Sopore is named after whom?","options":["Sultan Sikandar","King Jayapida","Suyya","Queen Sugandha"],"answer":2,"explain":"Sopore was once Suyyapura.","category":"History"},{"q":"Which sultan is lovingly called 'Budshah', the Great King?","options":["Yusuf Shah Chak","Shah Mir","Sikandar","Zain-ul-Abidin"],"answer":3,"explain":"Zain-ul-Abidin invited back Pandits who had fled and protected their faith.","category":"History"},{"q":"Tradition says a Pandit physician cured Zain-ul-Abidin. What was his name?","options":["Shri Bhatta","Kalhana","Birbal Dhar","Charaka"],"answer":0,"explain":"Shri Bhatta asked only for his community's freedoms in return.","category":"History"},{"q":"In which year did the Mughal emperor Akbar annex Kashmir?","options":["1707","1526","1586","1819"],"answer":2,"explain":"Akbar took Kashmir in 1586.","category":"History"},{"q":"Which treaty gave Kashmir to Gulab Singh in 1846?","options":["Treaty of Srinagar","Treaty of Delhi","Treaty of Lahore","Treaty of Amritsar"],"answer":3,"explain":"The Treaty of Amritsar handed Kashmir to the Dogra ruler for 75 lakh rupees.","category":"History"},{"q":"Which Pandit is said to have asked Ranjit Singh to free Kashmir from Afghan rule?","options":["Govind Kaul","Birbal Dhar","Shri Bhatta","Tej Bahadur Sapru"],"answer":1,"explain":"Birbal Dhar's appeal led to Sikh rule from 1819.","category":"History"},{"q":"Which Chinese pilgrim spent about two years studying in Kashmir around 631 CE?","options":["Yijing","Kumarajiva","Faxian","Xuanzang"],"answer":3,"explain":"Xuanzang studied Buddhist texts there.","category":"History"},{"q":"What is the old name of Srinagar's Pandrethan, meaning 'old capital'?","options":["Padmapura","Pravarapura","Puranadhishthana","Parihaspora"],"answer":2,"explain":"Pandrethan comes from Puranadhishthana.","category":"History"},{"q":"Kalhana's father served which king?","options":["Harsha","Avantivarman","Jayapida","Lalitaditya"],"answer":0,"explain":"Champaka, Kalhana's father, served King Harsha.","category":"History"},{"q":"What does the Kashmiri Pandit 'Saptarishi' calendar begin its new year with?","options":["Diwali","Herath","Navreh","Sonth"],"answer":2,"explain":"Navreh marks the new year of the Saptarishi era.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"When did the Maharaja Hari Singh sign the Instrument of Accession?","options":["26 January 1950","15 August 1947","31 October 2019","26 October 1947"],"answer":3,"explain":"He signed on 26 October 1947.","category":"History"},{"q":"What does Kashmir Shaivism teach about the world?","options":["It was made by chance","It is an illusion to escape","It is evil","It is Shiva's own real, creative play"],"answer":3,"explain":"Unlike some schools, it holds the world is real because it is Shiva's expression.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"Where, according to tradition, did Vasugupta find the Shiva Sutras?","options":["In a temple at Martand","Under a chinar tree","In a cave at Amarnath","Carved on a rock on Mahadev mountain"],"answer":3,"explain":"The rock is called Shankar Pal, above Harwan.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"How many sutras are in the Shiva Sutras?","options":["36","18","108","77"],"answer":3,"explain":"There are 77 short aphorisms in three sections.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"What does 'Pratyabhijna' mean?","options":["Devotion","Silence","Recognition","Vibration"],"answer":2,"explain":"The school teaches that liberation is recognising your true nature as Shiva.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"What does 'Spanda' mean?","options":["Breath","Vibration or pulse","Sound","Light"],"answer":1,"explain":"The Spanda school sees consciousness as always gently pulsing.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"Who wrote the Tantraloka?","options":["Mammata","Kalhana","Vasugupta","Abhinavagupta"],"answer":3,"explain":"Abhinavagupta's 'Light on the Tantras' has 37 chapters.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"How many tattvas (levels of reality) does Kashmir Shaivism count?","options":["5","112","36","25"],"answer":2,"explain":"Kashmir Shaivism counts 36, compared with Samkhya's 25.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"How many meditations are described in the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra?","options":["36","1,000","112","77"],"answer":2,"explain":"It describes 112 short meditation techniques.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"Tradition says Abhinavagupta disappeared into a cave near which place?","options":["Gulmarg","Beerwah","Pahalgam","Sopore"],"answer":1,"explain":"He is said to have entered the Bhairava cave with about 1,200 disciples.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"Who is often called the last living master of the Kashmir Shaiva tradition?","options":["Gopi Krishna","Swami Vivekananda","Bhagwan Gopinath","Swami Lakshmanjoo"],"answer":3,"explain":"Swami Lakshmanjoo (1907–1991) taught at Ishber near Nishat.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"What does 'Trika' mean?","options":["Fourfold","Hidden","Eternal","Threefold"],"answer":3,"explain":"It refers to Shiva, Shakti and the individual, and to three goddesses.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"Who wrote the 'Pratyabhijnahridayam'?","options":["Kalhana","Kshemaraja","Somananda","Bilhana"],"answer":1,"explain":"Kshemaraja, Abhinavagupta's pupil, wrote this short guide.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"Utpaladeva wrote a much-loved collection of hymns. What is it called?","options":["Gita Govinda","Shiv Lagan","Shivastotravali","Saundarya Lahari"],"answer":2,"explain":"The Shivastotravali is still sung in Kashmiri Pandit homes.","category":"Shaivism"},{"q":"What are Lal Ded's four-line poems called?","options":["Dohas","Vakhs","Ghazals","Bhajans"],"answer":1,"explain":"'Vakh' comes from the Sanskrit 'vak', speech.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"In which century did Lal Ded live?","options":["14th","19th","17th","10th"],"answer":0,"explain":"Lal Ded lived in the 14th century.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"What does 'Ded' in Lal Ded mean?","options":["Queen","Saint","Granny or elder mother","Singer"],"answer":2,"explain":"'Ded' is a loving word for grandmother.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"Which saint, honoured by Muslims and Pandits, is traditionally said to have been nursed by Lal Ded?","options":["Rishi Pir","Nund Rishi","Habba Khatoon","Parmanand"],"answer":1,"explain":"Kashmiri tradition says Lal Ded nursed the baby Nund Rishi.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"Nund Rishi said food will last only as long as...","options":["The rivers flow","The snow falls","The forests last","The kings rule"],"answer":2,"explain":"'Ann poshi teli yeli wan poshi' is quoted as an environmental message.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"Which Pandit woman saint (1621–1721) was also called Alakheshwari?","options":["Lal Ded","Rupa Bhawani","Arnimal","Habba Khatoon"],"answer":1,"explain":"Rupa Bhawani is remembered on Sahib Saptami.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"Who is called the 'Nightingale of Kashmir'?","options":["Rupa Bhawani","Lal Ded","Arnimal","Habba Khatoon"],"answer":3,"explain":"Habba Khatoon, the 16th-century poet-queen, was born Zoon.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"Which poet wrote 'Bombur ta Yambarzal', the first Kashmiri opera?","options":["Parmanand","Dina Nath Nadim","Zinda Kaul","Mahjoor"],"answer":1,"explain":"Nadim is often called the father of modern Kashmiri poetry.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"Who was the first Kashmiri writer to win the Sahitya Akademi Award, in 1956?","options":["Master Zinda Kaul","Dina Nath Nadim","Rehman Rahi","Mahjoor"],"answer":0,"explain":"He won for his collection 'Sumran'.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"Parmanand, the 19th-century devotional poet, came from which holy town?","options":["Sopore","Mattan","Gulmarg","Baramulla"],"answer":1,"explain":"He lived near the Martand springs at Mattan.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"Krishna Joo Razdan is best known for songs about...","options":["Mughal gardens","The Jhelum","Shiva's wedding","The seasons"],"answer":2,"explain":"His 'Shiv Lagan' is still sung at gatherings.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"Who was the first Kashmiri-language writer to win the Jnanpith Award?","options":["Zinda Kaul","Amin Kamil","Rehman Rahi","Dina Nath Nadim"],"answer":2,"explain":"Rehman Rahi received it for 2004.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"Which Lal Ded line says 'Shiva lives in every place'?","options":["Shiv chhuy thali thali rozaan","Aesas posh","Ann poshi teli yeli wan poshi","Akh ta akh gayi kah"],"answer":0,"explain":"Lal Ded urged people not to divide Hindu from Muslim.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"Habba Khatoon's husband was which king?","options":["Akbar","Gulab Singh","Zain-ul-Abidin","Yusuf Shah Chak"],"answer":3,"explain":"Yusuf Shah Chak was the last independent Chak king.","category":"Saints & Poets"},{"q":"What do Kashmiri speakers call their own language?","options":["Koshur","Dogri","Shina","Pahari"],"answer":0,"explain":"'Koshur' means the Kashmiri language and a Kashmiri person.","category":"Language"},{"q":"Kashmiri is famous among Indian languages for putting the verb...","options":["At the very end","Nowhere","Second in the sentence","First in the sentence"],"answer":2,"explain":"Like German, Kashmiri is a verb-second language.","category":"Language"},{"q":"Which script did Kashmiri Pandits traditionally use for Sanskrit and Kashmiri?","options":["Gurmukhi","Sharada","Tamil","Bengali"],"answer":1,"explain":"Sharada developed in the region from around the 8th century.","category":"Language"},{"q":"What does 'kadal' mean in Srinagar place names like Habba Kadal?","options":["Market","Temple","Garden","Bridge"],"answer":3,"explain":"Kadal means bridge.","category":"Language"},{"q":"What does 'nag' mean in names like Verinag and Anantnag?","options":["Fort","Village","Mountain","Spring"],"answer":3,"explain":"'Nag' is a spring, linked to the Naga spirits.","category":"Language"},{"q":"What does 'marg' mean in Gulmarg and Sonamarg?","options":["Lake","Hill","Meadow","River"],"answer":2,"explain":"Gulmarg is the meadow of flowers.","category":"Language"},{"q":"What is the Kashmiri name for the Jhelum river?","options":["Vyeth","Sindh","Kishen","Lidder"],"answer":0,"explain":"'Vyeth' comes from its Sanskrit name, Vitasta.","category":"Language"},{"q":"What does the Kashmiri word 'batt' mean?","options":["Bread","Water","Tea","Cooked rice or a meal"],"answer":3,"explain":"Rice is so central that 'batt' means a meal.","category":"Language"},{"q":"Kashmiri Pandits call themselves 'Batta'. It comes from a Sanskrit word meaning...","options":["Farmer","Traveller","Warrior","Learned man"],"answer":3,"explain":"'Bhatta' was a title for a learned person.","category":"Language"},{"q":"The English word 'cashmere' comes from...","options":["A French designer","An old spelling of Kashmir","A type of goat in Mongolia","A Scottish town"],"answer":1,"explain":"Cashmere wool is named after Kashmir.","category":"Language"},{"q":"In 2020, Kashmiri became an official language of Jammu and Kashmir along with which others?","options":["Punjabi and Ladakhi","Only Urdu","Dogri, Hindi, Urdu and English","Sanskrit and Persian"],"answer":2,"explain":"The 2020 law listed five official languages.","category":"Language"},{"q":"What is 'kong' in Kashmiri?","options":["Rice","Saffron","Walnut","Almond"],"answer":1,"explain":"'Kong' comes from Sanskrit 'kunkuma'.","category":"Language"},{"q":"Which two ingredients are traditionally left out of Kashmiri Pandit cooking?","options":["Yoghurt and ghee","Ginger and fennel","Onion and garlic","Rice and salt"],"answer":2,"explain":"Pandit cooking uses asafoetida, fennel and dry ginger instead.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What is 'yang' in a Kashmiri Pandit kitchen?","options":["Saffron","Asafoetida","Turmeric","Mustard seed"],"answer":1,"explain":"Asafoetida gives flavour without onion or garlic.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What is 'haakh'?","options":["A sweet bread","A river fish","A kind of collard green","A spice mix"],"answer":2,"explain":"Haakh with rice is everyday Kashmiri food.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What is 'nadur'?","options":["Lotus stem","Turnip","Radish","Kohlrabi"],"answer":0,"explain":"Lotus stem is harvested from Kashmir's lakes.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What gives noon chai (sheer chai) its pink colour?","options":["Rose petals","Beetroot","Saffron","Long brewing with a pinch of bicarbonate of soda, then milk"],"answer":3,"explain":"The reaction during long brewing turns it pink when milk is added.","category":"Food"},{"q":"Which spice gives kahwa its golden colour?","options":["Turmeric","Cumin","Chilli","Saffron"],"answer":3,"explain":"Kahwa has saffron, cardamom, cinnamon and almonds.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What is a 'kandur'?","options":["A weaver","A priest","A boatman","A baker"],"answer":3,"explain":"The kandur sold fresh bread every morning.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What does 'monje' mean?","options":["Spinach","Kohlrabi","Aubergine","Potato"],"answer":1,"explain":"Monje haakh is kohlrabi with its greens.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What is 'hokh syun'?","options":["Fresh spring greens","A spice box","Sun-dried vegetables for winter","A wedding sweet"],"answer":2,"explain":"Families dried vegetables to last through the long winter.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What is 'hogaad'?","options":["Sun-dried fish","Fried bread","Salted tea","Lamb ribs"],"answer":0,"explain":"Hogaad is a strong-flavoured winter favourite.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What is 'tahar'?","options":["A copper pot","Salt tea","Yellow turmeric rice for auspicious days","Walnut chutney"],"answer":2,"explain":"Tahar is cooked on birthdays and offered to the goddess.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What does 'modur' mean, as in modur pulav?","options":["Sweet","Salty","Spicy","Sour"],"answer":0,"explain":"Modur pulav is sweet saffron rice.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What are 'kanaguch'?","options":["Dried apricots","River crabs","Morel mushrooms","Wild apples"],"answer":2,"explain":"These rare wild mushrooms are very expensive.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What is a samovar used for?","options":["Baking bread","Grinding spices","Keeping tea hot","Storing rice"],"answer":2,"explain":"A central tube holds burning charcoal.","category":"Food"},{"q":"'Chok wangun' is a sour dish made with which vegetable?","options":["Lotus stem","Potato","Turnip","Aubergine"],"answer":3,"explain":"'Wangun' means aubergine and 'chok' means sour.","category":"Food"},{"q":"Kashmiri Pandits are unusual among Brahmin communities because they traditionally...","options":["Drink no tea","Eat only raw food","Eat meat and fish","Never eat rice"],"answer":2,"explain":"Lamb and fish are part of traditional Pandit cooking.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What do Kashmiri Pandits call a traditional feast?","options":["Wazwan","Sadhya","Saal","Langar"],"answer":2,"explain":"'Wazwan' is the Muslim multi-course feast.","category":"Food"},{"q":"What is Navreh?","options":["The Kashmiri Pandit New Year","Krishna's birthday","A harvest festival","The festival of lamps"],"answer":0,"explain":"It falls on the first day of Chaitra's bright half.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"What is placed on the Navreh thaal?","options":["A lamp and a bell","Rice, walnuts, a pen, a mirror and a new almanac","Only flowers","Only sweets"],"answer":1,"explain":"It is the first thing seen on New Year's morning.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"On Zang Trai, married daughters traditionally...","options":["Go to Amarnath","Climb Hari Parbat","Visit their parents' home","Fast all day"],"answer":2,"explain":"They return with salt and a gift of money called atgath.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"What is 'Herath'?","options":["A wedding rite","The New Year","The spring festival","Kashmiri Mahashivratri"],"answer":3,"explain":"Herath is the greatest Kashmiri Pandit festival.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"Herath is celebrated one day earlier than Shivratri in most of India, on which lunar day?","options":["The first","The fifth","The full moon","The thirteenth"],"answer":3,"explain":"It falls on the thirteenth day of Phalgun's dark half.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"Which nut is central to Herath?","options":["Walnut","Pistachio","Cashew","Almond"],"answer":0,"explain":"Walnuts are soaked in the Vatuk and shared as blessed food.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"What is the 'Vatuk' at Herath?","options":["A dance","A song","A set of pots representing Shiva's family","A special bread"],"answer":2,"explain":"The pots are filled with water and walnuts.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"What is the day after Herath called?","options":["Sonth","Zang Trai","Pann","Salaam"],"answer":3,"explain":"Friends and neighbours came to greet, and children got Herath kharch.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"What is 'Herath kharch'?","options":["A prayer","A lamp","A walnut dish","Pocket money for children"],"answer":3,"explain":"Elders give children money at Herath.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"Which festival is held at the Kheer Bhawani spring at Tulmul?","options":["Zyeth Aetham","Kaw Punim","Sonth","Gaad Batta"],"answer":0,"explain":"Zyeth Aetham falls in the month of Jyeshtha.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"On Kaw Punim, which bird is fed?","options":["Sparrow","Crow","Pigeon","Golden oriole"],"answer":1,"explain":"Crows are linked to the ancestors in Kashmiri tradition.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"What is offered on Gaad Batta?","options":["Walnuts","Milk","Fish and rice","Sweet bread"],"answer":2,"explain":"'Gaad' means fish and 'batta' rice.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"On Khetsimavas, khichdi is offered to whom?","options":["The river","The crows","The yaksha, a protective spirit","The priest"],"answer":2,"explain":"It falls on the new moon of Paush.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"What is 'Sonth'?","options":["The harvest","A wedding day","The winter solstice","The spring festival"],"answer":3,"explain":"A thaal is prepared for Sonth as for Navreh.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"What does 'Zaram Satam' celebrate?","options":["The river's birthday","Krishna's birthday","The New Year","Shiva's wedding"],"answer":1,"explain":"It is the Kashmiri name for Janmashtami.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"Which festival celebrates the river Vitasta (Jhelum)?","options":["Herath","Pann","Vyeth Truvah","Tila Aetham"],"answer":2,"explain":"Lamps were once floated on the river.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"'Kambar Pach' is the fortnight for...","options":["Planting rice","Weddings","Remembering ancestors","Spring cleaning"],"answer":2,"explain":"It is the Kashmiri name for the ancestors' fortnight.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"What is 'roth'?","options":["A sweet bread made for Pann","A boat","A wedding song","A copper pot"],"answer":0,"explain":"It is decorated and shared after the Pann story.","category":"Festivals"},{"q":"What are 'dejhor'?","options":["Ear ornaments of married Pandit women","A necklace for children","A head-dress","Bangles"],"answer":0,"explain":"They hang from threads through a piercing high on the ear.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"What is the 'taranga'?","options":["A bride's head-dress","A winter gown","A copper plate","A wedding song"],"answer":0,"explain":"It is worn over a cap called the kalpush.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"What is a 'kangri'?","options":["A drum","A wooden boat","A fire-pot kept under the pheran","A kind of bread"],"answer":2,"explain":"An earthen bowl of embers in a wicker basket.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"What is the pheran?","options":["A bridge","A long, loose woollen gown","A song","A rug"],"answer":1,"explain":"It is worn by men and women in winter.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"What happens at 'Posh Puza' during a wedding?","options":["The bride gets henna","The couple are showered with flowers","The house is cleaned","The groom rides a horse"],"answer":1,"explain":"The couple are honoured as Shiva and Parvati.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"What is 'Maenziraat'?","options":["The sacred-thread ceremony","The naming day","The henna night","The first haircut"],"answer":2,"explain":"'Maenz' means henna.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"What is 'Mekhal'?","options":["A lotus dish","The New Year","The sacred-thread ceremony","A winter festival"],"answer":2,"explain":"The thread itself is called 'yonya'.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"On which day after birth is the Kahnethar naming ceremony held?","options":["Fortieth","Third","Eleventh","Seventh"],"answer":2,"explain":"'Kah' means eleven.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"What is 'Zarakasai'?","options":["A New Year plate","A wedding dance","A funeral rite","A child's first haircut"],"answer":3,"explain":"It is often held at a temple or holy spring.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"What do Kashmiri Pandits call blessed food, or prasad?","options":["Naveed","Langar","Sheerni","Tabarruk"],"answer":0,"explain":"It comes from the Sanskrit 'naivedya'.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"What is the family priest called?","options":["Gor","Hanji","Wazir","Kandur"],"answer":0,"explain":"'Gor' comes from 'guru'.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"What is 'atgath'?","options":["Money given to a married daughter as she leaves","A bread","A copper pot","A prayer"],"answer":0,"explain":"It is a blessing she carries to her home.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"To which high lake were ashes of the dead traditionally taken?","options":["Dal","Gangabal","Manasbal","Wular"],"answer":1,"explain":"Gangabal, at the foot of Harmukh, was held as sacred as the Ganga.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"What is 'dhajji dewari'?","options":["A spice mix","An earthquake-resistant building style","A wedding dance","A type of shawl"],"answer":1,"explain":"A timber frame filled with brick bends instead of cracking.","category":"Customs"},{"q":"Tradition says Hari Parbat grew from a pebble dropped by the goddess Sharika in the form of which bird?","options":["A crow","A myna","A peacock","An eagle"],"answer":1,"explain":"'Hari' means myna.","category":"Places"},{"q":"Where is the Kheer Bhawani temple?","options":["Pahalgam","Mattan","Tulmul","Sopore"],"answer":2,"explain":"It stands in a sacred spring near Ganderbal.","category":"Places"},{"q":"What is offered into the spring at Kheer Bhawani?","options":["Coins only","Milk and kheer","Fish","Walnuts"],"answer":1,"explain":"This gives the goddess her popular name.","category":"Places"},{"q":"Which spring is traditionally called the source of the Jhelum?","options":["Achabal","Kokernag","Chashme Shahi","Verinag"],"answer":3,"explain":"Jahangir built an octagonal tank around it.","category":"Places"},{"q":"Tradition says that on the way to Amarnath, Shiva left his bull Nandi at...","options":["Anantnag","Pahalgam","Gulmarg","Sonamarg"],"answer":1,"explain":"He is said to have left the moon at Chandanwari and his snake at Sheshnag.","category":"Places"},{"q":"On which day does the Amarnath Yatra end?","options":["Diwali","Shravan Purnima","Navreh","Herath"],"answer":1,"explain":"The Chhari Mubarak reaches the cave on that full moon.","category":"Places"},{"q":"Which Mughal garden did Jahangir build for Nur Jahan in 1619?","options":["Pari Mahal","Chashme Shahi","Nishat Bagh","Shalimar Bagh"],"answer":3,"explain":"Nishat was built by her brother Asaf Khan.","category":"Places"},{"q":"Sharada Peeth gave its name to what?","options":["Saffron","The pheran","The Sharada script","The Jhelum"],"answer":2,"explain":"It was an ancient seat of learning, now across the Line of Control.","category":"Places"},{"q":"The Shankaracharya temple stands on a hill once called...","options":["Harmukh","Gopadri","Apharwat","Mahadev"],"answer":1,"explain":"Tradition says Adi Shankara meditated there.","category":"Places"},{"q":"Which town takes its name from a spring called Ananta Nag?","options":["Baramulla","Kupwara","Anantnag","Pulwama"],"answer":2,"explain":"The town is known for its many springs.","category":"Places"},{"q":"Where is the Jwala Mukhi temple of the fire goddess?","options":["Khrew","Mattan","Pattan","Tulmul"],"answer":0,"explain":"Khrew is near Pampore.","category":"Places"},{"q":"What does 'lokut' mean, as in Lokut Dal?","options":["Big","Blue","Small","Old"],"answer":2,"explain":"'Bod' means big, as in Bod Dal.","category":"Places"},{"q":"What is the Kashmiri name of the chinar tree?","options":["Kul","Boen","Veer","Posh"],"answer":1,"explain":"Chinars blaze red and gold in autumn.","category":"Nature"},{"q":"What is 'Chillai Kalan'?","options":["The forty coldest days of winter","A type of shawl","A mountain pass","A spring festival"],"answer":0,"explain":"It runs from 21 December to 31 January.","category":"Nature"},{"q":"Where does most of Kashmir's saffron grow?","options":["In Ladakh","Around Pampore","Around Gulmarg","Near Jammu"],"answer":1,"explain":"The crocus blooms there in late October and November.","category":"Nature"},{"q":"How many red saffron threads does one crocus flower give?","options":["Twenty","Ten","One","Three"],"answer":3,"explain":"That is why saffron takes so many flowers.","category":"Nature"},{"q":"The hangul is a...","options":["Mountain goat","Kashmir stag","Songbird","River fish"],"answer":1,"explain":"It lives mainly in Dachigam National Park.","category":"Nature"},{"q":"What is the Kashmiri name for the golden oriole?","options":["Kaav","Bulbul","Poshnool","Tsaer"],"answer":2,"explain":"Its bright yellow feathers mark summer.","category":"Nature"},{"q":"What are the 'raad' of the Dal Lake?","options":["Springs","Bridges","Floating gardens","Houseboats"],"answer":2,"explain":"Vegetables grow on mats of weeds and soil.","category":"Nature"},{"q":"What is Wular?","options":["One of Asia's largest freshwater lakes","A Mughal garden","A pass","A glacier"],"answer":0,"explain":"It is fed by the Jhelum.","category":"Nature"},{"q":"What is 'harud' in Kashmiri?","options":["Winter","Spring","Autumn","Summer"],"answer":2,"explain":"The seasons are sonth, retkol, harud and wandh.","category":"Nature"},{"q":"What is Kashmir willow famous for?","options":["Paper","Baskets only","Boats","Cricket bats"],"answer":3,"explain":"The industry is centred around Bijbehara and Anantnag.","category":"Nature"},{"q":"What are Kashmiri Pandit family names (surnames) called?","options":["Kul","Jati","Kram","Gotra"],"answer":2,"explain":"Many began as nicknames.","category":"Names"},{"q":"The name 'Nehru' is said to come from...","options":["A mountain","A flower","A canal (nahar)","A king"],"answer":2,"explain":"The ancestor Raj Kaul lived beside a canal in Delhi.","category":"Names"},{"q":"The surnames 'Raina' and 'Razdan' are often traced to which old title?","options":["Pandita","Maharaja","Sultan","Rajanaka"],"answer":3,"explain":"The link is traditional rather than certain.","category":"Names"},{"q":"The surname 'Munshi' comes from a Persian word for...","options":["A priest","A farmer","A soldier","A scribe or secretary"],"answer":3,"explain":"Many Pandits served as record-keepers.","category":"Names"},{"q":"Which poet wrote that his ancestors were Kashmiri Pandits of the Sapru clan?","options":["Mirza Ghalib","Amir Khusrau","Muhammad Iqbal","Faiz Ahmad Faiz"],"answer":2,"explain":"Iqbal's family had embraced Islam generations earlier.","category":"Names"},{"q":"Which Prime Minister of India came from a Kashmiri Pandit family?","options":["Lal Bahadur Shastri","Morarji Desai","Charan Singh","Jawaharlal Nehru"],"answer":3,"explain":"His family moved to the plains in the 18th century.","category":"People"},{"q":"Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was the first woman to be president of...","options":["The UN General Assembly","The Supreme Court","The Reserve Bank","The Indian Army"],"answer":0,"explain":"She held the post in 1953.","category":"People"},{"q":"Pandit Bhajan Sopori was a master of which instrument?","options":["Flute","Sitar","Santoor","Tabla"],"answer":2,"explain":"The santoor has around a hundred strings.","category":"People"},{"q":"The film star Raaj Kumar was born with which name?","options":["Kulbhushan Pandit","Tej Sapru","Motilal Dhar","Jawahar Kaul"],"answer":0,"explain":"He came from a Kashmiri Pandit family.","category":"People"},{"q":"Which Kashmiri Pandit served as Chief of the Army Staff from 1975 to 1978?","options":["General T. N. Raina","General K. M. Cariappa","General K. S. Thimayya","Field Marshal Manekshaw"],"answer":0,"explain":"Tapishwar Narain Raina led the Indian Army.","category":"People"},{"q":"Which Kashmiri Pandit linguist founded the study of 'World Englishes'?","options":["Omkar Koul","Braj B. Kachru","T. N. Madan","Gopi Krishna"],"answer":1,"explain":"He showed how English changes around the world.","category":"Scholarship"},{"q":"Which Kashmiri thinker argued that the heart of poetry is 'dhvani', suggestion?","options":["Somadeva","Charaka","Anandavardhana","Kalhana"],"answer":2,"explain":"He wrote the Dhvanyaloka in the 9th century.","category":"Scholarship"},{"q":"Abhinavagupta argued for a ninth 'rasa' in art. Which one?","options":["Vira, courage","Shanta, peace","Hasya, laughter","Karuna, compassion"],"answer":1,"explain":"The Natyashastra listed eight rasas.","category":"Scholarship"},{"q":"Mammata's famous handbook of poetics is called...","options":["Amarakosha","Panchatantra","Natyashastra","Kavyaprakasha"],"answer":3,"explain":"It became one of the most studied poetics texts in India.","category":"Scholarship"},{"q":"The Charaka Samhita was completed by Dridhabala. Many scholars believe he came from...","options":["Bengal","Kerala","Gujarat","Kashmir"],"answer":3,"explain":"This is why Kashmir is linked with Ayurveda's founding text.","category":"Scholarship"},{"q":"Sarngadeva, author of the Sangita Ratnakara, came from a family that moved from Kashmir to...","options":["The Deccan","Sri Lanka","Bengal","Persia"],"answer":0,"explain":"His text is key to Indian classical music.","category":"Scholarship"},{"q":"As a boy, which great translator studied Buddhist texts in Kashmir before going to China?","options":["Kumarajiva","Bodhidharma","Xuanzang","Atisha"],"answer":0,"explain":"He took Buddhism to China in the early 5th century.","category":"Scholarship"},{"q":"Kashmir was called 'Sharada Desha'. What does that mean?","options":["Land of Sharada, goddess of knowledge","Land of autumn","Land of lakes","Land of kings"],"answer":0,"explain":"The valley was famous for learning.","category":"Scholarship"},{"q":"What is a Kashmiri 'zatukh'?","options":["A wedding song","A copper pot","A horoscope scroll","A winter coat"],"answer":2,"explain":"They were long, hand-illustrated scrolls.","category":"Scholarship"},{"q":"What is the best-known Kashmiri Pandit almanac?","options":["Sharada Panjika","Vijayeshwar Jantri","Navreh Pothi","Kalhana Patra"],"answer":1,"explain":"It is named after Bijbehara's old name.","category":"Scholarship"},{"q":"The paisley pattern is named after a town in which country?","options":["Scotland","India","Persia","France"],"answer":0,"explain":"Paisley copied Kashmir shawl designs.","category":"Crafts"},{"q":"Pashmina comes from which animal?","options":["The yak","The sheep","The Changthangi goat","The Tibetan antelope"],"answer":2,"explain":"Shahtoosh, from the Tibetan antelope, is now banned.","category":"Crafts"},{"q":"In a kani shawl, what are 'kanis'?","options":["Dyes","Needles","Looms","Small wooden bobbins"],"answer":3,"explain":"Each carries a different colour of yarn.","category":"Crafts"},{"q":"What is 'sozni'?","options":["Fine needle embroidery","Carpet knotting","Copper engraving","Woodcarving"],"answer":0,"explain":"It is done on shawls and pherans.","category":"Crafts"},{"q":"What is 'khatamband'?","options":["A drum","A boat","A shawl","A geometric wooden ceiling"],"answer":3,"explain":"The pieces fit together without nails.","category":"Crafts"},{"q":"A 'namda' is...","options":["A sweet","A felted wool rug","A bridge","A copper tray"],"answer":1,"explain":"It is pressed rather than woven.","category":"Crafts"},{"q":"A 'gabba' is made by...","options":["Stitching together old blankets","Painting paper","Carving walnut wood","Weaving reeds"],"answer":0,"explain":"It is a clever Kashmiri form of recycling.","category":"Crafts"},{"q":"What is 'talim' in carpet weaving?","options":["A loom","A coded pattern script","A dye","A type of wool"],"answer":1,"explain":"Weavers often read it out in a sing-song voice.","category":"Crafts"},{"q":"In which year did the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley begin?","options":["2001","1990","1965","1947"],"answer":1,"explain":"Many mark 19 January as Exodus Day.","category":"Diaspora"},{"q":"Which township near Jammu was built for displaced Kashmiri Pandit families?","options":["Pamposh","Jagti","Rainawari","Habba Kadal"],"answer":1,"explain":"It opened in 2011.","category":"Diaspora"},{"q":"Before 1990, Kashmiri Pandit families had already settled in which city famous for Urdu poetry?","options":["Mumbai","Lucknow","Kolkata","Chennai"],"answer":1,"explain":"Lucknow had a lively Kashmiri Pandit community.","category":"Diaspora"},{"q":"Which 2020 film told a love story set against the Kashmiri Pandit exodus?","options":["Haider","Shikara","Mission Kashmir","Roja"],"answer":1,"explain":"Many of its extras had lived through the exodus.","category":"Diaspora"},{"q":"Which memoir by Rahul Pandita tells of his family's exodus?","options":["Curfewed Night","Our Moon Has Blood Clots","The Collaborator","Midnight's Children"],"answer":1,"explain":"It was published in 2013.","category":"Diaspora"},{"q":"Which mela at Tulmul is a moment of reunion for displaced Pandits?","options":["Kheer Bhawani mela","Kumbh Mela","Pushkar Mela","Baisakhi"],"answer":0,"explain":"It is held on Zyeth Aetham.","category":"Diaspora"},{"q":"What kind of paddle does a shikara boat use?","options":["A sail","A motor","A pole only","A heart-shaped paddle"],"answer":3,"explain":"The shikara is paddled with a heart-shaped blade.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"What does 'Aesas posh!' — 'flowers to your mouth' — mean?","options":["A curse","A lovely reply to good news","Goodbye","Please eat"],"answer":1,"explain":"It is like saying 'may your words come true'.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"What does 'Akh ta akh gayi kah' say about unity?","options":["One and one make eleven","Eleven is lucky","One is enough","One and one make two"],"answer":0,"explain":"Together we are stronger.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"What is the Kashmiri number 'kah'?","options":["Twenty","Eleven","Five","Two"],"answer":1,"explain":"The naming ceremony, Kahnethar, is on day eleven.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"What does 'Wolo!' mean?","options":["Go away!","Good night","Come here!","Thank you"],"answer":2,"explain":"It is an informal call to children and friends.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"What does 'Balaai lagai' express?","options":["A greeting to strangers","Hunger","Anger","Loving care: 'may your troubles fall on me'"],"answer":3,"explain":"Mothers and grandmothers say it to children.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"What does 'Mouj' mean?","options":["Sister","Mother","Aunt","Grandmother"],"answer":1,"explain":"'Mouji!' is what children call out on coming home.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"What is a 'Mam'?","options":["Grandfather","Cousin","Father's brother","Mother's brother"],"answer":3,"explain":"The maternal uncle.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"What is a 'Pofe'?","options":["Mother's sister","Father's sister","Sister-in-law","Grandmother"],"answer":1,"explain":"Also spelt Poph or Poff.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"'Masi' means...","options":["Father's sister","Daughter","Mother-in-law","Mother's sister"],"answer":3,"explain":"The maternal aunt.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"What is 'sheen' in Kashmiri?","options":["Snow","Rain","Wind","Sun"],"answer":0,"explain":"'Az chhu sheen pewaan' means it is snowing today.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"Kalhana wrote that Kashmir could be conquered by the power of merit but not by...","options":["Winter","Poets","Soldiers","Rivers"],"answer":2,"explain":"Proud Kashmiris still quote the line.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"What was Habba Khatoon's birth name?","options":["Lalla","Arnimal","Zoon","Rupa"],"answer":2,"explain":"'Zoon' means moon in Kashmiri.","category":"Trivia"},{"q":"The fort on top of Hari Parbat was built in the early 19th century under which rulers?","options":["The Afghan governors","The Karkota kings","The Mughals","The Dogras"],"answer":0,"explain":"It was built under Atta Mohammad Khan; an older outer wall dates from Akbar's time.","category":"Trivia"}],"videos":{"note":"Every video here was confirmed on YouTube (title and channel) and checked to play, on 2026-10-02. Titles are shortened; the channel is the uploader.","food":[{"id":"X8G8ApuuaW4","title":"Pann puja roth, the traditional way","channel":"Vatuk","food":"roath"},{"id":"_5gvOMdEVgs","title":"Authentic Kashmiri roth for Pann","channel":"Raina's Kitchen","food":"roath"},{"id":"ChfFQFxHOMU","title":"Mutton rogan josh by Mummy (Kashmiri Pandit kitchen series)","channel":"The Indian Polish Connection","food":"rogan-josh"},{"id":"WxOwMa8hJN4","title":"Nadru yakhni","channel":"The Indian Polish Connection","food":"nadru-yakhni"},{"id":"a9eBRiKXmUI","title":"Kashmiri dum aloo","channel":"Ashus Veg Delicacies","food":"dum-olav"},{"id":"5skUTDA9egc","title":"Kashmiri Pandit style modur pulav","channel":"Raina's Kitchen","food":"modur-pulav"},{"id":"p6dgnH9EQJw","title":"Kashmiri kahwa","channel":"Foodingale","food":"kahwa"},{"id":"AxGkkZ4AXLM","title":"Gobhi rogan josh, nadru yakhni and fried pumpkin","channel":"Anukriti Cooking Recipes","food":"nadru-yakhni"},{"id":"Q4F0SuQpKZc","title":"Kashmiri Pandit cuisine: the kandur's bread, rogan josh, kaliya and nadru yakhni","channel":"Delhi Food Walks","food":null}],"songs":[{"id":"pA9UPOSh3Ws","title":"Hukus Bukus, Aabha Hanjura","channel":"Aabha Hanjura","kind":"Famous"},{"id":"R3q7ipSkzoY","title":"Hukus Bukus, Shaan and Shubh (from the film Hamid)","channel":"Saregama Music","kind":"Famous"},{"id":"fthkeXTyBtw","title":"Roshay, Habba Khatoon's song, sung by Vibha Saraf (Made in Heaven)","channel":"Prime Video India","kind":"Famous"},{"id":"lAUZkPq146o","title":"Cholhama Roshe Roshe, Raj Begum, Naseem Akhter and Zoon Begum","channel":"Kashmiri Poetry","kind":"Famous"},{"id":"CuyxG2smv4E","title":"Roshe Roshay, Deveshi Sahgal","channel":"Deveshi Sahgal","kind":"Famous"},{"id":"cPsIerGOlgs","title":"Roshey Roshey, Habba Khatoon's song, Karuna Raina","channel":"KashmirAsItIs KP","kind":"Famous"},{"id":"aXXrmBnEgWk","title":"Che Kamyu Soney, Habba Khatoon","channel":"Kashmiri Sufi Songs","kind":"Famous"},{"id":"6c97R24V00M","title":"The best of Kailash Mehra Sadhu","channel":"Pandits Of Reshvaer","kind":"Famous"},{"id":"U6Ihmzpv5tk","title":"Maej Sharika kar daya, the leela to Sharika","channel":"Koshur Praznath","kind":"Leela"},{"id":"N4GgANYYys4","title":"Maej daya kar, to Mata Kheer Bhawani (Ragnya Bhagwati)","channel":"VRP Bhakti Series","kind":"Leela"},{"id":"789PAfTouuA","title":"Majeposhey, a Kashmiri leela, Shantilal Sidh","channel":"Shantilal Sidh","kind":"Leela"},{"id":"ecR4YkezqxU","title":"Bedard dade chane, Kailash Mehra Sadhu","channel":"Deepak Ganju","kind":"Song"},{"id":"UStsGg7iXpE","title":"Kashmir, Neerja Pandit with Anupam Kher","channel":"ArtistAloud","kind":"Song"},{"id":"vjgVVYIip90","title":"Naazneen, Raj Pandit (Salim Sulaiman, Bhoomi 2022)","channel":"Salim Sulaiman Music","kind":"Song"},{"id":"1damIEq1Pxg","title":"Jaanaan, Raj Pandit (Salim Sulaiman, Bhoomi 2024)","channel":"Salim Sulaiman Music","kind":"Song"},{"id":"ehhxhtD-9m8","title":"Kashmiri dhun on the santoor, Pandit Bhajan Sopori","channel":"Bihaan Music","kind":"Santoor"},{"id":"0DM6mq0g_kw","title":"Kashmiri folk music ensemble, Pandit Abhay Rustum Sopori","channel":"Abhay Sopori Official","kind":"Santoor"},{"id":"ukySqgTCxT0","title":"Kashmir music, Pandit Bhajan Sopori and Abhay Sopori","channel":"Raaggiri","kind":"Santoor"},{"id":"lVYK9E3jsbw","title":"Wanvun, the traditional wedding song","channel":"Deepak Ganju","kind":"Wanvun"},{"id":"Qc_a6ZKIF5U","title":"Wanvun for livun (wedding and yagnopavit)","channel":"Kashmiri Pandit Culture","kind":"Wanvun"},{"id":"TcC71NQhmU8","title":"Kya kya wanai, Raj Begum","channel":"Soundkraft Kashmir","kind":"From the valley"},{"id":"I2_5XQ4tw2Q","title":"Marmati yaar, Shameema Dev Azad","channel":"Kashmiri Poetry","kind":"From the valley"}],"talks":[{"person":"Sushil Pandit","role":"Community voice, writer and speaker on Kashmir","videos":[{"id":"FhiXbwPKN9Y","title":"Shri Sushil Pandit on \"Truth About Kashmir : Story of Kashmir and Kashmiri Hindus\"  at IIT Madras","channel":"Vande Mataram IIT Madras"},{"id":"vMrggO9kSfo","title":"Shri Sushil Pandit on Understanding Kashmir","channel":"Prabuddha Bharat"},{"id":"BfW_OG4yOYY","title":"Kashmir Tragedy 1990: Story of Kashmiri Pandits |Truth, Tears & Testimony | Sushil Pandit Podcast","channel":"Desimartini"}]},{"person":"Dr Ajay Chrungoo","role":"Chairman, Panun Kashmir","videos":[{"id":"lu3EwievqAs","title":"EP-222 | \"Terrorists Wanted to Kill Me...\" Kashmiri Pandit Shares Ordeal | Ajay Chrungoo","channel":"ANI News"},{"id":"hRQWWY46nE4","title":"ONE2ONE WITH DR AJAY CHRUNGOO, CHAIRMAN PANUN KASHMIR","channel":"Greater Jammu Virtual"},{"id":"P4tqTLNc_mk","title":"A Conversation with Panun Kashmir Chairman Dr. Ajay Chrungoo","channel":"New India Junction"}]},{"person":"Dr Agnishekhar","role":"Poet; convener, Panun Kashmir","videos":[{"id":"oeffn0R5IfU","title":"Conversation with Dr. Agnishekhar - KOA Heritage Preservation Session # 10 on Kashmiri Literature","channel":"Kashmiri Overseas Association Inc."},{"id":"yAHD_QLrd1o","title":"A Litterateur Should Be Honest Enough To Pen Down Harsh Truth: Agnishekhar","channel":"Excelsior News"},{"id":"SPg5YFj5tZ0","title":"Asii Chu Tarun Kashmir by Dr Agnishekhar","channel":"MILTSAR "}]},{"person":"Rahul Pandita","role":"Journalist; author of Our Moon Has Blood Clots","videos":[{"id":"mK64aLiBLQ8","title":"Rahul Pandita talks about 'Our Moon has Blood Clots'","channel":"Random House India"},{"id":"WXw7ZbzOM7U","title":"Kashmiri Pandits के पलायन पर Rahul Pandita से बातचीत | Kitabwala | Shikara | Exodus","channel":"The Lallantop"},{"id":"-W_4BeRK4nE","title":"Kashmiri Pandit Exodus, EXPLAINED I Kashmir Files I Rahul Pandita","channel":"Anubha Bhonsle"}]},{"person":"Aditya Raj Kaul","role":"Journalist","videos":[{"id":"536Lil1INow","title":"Aditya Raj Kaul on the Untold Truth of Kashmiri Pandits and Terrorism in Kashmir | TFS EP 04","channel":"The Flop Show"},{"id":"Ihomj0avKio","title":"What is the way forward for the Kashmir Valley ? When will Kashmiri Pandits return ? Aditya Raj Kaul","channel":"Citti Media"}]},{"person":"Siddhartha Gigoo","role":"Writer and filmmaker","videos":[{"id":"iOvIOaIH_ts","title":"Understanding J&K: The Plight of Kashmiri Pandits","channel":"The Wire"},{"id":"pDj66Cyq8aw","title":"KGAF Lit' 16 : Homeland Tales","channel":"Avid Learning"}]},{"person":"Anupam Kher","role":"Actor","videos":[{"id":"UomGpXfdUso","title":"Anupam Kher Details Kashmiri Pandit Exodus Of 1990 While Addressing An Event In New Jersey","channel":"Republic World"},{"id":"_SdKFY3CN1c","title":"Anupam Kher Pays Tribute To Kashmiri Pandits | 26th Anniversary of Kashmiri Pandits Exodus","channel":"Times Now"}]},{"person":"Vidhu Vinod Chopra","role":"Filmmaker, Shikara","videos":[{"id":"5ZdmFDqf76g","title":"\"SHIKARA is my story!\", Vidhu Vinod Chopra | TheRanveerShow Clips","channel":"BeerBiceps Uncut"},{"id":"LoZXboySl2I","title":"Shikara | Official Trailer | Dir: Vidhu Vinod Chopra | 7th February 2020","channel":"Star Studios"}]},{"person":"Sanjay Tickoo","role":"President, Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti","videos":[{"id":"wbT2tGDzFao","title":"Pandits In The Kashmir Valley | Offlimits with Seema Mustafa | Sanjay Tickoo","channel":"The Citizen"},{"id":"Z8Zz0A8ec9E","title":"High Court Directives: Protecting Mandirs in Kashmir Valley | President KPSS Sanjay Tickoo","channel":"The Kashmir Dialogue"}]},{"person":"Manav Kaul and Bhasha Sumbli","role":"Actors, on filming in Kashmir and their roots","videos":[{"id":"Q1YYh-zlXCo","title":"Baramulla EXCLUSIVE: Manav Kaul & Bhasha Sumbli On Filming In Kashmir, Fears & Kashmiri Roots | N18V","channel":"SHOWSHA"}]}]},"saints":[{"id":"lal-ded","name":"Lal Ded (Lalleshwari)","years":"14th century (dates differ)","place":"Pandrethan or Sempore, near Srinagar","oneLine":"Lal Ded, also called Lalleshwari, was a Kashmiri Shaiva mystic whose vakhs are among the earliest poems in the Kashmiri language.","story":"Lal Ded, Lalleshwari, was born in the fourteenth century near Pandrethan, outside Srinagar, into a Kashmiri Pandit family. Her dates are not certain: most scholars put her birth early in the century and her death around 1373, and some accounts carry her life on to about 1392.\n\nShe was married young, as girls then were, and given the name Padmavati in her husband's home, though she was always called Lalla. Tradition remembers the marriage as a hard one. In her mid-twenties she left that home and took Siddha Srikantha, Sed Boyu, as her guru. She then lived as a wandering yogini, owning nothing and begging her food, until people came to her as a teacher.\n\nShe taught in short verses, vakhs, spoken in the Kashmiri of the people rather than in Sanskrit. They are among the oldest Kashmiri we have. About 285 are attributed to her. For centuries they lived only in memory, said in homes and passed from mouth to mouth. In 1914 George Grierson had them written down from the recitation of Dharma Das Darvesh of Gush, and with Lionel Barnett published them in 1920 as Lalla-Vakyani, The Wise Sayings of Lal Ded.\n\nWithin our tradition she is a yogini of Kashmir Shaivism, the Trika. Her vakhs speak of Shiva within, of the breath and the inner path, and of the Self recognising itself as Shiva; this is how Grierson and Barnett's commentary, Jayalal Kaul's study (1973) and Swami Lakshmanjoo read her. Kashmiri Muslims also revere her, as Lalla Arifa, and some writers hear Sufi echoes in her verse. Both communities hold her as their own.\n\nMany stories are told of her. The best known links her with Nund Rishi, Sheikh Nur-ud-Din: as a newborn he would not feed, until Lalla came and said to him, \"You were not ashamed to be born; why are you ashamed to feed?\" The story is told as the passing of her wisdom to him.","teaching":"Her vakhs ask for the direct experience of Shiva rather than outward ritual: look within, steady the breath, see the passing world for what it is, and know the Self. They are short enough to remember, and many Pandit families still say them.","remembered":"Nund Rishi honoured her in verse, calling her \"that Lalla of Padmanpore\" and asking God for a gift like hers. A grave near Bijbehara is attributed to her, though this is unconfirmed.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalleshwari"]},{"id":"rupa-bhawani","name":"Rupa Bhawani","years":"c. 1621–1721","place":"Srinagar","oneLine":"Mata Rupa Bhawani, born Alakheswari, was a 17th-century Kashmiri Hindu saint and poet who left an unhappy home to pursue God in solitary sadhana.","story":"Mata Rupa Bhawani, whose birth name was Alakheswari, was a Kashmiri poet and a Hindu saint of the 17th century. She lived in what is now Kashmir. She lived c. 1621 to 1721 (some accounts give 1620 to 1720, and place her birth as late as 1624).\n\nHer father was Pandit Madhav Joo Dhar, who lived at Khankah-i-Shokta in Nawakadal, now part of Srinagar. He introduced her to the practices of yoga. Oral and written legend says he was an ardent devotee of Mata Sharika (Kali). He went to her temple at Hari Parvat every day to pray, and he asked for a daughter. Alakheswari was born to his wife on Poornamashi in the month of Zyeth (Jyeshta) in 1621.\n\nShe was married at an early age. Even after her marriage she often went to Hari Parvat to perform her sadhana at midnight. This raised questions about her, since she was a woman out on her own. Her mother-in-law and her husband mistreated her. In the end she left her in-laws' house to pursue God.\n\nAfter leaving, she performed her sadhana in solitude at several places: Chashme Shahbi, Manigam in Ganderbal district, Lar and Vaskura. These places, together with her birthplace at Safa Kadal, are now famous as Ropa Bhawani Asthapanas.\n\nMata Rupa Bhawani died on maag gat'tu pachh satam in 1721 AD.\n\nHer vakhs, in the line of Lal Ded, are still recited in Pandit homes. Texts (Poets of the Valley) tells more of them.","teaching":"Her father introduced her to yoga, and she followed him in seeking God. She practised sadhana at midnight on Hari Parvat and later in solitude at several places. When this brought mistreatment from her husband and mother-in-law, she left their house to continue her search for God.","remembered":"The places where she practised sadhana, including her birthplace at Safa Kadal, are now famous as Ropa Bhawani Asthapanas. The day of her death, maag gat'tu pachh satam, became known as Sahib Saptami, and Hindus in Kashmir observe it.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupa_Bhawani"],"img":{"url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:FilePath/Roopbhavani%20temple1.jpg&width=400","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roopbhavani_temple1.jpg","credit":"Dvellakat","license":"CC BY-SA 3.0","caption":"Her shrine"}},{"id":"reshi-pir","name":"Reshi Pir","years":"born 1637","place":"Ali Kadal, Srinagar","oneLine":"Rishi Peer, born Keshav Joo Khoshoo, was a Kashmiri Pandit saint of the 17th century whom Hindus called a Rishi and Muslims called a Peer.","story":"According to Sharga, Rishi Peer's family came from Sopore, where they were shawl merchants and Sopori Pandits. An ancestor, Pt. Madhav Joo Khoshoo, became a mint officer in Srinagar under the Mughal emperor Shahjahan. He was accused of minting underweight gold coins. Governor Ali Mardan Khan had him weigh the coins in court, found them accurate, and rewarded him with a royal khilat and a jagir. He built a house at Batiyar near Ali Kadal. The name Khoshoo is said to come from his being left-handed.\n\nHis son Govind Joo Khoshoo, born around 1595, was devout and went daily to Hari Parbat to honour goddess Sharika. He married Siddhlakshmi in 1635, at about forty, after pressure from relatives. The couple prayed and meditated for a child, worshipping Bhadrakali. Siddhlakshmi went into labour on a boat at Sopore while travelling to her mother's home in Srinagar, and in 1637 a son was born on the Jhelum's bank. He was named Keshav. Sharga gives his birth as the sixth day of the dark fortnight of Baisakh.\n\nKeshav had his sacred thread ceremony in 1642 and was sent to school, but he cared more for spiritual life. He went to Hari Parbat with his father and met two ascetics, Naan Shah and Atma Ram, with whom he built an ashram at Devi Aangan. His parents arranged a marriage hoping to change his mind, but it did not turn him from his path. After his father died, his mother sent him to his maternal uncle's village for study. He slipped away to Hari Parbat.\n\nThe account says he circled Hari Parbat on his knees for forty days and saw goddess Sharika, who told him the first person he met would be his Guru. That person was Kishan Joo Kar, a shabbily dressed fakir, whom Keshav at first ignored. Kishan Joo Kar then visited Keshav's house and smoked from the hookah there. Keshav understood he had been sent by the goddess and accepted him as Guru.\n\nHis mother did not want to lose her only son, so he meditated at home. Sharga says he did tapasya for many years, living on milk, honey and fruits. People then came to him in large numbers, and he became known across the Valley as a Rishi to Hindus and a Peer to Muslims.","teaching":"Sharga's account shows what he valued. He sought a Guru who could lead him to ultimate truth, and he accepted the one sent to him even though that man did not look as he expected. He gave years to meditation and a simple diet of milk, honey and fruits. Sharga also stresses that both Hindu and Muslim followers came to him with the same respect and devotion, calling him Rishi or Peer according to their own tradition.","remembered":"Sharga says a shrine stands at Sopore, on the Jhelum bank where he was born, and many devotees pay their respects there. A second shrine, called the Shrine of Rishi Peer Padshah, is at Batiyar, Ali Kadal, Srinagar. Sharga says Hindus and Muslims both revered him.","sources":["https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/altamash-ali-new-age-islam/reshi-pir-renowned-sufi-saint-kashmir-symbol-hindu-muslim-spiritual-unity/d/136426","https://ikashmir.net/bnsharga/padshah.html"],"img":{"url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:FilePath/Depiction%20of%20Reshi%20Peer%2C%20a%20Sufi%20mystic%20saint%20of%20Kashmir.jpg&width=400","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Depiction_of_Reshi_Peer%2C_a_Sufi_mystic_saint_of_Kashmir.jpg","credit":"Unknown artist","license":"Public domain","caption":""}},{"id":"mirza-kak","name":"Mirza Kak","years":"c. 1748–1834","place":"Hangalgund, near Kokernag, in Brang Pargana, Kashmir","oneLine":"Mirza Kak was a Kashmiri saint-poet from Hangalgund who carried forward the Vakh tradition of Lal Ded and the mystics before him.","story":"Kashmir has long been a land of saints, scholars and mystics. After Lal Ded, Sahzanand and Roopa Bhawani, the Valley was blessed once more with a saint-poet, Mirza Kak, who continued the Vakh parampara, the tradition of spiritual sayings and utterances of the mystics.