Kashmir Sultanate

1.1 Who was Shah Mir?

Shah Mir was an adventurer from Swat. In 1315 he entered the service of Sinha Deva, the Hindu king of Kashmir. He had no claim to the throne. He rose by serving the court well.

1.2 How did the Hindu line end?

Sinha Deva was overthrown and slain by Rainchan, a Tibetan in his service. Sinha Deva’s brother Udayana Deva later took the throne. He married Rainchan’s widow, Kota Rani. Udayana ruled for about fifteen years.

1.3 How did Shah Mir take the throne?

After Udayana died, Kota Rani held power for only fifty days. Shah Mir then declared himself king. Accounts of her end differ.

• One account says he forced her to marry him and then locked her away.
• Another says she stabbed herself as he entered the bridal chamber.

Both accounts end the same way. The last Hindu ruler was gone, and the throne was his.

1.4 In which year did he become king?

The date is disputed. The exam question uses 1339. One standard history says he ascended the throne in 1346 as Shams-ud-din Shah. Another history says he declared himself king in 1343. Know that the sources differ.

1.5 What did Shams-ud-din do as king?

He fixed the state’s share of the produce of the land at one-sixth. He died after a reign of three years, in 1349.

2.1 Who ruled after Shams-ud-din?

Shihab-ud-din ruled next. He defeated the Jam on the banks of the Indus. Qutb-ud-din succeeded him in 1378.

2.2 How did Sikandar come to the throne?

Qutb-ud-din died in 1394. His widow Sura placed Sikandar on the throne.

2.3 Did Timur reach Kashmir?

No. Timur hurried away from the Indian frontier for Samarqand. So Sikandar never met him.

3.1 Why was Sikandar called Butshikan?

Sikandar came to the throne in 1394. He soon earned the nickname Butshikan, the Iconoclast. That word means idol-breaker. He destroyed all the most famous Hindu temples in Kashmir.

3.2 What happened at Martand?

The Sun Temple at Martand was among the grandest in the valley. A large establishment was kept at work for a year to pull the Martand temples down.

• The massive masonry resisted all efforts.
• Then fire was applied.

Some scholars doubt that gunpowder was used. They say earthquakes and loosely fitted stones can explain the ruin.

3.3 What did Hindus face under him?

Hindus were offered the choice between Islam and exile in one account. Another account lists three choices: death, conversion or exile. His minister Sinha Bhat was a converted Brahman. Wine, gambling and music were also banned in his reign.

3.4 Did he do anything humane?

Burning widows with their dead husbands was prohibited under him. Sikandar died in 1416.

4.1 Who was Zain-ul-Abidin?

One history says he may be regarded as the Akbar of Kashmir. He is remembered as a great king. One history dates his accession to June 1420. Another says 1417. He died in late 1470.

4.2 How did he undo his father's policy?

The jizya, the poll-tax on non-Muslims, was abolished. Many who had pretended to accept Islam returned to the faith of their ancestors. The exiled Pandits came back. He also restored temples.

4.3 What did he build for the people?

He founded a city and bridged rivers. These works helped farmers and traders alike. He brought irrigation water to nearly every village.

• He built a palace twelve stories high, known as Zaina Dab.
• He met most administration costs from the produce of the royal mines.
• In a famous account he paid his own expenses from a copper mine he had found.

4.4 What did he do for learning and craft?

He knew Persian, Hindi and Tibetan besides his own language. A king who could read so widely could also support scholars of every kind.

• He had the Mahabharata and the Rajatarangini translated from Sanskrit into Persian.
• Persian became the language of the court and public offices. The Pandits quickly adapted to it.
• He brought in many art manufactures from foreign countries.
• Royal decrees were engraved on sheets of copper and sent to the principal towns.

4.5 Did anything go wrong?

One account says Chaks set fire to Zaina Dab. His son Haji Khan took the throne as Haidar Shah. He was a drunkard.

5.1 What went wrong after Zain-ul-Abidin?

Later kings were mere puppets. Powerful nobles set them up, pulled them down and set them up again. The most powerful and most turbulent of the tribes was the Chakk clan. The Chaks were Shias. They are said to have come from the country of the Dards.

5.2 How did the Chaks rise?

Muhammad Shah was the first to raise a number of Chaks to high office. By 1556 Ghazi Khan Chak was practically king. The nominal kings were puppets.

5.3 Did outsiders interfere too?

Yes. Mirza Haidar the Mughul entered Srinagar unopposed on 22 November 1540. Kaji Chakk sought aid from Sher Shah, who gave him 5,000 horse. Mirza Haidar was slain in a night attack in 1551. That ended ten years of Mughul rule in Kashmir.

5.4 When did the Shah Mir line end?

Habib Shah was raised to the throne in 1557 on his father’s death. In 1561 Ghazi Khan dethroned and imprisoned him. Ghazi no longer needed to hide behind a puppet.

• He took the throne as Ghazi Shah.
• The house of Shah Mir had held the throne for 215 years, if counted from 1346.

5.5 How did the Chak kings end?

Ghazi Shah was a leper. He lost his sight and gave up the throne for his half-brother Husain. Husain took the throne in 1563-64 as Nasir-ud-din Husain Shah.

6.1 How did Akbar get involved?

In 1568 Akbar’s envoy Mirza Muqim interfered after a Shia-Sunni dispute. It gave Akbar a pretext to meddle in the kingdom’s affairs. In 1578 Ali Shah reported that the khutba had been recited in Akbar’s name. Ali Shah died in 1579 after a polo accident.

6.2 What did Yusuf Shah do?

Yusuf Shah appeared before Akbar at Fathpur-Sikri on 2 January 1580. Then he defeated and captured Lohar Chakk at Sopur on 8 November 1580, and regained the throne. Akbar later sent an army under Raja Bhagwan Das. It made peace on Yusuf’s promise to appear at court.

6.3 What happened at court?

Yusuf appeared at court on 7 April 1586. Akbar broke faith and detained him. One history calls this one of the chief blots on Akbar’s character. Yusuf later got a fief in Bihar and the command of five hundred horse.

6.4 When did Kashmir fall?

The Mughal force under Mirza Kasim reached Srinagar in 1586. From 1586-87 the valley passed from the Sultans to the Mughal Emperors. One standard reference says the region was subjugated in 1586.

6.5 Did resistance continue?

Yes. Yusuf’s son Yaqub fought a guerrilla war for over two years. He submitted on 8 August 1589.

6.6 What did the Mughals leave?

Akbar built the great fort on the Hari-Parbat hill. His son Jehangir loved Kashmir.