Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 9: Panun Kashmir (PK) today launched an initiative named “Prearana” to strive to preserve the ritual traditions, culture and religious heritage of the Kashmiri Pandits who are facing the continuous onslaught from the conditions created by the adversary and the sense of desperation that has taken over the community to uphold these symbols of civilization continuity.
Prearana is the direct outcome of the resolutions passed in the annual national convention on December 28 on the eve of the Homeland Day by the community to uphold the civilizational moorings of the community and strive to preserve the rituals so that the identity of the community is not diluted in the period of forced exile of the community.
The initiative Prearana will also sensitize the Kashmiri Pandit community about the importance of the three child norm when the community is facing severe threat in terms of declining population and low fertility rate due to the constraints of the religious cleansing.
The meeting was attended by a large number of people from the civil society, intellectuals and KP women representatives from different professions.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Ajay Chrungoo, Chairman, Panun Kashmir said, “the challenge of preserving the ritual tradition is of paramount importance if we want to preserve the identity of the Kashmiri Pandit community.
Instead of preserving the traditions associated with various ceremonies like marriage, yagnopavit and other festivals we have indulged in corrupting the original traditions by incorporating practices that are not aesthetically associated with the rich traditions of the Kashmiri Pandits.
The need is to situate the rituals and traditions in real aesthetic sense with the ritual economy and civilisation continuity. We need to shed the extravagance in marriages as it sets bad precedents in terms of creating a sense of wedge between the weaker and well to do sections of the society.
Prearana is an initiative meant to provide the social connect to the Homeland as enshrined in the Margdarshan Resolution adopted by the community in 1991 for the carving out of Homeland in Kashmir with the Union Territory status. Social empowerment and political empowerment are intertwoven and ritual traditions are the hinges for creating the infrastructure of the homeland.’
While speaking on the occasion, Ms Kulsi Pandita, social activist and educationist said, “the need is to give up all psedo practices adopted by the community while performing religious and marriage ceremonies”.
Various PK leaders from different parts of country including Jagti and other camps participated and addressed the programme.
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