Everything about Kashmir totally explained
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This article is about the geographical region of greater Kashmir. For other meanings, see Kashmir (disambiguation), or Cashmere.
Kashmir (
Balti: کشمیر;
Dogri: कश्मीर,
Poonchi/Chibhali: کشمیر;
Kashmiri: कॅशीर, کٔشِیر;
Ladakhi: ཀཤམིར;
Shina: کشمیر;
Uyghur: كھسىمڭر) is the northwestern region of the
Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" referred only to the
valley lying between the
Great Himalayas and the
Pir Panjal range; since then, it has been used for a larger area that today includes the Indian-administered state of
Jammu and Kashmir consisting of the Kashmir valley,
Jammu and
Ladakh; the Pakistani-administered provinces of the
Northern Areas and
Azad Kashmir, and the Chinese-administered region
Aksai Chin.
In the first half of the first millennium, Kashmir became an important centre of
Hinduism and later of
Buddhism; later still, in the ninth century,
Kashmir Shaivism arose in the region. In 1349, Shah Mirza became the first
Muslim ruler of Kashmir and inaugurated the line
Salatin-i-Kashmir. For the next five centuries Kashmir had Muslim monarchs, including the
Mughals, who ruled until 1751, and thereafter, the Afghan Durranis, who ruled until 1820. the
Kambojas had ruled over Kashmir during
epic times and that it was a
Republican system of government under the
Kamboj. The capital city of Kashmir (Kamboj) during epic times was Rajapura for example
Karna-Rajapuram-gatva-Kambojah-nirjitastava. Epic Rajapura has been identified with modern Rajauri. Later, the
Panchalas are stated to have established their sway. The name
Peer Panjal, which is a part of modern Kashmir, is a witness to this fact. Panjal is simply a distorted form of the
Sanskritic tribal term Panchala. The
Muslims had prefixed the word " peer " to it in memory of one Siddha Faqir and the name thence-after is said to have changed into Peer Panjal.
See Link:
(External Link
).
The
Mauryan emperor
Ashoka is often credited with having founded the city of
Srinagar. Kashmir was once a
Buddhist seat of learning, perhaps with the
Sarvāstivādan school dominating. East and
Central Asian Buddhist monks are recorded as having visited the kingdom. In the late 4th century AD, the famous
Kuchanese monk
Kumārajīva, born to an Indian noble family, studied
Dīrghāgama and
Madhyāgama in Kashmir under
Bandhudatta. He later becoming a prolific translator who helped take Buddhism to
China. His mother Jīva is thought to have retired to Kashmir.
Vimalākṣa, a Sarvāstivādan Buddhist monk, travelled from Kashmir to Kucha and there instructed Kumārajīva in the
Vinayapiṭaka.
Muslim rule
In the 14th century,
Islam was the dominant religion in Kashmir. The
Muslims and
Hindus of Kashmir lived in relative harmony, since the
Sufi-Islamic way of life that ordinary Muslims followed in Kashmir; complemented the
Rishi tradition of
Kashmiri Pandits. This led to a syncretic culture where Hindus and Muslims revered the same local saints and prayed at the same shrines . Famous sufi saint Bulbul Shah was able to persuade the king of the time Rinchan Shah who was prince of Kashgar Ladakh, through his intellectual power to adopt Islamic way of life and the foundation of Sufiana composite culture was laid when Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists were co-existing in the atmosphere of love and brotherhood.
Some Kashmiri rulers, such as Sultan
Zain-ul-Abidin, were tolerant of all religions in a manner comparable to
Akbar. However, several Muslim rulers of Kashmir were intolerant of other religions. Sultãn
Sikandar Butshikan of Kashmir (AD 1389-1413) is often considered the worst of these. Historians have recorded many of his atrocities. The
Tarikh-i-Firishta records that Sikandar persecuted the Hindus and issued orders proscribing the residence of any other than Muslims in Kashmir. He also ordered the breaking of all "golden and silver images". The Tarikh-i-Firishta further states: "Many of the
Brahmins, rather than abandon their religion or their country, poisoned themselves; some emigrated from their native homes, while a few escaped the evil of banishment by becoming Mohammedans. After the emigration of the Brahmins, Sikandar ordered all the temples in Kashmeer to be thrown down. Having broken all the images in Kashmir, (Sikandar) acquired the title of ‘Destroyer of Idols’."