\n\nMirza Kak was born in Hangalgund, a village near Kokernag in Brang Pargana, a land of tirthas and sacred springs, with a tirtha dedicated to Hingla Devi. His father was a pious Brahmin named Lassa Pandit. He had two sons, Bhulla Pandit and Mirza Pandit. Bhulla Pandit married and lived as a householder. Mirza Pandit never married.\n\nFrom early childhood Mirza Pandit was absorbed in bhakti and prayer. He turned away from worldly pleasures and lived very simply, and for this he was nicknamed a simpleton. As a grown boy he was adopted by his mother's sister, who lived in village Acchan in Pulwama Tehsil. He helped her with the household chores and worked in the fields with his adopted father. After his father died, his mother passed away as well, and Mirza Pandit returned to Hangalgund to live with his elder brother Bhulla Pandit.\n\nA story is told from his life. One day, busy in the fields, he was not sent his midday meal, as his mother had forgotten it. Tired from the heat and hard work, he rested under a tree and fell asleep. Devotees remember that the Divine Mother, seeing the hunger of her true devotee, appeared with a large plate of sweet kheer and fed him with her own hands. Mirza Kak took her for his own mother and ate. When his mother later arrived, lamenting her forgetfulness, he told her he had already eaten his fill. She said she had brought him nothing before, and so he understood who had fed him.\n\nMany such stories are told of him. Devotees recall that Lal Ded appeared before him in the form of a young girl and blessed him, and that from then on he began reciting Vakhs. Another story tells of the Pathan (Durrani) period, when unpaid forced labour was taken from Kashmiri Pandits. A Pathan soldier made him carry a load of rice to Srinagar and bring back a receipt. Near Achhabal, devotees say, the Divine Mother took the load from him and sent him home with a proper receipt. The Pathan doubted it, had the receipt checked, and from that moment became his disciple.\n\nThe Pathan rulers sanctioned a yearly pension for him, which lapsed in 1949 when the grant was withdrawn. Mahatma Parmanand of Oma Nagri came to Hangalgund with his disciples to meet him, and many others came seeking his help and blessings. Hundreds of his Vakhs are available in print. He attained Nirvana on the second day of the dark fortnight of Jesht 1891 Bikrami (about 1834 CE).","teaching":"","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/mirzakak.html"]},{"id":"mansa-ram-razdan-razdan-sahib-dooni-sahib","name":"Pt. Mansa Ram Razdan (Razdan Sahib, Dooni Sahib)","years":"Died 1826 (birth year not given)","place":"Razdan Kocha near Banamohalla, Srinagar; later Chenani and Gohar near Udhampur; and Kotla Qiladar, Punjab","oneLine":"Pt. Mansa Ram Razdan was a revered Kashmiri Pandit saint, known as Dooni Sahib for the sacred flame he kept ever burning, who protected his community in hard times.","story":"Pt. Mansa Ram Razdan came from a family of great scholars in downtown Srinagar. His grandfather, Pt. Baskar Razdan, wrote many books, including a Sanskrit verse commentary on the sayings of Lal Ded, and knew astrology deeply. His father, Pt. Jagar Nath Razdan, was an outstanding astrologer who accurately foretold a solar eclipse, and the Pathan governor rewarded him with a large jagir. The street where the family lived is still remembered as Razdan Kocha.\n\nMansa Ram was born to Pt. Jagar Nath on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of Ashad. He had his formal schooling only up to the age of ten, and then turned towards the spiritual life. He was sharp of wit and compassionate to everyone, whatever their station. He first meditated at Roopa Lank in the Dal Lake, and later set up his ashram in his own home, where he kept a flame lit at all times. For this he came to be called Dooni Sahib. Devotees tell that when he was a small child with clay in his mouth, his mother opened it and was awestruck to see the whole cosmos there; on her husband's advice she told no one.\n\nHe married at sixteen, but his wife died two years later. He then married the daughter of a widow, who had been advised by an astrologer to choose her son-in-law with great care.\n\nThese were hard years for the Pandits under Pathan rule, and the saint did not confine himself to prayer. He used his standing with Pandit notables such as Pt. Nand Ram Tikku and Raja Dina Nath Madan, who were his disciples, to win humane treatment for his community. When a massacre at Purushyar killed 37 members of his cousin Atma Ram's family, he sent his cook to learn who had survived, and then took in Atma Ram's son Sudarshan and raised him.\n\nHe later left Kashmir for Jammu. Devotees remember that poison put into his milk by mistake did no harm to him. At Chenani, the Raja honoured him and granted him the village of Gohar, where he set up an ashram. He then went on to Punjab and settled at Kotla Qiladar, where he again lit his flame. Raja Dina Nath Madan, who regarded him as his guru, rebuilt the shrine and endowed it with the revenue of two villages. Maharaja Ranjit Singh often visited him. Devotees say that when the saint lit his flame at Qiladar, it was seen burning at his Srinagar ashram too, and that on the day of his son's thread ceremony he was seen in Srinagar, performing the rites, and back at Qiladar the next morning.\n\nThe saint passed away in 1826. His math at Qiladar remained a great place of pilgrimage, and newly married Kashmiri Pandit couples in the towns of northern India used to visit it until Partition.","teaching":"He left no formal teachings. His life was care for his people: he gave his blessings to all who came in distress and used his influence to protect his community.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/mansaramrazdan.html"]},{"id":"parmanand","name":"Parmanand","years":"1791–1879","place":"Seer, near Mattan","oneLine":"Parmanand was a village patwari turned saint-poet of Mattan whose Krishna and Shiva Leela poems are still sung by Kashmiris.","story":"Parmanand was born in 1791 in the village of Seer, near Mattan, and was named Nand Ram. His father, Krishna Pandit, was a patwari, a village revenue clerk. His mother, Saraswati, was devout. She knew the community's spiritual heritage well, though she could not read. Accounts differ on his name. Of the two sources, Koshur.org and iKashmir.net, one says that his own effort changed Nand Ram into Parmanand, meaning Supreme Bliss; the other calls Parmanand his pen-name.\n\nAccounts also differ on his schooling. One says he went to a Maktab, where he learned a little Sanskrit and the Persian a future patwari needed. The other says he learned Persian in his own village and Sanskrit from sadhus who stayed at the Martand temple. One says he wrote Persian verses under the pen-name Gareeb, and the other that he left behind his own copy of a Persian Upanishad.\n\nHe married a woman named Mal Ded. The accounts differ about her. One describes her as ambitious, the daughter of a successful patwari who expected her husband to prosper. The other says she was from his own village and ill-tempered, and that he bore this patiently. After his father's death he was offered his father's post. He had no taste for it but took it to support his family. A patwari was not respected in those days, but Parmanand never took bribes and sometimes paid poor peasants' land revenue from his own pocket. He spent what he had on feeding sadhus, and his wife often scolded him for neglecting the family. He also wrote bold verses mocking the harsh rule of the time. His officers made life hard for him, but he was never dismissed or jailed.\n\nWhat he longed for most was self-realization. He sought out saints and seekers at Mattan and kept up his practice under the guidance of a true Paramahamsa. Salah Ganai, the headman or zaildar of Mattan, admired him and looked after his needs so that he could give himself to spiritual life. After he left his job, devotees arranged support for his family. At the time of the Amarnath pilgrimage he saw the many forms of spiritual search at Mattan. He came to feel that the seeker must go from the outer cave to the cave within.\n\nHe wrote the Leela poems Shiv-Lagan, Radha Svayamvar and Sudama Charitra, along with many shorter poems. In old age his relatives died before him, and he had no children of his own. He died in 1879, at about ninety. His disciple Pandit Laxman Bhat wrote an elegy that said the singing nightingale of the garden had fallen silent.","teaching":"Parmanand held that religion is not only ritual and formal worship but something deeply tied to the soul. In Karam Bhoomika he says the highest good comes only when the self is subdued, and that lasting joy is the reward of mastering oneself. He called this the hardest battle in life and the noblest victory. In Amarnath Yatra he describes the paths and stages a seeker passes through, and he urged going from the outer cave to the one within. His Leela poems are mostly allegories. They show the soul and the Supreme Soul at play, in Radha and Krishna, in Shiva and Shakti, and in Krishna's friendship with Sudama. In Shiv-Lagan he speaks of the unity of the One and the many. His poems also hold that Truth is one, though sages name it differently.","remembered":"His devotional songs are said to be on the lips of Kashmiris. His Leelas and hymns are recited in temples, at weddings, and on festivals such as Janmashtami and Shivratri. Sudama Charitra is regarded as one of the best Kashmiri renderings of that story, and Radha Svayamvar as his masterpiece. His poems survive in Devanagari and Persian scripts, edited by Master Zinda Kaul, Pandit Narayan Kaul and Pandit Laxman Bhat.","sources":["https://www.koshur.org/music/poets/parmanand.html","https://ikashmir.net/parmanand/article1.html"]},{"id":"himmat-kak","name":"Swami Himmat Kak","years":"1845–1912","place":"Born in Goshi, Kupwara District; practised austerities at Sharada Siddha Peetha; later lived at Sathu, Sheetal Nath, Srinagar","oneLine":"Swami Himmat Kak was a Kashmiri saint, drawn to the love of God from childhood, who attained illumination at the shrine of Sharada Devi and later lived and taught from a small hut in Srinagar.","story":"Goshi is well known as the home of a number of pious men and women, and it was in this setting that the young Himmat grew up.\n\nFrom his very childhood, Swami ji was found to be intoxicated by the fervent love of God. He had an extraordinary disposition of mind and spirit, and soon after completing his schooling he chose to keep away from the hustle and bustle of worldly life.\n\nHe set out on a journey to the Sharada Siddha Peetha, which stands in Tehsil Atha-Muqam, District Muzaffarabad (now in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir), at the confluence of the Kishen Ganga and Madhumati rivers, about thirty miles from Goshi. There, in the shrine of Sharada Devi, he practised severe austerities (Tapasya) and attained illumination.\n\n There he was shocked to find that his sister's husband, Pt. Suraj Ram Swaroop, had been killed by miscreants of a criminal gang, who had also looted his property. The terrible event had stunned his sister and his two nephews, Pt. Shiv ji and Pt. Sona joo, and all of them were in a pitiable condition.\n\nSwami ji's presence in that hour of distress was a great solace to the family and gave them the support they badly needed. As for himself, he busied himself with spiritual activities in a small hut that he had built beside his sister's house at Sathu, Sheetal Nath.\n\n A number of devotees, seekers and others thronged to the hut over the years.","teaching":"","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/himmatkak.html"]},{"id":"krishna-razdan","name":"Krishna Joo Razdan","years":"c. 1850–1925","place":"Vanpoh, south Kashmir","oneLine":"A Bhakti poet whose songs of Shiva and the Mother Goddess are still sung in Pandit homes.","story":"Krishna Joo Razdan was a Bhakti poet of Kashmir who lived from about 1850 to 1925 and came from the village of Vanpoh.\n\nHe wrote in Kashmiri, which he held dearest to the Mother Goddess, and he believed Kashmiris would find salvation by singing her praises in their own language. His poems are lilas, songs of the play of the gods, drawn from the Puranas, the Bhagavata and the Ramayana: of Ganesha, of Shiva, of Krishna, of Vishnu and of the Goddess.\n\nHis best-known collection, Harihar Kalyan, also called Shiv Lagun, the wedding of Shiva, was published after his death, in 1930, and reprinted until 1955 in Srinagar. Its sweet songs of Shiva's marriage to Parvati made it a book found in almost every Pandit household. He never chose difficult themes: his language, as one writer put it, was of the earth, earthy.\n\nHe also worried about the dwindling numbers of his own community and wrote against the social evils he feared would harm it.","teaching":"Sing to the Mother Goddess in your own language, Kashmiri, and you will find her.","remembered":"His lilas are still sung at Pandit gatherings, and his death anniversary is marked in Jammu.","sources":["https://searchkashmir.org/?p=3999","https://www.koshur.org/music/poets/kjrazdan.html","https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/news/archive/89th-anniversary-krishan-joo-razdan-observed"]},{"id":"swami-ramji","name":"Swami Ramji","years":"1853/54–1915","place":"Srinagar","oneLine":"Swami Ramji was a Srinagar Purohit and Siddha Yogi who taught Trika Shaivism from a small house at Fatehkadal, now the Shri Rama-Trika-Shaivashrama, and was the first Shaiva teacher of Swami Lakshman Joo.","story":"Swami Ramji was born in 1853 or 1854 AD (1910 Bikrami) in Chinkral Mohalla, Srinagar. His father, Shukdev, was a Brahmin and a Purohit who lived a pious life. At the child's birth, his horoscope foretold that he would grow to be a great saint.\n\nRamji was trained as a Purohit. In his youth he met Shri Lala Joo Kokru, who knew Kashmir Shaivism well, and he studied Shaiva philosophy under him until he understood it clearly. Later he met his guru, Sri Manas Ram Monga, also called Maneh Kak, a mystic of the Kula system of Kashmir Shaivism. Maneh Kak was a Siddha Yogi who wanted the teaching to pass down through a line of disciples. He found the right disciple in Ramji and transmitted Yoga to him by his divine touch. Ramji took up the practice of Yoga in earnest. He did not take formal renunciation. He kept working as a Purohit and went to the houses of his Yajmans to conduct worship and religious rites.\n\nOne of his devotees was Pandit Narayan Das Raina, a merchant and houseboat owner of Srinagar. He was known as 'Naveh Naran' because he was the first to introduce houseboats in Kashmir. Ramji is said to have been his family priest. Once well established in Yoga, Ramji wanted a secluded place and found one at a fellow-disciple's home at Safakadal. But discerning people and common people crowded round him for blessings, and this disturbed the household. One evening he called on Narayan Das at Fatehkadal and said, \"Naran Joo: I want to be in seclusion. Will you provide me with a place to live?\" Narayan Das offered a small three-storied house that he owned, about 300 metres from his own home. Ramji moved into the furnished second storey.\n\nThere he carried out his Sadhana and taught the Shaiva-Agama, or Trika philosophy, to disciples including Swami Mahtab Kak, Swami Vidyadhar and Swami Govind Kaul. Many householders were drawn to him by his scholarly expositions and his yogic wonders. His look or touch was said to change a person, and Maharaja Pratap Singh is said to have approached him for blessings. In his later years he is said to have sat at his Asana with his knees to his breast and not moved out for twenty years. He gave yogic instruction to deserving disciples and spoke on Trika philosophy for hours. To show his disciples his own Shaivahood, he remained in Samadhi for four hours every day.\n\nNarayan Das and his wife, Srimati Arnyamali, came to regard Ramji as their spiritual Guru. On May 9, 1907 (about 1964 Bikrami) a son was born to them. On hearing the news, Swami Ramji is reported to have got up and danced, saying, \"I am Rama and the child be named Lakshmana.\" He believed a divine being had taken birth in the child, who was named Lakshman and later became Swami Lakshman Joo. When the boy went into fits and his parents came to Ramji anxious, he told them, \"What happens to him, may be graced unto me.\" He later initiated the boy into the Gayatri Mantra, Pranayama and certain yogic practices.\n\nKnowing he would not live until the boy grew up, Ramji entrusted the boy's future initiation into the Shaiva order, along with his other disciples, to his chief disciple, Swami Mahtab Kak. He left his body in 1915 AD (1971 Bikrami, Magha Krishnapaksha Chaturdashi).","teaching":"Swami Ramji taught the Shaiva-Agama, the Advaita Kashmir Shaivism known as Trika philosophy. He gave yogic instruction to deserving disciples and spoke on Trika for hours at a time. He lived the teaching himself: he remained in Samadhi for four hours each day so his disciples could see Shaivahood openly, even while in the body. A verse from his pen describes his own experience. After accepting the Truth from the Master, whose word is the sacred text, all his ignorance was dispelled. His mind dived into the ocean of consciousness to taste the nectar of equality, the web of thought grew calm, and the Supreme Consciousness was revealed to him in its perfection.","remembered":"Devotees and admirers still chant devotional hymns and recitations from the Shaiva Agamas there. Stories of his Siddhis are still told in the valley.","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/kamal/ramji.html"]},{"id":"haldhar-ji-maharaj","name":"Swami Haldhar Ji Maharaj","years":"1853-1921","place":"Born in Sopore; lived at Budhmulla (Narvav) village near Baramulla, Kashmir","oneLine":"Swami Haldhar Ji Maharaj was a Kashmiri saint who lived as a member of a householder's family at Budhmulla and taught that the home is the greatest ashram.","story":"Swami Haldhar Ji Maharaj (1853–1921) was born into the Kuchroo family of Batapur Mohalla in Sopore, a family that gave Kashmir other saints too. As a boy he went to his guru, Pandit Raja Ji, who lived in the foothills at Dayal near Anantnag, and stayed with him for many years, learning both sacred and worldly subjects. Then he left to wander, seeking God in Kashmir's villages and keeping away from the towns.\n\nIn 1908 he came with a few followers to Budhmulla (Narvav), near Baramulla, and rested by a pond beside the house of the Pandita family. The house was kept by a widow, Smt. Shreewded, with eight children and little money, and she hesitated to take in a guest. He said he would live as one more child of the family, and he stayed.\n\nHe never built an ashram. He lived inside the household, unmarried, dressed and ate as the family did, and asked them to work hard in the world while keeping their hearts on God. The family's account says their fortunes grew under his guidance, and it tells of answered prayers and blessings, though he rarely did anything to impress people.\n\nHe died in 1921 on Ram Navami, at the Rishi Peer temple near Sopore: he bathed in the Jhelum and sat in meditation under a chinar tree on kusa grass. His shawl, wooden sandals (paduka) and photograph were brought back to Budhmulla, to what became Haldhar Kutir, where devotees gathered every year until 1947.\n\nThe family fled Budhmulla in 1947. The account says a relative in Baramulla kept his paduka safe and returned it to them in 1993, and the family still worships it every day. His family and devotees believe he continues to guide the needy.","teaching":"He taught that the home is the greatest ashram, that one should do one's duty in the world with the heart devoted to God, and that all prayer is empty if it carries even a trace of selfishness. He urged purifying the mind, heart and ego through satsang, kirtan and bhajan, and believed in the law of karma.","remembered":"His paduka and portrait, kept and worshipped by the Pandita family; Haldhar Kutir at Budhmulla.","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/haldhar.html"]},{"id":"sona-kak","name":"Sona Kak","years":"1878–1942","place":"Srinagar","oneLine":"Swami Sonakak, known as Sona Bab, Sona Bayu or Sona Matoo, was a mystic of Srinagar who lived as a wandering, unconventional holy man and left this world in full awareness in 1942.","story":"Swami Sonakak was one of the greatest mystic saints of Kashmir. People called him Sona Bab (father), Sona Bayu or Sona Matoo (spiritually possessed). He was born in 1878 in Srinagar. His younger brother, Swami Rugh Bayu, was also a saint, though he did not reach the spiritual height his elder brother did.\n\nHis father was a priest by profession and a well-recognised householder saint. He was popularly known as Lori-Pir because he always carried a stick. Maharaja Pratap Singh had given him permission to walk around the Palace whenever he liked. The Maharaja knew him as a saint who could foretell the future and help people in their advancement.\n\nFrom early boyhood Sonakak was a man of dispassion. In his youth he helped his father in his work as a priest. He also found time each day to visit the cremation ground near Khak Chowk for Upasana, presumably of Suchindnath Bhairow. He seems to have attained Sakshatkar (direct realisation) there, but it unsettled him in body and mind. People who looked closely saw a method in his madness and recognised him as a Trikal Darshi, one who sees past, present and future. Others took him for an unsound man.\n\nAs he walked the streets of Srinagar he would sometimes fall into a temper and abuse people. He probably did this to keep away those who would otherwise have burdened him with their personal problems. The next moment he might sit in a shop and ask for tea, or smoke his chillum, at peace with himself and the world. He offered tea to those around him and answered questions indirectly, rarely directly. His clothes were seldom changed and were dark with oil stains. Yet he always changed to attend to the calls of nature and then bathed in cold water, even in sub-zero cold. He rarely wore a tilak. Crowds gathered round him wherever he went, and he saw that everyone was served tea or given something to eat. He rarely accepted presents, but took readily what he himself asked for.\n\nHe had many devotees but few disciples. One well-known devotee was Dr. Gwash Lal, a renowned physician. To humble his pride, Sonakak once made him walk through the streets of Srinagar with a bundle of firewood on his shoulders. Among his initiated disciples, Shri Bishember Nath Zutshi was a great tyagi, one who renounces.\n\nIn Baisakh 1985 (Bikrami) his single-storey ancestral home at Kharyar collapsed, and he moved to the house of Shri Shridharjoo Dhar at Alikadal. He lived in a ground-floor room there for 14 years. A couple of months before his end he stayed for a time with Dr. Gwash Lal Kaul at Sheikh Bagh, then returned to Alikadal.\n\nOn the 8th of Baisakh 1999 (Bikrami) he began his last journey. He vacated his room, burned his bedding and mats, and returned the metal utensils people had given him, after heating them. He left no relics. He spent a night at the house of his devotee Shri Sham Lal. He then took a pot of curd to the 4th Bridge and, facing the shrine of Mahakali, immersed it in the Jhelum. He stayed with Dr. Mela Ram, ordered a covered boat, and went to Pokhirbal with a few people, carrying rice and hawan material. There he said he had the Divine Mother's permission to leave his body, and he put the rice and hawan material into the spring of Shri Sharika Bhagawad. He ordered the boat to turn back, with two lighted lanterns on either side of him, and they burned until he gave up his body.\n\nNear Gadadhar Temple, just before his Mahasamadhi, he sent everyone out of the boat except Shri Bishember Nath Zutshi, Shri Bishamber Das and Shri Said-ud-Din. He had tea made and served, removed his clothes, and sat in Padmasana with Bishember Nath supporting his back. He attained Mahasamadhi on Chaitra Durga Ashtami, just before sunset. His body lay at his ancestral home at Kharyar for darshan until the next noon. A large crowd then followed it to the cremation ground. The attendant said Sonakak had chosen the exact spot two days earlier, though he had never gone there in his physical body.\n\nBoth brothers were lifelong brahmacharis and left no direct descendants.","teaching":"He answered questions indirectly, rarely directly, and he made sure everyone around him was given tea or whatever food was at hand. He rarely took gifts, and at the end he gave back what people had lent him and left no relics. When Dr. Gwash Lal, a respected physician, became proud, he sent him through the streets of Srinagar carrying firewood on his shoulders, to humble his ego. His harsh words and odd manner seem to have kept away people who came only with their personal troubles. He had many devotees but few disciples.","remembered":"People who knew Swami Sonakak say he still inspires them, helps them in their difficulties and protects them. His devotees built a memorial temple in his name at his ancestral home in Kharyar, Srinagar. After his brother's death the house was sold by their younger sister. The Hindu buyer damaged the temple. Sonakak apparently never approved of such a memorial.","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/sonakak.html"]},{"id":"mathra-devi","name":"Mathra Devi","years":"1878–1985","place":"Verinag, Srinagar (Shivalaya, Chotta Bazar) and Durganag, Kashmir","oneLine":"Mathra Devi was a Kashmiri Pandit woman mystic-saint and tapaswani, remembered as Lalla Ded reborn, who lived to the age of 106.","story":"Mathra Devi was born at Verinag, in the family of Pandit Hari Koul, on Shravana Shukla Ashtami, Samvat 1935, which corresponds to 1878 A.D. It is said that she was born near a cremation ground. Mathra was her pet family name. From her earliest childhood she had a great love and earnestness for the search after truth, and she grew up loving God's name and spiritual closeness. She showed an unfamiliar and surprising attitude towards her home and the world around her.\n\nAt the age of fourteen or fifteen she was married to Shri Bhagwan Dass Kandroo Bhagalal of Anantnag. The marriage lasted only about three years, for her husband passed away in his teens. Still young, healthy and beautiful, and full of fervour for the divine, Mathra returned to her parental home at Verinag. There she practised sadhana and tapasya together with her younger and only brother, Pandit Gobind Koul, who was also mad after the search for God and Truth.\n\nAt this stage God's grace came to her in the form of her spiritual Guru, Pandit Shridhar Joo Sharabi of Srinagar, who guided his young disciple with love, care and bhakti. After some years, with her brother's help, she built a kutiya for her tapasya on the bank of the Vitasta, which runs close to her parental house at its source in Verinag. On the ground floor she had a pit dug for her sadhana. After an unbroken tapasya of three years she came out of it as Mathra Devi, her face blazing with divine fervour and spiritual insight. Hundreds of people of all persuasions began to throng her kutiya daily, even from far-off Srinagar, and found peace and tranquillity simply by being near her.\n\nMathra Devi saw even this devotion around her as another worldly attachment, and looked for a chance to be free of it. In 1940-41, as the Dashahar festival at Shadipur drew near, she set out on the yatra and left Verinag, to which she would return only after 27 years, in 1967. From Shadipur she came to Srinagar and made the Shivalaya Temple at Chotta Bazar her abode. The place was then desolate and rough, and it became a spiritual centre through her stay. From there she spread her message to thousands through her upadeshas and vyakhyans on character-building, social reform and the thirst for Truth. Here she grew jattas like Lallishwari, and her body became somewhat heavy, again like Lalla Ded's, yet attractive.\n\nLater she was requested to move to Durganag, where a separate kutiya with attendants was arranged for her. It became another ashrama, where people high and low, men, women and children, came daily to hear her discourses, bringing simple vegetarian food and cooking for one another. In 1967 her brother Pandit Gobind Koul, his son Pandit Prithvi Nath Koul and her disciples took her back to Verinag. She blessed Verinag for another seventeen years, and became one with the One above on Pausha Shukla Triyodashi, Samvat 2041, which is January 5, 1985. Thousands of Hindus and Muslims joined her arthi, calling out \"Mathra Devi Amar Hai\", and Pandit Shamboo Nath Kandroo, the only survivor on her husband's side, lit the pyre as tradition requires.","teaching":"She spoke to devotees on character-building, social reform and the thirst for Truth, and herself lived a life of unbroken sadhana and tapasya.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/mathradevi.html"]},{"id":"riche-ded","name":"Riche Ded","years":"1880–1966","place":"Srinagar, Kashmir","oneLine":"Riche Ded, born Saenpat Devi, was a Kashmiri poetess, seer and philosopher of the twentieth century who composed hundreds of vaakhs in the everyday language of the valley.","story":"Riche Ded, which means 'Noble Lady', was born in Srinagar in 1880. Her real name was Saenpat Devi. She lived through most of the twentieth century, and for a long time her inner life stayed hidden from the world. Some who came to know of her felt that the great Lal Ded of the fourteenth century had taken birth once more.\n\nShe is remembered as a loving, unsophisticated woman who was said to have tremendous yogic powers. She blessed everyone, whatever their caste or creed, and wished all people well. She never spoke a harsh word and lived a saintly life.\n\nHer husband, Janardhan Kaul 'Sagar', was a poet in his own right. He knew Urdu, Persian, Arabic and English, as well as Hindi and Sanskrit, and translated several books into different languages while in the service of the Nizam of Hyderabad. He died in 1918, when Riche Ded was only thirty-eight. She was left alone and grief-stricken, with the whole burden of the household suddenly on her shoulders.  She hid the pain of her soul deep in her heart, and day and night she turned the spinning wheel to keep want away from her home.\n\nLater she saw her son, Hari Krishan, married, and he found work, though mostly in far-off postings. As Riche Ded grew older, her daughter-in-law, Danawati, stayed behind in Srinagar to look after her. The spinning wheel remained part of her daily life, and while it turned with its low, weeping sound she poured out her long-held sorrow in the form of vaakhs. Danawati watched this with wonder. Whenever her household work was done, she wrote down in Devnagari whatever Riche Ded murmured. This went on for thirty years. Danawati quietly kept the papers, layer upon layer, in a wooden almirah, and told no one.\n\nRiche Ded passed away quietly in 1966, at the age of eighty-six. Danawati forgot about the treasure lying in the almirah. Twelve years later, on her own death bed, she gathered the courage to tell her husband the secret, and the four hundred or so vaakhs were rescued from the whiteants. The poet and family friend Prithvi Nath Kaul 'Sayil' compiled them, and her son published them as a book at the end of 1980, her birth centenary year. They number about 450 in the collection; her son said there had once been about a thousand, but many were lost.\n\nHer vaakhs speak of art and beauty, faith and confidence, kindness, truth, the difficulty of living well, and the knowing of the Self. They are still read for their warmth and plain wisdom.","teaching":"Riche Ded taught that truth and kindness are the heart of faith, that a kind heart and sweet words bear fruit, and that remembering God's name and knowing the Self lead to lasting peace.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/richeded.html"]},{"id":"vidyadhar","name":"Swami Vidyadhar Ji","years":"b. 1886","place":"Srinagar","oneLine":"Swami Vidyadhar was a Sanskrit scholar and devotee of the Shaiva path who left his household for the life of a wandering ascetic, composed hymns still sung by Kashmiris, and worked to heal divisions within the Pandit community.","story":"Swami Vidyadhar was born on the 13th bright day of Ashad 1942 (Bikrami), which is 1886 AD, in an orthodox Brahmin family of the Kanthdhomayan gotra in Srinagar. His parental name was Vidhlal. His father, Ganakak Razdan, died when he was six. His mother, Harmali, came from a respectable Khushoo family of Malayar. His elder brother, Gopi Nath, placed him in the care of Madhav Joo Chander and Rajkak Ganz to learn the traditional Brahmin rituals. He later earned the degree of Visharad. From boyhood he was known for his sharp mind, good memory, humility and firm character, and his teachers loved him.\n\nAt fifteen he was married to Padmavati, daughter of a Brahmin, Rishi Kak Kalu. He became a disciple of Yogiraj Swami Ramji, under whom he studied the Shastras and was initiated into Shaiva Sadhana. Two other leading disciples of Swami Ramji were Swami Mahtab Kak and Swami Govind Kaul. Vidyadhar grew more and more absorbed in his inner life and did his household work with a detached mind. His mother died when he was twenty-eight. He lost his taste for worldly life and stayed mostly in one room of his house, though he taught the scriptures to those who came to him.\n\nIn 1915 Swami Ramji left his body, and after that Vidyadhar found it nearly impossible to stay within the walls of his home. In 1919 he left. He stayed for a time at Thajiwara near Bijbehara, and then went to the solitude of Kamlavan near Tral. Swami Mahtab Kak, who headed the Shri Ram Shaiva Ashram, asked him to return home, apparently at the request of Vidyadhar's father-in-law. Vidyadhar would not refuse his elder Gurubhai's word and came back. Even at home he longed for the life of a wandering monk, though thoughts of his small children's future sometimes crossed his mind.\n\nHe spoke out against injustice even when it meant going against tradition. Among Kashmiri Pandits, the Leji Bhat and Bohra sub-castes were shunned by high-caste Brahmins, even though some of their families had returned to the parent faith and lived ideal lives. Swamiji initiated a good number of disciples from these groups and worked steadily against the prejudice. A large Yagya was held at Bijbehara, and he invited the learned and orthodox Brahmins of the valley. They came, food was served by the brethren who had been wronged, and everyone ate.\n\nHe loved music, and Hindu and Muslim musicians recited Sufi and devotional poetry to him, including verses of Parmanand and Lalleshwari. One musician, his constant companion, married a Muslim girl and was cut off from his community. When he later returned after a period of exile, others despised him, but Swamiji received him with open arms.\n\nAccounts differ about the thief at his Ashram. One account says that a thief loaded with goods from the Ashram passed him on the stairs on his way to Sandhya, and even bowed to him. Swamiji did not stop him, and told his disciples about it in the morning. Another account says he saw a thief taking his belongings and let him go because the man looked poor and wore torn clothes.\n\nOn an Amavasi, at about 10:30 in the morning, he said to three disciples: \"World is changing fast and Adharma is growing. It is better that you people be of some help to these mortal remains.\" He asked a disciple to check the Tithi in the Panchang, and when told, he said with a smile, \"All right.\" A little later he suffered a paralytic attack and lost outward sensation. For about two and a half days disciples and others chanted hymns around him. At about 3 a.m. on the third bright day of Margshirsh, as the Bhairavstotra of Abhinavagupta ended, his eyes opened, full of tears. The devotees began the daily Aarti, and when it ended he stopped breathing. His wife, Padmavati, came after thirty years of seclusion and Sadhana to pay her respects. As he had wished, the last rites were held without fanfare.","teaching":"After renouncing the world he never touched money. He held that social divisions within the Pandit community were wrong, and he acted on it by initiating disciples from the shunned sub-castes and by bringing the orthodox to eat with them at the Bijbehara Yagya. He advised a grieving relative not to sorrow over what is inevitable. He showed warmth to a musician whom others despised, and he knew no fear in the face of suffering and injustice.","remembered":"Swami Vidyadhar is remembered for the devotional Sanskrit hymns he composed, many of which Kashmiris still sing. His hymn to Rangya Bhagwati is part of the Aarti recited at Kheerbhawani. He was called Vidyadhar lovingly because of his learning.","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/vidyadhar.html","https://hindupad.com/swami-vidyadhar/"]},{"id":"kashkak","name":"Swami Kashkak","years":"d. 17 August 1961","place":"Manigam, near Srinagar","oneLine":"Kashkak was a farmer-saint of Manigam who lived as a householder, ploughed his own field, and gave comfort to all who came for his darshan.","story":", a quiet village in the north of Kashmir, about 25 kilometres from Srinagar. The village had been hallowed in the late 17th century by Mata Rupa Bhawani during her early penance. In the early part of the twentieth century it produced Kashkak, a Faqir and a Mastana. He led the normal life of a householder and earned his bread by tilling the little land he owned until the end of his life. A visitor crossing the Vayil bridge on the edge of the village would find a well-built, thinly dressed peasant ploughing his field. That was Kashkak.\n\nHis Guru, Narain Bhan, initiated him into yogic sadhana, and Kashkak attained Siddhi sooner than expected. It is said that once, in a trance, he climbed a tree wearing khadaoon, wooden slippers. He was known for his uncanny prophecies and seemed to use his spiritual powers in the service of God's creatures. It was said that he never disappointed anyone and fulfilled everyone's wishes.\n\nPeople came to Manigam day in and day out for his darshan: common men, women and children, rich businessmen and top government officials, as well as other saints and sages of Kashmir and the rest of the country. Meher Baba, the silent sage from Poona whom his followers declared an Avatar, visited Kashkak and accepted prasad from him. In his book on saints, \"The Wayfarers\", Meher Baba records that he found Kashkak ever engrossed in the Higher Self, in the 7th plane of Consciousness. Swami Nandlal Ji and Swami Lakshman Joo also had his darshan.\n\nOnce a Gujar with a fractured right arm came to him at harvest time. He said his family would starve if he could not work, and begged Kashkak to heal the arm. Kashkak touched it and it was restored, and the Gujar hurried away in joy. An elderly Muslim sitting nearby asked why he had been so kind to a man known for his cunning. Kashkak answered that they were there to serve and do good, and to simplify matters rather than complicate them. If the arm were not cured, the man's family would suffer for no fault of theirs. If the Gujar was a bad man, he would answer for it after the harvest.\n\nKashkak's predictions were often ambiguous, made more so by his habit of reciting Persian couplets. In the summer of 1942 a gentleman from Ali Kadal asked when he would marry. Kashkak replied, \"Yora Gachhith ta Tora Yith,\" meaning \"let him die first and then be reborn.\" That man, by then in his 81st year, was still unmarried when this account was written.\n\nThough a poor farmer, Kashkak was a generous host. Those who came from far away could stay the night and were given a simple meal of rice, curd, dal and vegetables. He treated rich and poor alike and made no distinction between Hindu and Muslim. He always refused offerings in cash or kind, and whatever was offered he threw into the Sindh river that flowed nearby. Kashkak attained Mahasamadhi on 17 August 1961.","teaching":"He stayed a householder and worked his own land, and he never took money or gifts. He threw whatever was offered into the Sindh river. He gave visitors a bed for the night and a simple meal of rice, curd, dal and vegetables. He treated rich and poor alike and made no difference between Hindu and Muslim. His own words about helping others were: \"We are here to serve and do good, simplify matters rather than complicate them.\" G.N. Raina wrote of him: \"All found solace and comfort in his presence.\"","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/kashkak.html"]},{"id":"neelkanth-sharma-ji","name":"Swami Neelkanth Sharma Ji","years":"1888–1971","place":"Dab Wakoora (Shadipur, Ganderbal) and later Srinagar, Kashmir","oneLine":"Pt. Neelkanth Sharma was a householder saint, devotee of Shri Rama and Kashmiri poet, remembered for his leelas and for the Sharma Ramayana.","story":"Pt. Neelkanth Sharma was born on 21 June 1888 at Dab Wakoora, Shadipur, in a Kashmiri Pandit family of Atri Bhargava gotra. His parents, Pt. Shankar Joo (Shankar Nath) and Sukhmali, were devotees of Shri Rama, and the family had a rich spiritual and literary background. His family held land and the villagers called them 'Badih bhatta', the affluent Pandits.\n\nThere were no schools at Dab Wakoora in his time, and he never had formal schooling. He learned Sanskrit first from his father and then deepened it through his own effort. He also mastered Persian, Urdu and Hindi, studied the shastras and Shaiva and Vedanta teachings, and became a well-known astrologer whose forecasts were said to come true. Scholars came to him with their doubts. Many Pandits of Srinagar later came to learn Saivism from him.\n\nHe was married to Leelawati and had two sons, Prof. Janki Nath Sharma and Sh. Prithvi Nath Madhup. Those who knew him remember a sober and gentle man who never raised his voice and never punished his children, teaching them by suggestion. He had been a strict vegetarian from the age of 35. He believed God is one, called by countless names, and he did puja daily before a clay shivalingam. He regarded Lord Rama as his main deity.\n\nHe composed over 300 leelas in Kashmiri on Rama, Krishna, Shiva and the Goddess, and believed that composing and singing leelas was part of one's sadhana. His Sharma Ramayana, finished in 1926 after seven years, is counted among the important Kashmiri Ramayanas. He also translated the Bhagavad Gita as Sudha Sindhu, rendered Bhasa's Swapna Vasavadatta into Kashmiri, and wrote Bilva Mangal and Bhakt Jaidev Charitra.\n\nSaints of his day, including Balji Kaw, Swami Nand Lal, Swami Ashokanand and Sidhmol Ji, respected him. Sidhmol Ji regarded him as his guru and would visit him on Ashtami. In 1947 the family fled Dab Wakoora when their house was burned, but carried out all his writings unharmed. They later built a home at Narsingh Garh, Srinagar.\n\nDevotees remember that he predicted the time of his death.    His wish, expressed in a Kashmiri verse, was to remain a servant at Shri Rama's feet.","teaching":"He taught that God is one, known by many names such as Rama, Krishna, Shiva or Allah, and that composing and singing devotional leelas is part of spiritual practice.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/nilakanthsharma/index.html"]},{"id":"kish-bab","name":"Swami Kish Bab","years":"died 26 December 1986, at the age of about 96","place":"Anantnag and Gowsanigund, Kashmir","oneLine":"Keshav Nath Koul, known to all as Kish Bab, was a Kashmiri Pandit mystic of Anantnag who lived beside the Gowsanigund Ashram and was remembered as a Siddha above all ritual.","story":"Keshav Nath Koul, lovingly called Kish Bab, Kish Peer, Peer Sahib, Bab, Kish Ma-ot and Darvesh Sahib, was born at Khah Bazaar in Anantnag. He studied up to the eighth class in the local Mission School and was appointed Drill Master by the State Government, but he was posted to a far-flung area, which his parents did not like. He dropped the idea of government service and opened a shop in Khah Bazaar to earn his living.\n\nLater he moved to the village of Gowsanigund and ran a shop just outside the Ashram, the very place nature had shown him in an early vision. The verandah of that shop, the kitchen, and the gowshalla opposite it became his tapobhoomi, where he practised his spiritual discipline far more than he attended to business. He spent about fifty years in the village.\n\nHe was a contemporary of the famous Swami Atma Ram Ji of the Gowsanigund Ashram, and would go into the Ashram every day to take morning tea with Swami Ji. He would sit as a casual listener while devotees brought their troubles to Swami Atma Ram Ji, and it is told that his casual yes or no was taken as final for as long as Swami Atma Ram Ji lived.\n\nWhile the Ganges of Sanatana Dharma flowed through the Ashram, where devotees learned the Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas, Kish Bab's shop was a meeting place of many kinds of thought, open to people of every caste and creed. It was a memorable sight when Kish Bab sat with children at one end of his verandah, Ama Sahib, a Muslim saint of Kahleel, Tral, sat at the other end, and Swami Atma Ram Ji sat across the road on a grass mat kept hanging there for him.\n\nHe was remembered as a Siddha and a mystic, a man above rituals, ever awake and alert, and a firm believer in the law of Karma. He spoke of having seen his previous births, and would say without hesitation that in one of them he had been head of fishermen. He seldom left his room, yet devotees remember that he showed himself to them in faraway places. Khatji of Bangidar knew him as Qutub, and says he appeared to her at Dantar Kadal and again at the gates of Mecca during her Haj pilgrimage. Sh. Nand Lal of Zainapore, who collapsed at home and was thought dead, is said to have seen him in the astral plane and revived to live many more years by his blessing. Devotees also tell of his presence at Reshmool in Anantnag, Kabamarg, Vaishnav Devi, Donthsar-nag, Shirsar-nag, Himalnag and other places.\n\nHe was a simple man who seemed to know nothing yet was aware of everything. Having renounced all else, he possessed only spirituality in practice. Devotees say that from his room he could see the movement of souls and look into a person's past and future.\n\nIn the last week of December 1986, after a whole day in trance, he is said to have foretold hard days for Kashmir and the flight of the Hindus, and added that he had been granted three days of grace and must leave. He attained Nirvana on 26 December 1986 at New Chowk, Anantnag.","teaching":"Sitting at his feet, devotees came to understand that spirituality is a science of the mind, in which one's own mind is the laboratory. They learned that body and soul are separate, and that the subtle thought matters more than physical action, since one is caught in the web of one's own thoughts.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/kishbab.html"]},{"id":"aftab-joo-wangnoo-akalal","name":"Swami Aftab Joo Wangnoo (Akalal)","years":"1893–1943","place":"Babapora, Habakadal, Srinagar","oneLine":"Swami Aftab Joo Wangnoo, lovingly called Akalal, was a Kashmiri Hindu saint and householder-yogi of Srinagar, devoted disciple of Swami Zanakak Tuphchi.","story":"Swami Aftab Joo Wangnoo, affectionately called Akalal by his devotees, was born in 1893 and lived at Babapora, Habakadal, in Srinagar. His father, Shri Keshav Joo Wangnoo, was a revenue clerk at Leh in the time of Maharaja Ranbir Singh and was assassinated while in service. His widow, Kudamal, and the children then faced great hardship. Akalal had to leave his studies at the eighth standard and took a job as a messenger in the State Telegraph Department to help support the large family. His mother was a noble and deeply religious woman, and he was the most religious of her six children. As a boy he spent his time in the company of saints and at holy places.\n\nHe came to Swami Zanakak Tuphchi through his brother-in-law, Shri Janki Nath Misri, a disciple of the Swami. Zanakakji gladly accepted him as a disciple. Akalal served his guru with great devotion, carrying him dinner from his mother's kitchen after work. It is told that once, on a snowy night, no one opened the gate of the Misri house, and Akalal waited outside and fell asleep with the bowl in his hands. At about 4 a.m. Zanakakji opened the gate, woke him, took him in and ate the food, which had by then frozen. Zanakakji later moved permanently to Akalal's home, and Akalal gave up his job to serve him fully. Zanakakji lived to about a hundred years, and many of those years were spent with the Wangnoo family.\n\nAkalal's sadhana included meditation each afternoon at the foot of Hariparbat below the Kali temple, reading the Guru Gita every morning, and reciting the Bhavani Namasahastrastuti and Indrakshi Stotram in the evenings. He loved devotional music, and kirtans and bhajan gatherings were often held at his house. Devotees remember that during a two-week retreat at the Parimahal on his guru's instruction, all he needed for puja and food appeared each day. Of a six-month stay at Brari-Angan, Uma Nagri, he said it felt like six seconds. Devotees also tell of his escape from an Aguri's evil rite by turning his thoughts to Zanakakji. Twice a year he held a yagya in his guru's memory, feeding sadhus, devotees and relatives. He visited Amarnath many times and gave gifts to the sadhus on the yatra.\n\nHe remained a brahmachari but lived as a householder, dressed plainly, and coached his school-going nephews. People in trouble, including local Muslims, came to him and were received with love. He gave them sacred ashes from his guru's kangri, and sometimes yantras.\n\nProf. A.N. Dhar met him at Kshir Bhavani, Tulamula, as a young man and visited him often afterwards. Akalal passed away in 1943, at the age of 55, and is remembered with reverence.","teaching":"He taught that a seeker must practise spirituality and worldly duties together, as a bird needs two wings, and must keep the mind alert, pure and calm in joy and sorrow. He held that the goal is the realization of God, which is no different from Self-realization.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/wangnoo.html"]},{"id":"bhagwan-gopinath","name":"Bhagwan Gopinath","years":"1898–1968","place":"Srinagar","oneLine":"Bhagwan Gopinath was a Srinagar-born mystic who left shop-keeping for a life of meditation and was called a jivanmukta, a liberated soul.","story":"Gopinath Bhan was born on Friday, 1 July 1898 (Ashadha Shukla Dvadashi; some accounts give 3 July), in Bhan Mohalla, Srinagar, into a respected Kashmiri Pandit family. One record gives the date as the 19th of Har (Ashad), Vikrami 1955. His grandfather, Pandit Lachhman Joo Bhan, was a wazir wazarat, a post compared to a deputy commissioner, in the Dogra administration. His father, Pandit Narayan Joo Bhan, dealt in pashmina wool and gave most of his time to religious life. He gave up his ancestral home to his stepmother.\n\nHis mother, Haar Maal, was the daughter of Pandit Prasad Joo Parimoo, a saint whom people called Jada Bharata. Satsang and the teaching of scriptures such as the Yoga Vasistha were part of daily life in that house. The family tells that Prasad Joo had a vision in which the goddess said she would be born in his house, and soon after Haar Maal was born. Accounts differ on the details.\n\nGopinath had two brothers and two sisters. His elder brother, Govind Joo, never married. He worked in the Customs and Excise Department, supported Gopinath, and died in 1946. His younger brother, Jia Lal, was adopted into a Kak family and had no children. His elder sister, Deva Mali, was widowed young. She and her daughters Kamla and Chanda looked after him for much of his life.\n\nAfter his father gave up the family home, he and young Gopinath, then about ten, moved between rented houses. His mother died when he was 12, and his father when he was around 30. The family changed residence eleven times between 1909 and 1968. Gopinath studied up to middle grade at the Tyndale Biscoe School in Fateh Kadal.\n\nFrom his early years he was reluctant to take employment, but his family insisted. In 1912 he briefly helped his maternal uncle in the wool trade. He then worked three years as a compositor at Vishi Nath Printing Press and afterwards ran a grocery shop, first at Sekidafar and later at Chaayidob. He ran it for ten years, till about 1925, before turning to spiritual life full-time.\n\nAs a young man he knew many sacred hymns by heart. He cared most for the Bhagavad Gita and kept a copy beside his meditation seat until his last day. He went with his uncle to clean the holy spring at Pokhribal and led groups of young men to shrines such as Kheer Bhawani, Mattan, Mahadev and Vicharnaag. He also visited local saints, including Swami Zanakak Tufchi, Swami Baalak Kaw and Swami Jeevan Sahib.\n\nHis years of intense sadhana are placed at Rangteng, Srinagar, from 1930 to 1937. Sometime between 1946 and 1956 his devotees began calling him Bhagwan. Little is known of his spiritual master, though he said one may take the Gita as one's master. He died at Chandapora on 28 May 1968, aged 69.","teaching":"Bhagwan Gopinath held that self-enquiry (atma vichara) was a highly effective way for a seeker to reach self-realisation. He named lust and ego as obstacles to spiritual growth and praised honesty and truthfulness. One quotation is attributed to him: \"Bidding adieu to ones ego leads one to self realisation.