Gulab Singh has hitherto been eager to lick the dust below my feet.
—Dalhousie
…. [Gulab Singh] caught my dress in his hands, and cried aloud, “thus I grasp the skirts of the British Government, and I will never let go my hold.”
—Dalhousie
If the whole surface of the earth were to become paper, the trees pens, and the rivers turn into ink, they would all be insufficient to express my unbounded pleasure. It is well known that I owe to the British Government the preservation of my life, my country and everything that I have; and it may well be said of this your humble friend that you have performed the miracle of Christ in raising me from the dead.
—Gulab Singh
Gulab Singh was not coaxing or cajoling the British when he, unlike a typical enlightened oriental despot, described himself as their ‘zarkhareed ’} He was speaking, though in a beautifully and politely-phrased manner, the truth that he was their slave boughten by gold (Kashmir)- He was revealing the actual fact that his Kashmir Kingdom was their creation, and was unambiguously expressing his preparedness to abide by the English dictates in the management of the public affairs of the new State. The articles (IV to X) of the Treaty of Amritsar also made it glaringly obvious that Gulab Singh was a ‘Maharaja’ on paper only. So were his successors; Ranbir Singh, Partap Singh and Hari Singh whose puppet Government’s atrocities the Kashmiri masses had to endure for about a century till they decided to change their plight only to be landed in the wilderness of confusion and desperation which has; made their future uncertain; bedevilled their intercommunal and interregional relations with antagonism; and embroiled India and Pakistan in a long and bitter conflict since 1947.
Before proclaiming himself as the ‘Maharaja’, Gulab Singh reiterated his commitment to follow what the British deemed advisable in the circumstances prevailing in the Valley. The piercing sound of this commitment reverberated from Jama Masjid when the ‘Maharaja’s proclamation was read in presence of Gulab Singh and Lawrence; emphasizing that he would: make no discrimination on the basis of religion and region; abolish the custom of sati and infanticide; give up his personal mercantile dealings. But in course of time, his words rang hollow and played hoax on the Kashmiris, as noted earlier.
It would be foolish to condemn the British senior most officials, who had opposed their Government for giving Kashmir to Gulab Singh, for their disapprobation of the Dogra anti-Kashmiri policies. Equally unjustified would be to construe their exhortations, which evoked zero response, as unfair interference in Gulab Singh’s internal matters. The British persuasion of the Dogra ruler to reduce the prices of shali, singhara and other essential commodities; and to look with equal favour on Hindus and Muslims, Kashmiris and Dogras; and introduce reforms in administration did not tantamount to interference. These concerns of the English had neither any political dimension nor expansionist angle; these were based on humanitarian considerations and the agreement reached with Gulab Singh before his assuming the office of the Maharaja of Kashmir. He was severely condemned for his failure to dispense justice to the Kashmiris. Herbert Edwards described him:
The worst native I have ever come in contact with, a bad king, a miser, and a liar.
Even his ardent supporter Lawrence (who believed that the Dogra takeover would be hailed as a “welcome deliverance from the government of the Sikhs”) did not spare him for his failure to fulfil his earlier commitments and exhorted him to improve the lot of his subjects. He told Gulab Singh that:
If I heard that his subjects were happy and his chiefs and army contented, [then] I too should be satisfied.
Agitations launched by the Kashmiri shopkeepers, shawl-bafs, farmers and merchants against Gulab Singh’s taxation policy did not escape the attention of the English who, therefore, made every effort to bring a change in the situation. But the cunning ‘Maharaja’ always duped them into believing that the Kashmiris were content with his rule. Hassan Khuihami writes :
In 1847A.D., Mr. Taylor Sahib came to Kashmir to inquire into the conditions in Kashmir and to suggest reforms in the Maharaja’s administration……He called a general Darbar in the Maisuma grounds, and in a very loud voice he inquired ‘o you! the people of Kashmir, are you happy with the Maharaja’s rule or not?’ Some of the people, who had been tutored by Pandit Rajkak, shouted back, “yes, we are.”
