Abstract

The impact of socio-religious reforms movements in Kashmir like Shaivism and Rishi Movement has been very prevalent for the betterment of the society. On one hand, Shaivism is an idealistic and realistic in essence, strongly advocating a pragmatic approach to life, on the other hand, Rishi Movement is considered to be the major source behind the spread of Islam in Kashmir. In this paper, I am going to map a relationship between Shaivism and Rishi Movement through Shaikh Noor-ud-Din and Lalla Maheshwari also known as Nund Rishi and Lal Ded respectively. Both of them emerged as the cultural leader of the populace at a time when Kashmir was at the crossroads of its socio-cultural and religio-political transition. Both the religious leaders, who are popular among the masses as the social reformers, played a significant role by exposing the exploitative machinations of caste-conscious Brahmans. For this purpose they used the common man’s language to patronage message to the common masses. In this paper, I would use their shurks and vaakhs which provided the message and ideas for an ideal society free of casteism, injustice and irrelevant mass exploitation.