Sovereignty exercised through Governors

 

183. Ahmad Shah Durrani (1752-1772 A.D.)

 

Mir Muqim Kanth and Khwaja Zahir Dedamari, two Kashmiri nobles, invite Ahmad Shah Durrani to take over Kashmir. Mir Muqim Kanth was naibsubadar of Kashmir and at war with Abul Qasim Khan.

After defeat at the hands of Khan, Kanth wrote to Abdali for help. Abdali sent 15000 forces, took money from Abul Qasim Khan, delayed the attack, and then took over Kashmir.

 

The Afghans ruled Kashmir for 67 years which witnessed the rule of four pathan emperors at the Imperial court and around 26

governors in the province of Kashmir.

Famine due to excessive rain in 1752. Floods in Kashmir in 1770. Sukh Jawan Mal, a patron of literary men, and Amir Sher Jawan as Governors during this period. Black hole of Calcutta in 1756. Battle of Plassey in 1757. Defeat of the Marathas at Panipat by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1761. Clive obtains the Divani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa from the Mogul Emperor in 1765. Napoleon Bonaparte born in 1769.

 

Mukkalal Muhammad Taufiq writes Shah-nama-i-Kashmir. Abdul Wahhab Shaiq writes versified history of Kashmir. Mirza Muhatshani Khan Fida writes poetic verses.

 

Kashmir gets Shergarhi palace.

 

Name of Governors:

Abu-illah Khan

Ishaq Khan

Abu-llah Khan

Sukhjiwan Mal (1754, was governor for eight and a half years). [Abdul Hasan Bandey was his minister.]

Noor-ud Din Khan Bamzai

Buland Khan

Noor-ud- Din Khan (1768-69)

Lal Mohammad Khan (1770) [Persecutor of Hindus]

Khuram Khan (1770-71)

Kailash Dhar, first Kashmiri Pandit to be given high post of sahibkar

Amir Khan (1770-72)

Jawan Sher (1770-72)

 

184. Timur Shah (1772-1793 A.D.)

 

Haji Karimdad Khan, Azad Khan and Mir Dad Khan as Governors. Warren Hastings becomes Governor General of India in 1774. Birth of Ram Mohan Roy in the same year. American Revolutionary War and Declaration of Independence by the United States in 1776.

 

Mir Sadullah Shahabadi writes Bagh-i-Sulaiman. Mullah Hidayatullah Mattu writes Takmila-i-Tarikh-A’zami. Mufti Mohammed Sudrud Din Wafac writes a Masnavi and Tuhfat-ul-usshuq. Mir Abdulla Baihaqi writes poetic verses.

 

 

Name of Governors:

Haji Karimdad Khan (1776-83)

 

Dagshawl institution for taxation of Shawl industry was first introduced by Pathan Governor Karim Dad Khan. Soon after Shawl workers started migrating to Punjab in around 1810.

 

Kant family punished by him for intriguing against him with Raja Ranjit Dev of Jammu (who is working on making Jammu a new cosmopolitan)

Dila Ram Kuli appointed Dewan.

Azad Khan [1782-85] invades Poonch. Breaks allegiance with Taimur Shah. Declares Sultan of Turkey as his sovereign.

Declares himself “Second Nadir Shah”. At first wins against the forces of Taimur Shah. But eventually flees to Poonch and commits suicide. People were forced into labor for his whimsical projects like converting Maisuma into a lake by constructing a weir at Athwajan.

20000 people die due to Cholera

 

Madad Khan [1785-86]

Mir Dad Khan Alakza [1786-88]

Timur Shah ask for greater revenue. Only Mir Dad Khan able to do it. He is a harsh man. Pandit Dila Ram Quli rises to be dewan. He supports Mir Dad Khan in the task. Dila Ram supports Hafiz Kamal, an anti-Sunni. Mulla Habib is chief Qazi.

Tensions rise in city as Jama Masjid and Khanqah Maula are closed in protest againt Quli. Sunni mobs decends upon Quli and beat him up. He survives. Mir Jafar Kanth is the instigator and imprisoned.

Mullah Gaffar Khan [stays for few months]

As the first act, Mir Jafar Kanth is released.

 

 

Juma Khan Alakzai (1988)

Juma Khan is summoned to Kabul by Taimur Shah, places his son Muhabbat Khan in-charge. He takes Quli with him. Shias build new mosques at Zadibal and Hassanabad, and perform muharram.

Sunnis are enraged, Muhabbat Khan sides with Sunnis, destroys the buildings. Sunni Mobs are empowered, ant-Shia riots start. Juma Khan returns and peace is restored. Juma Khan attacks the Bomba chief.

 

185. Zaman Shah (1793-1801 A.D.)

Abdullah Khan Akozai as Governor of Kashmir. Shias and Sunnis riot. Mirza Ghalib born at Agra in 1796. Kashmiri shawls become popular in France in 1798. Ranjit Singh becomes master of Lahore by receiving the title of Raja from Zaman Shah.

 

Arnimal (Mrs. Bhawani Das Kachru) sings.

 

Name of Governors:

Rahmatullah Khan

Mir Hazar Khan [1793-94]

Pandit Nand Ram Tiku, becomes Prime Minister of Kabul.

 

Rehmatullah Khan

Kifayat Khan

 

 

186. Mahmud Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk (1801-1819 A.D.)

Ata Muhammad Khan, Muhammad Azim Khan as Governors of Kashmir. First English translation of ‘Dabistan-i-Mazahib’ by Francis Gladwin in 1809. German translation of the same book by Dalberg. Charles Darwin born in 1809.

In 1812, Shah Shuja is captured by Jahandar Khan, the Governor of Attack and handed over to his brother Atta Muhammad, Governor of Kashmir.

