Kashmiri Overseas Association

The KOA organization has its origins in the early meetings of History several Kashmiri Pandit families in the Washington D.C. and Maryland areas. These families soon came to realize the importance of building a community structure which could include other families too in a bond for mutual preservation and growth. As more families and members joined the founding group, the organization evolved to become a national outfit with regional chapters, documented bye-laws, systems and procedures as well as a non-profit status to better seek donations and pursue community actions.

The KOA’s mission is to promote Kashmir Pandit ethnic and socio-cultural heritage (language, history, art, etc), celebrate religious festivals of importance to Kashmiri Pandits; provide financial assistance to needy and deserving Kashmiri Pandit individuals, educational institutions, places of worship and shrines, both in the US and in India; and preserve historical monuments and sites of religious and cultural significance in Kashmir, India.

The KOA shall serve as the premier Kashmiri Pandit institution with a fundamental purpose that lies in promoting Kashmiri Pandit heritage and its way of living, Kashmiri Brahmanism and its philosophies; and be a center of social learning that caters to the spiritual, cultural, physical, humanitarian and educational needs of the community.