\" He did not distinguish between religions and regarded Hindus and Muslims as one and the same. He spent long periods meditating at shrines in Kashmir, found this spiritually helpful, and advised seekers to do the same. He also told people that the Bhagavad Gita could serve as their spiritual master.","remembered":"His birthday is observed on Ashad, Shuklapaksh, Dvadashi, by the Hindu lunar calendar. Devotees came to call him Bhagwan, and he has been called a jivanmukta, a liberated soul. Other saints of his time called him an Aghoreshwar.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagwan_Gopinath","https://ikashmir.net/bhagwaangopinath/chapter1.html"],"img":{"url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:FilePath/Bhagwan%20Gopinath%201998%20stamp%20of%20India.jpg&width=400","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bhagwan_Gopinath_1998_stamp_of_India.jpg","credit":"India Post, 1998 stamp","license":"GODL-India","caption":""}},{"id":"grata-bab","name":"Grata Bab","years":"20th century","place":"Achabal and Srinagar","oneLine":"Swami Grata Bab, born Pandit Prasad Joo Koul, was a recluse who lived for about three decades in a water mill at Achabal and drew devotees of every community.","story":"Swami Grata Bab's given name was Pandit Prasad Joo Koul. His parents lived in Shopian town in South Kashmir. In Srinagar he learned Sanskrit from Shri Suraj Ram Bhagwan and Persian from Shri Ram Wander Bhagwan. He later went back to Shopian and lived with his natural parents for about three years. Then he returned to Srinagar and sold his inherited house at Banamohalla to the well-known saint Swami Kailash Koul.\n\nHe looked and behaved normally. But he slept soundly during the day and stayed awake at night, absorbed in meditation. He tried to make everyone think he was asleep, yet those who looked closely could see his spiritual inclination.\n\nAround the time of the first Great War he left that house and took shelter in the premises of a grata, a water mill, at Achabal. He stayed there for about three decades. He talked in soliloquies, in the manner of a mastana, and crowds of believers from all communities came to him. Many believed in his powers because their questions were answered and their wishes fulfilled. Miracles came to be attributed to him. Devotees thought he did this on purpose, to look repulsive and keep away unwanted crowds, so that only true devotees stayed.\n\nPandit Shridhar Joo Dhar, a former Conservator of Forests and one of his closest devotees, persuaded him to return to Srinagar, probably a year before the tribal raid of October 1947. He got up and walked back to his room. They threw him again, and again he was unhurt. The raiders left convinced of his spiritual power.\n\nBack in Srinagar he stayed with several devotees, among them Shri Balbadar Dhar. Then he went to the Saraf house at Fateh Kadal. He recalled the name of the room he had once stayed in, the Diwan Khana, and refused the seat prepared for him on the diwan. He chose a corner on the floor near the window overlooking the Vitasta, and made it his seat for about six years. He took only a morning meal, and offered a morsel to everyone present as prasad.","teaching":"He lived very simply and made no demands. At his morning meal he gave a morsel to everyone present as prasad and took only what was left. If the plate was empty he never asked for more. He recited verses from the scriptures and knew Sanskrit and Persian well. He wrote meaningful sayings on slips of paper and gave them to visitors.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/gratabab.html"]},{"id":"nandabab","name":"Swami Nand Lal (Nandabab)","years":"1902–1966 or 1973 (accounts differ)","place":"Srinagar; Tikker, Kupwara","oneLine":"Swami Nand Lal Ji, called Nandabab, was a celibate Kashmiri Pandit yogi and seer, born into a banking family of Srinagar, who left home as a youth for sadhana, founded ashrams in Kashmir, and was sought out by people of every faith.","story":"Accounts differ on his origins. S.K. Kaul, writing on iKashmir.net, says he was born in 1902 at Gurgari Mohalla, Zaina Kadal, Srinagar. J.N. Bhat, also on iKashmir.net, says only that he originally came from village Nunar near Ganderbal.\n\nKaul writes that his father, Pandit Sahaj Kaul, belonged to a well-to-do Kaul family known as Kothdars. His forefathers were prominent bankers, even to Maharaja Pratap Singh. The family were ardent devotees of Goddess Jagadamba Sharika Devi and went on parikrama to the Holy Mother at Hari Parbat in every season, summer and winter alike.\n\nNand Lal's mother died young, leaving two sons and a daughter. Kaul says this began his orderly journey towards the goal he had left halfway in a previous birth, and that his step-mother was his first Guru, because her way of life pushed him towards God. In his youth he was energetic and commanding, like any rich young man, and used to command his friends. He studied up to the eighth class. His cousin Pandit Naranjan Nath Kaul and Pandit Sham Lal Saproo, known as Bad Toth, were his juniors at school; both later became devoted followers.\n\nAt seventeen or eighteen, after about a year and a half in business, he left home for sadhana. He could not be traced for almost twenty years, and he never looked back. A lifelong brahmachari, he was initiated by Swami Lal Ji of Banaras, a great yogi. It is said that Swami Lal Ji, impressed by his shishya's progress, offered him his own asana, which he would not accept, and remarked that Nand Lal had achieved in a short time a kirya that had taken the Guru a couple of years. Most of his sadhana was done at Bomai Sadhamaleun in Sopore. He loved nature, was a total vegetarian, and was fond of sufiana music.\n\nAfter his sadhana he settled at Sharada, in the Tangdhar area, where he had a small ashram at the Sharada temple. His local followers there were mostly traders from Tikker village in Kupwara. When Pakistani raiders occupied Sharada in 1947, he moved with his followers to Tikker and built an ashram on the hilltop. He also founded an ashram at Hushoora near Badgam.\n\nDevotees recall that at Sharada a Sikh man, chased by armed raiders, took refuge in his ashram. When the raiders tried to shoot him, their guns would not fire, so he was saved and they bowed at the Swami's feet. They also remember that while the Tikker site was being dug, snakes appeared but harmed no one, and that tongs, a kangri, a chilum and a saligram were found there, which they took as the place of his sadhana in a past birth. Devotees tell many other stories of his compassion: reviving the dead, including a Sopore priest's wife restored to life around 1960–61, blessing the childless and troubled, and showing a boy a vision of Lord Shiva.\n\nBhat describes Nandabab as moving on the spiritual scene of Kashmir for well over 50 years. To some he seemed like a man out of his wits, quaintly dressed and muttering, yet his words were full of meaning. People of all faiths, and visitors from abroad, crowded round him from dawn to midnight. Although devotees built him a new house, he rarely stayed in it. He travelled unpredictably by car, taxi or tonga for days at a time. Bhat says he read minds and predicted events. Bhat also recounts that on a night in 1965, when Pakistani raiders attacked Kashmir, Nandabab sat up by a huge fire, and in the morning said he had had to fight hard to change their route to the airport.\n\nAccounts differ on his passing. S.K. Kaul on iKashmir.net gives that he attained Nirvana in January 1966, on Gauri Tritiya, at New Delhi, in the house of his shishya Pandit Prem Nath Sadhu at Malviya Nagar. J.N. Bhat on iKashmir.net gives that he received Mukthi on 30 October 1973.","teaching":"Bhat says Nandabab held a universal view: all religions preach the same basic principle, that the ultimate goal is God or self-realization. To him people from any part of the world were the same. He showed no preference for the high-ups and no lesser regard for common people, and he was always smiling. He rarely spoke straight to a person, but replied to unspoken questions in parables, similes and paradoxes, and often dictated answers on chits or in a register. He bathed and combed his hair each morning but was indifferent to diet. He put sindoor on the foreheads of those present, whatever their faith, but never pressed it on anyone who would not like it. Kaul's account gives no formal teachings; his life showed love and compassion for devotees, free service of food, no desire for money or fame, and respect for people of all faiths.","remembered":"Devotees remember him as a kind, secular and miracle-working saint. His ashram langar was always open and free; he accepted no money and avoided important visitors, and devotees of other faiths came to him too. He named Vibhishan Ji, Kral Bab Maharaj and Mast Ram Ji as his successors. His ashrams at Tikker and at Hushoora near Badgam are linked with his name, and devotees say he remains present to guide his seekers.","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/nandlal.html","https://ikashmir.net/saints/nandbabh.html"]},{"id":"janki-nath-dhar-sahib-shriman-shri-papa-ji-maharaj","name":"Janki Nath Dhar Sahib (Shriman Shri Papa Ji Maharaj)","years":"1902–1990","place":"Srinagar and Jammu, Kashmir","oneLine":"Janki Nath Dhar Sahib, lovingly called Papa Ji Maharaj, was an accountant and scholar who lived a deep spiritual life while working and raising a family, and who is revered by his devotees as a perfected saint.","story":"Janki Nath Dhar was born on 28 April 1902 in Srinagar, in the Dhar family of Bhardwaj gotra, at Khan-kahi-sokhta, Safakadal. His father, Shri Kanth Nath Dhar, was a pious man, and his mother, Shrimati Kudmali, came from the renowned Bhat family of Badeepora (Chadoora). They had four sons, and the eldest was named Nandlal. From childhood he was bright, graceful and devoted to his parents and to Krishna. His name was later changed to Jankinath, mysteriously, as the source puts it, and his devotees came to call him Shriman Shri Papa Ji Maharaj.\n\nHe studied Urdu and Persian at a nearby school, learned English, and passed his matriculation through Punjab University after studying at the Mission School, Fatehkadal. After matriculation he turned more towards spirituality, yet wished to help his father, who had a large family to feed. He took a post in the Accountant General's office and worked as an accountant at the Rajput Boarding School in Jammu. He is said to have received an unnamed Guru, and he once hinted to devotees that this was Sh. Satyanand of Meerut. , and went on to master the Sankhya and Vedanta.\n\nIn Jammu he was given a small room, which he called his cubicle. There he practised intense tapasya, living on milk and fruit with no salt at all, and studying the Upanishads, Brahmasutras and Bhagavad Gita. Yet his office work never suffered. On the wall he placed a board reading ALERT REALIZATION AT HAND. Those close to him say it was at Jammu that he attained God realization. Later he took long leave and stayed at the Gosanigund ashram in Anantnag, where Swami Atmaram Maharaj welcomed him warmly. From there he went on pilgrimage to Kulgam, Devsar, Khanbarni and Mata Kheerbhawani at Manzgam, and after returning to Srinagar he often visited Tulmulla, Manigam, Hariparbat and other holy places.\n\nPapa Ji loved Persian, Urdu and Kashmiri poetry, the Shaiva philosophy of his homeland, Ayurveda and Sufiana music, and he played the sitar. He kept an ashram at the Gouri Shankar temple, Sathu Barbarshah, Srinagar, and visited it on Sundays and holy days. Devotees remember that he sat calm and still for hours, smiling, showering blessings, and that Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs alike came to him and were welcomed. From 1987 he stayed at his home in Chhanpora. He did not leave Kashmir during the mass migration, and devotees remember that militants who came to his house were turned back by some divine force.\n\nHe passed away on 30 July 1990, at about ninety years of age, at his home in Chanapura, Srinagar. The troubled times allowed few mourners, and no customary rites could be performed. His devotees keep his memory alive by celebrating his birthday and Mahasamadhi day with a yagya, at the Utkrisht Parijat Ashram in Nagrota, Jammu, where his marble statue stands, and through the Shri Papaji Memorial Trust.","teaching":"No sayings of his are recorded. His life shows that deep spiritual practice and devotion can be lived while doing one's duty in office and family, with the heart kept inwardly one with God.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/jankinathdhar.html"]},{"id":"satlal-siboo","name":"Pandit Satlal Siboo","years":"10 August 1902 – 19 October 1987","place":"Srinagar, near Habbakadal (Purshayar), Kashmir","oneLine":"Pandit Satlal Siboo was a Shakta sadhak of Srinagar who taught the Shakta tradition and gave Bhasma and mantras to the ailing.","story":"Pandit Satlal Siboo was a son of the soil of Kashmir, born on the 10th of August 1902. He lived in a three-storeyed house near Habbakadal, in the Purshayar quarter of Srinagar, and was known as an aged, gentle figure who wore the traditional pheran.\n\nIn his working life he served in the J&K Fire Services. Moved by the wish to awaken spiritually and realise the Self, he took voluntary retirement and gave himself fully to sadhna. He did this in his second-floor room, popularly known as the 'Kani'.\n\nHis sadhna was of a particular kind. He meditated upon his Ishta-Devi, Sri Ragniya, in the form of Prakrati, and upon Bhuteshwara in the form of Purusha, and then recited the Bija-Mantras. Asked about this way of worship, he would say that sadhna is a process of enlightening every nerve cell through the recitation of Bija-Mantras, which carry the spirit of the Shruti and, through the divine vibration of the Absolute, form the particular facet of a Devi or Devta. His worship also included an embossed Sri Yantra in the Kadi tradition, for the Shakta method was well known to him.\n\nIn his youth he met Angoor-Bhaba of the Angoori Ashram, and Dhandi Swami, who had excelled in the ancient system of medicine. For some years Pandit Satlal himself practised at the Angoori Ashram's branch at Kralakhud. In the later part of his life, when he had reached a higher stage of spiritual awakening, he relied on mantra-therapy alone.\n\nHe taught and initiated into the Shakta tradition those who came to him. To ailing people he would give Bhasma, reciting the Mahamritunjaya Mantra with its Gayatri, for many kinds of illness.\n\nDr. Chaman Lal Raina, who wrote of him in Koshur Samachar, met him in the sixties and heard his words in his Habbakadal home. He recalls his own experience: ill for many years after a wrongly performed operation for melanoma, and not properly treated at AIIMS, PGI Chandigarh and other institutions, he returned to Srinagar and hurried to Pandit Satlal. Told to come the next day at dawn, he found him praying to his Ishta-Devi. After the prayers Pandit Satlal applied Bhasma on the operated area and recited some mantras. Dr. Raina says he was completely cured.\n\nPandit Satlal Siboo attained Nirvana on the 19th of October 1987. His devotees say his religio-philosophic message still echoes in their hearts, and he is also revered in Mukerian in Punjab and some other places. He is remembered among the chain of great Kashmiri saints who showed the path to the goal.","teaching":"Sadhna, he taught, is a process of enlightening every nerve cell through the recitation of Bija-Mantras, which carry the spirit of the Shruti and the divine vibration of the Absolute. He taught the Shakta tradition to those who came to him.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/satlalsiboo.html"]},{"id":"sidh-bab-sed-bab","name":"Swami Sidh Bab (Sed Bab)","years":"c. 1902 – 31 October 1985","place":"Hanjiveira (Hanjivera), Tehsil Pattan, Kashmir","oneLine":"Sed Bab was a Kashmiri Pandit householder and saint who lived a family life while his heart stayed fixed on the Lord.","story":"Sed Bab was born Shri Vedlal Bhat in the village of Hanjiveira, in Tehsil Pattan, Kashmir, to Shri Veshn Bhat and Smt. Yemberzal. He was born on Jeshtha Shukla Paksh Naumi, around the year 1902. Little is known of his early years. He went to a local school and learned the essential scriptures at the local Hindi pathshala, and he knew Urdu, Persian, Hindi and Sanskrit. He wrote a fine hand.\n\nHe was married young to Smt. Gunwati, who devotedly carried the household and raised their three sons and two daughters. He briefly worked as an assistant in the government revenue department but gave it up soon after taking it. For years he lived like any Kashmiri farmer, tending land and cattle and managing a large family, and no signs of sainthood were seen in him.\n\nAs time passed, his detachment from worldly affairs grew plain, and an aura of holiness was noticed first by his family and then by others. He began visiting saints and temples, staying with them for days, and left his wife in charge at home. Nobody had the courage to question him. Devotees soon began to come to him. He often stayed at Maa Raginya at Tulmul, and was always present there on Shukla Paksh Ashtami for the evening aarti, when many Pandits came to seek his blessings.\n\nOf all the saints he visited, Swami Nand Lal Ji, of Bomai (Sopore) and later Tikkar (Kupwara), influenced him most. Swami Ji was so attached to him that he called him Sedmol, for his simple, extraordinary qualities. Devotees later called him Sed Bab. Whether Swami Ji was formally his guru is a matter on which devotees differ.\n\nSed Bab was simple, affectionate and smiling. He dressed like an ordinary Pandit, in a large turban with a big tilak, a long pheran, and a towel on his shoulder. He rose very early, bathed in flowing water, and meditated until midday and again in the evening. He spoke little, read the Bhagavad Gita, and recited stotras such as Bhawani Sahasranam, Panchastavi and Mahimnapar. He was a strict vegetarian, ate very little, kept frequent fasts, and gave most of his food away as prasad. Muslims too revered him and came for his blessings.\n\nHe is remembered as a true karmayogi. His second son, Omkar Nath, an army soldier, was killed in the Indo-China war of 1962. Devotees recall that when the news came he shed not a tear and set out calmly on his planned journey.\n\nOn 31 October 1985 he went into samadhi at his home in Hanjivera, and large crowds came for his cremation the next day. A memorial planned at the cremation ground was halted after local objection and a court order. After the displacement of 1990, devotees built an ashram at Paloura, Jammu, where a statue of Sed Bab stands and devotees gather.","teaching":"He showed the way of karmayoga: do one's worldly duties honestly as a householder while the heart stays always fixed on the Lord.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/sidhbab.html"]},{"id":"har-kak-ji-maharaj","name":"Swami Har Kak Ji Maharaj","years":"1903–1975","place":"Bamhama, Kupwara district, Kashmir","oneLine":"Swami Har Kak Ji, lovingly called Swami Har Bab Ji, was a householder saint of Bamhama in northern Kashmir, remembered for teaching in simple Kashmiri.","story":"Param Gyani Shri Swami Har Kak Ji Maharaj of Bamhama in Kupwara, also known as Shri Swami Hari Ram Ji Dhar, was affectionately called Swami Har Bab Ji by the simple people of northern Kashmir. He was born in the village of Bamhama in the year 1960 of the Bikrami era, on Asuj Krishna Paksha Trayodashi (1903), into an ordinary Kashmiri Pandit family of the Dhar clan.\n\nHis spiritual path began when he was only five or six years old. A cholera epidemic struck Kashmir and the young child fell ill. There was no reliable treatment in those days, and he was left in God's hands. One day Swami Shiv Ji Putoo of Sopore, a renowned saint of the time and a relative of the family, came to visit. The boy's father, who had given up hope, asked the saint to whisper a mantra that might bring peace to the soul of his dying child. The saint whispered a mantra to the boy and asked him to repeat it without a break, assuring him he would recover. The child chanted all day and night, and devotees remember that he recovered miraculously. He kept up the same mantra afterwards.\n\nAbout a year later he met the saint again and told him of his progress. The saint was surprised and pleased to see such advancement in one so young, and took him as his disciple. His guru belonged to the heritage of Mushkhil Kusha Shree Rashpeer Maharaj, came from Sopore, and was a great scholar of Hindu philosophy, especially Shaivism.\n\nThrough intense tapasya, it is said, Swami Ji gained the grace of Bhagwati Mahamaya and became a poorna yogi at the young age of eighteen. In keeping with Kashmiri tradition he was given the title Illaqadhari, a spiritual bond shared by the saints, rishis, sufis, mastanas and farzanas of Kashmir, without distinction of caste, creed or religion.\n\nIn the early part of his life he stayed out of the limelight. Later the great saint Mastana Shri Kash Kak Ji Maharaj of Manigam began to send needy people to him. In 1960-61, , Kash Kak Ji Maharaj, who was ill with a paralytic stroke, sent word asking Swami Ji to come to his house at Manigam. It snowed heavily across the valley for three days, and the account calls Swami Ji's reaching Manigam a miracle in itself. There Kash Kak Ji Maharaj handed over the charge of Illaqadhari to him, and soon afterwards attained nirvana.\n\nSwami Ji was a householder saint. He did not approve of an ashram in his name and regarded his house at Bamhama as the ashram for all his disciples.  He attained nirvana on 4 April 1975 (Chaitra Krishna Paksha Saptami, 2032). His jayanti and yagya were once held at Bamhama, and today an Asthapan in his name stands at Priya Darshani Lane No. 3, Talab Tillo, Jammu.","teaching":"Swami Ji taught in simple Kashmiri, and his way of telling held audiences spellbound for hours. Those who sat in his satsang found it so sweet and convincing that even a hard-core atheist was moved.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/harkak.html"]},{"id":"kamlawati-kachru","name":"Kamlawati Kachru","years":"born approximately 1905","place":"Reshi Mohalla, Habbakadal, Srinagar","oneLine":"Kamlawati Kachru, born Radha, was a devoted disciple of Swami Govind Kaul and is remembered as his spiritual successor.","story":"Kamlawati Kachru, whose maiden name was Radha, was born into the Koul family, known as the Bonis, who lived in Reshi Mohalla at Habbakadal in Srinagar. By the tithi, her birthday falls on Kartik Shukla Paksh Dwadashi, and her birth year is given as approximately 1905.\n\nHer father, Shri Gopi Nath Koul, died at the tender age of 28, and the duty of bringing up the family fell on her mother, Mader Dedi, and others. The family included her brother Mohan Lal Koul and two sisters: Kamlawati, who married into the Kachru family, and Badri Dedi, who married into the family of Kotwals at Sathu, Srinagar. Her father and mother were pious souls, absorbed in spirituality and meditation, and this was reflected in their daughters. Both sisters spent their time singing bhajans and in meditation.\n\nThe sisters later came under the influence of Swami Govind Kaul and accepted him as their spiritual preceptor. It is reported that Kamlawati was once in an exalted state of samadhi at a religious gathering at Wanpoh village in Anantnag, where Swami Ji lived. The participants asked Swami Govind Kaul to name his successor, and he reportedly pointed his finger towards Kamlawati Ji, thus pronouncing her his successor. Her sister Badri Dedi, herself advanced in kriya yoga, wrote a verse about her in her compositions.\n\nKamlawati was exalted in sadhana, and as she told the writer of the source, she helped Pt. Prithvi Nath Ji and many others spiritually. When her companion Bhagyawan Dedi lost her husband and remained unperturbed, Kamlawati Ji advised her to follow maryada, as Ram Ji and others had done. Bhagyawan Dedi did as she was told, and the two disciples loved and respected each other. Bhagyawan Dedi also wrote a bhajan about Kamlawati Ji, published in her book Man Pamposh.\n\nAt one time Kamlawati began to compose spiritual bhajans, but Swami Ji asked her not to. He told her that what he had composed was all hers and she could recite it. Swami Ji felt his soul and hers to be one, and so did not allow her to say anything further. That is why there are no separate compositions by her.\n\nKamlawati was keen that all the bhajans composed by Swami Ji should be published. She obtained the original manuscripts and handed them to the writer for sifting, so that the bhajans missing from earlier publications appeared in the fourth edition of the Amrit Vani series. She also wished for Badri Dedi's bhajans to be published, and entrusted that task to the writer as well, after the manuscript was prepared by Shri Bansi Lal Kotwal, Badri Dedi's son and a disciple of Swami Ji.\n\nShe is remembered today at an ashram at Mahinder Nagar, dedicated to the memory of Swami Ji, Kamlawati and Pt. Prithvi Nath Ji, where yagnyas and the birthdays of these great souls are regularly observed.","teaching":"She urged her companion to keep maryada, following the example of Ram Ji and others, and she worked to see Swami Govind Kaul's bhajans published.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/kamlawatikachru.html"]},{"id":"lakshmanjoo","name":"Swami Lakshmanjoo","years":"1907–1991","place":"Srinagar; Ishwar Ashram, Nishat","oneLine":"Swami Lakshmanjoo, born Lakshman Raina, was a Kashmiri Hindu saint, mystic and scholar who taught Kashmir Shaivism (Trika Shaivism) in Srinagar until his death in 1991.","story":"Lakshman Joo was born Lakshman Raina on 9 May 1907 in Srinagar, in a Kashmiri Hindu Brahmin family. His mother's name was Aranyamali. Accounts differ on the size of the family. One says he was the fifth child in a household of four boys and five girls, while another says he had five siblings, one elder brother and four sisters.\n\nAt the age of five he was introduced to the spiritual path by his elder brother, Maheshvaranath. Up to the age of eight, his progress in the Trika Shaivism lineage was watched over by the family guru, Swami Ram Ji (1853/54–1915).\n\nAt the age of nineteen, it is said, he experienced self-realisation. Soon afterwards he left home, as he described it, \"in search of the Supreme,\" and went to the ashram of Sadhamalyun (Sadhuganga) in Handwara. His father persuaded him to return to Srinagar and built a small house for him in the factory premises, where he could meditate undisturbed. For seven years, from 1926 to 1933, he studied Sanskrit and Shaiva philosophy there under the scholar Pandit Maheshwar Nath Razdan. Even so, he was not happy, because the factory and the family members disturbed him.\n\nIn 1934 he moved to an isolated place in the Ishber hills above the village of Gupta Ganga, near Nishat in Srinagar, where his parents built him a new house. Around the age of thirty he travelled in India. He met Mahatma Gandhi at Sevagram, Rabindranath Tagore at Shantiniketan, Sri Aurobindo at Pondicherry, and Ramana Maharshi at Tiruvannamalai, where he stayed a few weeks. Of those days he later said, \"I felt those golden days were indeed divine.\"\n\nFor almost three decades, from 1930 to 1960, he spent the winter months in silence and seclusion and received scholars in the summer. Meher Baba visited him in 1944. Lilian Silburn of the National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris came in 1948 and returned regularly for ten years. Paul Reps, the American artist and author, came in 1957 and studied the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra with him.\n\nIn 1962 he built the present ashram, named Ishwar Ashram, between the Nishat Gardens and Guptaganga, in the foothills of the Zaberwan mountain, overlooking Dal Lake. In 1965 he attended a Sanskrit conference in Varanasi. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi visited him each summer from 1966 to 1969, and Baba Muktananda visited on two occasions.\n\nHe taught until his death, giving weekly lectures on the mystical and philosophical texts of Kashmir Shaivism. In 1991 he travelled to the United States and established the Universal Shaiva Fellowship, naming John Hughes and his wife Denise to continue publishing his teachings. He died in Noida on 27 September 1991, aged 84.","teaching":"Lakshman Joo was a teacher of Trika Shaivism, also called Kashmir Shaivism. He gave weekly lectures on its mystical and philosophical works until the end of his life. Paul Reps studied the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra with him and later published its 112 practices of transcending. He spent winters in silence and seclusion for almost thirty years.","remembered":"His teachings are carried on by the Universal Shaiva Fellowship in the United States, where John Hughes and his wife Denise were asked to continue publishing them. In India they are represented by the Ishwar Ashram Trust, founded shortly after his death. His followers called him Swami Lakshmanjoo or Lal Sahib. Many of his lectures were audio recorded and later published.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshman_Joo"],"img":{"url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:FilePath/Swami%20Lakshman%20Joo%20(741301).jpg&width=400","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swami_Lakshman_Joo_(741301).jpg","credit":"Wikimedia Commons","license":"CC0","caption":""}},{"id":"anand-ji-maharaj-bab-sahib","name":"Swami Anand Ji Maharaj (Bab Sahib)","years":"died 17 July 1983","place":"Villagam (Handwara), Srinagar (Karan Nagar) and Khir Bhawani, Kashmir","oneLine":"Swami Anand Ji Maharaj, lovingly called Bab Sahib, was a humble, soft-spoken Kashmiri Pandit saint who lived a hidden spiritual life, first in Srinagar and later at Khir Bhawani, and is remembered as a true guru by his devotees.","story":"Swami Anand Ji Maharaj was called Bab Sahib with great affection. His father, Pt. Raghav Ram Bhat, was literate in Persian and Urdu. He came from Vaskura Sumbal and later moved to Villagam in district Handwara in search of a livelihood, where he worked as a teacher. He married, and the couple had six sons and two daughters. Bab Sahib was the fourth child, and he remained a bachelor all his life.\n\nIt is told that Deity Nandkishore came to Pt. Raghav Ram in a dream and said He would come to Villagam, so that the family would not need to travel again and again to Sumbal. Devotees remember that the Deity appeared on a willow tree branch on the riverbank at Villagam. On Chetra Purnima, idols of Nandkishore and a Shivlingam were installed and a yagna was performed. Bab Sahib built a temple there, and soon a spring with green waters welled up, to everyone's surprise. He then began performing an annual yagna at the place.\n\nThe year is not known, but Bab Sahib came to Srinagar looking for work and stayed in the house of Pt. Dina Nath Dullu at Karan Nagar. For twelve years, unknown to the household, he walked at midnight on wooden khadaon to Vichar Naag, about ten kilometres away, and was back in his room before dawn. Devotees tell that one night Mrs. Dullu saw his room ablaze, and Pt. Dullu then found it filled with a dazzling divine light. Next morning Pt. Dullu bowed at his feet, but Bab Sahib tried to hide the truth, telling him an evil spirit must have troubled him. Yet his divinity spread. Later he held a yagna at Vichar Naag and invited the Dullu family, who then learned of his long secret journeys.\n\nIn 1957 Pt. Shamboo Nath Ji of Gushi, Kupwara, grieving the loss of his wife and searching for a guru, met him and became his close disciple. Bab Sahib advised him to keep daily rituals and recite mantras.\n\nHe lived in a small first-floor room facing Goddess Ragniya's spring. On every Ashtami and Purnima he performed grand pujas with milk, flowers and kheer offered in the spring, and pilgrims were fed at his abode. His disciples recall that a Devi Chakra would form and swing in the water at the offerings.\n\nBab Sahib fell ill with kidney trouble in 1983. At about 3.50 p.m. on 17 July 1983 he left his body, smiling to the last. Thousands gathered at the Shivalaya at Karan Nagar. Devotees remember that when the pyre was lit, a single flame rose to the sky like a shooting star. His ashes were immersed at Khir Bhawani and Shadipur Sangam, and devotees tell that a Devi Chakra formed on the waters. His disciples still worship in a small ashram in Jammu.","teaching":"He advised his disciples to avoid anger, arrogance and wicked company. He blessed his devotees with the words, \"let the Almighty bloom your fortune,\" and he never sought publicity or popularity.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/anand.html"]},{"id":"raghu-nath-kukiloo","name":"Pandit Raghu Nath Kukiloo","years":"1911–1997","place":"Banamohalla, Srinagar; later Jammu","oneLine":"Pandit Raghu Nath Kukiloo, popularly known as Baigaash, was a Kashmiri Pandit saint, scholar and astrologer, deeply respected for his yoga, learning and gift of foresight.","story":"Pandit Raghu Nath Kukiloo was born in 1911 into a scholarly family in the Banamohalla locality of Srinagar. From childhood he was spiritually inclined. The community came to know him affectionately as Baigaash, and in time he became, in the words of the source, a living legend in Kashmir.\n\nA Shakta by faith, he was a devotee of the Goddess Tripurasundari. When he was in Srinagar he never missed the daily Parikrama, the circumambulation, of Sharika Devi at Hari Parvat, as one of his old disciples, Shri R. C. Kaul Pamposh, recalls. He had fathomed the depths of the Shakta philosophy of Kashmir and would explain it in his own unique manner, and his understanding of the Vedantic and Shaiva philosophies was just as profound. He was also known for performing the annual Pancharatra puja on Mahashivaraatri.\n\nHe is said to have had a close association with the great Shaivaacharya of Kashmir, Swami Lakshman Joo. Swamiji made a point of seeking Pandit Kukiloo's blessings on his birthday, which shows the high esteem in which he held him.\n\nPandit Raghu Nath was a sensitive soul, moved by the sufferings of the people, and he tried to ease them in his own way through astrology. Very many people believed that he could divine the future through accurate astrological predictions. His disciples and admirers regarded him as a great yogi, an erudite scholar and a master of astrology gifted with the extraordinary power of clairvoyance, and they looked to him for guidance in spiritual as well as worldly matters. What endeared him to everyone was that he made himself available to the elite and the commoner alike for consultation and help.\n\nLike hundreds of thousands of his fellow community members, he was forced to leave Kashmir in 1990 under the terrorist threat. He settled in Jammu, and at 29, Ashok Nagar he continued his scholarly and spiritual work until his last breath.\n\nThe end came on December 23, 1997, at about 3 P.M. According to Maalini, the quarterly journal of the IshwarAshram Trust, Ishber, Srinagar, he had just finished distributing Prasaad among devotees and disciples after his daily worship and had hardly taken a morsel or two of his lunch. Suddenly he felt the divine effulgence of Kundalini engulfing him. As he tried to address the divine presence, he went into a trance from which he never woke up.\n\nHis passing was received with great shock by the exiled Kashmiri Pandit community. He left behind hallowed memories for the host of disciples and admirers who had looked to him for guidance.","teaching":"He explained the Shakta philosophy of Kashmir in his own unique manner, and he was equally at home in Vedantic and Shaiva thought. He sought to ease people's suffering through astrology and was freely available to everyone who came for help.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/rnkukiloo/index.html"]},{"id":"maheshwar-nath-ji-bhagwanji","name":"Swami Maheshwar Nath Ji (Bhagwanji)","years":"c. 1911 – January 1990","place":"Khonmoh, near Srinagar, Kashmir","oneLine":"Swami Maheshwar Nath Ji, lovingly called Bhagwanji, was a humble, much-revered saint of Khonmoh who taught the way of Satsang, Bhakti and surrender to God.","story":"Fourteen kilometres from Srinagar, at the foot of Harishwar Hill, lies the village of Khonmoh. It is said to have produced men of high calibre in both the spiritual and the worldly sense. Here, in a pious family of Dhars, Swami Maheshwar Nath was born to Vishwa Nath Dhar. Among his disciples and devotees he was better known as Bhagwanji.\n\nThe family was poor, and his father could not give him much schooling. Swamiji would sometimes recall that when he was in the Third Standard at Khrew, the school inspector was so pleased with his intelligence and replies that he ordered the Head Master to promote him to the Fifth Standard. That, he said, was all he ever studied. Because of financial strain he had to leave his studies, and at the tender age of ten he was kept as a servant in the household of Shri Narain Joo Parimoo at Purshyar.\n\nThe treatment he received from the housewife there ultimately changed the course of his life. He took refuge at the feet of Holy Mother Sharika at Chakreshwar and visited her daily for many years. He did tapasya at the feet of Mahakali and the Saptrishis. Cheerfully, he would sometimes say that while he sat in meditation, no drop of rain touched him, and when the sun was hot a patch of cloud covered him. Like other saints, he faced many trials before Mother Sharika directed him to his Guru.\n\nThe meeting with his Guru is a strange story. Bhagwanji was told to go to the bank of the Jhelum near Bana Mohalla and follow a Brahmin in a particular dress who would come early to perform Sandhya. He waited anxiously, and the man came with his face covered by a towel. He did his Sandhya, took his kamandal and left; Swamiji followed. The man bought meat at a meat shop and entered a lane Swamiji knew well, where a cousin of his lived. The man went into his cousin's house, and Swamiji later said he lost his wits. Following him to his room, he found that his guide was none other than that very cousin. Referring to the Mother Goddess, the Guru said, \"She had none left other than me.\" So began the relationship of Guru and Shishya. The Guru remained a secret saint to the end, known only to Swamiji and a few disciples; even his wife did not know.\n\nSwamiji was a devotee of Lord Krishna and a believer in Satsang. A sarang was always with him, and he called it his true companion. The bhajans of Swami Parmanand, Krishan Joo Razdan and Vishan Joo drew people to his Satsang. Though devotees say he performed many miracles, he never claimed them and always pointed people to prayer to the Mother Goddess.\n\nHe built the Shanti Mahesh Ashram on the bank of the Somnag pond in Khonmoh, adding the word Shanti because, he said, \"our aim is search for peace.\" He was revered by the saints of his time, including Swami Vidyadhar and Swami Gashkak of Gautam Nag. He wrote many poems but burnt them all one day; only a few remain. Devotees still love a Leela in praise of Khir Bhawani that came from a meeting with a Muslim saint who visited Khonmoh.\n\nBhagwanji went into Maha Samadhi in January 1990, after a brief illness, immediately after migration from Srinagar. He was about 79 years old.","teaching":"Swamiji taught that in Kaliyug the best way to realise God is through Satsang and Bhakti. He asked disciples not to crave material things, not even Siddhis and Moksha, and taught that what is written in one's destiny can only be overcome by surrendering at the feet of the Almighty.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/maheshwar.html"]},{"id":"swami-poornanand-ji-saraswati","name":"Paramhans Swami Poornanand ji Saraswati","years":"1912–1996","place":"Born in Safakadal, Srinagar; ashram of Govindanand Saraswati at Omkareshwar; Indore; later Shesharma village near Udaipur, Rajasthan","oneLine":"A Kashmiri ascetic, revolutionary and scholar of Tantra, born in Srinagar, who spent his later life near Udaipur.","story":"Paramhans Swami Poornanand ji Saraswati came from the Dhar clan of Safakadal, Srinagar, and was born on 21 August 1912. Few details of his family are known. He had erased his original name from his horoscope, and he rarely spoke of his personal life. Prof. D.K. Bhatt of Udaipur University, who knew him well, recalled that his father held a high post in the State's revenue service. When Swamiji was ten days old, a dispute with neighbours forced the family to leave Kashmir for Lahore; they were later helped to return and recover their property. His mother, sister and younger brother finally settled in Mumbai. When his mother died, her will divided the property equally among her three children. His brother objected, and Swamiji gave his own share to his sister.\n\nIn 1922, as a boy in the third standard, he travelled with Kashmiri families on a pilgrimage to holy places. At Omkareshwar on the Narmada, he met Govindanand Saraswati, whose ashram stood at Dheodi Ghat. The child was deeply moved and asked to stay. Govindanandji said, \"I make Gurus, not disciples,\" and the boy answered, \"Then make me a guru.\" He was allowed to remain. His training was strict: the Trikal Sandhya and Gayatri purascharan by day, the Kali beej mantra by night, and a single self-cooked meal each day. His companion there was Karim, a Muslim by birth, whose name the Guru would not change, saying it was itself a beej word of Maa Shyama.\n\nWhen his training ended, Govindanandji sent him into India's freedom struggle. Swamiji attended the Tripuri session of the Indian National Congress as a follower of Netaji Subhas Bose. He later worked in Bose's revolutionary group, chiefly carrying arms received from Germany across many cities, and became a legend under the name PSPS. Devotees and friends tell of his escapes: wounded by a bullet, he rode on to Indore, where he was sheltered by the Holkar family and learned Ayurveda; he is said to have crossed railway bridge sleepers by motorcycle to elude police, and to have swum ashore at Calcutta.\n\nAfter the Second World War he went into hiding in Assam, where he did Bhairavi sadhana, then stayed at the Shankaracharya Math in Nepal. In 1949 he came to Udaipur and later lived at Shesharma, where he served honestly as a storekeeper in the Panchayat department and gave himself to research in occult science. When his room was burned after he refused a favour to some powerful men, the Razdan family persuaded him to live with them.\n\nHe knew Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, English, Marathi and Bengali. His unpublished works include a commentary on all 700 verses of the Durga Saptashati, work on the Srividyarnava Tantra, and the restored mantras of Kamkala Kali and Guhya Kali. Failing eyesight in his last years ended his writing. He foresaw his death, and died on 6 October 1996. He was buried in samadhi near the cremation ground.","teaching":"He held equal respect for all religions, hated superstition, charlatanism and godmen, and would say, \"Any day you feel happy is an auspicious day.\"","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/poornanand.html"]},{"id":"madsudhan-razdan","name":"Swami Madsudhan Razdan","years":"1912–1969","place":"Srinagar and Bandipora, Kashmir","oneLine":"Swami Madsudhan Razdan was a mystic saint and poet of Kashmir who gave up worldly life for yoga and devotion and wrote his experiences in spiritual verse.","story":"Swami Madsudhan Razdan was born in 1912 at Nai-Sarak, Srinagar. Kashmir, the abode of Shiva and Shakti, has given the world many saints, seers, sufis and poets, and he is remembered as one of the shining names among them, alongside Lalded, Nund Reshi and Parmanand.\n\nHe passed his matriculation in 1934 and took a post in the Ordnance Department. Those around him saw that his heart was turned away from the world, and he was married to Smt. Shobavati of Ganpatyar. But the will of the Almighty could not be held back, and Shobavati passed away only five years after the marriage.\n\nAfter this he left his job and went to Bandipora to meditate in the jungles of Chiternaar. At the urging of a friend, Sh. Ved Lal Kaul of Kalusa, he agreed to come down from the hills and stay in the temple known as Shaardabal Mandir at Kalusa, Bandipora. From then on he spent his life in religious places and practiced Yoga.\n\nHe took up poetry as the way to share what he had understood of the mortal world. He wrote mostly in the vachun form, setting down his spiritual experiences in lyrical style. He composed his work in five volumes and named it Madhurya Gira, the \"sweet voice\". His poems bow to all the deities, Shiva and Shakti, Krishna, Ram, Ganpati and Surya, and one of them begins, \"O Chandrasekhar, Lord Shiva, I have tied myself to you today by surrendering unto you.\" His life is remembered as a symbol of sacrifice, devotion and selfless service to mankind.\n\nMost of his writings were burned and lost in the turmoil and the exodus from the valley, but a part was saved. His son, Vaikunth Nath Razdan, worked to preserve this literary treasure of his father. The saved poems were gathered into a book, Madhurya Gira, released in Jammu on 23 April 2002 at a function organized by Samprati. Scholars and men of letters spoke warmly of it. They said his poetry revolves around spiritual philosophy, in simple and lucid language, and that it brings us close to the bhakti bhajans of Krishna Joo Razdan and Parmanand.\n\nSwami Ji left his mortal body on 14 November 1969, Kartik Shukla Paksh Shishti, after 57 years of life lived in the valley of piety and poetry.","teaching":"He preached universal brotherhood, non-violence, love for all, peaceful co-existence and human values, along with the devotional path of life, and showed reverence to all deities.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/madsudhanrazdan.html"]},{"id":"govindananda","name":"Swami Govindananda","years":"died 25 September 1987","place":"Srinagar, Kashmir (a hut at Safakadal on the Jhelum); later Govindamath, Brindaban","oneLine":"Swami Govindananda was a South Indian sanyasin who lived for many years in Srinagar, loved by Kashmiri Pandit families for his simple life and his teaching of meditation on OM.","story":"Swami Govindananda was a sanyasin from the south of India who made the Valley of Kashmir, the land of spiritual seers, his home for many years. He never told anyone his age or his birthplace. Those who knew him remember him as unpretentious, serene and deeply read in the scriptures.\n\nIn the mid-thirties he came to live in a hut owned by the late Pandit Balakak Dhar, on the right bank of the Jhelum near the Safakadal bridge in Srinagar. Swami Govindananda lived there with a fellow sanyasin, Swami Rughnath, who served him out of respect for his spiritual stature. He ate only one meal a day. He prized the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, especially the Mandukya Upanishad. In ecstasy, tears would roll down his face, and he was often heard chanting 'OM', which seemed to rise from the depth of his heart.\n\nMany Kashmiri Pandits became his devotees. One writer recalls that a young devotee, worried by an astrologer's prediction that he would fail his B.A. examination in 1942, asked the Swami for an answer. The Swami paused and assured him he would pass, and devotees say the result proved him right.\n\nDevotees also tell of his friendship with the hermit known as Chandanwari-ka-Baba, a siddha who lived near Pahalgam. They say the Baba once came to the Swami's hut in Srinagar one evening, just after the Swami had told his attendant that he felt drawn to meet him. The Baba took a little milk with curds, and by morning, before the devotees returned, he had gone. The Swami explained that he did not like crowds and preferred solitude.\n\nExpecting trouble to come to the Valley, Swami Govindananda left his Srinagar ashram for good in the mid-fifties and went to Brindaban, where he set up his own ashram, Govindamath. He came back from time to time to bless his devotees. The author of the article visited him there in the early seventies. Devotees tell that the Swami met their jeep himself and led them to the ashram, as if he already knew of the visit. Devotees also remember that his seat was once seen raised above the floor, and that divine light was seen shining from between his eyebrows as he meditated at 4 a.m.\n\nIn spring 1987 he made a surprise visit to the Valley and called on all his devotees, without giving anyone the feeling it was his last. There, in his usual yogic posture, he entered samadhi, which proved to be his Mahasamadhi. His end was calm and peaceful, and devotees say he left behind a current of spiritual energy from which his followers still draw strength.","teaching":"He taught seekers to meditate on 'OM', the nameless and formless Brahman. To his close devotees he recommended chanting 'OM' with long breath and open eyes, gazing on the Trikuti between the eyebrows, which he said leads to the realisation of the true self and eternal bliss.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/govindananda.html"]},{"id":"karunamai-maa","name":"Karunamai Maa","years":"1913–2000","place":"New Delhi; Shree Karunamai Maa Shakti Peeth at Sanp ki Nangli near Sohna, Gurgaon District, Haryana","oneLine":"Karunamai Maa was a Kashmiri Pandit shakti saint of modern times, remembered as the benevolent mother of her many devotees.","story":"Karunamai Maa was born in 1913 on Nag Panchami into a devout Kashmiri Pandit family, the Kichloos, and was named Bimla. Her family priest, Surikant Joshi of Bijbehara in Kashmir, who had himself achieved siddhi by worshipping Param Shakti Ragnya Bhagwati (Khir Bhawani), initiated her into shakti sadhana at an early age.\n\nShe wished to become a sanyasin, but her guru advised her to live a normal householder's life. She was married into a well-to-do Kashmiri family, the Channas, in New Delhi. Though she lived the life of a householder with her three sons, she was always engaged in attending and conducting satsangs in New Delhi, for about thirty years. Many who came to her satsangs became her dedicated disciples, and they began to call her Karunamai Maa, the benevolent mother.\n\nUntil 1989 she went regularly to Kashmir, to Khir Bhawani, for meditation. In 1989 she decided to establish a shaktipeeth at Sanp ki Nangli, near Sohna in Gurgaon District, about 50 kilometres south of New Delhi. With the help of her disciples she built a temple to Maa Durga (Ragnya) on about ten acres, with a hall that could hold up to 500 people, a cottage where she lived with her chief disciples, and quarters for pilgrims, a library, a medical clinic and sevaks. The grounds became a garden of flowers and fruit trees, with fields, cows and neem trees all around. She chose this remote place because she preferred to be left alone to meditate, yet her devotees always found her, and cars lined up outside the ashram gate every day. She never installed a telephone there, so that her peace would not be disturbed.\n\nShe taught that cleanliness of mind is as essential to spiritual growth as cleanliness of body. She favoured the path of japa over ritual puja, and devotees remember her always reciting mantras with a mala hidden in a small pouch in her right hand, even while she spoke with them. The ashram recited Kashmiri prayers to Ganesh and Gauri exactly as they are done in Kashmir, even though most of her devotees were not Kashmiri. During the two Navratras there were special prayers and a daylong havan on Durga Ashtami, and Kashmiri food was served to thousands.\n\nShe listened patiently to everyone who came, gave a small mantra for japa, and kept track of each person's progress, giving a different mantra if none was reported. She called her devotees by their first names and herself applied tilak and tied the nariwan on their wrists. She grieved for the Kashmiri Hindus who had suffered so much and prayed for their return home.\n\nShe opened a homeopathic and ayurvedic clinic with free medicines, arranged cataract camps, a sewing centre, children's classes and a park, and honoured nine small girls as goddesses on Navratra Ashtami. She wrote Hindi poetry, collected as Maa Prasad, and loved music and travel.\n\nOn October 28, 2000, she took samadhi in New Delhi. Before this, she had installed a young renunciant, formerly a Chartered Accountant, as her heir, naming him Nand Baba.","teaching":"She taught that purity of mind is as necessary for spiritual growth as purity of body, and she favoured the path of japa, the recitation of mantras, over ritual puja.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/karunamai.html"]},{"id":"thakurjoo-manwati","name":"Thakurjoo Manwati","years":"died 1999","place":"Sopore and Srinagar (Gurgari Mohalla, Gund Ahalmar, Dewan Bagh), Kashmir","oneLine":"Thakurjoo Manwati was a schoolteacher, householder and poet-saint of Kashmir, remembered by his family as 'Baijigur', whose teaching and verses drew people of every faith.","story":"Thakurjoo Manwati was a schoolteacher by profession and a perfect householder, with two sons and two daughters. His nephew, Jagannath (Gash) Manwati, who lived close to him for years as a beloved child of the family, called him 'Baijigur', and it is from his memories that this account comes.\n\nThakurjoo earned the degrees of Munshi Fazil and an Honours in Urdu, and was appointed a teacher in a government primary school. On his own, he also mastered Sanskrit, Persian and even Arabic, which helped him study deeply the Vedantic scriptures, the Quran and the Bible. He was a voracious reader, a prolific writer and a composer of verse on the spot. His postings took him from village to village, the longest being at Sopore, so little is known of his earlier years. Near the end of his career he was transferred to the Gurgari Mohalla Primary School in Srinagar.\n\nA well-loved story is told of that school. The Inspector of Schools, Bawa Balwant Singh, a feared and strict officer, found the letter 'Alif', the first letter of Urdu, written on the blackboard on each annual visit. He remarked sharply that Masterji and his students were still on 'Alif' after three years. With his usual humility, Masterji spent more than half an hour explaining the hidden meaning of the letter. The inspector was amazed, apologised, and offered to do something for him. Masterji asked only that he not be transferred before retirement, because it was there that he had merged with Alif.