One of the most pithy sayings about Kashmir is the Persian couplet attributed to the poet Amir Khusrau, which has become something of an official slogan of the region. It was also frequently repeated by the Mughal emperor Jahangir, who was enchanted when he visited the area: "Gar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, hamin asto, hamin asto, hamin ast" ("If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this").
The past and history of Kashmir may be divided into the following periods: (a) the Mythological, Vedic and Buddhist Period (before 300 BCE – 500 CE); (b) the Hindu Dynasties and the Cultural Zenith (500–1300); (c) the Spread of Islam and the Shah Mir Dynasty (1300–1586); (d) the Mughal Period (1586–1752); (e) Afghan (1752–1819) and Sikh (1819–1846) Rule; (f) Dogra Rule and the Treaty of Amritsar (1846–1947); and (g) the Formation of Political Consciousness (1930–1947).
Before the era of land reclamation and agriculture, Kashmir's historians recorded its name as Sati-sar. Sati is another name of Parvati, the wife of Mahadev (Shiva). When the perpetually snow- and hail-covered Himalayan mountain range emerged, the valley was continually inundated and turned into a lake. Sar means "lake"; hence Satisar means "the lake of Sati" (Alam, 2005).
Al-Biruni (973–1048) states that Kashmir lies adjacent to the homeland and territories of the Turks, on a plateau surrounded by high and impassable mountains; that the Sindh (Indus) river rises in the Unang mountains in Turkish territory; that its south and east belong to the Hindus; that its west belongs to various kings (Bolar-Shah and Shuguan-Shah), with the more distant parts extending to the borders of Badakhshan belonging to Wahan-Shah; and that its north and part of its east belong to the Turks of Khotan and Tibet.
The capital is Addishtan. The inhabitants of Kashmir travel on foot, while their nobles travel in litters called katt, carried on men's shoulders. Great importance is attached to the natural defensive strength of the country; the entry points and roads leading into it are kept under strict control, and no Hindu not personally known to them is said to have been permitted to enter.
On entering Kashmir and leaving the valley for the plateau, one travels for two days with the mountains of Bolor and Shamilan on the left. Here live the Turkish tribes known as Bhattavaryan. Their kings bear the title "Bhatta-Shah"; their cities include Gilgit, Aswira and Shiltus, and their language is Turkic. Kashmir suffers greatly from the raids these tribes launch (Albiruni, 1910).
In the thirteenth century, al-Hamawi wrote of Kashmir: "It is a medium-sized city of the land of India. It neighbours a community of Turks, and its people's lineages have mingled with theirs; hence they are the most beautiful of God's creatures in appearance. Kashmir is a large and magnificent city. It has a solid wall and a moat, and is half the size of the Chinese city of Sandabil. Its king is greater than all other kings and is the most fully obeyed. They hold festivals at the beginning of the months and when the Sun and Moon enter the houses of their exaltation. They have a great observatory in a house made of Chinese iron, which time does not affect. They venerate the Pleiades. Their food is wheat. They eat salted fish; they do not eat eggs and do not slaughter animals" (al-Hamawi, 1997).
The Kushan dynasty, which ruled northern India and Kashmir, is referred to as Turushkanvaya ("of Turkic lineage"). The three Turushka kings, Huska, Juska and Kanishka, are explicitly described as Turkic princes, that is, powerful Turkic rulers and loyal patrons of the Buddhist Church. Indeed, the cities bearing these three names (Kaniskapura, present-day Kanispor/Kanispura near Baramulla; Huskapura, present-day Ushkur/Ushkara in the Baramulla region, which lies on the Jhelum [Vitasta] river corridor, served as a strategic gateway into the Kashmir Valley, and became a flourishing centre for Buddhist monks; and Juskapura, present-day Zukur/Zugiyar) are three interconnected ancient settlements founded in the Kashmir Valley during the Kushan Empire (first–second centuries CE) (Stein, 1900; Sabnis, 2016).
Toramana was one of the kings in Kashmir of the Alchon Huns (fourth–sixth centuries), regarded as a sub-branch of the White Hun (Hephthalite) Empire. This name, probably of Turkic origin, was also borne until the tenth century by a Hindu ruler in Gandhara (Stein, 1900).
