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{{Short description|Sultan of Kashmir from 1389 to 1413}} | |||
{{distinguish|text=[[Sikandar Lodhi]], the Afghan Sultan of Delhi}} | {{distinguish|text=[[Sikandar Lodhi]], the Afghan Sultan of Delhi}} | ||
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}} | {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}} | ||
{{Infobox royalty | {{Infobox royalty | ||
| name = Sikandar Shah | | name = Sikandar Shah | ||
| succession = 7th [[Sultan | | succession = 7th [[Kashmir Sultanate|Sultan of Kashmir]] | ||
| title = | | title = Sultan of Kashmir <br> Sikandar the Idol Breaker <br> Shah | ||
| image = | | image = Tanka Coin of Sikandar Shah Miri.png | ||
| caption = | | caption = [[History of the taka|Tanka coin]] of Sikandar Shah, {{circa|1394}} | ||
| reign = | | reign = {{Nowrap|24 August 1389 – 31 May 1413}} | ||
| coronation = 1389 | | coronation = 1389 | ||
| predecessor = [[Qutbu'd-Din Shah]] | |||
| predecessor = [[ | | successor = [[Ali Shah Miri|Ali Shah]] | ||
| successor = [[ | | spouse = | ||
| spouse = | | issue = [[Ali Shah Miri|Ali Shah]]<br>[[Zayn al-Abidin the Great|Shahi Khan]] | ||
| issue = | | full name = Sikandar Shah Miri | ||
| full name =Sikandar Shah Miri | | dynasty = [[Shah Mir dynasty]] | ||
| dynasty = [[Shah | |||
| royal anthem = | | royal anthem = | ||
| religion = [[Sunni Islam]] | | religion = [[Sunni Islam]] ([[Hanafi]]) | ||
| father = | | father = | ||
| mother = | | mother = | ||
| birth_date = | | birth_name = Shingara | ||
| birth_place = | | birth_date = 1380 | ||
| death_date = 1413 | | birth_place = [[Srinagar]], [[Kashmir Sultanate]]<br>(present-day [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu & Kashmir]], India) | ||
| death_place = | | death_date = {{Death date and age|1413|05|31|1380|||df=yes}} | ||
| buried = | | death_place = Srinagar, Kashmir Sultanate<br>(present-day Jammu and Kashmir, India) | ||
| signature = | | buried = | ||
| signature = | |||
}} | }} | ||
'''Sikandar Shah''' ('''Sikandar | '''Sikandar Shah Miri''' ({{langx|ks|{{nq|سلطان سِکَندَر شَاہ میٖرِی}}}}, {{langx|fa|{{nq|سلطان سکندر شاہ مِیرِی}}}}; 1380 – 31 May 1413), also known by his sobriquet '''Sikandar But-shikan''' ([[Literal translation|lit.]] Sikandar the Iconoclast) or [[Idol destroying|Idol Breaker]],<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 seventh [[Kashmir Sultanate|Sultan of Kashmir]] and a member of [[Shah Mir dynasty]] who ruled from 1389 until his death in 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 |isbn=978-81-87879-49-7 |location= |pages=59–95 |language=en |author-link=Mohibbul Hasan}}</ref> | ||
== Sources == | == Sources == | ||
The only contemporaneous source that exists is the [[Rajatarangini]] (lit. Flow of Succession of Kings) by Jonaraja.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Slaje|first=Walter|url=https://www.academia.edu/42710523|title=Kingship in Kaśmīr (AD 1148‒1459) From the Pen of Jonarāja, Court Paṇḍit to Sulṭān Zayn al-'Ābidīn|publisher=|year=2014|isbn=978-3869770888|series=Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis - 7|location=Germany|pages= | The only contemporaneous source that exists is the [[Rajatarangini]] (lit. Flow of Succession of Kings) by Jonaraja.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Slaje|first=Walter|url=https://www.academia.edu/42710523|title=Kingship in Kaśmīr (AD 1148‒1459) From the Pen of Jonarāja, Court Paṇḍit to Sulṭān Zayn al-'Ābidīn|publisher=|year=2014|isbn=978-3869770888|series=Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis - 7|location=Germany|pages=28–29, 36, 155–173, 185–189, 201–203, 213–215}}</ref> Jonaraja was the Brahmin court-poet of Sikandar's successor [[Zayn al-Abidin the Great|Zain-ul-Abidin]] and was commissioned to continue [[Kalhana]]'s Rajatarangini.<ref name=":9" /> One manuscript of his work—edited between 1561 and 1588 by an anonymous person using information from other sources—emends certain portions of the text in the margins; he is conventionally called {{tooltip|Pseud. J.|Pseudonymous Jonaraja}} (and the work, Ps-JRT) in scholarship.<ref name=":9" /> | ||
Extant Persian sources, including {{Wj}}[[Baharistan-i-shahi]] (anon.), [[Tohfatu'l-Ahbab]] (anon.) and [[Tarikh-i-Kashmir#Surviving histories|Tarikh-i-Kashmir corpus]], were written relatively later and drew from recensions of Rajatarangini(s) but they provide considerable additional information.<ref name=":2" /> These were later used by 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 and Kashmiri Pandits, with different ideological proclivities, to produce 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|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> | Extant Persian sources, including {{Wj}}[[Baharistan-i-shahi]] (anon.), [[Tohfatu'l-Ahbab]] (anon.) and [[Tarikh-i-Kashmir#Surviving histories|Tarikh-i-Kashmir corpus]], were written relatively later and drew from recensions of Rajatarangini(s) but they provide considerable additional information.<ref name=":2" /> These were later used by 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 and Kashmiri Pandits, with different ideological proclivities, to produce 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|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> | ||
== Background == | == Background == | ||
The Shah Miri dynasty likely descended from Khasa chieftains of Panjgabbar valley; Shah Mir himself was the first to settle in Kashmir.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Slaje|first=Walter|url=https://www.academia.edu/42709412|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=":0">{{Cite journal|last=AHMAD|first=AZIZ|title=Conversions to Islam in the Valley of Kashmir |author-link=Aziz Ahmad (writer)|date=1979|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41927246|journal=Central Asiatic Journal|volume=23|issue=1/2|pages=3–18|jstor=41927246 |issn=0008-9192|via=}}</ref>{{Efn|Jonaraja notes Shah Mir to be the grandson of one Kuru Shah. He had (apparently) received a divine premonition from Mahadevi about Kashmir being the rightful territory of his lineage.}} He began to serve in the royal court of the fledgling Deva Dynasty and before long, became the prime-minister of Suhadeva.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Khan|first=Mohammad Ishaq|date=1986-06-01|title=The impact of Islam on Kashmir in the Sultanate period (1320-1586)|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/001946468602300203|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review|language=en|volume=23|issue=2|pages=187–205|doi=10.1177/001946468602300203|s2cid=144039616 |issn=0019-4646}}</ref> Soon, he leveraged a power-vacuum in the wake of a crippling Mongol raid to help [[Rinchan]], a Buddhist from Ladakh, usurp the throne and after his death, waged a successful war against widow Kota Rani to claim the kingdom for himself.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> | The Shah Miri dynasty likely descended from either Khasa chieftains of Panjgabbar valley or Kohistani Dards from Swat; Shah Mir himself was the first to settle in Kashmir.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Slaje|first=Walter|url=https://www.academia.edu/42709412|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=":0">{{Cite journal|last=AHMAD|first=AZIZ|title=Conversions to Islam in the Valley of Kashmir |author-link=Aziz Ahmad (writer)|date=1979|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41927246|journal=Central Asiatic Journal|volume=23|issue=1/2|pages=3–18|jstor=41927246 |issn=0008-9192|via=}}</ref>{{Efn|Jonaraja notes Shah Mir to be the grandson of one Kuru Shah. He had (apparently) received a divine premonition from Mahadevi about Kashmir being the rightful territory of his lineage.}} He began to serve in the royal court of the fledgling Deva Dynasty and before long, became the prime-minister of Suhadeva.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Khan|first=Mohammad Ishaq|date=1986-06-01|title=The impact of Islam on Kashmir in the Sultanate period (1320-1586)|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/001946468602300203|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review|language=en|volume=23|issue=2|pages=187–205|doi=10.1177/001946468602300203|s2cid=144039616 |issn=0019-4646|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Soon, he leveraged a power-vacuum in the wake of a crippling Mongol raid to help [[Rinchan]], a Buddhist from Ladakh, usurp the throne and after his death, waged a successful war against widow Kota Rani to claim the kingdom for himself.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> | ||
