Tenses corresponding to the English perfect and pluperfect are formed by conjugating the auxiliary verb, adding the appropriate suffixes, with the compound past participle. Thus kạrumạtu chu-n-as, made am-by-him-I, he has made me; tsạlumạtu chu-kh, escaped art thou, thou hast escaped; wuphyōmạtu chu-s, flown am-I, I have flown. Similarly for the pluperfect, kạrumạtu ạsu-n-as, made was-by-him-I, he had made me, and so on.
Many verbs have irregular past participles. Thus mar, die, has mūdu; di, give, has dịtu; khi, eat, has khyauv for its weak, and khĕyōv for its strong participle, while ni, take, has nyūv and niyōv, respectively. Others must be learnt from the regular grammars.
The infinitive is formed by adding -un to the root; thus kar-un, to make. It is declined like a somewhat irregular noun of the first declension, its accusative being karanas. There are three forms of the noun of agency, of which typical examples are kar-awunu, kar-an-wạlu, and kar-an-grākh, a maker.
The passive is formed by conjugating the verb yi, come, with the ablative of the infinitive. Thus, karana yiwān chuh, it is coming by making, or into making, i.e. it is being made. A root is made active or causal by adding -anaw, -āw, or -arāw. Thus, kar-anāw, cause to make; kumal, be tender, kumal-āw, make tender; kal, be dumb, kạl-arāw, make dumb. Some verbs take one form and some another, and there are numerous irregularities, especially in the case of the last.
F. Indeclinables. Indeclinables (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections) must be learnt from the dictionary. The number of interjections is very large, and they are distinguished by minute rules depending on the gender of the person addressed and the exact amount of respect due to him.
Literature.—Kashmiri possesses a somewhat extensive literature, which has been very little studied. The missionary William Carey published in 1821 a version of the New Testament (in the Śāradā character), which was the first book published in the language. In 1885 the Rev. J. Hinton Knowles published at Bombay a collection of Kashmiri proverbs and sayings, and K. F. Burkhard in 1895 published an edition of Maḥmūd Gāmī’s poem on Yūsuf and Zulaikhā. This, with the exception of later translations of the Scriptures in the Persian character and a few minor works, is all the literature that has been printed or about which anything has been written. Maḥmūd Gāmī’s poem is valuable as an example of the Kashmiri used by Mussulmans. For Hindu literature, we may quote a history of Krishna by Dīnanātha. The very popular Lallā-vākya, a poem on Śaiva philosophy by a woman named Lālladēvī, is said to be the oldest work in the language which has survived. Another esteemed work is the Śiva Pariṇaya of Kṛṣṇa Rājānaka, a living author. These and other books which have been studied by the present writer have little independent value, being imitations of Sanskrit literature. Nothing is known about the dates of most of the authors.
Authorities.—The scientific study of Kashmiri is of very recent date. The only printed lexicographical work is a short vocabulary by W. J. Elmslie (London, 1872). K. F. Burkhard brought out a grammar of the Mussulman dialect in the Proceedings of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Science for 1887-1889, of which a translation by G. A. Grierson appeared in the Indian Antiquary of 1895 and the following years (reprinted as a separate publication, Bombay, 1897). T. R. Wade’s Grammar (London, 1888) is the merest sketch, and the only attempt at a complete work of the kind in English is G. A. Grierson’s Essays on Kāçmīrī Grammar (London and Calcutta, 1899). A valuable native grammar in Sanskrit, the Kaśmīraśabdāmrta of Īśvara Kaula, has been edited by the same writer (Calcutta, 1888). For an examination of the origin of Kashmiri grammatical forms and the Piśāca question generally, see G. A. Grierson’s “On Certain Suffixes in the Modern Indo-Aryan Vernaculars” in the Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der Indogermanischen Sprachen for 1903 and The Piśāca Languages of North-Western India (London, 1906).
The only important text which has been published is Burkhard’s edition, with a partial translation, of Mahmūd Gāmī’s “Yūsuf and Zulaikhā” in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft for 1895 and 1899. The text of the Siva Pariṇaya, edited by G. A. Grierson, is in course of publication by the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
(G. A. Gr.)