Book Review: Our Moon Has Blood Clots by Rahul Pandita

Our Moon Has Blood Clots: The Exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits by Rahul Pandita

Our Moon Has Blood Clots by Rahul Pandita | Goodreads

Our Moon Has Blood Clots - Internet Archive

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highly Recommended

The best in me are my memories. Many people will come
to life in them, people who gave their blood while they
lived, and who will now give their example.

- Anton Donchev, Time of Parting

In Our Moon Has Blood Clots, Rahul Pandita opens the book with an epigraph from a historical Bulgarian novel: Time of Parting. The epigraph highlights the theme of loss, forced displacement and cultural rupture - themes that resonate with Pandita’s own narrative of the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits .

Kashmiri Pandits are among the oldest indigenous communities of the Kashmir Valley, with roots stretching back over two thousand years. For centuries, they lived in the Valley as custodians of its language, learning, and cultural traditions, deeply tied to the land they called home. Our Moon Has Blood Clots is a book about this community and their sudden exodus due to genocide. 

Kashmir is an enigma - a land of breathtaking beauty, layered histories, and enduring contradictions. Kashmir is a Russian doll of a story. It is a story of stories, each describing what is or what ought to be, none entirely.  For decades, narratives about Kashmir have often focused on Muslims as victims of state policies and conflict. What remains less discussed is the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits by some of their Muslim neighbors, terrorism created by Pakistan and the indifference of the Indian state. 

In the book, Pandita first recalls the attacks on Kashmiri Pandits in Baramulla and other areas during the 1947–48 invasion by Pakistan, when violence, looting, and killings forced many families to flee temporarily, even though a large number eventually returned to the Valley. That phase was marked by chaos of war and border invasion rather than targeted, sustained intimidation. 

Pandita then provides details of the 1990 exodus that was created by systematic threats, selective killings, and an atmosphere of fear created by militancy from within the Valley itself, leading to a near-total and permanent displacement of the community. Well-known Pandits—intellectuals, officials, judges, teachers—were killed selectively, creating an atmosphere of fear.  Along with the Kashmiri Pandits, there were liberal & communist Muslims who were also hounded out of their homes terrorized by putting names on hit-lists. Kashmir was in the state of chaos and the collapse of governance.

Posters and pamphlets stuck on doors of Kashmiri Pandits, or a 'friendly' neighbor dropping in asking them to leave because the majority would not be able to assure their safety. There were threatening slogans reportedly shouted in public spaces and broadcast from loudspeakers. Slogans such as “Raliv, Galiv ya Chaliv” (convert, die, or leave menaing either leave Kashmir valley or convert to Islam, or die as infidels.) and “Asi gachhi Pakistan, Batav roas ta Batneiw saan” (we want Pakistan; Pandit women without Pandit men) accelerating the mass flight of the community from the Valley. As a result, around 90–95% of the Kashmiri Pandit population fled the Valley, many overnight, leaving behind homes, jobs, temples, and ancestral property.

Rahul Pandita, who was just 14 when he and his family were forced to leave their home in Srinagar. Kashmiri Pandits not only lost their livelihoods and ancestral homes but were also forced to flee to Jammu and other Indian cities in search of safety. Many lived in refugee camps or cramped rented rooms, where indifference and harsh treatment from locals and landlords further deepened their struggle. There were empty promises of official help and the forced migration led to long-lasting marginalisation and struggles for the community to rebuild their lives.

In Our Moon Has Blood Clots, Rahul Pandita explores these lesser-told histories through shared and personal memories to speak about systematic violence, displacement and the long struggle to survive in exile. The book closes on a note of unresolved loss, trauma and quiet grief. Pandita ends by acknowledging that for most Kashmiri Pandits, return remains distant and uncertain, and what survives instead is longing for a lost homeland and memories of rituals, language, and everyday life that once existed.  Rather than expressing grief in a loud or dramatic way, the memoir tries to rebuild a lost world by preserving the voices and lived experiences of an uprooted community. 

While Our Moon Has Blood Clots is often discussed alongside trauma narratives from post-colonial or insurgency-affected regions, the story of the Kashmiri Pandits represents something uniquely alarming: in a country where Hindus are the majority, an entire community was forcibly displaced because of their religion, despite living in Kashmir for centuries. The principles of non-violence, secularism, and tolerance, foundational to the Indian republic, failed to protect them. 

The book is neither reclaiming history nor a civilizational revival as there is no single starting point in the past that can be selectively returned to or glorified.  What does the story of the exodus of a minority community at midnight with a handful of valuables and a heart full of memories teach us? The instrumental use of literature, in this sense, is a precursor for awakening of a nation by offering a deeper understanding of its past. The old warning is always there: A nation that keeps one eye on the past is wise. A nation that keeps two eyes on the past is blind.  Through this, Pandita shows how remembering and telling stories helps people make sense of pain and hold on to their identity.