Kashmiri Culture Under Siege: How India is Erasing an Entire Civilization

Besides the beauty which is truly breathtaking, Kashmir had been long regarded as a place of rich and unique cultural heritage, which is hard to underestimate. Kashmiri culture was well and alive in terms of their language, art, poetry, music and spiritual practices over several centuries. Nonetheless, this ancient civilization has been threatened in the last few years. It is not just that the policies of the Indian government in the region have brought about an aggravation of political tensions that the practices are also an attempt to cause a systematic obliteration of the cultural identity of the Kashmiris erasing what has taken centuries to establish.

The Language of the Valley is Dying

Kashmiri or Koshur is the local language used by most population in the valley. Although it is recognized, its existence is fast diminishing. Hindi and Sanskrit are now being popularized in schools in Jammu and Kashmir at the expense of Kashmiri and Urdu which are longtime attractions of the region. Increasingly, textbooks are being written in Hindi and other Kashmiri teachers are being replaced by teachers brought in from other parts of India, who are usually not familiar enough with local culture. It has caused generational disparity. A large number of Kashmiri youths are no longer able to read or write the language that they speak at home. According to the details observed in the UNESCO Atlas of the Worlds Languages in danger, Kashmiri is clearly an endangered language. This is not only a linguistic crisis, this is the gradual loss of memory, of narratives, chants and traditions that are transmitted similarly to generation after generation.

Cultural Symbols Replaced or Removed

The cultural landscape in the region of Kashmir is being refurbished into another narrative. Renaming of places and institutions is one of the most noticeable ones. In 2023, the Indian government renamed most of the roads and parks and other public offices in the area, to that of Hindu nationalist figures, neither relevant to local history or geography. As an example, the Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium, which is named after Sheikh Abdullah, who had a great role to play in the political history of Kashmir was renamed to MA Stadium. There has been a feeling among many Kashmiris that such moves are an effort to misrepresent history. Likewise, the renowned Shikara boats of the Dal Lake and the elaborate papier-mache items which were once an emblem of Kashmir craftsmanship, has been sold using a wider category of Indian heritage and any regional specificity has been removed. Even the local festivals like Herath (Kashmiri Shivratri) and Eid-e-Milad are not getting the same amount of the public space, whereas festivals that are national in nature like Diwali and Yoga Day are being popularized on a large scale by the government even in schools and government institutions where people never originally celebrated them.

Forced Demographic and Administrative Changes

Since August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was superseded, the Indian government has already undertaken actions that can be called, in the view of a great number of human rights organizations and scholars, the attempts to alter the demographic profile of the region. This law used to provide Jammu and Kashmir with special status and restricted citizenship to outsiders in terms of purchasing property or resident rights. Its abolishment has resulted in a new surge of foreign domicile certificates. The Jammu and Kashmir Restructuring Order 2020 gave non-Kashmiris the right of employment, land ownership and settlement in the region. The consequence has been an increasing apprehension among the locals that they are getting displaced in their own country the twin political and cultural aspects. A report by the Forum for Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir in 2022 found that in less than two years, more than 3.4 million domicile certificates were issued, many to people outside of Jammu and Kashmir.

The tending of this population ratio shows in the decreasing of Kashmiri political representation as well. In the delimitation of last year (2022) eastern Jammu (where the Hindu sons are in the majority) gained more assembly seats, and the role of the Muslim majority Kashmir Valley decreased. It is not merely and only about elections, but about removing the politics of a native community.

Censorship and Silencing of Art

Artists, poets, and journalists in Kashmir have long used their craft to tell the story of their land. But in today’s Kashmir, cultural expression is being silenced. Musicians who once performed traditional Chakri and Sufiyana Kalam now face restrictions, and cultural programs are tightly controlled by the state. Local news outlets and writers critical of Indian policies are routinely raided or shut down. The Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, which was once an autonomous body supporting local artists, has now been brought under direct control of the central government. Its leadership has been replaced with bureaucrats unfamiliar with Kashmiri art forms, and funding has been slashed for independent Kashmiri cultural events.

The Fear of Becoming Strangers in Their Own Land

Every element of Kashmir’s culture, from its architecture to its folklore, from its cuisine to its dress, is under pressure. Young girls wearing traditional pherans and boys reciting naats in mosques are increasingly looked upon as “different” or “anti-national.” The fear is not only of losing territory but of becoming strangers in their own land. According to a 2021 report by Amnesty International, the Indian state has used “collective punishment” as a method of controlling dissent in Kashmir. But this control now extends beyond politics and security, it includes identity, memory, and culture.

A Civilization in Crisis

The erosion of Kashmiri culture is not an accident; it is part of a larger pattern of cultural homogenization under the shadow of nationalism. When language, history, and heritage are stripped from a people, what remains is a shell of identity. What is happening in Kashmir today is not just about law or security, it is about survival of a civilization. In the words of a young Kashmiri poet, “They can take away our land, they can rewrite our maps, but how will they silence our memory?” The world must decide whether it will watch silently as one of South Asia’s oldest cultures is erased, or whether it will speak for those who are being silenced.