Rajadom of Kashmir
| [[]] map of Kashmir | |
| Winter Capital | Srinigar |
| Coordinates | latitude: 34° 4' 60" N longitude: 74° 49' 0" E |
| Summer Capital | Jammu City |
| Coordinates | latitude: 32° 43' 60" N longitude: 74° 52' 0" E |
| Government | constitutional monarchy |
| Head of State | His Royal Highness ??? |
| Head of Government | ??? |
| Demonym | Kashmiri |
| Religions | |
| Official | Nihang Sikhism 84% |
| Other | Shaivism 13% Vajrayana Buddhism 3% |
| Languages | |
| Official | Kashmiri |
| Other | Nepali |
| Founding | 596 |
| Independence | 1820 |
| Area | 121,586 km² 46,945 mi² |
| Population | 6,000,000 |
| Ethnicities | |
| Currency | 1 Himalayan Rupee (Rs) = 20 sukaa (?) = 240 paisa (?) |
| Time zone | UTC +6:00 |
| Telephone Code | |
| ISO Code | KI |
| 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. Although Buddhism was widespread in Kashmir long before the time of Asoka, it enjoyed his patronage, as well as that not only of the Buddhist rulers but of Hindu and early Muslim rulers as well. From Kashmir, it spread to the neighboring Ladakh.
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, in the vacuum left by the fall of the Abassid Caliphate, 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 eastern border 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 the Rishi tradition of the Kashmiri Hindus. This led to a syncretic culture in some areas where Hindus and Muslims revered the same local saints and prayed at the same shrines.
Most of the 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/Hindu rule
- In 1780, after the death of Ranjit Deo, the Raja of Jammu, the Rajadom 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.
- In 1809, the Rajadom of Chamba is became tributary to the Sikhi R.S.
- 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 beginning the Dogra Dynasty. With the help of his officer, Zorawar Singh, Gulab Singh soon annexed Kashmir, and the Buddhist kingdoms of Ladakh and Baltistan.
- Ranbir Singh succeeded upon his father's death in 1857.
- Carrying out his expansionist policies, between 1861 and 1867 he added the emirates of Astore, Hunza-Nagar, and Gilgit to the rajadom.
- Partab Singh (1830-1885) succeeded his father in 1885.
- Hari Singh (1895-1961), the son of Partab Singh's brother Amar, succeeded to the throne in 1925.
- Karan Singh (1931-2003) succeeded upon the death his father in 1961. He was married to Yasho Rajya Lakshmi (1939-2009), the granddaughter of Mohan Rana, the last Rana prime minister of Nepal.
- Karan Singh's eldest son, Vikramaditya, succeeds his father in 2003. Kashmir's rules of succession are based on male primogeniture so his older sister does not succeed.
Dates in italics print are points of departure.
The Dogra Rajas of Kashmir
| Name | Succeeds | Reign | Died | Notes |
| 1) Gulab Singh | 1846-1857 | 1857 | ||
| 2) Ranbir Singh | father | 1857-1885 | 1885 | |
| 3) Partab Singh | father | 1885-1925 | 1925 | |
| 4) Hari Singh | uncle | 1925-1961 | 1961 | son of Partab's brother Amar |
| 5) Karan Singh | father | 1961-2003 | 2003 | |
| 4) Vikramaditya Singh | father | 2003 | ||
Styles
- The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir has the style of His Royal Majesty.
- The wife of the maharajah, the maharani, has the style of Her Royal Majesty.
- The heir apparent, the maharaj kumar, has the style of His Royal Highness.
- The younger sons and daughters of the maharaja have the style of Their Royal Highnesses.
Rule of Succession
Male primogeniture among the legitimate descendants of Gulab Singh.
Conquests
Astore
- Astore is the region around the Astore Valley located *here* in Astore District in the autonomous Pakistani region of Gilgit-Baltistan. The valley, adjoining the eastern side of Nanga Parbat Mountain, is about 120 km long with an area of 5,092 km².
- The entrance of the valley is located about 60 km southeast of Gilgit with four side-valleys. The majority of the people practice subsistence agriculture and livestock is the main source of livelihood complemented by seasonal work. Due to its diverse landscape and climatic conditions the valley provides excellent habitat for a variety of commercially important medicinal plants.
- A Persian adventurer is said to have married a princess of the Skārdu reigning family. The four sons born of this union became ras of Skārdu, Astor, Rondu, and Kharmang respectively, and from them descended the families of the chiefs of those places. The independence of Astore ceased with the conquest by the Dogra Rajadom of Kashmir.
