Literature of Kashmir

Literature of Kashmir has a long history, the oldest texts having been composed in the Sanskrit language. Early names include Patanjali, the author of the Mahābhāṣya commentary on Pāṇini’s grammar, suggested by some to have been the same to write the Hindu treatise known as the Yogasutra, and Dridhbala, who revised the Charaka Samhita of Ayurveda.

In medieval times, philosophers of Kashmir Shaivism include Vasugupta (c. 800), Utpala (c. 925), Abhinavagupta, Kshemaraja, and Anandavardhana. If we talk about contemporary poetry of Kashmir there are many poets, which include Asif Tariq Bhat Tashi Shah, Akeel Mohiuddin Bhat, and Zeeshan Jaipuri. Aadil Ghulam Bhat 

Kashmiri language literature

The below listed table marks Kashmiri language poets in chronological order as per the book, A History of Kashmiri literature by Trilokinath Raina.

The use of the Kashmiri language began with the work Mahānaya-Prakāsha by Rājānaka Shiti Kantha (c.1250), and was followed by the poet Lalleshvari or Lal Ded (14th century), who wrote mystical verses in the vaakh or four-line couplet style. Another mystic of her time equally revered in Kashmir and popularly known as Nund Reshi wrote powerful poetry. Later came Habba Khatun (16th century) with her own style. Other major names are Rupa Bhavani (1621–1721), Paramananda (1791–1864), Arnimal (d. 1800), Mahmud Gami (1765–1855), Rasul Mir (d. 1870), Maqbool Shah Kralawari (1820–1877). Also, the Sufi poets like Shamas Faqir, Wahab Khar, Soch Kral, Samad Mir, and Ahad Zargar. Among modern poets are Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor (1885–1952), Abdul Ahad Azad (1903–1948), and Zinda Kaul (1884–1965).

During the 1950s, a number of well educated youth turned to Kashmiri writing, both poetry and prose, and enriched modern Kashmiri writing by leaps and bounds. Among these writers are Dinanath Nadim (1916–1988), Amin Kamil (1923–2014), Sarwanand Kaol Premi (1924–1990), Rehman Rahi (born 1925), Ghulam Nabi Firaq (1927–2016), Ali Mohammed Lone (1928–1987), Akhtar Mohiuddin (1928–2001), Ali Mohammad Shahbaz, Avtar Krishen Rahbar (born 1933), Sajood Sailani, Som Nath Zutshi, Muzaffar Aazim. Some later day writers are Hari Kishan Kaul, Majrooh Rashid, Rattanlal Shant, Hirdhey Kaul Bharti, Omkar N Koul, Roop Krishen Bhat, Rafiq Raaz, Tariq Shehraz, Shafi Shauq, Showkat Shehri, M.H Zaffar, G.M Azad, Anis Hamdani, Barkat Nida, Shafi Sumbli, Bashar Bashir, Shenaz Rashid, Shabir Ahmad Shabir, Shabir Magami, Tariq Ahmad Tariq, and Moti Lal Kemmu.

Contemporary Kashmiri literature appears in such magazines as “Sheeraza” published by the Jammu & Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, “Anhar” published by the Kashmiri Department of the Kashmir University, and an independent magazines/portals like “The Kashmir Tales”. “Mountain Ink”, Inverse Journal Neab International Kashmiri Magazine published from Boston, Vaakh (published by All India Kashmiri Samaj, Delhi) and Koshur Samachar (published by Kashmiri Sahayak Sammiti, Delhi).

