02-06-2023

A sammelan of Kashmiri Pandits was held at Shrimatam camp at Bengaluru on 2nd June 2023 with the blessings and presence of His Holiness Pujyashri Shankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya Swamiji who is on a Vijaya Yatra. It was a feeling of deja vu - a similar sammelan was held almost a decade ago in Bengaluru during Pujya Acharya’s camp on 10th May 2014.  

Members of the Kashmiri Pandit community shared their views. They fondly recalled the long and continuous association of Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam with Kashmir, including when Pujya Swamijis blessed the construction of Saraswathi Mandir at Rambhan in the 80s, and visits of Pujya shri Jayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya Swamiji and Pujya Shri Shankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya Swamiji along with Sri Chandramouleeswara Pujas to Jammu & Kashmir in the 90s inspite of the situation not being very conducive. 

The Pandits expressed their gratitude to His Holiness under whose guidance various projects are being run to preserve and protect the rich culture and traditions of Kashmiri Pandits including

• Annual celebration of Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya’s Jayanti Mahotsavam on Vaishaka Shukla Panchami with week-long or 10-day long Veda Sammelan and Vishwa Shanti Maha Yagnyas for more than a decade in Shrinagar, Leh-Ladakh and Jammu
•   Organizing periodic sammelans of Kashmiri Pandits in Chennai, Bengaluru, New Delhi and other centres.
• Documenting the rich culture and tradition, especially about the Temples of Kashmir through special documentary films. 
• Organizing visits of archaeologists, other scholars,  and cultural exchange programmes, especially for youth to visit Jammu-Kashmir, especially to Libraries, Museums, temples (both active and ones which are to be restored) in Srinagar, Jammu, Martand, Avantipur etc.
• Publishing various books on the treatises on Kashmir both in hard copy and as digital copies including Lougakshi Gruhya Sutram, Amarnath yatra Phalam (Bringeesha Samhita), excerpts from Raja Tarangini, Shlokas (from Vaidika Mantra Kalpa Lata)
• Honouring senior scholars from the Kashmiri Pandit community
• Organizing seminars on Kashmiri culture, including its similarities with South Indian culture
• Kashmiri Cultural Heritage Awareness Series - A series of lectures held every Saturday on the Cultural Heritage of Kashmir with speakers drawn from across the globe in online mode.More than 80 such lectures have been held so far.
• Encouraging the preservation and active usage of ‘Sharada Lipi’ - the ancient script of Kashmir

More details on the above initiatives can be viewed at https://connect.kamakoti.org/kashmir

Some photographs taken during the sammelan:

Pujya Shri Jayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya Swamiji and Pujya Shri Shankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya Swamiji at Shankaracharya Hill in 1997 :

Saraswati Mandir at Rambhan, J&K consecrated with blessings of Pujya Shankaracharya Swamijis in 1980s:

Pujya Shankaracharya Swamiji blessing the Kashmiri Sammelan held at Bengaluru on 10 May 2014

HH Pujyashri Jayendra Saraswati Shankaracharya Swamigal performing Anushtanam on the banks of the Sindhu River in Leh, Ladakh, J&K State during the Sindhu Darshan:

Visit to Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, Jammu & Ranbir Sanskrit Research Institute:

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