The Shah | The Shah Miris actively patronaged Islam (esp. Sufism) and led to the formation of a new social order that chipped away at Brahminic Hinduism.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Khan|first=Mohammad Ishaq|date=1986-06-01|title=The impact of Islam on Kashmir in the Sultanate period (1320-1586)|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/001946468602300203|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review|language=en|volume=23|issue=2|pages=187–205|doi=10.1177/001946468602300203|s2cid=144039616 |issn=0019-4646|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> A contemporary [[Kashmir Shaivism|Shaivite]] mystic [[Lalleshwari|Lal Ded]] borrowed from Sufism and local cults to attack core tenets of Brahminism and likely serviced conversion to Islam among the lower strata of society.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Khan|first=Mohammad Ishaq|date=1986-06-01|title=The impact of Islam on Kashmir in the Sultanate period (1320-1586)|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/001946468602300203|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review|language=en|volume=23|issue=2|pages=187–205|doi=10.1177/001946468602300203|s2cid=144039616 |issn=0019-4646|url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{efn|Ded was critical of untouchability, idol-worship etc.<ref name=":12" /> She will in turn influence equally influential Sufi [[Rishi order|Rishis]] like [[Nund Rishi|Nund]] et al., who were more proactive to the cause of Islam.<ref name=":12" /> All of these figures continue to remain influential among both Hindus and Muslims of modern Kashmir.}} By Sikandar's time, a considerable section of the populace had already adopted Islam.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Khan|first=Mohammad Ishaq|date=1986-06-01|title=The impact of Islam on Kashmir in the Sultanate period (1320-1586)|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/001946468602300203|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review|language=en|volume=23|issue=2|pages=187–205|doi=10.1177/001946468602300203|s2cid=144039616 |issn=0019-4646|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Nonetheless, the Kings continued to actively patronage Hinduism: Alaud'din had commissioned a Hindu Matha and Qutubu'd-Din had held royal yajnas.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Khan|first=Mohammad Ishaq|date=1986-06-01|title=The impact of Islam on Kashmir in the Sultanate period (1320-1586)|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/001946468602300203|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review|language=en|volume=23|issue=2|pages=187–205|doi=10.1177/001946468602300203|s2cid=144039616 |issn=0019-4646|url-access=subscription}}</ref> | ||
=== Birth and | === Birth and ascension === | ||
Sikandar was the great-grandson of Shah Mir; he was the eldest child of Qutubu'd-Din and Queen Sura (var. Subhata), and was born sometime around 1380.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":9" /> Because he was a minor at the time of his father's death—9 August 1389—, his mother had to act as a regent for a while.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":9" /> During her regency, Sura consented to Prime Minister Rai Magre (var. Uddaka), who was also her cousin, 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">{{Cite journal|last1=Salomon|first1=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=10.1163/15728536-05903009 |jstor=26546259 |issn=0019-7246}}</ref> Magre went on to poison Haybat, Sikandar's younger brother and even Sahaka.<ref name=":9" /> Sikandar, sensing a possible usurpation of the throne by Magre, chose to exert himself as the ruler c. 1391.<ref name=":9" /> | Sikandar was the great-grandson of Shah Mir; he was the eldest child of Qutubu'd-Din and Queen Sura (var. Subhata), and was born sometime around 1380.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":9" /> Because he was a minor at the time of his father's death—9 August 1389—, his mother had to act as a regent for a while.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":9" /> During her regency, Sura consented to Prime Minister Rai Magre (var. Uddaka), who was also her cousin, 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">{{Cite journal|last1=Salomon|first1=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=10.1163/15728536-05903009 |jstor=26546259 |issn=0019-7246|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Magre went on to poison Haybat, Sikandar's younger brother and even Sahaka.<ref name=":9" /> Sikandar, sensing a possible usurpation of the throne by Magre, chose to exert himself as the ruler c. 1391.<ref name=":9" /> | ||
== Military campaigns == | == Military campaigns == | ||
| Line 52: | Line 52: | ||
== Sociopolity == | == Sociopolity == | ||
The overall economic condition was decent.<ref name=":9" /> Jonaraja remarks that the Goddess of Fortune found an abode in Sikandar — "the pleasure of [his] welfare elude[d] verbal description."<ref name=":9" /> A [[welfare state]] was installed; oppressive taxes were abolished while free schools and hospitals (''Daru'l-Shifa'') were opened for public use.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":15" /> ''[[Waqf]]s'' were endowed to shrines and numerous Sufi preachers from Central Asia were provided with ''[[jagir]]s'' and installed in positions of authority.<ref name=":2" />{{Efn|Among them the most prominent were: Sayyid Hasan Shirazi, appointed as the Qazi of Kashmir; Sayyid Jalaluddin, a saint from Bukhara; and Baba Haji Adham, a logician from Balkh.<ref name=":2" /> Baharistan-i-shahi provides detailed information about these figures.<ref name=":15" />}} Land holdings were allotted to vast sections of society including scholars, religious figureheads and the poor.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":15" /> The office of ''Shaikhu'l-Islam'' was established to provide monetary stipends and alms to the needy, pilgrims, travelers, physicians, scholars and other deserving people.<ref name=":15" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ahmad|first=Khalid Bashir|title=Kashmir: Exposing the Myth Behind the Narrative|publisher=SAGE|year=2017|isbn=9789386062802|location=London|pages=32|chapter=Malice|doi=10.4135/9789353280253|chapter-url=https://sk.sagepub.com/books/kashmir/i512.xml}}</ref> | The overall economic condition was decent.<ref name=":9" /> Jonaraja remarks that the Goddess of Fortune found an abode in Sikandar — "the pleasure of [his] welfare elude[d] verbal description."<ref name=":9" /> A [[welfare state]] was installed; oppressive taxes were abolished while free schools and hospitals (''Daru'l-Shifa'') were opened for public use.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":15" /> ''[[Waqf]]s'' were endowed to shrines and numerous Sufi preachers from Central Asia were provided with ''[[jagir]]s'' and installed in positions of authority.<ref name=":2" />{{Efn|Among them the most prominent were: Sayyid Hasan Shirazi, appointed as the Qazi of Kashmir; Sayyid Jalaluddin, a saint from Bukhara; and Baba Haji Adham, a logician from Balkh.<ref name=":2" /> Baharistan-i-shahi provides detailed information about these figures.<ref name=":15" />}} Land holdings were allotted to vast sections of society including scholars, religious figureheads and the poor.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":15" /> The office of ''Shaikhu'l-Islam'' was established to provide monetary stipends and alms to the needy, pilgrims, travelers, physicians, scholars and other deserving people.<ref name=":15" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ahmad|first=Khalid Bashir|title=Kashmir: Exposing the Myth Behind the Narrative|publisher=SAGE|year=2017|isbn=9789386062802|location=London|pages=32|chapter=Malice|doi=10.4135/9789353280253|chapter-url=https://sk.sagepub.com/books/kashmir/i512.xml}}</ref> Sikandar was also the first Sultan to enact [[sharia]] — music, dance, gambling, and intoxicants were prohibited — and established the post of [[qadi]] for its application.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":14" /> He also began the imposition of [[jizya]] on non-Muslims.<ref name=":14" /> | ||
