CHAPTER IV

KASHMIR AND THE HIMALAYAS

THE state of Kashmir was at our disposal at the close of
the first Sikh war. It was then under the administration
of one Golab Sing, who had risen to prominence in the
service of the great Sikh leader, Ranjit Sing. To Golab
Sing and his heirs the state of Kashmir was assigned in
1846 for a money consideration amounting to about one
million sterling, and on the understanding that he would
remain neutral when the second Sikh war (which was then
imminent) should commence. Goldb Sing was true to
his engagement. He deserted his Sikh masters and paid
for Kashmir with money looted from the Lahore treasury.
Thus Kashmir became an independent state, after the
fashion in which native states within the limits of British
india are independent. Its geographical position to the
north of the Punjab and its world-famed climate and
scenery, as well as its influence on the conditions of life in
the plains of the Punjab as the cradle of some of its great
rivers—all these have rendered Kashmir prominent
amongst the native states of India, and have made that
country the final objective of almost every conqueror who
has invaded the peninsula. In later years Kashmir has
acquired a new interest and fresh importance, firstly, as a
possible sphere for European colonisation ; and, secondly,
as the guardian state of those entrances to India from the
north which are directly connected with the eastern passes
over the Hindu Kush.
Originally defined as lying between the Indus and the
Ravi, Kashmir now stretches out an arm so as to include
a part of the Gilgit basin; and the political influence of
the British resident at Srinagar reaches beyond Gilgit to