Srinagar, Feb 28 (KNS): International charity organisation, Mother Helpage, is doing its bit to set up an example of communal harmony in Jammu and Kashmir.
In an effort to nourish the brotherhood and amity in the state, Mother Helpage on the occasion of Shivratri distributed walnuts and lotus stem among the Kashmir Pandit brethren at Jagti Nagrota in Jammu, a spokesperson of the organisation said.
“A team of volunteers of MH was sent to Jammu to meet their Pandit brethren and be part of the Shivratri festival. We received a warm welcome from our Pandit brothers. And we vow to lend all efforts to promote humanity, brotherhood and coexistence via our works,” he said and added the motto of the project was to promote Universal brotherhood annd peace among all the communities.
The Shivratri festival, used to be a grand integrative occasion for the majority Muslim and the minority Kashmiri Pandit communities in Kashmir.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp ChannelShivratri, the most auspicious festival of Shaivite Kashmiri Pandits, has for centuries been celebrated with feasts and festivities in the Valley till the militancy forced over 150,000 members of the community to migrate from here in the early 1990s.
Local Muslims would carry walnuts from their trees and Lotus stem to Pandit neighbours in villages and friends in towns and cities. Walnuts are an important part of the Shivratri Puja. Pandits would invite their Muslim neighbours and friends on Shivratri to dinner at which fish and the ‘Nadru’ (Lotus stems) those grow in the Valley's lakes formed an important dish of the feast. (KNS)