Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/23

 KASHMIR 13 treaty of March 1846, is &quot;one horse, twelve perfect shawl goats of approved breed (six male and six female), and three pairs of Kashmir shawls.&quot; The maharajA receives in iJritish territory a salute of nineteen guns. History. The metrical history of the Icings of Kashmir, called Ji-.ijii Taranyini, was pronounced by Professor H. H. Wilson (1825) to be the only Sanskrit composition yet discovered to which the title of history can with any propriety be applied. It first became known to the Mohammedans when, on Akbar s invasion of Kashmir in 1583, a copy was presented to the emperor. A translation into Persian was made by his order, and a summary of its contents, from this Persian translation, is given by Abn l Fa/1 in the A in-i-Akbarl. The Rajd Taranyini is a series of four histories. The first of the series, by Pandit Kalhana, was written about the middle of the 12th century. His work, in six books, which bears the name afterwards given to the whole, makes use of earlier writings now lost. Com mencing with tradition il history of very early times, it comes down to the reign of Sangrama Deva, 1006 ; and two more books attri buted to the same author bring the history to the reign of Singha Deva (called Jai Singh in Abu l Fazl s summary) about 1156. The S3cond work, called JKdjd J ali, by Juna IJdja, takes up the history in continuation of Kalhana s, and, entering the Mohammedan period, gives an account of the reigns down to that of Zaiu-ul-ab- ad-din, 1412. Thou follows the Sri Jaina Raja Tarangini, by Pandit Sri Ydra, to the accession of Fattah Shah, 1477. And the fourth work, called Riijii Vali Pataka, by Prajnia Bhatta, com pletes the history to the time of the incorporation of Kashmir in the dominions of the Mughal emperor, 1588. In the earliest of the four histories it is stated that the valley of Kashmir was formerly a lake, and that it was drained by the great rishi or sage, Kasyapa, son of Marichi, son of Brahma, by cutting the gap in the hills at Baramula (Varaha-mula). When Kashmir had been drained, he brought in the 13 rah mans to occupy it. This is still the local tradition, and in the existing physical condition of the country we may see some ground for the story which has taken this form. Dernier suggested that earthquakes may have rent the gorge at Baramula. M. Troyer considers it to have been the work of man, taking advantage of facilities pointed out by nature. It is possible that the river, having at one time flowed with more even fall than at present, may have been choked by land slips at the B.iramula gorge. The Jhelum, stopped at Baramula, would spread over the low wide valley with very slow and quiet rise, till, over topping the barrier, the water would escape with a great descent to its old channel, having meantime raised the bed of the lake, by slow accumulation of deposit, to a nearly uniform high level. Tlh name of Kasyapa, however, is by history and tradition con nected with the draining of the lake, and the chief town or collec tion of dwellings in the valley was called Kasyapa-pur a name which has been plausibly identified with the Kaa-iraTrvpos of Hecaticus (Steph. By/., .s.r. ) and KaairaTvpos of Herodotus (iii. 102, iv. 44). Kashmir is the country meant also by Ptolemy s Kaff-n-ijpii. The ancient name Kasyapa-pur was applied to the kingdom of Kashmir when it comprehended great part of the Punjab and extended beyond the Indus. In the 7th century Kashmir is said by the Chinese traveller Hwen Tsang to have included Cabul and the Punjab, and the hill region of Gandhara, the country of the Gandar.e of classical geography. Then, under the Mughals, after the annexation of Kashmir to their empire in the end of the 16th century, the nanu of this newer possession was, for adminis trative purposes, extended over a much larger area in Afghanistan, to whbh again it became united; and at one time Ghaxni, at another time Cabul, was made the capital of the province of Kashmir. At an early date the Sanskrit name of the country became Kds- mir. The earliest inhabitants, according to the fiiijd Taranyini, were the people called Ndga, a word which signifies &quot; snake.&quot; The history shows the prevalence in early times of tree and serpent worship, of which some sculptured stones found in Kashmir still retain the memorials. The town of Islamabad is called also by its ancient name Anant-nag (eternal snake). The source of the Jhelum is at Vir-nag (the powerful snake), &c. The other races mentioned as inhabiting this country and the neighbouring hills are Gandhara, Khdsa, and Darada. The Khasa people are sup posed to have given the name Kasmir. In the Mahdbhdrata the Kas- miraand Darada are named together among the Kshattriya races of northern India. The question whether, in the immigration of the Aryans into India, Kashmir was taken on the way, or entered after wards by that people after they had reached the Punjab from the north-west, appears to require an answer in favour of the latter view (see vol. ii. of Dr J. Muir s Sanskrit Texts}. The Aryan races of Kashmir and surrounding hills, which have at the present time sepa rate geographical distribution, are given by Mr Drew as Kashmiri (mostly Mohammedan), in the Kashmir basin and a few scattered places outside; Dard (mostly Mohammedan) in Gilgit and hills north of Kashmir; Dogra (Hindu) in Jamu ; Dogra (Mohammedan, called Chibdli) in Punch and hill country west of Kashmir; Pahdri or mountaineers (Hindu) in