As a tradition harmonizing religious diversity of Kashmir

Abstract

Parakh¹ is the name of a week long tradition of abstaining from non-vegetarian diet practiced by Kashmiri Muslims against their traditional Non-Vegetarian dietary habits to commemorate Urs, either birthday or some other important event of a saint. It is an age old tradition that has roots in the composite religio-cultural milieu of Kashmir. This paper is aimed at understanding the practice, its possible origin and its contribution in bringing religious harmony to Kashmir. For folk tradition and oral sources which find a wider space in context to present study, southern Kashmir has been selected