Kalhana records the connection between the Turks and Kashmir through the travelogue of the Chinese traveller Ou-k'ong, who visited Kashmir between 759 and 763; it notes that there were many sacred Buddhist sites in Kashmir founded by members of the "Tou-kiue," that is, the Turkic dynasty, which points to close relations between Kashmir and the Turkic tribes. Kalhana also writes that the Karkota ruler Lalitaditya had a Turkic minister named Cankuna (Stein, 1900).
Furthermore, King Kalasa of Kashmir (1063–1089 CE) commissioned some Turkic architects to build a golden umbrella over the Kalasesvara temple, and Turks served in the army of Harsha, another ruler of the same state (Lal, 1973).
The only factor that, despite the inadequacy of the country's internal resources, protected it from external attack for a long time is the immense mountain ramparts that surround it (Stein, 1900).
Islam entered the Indian subcontinent by three routes. The first was through Arab Muslim merchants who arrived in South India in the first Islamic century (AH), lived among the Indians and spread Islam among them. The second was the entry of Arab armies into Sind under Muhammad b. al-Qasim al-Thaqafi (695–715) in the last decade of the first Islamic century, under the Umayyads. The third was the conquest of India by Mahmud of Ghazni (971–1030), who entered the subcontinent through the Khyber Pass in 1000 CE and consolidated Islamic rule in India. In the conditions of Kashmir, however, Muslims were able to reach it in large numbers only in the eighth century AH (fourteenth century CE).
The first Muslim to come to Kashmir is said to have been a man named Samim b. Shams, who arrived from the Syrian region in 713. Later, in 1089–1101, during the reign of King Harsha, some Muslims joined the Kashmiri army. At that time there were few Muslims in Kashmir. The Muslim population increased in the fourteenth century CE, when Islamic preaching began to spread. This occurred when Amir Rinchana, who came from the Ladakh region, seized Kashmir. He was a Buddhist; he respected and praised scholars and valued their scholarly debates, but in his heart he was not satisfied with Buddhism. He was later influenced by a devout Muslim whom he saw praying in the open air, and was ultimately drawn by the simplicity and comprehensiveness of Islam; he converted and took the name Sadr al-Din. Many of his subjects followed him (Nadwi, 2021).
The Ghaznavids, under Sebuktegin, Mahmud and Mas'ud, launched campaigns against India. Mahmud of Ghazni carried out the first of his Indian campaigns, which lasted thirty years, in 1000. Mahmud advanced to Somnath in western India, to the southern borders of Kashmir, and to the Ganges–Yamuna plain. During his campaign in the Kashmir Valley (1015), he is reported to have "converted many unbelievers to Islam and returned to Ghazni after spreading Islam in those lands." According to Nizam al-Din Ahmad, "in this part of the country Islam spread through the consent of the people and the effect of force. The conversion of the Hindus to Islam was one of Mahmud's aims. Mahmud and his successor Mas'ud built mosques and schools and appointed preachers and teachers. Wherever he went, Mahmud insisted that the people convert to Islam." In his Indian campaign of 1021–22, Mahmud came as far as Lohkot in Kashmir, but made little headway. Ahmad Inaltegin, one of the commanders of his son Mas'ud, reached as far east as Benares. The establishment of lasting dominion in these regions was neither intended nor possible. Consequently, since the parties had no interest in one another, no appreciable cultural or religious interaction took place between these two opposing faiths and cultures at that time (Muhammad Shahid, 2014; Alberuni, 1910).
In his Divan, Khwaja Salman defines the borders of the Ghaznavids as follows: "Its length extends from Lahore to the Euphrates, and its breadth from Kashmir to the borders of Sistan." Under Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire extended from Ghazni to Chittagong and from Kashmir to the Carnatic.
Some conversions also occurred in Gujarat and Kashmir during the time of Mahmud of Ghazni. There is therefore almost no doubt that, as a result of Mahmud's campaigns, several thousand people converted to Islam within the first three decades of the eleventh century. During and after his raids, several Muslim settlements were established, some of them in quite distant places such as Kanauj, Banaras and Bahraich. This is partly confirmed by the Lama historian Taranatha (1575–1634), who mentions Turkic settlements in Antarvedi, otherwise known as the Ganges–Yamuna Doab, and adds that, under Lavasena and his successors, before the arrival at Odantapuri and Vikramashila (1203), the number of Turks in the Magadha region had increased. By the end of the eleventh century, it appears that several thousand Muslims were present in Gujarat, Sind, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Kashmir.