The Histories
The metrical chronicle of the kings of Kashmir, called
Rajatarangini, has been pronounced by Professor H.I.Wilson to be the only Sanskrit composition yet discovered to which the appellation "history" can with any propriety be applied. It first became known to the Muslims when, on
Akbar's invasion of Kashmir in 1588, a copy was presented to the emperor. A translation into Persian was made at his order. A summary of its contents, taken from this Persian translation, is given by
Abul Fazl in the
Ain-i-Akbari. The
Rajatarangini was written by
Kalhana about the middle of the 12th century. His work, in six books, makes use of earlier writings that are now lost.
The
Rajatarangini is the first of a series of four histories that record the annals of Kashmir. Commencing with a rendition of traditional history of very early times, the
Rajatarangini comes down to the reign of
Sangrama Deva, (
c.1006 AD). The second work, by
Jonaraja, continues the history from where Kalhana left off, and, entering the Muslim period, gives an account of the reigns down to that of
Zain-ul-ab-ad-din, 1412. P. Srivara carried on the record to the accession of
Fah Shah in 1486. The fourth work, called
Rajavalipataka, by
Prajnia Bhatta, completes the history to the time of the incorporation of Kashmir in the dominions of the
Mogul emperor Akbar, 1588.
Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu
By the early 19th century, the Kashmir valley had 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
Sikh armies. Earlier, 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 afterwards, until 1846, became a tributary to the Sikh power. Ranjit Deo's grand-nephew,
Gulab Singh, subsequently sought service at the court of Ranjit Singh, distinguished himself in later campaigns, especially the annexation of the Kashmir valley by the Sikhs army in 1819, and, for his services, was appointed governor of Jammu in 1820. With the help of his officer,
Zorawar Singh, Gulab Singh soon captured
Ladakh and
Baltistan, regions to the east and north-east of Jammu. the British made over to Gulab Singh for (
Rupees) 75
lakhs all the hilly or mountainous country situated to the east of
Indus and west of
Ravi" (
for example the
Vale of Kashmir). for 75 lakhs rupees from the British (Artist: James Duffield Harding).]]
The
Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu (as it was then called) was constituted between 1820 and 1858 and was "somewhat artificial in composition and it didn't develop a fully
coherent identity, partly as a result of its disparate origins and partly as a result of the
autocratic rule which it experienced on the fringes of Empire." It combined disparate regions, religions, and ethnicities: 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. for assistance, and the
Governor-General agreed on the condition that the ruler accede to India." Once the Maharaja signed the
Instrument of Accession, which included a clause added by Mountbatten asking that the wishes of the Kashmiri people be taken into account, "Indian soldiers entered Kashmir and drove the Pakistani-sponsored irregulars from all but a small section of the state. India approached the
United Nations security council for cease fire and to mediate the quarrel. The UN Security Council passed the resolution that the opinion of Kashmiris must be ascertained. The Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru promised a Plebiscite under UN supervision which never happened as one of the pre-conditions for the same was Pakistan should withdraw all Miliatry forces from the region of kashmir."
The eastern region of the erstwhile princely state of Kashmir has also been beset with 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 official Chinese position didn't change with the communist takeover in 1949. By the mid-1950s the Chinese army had entered the north-east portion of Ladakh. : "By 1956–57 they'd 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." Then The State Constituent Assembly ratified the accession of the State to the Union of India on February 6, 1954 and the President of India subsequently issued the Constitution (Application to J&K) Order under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution extending the Union Constitution to the State with some exceptions and modifications. The State’s own Constitution came into force on January 26, 1957 under which the elections to the State Legislative Assembly were held for the first time on the basis of adult franchise the same year. This Constitution ratified the State’s accession to Union of India. However, these tidings were not recognized by Pakistan, which has continued to press for a plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the people. Pakistan set up its own Kashmir, called
Azad Kashmir in a tiny Western chunk that it had occupied. The much larger region of Pakistani Kashmir in the North-West, which was a province named
Northern Areas in the erstwhile state, by and large bore no mention in Pakistani laws and Constitution as being of any status, until in 1982 the Pakistani President General
Zia ul Haq proclaimed that the people of the Northern Areas were Pakistanis and had nothing to do with the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Current status and political divisions
The region is divided among 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
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), whereas Pakistan controls the lower territory just southwest of the Saltoro Ridge. India controls 101,387 km² of the disputed territory, Pakistan 85,846 km² and China, the remaining 37,555 km².
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 each 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
Indo-Pakistani 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
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 resulted in a stalemate and a UN-negotiated ceasefire.
