Painting picture courtesy Christie's Auction House Sometimes, a painting begins to ask more questions than it answers. A late eighteenth-century painting, attributed to the Mandi school and catalogued as showing Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra with a courtier, has intrigued me for some time. At first glance, the identification appears straightforward enough. Two men sit opposite each other, smoking hookahs, while attendants stand behind them holding fly-whisks. One figure is dressed in red, the other in white. The scene is informal, almost intimate, and yet unmistakably courtly. But the more I looked at the painting, the less convinced I became that the red-clad figure was Sansar Chand. The reason came from looking at other portraits. Among the surviving paintings associated with the Mandi court are several portraits of Raja Surma Sen, who ruled Mandi from 1781 until his death in 1788. One such portrait shows him seated smoking a hookah, attended by a fly-whisk bearer. Another depicts ...
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| Chitral Montage (Source: Wikipedia) |
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 representatives, sometimes his brother, Makhmul Shah, to the Maharaja of Kashmir . In 1876 the Mehtar appears to have approached the Maharaja with a view to seeking his protection against the threatening attitude of the Amir of Afghanistan, who had an eye on this territory.
In fact, he puts out the terms of the Treaty between the state of Chitral and the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which can be seen below:
This agreement is made on behalf of myself and my children.
(a) I hereby agree that I shall endeavour to obey and comply with orders of the Maharaja and consider his well wishers as my friends and his enemies as my enemies and in recognition of sovereignty, pay the following Nazarana:
3 Horses
5 Hawks
5 Hounds
(b) One Motabir of the Maharaja will always remain at Kashgar and one at Yasin and they will be duly honoured and respected. Similarly, one Motabir of mine will remain in the darbar of Maharaja and another on behalf of the Hamim of Yasin in Gilgit for execution of orders. (c) I hall receive a yearly subsidy of Rupees 12,000/- from the Maharaja in observance of the above conditions and if instead of the Motabir, any of my sons takes up the place, he will receive a separate allowance from the Maharaja.
This of course is not the first time it has been mentioned. The same was mentioned in 1975 by Dilip Kumar Ghose in his assessment of the Pratap Singh rule of Jammu and Kashmir.
In 1914, a treaty was signed by the Mehtar of Chitral with the British, wherein the British had transferred the areas of Mastuj and Lampur to the state for administration. Two clauses - 1 and 8 - has been reproduced as follows by Narender Singh:
(1) I acknowledge the suzerainty of the Maharaja of Kashmir and Jammu and in token thereof will resume the annual payment following Nazarana:
3 Horses
5 Hawks
5 Tazi Dogs
(8) In consideration of my acceptance of the above conditions the subsidies now paid to me and certain officials viz. Rs 12,560/- a year by the Government of India and Rs 12,560/- paid by Kashmir darbar which be continued subject to the provision that the payment at present aggregating Rs 4,560/- a year made by the latter to certain officials and headman will gradually close as the present recipients die or are removed from office.
Another interesting source mentioning this treaty is an Ayesha Jalal supervised Masters thesis at Tufts University by Amna Qayyum. In this thesis, Qayyum refers to the treaty between Maharaja Ranbir Singh of Jammu and Kashmir and Aman-ul-Mulk, the Mehtar of Chitral, brokered by the British. This can be seen here, and the true translation as provided by the British Indian government at the time is produced as a picture.
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