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Kashmir
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Cashmere wool.

For other uses, see Kashmir (disambiguation).

Political Map: the Kashmir region districts, showing the Pir Panjal range and the Kashmir Valley or Vale of Kashmir.

Ninth-highest: Nanga Parbat, a dangerous mountain to climb, is in the Kashmiri region of GilgitBaltistan in Pakistan

Kashmir (Kashmiri:
/
; Hindi: ; Urdu: ;Uyghur: ; Shina: ) is the
northwestern region of South Asia. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only

the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range. Today, it denotes a larger area that
includes the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir (which consists of Jammu, the Kashmir Valley,
and Ladakh), the Pakistan-administered autonomous territories of Azad Kashmir and GilgitBaltistan, and the
Chinese-administered regions of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract.

Swami Vivekananda in Kashmir in 1898.

In the first half of the 1st millennium, the Kashmir region became an important centre of Hinduism and later
ofBuddhism; later still, in the ninth century, Kashmir Shaivism arose.[1] In 1349, Shah Mir became the
first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, inaugurating the Salatin-i-Kashmir or Swati dynasty.[2] For the next five centuries,
Muslim monarchs ruled Kashmir, including the Mughals, who ruled from 1526 until 1751, and the Afghan Durrani
Empire, which ruled from 1747 until 1820.[2] That year, the Sikhs, under Ranjit Singh, annexed Kashmir.[2] In 1846,
after the Sikh defeat in theFirst Anglo-Sikh War, and upon the purchase of the region from the British under
the Treaty of Amritsar, the Raja of Jammu, Gulab Singh, became the new ruler of Kashmir. The rule of his
descendants, under the paramountcy (or tutelage) of the British Crown, lasted until 1947, when the former
princely state of British India became a disputed territory, now administered by three countries: India, Pakistan,
and the People's Republic of China.
Contents
[hide]

1 Etymology

3 Demographics

6 History of tourism in Kashmir

2 History
o 2.1 Buddhism in Kashmir
o 2.2 Muslim rule
o 2.3 Sikh rule
o 2.4 Princely state
o 2.5 1947 and 1948
o 2.6 Current status and political divisions
4 Culture and cuisine
5 Economy
o 5.1 Transport
7 See also
8 Notes
9 Cited references
10 Further reading
11 External links

Etymology
The word Kashmir is derived from Sanskrit (kmra).[3]

History

General view of Temple and Enclosure of Marttand (the Sun), at Bhawan, ca. 490555; the colonnade ca. 693
729. Surya Mandir at Martand, Jammu & Kashmir, India, photographed by John Burke, 1868.

Main article: History of Kashmir

Further information: Timeline of the Kashmir conflict and Kashmir conflict

Buddhism in Kashmir
Further information: Buddhism in Kashmir

This general view of the unexcavated Buddhist stupa nearBaramulla, with two figures standing on the summit, and another at
the base with measuring scales, was taken by John Burke in 1868. The stupa, which was later excavated, dates to 500 CE.

The Buddhist Mauryan emperor Ashoka is often credited with having founded the old capital of Kashmir,
Shrinagari, now ruins on the outskirts of modern Srinagar. Kashmir was long to be a stronghold of Buddhism.[4]
As a Buddhist seat of learning, the Sarvstivdan school strongly influenced Kashmir.[5] East and Central Asian
Buddhist monks are recorded as having visited the kingdom. In the late 4th century CE, the
famous Kuchanese monk Kumrajva, born to an Indian noble family, studied Drghgama and Madhygama in
Kashmir under Bandhudatta. He later became a prolific translator who helped take Buddhism to China. His
mother Jva is thought to have retired to Kashmir. Vimalka, a Sarvstivdan Buddhist monk, travelled from
Kashmir to Kucha and there instructed Kumrajva in the Vinayapiaka.
Adi Shankara visited the pre-existing Sarvajapha (Sharada Peeth) in Kashmir in late 8th century or early 9th
century CE. The Madhaviya Shankaravijayam states this temple had four doors for scholars from the four
cardinal directions. The southern door (representing South India) had never been opened, indicating that no
scholar from South India had entered the Sarvajna Pitha. Adi Shankara opened the southern door by defeating in
debate all the scholars there in all the various scholastic disciplines such as Mimamsa, Vedanta and other
branches of Hindu philosophy; he ascended the throne of Transcendent wisdom of that temple. [6]
Abhinavagupta (approx. 950 1020 CE[7][8]) was one of India's greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians.
He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist,exeget, theologian, and logician[9][10]
a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture.[11][12] He was born in the Valley of
Kashmir[13] in a family of scholars and mystics and studied all the schools of philosophy and art of his time under
the guidance of as many as fifteen (or more) teachers and gurus.[14] In his long life he completed over 35 works,
the largest and most famous of which is Tantrloka, an encyclopaedic treatise on all the philosophical and
practical aspects of Trika and Kaula (known today as Kashmir Shaivism). Another one of his very important

