Central Kashmir

The Central Kashmir, also known by its historical name as the Yamraz, is a region within the Vale of Kashmir in Jammu and Kashmir, India.^[4]

Historically, the Kashmir Valley was divided into two primary regions—Kamraz (North Kashmir) and Maraz (South Kashmir). These names derive from an ancient legend about two brothers, Marhan and Kaman, who quarreled over rulership of the valley. Over time, central areas around Srinagar became informally referred to as Yamraz, though it appears this designation was less formal or widely used compared to Kamraz and Maraz. Though Yamraz did not become a formal administrative division like Kamraz or Maraz, it developed distinct dialectal characteristics, as local speech around Srinagar diverged subtly from the northern and southern regions.

Further reflecting these regional differences, residents of these zones engaged in discussions about pronunciation and linguistic nuance—such as vowel length or retroflex sounds in Kamraz, Yamraz, and Maraz dialects.^[5]

The Central Kashmir Region is largely Muslim (96.36%) with a very small Hindu and Sikh population.^[6][7] The Muslim population consists of both Shias and Sunnis. The majority of the Muslim population is made up of ethnic Kashmiris, with a significant minority of Pahari-Pothwari and Gujjar-Bakarwal. The valley had a small but visible minority of Kashmiri Hindus prior to the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus in the 1990s. It is estimated that during the peak of the insurgency, 60,000 - 100,000 were forced to leave the valley.^[8]

The majority of the population speaks Kashmiri (91.1%), while the remainder speaks either Gujari, Pahari-Pothwari or Pashto.^[10]

Urdu is also widely understood as a literary language in Kashmir due to it being a medium of instruction in schools.^[10][11]