Pratap Singh
Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir
Sir Pratap Singh (18 July 1848 – 23 September 1925) was the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, and head of the Jamwal Rajput clan. Jammu and Kashmir was a self-governing salute state, outside British India, but in a subsidiary alliance with it. In the years before 1885, the British Governor-General of India was represented in Kashmir by an Officer-on-Special-Duty, who had only limited functions. The Government of British India made many attempts in the days of Ranbir Singh to raise the status of this Officer to that of a fully-fledged Political Resident. It was concerned that having no Resident gave the Maharaja a free hand in his dealings with states outside India, in particular Russia. However, these were successfully resisted. In 1882, and again in 1884, Ranbir Singh asked the British to nominate his younger son, Amar Singh, as his successor, stating that Amar was wiser than his brothers Pratap and Ram Singh. However, the Governor-General, Lord Ripon, decided that Pratap Singh would succeed his father, and that a Resident would be appointed. Ranbir died on 12 September 1885, and the next day the Officer-on-Special Duty, Oliver St John, announced that Pratap was recognized as ruler and that at the same time he was himself promoted to Resident. Pratap appealed to the new Governor-General, Lord Dufferin, against this promotion, which he said would lower his own status. Dufferin rejected the appeal, while assuring Pratap
that as Resident St John would not interfere improperly with his administration and would offer friendly advice. Ultimately, Pratap accepted what had happened. In 1887, an early action of Pratap Singh’s State Government was to implement the first land settlement, with the rights of the farmers being clearly defined, and the state's demand fixed for ten years. As part of veth, the peasants and low-caste people were forced to supply water to the ruler's family; construct buildings, roads, and dams; and carry dead and wounded soldiers. It was abolished by the Maharaja. In 1889, the British deposed Pratap Singh as ruler, accusing him of misgovernment, disloyal dealings with the Russian Empire, and a plot to murder his brothers and the British Resident. However, this was contrary to the Treaty of Amritsar of 1846, and the outcome of it was that Pratap was reinstated, but a new ruling council was forced on him, which included his brother Amar Singh working under the supervision of the British Resident. In 1889, a major step of improvement was taken when the Jhelum Valley Cart Road, from Kohala to Baramulla, "the most wonderful mountain road in the world", was completed, and a new Kohala Bridge the next year. The impact on the lives of the people of the state was enormous, as before Pratap Singh’s time there had not been a single wheeled conveyance which could travel from one place to another, not even a hand-cart. By the time the reign of Pratap came to a close, motor cars had become a major means of travel. Besides construction of roads, several efforts were made to link the Kashmir Valley with the Indian railway system, but progress was slow, owing to the high costs. In 1890 the Jammu–Sialkot line was built from Jammu to Sialkot in the Punjab Province of British India, becoming the first railway in Jammu and Kashmir. In 1894, widespread vaccination was introduced to prevent smallpox, which before that had taken a heavy toll of life in the valley. Modern water works were also established at Jammu and Srinagar. A great spill channel was constructed in 1904 to divert the flood waters of the Jhelum River. It was followed by the construction of smaller channels and several irrigation canals in both the provinces of Jammu and Kashmir. Besides, agriculture, sericulture, viticulture and horticulture were given great encouragement, and these made much progress going onto become flourishing state industries. A silk factory set up at Srinagar attained the distinction of being "the largest of its kind in the world". To feed it with the best quality of cocoons, worms were imported from Italy and France.
The Jammu and Kashmir Rifles has a unique regimental history. Its antecedents go back to the Dogra Corps raised by Dogra Rajput Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu in 1821. General Zorawar Singh led daredevil campaigns in northern areas like Ladakh, Baltistan, Gilgit, Hunza and Yagistan, consolidating smaller principalities and making the northern areas a part of the expanding dominions of Gulab Singh. He also mounted an invasion of Tibet in 1841. After the establishment of Jammu and Kashmir as independent princely state under the British Paramountcy in 1846, these troops became the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces. The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir maintained a larger number of State Forces than any other ruler of an Indian State under the British Raj. These forces were organized into the Jammu and Kashmir Brigades. They comprised a bodyguard cavalry regiment, two mountain batteries, seven infantry battalions, one training battalions and a transport unit consisting of both pack and mechanized transport.
The Dogra dynasty was a Hindu dynasty of Dogra Rajputs from the Shivalik hills created Jammu and Kashmir when all dynastic kingdoms in India were being absorbed by the East India Company. Events led the Sikh Empire to recognise Jammu as a vassal state in 1820, and later the British added Kashmir to Jammu with the Treaty of Amritsar in 1846. The founder of the dynasty, Gulab Singh, was an influential noble in the court of the Sikh emperor Maharaja Ranjit Singh, while his brother Dhian Singh served as the prime minister of the Sikh Empire. Appointed by Ranjit Singh as the hereditary Raja of the Jammu principality, Gulab Singh established his supremacy over all the hill states surrounding the Kashmir Valley. After the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1846, under the terms of the Treaty of Lahore, 1846, the British Indian government acquired Kashmir from the Sikh Empire and transferred it to Gulab Singh, recognising him as an independent maharaja. Thus, Jammu and Kashmir was established as one of the largest princely states
in British India, receiving a 21-gun salute for its Maharaja. Around 1808, Jammu became part of the Sikh Empire, under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh in 1820, bestowed the place as a jagir on Gulab Singh's father Kishore Singh, who belonged to the Jamwal Rajput clan that ruled Jammu. As a jagirdar (governor) for the Sikhs, Gulab Singh extended the boundaries of the Sikh Empire to western Tibet with the help of his fine General Zorawar Singh. The Sikh rule was then extended beyond the Jammu Region and the Kashmir Valley to include the Tibetan Buddhist Kingdom of Ladakh and the Emirates of Hunza, Gilgit and Nagar. In the turmoil for succession of the Sikh empire that followed Maharaja Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, two of Gulab Singh's sons Udham Singh, and Sohan Singh were killed in the feuding between the Sikh heirs. His youngest brother Suchet Singh, was killed by his own nephew Hira Singh, the Vizir (prime minister) of the Sikh empire. Hira Singh, was a great favourite of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Gulab Singh once even aspired to have him installed as the Sikh emperor. Hira Singh had become prime minister aged 24, after his father and Gulab Singh's brother Vizir Dhian Singh was assassinated in his blotched September 1843 coup d'état against Sikh emperor Sher Singh in Lahore. During the regency of Maharani Jind Kaur, Hira Singh was killed by the Sikh army in December 1844. Gulab Singh, came into possession of the Koh-i-noor diamond, after Maharaja Kharak Singh's mysterious death in prison in 1840, and had previously presented the famous stone to Maharaja Sher Singh to win his favour. After the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1846, Sir Henry Lawrence was appointed British Resident and Vizir Lal Singh on behalf of infant emperor Duleep Singh was asked to surrender Kashmir. Vizir Lal Singh was also a Dogra, and along with Gulab Singh colluded with the British to deliberately break the Sikh army and facilitate the British victory. Under the terms of the Treaty of Amritsar that followed in March 1846, the British government sold Kashmir for a sum of 7.5 million Nanakshahee rupees to Gulab Singh, hereafter bestowed with the title of Maharaja. Thus the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir came into being under Gulab Singh, as per the treaty of Lahore, signed between the British and the Sikhs.
Awards: Collar, sash and star of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India.