contributions was in the field of philosophy of aesthetics with his famous Abhinavabhrat commentary
ofNyastra of Bharata Muni.[15]
In the 10th century CE Moksopaya or Moksopaya Shastra, a philosophical text on salvation for non-ascetics
(moksa-upaya: 'means to release'), was written on the Pradyumna hill in rnagar.[16][17] It has the form of a public
sermon and claims human authorship and contains about 30,000 shloka's (making it longer than the Ramayana).
The main part of the text forms a dialogue between Vasistha and Rama, interchanged with numerous short
stories and anecdotes to illustrate the content.[18][19] This text was later (11th to the 14th century CE)[20] expanded
and vedanticised, which resulted in the Yoga Vasistha.[21]

Muslim rule
Further information: Islam in Kashmir
This section is empty. You can
help by adding to it. (November
2013)

Gateway of enclosure, (once a Hindu temple) of Zein-ul-ab-ud-din's Tomb, in Srinagar. Probable date A.D. 400 to 500, 1868.
John Burke. Oriental and India Office Collection. British Library.

Sikh rule

Raja Lal Singh led the Sikh forces against the British in the First Anglo-Sikh War (184546) and was defeated in the Battle of
Sobraon on 10 February 1846. Under the terms of the Treaty of Lahore, Lal Singh surrender Kashmir which the British sold to
the Dogra ruler of Jamu, Raja Gulab Singh, an ally of the British, at a nominal price.

In 1819, the Kashmir valley passed from the control of the Durrani Empire of Afghanistan, and four centuries
of Muslim rule under the Mughals and the Afghans, to the conquering armies of the Sikhsunder Ranjit
Singh of Lahore.[22] As the Kashmiris had suffered under the Afghans, they initially welcomed the new Sikh
rulers.[23] However, the Sikh governors turned out to be hard taskmasters, and Sikh rule was generally considered
oppressive,[24] protected perhaps by the remoteness of Kashmir from the capital of the Sikh empire in
Lahore.[25] The Sikhs enacted a number of anti-Muslim laws,[25] which included handing out death sentences for
cow slaughter,[23] closing down the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar,[25] and banning the azaan, the public Muslim call to
prayer.[25]Kashmir had also now begun to attract European visitors, several of whom wrote of the abject poverty of
the vast Muslim peasantry and of the exorbitant taxes under the Sikhs.[23] High taxes, according to some
contemporary accounts, had depopulated large tracts of the countryside, allowing only one-sixteenth of the

cultivable land to be cultivated.[23] However, after a famine in 1832, the Sikhs reduced the land tax to half the
produce of the land and also began to offer interest-free loans to farmers;[25] Kashmir became the second highest
revenue earner for the Sikh empire.[25] During this time Kashmiri shawls became known worldwide, attracting
many buyers, especially in the West.[25]
Earlier, in 1780, after the death of Ranjit Deo[citation needed], the Raja of Jammu, the kingdom of Jammu (to the south of
the Kashmir valley) was also captured by the Sikhs and afterwards, until 1846, became a tributary to Sikh
power.[22] Ranjit Deo's grandnephew, Gulab Singh, subsequently sought service at the court of Ranjit Singh,
distinguished himself in later campaigns, especially the annexation of the Kashmir valley, and, for his services,
was appointed governor of Jammu in 1820. With the help of his officer, Zorawar Singh, Gulab Singh soon
captured for the Sikhs the lands of Ladakh and Baltistan to the east and north-east, respectively, of Jammu.[22]

Princely state
Main article: Princely state of Kashmir and Jammu

1909 Map of the Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu. The names of regions, important cities, rivers, and mountains are
underlined in red.