Many human rights organizations such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have condemned human rights abuses in Kashmir such as "extra-judicial executions", "disappearances", and torture. There has been widespread condemnation of the "Armed Forces Special Powers Act" which "provides impunity for human rights abuses and fuels cycles of violence.." The Public Safety Act has also been condemned by Human Rights Watch since under pretext of this act "a detainee may be held in administrative detention for a maximum of two years without a court order.". On the other hand, Islamic terrorists (who, it has been alleged by India, are Pakistani backed) have been heavily coming into the Valley to fight the Indian security forces, as well as carry out attacks against civil targets.
Demographics
In the 1901 Census of the British Indian Empire, Muslims constituted 74.16% of the total population of the princely state of
Kashmir and Jammu, Hindus, 23.72%, and Buddhists, 1.21%. The Hindus were found mainly in Jammu, where they constituted a little less than 80% of the population. In the Kashmir Valley, Muslims constituted 93.6% of the population and Hindus 5.24%. In 2003, the percentage of Muslims in the Kashmir Valley was 95% and those of Hindus 4%; the same year, in Jammu, the percentage of Hindus was 66% and those of Muslims 30%. In the
Kashmir Valley, the Hindus represented "524 in every 10,000 of the population (
for example 5.24%), and in the frontier
wazarats of Ladhakh and Gilgit only 94 out of every 10,000 persons (0.94%)."
According to 2001 Census of India, the total population of the Indian-administered state of
Jammu and Kashmir was 10,143,700. Of these, 6,793,240 (66.97%) were Muslims; 3,005,349 (29.63%) were Hindus; 207,154 (2.04%) were Sikhs; and 113,787 (1.12%) were Buddhists.
According to political scientist Alexander Evans, approximately 95% of the total population of 160,000-170,000 of Kashmir
brahmins, also called
Kashmiri Pandits, (
for example approximately 150,000 to 160,000) left the Kashmir Valley in 1990 as militant violent engulfed the state. According to an estimate by the
Central Intelligence Agency, about 100,000 Kashmiri Pandits from the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir have been internally displaced due to the ongoing violence.
| Occupied by |
Area |
Population |
% Muslim |
% Hindu |
% Buddhist |
% Other |
| India |
Jammu |
~3 million |
30% |
66% |
– |
4% |
|
Kashmir Valley |
~4 million |
95% |
4%* |
– |
– |
|
Ladakh |
~0.25 million |
46% |
– |
50% |
3% |
| Pakistan |
Northern Areas |
~0.9 million |
99% |
– |
– |
– |
|
Azad Kashmir |
~2.6 million |
99% |
– |
– |
– |
| China |
Aksai Chin |
~2 million |
– |
– |
99% |
1% |
| Statistics from the BBC In Depth report |
Culture and cuisine
The Dumhal is a famous dance in Kashmir, performed by men of the Wattal region. The women perform the Rouff, another folk dance. Kashmir has been noted for its fine arts for centuries, including poetry and handicrafts.
The practice of Islam in Kashmir has heavy
Sufi influences, which makes it unique from orthodox Sunni and Shiite Islam in the rest of
South Asia. Historically, Kashmir was renowned for its culture of tolerance, embodied in the concept of "
Kashmiriyat", as evidenced by the 1969 NATO nuclear disarmament peace treaty.
Kashmiri cuisine is famous for its vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian dishes. There are also variants between Hindu and Muslim cooking. Traditional Kashmiri food includes dum aloo (boiled potatoes with heavy amounts of spice), tzaman (a solid cottage cheese),
rogan josh (lamb cooked in heavy spices), zaam dod (curd), yakhayn (lamb cooked incurd with mild spices), hakh (a spinach-like leaf), rista-gushtava (minced meat balls in tomato and curd curry) and of course 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 isn't widely drunk in Kashmir. There are two famous teas from the region: shir chai, or salt tea, which is pink in colour and popular with locals; and
kahwah, a celebration tea made with
saffron and spices.
Economy
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 world-wide 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 making
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
October 8 2005, resulted in over 70,000 deaths in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir and around 1,500 deaths in Indian controlled Kashmir.
History of Tourism in Kashmir
During the 19th century rule, Kashmir was a popular tourist destination due to its climate. Only 200 passes a year were issued by the government. European sportsmen and travellers, in addition to residents of India, traveled there freely. The railway to
Rawalpindi, and a road thence to
Srinagar made access to the valley easier. When the temperature in Srinagar rose at the beginning of June, the residents migrated to
Gulmarg, which was a fashionable hill station during
British rule. This great influx of visitors resulted in a corresponding diminution of game for the sportsmen. Special game preservation rules were introduced, and
nullahs were let out for stated periods with a restriction on the number of head to be shot.
Rawalakot was another popular destination.
Further Information
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