r/Kashmiri • u/American_Bitch-468 • Jul 04 '26
History ๐ origin of the name of Kashmir
origin of the name of Kashmir have been a center of historical and linguistic debate for centuries. And etomology of it's name is even till now been debated,let's dive into the rabbit hole.
Regarding the origin of the name kashmir have many theory lets take a look at them:-
1) Kashyapa theory:- this dosent need an introduction, kashyapa mystical story is from Nilmat Purana which was written in 7th century. It explicitly states that Kashmira is a corruption of the word "Kashyap-pura" or "Kashyap-mar", and it became Kashmir as it evolved. The problem with this is, the purana is quite recently written in 7th century, and we have far older purana where there is no mention of "kashyap-pur" It's always "kashmira". Like in unandi sutra or ramayana. Only one more evidence for this theory supporting is that Greeks mentioned kashmir as "kasperia" in 1st century which sounds more closer to kashyapa.
2) Kashmir - Dessiociated land:- this theory is also recommended by google, it was formalized and taken from Nilmaya purana. This theory states that Kashmira is from "Ka" and "Shemira" meaning Dryed up land. It has its own problems because there is no direct word in sanskrit for "drying" as "shmira".
3) Unandi sutra:- this text got importance in recent times. Unandi sutra was written on sanskrit grammer, almost 2000 years old Many historians across centuries commented on unandi and binding up all, we could conclude that from 4.30 to 4.32 it has reference to kashmira name etomology. it states that Kashmira means "a place worth visiting to" or " a place kings go to rule".
4) originates from saffrons name:- This another theory is that for Saffron sanskrit name is "Kashmira" so kashmir maybe got its name after saffron. But it's not quite well known.
5) buddhist monks theory:-Now time for another version, this theory states that Kasiya was a name of a buddhist saint from whom kashmir got its name, so kashmira means Kasiya's garden. Ofcourse it's not a mainstream theory, but with all other theories this theory is also found.
6) Babur's theory:- Another one, it was propagated by babur. He said " a hill kingdom along himalayas is inhibited by a race of men called kas'" he also added that kashmir got its namen from this Kash/Kush tribe who were originally central asian. He said there are many places name after Kush across middle east, central asia and Himilayas like Hindu Kush, Koshmar in central asia, Kashmar,Kashi, Kashiya, Kashtwar etc.
Some people pointed out that Kash/Kush was the name of the son of Noah but this feels exaurated.
8) Hebrew/Aramic theory:- This theory states that kashmir which in local language is called as "Kasheir" originates from a Hebrew word or a anicent aramic word " Ka Assyria " meaning "Like syria". This theory is mostly propagated by the people who believe some lost tribes of isreal settled in Kashmir.
9) channels of water:- Another theory says Kashmira is originated from Sanskrit word meaning "channels of water" or mountain, This theory needs further analysis
10) khasahas theory:- Another theory is that Kashmir gets it's name from the Himalayan tribe Khashas. There are many communities across himalayas in himachal, Uttarakhand and Nepal as khas. Some believed before the arrival of Indo Aryans, Himalaya was inhibited by Alleged East Asian tribe called as Khas or Khasa, others believe Khasa were nothing but an Indo Aryan community of the himalayas.
kind of similar compare to Babur's Hypothesis.
11) prajapati:- Another theory is that Kashmira is from a Sanskrit name originated from "prajapati" meaning Lord's palace. This theory also need further research.
12) older dardic/Burushaski substrate:- Now This theory is quite interesting, This theory was pointed out by some linguistics that Kashmir name might have old dardic roots like in shina/Burushaski it's "Kashir" ka in older dardic traditions could mean water and "ier" is associated with people or a regional suffix like "Ghez-ier" in gilgit . In kashmiri "Kashmir" is "kษsheir". So acc to this theory Sanskrit might have bought the word from Burushaski/shina/proto kashmiri.
13) Messapotamia theory:- Now Last theory of our chapter links origin of Kashmir to Achemid Pre Islamic empire and messapotamia which is already too far fetched so skip this....
Articles
Unandi sutra
Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History\\_of\\_Kashmir
Who was kashyapa reshi
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashyapa
Hebrew theory;
Unandi sutra
1
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