Kashmiris

Hindu and Buddhist rule

The Hindu caste system of the Kashmir region was influenced by the influx of Buddhism from the time of Asoka, around the third century BCE, and a consequence of this was that the traditional lines of varna were blurred, with the exception of that for the Brahmins, who remained aloof from the changes.^[17][18] Another notable feature of early Kashmiri society was the relative high regard in which women were held when compared to their position in other communities of the period.^[19]

A historically contested region, Northern India was subject to attack from Turkic and Arab regimes from the eighth century onwards, but they generally ignored the mountain-circled Kashmir Valley in favour of easier pickings elsewhere. It was not until the fourteenth century that Muslim rule was finally established in the Valley and when this happened it did not occur primarily as a consequence of invasion so much as because of internal problems resulting from the weak rule and corruption endemic in the Hindu Lohara dynasty.^[20][21] Mohibbul Hasan describes this collapse as

The Dãmaras (feudal chiefs) grew powerful, defied royal authority, and by their constant revolts plunged the country into confusion. Life and property were not safe, agriculture declined, and there were periods when trade came to a standstill. Socially and morally too the court and the country had sunk to the depths of degradation.^[21]

The Brahmins had something to be particularly unhappy about during the reign of the last Lohara king, for Sūhadeva chose to include them in his system of onerous taxation, whereas previously they appear to have been exempted.^[22]

Arrival of Islam and Shah Mir Dynasty (1320–1580s)

Islam arrived in Kashmir starting with the conversion in 1320 of Kashmir's Buddhist ruler, Rinchan, at the hands of the saint, Sayyid Bilal Shah (also known as Bulbul Shah). After conversion to Islam he called himself Malik Sadur-ud-Din and became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir. In 1339, Shah Mir established the Shah Mir dynasty in Kashmir. Islam grew in the 14th century under the Shah Mir dynasty and numerous Muslim ulama from Central Asia came to preach in Kashmir. Some of the famous ulama who propagated Islam in Kashmir included Sayyid Jalaluddin, Sayyid Tajuddin, Sayyid Ḥusayn Simani, Sayyid Ali Ḥamadani, Mir Muḥammad Hamadani, and Shaykh Nuruddin.^{[upper-alpha 12]} Sayyid Ali Hamadani (also known as Shah-yi Hamadan), alongside hundreds of his followers, converted thousands of Kashmiris to Islam and also imparted Persian influences on the local Kashmiri culture.^[23] His son, Sayyid Muḥammad Hamadani, encouraged Kashmir's Muslim ruler Sikandar Butshikan (who reigned from 1389–1413) to enforce Islamic law and establish the office of Shaykh al-Islam i.e. the chief religious authority. By the late 1400s the majority of the population had embraced Islam.^{[upper-alpha 13]} During the rule of Sultan Sikandar Butshikan (1389–1413), who has been referred as an iconoclast, there were mass migrations of Kashmiri Pandits to other parts of India.^[24][25]

Mughal rule (1580s–1750s)

Kashmiri historians see Mughal rule as the beginning of the end of Kashmiri independence.^[33] The Mughal Emperor Akbar succeeded in invading the Kashmir Valley, despite tough Kashmiri resistance,^{[upper-alpha 14]} due to internal Sunni–Shia divisions amongst Kashmiris.^[34]

The anti-Shia policies of Mirza Haidar Dughlat and the anti-Sunni policies of the Chaks had broken Kashmiri unity, thus paving the way for the Mughal occupation of Kashmir.^[35] Akbar's victory brought an end to indigenous Kashmiri Muslim rule.^{[upper-alpha 15]} Christopher Snedden states that the Mughals began a process of psychological warfare against Kashmiris to strip them of their martial capabilities. After this, neighbouring ethnic groups started stereotyping Kashmiris as a 'cowardly' and 'non-martial' race.^[36]