Sikandar commenced the destruction of Hindu and Buddhist shrines till, in the words of Jonaraja, no idol remained, even in the privacy of peoples' homes.<ref name=":9" /><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|isbn=978-3-11-063168-5|location=|pages=128–160|language=en|chapter=Buddhism and Islam in Kashmir as Represented by Rājataraṅgiṇī Authors|doi=10.1515/9783110631685-006|s2cid=204477165 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9783110631685/10.1515/9783110631685-006.xml}}</ref> Jonaraja mentions temples at Martand (Sun God), Vijayesvara (Shiva), Cakradhara (Vishnu), Suresvari (unknown), Varaha (Vishnu), and Tripuresvara (unknown) to have been destroyed by Sikandar.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":6" /> Hasan Ali adds three temples at [[Parihaspore]], the Tarapitha temples at [[Iskander Pora, Jammu and Kashmir|Iskander Pora]], and a neighbouring Maha Shri Temple.<ref name=":15" /> Pseud. J notes of a colossal statue of Buddha being razed and melted to produce coins.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":6" />[[File:Sun temple martand indogreek.jpg|thumb| | === Persecution of Hindus === | ||
Jonaraja advocates that Sikandar's rule terminated Kashmir's long-standing tolerant culture.<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=|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> So do ''Baharistan-i-shahi'' and ''Tohfatu'l-Ahbab,'' which note that Sikandar cleansed Kashmir of non-muslims. Sikandar is epithetized as <nowiki>''</nowiki>''butshikan''", the "idol-breaker."<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><ref name=":15" /> Hasan Ali provides the most detailed narrative. | |||
Sikandar commenced the destruction of Hindu and Buddhist shrines till, in the words of Jonaraja, no idol remained, even in the privacy of peoples' homes.<ref name=":9" /><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|isbn=978-3-11-063168-5|location=|pages=128–160|language=en|chapter=Buddhism and Islam in Kashmir as Represented by Rājataraṅgiṇī Authors|doi=10.1515/9783110631685-006|s2cid=204477165 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9783110631685/10.1515/9783110631685-006.xml}}</ref> Jonaraja mentions temples at Martand (Sun God), Vijayesvara (Shiva), Cakradhara (Vishnu), Suresvari (unknown), Varaha (Vishnu), and Tripuresvara (unknown) to have been destroyed by Sikandar.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":6" /> Hasan Ali adds three temples at [[Parihaspore]], the Tarapitha temples at [[Iskander Pora, Jammu and Kashmir|Iskander Pora]], and a neighbouring Maha Shri Temple.<ref name=":15" /> Pseud. J notes of a colossal statue of Buddha being razed and melted to produce coins.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":6" /> | |||
[[File:Sun temple martand indogreek.jpg|thumb|A 1868 photograph of the ruins of the [[Martand Sun Temple]] in [[Mattan, Jammu and Kashmir|Mattan]], razed by Sikandar.<ref name=":1" /> Part of the damage to the demolished temple was also caused by later earthquakes.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bilham |first1=Roger |last2=Bali |first2=Bikram Singh |last3=Bhat |first3=M. Ismail |last4=Hough |first4=Susan |title=Ancient Earthquakes |date=2010-10-01 |chapter=Historical earthquakes in Srinagar, Kashmir: Clues from the Shiva Temple at Pandrethan |chapter-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)|isbn=9780813724713 }}</ref>]] | |||
Afterwards, Sikandar's focus fell on abolishing the teaching of Hinduism. All Brahmins unwilling to convert to Islam were taxed with [[Jizya]].<ref name=":9" />{{Efn|The tax was set at two ''pals'' of silver.<ref name=":9" /> Jonaraja snarks at those Brahmins who left their "superior class" in lieu of some material gains.<ref name=":9" />}} In contrast to Jonaraja, who mentions Sikandar's successor (Ali Shah) as having initiated forced conversions for the first time, Hasan Ali notes of forced conversions under Sikandar's tenure; he is stated to have massacred all those who had refused to convert.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":15" />{{efn|The [[zunnar]]s of all these dead men weighed three ass-loads, when taken for incineration.<ref name=":15" />}} | |||
==== Motivations and analysis ==== | ==== Motivations and analysis ==== | ||
Upon a literary reading of ''Rajatarangini'', Sikandar's zeal behind the Islamisation of society is attributable to Mir Muhammad Hamadani — an orthodox Sufi preacher —{{efn|Son of the famed Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani (1314-1384) of the [[Kubrawiya|Kubrawiya order]] who had migrated from Huttalàn (present-day [[Tajikistan]]) to Shibu'd-Din's Kashmir in the wake of Timurid invasions. Ali Hamadani is believed to have played the most significant role in the propagation of Islam in Kashmir.}} who advocated the creation of a monolithic society based on Islam as the common denominator to the extent of prohibiting any maintenance of ''[[kafir]]'' shrines.<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Hamadani |first=Hakim Sameer |title=The Syncretic Traditions of Islamic Religious Architecture of Kashmir (Early 14th –18th Century) |publisher=Routledge |year=2021 |isbn=9781032189611 |pages= | Upon a literary reading of ''Rajatarangini'', Sikandar's zeal behind the Islamisation of society is attributable to Mir Muhammad Hamadani — an orthodox Sufi preacher —{{efn|Son of the famed Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani (1314-1384) of the [[Kubrawiya|Kubrawiya order]] who had migrated from Huttalàn (present-day [[Tajikistan]]) to Shibu'd-Din's Kashmir in the wake of Timurid invasions. Ali Hamadani is believed to have played the most significant role in the propagation of Islam in Kashmir.}} who advocated the creation of a monolithic society based on Islam as the common denominator to the extent of prohibiting any maintenance of ''[[kafir]]'' shrines.<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Hamadani |first=Hakim Sameer |title=The Syncretic Traditions of Islamic Religious Architecture of Kashmir (Early 14th –18th Century) |publisher=Routledge |year=2021 |isbn=9781032189611 |pages=58–60, 118 |quote=And [Sikandar] also engaged in widespread demolition of temples and images. While medieval Muslim hagiographic and historical accounts may have exaggerated Sikander’s destruction of non-Muslim religious sites in a classical representation of religious piety, the tendency of some writers in the twentieth century CE to shield the Sultan from these iconoclastic activities is not historically correct, especially given the evidence from the period coming from writers of different religious backgrounds.}}</ref> In particular, a Brahman neo-convert — Suhabhatta (var. Suhaka Bhatt and Saifuddin) who served as Sikandar's counsel — was accused of instigating the King into "[taking] delight day and night in demolishing the sculptures of the gods."<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":9" />{{Efn|Hamadani went on to marry Suhabhatta's daughter after the death of his first wife (Bibi Taj Khatun).<ref name=":2" />|name=|group=}} Notably, in ''Baharistan-i-shahi'', both Sikandar and Suhabhatta play equal roles, with particular significance accorded to Sikandar's religious conviction.<ref name=":15" /> | ||
