Yes, Kashmir Faces Settler-Colonialism — But Not The Kind That Left-Liberals Want You To Believe

When blood was spilled once again in Pahalgam, when Hindu lives were snuffed out for the crime of existing in their own homeland, it was not just the terrorists who acted. A different kind of violence followed, more insidious but equally lethal: the violence of justification.

A chorus of left-liberal voices, both domestic and global, rose not to mourn the dead, but to rationalize their killing. India, they said, is a "settler-colonial" power in Kashmir. According to this perverse logic, Hindus moving back to Kashmir — the land of their ancestors — constitutes an act of aggression. Their very presence is treated as provocation, as if centuries of historical belonging can be erased by ideological dogma.

But let us be clear: If Kashmir is under settler-colonialism today, it is because Hindus were violently removed, not because they seek to return.

The real story of Kashmir is not one of Hindu colonialism over Muslims. It is a saga of the brutal erasure of Hindus from a land where they have lived since time immemorial.

To understand why this falsehood of "settler-colonialism" is not just wrong but monstrous, we must first remember the truths that the left-liberal narrative seeks to bury.

The Hindu Roots of Kashmir

Few regions in the Indian subcontinent carry as profound a Hindu legacy as Kashmir. The seat of the ancient Sharada Peeth — the seat of learning and wisdom — Kashmir was a beacon of spiritual, philosophical, and artistic excellence. Its valleys were once adorned with grand temples, resonating with the chants of Shaivite sages, and its kings were patrons of arts, letters, and the Sanatana Dharma.

Today, amidst political turbulence and religious violence, it becomes all the more necessary to recall, preserve, and honour Kashmir's deep-rooted Hindu heritage — a heritage that has been systematically erased, forgotten, and misrepresented.

The very name "Kashmir" is derived from Sanskrit. According to traditional accounts, particularly the Nilamata Purana, Kashmir was once a vast lake called Satisar (Lake of Sati), which was drained by the sage Kashyapa — a revered figure in Hinduism. Thus, the land came to be known as Kashyapa-mira or "the land of Kashyapa," eventually shortened to Kashmir. This etymology itself underlines that the origins of Kashmir are steeped in Vedic and Puranic traditions.

Kashmir finds mention in several ancient Hindu scriptures. The Mahabharata refers to Kashmir as a kingdom allied with the Kurus. The Rajatarangini ("River of Kings"), written by the 12th-century Hindu historian Kalhana, is among the oldest and most sophisticated histories ever written in India. Kalhana's work details the lineage of Hindu kings who ruled Kashmir for millennia. Thus, both mythology and recorded history emphasize Kashmir's sacred place in the Hindu civilizational matrix.

According to Kalhana, the first king of Kashmir was Gonanda I, a contemporary of the Mahabharata era. His dynasty, the Gonanda dynasty, reputedly lasted millennia, though historical corroboration becomes stronger around the time of Gonanda III and Damodara.

The early rulers were ardent patrons of Shaivism and Vaishnavism. Under them, the building of temples and the patronage of Sanskrit learning flourished. Kashmir became a major center for the transmission of Vedic traditions and rituals.

One of the most powerful Hindu dynasties of Kashmir was the Karkota dynasty (c. 7th–9th century CE), which ushered in a golden age. The greatest monarch of this line was undoubtedly Lalitaditya Muktapida (c. 724–760 CE), a legendary king whose reign is considered the zenith of Kashmir's political might.

Lalitaditya launched successful military campaigns across northern India, reaching even as far as Central Asia and Tibet. His capital city, Parihaspora, was an urban marvel, filled with towering temples and public works that made Kashmir one of the richest regions of India. Lalitaditya's court attracted scholars, poets, and philosophers from across the subcontinent, reaffirming Kashmir's role as a beacon of Hindu knowledge.

Following the decline of the Karkotas, the Utpala dynasty rose to prominence. Notable among them was Avantivarman (c. 855–883 CE), who rejuvenated Kashmir's economy and built the temple town of Avantipur. He encouraged agricultural innovations and the construction of irrigation canals like the Jhelum Canal. The Lohara dynasty, founded by Sangramaraja in the 11th century, continued Hindu rule even as Islamic invasions began to threaten northern India.

