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- Journey to Thibet country and ruled it until the period of the deluge, and that the Kashmirians were afterwards taught the worship of one God by Moses.*
It appears from chronicles actually existing that Kashmir has been a regular kingdom for a period far beyond the limits of history in general. From the year 2,666 B. C. to 1,024 A. C. it had been governed by princes of Hindu and Tartar dynasties, and their, names have been duly handed down to posterity. In the reign of Ashoka, about the third century before Christ, Buddhism was introduced, and after remaining there for some time, under Tartar princes, the religion of the country was again succeeded by Hinduism. In the middle of the fourteenth century the Mahomedans appeared on the scene and annexed for a time Thibet to the kingdom of Kashmir. Sikander, one of the Mahomedon monarchs, destroyed the Hindu temples and images by fire and forced the people, at the point of the bayonet, to adopt the Mahomedan faith. At the end of the sixteenth century Akbar conquered this province. He took a fatherly interest in the people, but the loyalty of his children was but short-lived, as certain persons raised an insurrection. In 1752, the country passed from the possession of the Mogul throne and fell under the rule of the Duranis, and for many years was convulsed by a series of wars and rebellions and subject to numerous governors. In 1813, Ranjit Sing, the Lion of the Punjab, became one of the recognized princes of India, and subdued the province of Kashmir, The Sikhs ruled for a time and after the English invasion of the Punjab, it came under the British rule. The English, however, in consideration of $3,750,000, handed over the unfortunate Kashmirians to the tender mercies of Gulab Sing, an attendant and counselor of Ranjit Sing, “ the most thorough ruffian that ever was created a villain from a kingdom down to a half-penny," and the "Paradise of the Indies” was relinquished * “The Diary of a Pedestrian."