\n\nIn his later years, Thakurjoo held evening prayer meetings at Dewan Bagh, now Karan Nagar, where people from all walks of life gathered to hear him speak, quoting freely from the Gita and the Bible. He was a strict vegetarian, and no advocate of rituals or dogma. His small home had no traditional Thakur-Kuth; a room stacked with books was his place of work, where he would sit absorbed in thought. He firmly believed that the Supreme Lord lives within everyone, and that searching for Him outside is futile.\n\nHe composed some 200 poems, mostly in Kashmiri, gathered as 'Amrit Sagar', each set to a named raga, showing his knowledge of classical music. Sadly, the original manuscript cannot be traced. Scholars, mendicants and sadhus came from places as far as Banaras and the South to discuss metaphysics with him. Though the family was not well off, ten or twelve people ate at his home each day.\n\nDevotees remember that each Sunday he stirred a pitcher of fresh water while softly reciting mantras. People of all faiths came from afar, even from Baramulla and Muzaffarabad, for this water to treat malaria, and Sunday was called 'Aushadi Day' in the house.\n\nAbout six months before his Mahasamadhi, he tearfully bade farewell to his cow Parvati and sent her back to Sopore, saying she had gone to her home and that he would soon depart for his. A carbuncle appeared on his stomach and proved fatal; he passed in 1999. On that day, shopkeepers all along the way from his home at Gund Ahalmar to the cremation ground at Dewan Bagh closed their shops and joined the procession, led by the bard Raghunath Rathi singing his poems. Rathi later wrote an elegy for him that became a household cry in Kashmir.","teaching":"He taught that the Supreme Lord lives within every person, so knowledge is to be found within oneself and not sought outside. He urged people to keep the mind clean of worldly dirt, and reminded his family that we are all guests in the world, fed by God's grace.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/manwati.html"]},{"id":"syamanandji-maharaj","name":"Swami Syamanandji Maharaj","years":"Passed away on Marg Krishna Paksh Triyodashi, 2005","place":"Ganpatyar, Srinagar; Uma Nagri (Brari Angan) near Achabal; later Muthi, Jammu","oneLine":"Swami Syamanandji Maharaj was a devoted Kashmiri Pandit saint who built shrines to Mata Uma Bhagwati, first in Kashmir and later in exile at Muthi, Jammu.","story":"Swami Syamanandji Maharaj was born at Ganpatyar in Srinagar, in the Jattu family of Gotra Dev Bardwaj. His original name was Som Nath. He lost his father, Sh. Mahadev Jattoo, at a very young age. As the elder son of the family, he took up the responsibility of looking after them and worked hard to meet their needs. For his livelihood he worked in the forest department.\n\nA turning point came in the forest, where he met a sage who changed his vision of life. Devotees remember that he was completely reformed after this meeting: he gave up smoking and eating meat and became a vegetarian. He began rising in the Bram Muhurat, early in the morning, to chant mantras.\n\nFor several years, for the purification of his soul, he followed a daily discipline. He would carry a tumbler (gagar) of water from the Ganpatyar temple to the Shankracharya temple and offer it to the Shiv Lingam there.\n\nEast of the Achabal garden lies a historical village once known as Brari Angan. Goddess Uma is said to have made her abode here in the lap of the Himalayas. Swamiji developed a shrine for Mata Uma Bhagwati at this place, and it is because of his efforts that the village came to be called Uma Nagri. An annual yagya was performed there every year on Badra Shukla Paksh Astami.\n\nAfter the exile of Hindus from Kashmir, the shrine was destroyed by militants. Swamiji was deeply disappointed, as he had given several years of his life to building this temple. But he did not lose heart. As a true karmayogi, he gathered his strength and began a mission to build another shrine in Jammu. The place chosen was Muthi. All the members of the Ashram joined hands, and under Swamiji's guidance a temple was constructed there. The annual yagna continues to be performed at Muthi every year on Badra Shukla Paksh Astami.\n\nSwamiji lived in the Ashram for many years. On Marg Krishna Paksh Triyodashi in 2005 he left for heaven. Until the end of his life he made a parthishwar (a Shiv Lingam of clay) every day and prayed to it.\n\nThe people of the Ashram have made a statue of Swamiji so that he is remembered forever for his virtues and values. Every year on his Shraddh, his disciples keep a fast in his memory.","teaching":"","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/syamanand.html"]},{"id":"mast-ram-ji","name":"Swami Mast Ram Ji","years":"born 1931","place":"Born at Budlada in Punjab; found his Guru at Tikker in Kupwara, Kashmir; later at Badipora (Badgam), Patoli (Jammu), Delhi and Haridwar","oneLine":"Swami Mast Ram Ji was a Punjab-born saint who found his Guru in Kashmir, became the disciple of Swami Nand Lal Ji Maharaj, and went on to found ashrams for devotees and Kashmiri families.","story":"Swami Mast Ram Ji was born in 1931 at Budlada in Punjab, into a well-to-do family of peasants. His original name was Sohan Lal. From his childhood he held different feelings about life and worldly affairs, and he spent most of his time chanting the name of the Lord. Parmarth, the pursuit of the higher good, was part of his life from the day he was born, his followers say.\n\n But he was disillusioned with worldly life, and after only six years of marriage he left his family, which by then included three infants, in search of God. He travelled throughout India and found his final destination in Kashmir, where he submitted himself before His Holiness Swami Nand Lal Ji Maharaj at Tikker in district Kupwara. After testing his devotion, Swami Nand Lal Ji renamed him Mast Ram. So began a Guru-Shishya relationship, and he remained wholeheartedly at the feet of his Guru Maharaj.\n\nHe was so absorbed in his sadhana that even when children disturbed him during meditation, he kept smiling. In time he reached great heights and became one of the jewels in the crown of his Guru Maharaj.\n\nAfter the Nirvana of his Guru, Swami Mast Ram Ji established an ashram at Badipora in district Badgam and another at Patoli in Jammu. On every Ashtami he performs a yagna and organises a free langar for thousands of participants. After the migration from Kashmir, he opened his Jammu ashram to the migrants until they found other accommodation. He has also established ashrams in Delhi and Haridwar. The vast Haridwar ashram, at the 7th mile from Har Ki Pauri on the Haridwar-Rishikesh road, was built in memory of his Guru, Swami Nand Lal Ji. It is open to everybody without charge, and free food is given to pilgrims. Near it is the samadhi of Kaulu Siddha, and the ashram's name plate reads Mastbab Ashram (Kashmir Ware). He normally stays there through the year.\n\nHe speaks fluent Kashmiri and sings Kashmiri bhajans with effortless ease. His ashrams are filled with the sound of bhajans and kirtan. His devotees are said to be blessed because he never keeps them waiting when they come for his blessings. Devotees say he is full of siddhis but does not perform miracles unless the need arises for the benefit of devotees and humankind, and that in a guarded way he has spoken of what may happen in the valley.\n\nHe has also served Kashmiri literature through a collection called Sahaj Kosam, which holds the bhajans of famous Kashmiri poets and the life histories and poetry of 23 great sons of the Kashmiri Pandit community.","teaching":"He believes in karma and preaches peace, and his life is described as an open book of samadrashti, seeing all alike. He holds that bhajan and kirtan are the path to salvation in this Kaliyuga.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/mastram/index.html"]},{"id":"posh-bub","name":"Posh Bub","years":"Born 1937","place":"Shehliteng, Habba Kadal, Srinagar; later Gouri Shankar (Kani Kadal), Jammu and Delhi; main ashram at Chinore, Jammu","oneLine":"Posh Bub, born Poshkar Nath Kaul, is a Kashmiri Pandit saint and teacher who founded ashrams, composed devotional leelas and gives regular spiritual discourses.","story":"Posh Bub, whom the community remembers by that affectionate name, was born Poshkar Nath Kaul. , at Shehliteng near Habba Kadal in Srinagar.\n\nThe spiritual life came to him early, through his own family. His maternal uncles were bachelors and saints of their time: Sh. Rugh Nath Raina (Rugh Kak), Sh. Narayan Ju Raina (Naran Kak) and Sh. Radha Krishen Raina (Lala Ji). From these uncles he studied the Bhagwat and the Shakti texts while still a child. Their example inspired him.\n\nAs he grew, he took part in satsangs, the devotional gatherings of the Valley, delivering lectures and joining in discourses alongside many well-known saints of the day. , Swami Sarwanand Ji, Swami Nandlal Ji of Gushi, Swami Nandlal Ji of Nunar, Bhagwan Gopi Nath Ji of Srinagar, Swami Mathura Devi of Verinag, Swami Lakshman Joo of Ishber, Swami Amritanand of Tullamula, and Swami Neel Kanth of Kanikadal, popularly known as Neele Bub.\n\nPosh Bub also gave his devotion a voice in writing. , which gathers leelas attributed to Maharagnya Bhagwati.\n\n , and ashrams continue in these places. They run many activities, including mahayagnas, and engage in public service: helping widows and destitute people with money, and giving aid to poor boys and girls so that they can continue their studies.\n\n, where the emphasis is on the spiritual uplift of people at large. Swami Posh Bub gives regular discourses there, with lectures and discussions on the Holy Gita, and kirtans and bhajans are a regular part of life at the ashram. People come in large numbers, curious to learn about the many facets of Dharma. Swamiji also had a temple consecrated to Goddess Durga built at Chinore.","teaching":"The source describes his teaching as the spiritual uplift of people through regular discourses on the Gita, kirtans and bhajans, and the study of the many facets of Dharma, together with service to widows, the destitute and poor students.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/poshbub/index.html"]},{"id":"ved-lal-bhat","name":"Swami Ved Lal Bhat (Toth)","years":"","place":"Gund Gushi, Kupwara","oneLine":"A saint of Gund Gushi in Kupwara, devoted to Maa Sharda, remembered by his devotees as Toth.","story":"Swami Ved Lal Bhat came from Gund Gushi, a village in Kupwara district in the north of Kashmir. In his family he was called Pitaji; his devotees remember him as Toth.\n\nGund Gushi is a village of Maa Sharda. At its heart stands the shrine the village calls Shri Sharda Asthapan. By tradition, Maa Sharda stopped here on her way to Sharda Peeth, and for centuries pilgrims going to Sharda Peeth gathered at Gund Gushi to pray before going on.\n\nHe was born on Hur Choram, to Pandit Ishar Bhat, and was adopted and raised by Pandit Anand Bhat. His family tells that before he was born, Maa Sharda gave Pandit Anand Bhat two almonds to take to his wife; one was lost on the way and one reached her. The family has kept this story for generations as a sign that a remarkable soul was coming into their line.\n\nThis is his family's account, and only its beginning: more of his life and teaching is to come from them.","teaching":"","remembered":"","sources":["His family's account, shared by Amit Bhat through Kavbatt (October 2026)"],"img":{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/u/62/mv4z2ddl-2XvAZr1kW6FcuXfTnUDdu98RL9FwwF.jpg","page":"https://kavbatt.app/#saints.ved-lal-bhat","credit":"Family photograph, shared by Amit Bhat","license":"with the family's permission","caption":"Swami Ved Lal Bhat"}},{"id":"ashokananda","name":"Swami Ashokananda","years":"","place":"Sumbal, Srinagar and Nagdandi near Achhabal, Kashmir","oneLine":"Swami Ashokananda was a Bengali-born ascetic and devotee of Sri Ramakrishna who made the wooded hills of Nagdandi, near Achhabal, his hermitage and founded the Ramakrishna Mahasammelan Ashram there.","story":"Swami Ashokananda was born as Dinabandhu in a poor Mukherjee Brahmin family in a small village in Jessore district, now in Bangladesh. His father died when he was three, leaving him with his widowed mother and a twelve-year-old elder brother. The family lived a hard life. He was a calm, quiet boy, but his rash-tempered brother and his harsh teacher both beat him, and he found little affection at home or at school. He took to sitting under a mango tree in deep contemplation, and one day he ran away.\n\nFor years nothing was known of him. Some said he went to the Himalayas, others that he was doing sadhana somewhere unknown. He came to Sri Sachitananda Maharaj, known as Dadaji, a disciple of Holy Mother Sharada Devi, and under his guidance his spiritual life grew. It is told that he was roaming the Himalayan forests of Garhwal, living naked through rain and snow. One story from a disciple says that, tired and hungry, he met an old radiant man and woman in a forest hut who fed him his favourite kheer and let him rest, and when he woke the hut and the couple were gone. Elsewhere it is told that a dream of a tall young sanyasi with a divine face sent him to Kashmir to continue unfinished work. On Dadaji's advice he came, around 1935-36.\n\n He then lived at the Nandi Bhairav shrine in Sumbal, where people called him Sumbal ka Baba.  Devotees remember that he sat bare-bodied under a huge pine tree, that wild animals lay near him without fear, and that Maharaja Hari Singh, finding him in meditation, became a devoted visitor, followed by Yuvaraj Karan Singh.\n\n Resident disciples joined him, among them Shakti Chaitanya, Maharaj Ji, Samvit and Shanti. Visitors came from all walks of life, and thousands attended the Ramakrishna and Ma Sharada jayanti celebrations. One who knew him as a boy remembers him as a warm friend who happily built a snowman and learned to ride a bicycle. Another account says he never performed miracles and offered only sound advice and a kind look, wearing just a dhoti and chaddar even in winter.\n\nIn 1970 he fell ill, anxious that the Ashram should pass to the Ramakrishna Mission. In his will he named the Mission or Vivekananda Kendra, and the Ashram came to the Kendra. He attained Maha Samadhi in December 1971 and, as he wished, was cremated within the Ashram, which he called his Tapo-bhumi and Karma-bhumi. Thousands of devotees came, and his samadhi stands there today.","teaching":"His letters, later published as Swami Ashokananda Maharaj - His Divine Message, stress Gurukripa and Sharanagati (grace of the Guru and complete surrender) as the support of every seeker on the path of sadhana.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/ashokananda/index.html"]},{"id":"govind-kaul","name":"Swami Govind Kaul","years":"","place":"Vanpoh (originally Vana-Posha), Anantnag, Kashmir","oneLine":"Swami Govind Kaul was a Kashmiri Shaivite saint and poet whose devotional songs, gathered in the book Govind Amrit, speak of love for Krishna, the divine Mother and Shiva, and of the path to Self-realization through the sound of Om.","story":"Govind Kaul belonged to Vanpoh in Anantnag, a place that in earlier times is believed to have been a beautiful meadow beside a forest fragrant with wild flowers, and so was first called Vana-Posha. He was the son of Swami Aftab Kaul and Vishvamalya, born in the Dattataraya Gotra. Following the tradition of his forefathers, he became an ardent Shaivite.\n\nHe owed his learning in the Shastras and in yoga to his elder brother Harishwara and to his Guru, Bharatlal. Other saints also shaped him. Among them was Swami Krishanjoo Razdan, his maternal uncle, a celebrated poet of his time, and the mark of such company can be seen in his \"rosary of hymns\" (bhajanmala), published as Govind Amrit. Tankodi Chandra (a saint of Varanasi), Sant Lal of Shahpur and Swami Rama of Kashmir, whom devotees looked upon as Sakshat Shiva, along with other yogis of his day, are said to have showered many blessings on him.\n\nHis songs, written in the everyday Kashmiri of his time, are rich in imagery. The scholar V. N. Drabu observes that they show the influence of Mansur al-Hallaj as well, and that Govind seems to have walked the same spiritual path Lalleshwari had walked centuries before him. His devotion begins as bhakti: he sings of Gopala Bala Krishna, losing himself in the love-drink of Krishna's rasalila, wishing to wander with him on the banks of the Yamuna and kiss his feet. Through steady devotion and sadhana, Drabu writes, he came in time to Self-realization.\n\nHe sang with the same love to the divine Mother, the primal energy that fills all things, asking her to remove his obstacles and lead him to know himself. He worshipped Shiva too, the Lord with the crescent moon and matted locks, praying that the sun of Dvadasanta might shine within and outside him, and offering the flowers of love in the temple of his heart.\n\nThe thread running through his bhajans is the sound of Om. Following the Guru's path, he felt every pore of his being filled with Omkar. His poems tell of inner light, the unstruck sound, the opening of the heart-lotus and the Guru's guiding hand. They speak also of longing, of the Beloved who tempts the soul and then withdraws, so that pain of separation and joy of fulfilment are sung in the same breath.\n\nHis memory lives on in his hymns. Govind Amrit and Govind Amrit Sagar are collected as bhajan books, and the albums Govind Amrit and Amrit Varshun carry his songs.","teaching":"He taught steady and constant spiritual practice: to give up the ego, to listen to the Guru's word, and to fix attention on Om and the inner sound until all sounds merge into one. He held love to be the very source and fulfilment of spiritual life.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/govindkaul/index.html"]},{"id":"jeewan-shah","name":"Swami Jeewan Shah","years":"","place":"Motiyar Mohalla, Rainawari, Srinagar, Kashmir","oneLine":"Swami Jeewan Shah was an eighteenth-century Kashmiri Pandit saint of Rainawari, Srinagar, remembered as a highly evolved soul who spent some sixty years in austere sadhana in a single room.","story":"Jeewan Shah was born in Motiyar Mohalla of Rainawari, Srinagar, and is counted among the outstanding saints of the 18th century. His father, Raj Kak Pandit, was a man of means. His mother went to the Khirbhavani shrine at Tulamula once every month, in sackcloth and ashes, and prayed before the Divine Mother Shri Rajna Bhagawati for the gift of a child.\n\nAfter many years of such visits, the family tells, the Goddess granted her grace. The mother fell into a trance and saw the Goddess give her two boughs, one of a pomegranate tree and one of a grape vine. The Divine Mother told her she would have two sons: one would belong to his worldly parents, and the other would be Her own incarnation. The first son was named Hari Ram and the second Jeewan Shah.\n\nJeewan Shah grew into a young boy full of ojus and tej, radiance and spiritual vigour. He studied in a local school and became well versed in Persian, the court language of that time. He was married in his teens, much against his will, as early marriages were common then and neither bride nor groom had much say in the matter. Soon after his marriage he renounced the world.\n\nFor about sixty years he confined himself to a room whose only furniture was a bare rectangular wooden plank. There he carried on his sadhana, sitting in Kag Asan, the crow posture. That plank still stands as a living witness to his austere life. In his lifetime, whenever anyone in Rainawari held a wedding, the first thali of the marriage feast was offered to him. He would place it on a window sill and give out its contents bit by bit, even when it had gone stale. It is commonly said that those who received his blessing this way benefited greatly.\n\nMany miracles are told of him. Devotees remember that in 1783, when a Pathan soldier party carried off a Hindu girl in a boat during the rule of the harsh Governor Azad Khan, her people appealed to him. He spoke a Persian couplet in the hearing of all, and the boat capsized, drowning the soldiers while the girl reached the shore safely. They also remember that in a severe drought, when the Gujjars begged him for help, he spoke a Persian couplet and a heavy rain fell within minutes, turning the parched land green.\n\nThey tell too of the poor, barely literate devotee Dila Ram, whom Swami Ji made to eat stale rice and then sent with his pen-stand to the Governor's camp, where he rose to become the Governor's Dewan. When the Governor later grew angry and had him thrown into the river, Dila Ram, they say, swam safely to the far bank. The Governor then came to Swami Ji's room, saw a lion there, and fled in fear, and he became kinder to his people afterwards.\n\nSwami Ji's ashram is visited daily by large crowds of people.","teaching":"","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/saints/jeewan.html"]},{"id":"shankar-razdan","name":"Swami Shankar Razdan","years":"","place":"Kania Kadal, Srinagar; Kulgam; Chattabal, Srinagar","oneLine":"Swami Shankar Razdan was a revered Kashmiri saint and poet of the middle of the last century, remembered for his spiritual attainments and his Ramayana in Kashmiri verse.","story":"Shankar was born in a middle-class family at Kania Kadal, Srinagar. Even as a child he showed a remarkable Vaakh Sidhi, meaning that what he said would come true, which startled the people around him. As a child he would babble prayers and be absorbed in contemplation, and he had little attachment to the family. His father was a revenue official, posted in Kulgam, a place of great natural beauty. Shankar spent his early days there, close to nature, and began his Tapasya at a shrine of Umma Bhagwati in Uttarsu.\n\n  He was not afraid, and took it as a sign of something divine.     The storm cleared, and when Shankar reached Srinagar, Swami Zanardan came out to greet him. From then on Shankar was his shishya.\n\nDevotees remember several wonders.\n\nThe Maharaja Ranbir Singh, devotees tell, came to him when a British mission to Central Asia under Douglas Forsythe was lost.  After this the Maharajas Ranbir Singh and Pratap Singh were his devotees.  He lived in a humble kutia at Chattabal, welcoming pauper and Raja alike.\n\nHe was celibate.   He named him Ramjoo, brought him up with secular and religious education, and Ramjoo rose to become Military Secretary and later adviser to Raja Amar Singh.\n\nSwamiji was also a man of letters, and wrote a Ramayana in Kashmiri verse in Sharda script, which still awaits publication. When he attained Mukti, the Maharaja had a Samadhi built, named Mandir Ratanjot, open to all. His axe, personal effects and offerings are kept there, and everyone in Chattabal reveres his memory.","teaching":"He is remembered as one who used his powers only for the relief of his devotees' distress, never for personal benefit, and who left behind many Vakyas that inspire the faithful.","remembered":"","sources":["https://ikashmir.net/shankarrazdan/index.html"]}],"digest":{"note":"The Journey: Kashmir's Hindus and Pandits in six short pages. Written by hand (2026-10-04) only from facts already checked in the app (journey cards, remembrance facts, saints, Shaivism) and the sourced population figures on the Kashir map.","pages":[{"title":"A lake that became a valley","text":"Kashmir's oldest memory is of water. Kalhana begins his history with a vast lake, Satisaras, that once filled the whole valley. The sage Kashyapa had the water drained, the demon Jalodbhava who hid in it was killed, and the land was born. The Nilamata Purana tells how the Nagas, the serpent people of the lake, were given a king, Nila, and how Shiva asked the goddess to become a river: the Vitasta, the Jhelum.\n\nThat is why so many places end in 'nag', a spring: Verinag, Kokernag, Anantnag, Sheshnag. In Srinagar, the goddess Sharika is said to have dropped a pebble on a demon, and the pebble grew into the hill of Hari Parbat. For Kashmiri Hindus, the valley itself is sacred ground."},{"title":"Kings, temples and learning","text":"In the 8th century King Lalitaditya Muktapida built the great Sun Temple at Martand, whose ruins still stand above Mattan. A century later King Avantivarman's engineer Suyya cleared the blocked river so that the valley could farm again. Queen Didda ruled in her own name, and Kota Rani, in the 14th century, was the last Hindu ruler of Kashmir.\n\nKashmir was famous for learning. Sharada Peeth, now a ruin across the Line of Control, was a seat of scholars. In 1149–50 the poet Kalhana finished the Rajatarangini, the River of Kings, after checking eleven earlier histories. Kashmiri Pandits still call themselves Batta, from the Sanskrit Bhatta, a learned person."},{"title":"Saints and Kashmir Shaivism","text":"Kashmir gave India one of its deepest schools of thought. Tradition says the sage Vasugupta was guided in a dream to a rock on Mahadev mountain, where the Shiva Sutras were inscribed. Abhinavagupta, around the year 1000, wrote the Tantraloka. Kashmir Shaivism teaches that the world is not an illusion but Shiva's own play, and that freedom is recognition: knowing who you already are.\n\nIn the 14th century Lal Ded, Granny Lal, sang it in Kashmiri, in four-line vakhs passed on by heart for centuries: 'Shiv chhuy thali thali rozaan', Shiva lives in every place. Rupa Bhawani followed in the 17th century, and in the 20th Swami Lakshmanjoo taught the tradition in Srinagar and recorded it for us."},{"title":"A Pandit year and a Pandit home","text":"The year begins with Navreh, when families wake to a thaal of rice, walnuts, a new almanac, a mirror and bread. At Herath, the Kashmiri Shivratri, pots for Shiva, Parvati and their attendants are filled with water and walnuts and worshipped for days. On Zyeth Atham thousands gather at Kheer Bhawani in Tulmul, where the spring is said to change colour.\n\nThe Pandit kitchen leaves out onion and garlic and cooks with asafoetida, fennel and dried ginger. A baby is named on the eleventh day, at Kahnethar. At a wedding the couple sit under a red cloth and are showered with flowers as Shiva and Parvati. And for generations, ashes of the dead were carried to Gangabal, the high lake below Mount Harmukh, held as sacred as the Ganga."},{"title":"1990","text":"Censuses from 1889 to 1941 counted Kashmiri Pandits as four to six in every hundred people of the valley. By early 1990, about 120,000 to 170,000 Pandits lived there.\n\nIn 1989 and 1990, as militancy rose, Pandits were threatened and many were killed. The community marks 19 January 1990 as the night of the exodus. Almost everyone left, most of them in the first months of that year, for camps in Jammu, for Delhi and across India. The state government told its assembly in 2010 that 219 Pandits had been killed between 1989 and 2004; the Kashmir Pandit Sangharsh Samiti counted 399 between 1990 and 2011. In 1999 the National Human Rights Commission found that acts akin to genocide had been committed. In 2010, 808 families, 3,445 people, were still living in the valley."},{"title":"Kashmir, carried with us","text":"Today the community lives in Jammu, Delhi and Pune, and in Britain, America and the Gulf. Some families still keep the keys of the houses they left. The Kheer Bhawani mela has become a reunion, where displaced Pandits and old neighbours meet again, and families are reviving the temples of their home villages.\n\nWhat a community keeps is its calendar, its stories, its rituals and its language. Kavbatt keeps them in one place: today's tithi and festivals, the old books and saints, the pujas step by step, Kashmiri to learn, a map of the valley as it was, and a place to remember. Swipe back to read again, or go and explore."}],"intro":"Welcome to Kavbatt, the home of Kashmiri Pandits everywhere. We are the living generation of one of the oldest unbroken traditions in India. Our ancestors told how a great lake became the valley, built Martand and Avantipur, and wrote the Rajatarangini, the history of Kashmir's kings. Abhinavagupta's philosophy and Lal Ded's vakhs came from our homes, and so did the saints, poets and teachers who followed them. In 1990 we lost the valley, but not who we are. We survived, and we carried our festivals, our food, our language and our faith to every corner of the world. Kavbatt is where we come together again: to remember, to learn, to celebrate and to pass it on. Whether your family left a mohalla in Srinagar, you married into a Pandit family, or you are a grandchild who has never seen the valley, this is yours. Add your voice, your memories and your family: Kavbatt grows with every one of us.","title":"Welcome home"},"course":{"note":"English and Hindi phrases planned for the course; the Kashmiri comes from Kavbatt's word list (a draft being checked) or is taught by the community.","units":[{"id":"u1","title":"Greetings and guests","why":"The first minute with a grandparent is a greeting, so these words come first.","lessons":[{"id":"u1l1","title":"Hello and how are you","goal":"Greet an elder, ask how they are and answer when you are asked.","items":[{"en":"Hello (respectful greeting for an elder)","hi":"नमस्कार","words":[46]},{"en":"How are you?","hi":"आप कैसे हैं?","words":[48]},{"en":"Are you well?","hi":"क्या आप ठीक हैं?","words":[47]},{"en":"Yes","hi":"हाँ","words":[60]},{"en":"No","hi":"नहीं","words":[61]},{"en":"Good, fine","hi":"अच्छा, ठीक","words":[64]},{"en":"I am well, thank you","hi":"मैं ठीक हूँ, धन्यवाद","words":[64,54]}]},{"id":"u1l2","title":"Names and thanks","goal":"Say thank you, give your name and ask a few simple questions politely.","items":[{"en":"Thank you","hi":"शुक्रिया","words":[54]},{"en":"Thank you for your kindness","hi":"आपकी बड़ी मेहरबानी","words":[55]},{"en":"What is your name?","hi":"आपका नाम क्या है?","words":[56]},{"en":"My name is...","hi":"मेरा नाम ... है","words":[57]},{"en":"What are you doing?","hi":"आप क्या कर रहे हैं?","words":[49]},{"en":"What happened?","hi":"क्या हुआ?","words":[59]},{"en":"Where are you going?","hi":"आप कहाँ जा रहे हैं?","words":[325]}]},{"id":"u1l3","title":"Welcoming a guest","goal":"Welcome someone into your home, offer them tea and food, and see them off.","items":[{"en":"Please come in","hi":"आइए","words":[50]},{"en":"Please sit down","hi":"बैठिए","words":[51]},{"en":"Welcome, come in and sit down","hi":"स्वागत है, आइए और बैठिए","words":[50,51]},{"en":"Please have some tea","hi":"चाय पीजिए","words":[52]},{"en":"Please eat","hi":"खाना खाइए","words":[53]},{"en":"Come here (to a child)","hi":"इधर आओ","words":[58]},{"en":"Goodbye, come again soon","hi":"फिर आइएगा, नमस्कार","words":[]}]}]},{"id":"u2","title":"Family","why":"Every relative has their own name, and using the right one shows respect.","lessons":[{"id":"u2l1","title":"Parents and grandparents","goal":"Name your parents and grandparents the way your family does.","items":[{"en":"Mother","hi":"माँ","words":[0]},{"en":"Father","hi":"पिताजी","words":[1]},{"en":"Father (a second word)","hi":"पापा","words":[2]},{"en":"Grandmother","hi":"दादी","words":[3]},{"en":"Grandmother (mother's mother)","hi":"नानी","words":[4]},{"en":"Grandmother, or an elderly woman of the family","hi":"दादी, या घर की बुज़ुर्ग महिला","words":[5]},{"en":"Grandfather","hi":"दादाजी","words":[6]}]},{"id":"u2l2","title":"Uncles, aunts and siblings","goal":"Name your mother's and father's relatives and your brothers and sisters.","items":[{"en":"Mother's brother","hi":"मामा","words":[7]},{"en":"Mother's brother's wife","hi":"मामी","words":[8]},{"en":"Mother's sister","hi":"मौसी","words":[9]},{"en":"Father's sister","hi":"बुआ","words":[10]},{"en":"Brother","hi":"भाई","words":[11]},{"en":"Sister","hi":"बहन","words":[12]},{"en":"Neighbour","hi":"पड़ोसी","words":[25]}]},{"id":"u2l3","title":"Children and in-laws","goal":"Name the children and in-laws in a family, and a husband and wife.","items":[{"en":"Son","hi":"बेटा","words":[13]},{"en":"Daughter","hi":"बेटी","words":[14]},{"en":"Child","hi":"बच्चा","words":[16]},{"en":"Daughter-in-law","hi":"बहू","words":[17]},{"en":"Mother-in-law","hi":"सास","words":[19]},{"en":"Father-in-law","hi":"ससुर","words":[20]},{"en":"Husband","hi":"पति","words":[21]},{"en":"Wife","hi":"पत्नी","words":[22]}]}]},{"id":"u3","title":"The house","why":"Much of your time with grandparents is spent at home, so the house and its everyday objects are worth knowing.","lessons":[{"id":"u3l1","title":"Rooms and doors","goal":"Name the main parts of a Kashmiri house.","items":[{"en":"House, home","hi":"घर","words":[211]},{"en":"Room","hi":"कमरा","words":[212]},{"en":"Prayer room","hi":"पूजा घर","words":[213]},{"en":"Door","hi":"दरवाज़ा","words":[216]},{"en":"Window","hi":"खिड़की","words":[215]},{"en":"Courtyard","hi":"आँगन","words":[220]},{"en":"Staircase","hi":"सीढ़ियाँ","words":[218]},{"en":"Raised front step","hi":"बरामदा","words":[217]}]},{"id":"u3l2","title":"Things around the house","goal":"Name the objects you will see in a grandparent's home.","items":[{"en":"Mirror","hi":"आईना","words":[223]},{"en":"Large plate","hi":"बड़ी थाली","words":[224]},{"en":"Small cup for tea","hi":"चाय की छोटी प्याली","words":[225]},{"en":"Copper tea urn","hi":"समोवर","words":[226]},{"en":"Fire-pot kept under the gown","hi":"कांगड़ी","words":[221]},{"en":"Clay oil lamp","hi":"मिट्टी का दीया","words":[222]},{"en":"Long woollen gown","hi":"फेरन","words":[230]},{"en":"Quilt","hi":"रज़ाई","words":[229]}]},{"id":"u3l3","title":"Everyday phrases at home","goal":"Say the small things you say every day at home, from closing a door to comforting someone.","items":[{"en":"Close the door","hi":"दरवाज़ा बंद करो","words":[216]},{"en":"Open the window","hi":"खिड़की खोल दो","words":[215]},{"en":"Wash your hands","hi":"हाथ धो लो","words":[74]},{"en":"Come and eat, the food is ready","hi":"आओ खाना तैयार है","words":[]},{"en":"I am going home","hi":"मैं घर जा रहा हूँ","words":[211]},{"en":"I am tired, I will sleep now","hi":"मैं थक गया हूँ, अब सोऊँगा","words":[118]},{"en":"It is very cold today","hi":"आज बहुत ठंड है","words":[112]},{"en":"Do not worry, everything will be fine","hi":"चिंता मत करो, सब ठीक हो जाएगा","words":[]}]}]},{"id":"u4","title":"Kitchen and table","why":"Food is how a family shows love, so you will want to name it, ask for it and praise it.","lessons":[{"id":"u4l1","title":"Hunger and the basics","goal":"Say you are hungry or thirsty and name the basic foods and drinks.","items":[{"en":"I am hungry","hi":"मुझे भूख लगी है","words":[40]},{"en":"I am thirsty","hi":"मुझे प्यास लगी है","words":[41]},{"en":"Rice, a meal","hi":"भात, खाना","words":[147]},{"en":"Bread","hi":"रोटी","words":[148]},{"en":"Milk","hi":"दूध","words":[165]},{"en":"Water","hi":"पानी","words":[286,287]},{"en":"Yoghurt","hi":"दही","words":[166]},{"en":"Ghee","hi":"घी","words":[168]}]},{"id":"u4l2","title":"Vegetables, fish and paneer","goal":"Name the vegetables and other foods that appear on a Pandit family's table.","items":[{"en":"Collard greens","hi":"कश्मीरी साग","words":[149]},{"en":"Kohlrabi","hi":"गाँठ गोभी","words":[150]},{"en":"Lotus stem","hi":"कमल ककड़ी","words":[151]},{"en":"Radish","hi":"मूली","words":[153]},{"en":"Potato","hi":"आलू","words":[154]},{"en":"Aubergine","hi":"बैंगन","words":[155]},{"en":"Fish","hi":"मछली","words":[161]},{"en":"Paneer","hi":"पनीर","words":[167]}]},{"id":"u4l3","title":"Spices, tea and praise for the cook","goal":"Name the common spices, ask for a cup of tea and praise the food.","items":[{"en":"Asafoetida","hi":"हींग","words":[172]},{"en":"Fennel","hi":"सौंफ","words":[173]},{"en":"Dried ginger powder","hi":"सोंठ","words":[174]},{"en":"Saffron","hi":"केसर","words":[175]},{"en":"Red chilli","hi":"लाल मिर्च","words":[157]},{"en":"Please make me a cup of saffron green tea","hi":"मेरे लिए एक कप कहवा बना दो","words":[199]},{"en":"The food is delicious","hi":"खाना बहुत स्वादिष्ट है","words":[]},{"en":"Have a little more","hi":"थोड़ा और लीजिए","words":[]}]}]},{"id":"u5","title":"Numbers and colours","why":"Numbers and colours turn up in prices, ages, dates and the stories your grandparents tell.","lessons":[{"id":"u5l1","title":"Counting one to eight","goal":"Count from one to eight.","items":[{"en":"One","hi":"एक","words":[82]},{"en":"Two","hi":"दो","words":[83]},{"en":"Three","hi":"तीन","words":[84]},{"en":"Four","hi":"चार","words":[85]},{"en":"Five","hi":"पाँच","words":[86]},{"en":"Six","hi":"छह","words":[87]},{"en":"Seven","hi":"सात","words":[88]},{"en":"Eight","hi":"आठ","words":[89]}]},{"id":"u5l2","title":"Counting higher","goal":"Finish counting to ten and say some larger numbers.","items":[{"en":"Nine","hi":"नौ","words":[90]},{"en":"Ten","hi":"दस","words":[91]},{"en":"Eleven","hi":"ग्यारह","words":[92]},{"en":"Twelve","hi":"बारह","words":[93]},{"en":"Fifteen","hi":"पंद्रह","words":[96]},{"en":"Twenty","hi":"बीस","words":[101]},{"en":"One hundred","hi":"सौ","words":[102]},{"en":"One thousand","hi":"हज़ार","words":[103]}]},{"id":"u5l3","title":"Colours","goal":"Name the common colours when you point at things.","items":[{"en":"Red","hi":"लाल","words":[104]},{"en":"Yellow","hi":"पीला","words":[105]},{"en":"Pale yellow","hi":"हल्का पीला","words":[106]},{"en":"Blue","hi":"नीला","words":[107]},{"en":"Green","hi":"हरा","words":[108]},{"en":"Black","hi":"काला","words":[109]},{"en":"White","hi":"सफ़ेद","words":[110]},{"en":"Pink","hi":"गुलाबी","words":[111]}]}]},{"id":"u6","title":"Days, seasons and the valley","why":"Elders speak of time and the weather of the valley all the time, and this is how you follow them.","lessons":[{"id":"u6l1","title":"Today, yesterday and tomorrow","goal":"Talk about when something happens during the day.","items":[{"en":"Today","hi":"आज","words":[112]},{"en":"Tomorrow","hi":"कल (आने वाला)","words":[113]},{"en":"Yesterday","hi":"कल (बीता हुआ)","words":[114]},{"en":"Morning","hi":"सुबह","words":[115]},{"en":"Evening","hi":"शाम","words":[116]},{"en":"Now","hi":"अभी","words":[118]},{"en":"What time is it?","hi":"कितने बजे हैं?","words":[]},{"en":"See you tomorrow morning","hi":"कल सुबह मिलते हैं","words":[113,115]}]},{"id":"u6l2","title":"Days of the week","goal":"Say the seven days of the week.","items":[{"en":"Sunday","hi":"रविवार","words":[128]},{"en":"Monday","hi":"सोमवार","words":[129]},{"en":"Tuesday","hi":"मंगलवार","words":[130]},{"en":"Wednesday","hi":"बुधवार","words":[131]},{"en":"Thursday","hi":"गुरुवार","words":[132]},{"en":"Friday","hi":"शुक्रवार","words":[133]},{"en":"Saturday","hi":"शनिवार","words":[134]},{"en":"What day is it today?","hi":"आज कौन सा दिन है?","words":[112]}]},{"id":"u6l3","title":"Seasons and the valley","goal":"Name the seasons and talk about snow and the coldest days of the year.","items":[{"en":"Summer","hi":"गर्मी","words":[122]},{"en":"Autumn","hi":"पतझड़","words":[123]},{"en":"Winter","hi":"सर्दी","words":[124]},{"en":"Snow","hi":"बर्फ़","words":[282]},{"en":"The first snow of winter","hi":"सर्दी की पहली बर्फ़","words":[282]},{"en":"The forty coldest days of winter","hi":"सर्दी के सबसे ठंडे चालीस दिन","words":[125]},{"en":"The river Jhelum","hi":"जेहलम नदी","words":[]}]}]},{"id":"u7","title":"Feelings, body and blessings","why":"Grandparents show love through pet names, worry about your health and give blessings, so you need these words to answer them.","lessons":[{"id":"u7l1","title":"Words of love","goal":"Say loving words to a child and tell someone how you feel.","items":[{"en":"Darling, precious one","hi":"मेरे लाल","words":[28]},{"en":"My life, my dear","hi":"मेरी जान","words":[30]},{"en":"My light, my darling","hi":"मेरी रोशनी","words":[31]},{"en":"Dear one","hi":"मेरे प्यारे बच्चे","words":[26]},{"en":"May your troubles fall on me","hi":"तुम्हारी सारी बलाएँ मुझे लग जाएँ","words":[29]},{"en":"I love you","hi":"मुझे तुमसे बहुत प्यार है","words":[37]},{"en":"I miss home","hi":"मुझे घर की याद आती है","words":[43,211]},{"en":"I am very happy today","hi":"आज मैं बहुत खुश हूँ","words":[33,112]}]},{"id":"u7l2","title":"Body and health","goal":"Name parts of the body and say where it hurts.","items":[{"en":"Head","hi":"सिर","words":[65]},{"en":"Face","hi":"चेहरा","words":[67]},{"en":"Eye","hi":"आँख","words":[68]},{"en":"Ear","hi":"कान","words":[69]},{"en":"Mouth","hi":"मुँह","words":[71]},{"en":"Hand","hi":"हाथ","words":[74]},{"en":"My head hurts","hi":"मेरे सिर में दर्द है","words":[65,42]},{"en":"My stomach hurts","hi":"मेरे पेट में दर्द है","words":[79,42]}]},{"id":"u7l3","title":"Blessings and gentle words","goal":"Give a blessing, comfort someone and speak gently to a child.","items":[{"en":"May you live long and be happy","hi":"जीते रहो, खुश रहो","words":[]},{"en":"May you be happy in your new home","hi":"नए घर में सुखी रहो","words":[]},{"en":"Happy birthday","hi":"जन्मदिन मुबारक हो","words":[]},{"en":"We share your sorrow","hi":"हम आपके दुख में साथ हैं","words":[35]},{"en":"Good night, my dear","hi":"शुभ रात्रि, मेरे प्यारे","words":[]},{"en":"Bless you (when someone sneezes)","hi":"ईश्वर आपकी रक्षा करे","words":[]},{"en":"Do not cry, you are all right","hi":"रोओ मत, तुम ठीक हो","words":[39]},{"en":"Do not be naughty, my dear","hi":"शरारत मत करो, बेटा","words":[]}]}]},{"id":"u8","title":"Festivals, weddings and talking with elders","why":"Festivals and weddings are where the family gathers, and this is where you start to hold small conversations.","lessons":[{"id":"u8l1","title":"Festivals of the year","goal":"Wish people on the main festivals and name what is given and shared.","items":[{"en":"Happy Shivratri","hi":"महाशिवरात्रि की शुभकामनाएँ","words":[62]},{"en":"Happy Kashmiri New Year","hi":"नववर्ष की शुभकामनाएँ","words":[63]},{"en":"The plate of good things for the New Year","hi":"नववर्ष की शुभ थाली","words":[235]},{"en":"Pocket money for children at Shivratri","hi":"शिवरात्रि पर बच्चों को पैसे","words":[242]},{"en":"The spring festival","hi":"वसंत का त्योहार","words":[237]},{"en":"Here is the festival bread","hi":"यह त्योहार की रोटी लीजिए","words":[198]},{"en":"Daughters visit home on the third day","hi":"तीसरे दिन बेटियाँ मायके आती हैं","words":[236]},{"en":"The Kheer Bhawani festival day","hi":"खीर भवानी का मेला","words":[244]}]},{"id":"u8l2","title":"Puja and weddings","goal":"Follow what is said at a puja and at the different parts of a wedding.","items":[{"en":"Puja, worship","hi":"पूजा","words":[280]},{"en":"Blessed food","hi":"प्रसाद","words":[272]},{"en":"Family priest","hi":"कुल पुरोहित","words":[27]},{"en":"The wedding ceremony","hi":"विवाह संस्कार","words":[271]},{"en":"Bride","hi":"दुल्हन","words":[24]},{"en":"Bridegroom","hi":"दूल्हा","words":[23]},{"en":"The henna night","hi":"मेहंदी की रात","words":[267]},{"en":"Wedding songs","hi":"विवाह के गीत","words":[278]}]},{"id":"u8l3","title":"Talking with grandparents","goal":"Greet, ask, thank and answer your elders in short sentences, and use three well-known sayings.","items":[{"en":"Hello, grandfather, how are you?","hi":"नमस्कार दादाजी, आप कैसे हैं?","words":[46,6,48]},{"en":"Father, please come and sit","hi":"पिताजी, आइए और बैठिए","words":[1,50,51]},{"en":"Mother, what are you doing?","hi":"माँ, आप क्या कर रही हैं?","words":[0,49]},{"en":"Thank you, mother","hi":"धन्यवाद, माँ","words":[54,0]},{"en":"Please have some tea, grandfather","hi":"दादाजी, चाय पीजिए","words":[52,6]},{"en":"Flowers to your mouth","hi":"तुम्हारे मुँह में फूल खिलें","words":[338]},{"en":"One and one make eleven","hi":"एक और एक ग्यारह","words":[327]},{"en":"The five fingers are not all equal","hi":"पाँचों उँगलियाँ बराबर नहीं होतीं","words":[349]}]}]}]},"sites":[{"name":"Ishwar Ashram","kind":"temples","at":[34.1289,74.8792],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/1795367771"},{"name":"Shri Baba Buddha Amarnath Ji Temple","kind":"temples","at":[33.8024,74.2617],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/7801196389"},{"name":"Dil Naag","kind":"water","at":[33.9269,75.1201],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/9105796474"},{"name":"Daanabal Naag","kind":"water","at":[33.9293,75.1146],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/9290601812"},{"name":"Chadoora / Chodur Naag","kind":"water","at":[33.929,75.1136],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/9331251220"},{"name":"Wud Naag","kind":"water","at":[33.9296,75.1154],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/9576879083"},{"name":"Panzi Naag","kind":"water","at":[33.9312,75.1122],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/9606095996"},{"name":"Khar Naag","kind":"water","at":[33.9278,75.1135],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/9642477890"},{"name":"Alwot naegini","kind":"water","at":[33.9294,75.1058],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/9794590107"},{"name":"Aripal Naag","kind":"water","at":[34.0153,75.07],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/10548451281"},{"name":"Cheshmashahi Spring","kind":"water","at":[34.0853,74.8869],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/13026014912"},{"name":"Gaurishankar temple","kind":"temples","at":[34.0195,75.3185],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/13927701293"},{"name":"Vitasta Mata shrine","kind":"temples","at":[33.5349,75.2494],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/13927746043"},{"name":"Purushyar temple","kind":"temples","at":[34.0821,74.8056],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/13927763133"},{"name":"Sheshyar temple","kind":"temples","at":[34.0834,74.8064],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/13927763140"},{"name":"Gadadhar temple","kind":"temples","at":[34.0743,74.8062],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/13927767798"},{"name":"kaali Mata Mandir Metka","kind":"temples","at":[33.2138,74.4652],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/14097380932"},{"name":"Mangaleshwar Mahadev temple","kind":"temples","at":[34.0882,74.8129],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/671970124"},{"name":"Pratapishwara Temple","kind":"temples","at":[34.0832,74.8245],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/816889594"},{"name":"Ram Temple","kind":"temples","at":[34.0766,74.8132],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1463193513"},{"name":"Durga Nag Temple","kind":"water","at":[34.0756,74.8326],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1463199713"},{"name":"Rama Koul Temple","kind":"temples","at":[34.0956,74.8044],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1466795089"},{"name":"Batyar Mandir","kind":"temples","at":[34.096,74.8018],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1466795093"},{"name":"Shiv Temple Trehgam","kind":"temples","at":[34.5111,74.1695],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1495559790"},{"name":"Mata Roopa Bhawani temple","kind":"temples","at":[34.0821,74.8822],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1528344841"},{"name":"Dewan Mandir","kind":"temples","at":[34.0878,74.8072],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1528354005"},{"name":"Omoh Temple","kind":"temples","at":[33.5287,75.2303],"src":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1530898038"},{"name":"Chakradhar, Semthan (ancient site)","kind":"temples","at":[33.8058,75.0975],"src":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Monuments_of_National_Importance_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir","label":"ASI protected monument"},{"name":"Ancient temple remains, Pampore","kind":"temples","at":[34.0203,74.9199],"src":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Monuments_of_National_Importance_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir","label":"ASI protected monument"},{"name":"Ancient temple, Bohri Kadal","kind":"temples","at":[34.0968,74.808],"src":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Monuments_of_National_Importance_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir","label":"ASI protected monument"},{"name":"Monolithic shrine, Khrew","kind":"temples","at":[34.02,75.0004],"src":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Monuments_of_National_Importance_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir","label":"ASI protected monument"}],"stein":{"source":"Aurel Stein, Memoir on Maps Illustrating the Ancient Geography of Kashmir (1899)","url":"https://archive.org/details/MemoirOnMapsIllustratingAncientGeographyOfKashmir","places":[{"name":"Hastikarna (Waghama)","ancient":"Hastikarna","kind":"spring","about":"Village with a sacred spring called Hastikarna, a name formerly applied to the place itself; possibly where Bhoja, Harsa's son, was murdered.","at":[33.8197,75.1049]},{"name":"Papaharananaga (Sali)","ancient":"Papaharananaga","kind":"spring","about":"Naga near which ancient sculptures of some interest are found.","at":[33.802,75.2697]},{"name":"Adi-Varaha Tirtha (Baramulla)","ancient":"Adi-Varaha Tirtha (Varahamula)","kind":"tirtha","about":"Ancient tirtha of Visnu Adi-Varaha at Baramula, which gave the town its name; legends connect it and nearby tirthas with the Boar incarnation.","at":[34.2087,74.3435]},{"name":"Lokaponya (Lukbawan)","ancient":"Lokaponya","kind":"spring","about":"Fine Naga adjoining the village, which gives the village its name; a small Mughal garden-palace nearby is built partly of old materials.","at":[33.64,75.1687]},{"name":"Godavari (Gudar)","ancient":"Godavari","kind":"tirtha","about":"Small stream falling into the Visoka at Gudar, a Tirtha of some repute among Brahmans of the neighbouring districts, with a Mahatmya connecting it to the Godavari legend.","at":[33.6183,74.9698]},{"name":"Vainyasvāmin (Trigam)","ancient":"Vainyasvāmin","kind":"temple","about":"A shrine of Visnu, whose ruin stands a short distance south of Trigam, near the old confluence of the Sindhu and Vitasta.","at":[33.3582,75.2786]},{"name":"Nandana Naga (Nandansar)","ancient":"Nandana Naga","kind":"lake","about":"One of the tarns marking old glacier beds near the Darhal Pass, probably the Nandana Naga of the Nilamata.","at":[33.5588,74.5264]},{"name":"Bahurupa (Beerwah)","ancient":"Bahurupa","kind":"spring","about":"Spring at the village of Biru, already referred to as a Tirtha in the Nilamata and credited by Abu-l-Fazl with miraculous power to heal leprosy.","at":[34.0144,74.5923]},{"name":"Mahasaritsamgama (Shergarhi)","ancient":"Mahasaritsamgama (Marisamgama)","kind":"tirtha","about":"The confluence of the Mahasarit and Vitasta, opposite the Shergarhi palace, which has been a Tirtha from early times.","at":[33.3995,74.714]},{"name":"Ciramocana (Prang)","ancient":"Ciramocana","kind":"tirtha","about":"Confluence of a branch of the Kankanai (Kanakavahini) with the Sind, a chief Tirtha on the Haramukuta pilgrimage route, called Karankatirtha in the modern Mahatmya.","at":[34.2831,74.871]},{"name":"Harsesvara (Khonmoh)","ancient":"Harsesvara","kind":"tirtha","about":"Tirtha on the ridge north of the village, a Svayambhu Linga in a small cave, known from the local Mahatmya and Tirthasamgraha.","at":[34.0404,74.9086]},{"name":"Kalodaha or Nandisaras (Nundkol)","ancient":"Kalodaha or Nandisaras","kind":"lake","about":"Glacier-fed lake below Gungobal, legendary joint abode of Kala (Siva) and his attendant Nandin, giving its name to the whole group of sacred sites called Nandiksetra.","at":[34.4177,74.9334]}],"unplaced":[{"stein":"Balfhom","ancient":"Balasrama","kind":"shrine","about":"Large village named Balasrama in the Lokaprakasa and Tirthasamgraha; under a large Deodar near it Baladevi is now worshipped as an old stone image."},{"stein":"Naran Thal","ancient":"Narayanasthana","kind":"spring","about":"A little temple with a spring close by, visited by pilgrims, which Stein thinks is probably the Narayanasthana of the Nilamata."},{"stein":"Svayambhu","ancient":"Svayambhu","kind":"tirtha","about":"Tirtha of the 'Self-created Fire', a volcanic-like spot with red soil and fissures whose steam boils the Sraddha offerings of pilgrims; no ancient remains exist."},{"stein":"Badarkal","ancient":"Bhadrakali","kind":"tirtha","about":"Small local tirtha marked by a spring and some old Lingas, visited on the pilgrimage to Svayambhu and named in its Mahatmya."},{"stein":"Kother","ancient":"Kapatesvara","kind":"tirtha","about":"Important Tirtha at the sacred spring of Papasudana, where Siva showed himself as floating wood; it has a circular tank with ancient stone wall and a small temple."},{"stein":"Naru","ancient":"Ardhanarisvara","kind":"tirtha","about":"Small ancient temple by a Naga where Siva is worshipped with Parvati, with an old Visnu image and inscription; restored forty years earlier by a Dogra official."},{"stein":"Naru","ancient":"Svedanaga","kind":"spring","about":"Sacred spring that seems to have risen within a large temple whose remains lie in heaps around it; still visited by pilgrims."},{"stein":"Sundabrar","ancient":"Trisamdhya","kind":"spring","about":"One of the holiest Kashmir Tirthas, a small spring sacred to the goddess Samdhya that flows intermittently three times a day and night, drawing many pilgrims."},{"stein":"Degam","ancient":"Kapalamocana","kind":"tirtha","about":"Old Tirtha at a spring where Siva is supposed to have cleansed himself of the sin of cutting off Brahman's head; few ancient remains survive."},{"stein":"Budbrar","ancient":"Bhedagiri","kind":"tirtha","about":"Hill Tirtha where Sarasvati appeared as a swan in a lake on the summit; Stein found an ancient stone-lined tank fed by a spring, with outflow matching Gangodbheda."},{"stein":"Ramuh","ancient":"Dhananaga","kind":"spring","about":"Small spring at the northern end of the village, visited as a Tirtha and containing some fragments of ancient sculptures."},{"stein":"Kakpor","ancient":"Visnu Utpalasvamin","kind":"temple","about":"Visnu shrine mentioned by Kalhana at Utpalapura; one of the ruined temples at Kakpor may be it, if the identification is correct."},{"stein":"Somaribug","ancient":"Visnu Samarasvamin","kind":"temple","about":"Temple of Visnu mentioned by Kalhana, whose site the old glossator places at this small village on the left bank of the Vitasta."},{"stein":"Poskar","ancient":"Puskaranaga","kind":"spring","about":"Spring at the eastern foot of the Poskar spur, referred to as a Tirtha in the Nilamata and older Mahatmyas, still the object of a regular pilgrimage."},{"stein":"Gurdan","ancient":"Govardhanadhara","kind":"temple","about":"Isolated ruins at the south-eastern end of the plateau; the name Gurdan, Kasmiri form of Govardhana, points to the temple Govardhanadhara."