Ancient writers in Sanskrit

• Lagadha, between 1400 and 1200 BC. Wrote Vedanga Jyotisha, the earliest Indian text on astronomy.
• Charaka, c. 300 BC. One of the most important authors in Ayurveda.
• Vishnu Sharma, c. 300 BC. Author of Panchatantra.
• Nagasena, c. 2nd century BC. One of the major figures of Buddhism, his answers to questions about the religion posed by Menander I (Pali: Milinda), the Indo-Greek king of northwestern India (now Pakistan), are recorded in the Milinda Pañha.
• Tisata, c. 500 AD. A medical writer.
• Jaijjata, 5th century, a medical writer and probably the earliest commentator (known) on the Sushruta Samhita, later quoted by Dalhana.
• Kalidasa, c. 5th century. Widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language.
• Vagbhata, c. 7th century. Considered one of the ‘trinity’ (with Charaka and Sushruta) of Ayurveda.
• Bhamaha, c. 7th century
• Ravigupta, 700–725. “Ravigupta is, perhaps, the earliest among the Buddhist philosophers of Kashmir…”
• Anandavardhana, 820-890
• Vasugupta, 860-925
• Somananda, 875-925
• Vatesvara, b. 880, author of Vaṭeśvara-siddhānta.
• Rudrata, c. 9th century
• Jayanta Bhatta, c. 9th century
• Bhatta Nayaka, c. 9th-10th century, considered by Sheldon Pollock to be the greatest author on aesthetics in the pre-modern period
• Medhātithi, c. 9th-10th century, one of the most influential commentators of the Manusmriti
• Utpaladeva, 900-950
• Abhinavagupta, c. 950-1020
• Vallabhadeva, c. 10th century. Wrote, amongst other works, Raghupanchika, the earliest commentary on the Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa.
• Utpala, c. 10th century. An important mathematician.
• Kshemendra, c. 990-1070
• Kshemaraja, c. late 10th century/early 11th century
• Kathasaritsagara, c. 11th century
• Bilhana, c. 11th century
• Kalhana, c. 12th century
• Jalhana, c. 12th century, the author of Mugdhopadesa (not to be confused with Jalhana who commissioned the Suktimuktavali)
• Sarangadeva, c. 13th century. A musicologist, he wrote Sangita Ratnakara, one of the most important text when it comes to Indian music.

Writers in Persian

After Sanskrit and before the coming Urdu, because of the adoration and patronising policy of Persian culture by the Mughals, Persian became the literary language also of the region. Kashmir was very richly represented in that tradition, as already before the end of the 18th century “Muhammad Aslah’s tazkira of the Persian-writing poets of Kashmir, written during the reign of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (1131-61/1719-48), alone lists 303 poets”. Late scholar from Pakistan, Pir Hassam-ud-Din Rashidi, edited, translated, and enlarged this work later, and had it published by the Iqbal Academy.

The most famous of them was Muhammad Tahir Ghani (d. 1669), better known as Ghani Kashmiri, whose poetry was recently translated into English, for the first time, by Mufti Mudasir Farooqi and Nusrat Bazaz as ‘The Captured Gazelle’ in the world-renowned Penguin Classics list. Ghani influenced many generations of Persian-and Urdu writing poets in South Asia including Mir Taqi Mir, Ghalib and most importantly, Iqbal. Ghani’s “forte” lies in creating delightful poetic images, usually by stating an abstract idea in the first hemistich and following it up with a concrete exemplification in the other. He also stands out for his multi-layered poems, which exploit the double meaning of words.

Another name in the field of Persian-language writers from Kashmir is Sheikh Yaqub Sarfi Ganai (1521-1595), a 16th-century Sufi poet-philosopher who was internationally acknowledged and who had for students, amongst others, well-known religious scholar Ahmad Sirhindi (more particularly, he taught him hadith) and Persian-language poet Mohsin Fani Kashmiri (d. 1671 or 1672) (himself the teacher of Ghani Kashmiri and author of the pivotal work of comparative religion, the Dabestan-e Mazaheb).

Other of the well-known and influential Persian-language poets of Kashmir would include Habibullah Ghanai (1556-1617), Mirza Dirab Big Juya (d. 1707), Gani Kashmiri (1630–1669), Mirza Beg Akmal Kamil (1645-1719), Muhammad Aslam Salim (d. 1718), Mulla Muhammad Taufiq (1765), Muhammed Azam Didamari (d. 1765), Mulla Muhammad Hamid (1848) or Birbal Kachru Varasta (d. 1865), amongst a myriad. Of course, Kashmiri Pandits too played a role in that school, and one exceptional case was Pandit Taba Ram Turki (1776–1847), who was a celebrity as far as Central Asia.