[[Chitralekha Zutshi]] | [[Chitralekha Zutshi]] and [[Richard G. Salomon (professor of Asian studies)|Richard G. Salomon]] uphold the claims of religious persecution but reject the idea only religious motives lay behind Sikandar's actions and instead call for a nuanced contextual reading of ''Rajatarangin''i, a work that was commissioned by Sikandar's successor, who wished to bring back the Brahminical elite into the royal fold and establish Sanskrit as an integral part of a Sultanate that strove to be cosmopolitan.<ref name=":32">{{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 |date=24 October 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":52">{{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><ref name=":82">{{Cite journal |last1=Salomon |first1=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=10.1163/15728536-05903009 |jstor=26546259 |issn=0019-7246|url-access=subscription }}</ref> According to Zutshi and Salomon, Sikandar's policies were guided by [[realpolitik]]<ref name=":82" /> and, like with the previous Hindu rulers, were essentially an attempt to secure Islamic political legitimacy by asserting state power of foreign Muslim rulers over Brahmans and gaining access to wealth controlled by Brahminical institutions.<ref name=":32" /> J. L. Bhan notes the sole extant example of sculpture (see below) from Sikandar's reign to challenge simplistic notions of religious persecution.<ref name=":132">{{Cite book |last=Bhan |first=Jawahar Lal |title=Kashmir Sculptures: An Iconographical Study of Brāhmanical Sculptures |publisher=Readworthy Publications |year=2010 |volume=1 |location=Delhi, India |pages=68–69}}</ref> | ||
[[Walter Slaje]] disagrees about such proposed absence of religious motivation, in part, given the differential rituals of destruction undertaken by Hindu and Muslim kings with the latter rendering sites inoperable for long passages of time by massive pollution or outright conversion.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":1" /> Slaje however 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; Jonaraja explicitly mocks Hamadani's rejection of hereditary caste hierarchies.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":1" /> Mohammed Ishaq Khan emphasizes on the centrality of caste in understanding Jonaraja's reception of Shah Miri — he notes that even Hindu figures like Lal Ded had found no place in the ''Rajatarangini(s)'' and other [[Kashmiri | [[Walter Slaje]] disagrees about such proposed absence of religious motivation, in part, given the differential rituals of destruction undertaken by Hindu and Muslim kings with the latter rendering sites inoperable for long passages of time by massive pollution or outright conversion.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":1" /> Slaje however concludes that the fierce opposition of Hindus to foreign Muslim rulers, including Sikandar, primarily stemmed from their aversion to the slow disintegration of Kashmiri [[Caste system in India|caste society]] under Islamic influence; Jonaraja explicitly mocks Hamadani's rejection of hereditary caste hierarchies.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":1" /> Mohammed Ishaq Khan emphasizes on the centrality of caste in understanding Jonaraja's reception of Shah Miri — he notes that even Hindu figures like Lal Ded had found no place in the ''Rajatarangini(s)'' and other [[Kashmiri Pandit]] corpus of history, until recent times.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Khan|first=Mohammad Ishaq|date=1986-06-01|title=The impact of Islam on Kashmir in the Sultanate period (1320-1586)|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/001946468602300203|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review|language=en|volume=23|issue=2|pages=187–205|doi=10.1177/001946468602300203|s2cid=144039616 |issn=0019-4646|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Author Hakim Sameer Hamdani highlights that medieval accounts of widespread destruction of non-Muslim religious sites by Sikandar come from both Hindu as well as Muslim sources, but believes that [[hagiography|hagiogrpahical]] and historical accounts by Muslims might have exaggerated such iconoclasm to display religious devoutness.<ref name=":14" /> | ||
Fringe [[Historical revisionism|revisionist]] | Fringe [[Historical revisionism (negationism)|revisionist]] authors completely reject the narratives of persecution and accuse the Brahmin chroniclers of wanton bias and myth-making, stemming from their personal jealousy at losing socio-economic dominance.<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|date=24 October 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":9" /><ref name=":14" /> | ||
== Art and architecture == | == Art and architecture == | ||
The locality of [[Nowhatta]] was constructed by Sikandar and his royal palace was established at the town center.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":15" /> He constructed the [[Jamia Masjid, Srinagar|Jamia Masjid at Srinagar]]—considered to be the finest example of | The locality of [[Nowhatta]] was constructed by Sikandar and his royal palace was established at the town center.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":15" /> He constructed the [[Jamia Masjid, Srinagar|Jamia Masjid at Srinagar]]—considered to be the finest example of Indo-Saracenic archirecture in Kashmir—,{{Efn|The architect was one Khwaja Sadru'd-Din from Khorasan.}} and two other mosques at Bijbehara and Bavan.<ref name=":2" /> The two-storied Bavan mosque was enclosed by a garden and doubled as Sikandar's spring-resort.<ref name=":2" /> Sikandar also commissioned a new burial ground—Mazar-i-Salatin, on the bank of Jhelum near [[Zaina Kadal]] locale in downtown Srinagar—for the royals and elite.<ref name=":15">{{Cite book|last=Pandit|first=Kashinath|url=https://archive.org/details/AChronicleOfMedievalKashmirKashinathPandit|title=Baharistan-i-shahi: A chronicle of mediaeval Kashmir|publisher=Firma KLM Pvt. Ltd.|year=1991|location=Kolkata}}</ref>[[File:Jamia Masjid in Winter 2019.jpg|thumb|[[Jamia Masjid, Srinagar|Jamia Masjid]]. Built in 1394 CE by Sikandar.]] | ||
Numerous scholars arrived from Central Asia in his court: Sayiid Ahmad of [[Isfahan]] drafted a commentary on a Firazi text and also wrote epistles, Sayyid Muhammad Khawari wrote a commentary on Lum'at ul-I'tiqaad as well as another work (Khwar Nameh) of unknown genre, and Muhammad Baihaqi composed poems eulogizing Sikandar.<ref name=":15" /> The first stone sculpture of Kashmir—a four-armed Brahma, argued to be one of the finest in the history of the subcontinent—was sculpted by son of a Buddhist ''Sanghapati'' in 1409 and dedicated to Sikandar.<ref name=": | Numerous scholars arrived from Central Asia in his court: Sayiid Ahmad of [[Isfahan]] drafted a commentary on a Firazi text and also wrote epistles, Sayyid Muhammad Khawari wrote a commentary on Lum'at ul-I'tiqaad as well as another work (Khwar Nameh) of unknown genre, and Muhammad Baihaqi composed poems eulogizing Sikandar.<ref name=":15" /> The first stone sculpture of Kashmir—a four-armed Brahma, argued to be one of the finest in the history of the subcontinent—was sculpted by son of a Buddhist ''Sanghapati'' in 1409 and dedicated to Sikandar.<ref name=":132">{{Cite book |last=Bhan |first=Jawahar Lal |title=Kashmir Sculptures: An Iconographical Study of Brāhmanical Sculptures |publisher=Readworthy Publications |year=2010 |volume=1 |location=Delhi, India |pages=68–69}}</ref> | ||
