KASHMÍR AND JAMMU
~Kashmír.~--Some account has already been given of the topography and
scenery of the wide territory, covering an area about equal to that of
the Panjáb less the Ambála division, ruled by the Mahárája of Kashmír
and Jammu. The population, races, languages, and religions have been
referred to in Chapters IX and X.
~Modern history.~--Some mention has been made of the early history of
Kashmír (pages 165, 166, 172, 173). Even the hard Sikh rule was a relief
to a country which had felt the tyranny of the Durání governors who
succeeded the Moghals. Under the latter small kingships had survived in
the Jammu hills, but the Jammuwál Rajas met at Ranjít Singh's hands the
same fate as the Kángra Rájas. Three cadets of the Jammu royal house,
the brothers Dhián Singh, Suchet Singh, and Guláb Singh, were great men
at his court. In 1820 he made the last Rája of Jammu. Guláb Singh was a
man fit for large designs. In 20 years he had made himself master of
Bhadráwah, Kishtwár, Ladákh, and Báltistán, and held the casket which
enclosed the jewel of Kashmír. He acquired the jewel itself for 75 lakhs
by treaty with the British at the close of the first Sikh war.
Excluding a large but little-known and almost uninhabited tract beyond
the Muztagh and Karakoram mountains, the drainage of which is northwards
into Central Asia, the country consists of the valleys of the Chenáb,
Jhelam, and Indus, that of the last amounting to three-fourths of the
whole. There is a trifling area to the west of Jammu, which contains the
head-waters of small streams which find their way into the Ráví.
[Illustration: Fig. 138. Mahárája of Kashmír.]
[Illustration: Fig. 139. Sketch Map of Chenáb and Jhelam Valleys (Jammu
and Kashmír).]
~Divisions.~--The following broad divisions may be recognised:
1. Chenáb Valley (_a_) Plain and Kandí or Low Hills.
(_b_) Uplands of Kishtwár and Bhadráwah.
2. Jhelam Valley (_a_) Vale of Kashmír with adjoining glens and hills.
(_b_) Gorge below Báramúla and Kishnganga Valley.
3. Indus Valley (_a_) Ladákh including Zánskar and Rupshu.
(_b_) Báltistán.
(_c_) Astor and Gilgit.
~Chenáb Valley.~--(_a_) _Plain and Kandí._ This tract extends from Mírpur
on the Jhelam to Kathua near the Ráví and close to the head-works of the
Upper Bárí Doáb Canal at Mádhopur. It is coterminous with the Panjáb
districts of Jhelam, Gujrát, Siálkot, and Gurdáspur, and comprises four
of the five districts of the Jammu Province, Mírpur, Riásí, Jammu, and
Jasrota, and a part of the fifth, Udhampur. The plain is moist and
unhealthy. The rough country behind with a stony and thirsty red soil
covered in its natural state with _garna_ (Carissa spinarum), _sanatan_
(Dodonaea viscosa), and _bhekar_ (Adhatoda vasica) does not suffer in
this respect. The chief crops of the Kandí are wheat, barley, and rape
in the spring, and maize and _bájra_ in the autumn, harvest. Behind the
Kandí is a higher and better tract, including Naoshera, with wide
valleys, in which maize replaces _bájra_.
(_b_) _Uplands._ The greater part of the Upper Chenáb Valley is occupied
by Kishtwár and _Jagír_ Bhadráwah. The rainfall is heavy and there is
copious irrigation from _kuhls_ (page 142), but elevation and rapid
drainage make the climate healthy. In the upper parts snow and cold
winds sometimes prevent the ripening of the crops. The poppy is grown in
Kishtwár and Bhadráwah. Kishtwár is a part of the Udhampur district.
