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
Temple at Babor (Courtesy: Jammu Daily ) The history of the Himalayan states of North-west India remains a subject of much obscurity, with thinly packed materials available, as historians like Karuna Goswamy have remarked. In the midst of all this, documents like the Rajdarshani or the Vanshavalis in other regions has served to be a much valuable work. While so called credible historians criticize them as sources of history given fanciful claims, it is interesting that the same cabal also does not hesitate to refer to similar fanciful accounts elsewhere, as for example is the case for Mahavamsa of Sri Lanka. Absence of archaeological evidence is a call for more such work, and not the case of 'unreliability' as some would claim. Be that as it may, the Rajdarshani as was written by Ganesh Das Badehra is an interesting account for it did have instances of the 8th-13th century AD period that can be verified in historical sources that we know of, especially for instance the Chamba