Rajadom of Kashmir

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The Rajadom of Kashmir
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state flag coat of arms
[[]]
map of Kashmir
Capital Srinigar
Provinces with Capitals
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??? ???
Government constitutional monarchy
Head of State His Royal Highness ???
Head of Government ???
Demonym Kashmiri
Religions
Official Hinduism
Other Buddhism
Islam
Languages
Official Kashmiri
Other Nepali
Founding 596
Independence ???
Area ??? km²
??? mi²
Population (2001) ???
Ethnicities ??? ?%
??? ?%
??? ?%
??? ?%
Currency 1 Himalayan Rupee (Rs) = 20 sukaa (?) = 240 paisa (?)
Time zone CET UTC+6:00
Telephone Code ?
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 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 beginning the Dogra Dynasty. With the help of his officer, Zorawar Singh, Gulab Singh soon captured Kashmir, and the Buddhist kingdoms 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.

Partab Singh (1830-1885) succeeded his father in 1848.

Hari Singh (1895-1961), the son of Partab Singh's brother Amar, succeeded to the throne in 1925. He abdicated in 1949.

Karan Singh (1931-) succeeded upon the abdication of his father in 1949. 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, is the yuvraj, crown prince. Kashmir's rules of succession are based on male primogeniture so his older sister will not succeed. Dates in italics print are points of departure.

Dynasties

Karkota Dynasty, 596-857

Order Name Date(s) Relationship Notes
1) Durlabhavardhana 596 Hindu religion restored; great Chinese pilgrim, Hien-Tsang visits.
2) Durlabhaka 632
3) Chandrapida 682
4) Tarapida 682
5) Muktapida Lalitaditya 695 Conquers the Punjab, Kanuj, Tibet, Ladhak, Badakshan, Iran, Bihar, Gauda (Bengal) Kalinga (Orissa), South India, Gujarat, Malwa, Marwar and Sindh.
6) Kuvalayapida 732 Son of 5)
7) Vajraditya Bappiyaka 733 Son of 5)
8) Prithivyapida I 740 Son of 7)
9) Sangramapida 744 Son of 7)
10) Jayapida 751 Son of 7)
11) Jajja 782
12) Lalitapida 785 Son of 10)
13) Prithivyapida II 797 Son of 10)
14) Chippatajayapida 804
15) Ajitapida 816 Grandson of 7) through a son
16) Anangapida 831 Son of 13)
17) Utpalapida 848-857 Son of 15) All conquered lands regain independence.

Utpala Dynasty, 857-939

Order Name Date(s) Relationship Notes
18) Avantivarman 857
19) Shankaravarman 884 Son of 18) Conquers Kingdom of Kabul
20) Gopalavarman 903 Son of 19)
21) Samkatavarman 905 Son of 19) Beginning of decline of dynasty
22) Sugandha 905 Wife of 19)
23) Nirjitavarman (1) 907 Grandson of brother 18) through a son
24) Partha (1) 907 Son of 23)
Nirjitavarman (2) 923
25) Chakravarman (1) 924 Son of 23)
26) Suravarman I 935 Son of 23)
Partha II 936
Chakravarman (2) 936
27) Sambhuvardhana 936
28) Unmattavanti 938
29) Suravarman II 939.

Hindu Kings, 939-1338

Order Name Date(s) Relationship Notes
30) Yahakaradeva 939
31) Samgramadeva I 948 Son of 30)
32) Parvagupta 949
33) Kshemagupta 950 Son of 32) Marries Didda, daughter of King Bhimdeva of Kabul.
34) Abhimanyu 958 Son of 33)
35) Nandigupta 972 Son of 34)
36) Tribhuvana 973 Son of 34)
37) Bhimagupta 975 Son of 34)
38) Didda 980 Wife of 33) she transmitted the crown to Sangramraj, son of her brother Udairaj, the King of Lohara.
39) Samgramaraja 1003 Son of 38)'s brother
40) Hariraja 1028 Son of 39)
41) Ananta 1028 Son of 39)
42) Kalasa 1063 Son of 41)
43) Utkarsha 1089 Son of 42)
44) Harsha 1089 Son of 42) He and his son Bhoja murdered.
45) Uchchala 1101-1112
46) Salhana 1111-1112 Brother of 45)
47) Sussala (1) 1112 Brother of 45)
48) Bhikshachara 1120 Grandson of 44) through a son
Sussala (2) 1121-1128
49) Jayasimha (1) 1123-1131 Son of 47)
50) Lothana 1131 Brother of 45)
51) Mallarjuna 1131 Son of 47)
Jayasimha (2) 1132
52) Paramanuka 1155 Son of 49) From 1155 on, the Kashmir rulers remained busy only in intrigues, debauchery, and mutual quarrels which greatly weakened Hindu domination of Kashmir. The valley soon fell a prey to Mongol and Turkish raiders. Quite naturally, the boundaries of the Kingdom shrank and sovereignty was reduced to the Valley only. Jammu and Ladhak threw off their allegiance to Kashmir.
53) Vantideva 1165 Son of 52)
54) Vuppadeva 1172
55) Jassaka 1181 Brother of 54)
56) Jagadeva 1199 Son of 55)
57) Rajadeva 1213 Son of 56)
58) Samgramadeva II Son of 57)
59) Ramadeva 1252 S58
60) Lakshmanadeva 1273 Son of 59)
61) Simhadeva 1286
62) Suhadeva 1301 Brother of 61)
63) Rinchan 1320 Husband of 65) Tibetan.
64) Udyanadeva 1323 Husband of 65)
65) Kotadevi 1338. Daughter of 62) The Valley is again invaded by the Mongol invader Achalla, but the Queen defeated him and drove away all the foreign troops. In the confusion Rinchin, the Ladhaki prince, whom the Hindu religious leaders of the time refused to admit into their fold, organised an internal rising and seized the throne. Finally, another rising defeated the queen at Jayapur (modern Sumbal). The defeat upset her and she stabbed herself to death.
  • 1810 – Jammu regained.
  • 1846 – Hindu Dogra dynasty

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 (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:

Northeast: Tibet
East: Ladakh
South: Jammu
West: Sikh RS
Northwest: Moghul National Realm

Climate

Economy

Demographics

Culture

National symbols

Kashmiri holidays

(Dates in italics are postponed)

Date Name Notes
9 January The Queen's Birthday Mothers' Day
20 January Saraswati Puja (2010 only)
The King's Coronation
1 March Holi (2010 only)
14 March Navreh New Year's Day (2010)
19 March The King's Birthday Fathers' Day
14 April Navavarsha Nepali New Year (2010 only)
The King's Coronation
25 August Gaijatra (2010 only)
1 September Krishna Janmashtami (2010 only)
11 September Dar Khani Din (2010 only)
1 October Lakshmi Puja (2010 only)
4 November Tihar (2010 only)

Infrastructure

Education

Flora and fauna

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