Panditani Decorations in the Context of the Wedding Rituals of Kashmiri Pandits (on the Materials of the MAE RAS)

This study analyzes the collection of wedding decorations “Panditani”, created in Kashmir in the period from 1916–1917 by special order of A. M. and L. A. Mervart for the MAE RAS. At their request, young Pandit scientist, Jagaddhar Zadoo Shastri (1890–1981), supervised the accuracy of the work. While being a scientific consultant, he complied list of objects with ethnic names, which provided possibility to correlate the collected jewelry with the context of the life cycle rites and wedding customs that preserved among the Kashmiri Pandits as early as the beginning of the 20th century. L. A. Mervart believed that they had managed to collect a complete set of jewelry of Kashmiri Pandits — not only wedding, but also children’s, and worn in old age. Today, the thematic collection of jewelry presented in the MAE RAS seems unique in connection with the complex geopolitical changes that took place in Kashmir during the 20th century and the actual exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from the historical territory of their existence to other Indian states. This study examines the history of the collection, its composition and makes a connection with the modern stages of preparing the families of the bride and groom for the wedding ceremony. Thanks to L. A. Mervart’s essay from 1927, it became possible to find out whether the collected jewelry and objects retain exceptional significance in the context of the modern wedding rituals of Kashmiri Pandits, whether their role has changed in the 21st century, and how relevant they are today

Ethnic group · Kashmiri · South asia · Indian and Buddhist Studies · South Asian Cinema and Culture · South Asian Studies and Diaspora