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.
The Kashmiri Pandits are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, located within the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiri Pandits are Hindu Kashmiris native to the Kashmir Valley, and the only remaining Hindu Kashmiris after the large-scale conversion of the Valley's population to Islam during medieval times. Prompted by the growth of Islamic militancy in the valley, large numbers left in the exodus of the 1990s. Even so, small numbers remain.
The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) is a formerly armed, political separatist organisation active in both the Indian-administered and Pakistani-administered territories of Kashmir. It was founded by Amanullah Khan, with Maqbool Bhat also credited as a co-founder. Originally a militant wing of the Azad Kashmir Plebiscite Front, the organization officially changed its name to the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front in Birmingham, England on 29 May 1977; from then until 1994 it was an active Kashmiri militant organization. The JKLF first established branches in several cities and towns of the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe, as well as in the United States and across the Middle East. In 1982, it established a branch in the Pakistani-administered territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and by 1987, it had established a branch in the Indian-administered Kashmir Valley.
Munshi is a Persian word, originally used for a contractor, writer, or secretary, and later used in Mughal India for native language teachers, teachers of various subjects, especially administrative principles, religious texts, science, and philosophy and were also secretaries and translators employed by Europeans.
Kashmiris are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group speaking the Kashmiri language and originating from the Kashmir Valley, which is today located in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad, known by his pen name as Mahjoor, was a poet of the Kashmir Valley. He is especially noted for introducing a new style into Kashmiri poetry and for expanding Kashmiri poetry into previously unexplored thematic realms. Mahjoor is recognized as father of Kashmiri language.
Dhar is an Indian surname. It is commonly found among the Hindu Bengali Kayastha and Baniks including Subarnabanik community in Bengal region. Dhar or Dar is also used by some Kashmiri and Punjabi-Kashmiri clans and communities native to the Kashmir Valley and Punjab, and common today among Kashmiri Hindus and Kashmiri Muslims.
Yasin Malik is a Kashmiri separatist leader and former militant who advocates the separation of Kashmir from both India and Pakistan. He is the chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, which originally spearheaded armed militancy in the Kashmir Valley. Malik renounced violence in 1994 and adopted peaceful methods to come to a settlement of the Kashmir conflict. In May 2022, Malik pleaded guilty to charges of criminal conspiracy and waging war against the state, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Sharada Peeth is a ruined Hindu temple and ancient centre of learning located in the Neelum Valley of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. Between the 6th and 12th centuries CE, it was among the most prominent temple universities in the Indian subcontinent. Known in particular for its library, stories recount scholars travelling long distances to access its texts. It played a key role in the development and popularisation of the Sharada script in North India, causing the script to be named after it, and Kashmir to acquire the moniker "Sharada Desh", meaning "country of Sharada".
Mattoo, also spelled Mattu, is a Kashmiri clan and surname. They are native to the Kashmir Valley within the Jammu & Kashmir, India.
Malik is a surname deriving from the Arabic word malik, meaning "king" or "chieftain". The title "Malik" was granted to many Jats in India, and began to be used a surname in the 14th century. Malik is also found in Ror people of Haryana.
Jalali is a Kashmiri surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Pandit or Pandita is a Kashmiri Pandit clan and surname, native to the Kashmir Valley in Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Malik Tazi Bhat was a Kashmiri general and warlord from the Bhat clan. He conquered and ruled Jammu, Poonch, Rajouri, Bhimber, Jhelum, Sialkot and Gujrat region from 1475 to 1487 on behalf of the Kashmiri Sultan.
Ananta or King Ananta, also known as Anantadeva, was a king of Kashmir who reigned for 40 years from 1028 to 1068 CE. He belonged to the Lohara dynasty. Ananta is the Sanskrit term for that which is infinite due to unending element.
Avtar Krishan Raina, better known as A.K. Raina, is an Indian artist.
The Chak or Chaq dynasty was a Kashmiri dynasty of Dardic origin that ruled over the Kashmir sultanate in medieval Kashmir after the Shah Mir dynasty. The dynasty rose to power in 1561 in Srinagar after the death of the Turco-Mongol military general, Mirza Haidar Dughlat when Ghazi Shah assumed the throne by dethroning Habib Shah, the last Shah Mir Sultan. The dynasty ended in 1589 when Yakub Shah surrendered to Mughal Emperor Akbar.