== Personal life == | == Personal life == | ||
| Line 79: | Line 82: | ||
Sikandar was married to at-least three women: Mera; an unnamed daughter of Pala Deo; and, Sobha about whom Jonaraja does not provide any details.<ref name=":9" />{{Efn|Hasan speculates that Shobha might be the unnamed daughter of Pala Deo that is, SIkandar had two wives. It is likely implausible since Sikandar had bequeathed one of Shobha's (adopted) daughter to Deo!}} He had at least five sons—Firuz (adopted by Sobha; sent alongside Hamadani, in his return journey to Iran), Shadi Khan (adopted by Sobha), Mir Khan (from Mira), Shahi Khan (from Mira), and Muhammad Khan (from Mira)—, and at least two daughters (both adopted by Sobha).<ref name=":9" />{{Efn|Hasan gets these details wrong: he was not an expert in Sanskrit and had to mostly depend upon Dutt's error-ridden translation, which in the opinion of Slaje, "[is] completely unsuitable for purposes of research."<ref name=":9" />}} Sobha is understood to have been likely infertile.<ref name=":9" /> | Sikandar was married to at-least three women: Mera; an unnamed daughter of Pala Deo; and, Sobha about whom Jonaraja does not provide any details.<ref name=":9" />{{Efn|Hasan speculates that Shobha might be the unnamed daughter of Pala Deo that is, SIkandar had two wives. It is likely implausible since Sikandar had bequeathed one of Shobha's (adopted) daughter to Deo!}} He had at least five sons—Firuz (adopted by Sobha; sent alongside Hamadani, in his return journey to Iran), Shadi Khan (adopted by Sobha), Mir Khan (from Mira), Shahi Khan (from Mira), and Muhammad Khan (from Mira)—, and at least two daughters (both adopted by Sobha).<ref name=":9" />{{Efn|Hasan gets these details wrong: he was not an expert in Sanskrit and had to mostly depend upon Dutt's error-ridden translation, which in the opinion of Slaje, "[is] completely unsuitable for purposes of research."<ref name=":9" />}} Sobha is understood to have been likely infertile.<ref name=":9" /> | ||
Sikandar is claimed to have met a prolonged and painful death{{Efn|To Jonaraja (as in the case of Kalhana), Kashmir was an "ethical space" dictated by karma. The tyrants always met unhappy deaths, if not assassinated. However, Jonaraja is careful to assert that the God of Death was angered not at him but at Suhabhatta; he had to merely atone for the sins of his subject.}} | Sikandar is claimed to have met a prolonged and painful death,{{Efn|To Jonaraja (as in the case of Kalhana), Kashmir was an "ethical space" dictated by karma. The tyrants always met unhappy deaths, if not assassinated. However, Jonaraja is careful to assert that the God of Death was angered not at him but at Suhabhatta; he had to merely atone for the sins of his subject.}} seemingly from [[elephantiasis]], in April 1413.<ref name=":9" />{{Efn|A chronogram in Tarikh-i Hassan reports the year as 1417.<ref name=":15" />}} After his death, Sikandar's eldest son Mir was anointed as the Sultan, having adopted the title of Ali Shah.<ref name=":9" /> Two years later, Mir was succeeded by Shadi Khan, who adopted the name [[Zayn al-Abidin the Great|Zain-ul-Abidin]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /> | ||
== Legacy == | == Legacy == | ||
Under Ali Shah's regime, Suhabhatta became the Prime Minister and the de facto ruler; Jonaraja claims that persecution increased manifold with forced conversions becoming commonplace, Hindu customs being banned, and Brahmans being prohibited to leave the territory despite being forced into unemployment.<ref name=":9" /> A regime of tolerance was however re-introduced under Zain-ul-Abidin, with Suhabhatta dead from [[tuberculosis]]; Hindu artists were provided with state-patronage, temples were rebuilt, Brahmans-in-exile were brought back, taxes reduced, 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?id=o14wAQAAIAAJ|title=Medieval Kashmir and the Science of History|date=2004|publisher=South Asia Institute, University of Texas at Austin|isbn=|location=|pages=|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":9" />{{Efn|Jonaraja—ever true to casting Kashmir as an ethical space—remarks that Mera's god-gifted purpose laid in saving Kashmir from Sikandar's depredations.}} Tohfatu'l-Ahbab, writing in the 16th century, blamed the poor state of Islam in the valley on Zain.<ref name=":11" /> | Under Ali Shah's regime, Suhabhatta became the Prime Minister and the de facto ruler; Jonaraja claims that persecution increased manifold with forced conversions becoming commonplace, Hindu customs being banned, and Brahmans being prohibited to leave the territory despite being forced into unemployment.<ref name=":9" /> A regime of tolerance was however re-introduced under Zain-ul-Abidin, with Suhabhatta dead from [[tuberculosis]]; Hindu artists were provided with state-patronage, temples were rebuilt, Brahmans-in-exile were brought back, taxes reduced, 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?id=o14wAQAAIAAJ|title=Medieval Kashmir and the Science of History|date=2004|publisher=South Asia Institute, University of Texas at Austin|isbn=|location=|pages=|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":9" />{{Efn|Jonaraja—ever true to casting Kashmir as an ethical space—remarks that Mera's god-gifted purpose laid in saving Kashmir from Sikandar's depredations.}} Tohfatu'l-Ahbab, writing in the 16th century, blamed the poor state of Islam in the valley on Zain.<ref name=":11" /> | ||
Despite these reverses, the Islamisation of elite politics meant very few caste groups other than Brahmans took the opportunity of re-conversion and a largely irreversible change set-in in post-Sikandar Kashmir.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> The Hindus receded into relative political unimportance, with Pandit nobles being last prominent in the court of Hasan Shah, Zain's grandson.<ref name=":14" /> Nonetheless, Hinduism flourished among the masses even a century after Sikandar's death.<ref name=":14" />{{Efn|The biographer of the Nūrbakshī shaykh, Mir Shams-al Din Iraqi who visited Kashmir in 1487 CE, wrote: "Such atheistic and idolatrous practices continue to be observed in the houses of scholars, theologians and leading personalities of this land (Kashmir). They observe all the festivals and feasts of infidels and polytheists. The family members of the elders and leading persons of this land, especially their womenfolk, do not do anything without the permission of the infidels and permission of astrologers. In fact, in all activities of daily life like eating, drinking, sleeping, rising from sleep, travel and rest, astronomers and polytheists have a role to play."}} | Despite these reverses, the Islamisation of elite politics meant very few caste groups other than Brahmans took the opportunity of re-conversion and a largely irreversible change set-in in post-Sikandar Kashmir.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> The Hindus receded into relative political unimportance, with Pandit nobles being last prominent in the court of Hasan Shah, Zain's grandson.<ref name=":14" /> Nonetheless, Hinduism flourished among the masses even a century after Sikandar's death.<ref name=":14" />{{Efn|The biographer of the Nūrbakshī shaykh, Mir Shams-al Din Iraqi who visited Kashmir in 1487 CE, wrote: "Such atheistic and idolatrous practices continue to be observed in the houses of scholars, theologians and leading personalities of this land (Kashmir). They observe all the festivals and feasts of infidels and polytheists. The family members of the elders and leading persons of this land, especially their womenfolk, do not do anything without the permission of the infidels and permission of astrologers. In fact, in all activities of daily life like eating, drinking, sleeping, rising from sleep, travel and rest, astronomers and polytheists have a role to play."}} | ||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
