Sikandar Shah Miri

Sikandar Shah, also known as Sikandar Butshikan ("Sikandar, the Iconoclast"),[1] was the sixth sultan of the Shah Miri dynasty of Kashmir from 1389 to 1413.[2]

Not to be confused with Sikandar Lodhi, the Afghan Sultan of Delhi.

Sikandar
Sultan of Kashmir
6th Sultan of the Shah Mir Sultanate
Reign1389–1413 CE
Coronation1389
PredecessorQutub-ud-Din
SuccessorAli Shah
Born1353
Died1413
Full name
Sikandar Shah Miri
HouseShah Miri dynasty
ReligionSunni Islam

Sources

There exists no contemporary source other than portions of the Rajatarangini, written by Jonaraja and his disciple Srivara.[3][4] Persian sources, though existent (Baharistan-i-shahi, Tohfatu'l-Ahbab and Tarikh-i-Kashmir corpus), were penned relatively later.

These were later used by different authors (starting from Abul Fazl, the first chronicler from outside Kashmir and Nizamuddin Ahmad to independent Persian chroniclers to colonial historians to Kashmiri Pandits), with different ideological proclivities, to form varying strands of histories suiting different sociopolitical goals.[5]

Ascension

Sikandar was a minor at the time of his ascension to throne, and his mother Queen Sura (var. Subhata) had to act as a regent for some time.[2][4]

During this span, she had consented to Prime-Minister Rai Magre (var. Uddaka) burning his own daughter (and son-in-law Muhammad, son of a fellow minister Sahaka) on charges of conspiring against Sikandar.[4][6] Magre went on to assassinate Haybat, Sikandar's younger brother and Sahaka before Sikandar came to power.[4][6]

Military Campaigns

Barring a successful invasion of Ladakh, under the commandeering of Rai Magre, Sikandar did not annex any new territory.[2] Magre instigated a rebellion soon after this victory and assassinated Shobha's brother, before turning against Sikandar with his loyal proteges.[4][6] The rebellion was ably suppressed, and Magre was imprisoned whence he committed suicide.[4][6]

A successful war was waged against Firuz, the ruler of Ohind (var. Udabhandapura, Sahibhanga) c. 1400 after he refused to recognize Sikandar's suzerainty; Sikandar went on to marry his daughter Mira (prob. Raksasavivaha) whilst giving away one of his daughters (from Shobha) for marriage to Firuz.[2] Another successful campaign was mounted against Pala Deo (var. Billadeva), the Rajah of Jammu after he refused to pay taxes; Jasrath Khokhar was installed as a vassal, and Sikandar again entered into a matrimonial alliance with his daughter whilst giving away another of his daughter (from Shobha) for marriage to Pala Deo.[2][4]

In December 1398, Sikandar was ordered to pay homage to Timur by his ministers during his camping on the banks of Indus, which though accepted by Sikandar, was not met eventually after being judged by Timur himself to be way above Sikandar's capacities.[2][7] While the two did not meet even once, they shared a mutual admiration; Timur had gifted two elephants to Sikandar.[2][4]

Sociopolity

A welfare-state was apparently installed; oppressive taxes were abolished whilst free schools and hospitals were opened for public usage.[2] Waqfs were endowed to shrines, mosques (Khanqah-e-Moula, Jamia Masjid etc.) were commissioned, numerous Sufi preachers were provided with jagirs and installed in positions of authority; feasts were regularly held.[8][2][4][9] Economic condition was good enough.[4]

Sikandar's rule however terminated the long-standing syncretic and tolerant culture of Kashmir, and in its rigorous abidance by Sharia, severely oppressed the Kashmiri Hindu population.[10][11][2][12][13][14] Music, dance, gambling, intoxicants etc were prohibited and the office of Shaikhu'l-Islam was established to enforce these rules.[2] 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.[2][11][15][16][4]

