Jammu & Kashmir (J&K)

Dog: जम्मु  jammu

Jammu ‘Land of King Jambulochan’.

The legendary King Jambulochan ruled this area in the 9thC.  He built Bahu Fort on the bank of river Tawi.

Jammu is the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

Ksh: कश्मीर kāśmīr(a)

Kashmir ‘Kashyapa’s Lake’.

From Kashyapa, the Vedic sage; and Skt: mīrḥ, ’sea’, ‘ocean’.

According to the 12thC Rajatarangini the Kashmir valley was originally a lake, drained by the great rishi or sage, Kashyapa, so that Brahmins could be settled there. This may be a mythological account of a real geographical event when an inland lake or sea drained or flooded plains downstream. Some suggest this may have included the city of Mohenjo-Daro, part of the Indus Valley Civilization which disappeared in the second millenium BC.

In Kashmiri, the land is called Kasheer and the language and people are Koshur with the ‘m’ being dropped.

Also: (1) Kashyapa is replaced in Islamic legend by twin jinns, Kashf and Mir. (2) ‘Kasha’s Garden’ where Kasha is an ascetic with a mar, ‘garden’. (3) Kashmir is also proposed as the home of the Khasa ‘tribe’.

In 1947 a series of wars and skirmishes broke out over the status of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir which has resulted in India retaining 55% of the original territory and 70% of the population. The Hindus, Buddhists (JK also included Ladakh) and Sikhs of Jammu and Kashmir supported joining India, However, the sentiments of the state’s Muslim population were divided, partly because the real issues were as much about Kashmiri identity as they were about Muslim identity.

Since 1989, Kashmiri protest movements have voiced their grievances with the Indian government with some Kashmiri militias demanding self-determination.

Until 2019, when JK became a Union Territory ruled directly from Delhi, it had been the only Muslim-majority state in India.

Kashmir Region