Kashmiri is a language from the Dardic sub-group of the Indo-aryan group of languages and it is spoken primarily in the Kashmir Valley, in J&K. There are approximately 5,554,496 speakers in Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Census of 2001.
Along with other regional languages mentioned in the Sixth Schedule, as well as Hindi and Urdu, the Kashmiri language is to be developed in the state. Some Kashmiri speakers frequently use Hindi or English as a second language, though the most frequently used second language is Urdu. Since November 2008, the Kashmiri language has been made a compulsory subject in all schools in the Valley up to the secondary level.
In 1919 George Abraham Grierson wrote that “Kashmiri is the only one of the Dardic Languages that has a literature”. Kashmiri literature dates back to over 750 years, this is, more-or-less, the age of many a modern literature including modern English.
The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica stated that "The language spoken in Kashmir is akin to that of the Punjab, though marked by many peculiarities. It possesses an ancient literature, which is written in a special character."
Kashmiri draws on a large mixed vocabulary of Dardic, Sanskrit, Punjabi, Hindi-Urdu, Persian and Arabic origin. Kashmiri is extensively borrows dari Persian words, much as is the case with Hindi-Urdu and other languages of the region.
