Visit to the Valley: At a Glance
“Me: …. ‘I am a Kashmiri.’
My friend: ‘I have a friend who’s also from Jammu/Wow, you must be used to snow!’”
That’s when a small talk turns into a detailed conversation for me.
To begin with, I have never been to the valley. All I know about the place is through my parents and relatives, articles, books, etc.
Skipping the history of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), the state has been divided into three administrative divisions – the Jammu division, the Kashmir division and the Ladakh division. All three regions have different customs, languages, dresses and religious beliefs. In fact, people from all three regions look totally distinct from each another.
I am a Kashmiri Pandit and belong to the Hindu community from the Kashmir valley. Kashmiri Hindus are Saraswat Brahmins and are chiefly followers of Lord Shiva. Owing to one of our customs, Kashmiri women (and some girls) have an additional piercing, a little inside of the ear.
While some of us have more sophisticated sounding surnames like ‘Kaul’ and ‘Raina’, the others have to live their entire life with certain jokes that come with the surnames, like ‘Mantoo’, ‘Gagroo’ and not to forget ‘Tikoo’, of which I have personal experience!
Our vernacular language is Kashmiri, which is very close to Rigvedic Sanskrit, though it derives some words from Persian and Arabic too. This language is very different from Dogri (the language in Jammu) and Ladakhi (the language in Ladhakh). As my generation of Kashmiri Pandits hasn’t stayed in the valley, we don’t speak our language very regularly. In most families, where Kashmiri is still spoken, the conversations are pretty much like:
“Mom: Kya chhak karaan? (What are you doing?)
Me: Padhai kar rahi hoon./I am studying.”
Though we aren’t very fluent in Kashmiri, we do understand most of it as our elders use the language to communicate with each other and to scold kids! Also, the language is spoken in different dialects in different regions of the valley.
The traditional Kashmiri dress that everyone talks about is the long gown called the Pheran, worn with a loose trouser called Suthan underneath. These woolen clothes were only worn during winter months of December and January. They would be accompanied by Kangir(in the picture above), a pot filled with hot embers, to keep warm. The remaining time of the year witnessed women in kurtas or sarees and men in shirts and trousers. Today, as most of the Pandit community doesn’t live in the valley anymore, they dress according to the trends native to the place the live in.
The Kashmiri Pandit community still follows the lunar calendar, which is used by the other Hindus in India to keep track of festivals like Holi and Diwali. We celebrate our birthday, the koshur vohurvod, in accordance with this calendar, in addition to observing certain ‘Ashtamis’ and ‘Poornimas’.
Being Shaivites, Shivratri or Herath is one of the major festivals of the Kashmiri Pandit community. Some other festivals that we celebrate are the Kashmiri lunar New Year or Navreh, Raksha Bandhan and Diwali. Among Kasmiri Pandits, festivals and birthdays are synonymous to ‘food’.
Food is one of the most important parts of our culture, and needless to say, it is the easiest way to stay connected to our roots. The Kashmiri cuisine is called ‘Wazwan’. No other cuisine in the world, except for Chappan Bhog (56 courses), has so many courses as the traditional Kashmiri Wazwan (including the dishes prepared by both Hindu and Muslim Kashmiris). Along with a variety of food items, we also have a couple types of teas, different from black tea, and are fond of traditional Kashmiri breads that we buy from Kashmiri baker or Kandur. Also, these teas are prepared in a special kettle called Samovar(in the picture to the right).
Fun Fact: As we are aware, the state of Jammu and Kashmir has two capitals. The summer capital of the state is Srinagar, while the winter capital is Jammu. This bi-annual shift of the secretariat and all other government offices from one capital city to another is called the Darbar Move. It derives its name from the word Darbar which means the Royal Court (of a King) as this practice was started way back when the state of Jammu and Kashmir was a Princely State.