Conversions did not occur only during campaigns and wars. Muslim rulers freely used the state machinery of the time to increase the number of their co-religionists. This took the form of support given to Muslims from other lands (scholars, administrators, shaykhs, soldiers, and so forth), which led to large-scale Muslim migration. Another step was the state's construction of mosques, hospices (imarat) and cisterns. In addition to serving as places of worship and centres of Islamic learning, these mosques met the possible needs of potential converts and of the poor.
By the late fourteenth century the situation was as follows. Kashmir's acquaintance with Islam had begun with the campaigns of Mahmud of Ghazni. Until Timur's arrival at the end of the fourteenth century, the Muslim population of Kashmir was insignificant. Shah Mirza of Swat came to Kashmir in 1315 and entered the service of Prince Sinha Deva; some time later, after the overthrow of the Hindu dynasty, he himself ascended the throne in 1346. With this event the era of Muslim rulers in the Kashmir Valley began. The conversion process gained momentum during the reign of Sikandar Butshikan (1394–1417). Hindu sources claim that under his rule Kashmiris were offered no choice other than accepting Islam or going into exile; that some Kashmiri Brahmans committed suicide, many abandoned the land, others adopted Islam, and some continued to live by resorting to taqiyya (dissimulation). According to them, only eleven Brahman families remained in Kashmir. Hence, they argue, the reason why today there are no more than 524 Hindus in every 10,000 inhabitants of the Kashmir Valley is his excessive zeal. The Raja of Jammu was converted to Islam by Timur, but the Jammu region remained largely Hindu (Lal, 1973).
Sayyid Ali al-Hamadani was a great preacher who changed the course of the history of Islam in Kashmir. He entered Kashmir from Iran in 1384. His arrival was a turning point in the history of Islam and Muslims in Kashmir. Hamadani was a man of great vision and influenced all segments of Kashmiri society. He did not confine himself to providing religious guidance to the people of Kashmir; he also developed their culture. He guided them spiritually and also supported them economically. He brought about a gradual revolution in the life of the people. His influence on the minds of ordinary people was matched by his influence on the lives of rulers (Nadwi, 2021).
Ali b. Shihab al-Din b. Muhammad al-Hamadani (d. 1385), founder of the Hamadaniyya branch of the Kubrawiyya order and a figure of considerable influence in the Islamization of Kashmir, went to Kashmir in the time of Sultan Shihab al-Din (1372) with seven hundred sayyids and stayed there for four months. On his second journey to Kashmir, seven years later, he was received by Sultan Qutb al-Din, the brother who had succeeded Sultan Shihab al-Din. By establishing good relations with the sultan and persuading him to abandon practices contrary to the principles of Islam, he was influential in the acceptance of Islam by the non-Muslim population of Kashmir. After staying there for two and a half years, he set out to return to Hamadan. Learning that Timur had expelled the sayyids from Hamadan, he stopped in Turkestan and Khuttalan and returned to Kashmir again in 1383. He did not stay there long, however; he fell ill during a pilgrimage journey and died at Kebrusvar (6 Dhu al-Hijja 786/19 January 1385). Hamadani sought to reconcile the principles of the Kubrawiyya order with the views of Ibn al-'Arabi. Members of this order were active through the lodges (tekkes) they established in India, above all in Kashmir, and in Turkestan (Yazici, 1998).
Al-Hamadani, a descendant of Ali (may God be pleased with him) and a follower of the Shafi'i school, was a much-travelled wayfarer. It is reported that he set out for Kashmir because he saw in a dream the Prophet (peace be upon him) asking him to go to Kashmir and call its people to the right path of Islam. According to another account, the threat of Timur, who was devastating the lands of Islam, compelled him to travel to Kashmir, a place beyond Timur's dominion.
When the Muslim ruler Sultan Shihab al-Din (AH 760–775) took over the government, he went to Kashmir. He purified the hearts of the rulers and the people of the remnants of polytheism, clarified the command of Islam, and spread the truth. To proclaim the message of Islam, he sent his followers and students to every part of the land of Kashmir. In later periods he left a great influence on the local Sufis of Kashmir.
