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2409:4064:240B:8EA9:3FDC:89F0:6C84:BAFC: Full name

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{{distinguish|text=[[Sikandar Lodhi]], the Afghan Sultan of Delhi}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Short description|Sultan of Kashmir (r. 1389–1413)}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Sikandar Shah
| succession = 6th [[Sultan]] of the [[Shah Miri dynasty|Shah Mir Sultanate]]
| title = [[Sultan|Sultan of]] [[Kashmir]] <br> Sultan al-Eazim
| image =
| caption =
| reign = 1389–1413 CE
| coronation = 1389
| predecessor = Qutub-ud-Din
| successor = Ali Shah
| spouse =
| issue =
| full name =Sikandar Shah Miri
| house = [[Shah Miri dynasty]]
| royal anthem =
| religion = [[Sunni Islam]]
| father =
| mother =
| birth_date = 1353
| birth_place =
| death_date = 1413
| death_place =
| buried =
| signature =
}}

'''Sikandar Shah''', also known as '''Sikandar Butshikan''' ("Sikandar, the [[Iconoclast]]"),<ref name=":5">{{Cite thesis|last=Obrock|first=Luther James|title=Translation and History: The Development of a Kashmiri Textual Tradition from ca. 1000-1500|date=2015|degree=|publisher=UC Berkeley|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/68q7m3vv|doi=}}</ref> was the sixth [[sultan]] of the [[Shah Miri dynasty]] of [[Kashmir]] from 1389 to 1413.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Hasan|first=Mohibbul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EUlwmXjE9DQC|title=Kashmīr Under the Sultāns|date=2005|publisher=Aakar Books|year=|isbn=978-81-87879-49-7|location=|pages=59–95|language=en|author-link=Mohibbul Hasan}}</ref>

== Sources ==
There exists no contemporary source other than portions of the [[Rajatarangini]], written by Jonaraja and his disciple Srivara.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Slaje|first=Walter|url=https://www.academia.edu/42710523/Kingship_in_Ka%C5%9Bm%C4%ABr_AD_1148_1459_From_the_Pen_of_Jonar%C4%81ja_Court_Pa%E1%B9%87%E1%B8%8Dit_to_Sul%E1%B9%AD%C4%81n_Zayn_al_%C4%80bid%C4%ABn_Critically_Edited_By_Walter_Slaje_With_an_Annotated_Translation_Indexes_and_Maps|title=Kingship in Kaśmīr (AD 1148‒1459) From the Pen of Jonarāja, Court Paṇḍit to Sulṭān Zayn al-‛Ābidīn|publisher=|year=2014|isbn=3869770880|series=Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis - 7|location=Germany|pages=}}</ref> Persian sources, though existent ([[Baharistan-i-shahi]], [[Tohfatu'l-Ahbab]] and [[Tarikh-i-Kashmir#Surviving histories|Tarikh-i-Kashmir corpus]]), were penned relatively later.

These were later used by different authors (starting from [[Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak|Abul Fazl]], the first chronicler from outside Kashmir and [[Nizamuddin Ahmad]] to [[Muhammed Azam Didamari|independent Persian chroniclers]] to colonial historians to Kashmiri Pandits), with different ideological proclivities, to form varying strands of histories suiting different sociopolitical goals.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zutshi|first=Chitralekha|title=Kashmir's Contested Pasts: Narratives, Sacred Geographies, and the Historical Imagination|date=2014-07-07|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=|isbn=978-0-19-945067-1|location=|pages=|chapter=A Literary Paradise : The Tarikh Tradition in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Kashmir|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450671.003.0003|chapter-url=https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450671.001.0001/acprof-9780199450671-chapter-3}}</ref>

== Ascension ==
[[File:Jamia Masjid in Winter 2019.jpg|thumb|[[Jamia Masjid, Srinagar|Jamia Masjid of Srinagar]]. It was built in 1394 CE by Sikandar Shah Miri.<ref>[[:File:Plaque_of_Jamia_Masjid.jpg|Local notice]]</ref>]]
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.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":9" />

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.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":8" /> Magre went on to assassinate Haybat, Sikandar's younger brother and Sahaka before Sikandar came to power.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":8" />

== Military Campaigns ==
Barring a successful invasion of Ladakh, under the commandeering of Rai Magre, Sikandar did not annex any new territory.<ref name=":2" /> Magre instigated a rebellion soon after this victory and assassinated Shobha's brother, before turning against Sikandar with his loyal proteges.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":8" /> The rebellion was ably suppressed, and Magre was imprisoned whence he committed suicide.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":8" />

