Produced by Sibtain Hyder & Ishaq Bhat
Botraj Mohalla, a locality situated on the foothills of Hari Parbat in Srinagar is home to a few hundred Burusho. They are the descendants of two former princes of the states of Hunza and Nagar (present day Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan) who migrated to Kashmir in 1889. Roughly 350 in number, Burusho speak Burushaski, which is still an unclassified language.
For over 130 years now, this community has kept alive its religious beliefs, customs and lingual traditions. They marry within themselves and are still respected by the local Kashmiris as descendants of a royal family.
Burusho practice Shiite Islam which has around 1.5 million followers in Kashmir. Muharram is as sacred a month for them as it is for the rest of Muslims in Kashmir. However, Burusho have ensured to keep a close affinity to their language and culture even while mourning the death of Imam Hussain (RA) by reciting marsiyas (elegiac poems) in their own tongue.
The story covers this small community and their efforts to keep the culture and ethnicity alive.