Dogra - The Royal House of Jammu and Kashmir (Dogra Dynasty)

The Royal House of Jammu and Kashmir (Dogra Dynasty)

Dogra dynasty was a dynasty of Hindu Rajputs who ruled Jammu & Kashmir from 1846 to 1947. Indeed, they traced their ancestry to the Ikshvaku (Solar) Dynasty of Northern India (The same clan in which Lord Rama was born. He, therefore is the 'kuldevta' (family deity) of the Dogras). A Raghuvanshi descendant, 'Agnigarba' who was living as a recluse, came to Nagarkote (Kangra, Himachal Pradesh), in the Shivalik hills. When the Raja of Kangra came to know about this person's ancestry, he offered him the hand of his daughter and a part of kingdom. The river Ravi was then the boundary of Nagarkote. Agnigarba crossed it and captured some villages in the Kathua area and declared himself as sovereign king. After his death, his son Bayusharva (B.C. 1530-1500) married the princess of Parole (Kathua). The princess was known as Erwan and she died young. The Raja founded a city after her which is still found near Parole, though now a small village and at the 'Samadhi' of the queen, a `Mela' (fair) is held at every `Baisakhi' (13th or 14 April) every year. Bayusharva extended the boundaries up to the river Ujh. Bayusharva's great grandson, Bahulochan was enthroned after his death. He migrated from Erwan and built his fort on the banks of river Tawi. Bahulochan died in a bloody battle with Chadaras, Raja of Sialkot (Shayalkot) and his younger brother Jambulochan (B.C 1320-1290) ascended the throne. In those days the area beyond Tawi (the present city of Jammu) was used for hunting. Tradition has it that one day Jambulochan came to this area and while he was sitting behind a bush to ambush some bird or animal, he saw a lion (a tiger in some accounts) and a goat drinking water from the same pond. This peaceful coexistence encouraged him to found the city of Jammu, which some say is named after him. One of his descendants, Raja Shaktikaran (B.C 1200-1177) introduced the Dogri Script for the first time. Another of his descendants, Jasdev founded the city of Jasrota on the bank of river Ujh, and another Raja, Karan Dev built a fort on the banks of the river Basantar. In the early centuries of the first millennium the area came under the sway of the Indo-Greeks, with their capital at Sakala (Sialkot).

Among the enlightened rulers of Jammu was Raja Ranjit Dev, (1728–1780) who introduced certain social reforms such as a ban on 'Sati' (immolation of the wife on the pyre of the husband) and female infanticide. Later, under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the state became part of the Sikh Empire of the Punjab after it was captured from its Afghan rulers. Ranjit Singh rendered this state to his general, Maharaja Gulab Singh Jamwal, who belonged to the Jamwal Rajput clan that ruled Jammu. He extended the boundaries of Jammu to western Tibet with the help of General Zorawar Singh. The Sikh Empire rule extended beyond the Jammu Region and the Kashmir Valley to the Tibetan Buddhist Kingdom of Ladakh and the Emirates of Hunza, Gilgit and Nagar. After the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1846, the British gave Kashmir and the title of 'Maharaja' to Gulab Singh - the chief minister - as a reward for his treachery against the Sikhs. Pratap Singh, (enthroned in 1885) in saw the construction of Banihal Cart Road (B.C. Road) mainly to facilitate telegraph services. The last ruler of J&K was Maharaja Hari Singh, who ascended the throne in 1925. He made primary education compulsory in the State, introduced laws prohibiting child marriage and threw open places of worship for the low castes. His reign saw the accession of Jammu & Kashmir to the newly independent Indian Union in 1947. Although he originally manoeuvered to maintain his independence by playing off India and Pakistan against each other, Maharaja Hari Singh, the last king of the Rajput Kingdom of Jammu & Kashmir ceded his kingdom to the Indian Union in 1947, after Pakistan's founder and Governor-General Mohammad Ali Jinnah, frustrated by his failure to merge his kingdom into Pakistan, incited armed Pashtuns from the neighbouring North-West Frontier Province to invade the kingdom in an attempt to seize it. This invasion by Pakistani tribals and the consequent accession to India sparked the First Indo-Pakistan War. In 1951 Maharaja Hari Singh's rule was terminated by the assembly and his son Yuvraj (Crown Prince) Karan Singh was made 'Sadr-e-Riyasat' ('President of the Province') and Governor of the State in 1964.