Conversely, Akbar also reduced the land revenue demand from two-thirds, as it was earlier, to one-half of the produce.^[37] Kashmiri Hindus also felt a respite from the severe persecution they faced under the earlier Kashmiri Muslim rule.^[38]

The Mughals maintained a large military presence in the valley and were not interested in developing the productive sectors although they patronised art and constructed some pleasure gardens and a few mosques. While many histories of Kashmir consider the Kashmir Valley's incorporation into Mughal India as a decline of Kashmiri independence and cultural identity, Chitralekha Zutshi argues that Kashmiri poets began to consciously articulate their sense of regional belonging during the Mughal rule. According to M.J. Akbar, the clash of cultures between Delhi and Kashmir resulted in Kashmiris wishing for nothing more than to be left alone.^{[upper-alpha 16]}

Afghan Rule (1750s–1819)

In 1751, the Afghans, ruled by Ahmad Shah Durrani, absorbed Kashmir into the Durrani Empire. The Afghans were cruel, especially to Kashmir's Hindus. However, Kashmiri historians state that the Afghans were brutally repressive to all Kashmiris, regardless of religion.^{[upper-alpha 17]} The Afghans extorted money from the locals and both Kashmiri men and women lived in fear of their lives. The Afghans sent many Kashmiris as slaves to Afghanistan. During Afghan dominance, the shawl industry declined, probably due to heavy taxes. According to scholars Chitralekha Zutshi and Janet Rizvi, the Afghan brutality caused many Kashmiri shawl-weavers to flee to Punjab.^{[upper-alpha 18][upper-alpha 19]} However, due to the administrative experience of Kashmiri Pandits, the Afghans utilised their services. Kashmiri Pandits were not prevented from entering into government service. George Foster, who visited Kashmir during the Afghan rule, documented the oppression of Kashmiris by Afghans. He writes:^[39]

The Afghans would never issue an order without a blow of the side of hatchet (battle axe). Karim Dad Khan in a mood of enjoyment would tie up the inhabitants by back in pairs and drop them in the river.

By 1819 the Sikh Empire's Maharajah Ranjit Singh finally succeeded in taking Kashmir. Initially, Kashmiris felt relieved as they had suffered under the Afghans.^{[upper-alpha 20]}

Sikh Empire (1820–1846)

In 1819 Kashmir came under Maharajah Ranjit Singh's Sikh Empire and Sikh rule over Kashmir lasted for 27 years till 1846. These 27 years of Sikh rule saw 10 Governors in Kashmir. Of these 10 Governors five were Hindus, three were Sikhs and two were Muslims.^[40] Due to the fact that Kashmiris had suffered under the Afghan rulers, they initially welcomed the Sikh rule.^{[upper-alpha 21]} However, the Sikhs oppressed the population.^[41] Scholar Christopher Snedden states that the Sikhs exploited Kashmiris regardless of religion.^[42]

During the Sikh rule the mostly illiterate Muslim population suffered under heavy taxation, rural indebtedness and discrimination.^{[upper-alpha 22]} The Sikhs had enacted a number of anti-Muslim policies, thus subjecting the Muslim majority population of the Valley to a number of hardships in the practice of their religion. The central mosque, Jama Masjid, was closed for 20 years and Muslims were prohibited from issuing the azan (call to prayer). If a Sikh murdered a Hindu the compensation amount allowed was four rupees. However, if a Sikh murdered a Muslim the compensation amount allowed was only two rupees. According to Prem Nath Bazaz the effect of the Sikh rule was that the people of the valley came to be known as 'zulum parast' (worshippers of tyranny), forgot their glorious martial traditions and became timid and cowardly.^{[upper-alpha 23]}

