Gilgit

Gilgit manuscripts

This corpus of manuscripts was discovered in 1931 in Gilgit and contains numerous Buddhist texts, including four sutras from the Buddhist canon, most notably the Lotus Sutra. The manuscripts were written on birch bark in the Buddhist form of Sanskrit in the Sharada script. They cover a wide range of themes such as iconometry, folk tales, philosophy, medicine, and several related areas of life and general knowledge.^[15]

The Gilgit manuscripts^[16] are included in the UNESCO Memory of the World register.^[17] They are among the oldest manuscripts in the world, and the oldest manuscript collection surviving in Pakistan,^[16] having major significance in Buddhist studies and the evolution of Asian and Sanskrit literature. The manuscripts are believed to have been written in the 5th to 6th centuries AD, though more manuscripts were discovered from the succeeding centuries, which were also classified as Gilgit manuscripts.

Gilgit manuscripts

Buddhas, devotees with Buddhist deities on the painted cover from Manuscript 3, Saṃghāṭa Sūtra, with a sample page, commissioned by Devaśirikā and Atthocasiṃgha, 627-628 CE. Gilgit.^[18][19]

Many of the original manuscripts from Gilgit can be found in the National Archives of India and the Pratap Singh Museum in Srinagar. Two manuscripts collected by the orientalist Sir Aurel Stein are in the British Library in London.^[20] They include a rare paper version of the Lotus Sutra.

As of 6 October 2014, one source claims that the part of the collection deposited at the Sri Pratap Singh Museum in Srinagar was irrecoverably destroyed during the 2014 India–Pakistan floods.^[21]

Trakhan dynasty

According to John Biddulph:

The period of greatest prosperity was probably under the Shin Ras, whose rule seems to have been peaceable and settled. The whole population, from the Ra to the poorest subject lived by agriculture. According to tradition, Shri Buddutt's rule extended over Chitral, Yassin, Tangir, Darel, Chilas, Gor, Astor, Hunza, Nagar and Haramosh all of which were held by tributary princes of the same family.^[22]

Until the early 19th century Gilgit was ruled by Trakhan dynasty. A tradition traces their descent from an imaginary prince of Persia, Azur Jamshid, who is said to have fled from his homeland and married Nur Bakht Khatun, the daughter of king Shri Badat of legendary Shareis dynasty.^[23] Sri Badat's faith is theorised as Hindu by some^[24][25] and Buddhist by others.^[26][27] Shri Badat was known as Adam Khor (literally "man-eater"),^[28][29] often demanding a child a day from his subjects. His demise is still celebrated to this very day by locals in traditional annual celebrations.^[30] In the beginning of the new year, where a Juniper procession walks along the river, in memory of chasing the cannibal king Sri Badat away.^[31]

The former rulers had the title of Ra, and there is a reason to suppose that they were at one time Hindus, but for the last five centuries and a half they have been Moslems. The names of the Hindu Ras have been lost, with the exception of the last of their number, Shri Ba'dut. Tradition relates that he was killed by a Mohammedan adventurer, who married his daughter and founded a new dynasty, since called Trakhàn, from a celebrated Ra named Trakhan, who reigned about the commencement of the fourteenth century. The previous rulers—of whom Shri Ba'dut was the last—were called Shahreis.^[22]

Azur Jamshid killed Shri Badat with the help of her daughter and ruled for 16 years, after which he abdicated in favour of his wife Nur Bakht Khatun until their son and heir Garg, grew of age and assumed the title of Raja. Garg ruled for 55 years. The dynasty flourished until 1421 when Raja Torra Khan assumed rulership. He ruled as a memorable king until 1475. He distinguished his family line from his stepbrother Shah Rais Khan (who fled to the king of Badakshan, and with whose help he gained Chitral from Raja Torra Khan), as the now-known dynastic name of Trakhan. The descendants of Shah Rais Khan were known as the Ra'issiya dynasty.^[32] Gilgit was ruled for centuries by the Trakhan dynasty, which ended about 1810 with the death of Raja Abbas, the last Trakhan Raja.^[33] The rulers of Hunza and Nager also claimed origins from the Trakhans.^[23]

Gilgit Agency

In 1877, in order to guard against the advance of Russia, the British India Government, acting as the suzerain power of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, established the Gilgit Agency. The Agency was re-established under control of the British Resident in Jammu and Kashmir. It comprised the Gilgit Wazarat; the State of Hunza and Nagar; the Punial Jagir; the Governorships of Yasin, Kuh-Ghizr, Ishkoman, and Chilas. In 1935, the British India government leased the Gilgit Tehsil (Gilgit Valley) from the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir for 60 years.^[36]

The Tajiks of Xinjiang sometimes enslaved the Gilgiti and Kunjuti Hunza.^[37]

1947 Gilgit Rebellion

Following partition and independence of the Dominions of Pakistan and India, on 22 October 1947, tribal militias backed by Pakistan crossed the border into Jammu and Kashmir after Poonch rebellion and Jammu Muslim massacre.^[38][39] Hari Singh made a plea to India for assistance and signed the Instrument of Accession, making his state a part of India. India air-lifted troops to defend the Kashmir Valley and the invaders were pushed back behind Uri.

Gilgit's population did not favour the State's accession to India.^[40] The Muslims of the frontier ilaqas (Gilgit and the adjoining hill states) had wanted to join Pakistan.^[41] Sensing their discontent, Major William Brown, the Maharaja's commander of the Gilgit Scouts, mutinied on 1 November 1947, overthrowing the governor Ghansara Singh. The bloodless coup d'état was planned by Brown to the last detail under the code name "Datta Khel", which was also joined by a rebellious section of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces under Mirza Hassan Khan. Brown ensured that the treasury was secured and minorities were protected. A provisional government (Aburi Hakoomat) was established by the Gilgit locals with Raja Shah Rais Khan as the president and Mirza Hassan Khan as the commander-in-chief. However, Major Brown had already telegraphed Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan asking Pakistan to take over. Pakistan's political agent, Khan Mohammad Alam Khan, arrived on 16 November and took over the administration of Gilgit.^[42] Brown outmaneuvered the pro-Independence group and secured the approval of the mirs and rajas for accession to Pakistan. Browns's actions surprised the British Government.^[43]

Gilgit's military leaders did not favour the State's accession to India.^[40] However, there was also written evidence of Gilgit troop leaders wanting to set up an independent Islamic state. Major William Brown in his book Gilgit Rebellion describes the Gilgit troop leaders stating, "We know of course that you are loyal to Pakistan-all Britishers are-but it is not our intention to join Pakistan. We intend to set up an independent Islamic State called the United States of Gilgit, and although we shall keep the friendliest relation with Pakistan we shall in no way owe allegiance to that dominion."^{[44][page needed]} The military leaders of the Frontier Districts Province (modern day Gilgit-Baltistan) wanted to join Pakistan.^[45]

The provisional government lasted 16 days. According to scholar Yaqub Khan Bangash, it lacked sway over the population. The Gilgit rebellion did not have civilian involvement and was solely the work of military leaders, not all of whom had been in favour of joining Pakistan, at least in the short term. Historian Ahmed Hasan Dani says that although there had been a lack of public participation in the rebellion, pro-Pakistan sentiments were intense in the civilian population and their anti-Kashmiri sentiments were also clear.^[46] According to various scholars, the people of Gilgit as well as those of Chilas, Koh Ghizr, Ishkoman, Yasin, Punial, Hunza and Nagar joined Pakistan by choice.^{[47][48][49][50][51]}