'Ethnic and Religious Elements in Kashmir'

Speech presented by Dr. Charles Graves at the Convention of the United Kashmir
People's National Party at Bern, Switzerland, 19 October 2003

It is evident that, from the perspective of what is happening today in Kashmir, the remnants of the mujahidin war against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s and the implication of the CIA in providing arms to those mujahidin, many of the Kashmir troubles began outside the country. Yet the infiltration of cross-border terrorism into Kashmir was accompanied by restlessness of Muslims within Kashmir who wished to rid the country of the Indian army. But to look at Kashmir as simply a conflict between Pakistani and Indian interests fails to take into account the particular ethnic and religious context of the Kashmiri people. This context was anything but uniform, and in fact was very complex.

We shall look at some of the ethnic and religious elements in Kashmir in order to prove that neither an Indian nor a Pakistani strategic approach to the future of Kashmir can cover the unique ethnic and religious situation of Kashmir.

First of all, the ethnic elements: concerning the oldest elements of Kashmiri culture, we should first of all consider those who speak the Burushaski language, namely those of the Hunza Valley and nearby valleys. The Colonel D.L.R. Lorimer, representing the British crown in Kashmir, published a book on Burushaski language in 1935. I have used it as a source for my chapter on the Burusu in my book, Proto-Religions in Central Asia (1994). In comparing this language with other old languages, scholars believe it belongs to the "Sino-Caucasian language macrofamily" similar to Basque on the one hand and early Sino-Tibetan / Sino-Chinese on the other hand. These are languages close to the Chechen (south Russia) and the Dene-Navajo i.e. a branch of the American Indians. Sino-Caucasian is a very old proto-language and we can imagine that it was spoken at least 10'000 years ago. The centre for the development of this language was the south-eastern part of Central Asia near Lake Balkhash, which explains how the language could be spoken both by the Chechen and their European cousins the Basques and also by the Chinese and Tibetans. From this area of Balkhash it is only a short step into Kashmir or China.

Another extremely ancient language to be found in Kashmir was probably that spoken at early times by the Hindu Pandits. Although I have not yet been able to find word-lists of the oldest language of the Pandits, it seems reasonable to say that these people spoke what the linguists call today a "Nostratic" language. "Nostratic" a word coined by the Soviet linguists in the 1960s, is a "proto-language" (i.e. an early version not spoken by anyone today) which lies behind a series of languages including the Indo-European, the Finno-Ugric, the Dravidian and the Altaic languages. It is a common "ancestor" of these languages, and these also developed in Central Asia, but in the western part of that region, north of the Aral Sea, probably also around 10'000 years ago.

Besides these early languages, there was the direct influence of an especially Altaic language, i.e. the language of the Moguls who conquered the northern parts of India, and left the Maharajas as their descendants and rulers. Altaic is the language of the Turks, as well as the majority of peoples  who live in Central Asia today (except for the Tadjiks and other small groups). It is related, as we have said, although distantly, to the Finnish, Dravidian and even the Indo-European languages. "Nostratic", the parent of all these languages, arose in contrast to "Sino-Caucasian", yet both of these developed in Central Asia and surrounding areas at least 15'000 years ago.

In Ladakh it is a branch of "Sino-Caucasian" which is spoken, a descendant of old Sino-Tibetan. The same basic language is to be found in Tripura, Assam and other parts of Eastern India as well as in Myanmar.

As for the "Indo-European" language, its form in Kashmir is what we might call Indo-Iranian (i.e. the eastern branch of Indo-European). This language was developed seven or eight thousand years ago in western Central Asia north of the Aral Sea and south of the Ural mountains. Its "eastern branch" (i.e. people who spoke this language in Iran, Afghanistan, Punjab and India) separated from the "western branch" perhaps 7000 years ago and peoples who migrated into Europe in the 4 th century B.C. such as the proto-Germans, proto-Greeks, proto-Celts, etc. took it with them into Europe. As far as Pakistan and India is concerned it was what was called the Indo-Aryans who entered the Indus and Ganges valleys about 2500 B.C.. (They followed upon the Dravidian-speakers who entered the Indus valley some hundreds of years before). Many of those who settled in Kashmir evidently belonged to the Indo-Aryan group.

Thus we have outlined at least five major language groups in Kashmir : Burusu (a Sino-Caucasian language), the ancient language of the Pandits, the Altaic language of the Moguls, the Sino-Caucasian language of Ladakh (i.e. Tibetan) and the Indo-Aryan languages of more recent times, coming from western Central Asia.

The mix of religions in Kashmir is well-known fact. However, if you combine the religious differences with the ethnic and language differences to be found in Kashmir, this makes Kashmir a very interesting multi-cultural place. The Muslim-Hindu differences can hardly explain the complexity of Kashmiri culture. Of course, Buddhism arrived probably in the very early centuries after the Buddha lived (7 th century B.C.). Buddhism crossed the Karakorum into Sinkiang but also spread to Afghanistan by the time of the Christian era.  Also, there may have been something Greek left by the Greek Alexander the Great's troops but we must be careful -- most of his troops on the eastern frontier of his Empire were not Greek. (Alexander went to Bactria in 326 B.C. and planned to invade India and subdue Sindh by 329 B.C.)

It is clear that the Pandit variety of Hinduism includes Shivaism and other indigenous cults of the Kashmiri mountain region. Some of these religions are probably very old. Then, as we know, Islam came to Kashmir later, and in several varieties- Ismaelism, Shi'a and Sunni. The Moguls, converted to Islam, promoted its spread.

The multi-cultural population of Kashmir thus was influenced by three of the great world religions as well as being an ethnic population of five different varieties as explained above. It appears to me that this is the special genius of Kashmir, to have been a crossroads of cultures. Perhaps this is why it is so difficult for Kashmiris to remain subject to any one restrictive line and why Kashmiris want their own country with its own special heritage, unimpeded by foreign powers.

Thank you.