Costs of Kashmir Conflict on Pandits as Depicted in Siddhartha Gigoo’s The Garden of Solitude: An Appraisal

Abstract

Jammu and Kashmir, thestate known for breeding brotherhood, cooperation and communal harmony has been torn bythe conflict which became one of the major reasonsfor divisionof people onthe basis of religion. Kashmir valley was a place where Pandits and Muslims lived like brethren but unfortunately the dangerous political conditions forced the Pandits to leave the valley-their own land in late 1980's and early 1990's and live a miserable life elsewhere.Many writers recorded the wounds the conflict gave to people in general but the sufferings of Pandit community were either contracted to a single page or left unmentioned. However Pandit Siddhartha Gigoohas painted in his novel Garden of Solituderecounts the beautiful times of peace in Kashmir, the onset of the armed insurgency, and specifically the forced exodus of Pandits and its aftermath.

The present paper attempts to bring out the predicament of the Pandits during and after the exodus and exile as shown in Gigoo’s novel .The paper will also attempt to give textual evidences to show that the book is the faithful record of what happened toKashmiri Pandits when they left their homeland in late 1980's and early 1990's.