In 1845, the First Anglo-Sikh War broke out. According to the Imperial Gazetteer of India,
"Gulab Singh contrived to hold himself aloof till the battle of Sobraon (1846), when he appeared as a useful
mediator and the trusted adviser of Sir Henry Lawrence. Two treaties were concluded. By the first the State of
Lahore (i.e. West Punjab) handed over to the British, as equivalent for one crore indemnity, the hill countries
between the rivers Beas and Indus; by the second the British made over to Gulab Singh for 7.5 million all the hilly
or mountainous country situated to the east of the Indus and the west of the Ravi (i.e. the Vale of Kashmir)."[22]
Drafted by a treaty and a bill of sale, and constituted between 1820 and 1858, the Princely State of Kashmir and
Jammu (as it was first called) combined disparate regions, religions, and ethnicities: [26] to the east, Ladakh was
ethnically and culturally Tibetan and its inhabitants practised Buddhism; to the south, Jammu had a mixed
population of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs; in the heavily populated central Kashmir valley, the population was
overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, however, there was also a small but influential Hindu minority, the
Kashmiri brahmins or pandits; to the northeast, sparsely populated Baltistan had a population ethnically related to
Ladakh, but which practised Shi'a Islam; to the north, also sparsely populated, Gilgit Agency, was an area of
diverse, mostly Shi'a groups; and, to the west,Punch was Muslim, but of different ethnicity than the Kashmir
valley.[26] After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, in which Kashmir sided with the British, and the subsequent
assumption of direct rule by Great Britain, the princely state of Kashmir came under the suzerainty of theBritish
Crown.
In the British census of India of 1941, Kashmir registered a Muslim majority population of 77%, a Hindu
population of 20% and a sparse population of Buddhists and Sikhs comprising the remaining 3%. [27] That same
year, Prem Nath Bazaz, a Kashmiri Pandit journalist wrote: "The poverty of the Muslim masses is appalling. ...
Most are landless laborers, working as serfs for absentee [Hindu] landlords ... Almost the whole brunt of official
corruption is borne by the Muslim masses."[28] For almost a century until the census, a small Hindu elite had ruled
over a vast and impoverished Muslim peasantry.[27][29] Driven into docility by chronic indebtedness to landords and
moneylenders, having no education besides, nor awareness of rights,[27] the Muslim peasants had no political
representation until the 1930s.[29]

1947 and 1948

Further information: Kashmir conflict, Timeline of the Kashmir conflict and Indo-Pakistani War of 1947

The prevailing religions by district in the 1901 Census of the Indian Empire.

Ranbir Singh's grandson Hari Singh, who had ascended the throne of Kashmir in 1925, was the reigning
monarch in 1947 at the conclusion of British rule of the subcontinent and the subsequent partition of the
British Indian Empire into the newly independent Union of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. According
to Burton Stein's History of India,
"Kashmir was neither as large nor as old an independent state as Hyderabad; it had been created rather offhandedly by the British after the first defeat of the Sikhs in 1846, as a reward to a former official who had sided
with the British. The Himalayan kingdom was connected to India through a district of the Punjab, but its
population was 77 per cent Muslim and it shared a boundary with Pakistan. Hence, it was anticipated that the
maharaja would accede to Pakistan when the British paramountcy ended on 1415 August. When he hesitated to
do this, Pakistan launched a guerrilla onslaught meant to frighten its ruler into submission. Instead the Maharaja
appealed to Mountbatten[30] for assistance, and the governor-general agreed on the condition that the ruler
accede to India. Indian soldiers entered Kashmir and drove the Pakistani-sponsored irregulars from all but a
small section of the state. The United Nations was then invited to mediate the quarrel. The UN mission insisted
that the opinion of Kashmiris must be ascertained, while India insisted that no referendum could occur until all of
the state had been cleared of irregulars."[31]
In the last days of 1948, a ceasefire was agreed under UN auspices. However, since the plebiscite demanded by
the UN was never conducted, relations between India and Pakistan soured,[31] and eventually led to two more
wars over Kashmir in 1965 and 1999. India has control of about half the area of the former princely state of
Jammu and Kashmir, while Pakistan controls a third of the region, the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir.
According to Encyclopdia Britannica, "Although there was a clear Muslim majority in Kashmir before the 1947
partition and its economic, cultural, and geographic contiguity with the Muslim-majority area of the Punjab (in
Pakistan) could be convincingly demonstrated, the political developments during and after the partition resulted in
a division of the region. Pakistan was left with territory that, although basically Muslim in character, was thinly
populated, relatively inaccessible, and economically underdeveloped. The largest Muslim group, situated in the
Valley of Kashmir and estimated to number more than half the population of the entire region, lay in Indianadministered territory, with its former outlets via the Jhelum valley route blocked." [32]

The Karakash River (Black Jade River) which flows north from its source near the town of Sumde in Aksai Chin, to cross
the Kunlun Mountains.

Topographic map of Kasmir.

