Rule from Afar: Mughals, Afghans and Sikhs
Akbar annexes Kashmir in 1586, beginning more than two and a half centuries in which the valley is ruled by governors of the Mughals, then the Afghans and then Ranjit Singh's Sikh kingdom.
- Kashmir (Oxford India Short Introductions) — Chitralekha Zutshi, Oxford University Press (2019)
- Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir — Chitralekha Zutshi, Hurst (2004)
- Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir — Mridu Rai, Princeton University Press (2004)
- The Valley of Kashmir — Walter R. Lawrence, Henry Frowde (1895)
- Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris — Christopher Snedden, Hurst (2015)
- India in the Persianate Age, 1000–1765 — Richard M. Eaton, Allen Lane (2019)
The Mughal garden
In 1586 the emperor Akbar’s armies took Kashmir, and the last Chak sultan, Yusuf Shah, was sent into exile in India. Kashmiri folk memory has never quite forgiven this; Yusuf Shah’s poet-wife Habba Khatoon, “the nightingale of Kashmir”, is credited with songs of separation still sung today, though how much is legend is debated.
- Kashmir (Oxford India Short Introductions) — Chitralekha Zutshi, Oxford University Press (2019)
- Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris — Christopher Snedden, Hurst (2015)
The Mughals loved the valley. Jahangir and Shah Jahan summered there and laid out terraced gardens such as Shalimar and Nishat on Dal Lake. Kashmir became a province of a vast empire, and its shawls, woven from the fine underwool of Himalayan goats, became a prized luxury from Delhi to Iran.
- Kashmir (Oxford India Short Introductions) — Chitralekha Zutshi, Oxford University Press (2019)
- India in the Persianate Age, 1000–1765 — Richard M. Eaton, Allen Lane (2019)
Afghans and Sikhs
As Mughal power faded, Ahmad Shah Durrani’s Afghans took Kashmir in 1752–53. Their governors are remembered for extortion and cruelty, and Pandit and Muslim traditions alike tell of persecution.
- Kashmir (Oxford India Short Introductions) — Chitralekha Zutshi, Oxford University Press (2019)
- The Valley of Kashmir — Walter R. Lawrence, Henry Frowde (1895)
In 1819 Ranjit Singh’s Sikh army took the valley. Sikh rule brought heavy taxes, the closure of Srinagar’s Jama Masjid to prayer and a ban on cow slaughter, harsh on a mostly Muslim population, and a devastating famine in the early 1830s that, British travellers reported, emptied much of the valley.
- Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir — Mridu Rai, Princeton University Press (2004)
- The Valley of Kashmir — Walter R. Lawrence, Henry Frowde (1895)
- Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir — Mridu Rai, Princeton University Press (2004)
The Mughal conquest ended Kashmiri sovereignty; Yusuf Shah Chak, exiled by Akbar and buried far away in Bihar, is mourned, and his wife Habba Khatoon's songs of longing are still sung. Afghan rule is remembered as brutal for Muslims and Pandits alike, and Sikh rule as hard on Muslims, with heavy taxes, the closure of Srinagar's Jama Masjid and a terrible famine.
- Kashmir (Oxford India Short Introductions) — Chitralekha Zutshi, Oxford University Press (2019)
- Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir — Mridu Rai, Princeton University Press (2004)
- The Valley of Kashmir — Walter R. Lawrence, Henry Frowde (1895)
The Mughals integrated Kashmir into a large, prosperous empire whose shawl trade boomed, and the Afghans and Sikhs depended on the same Kashmiri Pandit and Muslim intermediaries. The "dark age" image partly reflects later nationalist and colonial writing, but the evidence of heavy revenue extraction and famine is strong.
- Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir — Chitralekha Zutshi, Hurst (2004)
- Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir — Mridu Rai, Princeton University Press (2004)
Why it matters today
Many Kashmiris date their loss of self-rule not to 1947 but to 1586, when the last Kashmiri dynasty, the Chaks, fell to Akbar. The Mughals left the gardens Kashmir is famous for; the Afghan and Sikh years are remembered as harsh. The sense of being a prized possession governed by outsiders, for their benefit, runs through Kashmiri politics today.