Islam in Kashmir

Islam is the major religion practiced in Kashmir, with 97.16% of the region's population identifying as Muslims, as of 2014.[1] The religion - Islam, came to the region with the influx of Muslim Sufis preachers from Central Asia and Persia, beginning in the early 14th century.[2][3] Sometime back majority of the Kashmiri Muslims were of the Sunni religious persuasion, but now with rapid business influx makes Kashmiri Shias account for about and rapidly increasing.[4] Non-Kashmiri Muslims in Kashmir include semi-nomadic cowherds and shepherds, belonging to the Gurjar and Bakarwal communities.[4]

Historical development

Early period of Islamic contact

During the 8th century, the Kingdom of Kashmir was subjected to several attacks aimed at its conquest. Several attempts to conquer Kashmir were made by the Arabs who had established themselves in Sindh (711-13 C.E), under the leadership of Muhammad bin Qasim. But Muhammad bin Qasim was recalled by the Umayyad Caliph to Damascus, thus averting the possible invasion.[5][6] In the reign of Caliph Hisham (724-43 C.E), the Arabs again marched towards Kashmir under the leadership of ambitious and energetic leadership of the governor Junaid. Lalitaditya Muktapida (724–60 CE), the Raja (ruler) of Kashmir, defeated Junaid and overran his kingdom. However, this victory was not decisive as further attempts to invade were made by the Arabs, but Lalitaditya was able to stem the tide of these advances.[5] A last attempt at the invasion of the Kashmir Kingdom was made by Hisham ibn 'Amr al-Taghlibi, the Governor of Sindh, appointed by Caliph Mansur (754-75 C.E). Though he reached as far as the southern slopes of the Himalayas, which were a part of the Kashmir Kingdom, he failed to enter and occupy the valley.[5]

After the Arabs, it was the Ghaznavids who attempted to conquer Kashmir. Mahmud of Ghazni, defeated Raja Jaipal (1002 C.E), the ruler of Waihand (near Peshawar, in modern-day Pakistan).[5][7]Anandpal, the son and successor of Jaipal, also suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Mahmud in 1009 C.E., and died a few years later. Anandpal's son Trilochanpala, whose power of influence was now confined only to the Salt Range, appealed to Samgramaraja (1003-28 C.E), the king of Kashmir, for help against Mahmud. A large army contingent was sent by Samgramaraja, who joined Trilochanpala's forces, however their combined forces were defeated by Mahmud in 1014 C.E. Mahmud advanced towards Kashmir and tried entering the kingdom via the Toshamaidan Pass. His progress was checked by the strong Loharkot Fort, which he besieged for a month. Owing to the heavy snowfall, which cut off Mahmud's communications, he was compelled to retreat.[2][5] However, the Sultan again set out to invade Kashmir in September–October, 1021 C.E, but was again compelled to retreat due to bad weather conditions.[5]