},{"stein":"Bonasar","ancient":"Bhavanasaras","kind":"lake","about":"Lake west of Trigam, visited as a subsidiary Tirtha on the Kapalamocana pilgrimage."},{"stein":"Dudganga","ancient":"Dugdhaganga confluence","kind":"tirtha","about":"The confluence of the Vitasta and Dudganga, opposite the old quarter of Drddarnatha, is still a Tirtha of some repute."},{"stein":"Vutsan Nag","ancient":"Uccaihsirna Naga","kind":"spring","about":"Spring filling an ancient stone-lined tank near Mangam, visited as a Tirtha by neighbouring Brahmans and mentioned in the Haramukuta and other Mahatmyas."},{"stein":"Ishbar","ancient":"Suresvariksetra","kind":"tirtha","about":"Exceptionally holy site of Durga-Suresvari, whose seat is on a crag above the village, with numerous shrines built on the lake shore below."},{"stein":"Ishbar","ancient":"Isesvara","kind":"temple","about":"Shrine King Samdhimat-Aryaraja built for his Guru Isana; a ruined mound behind the tank at Ishbar is believed to mark its site."},{"stein":"Triphar","ancient":"Tripuresvara","kind":"tirtha","about":"Site of great sanctity in Kalhana and the Nilamata, now no separate pilgrimage place, though the nearby Tripuraganga is a station on the Mahadeva pilgrimage."},{"stein":"Thid","ancient":"Saptapaskarini","kind":"spring","about":"Seven springs at Theda, where Abu-l-Fazl saw stone buildings; the ruins cannot be traced but the springs are still pointed out."},{"stein":"Ranyil","ancient":"Hiranyaksanaga","kind":"spring","about":"Spring south of the village, called Hiranyaksanaga in Mahatmyas, visited by pilgrims to the Haramukutagariga."},{"stein":"Ambuher","ancient":"Amaresvara","kind":"temple","about":"Village named from the Siva temple Amaresvara, endowed by Queen Suryamati with Agraharas and a Matha; ancient slabs near a Ziarat may have belonged to it."},{"stein":"Sudarbal","ancient":"Sodara","kind":"spring","about":"Very probably the sacred spring, an avatara of the Sodara spring, that King Jalauka had made near his Jyestharudra shrine; two spring-fed pools remain, pilgrimage forgotten."},{"stein":"Zevan","ancient":"Taksaka Naga","kind":"spring","about":"Pool at Jatavana sacred to Taksaka, lord of snakes, visited by pilgrims to Harsesvara and named in the Mahabharata tirtha list."},{"stein":"Khandabavan","ancient":"Skandabhavana","kind":"tirtha","about":"Near Pir Muhammad Basur's Ziarat, ancient remains of the Skandabhavana site were worshipped locally as a Tirtha sacred to Skanda until the mid-nineteenth century."},{"stein":"Ghat Somayar","ancient":"Somatirtha","kind":"tirtha","about":"An old site below the Second Bridge, still visited as a Tirtha, with some old Lingas by the river-side."},{"stein":"Malayar Ghat","ancient":"Vardhamanesa","kind":"temple","about":"Ancient temple mentioned in King Samdhimat's reign; local tradition places it near the Ghat, where a Linga supposed to be Vardhamanesa's was recovered from a mosque and a new Mahatmya composed."},{"stein":"Marisamgama","ancient":"Samgama of Mahasarit and Vitasta","kind":"tirtha","about":"The Tirtha at the confluence of the Tsunth Kul or Mahasarit with the Vitasta."},{"stein":"Zamatr Nag","ancient":"Jamatrnaga","kind":"lake","about":"Small rock-bound inlet of the Susravas lake, where legend places the dwelling of the Naga's son-in-law."},{"stein":"Panzath","ancient":"Pancahasta","kind":"spring","about":"Village in the Divesar Pargana with a fine spring, still visited by the pious, where the Vitasta goddess reappeared a second time."},{"stein":"Vithavutur","ancient":"Vitasta\\u0304tra","kind":"spring","about":"Village near Vernag whose spring a later version of the legend makes the Vitasta's second appearance; Asoka's stupas there suggest a sacred character."}]},"timeline":{"bands":{"chronicle":{"label":"Chronicle","about":"Only the old chronicles say so, long afterwards. Not confirmed by other evidence."},"record":{"label":"Record","about":"Excavations, inscriptions, coins, witnesses and documents of the time."}},"video":{"title":"Kashmir through time","url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/video/kashmir-through-time-film-2-IGuPsXIEqsHcr3Ct1kKJgNyYXBBq3S.mp4","poster":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/video/kashmir-through-time-film-2-poster-PPCx1KlVm6eV95tlOn3ysaTXNmAob4.jpg","minutes":42,"credits":{"note":"Narration: an ElevenLabs voice. Music: made for Kavbatt with ElevenLabs. 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The flat-topped plateaus of the valley, the karewas, are the beds of an ancient lake. Scientists studying their sediments describe a large, shallow, freshwater lake during the Pleistocene, and assume it drained through the Baramulla gorge, the way the Jhelum leaves the valley today.","source":"Kramer and Holmes, Journal of Micropalaeontology (2009)"},{"id":"pampore","band":"record","when":"c. 300,000+ years ago","from":null,"to":null,"line":"Early humans butcher an elephant with stone tools at Pampore.","text":"The oldest human traces found so far are stone tools at Pampore, on the karewas, used by archaic humans to butcher an extinct elephant, several hundred thousand years ago.","source":"Archaeological findings at Galander, Pampore, as published"},{"id":"burzahom","band":"record","when":"c. 3000–1000 BCE","from":-3000,"to":-1000,"line":"People live in pit homes at Burzahom, the oldest settlement yet excavated.","text":"At Burzahom, above the Dal, the Archaeological Survey dug up homes cut into the ground, some roofed with birch, with hearths and storage pits. Later people here lived in houses above ground and raised large standing stones. They left no writing.","source":"UNESCO tentative list entry; Archaeological Survey of India excavations, 1960–71","img":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/timeline/burzahom-xMAozWAx2Mk3Ee0o4mDNQoNlTADfJo.webp","imgNote":"Artist's impression"},{"id":"ashoka","band":"chronicle","when":"3rd century BCE","from":-270,"to":-232,"line":"Kalhana says the emperor Ashoka rules here and founds Srinagari.","text":"Kalhana writes that Ashoka ruled Kashmir, built stupas, and founded a city called Srinagari, probably near today's Pandrethan. He wrote some fourteen hundred years later, and no inscription of Ashoka has been found in the valley. But Buddhism did reach Kashmir early.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini; M. A. Stein, translation of Kalhana (1900)","go":[["library.rajatarangini.ashoka-in-kashmir","Read the story"],["explore.places.pandrethan","Pandrethan"]]},{"id":"kushans","band":"chronicle","when":"c. 1st–2nd century","from":78,"to":200,"line":"Tradition says Kanishka holds a great Buddhist council in Kashmir.","text":"Kalhana names three Kushan kings, Hushka, Jushka and Kanishka, as founders of towns in Kashmir. Buddhist tradition places a great council here under Kanishka, often said to be near Harwan. Its place and date are still debated.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini; Buddhist tradition","go":[["library.rajatarangini.kushans-and-nagarjuna","Read the story"],["explore.places.harwan","Harwan"]]},{"id":"kumarajiva","band":"record","when":"4th century","from":344,"to":413,"line":"The young Kumarajiva studies in Kashmir, and later translates Buddhist texts in China.","text":"By the fourth century Kashmir was a centre of Buddhist learning. Kumarajiva, the great translator of Buddhist texts into Chinese, studied here as a boy. Pilgrims came from China and Central Asia, and Kashmiri monks went out to them.","source":"Chinese Buddhist biographies"},{"id":"mihirakula","band":"record","when":"Early 6th century","from":515,"to":540,"line":"The Huna king Mihirakula takes power in Kashmir.","text":"Mihirakula, a Huna ruler known from inscriptions in India, was driven from the plains and took Kashmir. Kalhana remembers him as the cruellest king in his whole chronicle, though he also records him founding a temple to Shiva.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 1; Indian inscriptions","go":[["library.rajatarangini.mihirakula","Read the story"]]},{"id":"pravarasena","band":"chronicle","when":"c. 6th century","from":560,"to":600,"line":"Pravarasena founds Pravarapura, the city we now call Srinagar.","text":"Kalhana tells of King Pravarasena the Second founding a new capital where the old city of Srinagar stands, with the first bridge of boats across the Vitasta. Kalhana's own dates for this time are too early, and scholars place it around the sixth century.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 3; M. A. Stein, translation of Kalhana (1900)","go":[["library.rajatarangini.pravarasena-builds-a-city","Read the story"]]},{"id":"nilamata","band":"record","when":"c. 6th–8th century","from":590,"to":625,"line":"The Nilamata Purana is written down.","text":"The Nilamata Purana, a Sanskrit text on Kashmir's sacred places and festivals, was composed in these centuries. It is a record of what people here kept and believed at the time, and Kalhana used it as a source.","source":"Nilamata Purana; scholarly datings vary","go":[["library.nilamata-purana","Read the Nilamata"]]},{"id":"karkota","band":"record","when":"c. 625","from":625,"to":661,"line":"Durlabhavardhana founds the Karkota dynasty.","text":"With Durlabhavardhana begins the first Kashmiri dynasty whose dates can be trusted. Aurel Stein found that from here on, Kalhana's chronology can be checked and holds up well.","source":"M. A. Stein, translation of Kalhana (1900)","go":[["library.rajatarangini.durlabhavardhana","Read the story"]]},{"id":"xuanzang","band":"record","when":"c. 631","from":631,"to":633,"line":"The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang stays in Kashmir and studies with its monks.","text":"Xuanzang spent about two years in Kashmir and described its learned monks and many monasteries. His account is the first independent eyewitness description of the valley that we have.","source":"Xuanzang, Records of the Western Regions"},{"id":"chandrapida","band":"record","when":"c. 713–720","from":713,"to":720,"line":"Kashmir's kings send envoys to the Tang court of China.","text":"The Tang annals of China record embassies from Kashmir in these years, asking for help against the Arabs and Tibetans. One of the kings they name is Chandrapida, the same king Kalhana remembers for his justice.","source":"Tang annals, as noted by M. A. Stein, translation of Kalhana (1900)","go":[["library.rajatarangini.chandrapida-and-the-tanner","Read the story"]]},{"id":"lalitaditya","band":"record","when":"c. 724–760","from":724,"to":760,"line":"Lalitaditya builds Martand and Parihasapura, and Kashmir is at the height of its power.","text":"Lalitaditya Muktapida is the most famous of the Karkota kings. He built the Martand Sun Temple and the city of Parihasapura. Kalhana credits him with campaigns far beyond the valley, some of them probably exaggerated.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 4","go":[["library.rajatarangini.lalitaditya-the-conqueror","Read the story"],["explore.people.lalitaditya-muktapida","Lalitaditya"],["explore.places.parihaspora","Parihaspora"]]},{"id":"jayapida","band":"record","when":"Late 8th century","from":779,"to":813,"line":"Jayapida gathers scholars at his court.","text":"Lalitaditya's grandson Jayapida lost his throne, and fought his way back to it. He collected scholars and poets at his court, among them Udbhata and Vamana, who wrote on the art of poetry. His later years, Kalhana says, were spent squeezing Brahmins with taxes.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 4","go":[["library.rajatarangini.jayapida","Read the story"],["explore.people.jayapida","Jayapida"]]},{"id":"avantivarman","band":"record","when":"855–883","from":855,"to":883,"line":"Avantivarman founds Avantipura and brings peace after years of trouble.","text":"Avantivarman founded the Utpala dynasty and built the town of Avantipura, with its two great temples. The scholar Anandavardhana worked at his court.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 5","go":[["library.rajatarangini.avantivarman","Read the story"],["explore.places.avantipora-temples","Avantipora"]]},{"id":"suyya","band":"record","when":"c. 880","from":870,"to":883,"line":"His engineer Suyya tames the floods and the price of rice falls.","text":"Suyya, a foundling raised by a low-caste woman, became the king's engineer. He cleared the rocky bed of the Vitasta near Baramulla, moved the meeting of the rivers, and opened new land to farming. Kalhana says the price of rice fell sharply.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 5","go":[["library.rajatarangini.suyya-tames-the-floods","Read the story"],["explore.people.suyya","Suyya"]]},{"id":"thought","band":"record","when":"c. 850–1050","from":855,"to":1003,"line":"Vasugupta, Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta make Kashmir a great centre of Shaiva thought.","text":"In these two centuries Kashmir Shaivism took shape through Vasugupta, Somananda, Utpaladeva, Abhinavagupta and Kshemaraja. Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta also changed how India thought about poetry. Kashmir became known as the land of Sharada, the goddess of learning.","source":"The authors' own works","go":[["shaivism","Kashmir Shaivism"],["explore.people.abhinavagupta","Abhinavagupta"]]},{"id":"shankaravarman","band":"record","when":"883–902","from":883,"to":902,"line":"Shankaravarman wins wars abroad, taxes heavily, and plunders temples.","text":"Avantivarman's son raided the Punjab, built his own town at Pattan with materials taken from Parihasapura, and raised new taxes. He died from an arrow on his way home from a campaign.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 5","go":[["library.rajatarangini.shankaravarman","Read the story"]]},{"id":"tantrins","band":"record","when":"c. 904–939","from":904,"to":939,"line":"Queen Sugandha rules, then the Tantrin soldiers make and unmake kings.","text":"Shankaravarman's widow Sugandha ruled for a short time, until a corps of foot soldiers, the Tantrins, overthrew her. For the next three decades they and other factions set up kings and pulled them down, while the country suffered famine and floods.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 5","go":[["library.rajatarangini.queen-sugandha-and-the-tantrins","Read the story"]]},{"id":"yashaskara","band":"record","when":"939–948","from":939,"to":948,"line":"An assembly of Brahmins chooses Yashaskara as king.","text":"After the chaos, an assembly of Brahmins chose Yashaskara. Kalhana remembers him as a sharp judge, and a gloss places the Brahmin settlements he founded in the Kathiil quarter of Srinagar.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 6; M. A. Stein, translation of Kalhana (1900)","go":[["library.rajatarangini.yashaskara-the-judge","Read the story"]]},{"id":"didda","band":"record","when":"958–1003","from":958,"to":1003,"line":"Queen Didda holds power for nearly half a century.","text":"Didda, a princess of Lohara, became regent after her husband Kshemagupta died in 958, and from about 980 ruled in her own name until her death in 1003. Kalhana describes her as clever and ruthless. She chose her nephew Samgramaraja as heir.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 6","go":[["library.rajatarangini.queen-didda","Read the story"],["explore.people.queen-didda","Queen Didda"]]},{"id":"mahmud","band":"record","when":"1015 and 1021","from":1015,"to":1021,"line":"Mahmud of Ghazni twice tries to enter Kashmir, and fails at the mountains.","text":"King Samgramaraja's general Tunga was defeated while helping the Shahi kings against Mahmud. Mahmud then tried twice to reach Kashmir through the Loharkot fort, and was turned back by the fort and by the weather.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 7; Persian histories","go":[["library.rajatarangini.tunga-and-mahmud","Read the story"]]},{"id":"alberuni","band":"record","when":"c. 1030","from":1030,"to":1031,"line":"Al-Biruni writes that Hindu learning has taken refuge in Kashmir.","text":"The scholar Al-Biruni, writing from Mahmud's court, said that Hindu sciences had fled to Kashmir and other places out of reach, and that Kashmir kept strangers out, even Hindus not known to its nobles.","source":"Al-Biruni, India"},{"id":"ananta","band":"record","when":"1028–1063","from":1028,"to":1063,"line":"Ananta moves the palace to the river near Habba Kadal, and Queen Suryamati rescues his finances.","text":"King Ananta ran up such debts that he pledged his crown to a betel-leaf dealer, and his queen Suryamati took charge of the money. He moved the palace to the left bank of the river near today's Habba Kadal, where it stayed for generations.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 7; M. A. Stein, translation of Kalhana (1900)","go":[["library.rajatarangini.ananta-and-suryamati","Read the story"],["explore.places.habba-kadal","Habba Kadal"]]},{"id":"writers","band":"record","when":"c. 1060–1080","from":1060,"to":1081,"line":"Somadeva, Kshemendra and Bilhana write works read across India.","text":"Somadeva wrote the Ocean of Stories for Queen Suryamati. Kshemendra wrote satire and retold the epics. Bilhana left Kashmir to seek fame at courts in the south, and Mammata wrote the standard handbook on poetry.","source":"The authors' own works","go":[["library.kathasaritsagara","The Ocean of Stories"],["explore.people.kshemendra","Kshemendra"]]},{"id":"harsha","band":"record","when":"1089–1101","from":1089,"to":1101,"line":"Harsha, poet and musician, strips the temples of their treasure.","text":"King Harsha was gifted and destructive. He loved music and fashion, emptied his treasury, and set up an official whose work was to melt down temple images. Famine and plague followed. Rebels hunted him down in 1101. Kalhana's father served him, so this is close to eyewitness history.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 7","go":[["library.rajatarangini.harsha-the-brilliant","Read the story"],["explore.people.harsha-of-kashmir","Harsha"]]},{"id":"damaras","band":"record","when":"1101–1128","from":1101,"to":1128,"line":"Uccala and Sussala fight the Damara landlords, and Srinagar burns.","text":"The brothers Uccala and Sussala overthrew Harsha, and ruled in turn. Their reigns were an endless fight with the Damaras, the landowning lords. A great fire destroyed much of Srinagar in 1123, and Sussala was murdered in 1128.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Book 8; M. A. Stein, translation of Kalhana (1900)","go":[["library.rajatarangini.uccala","Read the story"]]},{"id":"kalhana","band":"record","when":"1148–49","from":1148,"to":1150,"line":"Kalhana writes the Rajatarangini, the River of Kings.","text":"In nearly eight thousand Sanskrit verses, the poet Kalhana set down the history of Kashmir, using older chronicles, inscriptions and royal grants. For his own time he is a first-rate witness. Few parts of old India have a history like it.","source":"Kalhana, Rajatarangini; M. A. Stein, translation of Kalhana (1900)","go":[["library.rajatarangini","The Rajatarangini"],["explore.people.kalhana","Kalhana"]],"img":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/timeline/kalhana-Aek6Cm5C43YocgVCvx2pbZQEq2Cia7.webp","imgNote":"Artist's impression"},{"id":"decline","band":"record","when":"1155–1320","from":1155,"to":1320,"line":"Weak kings follow one another, and the Damaras hold the real power.","text":"After Jayasimha's death in 1155 no strong king emerged. We know little of this time, because the chronicle's next author, Jonaraja, wrote three centuries later and covers it briefly. Queen Samudra, wife of Ramadeva, built a monastery on the river at Srinagar in the thirteenth century.","source":"Jonaraja, Rajatarangini; M. A. Stein, translation of Kalhana (1900)"},{"id":"dulucha","band":"record","when":"1320","from":1320,"to":1320,"line":"Dulucha's raid devastates the valley, and King Suhadeva flees.","text":"A commander named Dulucha, or Zulju, came in with a large army, killing and enslaving, and burning towns. King Suhadeva fled. Jonaraja says famine followed, and that many of those left alive died of it.","source":"Jonaraja, Rajatarangini","go":[["library.rajatarangini-continuations.zulju-and-rinchana","Read the story"]]},{"id":"rinchana","band":"record","when":"1320–1323","from":1320,"to":1323,"line":"Rinchana of Ladakh seizes the throne, and becomes Kashmir's first Muslim ruler.","text":"Rinchana, a Buddhist prince from Ladakh who had taken refuge in Kashmir, seized the throne and married Kota, daughter of the commander Ramachandra. He became a Muslim and took the name Sadr-ud-Din. Pandit tradition says he first asked to become a Hindu and was turned away, but this is not well documented.","source":"Jonaraja, Rajatarangini"},{"id":"kota","band":"record","when":"1323–1339","from":1323,"to":1339,"line":"Kota Rani holds the kingdom together, and digs the Kut Kul canal.","text":"After Rinchana's death Kota Rani was the real power, through invasion and intrigue. She is credited with the Kut Kul canal in Srinagar. In 1339 Shah Mir, a courtier from outside the valley, overthrew her. Jonaraja says she took her own life.","source":"Jonaraja, Rajatarangini","go":[["library.rajatarangini-continuations.kota-rani","Read the story"],["explore.people.kota-rani","Kota Rani"]]},{"id":"shah-mir","band":"record","when":"1339","from":1339,"to":1342,"line":"Shah Mir takes power, and Hindu rule in the valley ends.","text":"Shah Mir became Sultan Shams-ud-Din, and his descendants ruled for over two centuries. In the years that followed, Persian became the language of government.","source":"Jonaraja, Rajatarangini"},{"id":"shihab","band":"record","when":"1354–1373","from":1354,"to":1373,"line":"Shihab-ud-Din raids far beyond the valley.","text":"Sultan Shihab-ud-Din was the great soldier of the dynasty, and led campaigns to the north and west. Jonaraja praises him, and records that he refused advice to melt down temple images for money.","source":"Jonaraja, Rajatarangini"},{"id":"lal-ded","band":"record","when":"14th century","from":1339,"to":1392,"line":"Lal Ded sings her vakhs, and Kashmiri gets its first great poet.","text":"A Pandit woman, Lal Ded, sang of finding the divine within, in the language people spoke at home. Her dates rest on tradition, and her vakhs were written down long after her. Hindus and Muslims both revere her.","source":"Tradition; Grierson and Barnett, Lalla-Vakyani (1920)","go":[["saints.lal-ded","Lal Ded"],["library.lalla-vakh","Her vakhs"]]},{"id":"hamadani","band":"record","when":"Late 14th century","from":1372,"to":1384,"line":"The Sufi Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani comes to Kashmir.","text":"Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani, a Persian Sufi known as Shah-i-Hamadan, visited Kashmir with followers, and is credited with spreading Islam and crafts here. The Khanqah-e-Moula in Srinagar stands in his name, on a site Pandit tradition holds was a temple of Kali.","source":"Persian histories; Pandit tradition","go":[["explore.people.shah-i-hamadan","Shah-i-Hamadan"]]},{"id":"sikandar","band":"record","when":"c. 1389–1413","from":1389,"to":1413,"line":"Sultan Sikandar destroys temples, and many Pandits convert, flee or are killed.","text":"Sultan Sikandar is remembered as Butshikan, the breaker of idols. Jonaraja says he was urged on by his minister Suha Bhatta, himself a convert from Hinduism. He ordered many temples destroyed, including Martand, banned Hindu practices and imposed the jizya. The destruction is recorded in both Sanskrit and Persian sources.","source":"Jonaraja, Rajatarangini; Persian chronicles","go":[["library.rajatarangini-continuations.sikandar-and-suhabhatta","Read the story"]]},{"id":"nund","band":"record","when":"1377–1438","from":1377,"to":1438,"line":"Nund Rishi founds the Rishi order.","text":"Nund Rishi, also called Sheikh Nooruddin, a Kashmiri Muslim mystic, founded the Rishi order, which took its way of life partly from older Kashmiri ascetics. His verses are among the first great works of Kashmiri, and his shrine is at Charar-e-Sharif.","source":"Tradition; Kashmiri literary histories"},{"id":"budshah","band":"record","when":"1420–1470","from":1420,"to":1470,"line":"Zain-ul-Abidin calls the Pandits back and lets temples be rebuilt.","text":"Sikandar's son reversed him. Zain-ul-Abidin invited Pandits back, allowed temples to be rebuilt, removed the jizya, and had Sanskrit works translated into Persian. He encouraged crafts such as papier-mâché and carpet weaving, and built the first lasting bridge over the river at Zaina Kadal. Kashmiris of all faiths call him Budshah, the Great King.","source":"Jonaraja, Rajatarangini; Shrivara, Rajatarangini; M. A. Stein, translation of Kalhana (1900)","go":[["library.rajatarangini-continuations.budshah","Read the story"],["explore.people.zain-ul-abidin","Zain-ul-Abidin"]]},{"id":"jonaraja","band":"record","when":"c. 1459–1486","from":1459,"to":1486,"line":"Jonaraja and Shrivara carry the River of Kings forward.","text":"Jonaraja took up Kalhana's chronicle at the Sultan's request, and his pupil Shrivara, a musician at court, went on after him. Prajyabhatta and Shuka later took it through the end of the sultans.","source":"Jonaraja, Rajatarangini; Shrivara","go":[["library.rajatarangini-continuations","The later chronicles"]]},{"id":"raina","band":"record","when":"c. 1500","from":1486,"to":1527,"line":"Factions fight over weak sultans, and new pressure falls on the Pandits.","text":"After Budshah's sons the sultans grew weak, and great families fought for power. The noble Musa Raina supported the preacher Shams-ud-Din Iraqi, whose followers pressed conversions on Hindus and Sunnis alike, according to later histories.","source":"Jia Lal Kilam, A History of Kashmiri Pandits; Persian histories"},{"id":"haidar","band":"record","when":"1540–1551","from":1540,"to":1551,"line":"Mirza Haidar Dughlat rules Kashmir in the name of Humayun.","text":"Mirza Haidar, a Central Asian Mughal relative and author of a famous history, took Kashmir with the help of local nobles, and ruled it for eleven years in Humayun's name until he was killed in a revolt.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895), citing the Ain-i-Akbari"},{"id":"chaks","band":"record","when":"1561–1586","from":1561,"to":1586,"line":"The Chaks take the throne, and Yusuf Shah rules with the poet Habba Khatun.","text":"The Chaks, a Shia family, took the throne outright in 1561. Lawrence writes that Ghazi Khan Chak was a tyrant to the Sunnis. Yusuf Shah Chak, remembered with the poet Habba Khatun, wished to accept Akbar. His son Yakub defeated the Mughals' first attempt.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)","go":[["explore.people.habba-khatun","Habba Khatun"]]},{"id":"akbar","band":"record","when":"1586","from":1586,"to":1589,"line":"Akbar's army takes Kashmir, and it becomes a Mughal province.","text":"Hindus and Sunnis, hurt by Yakub Khan, had appealed to Akbar. His army took Kashmir in 1586, and Yusuf Shah died in exile in Bihar. Many Kashmiris remember this as the end of Kashmir's independence. Akbar's minister Todar Mal quickly settled the revenue.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"nagar","band":"record","when":"c. 1590s","from":1590,"to":1600,"line":"Akbar builds the fort wall around Hari Parbat, paying the workers.","text":"Akbar built the great wall on Hari Parbat and the town of Nagar Nagar. An inscription says nobody was forced to work, and Lawrence records high wages paid to men and women alike.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"gardens","band":"record","when":"1619–1640s","from":1619,"to":1645,"line":"Shalimar, Nishat and Achabal are laid out.","text":"Jahangir loved Kashmir, and on his deathbed in 1627 said he wanted only Kashmir. In his reign and Shah Jahan's the gardens of Shalimar, Nishat and Achabal were made, and Lawrence says there were 777 gardens around the Dal.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)","go":[["explore.places.achabal","Achabal"]]},{"id":"subahs","band":"record","when":"1630s–1640s","from":1632,"to":1650,"line":"Good governors bring relief, and Ali Mardan Khan brings grain in famine.","text":"Life depended on each governor. Lawrence records Zaffar Khan abolishing harsh taxes, and Ali Mardan Khan bringing grain from the Punjab in a severe famine. Pandits served as officials and Persian scholars, and some, like Raj Kaul, later moved to Delhi.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"rupa","band":"record","when":"1621–1721","from":1621,"to":1721,"line":"Rupa Bhawani, poet and saint, lives and teaches.","text":"Rupa Bhawani, born at Safa Kadal, left a hard marriage to seek God, and wrote vakhs in the line of Lal Ded. The day of her death is kept as Sahib Saptami. These dates are traditional.","source":"Tradition","go":[["saints.rupa-bhawani","Rupa Bhawani"]]},{"id":"aurangzeb","band":"record","when":"1658–1707","from":1658,"to":1707,"line":"Aurangzeb's reign brings hard times for Kashmir's Hindus.","text":"Lawrence writes that Aurangzeb's name was hated by the Brahmins of Kashmir, though he visited only once, in 1663. His zeal against non-Muslims was felt here, and the jizya returned.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"tegh","band":"record","when":"1675","from":1675,"to":1675,"line":"Pandits appeal to Guru Tegh Bahadur, who is put to death in Delhi.","text":"A Sikh tradition says Pandits led by Kirpa Ram of Mattan appealed to Guru Tegh Bahadur against forced conversions. The Guru was executed in Delhi in 1675. This is remembered with gratitude in both communities.","source":"Sikh records and tradition"},{"id":"hazratbal","band":"record","when":"c. 1700","from":1699,"to":1701,"line":"A relic of the Prophet reaches Kashmir, and is later kept at Hazratbal.","text":"A hair said to be from the Prophet Muhammad was brought to the valley around 1700, and came to rest at Hazratbal on the Dal. It would matter greatly in 1963.","source":"Published histories of Hazratbal"},{"id":"kalashpura","band":"record","when":"c. 1720","from":1719,"to":1722,"line":"A Hindu quarter of Srinagar is set on fire as Mughal order fails.","text":"As the empire decayed, governors fought one another. In the reign of Muhammad Shah, Lawrence writes, Hindus were oppressed by Abdul Ghani and Mulla Sharf-ud-Din, Kalashpura was set alight, and Hindus were forbidden to wear turbans.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"afghans","band":"record","when":"1753","from":1753,"to":1754,"line":"Ahmad Shah Durrani's forces take Kashmir, and governors are sent from Kabul.","text":"Lawrence calls Afghan rule the cruellest and worst of all. Governors bought their posts, and wrung as much money as they could before being recalled. Its victims, he says, were the Pandits, the Shias, and the Bombas of the Jhelum valley.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"sukhjiwan","band":"record","when":"1754–1762","from":1754,"to":1762,"line":"A Hindu governor, Sukh Jiwan Mal, rebels against Kabul.","text":"Sukh Jiwan Mal, sent as an Afghan officer, broke away from Kabul and ruled for some years. He was defeated in 1762.","source":"Published histories of the Durrani period"},{"id":"jawansher","band":"record","when":"c. 1770–1776","from":1770,"to":1776,"line":"Amir Khan Jawan Sher builds the Shergarhi palace and the Amira Kadal.","text":"Amir Khan Jawan Sher, perhaps the best of them, built the Shergarhi palace and the Amira Kadal, the bridge at the entrance to Srinagar, though he also destroyed Mughal gardens on the Dal.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"asad","band":"record","when":"1780s","from":1783,"to":1785,"line":"Governors drown Pandits in the Dal, and Hindu marks and dress are banned.","text":"Lawrence records Asad Khan tying Pandits in pairs in sacks and sinking them in the Dal, and Mir Hazar drowning Shias and Brahmins alike. Pandits were forbidden turbans, shoes and the tilak, and the jizya came back. Many were killed, fled, or converted.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"birbal","band":"record","when":"1814–1819","from":1814,"to":1819,"line":"Birbal Dhar escapes to Lahore and asks Ranjit Singh to come.","text":"A Sikh army failed in 1814. Then Pandit Birbal Dhar escaped over the mountains with his son to ask Ranjit Singh for help. Governor Azim Khan seized the ladies of his family; his wife took her own life and his son's bride was sent to Kabul.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)","go":[["explore.people.birbal-dhar","Birbal Dhar"]]},{"id":"sikhs","band":"record","when":"1819","from":1819,"to":1819,"line":"The Sikh army wins at Shopian, and Afghan rule ends.","text":"Ranjit Singh's general Misr Diwan Chand, with Gulab Singh of Jammu, defeated the Afghan governor. Lawrence calls the end of Afghan rule an intense relief to all classes, though Sikh rule was not good either. William Moorcroft, travelling in the 1820s, described villagers starving, and porters roped together.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895), citing Moorcroft"},{"id":"quake1827","band":"record","when":"1827","from":1827,"to":1827,"line":"An earthquake almost destroys Srinagar, and cholera follows.","text":"In 1827 a severe earthquake left the city almost in ruins, with cholera following. Governor Kirpa Ram was better remembered for his boating parties on the Dal than for his rule.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"famine1831","band":"record","when":"1831–1833","from":1831,"to":1833,"line":"Famine strikes, and numbers of Kashmiris flee to the Punjab.","text":"The famine of Sher Singh's governorship was long remembered. In 1833 Colonel Mian Singh, the best of the Sikh governors, brought grain from the Punjab, lowered the taxes, and restored some order, until mutinous soldiers killed him.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"jama1843","band":"record","when":"1843","from":1843,"to":1843,"line":"The Jama Masjid, closed since 1819, reopens.","text":"Under Sikh rule the great mosque of Srinagar had been shut. Governor Ghulam Muhi-ud-Din reopened its gates in 1843. Two years before, in 1841, a great flood had hit the city.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"amritsar","band":"record","when":"16 March 1846","from":1846,"to":1846,"line":"The Treaty of Amritsar passes Kashmir to Gulab Singh for 75 lakh rupees.","text":"After the First Anglo-Sikh War the British took Kashmir from the Sikhs in place of an indemnity, and sold it to Gulab Singh of Jammu. The Sikh governor Imam-ud-Din resisted at first, and surrendered when a British force moved up.","source":"Treaty of Amritsar (1846); Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)","go":[["explore.people.gulab-singh","Gulab Singh"]]},{"id":"gulab","band":"record","when":"1846–1857","from":1846,"to":1857,"line":"Gulab Singh rules with an iron hand, and the revenue reaches the treasury.","text":"Gulab Singh took much land back from its holders, watched his officials closely, and held the Jhelum road with forts. He spent much time in Kashmir, and died in 1857.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"ranbir","band":"record","when":"1857–1885","from":1857,"to":1885,"line":"Ranbir Singh builds temples, supports Sanskrit, and brings in schools and silk.","text":"Ranbir Singh was devoted to Sanskrit learning, finished the Raghunath temple in Srinagar and started dispensaries and schools. Lawrence calls him kind and tolerant to Muslims, but says he could not keep his officials in hand.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)","go":[["explore.places.raghunath-srinagar","Raghunath Mandir"]]},{"id":"zaldagar","band":"record","when":"29 April 1865","from":1865,"to":1865,"line":"Dogra troops fire on protesting shawl weavers at Zaldagar, and at least 28 die.","text":"Shawl weavers in Srinagar came out against heavy taxes and their employers. Troops fired on them at Zaldagar, and at least twenty-eight died, some drowned in the canal. Some historians call it one of the first labour protests in South Asia.","source":"Published accounts of the Zaldagar killings"},{"id":"famine1877","band":"record","when":"1877–1879","from":1877,"to":1879,"line":"A terrible famine kills a great part of the valley's people.","text":"Rain ruined the harvest of 1877, and the famine that followed was the worst in memory. Lawrence speaks of enormous loss of life. Officials made it worse, and the old Maharaja's last years were darkened by it.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"quake1885","band":"record","when":"1885","from":1885,"to":1885,"line":"An earthquake hits Srinagar and Baramulla, and Pratap Singh succeeds.","text":"A severe earthquake struck in 1885, with great noises and landslips. That September Pratap Singh became Maharaja.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"lawrence","band":"record","when":"1889–1895","from":1889,"to":1895,"line":"Walter Lawrence's land settlement fixes what each village owes.","text":"With British pressure, the Maharaja was made to accept a council and a British Resident in 1889. Lawrence, as settlement officer, measured the land and fixed each village's revenue, and his book is still a main source for the Kashmir of that time. Forced labour was restricted.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"road","band":"record","when":"1890","from":1890,"to":1890,"line":"The cart road from India reaches Baramulla, and the valley is opened.","text":"A road for carts now linked Kashmir with the railway in two days. In 1892 cholera killed some eighteen thousand people, and water pipes were laid in Srinagar in the years after.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"flood1893","band":"record","when":"1893","from":1893,"to":1893,"line":"The great flood sweeps away six of Srinagar's seven bridges.","text":"Heavy summer rain caused the great flood of 1893, the worst in decades, and it took six of the city's seven old wooden bridges.","source":"Walter Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir (1895)"},{"id":"hari","band":"record","when":"1925","from":1925,"to":1925,"line":"Hari Singh becomes the last Maharaja.","text":"Hari Singh came to the throne in 1925. Government jobs became a sharp question, between Pandits, Dogras, Punjabis and the Muslim majority, who were largely shut out of them.","source":"Published histories of Dogra rule","go":[["explore.people.maharaja-hari-singh","Hari Singh"]]},{"id":"subject","band":"record","when":"1927","from":1927,"to":1927,"line":"The State Subject law reserves jobs and land for the state's own people.","text":"Kashmiri Pandits had campaigned under the cry 'Kashmir for Kashmiris' against outsiders taking government posts. The result was the State Subject law, which lasted in one form until 2019.","source":"Hereditary State Subject notification (1927)"},{"id":"13july","band":"record","when":"13 July 1931","from":1931,"to":1931,"line":"Police fire on a crowd outside Srinagar jail, and over twenty die.","text":"A crowd gathered at the trial of Abdul Qadir, who had called for rising against the Maharaja. Police fired, and about twenty-two were killed. Riots followed, in which Hindu shops and houses in Vicharnag and Maharaj Gunj were attacked. It was the start of mass politics in Kashmir.","source":"Published accounts; Glancy Commission report (1932)","go":[["explore.places.vichar-nag","Vichar Nag"]]},{"id":"glancy","band":"record","when":"1932–1934","from":1932,"to":1934,"line":"The Glancy Commission reports, and an elected assembly is set up.","text":"A British-led commission recommended fairer entry for Muslims into education and jobs, and in 1934 a partly elected assembly, the Praja Sabha, was set up. Many Pandits saw their posts under threat. Prem Nath Bazaz and others argued with them for a common politics.","source":"Glancy Commission report (1932)","go":[["explore.people.prem-nath-bazaz","Prem Nath Bazaz"]]},{"id":"reform","band":"record","when":"1930s","from":1930,"to":1939,"line":"Pandit reformers campaign for education, widow remarriage and simpler weddings.","text":"Kashyap Bandhu and others led a reform movement among Pandits, against costly weddings and for the remarriage of widows and the schooling of girls. Master Zinda Kaul and Dina Nath Nadim were writing new Kashmiri poetry.","source":"Community histories","go":[["explore.people.kashyap-bandhu","Kashyap Bandhu"]]},{"id":"nc","band":"record","when":"1932–1939","from":1932,"to":1939,"line":"Sheikh Abdullah founds the Muslim Conference, and renames it the National Conference.","text":"A young schoolteacher, Sheikh Abdullah, rose out of the events of 1931. His party, the Muslim Conference, became the National Conference in 1939, and opened itself to all faiths. A rival Muslim Conference kept going and later leaned to Pakistan.","source":"Published political histories"},{"id":"quit","band":"record","when":"1946","from":1946,"to":1946,"line":"The Quit Kashmir campaign demands the Maharaja go, and Abdullah is jailed.","text":"In May 1946 the National Conference launched Quit Kashmir against the Maharaja. Abdullah was arrested and sentenced. His party boycotted the election of January 1947.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"poonch","band":"record","when":"Summer 1947","from":1947,"to":1947.7,"line":"After Partition, Hari Singh delays, and revolt spreads in Poonch.","text":"When British India was divided in August 1947, the Maharaja signed a standstill agreement with Pakistan and held off choosing. Revolt broke out in Poonch against his taxes, and his Prime Minister Ram Chandra Kak, a Kashmiri Pandit, was dismissed.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict","go":[["explore.people.ram-chandra-kak","Ram Chandra Kak"]]},{"id":"jammu47","band":"record","when":"October–November 1947","from":1947.75,"to":1947.9,"line":"Massacres in Jammu kill Muslims, and at Rajouri and Mirpur kill Hindus and Sikhs.","text":"In these weeks Jammu saw terrible killing. Mobs and state forces attacked Muslims and refugee convoys in Jammu province, and many thousands died. At Rajouri and Mirpur, when they fell to rebels, Hindus and Sikhs were massacred.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"invasion","band":"record","when":"22 October 1947","from":1947.8,"to":1947.82,"line":"Armed tribesmen from Pakistan invade, and sack Baramulla.","text":"A tribal force sent from Pakistan crossed into the state at Muzaffarabad and moved up the Jhelum road. At Baramulla they looted and killed for days, at the cost of many lives, including at the St Joseph's convent.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"accession","band":"record","when":"26 October 1947","from":1947.82,"to":1947.83,"line":"The Maharaja signs the accession to India, and Indian troops land in Srinagar.","text":"The Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession to India. Indian troops landed at Srinagar the next morning and held the airfield, and by November had driven the raiders from Baramulla and Uri. Sheikh Abdullah became head of an emergency administration.","source":"Instrument of Accession (1947); Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"un","band":"record","when":"1 January 1948","from":1948,"to":1948.3,"line":"India takes the dispute to the UN, which calls for a plebiscite.","text":"India went to the UN Security Council at the turn of the year. Resolution 47, that April, called for Pakistan's forces to withdraw, and for a plebiscite. It never took place, and each side blames the other.","source":"UN Security Council resolutions 39 and 47 (1948)"},{"id":"ceasefire","band":"record","when":"1 January 1949","from":1949,"to":1949.1,"line":"A ceasefire divides the old state, along what is now the Line of Control.","text":"India kept the valley, most of Jammu and Ladakh. Pakistan kept the western strip it calls Azad Kashmir, and Gilgit and Baltistan, which had gone over in a coup. The state has been divided ever since.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"abdicate","band":"record","when":"June 1949","from":1949.4,"to":1949.5,"line":"Hari Singh leaves for good, and his son Karan Singh becomes regent.","text":"India obliged the Maharaja to leave the state. He never came back, and died in Bombay in 1961. Article 370, giving the state its special place in India's constitution, was adopted that October.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"land50","band":"record","when":"1950","from":1950,"to":1950.5,"line":"Land goes to those who till it, and landowners get no compensation.","text":"The Big Landed Estates Abolition Act gave land to those who farmed it, without paying the landlords. It was among the most radical land reforms in India. It freed many poor Muslim farmers, and took land from many Pandit and other landowners, and many Pandits felt it deeply.","source":"Big Landed Estates Abolition Act (1950)"},{"id":"assembly51","band":"record","when":"1951–1952","from":1951.7,"to":1952.9,"line":"The National Conference wins all 75 seats, and the monarchy is abolished.","text":"The elections to the state's Constituent Assembly were not contested in any real way, and the National Conference took all seventy-five seats. The Delhi Agreement of 1952 kept wide powers for the state, and in November the monarchy was abolished.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"praja","band":"record","when":"1952–1953","from":1952.9,"to":1953.5,"line":"The Praja Parishad agitates in Jammu, and Syama Prasad Mookerjee dies in custody.","text":"Dogras in Jammu demanded full integration with India. Thousands were jailed, and the Jana Sangh leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee was arrested entering the state, and died in custody in Srinagar on 23 June 1953.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"arrest53","band":"record","when":"8 August 1953","from":1953.6,"to":1953.7,"line":"Sheikh Abdullah is dismissed and arrested, and Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad takes over.","text":"Abdullah had begun talking of a plebiscite or independence. He was dismissed and jailed, with protests and deaths in the valley. He was to spend most of the next twenty-two years in prison or under restriction. Bakshi ran the state for ten years, with much money and a hard hand.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"const57","band":"record","when":"1954–1957","from":1954,"to":1957,"line":"Article 35A is added, and the state adopts its own constitution.","text":"A Presidential Order of 1954 extended much of India's constitution to the state, and added what became Article 35A, protecting permanent residents' rights. The state's own constitution, adopted in 1956, took effect in 1957.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"china","band":"record","when":"1959–1963","from":1959,"to":1963,"line":"China takes Aksai Chin, and Pakistan cedes the Karakoram tract to it.","text":"China built a road across Aksai Chin in Ladakh, and held it in the war of 1962. In 1963 Pakistan agreed a border with China, giving up the Trans-Karakoram Tract. So the old state now lay under three countries.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"relic","band":"record","when":"27 December 1963","from":1963.98,"to":1964.1,"line":"The relic goes missing from Hazratbal, and the valley rises.","text":"When the relic disappeared from Hazratbal, huge crowds took to the streets in an uprising that shook the government. It was recovered in January 1964. Abdullah was released that April.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"war65","band":"record","when":"August–September 1965","from":1965.6,"to":1965.75,"line":"Pakistan sends infiltrators in Operation Gibraltar, and war follows.","text":"Pakistan sent armed men into the valley, hoping for a rising that did not come. Local people reported many of them. War followed across the border, and ended in a ceasefire, and the Tashkent Declaration in January 1966.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"congress65","band":"record","when":"1964–1971","from":1964.8,"to":1971,"line":"The National Conference merges into Congress, and G. M. Sadiq's government brings the state closer to Delhi.","text":"The title of Prime Minister became Chief Minister and Sadr-i-Riyasat became Governor. Under G. M. Sadiq, Delhi's writ grew. Abdullah's followers organised as the Plebiscite Front.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"parmeshwari","band":"record","when":"1967","from":1967,"to":1967.6,"line":"The Parmeshwari Handoo case sets off a months-long Pandit agitation.","text":"Parmeshwari Handoo, a young Pandit woman, disappeared and was found to have converted and married a Muslim. Pandits called it forced, others called it her choice, and the facts are still disputed. Months of Pandit protest followed, with arrests and clashes. Prem Nath Bazaz wrote that it grew from deeper fears over jobs and education.","source":"Prem Nath Bazaz (1967); later accounts differ"},{"id":"simla","band":"record","when":"1971–1972","from":1971,"to":1972.6,"line":"After the Bangladesh war, the Simla Agreement creates the Line of Control.","text":"India and Pakistan fought again in December 1971. In July 1972 Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto signed the Simla Agreement, turning the ceasefire line into the Line of Control and committing both to settle matters between themselves.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"accord75","band":"record","when":"24 February 1975","from":1975,"to":1975.2,"line":"The Indira–Sheikh Accord returns Abdullah as Chief Minister.","text":"Abdullah accepted the state's place in India, and came back to power with Congress support. He won the 1977 election with a large majority, regarded as the state's first fair one.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"abd82","band":"record","when":"1982–1984","from":1982.7,"to":1984.6,"line":"Abdullah dies, Farooq succeeds, and is toppled by defections.","text":"Sheikh Abdullah died in September 1982. His son Farooq won an election in 1983, and was brought down in July 1984, when Delhi's governor swore in G. M. Shah with defectors. Governor B. K. Nehru, a Kashmiri Pandit, had refused to do so, and was replaced.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"maqbool","band":"record","when":"11 February 1984","from":1984.1,"to":1984.15,"line":"JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat is hanged in Delhi's Tihar jail.","text":"Maqbool Bhat, who had killed a policeman in 1966, was sentenced to death by Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo. He was hanged on 11 February 1984, after his followers killed an Indian diplomat in Britain. His name became a rallying call.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict; Kavbatt's Remember pages, with their sources"},{"id":"riots86","band":"record","when":"February 1986","from":1986.1,"to":1986.2,"line":"Riots in Anantnag: Pandit homes and temples are attacked.","text":"After the Babri gates were opened, and a dispute over a mosque in Jammu, mobs in Anantnag attacked Pandit homes and temples. G. M. Shah's government fell, and Governor Jagmohan took over.","source":"Published accounts (1986)"},{"id":"election87","band":"record","when":"March 1987","from":1987.2,"to":1987.3,"line":"A widely distrusted election turns many young men against the system.","text":"Farooq Abdullah's alliance with Congress won an election that was widely seen as rigged against the Muslim United Front. Some who lost, or who worked for those who lost, went on to lead the insurgency, among them Syed Salahuddin and Yasin Malik.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"jklf88","band":"record","when":"31 July 1988","from":1988.6,"to":1988.7,"line":"The JKLF sets off the first bombs in Srinagar.","text":"The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front began its campaign with bombs in the valley, with young men trained across the border.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"taploo","band":"record","when":"13 September 1989","from":1989.7,"to":1989.72,"line":"Targeted killings begin, with Tika Lal Taploo.","text":"Tika Lal Taploo, lawyer and Pandit community leader, was shot dead by JKLF militants outside his home in Srinagar. On 4 November Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo was killed. Threats appeared on walls and in papers.","source":"Kavbatt's Remember pages, with their sources","go":[["explore.people.tika-lal-taploo","Tika Lal Taploo"],["remember","We remember"]]},{"id":"rubaiya","band":"record","when":"8 December 1989","from":1989.93,"to":1989.95,"line":"Rubaiya Sayeed is kidnapped, and freed in exchange for five militants.","text":"Militants kidnapped the Home Minister's daughter. The release of five men in exchange brought crowds onto the streets, and showed that the state could be made to give way.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"exodus","band":"record","when":"19 January 1990","from":1990.05,"to":1990.06,"line":"After a night of threats, almost all Pandits leave the valley in the following months.","text":"The Farooq Abdullah government resigned as Jagmohan returned as Governor. On the night of 19 January, loudspeakers and crowds in many parts of the valley broadcast slogans, some threatening Pandits and telling them to leave. In the following weeks almost the whole community left, mostly for Jammu and Delhi. Estimates run from over 100,000 to around 350,000.","source":"Kavbatt's Remember pages, with their sources","go":[["remember","We remember"]]},{"id":"gawkadal","band":"record","when":"21 January 1990","from":1990.06,"to":1990.07,"line":"Troops fire on protesters at Gawkadal bridge, and about 50 are killed.","text":"Two days later, paramilitary troops opened fire on unarmed marchers at Gawkadal in Srinagar. It is estimated that around fifty were killed. It began years of mass protest and firings. On 1 March, huge crowds marched and more than forty were shot.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"killed90","band":"record","when":"February–June 1990","from":1990.1,"to":1990.5,"line":"Lassa Kaul, Sarwanand Premi and Girija Tickoo are among those murdered.","text":"Lassa Kaul, director of Doordarshan in Srinagar, was shot in February. The poet Sarwanand Kaul Premi and his son were killed in April. Girija Tickoo, a school lab assistant, was abducted and murdered in June. Many others died too, Pandit and Muslim, among them the Kashmir University Vice-Chancellor.","source":"Kavbatt's Remember pages, with their sources","go":[["remember","We remember"]]},{"id":"hawal","band":"record","when":"21 May 1990","from":1990.38,"to":1990.4,"line":"Mirwaiz Farooq is assassinated, and troops fire on his funeral at Hawal.","text":"Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq, the valley's chief religious leader, was shot dead in his home by militants. Paramilitary troops fired on the funeral procession at Hawal, and dozens died.