Inter-ethnic marriages among KPs increase after migration from Kashmir
By
Rajesh BhatOnce considered a taboo in the Valley, the inter-ethnic
marriages amongst the present lot of Kashmiri Pandits in exile, has become an order of the day- not less than a ''status symbol''.
Courtesy to the
migration, the Kashmiri Pandits, which according to official figures are round three lakh scattered across the country, have begun to adopt and accept the forces of modernization as their livelihood at the cost of their otherwise rich cultural heritage, language and traditions.
While Sociologists term such marriages as a fall-out of modernization, the community''s socio-religious leaders view the trend as "alarming" and a step forward in deliberately forcing the community to get extinct- ironically by its own present breed.
According to the rough estimates available with the Satisar Foundation, a reputed social organization of Kashmiri Pandits, about 35 percent Kashmiri Pandit boys and girls, living in metros and highly industrialized cities across the country, have tied the ''inter-caste'' nuptial knot during the past 10 years, preferring economic stability and settlement to the otherwise age-old and well maintained Gotra system. Those living in Jammu and mostly in camps, have normally preferred to marry within the community and in some cases, where the compulsion may be, they didn''t go beyond Kishtwar or Bhaderwah, said S K Ganjoo, secretary of Satisar Foundation.
Back in Kashmir valley, prior to the mass migration of Kashmiri Pandits, going for the inter-caste marriage was a taboo and those who had some deformity or were economically unsound, would bring the bride from the plains of Jammu or hilly areas of Bhaderwah, Kishtwar or from the desert region of Ladakh. Such marriages were initially unacceptable within the social fabric of Kashmiri Pandits but those individuals, who could be literary counted on finger tips, would be accommodated in the Kashmiri fold and lineage with the passage of time.
But after the 1990 migration, when the community got scattered, the youth managed to get admissions in Engineering Colleges of Maharashtra and Gujarat, most of the community male youth opted an ''outsider'' in a bid to Indianise themselves through marriages and join the "mainstream". For solemnizing such marriages, the KP youth living away from the State, prefer Jammu hotels and marriage halls after traveling long distances either from the south or West ( where they are presently settled) to get the ''blessings'' and family consent, although very reluctantly from the elders.
Ganjoo says that the number of such youth was alarmingly rising till last year but after the sustained ''indoctrination'' that such a move would annihilate the otherwise miniscule community, the trend has come down this season.
The Satisar Foundation Secretary said that it has been observed that generally Kashmiri Pandit boys go for inter-caste marriages as compared to KP girls. He cites many reasons for it-the one big factor being preferring economic stability at the cost of being ignorant of rich clan values.
The Foundation, in its recent publication while appealing for total ban on inter-ethnic marriages, said that such an exercise is nothing but "disturbing, disgracing, harassing and black-mailing one''s parents."
The publication claimed that such marriages are even religiously and scientifically unacceptable as preservation of gene is deterrent to the species. "Even animals and birds also stick to their domain, habitat and clan. It is the man who crossbreeds them", the write-up on Preserving Pedigree said.
Kashmiri Pandits'' revered religious Guru, Pt Omkar Nath Shastri, who is also an Editor of highly acclaimed book amongst the community- "Vijeshwar Panchang", is also deadly against inter-ethnic marriages. Shastri maintains that in Hindumarriages are unacceptable and not approved. He quotes Bhagwat Gita to substantiate his claim.
Quoting a Sanskrit Shaloka, Pt Omarkar Nath Shastri believes that the parents need to boycott such marriages at the very time of settlement and make the young-ones aware of its follies.
Shastri has also published a book "Ham Aur Hamare Sanskaar", wherein, he has fully dedicated a subject on this grave issue concerning the community and opposed it from the religious and social point of view. Page Number 122).
Prof J R Panda, Head of Department of Sociology, Jammu University attributes the reason for such marriages within the community as the fall-out of migration when the entire community got scattered and later turned mobile. While studying in colleges outside the State, the KP youth, as obvious, might have fallen in love, developed intimacy with the opposite sex and went for the ultimate. "Forces of modernization and process of liberalization are responsible for eroding the value system. "People cannot no longer remain within their territorial boundaries. In the present era, one cannot keep the social boundaries intact and Kashmiri Pandit youth are no exception", Prof Panda, when approached, said.
He, however, feels that for a community of Kashmiri Pandits, such marriages could further drift them from their otherwise rich value system. "But in an era of mobility, such things are bound to happen. Mobility makes a person prosperous and he thinks more on such lines and doesn''t care a fig for issues like preservation of language or joint family system", opined Prof Panda.
However, Satisar Foundation feels that for the community of Kashmiri Pandits, it is suicidal to ignore the rich value system. Strongly opposing inter-ethnic marriages for the community, the Foundation in its recent publication, while quoting Noble laureate James Watson, said that gene-pools get better in arranged marriages.
But is such ideology racial?: The Foundation believes that the
"Genetics is not the root-cause of racism. It existed long before casteism. Genetic tree has been known to KPs long before the advent of logic in the human race. This tree was preserved and protected in the form of Gotra system. Among the KPs, there are about 36 main gotras and hundreds of sub-gotras. Maximum of KP surnames are having their roots in their genetic chain- the Gotra system which has been the main cause of preservation of our gene pool", the Satisar Foundation Secretary Ganjoo maintains, questioning that if we could maintain the same chain since ages despite persecution, why cannot we do the same in this era of migration.
Ganjoo, however, feels that those who have crossed the boundaries, their "better-halves" should be accepted and embraced in Kashmiri clan since the KPs don''t believe in caste-system. "Those who think of marrying outside the community, should know that since ages KPs believe in maintaining the gene-bank and the community''s intellect lies in never disturbing it in past", he said.
Strangely, no political or social leader from the community is ready to talk on this delicate issue. During the past about 18 years, they took up the issues of bifurcation of ration cards, insanitation in camps, constituencies in exile, preserving the mother-tongue (without the mother) and homeland for KPs, but never touched the issue of inter-ethnic marriages. The reason being that most of such leaders'' close relatives and kin have allowed Maharashtrians, Karnatakans and Bengalis a space in their homes and continue to accept with pride the invitation cards which read: Nirja Bisht Weds Kunal Razdan, Lalita Wangnoo weds Himanshu Arora, Sukanya Mathur weds Rohit Kaul, Amita Dixit weds Anuj Mahaldar, Ritrik Bhalla weds Krishna Ganjoo, Mahak Sangral weds Ramesh Dhar or Maya of UP and not Kamla Kaul weds Jawahar Nehru!