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Sikandar Shah Miri
Sikandar Shah Miri (Kashmiri: سُلطان سِکَندَر شاہ میٖری, Persian: سلطان سکندر شاہ مِیرِی; 1380 – 31 May 1413), also known by his sobriquet Sikandar But-shikan (lit. Sikandar the Iconoclast) or Idol Breaker, was the seventh Sultan of Kashmir and a member of Shah Mir dynasty who ruled from 1389 until his death in 1413.
The only contemporaneous source that exists is the Rajatarangini (lit. Flow of Succession of Kings) by Jonaraja. Jonaraja was the Brahmin court-poet of Sikandar's successor Zain-ul-Abidin and was commissioned to continue Kalhana's Rajatarangini. One manuscript of his work—edited between 1561 and 1588 by an anonymous person using information from other sources—emends certain portions of the text in the margins; he is conventionally called Pseud. J. (and the work, Ps-JRT) in scholarship.
Extant Persian sources, including Baharistan-i-shahi (anon.), Tohfatu'l-Ahbab (anon.) and Tarikh-i-Kashmir corpus, were written relatively later and drew from recensions of Rajatarangini(s) but they provide considerable additional information. These were later used by authors starting from Abul Fazl, the first chronicler from outside Kashmir and Nizamuddin Ahmad to independent Persian chroniclers to colonial historians and Kashmiri Pandits, with different ideological proclivities, to produce varying strands of histories suiting different sociopolitical goals.
The Shah Miri dynasty likely descended from either Khasa chieftains of Panjgabbar valley or Kohistani Dards from Swat; Shah Mir himself was the first to settle in Kashmir. He began to serve in the royal court of the fledgling Deva Dynasty and before long, became the prime-minister of Suhadeva. Soon, he leveraged a power-vacuum in the wake of a crippling Mongol raid to help Rinchan, a Buddhist from Ladakh, usurp the throne and after his death, waged a successful war against widow Kota Rani to claim the kingdom for himself.
The Shah Miris actively patronaged Islam (esp. Sufism) and led to the formation of a new social order that chipped away at Brahminic Hinduism. A contemporary Shaivite mystic Lal Ded borrowed from Sufism and local cults to attack core tenets of Brahminism and likely serviced conversion to Islam among the lower strata of society. By Sikandar's time, a considerable section of the populace had already adopted Islam. Nonetheless, the Kings continued to actively patronage Hinduism: Alaud'din had commissioned a Hindu Matha and Qutubu'd-Din had held royal yajnas.
Sikandar was the great-grandson of Shah Mir; he was the eldest child of Qutubu'd-Din and Queen Sura (var. Subhata), and was born sometime around 1380. Because he was a minor at the time of his father's death—9 August 1389—, his mother had to act as a regent for a while. During her regency, Sura consented to Prime Minister Rai Magre (var. Uddaka), who was also her cousin, burning his own daughter and son-in-law Muhammad, son of a fellow minister Sahaka, on charges of conspiring against Sikandar. Magre went on to poison Haybat, Sikandar's younger brother and even Sahaka. Sikandar, sensing a possible usurpation of the throne by Magre, chose to exert himself as the ruler c. 1391.
Except for a successful invasion of Ladakh under the command of Rai Magre, Sikandar did not annex any new territory. Soon after this victory, Magre instigated a rebellion and assassinated Sobha's (Sikandar's first wife) brother before turning against Sikandar with his proteges. The rebellion was ably suppressed with aid from Laddaraja's men without even resorting to warfare and Magre was imprisoned, whence he committed suicide. Palas —probably, a Persian tribe— who aided Magre were brutally suppressed too.
In December 1398, Timur had camped on the banks of the Indus river and ordered Sikandar to pay tribute. Despite Sikandar's meek acceptance fearing a military fallout, the order was eventually waived by Timur himself upon being judged to be way above Sikandar's financial capacity. While the two did not meet, they shared a mutual admiration and Timur gifted a pair of male and female elephants to Sikandar. Sikandar was ecstatic on receiving them.
