The State in Medieval Kashmir

Rattan Lal Hangloo

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000608700
• Edition: 2
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Indian & South Asian History
• Index: History

This book provides a lucid, informative and comprehensive account of political processes and their varied foundations in medieval Kashmir. It examines some of the principal ways through which the region's social and religious life interacted with the then, current political formations to produce peculiar structures of power and domination. The book also analyses in detail problems that the medieval state faced in Kashmir, while evolving its ideological apparatus and legitimational tools.
The author has put together varied Sanskrit, Persian, and other sources on this region's history and passed them through a theoretical lens to ensure a vivid focus and a long historical perspective. The book is a major contribution to medieval Indian history, particularly in Kashmir region.

Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

1 Historical Roots of State Formation in Pre-Sultanate Kashmir

Different historical circumstances shaped the process of state formation in medieval Kashmir. During this process various societal institutions facilitated certain class interests and alliances which underpinned and reinforced the patterns of power and domination. The nature of this state formation cannot be understood in isolation from those processes which led to the evolution of complex relationships between the region’s economic forces and the role of the political elite in the functioning of the state. Regarding the origins of early state formation, most historians generally believe that there was a transition of human civilization from the hunter-gatherer to the cultivation of land, also referred to as neolithic revolution, which gradually resulted in the growth of complex social relations, sometimes associated with progression in terms of political organization from band level to tribal level formation.¹

In Kashmir the first complex state formation stemmed from the tribal foundations of Nagas among whom two conflicting and collaborating classes of (a) warrior chiefs and (b) the peasants, pastoralists and craftsmen formed the state structure. The seats of these chiefs became the first centres of political power. These warrior chiefs acquired legitimacy for their authority through kinship lineages and singular ethnicity, to command the resources and loyalty of their subjects.² In the case of Kashmir too, the Naga tribal formation appears to have been the earliest political formation from where the early state emerged. The growth of private property and the accumulation of surplus by the Naga tribal chiefs which led to the increasing social differentiation, seems to have brightened the prospects of socio-political dominance of a particular group, which strengthened the power of the Nila Naga over other chiefs in the valley. Much before the Christian era, Kashmir was inhabited by various tribes, among whom the Nagas were the most prominent. Nilmata Purana records, ‘Thus devoid of grief, thousands and hundred millions of Nagas dwell there without the fear of Tarkasaya.’³

True, these estimates of Nilmata Purana cannot be taken to be as exact because the author is at times prone to such poetic exaggerations. Though plausible at times, yet a critical sensibility of his information does indicate the predominance of Nagas as autochthonous elements in Kashmir from whom evolved the basic preliminaries of socio-political formation. Nilmata Purana was written in the seventh century ad. Ved Kumari Gai attributes the authorship of this Purana to Nila Naga, the chief of the Naga tribe in early Kashmir. But a careful study of Nilmata Purana reveals that it is a case of pseudo-epigraphy. It is very likely that Nilmata Purana was actually written by a Brahmin in order to advance the ritual apparatus among the tribes inhabiting Kashmir as part of the process of Sanskrization, and to popularize it among the tribes, the authorship was attributed to Nila Naga.⁴ The bulk of Tantric literature produced during the post-Mauryan period, also indicates the existence of Naga tribal formation which was gradually absorbed and influenced by Agamas (Shaivite Tantricism) at the hands of Brahmins and led to a relatively advanced stage of state for-mation.⁵ Nilmata Purana states that there were five hundred and ninety-two clan settlements of Nagas sparsely spread across the entire Kashmir valley. The chieftains of these settlements acknowledged the authority of their super-chief Nila Naga by payment of regular tribute and obedience to him.⁶Nilmata Purana refers to Nagas as the progeny of Kashyapa and his wife Kadaru.⁷ But scholars have different views regarding their ethnicity and origin. Fergusson takes them as Turanians.⁸ Cunningham describes them as Tarkhas who descended from Naga chief Takshaka.⁹ Todd mentions them as Toorskas who ruled Arverm in Sakadipa.¹⁰ How-ever, a critical survey of literatures establishes the fact that they were among the indigenous tribes who inhabited various parts of northern India from earliest times.

