Family and kinship : a study of the Pandits of rural Kashmir

Abstract

Introduction: There are many general ethnographic studies of Indian tribes, castes and village communities but very few empirical studies of kinship and descent. Several writers have written on the Hindu joint family, but the emphasis in these studies has been on Sanskrit texts, and the picture of the Hindu family given therein, rather than on its actual working in different parts of India. Chapter One: The Valley of Kashmir and its People: Historically Kashmir has been in close contact with the rest of India for many centuries. Geographically and culturally, Kashmir and its people are distinct from the neighbouring regions and peoples of India. The native inhabitants of Kashmir have distinctive physical features, and the majority of them are Muslims. There are also Hindus and Sikhs in the Valley. Most of the native Muslims are believed to be the descendants of Hindus who were converted to Islam between the 14th and 19th centuries. All the native Hindus are of the Brahmin caste and are known as the Pandits. Chapter Two: Village Utrassu-Umanagri and its Inhabitants. Utrassu-Umanagri is situated in south Kashmir at an altitude of over 5000 ft. Part of its territory lies on the lower slope of a hill, and part in the valley below. Wet paddy, wheat and maize are the main crops raised. It is a bi-nucleated village of about 1543 acres, with a population of 2644, 2122 of whom are Muslims and the rest Pandits. The Muslims and the Pandits do not interdine or inter-marry but are bouxdtogether by many ties arising from coresidence in the same village, including the ties of economic interdependence.