History of islam in kashmir

HISTORY OF ISLAM IN KASHMIR

Rinchan, whose full name was Lhachan Gualbu Rinchana, was a Buddhist prince 

from Ladakh, and the son of the Ladakh chief, Lhachan Ngos-gruba, who ruled Ladakh from 

1290 to 1320.

Kashmir has changed its primary religions from Nagaism to 

Buddhism and finally to Islam,just to give tough fight to foreigners 

(The Aryans) .

Brahmins were powerful and rich, and they were administering Kashmir at 

this time.

The Muslim who were confined to a region that was assigned for lower castes, 

they were called the Mlecchas. Mlecch is a Sanskrit word. It implies impure.

The vast majority of the Sanskrit writing has alluded to medieval time 

Muslims with this word.

Rinchan revolted against his uncle, the ruler of Ladakh, but was defeated and fled to Kashmir. 

Raja Suhadeva appointed Rinchan as a minister. A Muslim from Swat named Shah Mir was 

appointed as a minister in Kashmir by Suhadeva and he became good friend of 

Rinchan. Mongols under their leader Dulchoo, invaded Kashmir with 70,000 soldiers and 

defeated Suhadeva, who fled to Tibet. After the departure of Mongols, his prime 

minister, Ramachandra, took advantage of the anarchy and occupied the throne. He appointed 

Rinchan as an administrator. Rinchan became ambitious. He sent a force in the fort in the guise 

of merchants, who took Ramachandra's men by surprise. Ramachandra was killed and his 

family were taken prisoners. Rinchanqq became the ruler of Kashmir.

In view of his Ladakhi origin, Rinchan found it crucial to gain support to legitimize his rule. To 

this end, he won over Ravanachandra(brahmin), the son of Ramachandra(brahmin), to his side. 

He made him his chief adviser and gave him the title of Raina and Ladakh to him as jageer .The 

brahmin ravanachandra advised him to marry his sister Kota Rani, Ramachandra's 

daughter .Kota rani some how convinced him to convert to hinduism. He approached the head 

guru of the BrahminPandits Devaswami for this purpose. However his request was spurned by 

the Shaivite guru who refused to accept him into the Hindu fold due to his hand in killing Ramachandra.King Rinchan was favourite to boddist who were treated as low caste by the 

brahmins ,there scriptures were manipulated and now they also worship shiva and other gods of 

brahmins but the civil war was still going on between the low caste and the brahmins .The 

boddist were majority but ruled by brahmins .Many amoung them r converted to hinduism as 

well but treated as low caste hindus or slaves. Rinchan the king gave special importance to the 

poor and needy because of his kindness the majority were in his favour.King Sinchan was fed 

up by the ways of brahmins treated the boodist and low caste ,brahmins always busy in making 

plans against the king and the majority .So Shah Mir convinced Rinchan that he could choose to 

convert to Hinduism, Buddhism, or Islam. Shah Mir suggested to Rinchan that he could convert 

to the religion of hinduism or boddism or islam .Next morning king rinchan went out side his 

palace to wards the mountains ,there he saw an old man praying in a different way that he 

doesn’t know .King Rinchan asked his friend who is he and what is he doing ,mir replied it looks 

like he is praying to the God of Mohammad, the prophet of islam ,it was a new experience for 

the king ,he sat aside him and wait for old man to end his prayers. It is found in history that King 

Rinchan and the old man known as Syed Sharafuddin Bulbul Shah met many times before 

getting an offer from the king Rinchan to stay with him in his palace. The tales of Bulbul shah 

and king Rinchan were famous among the kashmiri's till today ,king Rinchan and Bulbul shah 

became the good friends .Rinchan was inspired by the old man syed Bulbul shah . One night he 

saw a dream in which he saw himself and a person wearing white long thobe and having long 

white beard ,long hair , telling him about the prophet of islam and the 1st person you will meet in 

the morning is the future of ur kingdom. The next morning when they left the palace the first 

person they met was Bulbul Shah who was performing his morning prayers. Rinchan 

converted to Islam and adopted the title of Sultan Sadruddin Shah. Majority of the 

boddist and low caste adopted Islam as there religion , including is brother-in-law 

Ravanachandra, converted along with him.But the Aryans (the Brahmins remain the 

Brahmin )and adopted the name “kashmiri pandits” for political and social gains.