Kashmir was once dotted with thousands of Hindu temples, many of which now lie in ruins due to centuries of Islamic invasions and iconoclasm. These temples were not just places of worship but centers of learning, art, and culture.

The Martand Sun Temple, commissioned by Lalitaditya Muktapida, is one of the most majestic architectural achievements of ancient India. Dedicated to the Sun God (Surya), it stands as one of the most magnificent yet tragically ruined examples of Kashmiri temple architecture. Its massive stone structures and intricate designs hint at the grandeur of a civilization deeply rooted in Vedic traditions.

No account of Kashmir's Hindu history would be complete without mentioning Adi Shankaracharya (8th century CE), the great philosopher-saint who revitalized Hinduism across India. Shankaracharya visited Kashmir towards the end of his life. He is said to have climbed the sacred hill overlooking Srinagar to meditate at what is now called the Shankaracharya Temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva.

From this sacred site, he is believed to have engaged in philosophical debates and established Kashmir as a critical center of Sanatana Dharma. His influence helped solidify Advaita Vedanta's place in Kashmir alongside its strong Shaivite traditions. The Shankaracharya Hill, temple, and associated legends remain pivotal markers of Kashmir's Hindu sacred geography, signifying the region's integral place within the broader spiritual landscape of India.

The Avantipur Temples, constructed by King Avantivarman, were dedicated to Vishnu and Shiva and symbolized the height of Kashmiri artistry and devotion. Sharada Peeth, located near today's Line of Control, was one of the foremost temples and universities of Hindu India. Revered especially by Kashmiri Pandits, it was considered the abode of the goddess of learning, Sharada, and was a magnet for scholars from across the Indian subcontinent.

These sacred sites are silent yet enduring witnesses to Kashmir's Hindu past, bearing testimony to the region's role as a bastion of Dharma, knowledge, and civilization.

Kashmir's contributions to Indian civilization were not limited to kings and temples. It produced some of India's most illustrious figures in philosophy, grammar, medicine, and arts.

Vasugupta (c. 9th century), one of the foremost thinkers, wrote the Shiva Sutras, a foundational text of Kashmir Shaivism. His work emphasized the immediacy of divine realization and became the bedrock for future developments. Abhinavagupta (c. 950–1016 CE), one of the greatest philosophers and aestheticians in Indian history, synthesized Tantra, Shaivism, and the arts into a grand, unified vision.

His magnum opus, the Tantraloka, remains a monumental treatise combining ritual, philosophy, and aesthetics. Abhinavagupta's contributions to Rasa theory also revolutionized Indian art and drama. His disciple, Kshemaraja, worked to simplify complex Shaivite metaphysics for wider audiences, ensuring that the profound insights of Kashmir Shaivism could reach beyond elite scholars.

The philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism, with its emphasis on the transcendence of consciousness and the innate divinity of all beings, would go on to influence broader Hindu thought across India and leave an indelible mark on the spiritual traditions of the subcontinent. The valley was not merely a political or religious center — it was one of India's foremost intellectual crucibles, birthing traditions and texts that would shape Indian civilization itself.

Patanjali, the great grammarian and author of the Mahabhashya — the authoritative commentary on Panini's Ashtadhyayi — hailed from Kashmir. Patanjali's erudition in grammar shaped the foundations of Sanskrit linguistic science for millennia.

According to Bhartrihari and other early scholars, Patanjali also made seminal contributions to the Yoga tradition and Ayurveda, illustrating the holistic, integrated vision of knowledge that flourished in Kashmir. A host of other distinguished grammarians, such as Chandra, further consolidated Kashmir's reputation as a center for linguistic excellence.

In the field of medicine, Charaka — the legendary physician and compiler of the Charaka Samhita, one of the foundational texts of Ayurveda — is also believed to have originated from Kashmir. His contributions systematized Ayurvedic thought, presenting a rational, detailed exposition of medical science, anatomy, pathology, diagnosis, and therapeutics that continues to influence traditional and modern healing practices.

