Roots and Reflections - Exploring Ideas, Experiences and Wisdom

In good old days the Kashmiri society was familiar and accustomed to traditional fire stove called in Kashmiri parlance as Daan.It was then found in every kashmiri household and the womenfolk generally used to cooking on the dan and Kashmiris' were familiar with the Daan. Firstly Daan was used to cook variety of foods and cuisines and it also was used for the purpose of warmth and thus the secondary use of the Daan was providing heat during the severe and harsh winters.In Kashmiri households members of the household and especially the children used to assemble near Dan and enjoyed sipping nun chai and it was an everyday experience. But with the advancement in science and technology new and ever new tools for cooking food were invented and Kashmiri's like other people of other parts of India used stove, and then gas stove to cook food and with the advent of moder means of cooking ,the traditional Daan has almost disappeared from Kashmiri society and milieu and it is a matter of ...

           " Yus Kari Gangul suy Kari Kraav" By Gangul is meant traditional /conventional Kashmiri agricultural practice as well as celebration that is the beginning of cropping season. It symbolizes hope, expectation and commencement of sowing and is associated with agricultural farming. It is somewhat disappearing from the rural farming practices but efforts are a foot to revive this traditional agriculture practice. In the context of rural farming Gangul can be put forth as it signifies start of the sowing season. Traditionally it marks the start of the farming season, when farmers begin tilling the land and sowing seeds. It symbolises and reflects hope forb a bountiful harvest and community unity and respect for the rhythms of nature. A ritual connected with gangul is the distribution of walnuts to children which signifies abundance and prosperity. The essence of Gangul is totally reflected in the couplet of Hazrat Alamdar-e-Kashmir "Yus Kari Gangul, Su...

Swami Laxman Joo was a great scholar of Shaivism and a mystic saint of imminence and repute. He was a household name in Jammu and Kashmir and even the late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi used to visit this saint for seeking his blessings.Swami Laxman Joo was born on 9 May 1907 and his original name was Laxman Raina.His followers call him Lal Sahib. He was born in Srinagar. This saint of repute passed away on 27 September 1991 at the age of 84 years. His Ashrams are spreads at several places across the country and here at Jammu his Ashram is situated at Mohinder Nagar near Canal Road Jammu and his followers frequently visit his Ashram and on his birth anniversary and death anniversary Yagya is solemnised and a large number of people take part in the Yagya and partake prasad. The original Ashram of Swami Laxman Joo is situated at Ishber Nishat Srinagar Kashmir. He was born in a Kashmiri Hindu Brahmin family in Srinagar city in Kashmir. His mothers name was Arnymali Raina. It is said t...

  Vijayendra Nath Kaul, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, emerged from one of the most intellectually resilient communities of the subcontinent - the Kashmiri Pandits. His life reflects a civilizational continuity: from the scholastic traditions of the Valley to the institutional architecture of modern India. In the 19th and 20th centuries, as education shifted toward English and modern bureaucracy expanded, Kashmiri Pandits transitioned seamlessly into the emerging civil services of British India and later the Republic. It was within this long administrative tradition that V. N. Kaul was shaped. Educated at St. Stephen’s College and inducted into the Indian Administrative Service in 1965, Kaul carried forward a legacy that prized institutional integrity and scholarship. When he became the 10th Comptroller and Auditor General of India, he did not merely occupy a constitutional office-he represented a lineage historically intertwined with governance and fiscal steward...

                                                                                          In Sanatan Dharma,the various forms of nature are revered and even worshipped. From times immemorial Hindu’s have remained lovers of nature and in fact were nature conscious and in fact environment conscious and friendly so there is no surprise that Hindu’s in the present times also worship nature in its various forms and manifestations. Nag Panchami is a Hindu festival of reverence for serpents and nature. So ,we can say that Nag Panchami is one of the important festivals of the Hindu religious calendar ,dedicated to the worship and reverence of Nagas-the serpent deities. However ,it cannot be overlooked that this once important festivals of Sanatan Dharma is declining i...

                                                                India’s Independence turned into 80th year and Kashmiri Pandits entered into 37th year of their exile, displacement and uprooted life from their ancestral native soil of Kashmir. India and Indians are proudly celebrating the 80th  year of independence. These 80 years are eventful and full of progress and achievements in various walks of life but at the same time one has on hesitation in saying and it is hundred percent true that all these 79 plus years were not free from shortcoming and pitfall. Radicalism, indoctrination, extremism, separatism, militancy, terrorism, adulteration, unemployment, rising prices of goods and services of daily use, reservations, several other problems and above all displacement of Kashmiri Pandits are the black spots on the face of f...