Wafa Begum, senior wife of Shah Shuja takes shelter with Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Lahore. Maharaja promises safe return of Shah Shuja in exchange for Koh-i-Noor diamond.

 

Ranjit Singh forges alliance of common interest with Kabul Wazir Fateh Khan who wanted to oust Ata Mohammad Khan, the Afghan self-declared ruler of Kashmir [ Ata Mohammad, Mir Izzatullah claims stuck coins in name of Reshi Saint Noorudin after cutting ties with Kabul ].

Fateh Khan promises him 8 lakh payable from the revenue of Kashmir annually.

Ranjit Singh attempts to get Kashmir first in 1812 (then again in 1814 and finally in 1819) but fails as Fateh Khan did not keep his end of the bargain. The campaign cost Ranjit Singh Rs. 6,70,000 and many lives. But, he succeeds in releasing Shah Shuja and obtains the Kuh-i-Nur diamond in 1813. Sikh forces get better acquainted with the terrain and climate of Kashmir.

 

Ranjit Singh attacked Kashmir in 1819 (with valuable help coming from Agar Khan, Raja of Rajauri). Muslim rule in the valley established in 1339 A.D. came to an end in 1819.

 

 

Name of Governors:

Muhammad Khan Abdullah Khan Alakzai

Atta Muhammad Khan

Wazir Shah Muhammad (1806-13)

Wazir Fateh Muhammad (1813)

Sardar Muhammad Azim (1813-1819)

Jabbar Khan (1819)

 

In the June 1819 battle, Ranjit Singh took position at Shahbad in Punjab from where supplies and reinforcements were sent for the battle. Jabbar Khan was camped at Poonch. Mir Mohammad Khan, Kotwal of Poonch submitted to Sikhs as did Kotwal of Supiyon Mohammad Ali.

However Jabbar Khan’s 5000 Afghan men fought Sikhs in the plains of Shupion. Initially, Afghans managed to capture two guns of the Sikhs but famous sikh warrior Akali Phoola Singh proved too powerful for them. Afghans were soundly defeated on July 15, 1819 and wounded Jabbar Khan fled to Srinagar and then through Bhimber went to Peshawar.

By 1833, Jabbar Khan was trying to outplay his step brother Dost Muhammad Khan (younger brother of Fateh Shah and brother-in-law of Shahsuja) in war for Kabul throne. Jabbar Khan was now a great friend of westerners. And his son even learnt English.

In 1885, Dost Khan lost Peshawar to Sikhs. By 1837 the Dost Khan and other Afghan along with Jabbar Khan and other Afghan lords were preparing to fight Sikhs over their occupation of Afghan lands. Even though Afghans had extracted a lot of revenue from Kashmir over the decades, they now didn’t have enough money to fight the Sikhs and had fallen to extracting exuberant levies from their own subjects.

And the Sikhs now had Kashmir while the British were rolling the first dice in the Great Game.

 

 

Sikhs in Kashmir

Sovereignty exercised through Governors

 

187. Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1819-1839 A.D.)

Diwan Moti Ram, first Sikh Governor of Kashmir. Ruskin born in 1819. A British man accidentally discovers Ajanta caves. G.T. Vigne (1935), Moorcraft and Hugel visit Kashmir.

Around 1812, on order of Moorcraft one Meer Izzut-Oollah made a journey to central Asia passing though Kashmir, and describing it in persian.

A small fort built at Uri. Fort of Nalouchi at Muzzafarabad, Gurudwara at Mattan. Kathi Darwaza. All built under supervision of Hari Singh Nalwa.

Birbal Kachru writes Mukhtasar-ul-Tawarikh. Parmananda writes Sudama Carita, Rasha Svayamvar and Siva-Lagna.

1830 Zadibal riots between Shia-Sunni, about 200-300 Persian traders leave Kashmir for Iran.

 

187. Maharaja Kharak Singh (1839-1840 A.D.)

188. Maharaja Sher Singh (1841-1843 A.D.)

189. Maharaja Dalip Singh (1843-1846 A.D.)

Unsteady rule in Kashmir during Sikh period. Ten governors rule Kashmir during a period of seven years from 1839-1846. The best of them were Colonel Mehan Singh Kumedan and Shaikh Ghulam Muhyid Din.

Lord Hardinge has decided to cut Sikh empire. Under the Treaty of Amritsar, Kashmir passed on to Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1846 A.D.

Sheikh Imam-u-Din, former Sikh governor puts up resistance in Kashmir. Son of a shoemaker [or not, or called so degradingly by Kashmiris for the Sheikh title in his name?] who rose to be a governor under Sikh rule, Shiekh Imamudin had been taxing Kashmiris just as bad as most Sikh governors.

He was acting on the written instructions of Raja Lal Singh, Wazir of Lahore, who considered himself to be a contender for Sikh empire. Sheikh Imam-u-Din relied on Jehlum valley’s Bomba soldiers to defeat Dogra soldiers at Hari Parbat. No, Kashmiri fought on either side. Calcutta weekly of the time mentions that Kashmiris understood no matter who wins, Kashmiris will still lose.

After defeat, Gulab Singh asks Sir Henry Lawrence for help. With combined forces of British, Sikh and Dogra, Imam-u-Din surrenders and blames everything on Lal Singh.

Under Sheikh Imam-u-Din’s rule, in 1841, Pandit Zama Bhat of Miasuma Srinagar converts to Islam. He is ancestor of Mohammad Anwar Shopiani (1849–1939) founder of Ahle-hadith (Salafi) Wahhabi movement in Kashmir that derides shrine worship.

 

 

Source: Search Kashmir

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