Promised Land: Peasant Movement in the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir (1931–46)

The State of Jammu and Kashmir came into being by virtue of the treaty, known in the annals of Indian history as the Treaty of Amritsar, signed between the East India Company and Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu on 16 March 1846. The Treaty transferred ‘all the hilly or mountainous country’ situated to the east of the river Indus and west of the river Ravi, into Gulab Singh’s ‘independent possession’ and of his male heirs (Huttenback 2004: 5). In return, Gulab Singh was required to pay the British government seventy-five lakhs of rupees (Nanakshahi) and acknowledge the supremacy of the British government. He was also bound to refer all his disputes with his neighbours to British arbitration and alter his frontiers only with British consent (Aitchison 1831: 3). However, the whole transaction was concluded behind the back and without ascertaining the views of the people of Kashmir by the British (Rai 2004: 20–26, Bazaz 1941:31). The treaty was  nothing but an auction agreement between Gulab Singh and the East India  Company under which the valley of Kashmir was sold for a paltry a sum. This bilateral treaty, not only raised Gulab Singh from Raja to Maharaja but the three disparate territories of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh were also amalgamated to create the new political entity (Rai 2004: 20–26).