Current status and political divisions

Main articles: Aksai Chin, Azad Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, GilgitBaltistan and Trans-Karakoram Tract
The eastern region of the former princely state of Kashmir has also been involved in a boundary dispute. In the
late 19th- and early 20th centuries, although some boundary agreements were signed between Great Britain,
Afghanistan and Russia over the northern borders of Kashmir, China never accepted these agreements, and the
China's official position did not change with the communist revolution in 1949that established the People's
Republic of China. By the mid-1950s the Chinese army had entered the north-east portion of Ladakh.[32]
"By 195657 they had completed a military road through the Aksai
Chin area to provide better communication between Xinjiang and
western Tibet. India's belated discovery of this road led to border
clashes between the two countries that culminated in the Sino-Indian
war of October 1962."[32]
The region is divided amongst three countries in a territorial dispute:
Pakistan controls the northwest portion (Northern Areas and 'Azad'
Kashmir), India controls the central and southern portion (Jammu and
Kashmir) and Ladakh, and the People's Republic of China controls the
northeastern portion (Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract). India
controls the majority of the Siachen Glacier area, including the Saltoro
Ridge passes, whilst Pakistan controls the lower territory just southwest of
the Saltoro Ridge. India controls 101,338 km2(39,127 sq mi) of the disputed
territory, Pakistan controls 85,846 km2 (33,145 sq mi), and the People's
Republic of China controls the remaining 37,555 km2 (14,500 sq mi).
Jammu and Pakistan administered Kashmir lie outside Pir Panjal range,
and are under Indian and Pakistani control respectively. These are
populous regions. The main cities are Mirpur, Dadayal, Kotli,
Bhimber Jammu, Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot.
The GilgitBaltistan, formerly called Northern Areas, are a group of
territories in the extreme north, bordered by the Karakoram, the
western Himalayas, the Pamir, and the Hindu Kush ranges. With its
administrative centre at the town of Gilgit, the Northern Areas cover an
area of 72,971 km (28,174 mi) and have an estimated population
approaching 1 million (10 lakhs). The other main city is Skardu.
Ladakh is a region in the east, between the Kunlun mountain range in the
north and the main Great Himalayas to the south.[33] Main cities
are Leh and Kargil. It is under Indian administration and is part of the state
of Jammu and Kashmir. It is one of the most sparsely populated regions in
the area and is mainly inhabited by people of IndoAryan and Tibetan descent.[33]
Aksai Chin is a vast high-altitude desert of salt that reaches altitudes up to
5,000 metres (16,000 ft). Geographically part of the Tibetan Plateau, Aksai
Chin is referred to as the Soda Plain. The region is almost uninhabited, and
has no permanent settlements.
Though these regions are in practice administered by their respective
claimants, neither India nor Pakistan has formally recognised the
accession of the areas claimed by the other. India claims those areas,

including the area "ceded" to China by Pakistan in the Trans-Karakoram

Tract in 1963, are a part of its territory, while Pakistan claims the entire
region excluding Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract. The two
countries have fought several declared wars over the territory. The IndoPakistani War of 1947 established the rough boundaries of today, with
Pakistan holding roughly one-third of Kashmir, and India one-half, with a
dividing line of control established by the United Nations. The IndoPakistani War of 1965 resulted in a stalemate and a UN-negotiated
ceasefire.

Demographics
In the 1901 Census of the British Indian Empire, the population of
the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu was 2,905,578. Of these,
2,154,695 (74.16%) were Muslims, 689,073 (23.72%) Hindus, 25,828
(0.89%) Sikhs, and 35,047 (1.21%) Buddhists (implying 935 (0.032%)
others).

A Muslim shawl making family shown in Cashmere shawl manufactory, 1867,

chromolith., William Simpson.

Kashmir Solidarity Day is celebrated in Pakistan on 5 February every year. This

banner was hung in Islamabad, Pakistan

Among the Muslims of the princely state, four divisions were recorded:
"Shaikhs, Saiyids, Mughals, and Pathans. The Shaikhs, who are by far the
most numerous, are the descendants of Hindus, but have retained none of
the caste rules of their forefathers. They have clan names known
as krams ..."[34] It was recorded that these kram names included "Tantre",
"Shaikh", "Bhat", "Mantu", "Ganai", "Dar", "Damar", "Lon", etc. The Saiyids,
it was recorded, "could be divided into those who follow the profession of
religion and those who have taken to agriculture and other pursuits.
Their kram name is 'Mir.' While a Saiyid retains his saintly profession Mir is
a prefix; if he has taken to agriculture, Mir is an affix to his name." [34][clarification
needed]
The Mughals who were not numerous were recorded to
have kram names like "Mir" (a corruption of "Mirza"), "Beg", "Bandi", "Bach"
and "Ashaye". Finally, it was recorded that the Pathans "who are more
numerous than the Mughals, ... are found chiefly in the south-west of the
valley, where Pathan colonies have from time to time been founded. The

