Koshur
The mother tongue.
A gentle, practical introduction to Kashmiri — enough phrases to greet a grandparent, set a Navreh thali, ask after someone's health, and keep the language warm in the next generation.
Koshur — the Kashmiri language — is one of the oldest living languages of the subcontinent. It belongs to the Dardic branch of the Indo-Aryan family, written historically in three scripts: the indigenous Sharada (since the 8th century), the Devanagari (used by Kashmiri Pandits today for printed material), and Perso-Arabic (used in the valley by the broader Kashmiri-speaking population).
For a Kashmiri Pandit child born in the diaspora, Koshur is often the language of the grandparent, of the prayer at the family shrine, of the wedding song, of the joke at the dinner table that no one outside the family quite gets. It is a language that survives in moments — and Iqwat wants to make sure it survives in many more.
Our indigenous script
Sharada — named for the goddess.
Sharada took its classical form in 8th-century Kashmir, descended from the Gupta-Brahmi family of Indic scripts. Named for the goddess Sharada — the Kashmiri form of Saraswati — it was the script of Kashmir Shaivism, of Kalhana's Rajatarangini, of Abhinavagupta's Tantraloka, of every horoscope a Kashmiri Pandit grandmother received. Five centuries of scholarship were written in it.
Today, Sharada lives in a small but persistent way: Kashmiri Pandit families still write horoscopes, mantras, and ritual texts in it. The descendants of Sharada include the Gurmukhi script in which Punjabi is written, and the Takri scripts of Himachal. Iqwat is helping ensure Sharada is not lost — through digital archives, micro-modules, and partnerships with KP cultural societies.
Begin with greetings
Eight phrases that open every Kashmiri conversation.
| Koshur | English |
|---|---|
| Namaskaar | Hello / I bow to you |
| Tcheh kya haalat? | How are you? |
| Bei chu wari | I am well |
| Shukriya / Mehrbani | Thank you |
| Bata khyov? | Have you eaten? |
| Doonyi khyev | Have a walnut |
| Herath Poshte | Herath blessings |
| Navreh Mubarak | Happy New Year |
The household
Family terms.
| Koshur | English |
|---|---|
| Mool | Father |
| Mauj | Mother |
| Boya | Elder brother |
| Beni / Behan | Sister |
| Bobji | Grandfather (paternal) |
| Naani | Grandmother |
| Chaachi | Aunt (paternal) |
| Mautch | Maternal uncle |
At the table
Words for what you eat.
| Koshur | English |
|---|---|
| Bata | Cooked rice |
| Haakh | Greens |
| Nadru | Lotus stem |
| Doonyi | Walnut |
| Doudh | Milk |
| Czot | Bread / roti |
| Kahwa | Saffron-cardamom tea |
| Roth | Festival sweet bread |
Mein chuy ye gowey lo —
I have learned the language that lives behind every other.
Going deeper
Resources to take you further.
Koshur.org ↗
The longest-running online portal for Kashmiri language learning, started by the diaspora. Sharada introduction included.
Bhasha Sangam — Govt. of India ↗
Official multilingual resource that includes Kashmiri primers and audio.
Indo-Iranian Cultural Society
Active KP cultural body running offline language classes in Delhi, Pune, Jammu, Bombay.
Iqwat language micro-modules
Coming to this site — daily-word emails, audio clips of native KP speakers, Sharada alphabet hover-modules. Sign up via the Iqwat app.
Pass it forward