One of these chiefs, Sadhangula, was even dismissed by Nila for having abducted the wives of other chiefs to satisfy his insatiable lust.¹¹ Evidence suggests that this vaguely-defined tribal formation was protected from external threat by various chiefs. The Naga chief Bindusara protected the valley from the east, chief Srimadhaka protected it from the south and another chief, Uttaramansa protected it from the north. Nila Naga was thus helped by various subordinate chiefs to hold his co-tribesmen in subjugation and was also assisted in restricting the intrusion of non-Naga tribes into his domain.¹² It is necessary to mention here that the superiority of Nila Naga over others was natural because it was based on lineages and kinship ties, the ideology of power at this stage having no need to look beyond this justification. Such a structure would have based itself on a specific polity but that does not necessarily identify the politically-structured ruling class as such. The protection of the Kashmir valley by various chiefs does not only indicate the nature of their relations with the super-chief Nila but also points to the loosely structured territorial organization which formed an essential element in the process of state formation from early times. This evidence defines the tentative boundaries of Naga kingdom in Kashmir. These territorial limits of the Kashmir valley were never stagnant but kept on shifting, as indicated by literary and numismatic evidence. However, the nucleus was always the main valley, which provided the bulk of its resources and manpower to the state. However, compared with the fully-developed models of early state, this formation does not seem to have grown to that scale in the pre-Mauryan period. The structural model of early state which is derived from a number of empirical case studies, establishes that it was a socio-political organization with definite territorial limits, a centre of governance sustained on agrarian economy, pastoral produce and tributes and taxes derived from trade. It had a two-tier social format comprising: (a) the sovereign and his relations and the aristocracy, (b) the peasants, tenants and craftsmen as their subjects. The position of the ruler in the early state was supported by mythical charters and fake genealogies connecting him to supernatural forces. The administration was carried out by numerous functionaries.¹³ But it had certainly attained the features of an organization to enforce its authority. It was from these elements that the structure of the future state was derived.

This tribal level state formation could not possibly remain unaffected by internal and external forces forever. The various forces which helped to break the isolation of Kashmir from the rest of the world included: (a) the penetration of non-Naga tribes of Madras, Tanganas, Darvas, Abhisaras, Gandharas, Juhundaras, Sakas, Khasas, Madaras, Antagiris, Bahiragiris, Kaulindras,Yavanas and Piscas.¹⁴ The cessation of these tribes played a highly significant role in de-tribaliz-ing the Naga tribal formation, (b) the extension of Mauryan rule and spread of Buddhism, and (c) the growth of Agamas at the hands of the Brahmins.

The tribe was only a commonsensical notion, being a political community based on singular ethnicity and kinship ties. With the increasing interaction and intermixing of various other tribes, the existing organization now sought to organize its members (people) by means of concepts which were not familiar from personal experience. It is most likely that the peoples’ recourse to demands believed to be super-natural helped the growth of the early state formation process. The Tantric literature that emerged after the dissolution of tribal formation, evolved around the religious institutions and the ritual apparatus at the hands of Brahmins and Buddhist monks, who generated new social and roles.¹⁵

All these forces significantly influenced the process of state formation. The intrusion of various non-Naga tribes led to a competition to procure the necessities of life and gradually started reproducing the basic structure. The advent of the Kushanas, Yavanas (Greeks), Pahalvas (Parthians), Tukharas (Tocharians), Hunas and Mauryas between 200 BC and ad 300 integrated tribal formation into a more complicated socio-economic formation of the mainstream type with the partial development of class and jati differences and alienation within the community.¹⁶ As a result, the tribal formation witnessed endless disintegration into various settlements growing and spreading over the river valleys and hills in a widely dispersed manner. In their early writings (ad 1846-86), Marx and Engels also noted that only within his own community has each individual the means of cultivating his gifts in all directions; hence personal freedom becomes possible only within the community.

Consequently, the community broke up into various groups based on their social positions. Instead of viewing others as helping co-equals, they viewed them as potential rivals for scarce goods. With the division of the community into exploiting and exploited classes, came the full alienation of its harmony.¹⁷ The old structure began to be expressed in what Laibman calls, ‘The gradual dissolution of primitive kinship forms and appearance of rudimentary division of labour accompanied by slow differentiation, the appearance of hereditary priesthoods and invidious ranking of customary status.’¹⁸ On the one hand, these developments destroyed the strength derived until then from the earlier singular ethnicity and kinship lineages, and on the other, posed serious problems to the extending of Mauryan rule in Kashmir. The growth of sparse settlements with varied cults and cultural forms, restricted the physical interaction between the central structure and these areas, particularly when the means of communication (which formed an effective means of keeping the centre’s authority intact in these areas) was of a primitive nature. At this stage the Buddhist monks and Brahmins came to the rescue of the regional rulers of the Mauryan state in Kashmir. They provided ideological materials for absorbing these varied cults into a culturally and religiously homogenous populace and rendered acceptance of the new rulership possible. There has always been a close connection between religion and polity because the state was always in need of justifying the inequalities, power differentials, heavy taxations, and tributes. For this purpose invocation of the supernatural or the promise of a better life after death offered powerful legitimation. Herbert Frey rightly observes that the ruling class obtained rents from them and the...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Map
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface to the Revised Edition
• Preface to the First Edition
• Introduction
• 1. Historical Roots of State Formation in Pre-Sultanate Kashmir
• 2. Conversions to Islam and the Consolidation of a Social Base of Power in the Sultanate
• 3. The Sayyids, Sultans and the State: A Search for Legitimacy, 1339–1470
• 4. The Incorporation of the Sultanate into the Mughal State
• 5. Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index