Kashmir: Beauty And The Blood
There are many beautiful places on the earth and every place is unique and has its own specialty. Some places are famous for their natural beauty and some for their architectural beauty. In addition, each person differs in choices, likings and tastes. Many people enjoy natural beauty and some are pulled towards historical and architectural beauty. There are few people who notice a different type of beauty which is cultural and traditional beauty. Kashmir is known for its natural beauty. It is said to be the heaven on earth. People call it “The Switzerland of Asia”. They are fascinated with the ravishing scenic beauty of Kashmir. With snow on the mountains, tall trees of Chinar, green land and valleys, Kashmir seem to be one of the most magical places on earth. Even though there is a lot of violence and brutality in Kashmir, different people who live there with diverse culture and tradition share love, affection, tolerance and are still hanging in together. This is the true beauty of Kashmir.
Kashmir is located in the Himalayas and is also known for many-sided culture. There are namely three different regions in Kashmir. Jammu, Kashmir itself and Ladakh and they have different people with their diverse culture and traditions. Jammu has majority of Hindu population, Kashmir has Muslims and Ladakh has majority of Buddhism. The one thing that all these regions share in common is that they love and support each other. Even tourists are considered as family. People there are very simple are far away from artificial feelings.
The official language of Kashmir, or Jammu Kashmir is Urdu, It is spoken throughout the state but mostly spoken in Kashmir than Jammu and Ladakh. There are few other languages spoken...
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...f 1947 first Indo-Pak war, United Nations has monitored the issue and the situation is still being monitored. The issue has not yet been completely resolved.
Ultimately, the true beauty of Kashmir is its distinct and diverse culture. It co-exists with “Kashmir Conflict” and all the violence happening. That is the only thing that kept people of Kashmir survive.
Works Cited
Oberoi, Surinder. "Fear And Loathing In Kashmir." Washington Quarterly 24.2 (2001): 195-199. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
Jeelani Menboob. "Blood And Tourism In Kashmir." Dissent (00123846) 60.4 (2013): 66. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
Behera, Navnita Chadha. Demystifying Kashmir. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2006. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
The Partition of India led to millions of people displaced and marked as one of the largest mass migration ever over the world. August 15, 1947 was a very significant day for Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and many others. It marked the day of the British partition of India, and India won its freedom from colonial rule, ending nearly 200 years of British rule. This successful attainment of independence from colonial rule defined a narrative of religious nationalism, but also has led to displacement and violence between the two nation states of India and Pakistan. Once a peaceful union of Muslims and Hindus had become separated, whereas Muslims got Pakistan and Hindus got an independent India (Best et al, 2008). “The Other Side of Silence” (Butalia, 2000, pp.264-300) the oral testimony of a Punjabi woman Maya Rani, who was a child living in Pakistan during the Partition. Her testimony was crucial to understand the historiography of the event, because she was a witness of the impact of the Partition, but she was not directly involved in the violence that the emergence and independence of India that has brought.
The many factors that lead to the escalation of conflict, and ultimately to the brutal violence, and mass displacement in 1947, were hard for me to wrap my head around. I realized that the partition of India...
Wars and conflicts between India and Pakistan. (n.d.). Princeton University. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Wars_and_conflicts_between_India_and_Pakistan.html
Furthermore, the adjustment to the alien culture in these areas involved a number of cultural changes that the community members had to undergo. These included a change in their clothing patterns for they wore thick woollen garments called ‘pheran’ back in Kashmir which wasn’t possible any longer due to the weather in their destination cities. The same could also be sensed in the loss of the use of ‘kangri’ which was a part of everyday life in kashmir but has now become an obsolete cultural symbol for the community. Another important cultural change that was experienced by this community was the decrease in religious enthusiasm when it came to their important festivals especially the festival of ‘shivratri’ (Malhotra,
Edin, Peter. "1947 the Birth of India & Pakistan." New York Times Up Front. 30 Jan 2012: 16-
To this day there is still rivalry between Hindus and Muslims because of the efforts to bring Kashmiri independence from India. Hindu’s today are receiving 10,000 ashams. (Fisher 116)
During the Cold War, many regional conflicts occurred and were noted as the significant battles which later led to decolonization. One of the regional conflicts were India and Pakistan fighting for their independence. In 1947, India was released under Great Britain’s control and gained its independence. However, the country was divided between Muslims and Hindus, which share different religions. Muslims wanted church and state to become unified while Hindus wanted a separation of these two establishments. Since these two ethnic groups disagreed, it was difficult to create a new government. Therefore, India was divided into two nations: India for the Hindus and Pakistan for the Muslims. Hindus and Muslims were racing to the border in order to get to their nation state which led to killing 500,000 people due to rioting. Although, Mohandas Gandhi, an Indian National Congressman, wanted to obtain peace between these two religions. Pakistan refused the H...
Bhatt, Shakti. "State Terrorism Vs. Jihad In Kashmir." Journal Of Contemporary Asia 33.2 (2003): 215. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 May 2014.
India is a post-colonial nation having its own distinct culture and colonial trends. It is also multi cultural character in that it has create a presence of indigenous traditions, culture, ethos which are unfortunately push and conquer and bring under control by the imported culture of Europe. Girish Karnad is one such dramatist who makes an attempt to get a very valuable object of culture and tradition.
1. Natural and cultural diversity : India has a rich cultural heritage. The "unity in diversity" tag attracts most tourists. The coastlines, sunny beaches, backwaters of Kerala, snow capped Himalayas and the quiescent lakes are incredible.
Lyon, Peter. Conflict between India and Pakistan: an Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Print.
The history of Indo-Pakistani relations has been a dominated by turbulence and bitter rivalry. After the partition in 1947, millions of people migrated to their new home in either the Islamic state of Pakistan or the secular state of India. Only two weeks after independence, India and Pakistan fought a war over Kashmir in 1948. India and Pakistan fought two more wars with each other in 1965 and 1971, with the latter resulting in the creation of Bangladesh. Since then, India and Pakistan have had very hard feelings against each other due to numerous Hindu-Muslim conflicts, the territorial dispute over Kashmir, and other bilateral tensions.
The most threatening conflict between Hindus and Muslims is the province of Kashmir. This is where the decision to divide India into India and Pakistan seems to have been a terrible mistake. Kashmir, which is the only Muslim majority city in India, lies between the divided India and Pakistan. After India’s independence in the 1940’s, Kashmir had to choose to either unite with India or Pakistan. The Prince of Kashmir chose India but Pakistan invaded the province soon after and have occupied part of Kashmir since then. Controversy still surrounds the province today because naturally, Muslims want to control it. While many Muslims relocated to Pakistan and the Hindus to India, half of the Muslim population was left in India and their relations did not improve after being partially separated.
When people look at a culture on an average day, people only tend to see broad generalities, usually elements that are stereotyped and seemingly always mentioned in connection with that one culture. A similar habit applied to anthropological studies sometimes. It’s easy to forget how complex one apparently cohesive culture can be approached from. This class as a whole approached India and culture from many sides, and it helped me see the benefits of studying a culture from as many different perspectives as possible to get a thorough analysis.
BOSE, Sugata and JALAL Ayesha. Modern South Asia: history, culture, political economy. London, Routledge, 2011