most interesting of these colonies is that of Kuki-Khel Afridis at

Dranghaihama, who retain all the old customs and speak Pashtu."[34]Among
the main tribes of Muslims in the princely state are the Butts, Dar, Lone,
Jat, Gujjar, Rajput, Sudhan and Khatri. A small number of Butts, Dar and
Lone use the title Khawaja and the Khatri use the title Shaikh the Gujjar
use the title of Chaudhary. All these tribes are indigenous of the princely
state and many Hindus also belong to these tribes.
The Hindus were found mainly in Jammu, where they constituted a little
less than 60% of the population.[34] In the Kashmir Valley, the Hindus
represented "524 in every 10,000 of the population (i.e. 5.24%), and in the
frontier wazarats of Ladhakh and Gilgit only 94 out of every 10,000 persons
(0.94%)."[34] In the same Census of 1901, in the Kashmir Valley, the total
population was recorded to be 1,157,394, of which the Muslim population
was 1,083,766, or 93.6% and the Hindu population 60,641. [34] Among the
Hindus of Jammu province, who numbered 626,177 (or 90.87% of the
Hindu population of the princely state), the most important castes recorded
in the census were "Brahmans (186,000), the Rajputs (167,000),
the Khattris (48,000) and the Thakkars (93,000)."[34]
In the 1911 Census of the British Indian Empire, the total population
of Kashmir and Jammu had increased to 3,158,126. Of these, 2,398,320
(75.94%) were Muslims, 696,830 (22.06%) Hindus, 31,658 (1%) Sikhs, and
36,512 (1.16%) Buddhists. In the last census of British India in 1941, the
total population of Kashmir and Jammu (which as a result of the second
world war, was estimated from the 1931 census) was 3,945,000. Of these,
the total Muslim population was 2,997,000 (75.97%), the Hindu population
was 808,000 (20.48%), and the Sikh 55,000 (1.39%).[35]
The Kashmiri Pandits, the only Hindus of the Kashmir valley, who had
stably constituted approximately 4 to 5% of the population of the valley
during Dogra rule (18461947), and 20% of whom had left the Kashmir
valley by 1950,[36] began to leave in much greater numbers in the 1990s.
According to a number of authors, approximately 100,000 of the total
Kashmiri Pandit population of 140,000 left the valley during that
decade.[37] Other authors have suggested a higher figure for the exodus,
ranging from the entire population of over 150[38] to 190 thousand (1.5 to
190,000) of a total Pandit population of 200 thousand (200,000) [39] to a
number as high as 300 thousand[40] (300,000).
The total population of India's division of Jammu and Kashmir is
12,541,302[41] and Pakistan's division of Azad Jammu and Kashmir is
2,580,000 and Gilgit-Baltistan is 870,347.[42]

Administered by

India

Pakistan

Area

Population

% Muslim % Hindu % Buddhist % Other

Kashmir Valley ~4 million (4 million)

95%

4%*

Jammu

~3 million (3 million)

30%

66%

4%

Ladakh

~0.25 million (250,000)

46%

50%

3%

Azad Kashmir

~2.6 million (2.6 million) 100%

GilgitBaltistan ~1 million (1 million)

China

Aksai Chin

99%

Statistics from the BBC In Depth report.

Culture and cuisine

Brokpa women from Kargil, northernLadakh, in local costumes

Further information: Kashmiri cuisine, Wazwan, Kashmiri

literature, Kashmiri music, and Kashmiri Pandit festivals
Kashmiri cuisine includes dum aloo (boiled potatoes with heavy amounts of
spice), tzaman (a solid cottage cheese), rogan josh (lamb cooked in heavy
spices), yakhiyn (lamb cooked in curd with mild spices), hakh (a spinachlike leaf), rista-gushtaba (minced meat balls in tomato and curd curry),
danival korme, and the signature rice which is particular to Asian cultures.
The traditional wazwan feast involves cooking meat or vegetables, usually
mutton, in several different ways. Alcohol is strictly prohibited in most
places.
There are two styles of making tea in the region: Noon Chai, or salt tea,
which is pink in colour (known as chinen posh rang or peach flower colour)
and popular with locals; and kahwah, a tea for festive occasions, made
with saffron and spices (cardamom, cinamon, sugar, noon chai leaves),
and black tea.

