The year was 1808. The place, Jammu. Raja Jaid Singh was placed on the throne of Jammu to be its king, supported by the presence of Mian Mota Singh, the all-powerful kingmaker of Jammu. In this period of madness in the province of Jammu, one hoped that Jammu would witness a semblance of balance and stability being created. Jammu had been in a free fall following the death of Raja Brijraj Dev. Sampuran Singh, the successor, succumbed to smallpox, leading to the situation that a new successor had to be found desperately. In the scramble, the name of Jaid Singh came forward, and with Mian Mota Singh’s support, Jaid Singh ascended the throne. Raja Brijraj Dev of Jammu ( painting with San Diego Museum of Art) Contributing to the constant madness in Jammu were the Khalsa forces who would raid Jammu and pillage it constantly, devoiding it of its wealth. The 1783 pillage of Jammu remained afresh in the minds of the people and the aristocrats alike - for two months, one witnessed not a single
Chitral Montage (Source: Wikipedia) Recently, some right wing people started raising questions on the status of Chitral, Hunza and Nagar with respect to Jammu and Kashmir. Several people, especially Pakistani propagandists, have made a lot of noise about these places having been governed directly by the British government. However, the answer, as is everything, not so straight - an element of disinformation has been made out that needs to be cleared. I will just point out to the fact that some people have over time gone through the archives of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and have provided some interesting points about the Chitral region in particular, the locus of this post. I will firstly point out an analysis by Colonel Dr Narendar Singh of the archives of the Jammu and Kashmir princely state. I will just reproduce his words verbatim: The earliest records available show that since the year 1864, The Mehtar of Chitral, Aman ul-Mulk used to send his Nazrana through his re