Issues in Pandit Community

Abstract

The chapter raises a number of clear and present challenges the community faces regarding their cultural identity. It discusses how the community may not be helping itself to save its cultural identity—by a lack of political vision, general indifference towards Kashmir, jingoistic volatility, dwindling family and community size, loss of family and social support system, and cultural metamorphoses by consciously or unconsciously changing their language, food and spirituality, in an attempt to assimilate with local cultures in the parts of India where they live. Many Pandits may have accepted the rest of India as their home and given up on Kashmir. Their younger generations, with no or little memories of Kashmir, have shown a general preference to marry within other ethnic communities of India.