| Line 91: | Line 94: | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{Reflist}} | {{Reflist}} | ||
{{Wikiquote}} | |||
{{Authority control}} | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butshikan, Sikander}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Butshikan, Sikander}} | ||
[[Category:Sultans of Kashmir]] | [[Category:Sultans of Kashmir]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:1380 births]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:1413 deaths]] | ||
[[Category:14th-century Indian Muslims]] | [[Category:14th-century Indian Muslims]] | ||
[[Category:14th-century Indian people]] | |||
[[Category:15th-century Indian Muslims]] | [[Category:15th-century Indian Muslims]] | ||
[[Category:15th-century Indian people]] | |||
[[Category:Shah Mir dynasty]] | |||
Latest revision as of 10:34, 17 March 2026
| Sikandar Shah | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sultan of Kashmir Sikandar the Idol Breaker Shah | |||||
 Tanka coin of Sikandar Shah, c. 1394 | |||||
| 7th Sultan of Kashmir | |||||
| Reign | 24 August 1389 – 31 May 1413 | ||||
| Coronation | 1389 | ||||
| Predecessor | Qutbu'd-Din Shah | ||||
| Successor | Ali Shah | ||||
| Born | Shingara 1380 Srinagar, Kashmir Sultanate (present-day Jammu & Kashmir, India) | ||||
| Died | 31 May 1413 (aged 32–33) Srinagar, Kashmir Sultanate (present-day Jammu and Kashmir, India) | ||||
| Issue | Ali Shah Shahi Khan | ||||
| |||||
| Dynasty | Shah Mir dynasty | ||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam (Hanafi) | ||||
Sikandar Shah Miri (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist., Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.; 1380 – 31 May 1413), also known by his sobriquet Sikandar But-shikan (lit. Sikandar the Iconoclast) or Idol Breaker,[1] was the seventh Sultan of Kashmir and a member of Shah Mir dynasty who ruled from 1389 until his death in 1413.[2]
Sources[edit | edit source]
The only contemporaneous source that exists is the Rajatarangini (lit. Flow of Succession of Kings) by Jonaraja.[3][4] Jonaraja was the Brahmin court-poet of Sikandar's successor Zain-ul-Abidin and was commissioned to continue Kalhana's Rajatarangini.[4] One manuscript of his work—edited between 1561 and 1588 by an anonymous person using information from other sources—emends certain portions of the text in the margins; he is conventionally called Pseud. J. (and the work, Ps-JRT) in scholarship.[4]
Extant Persian sources, including Template:WjBaharistan-i-shahi (anon.), Tohfatu'l-Ahbab (anon.) and Tarikh-i-Kashmir corpus, were written relatively later and drew from recensions of Rajatarangini(s) but they provide considerable additional information.[2] These were later used by authors starting from Abul Fazl, the first chronicler from outside Kashmir and Nizamuddin Ahmad to independent Persian chroniclers to colonial historians and Kashmiri Pandits, with different ideological proclivities, to produce varying strands of histories suiting different sociopolitical goals.[5]
Background[edit | edit source]
The Shah Miri dynasty likely descended from either Khasa chieftains of Panjgabbar valley or Kohistani Dards from Swat; Shah Mir himself was the first to settle in Kashmir.[6][7][lower-alpha 1] He began to serve in the royal court of the fledgling Deva Dynasty and before long, became the prime-minister of Suhadeva.[6][8] Soon, he leveraged a power-vacuum in the wake of a crippling Mongol raid to help Rinchan, a Buddhist from Ladakh, usurp the throne and after his death, waged a successful war against widow Kota Rani to claim the kingdom for himself.[2][7]
The Shah Miris actively patronaged Islam (esp. Sufism) and led to the formation of a new social order that chipped away at Brahminic Hinduism.[8][7] A contemporary Shaivite mystic Lal Ded borrowed from Sufism and local cults to attack core tenets of Brahminism and likely serviced conversion to Islam among the lower strata of society.[8][lower-alpha 2] By Sikandar's time, a considerable section of the populace had already adopted Islam.[8] Nonetheless, the Kings continued to actively patronage Hinduism: Alaud'din had commissioned a Hindu Matha and Qutubu'd-Din had held royal yajnas.[6][8]
Birth and ascension[edit | edit source]
Sikandar was the great-grandson of Shah Mir; he was the eldest child of Qutubu'd-Din and Queen Sura (var. Subhata), and was born sometime around 1380.[2][4] Because he was a minor at the time of his father's death—9 August 1389—, his mother had to act as a regent for a while.[2][4] During her regency, Sura consented to Prime Minister Rai Magre (var. Uddaka), who was also her cousin, burning his own daughter and son-in-law Muhammad, son of a fellow minister Sahaka, on charges of conspiring against Sikandar.[4][9] Magre went on to poison Haybat, Sikandar's younger brother and even Sahaka.[4] Sikandar, sensing a possible usurpation of the throne by Magre, chose to exert himself as the ruler c. 1391.[4]
Military campaigns[edit | edit source]
Except for a successful invasion of Ladakh under the command of Rai Magre, Sikandar did not annex any new territory.[2] Soon after this victory, Magre instigated a rebellion and assassinated Sobha's (Sikandar's first wife) brother[lower-alpha 3] before turning against Sikandar with his proteges.[4][9] The rebellion was ably suppressed with aid from Laddaraja's men without even resorting to warfare and Magre was imprisoned, whence he committed suicide.[4][9][lower-alpha 4] Palas —probably, a Persian tribe— who aided Magre were brutally suppressed too.[4]
In December 1398, Timur had camped on the banks of the Indus river and ordered Sikandar to pay tribute.[2][10] Despite Sikandar's meek acceptance fearing a military fallout, the order was eventually waived by Timur himself upon being judged to be way above Sikandar's financial capacity.[2][10] While the two did not meet, they shared a mutual admiration and Timur gifted a pair of male and female elephants to Sikandar.[2][4][lower-alpha 5] Sikandar was ecstatic on receiving them.[4]
C. 1400, a successful war was waged against Firuz, the Hindu Shahi ruler of Ohind (var. Udabhandapura and Sahibhanga) after he refused to recognize Sikandar's suzerainty.[2][4] Sikandar went on to marry Firuz's daughter Mera whilst giving away one of his daughters from Sobha for marriage to Firuz.[2][4] 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 daughters from Sobha for marriage to Pala Deo.[2][4]
Sociopolity[edit | edit source]
The overall economic condition was decent.[4] Jonaraja remarks that the Goddess of Fortune found an abode in Sikandar — "the pleasure of [his] welfare elude[d] verbal description."[4] A welfare state was installed; oppressive taxes were abolished while free schools and hospitals (Daru'l-Shifa) were opened for public use.[2][11] Waqfs were endowed to shrines and numerous Sufi preachers from Central Asia were provided with jagirs and installed in positions of authority.[2][lower-alpha 6] Land holdings were allotted to vast sections of society including scholars, religious figureheads and the poor.[2][11] The office of Shaikhu'l-Islam was established to provide monetary stipends and alms to the needy, pilgrims, travelers, physicians, scholars and other deserving people.[11][12] Sikandar was also the first Sultan to enact sharia — music, dance, gambling, and intoxicants were prohibited — and established the post of qadi for its application.[2][13] He also began the imposition of jizya on non-Muslims.[13]
Persecution of Hindus[edit | edit source]
Jonaraja advocates that Sikandar's rule terminated Kashmir's long-standing tolerant culture.[2][14][15][16] So do Baharistan-i-shahi and Tohfatu'l-Ahbab, which note that Sikandar cleansed Kashmir of non-muslims. Sikandar is epithetized as ''butshikan", the "idol-breaker."[17][11] Hasan Ali provides the most detailed narrative.