It was Gulab Singh’s astute move to play the British false and keep them in good humour by extending assurances that their concerns had already been looked into. During Lawrence’s Kashmir sojourn, Gulab Singh made it sure enough that no Kashmiri called upon the Sahib Bahadur to expose the Dogra machinations. But the British were determined to ascertain the truth. Their inquiries revealed that there was not a word of truth in what the Maharaja was clangouring. They warned him:
In no case will the British Government be the blind instrument of a Ruler’s injustice towards his people and if inspite of friendly warnings, the evil of which the British Government may have just cause to complain be not corrected, a system of direct interference must be resorted to, which as your Highness must be aware would lower the dignity and curtail the independence of the Ruler.
In 1851 A.D., the British appointed an officer-on- special-duty ostensibly for looking after the interests of European visitors who had begun visiting the Valley in large numbers. Regarding this development, the British Government wrote:
In consequence of misconduct of certain officers who visited Cashmere during the last season, we have assented to the recommendation of the Board for deputing Major Macgregor to that place during the present season to be a referee in any misunderstanding that may arise between the authorities of that country and the British officers and to take cognizance of any charges of oppression or irregularity which may be brought against our officers.
The appointment of the officer-on-special-duty was a prelude to the Kashmir Residency and other related developments which extended the British influence far beyond their boarders in subsequent years. But the British were essentially gradualists. They moved slowly and by degrees and broadened their net step by step. Maharaja Ranbir Singh’s (the successor of Gulab Singh) reign, which commenced in 1857 A.D., provided them with all that they required to widen the sphere of their influence. His misrule emboldened them to spread the tentacles of their bureaucracy in Kashmir, especially when he failed to deal effectively with the abnormal situation created by the natural calamities that befell the Kashmiris during 1878-79A.D. Writing about the effects of the awful famine, Walter Lawrence remarked:
When I commenced the work of inspecting villages in 1889 there was hardly a village where I did not see deserted houses and abandoned fields, the owners of which had perished in the great famine of 1878. ….There was enormous loss of life. One authority has stated that the population of Srinagar was reduced from 127,400 to 00,000 and others say that of the total population of the Valley only two-fifths survived.
The callous official disregard for human sufferings complicated the situation. Notoriously inefficient, corrupt and oppressive, the State Government was accused of having drowned the worst hit famine victims of Kashmir by boatloads in the Wular (a famous lake) in order to save the expenses of feeding them during the famine.
Walter Lawrence writes:
Years have now passed since the last famine, but the Kashmiri proverb ‘Drag tsalih ta dag tasalih na, which means that ‘the famine goes but its stains remain’, is true in all senses.
Besides, the Maharaja’s pretensions of loyalty had already come under the British suspicion when in 1865 A.D., he commenced his Trans-Himalayan campaigns, resulting in his occupation of Shadula across the Karakoram.His systematic exploration of the vast regions of Central Asia and Persia, and his increasing contacts with the Russians led them into believing that he was, in a blatant contravention of the Treaty of Amritsar, pursuing an independent foreign policy for which Kashmir’s geography presented plenty of scope.
As a meeting place of the three great Empires of the East— the British, the Russian, and the Chinese-— and in close proximity of Afghanistan, Kashmir was “the sentry State” for the British Indian Empire which could not afford to see the Maharaja doing what might have unpleasant consequences for it. The British perception of the Maharaja’s lurching along a hostile cliff was constantly strengthening, making it necessary for them to consider l steps for safeguarding their interests against a possible I disaster from across the North West Frontier. For them the situation was grave. It engaged their wholesome attention and thorough consideration which, eventually, resulted in the evolution of the strategy of watch mechanism as a wisest course of action to deal with. The appointment of trusted agents at strategically important places as the British watchdogs became, thus, absolutely imperative to:
- discourage the Maharaja from cultivating relations with the Russians;
- guage the strength and direction of the Tsarist moves;
- asses the possibilities of subversion from northern Afghanistan and Chinese Turkistan; and
- forewarn the British Indian Government of possible dangers so that it was well prepared to counter these well in time.