A successful war was waged against Firuz, the ruler of Ohind (var. [[Hund (village)|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.<ref name=":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.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":9" />

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.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":10">{{Cite journal|last=Ogura|first=Satoshi|date=2015|title=INCOMPATIBLE OUTSIDERS OR BELIEVERS OF A DARŚANA?: REPRESENTATIONS OF MUSLIMS BY THREE BRAHMANS OF ŠĀHMĪRID KAŠMĪR|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24754113|journal=Rivista degli studi orientali|volume=88|issue=1/4|pages=179–211|doi=10.2307/24754113|issn=0392-4866}}</ref> While the two did not meet even once, they shared a mutual admiration; Timur had gifted two elephants to Sikandar.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":9" />

== Sociopolity ==
A welfare-state was apparently installed; oppressive taxes were abolished whilst free schools and hospitals were opened for public usage.<ref name=":2" /> [[Waqf|''Waqfs'']] were endowed to shrines, mosques ([[Khanqah-e-Moula]], [[Jamia Masjid, Srinagar|Jamia Masjid]] etc.) were commissioned, numerous Sufi preachers were provided with [[jagir|''jagirs'']] and installed in positions of authority; feasts were regularly held.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zutshi|first=Chitralekha|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Languages_of_Belonging.html?id=YRj52qGJyM0C|title=Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir|publisher=Permanent Black|year=2003|isbn=978-81-7824-060-2|location=|pages=|language=en|chapter=Contested Identities in the Kashmir Valley}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":9" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ahmad|first=Khalid Bashir|title=Kashmir: Exposing the Myth Behind the Narrative|publisher=SAGE|year=2017|isbn=|location=London|pages=32|chapter=Malice|doi=10.4135/9789353280253|chapter-url=https://sk.sagepub.com/books/kashmir/i512.xml}}</ref> Economic condition was good enough.<ref name=":9" />

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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Aggarwal|first=Neil|date=2008-07-01|title=Kashmiriyat as Empty Signifier|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13698010802145150|journal=Interventions|volume=10|issue=2|pages=222–235|doi=10.1080/13698010802145150|issn=1369-801X}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=AHMAD|first=AZIZ|author-link=Aziz Ahmad (writer)|date=1979|title=CONVERSIONS TO ISLAM IN THE VALLEY OF KASHMIR|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41927246|journal=Central Asiatic Journal|volume=23|issue=1/2|pages=3–18|issn=0008-9192|via=}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Slaje|first=Walter|title=Brahma's Curse : Facets of Political and Social Violence in Premodern Kashmir|publisher=|year=2019|isbn=978-3-86977-199-1|series=Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis - 13|location=|pages=5|chapter=A Glimpse into the Happy Valley’s Unhappy Past: Violence and Brahmin Warfare in Pre-Mughal Kashmir|chapter-url=http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl/?gr_elib-335}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite book|last=Witzel|first=Michael|url=https://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/KashmiriBrahmins.pdf|title=The Brahmins of Kashmir|publisher=|year=|isbn=|location=|publication-date=September 1991|pages=}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Accardi|first=Dean|title=Embedded Mystics: Writing Lal Ded and Nund Rishi into the Kashmiri Landscape|date=2017|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/kashmir/embedded-mystics-writing-lal-ded-and-nund-rishi-into-the-kashmiri-landscape/735710A78E357C6E9FCC59A6AD96403F|work=Kashmir: History, Politics, Representation|pages=247–264|editor-last=Zutshi|editor-first=Chitralekha|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-18197-7|access-date=2021-02-03}}</ref> Music, dance, gambling, intoxicants etc were prohibited and the office of ''Shaikhu'l-Islam'' was established to enforce these rules.<ref name=":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 [[Varna (Hinduism)|hereditary ''varnas'']], and caste marks were prohibited.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite book|last=Slaje|first=Walter|url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/543660|title=Encountering Buddhism and Islam in Premodern Central and South Asia|date=2019-08-19|publisher=De Gruyter|year=|isbn=978-3-11-063168-5|location=|pages=|language=en|chapter=Buddhism and Islam in Kashmir as Represented by Rājataraṅgiṇī Authors|doi=10.1515/9783110631685-006|chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9783110631685/10.1515/9783110631685-006.xml}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Slaje|first=Walter|url=https://www.academia.edu/42709412/Brahm%C4%81_s_Curse_Facets_of_Political_and_Social_Violence_in_Premodern_Kashmir|title=Brahma's Curse : Facets of Political and Social Violence in Premodern Kashmir|publisher=|year=2019|isbn=978-3-86977-199-1|series=Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis - 13|location=|pages=30–40|chapter=What Does it Mean to Smash an Idol? Iconoclasm in Medieval Kashmir as Reflected by Contemporaneous Sanskrit Sources}}</ref><ref name=":9" />