Writers in Urdu

Despite being a numerically small community, the Kashmiri Pandits are over-represented in their contribution to Urdu literature. One important early example is Daya Shankar Kaul Nasim (1811–1845), a renowned Urdu poet of the 19th century, and hundreds of others followed his path.

Some eminent Urdu literary personalities of Kashmiri origins (from both the Valley and the diaspora) include (in chronological order):

• Mir Tafazzul Hussain Khan Kashmiri (1727-1800), originally from Kashmir, born in Sialkot where his parents moved and himself based in Lucknow where he served as Prime Minister (or diwan) to the Nawab of Oudh Asaf-ud-Daula thanks his erudition. He was called “khan-e-allama” (the Scholarly Khan) due to his deep scholarship on many subjects but is best known today for having translated Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica from Latin into Arabic.
• Mufti Sadruddin Khan ‘Azurda’, 1789–1868, apart from being the Grand Mufti of Delhi, he was also a personal friend to Ghalib (whose own mother was from Kashmir) and himself a poet of note in Urdu as well as in Arabic and Persian. He also wrote a tazkira (biographical anthology of poets).
• Momin Khan Momin, 1801–1852, considered one of the three pillars of the Delhi school of Urdu poetry, with Ghalib and Zauq. Other fields where he was competent included mathematics, geomancy, astrology, chess or music.
• Daya Shankar Kaul Nasim, 1811–1845
• Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar, 1846-1903
• Muhammad Iqbal, 1877–1938
• Agha Hashar Kashmiri, 1879–1935 (called “the Shakespeare of Urdu” for his works as playwright)
• Brij Narayan Chakbast, 1882–1926
• Aziz Lucknawi, 1882-1935
• Khalifa Abdul Hakim, 1896-1959 (a philosopher who has the honour of writing the only book on the metaphysics of Persian mystical poet Jalaluddin Rumi)
• Patras Bokhari, 1898–1958
• Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum, 1899–1978
• Muhammad Din Taseer, 1902-1950 (short-story writer, literary critic and Iqbal scholar. Father of slain Pakistan’s Punjab governor Salman Taseer and first individual from the Sub-continent to get a PhD in English Literature from Cambridge University)
• Shaikh Abdullah, 1905–1982
• Meeraji, 1912-1949
• Saadat Hasan Manto, 1912–1955
• Agha Shorish Kashmiri, 1917-1975
• Syed Akbar Jaipuri (Mujahid-E-Urdu), 1923-1998
• Razia Butt, 1924-2012
• Anwar Shemza, 1928-1985
• Hakeem Manzoor, 1937–2006
• Obaidullah Aleem, 1939-2008
• Muhammed Amin Andrabi, 1940–2001, a scholar who belonged to the Traditionalist School of metaphysics, inspired by authors like Ibn Arabi, Muhammad Iqbal, Frithjof Schuon, Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Henry Corbin.
• Allama Mustafa Hussain Ansari, 1945–2006
• Abid Hassan Minto
• Muhammad Asim Butt, novelist, translator and critic.
• Muhammad Younis Butt, writer of the most popular political satire show in Pakistan, Hum Sub Umeed Se Hain
• Rasheed Amjad
• Shahid Nadeem

Writers in Hindi

• Amar Nath Kak
• Chandrakanta (author)
• Omkar N. Koul

Writers in English

• I. K. Taimni
• M. P. Pandit, prolific writer who authored some 150 books and as many articles exposing in English the thought of Sri Aurobindo.
• Chiragh Ali, reformist Islamic scholar
• Taufiq Rafat, called the ‘Ezra Pound of Pakistan’ for both his innovative writings and his position as one of – if not the – greatest English-language poets of Pakistan.
• Jawaharlal Nehru
• Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
• Krishna Hutheesing
• Gopi Krishna
• Subhash Kak
• Nayantara Sahgal
• M.J. Akbar
• Hari Kunzru
• Kailas Nath Kaul
• Salman Rushdie
• Agha Shahid Ali
• Mirza Waheed
• Nitasha Kaul
• Basharat Peer
• Adeeba Riyaz