During the Sikh rule, Europeans who visited the Valley documented the deprivation and starvation and also wrote of the abject poverty of the peasantry and the exorbitant taxes under the Sikhs. According to European traveller Moorcraft, no more than one-sixteenth of the cultivable land surface was under cultivation and due to starvation many people had fled to India.^{[upper-alpha 24]} Kashmiri histories also emphasise the wretchedness of life for common Kashmiris during the Sikh rule. According to them, the peasantry became mired in poverty and migrations of Kashmiri peasants to the plains of Punjab reached high proportions. Several European travellers' accounts from the period agree and provide evidence for such assertions.^{[upper-alpha 25]} When Moorcroft left the Valley in 1823, about 500 emigrants accompanied him across the Pir Panjal Pass.^{[upper-alpha 26]} The Sikhs lost their independence with the Battle of Subraon. In 1846 Kashmir came under the rule of Gulab Singh, a Hindu Dogra Maharajah under the British suzerainty.^[42]

Dogra Regime (1846–1947)

The Muslim population suffered severe oppression under Hindu rule and were subjected to heavy taxation, discriminatory laws and forced unpaid labour.^{[upper-alpha 31]} The 100 year Dogra regime was a disaster for the Muslim peasantry of Kashmir Valley.^{[upper-alpha 32]} Walter Lawrence described the conditions of the Valley's peasantry as being 'desperate' and noted that the Valley's peasantry attributed their miseries to the Maharajah's deputies rather than the rulers themselves. The state officials apparently kept the rulers from knowing the conditions of the Muslim peasantry in the Valley.^[43]

Lawrence in particular criticised the state officials who belonged to the Kashmiri Pandit community.^[43] Lawrence provided evidence that while many of the Kashmiri Pandit officials may have been ''individually gentle and intelligent, as a body they were cruel and oppressive.'' Scholars have noted that during the Hindu monarchy, a Hindu elite heavily exploited the Kashmiri Muslims.^[44][45][34] Kashmiri Pandits had entered the state administrative machinery during the Afghan period and by the Dogra period they had become entrenched in the lower levels of the state bureaucracy. However, the Pandits were, like all Kashmiris, excluded from the upper sections of the bureaucracy, although they continued to exercise control in the countryside.^[46]

Wingate and Lawrence spent many months in the rural hinterland of Kashmir and in an unprecedented manner brought to the fore the tensions that underlay Kashmiri society between the interests of the Hindu Pandit community and the numerically preponderant Kashmiri Muslim cultivators. However, while both acknowledged the oppression of Kashmiri Muslims, the solutions offered by Lawrence and Wingate differed from each other. While both acknowledged the responsibility of the Kashmiri Pandit community in exacerbating the situation of the Muslim cultivating classes, Wingate was far more uncompromising in demanding that the privileges of the Pandit community be eliminated. However, Lawrence proposed to provide relief to Kashmir's cultivating class without eliminating the privileges of the Kashmiri Pandits.^{[upper-alpha 33]}

Gawasha Nath Kaul described the poor conditions of the Valley's Muslim population in his book Kashmir Then And Now and in it he wrote that 90 percent of Muslim households were mortgaged to Hindu moneylenders. Muslims were non-existent in the State's civil administration and were barred from officer positions in the military.^{[upper-alpha 34]}

Prem Nath Bazaz, one of the few Kashmiri Pandits who joined the movement for change, described the poor conditions of the Valley's Muslim population as such:^[47]

The poverty of the Muslim masses is appalling. Dressed in rags and barefoot, a Muslim peasant presents the appearance of a starved beggar...Most are landless laborers, working as serfs for absentee landlords.