An early figure often associated with Kashmir is Bharata Muni, the great sage who composed the Natyashastra, the foundational treatise on drama, dance, and aesthetics. The Natyashastra not only formalized the canons of classical Indian performance arts but also linked artistic expression to deeper philosophical ideas of rasa (aesthetic essence) and dharma.

An intriguing literary work from this transitional period is the Agamadambara, written by the Kashmiri playwright Jayanta Bhatta during the reign of King Shankaravarman (883–902 CE). This Sanskrit play is a brilliant satire that lampoons the various religious sects competing for royal patronage — Vedic ritualists, Shaivites, Buddhists, Jains, and others.

Agamadambara not only demonstrates the intellectual vitality and pluralism of Kashmir but also serves as historical evidence that multiple Indic traditions coexisted vibrantly in the valley at the time. Yet, as Winston Churchill grimly remarked, "While the Hindu elaborates his argument, the other side sharpens his sword." The rich, often self-critical, philosophical culture of Hindu Kashmir would, in the centuries that followed, face violent suppression by forces less tolerant of debate and diversity.

The Hindu history of Kashmir is not a footnote; it is the very foundation of the region's identity. Its sacred rivers, its mountain shrines, its ancient texts, and its ruins all bear witness to a civilizational legacy that cannot be wiped out by the transient violence of political turmoil.

Remembering Kashmir's Hindu past is not an exercise in nostalgia — it is an act of justice. It is a reaffirmation that the sacred land of Kashyapa, Lalitaditya, Vasugupta, Patanjali, Bharata Muni, and Abhinavagupta was, is, and will always remain an integral part of India's eternal Dharma.

In celebrating Kashmir's Hindu history, we do not merely honor a forgotten past; we lay claim to a future where truth triumphs over erasure, and where the spirit of Sharada once again illumines the world.

If today a Hindu walks the streets of Kashmir and is labeled a "colonizer," we must ask: How can one colonize their own ancestral home?

The Islamic Conquest of Kashmir

Kashmir's transition to an Islamic-majority region was not a peaceful diffusion of faith. It was achieved through centuries of brutality, coercion, and terror.

By the 14th century, political instability, weak Hindu rulers, and external threats left the kingdom vulnerable to invasion and subjugation. The real turning point came in 1320, when Rinchan, a Buddhist ruler of Ladakhi origin, converted to Islam and embraced the title Sultan Sadruddin. His conversion to Islam marked the first significant shift in Kashmir's religious landscape, opening the doors for further Islamic expansion.

The real destruction, however, occurred with the invasion of Shah Mir in the 14th century. Following Shah Mir's ascent, Hindu rulers were systematically deposed. The reign of Sikandar Butshikan (literally, "the breaker of idols") marked one of the darkest periods in Kashmiri history. Sikandar ordered the destruction of Hindu temples, banned Hindu religious practices, and imposed heavy jizya (tax) on non-Muslims.

Under his rule, thousands of Hindus were forcibly converted, and those who resisted faced death or exile. The majestic temples of Martand, Avantipura, and countless others were reduced to rubble. Entire communities were uprooted. Sanskrit, the language of the learned, disappeared from public life, replaced by Persian and Arabic.

What happened in Kashmir was not a "spiritual awakening" — it was cultural genocide.

Islam did not gently permeate Kashmir; it crashed upon it like a hammer, shattering a millennia-old Hindu civilization.

This is the history that today's apologists conveniently forget when they weep about supposed "colonialism" by Hindus daring to reclaim a tiny sliver of their own lost homeland.

Kashmiri Hindus have been subjected to not one, but seven waves of ethnic cleansing over the past seven centuries. Each time, the pattern has been the same: intimidation, violence, dispossession, and flight.

These exoduses represent not just demographic shifts but the systematic erasure of an ancient civilization.