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"exile","band":"record","when":"1990s","from":1990.4,"to":1996,"line":"Pandit families live in tents and one-room tenements in Jammu.","text":"Families lived for years at Muthi, Purkhoo, Mishriwala and Nagrota, and in Delhi. Many elders died from heat and illness. Children still studied, and the community slowly rebuilt its life across India and abroad.","source":"Kavbatt's Remember pages, with their sources","go":[["explore.places.muthi-camp","Muthi camp"]]},{"id":"kunan","band":"record","when":"February 1991","from":1991.1,"to":1991.2,"line":"Women of Kunan Poshpora accuse soldiers of mass rape.","text":"Women of two villages in Kupwara said soldiers raped them during a night search. The army denied it, and an official inquiry dismissed the charge. The case was reopened by the courts and is still not settled.","source":"Published reports and court records"},{"id":"sopore","band":"record","when":"6 January 1993","from":1993,"to":1993.05,"line":"Border Security Force men kill about 50 people in Sopore.","text":"After a militant attack, Border Security Force men fired on people in the market at Sopore, and set shops on fire. About fifty were killed. In October at Bijbehara, security forces fired on a protest and killed dozens more.","source":"Published reports (1993)"},{"id":"hurriyat","band":"record","when":"March 1993","from":1993.2,"to":1993.3,"line":"The separatist groups form the Hurriyat Conference.","text":"Some two dozen political and religious groups joined in the All Parties Hurriyat Conference to speak for the separatist cause. Pakistan-backed Hizbul Mujahideen had by then overtaken the JKLF among armed groups.","source":"Published political histories"},{"id":"hazrat93","band":"record","when":"October 1993","from":1993.8,"to":1993.9,"line":"Militants hold out at Hazratbal for a month, and leave after talks.","text":"Armed militants occupied the Hazratbal shrine, and the army surrounded it for about a month. It ended by negotiation.","source":"Published reports (1993)"},{"id":"charar","band":"record","when":"May 1995","from":1995.35,"to":1995.4,"line":"The Charar-e-Sharif shrine of Nund Rishi burns.","text":"The wooden shrine of Nund Rishi, and much of the town around it, were burned during a standoff between the army and militants led by Mast Gul. Each side blamed the other. In July, militants kidnapped six foreign tourists, and most were never found.","source":"Published reports (1995)"},{"id":"el96","band":"record","when":"September 1996","from":1996.7,"to":1996.8,"line":"After nine years, the state votes again and Farooq Abdullah returns.","text":"An election was held amid fear and low turnout, with government-backed former militants, the Ikhwan, taking a hard role. Farooq Abdullah's National Conference won. The Ikhwan's own abuses became notorious.","source":"Election Commission of India; published reports"},{"id":"pandits97","band":"record","when":"1997–2003","from":1997.2,"to":2003.3,"line":"Pandits who stayed are massacred at Sangrampora, Wandhama and Nadimarg.","text":"At Sangrampora in March 1997 seven Pandits were shot. At Wandhama in January 1998, twenty-three were killed in their homes, and at Nadimarg in March 2003, twenty-four, among them two small boys. These families had stayed through it all.","source":"Kavbatt's Remember pages, with their sources","go":[["remember","We remember"]]},{"id":"kargil","band":"record","when":"May–July 1999","from":1999.35,"to":1999.57,"line":"Pakistani forces seize the heights at Kargil, and India drives them back.","text":"Pakistani soldiers and militants occupied high posts above the Srinagar–Leh road. After weeks of hard fighting, India took them back, with American pressure on Pakistan to withdraw. In these years militants also began suicide raids on the security forces.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"chitti","band":"record","when":"20 March 2000","from":2000.2,"to":2000.25,"line":"Thirty-five Sikhs are shot at Chittisinghpora.","text":"Gunmen killed thirty-five Sikh villagers on the eve of President Clinton's visit. Days later, five men killed by the security forces as the culprits turned out to be innocent villagers. In August, militants killed dozens, including Amarnath pilgrims at Pahalgam.","source":"Published reports and inquiries"},{"id":"assembly01","band":"record","when":"1 October 2001","from":2001.75,"to":2001.8,"line":"A car bomb at the Srinagar assembly kills 38.","text":"A car bomb and gunmen killed thirty-eight people at the state assembly in Srinagar. After this, and the attack on India's Parliament that December, India and Pakistan massed their armies on the border for months.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"el02","band":"record","when":"2002","from":2002.7,"to":2002.8,"line":"A fairer election brings Mufti Sayeed's coalition, with Congress.","text":"The election of 2002 was widely seen as the fairest in years, despite killings, among them that of the minister Mushtaq Lone. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Congress formed a government that spoke of a healing touch.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"thaw","band":"record","when":"2003–2007","from":2003.9,"to":2007,"line":"A ceasefire holds, and a bus links the two sides of Kashmir.","text":"A ceasefire on the Line of Control began in November 2003. In April 2005 a bus began running between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, for the first time since 1947, and trade followed. By some accounts, private talks between Delhi and Islamabad came close to a settlement, but they stopped in 2007.","source":"Published reports"},{"id":"quake05","band":"record","when":"8 October 2005","from":2005.75,"to":2005.8,"line":"A huge earthquake kills tens of thousands, mostly across the Line of Control.","text":"The earthquake centred near Muzaffarabad killed over seventy thousand people, the great majority on the Pakistani side, with over a thousand on the Indian side.","source":"Published reports"},{"id":"pm08","band":"record","when":"2008","from":2008,"to":2008.9,"line":"A land row for the Amarnath pilgrimage sets the valley and Jammu against each other.","text":"The transfer of forest land to the Amarnath shrine board set off huge protests in the valley, and counter-protests in Jammu with a blockade of the highway. Dozens were killed. On 22 August hundreds of thousands marched in Srinagar. Even so, turnout in that winter's election was high, and Omar Abdullah became Chief Minister.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"jobs08","band":"record","when":"2008–2011","from":2008.3,"to":2011.5,"line":"Jobs in the valley are offered to Pandits, and Jagti opens near Jammu.","text":"A package from Delhi offered government jobs in the valley to young Pandits, living in guarded transit camps. In 2011 the Jagti township, with about four thousand flats, rehoused families from the old camps. Many say the deeper question of justice and return is still open.","source":"Kavbatt's Remember pages, with their sources","go":[["explore.places.jagti-township","Jagti"]]},{"id":"summer10","band":"record","when":"Summer 2010","from":2010.4,"to":2010.75,"line":"Stone-pelting protests go on for months, and over a hundred die.","text":"The killing of three men in a staged encounter at Machil, and then of a schoolboy, Tufail Mattoo, hit by a tear gas shell, set off a summer of protests and curfew in which over a hundred, mostly young men, were shot.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"guru","band":"record","when":"9 February 2013","from":2013.1,"to":2013.15,"line":"Afzal Guru is hanged, for the 2001 attack on Parliament.","text":"Afzal Guru was hanged in secret at Tihar jail, and buried there. Curfew followed in the valley, and his body was never returned to his family.","source":"Published reports"},{"id":"flood14","band":"record","when":"September 2014","from":2014.65,"to":2014.8,"line":"The worst flood in decades drowns Srinagar.","text":"After days of rain, the Jhelum broke its banks. Much of Srinagar stayed under water for weeks, and hundreds died across Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan. Soon afterwards an election brought the highest turnout in twenty-five years, and in 2015 a PDP and BJP coalition, under Mufti Sayeed and then Mehbooba Mufti.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"burhan","band":"record","when":"8 July 2016","from":2016.5,"to":2016.9,"line":"Burhan Wani is killed, and months of protest and pellet injuries follow.","text":"The killing of the young Hizbul commander, known for his social media, brought vast crowds to his funeral and months of curfew. More than ninety people were killed, and hundreds were blinded or hurt by pellet guns. Next year Operation All-Out went after the militants.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"bjp18","band":"record","when":"June 2018","from":2018.45,"to":2018.5,"line":"The coalition breaks, and Delhi takes over direct rule.","text":"The BJP left the government, and Mehbooba Mufti resigned. Governor's rule followed, and the assembly was dissolved that November.","source":"Published reports"},{"id":"pulwama","band":"record","when":"14 February 2019","from":2019.1,"to":2019.2,"line":"A suicide bomber kills 40 CRPF men at Pulwama, and India strikes Balakot.","text":"A car bomb, claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammed, hit a convoy on the highway. India struck a target in Balakot in Pakistan on 26 February, and the two air forces fought over the Line of Control the next day.","source":"Published reports"},{"id":"370","band":"record","when":"5 August 2019","from":2019.6,"to":2019.65,"line":"Article 370 ends, the state becomes two union territories, and the valley is shut down.","text":"India ended the special status, and split off Ladakh. Curfew and a communications blackout followed, with thousands held, among them three former chief ministers. Full mobile internet came back only in February 2021. Pandit opinion on this has varied.","source":"Published chronologies of the Kashmir conflict"},{"id":"domicile","band":"record","when":"2020–2022","from":2020.25,"to":2022.4,"line":"New domicile rules open jobs and land to outsiders, and seats are redrawn.","text":"New rules replaced the old State Subject law, and changed who may hold jobs and land. A delimitation in 2022 redrew the assembly seats, and gave more of them to Jammu, and made room for nominated members from among Kashmiri migrants.","source":"Government notifications; Delimitation Commission report (2022)"},{"id":"bindroo","band":"record","when":"2021–2023","from":2021.75,"to":2023.2,"line":"Targeted killings return: Makhan Lal Bindroo, Rahul Bhat, Puran Krishan Bhat and others.","text":"Makhan Lal Bindroo, a chemist in Srinagar who had stayed all through the militancy, was shot at his shop in October 2021. Rahul Bhat was killed in his office at Chadoora in May 2022, and Pandit employees protested for months. Migrant workers and other Hindus were targeted as well.","source":"Kavbatt's Remember pages, with their sources","go":[["remember","We remember"]]},{"id":"sc23","band":"record","when":"11 December 2023","from":2023.9,"to":2023.95,"line":"The Supreme Court upholds the end of Article 370 and orders elections.","text":"A five-judge bench upheld the move, and told the government to hold assembly elections by the end of September 2024, and to restore statehood as soon as possible.","source":"Supreme Court of India (2023)"},{"id":"el24","band":"record","when":"September–October 2024","from":2024.7,"to":2024.8,"line":"The first assembly election in ten years brings Omar Abdullah back.","text":"The National Conference and Congress won, and Omar Abdullah took office on 16 October 2024, as Chief Minister of a union territory. The BJP won most seats in Jammu. Statehood has not yet been restored.","source":"Election Commission of India; press reports"},{"id":"pahalgam","band":"record","when":"22 April 2025","from":2025.3,"to":2025.35,"line":"Gunmen kill 26 people, nearly all tourists, at Pahalgam.","text":"They shot visitors in the Baisaran meadow, picking out Hindu men, and a local pony-man who tried to stop them also died. Crowds across the valley came out to condemn it.","source":"Press reports (2025)"},{"id":"sindoor","band":"record","when":"7 May 2025","from":2025.35,"to":2025.4,"line":"India strikes Pakistan in Operation Sindoor, and four days of fighting follow.","text":"India struck nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The two sides fought with missiles and drones, and shelling hit Poonch hard, until a ceasefire on 10 May.","source":"Press reports; India's Ministry of Defence (2025)"},{"id":"rail","band":"record","when":"6 June 2025","from":2025.42,"to":2025.48,"line":"The train reaches Kashmir from the rest of India, over the Chenab bridge.","text":"The Prime Minister opened the Katra to Srinagar line, with the world's highest railway arch bridge over the Chenab, and for the first time linked the valley to India's railways.","source":"Press reports (2025)"},{"id":"now","band":"record","when":"2026","from":2026,"to":2026,"line":"Protests shake Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and Pandits still wait for a way home.","text":"Protests over political seats and rights broke out across the Line of Control in June 2026, with many killed and the internet cut for months. On the Indian side, the argument over statehood goes on. Kashmiri Pandits live across India and the world, keeping their heritage, and many still hope for a dignified return.","source":"Al Jazeera (2026); press reports"}]},"comics":{"story:nilamata-purana/jalodbhava":{"title":"Jalodbhava, the Demon Born of Water","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/jalodbhava/1-t900TuE3Rk3bB9iTQFgg1VmTcRYPrm.webp","caption":"A child was born in the waters of that lake and raised among the Nagas. He was named Jalodbhava, which means \"born from water.\""},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/jalodbhava/2-BsvxMZBpJ09Kn6SeuQEK2Ya96dPA9R.webp","caption":"Brahma, the creator, saw his efforts and was pleased. Jalodbhava asked to be invincible in water, and for the power of magic and great strength. Brahma gave him all three."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/jalodbhava/3-TBV6sPMi695y0JYTQUuFPj3DbHgTkI.webp","caption":"From the safety of the lake, he began to raid the lands all around. When anyone tried to fight him, he simply slipped back into the water."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/jalodbhava/4-SZwvnwkGz66J6teSqMoMTveZuOD2e2.webp","caption":"What do you do when someone from your own household becomes a danger to others? Nila decided to go to his father, the sage Kashyapa, for help."}]},"story:kathasaritsagara/the-mouse-merchant":{"title":"The Mouse Merchant","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/the-mouse-merchant/1-7A4VwkYKXDj1ad79O0DPH29f47kLo0.webp","caption":"\"A clever person can build a fortune out of anything. Why, even from that dead mouse lying there on the ground!\" A poor, hungry young man heard, and began to think."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/the-mouse-merchant/2-Io6tTY3hsAka5pC4ejBocDn4DSx1sF.webp","caption":"He gave the mouse to a shopkeeper who needed food for his cat, and received a couple of handfuls of peas. It was not much, but it was more than he had before."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/the-mouse-merchant/3-5rSghSuPKqEFYQTR90FQRqnmCMwPYZ.webp","caption":"He sat by the road with roasted peas and a pot of cool water. The tired, thirsty woodcutters were glad to take them, and each gave him a couple of sticks of wood."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/the-mouse-merchant/4-UzyNmdLCEZSbOEmTSSuL7knhGQqXoj.webp","caption":"When the heavy rains came, wood became scarce and he sold his saved stock at a high price. Years later, a rich merchant himself, he gave Vishakhila a golden mouse as thanks."}]},"story:tantrakhyayika/the-jackal-and-the-drum":{"title":"The Jackal and the Drum","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-tantrakhyayika/the-jackal-and-the-drum/1-VKB3AniTD5G2XGeaOn6SbbJmcTklp7.webp","caption":"Damanaka came to the lion king and found him frightened. Far away in the forest, something was bellowing, a loud, rumbling roar."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-tantrakhyayika/the-jackal-and-the-drum/2-EKjCXhH9T3o63NDg7N1AI0kg2xNLX5.webp","caption":"The jackal was very weak with hunger. He heard a deep, thundering noise. His ears shot up and his paws stayed stuck to the ground."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-tantrakhyayika/the-jackal-and-the-drum/3-2K5lHwImn7m8kffaIVyHh4QV2t5ZAq.webp","caption":"He peeked out from behind the leaves. There was no giant, no roaring beast. Just a great war drum, and the tree's branches swinging down to strike it."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-tantrakhyayika/the-jackal-and-the-drum/4-uQEXbSA3EiNkmai0HxXMSMoXSIEwNQ.webp","caption":"He tore a hole in the skin and climbed inside, expecting a feast. But the drum was empty. Things that make the most noise are often hollow inside."}]},"story:nilamata-purana/why-kashmir-missed-the-war":{"title":"Why Kashmir Missed the Great War","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/why-kashmir-missed-the-war/1-s1Lh5Ee4QctsUwd6mEYBCSguJBCmqC.webp","caption":"Long ago, King Janamejaya, great-grandson of Arjuna, sat listening as the wise sage Vaishampayana told the tale of the Mahabharata, the great war at Kurukshetra."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/why-kashmir-missed-the-war/2-cpHSG1FJibvNO1qlikJCThbBKR1SPO.webp","caption":"\"Why do you never speak of the king of Kashmir?\" asked Janamejaya. \"Kashmir is such a famous land. Surely it would have sent an army?\""},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/why-kashmir-missed-the-war/3-YhOriCKYBSKbXwrxYNNoBYo4Mg1tt8.webp","caption":"Vaishampayana nodded. When the war came, the king of Kashmir was only a little boy, Gonanda, far too young to go to war. So the valley stayed outside it."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/why-kashmir-missed-the-war/4-ouIhCZqpJuAUPa7ceAfvArpDE7RkbW.webp","caption":"Then Vaishampayana told a story inside a story: how the sage Brihadashva told young Gonanda of the valley's lake, its gods, Nila's rules and its festivals. The lamp is still passed along."}]},"story:nilamata-purana/nilamata-krishna-and-yashovati":{"title":"Krishna Crowns a Widow","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/nilamata-krishna-and-yashovati/1-4zW7gRc6tlHbpqVEY5w9yWpzbv6y49.webp","caption":"Damodara was killed in the fight with Krishna. Back in Kashmir, his queen Yashovati was now a widow, waiting for her baby to be born."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/nilamata-krishna-and-yashovati/2-ECeE1hFoeDvwbgaaiBkOXajbjJLXO7.webp","caption":"Krishna held great power. He could have handed the valley to one of his friends and allies. What would he do?"},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/nilamata-krishna-and-yashovati/3-yHW6Kp1WSvbX4yD4xcb4I7Ha0xgtHX.webp","caption":"Krishna called together the Brahmins of Kashmir, and had Yashovati crowned as queen in her own right. Some of his companions asked, why give a kingdom to a woman?"},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/nilamata-krishna-and-yashovati/4-j7wbqsNCVYfdlrX1i8cyvqP2txKoRn.webp","caption":"Krishna said Kashmir is Parvati, the goddess, in the form of the earth. The one who rules such a land must be respected. Yashovati ruled Kashmir."}]},"story:nilamata-purana/the-beauty-of-kashmir":{"title":"In Praise of the Valley","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/the-beauty-of-kashmir/1-SB3JxEIzPUkNRG4ttkIjeGN2U7PJrS.webp","caption":"Before telling his big story, the sage Brihadashva stopped to talk lovingly about the land where it all happened: Kashmir, with mountains on every side like great strong arms."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/the-beauty-of-kashmir/2-M87971DWFzQWnqbyapDpRM5JOSBkqs.webp","caption":"Kashmir is full of cool, clear waters: sacred springs, rivers, and melting snow that feeds the streams. The land is rich with fruit, flowers and fields of good food."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/the-beauty-of-kashmir/3-4hXQVe38oewMCINzGurOTbDPXWPKlr.webp","caption":"The people are learned, devoted and cultured, and festivals fill the whole year. Gods, Nagas and sacred spots are found at every step."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/the-beauty-of-kashmir/4-qTjGmhBQoVy2ssoEZx4kWoqvwwgo9C.webp","caption":"Many Kashmiri families now live far away, but photographs of chinar trees and snowy peaks hang on their walls. Grandparents speak of the valley with longing."}]},"story:nilamata-purana/satisaras-and-the-nagas":{"title":"Sati's Lake and the Serpent People","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/satisaras-and-the-nagas/1-QUPSVKkDhtma8tMWDpDDv7SkMm4Ojm.webp","caption":"Long, long ago, the whole valley of Kashmir was a lake. It stretched from mountain to mountain, deep and clear. People called it Satisaras, the lake of Sati."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/satisaras-and-the-nagas/2-MbwRsDHeNjKu58fXamWVA1Tu8h7AAZ.webp","caption":"The Nagas are serpent beings who can take the form of snakes or of people. Garuda, the great eagle, hunted them, and the Nagas were very frightened of him."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/satisaras-and-the-nagas/3-iZqEQppjgDuGQAzJyKa3Dz57R3fvcn.webp","caption":"They found safety in the lake of Sati. The gods protected them there, and the great serpent Vasuki helped them too. Garuda could not touch them in that sacred water."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/satisaras-and-the-nagas/4-G5gPWx7HRFbgv0hSt9VE9s7FDyUNZX.webp","caption":"So Satisaras became a Naga kingdom. They made their homes deep in the lake and in its springs. The next time you see a clear spring, remember them."}]},"story:nilamata-purana/nila-the-naga-king":{"title":"Nila Becomes King of the Nagas","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/nila-the-naga-king/1-8ej96I4zrwYcOemJl3W6iFSpVqa7UL.webp","caption":"Nila was a Naga, a serpent person of the great lake of Sati. The Nagas needed a king, and they chose Nila. Vasuki is said to have placed him on the throne."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/nila-the-naga-king/2-bkNPZ4N6X6bSjTGsdNX7pLb4CYk2St.webp","caption":"A demon named Jalodbhava began to terrorise the region. He frightened everyone. Nila went to his father, the sage Kashyapa, and asked for his help."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/nila-the-naga-king/3-L3C9kPVPII0ezp4gcQiDr9r9gOUr7G.webp","caption":"When humans came to settle in the valley, Nila shared his land with them. He taught Chandradeva which festivals to keep, which gods to honour, and how to respect the waters."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/nila-the-naga-king/4-eIGeS85Qe3TyAOl5PiQeJnazbl496a.webp","caption":"Chandradeva handed the teachings down to everyone else. That is why Kashmir's oldest book is called the Nilamata, \"the teaching of Nila.\" Nila became Kashmir's first lawgiver."}]},"story:nilamata-purana/kashyapa-and-nila-seek-help":{"title":"Nila Goes to His Father","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/kashyapa-and-nila-seek-help/1-69DkmgqFeRlXaLFzevLsrYSfo6DL2J.webp","caption":"In the green valley we now call Kashmir, there was a great lake. In that lake lived a demon named Jalodbhava, and he was a danger to everyone."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/kashyapa-and-nila-seek-help/2-27BylfgKPlr0AepyoJ9Ks2MLfdMUKI.webp","caption":"Nila was a king of the Nagas, proud and powerful, but wise. He knew he could not defeat Jalodbhava alone, so he would go and find his father."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/kashyapa-and-nila-seek-help/3-at83DDzFCFXqpqCaarbluBV1qWHU8A.webp","caption":"At a sacred place, Nila found his father Kashyapa. He bowed low and touched his father's feet, then told him everything. Kashyapa did not hesitate. He set aside his journey and agreed to help."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/kashyapa-and-nila-seek-help/4-eS5sXcmEpyylQVKshf8yvKC72Zfi2h.webp","caption":"Father and son went to the world of Brahma, who agreed to act. With Vishnu and Shiva, the gods gathered on the peak of Naubandhana, looking down at the lake."}]},"story:nilamata-purana/draining-of-satisaras":{"title":"The Draining of the Lake","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/draining-of-satisaras/1-nZvCJC65CD2C69hqBQUmZj6dBe0X9f.webp","caption":"Long ago, the gods gathered on the mountain peaks around a great lake. It was the lake of Sati, and it lay still and quiet below them."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/draining-of-satisaras/2-YVy0AfvvPz9pF6KDys5NhTxue5hzHI.webp","caption":"Vishnu had an answer. \"If the demon will not leave the water,\" he said, \"then the water will leave the demon.\""},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/draining-of-satisaras/3-GvSwzgSgjn6hmZFQ0MxZPxMIhHBEuS.webp","caption":"The mountains that held the lake were broken open. A gap appeared in the ring of hills. And the water rushed out!"},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/draining-of-satisaras/4-uLRcY0GT7RFOX7xPBKXMs3sBlmhi9t.webp","caption":"As the water fell away, Jalodbhava was left exposed. He was like a fish in a drying pond. His great protection was gone."}]},"story:nilamata-purana/death-of-jalodbhava":{"title":"Shiva Holds the Sun and Moon","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/death-of-jalodbhava/1-vLpm62EaNzla8JETbuJohEIMrjBuja.webp","caption":"The lake was gone. Where the blue water had been, there was only mud and puddles. Somewhere in the lowest hollow, a demon crouched. His name was Jalodbhava."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/death-of-jalodbhava/2-h0xquZMpQ7mNM9SgpzLUri1AEjlqTF.webp","caption":"He filled the whole world with a thick, heavy darkness. The gods could not see the demon. Their armies stumbled about blindly and lost their way."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/death-of-jalodbhava/3-KInY4rJwPAfMIQyHT4CrDorDOOmAaV.webp","caption":"Then Shiva stepped forward. He took the sun in one hand and the moon in the other, and held them high. Light flooded the valley!"},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/death-of-jalodbhava/4-OVpi4srSXNQQkxTSEdCy560rCpSNXI.webp","caption":"Vishnu came down to fight him. He raised his discus and struck the demon down. The danger was over at last, and the valley lay open under the sun and the moon."}]},"story:nilamata-purana/kashyapas-curse-and-the-pishachas":{"title":"Kashyapa's Curse and the Winter Goblins","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/kashyapas-curse-and-the-pishachas/1-JpUDteqCcbJModl8iJBD0DPz1vtlff.webp","caption":"The great lake had been drained. Where deep water once lay, a beautiful new land stretched out, wide and open. The soil was rich and soft."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/kashyapas-curse-and-the-pishachas/2-Vu993R5t6NGZCP9e6vYDpbUsR9kOnu.webp","caption":"Kashyapa wanted humans to live in the valley. But the Nagas did not want to share their home, so they said no. Kashyapa was angry."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/kashyapas-curse-and-the-pishachas/3-l5IHYBJFvNz1yzlpVpRXUqcRWJmbiU.webp","caption":"Nila was horrified. He begged his father to make the curse softer. Kashyapa changed its terms: humans and Pishachas would share the valley, in turns."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/kashyapas-curse-and-the-pishachas/4-n5OfG0LMpCzp7mk1tUoOmiwVdlQVEj.webp","caption":"People came in the warm six months and farmed and worshipped the gods. Before winter, they packed up and left. When the cold arrived, so did the Pishachas."}]},"story:nilamata-purana/chandradeva-learns-the-rules":{"title":"Chandradeva and the Teaching of Nila","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/chandradeva-learns-the-rules/1-9TVuiaw1SpQVQZXGLe9FHa79MHnEnV.webp","caption":"Humans came to Kashmir only for the summer. When the cold of winter was about to arrive, everyone packed up and left before the winter goblins came."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/chandradeva-learns-the-rules/2-nefP2nhcYZqi5GclY4Tef6KjXh5PPh.webp","caption":"One year, Chandradeva did something different. He stayed behind in the valley. He went and came before Nila, the king of the Nagas."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/chandradeva-learns-the-rules/3-R8LmcKyKoiWBtKfgh0wx6L5y0vNTIp.webp","caption":"Nila taught him everything people would need to live in harmony with the valley: which gods to worship, the festivals of the year, and how to honour the Nagas and respect the rivers."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/chandradeva-learns-the-rules/4-Uw7rrrlnvUUztzZWDEFM5E81ribbFc.webp","caption":"The humans came back to the valley, and Chandradeva was there, waiting. He passed on everything Nila had taught. For the first time, people could stay all year round."}]},"story:nilamata-purana/vitasta-the-river-goddess":{"title":"Vitasta: The Goddess Who Became a River","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/vitasta-the-river-goddess/1-Ohdq4WpWoQo01L6JXrwYorNFTflnGO.webp","caption":"The lake had been drained, and the land lay open and new. So the wise sage Kashyapa sat down and prayed to Shiva."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/vitasta-the-river-goddess/2-4e4HswPrD67Z41E6C9posgRGoH4PJG.webp","caption":"Shiva listened, and Shiva agreed. He asked his wife, the goddess Uma, to take the form of a river and go to the valley. And she said yes."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/vitasta-the-river-goddess/3-Ax7a8rmTsDfPd3wwSYyY4UzybdJN0v.webp","caption":"Shiva struck the ground with his trident. The earth opened, and from a hole no wider than a hand, the goddess rose up as a river!"},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/vitasta-the-river-goddess/4-KcaFyOtMWoyKqOu1yir6MWX1XOF3rE.webp","caption":"On her birthday, people light little lamps and float them on the river. They offer flowers and they say their prayers."}]},"story:nilamata-purana/rivers-as-goddesses":{"title":"The Goddesses Who Flow Through Kashmir","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/rivers-as-goddesses/1-6G7nHpPJ676NoaRubXE75NirUWXvcD.webp","caption":"Kashmir's map is covered in blue lines, like ribbons dropped on a green cloth. The Nilamata says the rivers are not only water. They are goddesses."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/rivers-as-goddesses/2-QFmPuPGNPPNPFFq8H5jqnrnoMK9II4.webp","caption":"Streams run down from every mountain, from Pahalgam, Sonamarg and beyond. The Nilamata imagines them as sisters, coming to keep the Vitasta company and to bless the valley."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/rivers-as-goddesses/3-TNNyoW3X0jdBPDfKpmETi8Hfo51ywn.webp","caption":"Near Shadipur, the Vitasta meets the Sindhu. Pilgrims came to bathe there and perform rites for their ancestors. Two rivers, two goddesses, joining in front of the pilgrims."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-nilamata-purana/rivers-as-goddesses/4-JW1fA2SKiVJ9EcbcXFSIStbDhfUDAC.webp","caption":"If a stream is a goddess, you would visit her, thank her and keep her clean. Bathing in a river and making her an offering were ways of visiting her."}]},"story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-fastidious-brahmins":{"title":"Vetala Tale: The Three Very Fussy Brothers","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-fastidious-brahmins/1-DZRiZmEX0pc1fyUhKCDmTHh3yavJtM.webp","caption":"The first brother was fussy about food. The second was fussy about women. The third was fussy about beds. Each one said, \"I am the most refined of us all!\""},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-fastidious-brahmins/2-05XHuLNW3KKDefISY6JrYcatRfp2NH.webp","caption":"The first brother took just one small mouthful and pushed his plate away. The second brother turned his face away: \"She smells of goats.\""},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-fastidious-brahmins/3-o7Dq3IQzsMIxzNlwEod3iKftb8zoDF.webp","caption":"Under all seven mattresses, they found one single hair! The brother showed his back. There was a red mark, in exactly the place where the hair had pressed."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-fastidious-brahmins/4-WCIlu0BP17gR7lKcuTeBvIIiFimg2f.webp","caption":"The Vetala asked, \"Which of the three brothers was the most fussy?\" The king answered, \"The one who was fussy about beds.\""}]},"story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-madanasenas-promise":{"title":"Vetala Tale: Madanasena's Promise","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-madanasenas-promise/1-m1FPPH9WpLE16VxMvvcfgAldOxPBnr.webp","caption":"Madanasena was a merchant's daughter, very beautiful, and already promised in marriage. In a garden, a young man fell in love with her. She said, \"I cannot. I am promised to another.\""},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-madanasenas-promise/2-51A7bKs1BBkzOUUAtUwFGPPooNDKKN.webp","caption":"To calm him, she promised, \"After my wedding, I will come to you first.\" On her wedding night she told her husband everything. He said, \"A promise is a promise. Go.\""},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-madanasenas-promise/3-B8fa1J2m6CIaC4IikEupVYCMfHurQf.webp","caption":"On the dark road a thief stopped her, eyeing her jewels. She told him the truth: \"Let me keep my word. On my way back, I will give you my jewels.\""},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-madanasenas-promise/4-4ojrogExGpL56yxmRX0JSTNAPcLR1C.webp","caption":"The young man felt ashamed and sent her home with respect. The thief refused her jewels too. Madanasena returned to her husband, and they lived together in trust."}]},"story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-delicate-queens":{"title":"Vetala Tale: The Three Delicate Queens","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-delicate-queens/1-lBUuWo4wulxqOEJqkt69UZ5LjMHLOW.webp","caption":"There was once a king who had three queens. Each queen was more delicate than the one before."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-delicate-queens/2-xFnwfngPuFTDggAT3pEpk4J7f9fLgi.webp","caption":"A lotus petal fell into the first queen's lap. Its touch left a painful bruise. The second queen, touched by moonlight, was covered in blisters by morning."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-delicate-queens/3-J58gjucDQa06y7xDp12h96SifY3Gg9.webp","caption":"She heard women pounding rice, far away in the town. Thud, thud, thud. At once, her hands became covered in bruises."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-delicate-queens/4-NczxlgoCmMYtUs52HRq76ABDdnkzWT.webp","caption":"The king replied, 'The third. Nothing touched her at all. So she was the most delicate.' The Vetala laughed and slipped back to his tree."}]},"story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-lion-makers":{"title":"Vetala Tale: The Brothers Who Brought a Lion to Life","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-lion-makers/1-IzwGwDSP32e7GYFuGTH2pDVKjhuaxl.webp","caption":"There were four brothers. Their father was a Brahmin, but the family had fallen on hard times. So each brother went his own way to learn a special science."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-lion-makers/2-ZwvpNBDZlhPqNJUORfxEx51huZM3sG.webp","caption":"At last the four met again. They walked together through a forest and found a pile of old bones scattered on the ground. They were the bones of a lion."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-lion-makers/3-6ioSqHTG14ZVp2AkU9nkLpaAjR8iJG.webp","caption":"The first brother put the bones together into a skeleton. The second added flesh and skin, and the third gave blood and inner parts. The fourth said, \"I can breathe life into it.\""},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-lion-makers/4-6sOdKT7yST8mLPvOTIPnklF3GN2hA3.webp","caption":"The fourth brother was proud of his skill, and he did not stop. The lion opened its eyes and stood up. And then it leapt."}]},"story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-father-and-son":{"title":"Vetala Tale: The Riddle the King Could Not Answer","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-father-and-son/1-Lhi4hSDxn4YnWAB7pXJbRbJ73AJhlZ.webp","caption":"A king was defeated in battle and lost his life. The queen and her daughter, afraid of their enemies, fled into a forest."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-father-and-son/2-u2PSX6pjXK0nuezlLpDjgnpSgIK7uj.webp","caption":"They found the two women. The mother had small, delicate feet. Her daughter had larger feet. So the son married the mother, and the father married the daughter."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-father-and-son/3-DJTUw7DS62Si6hWOULGRo36osvMRsB.webp","caption":"The relations were tangled up like threads in a basket. There was no simple answer at all. For the first time, the king said nothing."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-father-and-son/4-kEnKAex44PkCKdMDVJy3rDgSJy9u3n.webp","caption":"\"At last,\" it said, \"you are silent because you truly do not know. I am pleased with your wisdom and your patience.\""}]},"story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-the-end":{"title":"Vetala Tale: The Ascetic's Secret Plot","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-the-end/1-n4wn0J2tLacnX1zskyoUvxEu5wv63M.webp","caption":"The king had been carrying a corpse on his shoulder through the whole night. Inside the corpse lived a Vetala, who was ready to tell him the truth."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-the-end/2-lqlWJgiGr4czp3sBfJstyYMVa5zAFe.webp","caption":"The king carried the corpse to the cremation ground. Kshantishila was waiting there with his fire and his offerings. \"Now bow down before the goddess,\" he said."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-the-end/3-UzqUGPDSJIB4vuBjT4lA4AwBR22k9V.webp","caption":"\"I am a king. I have never bowed down like that before. Please, show me.\" The ascetic lay down to show him. In that single moment, the king struck."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-kathasaritsagara/vetala-the-end/4-HgRRLpK7ZnMV50ndaIS17hPe1nFmiJ.webp","caption":"Shiva praised the king and offered a boon. The king asked that the Vetala's stories become famous everywhere. The king ruled for a long time, and he ruled well."}]},"story:ramavatarcharit/a-ramayana-in-kashmiri":{"title":"A Ramayana in the Language of Home","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-ramavatarcharit/a-ramayana-in-kashmiri/1-9WqfGyoKWut0anCyCc1hyFClQ93JCH.webp","caption":"Prakash Ram came from a village called Kurigam. He had a big idea: to tell the whole story of Rama in the language his neighbours spoke at home."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-ramavatarcharit/a-ramayana-in-kashmiri/2-EoFkKJPOEKBMreiyUbAOroYgr1vtJO.webp","caption":"Long stories told in verse, grand tales called epics, were rare in Kashmiri. So when Prakash Ram began, he was walking a new path."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-ramavatarcharit/a-ramayana-in-kashmiri/3-yEXccd5DNJaOsYsCGyoZ6QjxRz1Lml.webp","caption":"He called his book the Ramavatarcharit. Rama's mother Kaushalya, Sita and Rama felt their sorrows sung like Kashmiri folk songs, and the forests and rivers carried the flavour of the valley."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-ramavatarcharit/a-ramayana-in-kashmiri/4-ckTtr5PzmMYaxxdIYnKFhWT3CGFo5T.webp","caption":"Kashmiri Pandit families took it into their homes and recited it aloud at gatherings. Voice by voice, year by year, this kept the Ramayana alive in Kashmiri."}]},"story:ramavatarcharit/sita-daughter-of-ravana":{"title":"Sita, Daughter of Ravana","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-ramavatarcharit/sita-daughter-of-ravana/1-Br618bjo5o850WfYNUcmihILUtsmWN.webp","caption":"In Kashmir's telling, Sita was born in Lanka. Her father was Ravana, king of Lanka, and her mother was his queen, Mandodari."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-ramavatarcharit/sita-daughter-of-ravana/2-ZZPzQOI1je5VmpLaC7E41gh1X7GUKg.webp","caption":"The astrologers read the stars and gave a heavy warning: this child would one day bring about the end of her father and his kingdom."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-ramavatarcharit/sita-daughter-of-ravana/3-VC7aBXe1Mt8OuDQahP8aIynRLIPRUo.webp","caption":"The baby was placed in a box. The box was set adrift on the water, and the water carried her away."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-ramavatarcharit/sita-daughter-of-ravana/4-vi2S4pmUnjPv3C3YAptF4VBkYJcG4Q.webp","caption":"The box floated on and on. In time, King Janaka found the baby and raised her, and she was called Sita."}]},"story:ramavatarcharit/lava-kusha-in-kashmiri":{"title":"Sita's Sons and Sita's Sorrow","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-ramavatarcharit/lava-kusha-in-kashmiri/1-jTGHRLGYLhejRJ7AlLCRSda8YG1hkZ.webp","caption":"Rama and Sita came home to Ayodhya after the great war. But some people began to gossip, and Rama made a very hard choice: he sent Sita away to the forest."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-ramavatarcharit/lava-kusha-in-kashmiri/2-TC8yVSki63XAUo5wg4FADXNkFCQDAN.webp","caption":"In the forest, Sita found shelter in the hermitage of the sage Valmiki, who welcomed her. There she gave birth to twin sons, Lava and Kusha."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-ramavatarcharit/lava-kusha-in-kashmiri/3-SM05O14TkLQPAvwoJoUgnUb7VCEMMP.webp","caption":"The twins grew up strong and gifted. Valmiki taught them to sing the story of Rama himself. Then, at Rama's great ceremony, they stood before him and sang the Ramayana."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/story-ramavatarcharit/lava-kusha-in-kashmiri/4-iELdvp7aOgOFlLaCGwyeuwBAWYj2Tb.webp","caption":"Sita was summoned, but she had suffered so much. She did not go back to the palace. Instead, she called on her mother, the earth, who gently took her back."}]},"legend:navreh-mavas":{"title":"Navreh Eve (Thaal Barun)","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-navreh-mavas/1-1d4KkStThF2vlr0jq6SU9azqKYDU9t.webp","caption":"It was the evening of the new moon, just before Navreh. The sky was dark and quiet, but in the house everything was busy and bright."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-navreh-mavas/2-NYleb34Rfps9jQ37T2sw64LSc4DBer.webp","caption":"Knock, knock, knock. It was the family priest, who came every year before Navreh. He carried the new jantri and the painted scroll called the Kreel Pach."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-navreh-mavas/3-PWxuV5mK8HmYe3hPP6i4P07IERbXdU.webp","caption":"Then the family built a little world on a plate, the thaal. They added grain, bread, salt, money, a pen, and flowers."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-navreh-mavas/4-iEeRIWQH8O3OLRLgT02sy5nVU0n2gc.webp","caption":"When the sun comes up on Navreh, the family wakes to a world that is new. The first thing they see is a world of plenty, right there on a plate."}]},"legend:navreh":{"title":"Navreh (Kashmiri Pandit New Year)","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-navreh/1-0LpxxUowgBFaC91E5DEVR6HFBXEODa.webp","caption":"Long ago, in the valley of Kashmir, there was a hill called Hari Parbat. It rises above the city of Srinagar."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-navreh/2-MRf0eXAqdG0bm1aMGp1hQsmxGg3zYF.webp","caption":"Seven great sages, the Saptarishis, came to Hari Parbat to bow to the goddess Sharika, at the very moment the new year began."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-navreh/3-hrX2Q7L2SV0p57eurKuWD9sBy3Grko.webp","caption":"They bowed to the goddess Sharika, and in that same moment, a new year began. Then the astrologers began counting the years from that moment."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-navreh/4-0fOWGtG8C3nEWKeVo4fJ4xVMjSshbs.webp","caption":"When you look at your thaal, remember the sages and the goddess. You are keeping a count of time that is thousands of years old."}]},"legend:chaitra-navratri":{"title":"Chaitra Navratri","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-chaitra-navratri/1-bpVaAogo1oPXJ3dnkDnRImEwI5jTPb.webp","caption":"Kashmir has always been a land of the goddess. She is the Mother, and she has homes in many places, each with its own name."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-chaitra-navratri/2-mLigSYA3iG00KSzwWUv7MuEUap5cxV.webp","caption":"Sharika on Hari Parbat. Ragnya at Tulmul. Jwala at Khrew. Three places and three names, and still she is the Mother."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-chaitra-navratri/3-lCIxd25NpOsjxBUw4vmmIH6O0CyuqG.webp","caption":"When spring comes, a new year begins. The people of Kashmir give nine nights to the Mother, from Navreh to Ram Navami."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-chaitra-navratri/4-BRcc4cf1gfR2CEhUzZnfQHpZKTVooa.webp","caption":"The road is long, but you are not walking it alone. And so the new year begins, and the Mother walks beside you."}]},"legend:zang-trai":{"title":"Zang Trai","model":"gpt-image-2","panels":[{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-zang-trai/1-jA8X51vLX03bHHtb5vpMNZ8CkDKWMs.webp","caption":"Long ago, in the green valley of Kashmir, winter was ending. Navreh was coming, and Parvati's parents were busy getting everything ready."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-zang-trai/2-hAwHYD7Nr11vFK3l9d77ECuiTTiG6M.webp","caption":"Navreh came, and homes were full of voices and good things to eat. But Parvati's place at the table stayed empty. Nobody had called her home."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-zang-trai/3-ewtxDjpGIuxj4EyOP38VTm39gbIHXG.webp","caption":"Then they realised what had happened. They had forgotten their own daughter! They decided to make it right, and called Parvati home on the third day."},{"url":"https://a23xjwjhcfsj8liv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/comics/legend-zang-trai/4-7RSLOCZu0D3rRUfqrf4NsLYUfGSIoE.webp","caption":"There was a feast, and the old house was warm and bright again. Her parents sent her home with gifts: salt, bread and a little money."}]}},"vakhs":{"source":"Sir George Grierson and Lionel D. Barnett, Lallā-Vākyāni, or The Wise Sayings of Lal Ded (Royal Asiatic Society, 1920)","url":"https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.174725","vakhs":[{"n":1,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.8,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":2,"english":"There is there no word or (thought of) mind. There is there no non-transcendent or transcendent. Not by vow of silence, not by mystic attitudes, is there entry there. Not there dwell Siva and his Sakti. If there remaineth somewhat, that is what the doctrine teacheth.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.63,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":3,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.85,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":4,"english":"Slowly, slowly, did I stop my breath in the bellows-pipe (of my throat). Thereby did the lamp (of knowledge) blaze up within me, and then was my true nature revealed unto me. I winnowed forth abroad my inner light, So that, in the darkness itself, I could seize (the truth) and hold it tight.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.71,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":5,"english":"He who hath deemed another and himself as the same, He who hath deemed the day (of joy) and the night (of sorrow) to be alike, He whose mind hath become free from duality, He, and he alone, hath seen the Lord of the Chiefest of gods.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.9,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":6,"english":"They who have gained experience of the Knowledge-light,— of that Self which is compact of pure spirit and of bliss, They, while yet alive, have gained release (from earthly births). But, to the tangled net of continual rebirth, Have ignorant fools added knot by knot in hundreds.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.67,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":7,"english":"Lord, I have not known myself or other than myself. Continually have I mortified this vile body. That Thou art I, that I am Thou, that these are joined in one I knew not. It is doubt to say, 'Who am I?' and 'Who art Thou?'","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.59,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":8,"english":"When the sun disappeared, then came the moonlight; When the moon disappeared then only mind remained; When (absorbed in the Infinite) mind disappeared, then naught anywhere was left; Earth, ether, and sky all took their departure.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.83,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":10,"english":"Arise, O Lady, set out to make thine offering, Bearing in thy hand wine, flesh, and cates. If thou know the syllable that is itself the Supreme Place, Thou (wilt also know that) if thou violate the custom it is all the same. What loss is there therein?","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":11,"english":"Holy books will disappear, and then only the mystic formula will remain. When the mystic formula departed, naught but mind was left. When the mind disappeared naught was left anywhere, And a void became merged within the Void.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":13,"english":"God of the dark blue throat! As Thou hast the six, so the same six have I. And yet, estranged from Thee, into misery have I fallen. Only this discord was there, that, though betwixt Thee and me there was no difference, Thou wast the Lord of six, while I by six was led astray.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":14,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.69,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":15,"english":"Siva is the horse. Zealously employed upon the saddle is Visnu, and, upon the stirrup, Brahma. The Yogi, by the art of his yoga, will recognize who is the god that will mount upon him as the rider.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":16,"english":"When cold hath obtained the mastery over water, the water becometh ice; Or, again, it may be turned to snow. Thus there are three different things; but, on reflection, we see that they are not different. When the sun of the Supreme Consciousness shineth forth, the three will become the same. Lo! By it all things, whether with life or without it, the universe itself, are seen as only Siva.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.7,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":17,"english":"An idol is but a lump of stone, a temple is but a lump of stone. From crown to sole each is of but the one stuff. O learned Pandit! what is this to which thou offerest worship? Bring thou together a determined mind and thy vital airs.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.47,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":18,"english":"Let him utter a thousand abuses at me. But, if I be innately devoted to Siva (or if I be devoted to Siva the Real and the True) disquiet will find no abode within my heart.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.95,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":19,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":20,"english":"Though thou hast knowledge, be thou as a fool; though thou canst see, be thou as he that is one-eyed; Though thou canst hear, be thou as one dumb; in all things be thou as a non-sentient block. Whatever any one may say to thee, say thou the same to him (or, if we read boz, whatever any one may say to thee, listen thou and agree). It is this that is the true practice for obtaining the knowledge of the basal truths.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.78,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":21,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":22,"english":"The day will be extinguished, and night will come; The surface of the earth will become extended to the sky; On the day of the new moon, the moon swallowed up the demon of eclipse. The illumination of the Self in the organ of thought is the true worship of Siva.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.97,"kashmiri":0.53,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":23,"english":"Look upon thy mind alone as the ocean of existence. If thou restrain it not, but let it loose, from its rage will issue angry words, like wounds caused by fire. Yet, if thou weigh them in the scales of truth, their weight is naught.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.97,"kashmiri":0.39,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":24,"english":"Integrity and high repute are but water carried in a basket. If some mighty man can grasp the wind within his fist, Or if he can tether an elephant with a hair of his head, Only if one be skilled in such feats as these, will he be successful (in retaining integrity and high repute).","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.65,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":25,"english":"By (controlling) my vital airs I cut my way through the six forests, till the digit of the moon awoke for me, and the material world dried up within me. With the fire of love I parched my heart as a man parcheth grain, And at that moment did I obtain Siva.