Al-Hamadani brought about fundamental changes in the lives of Kashmiris. He raised their standard of living and ensured that Kashmiris conformed to the Islamic value system. Because Islam reached Kashmir by way of Khurasan, shared cultural values existed. Kashmir had previously been a centre of Buddhist culture or a Hindu society; after the arrival of Muslims from Khurasan, however, Islam effected cultural transformations in Kashmiri society. Notably, al-Hamadani brought with him many artists and merchants from Khurasan and Hamadan, through whom Kashmir shifted from Hindu influence to Persian Muslim influence. For anyone with a heart, or who lends an ear as a witness, this Persian influence in the life of Kashmiris is quite evident.
His influence was also seen on the Kashmiri literary scene. The only literary genres in Kashmiri poetry were vakh, vatsun and shrukh. After his arrival, the ghazal, qasida, marthiya (elegy), masnavi, na't, manqabat (hagiography) and ruba'i were introduced into Kashmir from Khurasan.
Kashmir's rulers sincerely heeded his counsel in affairs of state and followed his guidance in religious matters. On his advice, Sultan Shihab al-Din of Kashmir signed a truce with the King of India; the Sultan began to wear the dress of Turkic rulers instead of Hindu garments, and founded a madrasa in which the Islamic sciences were taught. The Sultan also built a library for the public benefit.
Through the merchants and artisans who came with him from Khurasan, he established handicrafts and trade in Kashmir. Thus Hindu civilization and culture yielded their place to Islamic civilization and culture, and in language, Arabic and Persian replaced Sanskrit.
Although al-Hamadani was a Shafi'i, he asked all his followers and students to adopt the Hanafi school, because the Hanafi school had reached Kashmir before his arrival. He never thought of spreading his own school; his only concern was that people should enter Islam and be guided. It is widely known that few Brahmans enter Islam; yet he won the majority of the people of Kashmir to Islam, and most of these were Brahmans (Nadwi, 2021).
When a series of weak sultans subsequently came to power in Kashmir, the land was divided among rival local magnate factions. During the intrigues and conflicts of these magnates, Kashmir came within the sphere of interest of the Mughal state. Mirza Haidar's expedition via Ladakh (1532), which for a time brought Kashmir under the sway of this daring Turkic leader, was no mere episode but the first direct conquest. It formed part of the great historical process that carried the last wave of conquerors from the north, namely Babur's Turks, into India. Mirza Haidar had to leave Kashmir in pursuit of other conquests, but the Mughal Empire, to whose foundation he had contributed, did not relinquish its claim to the valley. In 1540 Mirza Haidar came from the south and regained control of Kashmir, declaring that he did so on behalf of the exiled Emperor Humayun. After his rule, Kashmir lapsed again into protracted conflicts among the great feudal families; and, following the great task of consolidating the Mughal Empire in northern India, Akbar's forces crossed the mountains in 1586 and brought Kashmir under Mughal sovereignty as well (Lal, 1973).
In 1547 Mirza Haidar strengthened his bonds of friendship with 'Abd al-Rashid, Sultan of Kashgar, and dedicated to him his famous work Tarikh-i Rashidi. Mirza Haidar Dughlat governed Kashmir from 1540 to 1551. During this time he established peace and security and good government, and promoted trade, agriculture and commerce. He was an exemplary ruler. He possessed great skill in calligraphy, painting and other crafts. He introduced various musical instruments to Kashmir. In construction he introduced many innovations: bathhouses, window-work and new styles of windows, as well as innovations in doors, dress and food. He patronized scholars and brought in artisans and craftsmen from abroad. He had many mosques built in Srinagar and had baths added to them so that Muslims could pray in heated mosques even in the severe winters. He built splendid buildings and beautiful gardens. Mirza Haidar was strictly devoted to the Sunni school and tolerated no interference in this regard. For this reason he dealt with great severity with those who showed disrespect for the exalted status of the Rightly Guided Caliphs (may God be pleased with them all), and sought to eliminate them, regarding himself as justified in doing so (Alam, 2021).
Akbar's conquest marks the beginning of the modern history of Kashmir. In the subsequent period, when Kashmir became the favoured summer residence of an imperial court ruling all of India, the close political ties established with a great empire and the free interaction with other regions subject to it transformed the country's political and economic situation in many respects.
