| Summary: | As the literature of marginalized communities, Indigenous Literature contests mainstream discourses through self-representation and depictions of critical indigenous issues. No matter where it is produced, Indigenous Literature is connected by certain universal characteristics and thematic similarities that display indigenous people’s resistance to socio-cultural hegemony. Thus, it is a literary response to contexts of oppression and discrimination and engenders a collective legacy of social suffering by expressing historically suppressed truths. It disputes political dominance with themes that articulate the indigenous fight for personal, social, political and cultural identity. The relationship between people and place, and the experience of losing one’s homeland and severing ties from one’s traditions is a crucial part of Indigenous Literature. Kashmiri Pandits are not generally considered an ‘indigenous community,’ but recent Pandit narratives reflect similar concerns regarding their experiences of facing targeted violence, losing their homeland and being forced into exile after the insurgency started in Kashmir. This paper seeks to situate Pandits as an indigenous community, and by analysing Rahul Pandita’s representation of the Pandit experience in Our Moon has Blood Clots, the paper extends the scope of Indigenous Literature in contemporary Indian English Literature to include recent Anglophone Kashmiri Pandit narratives.
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