jammu smvd university in collaboration with ignca indira gandhi national centre for the arts regional centre jkjointly organized a webinar on women saints scholars and philosophers of kashmir on sundayamong the keynote speakers who participated in this webinar include dr virendra bangroo director ignca regional centre smvdu campus smtdolly tikoo arwaal poet narindra safaya president heritage kashmir writer author inayat gul general secretary kashmir markazi adab va sakafat poet and author smt ujjwal handoo writer author ms aroosa ashraf writer author chashool mahaldar artist filmmaker ali ahsan writer and author ms deeba nazir khan writer and sunil raina rajanaka artist writerdr virendra bangroo said that in indian tradition women are held in high esteem and have contributed to every walk of life mrs dolly tikoo arwaal recited the vaak of lal ded famous kashmiri poetess and briefly described women saints and philosophers of kashmirnarinder safaya said that we have a complete chronology of rulers but not our women saints and scholars inayat gul said there was no gender discrimination in rishi order smt ujjwal handoo talked about the vedic trika and upanishad impact on the sayings of lal dedmiss aroosa ashraf said that lal ded was the first mystic poetess of kashmir and one could infer from her saying that women in kashmir were liberal and received an education chashool mahaldar shared his experiences while directing a documentary for ignca and emphasized the need to create awareness about the composite culture of kashmirali ahsan gave a detailed account of women disciples of sheikh noorudin while ms deba nazir said that there have been women empowerment in kashmir for ages and women contributed in all spheres of lifesunil raina rajanaka said that kashmir is the land of the mother goddess and her shrines are all over the valleyearlier sumanta sarthi sharma faculty coordinator ek bharat shreshtha bharat smvd university welcomed the speakers