The British sent Mr. Drew to Ladakh in 1870 A.D., as their representative to fulfil these functions. In 1877 A.D., an Agent was also stationed in Gilgit. But it was not thought fit yet to establish a Residency in Kashmir which they had already planned as:
A measure which may be called for, not merely by the need for assisting and supervising administrative reforms, but also by the increasing importance to the Government of India of watching events beyond the North Western Frontiers of Kashmir.
The British were waiting for an opportune time to widen the powers of the officer-on-special-duty appointed in 1851A.D. Lord Ripon made it clear when he wrote to the Secretary of State:
The British did not take the action earlier conceiving that a favourable opportunity would present itself on the occurrence of a fresh succession—an event which seemed unlikely to be long postponed. When that event takes place we consider that it will be our duty to impress upon the Cashmere Government its obligations to its own subjects and to see that the reforms which are so urgently needed are no longer postponed.
This opportunity was provided by Maharaja Pratap Singh; when he aroused suspicion of his complicity in treasonable correspondence with Russia as well as with the deposed Sikh Maharaja, Duleep Singh; when his corrupt administration attracted considerable criticism and adverse press comments both in India and abroad; when his imbecility convinced the British that the Northern Frontier was too serious a matter to be entrusted to him. The special officer, thus, became the British Resident in Kashmir in 1888 A.D., when the time was ripe.
The Kashmir Residency was manned by an officer ‘with the same position and duties as Political Residents mother native States in subordinate alliances with the British Government’.Converting Kashmir into a Princely State, the Residency commenced a new era of the British hegemony that took its wings with the active support of Maharaja Pratap Singh’s nearest and dearest. As faithful servants of Sahibs, these close relations (brothers) of the Maharaja, (namely) Raja Amar Singh and Raja Ram Singh, left no stone unturned in ensuring the successful implementation of the British programme which manifested itself in the exclusion of the ‘Maharaj……….from all interference with public affairs’, and in seeking his resignation and abdication in favour of a Council of State, consisting of his ‘brothers and certain selected native officials in the British service’ with ‘full powers subject to the condition that…. no important step was taken ‘without consulting the Resident, and that they would ‘act upon the Resident’s advice whenever offered.
While accepting the arrangement, the Viceroy said:
Notwithstanding the ample resources of your State, your treasury was empty; corruption and disorder prevailing in every department and every office; your Highness was still surrounded by low and unworthy favourites and the continued misgovemment of your State was becoming, every day, a more serious source of anxiety.
But the Maharaja described the arrangement as a handiwork of his brothers and expressed his obvious discomfiture when he wrote to the Viceroy:
If his brothers were determined to ruin him with false accusations he would submit to his fate. His Highness did not take his meals for two days, he was so much overpowered; and in his frenzy he saw no room for escape, except to give his consent to such arrangements as were proposed to him.
The Maharaja’s helplessness, embarrassment, and melancholy left him without food for two full days. For him it was a sacrifice which substantiated the British contention of his imbecility.
But the new arrangement was totally bereft of any hope for the majority of Kashmiris whose plight they had clamoured to change since the inception of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. There was no Muslim in the Council; ‘let alone such high position’, they were not considered to even serve in the army. The earlier British clamourings were the merest pretensions to obtain what they wanted: the unquestioned supremacy over Kashmir which they got easily; enabling them to reach the northern most point of the British rule, Misghar, and occupy Hunza and Nagar along the way. The Maharaja was consoled for behaving more like a servant of Sahibs than a king. He was made Grand Commander of the Star of India, but was denied the power of even appointing a tehsildar. He was simply a figure head. While lamenting the decline in his position, the Maharaja writes:
I am supposed to be no factor in the machinery of the State and nobody cares for me. I am not even allowed to sign papers for the Resident; I cannot even appoint a tehsildar. Really I am quite helpless, nothing is in my hands.
