Family and kinship : a study of the Pandits of rural Kashmir

Introduction: There are many general ethnographic studies of Indian tribes, castes and village communities but very few empirical studies of kinship and descent. Several writers have written on the Hindu joint family, but the emphasis in these studies has been on Sanskrit texts, and the picture of the Hindu family given therein, rather than on its actual working in different parts of India. Chapter One: The Valley of Kashmir and its People: Historically Kashmir has been in close contact with the rest of India for many centuries. Geographically and culturally, Kashmir and its people are distinct from the neighbouring regions and peoples of India. The native inhabitants of Kashmir have distinctive physical features, and the majority of them are Muslims. There are also Hindus and Sikhs in the Valley. Most of the native Muslims are believed to be the descendants of Hindus who were converted to Islam between the 14th and 19th centuries. All the native Hindus are of the Brahmin caste and are known as the Pandits. Chapter Two: Village Utrassu-Umanagri and its Inhabitants. Utrassu-Umanagri is situated in south Kashmir at an altitude of over 5000 ft. Part of its territory lies on the lower slope of a hill, and part in the valley below. Wet paddy, wheat and maize are the main crops raised. It is a bi-nucleated village of about 1543 acres, with a population of 2644, 2122 of whom are Muslims and the rest Pandits. The Muslims and the Pandits do not interdine or inter-marry but are bouxdtogether by many ties arising from coresidence in the same village, including the ties of economic interdependence

Structural and optical properties of CsI thin films: Influence of film thickness and humidity

Structural and optical studies have been performed on the thermally-evaporated "as-deposited" and "humid air aged" CsI thin films. The structural analysis for both "as-deposited" and "humid air aged" films shows a well-oriented peaks position of (110) and (220) lattice planes with a compressive stress in the films. The crystal quality has been investigated through the structural parameters. The increase in peak intensity as well as sharpness with film thickness implies the improvement of crystallinity. The optical absorbance of CsI films has been analyzed in the wavelength range of 190 nm - 900 nm in order to estimate the band gap energy of the films. Slater's model has also been used to explain the degradation of band gap energy with the increase in crystallite size.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physica B: Condensed Matter Journa