Population Overview 1921 – 1941

The Kashmiri Pandit population grew modestly over two decades — from 55,055 in 1921 to 63,088 in 1931 (a 14.6% rise) and to 76,868 by 1941. In absolute terms, the total increase across twenty years was roughly 21,800 — a growth rate far from what one would expect of a community supposedly thriving through systemic exploitation.

Gender Breakdown, 1921

The 1921 census recorded 30,947 males and 24,108 females among Kashmiri Pandits — a male-to-female ratio of roughly 1.28:1, reflecting patterns common across communities in that era.

Occupational Profile 1921

The 1921 census provides a detailed occupational breakdown that dismantles the narrative of Kashmiri Pandits as a uniformly privileged bureaucratic class. Of 55,055 people, 35,744 were dependents. Among the working population, occupations ranged from cultivation and domestic service to trade and artisanship — with state service being just one of many livelihoods.

Literacy Landscape 1921

Contrary to the popular self-image (and the externally imposed myth) of Kashmiri Pandits as a universally literate community, 73.2% of KPs were illiterate in 1921 — and 53% of KP males could not read or write. However, the KP edge lay in English literacy: 5,154 KPs (9.4% of the population) knew English, constituting the largest English-literate group in the state.

KP vs KM Literacy Comparison, 1921

In 1921, there were 5,231 literate Kashmiri Muslims across a population of 796,392 — a literacy rate of just 0.66%, versus 26.8% for Kashmiri Pandits. Among English literates, the gap was even starker: 5,104 KP males versus 340 KMs — and only 5 KM women knew English versus 50 KP women.

The Decade of Change 1921 → 1931

Between 1921 and 1931, the landscape shifted significantly. The number of schools in the state doubled from 670 to 1,246. Kashmiri Muslim literacy quadrupled. Their total literate population rose from 5,231 to 21,639 — surpassing the KP literate count of 18,915. The KP literate population grew by 31.9%, a strong showing but dwarfed by the 313.4% KM surge.

English Literacy per 10,000 Population

KP English literacy per 10,000 of their population rose from 1,045 in 1921 to 1,588 in 1931 — a 50% increase. KM English literacy per 10,000 rose from 5 to 25 — a dramatic proportional increase, but from an extremely low base. The KP advantage in English literacy remained overwhelming in absolute terms.

Literacy per 1,000 by Community, 1931

Among communities in J&K in 1931, Khatris led with 386 literates per 1,000, followed by Kashmiri Pandits at 369 per 1,000. In female literacy per 1,000, the picture was grimmer across the board, but Khatris again led at 178, with KPs at 24 — barely ahead of Sheikhs (22), Brahmins (21), and Kashmiri Muslims (1).

KPs in State Employment 1931

The census recorded how many KPs there were per 1,000 employed across different sectors. In State Service, KPs were 305.9 per 1,000 — meaning roughly 70% of state service was comprised of other communities. KPs were far from dominating other sectors of the economy.

The Unemployment Paradox

Among the unemployed with qualifications above matriculation in 1931, 226 of 289 were Brahmans and 26 were other Hindus, while Muslims numbered only 37. The census noted: “It is very much in the fitness of things that the Brahman who inherits traditions of learning from the past should be most exposed to the uncertainty of employment.” The community’s investment in English education was yielding diminishing returns even before the Glancy Commission arrived.

Geographic Concentration 1941

By 1941, the practice of giving KP-specific census data ended. However, the report recorded 76,868 Kashmiri Pandits in the state — overwhelmingly concentrated in just two districts. Over 62,000 lived in the Anantnag district (which then included Srinagar city), and another 11,000 were in Baramulla. No other district exceeded 1,000, except Jammu with 1,367.

Key Findings

The census data from 1921–1941 paints a picture fundamentally at odds with the myth of Kashmiri Pandits as an elite exploitative class. In 1921, nearly three-quarters of KPs were illiterate; 53% of males couldn’t read. The largest single occupation was cultivation, not bureaucracy. The working population was spread across domestic service, trade, artisanship, and manual labour — not concentrated in positions of power.

Even in state service, where KPs had the strongest representation, they accounted for roughly 30% of employees — meaning other communities held the remaining 70%. KP population growth was modest (+14.6% in a decade), and by 1931, KM literates outnumbered KP literates in absolute terms. The community that invested most in English education was, by the census’s own account, most “exposed to the uncertainty of employment.”

If this was an exploitative class, it was — as the original article notes — “probably the only exploitative class in the world in which majority of the people belonging to this class were not working in privileged positions.”