Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)

Encyclopedia

Jammu and Kashmir, officially known as the Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu, was a princely state during the British East India Company rule as well as the British Raj in India from 1846 to 1952. The princely state was created after the First Anglo-Sikh War, from the territories that had earlier been in Sikh Empire.

At the time of the partition of India and the political integration of India, Hari Singh, the ruler of the state, delayed making a decision about the future of his state. However, an uprising in the western districts of the state followed by an attack by raiders from the neighbouring Northwest Frontier Province, supported by Pakistan, forced his hand. On 26 October 1947, Hari Singh acceded to India in return for the Indian military being airlifted to Kashmir to engage the Pakistan-supported forces, starting the Kashmir conflict The western and northern districts presently known as Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan passed to the control of Pakistan, while the remaining territory remained under Indian control as the Indian-administered union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Rulers

S.no Name Reign Ref
1. Gulab Singh 1846–1857
2. Ranbir Singh 1857–1885
3. Pratap Singh 1885–1925
4. Hari Singh* 1925–1952
* Karan Singh (Prince Regent) 1949–1952

Geography

1909 map of British Raj showing Kashmir

The area of the state extended from 32° 17′ to 36° 58′ N and from 73° 26′ to 80° 30′ E. Jammu was the southernmost part of the state and was adjacent to the Punjab districts of Jhelum, Gujrat, Sialkot, and Gurdaspur. There is a fringe of level land along the Punjab frontier, bordered by a plinth of low hilly country sparsely wooded, broken, and irregular. This is known as the Kandi, the home of the Chibs and the Dogras. To travel north, a range of mountains 8,000 feet (2,400 m) high must be climbed.

This is a temperate country with forests of oak, rhododendron, chestnut, and higher up, of deodar and pine, a country of uplands, such as Bhadarwah and Kishtwar, drained by the deep gorge of the Chenab river. The steps of the Himalayan range, known as the Pir Panjal, lead to the second story, on which rests the valley of Kashmir, drained by the Jhelum river.

Steeper parts of the Himalayas lead to Astore and Baltistan on the north and to Ladakh on the east, a tract drained by the river Indus. To the northwest, lies Gilgit, west and north of the Indus. The whole area is shadowed by a wall of giant mountains that run east from the Kilik or Mintaka passes of the Hindu Kush, leading to the Pamirs and the Chinese dominions past Rakaposhi (25,561 ft), along the Muztagh range past K2 (Godwin-Austen Glacier, 28,265 feet), Gasherbrum and Masherbrum (28,100 and 28,561 feet (8,705 m) respectively) to the Karakoram range which merges in the Kunlun Mountains. Westward of the northern angle above Hunza and Nagar, the maze of mountains and glaciers trends a little south of east along the Hindu Kush range bordering Chitral and so on into the limits of Kafiristan and Afghan territory.

Transport

There used to be a route from Kohala to Leh; it was possible to travel from Rawalpindi via Kohala and over the Kohala Bridge into Kashmir. The route from Kohala to Srinagar was a cart-road 132 miles (212 km) in length. From Kohala to Baramulla the road was close to the River Jhelum. At Muzaffarabad the Kishenganga River joins the Jhelum and at this point the road from Abbottabad and Garhi Habibullah meet the Kashmir route. The road carried heavy traffic and required expensive maintenance by the authorities to repair.

Flooding

In 1893, after 52 hours of continuous rain, very serious flooding took place in the Jhelum valley and much damage was done to Srinagar. The floods of 1903 were much more severe, a great disaster.

Administration

Map of Jammu and Kashmir at the end of British Raj (National Geographic, 1946)

According to the census reports of 1911, 1921 and 1931, the administration was organised as follows:

  • Jammu province: Districts of Jammu, Jasrota (Kathua), Udhampur, Reasi and Mirpur.
  • Kashmir province: Districts of Kashmir South (Anantnag), Kashmir North (Baramulla) and Muzaffarabad.
  • Frontier districts: Wazarats of Ladakh and Gilgit.
  • Internal jagirs: Poonch, Bhaderwah and Chenani.

In the 1941 census, further details of the frontier districts were given:

  • Ladakh wazarat: Tehsils of Leh, Skardu and Kargil.
  • Gilgit wazarat: Tehsils of Gilgit and Astore
  • Frontier illaqas: (under the Gilgit Agency) Punial, Ishkoman, Yasin, Kuh-Ghizer, Hunza, Nagar, Chilas.

Prime Ministers (Jammu & Kashmir)

# Name Took Office Left Office
1 Raja Sir Daljit Singh 1917 1921
2 Raja Hari Singh 1925 1927
3 Sir Albion Banerjee January 1927 March 1929
4 G. E. C. Wakefield 1929 1931
5 Hari Krishan Kaul 1931 1932
6 Elliot James Dowell Colvin 1932 1936
7 Sir Barjor J. Dalal 1936 1936
8 Sir N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar 1937 July 1943
9 Kailash Narain Haksar July 1943 February 1944
10 Sir B. N. Rau February 1944 28 June 1945
11 Ram Chandra Kak 28 June 1945 11 August 1947
12 Janak Singh 11 August 1947 15 October 1947
13 Mehr Chand Mahajan 15 October 1947 5 March 1948
14 Sheikh Abdullah 5 March 1948 8 August 1953
15 Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad 9 August 1953 12 October 1963
16 Khwaja Shamsuddin 12 October 1963 29 February 1964
17 Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq March 1964 21 February 1967