A Guide to abuse a Kashmiri Pandit

More than a decade ago, when I was in college, I knew a guy who was great at abusing chemicals and equally great at using abusive language. As part of first year initiation rite in hostel, the guy would randomly pick any “junior” and start abusing him. He picked me a couple of times and it bothered me to no end. I had no understanding of the words he was using. I just assumed it was some sort of Punjabi slang. I knew these were abuses, I was familiar with some, but I didn’t know what exactly some of these words meant. I knew Dogri abuses, which I found quite similar to punjabi but some of the words the guy was using were too new for me to grasp. So one day, while he is in his abusive rant, I stop him and ask him to explain to me their meaning. I told him I am Kashmiri and barely know any word from my mother tongue that can truly be called an abuse. The guy was shocked and was kind enough to engage me in a great discussion on human-animal anatomy, the breakdown of filiation and kinship and the use of racial prejudice and bigotry. Over the years I picked up more words from other languages like Marathi and Bengali, yet Kashmiri remained out of reach. I now know that some of the Bengali abuses have remained unchanged since 11th century with some of the abuses recorded by Kashmiri poet of Kshemendra from the Bengali students who used to visit Kashmir. Yet, Kashmiri abuses remain a challenge for me. For the longest time, I thought Kashmiri language had no abuses, which of course is not true. So, I started from the basics. The use of anatomy was the easiest to figure. You can use them to get to question filiation of a person. It all comes down to the usual genital stuff common in all other languages and culture, throw in words for sister and mother. However, it is the prejudice and bigotry based abuses in Kashmiri that are the invisible cherry on the profanity cake of Kashmiri language.

Here’s a brief list of abuses meant for Pandits by Muslims in Kashmiri language [by the time you are through reading, probably we will have a bigger list or a list of abuses meant for Muslims by Pandits in Kashmiri language]

“Daal-e-Dadwas” [Bowl of Dal-lentils], a historical prerogative that Kashmiri Muslims use for Kashmiri Pandits….for vegetarian Kashmiri Pandits are perennially cowards who when scared would shit their pants easily, hence the lentils. If “nigger” is a derogatory term for a black in America, in Kashmir, for Kashmiri Pandit you would use “Dal Batta” (Lentil Pandit) or “Dal Gadwa”.

There’s an old saying among Kashmiri Muslims of certain kind:

Kann’e vassi Pouss
Batte baneh neh dost

“You might skin a stone, but a Pandit will never be your friend”

[via Sualeh Keen ] The variation of it popular among Kashmiri Pandits of certain kind:

Lishyi vassyi poas
Musalman banyi na doas

Lish is a nit, and poas is clothing/skin

You might skin a tiny nit, but a Muslim will never be your friend

Another saying probably a retort:

Batt buddi, ti methaan Musalman buddi, ti tethan 

An old age brings sweetness to a Pandit but bitterness to a Muslim.

A popular traditional abusive saying meant for Kashmiri Pandit woman:

Battne dodye Mass
Panditani may you hair burn.

My grandmother suffered it back in 1990, a random taunt from a young kid while she was buying vegetables. Origins of the saying – can’t say – may be related to “Sati”. The complete saying goes like: Battne dodye Mass, ye kya kortham dal gadwas.

The “hair burning” saying is common in some Buddhist culture, in a positive way.

Another one of the sayings.

‘Battah miskeen, nah dunya tah nah din’.
The poor Hindu has neither the world nor religion.

This one seems like a variation of a Persian saying:
Cashmiri, bi Piri ; na Lazzet, ne shiri.
The faithless Cashmirian affords neither taste nor flavour. [ref: Rascally Kashmiri ]