Establishment of Muslim rule and conversion to Islam

After Sultan Mahmud's attempted conquests to invade Kashmir, Kashmir remained generally unaffected and unchanged by invasions that were aimed at the plains of India, up until 1320 C.E. The Loharas (1003-1320 C.E.) ruled during this period, and was the last of the Hindu dynasties of Kashmir. In the spring of 1320, a Turkistani chieftain by the name of Zulqadar Khan Turk (Zulcha Khan), invaded Kashmir via the Jhelum Valley route. Suhadeva (1301–20 C.E), last ruler of the Loharas, tried to organize resistance, but failed due to his unpopularity among the masses. The reason for this unpopularity was financial exaction and general misrule that prevailed during the end period of the Lohara Dynasty.[5] Zulcha Khan's invasion created havoc and Suhadeva fled to Kistwar. Rinchana, son of a Ladakhi chief, who was employed by Ramacandra (Prime Minister of Kashmir) to establish law and order, took advantage of the chaos. He got Ramacandra murdered, occupied the Kashmir throne by the end of the year 1320, and ruled until his death in 1323 C.E. In order to gain acceptance of Kashmiris, he married Kota Rani, the daughter of Ramacandra, and made Rawancandra (Ramacandra's son) his commander-in-chief.[5][8] Rinchen was a pseudo- Buddhist and wanted to get initiated into Brahmanism to strengthen his political base in the Kashmir valley. Since Shaivism was the popular religion at the time in the valley, Rinchen approached Devaswami, the religious head of the Shaivas, for initiation into the Hindu religion. Devaswami, after holding a secret meeting on the subject with prominent Kashmiri Pandits of the time, refused to accept Rinchen into Hinduism, because of Rinchen's low birth.[9] Rinchan converted to Islam after coming into contact with Sayyid Sharfudin, a Sufi preacher commonly known as Bulbul Shah, who had come to Kashmir during the reign of Suhadeva. He changed his name to Sultan Sardarudin Shah after converting to Islam and thus became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir.[5] Following the conversion of Rinchan, his commander in chief also became Muslim. The royal patronage for Islam won it new converts and according to one source, many Kashmiris embraced the creed of Bulbul Shah.[2][5]

The period after Sultan Sardarudin's death was marked by chaos and power tussle. Udayanadeva, the brother of Suhadeva, was made the ruler after an agreement among the nobles. However, he proved to be incompetent, and it was Kota Rani who was the virtual ruler. Soon after Udayanadeva's accession, a foreign chieftain attacked Kashmir, but the invaders were successfully repelled and defeated. However, the administration again fell into chaos. Udayanadeva had fled the country in sight of the attack, and lost his prestige in the eyes of the nobles. He died in the year 1338 C.E, and Kota Rani ascended the throne.[5][8] But Shah Mir, a nobleman employed earlier by Suhadeva, who had also kept the custody of the son of Rinchana and Kota Rani, had his own designs for power. Having married off his Muslim daughters to powerful Hindus of the kingdom and having had sons in positions of official power, he was able to put great political pressure under the queen. A period of battle ensued between him and Kota Rani. Fearing his political plots, she employed Bhikshana as her minister disappointing Shah Mir. According to Jonaraja, in his Rajatarangini, Shah Mir feigned being ill with a fatal disease which prompted a sympathy visit by Bhikshana and his associate, both of whom were immediately ambushed and killed during the visit. In 1339 C.E, Shah Mir killed Kota Rani along with her sons and usurped the throne.[5][8][10]

The Shahmiri Dynasty (1339- 1561 C.E), founded by Sultan Shah Mir, ruled Kashmir for the next 222 years. Various Sufi saints including Bulbul Shah, Shah e Hamdan, Nund Rishi was prolific to spread Islam in the valley through their moderate Sufi ideologies.[11]

Reign of Sikander Shah

Sikandar is hold to have harbored in the Islamisation of elite politics, which set the path for a largely irreversible change in post-Sikandar Kashmir.[12][13]

His reign terminated the long-standing syncretic and tolerant culture of Kashmir, and in its rigorous abidance by Sharia, severely oppressed the Kashmiri Hindu population.[14][15][16][17][18][19] Music, dance, gambling, intoxicants etc were prohibited and the office of Shaikhu'l-Islam was established to enforce these rules.[16] Brahmans were forcibly converted, Hindu and Buddhist shrines of worship were destroyed, Sanskrit literature were purged, Jizya was imposed for those who objected to the abolition of hereditary varnas, and caste marks were prohibited.[16][15][20][21][22]

Ruins of the Martand Sun Temple, razed by Sikandar.[21] (The extensive damage seen in the photo is also a product of several earthquakes[23]; photo taken by John Burke in 1868.)

