History of Jammu and Kashmir
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This article covers the history of Jammu and Kashmir from earliest recorded times to the present day.
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[edit] Etymology
The name "Kashmir" means "desiccated land" (from the Sanskrit: Ka = water and shimeera = desiccate). According to Hindu mythology, Sage Kashyapa drained a lake to produce the land now known as Kashmir.
In the Rajatarangini, a history of Kashmir written in the 12th century, it is stated that the valley of Kashmir was formerly a lake. This was drained by the great rishi or sage, Kashyapa, son of Marichi, son of Brahma, by cutting the gap in the hills at Baramulla (Varaha-mula). When Kashmir had been drained, Kashyapa asked Brahmans to settle there. This is still the local tradition, and in the existing physical condition of the country, we may see some ground for the story which has taken this form. The name of Kashyapa is by history and tradition connected with the draining of the lake, and the chief town or collection of dwellings in the valley was called Kashyapa-pura name which has been plausibly identified with the Kao-1r6.nupos of Hecataeus (apud Stephen of Byzantium) and Kaspatyros of Herodotus (3.102, 4.44). Kashmir is the country meant also by Ptolemy's Kao-ir,~pta.
Cashmere is an archaic spelling of Kashmir.
[edit] Early history
According to Mahabharata evidence [1], the Kambojas had ruled over Kashmir during epic times and that it was a Republican system of government under the Kamboj [2]. The capital city of Kashmir (Kamboj) during epic times was Rajapura e.g. Karna-Rajapuram-gatva-Kambojah-nirjitastava[3]. Epic Rajapura has been identified with modern Rajauri [4]. Later, the Panchalas are stated to have established their sway. The name Peer Panjal, which is a part of modern Kashmir, is a witness to this fact. Panjal is simply a distorted form of the Sanskritic tribal term Panchala. The Muslims had prefixed the word " peer " to it in memory of one Siddha Faqir and the name thence-after is said to have changed into Peer Panjal. See Link: [1].
The Mauryan emperor Ashoka is often credited with having founded the city of Srinagar. Kashmir was once a Buddhist seat of learning, perhaps with the Sarvāstivādan school dominating. East and Central Asian Buddhist monks are recorded as having visited the kingdom. In the late 4th century AD, the famous Kuchanese monk Kumārajīva, born to an Indian noble family, studied Dīrghāgama and Madhyāgama in Kashmir under Bandhudatta. He later becoming a prolific translator who helped take Buddhism to China. His mother Jīva is thought to have retired to Kashmir. Vimalākṣa, a Sarvāstivādan Buddhist monk, travelled from Kashmir to Kucha and there instructed Kumārajīva in the Vinayapiṭaka.
[edit] Muslim rule
In the 13th century, Islam first became the dominant religion in Kashmir. The Muslims and Hindus of Kashmir lived in relative harmony, since the Sufi-Islamic way of life that ordinary Muslims followed in Kashmir complemented the Rishi tradition of Kashmiri Pandits. This led to a syncretic culture where Hindus and Muslims revered the same local saints and prayed at the same shrines. Famous sufi saint Bulbul Shah was able to persuade the king of the time Rinchan Shah who was prince of Kashgar Ladakh, through his intellectual power to adopt Islamic way of life and the foundation of Sufiana composite culture was laid when Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists were co-existing in the atmosphere of love and brotherhood.
Some Kashmiri rulers, such as Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin, were tolerant of all religions in a manner comparable to Akbar. However, several Muslim rulers of Kashmir were intolerant to other religions. Sultãn Sikandar Butshikan of Kashmir (AD 1389-1413) is often considered the worst of these. Historians have recorded many of his atrocities. The Tarikh-i-Firishta records that Sikandar persecuted the Hindus and issued orders proscribing the residence of any other than Muslims in Kashmir. He also ordered the breaking of all "golden and silver images". The Tarikh-i-Firishta further states: "Many of the Brahmins, rather than abandon their religion or their country, poisoned themselves; some emigrated from their native homes, while a few escaped the evil of banishment by becoming Mohammedans. After the emigration of the Brahmins, Sikandar ordered all the temples in Kashmeer to be thrown down......Having broken all the images in Kashmir, (Sikandar) acquired the title of ‘Destroyer of Idols’."[5]
[edit] The Histories
The metrical chronicle of the kings of Kashmir, called Rajatarangini, has been pronounced by Professor H.I.Wilson to be the only Sanskrit composition yet discovered to which the appellation "history" can with any propriety be applied. It first became known to the Muslims when, on Akbar's invasion of Kashmir in 1588, a copy was presented to the emperor. A translation into Persian was made at his order. A summary of its contents, taken from this Persian translation, is given by Abul Fazl in the Ain-i-Akbari. The Rajatarangini was written by Kalhana about the middle of the 12th century. His work, in six books, makes use of earlier writings that are now lost.
The Rajatarangini is the first of a series of four histories that record the annals of Kashmir. Commencing with a rendition of traditional history of very early times, the Rajatarangini comes down to the reign of Sangrama Deva, (c.1006 AD). The second work, by Jonaraja, continues the history from where Kalhana left off, and, entering the Muslim period, gives an account of the reigns down to that of Zain-ul-ab-ad-din, 1412. P. Srivara carried on the record to the accession of Fah Shah in 1486. The fourth work, called Rajavalipataka, by Prajnia Bhatta, completes the history to the time of the incorporation of Kashmir in the dominions of the Mogul emperor Akbar, 1588.