Sikandar commenced the destruction of Hindu and Buddhist shrines till, in the words of Jonaraja, no idol remained, even in the privacy of peoples' homes.[4][18] Jonaraja mentions temples at Martand (Sun God), Vijayesvara (Shiva), Cakradhara (Vishnu), Suresvari (unknown), Varaha (Vishnu), and Tripuresvara (unknown) to have been destroyed by Sikandar.[4][18] Hasan Ali adds three temples at Parihaspore, the Tarapitha temples at Iskander Pora, and a neighbouring Maha Shri Temple.[11] Pseud. J notes of a colossal statue of Buddha being razed and melted to produce coins.[4][18]
Afterwards, Sikandar's focus fell on abolishing the teaching of Hinduism. All Brahmins unwilling to convert to Islam were taxed with Jizya.[4][lower-alpha 7] In contrast to Jonaraja, who mentions Sikandar's successor (Ali Shah) as having initiated forced conversions for the first time, Hasan Ali notes of forced conversions under Sikandar's tenure; he is stated to have massacred all those who had refused to convert.[4][11][lower-alpha 8]
Motivations and analysis[edit | edit source]
Upon a literary reading of Rajatarangini, Sikandar's zeal behind the Islamisation of society is attributable to Mir Muhammad Hamadani — an orthodox Sufi preacher —[lower-alpha 9] who advocated the creation of a monolithic society based on Islam as the common denominator to the extent of prohibiting any maintenance of kafir shrines.[10][7][6][13] In particular, a Brahman neo-convert — Suhabhatta (var. Suhaka Bhatt and Saifuddin) who served as Sikandar's counsel — was accused of instigating the King into "[taking] delight day and night in demolishing the sculptures of the gods."[7][18][4][lower-alpha 10] Notably, in Baharistan-i-shahi, both Sikandar and Suhabhatta play equal roles, with particular significance accorded to Sikandar's religious conviction.[11]
Chitralekha Zutshi and Richard G. Salomon uphold the claims of religious persecution but reject the idea only religious motives lay behind Sikandar's actions and instead call for a nuanced contextual reading of Rajatarangini, a work that was commissioned by Sikandar's successor, who wished to bring back the Brahminical elite into the royal fold and establish Sanskrit as an integral part of a Sultanate that strove to be cosmopolitan.[20][21][22] According to Zutshi and Salomon, Sikandar's policies were guided by realpolitik[22] and, like with the previous Hindu rulers, were essentially an attempt to secure Islamic political legitimacy by asserting state power of foreign Muslim rulers over Brahmans and gaining access to wealth controlled by Brahminical institutions.[20] J. L. Bhan notes the sole extant example of sculpture (see below) from Sikandar's reign to challenge simplistic notions of religious persecution.[23]
Walter Slaje disagrees about such proposed absence of religious motivation, in part, given the differential rituals of destruction undertaken by Hindu and Muslim kings with the latter rendering sites inoperable for long passages of time by massive pollution or outright conversion.[18][6] Slaje however concludes that the fierce opposition of Hindus to foreign Muslim rulers, including Sikandar, primarily stemmed from their aversion to the slow disintegration of Kashmiri caste society under Islamic influence; Jonaraja explicitly mocks Hamadani's rejection of hereditary caste hierarchies.[18][6] Mohammed Ishaq Khan emphasizes on the centrality of caste in understanding Jonaraja's reception of Shah Miri — he notes that even Hindu figures like Lal Ded had found no place in the Rajatarangini(s) and other Kashmiri Pandit corpus of history, until recent times.[8] Author Hakim Sameer Hamdani highlights that medieval accounts of widespread destruction of non-Muslim religious sites by Sikandar come from both Hindu as well as Muslim sources, but believes that hagiogrpahical and historical accounts by Muslims might have exaggerated such iconoclasm to display religious devoutness.[13]
Fringe revisionist authors completely reject the narratives of persecution and accuse the Brahmin chroniclers of wanton bias and myth-making, stemming from their personal jealousy at losing socio-economic dominance.[24][1][4][13]
Art and architecture[edit | edit source]
The locality of Nowhatta was constructed by Sikandar and his royal palace was established at the town center.[2][11] He constructed the Jamia Masjid at Srinagar—considered to be the finest example of Indo-Saracenic archirecture in Kashmir—,[lower-alpha 11] and two other mosques at Bijbehara and Bavan.[2] The two-storied Bavan mosque was enclosed by a garden and doubled as Sikandar's spring-resort.[2] Sikandar also commissioned a new burial ground—Mazar-i-Salatin, on the bank of Jhelum near Zaina Kadal locale in downtown Srinagar—for the royals and elite.[11]
Numerous scholars arrived from Central Asia in his court: Sayiid Ahmad of Isfahan drafted a commentary on a Firazi text and also wrote epistles, Sayyid Muhammad Khawari wrote a commentary on Lum'at ul-I'tiqaad as well as another work (Khwar Nameh) of unknown genre, and Muhammad Baihaqi composed poems eulogizing Sikandar.[11] The first stone sculpture of Kashmir—a four-armed Brahma, argued to be one of the finest in the history of the subcontinent—was sculpted by son of a Buddhist Sanghapati in 1409 and dedicated to Sikandar.[23]
Personal life[edit | edit source]
Sikandar is believed to have had a puritanical temperament, and abstained from wine, festivities, and music — in tune with the laws decreed for his subjects.[2] Among his closest confidants were Suhabhatta, Sankara (chief physician), and Laddaraja.[4]
Issues, death, and succession[edit | edit source]
Sikandar was married to at-least three women: Mera; an unnamed daughter of Pala Deo; and, Sobha about whom Jonaraja does not provide any details.[4][lower-alpha 12] He had at least five sons—Firuz (adopted by Sobha; sent alongside Hamadani, in his return journey to Iran), Shadi Khan (adopted by Sobha), Mir Khan (from Mira), Shahi Khan (from Mira), and Muhammad Khan (from Mira)—, and at least two daughters (both adopted by Sobha).[4][lower-alpha 13] Sobha is understood to have been likely infertile.[4]
Sikandar is claimed to have met a prolonged and painful death,[lower-alpha 14] seemingly from elephantiasis, in April 1413.[4][lower-alpha 15] After his death, Sikandar's eldest son Mir was anointed as the Sultan, having adopted the title of Ali Shah.[4] Two years later, Mir was succeeded by Shadi Khan, who adopted the name Zain-ul-Abidin.[7][1]
Legacy[edit | edit source]
Under Ali Shah's regime, Suhabhatta became the Prime Minister and the de facto ruler; Jonaraja claims that persecution increased manifold with forced conversions becoming commonplace, Hindu customs being banned, and Brahmans being prohibited to leave the territory despite being forced into unemployment.[4] A regime of tolerance was however re-introduced under Zain-ul-Abidin, with Suhabhatta dead from tuberculosis; Hindu artists were provided with state-patronage, temples were rebuilt, Brahmans-in-exile were brought back, taxes reduced, and neo-Muslims were allowed to convert back.[2][7][3][15][4][lower-alpha 16] Tohfatu'l-Ahbab, writing in the 16th century, blamed the poor state of Islam in the valley on Zain.[17]
Despite these reverses, the Islamisation of elite politics meant very few caste groups other than Brahmans took the opportunity of re-conversion and a largely irreversible change set-in in post-Sikandar Kashmir.[7][18][15] The Hindus receded into relative political unimportance, with Pandit nobles being last prominent in the court of Hasan Shah, Zain's grandson.[13] Nonetheless, Hinduism flourished among the masses even a century after Sikandar's death.[13][lower-alpha 17]
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Jonaraja notes Shah Mir to be the grandson of one Kuru Shah. He had (apparently) received a divine premonition from Mahadevi about Kashmir being the rightful territory of his lineage.
