 Communions seldom pray in silence or alone. They love to pray together and ensure that their prayers are being heard. For across India, communion with God is a joyous celebration of life. Chanting and singing are an inherent and integral part of all indigenous faiths. And even religions, which came from afar and took root in the Indian soil, soon evolved and adapted to this social milieu, internalizing existing idioms and practices. You can see this in Jammu and Kashmir as well. While the monasteries in Ladakhom resound with chants and symbols, the Xeraths and temples of the valley and Jammu have their own code of rituals, which perhaps have more in common to each other than in other parts of the country, because Islam did not arrive with the sword here, but it came like a gentle breeze, slowly turning the temples into khanikas. As wise men and philosophers fleeing their own countries in Central Asia because of religious persecution reached Kashmir seeking refuge, they felt safe in their adopted land and began to preach their faith. In khanikas and the Xeraths, they spoke of one God, of one truth, love for fellow beings, of humility and truthfulness. This to the locals sounded not new but familiar, not different, but akin to the basic tenets of their own faith of monoistic shavism. Thus soon, the new faith took root, as it adapted to its new follower's age-old beliefs. In fact, a contract was signed to safeguard these beliefs, the original of which lies in a deep vault inside the old khanika in Srinagar. Amongst other things, the contract specifies permission to continue to chant the Lord's name aloud and together. And so, till today in Kashmir, the root is an integral and inherent part of prayer, verses from the holy book are chanted aloud in a group by the faithful, in a practice which perhaps is unique to Kashmir. As these ancient walls of the khanikas resound with the beauty and sanctity of this chanting, all in the vicinity feel at peace and one with their Creator.