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Sikandar Shah Miri
Sikandar Shah Miri (Kashmiri: سُلطان سِکَندَر شاہ میٖری, Persian: سلطان سکندر شاہ مِیرِی; 1380 – 31 May 1413), also known by his sobriquet Sikandar But-shikan (lit. Sikandar the Iconoclast) or Idol Breaker, was the seventh Sultan of Kashmir and a member of Shah Mir dynasty who ruled from 1389 until his death in 1413.
The only contemporaneous source that exists is the Rajatarangini (lit. Flow of Succession of Kings) by Jonaraja. Jonaraja was the Brahmin court-poet of Sikandar's successor Zain-ul-Abidin and was commissioned to continue Kalhana's Rajatarangini. One manuscript of his work—edited between 1561 and 1588 by an anonymous person using information from other sources—emends certain portions of the text in the margins; he is conventionally called Pseud. J. (and the work, Ps-JRT) in scholarship.
Extant Persian sources, including Baharistan-i-shahi (anon.), Tohfatu'l-Ahbab (anon.) and Tarikh-i-Kashmir corpus, were written relatively later and drew from recensions of Rajatarangini(s) but they provide considerable additional information. These were later used by authors starting from Abul Fazl, the first chronicler from outside Kashmir and Nizamuddin Ahmad to independent Persian chroniclers to colonial historians and Kashmiri Pandits, with different ideological proclivities, to produce varying strands of histories suiting different sociopolitical goals.
The Shah Miri dynasty likely descended from either Khasa chieftains of Panjgabbar valley or Kohistani Dards from Swat; Shah Mir himself was the first to settle in Kashmir. He began to serve in the royal court of the fledgling Deva Dynasty and before long, became the prime-minister of Suhadeva. Soon, he leveraged a power-vacuum in the wake of a crippling Mongol raid to help Rinchan, a Buddhist from Ladakh, usurp the throne and after his death, waged a successful war against widow Kota Rani to claim the kingdom for himself.
The Shah Miris actively patronaged Islam (esp. Sufism) and led to the formation of a new social order that chipped away at Brahminic Hinduism. A contemporary Shaivite mystic Lal Ded borrowed from Sufism and local cults to attack core tenets of Brahminism and likely serviced conversion to Islam among the lower strata of society. By Sikandar's time, a considerable section of the populace had already adopted Islam. Nonetheless, the Kings continued to actively patronage Hinduism: Alaud'din had commissioned a Hindu Matha and Qutubu'd-Din had held royal yajnas.
Sikandar was the great-grandson of Shah Mir; he was the eldest child of Qutubu'd-Din and Queen Sura (var. Subhata), and was born sometime around 1380. Because he was a minor at the time of his father's death—9 August 1389—, his mother had to act as a regent for a while. During her regency, Sura consented to Prime Minister Rai Magre (var. Uddaka), who was also her cousin, burning his own daughter and son-in-law Muhammad, son of a fellow minister Sahaka, on charges of conspiring against Sikandar. Magre went on to poison Haybat, Sikandar's younger brother and even Sahaka. Sikandar, sensing a possible usurpation of the throne by Magre, chose to exert himself as the ruler c. 1391.
Except for a successful invasion of Ladakh under the command of Rai Magre, Sikandar did not annex any new territory. Soon after this victory, Magre instigated a rebellion and assassinated Sobha's (Sikandar's first wife) brother before turning against Sikandar with his proteges. The rebellion was ably suppressed with aid from Laddaraja's men without even resorting to warfare and Magre was imprisoned, whence he committed suicide. Palas —probably, a Persian tribe— who aided Magre were brutally suppressed too.
In December 1398, Timur had camped on the banks of the Indus river and ordered Sikandar to pay tribute. Despite Sikandar's meek acceptance fearing a military fallout, the order was eventually waived by Timur himself upon being judged to be way above Sikandar's financial capacity. While the two did not meet, they shared a mutual admiration and Timur gifted a pair of male and female elephants to Sikandar. Sikandar was ecstatic on receiving them.
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