Records of administration in Kashmir were written in a distinctive Sanskrit jargon, full of Persian and Arabic words that became widespread in Kashmir shortly after the entry of Islam into the region. An example is the monument in Srinagar built in the time of Sultan Muhammad Shah, which bears an inscription dated 1484. In addition, there are short undated Sanskrit inscriptions (Lal, 1973).
Kashmir's connection with the Mughal state continued in one form or another. The Kashmiri Ghalib was present at the court of Aurangzeb, the last powerful Mughal sovereign (Muhammad Shahid, 2014).
Pilgrims of Turkic origin from Kashgar, Yarkand and other parts of Central Asia, whether on their way to Mecca or returning, invariably make a long halt in Kashmir. Those who hold the lands east of Kashmir are the Tibetan Turks, and their language is Turkic (Stein, 1899).
Location, geography and climate. Kashmir lies in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent; it is surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains and contains rivers that rise from these mountains (such as the Ganges) (Qazwini, 1998). In the north it borders Turkic and Tibetan lands (al-Nuwayri, 2004). Its climate is cold in winter, with snow and rain continuing without interruption for three months (Qazwini, 1998).
Cities and administrative structure. Kashmir is a broad region comprising many cities, including Inner Kashmir and Outer Kashmir (Ibn Fadl Allah al-'Umari, 2010; al-Qalqashandi, 1987). The area of the region is said to include some 60,000 cities and villages (Abu 'Ubayd al-Bakri, 1992). At different times the capital of the region has been the town of Adhishthana (Biruni, 1958) and Srinagar (Ibn 'Abd al-Mun'im al-Himyari, 1980).
Government and politics. Kashmir was ruled by local kings such as the Rai of Kannauj (Hudud al-'Alam, p. 89) and "Kannauj" (Ibn 'Abd al-Mun'im al-Himyari, 1980). At certain times Kashmir was under the sovereignty of the great Indian king of Kannauj, known as Ra (Ibn Fadl Allah al-'Umari, 2010). Islamic conquests of the region were carried out by Mahmud of Ghazni (Ibn al-Athir, 1997).
Economy and trade. Kashmir became famous for its trade and had a flourishing economy, harbouring many merchants (Hudud al-'Alam, 1937). It was known for the quality of the musk exported from it (al-Nuwayri, 2004) and for woollen weaving, above all Kashmir shawls, whose production later spread to Europe (al-Maydani, 1999; Kurd 'Ali, 1983).
Religions and customs. Before Islam, the people of Kashmir worshipped idols (al-Baladhuri, 1988) and had their own pagan festivals and feasts (Biruni, 1958). They would visit certain idols in Kashmir and perform pilgrimage to them (Biruni, 1958). Islam entered and spread in Kashmir at the hands of the Ghaznavids and Muslim emirs.
Culture and learning. Many scholars, jurists, poets and men of letters emerged from Kashmir, and works of history, biography and the sira were written there (Abd al-Hayy al-Husayni, 1999). Together with Benares, the city of Kashmir was one of the most important centres in India where the religious sciences were taught (Biruni, 1958).
As can be seen, Kashmir has been in communication and contact since ancient times with Southern Turkestan, Eastern Turkestan and the wider Khurasan geography. Occupying a special place in Turkic history, Kashmir is, as it were, one of the constituent parts of this geography.
In Turkish literature, too, Kashmir has been invoked as a land of unattainable beauties and dreams. Sheikh Galib says in one couplet:
"Gark ider ta kishver-i Keshmiri sebz-ab-i hayal / Fikr-i Galib kim sevad-i Hinde Kabil'den gecer"
(Galib's thoughts pass from Kabul into the lands of India, and submerge the land of Kashmir, from end to end, in the green waters of imagination.)
The devastating effect that a combination of intermittent wars, foreign invasions, famine and epidemic disease can have on a population is clearly illustrated by the case of Srinagar in nineteenth-century Kashmir. Moorcroft, who visited the city in 1823, estimated its population at 240,000; Elphinstone, a prudent and cautious observer, gave a figure between 150,000 and 203,000 early in the same century. Another source calculates that the population of Srinagar subsequently did not exceed 40,000, while Vigne and Cunningham estimated it at 80,000. Such a terrible decline within so short a period was the combined result of oppression, epidemics and famine (Lal, 1973).
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