Maharaja Gulab Singh of the Hindu Dogra Dynasty (17 October 1792 - 30 June 1857)
He joined the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire in 1809 (when he was only 17 years old) and became a highly respected commander and also an influential noble in the court of the king. He was appointed by Ranjit Singh as the hereditary Raja of the Jammu principality. He went on to establish his supremacy over all the hill states surrounding Kashmir.
After the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1846, under the terms of the Treaty of Amritsar, 1846, the British Indian government acquired Kashmir from the Sikh Empire and transferred it to Gulab Singh, recognising him as an independent Maharaja.
The 100 year Dogra rule of the northernmost hilly provinces of India was mostly spent in conquest, suppressing revolts, unifying the hill tribes and attempting to create stability in the region.
The Dogras were very much responsible for the creation of the modern state of Jammu & Kashmir, by uniting Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, Gilgit, Baltistan and Ladakh.
The Dogras were staunch Hindus and under their rule, cow slaughter was punishable by death.
In 1837, the Muslim tribes of Pashtuns, Tanolis, Karrals, Dhunds, Satis and Sudhans rose in revolt in Hazara and Kashmir. Gulab Singh brutally suppressed these revolts. A Sudhan, Shams Khan had raised the standard of revolt and had captured hill forts from a Raja. Gulab Singh placed one Rupee over the head of every single man, woman or child connected to the insurgents, this way about 12,000 Sudhans, Satis and Dhunds perished in the hills.
The Kashmiri Muslim informants of the Afghan rebels were captured and dismembered in public. Even some farmers who were suspected of aiding the Afghans had their limbs chopped off in public.
Gulab Singh himself proceeded to the tribal areas of Pashtuns (now Khyber Pakhtunwa) where Afghan tribesmen leader Painda Khan Afridi had raised revolt after the killing of Hari Singh Nalwa at the Khyber Pass. Maharaja Ranjit Singh ordered Rajah Gulab Singh to crush the revolt in the Khyber region.
He proceeded with 10,000 Sikh and Dogra troops towards Hazara, the revolting tribesmen fled to the mountains with their families and valuables. Gulab Singh set his base camp in Hazara and looted almost whole of the North West Frontier Province and set all the houses on fire.
He then made Katuha his headquarters and hunted for Muslim Pashtun men. Women were raped and kept for Raja Gulab Singh's harem and the rest were sold as slaves in Lahore and Jammu. More than 5000 Afghan women were also taken into sexual slavery by the Dogra soldiers. It was reported that this expedition resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of Pashtun rebels.[/img]
He joined the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire in 1809 (when he was only 17 years old) and became a highly respected commander and also an influential noble in the court of the king. He was appointed by Ranjit Singh as the hereditary Raja of the Jammu principality. He went on to establish his supremacy over all the hill states surrounding Kashmir.
After the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1846, under the terms of the Treaty of Amritsar, 1846, the British Indian government acquired Kashmir from the Sikh Empire and transferred it to Gulab Singh, recognising him as an independent Maharaja.
The 100 year Dogra rule of the northernmost hilly provinces of India was mostly spent in conquest, suppressing revolts, unifying the hill tribes and attempting to create stability in the region.
The Dogras were very much responsible for the creation of the modern state of Jammu & Kashmir, by uniting Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, Gilgit, Baltistan and Ladakh.
The Dogras were staunch Hindus and under their rule, cow slaughter was punishable by death.
In 1837, the Muslim tribes of Pashtuns, Tanolis, Karrals, Dhunds, Satis and Sudhans rose in revolt in Hazara and Kashmir. Gulab Singh brutally suppressed these revolts. A Sudhan, Shams Khan had raised the standard of revolt and had captured hill forts from a Raja. Gulab Singh placed one Rupee over the head of every single man, woman or child connected to the insurgents, this way about 12,000 Sudhans, Satis and Dhunds perished in the hills.
The Kashmiri Muslim informants of the Afghan rebels were captured and dismembered in public. Even some farmers who were suspected of aiding the Afghans had their limbs chopped off in public.
Gulab Singh himself proceeded to the tribal areas of Pashtuns (now Khyber Pakhtunwa) where Afghan tribesmen leader Painda Khan Afridi had raised revolt after the killing of Hari Singh Nalwa at the Khyber Pass. Maharaja Ranjit Singh ordered Rajah Gulab Singh to crush the revolt in the Khyber region.
He proceeded with 10,000 Sikh and Dogra troops towards Hazara, the revolting tribesmen fled to the mountains with their families and valuables. Gulab Singh set his base camp in Hazara and looted almost whole of the North West Frontier Province and set all the houses on fire.
He then made Katuha his headquarters and hunted for Muslim Pashtun men. Women were raped and kept for Raja Gulab Singh's harem and the rest were sold as slaves in Lahore and Jammu. More than 5000 Afghan women were also taken into sexual slavery by the Dogra soldiers. It was reported that this expedition resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of Pashtun rebels.[/img]
.. Serial ch tan eme hi das rhe