[[File:Sun temple martand indogreek.jpg|thumb|200px|Ruins of the [[Martand Sun Temple]], razed by Sikandar.<ref name=":1" /> (The extensive damage seen in the photo is also a product of several earthquakes;<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bilham|first=Roger|last2=Bali|first2=Bikram Singh|last3=Bhat|first3=M. Ismail|last4=Hough|first4=Susan|date=2010-10-01|title=Historical earthquakes in Srinagar, Kashmir: Clues from the Shiva Temple at Pandrethan|url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.orghttps//pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/626/chapter/3805836/Historical-earthquakes-in-Srinagar-Kashmir-Clues|language=en|doi=10.1130/2010.2471(10)}}</ref> 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 Sayyid Ali Hamadani|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.<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":9" />{{Efn|Suhabhatta's daughter was also married off to Mir Hamadani.|name=|group=}} 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.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":11">{{Cite book|last=Zutshi|first=Chitralekha|title=Kashmir's Contested Pasts : Narratives, Sacred Geographies, and the Historical Imagination|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=9780199450671|location=|pages=|chapter=Garden of Solomon : Landscape and Sacred Pasts in Kashmir’s Sixteenth-Century Persian Narratives|chapter-url=https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450671.001.0001/acprof-9780199450671-chapter-2}}</ref>

[[Chitralekha Zutshi]], [[Richard G. Salomon (academic)|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 the work was commissioned by his successor, who wished to bring back the Brahminical elite into the royal fold and establish Sanskrit as an integral part of the vernacularizing world of the cosmopolitan Sultanate.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Zutshi|first=Chitralekha|title=This book claims to expose the myths behind Kashmir’s history. It exposes its own biases instead|url=https://scroll.in/article/855050/this-book-claims-to-expose-the-myths-behind-kashmirs-history-it-exposes-its-own-biases-instead|access-date=2021-02-01|website=Scroll.in|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last=Salomon|first=Richard|last2=Slaje|first2=Walter|date=2016|title=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|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26546259|journal=Indo-Iranian Journal|volume=59|issue=4|pages=393–401|doi=10.2307/26546259|issn=0019-7246}}</ref> Zutshi and Salomon assert that Sikandar's policies were guided by realpolitik<ref name=":8" /> 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.<ref name=":3" /> [[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 system in India|caste-society]] under Islamic influence.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":1" />

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.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" />

== Personal life ==
Sikandar is believed to be of a puritanical temperament who abstained from wine, festivities and music.<ref name=":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).<ref name=":9" /> He had (at-least) two daughters from Sobha.<ref name=":9" />

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.<ref name=":9" /> He would be eventually succeeded in a couple of years by Shadi Khan, who adopted the name of [[Zain-ul-Abidin]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" />

== 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.<ref name=":9" /> 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.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Slaje|first=Walter|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Medieval_Kashmir_and_the_Science_of_Hist.html?id=o14wAQAAIAAJ|title=Medieval Kashmir and the Science of History|date=2004|publisher=South Asia Institute, University of Texas at Austin|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":9" /> Tohfatu'l-Ahbab, penned in the 16th century, blamed the poor state of Islam in the valley on Zain.<ref name=":11" />

Despite these changes, the Islamisation of elite politics meant that very few caste-groups (other than Brahmans) took the opportunity of re-conversion<ref name=":0" /> and thus, a largely irreversible change set in post-Sikandar Kashmir.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" />

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Wikiquote}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butshikan, Sikander}}
[[Category:Sultans of Kashmir]]
[[Category:14th-century births]]
[[Category:15th-century deaths]]

Sikandar Shah Miri - Revision history

BrandonNewquist at 05:04, 17 March 2026

210.48.222.13: /* Art and architecture */Fixed a mistake

2409:4064:240B:8EA9:3FDC:89F0:6C84:BAFC: Full name