Economy
Further information: Economy of Azad Kashmir and Economy of Jammu
and Kashmir

Tourism is one of the main sources of income for vast sections of the Kashmiri
population. Shown here is the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar, India.

Skardu in the Northern Areas, is the point of departure for mountaineering

expeditions in the Karakorams.

Kashmir's economy is centred around agriculture. Traditionally the staple

crop of the valley was rice, which formed the chief food of the people. In
addition, Indian corn, wheat, barley and oats were also grown. Given its
temperate climate, it is suited for crops like asparagus, artichoke, seakale,
broad beans, scarletrunners, beetroot, cauliflower and cabbage. Fruit trees
are common in the valley, and the cultivated orchards yield pears,
apples, peaches, and cherries. The chief trees are deodar, firs
and pines, chenar or plane, maple, birch and walnut, apple, cherry.
Historically, Kashmir became known worldwide when Cashmere wool was
exported to other regions and nations (exports have ceased due to
decreased abundance of the cashmere goat and increased competition
from China). Kashmiris are well adept at knitting and
makingPashmina shawls, silk carpets, rugs, kurtas, and pottery. Saffron,
too, is grown in Kashmir. Efforts are on to export the naturally grown fruits
and vegetables as organic foods mainly to the Middle East. Srinagar is
known for its silver-work, papier mache, wood-carving, and the weaving of
silk.
The economy was badly damaged by the 2005 Kashmir earthquake which,
as of 8 October 2005, resulted in over 70,000 deaths in the Pakistancontrolled part of Kashmir and around 1,500 deaths in Indian controlled
Kashmir.
The Indian-administered portion of Kashmir is believed to have potentially
rich rocks containing hydrocarbon reserves.[43][44]

Transport
Transport is predominantly by air or road vehicles in the region. [45] Kashmir
has a 119 km (74 mi) long modern railway line that started in October 2009
and connects Baramulla in the western part of Kashmir to Srinagar
and Qazigund. It will link the Kashmir to Banihal across the Pir Panjal
mountains through the Banihal rail tunnel in 2013 and to the rest of India in
another few years as the construction of the railway line from Jammu to
Banihal progresses steadily.

History of tourism in Kashmir

The state of Jammu & Kashmir is a region of widely varying people and
geography. In the south, Jammu is a transition zone from the Indian plains
to the Himalayas. Nature has lavishly endowed Kashmir with certain
distinctive features that are paralleled by few alpine regions in the world. It
is the land of snow clad mountains that shares a common boundary with
Afghanistan, China and Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost
state of the Indian Union. Known for its extravagant natural beauty this land
formed a major caravan route in ancient times.
Trade relations through these routes between China and Central Asia
made it a land inhabited by various religious and cultural groups. It was
during the reign of Kashyapa that the various wandering groups led a

settled life; Buddhist influenced Kashmir during the rule of Ashoka and the
present town of Srinagar were founded by Kashyapa. This place was
earlier called 'Srinagari' or Purandhisthan. The Brahmins who inhabited
these areas admired and adored Buddhism too. From the regions of
Kashmir Buddhism spread throughout Ladakh, Tibet, Central Asia and
China. Various traditions co-existed until the advent of the Muslims.
The Mughal had a deep influence on this land and introduced various
reforms in the revenue industry and other areas that added to the progress
of Kashmir. In 1820 Maharaj Gulab Singh got the Jagir of Jammu from
Maharaj Ranjit Sigh. He is said to have laid the foundation of the Dogra
dynasty. In 1846 Kashmir was sold to Maharaj Gulab Singh. Thus the two
areas of Kashmir and Jammu were integrated into a single political unit. A
few chieftains who formed part of the administration were of the Hunza,
Kishtwar, Gilgit Ladakh. During the Dogra dynasty trade improved, along
with the preservation and promotion of forestry.

See also

2005 Kashmir earthquake

2014 Kashmir floods
Kargil War
Kashmir conflict
Line of Control
List of Jammu and Kashmir related articles
List of Kashmiri people
United Nations Security Council Resolution 47

Notes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

17.
18.
19.