First Exodus: The Tyranny of the Iconoclast

The first and perhaps the most brutal displacement of Kashmiri Hindus occurred during the reign of Sultan Sikandar Shah Miri (1389-1413 CE), infamous in history as Sikandar Butshikan ("The Breaker of Idols"). Influenced by radical Islamic preachers and advisors like Suhabhatta, Sikandar unleashed a wave of terror on the Hindu population.

Temples that had stood for centuries, including the monumental Martand Sun Temple and the Avantipur temples, were razed to the ground. Entire temple complexes were looted, desecrated, and demolished. Sacred texts were burned, Sanskrit learning was outlawed and Vedic rituals were banned. The entire intellectual and cultural edifice of Kashmir, which had flourished for centuries, was systematically erased in a few short decades.

Hindus were given three choices: convert to Islam, flee the valley, or face death. One of the most horrifying episodes was the mass slaughter of Brahmins who refused to remove their sacred thread (Janeu). Their bodies were heaped at a place now called Batta Mazar ("Graveyard of Brahmins"), where an estimated 37 kilograms of sacred threads were collected and burned. Many Hindus converted under duress, while a significant portion fled towards Jammu, Punjab, and the plains of northern India.

Second Exodus: Sufi Saint Unleashes Nightmare

The second major exodus took place towards the end of the 15th century during the campaigns led by Mir Shamsuddin Iraqi, a Shia missionary from Iran. Although Shamsuddin is often portrayed as a spiritual figure, his methods were anything but peaceful. Targeting the few remaining resilient Pandits who had survived earlier persecutions, Mir Iraqi conducted systematic campaigns of conversion, often by force.

Hindu religious practices were once again suppressed brutally, and mass conversions, particularly of the Pandit community, were carried out. Those who resisted faced execution, torture, or had to flee for their lives. This period saw a second significant wave of Kashmiri Hindus escaping the valley to save their faith and families.

Third Exodus: Mughal Onslaught

Things took a dark turn under the reigns of Jahangir and Shahjahan, which were like nightmares for the Kashmiri Hindu community. Jahangir's commander Sardar Itquad Khan specialized in converting Kashmiri Hindus by torturing and thrashing them.

Aurangzeb, infamous for his bigotry across India, extended his campaign of religious oppression to Kashmir. Under his rule, Hindu temples were destroyed once again, Jizya (a tax on non-Muslims) was reimposed, and systematic persecution returned with renewed ferocity.

His infamous Governor Iftekhar Khan unleashed unimaginable barbarity on the "infidels". Kashmiri Hindus were again given the ultimatum: conversion, death, or exile. Many chose to flee.

It was during this time that Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh Guru, stood up against Aurangzeb's tyranny. On the request of a delegation of Kashmiri Pandits, Guru Tegh Bahadur confronted Aurangzeb and ultimately paid with his life to defend the religious freedom of Hindus.

Fourth Exodus: Afghan Onslaught

The fourth and perhaps one of the most brutal periods came with the Afghan Durrani rulers, who conquered Kashmir in 1753. The Afghans, under governors like Amir Khan Jawansher and Azim Khan, ruled with unimaginable cruelty.

Kashmiri Hindus were treated as third-class citizens. Temple desecrations continued unabated; the Pandits faced routine humiliation, extortion, and forced conversions. Even slight offenses or refusal to convert could result in horrific punishments, including death.

The Pandits lived under constant fear, and many sought refuge beyond the Pir Panjal mountains, dispersing into neighboring regions like Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

Fifth Exodus: Under Sikh Rule and Early Dogra Period

Ironically, even after the Afghans were expelled by the Sikhs under Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1819, life did not immediately become peaceful for Kashmiri Hindus. Although Sikh rule curtailed the atrocities of the Afghan era, many Pandits, impoverished and disillusioned by relentless discrimination, found themselves migrating again, seeking livelihood and dignity elsewhere.

During the early Dogra rule, conditions improved somewhat, but the scars of previous centuries and the economic hardships persisted, prompting continued outward migration. Several Hindus were systematically targeted and killed during the 1931 Kashmir riots. Several others fled the valley.