Toponymy
The Nilamata Purana describes the origin of Kashmir as coming from का ka (water) + शिमिरि shimir (to desiccate). Hence, Kashmir denotes “a land desiccated from water”. An alternative etymology proposes that Kashmir is a contraction of either Kashyap-mir(a) or Kashyapmeru, denoting the “sea of Kashyapa” or the “mountain of Kashyapa”, eponyms of the sage Rishi Kashyapa, the sage being credited with having drained the primordial Satisar Lake that occupied the Kashmir Valley before he reclaimed it from the water.
Government
Provinces
| Province (anchal) |
Capital | Area | Population | Prefectures (jilla) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anantnag | Anantnag | 3,984 km² 1,538 mi² |
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| Baramulla | Baramulla | 4,588 km² 1,771 mi² |
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| Budgam | Budgam | 1,371 km² 529 mi² |
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| Kupwara | Kupwara | 2,379 km² 919 mi² |
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| Pulwama | Pulwama | 1,370 km² 529 mi² |
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| Srinagar | Srinagar | 2,228 km² 860 mi² |
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| Muzaffarab | Muzaffarab | 9,738 km² 3,760 mi² |
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| Gilgit | Gilgit | 39,300 km² 15,172 mi² |
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| Astore | Astore | 8,657 km² 3,342 mi² |
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| Diamir | Chilas | 10,936 km² 4,233 mi² |
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| Ghizar | Gakuch | 9,635 km² 3,720 mi² |
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| Ghanche | Khaplu | 9,400 km² 3,629 mi² |
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| Skardu | Skardu | 18,000 km² 6,950 mi² |
Thus, the total area of the rajadom is 121,586 km², slightly larger than *here's* North Korea.
Geography
Borders
Based, as much as possible, on World Map 2001.
Kashmir is bordered by on the:
Northeast: Tibet
East: Ladakh
South: Jammu
West: Sikh RS
Northwest: Moghul National Realm
The Rajadom of Kashmir is contiguous with *here's* Kashmir portion of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, and the Pakistani states of Azad Kashmir (north of Poonch) and Gilgit-Baltistan, including the Shaksgam Valley.
Climate
- In Kashmir the South Asian monsoon is no longer a factor and most precipitation falls in the spring from southwest cloudbands. Because of its closeness to the Arabian Sea, Srinagar receives as much as 25 inches (635 millimetres) of rain from this source, with the wettest months being March to May with around 85 millimetres (3.3 inches) per month.
- Across from the main Himalaya Range, even the southwest cloudbands break up and the climate is extremely dry and cold. Annual precipitation is only around 100 mm (4 inches) per year and the humidity is very low. This region, almost all above 3,000 metres (9,750 ft) above sea level experiences winters that are extremely cold. The average January temperature is −20 °C (−4 °F) with extremes as low as −40 °C (−40 °F). All the rivers freeze over and the people actually cross the rivers during this period because glacier melt in the summer inhibits crossing.
- In the summer the days are typically a warm 20 °C (68 °F) but, with the low humidity and thin air, the nights can still be cold.
Economy
Demographics
Culture
National symbols
- National mammal: Kashmir stag (Cervus elaphus hanglu)
- National bird: Lanceolated jay (Garrulus lanceolatus]
- National flower: Saffron crocus (Crocus sativus)
- National tree: Himalayan birch (Betula utilis)
- National dish: rogan josh (lamb curry)
- National emblem:
- For supporters,
- For a crest,
- National aviation roundel:
- National instrument: santoor
- National colors: blue and deep saffron
Kashmiri holidays
| Date | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 5 January | Birthday of Guru Gobind Singh | |
| 20 January | Vasant Panchami | |
| 14 February | The Queen's Birthday | Mothers' Day |
| 1 March | Holi | (2010 only) |
| 14 March | New Year's Day | |
| 14 April | Vaisakhi | Founding of the Khalsa |
| 24 May | The King's Coronation | |
| 4 July | The King's Birthday | Fathers' Day |
| 24 August | Raksha Bandan | (2010 only) |
| 1 September | Consecration of the Adi Granth in the Golden Temple | (2010 only) |
| 8 October | Navratri | (2010 only) |
| 1 October | Lakshmi Puja | (2010 only) |
| 4 November | Diwali | (2010 only) |