Motivations and analysis

Upon a literary reading of Rajatarangini, Sikandar's zeal behind the Islamisation of society is attributable to a Sufi preacher Mir Muhammad Hamadani who arrived in the region from Huttalàn (present-day Tajikistan) and stayed for about 12 years during his term, advocating for the creation of a monolithic society based on Islam as the common denominator.[24][15][21] Sikandar's counsel, a neo-Brahman-convert, Suhabhatta (var. Saifuddin) is held to have played the guiding role in the execution of those exclusionary orthodox policies by "instigating" the Sultan.[15][20][22][lower-alpha 1] Baharistan-i-shahi as well as Tohfatu'l-Ahbab deemed Sikandar as the noblest ruler, who cleaned Kashmir of all heretics and infidels on Hamadani's influence.[22][25]

Chitralekha Zutshi, Richard G. Salomon and others however reject that there were purely religious motives behind Sikandar's actions and calls for a nuanced contextual reading of Rajatarangini, in that it was commissioned by his successor, wishing to bring back the Brahminical elite into the royal fold and (simultaneously) strove to establish Sanskrit as an integral part of the vernacularizing world of the cosmopolitan Sultanate.[26][27][28] Sikandar's policies were guided by realpolitik[28] and, like with the previous Hindu rulers, essentially an attempt to secure political legitimacy by asserting state-power over Brahmans and gaining access to wealth controlled by Brahminical institutions.[26] Walter Slaje disagrees, in part, given the differential rituals of destruction undertaken by Hindu and Muslim kings with the latter specifically rendering sites inoperable for long passage of time by massive pollution or outright conversion but he concludes that the fierce opposition of Hindus to Muslim rulers (including Sikandar) primarily stemmed from their aversion to the slow disintegration of caste-society under Islamic influence.[20][21]

Fringe revisionist scholars reject the narratives of persecution all-together, and allege the "Brahman" chroniclers of wanton bias as well as myth-making, stemming from their personal jealousy at losing socioeconomic dominance.[26][27]