Cuisine

Kashmiri cuisine holds a unique place among different world cuisines. Rice is the staple food of Kashmiris and has been so since ancient times.^[50] Meat, along with rice, is the most popular food item in Kashmir.^{[upper-alpha 45]} Kashmiris consume meat voraciously.^{[upper-alpha 46]} Despite being Brahmin, Kashmiri Pandits also consume meat heavily.^{[upper-alpha 47]} Salted tea or Noon Chai is the traditional drink and is cooked in a samavar, a Kashmiri tea-pot. Kehwa, traditional green tea with spices and almond, is served on special occasions and festivals. Kashmiri weddings incorporate a traditional feast known as Wazwan,^[51] which typically includes spicy food cooked by the traditional cooks (waz). The concept of Wazwan is 500 years old and originates in Central Asia. Rice and meat are central to the feast.^[52]

Language

Kashmiri (/kæʃˈmɪəri/) (कॉशुर, کأشُر), or Koshur, is spoken primarily in the Kashmir Valley and Chenab regions of Jammu and Kashmir. The language originates from Sanskrit although it received Persian influence during Muslim rule.^{[upper-alpha 48]} According to many linguists, the Kashmiri language is a northwest Dardic language of the Indo-Aryan family, descending from Middle Indo-Aryan languages. The label "Dardic" indicates a geographical label for the languages spoken in the northwest mountain regions, not a linguistic label.^[4] UCLA estimates the number of speakers as being around 4.4 million, with a preponderance in the Kashmir Valley,^[53] whereas the 2001 census of India records over 5.5 million speakers.^[54] According to the 1998 Census there were 132,450 Kashmiri speakers in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan.^[55] According to Professor Khawaja Abdul Rehman the Kashmiri language is on the verge of dying out in the Neelum Valley.^[56]

Kashmiri is believed to be the only one among the Dardic languages that has a written literature.^[4] Kashmiri literature dates back to over 750 years, comparable to that of most modern languages.^[57] Kashmiri poets and writers like Mehjoor, Abdul Ahad Azad, etc. enriched the literature with their poetry.^[58]

Religious traditions

Ethnic Kashmiri women from North Kashmir.

The Kashmir Valley has a 700-year-old tradition of Sufism. The Kashmir Valley is known as the ‘Pir Waer’, meaning the ‘Alcove of Sufis and Saints’.^[59] Sufism was introduced to Kashmir almost simultaneously with the foundation of Muslim rule.^[60] Kashmiris take pride in inhabiting a cultural space between Sufi Islam and Vedic Hinduism. Both the Pandits and Muslims of Kashmir respect the Shaivite mystic Lala Ded, who symbolises Kashmir's syncretic culture^{[upper-alpha 49]} and both Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Hindus also hold the shrine of Dastgeer Sahib in high esteem. People in Kashmir pay regular visits to the shrines of Sufi saints for peace of mind. It has also been a centuries-old tradition in Kashmir for Sufi disciples to recite special 'Wazaif'.^[59]

In contrast, the introduction of Salafism to Kashmir only goes back to a hundred years. Salafis remained on the fringes of Kashmir's religious and cultural life since belief in the local traditions of Sufi Islam was very strong in the Valley. But this has begun to change since the insurgency in Kashmir since the late 1980s. Pakistani-trained jihadi groups hijacked the local sentiment for freedom and transformed the Kashmiri struggle into a continuation of their holy war for an Islamic caliphate, by playing on the fears of the people that Kashmir's Muslim identity was under threat of erasure.^[61] However, there has also been a proliferation in the number of Barelvi groups, claiming to be custodians of the Valley's Sufi moorings, which have sprung up to challenge the growing power of the Wahhabi faith.^[62]

Salafis say that those who frequent shrines indulge in 'grave worship' (which is forbidden in Islam). But Sufis state that it is incorrect to assume that shrine-goers indulge in grave worship. They say they visit shrines only to seek the blessings of Allah as these places are said to be sacred as great scholars are buried there.^[59]

Arts and crafts

Kashmiri children in traditional Pheran.