[edit] Princely J&K
In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Ranjit Singh and his Sikh forces rose to power in the Punjab region. One of his generals, Maharaja Gulab Singh, a member of the Jamwal clan of Rajputs, united the various principalities of Jammu province under the suzerainty of the Lahore court. His subordinate, General Zorawar Singh (of the Kahluria Rajput clan), conquered Ladakh and Baltistan.
After the death of Ranjit Singh, the Kingdom of Lahore suffered from internal conflict and relations with the Raja of Jammu soured to such an extent that the Punjabi army invaded the Dogra country in 1845. Raja Gulab Singh therefore did not aid the corrupt Lahore durbar in its war with the English.
The First Sikh War, which was waged between the HEIC and the successors of Ranjit Singh in 1845-46, resulted in victory for the British. A war indemnity of 1.5 million sterling was demanded by the British as one of the ceasefire conditions. This vast amount of cash was not immediately at the disposal of the Lahore durbar, and they ceded the entire hill country between the Beas and Indus rivers in lieu thereof.
Gulab Singh, as the practically independent ruler of most of these hilly areas was recognized as Maharaja by the British plenipotentiaries in the Treaty of Amritsar (16 March, 1846). By this treaty, the British gained several ends: they received cash to the extent of Rs.750,000/-; they created a border buffer state; and were relieved of the expense and responsibility of administering a mountainous frontier.
[edit] Tourism
During the 19th century rule, Kashmir was a popular tourist destination due to its climate. Formerly only 200 passes a year were issued by the government, but now no restriction is placed on visitors. European sportsmen and travellers, in addition to residents of India, traveled there freely. The railway to Rawalpindi, and a road thence to Srinagar made access to the valley easier. When the temperature in Srinagar rises at the beginning of June, the residents would migrate to Gulmarg, which was a fashionable hillstation during British rule. This great influx of visitors resulted in a corresponding diminution of game for the sportsmen. Special game preservation rules have been introduced, and nullahs are let out for stated periods with a restriction on the number of head to be shot.Rawalakot is one of the most beautiful and charming city of Kashmir.
[edit] 1947
Jammu and Kashmir, was a principality lying between the two new independent nations: India and Pakistan, independent dominions within the British Commonwealth of Nations which were formed by the partition of the former British India colony in August 1947. (British King George VI was the head of state of both India and Pakistan, but was represented in each of the new dominions by a Governor-General: Lord Mountbatten in India and Muhammed Ali Jinnah in Pakistan.) A total of 565 princely states formed 40% of India's land area and held more than 100 million people. Each prince had to decide which of the two new nations to join: Hindu-majority India or Muslim-majority Pakistan (which then also included East Pakistan, now Bangladesh). The ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, could not decide which country to join and in addition, he nursed fond hopes of remaining the princely ruler of Kashmir, as an independent nation. He was Hindu, while his subjects were predominantly Muslim. To avoid the decision, he signed a "standstill" agreement with Pakistan, which ensured continuity of trade, travel, communication, and similar services between the two. India did not sign a similar agreement.
Indian postal services began listing Kashmir as Indian territory, causing alarm in Pakistan. In October 1947, Pashtuns from Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province invaded Kashmir in support of a rebellion against the Maharaja which had erupted in the restive Poonch district. The invasion caused widespread looting in the state. Troubled by the increasing deterioration in law and order situation, and by earlier raids, culminating in the invasion of the tribesmen, followed later by Pakistani rangers, Maharaja Hari Singh, requested armed assistance and asylum from India. India refused to send its troops unless Kashmir officially joined the Union of India. The incumbent Governor-General, Lord Mountbatten also favoured Kashmir's accession to the Republic of India, to which the Maharaja always agreed. "The Instrument of Accession was signed by the Hari Singh on October 26, 1947 extending India's jurisdiction over external affairs, defence and communications
The next day, Indian troops were airlifted into Srinagar. The Pakistani government immediately contested the accession, suggesting that it was fraudulent, that the Maharaja acted under duress, and that he had no right to sign an agreement with India when the standstill agreement with Pakistan was still in force.
[edit] Post-1947
In 1949, the Indian government obliged Hari Singh to leave Jammu and Kashmir, and yield the government to Sheikh Abdullah, the leader of a popular political party, the National Conference Party. Since then, a bitter enmity has been developed between India and Pakistan and three wars have taken place between them over Kashmir. The growing dispute over Kashmir also lead to the rise of militancy in the state. The year 1989 saw the intensification of conflict in Jammu and Kashmir as Mujahadeens from Afghanistan slowly infiltrated the region following the end of the Soviet-Afghan War the same year.
[edit] References
- ^ MBH 7.4.5.
- ^ MBH 7/91/39-40.
- ^ Mahabharata 7.4.5
- ^ Watters, Yuan Chawang, Vol I, p 284.
- ^ Muhammad Qãsim Hindû Shãh Firishta : Tãrîkh-i-Firishta, translated by John Briggs under the title "History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India." First published in 1829, New Delhi Reprint 1981.
[edit] See also
- Kashmiriyat
- Dynasties of Ancient Kashmir
- Buddhism in Kashmir
- Harsha of Kashmir
- History of Ladakh
- List of topics on the land and the people of “Jammu and Kashmir”
[edit] External links
- [http://jammukashmir.nic.in/govt/cntit1.htm#1 Proclamation of May 1, 1951 on Jammu & Kashmir Constituent Assembly
- Conflict in Kashmir: Selected Internet Resources by the Library, University of California, Berkeley, USA; Bibliographies and Web-Bibliographies list
[edit] Books & Periodical References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