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.53,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":26,"english":"The steed of my thoughts speedeth over the sky (of my heart). A hundred thousand leagues traverseth he in the twinkling of an eye. The wise man knew how to block the wheels (of the chariot) of his outward and inward vital airs, as he seized the horse by the bridle of self-realization.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.95,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":27,"english":"By eating and apparelling the mind will not become at peace. They only have ascended who have abandoned false hopes. When they have learnt from the scriptures that the fear of Yama is terrible (to him who is in debt to Desire), And when the lender hath trusted them not (with a loan), then indeed live they blessed and at peace.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.73,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":29,"english":"Quietism and self-command are not required for (the knowledge of) the Self, Nor by the mere wish wilt thou reach the door of final release. E'en though a man become absorbed (in his contemplations) as salt is absorbed in water, Still rarely doth he attain to the discernment of the nature of his Self.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.4,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":30,"english":"Slay thou desire; meditate thou on the nature of the Self. Abandon thou thy vain imaginings; for know thou that that knowledge is rare and of great price. Yet is it near by thee; search for it not afar. (It is naught but a void); and a void has become merged within the Void.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.6,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":31,"english":"The foulness of my mind fled from me as foulness from a mirror, And then among the people did I gain repute (as a devotee). When I beheld Him, that He was near me, I saw that all was He, and that I am nothing.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.94,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":32,"english":"Some, though they be sound asleep, are yet awake; On others, though they be awake, hath slumber fallen. Some, though they bathe in sacred pools, are yet unclean; Others, though they be full of household cares, are yet free from action.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.97,"kashmiri":0.84,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":33,"english":"He who hath recognized the Brahma-randhra as the shrine of the Self-God, He who hath known the Unobstructed Sound borne upon the breath (that riseth from the heart) unto the nose, His vain imaginings of themselves have fled far away, And he himself (recognizeth) himself as the God. To whom else, therefore, should he offer worship?","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.98,"kashmiri":0.42,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":34,"english":"He from whose navel steadfastly proceedeth in its upward course the syllable Om, and naught but it, And for whom the kumbhaka exercise formeth a bridge to the Brahma-randhra, He beareth in his mind the one and only mystic spell, And of what benefit to him are a thousand spells?","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.97,"kashmiri":0.8,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":35,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":36,"english":"I came into this universe of birth and rebirth, and through asceticism gained I the self-illuminating light of knowledge. If any man die, it is naught to me; and if I die it is naught to him. Good is it if I die, and good is it if I live long.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.87,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":37,"english":"To stop a flowing stream, to cool a raging fire, To walk on one's feet in the sky, To labour at milking a wooden cow, — All these, in the end, are but base jugglery.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.53,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":39,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.95,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":40,"english":"The mind is the man, and pure desire is the woman, that bringeth wreaths. Offer thou the flowers of devotion in His worship. Nectar of the moon, for ritual, shalt thou make to stream over Him. By the mystic formula of silence will the Siva-Self become manifest.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.94,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":41,"english":"Thou alone art the heavens, and Thou alone art the earth. Thou alone art the day, the air, the night. Thou alone art the meal-offering, the sandal inunction, the flowers, the water of aspersion. Thou alone art all that is. What, therefore, can I offer thee?","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.89,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":42,"english":"He who hath slain the thieves — desire, lust, and pride — When he hath slain these highway robbers, he hath thereby made himself the servant (of all). He hath searched out Him who is the real and true Lord. He hath meditated and found that all that is is ashes.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.88,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":44,"english":"Absorbed within Thyself, Thou remainedst hidden from me. The livelong day I passed seeking for 'me' and 'Thee'. When I beheld Thee in my Self, I gave to Thee and to my Self the unrestrained rapture of (our union).","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.93,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":45,"english":"Kusa-grass, flowers, sesame-seed, water, — all the paraphernalia of worship — are wanted not by him who taketh into heart with honest faith his teacher's word. In his own loving longing he will ever meditate upon Sambhu. He will sink into the true joyance; and so, becoming in his nature free from action, he will not be born again.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.98,"kashmiri":0.56,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":46,"english":"He it is who laugheth, who sneezeth, who cougheth, who yawneth. He it is who ceaselessly batheth in holy pools. He it is who is an ascetic, naked from year's end to year's end. Recognize thou that verily He is nigh to thee.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.96,"kashmiri":0.53,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":48,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.79,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":49,"english":"Foulness burnt I from my soul. My heart (with its desires) did I slay. And then did my name of Lalla spread abroad, When I sat, just there, with bended knee.","kashmiri":"mat wondi zolum\nzigar mo rum\nteli Lal nav dram\nyeli dal trot[?]mas tat","check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.71,"confidence":"medium"}},{"n":50,"english":"Three times do I remember a lake overflowing. Once do I remember seeing in the firmament the only existing place. Once do I remember seeing a bridge from Haramukh to Kansan. Seven times do I remember seeing the whole world a void.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":51,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":52,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":53,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":54,"english":"The same woman is a mother, and giveth milk unto her babe. The same woman, as a wife, hath her special character. The same woman, as a deceiver, endeth by taking thy life. Hardly, in sooth, is Siva to be found. Meditate therefore on the doctrine.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":55,"english":"Some have abandoned home, some have abandoned hermitage; But fruitless is every abiding-place, if thou hast not thy mind under subjection. Day and night counting each breath, As thou art, so there abide.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.61,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":56,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":57,"english":"56. O my Teacher! Thou who art as God to me! Explain thou to me the inner meaning; for it is known to thee. Two breathings are there, both taking their rise in the City of the Bulb. Why then is hah cold, and hah hot? 57. The region of the navel is by nature fiery hot. Thence proceedeth thy vital air, rising to thy throat, (and issueth from thy mouth as hah). When it meeteth the river flowing from the Brahmarandhra (it issueth from thy mouth as hah), And therefore hah is cold, and hah is hot.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.99,"kashmiri":0.85,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":58,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.94,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":59,"english":"There is no 'Thou', no 'I', no object of contemplation, not even contemplation. It is only the All-Creator, who Himself became lost in forgetfulness. The blind folk saw not any meaning in this. But when they saw the Supreme, the seven worlds became lost in nothingness.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.61,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":60,"english":"I searched for myself, and wearied myself in vain, For no one hath, I ween, e'er by such efforts reached the hidden knowledge. Then absorbed I myself in It, and straightway reached the abode of nectar, Where there are many filled jars, but no one drinketh from them.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.4,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":61,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":64,"english":"Whatever work I may do, the burden of the completion thereof lieth on myself, But the earnings and the collecting of the fruits thereof are another's. If in the end, without thought for their fruits, I lay these works as an offering before the Supreme Self, Then, where'er I may go, there is it well for me.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.67,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":65,"english":"He who ever calleth on the name of Siva and who beareth in mind the Way of the Swan, Even if night and day he remain busy with his worldly calling, And who without thought for fruits maketh his mind non-dualist, On him alone is ever gracious the Lord of the Chiefest of gods.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.98,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":66,"english":"Thou hast cut up the hide and pegged it down, all for thyself. Hast thou sown such seed that it will bear abounding fruit? Fool! teaching proffered to thee is but balls flung at a boundary-pillar. It is all lost, as though sweet stuff were fed unto a tawny bullock.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.97,"kashmiri":0.63,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":67,"english":"Good Sir, for thee will I keep weeping with gentle sound and gentle words. My Soul! love for the world, begotten of illusion, hath befallen thee.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":68,"english":"I, Lalla, passed in through the door of the jasmine-garden of my soul. And there, O Joy! saw I Siva seated united with His Sakti. There became I absorbed in the lake of nectar. Now, what can (existence) do unto me? For, even though alive, I shall in it be dead.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.33,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":69,"english":"With a rein did I hold back the steed of my thought. By ardent practice did I bring together the vital airs of my ten nadis. Therefore did the digit of the moon melt and descend unto me, And a void became merged within the Void.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.53,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":70,"english":"Put thou thy thoughts upon the path of immortality. If thou leave them without guidance, into evil state will they fall. There, be thou not fearful, but be thou very courageous. For they are like unto a suckling child, that tosseth restless on its mother's bosom.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":71,"english":"Murder thou the murderous demons, lust, anger, and desire. Otherwise they will aim their arrows, and destroy thy Self. With careful thought, by meditation on thy Self, give to them quietism as their only food. Then wilt thou know what, and how little firm, is their realm of power.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.9,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":72,"english":"Ah restless mind! have no fear within thy heart. The Beginningless One Himself taketh thought for thee, (And considereth) how hunger may fall from thee. Utter, therefore, to Him alone the cry of salvation.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.67,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":73,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.5,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":74,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.88,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":75,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":76,"english":"Clothe thou thy body in the garb of knowledge. Brand thou on thy heart the verses that Lalla spake. With the help of the pranava Lalla absorbed herself in union with the Soul-light, and so expelled the fear of death.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.83,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":77,"english":"Ah thou hasty one, feed thou those fatted rams — the five principles of experience — on the grain and cates of spiritual meditation, and then slay them. Not till then wilt thou gain the knowledge of the place of the Supreme, and (thou wilt also know that) if thou violate custom it is all the same, and causeth thee no loss.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.63,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":78,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.93,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":79,"english":"The mind is he who is wrapped in sleep, and when it hath transcended the kula it is he who is awake. The five organs are the lake that continually oozeth away. That holy thing which a man may offer in worship to Hara is the discrimination of the Self. That supreme station to which thou wilt attain is the Spirit-Siva.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.98,"kashmiri":0.89,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":80,"english":"If I had known how by my mind to bring into subjection my nadis, How to cut, how to bind up; then should I have known how to crush sorrow, And gradually to compound the Great Elixir. Hardly, in sooth, is Siva to be found. Meditate therefore on the doctrine.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.97,"kashmiri":0.79,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":81,"english":"However oft I quaffed that wine — the water of the Sindhu, However many parts I played upon the stage, However many lumps of human flesh I ate, Still I am the same Lalla, and what profit was it all to me?","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":82,"english":"When by concentration of my thoughts I brought the pranava under my control, I made my body like a blazing coal. The six paths I traversed and gained the seventh; and then did I, Lalla, reach the place of illumination.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.97,"kashmiri":0.35,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":83,"english":"A wise man saw I a-dying of hunger, As the leaves fall with even a gentle wind in the wintry month of Pausa. And saw I also a fool beating his cook. Since then have I, Lalla, been waiting for the day when love for the world will be cut from me.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.81,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":84,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.82,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":85,"english":"What is this that hath happened? What kind hath bechanced me? I made all things out of order, on what sand-bank shall I run aground? It turned out well for me, for I myself will learn to know (my Self).","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":86,"english":"Once wast thou a swan, and now thou hast become mute. Some one, I know not who, hath run off with something of thine. As soon as the mill became stopped, the grain channel became choked. And away ran the miller with the grain.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":87,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.92,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":88,"english":"Let not the ass loose to stray from thy guiding hand. Or, of a surety, will it devour thy neighbour's saffron-garden. Who then will there be there to offer his back to thee to mount, Where the sword will fall upon thy naked form?","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.53,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":89,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":90,"english":"I came to know that onion and garlic are the same. If a man fry onion he will have no tasty dish. If a man fry onion, let him not eat a scrap thereof. Therefore found I the flavour of 'I am He'. I came to know that the breathing body and the soul are one. That if a man cherish his body, the flavour (of true bliss) he will not gain. That if he cherish his body, therefrom will he reap no true joy. And so I gained for myself the flavour of 'I am He'.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.64,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":91,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.67,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":92,"english":"In the coming days so malformed will be natures, That pears and apples will ripen with the apricots. Hand in hand, from the house will go forth mother and daughter, And with strange men will they consort day after day.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":93,"english":"The soul is ever new and new; the moon is ever new and new. So saw I the waste of waters ever new and new. But since I, Lalla, scoured my body and my mind, I, Lalla, am ever new and new.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.89,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":94,"english":"My teacher spake to me but one precept. He said unto me, 'From without enter thou the inmost part.' That to me became a rule and a precept, And therefore naked began I to dance.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.31,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":95,"english":"What shall I do to the five, to the ten, to the eleven, Who scraped out this pot and departed? Had they all united and pulled upon this rope, Then how should the cow of the eleven owners have been lost?","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.77,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":96,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":97,"english":"For a moment saw I a cooking-hearth ablaze. For a moment saw I nor fire nor smoke. For a moment saw I the mother of the Pandavas. For a moment saw I an aunt of a potter's wife.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.94,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":98,"english":"By a way I came, but I went not by the way. While I was yet on the midst of the embankment with its crazy bridges, the day failed for me. I looked within my poke, and not a cowry came to hand (or, ate, was there). What shall I give for the ferry-fee? Or, if we adopt the alternative readings, we must translate: By a way I came, but I went not by the way. While I was yet on the midst of the embankment of my own mind, the day failed for me. I looked within my poke, and found not Hara's name. What shall I give for a ferry-fee?","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.97,"kashmiri":0.63,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":99,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.67,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":100,"english":"Give thou breath to the bellows, even as doth the blacksmith. Then will thine iron turn to gold. Now is it dawn. Seek thou for the Friend.","kashmiri":"dammi-badi dito dam\ntithay yitha daman-khar\nshedaras son gahlviy hosil\nwune chey sul ta thadun yar","check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.88,"confidence":"medium"}},{"n":101,"english":"I locked the doors and windows of my body. I seized the thief of my onions, and called for help. I bound him tightly in the closet of my heart, And with the whip of the pranava did I flay him.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.72,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":102,"english":null,"kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0,"kashmiri":0.7,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":103,"english":"When the washerman dashed me (or turned me over) on the washing-stone, He rubbed me much with fuller's earth and soap. When the tailor worked his scissors on me, piece by piece, Then did I, Lalla, obtain the way of the Supreme.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.69,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":104,"english":"I hoped not in it for a moment, I trusted it not by a hair. Still I, Lalla, drank the wine of mine own sayings. Yet, then did I seize an inner darkness and bring it down, And tear it, and cut it to pieces.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.28,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":105,"english":"At the end of moonlight to the mad one did I call, And soothe his pain with the Love of God. Crying 'It is I, Lalla — it is I, Lalla the Beloved I awakened.' I became one with Him, and my mind lost the defilement of the ten.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.53,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":106,"english":"With a rope of untwisted thread am I towing a boat upon the ocean: Where will my God hear? Will He carry even me over? Like water in goblets of unbaked clay, do I slowly waste away. My soul is in a dizzy whirl. Fain would I reach my home.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":0.97,"kashmiri":0.74,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":107,"english":"Man! why dost thou twist a rope of sand? With such a line, O Burden-bearer! the ship will not progress for thee. That which Narayana wrote for thee in the line of fate, That, Good Sir! none can reverse for thee.","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.55,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":108,"english":"The sling of the load of candy hath become loose upon my (shoulder). Crooked for me hath become my day's work. How can I succeed? The words of my teacher have fallen upon me like a blister of loss. My flock hath lost its shepherd. How can I succeed?","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":1,"confidence":"low"}},{"n":109,"english":"Searching and seeking came I from my inner soul into the moonlight. Searching and seeking came I to know that like are joined to like. This All is only Thou, O Narayana, only Thou. Only Thou. What are all these Thy sports?","kashmiri":null,"check":{"english":1,"kashmiri":0.4,"confidence":"low"}}]},"comicbooks":{"note":"Comic books made by joining the albums of stories that belong together, in story order. 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saved.","chapters":["story:kathasaritsagara/shivas-secret-story","story:kathasaritsagara/vararuchi-who-heard-once","story:kathasaritsagara/upakosha-and-the-four-suitors","story:kathasaritsagara/yogananda","story:kathasaritsagara/gunadhya-and-the-sweets","story:kathasaritsagara/the-book-written-in-blood"]},{"id":"udayana","title":"Udayana and Vasavadatta","blurb":"A king, a wooden elephant, a princess who escapes, and a fire: the great love story of the Kathasaritsagara.","chapters":["story:kathasaritsagara/udayana-and-the-wooden-elephant","story:kathasaritsagara/vasavadattas-escape","story:kathasaritsagara/the-fire-at-lavanaka","story:kathasaritsagara/naravahanadatta"]},{"id":"vetala","title":"Vikram and the Vetala","blurb":"A king carries a corpse through the night, and the spirit inside it tells him riddles.","chapters":["story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-the-king-and-the-corpse","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-suitors","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-viravara","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-fastidious-brahmins","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-madanasenas-promise","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-delicate-queens","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-lion-makers","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-father-and-son","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-the-end"]},{"id":"tales","title":"More Tales from the Ocean of Stories","blurb":"Clever wives, lucky fools, brave hearts and a fortune made from a dead mouse.","chapters":["story:kathasaritsagara/putraka-and-pataliputra","story:kathasaritsagara/the-mouse-merchant","story:kathasaritsagara/devasmita","story:kathasaritsagara/jimutavahana","story:kathasaritsagara/shaktideva-and-the-golden-city","story:kathasaritsagara/harisharman-the-accidental-seer"]},{"id":"ramayana","title":"The Kashmiri Ramayana","blurb":"The Ramayana as Kashmiri Pandits told 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Teja Dhar","date":"1990-07-01","place":"Ali Kadal, Srinagar","go":"remember.person.206"}],"count":1},{"place":"Batamaloo, Srinagar","at":[34.0692,74.7917],"people":[{"name":"Nanaji","date":"1990-07-11","place":"Batamaloo, Srinagar","go":"remember.person.222"}],"count":1},{"place":"Srinagar","at":[34.0713,74.8105],"people":[{"name":"H.N.Wanchoo","date":"1992-12-05","place":"Srinagar","go":"remember.person.316"}],"count":1},{"place":"Lukbawan, Larkipora, Anantnag","at":[33.6433,75.1714],"people":[{"name":"Ajay Pandita","date":"2020-06-08","place":"Lukbawan, Larkipora, Anantnag","go":"remember.person.388"}],"count":1},{"place":"Iqbal Park, Srinagar","at":[34.066,74.805],"people":[{"name":"Makhan Lal Bindroo","date":"2021-10-06","place":"Iqbal Park, Srinagar","go":"remember.person.389"}],"count":1},{"place":"Chadoora, Budgam","at":[33.9437,74.7987],"people":[{"name":"Rahul Bhat","date":"2022-05-12","place":"Chadoora, Budgam","go":"remember.person.390"}],"count":1},{"place":"Chotigam, Shopian · Chowdhary Gund, Shopian","at":[33.7188,74.8333],"people":[{"name":"Sunil Kumar Bhat","date":"2022-08-16","place":"Chotigam, Shopian (position approximate: the district)","go":"remember.person.391"},{"name":"Puran Krishan Bhat","date":"2022-10-15","place":"Chowdhary Gund, Shopian","go":"remember.person.392"}],"count":2},{"place":"Achan, Pulwama","at":[33.949,75.0418],"people":[{"name":"Sanjay Sharma","date":"2023-02-26","place":"Achan, Pulwama","go":"remember.person.393"}],"count":1},{"place":"Sangrampora, Budgam district (position approximate)","at":[33.9099,74.627],"massacre":true,"date":"1997-03-21","count":7,"listed":7,"go":"remember.story.3","people":[]},{"place":"Wandhama, Ganderbal","at":[34.2486,74.7333],"massacre":true,"date":"1998-01-25","count":23,"listed":19,"go":"remember.story.4","people":[]},{"place":"Nadimarg, Pulwama","at":[33.7446,75.0121],"massacre":true,"date":"2003-03-23","count":24,"listed":24,"go":"remember.story.5","people":[]}],"rememberPages":{"Smt. Sheela Tickoo":{"summary":"Sheela Tickoo (also spelled Tikoo), a Kashmiri Pandit woman, was shot dead near Habba Kadal, Srinagar, in November 1989, as the killings that drove our people from the Valley began.","body":"Sheela Tickoo was shot dead near Habba Kadal, Srinagar, in November 1989.\n\nThat is all the record gives us. No trial for her killing is on record.\n\nIf you knew her, light a lamp for her and tell us what you remember.","sources":["https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/","https://rohittikoo.com/memorial/"]},"Neel Kant Ganjoo":{"summary":"Neelkanth Ganjoo, the judge who sentenced JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat to death, was shot dead by militants in Srinagar on 4 November 1989, seven weeks after the killing of Tika Lal Taploo.","body":"Neelkanth Ganjoo was a judge in Srinagar. In the late 1960s he sat as a sessions court judge and presided over the trial of Maqbool Bhat, founder of the JKLF, for the 1966 murder of police inspector Amar Chand. In August 1968 Judge Ganjoo sentenced Bhat and one other man to death.\n\nThe sentence stood for years. The Supreme Court of India upheld it in 1982. The same year, militants bombed Ganjoo's house. He had already been targeted.\n\nOn 4 November 1989, Neelkanth Ganjoo was shot dead in Srinagar. Three militants shot him in the Hari Singh Street market, near the High Court. The sources differ on the exact spot. They agree on the day, the gunmen and the reason. EFSAS concludes that someone had been tracking him and was in close contact with the killers.\n\nThat evening Radio Kashmir announced the murder in one sentence: \"Unknown assailants gunned down a former Sessions Judge in Maharaj Bazaar, Srinagar.\"\n\nThe sources name no one as having been convicted of the killing. Wikipedia attributes it to Kashmiri-separatist militants. EFSAS says only \"unknown gunmen\".\n\nHis murder came seven weeks after that of Tika Lal Taploo, the BJP leader and lawyer, who was shot dead in Srinagar on 13 September 1989. EFSAS writes that these two killings of leading members of the community, in the autumn of 1989, sent a shock wave through the Pandits of the Valley. They lost faith in the law and order situation and began to fear for their lives. The exodus followed.\n\nWe remember Neelkanth Ganjoo as a judge who gave his verdict without fear and was killed for it.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neelkanth_Ganjoo","https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"]},"Prem Nath Bhat":{"summary":"Advocate Prem Nath Bhat of Anantnag, a lawyer, writer and community leader, was shot dead on 27 December 1989. The Organiser names JKLF terrorists as his killers. He had stood up for Kashmiri Pandits after the attacks of February 1986.","body":"Pandit Prem Nath Bhat, known as Bhat Saheb, was born in 1932 into a middle-class Bhat family of Anantnag town. He practised law as an advocate in the Kashmir valley. The Organiser records that he was successful at the bar.\n\nHe gave his life to serving his community. He worked with the RSS, the All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference, Vivekananda Kendra, the Hindu Youth Forum and other organisations. His focus was South Kashmir: Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian. He kept personal contact with Hindu activists in the villages there, and people relied on his guidance and advice. He put his own effort and money into the Nagdandi Ashram at Achabal and other projects in Anantnag district. He spoke Kashmiri, Hindi, English and Urdu. He wrote for Organiser, Daily Excelsior and Martand. EFSAS describes him as a very popular social figure, much liked by people of all communities.\n\nIn February 1986 Hindu temples and shrines in the valley were attacked and Hindu property was burnt. Bhat took a leading part in organising protests. He took relief to the victims and worked to bring their suffering to the notice of the national leadership in Delhi. The Organiser records that he confronted Qazi Nissar and others of the Jamaat-e-Islami over what was done to Kashmiri Pandits. It says he was named publicly at rallies and religious gatherings of radical elements in Anantnag district. He did not give way.\n\nIn September and November 1989, Tika Lal Taploo and the retired judge Neelkanth Ganjoo were killed. Leaders of Hindu organisations met in Jammu to discuss threats to prominent people. Some urged the leaders to delay their return to the valley. Bhat was worried about his people at home. He rejected the advice and went back to Anantnag.\n\nOn 27 December 1989 Prem Nath Bhat was shot dead in Anantnag. According to the Organiser, he was made a target by JKLF terrorists. It says he was killed in daytime while walking home from the district court. EFSAS gives a different account: masked gunmen entered his house, dragged him out and emptied their magazines into him. The sources differ on where he was shot. They agree that he was gunned down by armed militants.\n\nHis killing shook the community. The Organiser writes that the militants did not even allow mourning on his tenth day. It says his death, after the killings of Taploo and Ganjoo, pushed the Hindu minority to think of leaving the valley. The community stayed and lived under threat. In the first months of 1990 the exodus began.\n\nThe sources record no trial or conviction for his murder.\n\nHe is remembered every year. For more than 34 years without a break, the Pt. Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust has held Chetana Divas in Jammu on 27 December. People from many walks of life come to pay tribute. Those who knew him say the gap he left has never been filled.","sources":["https://organiser.org/2025/12/27/331703/bharat/adv-p-n-bhat-a-deeply-social-intellectual-face-of-rss-in-kashmir/","https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"]},"Sarla Bhat":{"summary":"Sarla Bhat, 27, a nurse from Anantnag working at SKIMS in Srinagar, was abducted from her hostel on 15 April 1990 and murdered by JKLF militants after torture and, according to reports, rape. In June 2026 the SIA chargesheeted Yasin Malik as the principal conspirator.","body":"Sarla Bhat was born in 1963, the eldest child of Shambhu Nath Bhat, a school teacher. The family lived in Qazi Bagh mohalla in Anantnag, a neighbourhood of mostly Kashmiri Hindus, mainly Pandits. She graduated in English literature from a government college in Anantnag, then studied for a BSc in Nursing. A cousin recalls that she refused to marry and chose to work to support her family.\n\nIn 1990 she was 27, a staff nurse in the neonatology department at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Soura, Srinagar. Much of her family, including her uncle, had already fled the Valley under threats and violence. According to her cousin, she stayed at her post in Srinagar despite the threats. One memorial account says she had given her life to caring for the sick, Hindu and Muslim alike.\n\nOn 15 April 1990 she was abducted from her hostel in Srinagar. Several reports say she was raped and tortured in captivity. On the morning of 19 April her mutilated body was found by a roadside in Mallabagh, Soura, with a handwritten note attached. (The Kashmir History Project says her body was thrown onto the Habbakadal thoroughfare.) The letters JKLF had been engraved on her body.\n\nHer body was handed to her family in Anantnag on the night of 20 April. Indu Bhushan Zutshi, a neighbour who helped with the funeral, wrote that it was bullet-ridden and covered in blood, with torture marks all over. He wrote that it became clear to them she had been violated and sexually assaulted before being killed. A postmortem reportedly concluded that she had been raped.\n\nThe family was denied even the dignity of her last rites. Only three Hindu families remained in the neighbourhood. Muslim neighbours who came to offer condolences were soon warned off by militants. According to several accounts, a crowd of 150 to 200 people tried to prevent the rituals. They mocked and abused the relatives who came to collect her ashes, asking why they had not yet fled Kashmir, and trampled the ashes underfoot. According to her cousin, who was there, a hand grenade was hurled at the family's home and exploded near the main gate. The police did not help the family after the attack. Army men helped them escape to safety in Jammu.\n\nHer murder and the grenade attack spread panic through the mohalla. All the remaining Hindu families in Qazi Bagh fled the Valley.\n\nA police complaint was filed in 1990 for murder, criminal conspiracy and terrorism under the Indian Penal Code and TADA, but no real investigation followed. Journalist Ahmed Ali Fayyaz noted that her murder was not seen as high-profile. In March 2024 the case was transferred to the State Investigation Agency (SIA) of Jammu and Kashmir police. The SIA rejected the claim that she had passed information to the police. It said her killing followed the pattern of targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s. A senior police official said she was framed as an informant because she was a Kashmiri Pandit. In August 2025 the SIA raided eight locations in Srinagar, including the house of Malik, the former JKLF militant.\n\nOn 29 June 2026 the SIA filed a 737-page chargesheet in the court of the Additional Sessions Judge (TADA/POTA) in Srinagar. It names five accused. Yasin Malik, then chief commander of the JKLF, is described as the principal conspirator who directed the others to abduct and kill her. Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo is named as the gunman. Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees, and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo have died. Malik is in judicial custody in a separate case. Chalkoo is absconding and is believed to have crossed into Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Proclamation proceedings have begun against him. These are the SIA's allegations; the case has yet to be tried.\n\nThirty-six years after Sarla Bhat was killed, her name is on the record of those the community remembers. Zutshi's memoir of her funeral appears in the 2016 anthology A Long Dream of Home.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_and_rape_of_Sarla_Bhat","https://rohittikoo.com/memorial/"]},"Virender Kumar":{"summary":"Virender, a 27-year-old married man, chose to go with his father, the poet Sarwanand Koul Premi, when armed militants took Premi from their home near Dooru, Anantnag, on the night of 29-30 April 1990. Both were tortured and killed. Their bodies were found hanging from a tree on 1 May 1990.","body":"Virender was 27 years old. The sources spell his name Virender, Verinder and Virendra Kaul (Koul). He was the younger son of Sarwanand Koul Premi. The family lived in a village in the Dooru area of Anantnag district. The Kashmir History Project (Rohit Tikoo) places their home in Kokernag.\n\nHis father was born on 2 November 1924. He was a poet, journalist, research scholar, Gandhian, social reformer and independence activist. He taught in the Jammu and Kashmir education department from 1954 to 1977. Before that he worked for the Village and the Khadi Industries Board and for the Industries Department of Punjab. His books include Kalami Premi, Payami Premi, Rood Jeri, Osh ta Vush, a translation of Gitanjali, and a life of Mirza Kak. Virender grew up in the house of this man of letters.\n\nOn the night of 29-30 April 1990, three armed Islamist militants came to the house. They looted the family's gold, jewellery and pashminas. They demanded that Premi go with them to meet their commander. Virender insisted on going with his father. The sources record that he chose to stay beside him.\n\nOn 1 May, the bodies of father and son were found hanging from a tree about 20 kilometres from their home. They had been tortured. Their bones were broken and their eyes gouged out. Nails had been hammered into their foreheads, where Hindus apply the tilaka. Their bodies bore cigarette burns, and they had been shot. The Kashmir History Project (Rohit Tikoo) also records limbs broken and skin slit and burned. The sources speak of terrorists and militants. They name no organisation and no individual killer.\n\nA First Information Report was filed at the Dooru police station. Five days after the murders, the rest of the Koul family fled their village for Jammu. A few days later they moved permanently to Delhi. In August 1998, eight years after the killings, local miscreants set fire to their abandoned family home in Kashmir. An FIR was lodged, but the culprits were never found. The memorial records that justice has not been delivered for the murders of Virender and his father.\n\nA plaque in their honour stands at Barakhamba Metro Station in New Delhi. Virender's name is on the roll of the martyrs of the exodus, beside his father's. He was a young husband who would not let his father go alone, and he was killed with him.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarwanand_Koul_Premi","https://rohittikoo.com/memorial/"]},"Smt. Prana Ganjoo":{"summary":"Prana Ganjoo, a teacher, was abducted with her husband, agro-scientist Prof. K.L. Ganjoo, in Sopore in 1990 (May, per one source). The EFSAS paper records that she was raped and murdered; the Kashmir History Project (Rohit Tikoo) records that she was tortured before being killed. No one has been brought to justice.","body":"Prana Ganjoo was a teacher. Her husband was Prof. K.L. Ganjoo, an agro-scientist. Nothing else about her life is recorded: not her family beyond her husband, and not what her pupils and neighbours said of her.\n\nIn 1990, Prana and her husband were abducted together. One source gives the place and month: Sopore, May 1990. Another says it happened in broad daylight.\n\nThe sources differ on what was done to her. The study paper of the European Foundation for South Asian Studies records that she was raped, and that she and her husband were then both murdered. The Kashmir History Project (Rohit Tikoo) records that she was subjected to sustained torture before being killed. Prof. Ganjoo was shot, and his body was thrown into the River Jhelum.\n\nThe memorial lists her among the women who were specifically targeted, and the EFSAS paper places her killing among the cases of women kidnapped, raped and murdered in 1990.\n\nThe records do not name the killers. Where Prana's body was found, and what became of it, is not recorded. The Kashmir History Project (Rohit Tikoo) states that the details of their fate remain partly unclear to this day, and that this adds to the grief of the surviving family. It records that justice has not been delivered. No one has answered for what was done to Prana Ganjoo and Prof. K.L. Ganjoo.\n\nIf you are family or a neighbour and remember more of Prana Ganjoo, light a lamp and tell us.","sources":["https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/","https://rohittikoo.com/memorial/"]},"J.L. Ganjoo":{"summary":"In June 1990, Mrs. J.L. Ganjoo, her husband and his sister were killed in their home in Ban Mohalla, Srinagar, during the killings that drove Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley.","body":"The study paper on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits names her as Mrs. J.L. Ganjoo. It records that in June 1990, she, her husband and her sister-in-law, her husband's sister, were killed in their home in Ban Mohalla, Srinagar.\n\nThe paper does not record their first names, ages or work. It does not record how they were killed, who killed them, or whether anyone was ever arrested or tried.\n\nFamilies left with what they could carry, leaving houses, temples and cremation grounds behind.\n\nMrs. J.L. Ganjoo, her husband and his sister were killed together in their home in Ban Mohalla, Srinagar, in June 1990.\n\nIf you are family, or a neighbour who remembers them, light a lamp and tell us.","sources":["https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"]},"Dr. Shani":{"summary":"Dr. Shani, a Kashmiri Pandit woman, was locked inside her house in Karan Nagar, Srinagar, in July 1990. The house was then set on fire and she was burned to death.","body":"Dr. Shani was a Kashmiri Pandit woman who lived in Karan Nagar, in Srinagar. The record gives her title and her name, the place where she lived, and the manner of her death. Her first name, her age, her field of medicine or learning, and the names of her parents, husband or children are not recorded. Her name stands here so that she is not lost.\n\nIn July 1990 she was locked up in her own house, and the house was set on fire. She was burned to death, shut inside her own home.\n\nThe record does not say who did this. It names no organisation or person, and it records no arrest, trial or confession. Nothing in it shows that anyone has answered for her death.\n\nShe was one of several Pandit women killed in Srinagar that July. The EFSAS study paper lists her among them.\n\nDr. Shani died in July 1990, in her house in Karan Nagar, Srinagar. If you are family or a neighbour and remember more of her, light a lamp and tell us.","sources":["https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"]},"Smt. Teja Dhar":{"summary":"Teja Dhar, a working woman of Srinagar, was shot dead on the roadside in Ali Kadal, Srinagar, in July 1990, during the killings of Kashmiri Pandits.","body":"Teja Dhar was a Kashmiri Pandit woman who worked for a living in Srinagar. In July 1990 she was shot dead on the roadside in Ali Kadal, Srinagar.\n\nThis is all our source records of her. It does not give her age, her family, where she worked, the day of the month, or who killed her. Her name is here so that it is not lost.\n\nThe source places her killing among those carried out by militants in the Valley in 1990 and after; it calls them \"Jihadi armed men\".\n\nNo arrest or trial for her killing is on record. We know of no justice done for her.\n\nWe remember Teja Dhar, a working woman shot dead on a Srinagar roadside in July 1990, in the homeland from which our people were driven out.\n\nIf you are family or a neighbour and remember more of her, light a lamp and tell us.","sources":["https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"]},"Nanaji":{"summary":"In July 1990 a Kashmiri Pandit woman known as Nanaji was gunned down on the roadside in Batamaloo, Srinagar. The source names no killers and gives no other detail.","body":"Nanaji was a Kashmiri Pandit woman of Srinagar. In July 1990 she was gunned down on a roadside in Batamaloo.\n\nOur only source, the EFSAS study paper, gives no full name, age, family or day of the month, and does not say who killed her.\n\nIf you are her family or a neighbour and remember more of her, light a lamp and tell us.","sources":["https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"]},"H.N.Wanchoo":{"summary":"Hriday Nath Wanchoo, a communist trade-unionist and municipal officer in Srinagar, was assassinated by gunmen on 5 December 1992. The CBI blamed a militant group, Jamait-ul-Mujahidin, and three men were eventually sentenced to life imprisonment. The state's own role is still suspected.","body":"Hriday Nath Wanchoo was a Kashmiri communist and trade-unionist. He was the Khilafarzi officer in the Srinagar municipality. He is remembered for working to improve the social and economic condition of sanitation workers, and for documenting the state's abuses of human rights.\n\nIn May 1992 he was inducted into the Central Committee of the Kashmir Liberation Council. Ghulam Qadir Wani and others had set it up to work for Kashmiri independence from India.\n\nOn 5 December 1992, Wanchoo was assassinated by gunmen who were not identified at the time. Days before, he had confided privately that his life was under threat from the local administration and the security apparatus. Local activists accused the government of releasing two militants in exchange for an extrajudicial execution. They said one of the two would later be killed in an \"encounter\". Human Rights Watch noted that his murder fitted the state's brutal suppression of any conversation on human rights.\n\nWithin days the state government brought in the Central Bureau of Investigation. The CBI concluded that a local militant group of twelve men, Jamait-ul-Mujahidin, had planned the assassination. By the end of the investigation, four of the accused had died and five had absconded. Only three were left to stand trial under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, before a special court in Jammu. They were Ashiq Hussain Faktoo, a budding separatist; Mohammad Shafi Khan, a University of Kashmir faculty member specialising in Persian; and Ghulam Qadir Bhat, a constable of the Jammu and Kashmir Police. Confessions were obtained from all three.\n\nIn July 2001 the TADA court acquitted Faktoo and the others. It cited procedural deficiencies in how the confessional statements were obtained, and the absence of any other corroborating evidence. The CBI appealed to the Supreme Court of India. In January 2003 Justice S. N. Variava disagreed with the lower court's treatment of the confessions and sentenced all three to life imprisonment. Faktoo and Khan filed a review petition. The Court rejected it that September, after a closed-court hearing.\n\nThe judgement has not convinced scholars. The activists' accusation, and the threats Wanchoo described to those close to him days before his death, remain part of how his killing is remembered.\n\nWe remember Hriday Nath Wanchoo as a man who stood for the lowest-paid workers of his city and recorded abuses of human rights. He was silenced for it. Who ordered his killing is still contested.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hriday_Nath_Wanchoo"]},"Ajay Pandita":{"summary":"Ajay Pandita, also known as Ajay Bharti, was a 40-year-old Kashmiri Pandit and Congress sarpanch of Lukbawan in Larkipora, Anantnag. He was shot dead in his orchard on 8 June 2020. Police said they had identified two local Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants as the killers. His family said he had begged for security and been refused.","body":"Ajay Pandita, known to many as Ajay Bharti, was 40 years old. He was the sarpanch of Lukbawan village in Larkipora, in Anantnag district of south Kashmir. He was a Kashmiri Pandit and a Congress member. His father, Dwarika Nath Pandita, had taught at the higher secondary school.\n\nLike so many of our families, his family left south Kashmir for Jammu in the early 1990s. They later went back to their roots in the village. Reports differ on when. Scroll, citing the Hindustan Times, says they returned about two years before his death. Kashmir Life describes him as one of the few who came back. He lived in a village where almost no other Pandit lived.\n\nIn the October 2018 panchayat elections he defeated a BJP-backed candidate. Congress leaders said that when he wished to contest, the entire village stood behind him. Reports say he received 51 votes, almost all of them from Muslims.\n\nAt about 6 pm on Monday, 8 June 2020, he was attacked in his orchard in his ancestral village. Gunshots were heard, and panic spread through the area. He had bullet wounds in the left shoulder and face. He was rushed to the Government Medical College in Anantnag. Doctors declared him dead on arrival. His father said the terrorists fired on him from behind, because they feared him. Kashmir Zone Police confirmed that unknown terrorists had fired on him.\n\nThe next day his father, wife, sister and two daughters carried his body to Jammu, with some Muslim neighbours. His teenage daughter told television channels that this tragedy would not stop her family from living in Kashmir.\n\nThe family said he had asked the police for protection, and his requests were not acted on. Ghulam Ahmad Mir, the Congress chief for J&K, said Ajay had no security cover. Mir said that for seven or eight months Ajay had sought protection, saying he was the lone member of the minority community in the area. Mir said the party had appealed for it too. He demanded a judicial inquiry.\n\nIn a December 2019 interview with Mercury Times, quoted by The Hindu, Ajay had spoken of the risks locals took to vote for him. He had raised the killing of sarpanch Syed Rafiq Ahmed and Sheikh Zahoor at Hakura-Badasgam on 28 November 2019. He had said: \"I am an elected person but I am helpless... When I am not safe, how can I say my people are safe.\"\n\nDGP Dilbagh Singh told The Hindu he was not aware of any request for security. He called it a targeted killing: Ajay was targeted for being part of the democratic process and a member of the minority community. He said police had identified the two local Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants who killed him. The day after the killing, Scroll noted that no outfit had claimed responsibility. The sources I hold record no arrest, trial or verdict.\n\nParties across the political spectrum condemned the killing, among them Rahul Gandhi and Omar Abdullah. A candlelight march was held in Jammu. The Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora condemned the killing and demanded an inquiry into the lapse in his security. It also held a webinar of protest. Vinod Pandita of the All Party Migrant Cooperation Committee called it a planned attack to trigger a fear psychosis among Pandits, as in the 1990s.\n\nAjay Pandita came back to his village and served his neighbours. He was shot down in his own orchard after asking for protection. We remember him.","sources":["https://kashmirlife.net/left-insecure-pandit-sarpanchs-assassination-widely-mourned-236312/","https://scroll.in/latest/964178/j-k-congress-sarpanch-killed-by-militants-in-anantnag-political-parties-condemn-attack"]},"Makhan Lal Bindroo":{"summary":"Makhan Lal Bindroo, 65, a well-known Kashmiri Pandit pharmacist who stayed in Srinagar through the worst of the militancy, was shot dead by suspected militants outside his shop near Iqbal Park on 5 October 2021.","body":"Makhan Lal Bindroo was a well-known Kashmiri Pandit businessman of Srinagar. He was 65 when he was killed. He ran two medical stores in the city. His family set up the first, Bindroo Chemists, at Hari Singh High Street in 1947. The second, Bindroo Health Zone, was near Iqbal Park.\n\nWhen militancy peaked and many Kashmiri Pandit families left the Valley, the Bindroo family chose to stay. Reports record that he kept his pharmacy open through those years. M Y Tarigami said of him: \"Late Bindroo stayed here in trying and difficult times and continued his service to the locals despite odds.\" Mehbooba Mufti described him as someone \"who chose to stay back in Kashmir even during peak insurgency.