Literature of Kashmir

Ancient writers in Sanskrit

• Charaka, c. 300 BC. One of the most important authors in Ayurveda.
• 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.
• 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
• Somadeva, 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 Gani 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 Shaykh Yaqub Sarfi Kashmiri (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 Nowshehri (1556–1617)
• Mirza Dirab Big Juya (d. 1707)
• Gani Kashmiri (1630–1669)
• Mirza Beg Akmal Kamil (1644–1718)
• Muhammad Aslam Salim (d. 1718)
• Mulla Muhammad Taufiq (1765)
• Muhammed Azam Didamari (d. 1765)
• Mulla Muhammad Hamid (1848)
• Birbal Kachru Varasta (d. 1865)
• 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 influential 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, prominent urdu writer, poet and administrator.
• 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
• Khalid Bashir Ahmad