Sixth Exodus: Partition and Post-Partition Violence

The sixth exodus unfolded in the blood-soaked backdrop of India's partition in 1947. As British India fractured into India and Pakistan, the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir became a flashpoint.

In October 1947, Pakistani tribal militias, aided by regular Pakistani forces, invaded Kashmir in a campaign marked by extreme brutality. Hindus and Sikhs in Muzaffarabad, Baramulla, and other parts of western Kashmir were specifically targeted. The raiders unleashed mass killings, rapes, and pillaging. Entire Hindu villages were wiped out.

Those who survived the onslaught fled eastwards into Indian-administered Kashmir or further south into Jammu. While the Indian Army eventually pushed back the invaders, the damage was immense. This exodus, though not centered solely on Kashmiri Pandits (it affected all Hindus and Sikhs), had a profound impact on the demographic reality of western Kashmir.

Seventh Exodus: Jihad

The most recent and perhaps most well-documented exodus occurred in 1989–90, with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism in Kashmir, fueled by Pakistani support.

By the late 1980s, militant groups like the JKLF (Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front) and Hizbul Mujahideen had launched a violent campaign against non-Muslims, particularly the Kashmiri Pandits. Death threats, slogans like "Raliv, Galiv, ya Chaliv" ("Convert, Die, or Flee"), and targeted assassinations of prominent Hindus created an atmosphere of terror.

Pandit families received letters warning them to leave within 24 hours or face death. Mosques blared calls for Pandits to leave. Those who resisted were tortured, killed, or raped in cold blood. Brutal murders of individuals like Tika Lal Taploo, Girija Tickoo, Pandit Sarla Bhat, and Lassa Kaul signaled the complete collapse of safety for the Pandit community.

In early 1990, nearly 400,000 Kashmiri Pandits—the last remnant of Hindu civilization in the valley—were forced to flee overnight, leaving behind their homes, temples, and ancestral lands. Most ended up in refugee camps in Jammu, Delhi, and elsewhere, living in dire conditions. This exodus remains one of independent India's most glaring and least acknowledged humanitarian tragedies.

The Islamic conquest of Kashmir is not just a tale of political domination but a story of cultural annihilation and civilizational loss. It is a story of a proud and prosperous community being decimated under the weight of religious intolerance and fanaticism.

Today, the Kashmiri Hindu community remains scattered across the globe, their physical ties to their homeland severed, but their spirit and cultural memory enduring. Every single time, the Kashmiri Hindu survived, only to be hunted down again.

If the liberal establishment truly cared about settler colonialism, they would recognize that Islamic supremacy in Kashmir was established through exactly the mechanisms of settler-colonial oppression they claim to oppose: conquest, demographic engineering, and religious cleansing.

How "Settler Colonialism" is Weaponized

Today, when the Indian state attempts to correct historical wrongs and Hindus dare to return to their ancestral homeland — the very land from which they were ethnically cleansed — they are met not with sympathy, but with slander.

Academics, journalists, and activists, mostly from elite left-liberal circles in India and abroad, brazenly accuse them of being "settlers," "colonizers," and "oppressors."

This is not mere ignorance. It is an ideological project — a willful inversion of truth.

The left-liberal narrative borrows from the postcolonial lexicon — words like "occupation," "settler-colonialism," "apartheid" — originally developed to describe European imperialism. They transplant these terms onto India, deliberately twisting historical realities to fit an anti-India, anti-Hindu worldview.

To them, Hindus returning to Kashmir is not seen as justice for ethnic cleansing, but as an act of aggression.

The victims are recast as villains. The persecutors are portrayed as the persecuted.

Ask yourself: if Hindus returning to their rightful homes after being driven out by terror constitutes "settler colonialism," then what would you call the Islamization of Kashmir through centuries of violence? A multicultural picnic?

This intellectual dishonesty is not accidental. It serves a geopolitical purpose.

By portraying Kashmir as a Muslim land "occupied" by India and Hindus, these narratives whitewash the bloody history of jihadist expansionism while delegitimizing India's sovereignty.