\"\n\nOn the evening of Tuesday, 5 October 2021, he was shot dead outside Bindroo Health Zone, near Iqbal Park in Srinagar. Police said that \"terrorists fired upon Makhan Lal Bindroo near Iqbal Park\" and that he was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.\n\nHe was the first of three civilians killed in separate attacks that evening. About an hour later, Mohammad Shafi Lone of Naidkhai village was shot dead at Shahgund village in Bandipora. He was head of the Sumo Car Stand taxi owners' association. The attacks followed an incident in Srinagar the previous Saturday, in which two other civilians were reportedly shot.\n\nThe source names the attackers only as \"suspected militants\" and \"terrorists\". It names no organisation and records no arrest or trial. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha condemned the killing as a \"cowardly act\". He said: \"Perpetrators of this heinous act will be brought to justice very soon.\"\n\nHe stayed when so many were forced to leave. He kept serving his neighbours from his family's chemist's shop, and he was shot down at his own shop. We remember Makhan Lal Bindroo for his loyalty to his city and its people, and for what was done to him.","sources":["https://sabrangindia.in/article/killing-three-civilians-terrorists-send-bloody-message-across-jammu-and-kashmir"]},"Rahul Bhat":{"summary":"Rahul Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit clerk in his early thirties, was shot dead by militants inside the tehsil office at Chadoora, Budgam, on 12 May 2022. He had gone back to the Valley under the jobs package for displaced Pandits.","body":"Rahul Bhat was a clerk in the tehsil office at Chadoora, in Budgam, one of the Pandits who went back to the Valley under the jobs package for the displaced. He lived in the Sheikhpora migrant colony with his wife and young daughter. His parents lived in Durga Nagar, Jammu.\n\nOn 12 May 2022, in daylight, militants walked into the office and shot him at his desk. He died of his wounds. The reports we have do not name the group behind it.\n\nHis father, Bita Bhat, was at a hospital in Jammu with his own ailing brother when a family friend in Kashmir rang with the news. No official called the family. He asked for the body to be sent home and for an inquiry into everyone involved. \"If a person is shot inside his office,\" he said, \"nobody is safe in the valley.\" Those serving there, he said, were doing so at their own risk, without security. (His words as reported by The Morung Express and The Wire.)\n\nPandits serving in the Valley took his killing as a warning to them all. They had gone back hoping to rebuild a tie with their home.\n\nRahul Bhat is survived by his parents, his wife and his daughter. If you knew him, light a lamp and tell us.","sources":["https://morungexpress.com/slain-kashmiri-pandits-family-demands-probe-as-mourners-flock-his-jammu-house","https://thewire.in/rights/widespread-anger-grief-after-terrorists-shoot-dead-kashmiri-pandit-govt-employee-in-kashmir"]},"Sunil Kumar Bhat":{"summary":"Sunil Kumar Bhat, 44, an apple orchardist of Chotigam village in Shopian, was shot dead in his own orchard on 16 August 2022. Police named the attackers as Al-Badar terrorists and identified Adil Wani as the assailant. His brother Pitambar was wounded.","body":"Sunil Kumar Bhat was 44. He was an apple orchardist in Chotigam, a village of around 150 households in Shopian district, about 62 km south of Srinagar. He lived there in a two-storey house with his wife, four daughters and two brothers. The Leaflet reports that the daughters were minors.\n\nHis was one of only two Kashmiri Pandit families still in Chotigam. The other was the family of Janki Nath Bhat. They stayed when almost the whole community left the Valley for Jammu and elsewhere after the armed insurgency began in the early 1990s. A Muslim friend of Sunil, who did not give his name, described him as a simple man, known across the village for his innocence.\n\nIn April 2022 militants had already struck in the same village. They walked into the pharmacy of Balkrishen Bhat, also called Sonu Kumar, and opened fire. He survived. Police were then posted at the houses of the two Pandit families. The administration had promised more security for minorities.\n\nOn the morning of Tuesday, 16 August 2022, Sunil and his brother Pitambar were in their apple orchard, a short walk from the house. According to police and eyewitnesses cited by The Hitavada, two terrorists of the banned Al-Badar came to the orchard and lined everyone up. After identification, they separated Sunil Kumar Bhat and Pitambar Kumar Bhat and fired at them with AK-47 rifles. According to Pitambar's statement and eyewitnesses, one terrorist fired while the other filmed it on a smartphone.\n\nSunil was hit by several bullets. The brothers were rushed to Shopian District Hospital, where Sunil died of his wounds. The Leaflet says doctors declared him brought dead. Pitambar was sent on to Srinagar. His condition was stable.\n\nPolice identified the assailant as Adil Wani, a categorised terrorist of Al-Badar, and launched a hunt for him. J&K police chief Dilbagh Singh said the killers had been identified and would be given exemplary punishment. Police began attaching the property of Adil Wani, described as a local militant allegedly involved in the killing. The available sources do not report an arrest or a trial.\n\nSunil was cremated that evening. Villagers walked in procession from his house to the cremation ground. Muslim neighbours came to console the family. The village echoed with slogans against the killing of innocents and for the unity of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.\n\nLieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said the killers would not be spared. Omar Abdullah and BJP spokesman Altaf Thakur condemned the attack. Sunil's death was counted as the 21st targeted killing in Kashmir that year. He left behind a wife and four daughters.","sources":["https://www.thehitavada.com/Encyc/2022/8/17/Kashmiri-Pandit-shot-dead-brother-injured-in-militant-attack-in-J-K.html","https://theleaflet.in/kashmir/no-let-up-in-targeted-killings-in-kashmir"]},"Puran Krishan Bhat":{"summary":"Puran Krishan Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit of Choudhary Gund village in Shopian, was shot dead by a militant at his ancestral home on 15 October 2022. The outfit calling itself Kashmir Freedom Fighter (KFF) claimed responsibility.","body":"Puran Krishan Bhat was a Kashmiri Pandit of Choudhary Gund (also written Chaudhary Gund), a village of dense orchards in Shopian district, south Kashmir. It was his ancestral home. Our sources do not record his age, his work or his family. We name him so that he is not reduced to a number.\n\nChoudhary Gund was home to around a dozen Kashmiri Pandit families who did not leave when militancy erupted in 1989. They stayed through the worst years, among the orchards of their forefathers.\n\nOn 15 October 2022, Puran Krishan Bhat was on the lawn of his house when a militant attacked him. He was gunned down outside his own home. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead.\n\nSecurity forces reached the spot and cordoned off the area. Sujit Kumar, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Central Kashmir, also in charge of the South Kashmir Range, said the initial investigation suggested only one militant was involved. He said action would be taken if any security lapse was found on the part of the security guards or any official in charge of the area. He said the Kashmir Freedom Fighter (KFF), described as a proxy name of a militant outfit, had claimed responsibility.\n\nHe was the fifth Kashmiri Pandit killed in Kashmir that year. Rahul Bhat was shot inside the revenue office where he worked in Budgam on 12 May. Sunil Kumar was killed and Paitamber Kumar injured in an orchard in Chotipora village, Shopian, on 18 August. On 18 October, three days after Puran Krishan Bhat was killed, Monish Kumar and Ram Sagar, both of Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh, were killed in their rented accommodation in Shopian.\n\nThe community answered with grief and protest. Kashmiri Pandits working under the PM Package protested in Budgam, shouting slogans against the administration and demanding action against the culprits. Migrant Pandits protested in Jammu, and employees blocked the Jammu-Poonch highway.\n\nFear followed in his village. A resident who had recently faced a death threat told PTI that ten families, 35 to 40 Kashmiri Pandits, had left Choudhary Gund out of fear. The Shopian district administration called such claims baseless and said security had been put in place. The Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti accused the officials of denial. Its chief, Sanjay Tickoo, said the Pandits who stayed in the Valley had numbered 808 families, and 791 were left.\n\n\"We have lived here and have a legacy of hundreds of years,\" Tickoo said. Puran Krishan Bhat was one of those who stayed, and he was killed at his own home. We remember him.","sources":["https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2022/10/15/kashmiri-pandits-targeted-killing-shopian.html","https://www.udayavani.com/english-news/police-identify-killers-of-kashmiri-pandit-fatally-shot-in-jks-shopian","https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/kpss-questions-bjps-intentions-after-another-kashmiri-pandit-killed-in-shopian"]},"Sanjay Sharma":{"summary":"Sanjay Sharma, a Kashmiri Pandit security guard at a bank ATM from Achan, Pulwama, was shot dead on 26 February 2023. The terror outfit Kashmir Freedom Fighters claimed the killing. In January 2024 the SIA charge-sheeted 12 people.","body":"Sanjay Sharma was a Kashmiri Pandit, the son of Kashinath Sharma. He lived in Achan (also spelt Achhan) in Pulwama district, south Kashmir. He worked as a security guard. Reports describe him as a bank security guard and as an ATM guard. He was a working man from the minority community, and he stayed in the Valley.\n\nHe was shot dead on 26 February 2023. Kashmir Zone Police said terrorists fired on him on his way to a local market. People rushed him to the nearest hospital, but he died of his injuries.\n\nThe terror outfit Kashmir Freedom Fighters (KFF) claimed responsibility. Its spokesperson, Waseem Mir, said: \"Today in wee hours our cadre eliminated a Kashmiri Pandit namely Sanjay Sharma s/o Kashinaath Sharma R/o Achan Pulwama.\" The statement said any Kashmiri Pandit, Hindu or tourist from India would be \"eliminated\". It called Kashmiri Pandits \"pawns of occupation\" after the removal of Article 370. It told them to \"be ready for your turn\" and promised \"more attacks\". The killing was announced as a warning to the rest of our community.\n\nThe case was registered at Police Station Litter Pulwama as FIR No. 14/2023. It was then transferred to the State Investigation Agency (SIA) Kashmir. In January 2024 the SIA charge-sheeted 12 people before the Special Designated Court under the NIA Act at Pulwama. Officials spoke of a broader conspiracy from across the border.\n\nThe accused named in the charge-sheet are Khalid Kamran, a resident of Pakistan; Jazim Farooq Wani alias Abrar, Shameem Ahmad Bhat alias Uncle, Danish Ahmad Thokar and Ubaid Ahmad Paddar of Shopian; Zaffar Hussain Bhat alias Khursheed Kashmiri, Nassir Farooq Shah, Aamir Hussain Wani, Towseef Ahmad Pandith, Sajjad Ahmad Bhat alias Afnan Bhat and Sahil Bashir Dar of Anantnag; and Sarjeel Ahmad Bhat of Kulgam.\n\nOfficials said Jazim Farooq Wani pulled the trigger. They said Nassir Farooq Shah had trained him in handling weapons, on the directives of the Pakistani handler Khalid Kamran. The accused were found to be acting on instructions from handlers across the border. They kept in touch over encrypted online messaging platforms. The SIA said it searched 32 locations across the Valley in five rounds. It seized mobile devices, bank documents, a pistol magazine and live cartridges. It said the evidence showed logistical support, harbouring of the accused and concealment of evidence.\n\nWhen the charge-sheet was filed, the investigation into the role of Yasir Shabir Wani was continuing. Eight of 13 accused, three of them juveniles, were in judicial custody. Jazim Farooq Wani, Thokar and Paddar had been killed in encounters with security forces. Zaffar Hussain Bhat and Khalid Kamran were absconding. The sources we hold do not record a verdict.\n\nAn official said the aim was to use the murder of an innocent man from the minority community to fuel communal disharmony and sustain terrorism. Sanjay Sharma was guarding a bank machine and was shot for being a Kashmiri Pandit. We remember him, and we remember his father, Kashinath Sharma.","sources":["https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/j-k/sia-kashmir-files-charge-sheet-against-12-in-kashmiri-pandit-atm-guards-killing-case-583068","https://organiser.org/2023/02/27/163104/bharat/jk-terror-outfit-kashmir-freedom-fighters-takes-responsibility-for-killing-kashmiri-hindu-sanjay-sharma/"]},"story:Sangrampora":{"summary":"On 21 March 1997 in Sangrampora, Budgam district, unknown gunmen led away and shot dead seven Kashmiri Pandit villagers. Police closed the case as untraced.","body":"On 21 March 1997, seven of our people were killed in the village of Sangrampora in Budgam district. They were Kashmiri Pandit villagers. The families living there were Bhats, and the sources describe the dead as seven members of that family.\n\nThe victims were led away and lined up. Then the gunmen shot them dead. Several others were wounded. The killers fled in the dark. The sources call the attackers \"unknown gunmen\". Militants are thought to have been behind it, but no one was ever named or held to account.\n\nThis was one of a series of massacres that selectively targeted minorities in Jammu and Kashmir. The motive is thought to have been to discourage the Hindus who had fled Kashmir from returning. It is also thought to have been to stop the Farooq Abdullah government from rehabilitating them. These villagers had stayed, or had gone back, and they were lined up and shot for it.\n\nThe police closed the case as untraced. No one was charged. The sources available to us do not record the names, ages or work of the seven, and we do not invent them. They deserve to be named. This page should be added to when their families' own accounts can be recorded.\n\nMuslims in the area expressed deep outrage at the killings and observed a partial strike in protest. The residents of the village performed the last rites. Muslims and Sikhs from neighbouring areas attended. We remember that too.\n\nAfter the massacre, the Bharatiya Janata Party called for the dismissal of the Farooq Abdullah government. Panun Kashmir was dissolved and reorganised in its aftermath.\n\nThe Government of Jammu and Kashmir gave the survivors two-room flats in a colony built exclusively for Kashmiri Hindus at Sheikhpora in Budgam district. It also gave them ration and Rs 100,000. That was what was offered to families who had watched their own be shot in the dark.\n\nSangrampora, 21 March 1997. Seven of our people were killed, and no one has answered for it. We remember them.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Sangrampora_massacre"]},"story:Wandhama":{"summary":"On 25 January 1998, in Wandhama, Ganderbal, armed men disguised as Indian Army soldiers shot dead 23 Kashmiri Pandits in their homes, nine of them women and four children. The attack was blamed on Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. The case was long left \"untraced\".","body":"On the night of 25 January 1998, the eve of Republic Day, 23 Kashmiri Hindus were murdered in their homes in Wandhama, in Ganderbal District. Nine were women. Four were children.\n\nMost of the dead came from four Kashmiri Pandit families. In the early 1990s, threats and violence drove so many of our people from the Valley. These families stayed in their homes, on their own land. Five of the victims were relatives visiting from Jammu, where many displaced Pandits live as refugees. The sources available to this page do not give the names of the dead. They are remembered here as what they were: families who would not leave.\n\nAccording to a survivor's testimony, at around 8:30 pm roughly 28 armed men came to their house disguised as Indian Army soldiers. After a brief conversation, they rounded up everyone in the Hindu households and gunned them down with Kalashnikov rifles. Ali Mohammad Sagar, then the state's Home Minister, said more than 50 attackers stormed the village, and that the villagers were shot and mutilated: \"They were cut to pieces.\" He called it shameful.\n\nA PTI report records that a one-year-old child was struck by 18 bullets. His mother had tried to shield him in her lap. Both were killed. When police recovered their bodies from the burnt houses, the two could not at first be separated.\n\nThe attackers then set fire to all four houses and a nearby Hindu temple, and left after midnight. Seventeen bodies were recovered at first. Six more were later found inside a burnt house, bringing the toll to 23. A 1999 independent report by Human Rights Watch confirmed that militants had massacred 23 Hindu villagers and set the temple on fire.\n\nOne person from the four households survived: Vinod Kumar Dhar, 14 years old. He hid in the attic during the killing. He lost his parents, two sisters and two brothers.\n\nNo group claimed responsibility. The Indian government blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba. Other accounts blamed Abdul Hamid Gada of Hizbul Mujahideen, and say the massacre was timed for Shab-e-Qadr, the holiest night of Ramadan. Gada was killed by Indian security forces in 2000. A Defence Ministry spokesman said loudspeakers broadcasting prayers for Shab-e-Qadr drowned out the gunfire, and that troops moved in only after they noticed the fire. Kashmiri Pandits asked why an Army post near Wandhama had been removed about a year earlier. The Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, and the Army blamed each other.\n\nThe next day, Kashmiri Hindus protesting in New Delhi clashed with police. At least 11 protesters were injured. Pandits in refugee camps protested too. The government postponed its plan to bring displaced Pandits back to the Valley. Reports from Ganderbal said many families were preparing to leave for Jammu. The massacre set off a second round of exodus.\n\nAn FIR was registered at Ganderbal Police Station. The investigation was inconclusive, and the perpetrators were recorded as \"untraced\". In 2012 the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti petitioned the Jammu and Kashmir Human Rights Commission for a reinvestigation. The state government replied that 20 of the 21 alleged perpetrators had been killed in encounters and one was absconding. It did not reveal who they were. On 24 August 2026, 28 years after the killings, the State Investigation Agency reopened the case.\n\nTwenty-three people were shot and burned in Wandhama. A boy of fourteen was left to grow up without his family. We remember them.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Wandhama_massacre"]},"story:Nadimarg":{"summary":"On the night of 23 March 2003, Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in military uniforms lined up and shot dead 24 Kashmiri Pandits in the village of Nadimarg in Pulwama District: 11 men, 11 women and two small boys.","body":"On the night of 23 March 2003, twenty-four of our people were murdered in Nadimarg, a village near Shopian in Pulwama District of Jammu and Kashmir.\n\nThey were among the few Kashmiri Pandits who stayed in the Valley in early 1990. That year the great majority fled the rising insurgency and the fear of persecution and physical harm. They took shelter in makeshift camps across the Jammu division. The people of Nadimarg stayed in their homes through all the years since.\n\nOur sources do not record their names, work or families, so we cannot tell their stories one by one. We know there were 11 men, 11 women and two small boys. The eldest was a man of 65. The youngest was a boy of 2.\n\nThe killers came between 11 pm and midnight. They were armed terrorists in counterfeit military uniforms. They lined up the villagers, men, women and children together, and shot them dead. A two-year-old child was among those shot.\n\nThe attackers belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba, an organisation internationally designated as terrorist. They were led by its \"district commander\" Zia Mustafa, said to be from Rawalakot in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Mustafa was arrested in 2003 and held in prison. Three other Lashkar-e-Taiba militants, gunned down by Mumbai police on 29 March 2003, were suspected of involvement in the massacre.\n\nMustafa spent 18 years in jail, mostly in Srinagar. In 2018 he was moved to Jammu's high-security Kot Bhalwal jail. In October 2021, security forces took him to a forest in Poonch to identify militant hideouts. He is said to have been killed there in crossfire between militants and Indian security forces. A Scroll.in report on his death was titled as saying it left lingering questions about the massacre.\n\nIndia accused Pakistan of involvement in the massacre and said it would deal with that country with strength and resolve. US Secretary of State Colin Powell and British foreign minister Jack Straw condemned the killings. They urged respect for the Line of Control and called on Pakistan to end infiltration across it. Chris Patten, European Commissioner for External Relations, and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan also condemned it. Christina Rocca, then US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, pointed to the massacre in arguing that the US must remain actively and effectively engaged.\n\nIn Pakistan's Dawn, the writer Kunwar Idris condemned the killings in an editorial. He said: \"Pundits are children of no lesser god that two hundred thousand of them should be driven out of their homes and the remaining few should be left to die a gruesome death.\"\n\nIn 2022, the climax of the film The Kashmir Files, written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri, depicted a scene based on the massacre. It showed militants lining up 24 Kashmiri Hindus in Nadimarg and shooting all of them, including a baby.\n\nWe remember the twenty-four of Nadimarg: eleven men, eleven women and two little boys. They were murdered in their own village for who they were, after they had stayed on in the land that was theirs.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Nadimarg_massacre"]},"Tika Lal Taploo":{"summary":"Tika Lal Taploo, a Srinagar advocate and Vice-President of the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir, was shot dead by JKLF militants outside his home in Srinagar on 13 September 1989, as he was leaving for the High Court. His killing is remembered as the first high-profile targeted killing of a Kashmiri Pandit leader. No one has been held to account.","body":"Tika Lal Taploo was born into a Kashmiri Pandit family in Srinagar on 6 October 1930. He graduated from Panjab University and took his Master of Arts and his LLB at Aligarh Muslim University.\n\nHe practised as an advocate in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and gave his life to public work. He was Vice-President of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu and Kashmir and an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He stood in several elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. He was never elected, reportedly because his constituency was gerrymandered. Even so, he had a large following as a social and political activist. People looked to him as a leader of the community.\n\nOn 13 September 1989, JKLF militants shot Tika Lal Taploo dead outside his home in Srinagar as he was leaving for the High Court. He was cremated on the 14th, the day the community now keeps as Martyrs' Day.\n\nThe Kashmir History Project calls his killing the first high-profile targeted killing of the exodus years, a deliberate act to silence Kashmiri Pandit political leadership. It marks the start of what that memorial calls the first phase, when the community's most visible voices were the first to fall. Many senior leaders attended his funeral on 14 September 1989, among them the BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani and Kidar Nath Sahani.\n\nJustice has not been delivered. His son, Ashutosh Taploo, filed a petition asking for an investigation into the murder. In September 2022, more than thirty years after the killing, the Supreme Court of India declined to consider it. The bench of Justices Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai and C. T. Ravikumar said they had not entertained a similar case recently.\n\nHis story is told in the 2022 film The Kashmir Files, directed by Vivek Agnihotri. In March 2022, a North Delhi municipal school in Sector 7-B, Rohini, was renamed 'Shaheed Tika Lal Taploo' in his memory.\n\nWe remember Tika Lal Taploo, advocate, leader and son of Srinagar. The JKLF killed him at his own door. His family is still asking for the investigation he was owed.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tika_Lal_Taploo","https://rohittikoo.com/memorial/"]},"Lassa Kaul":{"summary":"Lassa Kaul, Director of Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar, was shot dead by masked gunmen outside his home on 13 February 1990. The Kashmir History Project (Rohit Tikoo) names JKLF terrorists as the killers, and no justice has been delivered.","body":"Lassa Kaul was the Director of Doordarshan Kendra in Srinagar, the face of the national broadcaster in the Valley. He was a Kashmiri Pandit, and on 13 February 1990 he was shot dead.\n\nHe was shot outside his house by masked gunmen. The Quint, in its list of journalists killed in Kashmir, records that he had gone to visit his aged parents and had just stepped out of his car when the gunmen fired. The sources differ on the place. The Quint says Bemina. The Kashmir History Project and the EFSAS study paper say Bhan Mohalla, Srinagar, which the memorial calls his home.\n\nThe Quint cites a report in The Wire saying the murder was caught on camera by the photojournalist Mehraj Din. No one has been tried.\n\nWho killed him? The Quint says only that he was reportedly killed by militants. The Kashmir History Project (Rohit Tikoo) states that he was shot dead by JKLF terrorists. The sources give no name for any individual gunman.\n\nWhy was he killed? EFSAS records that he was accused of relaying anti-militancy news. The memorial says he used his position to relay factual, anti-militancy news, and that he was killed for reporting the truth.\n\nHe died in the winter when the killing of Pandits was driving the community out of the Valley.\n\nThe memorial lists his case among those where justice has not been delivered. The sources record no trial and no conviction.\n\nHe is remembered in one way the sources record. Doordarshan instituted an award in his honour, the Lassa Kaul Award for national integration. We remember Lassa Kaul, director of Doordarshan in Srinagar, shot outside his home on 13 February 1990. No one has been tried for his murder.","sources":["https://www.thequint.com/news/india/shujaat-bukhari-list-of-journalists-killed-in-kashmir","https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/","https://rohittikoo.com/memorial/"]},"B. K. Ganjoo":{"summary":"B.K. Ganjoo, a telecom engineer in Srinagar, was shot dead in his home in Chotabazar on 19 March 1990 by terrorists, whom the Kashmir record attributes to the JKSLF. He had been hiding in a large rice container. His wife and young child were made to witness it.","body":"B.K. Ganjoo was a Kashmiri Pandit and a telecom engineer in Srinagar. He lived in Chotabazar with his wife and their young child, who was one year old according to a colleague's account. His first name does not appear in the sources we hold. He should not be confused with Justice Neelkanth Ganjoo, the former Sessions Judge shot in Srinagar in 1989.\n\nIn those months, terrorists treated central government employees as spies for the government and security forces. Many were on their list. Ganjoo had been threatened that he would be killed. Reeta Parimoo, a retired teacher whose husband Ravi worked with him in the same department, recalls that the terrorists suspected Ganjoo of leaking their messages to the central government. Ganjoo asked the government to send a vehicle so he could get out safely. According to her, no one listened.\n\nOn 19 March 1990, around ten in the morning, the terrorists knocked at his door. His wife made him hide in a big rice drum. The terrorists could not find him. As they were leaving, someone told them he was hiding in the drum. They fired six bullets into it and killed him.\n\nThen came a further cruelty. The record of atrocities in Kashmir states that the blood-soaked rice was offered to his wife and children, with the remark that it would taste good to them. His wife pleaded that they should kill her too, as nothing was left in her life. Reeta Parimoo corroborates the account, saying the blood-soaked rice was forced on his wife. That record names the JKSLF as responsible. Our other source says only \"terrorists\". We have found no record of anyone being tried for the murder.\n\nThe terrorists had also threatened anyone who attended his cremation or shared his family's grief. Ravi came home that evening in an Army jeep and told Reeta what had happened. He asked, \"How could we have left them?\" Ganjoo left behind a wife and a one-year-old child.\n\nHis murder pushed Reeta's family to leave the Valley in March 1990. They reached Srinagar airport before dawn and found thousands of people waiting there. They boarded a plane to Jammu with a single bag. Later they struggled in Delhi. Reeta still cannot speak of Ganjoo without choking back tears.\n\nWe remember B.K. Ganjoo as a man hunted for doing his job, who hid in his own house and was shot dead in front of his family. He was one of the Pandits whose killing in the spring of 1990 helped drive our people out of the Valley.","sources":["https://newsable.asianetnews.com/india/the-kashmir-files-eyewitness-accoubt-kashmiri-pandit-exodus-r935ob","https://ikashmir.net/atrocities/4.html","https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"]},"Sarwanand Koul Premi":{"summary":"Sarwanand Koul Premi, the 65-year-old Kashmiri Pandit poet, teacher and Gandhian, was taken from his home with his son Virender by three armed militants on the night of 29–30 April 1990. Their tortured bodies were found hanging from a tree on 1 May 1990.","body":"Sarwanand Koul Premi, also spelled Sarvanand Kaul Premi, was born on 2 November 1924. He was a Kashmiri poet, journalist, research scholar, Gandhian, social reformer and independence activist. Kashmiri Pandits remember him as a man of letters and principle, not of violence.\n\nFor a few years he worked for the Village and the Khadi Industries Board, a state enterprise, and for the Industries Department of Punjab. He then returned to Kashmir and taught in the Jammu and Kashmir education department from 1954 to 1977. His many books include the poetry collections Kalami Premi, Payami Premi, Rood Jeri, Osh ta Vush and Panctchadar. He translated Tagore's Gitanjali and the Bhagavad Gita, and wrote a study of the life and works of Mirza Kak.\n\nOn the night of 29–30 April 1990, three armed Islamist militants came to his house. The sources do not name their group. They looted the family's gold, jewellery and pashminas. Then they demanded that Premi go with them to meet their commander. His son Virender insisted on going with his father.\n\nOn 1 May, the bodies of Premi and his son were found hanging from a tree about 20 kilometres from their house. They had been tortured. Their bones were broken and their eyes had been gouged out. Nails had been hammered into their foreheads, where Hindus apply the tilak. Their bodies bore cigarette burns, and they had also been shot. The Kashmir History Project describes limbs broken and skin slit and burned. The nails where the tilak is worn were an attack on their faith as well as their bodies.\n\nA first information report was filed at the Dooru police station. Five days after the murders, the rest of the Koul family fled their village for Jammu. After a few days there, they moved permanently to Delhi. In August 1998, eight years after the killings, local miscreants set fire to the family's abandoned home in Kashmir. An FIR was lodged, but the culprits were never found.\n\nThe Kashmir History Project lists the case under \"Justice Not Delivered\". A ThePrint headline says a probe into the 1990 killing of Premi and his son was picking up pace 36 years later. The case has not been entirely forgotten. We could not read the article itself, so we do not repeat its details.\n\nWe remember a poet and teacher, and his son who would not let him go alone. Both were tortured and killed in 1990.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarwanand_Koul_Premi","https://rohittikoo.com/memorial/","https://theprint.in/india/36-years-later-probe-into-1990-killing-of-kashmiri-pandit-writer-sarwanand-premi-son-picks-up-pace/3012361/"]},"Prof. K. L. Ganjoo":{"summary":"Prof. K.L. Ganjoo, described as an agro-scientist, and his wife Prana Ganjoo, a teacher, were abducted together in 1990. Both were murdered. The sources say Prana was raped or tortured before she was killed. No one has been held to account.","body":"Prof. K.L. Ganjoo was a Kashmiri Pandit. One memorial record calls him an agro-scientist. His wife, Prana Ganjoo, was a teacher. They lived and worked in the Valley, and they were taken from it together.\n\nThe study paper of the European Foundation for South Asian Studies records that Mrs. Prana Ganjoo and her husband Prof. K.L. Ganjoo were kidnapped in Sopore in May 1990. In that account, Prana was raped, and then both were murdered.\n\nThe memorial kept by the historian Rohit Tikoo records that they were abducted in broad daylight. It says Prof. Ganjoo was shot and his body thrown into the Jhelum River. It says Prana was subjected to sustained torture before she was killed. It also states that the details of their fate remain partly unclear to this day.\n\nThe two sources differ on what was done to Prana, and on the exact date and place within 1990. Neither source names the people who took the Ganjoos or says which organisation they belonged to. Who killed them is not recorded.\n\nThey were murdered in the spring of 1990, when Pandit women were among those singled out. The record names Sarla Bhat, Girija Tickoo and Prana Ganjoo together as women who were specifically targeted.\n\nThe memorial record marks this case \"Justice Not Delivered\". The sources record no investigation, trial or conviction for the killing of Prof. K.L. Ganjoo and Prana Ganjoo.\n\nIf you are family or a neighbour and remember more about Prof. K.L. Ganjoo and Prana Ganjoo, please light a lamp and tell us.","sources":["https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/","https://rohittikoo.com/memorial/"]},"Satish Kumar Tickoo":{"summary":"Satish Kumar Tickoo (also spelled Tiku or Tikku) was shot dead outside his Srinagar home by his friend Bitta Karate of the JKLF, who later named him on camera as the first Kashmiri Pandit he killed. His family reopened the case in court more than 31 years later.","body":"Satish Kumar Tickoo, spelled Tiku or Tikku in some reports, was a young Kashmiri Pandit of Srinagar. He is remembered as one of the first victims of terrorism in the Kashmir Valley. He visited Bitta at his Srinagar home from time to time.\n\nBitta Karate was one of the top gunmen of the JKLF. He crossed over to Pakistan Administered Jammu and Kashmir in 1989 and was trained in camps there. Our sources do not give the date of Satish's killing.\n\nThis account comes from a study paper by the European Foundation for South Asian Studies. It is based on a television interview Bitta Karate gave to security officials after his arrest and interrogation. Bitta named Satish Kumar Tiku as the first victim of his bullets. When Bitta returned from training, Satish found him cleaning an AK-47. Satish asked what it was. Bitta said it was a toy he played with.\n\nBitta went to his commander, told him the story and asked for directions. The commander told him to finish Satish, in case Satish told the police. Bitta went to Satish's house and called him out. As soon as Satish stepped into the street, Bitta fired shots from a China-made pistol that pierced his heart. Satish fell dead in a pool of blood.\n\nIn the same interview Bitta said he obeyed the orders of his seniors Ashfaq Wani and Amanullah Khan. Asked how many Kashmiri Pandits he had gunned down, he said he had lost count after killing 22. The study paper notes that the killer of 22 or more Pandits was walking free in Srinagar.\n\nFor more than three decades there was no trial. Then Satish's relatives petitioned to reopen the case. Trial proceedings began nearly 31 years after the killing. The court adjourned it to April 16. The judge was on leave that day, so the matter was deferred to May 10.\n\nThe relatives asked the court to place on record Bitta Karate's video confession that the first Kashmiri Pandit he murdered was Tickoo, with the footage and a transcript. They also asked for status reports on all the FIRs registered against Bitta Karate.\n\nSatish's case is one of many never tried. The NGO Roots in Kashmir told the Supreme Court that more than 700 Kashmiri Pandits were murdered between 1989 and 1998. FIRs were lodged in more than 200 cases. Not one reached the stage of a chargesheet or conviction. On July 24, 2017, the Supreme Court dismissed the NGO's plea for a probe. It said it was difficult to investigate and collect evidence on incidents more than 27 years old.\n\nWe remember Satish Kumar Tickoo, killed by a friend at his own door. His family keeps asking for the trial denied for more than thirty years.","sources":["https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/","https://organiser.org/2022/05/10/80291/bharat/kashmiri-pandit-killing-satish-tickoo-family-files-fresh-plea-to-place-bitta-karates-video-confession-as-proof/"]},"Prof. Neel Kant Raina":{"summary":"Professor Nilakanth (Neel Kant) Raina, known as Lala, was a historian and researcher in the J&K Government Higher Education Department. At about dusk, masked and armed gunmen called him out of his home in Fateh Kadal, Srinagar, and shot him dead at point blank range.","body":"Professor Nilakanth Raina, known as Lala, served in the Jammu and Kashmir Government Higher Education Department, a historian and researcher. He lived in the Fateh Kadal locality of Srinagar.\n\nWhen he was killed, he was researching the Buddhist antiquity of the Jam'a Masjid in Nowhatta, Srinagar.\n\nAt about dusk, masked and armed gunmen called him out of his home in Fateh Kadal and shot him dead at point blank range, at his own door. The record gives no date, and names no gunman. No trial for his killing is on record.\n\nIf you are family or a neighbour and remember more about him, please light a lamp and tell us.","sources":["https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/"]},"Smt. Girija Tickoo":{"summary":"Girija Tickoo, a Kashmiri Pandit schoolteacher and mother of two, returned from Jammu to Kupwara to collect her pay. In June 1990 militants abducted her, gang raped her and cut her in two on a mechanical saw. Her dismembered body was found on 25 June. No one has been held to account.","body":"Girija Tickoo, whose name some sources spell Girja, was a Kashmiri Pandit woman from Bandipora. She was about 28. She was married to Kanya Lal Tiku. They had a son of five and a daughter of two. The family lived at Arigam (Aragam), in what is now Bandipora district and was then part of Baramulla district.\n\nOne source calls her a teacher, another a school librarian. In early 1990, like thousands of Pandit families, hers fled the Valley for Jammu. They were driven out by threats and by the militants' targeted killing of Pandits.\n\nIn June 1990 she went back to collect her pay. One source says she was staying with a former colleague. Another says she was seized as she came out of the school building after collecting her salary. A third says she was lured back by a false promise of safe passage, and calls it a trap. The accounts differ on the details. They agree that she went back for money she had earned, and that she was taken.\n\nA group of militants abducted her on 19 June 1990. She was gang raped and tortured. She is said to have recognised the voice of one of her rapists. In 2019 the columnist Sunanda Vashisht testified to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the US House of Representatives. Vashisht said Girija's captors lived in the same neighbourhood where she had spent her whole life. She said Girija was cut in two when she identified them by their voices.\n\nShe was taken to a sawmill, a wood processing unit. There the militants cut her in two with a mechanical saw. One source says she was still alive when they did it. The EFSAS study says her attackers feared she would disclose their identity and forced her under a machine saw. Her dismembered body was found on 25 June 1990.\n\nThe sources do not name the organisation or the men responsible. They record no investigation, trial or conviction. The Kashmir History Project (Rohit Tikoo) records that justice has not been delivered.\n\nHer killing was not forgotten, though for years it went unanswered. In September 2000 Vijay K. Sazawal of the Indo-American Kashmir Forum included it in his testimony to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Rahul Pandita told it in his memoir Our Moon Has Blood Clots (2013). The 2022 film The Kashmir Files drew on it for the killing of one of its characters. In August 2023, in the Lok Sabha, Union minister Smriti Irani named Girija Tickoo and Sarla Bhat.\n\nShe is remembered with the other women of the community who were abducted, raped and murdered in 1990, among them Sarla Bhat, Prana Ganjoo and Babli Raina. She was a working mother who came back for her wages and was destroyed for it. We remember her by name.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girija_Tickoo","https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits/","https://rohittikoo.com/memorial/"]}},"rememberFear":{"title":"How the fear was made","intro":"Before the killings became an exodus, our people were told to leave: in print, on posters and from loudspeakers. These are the notices, slogans and signs as recorded, with where each record comes from.","items":[{"date":"1989-08-18","kind":"notice","who":"Allah Tigers (chief: \"Air Marshal\" Noor Khan)","quote":"","what":"A newly-appeared militant outfit announced in the local newspapers a ban on cinemas, bars and beauty parlours as un-Islamic. By October most cinemas in the valley had closed. It was the first open sign that armed groups, not the government, now set the rules of daily life.","sources":["https://jacobin.com/2019/08/once-upon-a-time-in-kashmir","https://homegrown.co.in/article/807045/the-winds-of-change-kashmir-opens-its-first-theatre-in-23-years"]},{"date":"1989-09-13","kind":"killing","who":"JKLF","quote":"","what":"Tika Lal Taploo, a lawyer and political leader, was shot dead by JKLF gunmen outside his home in Srinagar as he was leaving for the High Court. His was the first high-profile killing of a Kashmiri Pandit leader. No one was ever punished.","go":"remember.person.2","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tika_Lal_Taploo"]},{"date":"1990-01-04","kind":"newspaper","who":"Hizbul Mujahideen, in the Urdu daily Aftab (Srinagar)","quote":"","what":"Aftab published a Hizbul Mujahideen press release asking all Pandits to leave the valley immediately. The Urdu daily Al Safa repeated the warning. Masked men with Kalashnikovs marched openly in the streets.","sources":["https://www.dailyo.in/politics/kashmiri-pandits-exodus-habbakadal-hizbul-mujahideen-yasin-malik-pakistan-8533","https://indiandefencereview.com/kashmiri-pandits-offered-three-choices-by-radical-islamists/"]},{"date":"1990-01","kind":"poster","who":"militant groups","quote":"","what":"Threatening posters on the doors of Hindu homes told the families inside to leave Kashmir at once. Clocks were ordered set to Pakistan Standard Time. Shops and offices were painted green. Hit lists of names went up on mohalla walls.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_of_Kashmiri_Hindus"]},{"date":"1990-01-19","kind":"slogan","who":"loudspeakers on mosques across the valley","quote":"Ralive, tsaliv ya galive.","translation":"Convert, leave, or die.","what":"On the night of 19 January the power went out across the valley, except in the mosques. From sunset to dawn their loudspeakers broadcast slogans, martial songs and speeches calling for the Pandits to be driven out. Pandits who lived through that night say it decided them to leave.","sources":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_of_Kashmiri_Hindus","https://www.thequint.com/news/india/exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits-january-1990-refugees-in-their-country-valley-pain-separation-trauma-jammu-delhi-camps"]},{"date":"1990-01-19","kind":"slogan","who":"loudspeakers on mosques","quote":"Asi gachhay panunuy Pakistan, batav rostuy ta batanyen saan.","translation":"We want our own Pakistan, without the Pandit men but with their women.","what":"Of all the slogans, our people remember this one most. It told every Pandit family that their women were part of what was wanted.","sources":["https://rohittikoo.com/memorial/"]},{"date":"1990-04-14","kind":"newspaper","who":"Hizbul Mujahideen, in the Urdu daily Al Safa","quote":"Kashmiri Pandits responsible for duress against Muslims should leave the Valley within two days.","what":"Al Safa ran the ultimatum as its headline, with a column calling Pandits untrustworthy and informers of Indian intelligence. By then most of the community had already gone. The notice drove out many of those who had stayed.","sources":["https://www.thequint.com/news/india/kashmiri-pandits-exodus-the-timeline-how-the-kashmir-files-deviates-from-it","https://rohittikoo.com/why-did-kashmiri-pandits-leave-kashmir/"]}],"images":[{"url":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Kashmir_graffiti_in_abandoned_pandit_house.jpg","caption":"Graffiti inside a house abandoned by a Kashmiri Pandit family","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kashmir_graffiti_in_abandoned_pandit_house.jpg","credit":"UnpetitproleX","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0"},{"url":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Kashmir_graffiti_in_abandoned_pandit_house_%282%29.jpg","caption":"The names of the militant groups, JKLF and Hizbul Mujahideen, on the wall of an abandoned Pandit house","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kashmir_graffiti_in_abandoned_pandit_house_(2).jpg","credit":"UnpetitproleX","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0"},{"url":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Abandoned_Kashmiri_Pandit_House.jpg","caption":"The ruins of a Pandit family's house in Verinag, Anantnag, abandoned in 1990 (pictured in 2021)","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abandoned_Kashmiri_Pandit_House.jpg","credit":"UnpetitproleX","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0"},{"url":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Abandoned_Pandit_House%2C_Kashmir.jpg","caption":"A Pandit house left during the exodus","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abandoned_Pandit_House,_Kashmir.jpg","credit":"UnpetitproleX","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0"},{"url":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Abandoned_Kashmiri_Hindu_House.jpg","caption":"Inside an abandoned Kashmiri Hindu house","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abandoned_Kashmiri_Hindu_House.jpg","credit":"UnpetitproleX","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0"}],"ask":"Do you have a newspaper cutting, a poster, a hit list, a threat letter, or a photograph of your family's house from those years? Email a photo or scan of it to teach@kavbatt.app, with where and when it is from. Each one will be added here, with your family's name if you wish.","originals":[{"title":"Bitta Karate admits on camera to killing Kashmiri Pandits","what":"The 1991 interview in which Farooq Ahmed Dar, called Bitta Karate, says he killed about twenty people, most of them Pandits.","site":"India Today (YouTube)","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAwj9pTgRnI","kind":"video"},{"title":"Farooq Ahmed Dar (Bitta Karate)","what":"His record, the cases against him, and his confession.","site":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farooq_Ahmed_Dar","kind":"page"},{"title":"Temples destroyed in Kashmir","what":"Lists and photographs of temples burnt and damaged after 1989.","site":"ikashmir.net","url":"https://www.ikashmir.net/templesdestroyed/1.html","kind":"photos"},{"title":"Temples destroyed in Kashmir, part 2","what":"More of the temples burnt and broken.","site":"ikashmir.net","url":"https://ikashmir.net/templesdestroyed/2.html","kind":"photos"},{"title":"In photos: the homes Kashmiri Pandits left behind","what":"Photographs of burnt and abandoned Pandit houses.","site":"The Wire","url":"https://thewire.in/rights/kashmiri-pandits-homes-photos","kind":"photos"},{"title":"Pandit Houses, by Veer Munshi","what":"The artist's photographs of half-burnt Pandit houses in Srinagar and the villages.","site":"Homegrown","url":"https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-voices/veer-munshis-photographs-of-kashmiri-pandits-abandoned-homes-tell-a-truly-disquieting-story","kind":"photos"},{"title":"Where memory still lives: the abandoned homes of Kashmiri Pandits","what":"Photographs of the houses as they stand today.","site":"Kashmir Times","url":"https://kashmirtimes.com/in-focus/where-memory-still-lives-the-abandoned-homes-of-kashmiri-pandits","kind":"photos"},{"title":"Memories of another day","what":"Pandits remember 1990, with photographs of the time.","site":"Outlook","url":"https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/national/kashmir-files-memories-of-another-day-magazine-189299","kind":"page"}]},"comicKeys":["story:nilamata-purana/draining-of-satisaras","story:nilamata-purana/death-of-jalodbhava","story:nilamata-purana/vitasta-the-river-goddess","story:nilamata-purana/kashyapas-curse-and-the-pishachas","story:kathasaritsagara/the-book-written-in-blood","story:kathasaritsagara/the-mouse-merchant","story:kathasaritsagara/the-lion-and-the-hare","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-the-king-and-the-corpse","story:ramavatarcharit/sita-daughter-of-ravana","story:kathasaritsagara/harisharman-the-accidental-seer","story:nilamata-purana/why-kashmir-missed-the-war","story:nilamata-purana/nilamata-krishna-and-yashovati","story:nilamata-purana/the-beauty-of-kashmir","story:nilamata-purana/satisaras-and-the-nagas","story:nilamata-purana/nila-the-naga-king","story:nilamata-purana/jalodbhava","story:nilamata-purana/kashyapa-and-nila-seek-help","story:nilamata-purana/chandradeva-learns-the-rules","story:nilamata-purana/rivers-as-goddesses","story:nilamata-purana/naga-springs","story:nilamata-purana/kramasaras-and-sacred-places","story:nilamata-purana/iramanjari-puja","story:nilamata-purana/first-snowfall-festival","story:nilamata-purana/first-rice-and-lamps","story:nilamata-purana/buddha-in-the-nilamata","story:nilamata-purana/honouring-nikumbha","story:nilamata-purana/why-the-nilamata-matters","story:kathasaritsagara/shivas-secret-story","story:kathasaritsagara/vararuchi-who-heard-once","story:kathasaritsagara/upakosha-and-the-four-suitors","story:kathasaritsagara/yogananda","story:kathasaritsagara/gunadhya-and-the-sweets","story:kathasaritsagara/putraka-and-pataliputra","story:kathasaritsagara/udayana-and-the-wooden-elephant","story:kathasaritsagara/vasavadattas-escape","story:kathasaritsagara/the-fire-at-lavanaka","story:kathasaritsagara/devasmita","story:kathasaritsagara/jimutavahana","story:kathasaritsagara/shaktideva-and-the-golden-city","story:kathasaritsagara/naravahanadatta","story:kathasaritsagara/the-monkey-and-the-porpoise","story:kathasaritsagara/the-tortoise-and-the-swans","story:kathasaritsagara/the-monkey-and-the-wedge","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-suitors","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-viravara","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-madanasenas-promise","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-three-delicate-queens","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-lion-makers","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-father-and-son","story:kathasaritsagara/vetala-the-end","story:ramavatarcharit/a-ramayana-in-kashmiri","story:ramavatarcharit/lava-kusha-in-kashmiri","story:tantrakhyayika/vishnusharman-and-the-princes","story:tantrakhyayika/the-jackal-and-the-drum","story:tantrakhyayika/the-crows-and-the-owls","story:tantrakhyayika/the-donkey-without-heart-or-ears","legend:navreh-mavas","legend:navreh","legend:chaitra-navratri","legend:zang-trai","legend:chaitra-durga-ashtami","legend:ram-navami","legend:hanuman-jayanti","legend:sonth","legend:akshaya-tritiya","legend:zyeth-atham","legend:nirjala-ekadashi","legend:haar-satam","legend:haar-aetham","legend:haar-navum","legend:jwala-chaturdashi","legend:guru-purnima","legend:shravan-purnima-amarnath","legend:raksha-bandhan","legend:zaram-satam","legend:pann","legend:ganesh-chaturthi","legend:gangashtami","legend:vyeth-truvah","legend:anta-tsodah","legend:kambar-pach","legend:mahalaya-amavasya","legend:sharad-navratri","legend:durga-ashtami","legend:maha-navami","legend:dussehra","legend:sharad-purnima","legend:dhanteras","legend:diwali","legend:annakoot","legend:bhai-dooj","legend:prabodhini-ekadashi","legend:kartik-purnima","legend:gaad-batta","legend:khichri-amavasya","legend:shishur-sankrant","legend:sahib-saptami","legend:gauri-tritiya","legend:tiky-tsoram","legend:vasant-panchami","legend:kaw-punim","legend:hurye-okdoh","legend:hurye-aetham","legend:dyara-daham","legend:gada-kah","legend:vagur-bah","legend:herath","legend:salaam","legend:doon-mavas","legend:teela-aetham","legend:holi"],"moreFile":"more.4d47f5c6b3.json"}