As mentioned earlier, one of the earliest texts from Kashmir was Kalhan’s Rajatarangani written in Sanskrit. The local people used Kashmiri and it had influences from Persian and Hindi dialects. In the early medieval period when the Bhakti movement was at its peak, Kashmiri language saw its first female poetess called Lal Ded, who was a Shaivite mystic.
But the major spread happened after the coming of Islam and Sufism to Kashmir and several major writers like Sufi Ghulam Muhammad, Zinda Kaul, Mahjoor, etc. Another interesting person in Kashmiri literature is Noor Din who was also known as Nand Rishi and was purported to bring the Hindi and Islamic elements together in his poetry. With the political power passing to the Dogra family in Jammu in 1846, Kashmiri has been eclipsed by Dogri language.
Recently, some interest has again begun in reviving the language.