Srinagar, January 6, 2023, Friday
Jammu Kashmir has been suffering from Jihadi terrorism for the last 40 years but it was a Hindu state in ancient times. Where Hindus and Buddhists lived in large numbers. In the 3rd century BC, Emperor Ashoka spread Buddhism in Kashmir. After that King Kanishka also strengthened the roots of Buddhism. The Huns arrived in Kashmir in the sixth century. Kashmir Valley became independent in 530 AD but then became part of the Ujjain Empire.
After the fall of the Vikramaditya dynasty, Kashmir was ruled by local rulers. Hindu and Buddhist cultures began to merge. Among the Hindu kings of Kashmir, Lalitaditya (697 to 738) was famous. His empire extended to Bengal in the east, Konkan in the south, Turkestan in the northwest and Tibet in the northeast. Lalitaditya built many buildings. Islam arrived in Kashmir during the 13th and 14th centuries.
The most famous of the Muslim rulers was Jain ul Abdin (1420-70 AD). After the Tartar invasion, the Hindu king Sinhadev left Kashmir. After that, the Chak rulers ruled till 1526 AD by defeating Haidershah's army. In 1586 AD, Akbar conquered Kashmir and in 1752, when the Mughal rule weakened, it was captured by Ahmad Shah Abdali of Afghanistan. For 67 years, Pathans of Afghans ruled Kashmir. Jammu place of Kashmir is also mentioned in Mahabharata. The surprising thing is that the nefarious Pakistan claims Kashmir as its own, which did not exist before 1947.
It was handed over to Gulab Singh of the Dogra royal nobility in 1846 AD
Harappan remains and Maurya Kushan and Gupta period artefacts are found in the Akhunar region. Jammu was divided into 22 small princely states. Raja Ranjitdev ruled Jammu from 1733 to 1782 AD but his successors were weak. Hence Maharaja Ranjit Singh merged Jammu with Punjab. After that in 1846 AD, Jammu was handed over to Raja Gulab Singh, a descendant of the Dogra Royal Nobility. The entire Jammu and Kashmir came under the rule of Gulab Singh and Ranjit Singh. Till 1947 Jammu was dominated by Dogra rulers. On 26 October 1947, it merged with the Indian Union under an agreement.
