Kashmir

The Rajadom of Kashmir
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[[]] [[]] state flag coat of arms
[[]] map of Kashmir
Capitals	Parvasenpur
Head of State	His Royal Highness ???
Head of Government	???
Demonym	Kashmiri
Religions
Official	Hinduism
Other	Buddhism Islam
Languages
Official	Kashmiri
Other	Nepali
Founding
Independence
Area	15,948 km² mi²
Population	3,134,000
Ethnicities	% % % %
Currency	1 Himalayan Rupee (Rs) = 20 sukaa (s) = 240 paisa (p)
Time zone	UTC +6:00
Telephone Code	KSH
Registration
Aviation	KSH
Amateur radio	KSH
Radio prefix	KSH
Organizations	Himalayan Confederacy
Sports
Official	???
Other	???

History

Text in bold print indicates PoD.

Pre-Islam

Kashmir was one of the major centers of Sanskrit scholarship. According to the Mahabharata, the Kambojas ruled Kashmir during the epic period with a republican system of government from the capital city of Rajapura. Later, the Panchalas established their sway and their king Pravarasena II founded the city of Parvasenpur. Asoka, the great ruler of the Mauryan Empire introduced Buddhism to the region. The new religion co-existed peacefully with the dominant Hindu culture.

Kashmir became an important seat of Buddhist learning, dominated by the Sarvastivadan school. Monks from eastern and central Asia visited the kingdom. In the late fourth century A.D., the famous Kuchanese monk Kumarajiva, born to an Indian noble family, studied in Kashmir under the great scholar Bandhudatta. He later became a prolific translator who helped introduce Buddhism to China. Vimalaksa, a Sarvastivadan Buddhist monk, travelled from Kashmir to Kucha and there instructed Kumarajiva in the Vinayapitaka.

Muslim rule

The Abbasid Caliphate, during their stay in Persia, expanded into Afghanopakistan and northern India, but the new religion had little impact on the mass of the people and remained the religion of the ruling elite only.

In 1339, Shams-ud-Din Shah Mir became the ruler of Kashmir and the founder of the Shah Miri dynasty. He came from Swat, a tribal territory on the borders of Afghanistan. Until his death in 1342, he played a notable role in the political history of the valley.

Shah Mir was succeeded by his eldest son Jamshid, but he was deposed by his brother Ali Sher five months later. Ali Sher ascended the throne assuming the royal name Alauddin.

The Muslim rulers lived in relative harmony with their Hindu and Buddhist subjects, due partly to the similarity of the Sufi way of life of the rulers to Rishi tradition of the Kashmiri Hinduss. This led to a syncretic culture where Hindus and Muslims revered the same local saints and prayed at the same shrines.

Several Kashmiri rulers, such as Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin, were tolerant of the religions of their subjects. However, several were intolerant, of whom Sultan Sikandar Butshikan (1389-1413) and his (former Brahmin) minister Saif ud-Din were the worst. Historians have recorded many of the atrocities carried out in his persecution of the Hindus and Buddhists. He even went so far as to proscribe the residence of anyone other than a Muslim in Kashmir.

Sikh rule

In 1780, after the death of Ranjit Deo, the Raja of Jammu, the Kingdom of Jammu (to the south of the Kashmir Valley) was captured by the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh of Lahore and became tributary to the Sikh R.S. until 1846.

Ranjit Deo's grandnephew, Gulab Singh, subsequently sought service at the court of Ranjit Singh, distinguished himself in later campaigns, especially in the conquest of the Kashmir Valley in 1819, which ended a thousand years of Muslim rule. For his services, he was created the first Mahararaja of Jammu in 1820. With the help of his officer, Zorawar Singh, Gulab Singh soon captured Kashmir, the Buddhist Kingdom of Ladakh and Baltistan.

To emphasize his break from the Sikh R.S. in 1846, Gulab Singh embraced the Hindu faith.

After Gulab Singh's death in 1857, his son, Ranbir Singh, added the emirates of Astore, Hunza-Nagar, and Gilgit to the rajadom.

Government

Provinces (anchal)

Province	Capital	Area	Population	Prefectures	Notes
Mustang	Jomsom	3,573 km²	29,545 (2001)	15	slightly larger than *here's* Luxemburg
Dolpa	Dunai	7,889 km²	(2001)	19	about the size of *here's* Slovenia
Manang	Chame	2,246 km²	9,587 (2001)	14	slightly smaller than *here's* Isle of Majorca

• Thus, the total area of the rajadom is 13,708 km², about the size of *here's* Montenegro.
• The 15 Mustang prefectures are Chhonkup, Lomanthan, Chhoser, Chanang, Sukkang, Dhami, Chhusang, Kagbeni, Jhong, Muktinath, Marpha, Tukuche, Kowang, Junjo, and Lete.
• The 14 Manang prefectures are Fu, Nar, Thoche, Tanki Manang, Khangsar, Bhraka, Nyawal, Gyasu, Manang, Pisang, Chame, Tachi Bogarcchap, Thoche, Dharapani.
• The 19 Dolpa prefectures are Bhijar, Saddang, Tinje, Phoksundo, Dho,Chhenka, Mukot, Sakartana, Dunai, Lawan, Raha, Tripunakot, Likhu, Pahada, Lohai, Kalika, Narku, Rimi, Sarmi.

Geography

Borders

Kashmir is bordered by on the:

Northwest: the Moghul National Realm
Northeast: Tibet
East: Ladakh
South: Jammu
West: Sikh R.S.

The Rajahdom of Kashmir is contiguous with *here's* Indian state of Kashmir (minus Jammu and Ladakh) and the Pakistani areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.

Culture

National symbols

• National mammal 1: Kashmiri stag (Cervus elaphus hodgsoni)
• National mammal 2: Wikipedia: ()
• National bird: Lanceolated jay (Garrulus lanceolatus]
• National flower: Common rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum)
• National tree: birch (Betulus utilis)
• National emblem:
  • Per pale white and maroon, a pale wavy vert, on the dexter an auspicious parasol azure, on the sinister the Wheel of Dharma or; on a chief vert a wind horse courant to the dexter.
  • For supporters, on the dexter a sand fox and on the sinister a musk deer, all proper.
  • For a crest, a vajra or rising out of a lotus white.
• National aviation roundel: a circle divided in half, white and red, a green stripe down the center.
• National instrument: Wikipedia:

Kashmiri holidays

(Dates in italics are postponed)

Date	Name	Notes
14 February	Losar	New Year
21 February	The King's Birthday
28 February	Chotrul Duchen	Butter Lamp Festival (2010 only)
21 March	The King's Birthday	Father's Day
27 May	Suga Dawa Duchen	The Buddha's Birth, Enlightenment, and Parinirvana (2010 only)
21 June	Guru Rinpoche's Birthday
15 July	Chokhor Duchen	The Buddha's First Sermon (2010 only)
24 August	Ulambana	Ancestor Day (2010 only)
23 September	Thri-bab	Blessed Rainy Day (2010 only)
17 October	Dashain	Victory of the Goddess Durga (2010 only)
29 October	Lhabab Duchen	The Buddha's Descent to Earth (2010 only))
6 November	The King's Coronation