Kishtwar, east of Kashmir, and hills about the valley of the Chenab. In the time of Asoka, about 245 B.C., one of the Indian Buddhist missions was sent to Kashmir and Gandhara. After his death 1 irahmanism revived. Then in the time of the three Tartar princes, Hushka, Jushka, and Kanishka, who reigned in Kashmir immedi ately before, and in the beginning of, the Christian era, Buddhism was to a great extent restored. The kingdom of Kanishka (calhd also Kanerkes) included the Punjab and Cabul as well as Kashmir. Buddhism again declined, though for several centuries the two religions existed together in Kashmir, Hinduism predominating. Yet Kashmir, when Buddhism was gradually losing its hold, con tinued to send out its Buddhist teachers to other hinds. In this Hindu-Buddhist period, and chiefly between the 5th and 10th cen turies of our era, were erected the Hindu temples in Kashmir. In the 6th and 7th centuries Kashmir was visited by some of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims to India. The country is called Shie-mi in the narrative of To Yeng and Sung Yan (578). One of the Chinese travellers of the next century was for a time an elephant-tamer to the king of Kashmir. Hwen Tsang spent two years (631-633) in Kashmir (Kia-chi-i&amp;gt;ii-lo). He entered by Baramula and left by tho Pir Panjal Pass. He describes the hill-girt valley, and the abund ance of flowers and fruits, and he mentions the tradition about the lake. He found in Kashmir many Buddhists as well as Hindus. In the following century the kings of Kashmir appear to have paid homage and tribute to China, though this is not alluded to in the Kashmir history. Hindu kings continued to reign till about 1294, when Udiana Deva was put to death by his Mohammedan vizier, Amir Shah, who ascended the throne, taking the name of Shams-ud-din. Two Hindus who reigned afterwards for a short time were the last kings of that race in Kashmir. The notices of Kashmir by Marco Polo belong to a time near the close of the Hindu rule, when the people were mostly Hindus and Buddhists. Of the Mohammedan rulers mentioned in the second of the Sanskrit histories, one, who reigned about the close of the 14th century, has made his name prominent by his active opposition to the Hindu religion, and his destruction of the temples. This was Sikandar, known as Hut-shikari, or the &quot;idol-breaker.&quot; It was in his time that India was invaded by Timur, to whom Sikandar made submission and paid tribute. The country fell into the hands of the Mughals in 1588. In the time of Akimgir it fell to Ahmed Shah Abdali, on his third invasion of India (1756) ; and from that time it remained in the hands of Afghans till it was wrested from them by Ranjit Singh, the Sikh monarch of the Punjab, in 1819. I Eight Hindu and Sikh governors under Ranjit Singh and his suc cessors were followed by two Mohammedans similarly appointed, the second of whom, Shekh Imdm-ud-din, was in charge when the battles of the Sutlej, 1845-46, brought about new relations between the British Government and the Sikhs, involving a change in the government of Kashmir. Ghuhib Singh, a Dogra Rajput, had from a humble position been I raised to high office by Ranjit Singh, who conferred on him the small principality of Jamu. On the final defeat of the Sikhs at Sobraon (February 1846), Ghuhib Singh was called to take a leading part in arranging conditions of peace. The treaty of Lahore (March 9, 1846) sets forth that, the British Government having demanded, in addition to a certain assignment of territory, a payment of a crore anda half of rupees (1^ millions sterling), and the Sikh Govern ment being unable to pay the whole, the mahanija (Dhalip Singh) cedes, as equivalent for one crore, the hill country belonging to the Punjab between the Bias and the Indus, including Kashmir and Hazara. The governor-general, Sir Henry Hardinge, considered it expedient to make over Kashmir to the Jamu chief, securing his friendship while the British Government was administering the Punjab on behalf of the young maharajd. Ghulab Singh was well j ceded to the British; and so, in consideration of his services in restor ing peace, his independent sovereignty of the country made over to ! him was recognized, and he was admitted to a separate treaty. Ghulab Singh had already, after several extensions of territory east and west of Jamu, conquered Ladak (a Buddhist country, and till then subject to Lassa), and had then annexed Lskardo, which was under independent Mohammedan rulers. He had thus by degrees half encircled Kashmir, and by this last addition his pos sessions attained nearly their present form and extent. Ghuhib Singh died in 1857, and was succeeded by his son, Ranbir Singh. See Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. ; Rdjd Tarangini (Sanskrit text, Calcutta, 1835; text and translation of the books of Kalhana, by A. Troyer, Paris, 1840, 1852); A in-i-Akbari (translated by Glad win, Calcutta, 1783); History of India told by its own Historians, from posthumous papers of Sir H. M. Elliot, by Professor 1 knvson ; Fred. Drew, Jummoo and Kashmir Territories ; Voyages dc Francois Lender; H. H. Wilson, Ariana Antiqua; William Moorcroft and George Trebeck, Travels in Ladak and Kashmir ; J. Martin Honig- berger, Thirty-Five Years in the East ; Dr T. Thomson, Western Himalaya and Tibet ; Hiigel, Travels in Kashmir and the Punjab ; A. Cunningham, Ancient Gcoyra2)lni of India; Id., La dak ;
 * prepared to make up the payment in defect of which Kashmir was