Editing Kashmir (section)

=== Sikh rule ===
In 1819, the [[Kashmir Valley]] passed from the control of the [[Durrani Empire]] of [[Afghanistan]] to the conquering armies of the [[Sikh Empire|Sikhs]] under [[Ranjit Singh]] of the [[Punjab region|Punjab]],<ref name="imperialgazet-gulabsingh">''Imperial Gazetteer of India, volume 15''. 1908. "Kashmir: History". pp. 94–95.</ref> thus ending four centuries of [[Muslim]] rule under the [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]] and the [[Durrani Empire|Afghan]] regime. As the Kashmiris had suffered under the Afghans, they initially welcomed the new Sikh rulers.<ref name=schofield_p5-6>{{Harvnb|Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict|2003|pp=5–6}}</ref> However, the Sikh governors turned out to be hard taskmasters, and Sikh rule was generally considered oppressive,<ref name=madan2008-p15>{{Harvnb|Madan, Kashmir, Kashmiris, Kashimiriyat|2008|p=15}}</ref> protected perhaps by the remoteness of Kashmir from the capital of the Sikh Empire in Lahore.<ref name=zutshi_p39-41>{{Harvnb|Zutshi, Languages of Belonging|2004|pp=39–41}}</ref> The Sikhs enacted a number of anti-Muslim laws,<ref name=zutshi_p39-41/> which included handing out death sentences for cow slaughter,<ref name=schofield_p5-6/> closing down the [[Jamia Masjid, Srinagar|Jamia Masjid]] in Srinagar,<ref name=zutshi_p39-41/> and banning the [[Adhan|a''dhan'']], the public Muslim call to prayer.<ref name=zutshi_p39-41/> Kashmir had also now begun to attract European visitors, several of whom wrote of the abject poverty of the vast Muslim peasantry and of the exorbitant taxes under the Sikhs.<ref name=schofield_p5-6/><ref name=":3">{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0433 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620003316/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0433 |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 June 2018 |title=Kashmir|last1=Amin|first1=Tahir|last2=Schofield |first2=Victoria|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World |quote=During both Sikh and Dogra rule, heavy taxation, forced work without wages (begār), discriminatory laws, and rural indebtedness were widespread among the largely illiterate Muslim population.}}</ref> High taxes, according to some contemporary accounts, had depopulated large tracts of the countryside, allowing only one-sixteenth of the cultivable land to be cultivated.<ref name=schofield_p5-6/> Many Kashmiri peasants migrated to the plains of the Punjab.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zutshi, Languages of Belonging|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dlBjzE-1ML8C&q=kashmir+muslims+famine+punjab&pg=PA40 40]}}: "Kashmiri histories emphasize the wretchedness of life for the common Kashmiri during Sikh rule. According to these, the peasantry became mired in poverty and migrations of Kashmiri peasants to the plains of the Punjab reached high proportions. Several European travelers' accounts from the period testify to and provide evidence for such assertions."</ref> However, after a famine in 1832, the Sikhs reduced the land tax to half the produce of the land and also began to offer interest-free loans to farmers;<ref name=zutshi_p39-41/> Kashmir became the second highest revenue earner for the Sikh Empire.<ref name=zutshi_p39-41/> During this time [[Kashmir shawl]]s became known worldwide, attracting many buyers, especially in the West.<ref name=zutshi_p39-41/>

The [[Jammu district|state of Jammu]], which had been on the ascendant after the decline of the Mughal Empire, came under the sway of the Sikhs in 1770. Further in 1808, it was fully conquered by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Gulab Singh, then a youngster in the House of Jammu, enrolled in the Sikh troops and, by distinguishing himself in campaigns, gradually rose in power and influence. In 1822, he was anointed as the Raja of Jammu.{{sfn|Panikkar|1930|p=10–11,&nbsp;14–34}}  Along with his able general [[Zorawar Singh Kahluria]], he conquered and subdued [[Rajouri district|Rajouri]] (1821), [[Kishtwar district|Kishtwar]] (1821), Suru valley and [[Kargil district|Kargil]] (1835), [[Leh district|Ladakh]] (1834–1840), and [[Baltistan]] (1840), thereby surrounding the [[Kashmir Valley]]. He became a wealthy and influential noble in the Sikh court.{{sfn|Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict|2003|pp=6–7}}