It is not a coincidence that many of these so-called "progressive" voices also peddle similar narratives about Israel, branding Jewish return to their ancestral homeland as "colonialism."

The underlying hatred is the same: a deep, seething resentment against civilizations rooted in ancient traditions, now daring to survive and assert themselves.

The harsh reality that the liberal establishment refuses to confront is that Kashmir's "freedom struggle" is not a movement for liberty. It is a religiously driven campaign for Islamist supremacy.

When mobs chant "Nizam-e-Mustafa" (Rule of the Prophet) and terror groups issue threats to non-Muslims, they are not asking for democracy. When Hindu homes are marked and temples are bombed, it is not about "self-determination." It is about creating a religiously homogenous state where only one identity is allowed to survive.

The "settler-colonialism" trope conveniently erases the Islamist nature of the conflict. It dresses up religious bigotry in the fashionable garb of anti-colonial struggle.

But scratch the surface, and the ugly reality is visible: the goal is not freedom, but theocratic domination.

Kashmir was one of the first regions in the subcontinent where organized Islamism systematically displaced indigenous traditions. The tragedy is that while the world opposes such movements elsewhere, in Kashmir, it is romanticized as "resistance."

Even as we speak today, an eighth exodus is silently unfolding—not a physical displacement, but an exodus of memory and identity. This is a forced removal of Kashmiri Hindus from political narratives, historical discourse, and cultural consciousness. Their suffering is often minimized, their culture sidelined, and their very existence overshadowed by narratives that seek to validate their oppressors. In public debates, in media portrayals, and even in academic spaces, the lived experiences of Kashmiri Hindus are either forgotten or distorted. This erasure is perhaps the most insidious exile of all—one that uproots not bodies, but truth itself.

The global left, forever hungry for "oppressed peoples" to champion, has turned Kashmir into a cause célèbre without understanding — or caring — that they are cheering for the oppressors.

Reclaiming, Not Colonizing

When a displaced people seek to return to their ancestral lands, they are not colonizers.

They are survivors. They are heirs trying to reclaim the graves of their ancestors, the temples of their gods, the soil soaked with the memories of a thousand generations.

The Jewish people returned to Israel after millennia of exile and genocide. The world, despite persistent opposition, ultimately recognized their right.

Why is it any different for Kashmiri Hindus?

The comparison is not rhetorical. Both peoples were subjected to religious persecution, ethnic cleansing, and historical erasure. Both faced obliteration by forces determined to wipe them off the face of the earth.

To deny Kashmiri Hindus their right to return is to perpetuate the goals of the terrorists who drove them out in the first place.

In fact, if Kashmir must be saved from real "settler colonialism," it must be saved from the Islamist colonization that has already happened — the colonization that reduced a richly pluralistic land into a near-theocratic society where dissenters and minorities live in fear.

It is not the return of a few thousand Hindus that threatens Kashmir's character. It is the normalization of religious fascism masquerading as liberation that truly endangers the valley's soul.

History is not kind to those who forget. If Kashmir's past is buried under lies, its future will be built on sand. We must reject the Orwellian inversion that brands victims as oppressors and bigots as freedom fighters.

We must call out the liberal cabal's intellectual complicity in whitewashing religious terrorism.

It is time to reclaim the narrative, to speak with moral clarity:

• Kashmir is Indian — historically, culturally, and legally.

• Hindus are indigenous to Kashmir. Their right to return is not up for negotiation.

• Islamist violence is not "resistance"; it is terrorism.

• Historical justice demands that the descendants of the displaced return not as guests, but as rightful inheritors.

The attempt to frame Hindu reclamation of Kashmir as "settler colonialism" is not merely a bad argument. It is an act of cruelty — a final blow against a people already bruised and battered by history.

But truth has a way of rising through the rubble.

The spirit of Kashmir — not the distorted, theocratic fantasy of Islamist separatists, but the ancient, pluralistic, sacred Kashmir — will endure.

And no amount of propaganda can change that.

This Navaratri, the land of Sharada will sing again—not in the language of fear, but in the timeless voice of truth.