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
Raja Ranjit Dev of Jammu (courtesy Christie's) Reading through the Rajdarshani, the annals of Jammu's history as written by Ganesh Das Badehra, has been a rather engaging exercise. The deeper one goes into the text, the more layers on the missing links to the history of the Panjab Hill States open up. One particular aspect of the history that gets less highlighted (rather ignored) is the rivalry of Jammu and Kangra. It is rather intriguing that the popular memory gap has been so poorly discussed and deliberated upon anywhere. One such instance, thanks to Dr. S S Charak’s work on a critical edition of the Rajdarshani, has been rather useful. It is not surprising that there is rivalry -through the history of the region, these were the two biggest princely states, and so it was but natural that competition for influence would take place. Curiously, the two have also seen continuity of dynasties for more than a millennium at the least. While the rivalries of Nagarkot or Kangra and