Jump up^ Basham, A. L. (2005) The wonder that was India, Picador.
Pp. 572. ISBN 0-330-43909-X, p. 110.
^ Jump up to:a b c Imperial Gazetteer of India, volume 15. 1908.
Oxford University Press, Oxford and London. pp. 9395.
Jump up^ http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgibin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:2152.soas
Jump up^ A.K. Warder, Indian Buddhism. Motilal Banarsidass 2000,
page 256.
Jump up^ A.K. Warder, Indian Buddhism. Motilal Banarsidass 2000,
pages 263264.
Jump up^ Tapasyananda, Swami (2002), Sankara-Dig-Vijaya,
pp. 186195
Jump up^ Triadic Heart of Shiva, Paul E. Muller-Ortega, page 12
Jump up^ Introduction to the Tantrloka, Navjivan Rastogi, page 27
Jump up^ Re-accessing Abhinavagupta, Navjivan Rastogi, page 4
Jump up^ Key to the Vedas, Nathalia Mikhailova, page 169
Jump up^ The Pratyabhij Philosophy, Ganesh Vasudeo Tagare,
page 12
Jump up^ Companion to Tantra, S.C. Banerji, page 89
Jump up^ Doctrine of Divine Recognition, K. C. Pandey, page V
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Gnoli, page LXXVII
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Jump up^ Gallery The journey to the Pradyumnaikhara
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20. Jump up^ Hanneder, Jrgen; Slaje, Walter. Moksopaya Project:

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21. Jump up^ Chapple, Christopher; translation: Venkatesananda,
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22. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Imperial Gazetteer of India, volume 15. 1908.
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23. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Schofield 2010, pp. 56
24. Jump up^ Madan 2008, p. 15
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27. ^ Jump up to:a b c Bose 2005, pp. 1517
28. Jump up^ Quoted in Bose 2005, pp. 1517
29. ^ Jump up to:a b Talbot & Singh 2009, p. 54
30. Jump up^ Viscount Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British
India, stayed on in independent India from 1947 to 1948, serving as
the first Governor-General of the Union of India.
31. ^ Jump up to:a b Stein, Burton. 2010. A History of India. Oxford
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32. ^ Jump up to:a b c Kashmir. (2007). In Encyclopdia Britannica.
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33. ^ Jump up to:a b Jina, Prem Singh (1996), Ladakh: The Land and the
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36. Jump up^ Zutshi 2003, p. 318 Quote: "Since a majority of the
landlords were Hindu, the (land) reforms (of 1950) led to a mass
exodus of Hindus from the state. ... The unsettled nature of Kashmir's
accession to India, coupled with the threat of economic and social
decline in the face of the land reforms, led to increasing insecurity
among the Hindus in Jammu, and among Kashmiri Pandits, 20 per
cent of whom had emigrated from the Valley by 1950."
37. Jump up^ Bose 1997, p. 71, Rai 2004, p. 286, Metcalf & Metcalf
2006, p. 274 Quote: "The Hindu Pandits, a small but influential elite
community who had secured a favourable position, first under the
maharajas, and then under the successive Congress regimes, and
proponents of a distinctive Kashmiri culture that linked them to India,
felt under siege as the uprising gathered force. Of a population of
some 140,000, perhaps 100,000 Pandits fled the state after 1990;
their cause was quickly taken up by the Hindu right."
38. Jump up^ Malik 2005, p. 318
39. Jump up^ Madan 2008, p. 25
40. Jump up^ CIA Factbook: IndiaTransnational Issues
41. Jump up^ http://www.geohive.com/cntry/in-01.aspx
42. Jump up^ http://www.geohive.com/cntry/pakistan.aspx
43. Jump up^ Iftikhar Gilani. "Italian company to pursue oil exploration in
Kashmir". Daily Times. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
44. Jump up^ Ishfaq-ul-Hassan. "India, Pakistan to explore oil
jointly". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
45. Jump up^ "Local Transport in Kashmir Means of Transportation
Kashmir Mode of Transportation Kashmir India". Bharatonline.com.
Retrieved 3 August 2012.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public

domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopdia Britannica (11th
ed.). Cambridge University Press.