By 1905 A.D., Maharaja’s stars began shining again. The British had achieved their targets: the establishment of political agency in Gilgit; the creation of the North West Frontier Province; and the submission of the chiefs of Hunza-Nagar. Now they decided to restore powers to Pratap Singh. Nicholson writes:
After we had obtained what we wanted from Kashmir, the Maharaja (Pratap Singh) was restored to the throne in 1905 but was subject to the veto of the Resident.
The State Council was, thus, abolished and its powers conferred on the Maharaja who was to be assisted by a Chief Minister and three other ministers with the portfolios of Revenue, Home and Judiciary. The ministers had to send the cases to the Maharaja through the Chief Minister. Each case was to be approved by the Resident.However; in 1921A.D., full powers were restored to the Maharaja.In 1924 A.D., he installed the Executive Council of five members with himself as its President with the power of veto. All the members were apportioned portfolios with the power to pass administrative orders.
But even after complete restoration of powers, the Maharaja failed miserably to register his mark as a good administrator as before. Once again he came to be surrounded by a coterie of Kashmiri Pandit friends and advisors under whose influence he did all that was detrimental to the Muslim interests. He would very often rectify or cancel his orders issued by him after having a doze of opium. He was so superstitious that most of the time he remained absorbed in witchcraft; invoking Tantric powers to guard himself against the power of his enemies. So excessive was his greed for wealth and revenue that he stooped so low as to patronize prostitution and trafficking in women. To substantiate this, Arthur Brinkman writes:
The class engaged in it [prostitution] are owned as slaves and others, by those who were formerly in their position. The authority of the latter is backed by the whole power of the Dogra Maharaja, to whom reverts at their death all the wealth gathered by the prostitutes during their infamous life. Should one of their bond women or dancing girl attempt to leave her degrading profession, she is driven back with the lash and rod into her mistress’s power.
With the Maharaja’s patronage, the prostitution flourished so increasingly that it dragged down to dust the name and fame of Kashmir. In Lahore and many other places ‘KashmiriBazars’ were founded to carry on the scandalous flesh and white slave trade.
The Maharaja was a bigoted Hindu and a thorough sceptic about the truth of other religions and he, therefore, opposed tooth and nail the formation of religious or political societies.He was equally opposed to the establishment of press in Kashmir.The Maharaja died in 1925A.D., without a direct heir and his brother’s (Amar Singh) son, Hari Singh, became the Maharaja; inheriting a regime which continued conscripting the people for various public works as before.
Maharaja Hari Singh’s reign was characterized by corruption, maladministration, nepotism, red tapism, regionalism and communalism. His unbridled army of imported officials created havoc by ravaging the country and subjecting the peasantry and handicraftsmen to extortionate demands. The Maharaja reinforced begar which had been theoretically abolished in 1893 A.D., and made frantic efforts to foist his communal beliefs on the entire bureaucracy which resulted, as we shall see later, in alienating the Kashmiri Muslims from the Dogras and affected the Hindu-Muslim relations considerably; letting the bitter resentment, that persisted since the commencement of Gulab Singh’s rule, to take political shape. He was averse to the reform movement initiated by the British through their Residency in Kashmir. Sir Walter Lawrence’s settlement, for example, which left the cultivator with about 70% of the yield of the land, was foiled when the State officials deprived the peasants of every-thing they possessed; making them slaves of rural indebtedness and money-lenders. Industry, trade and commerce too witnessed a decline; their losses reached their nadir, and tension, despair and despondency encircled all trades due to heavy taxation that did not even spare prostitutes and scavengers.
Dr. Abdul Ahad is a well-known historian of Kashmir. He presents a perspective on the Kashmir issue and talks about Kashmir’s history and individuality and personality. For feedback the author can be mailed at drahadhist@yahoo.co.in
