Kashmiri language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Kashmiri (disambiguation)
| Kashmiri कॉशुर کٲشُر kạ̄šur |
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| Spoken in: | India, Pakistan | |||
| Total speakers: | 4.6 million | |||
| Language family: | Indo-European Indo-Iranian Dardic Kashmiri languages Kashmiri |
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| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-1: | ks | |||
| ISO 639-2: | kas | |||
| ISO 639-3: | kas | |||
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Kashmiri (कॉशुर, کٲشُر) is a northern Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in the valley of Kashmir, a region situated mostly in the Indian Jammu and Kashmir state. It has about 4,611,000 speakers. While Kashmiri belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family of languages it is sometimes placed in a geographical sub-grouping called Dardic. It is one of the 23 officially recognised languages of India.
It is a V2 word order language. Kashmiri has remained a spoken language up to the present times, though some manuscripts were written in the past in the Sharada script, and then in Perso-Arabic script. Currently, Kashmiri is written in either the Perso-Arabic script (with some modifications) or the Devanagari script. The earliest literary composition in Kashmiri that has survived is the poetry of Lalleshvari, a 14th century mystic poetess.
Literacy in Kashmiri is continuously neglected due to various political reasons and lack of formal education in it. It is now mostly relevant in its spoken form, and the speakers of this language are also decreasing in number. Note that the primary official language of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is not Kashmiri, but Urdu. In the past few decades, Kashmiri was introduced as a subject at the university and the colleges of the valley. At present, attempts are on for inclusion of Kashmiri in school curriculum.
There is only one online newspaper in Kashmiri, though a number of literary magazines are published regularly.
The Kashmiri language has a rich literary heritage. It has been the language of numerous sufi and folk poets. The songs in the Kashmiri language are called gewun /gewun/ and the chorus songs are known as wonwun /wonwun/.
Kashmiris
Vast majorities of People of the Kashmiri origin are spread over the whole state in the disputed territory; but the majority is living in valley of Kashmir, Kishtwar, Badarwah, Doda and Ramban. Majority of Kashmiris follows the Islamic faith. However other minorities such as Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians introduced by the British Colonist are also found in them. Kashmiris living in rural areas are agriculturists while those living in cities and towns are associated with different trades industries and handicrafts. Kashmiri is their common language that is also spoken in some areas of Poonch and Muzaffarabad.
Oppressed Kashmiris are divided into many sub-castes, which include Sheikhs, Sayids, Mughals, Pathans, etc. Butts Koals, Pandits, Yatus, Rishis, Mantoos, Ganayis and Kichloos are believed to be from Brahman casts whereas Magrays, Dars, Thakurs, and Naiks are believed to be Khishtris. Lones are from the vesh caste and Damars are from Shudar caste.
Kashmiri Mughals add to their names Mir, Mirza, or Baig. Ashayees and Bandays are also from the Mughals origin. The majority of Hindus comprise of Brahmans which include Razadan, Kak, Raina, Sapru, Kol, Zatshi, Nehru, Butt, Kachru, Kachlu etc… pundit is added to all of these such as Pundit Ramchand Kak, and Pandit Jawarlal Nehru. Historian Bamzai has quated 133 sub-castes of Brahmins in Occupied Kashmir.
[edit] See also
- List of topics on the land and the people of “Jammu and Kashmir”
- Neab International Kashmiri Magazine
[edit] External links
- Grierson, George Abraham. A Dictionary of the Kashmiri Language. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1932.
- Ethnologue entry for Kashmiri
- Kashmiri Newz
- An Introduction to Spoken Kashmiri
- Kashmiri Songs
- Koshur: An Introduction to Spoken Kasmiri
- Basic words and phrases in Kashmiri language
- Kashmiri literary magazine
- Kashmiri online newspaper
- [1]
- Apharwat - a Kashmiri literary blog
- Muzaffar Aazim - A contemporary Kashmiri writer
- A sampling of Wanawun - Search For 'Wanawun' Kashmiri folk chorus
- Gulmarg - A collection of Kashmir Views, original poetry and information
- Kashmiri Alphabet]
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| Dardic | Dameli · Domaaki · Gawar-Bati · Kalash · Kashmiri · Khowar · Kohistani · Nangalami · Pashayi · Palula · Shina · Shumashti |
| Nuristani | Askunu · Kamkata-viri · Tregami · Vasi-vari · Waigali |