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Culture, Political Economy, London and New York: Routledge, 2nd
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Bose, Sumantra (2005), Kashmir: roots of conflict, paths to peace,
Harvard University Press. Pp. 307, ISBN 978-0-674-01817-4
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316, ISBN 0-521-89436-0.
Evans, Alexander (2008), "Kashmiri Exceptionalism", in Rao,
Aparna, The Valley of Kashmir: The Making and Unmaking of a
Composite Culture?, Delhi: Manohar. Pp. xviii, 758, pp. 713
741, ISBN 978-81-7304-751-0
Kaw, Mushtaq A. (2008), "Land Rights in Rural Kashmir: A Study in
Continuity and Change from Late-Sixteenth to Late-Twentieth
Centuries", in Rao, Aparna, The Valley of Kashmir: The Making and
Unmaking of a Composite Culture?, Delhi: Manohar. Pp. xviii, 758,
pp. 207234, ISBN 978-81-7304-751-0
Keenan, Brigid (1989), Travels in Kashmir: A Popular History of Its
People, Places, and Crafts, Delhi: Oxford University Press. Pp. xii,
226, ISBN 0-19-562236-7
Khan, Mohammad Ishaq (2008), "Islam, State and Society in Medieval
Kashmir: A Revaluation of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani's Historical Role",
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Khan, Yasmin (2007), The Great Partition: The Making of India and
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pages, ISBN 0-300-12078-8
Kulke, Hermann; Rothermund, Dietmar (2004), A History of India, 4th
edition. Routledge, Pp. xii, 448, ISBN 0-415-32920-5.
Lamb, Alastair (1991), Kashmir: a disputed legacy, 18461990,
Oxford University Press. Pp. 368, ISBN 978-0-19-577423-8
Lamb, Alastair (1997), Incomplete partition: the genesis of the
Kashmir dispute 19471948, Roxford. Pp. 374, ISBN 0-907129-08-0
Madan, T. N. (2008), "Kashmir, Kashmiris, Kashmiriyat: An
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Further reading

Blank, Jonah. "KashmirFundamentalism Takes Root", Foreign Affairs,

78,6 (November/December 1999): 3642.

Drew, Federic. 1877. The Northern Barrier of India: a popular account of

the Jammoo and Kashmir Territories with Illustrations; 1st edition: Edward
Stanford, London. Reprint: Light & Life Publishers, Jammu. 1971.

Evans, Alexander. Why Peace Won't Come to Kashmir, Current History

(Vol 100, No 645) April 2001 p. 170-175.

Hussain, Ijaz. 1998. "Kashmir Dispute: An International Law Perspective",

National Institute of Pakistan Studies.

Irfani, Suroosh, ed "Fifty Years of the Kashmir Dispute": Based on the

proceedings of the International Seminar held at Muzaffarabad, Azad
Jammu and Kashmir 2425 August 1997: University of Azad Jammu and
Kashmir, Muzaffarabad, AJK, 1997.

Joshi, Manoj Lost Rebellion: Kashmir in the Nineties (Penguin, New Delhi,
1999).

Khan, L. Ali The Kashmir Dispute: A Plan for Regional Cooperation 31

Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, 31, p. 495 (1994).

Knight, E. F. 1893. Where Three Empires Meet: A Narrative of Recent

Travel in: Kashmir, Western Tibet, Gilgit, and the adjoining countries.
Longmans, Green, and Co., London. Reprint: Ch'eng Wen Publishing
Company, Taipei. 1971.

Knight, William, Henry. 1863. Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and

Thibet. Richard Bentley, London. Reprint 1998: Asian Educational
Services, New Delhi.

Kchler, Hans. The Kashmir Problem between Law and Realpolitik.

Reflections on a Negotiated Settlement. Keynote speech delivered at the

"Global Discourse on Kashmir 2008." European Parliament, Brussels, 1

April 2008.

Moorcroft, William and Trebeck, George. 1841. Travels in the Himalayan

Provinces of Hindustan and the Panjab; in Ladakh and Kashmir, in
Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz, and Bokhara... from 1819 to 1825, Vol. II.
Reprint: New Delhi, Sagar Publications, 1971.

Neve, Arthur. (Date unknown). The Tourist's Guide to Kashmir, Ladakh,

Skardo &c. 18th Edition. Civil and Military Gazette, Ltd., Lahore. (The date
of this edition is unknown but the 16th edition was published in 1938).

Stein, M. Aurel. 1900. Kalhaa's RjataragiA Chronicle of the Kings of

Kamr, 2 vols. London, A. Constable & Co. Ltd. 1900. Reprint, Delhi,
Motilal Banarsidass, 1979.

Younghusband, Francis and Molyneux, Edward 1917. Kashmir. A. & C.

Black, London.

Norelli-Bachelet, Patrizia. "Kashmir and the Convergence of Time, Space

and Destiny", 2004; ISBN 0-945747-00-4. First published as a four-part
series, March 2002 April 2003, in 'Prakash', a review of the Jagat Guru
Bhagavaan Gopinath Ji Charitable Foundation. [1]

Muhammad Ayub. An Army; Ita Role & Rule (A History of the Pakistan
Army from Independence to Kargil 19471999) Rosedog Books,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA 2005.ISBN 0-8059-9594-3.

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