References
  1. Comprehensive SVEEP Plan of J&K State 2014 (PDF) (Report). ECI. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-09-01. Retrieved 2016-11-11.
  2. Sufi, G.M.D. (2015). Kashir : being a history of Kashmir : from the earliest times to our own. Gulshan Books Kashmir, Srinagar, 2015. pp. 75–95. OCLC 924660438. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  3. Yatoo, Altaf Hussain (2012). The Islamization of Kashmir: A Study of MuslimMissionaries. Kashmir, India: GULSHAN BOOKS. ISBN 978-8183391467.
  4. Snedden, C. (2015). Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris. Oxford University Press, 2015. p. 148. ISBN 9781849043427. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  5. Hasan, M. (1959). Kashmir Under the Sultans. Aakar Books, 1959. pp. 29–30. ISBN 8187879491. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  6. Sen, S.N (1999). Ancient Indian History and Civilization. New Age International, 1999. pp. 293–294. ISBN 8122411983. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  7. Jaques, T (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: P-Z. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. p. 1089. ISBN 978-0313335396. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  8. Kaw, M. K. (2004). Kashmir and Its People: Studies in the Evolution of Kashmiri Society. APH Publishing, 2004. pp. 178–179. ISBN 8176485373. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  9. Rinchen wanted Hinduism first;Explore Kashmiri Pandits book. ISBN 9780963479860.
  10. Sufi, G.M.D. (1979). Islamic culture in Kashmir. New Delhi : Light & Life Publishers, 1979. pp. 32–48. OCLC 5750806.
  11. "Kashmir's Composite Culture: Sufism & Communal Harmony - Kashmiriyat". www.efsas.org. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
  12. Slaje, Walter (2019-08-19). "Buddhism and Islam in Kashmir as Represented by Rājataraṅgiṇī Authors". Encountering Buddhism and Islam in Premodern Central and South Asia. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110631685-006. ISBN 978-3-11-063168-5.
  13. Witzel, Michael (September 1991). The Brahmins of Kashmir (PDF).
  14. Aggarwal, Neil (2008-07-01). "Kashmiriyat as Empty Signifier". Interventions. 10 (2): 222–235. doi:10.1080/13698010802145150. ISSN 1369-801X.
  15. AHMAD, AZIZ (1979). "CONVERSIONS TO ISLAM IN THE VALLEY OF KASHMIR". Central Asiatic Journal. 23 (1/2): 3–18. ISSN 0008-9192.
  16. Hasan, Mohibbul (2005). Kashmīr Under the Sultāns. Aakar Books. pp. 59–95. ISBN 978-81-87879-49-7.
  17. Slaje, Walter (2019). "A Glimpse into the Happy Valley's Unhappy Past: Violence and Brahmin Warfare in Pre-Mughal Kashmir". Brahma's Curse : Facets of Political and Social Violence in Premodern Kashmir. Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis - 13. p. 5. ISBN 978-3-86977-199-1.
  18. Witzel, Michael (September 1991). The Brahmins of Kashmir (PDF).
  19. Accardi, Dean (2017), Zutshi, Chitralekha (ed.), "Embedded Mystics: Writing Lal Ded and Nund Rishi into the Kashmiri Landscape", Kashmir: History, Politics, Representation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 247–264, ISBN 978-1-107-18197-7, retrieved 2021-02-03
  20. Slaje, Walter (2019-08-19). "Buddhism and Islam in Kashmir as Represented by Rājataraṅgiṇī Authors". Encountering Buddhism and Islam in Premodern Central and South Asia. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110631685-006. ISBN 978-3-11-063168-5.
  21. Slaje, Walter (2019). "What Does it Mean to Smash an Idol? Iconoclasm in Medieval Kashmir as Reflected by Contemporaneous Sanskrit Sources". Brahma's Curse : Facets of Political and Social Violence in Premodern Kashmir. Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis - 13. pp. 30–40. ISBN 978-3-86977-199-1.
  22. Slaje, Walter (2014). Kingship in Kaśmīr (AD 1148‒1459) From the Pen of Jonarāja, Court Paṇḍit to Sulṭān Zayn al-‛Ābidīn. Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis - 7. Germany. ISBN 3869770880.
  23. Bilham, Roger; Bali, Bikram Singh; Bhat, M. Ismail; Hough, Susan (2010-10-01). "Historical earthquakes in Srinagar, Kashmir: Clues from the Shiva Temple at Pandrethan". doi:10.1130/2010.2471(10). Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  24. Ogura, Satoshi (2015). "INCOMPATIBLE OUTSIDERS OR BELIEVERS OF A DARŚANA?: REPRESENTATIONS OF MUSLIMS BY THREE BRAHMANS OF ŠĀHMĪRID KAŠMĪR". Rivista degli studi orientali. 88 (1/4): 179–211. doi:10.2307/24754113. ISSN 0392-4866.
  25. Zutshi, Chitralekha (2014). "Garden of Solomon : Landscape and Sacred Pasts in Kashmir's Sixteenth-Century Persian Narratives". Kashmir's Contested Pasts : Narratives, Sacred Geographies, and the Historical Imagination. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199450671.
  26. Zutshi, Chitralekha. "This book claims to expose the myths behind Kashmir's history. It exposes its own biases instead". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  27. Obrock, Luther James (2015). Translation and History: The Development of a Kashmiri Textual Tradition from ca. 1000-1500 (Thesis). UC Berkeley.
  28. Salomon, Richard; Slaje, Walter (2016). "Review of Kingship in Kaśmīr (AD1148–1459). From the Pen of Jonarāja, Court Paṇḍit to Sulṭān Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn. Critically Edited by Walter Slaje with an Annotated Translation, Indexes and Maps. [Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis 7], SlajeWalter". Indo-Iranian Journal. 59 (4): 393–401. doi:10.2307/26546259. ISSN 0019-7246.

Further reading
  1. Suhabhatta's daughter was also married off to Mir Hamadani.
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