Rituals of Kashmiri Pundits are quite a few in number. They correspond to the religious beliefs and traditional belief system of the Kashmiri Pundits, and there can be seen rituals marking almost all occasions from birth to death. Some of the most important ones are discussed below.

The birth of a child is an occasion of great joy in the family. However, custom dictates that for eleven days after a child is born, the family and near relatives cannot perform any religious ceremonies. On the eleventh day a purification ceremony, the Kahnethar, takes place. On that day, the mother of the child leaves her room. A Havan is performed and the child is given a name before this. However, on the sixth day after the child`s birth, both mother and child are bathed. The bath is called the Shran Sundar and after this is done, lighted torches of birch bark are passed round the head of the child and all the people who are present. The mid-wife does this, all the while repeating the phrase "shokh la punasun" (happiness and more children).

The next most significant ceremony in the life of the child is the Zara Kasai or the hair-cutting ceremony, performed when a boy is about four or five years old. A Havan is performed and the boy`s head is shaved, leaving only the choti at the highest point of the skull. After the havan, relations and friends are treated to a feast.

The Yagnopavit, or sacred thread-ceremony of the male child, is one of the most important ceremonies in the life of a Kashmiri Pundit. It is performed before a boy attains the age of twelve years. A few days earlier the Garnavai (house-cleaning), Manziral (dying of the boy`s hands with henna) and Divagon (bath and anointment) ceremonies are performed. Relatives and friends who invited to the accompanying feast generally make cash presents to the parents. The women sing songs daily after the garnavai ceremony has taken place. On the main day of the ceremony, the sacred thread is put round the boy`s neck by his guru, and he is thenceforth, a twice-born Brahmin. He then has to beg for alms for his guru from his relatives who are present, and each person gives him between one to ten rupees. All this money he gives to the guru. On the day following the main ceremony a Kushalhoma is performed to mark the safe and pleasant termination of this important event. The guests then return to their homes. The young married women among them each receive a few rupees as Alagal. Their husbands are also presented with rupees, and one or two rupees are given to each child coming with the guests.

Marriage is the next important event in the life. This stage of Vivaah commences with a number of ceremonies, beginning with the Garnavai or house-cleaning. The Manziral and Divagan then follow.

Before the marriage ceremony, another custom, that of Vak Dan, has now come to the fore, when the parents of the bride and the bridegroom, accompanied by their near relatives, meet in a common friend`s house and after partaking of sumptuous tea, solemnly agree to the marriage of their respective son and daughter. On the wedding day, the bridegroom is dressed in an Achkan and a pyjama and dons a coloured turban. A procession is formed in the courtyard of his home, where he takes his stand on the vyug (an outline of mystic signs drawn in lime and coloured clays). The oldest woman in the house then comes out and waves lighted lamps and a pair of pigeons in a circle round his head, while the assembled relations join in song and shower coins and sugar over him. The bridegroom is next taken to the house of the bride. He may go in car or ride on a horse, with the procession following. Sometimes, he goes in a boat. Outside the bride`s home, too, the Vyug ceremonies are performed and the wedding party is given a feast by the father of the bride. The lagan, or nuptial ceremony, is then performed by the family priests of both the bride and bridegroom. Food is placed before the couple who both eat from the same plate. After this, hand in hand, they walk seven times round a lighted fire.

After the lagan, the bride and bridegroom return to the latter`s home. The bridegroom`s party takes them in procession, the ceremony of Vyug being repeated before commencing the journey. After arriving at the groom`s house, the bride is first taken to the kitchen and the Thakurdwar. She is then made to sit on cushions, while the assembled women burn incense and continue with their singing. The bridegroom`s sister is the recipient of a present in cash on this occasion. The next night, the young newly-married couple again goes to the house of the bride`s parents, where the groom receives presents from them in cash and kind. During the first year of marriage the bride`s father sends her various such presents at festivals and on his own birthday, and those of his sons and daughters.

Most of the ceremonies connected with the death of a Kashmiri Pundit are similar to those performed by the Brahmins of India, though in Kashmir these are more elaborate. The dead body is washed and wrapped in a white shroud. A brief Shradha ceremony is performed before the dead body is carried to the cremation ground. There the ceremony is more elaborate, taking in some cases five or seven hours. Before the dead body is put on the pyre a nirvana ceremony with invocations to the Bharavs and chanting of hymns and mystic sounds is performed. The funeral pyre is lit by the son of the dead or by the nearest relatives. After the dead body is consumed by the fire, the mourners return. Before entering the house a fire is lighted at the Ghat round which the mourners walk after taking a bath in the river. For ten days Shradha ceremonies are performed at the ghat every morning and on the 10th day the son or the chief mourner shaves his head to indicate the end of mourning. On the 11th and 12th days more Shradhas are performed, and then every month for the first year. After this yearly Shrdhas are performed. In all these ceremonies priests get a good share in cash and kind given in charity for the peace of the soul of the departed.

Thus discussed above are the various rituals marking the important life-events of a Kashmiri Pundit.