Dogra Dynasty

Why in news?

• The Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) is on a name-changing spree in Jammu city — resolutions have been passed to rename the Jammu Airport and the Jammu University after Hindu Dogra monarchs Maharaja Hari Singh and Maharaja Gulab Singh, respectively.

About Dogra Dynasty

• The Dogra dynasty (or Jamwal dynasty) was a Hindu Dogra Rajput dynasty that formed the royal house of Jammu and Kashmir.

• The founder of the dynasty, Gulab Singh, was an influential noble in the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore.

• Appointed by Ranjit Singh as the hereditary Raja of the Jammu principality, Gulab Singh established his supremacy over all the hill states surrounding the Kashmir Valley.

• After the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1846, under the terms of the Treaty of Lahore, 1846, the British Indian government acquired Kashmir from the Sikh Empire and transferred it to Gulab Singh, recognising him as an independent Maharaja.

• Thus, Jammu and Kashmir was established as one of the largest princely states in British India.

• It was ruled by Gulab Singh and his descendants till 1947.

• The last ruling Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir was Hari Singh, who contributed troops to the British war effort in World War II and served on Churchill's Imperial War Cabinet.

• Following the Partition of India in 1947, Hari Singh faced a rebellion in the western districts of the state and a Pakistan-supported tribal invasion, leading him to accede to the Union of India and receive military assistance. Pakistan contested the accession, giving rise to the enduring Kashmir conflict.

Prelims Question

Q.Dogra Dynasty ruled over which of the following states in pre-independent India?
a. Assam
b. Mysore
c. Hyderabad
d. Jammu and Kashmir

Answer to the Prelims Question