~Jhelam Valley.~--(_a_) _Vale of Kashmír with adjoining glens and
mountains._ This first division of the Jhelam Valley extends from the
source above Vernág to Báramúla, and embraces not only the Vale of
Kashmír, over 80 miles long and from 20 to 25 miles in breadth, but the
glens which drain into it and the mountains that surround it. It
therefore includes cultivation of all sorts from rich irrigated rice
fields to narrow plots terraced up mountain slopes on which buckwheat
and the beardless Tibetan barley are grown. The administrative divisions
are the _wazárat_ or district of South Kashmir and the southern part of
North Kashmír. The central valley has an elevation of 6000 feet. It was
undoubtedly once a lake bed. Shelving fan-shaped "_karewas_" spread out
into it from the bases of the hills. The object of the Kashmírí is to
raise as much rice as he possibly can on the alluvium of his valley and
on the rich soil deposited on the banks of mountain streams. Manure and
facilities for irrigation exist in abundance, and full use is made of
them in the cultivation of the favourite crop. _Kangní_ takes the place
of rice in many fields if there is any deficiency of water. On reclaimed
swamps near the Jhelam heavy crops of maize are raised. The tillage for
wheat and barley is as careless as that for rice is careful. The
cultivation of saffron (Crocus sativus) on _karewas_ is famous, but the
area is now limited, as the starving people ate up the bulbs in the
great famine of 1877 and recovery is slow. Saffron is used as a pigment
for the sectarian marks on the forehead of the orthodox Hindu and also
as a condiment. The little floating vegetable gardens on the Dal lake
are a very curious feature. The "_demb_" lands on the borders of the
same lake are a rich field for the market gardener's art. He fences a
bit of land with willows, and deposits on it weeds and mud from the lake
bed. He is of the boatman or Hanz caste, whose reputation is by no means
high, and can himself convey by water his vegetables and fruits to the
Srínagar market. The production of fruit in Kashmír is very large, and
the extension of the railway to Srínagar should lead to much improvement
in the quality and in the extent of the trade. It may also improve the
prospects of sericulture.
[Illustration: Fig. 140. Takht i Sulimán in Winter.]
(_b_) _Jhelam Gorge and Valley of Kishnganga._ The Jhelam gorge below
Báramúla is narrow and the cultivation is usually terraced. The
Kishnganga joins the Jhelam near Muzaffarábád. The Muzaffarábád district
includes the Jhelam gorge and the lower part of the valley of the
Kishnganga. The upper part is in the Uttarmachhipura _tahsíl_ of the
district of North Kashmír.
~Indus Valley.~--(_a_) _Ladákh including Zánskar and Rupshu._ Some
description of Ladákh and its scenery has already been given in Chapter
II. It may be divided into Rupshu, Zánskar, and Ladákh proper with Leh
as its centre. Rupshu in the south-east is a country of great brackish
lakes in no part less than 13,500 feet above sea level. At such a height
cultivation must be very difficult, but a little beardless Tibetan
barley is raised. The scanty population consists mainly of nomad
shepherds. In Ladákh the people are divided into shepherds or
_champas_, who roam over the Alpine pastures, and Ladákhís, who till
laboriously every available patch of culturable land in the river
valleys. Though both are Buddhists they rarely intermarry. Zánskar to
the N.W. of Rupshu is drained by the river of the same name, which flows
northwards to join the Indus below Leh. It forms part of the Kargil
_tahsíl_. Zánskar is a bleak inaccessible region where the people and
cattle remain indoors for six months of the year. Its breed of ponies is
famous. In Ladákh proper cultivation ranges from 9000 to 15,000 feet.
The sandy soil must be manured and irrigated, and is often refreshed by
top-dressings of fresh earth from the hill sides. The crops are wheat
and barley, rape, lucerne, peas and beans, in spring, and buckwheat,
millets, and turnips, in autumn. There is a great lack of wood for
building and for fuel, and the deficiency in the latter case has to be
supplied by cow-dung cakes. Notwithstanding their hard life the people
are cheerful and fairly well off, for polyandry has prevented
overcrowding.
[Illustration: Fig. 141. Ladákh Hills.]
(_b_) _Báltistán._ In Báltistán, which lies to the N.W. of Ladákh, they
are Muhammadans and there is much more pressure on the soil. They are a
cheery race and very fond of polo. To support their families the men
have to work as carriers on the roads to Leh and Gilgit. They tend the
cattle in the pastures, keep the irrigation channels and the walls of
the terraced fields in repair, and do the ploughing. The rest of the
work of cultivation is left to the women. The climate is very severe and
most of the rivers are frozen in winter. On the other hand near the
Indus on the Skardo plain (7250 feet) and in the Rondu gorge further
west, the heat is intense in July and August. The dreary treeless stony
Deosai Plains on the road to Kashmír have an elevation of 13,000 feet.
The cultivation and crops are much the same as in Ladákh. Excellent
fruit is grown, and there is a considerable export of apricots. Gold
washing is carried on with profit.
