Kashmir and central Asia

kashmir was vedic yes, not present hindu which is basically a ganga based culture. Ancient Vedic people were a south/central asian people to begin with, they probably looked compltly different from present day Indians and their culture was totally different

Originally posted by ranjithvnambiar [QUOTE=balochii]^ the article clearly says its shouldn't also be part of pakistan, but pakistan is more closer to kashmir then current India is. Pakistanis are 30% iranic, and also northern parts of punjab are pretty close to kashmiries

Originally posted by bilal_ali_2000                Huh Kashmir more central asian than suncontinental. This something that which is completely new to me. Could the author please clarify that what he meant by that. Discuss the features of Kashmir which according to him are more central asian than south asian. All the ancient books of the subcontinent talk about Kahmir as a complete part of south asia. I would even go on to say that Kashmir relatively had less central asian influence compared to Pakistan and India because of its isolation. I would like to know that in which sense the person thinks that Kashmir is more central Asian than South Asian. Even Afghanistan is by many considered pretty much a part of South Asia.

Bilal sahib, you have asked for examples of Central Asian influence in Kashmir, which nobody had responded to, so I will list them. Our cuisine, the "Wazwan", where 4 people sit around the same giant tray of rice with varieties of meat delicacies served is an exact replica of Bukhari cuisine (ie Uzbek, North Afghan - not Pashtun). Only difference is that ours is spicy and Afghan/Uzbek is bland. We don't eat "roti/chappati" - it is alien to us. Our breakfast is not "curry" like most of South Asia, we have a variety of ethnic bakery products like "kulcha", "cripp", "tsot", "tsotchvoru" etc - all this is shared between the Central Asian states and I have even seen similar breakfast in Turkish villages. With this we have a pink salty tea called Noon Chai which is unique to Kashmir, although Kashmiri emigres to Pakistani Punjab proudly continue this tradition. Next is our dress. Our traditional dress is Kameez Yazaar (which is same as Salwar kameez) with Pheran (a baggy woollen overcoat). In my travels, I have seen the pheran but in a different style in extreme north of Afghanistan and also in Hunza region of extreme north Pakistan whom I would also classify as Central Asian rather than South Asian. Our marriage customs are an exact replica of Central Asians. There is no dowry system or jahez. The husband must pay a good amount of haq maher and wife's family has no duty to pay anything. However, of course we do have a lot of South Asian influence, especially since the advent of the man-made tunnel through the mountains that now artificially links us to India and before that with Pakistan through natural mountain passes (hence the large historical Kashmiri settlements in Pak Punjab). Just because we got mentioned in lots of South Asian history books it doesn't mean we were culturally linked. We were however, religiously linked through the Pandits and Buddhists who were the majority in ancient times and Kashmir was seen as a seat of learning for Buddys and Hindus spreading from China to Afghanistan. I would say our original culture is closer to Central than South Asian, but as time passes our city folk (ie Srinagaris) are becoming closer to South Asia thanks to TV, air travel, education (most Kashmiris now study in Indian universities - there is only one proper uni in Kashmir where we also have a Central Asian Studies department!). In the mountainous villages though, you will still get the purest form of Kashmiri culture and that is where it really hits you that Kashmir is not South Asian at all. I guess its the same rural/metropolitan divide everywhere, the true culture remains preserved in the rural areas whilst the cities have regional and even globalised influences.

Your figures are totally wrongs. Hindus form 35-40% of the entire State of Jammu, Ladakh & Kashmir. Jammu is predominantly Hindu, Ladakh is a mix of Buddhists and Shia Muslim, whilst Kashmir is predominantly Muslim. These regions are distinct and were artificially put together as one state by the British/Dogra empire rulers from Jammu. If we talk about the Kashmir part only, before the modern freedom struggle began in 1989, Hindus were only about 5% of Kashmir - now they are only 2% because 3% of them decided to move to Jammu or rest of India. The 2% pandits left in Kashmir have no problems whatsoever. The religious hatred is all made up by media and it is in the interest of Indian Army to do so as they need a good reason to be in Kashmir. Muslim Kashmiris still say why don't the 3% who left come back now that the freedom struggle has died down? I'll tell you why, most of them are doing extremely well in India with opportunities they would never have in good old Kasheer!

yeah kashmiri pandits are indigenous to kashmir and most of them have reddish to dark brown hair as well as green eyes like the rest of kashmiris. however after leaving kashmir in 1989 because of the conspiracy of the then governor jagmohan , some of them maybe 1 % or even less intermixed with indians and as a result appear to have indic features and that detestable indian accent. the vast majority of them are still caucasian in appearance and speak with a thick rural kashmiri accent . thanx

Originally posted by ranjithvnambiar Kashmiri pandits who constituted of 40% of the kashmiri population were driven away from Kashmir by Jihadis in 1989 and now they are living as refugees in Delhi and Jammu

South is not completely Tamilnadu.Extreme South of India has two states Kerala and Tamilnadu.Genetically there are many similarities and also many differences between the two.Kerala and Karnataka populations are more similar and Andhra pradesh & Tamilanadu populations are more similar genetically but languagewise Malayalam is similar to tamil eventhough it(malayalam) has almost 50% of its vocabulary from sanskrit And Kannada is similar to Telughu.

Originally posted by balochii ^ i am not denying at all that pakistan has darkskinned people, infact a good 30-40% of population, especially in Sindh and southern punjab is darkskinned

Thats your concept and belief.