- ↑ Ded was critical of untouchability, idol-worship etc.[8] She will in turn influence equally influential Sufi Rishis like Nund et al., who were more proactive to the cause of Islam.[8] All of these figures continue to remain influential among both Hindus and Muslims of modern Kashmir.
- ↑ Named as Khunjyaraja.
- ↑ Magre's soldiers had gathered at Vallamatha (unknown - doubtful whether any of the recensions preserved the name) for a scheduled faceoff at Pampore but dispersed after mistaking herds of cattle on the other bank of Jhelum as Sikandar's cavalry. Magre was chased by Sikandar himself and caught at Vitastapura.
- ↑ This episode presents one of the few episodes where Jonaraja's account can be corroborated by Persian sources. Jonaraja had held Timur to have gifted the elephants out of fearing Sikandar, despite being powerful enough to have had Delhi razed to ashes!
- ↑ Among them the most prominent were: Sayyid Hasan Shirazi, appointed as the Qazi of Kashmir; Sayyid Jalaluddin, a saint from Bukhara; and Baba Haji Adham, a logician from Balkh.[2] Baharistan-i-shahi provides detailed information about these figures.[11]
- ↑ The tax was set at two pals of silver.[4] Jonaraja snarks at those Brahmins who left their "superior class" in lieu of some material gains.[4]
- ↑ The zunnars of all these dead men weighed three ass-loads, when taken for incineration.[11]
- ↑ Son of the famed Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani (1314-1384) of the Kubrawiya order who had migrated from Huttalàn (present-day Tajikistan) to Shibu'd-Din's Kashmir in the wake of Timurid invasions. Ali Hamadani is believed to have played the most significant role in the propagation of Islam in Kashmir.
- ↑ Hamadani went on to marry Suhabhatta's daughter after the death of his first wife (Bibi Taj Khatun).[2]
- ↑ The architect was one Khwaja Sadru'd-Din from Khorasan.
- ↑ Hasan speculates that Shobha might be the unnamed daughter of Pala Deo that is, SIkandar had two wives. It is likely implausible since Sikandar had bequeathed one of Shobha's (adopted) daughter to Deo!
- ↑ Hasan gets these details wrong: he was not an expert in Sanskrit and had to mostly depend upon Dutt's error-ridden translation, which in the opinion of Slaje, "[is] completely unsuitable for purposes of research."[4]
- ↑ To Jonaraja (as in the case of Kalhana), Kashmir was an "ethical space" dictated by karma. The tyrants always met unhappy deaths, if not assassinated. However, Jonaraja is careful to assert that the God of Death was angered not at him but at Suhabhatta; he had to merely atone for the sins of his subject.
- ↑ A chronogram in Tarikh-i Hassan reports the year as 1417.[11]
- ↑ Jonaraja—ever true to casting Kashmir as an ethical space—remarks that Mera's god-gifted purpose laid in saving Kashmir from Sikandar's depredations.
- ↑ The biographer of the Nūrbakshī shaykh, Mir Shams-al Din Iraqi who visited Kashmir in 1487 CE, wrote: "Such atheistic and idolatrous practices continue to be observed in the houses of scholars, theologians and leading personalities of this land (Kashmir). They observe all the festivals and feasts of infidels and polytheists. The family members of the elders and leading persons of this land, especially their womenfolk, do not do anything without the permission of the infidels and permission of astrologers. In fact, in all activities of daily life like eating, drinking, sleeping, rising from sleep, travel and rest, astronomers and polytheists have a role to play."
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Obrock, Luther James (2015). Translation and History: The Development of a Kashmiri Textual Tradition from ca. 1000-1500 (Thesis). UC Berkeley.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 Hasan, Mohibbul (2005). Kashmīr Under the Sultāns. Aakar Books. pp. 59–95. ISBN 978-81-87879-49-7.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Slaje, Walter (2004). Medieval Kashmir and the Science of History. South Asia Institute, University of Texas at Austin.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 4.22 4.23 4.24 4.25 4.26 4.27 4.28 4.29 4.30 4.31 4.32 4.33 4.34 4.35 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. pp. 28–29, 36, 155–173, 185–189, 201–203, 213–215. ISBN 978-3869770888.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ 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.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 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.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 AHMAD, AZIZ (1979). "Conversions to Islam in the Valley of Kashmir". Central Asiatic Journal. 23 (1/2): 3–18. ISSN 0008-9192. JSTOR 41927246.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 Khan, Mohammad Ishaq (1 June 1986). "The impact of Islam on Kashmir in the Sultanate period (1320-1586)". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 23 (2): 187–205. doi:10.1177/001946468602300203. ISSN 0019-4646. S2CID 144039616.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 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:10.1163/15728536-05903009. ISSN 0019-7246. JSTOR 26546259.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 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. ISSN 0392-4866. JSTOR 24754113.
- ↑ 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 11.12 Pandit, Kashinath (1991). Baharistan-i-shahi: A chronicle of mediaeval Kashmir. Kolkata: Firma KLM Pvt. Ltd.
- ↑ Ahmad, Khalid Bashir (2017). "Malice". Kashmir: Exposing the Myth Behind the Narrative. London: SAGE. p. 32. doi:10.4135/9789353280253. ISBN 9789386062802.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 Hamadani, Hakim Sameer (2021). The Syncretic Traditions of Islamic Religious Architecture of Kashmir (Early 14th –18th Century). Routledge. pp. 58–60, 118. ISBN 9781032189611.
And [Sikandar] also engaged in widespread demolition of temples and images. While medieval Muslim hagiographic and historical accounts may have exaggerated Sikander's destruction of non-Muslim religious sites in a classical representation of religious piety, the tendency of some writers in the twentieth century CE to shield the Sultan from these iconoclastic activities is not historically correct, especially given the evidence from the period coming from writers of different religious backgrounds.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Witzel, Michael (September 1991). The Brahmins of Kashmir (PDF).
- ↑ 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
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link) - ↑ 17.0 17.1 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.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 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. pp. 128–160. doi:10.1515/9783110631685-006. ISBN 978-3-11-063168-5. S2CID 204477165.
- ↑ 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". Ancient Earthquakes. doi:10.1130/2010.2471(10). ISBN 9780813724713.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Zutshi, Chitralekha (24 October 2017). "This book claims to expose the myths behind Kashmir's history. It exposes its own biases instead". Scroll.in. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ↑ Obrock, Luther James (2015). Translation and History: The Development of a Kashmiri Textual Tradition from ca. 1000-1500 (Thesis). UC Berkeley.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 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:10.1163/15728536-05903009. ISSN 0019-7246. JSTOR 26546259.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Bhan, Jawahar Lal (2010). Kashmir Sculptures: An Iconographical Study of Brāhmanical Sculptures. Vol. 1. Delhi, India: Readworthy Publications. pp. 68–69.
- ↑ Zutshi, Chitralekha (24 October 2017). "This book claims to expose the myths behind Kashmir's history. It exposes its own biases instead". Scroll.in. Retrieved 1 February 2021.