The missionary saint Shah Hamadan brought Pashm wool to Kashmir from Ladakh and started various pashmina works. Since then pashmina has been used in several textiles in Kashmir and the Valley became a stronghold of pashmina. According to Moti Lal Saqi the shawl industry in Kashmir was made prominent by Mir Syed Ali Hamadani who was accompanied by both religious scholars and expert craftsmen and artists from Central Asia. Hamadani encouraged the practice of shawl weaving and cultural relations were thus established between Kashmir and Central Asia. There is a consensus among researchers that Shah Hamadan's arrival heralded the great advancement in the arts and crafts of Kashmir since 713 people of various professions had entered the Valley, accompanying Shah Hamadan. At the time it is said there were about twelve thousand idol-makers in the valley who had been rendered jobless since Islam does not approve idol-carving. Syed Ali Hamadani assisted them to find earnings by encouraging them to take to stone-carving and other arts and crafts practised by his associates who had accompanied him to Kashmir.^[63]

Physical features

Ethnic Kashmiri school children from Baramulla.

Fair skin and prominent noses are the hallmarks of Kashmiris.^[64][65] Kashmiris have been considered a good-looking race and British memoirs have commented positively on their physique and beauty.^[66] According to the 17th century French traveller, Francois Bernier, the Kashmiris were celebrated for beauty and considered 'well-made' like the Europeans. He records that the Mughals would select wives and concubines from Kashmir so that their children could be whiter than Indians and pass for genuine Mughals.^{[upper-alpha 50][upper-alpha 51]} Marco Polo observed that the beauty of Kashmiri women was superb.^[68] According to Alex Drace-Francis the resemblance between the natives of Kashmir and those of France and Circassia is 'striking'.^[67] Bhandari remarks that one is usually struck by the marked ethnic differences between Kashmiris from other races in India and Pakistan.^{[upper-alpha 52]}

In 2011 a survey by Gilani Research Foundation/Gallup Pakistan found that 55 percent of Pakistanis considered Kashmiris and Pashtuns to be the best looking people in the country. 29 percent rated Kashmiris as the best looking people while 26 percent rated Pashtuns as the best looking people.^{[upper-alpha 53]}

Kashmiri Muslims

The 1921 Census report stated that Kashmiri Muslims formed 31% of the Muslim population of the entire princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.^{[upper-alpha 55]} The 1921 Census report also stated that Kashmiri Muslims are sub-divided into numerous sub-castes such as Butt, Dar, Wain etc.^{[upper-alpha 56]} The Kashmiri Muslim population in the 1921 Census was recorded as 796,804.^[74]

The 1931 Census report also reiterated that the 'Kashmiri Muslim' population occupied the foremost position in the State (other communities in the princely State being Arains, Jats, Sudhans, Gujjars and Rajputs etc.).^{[upper-alpha 57]} It recorded the Kashmiri Muslim population as 1,352,822.^[75] The 1931 Census report explains that the 'phenomenal' increase in the number of Kashmiri Muslims by 556,018 was due to several other castes such as Hajjam, Hanji, Sayed being merged into the community.^{[upper-alpha 58][upper-alpha 59]}

The 1931 Census report stated that the Butt, Dar, Ganai, Khan, Lone, Malik, Mir, Pare, Rather, Shah, Sheikh and Wain were the most important sub-castes among Kashmiri Muslims.^[76] Below are the population figures for the various sub-castes among the Kashmiri Muslim population according to the 1931 Census.^[77]

A few largest of the numerous Kashmiri sub-divisions in the Punjab are as follows, as per the 1881 Punjab Census Report: Butt (24,463), Lone (4,848), Dar (16, 215), Wain (7,419), Mir (19,855) and Sheikh (15,902). The 1881 Census notes that the distribution of these Kashmiri sub-divisions do not appear to follow any rule.^[78]

Kashmiri Hindus

The following data is from the 1931 Census.^[79]

Muslim

In the early twentieth century, the policies of the Dogra rulers drove many Kashmiri Muslims to flee their native land to Punjab.^[80] Earlier, Afghan brutality and the oppression and poverty during the Sikh rule had also caused Kashmiri migrations to the Punjab.^[8][81] Kashmiri Muslims came to constitute an important segment of several Punjabi cities such as Sialkot, Lahore, Amritsar and Ludhiana.^{[upper-alpha 60]} Kashmiri Muslim immigrants from the Valley were a fifth of Amritsar's Muslim population in 1921.^[82]