Ladákh and Báltistán together form the Ladákh _wazárat_, divided into
the three _tahsíls_ of Ladákh, Kargil, and Skardo.
(_c_) _Astor and Gilgit._--Where the Gilgit road from Kashmír descends
from the Burzil pass (13,500 feet) the country of Astor is reached. It
is drained by the Astor river, which joins the Indus to the south of
Bunjí. The bridge which crosses it at Ramghát is only 3800 feet above
sea level. The village of Astor itself is at a height of 7853 feet. The
cultivation is of the same description as that in Báltistán. The aspect
of the country is bleak till the Indus is crossed, and Gilgit (4890
feet) is reached. Here there is a fertile well-watered oasis from which
on every side great mountain peaks are visible. The lands are heavily
manured. Rice, maize, millet, buckwheat, cotton, wheat, barley, rape,
and lucerne are grown. There is a second and easier road to Gilgit
from India over the Bábusar pass at the top of the Kágan Glen in Hazára.
But the posts are sent by the Kashmír road. The Astorís and Gilgitís are
a simple easy-going folk, and, like the Báltís, very fond of polo. A
British Political Agent is stationed at Gilgit. He is responsible to the
Government of India for the administration of Hunza, Nagar, and Yasín,
and of the little republics in the neighbourhood of Chilás. Hunza and
Nagar lie to the north of Gilgit near the junction of the Muztagh and
Hindu Kush ranges, and Yasín far to the west about the upper waters of
the Gilgit river.
[Illustration: Fig. 142. Zojilá Pass (page 12).]
In Astor and Gilgit also Guláb Singh's Dogras replaced the Sikh troops.
But across the Indus Guláb Singh was never strong, and after 1852 that
river was his boundary. He died in 1857, having proved himself a hard
and unscrupulous, but a capable and successful ruler. His son, Randhír
Singh, was a better man, but a worse king. A good Hindu, tolerant, and a
friend of learning, he had not the force of character to control the
corrupt official class, and the people suffered much in consequence. He
was a loyal ally in the Mutiny. In 1860 his forces recovered Gilgit, a
conquest which for years after was a fruitful source of suffering to his
Cis-Indus subjects. The present Mahárája, Sir Pratáp Singh, G.C.S.I.,
succeeded in 1885. While he lived his brother, Rája Amar Singh, played a
very important part in Kashmír affairs. From 1887 to 1905 the
administration was managed by a small council, of which after 1891 the
Mahárája was President and Rája Amar Singh Vice-President. It was
abolished in 1905. There are now under the Mahárája a chief minister and
ministers in charge of the home and revenue departments. Judicial
business is controlled by the Judge of the High Court. Death sentences
must be confirmed by the Mahárája. The highest executive officers are
the governors of Jammu and Kashmír, and the _Wazírs Wazárat_ of Ladákh
and Gilgit. In Jammu and Kashmír each of the eight districts is in
charge of a _Wazír Wazárat_. In connection with the land revenue
settlement, forests, etc., the services of British officers have been
lent to the State. The Government of India is represented at Srínagar by
a Resident, and a political agent at Gilgit exercises a general
supervision over the _Wazír Wazárat_.
During the reign of the present Mahárája great reforms have been
effected. The construction of the Gilgit road has done away with the
blood tax, which the conveyance of supplies to that remote post formerly
involved. The land revenue settlement has largely substituted cash for
kind payments and done away with many abuses. Official corruption and
oppression have been scotched, but would speedily revive if vigilance
were relaxed. The different peoples ruled by the Mahárája are easily
governed if properly treated, and violent crime is rare.
* * * * *
_Note._ In the map appended to Dr Arthur Neve's _Thirty Years in
Kashmír_ the heights of Gasherbrum and Masherbrum (see page 21) are
given respectively as 26,360 and 25,560 feet, and that of Hidden Peak,
S.E. of Gasherbrum, as 26,470 feet. These with _K2_ are the highest
mountains round the Baltoro Glacier. Further east is the Siachen, "the
greatest glacier in Asia," which feeds the Nubra river (page 36). N.E.
of the Siachen is the Teram Kangrí mountain, the height of which does
not probably exceed 25,000 feet. The actual height of the Nun Kun (page
12) is 23,447 feet. Dr Neve gives that of the Karakoram Pass as 18,110
feet, not 18,550 as stated on page 20.