Ruins of the Martand Sun Temple, razed by Sikandar.[16] (The extensive damage seen in the photo is also a product of several earthquakes;[17] 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.[7][11][16] 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.[11][15][4][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.[4][18]

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.[19][1][6] Sikandar's policies were guided by realpolitik[6] 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.[19] 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.[15][16]

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.[19][1]

Personal life

Sikandar is believed to be of a puritanical temperament who abstained from wine, festivities and music.[2]

Issues, death and succession

Sikandar had (at-least) four sons -- Firuz (Mira; might had been adopted and were exiled) and Mir Khan, Shadi Khan, and Muhammad Khan (Shobha).[4] He had (at-least) two daughters from Sobha.[4]

Sikandar (apparently) met a prolonged and painful death (prob. elephantiasis) in April, 1413 upon which, the eldest son 'Mir' was anointed as the Sultan having adopted the title of Ali Shah.[4] He would be eventually succeeded in a couple of years by Shadi Khan, who adopted the name of Zain-ul-Abidin.[11][1]

Legacy

Under Ali Shah's regime, Suhabhatta became the Prime-Minister and the persecution increased severely with forced conversions becoming commonplace, Hindu customs being banned, and Brahmans being prohibited to leave the territory.[4] However, with Suhabhatta being long-dead of tuberculosis. a regime of tolerance were re-introduced under Zain-ul-Abidin; Hindu art were provided with state-patronage, temples were rebuilt, Brahmans-in-exile were brought back, and neo-Muslims were allowed to convert back.[2][11][3][13][4] Tohfatu'l-Ahbab, penned in the 16th century, blamed the poor state of Islam in the valley on Zain.[18]

Despite, the Islamisation of elite politics meant that very few caste-groups (other than Brahmans) took the opportunity[11] and a largely irreversible change set in post-Sikandar Kashmir.[15][13]

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

References
  1. Obrock, Luther James (2015). Translation and History: The Development of a Kashmiri Textual Tradition from ca. 1000-1500 (Thesis). UC Berkeley.
  2. Hasan, Mohibbul (2005). Kashmīr Under the Sultāns. Aakar Books. pp. 59–95. ISBN 978-81-87879-49-7.
  3. Slaje, Walter (2004). Medieval Kashmir and the Science of History. South Asia Institute, University of Texas at Austin.
  4. 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.
  5. Zutshi, Chitralekha (7 July 2014). "A Literary Paradise : The Tarikh Tradition in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Kashmir". Kashmir's Contested Pasts: Narratives, Sacred Geographies, and the Historical Imagination. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450671.003.0003. ISBN 978-0-19-945067-1.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Zutshi, Chitralekha (2003). "Contested Identities in the Kashmir Valley". Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir. Permanent Black. ISBN 978-81-7824-060-2.
  9. Ahmad, Khalid Bashir (2017). "Malice". Kashmir: Exposing the Myth Behind the Narrative. London: SAGE. p. 32. doi:10.4135/9789353280253.
  10. Aggarwal, Neil (1 July 2008). "Kashmiriyat as Empty Signifier". Interventions. 10 (2): 222–235. doi:10.1080/13698010802145150. ISSN 1369-801X.
  11. AHMAD, AZIZ (1979). "CONVERSIONS TO ISLAM IN THE VALLEY OF KASHMIR". Central Asiatic Journal. 23 (1/2): 3–18. ISSN 0008-9192.
  12. 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.
  13. Witzel, Michael (September 1991). The Brahmins of Kashmir (PDF).
  14. 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 3 February 2021
  15. Slaje, Walter (19 August 2019). "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.
  16. 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.
  17. Bilham, Roger; Bali, Bikram Singh; Bhat, M. Ismail; Hough, Susan (1 October 2010). "Historical earthquakes in Srinagar, Kashmir: Clues from the Shiva Temple at Pandrethan". doi:10.1130/2010.2471(10). Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. 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.
  19. Zutshi, Chitralekha. "This book claims to expose the myths behind Kashmir's history. It exposes its own biases instead". Scroll.in. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
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