With the integration of the Valley and British India, increasing numbers of Muslims had begun travelling to the Punjab. It is noted in the Census of 1921 that, 'the Kashmiri not only contributes to the growth of population in the state, but he adds considerably to the population of all important towns in the Punjab, which are situated along the State border or the main railway line.'^[83] Notable Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah said of Kashmiris in Punjab;^[84]

My stay at Lahore, for other reasons, awakened me from the slumber and made me familiar with new spirits. I saw Kashmiri Muslims in big bands leaving their beautiful land for the hard plains of Punjab in search of livelihood. These labourers had to cross on foot the snowy mountains of Mari and Banihall and had to face thousands of odds in their way. Sometimes, while crossing the mountains, these people were perishing as a result of difficult passes, snowstorms, etc. these unfortunate people were dying unwept and unsung. It was not easy once reaching the plains; there they had to face numerous odds and worries. During the day they wandered through the streets in search of work. Some worked as wood cutters, some as helpers to the shopkeepers, some carried heavy loads on their backs while some of them did grinding. After doing hard work during the day, they earned very little money of which maximum was spent on their meals. They passed their nights either in any inn or mosque, where they were harassed like dumb driven cattle.

Scholar Ayesha Jalal states that Kashmiris faced discrimination in the Punjab as well.^[45] Kashmiris settled for generations in the Punjab were disqualified from taking advantage of the Punjab Land Alienation Act,^{[upper-alpha 61]} and most Kashmiri families in Punjab did not own land.^{[upper-alpha 62]} Historian Zutshi states that Kashmiri Muslims settled in the Punjab retained emotional and familial links to Kashmir and felt obliged to struggle for the freedom of their brethren in the Valley.^{[upper-alpha 63]}

Almost the entire of East Punjab's Muslim population migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India.^[85] Kashmiris who migrated from Amritsar in 1947 have had an extensive influence on Lahore's contemporary cuisine and culture.^{[upper-alpha 64]} The Kashmiris of Amritsar were more steeped in their Kashmiri culture than the Kashmiris already resident in Lahore.^{[upper-alpha 65]} An exclusive research conducted by the “Jang Group and Geo Television Network” has shown that the Kashmiri community has been involved in spearheading the power politics of Lahore district since 1947.^{[upper-alpha 66]} Pockets of Amritsari Kashmiri power can also be found in every major city of central Punjab in Pakistan.^[86]

Notable members of the Kashmiri Muslim diaspora in Punjab include Pakistan's current Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (paternal and maternal ancestries from Anantnag and Pulwama respectively), Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and politicians Sheikh Rasheed & Khawaja Asif.^{[upper-alpha 67]} Other famous members of the Kashmiri Muslim diaspora in Punjab included Muhammad Iqbal (who was attached to his Brahmin ancestry^{[upper-alpha 68]} and whose poetry displayed a keen sense of belonging to the Kashmir Valley)^{[upper-alpha 69]} and famous writer Saadat Hasan Manto.^{[upper-alpha 70][upper-alpha 71]}

The But/Butt of Punjab were originally Brahmin migrants from Kashmir during 1878 famine.^[87]

— The Journal of the Anthropological Survey of India, Volume 52

Since the 1990s approximately 35,000 Kashmiri Muslims from Indian administered Kashmir have fled to Azad Jammu and Kashmir.^{[upper-alpha 72]}

Hindu

160,000-170,000^{[upper-alpha 73]} Kashmiri Pandits have also fled to India and to other parts of Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. A number of Kashmiri organisations have been existence for over half a century in Delhi, including Kashmiri Pandit Sabha, Panun Kashmir, Vyeth Television, and N. S. Kashmir Research Institute. Notable members of the Kashmiri Pandit diaspora in India include former Indian Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.