Explore Kashmiri Pandits

Rahul Pandita was fourteen years old when he was forced to leave his home in Srinagar along with his family. They were Kashmiri Pandits-the Hindu minority within a Muslim-majority Kashmir that was by 1990 becoming increasingly agitated with the cries of 'Azaadi' from India. Our Moon Has Blood Clots is the story of Kashmir, in which hundreds of thousands of Pandits were tortured, killed and forced to leave their homes by Islamist militants, and forced to spend the rest of their lives in exile in their own country. Pandita has written a deeply personal, powerful and unforgettable story of history, home and loss.

It Provides A Valuable Source Material On The Past History Of Kashmir With Particular Referens To The Kashmiri Pandits. Also Provides Background To The Current Turmoil And Giving Accent Of The Struggle Of This Community In The Course Of History.

This book The Odyssey of Kashmiri Pandits presents the pathetic life of Kashmiri Pandits in exile. The Mass Exodus from their homes in the year 1990, have left them as refugees in their own country. The original inhabitants of Kashmir, scattered all over the world, are now haunted by nostalgia of Paradise on Earth. They were hounded out, after inflicting taunts, physical abuse, miseries, loot, and selective killing. The exiled community hopes to go back to their home land some day. What could have been the reasons for all these miseries? Were the killers caught?

Twenty-five years ago, in the winter of 1990, about four hundred thousand Pandits of Kashmir were forced to leave Kashmir, their homeland, to save their lives when militancy erupted there. Even today, they continue to live as 'internally displaced migrants' in their own country. While most Kashmiri Pandits have now carved a niche for themselves in different parts of India, several thousands are still languishing in migrant camps in and around Jammu. The stories of their struggles and plight have remained untold for years. The authors of the memoirs in this anthology belong to four generations. Those who were born and brought up in Kashmir, and fled while they were in their forties and fifties; those who lingered on in their homes in Kashmir despite the threat to their lives; those who got displaced in their teens; and those who were born in migrant camps in exile. These narratives explore several aspects of the history, cultural identity and existence of the Kashmiri Pandits.These are untold narratives about the persecution of Pandits in Kashmir during the advent of militancy in 1989, the killings and kidnappings, loss of homeland, uprootedness, camp-life, struggle, survival, alienation and an ardent yearning to return to their land. These are stories about the re-discovery of their past, their ancestry, culture, and roots and moorings.

Kashmir is not merely a geo-space, but is the geo-cultural matrix from which thoughts and concepts embedded in the depths of the consciousness of its people have emanated, giving shape to their civilizational ethos. The history of Kashmiri Pandits has been synonymous with the core of values derived from the intimacy between man and nature.

The present-day Kashmir valley, according to Nilmat Purana, the sixth century Sanskrit Classic, was a large lake called Satisar surrounded by gigantic snow-peaked mountains. Geological findings confirm that the Valley was once submerged underwater. There is a tradition that the lake was drained by an ascetic, named Kashyapa Rishi (sage) by cutting the gap in the hills at Baramulla (Varaha-mula). Hence the reclaimed land was called Kashyap Mar. In the people's language over a while, Kashyap Mar became 'Kashmir, ' the present name of the Valley.The Hindus of Kashmir Valley, popularly known as Kashmiri Pandits, are the aboriginal people of the Valley. Their ancestors (Saraswat Brahmins) settled in the Valley over five thousand years ago after the original lake was drained and the land became habitable. The Valley inhabitants were principally Hindus until the 14th century when Islamists entered the Valley and began converting Hindus to Islam. Seven mass exoduses of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley have occurred in the past 600 years. In the mid-1980s, the Islamist radicals, with the help of the local Muslim majority, began a militarized crusade to Islamize the Valley. Throughout the summer of 1989, armed radical Islamists intensified their jihad in Azadi's name (freedom) to Islamize the Valley. Explosive and inflammatory speeches broadcast from the loudspeakers installed on the mosques became frequent. Thousands of audio cassettes, carrying similar propaganda, were played all over the Valley to instill fear into the already frightened Kashmiri Pandit community. There were open calls for the establishment of an Islamic order. Various Islamist groups like Jamat-i-Islami and its militant wing Hizbul Mujahedeen, women's wing Dukhtaran-i-Millat, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Allah Tigers, Jamiatul-Ulemmi Islam, etc. proclaimed the objective of their struggle as Islamization of the Kashmir valley and its merger with Pakistan. The Islamic extremists launched a malicious campaign against the Kashmiri Pandits through sermons in mosques and via the local Urdu newspapers by publishing materials derogatory to Pandits and by denigrating their history, customs, and traditions, with an object of spreading hatred and disinformation about this ancient indigenous community amongst the ordinary Muslim masses in the Valley. On January 4, 1990, a local Urdu newspaper, Aftab, published a press release issued by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, asking all Pandits to leave the Valley immediately. Another ultimatum was given to the minority Pandit community through the local press on April 14, 1990, asking them to leave the Valley within two days or face death. This announcement was published in a popular local newspaper Alsafa, Srinagar, on April 14, 1990. These warnings were followed by Kalashnikov-wielding masked Jehadis carrying out military-type exercises openly. The elimination of the entire Pandit community was deemed necessary to rid the Valley of its un-Islamic elements. To achieve their goal, Islamists began a campaign of killing Hindus in cold blood. From late 1989 to mid-1990, over 1000 Hindus were massacred - a genocide forgotten. The Hindus' atrocities led to the exodus of the entire Hindu population from the Valley to Jammu and other cities in India. Over 350,000 Pandits became refugees in their own country and are still waiting to return to their homeland. The account given here is an abridged description of the ethnic cleansing and the subsequent exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley in 1989-90, who became refugees in their own country. Not only has this human tragedy been forgotten by the world community, but a campaign of disinformation coupled with misguided and misinformed narrative has been perpetuated for years by Pakistan, Muslims, and the media. The author, whose family has been a victim of this human catastrophe, hopes that this text sets the record straight for future generations of the uprooted Pandits.

A moving portrait of a community reduced to being tourists in their own homeland.It has been twenty-five years since around 3.5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits were uprooted from their homes in the Kashmir valley due to militancy and changed circumstances. Many of them had to face the ignominy of living in tents, then in one-room tenements or flats, as refugees in their own country. They felt let down by both the state and central governments and by Indian society as a whole -- as well as by the Muslims of the valley. There was to be no going back for them.From Home to House is an anthology of short stories, essays and writings by Kashmiri Pandits in exile, vividly bringing out their nostalgia for Kashmir, their sense of betrayal, their attempts to pick up the pieces and carve a new life for themselves. These are the reflections of a lost and scattered people in what for them is an alien land. The writings show both their vulnerability -- their helplessness as they see their culture and way of life getting eroded -- and their resilience -- as the younger generation of Pandits spreads its wings and builds a whole new life for itself. This anthology holds a mirror to the troubled valley of Kashmir, a mirror from which the reflection of a section of its population is now missing.