Historic Kashmir

The present day state of Jammu and Kashmir consists of the valley of Kashmir, the northern hilly regions of ladakh, Baltistan, Hunza, Nagar, Gilgit, Puniyal, Ishkoman, and the western hill regions of Karnah, Muzaffarabad and the southern regions of Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu, Kathua, Doda and Kishtwar. Besides these regions, the state exercised suzerainty over Chitral and some territorial pockets in Tibet. Out of all these regions, the valley of Kashmir has retained superior position throughout various phases of history. In the glorious reign of Lalitaditya, some time in the7th 8th century, the capital of the North India existed at Parihaspur in Kashmir. During the reigns of the Hindu rulers, the valley of Kashmir did establish its supermacy over various principalities around it. The Raja of Kashmir was accepted as an overlord by Poonch, Rajouri, Basohali, Chamba and Jammu. During the Sultanate period, the boundaries of the kingdom of Kashmir extended right upto Sindh on one side and Sarhand towards Delhi on the other side. In historic terms, this phenominen is termed as the Greater Kashmir.
The present work is a collection of historical essays, written from time to time, by the author on the history and culture of Greater Kashmir. These historical essays, pertain to over a very long period, starting from ancient time to the modern period of history. Most of the topics are dealt with in this volume, constitute subjects for researches on Doctorate level. It is hoped that the students of Kashmir history and culture would take up these topics for conducting higher researches. Nothing is final in the domain of research. As such, the ideas expressed by the author are of his own and these can be interpreted in other ways by future researchers.

Sufi mystic Haji Fida. Mohammad Khan Hassnain was born in the year 1924 at Srinagar, Kashmir, India. Having graduated from the University of Punjab, Lahore he completed his post graduation in history and law at the Muslim- University, Aligarh, India. He started his career as a Professor of history in S.P.College, Srinagar, Kashmir, 1947. Later he joined the national archives of India, New Delhi and obtained diploma in archives. He was promoted by government of India as the Director of Archives, Archaeology, Research and Museum in 1953 and Continued as such as till his retirement in 1983. He is credited with the having salvaged hundreds of manuscripts in Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian and Urdu by: preserving this heritage in the oriental. research libraries and the three archives. repositories at Leh, Ladakh, Jammu and Srinagar.
In 1969 he was invited by several Japanese Universities to give extension lectures on Buddhist culture and history. Since then he has visited various cities in Asia and Europe and has given lectures on history, culture and Sufism. He is a recipient of several degrees and awards from various institutions in India, Japan, Switzerland, Germany and Mexico. He was granted the title of Rastra Sanskrit Samrat or the Emperor of National Culture in 1987. The Jammu and Kashmir government has bestowed upon him the prestigious lifetime achievement award on January 25, 2009.
He is the author of about two dozen books on history, culture and mysticism which have been published in India, UK, Russia, Italy, Spain USA.