KASHMIR - 1800

The most controversial land in India is undoubtedly Kashmir. Wrestled between the three nations - India, Pakistan and China, Kashmir is of interest to everyone around us. Be it a topic of politics, religion, culture or even cuisine, Kashmir always slips in every other topic. But avoiding the post-1947 debate here since it still need a sound viewership to engage, let's talk about the time when it was yet not touched by the East India Company's colonial hands.

Before 1826, the Durranis had their grip held tight over Kashmir. The small enclosed Kashmir valley alone always had a much smaller map and it was only after 1826 when regions of Jammu, Baltistan, Ladakh and Gilgit were added consequently. As the fate of Kashmir passed on from Mughal to Durrani, the ethnic turmoil increased everyday. But the Afghans under Durrani weren't just tyrannical in Kashmir alone, their wrath was experienced by more inward areas of Rohilkhand, which is today's northwestern part of Uttar Pradesh. Rulers such as Abdullah Khan Ishk Aqasi, Shahani Durrani, Haji Karim Dad Khan, Ghulam Qadir etc. are some of the most cruel and notorious Afghan rulers of this time. There was a period of 67 years of Afghan rule in Kashmir that passed on to the Sikhs in 1819, which was another phase of tyranny and cruelty for them.

But its interesting to see a map of Kashmir just centralized around the valley region. This was the time when Srinagar was still written as 'Kashmir' or 'Cashmere', Anantnag was known as Islamabad (till 1950s, actually), Kishtwar was written as Kishtewar or Katshavara, Pampore was Pamper, Khanpur Bhavan was Kanpour etc. In many 18th century maps, Kashmir (or Cashmere) was a tiny strip of shrunken land in Kabul (or Cabul) territory of the Afghans. The Kashmir during this era was stretched only between Pir Panjal (Peer Panchal) mountains and Baramulla to Kishtwar and was surrounded by Lahore (a Mughal province) in the south and Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh (Lahdac) in the east. Jhelum river has been mentioned as Colhumah and Chota Sing (probably Sindh) rivers. Uri (spelled as Ouri), Poonch (spelled as Punoach), Muzaffarabad (Dankly or Danishcote) were further to the west in Lahore and Kabul provinces. Some of the areas whose names are quite difficult to decipher but are mentioned on old maps are Bereng, Deosir, Banaul, Dutchenparah (Dakshin Parah), Vehy, Weer, etc.

Post Durrani period was equally brutal and the Sikh Empire that was now spread throughout Kashmir had its anti-Muslim laws imposed. This continued till 1846 when Kashmir was annexed by the British under the suzerainty of the Dogras. By this time the Sikhs had captured and annexed the kingdoms of Jammu, Baltistan and Ladakh, which the Britishers annexed and jointly established the Princely State of Jammu & Kashmir. And we are all familiar with the story afterwards. But what is more interesting and unfortunate is, that a small crunched-up valley in the Himalayas would expand later exponentially and would become one of the most brutal war-zones in the world. 

The map here is of Kashmir in the early 1800s, when the storm had already started to brim high and sour.