1880.] H. S. Jari'ett — Note on an Inscription found in Kashmir. 17 



In the following survey I have followed the narrative of this last men- 

 tioned historian who calls himself the sou of Khayr uz-Zaman and who 

 commenced writing his history in the year 1147 A. H. (A. D. 1734-5) 

 during the reign of Muhammad Shah of Hindustan. His work follows the 

 order of the Sanskrit and is divided into three periods, the first treating 

 purely of the Hindu dynasties, the second of the Muhammadan, and the third 

 of the subjugation of the country by the House of Timur, with some con- 

 cluding remarks on the features and curiosities of the country. 



With the second jDeriod alone is this Note concerned, and the narrative 

 is taken up at the accession of the last Hindu Rajah Sahdeo in A. H. 705 

 (A. D. 1305-6). During his reign occurred an irruption of the Turks 

 under Zulju whose ravages left for generations the traces of his incursion. 

 Forced to leave the country in the winter after a stay of eight months, the 

 army, betrayed by guides, perished in the mountain snows. Many of the 

 inhabitants of the country had fled in fear of their lives, some to Tibet, 

 others, including Eajah Sahdeo, to Ivishtwarah where he remained in hopes 

 of some day recovering his crown. His General Eam Chand who had been 

 among the fugitives returned to Kashmir with a refugee from Tibet named 

 Eihju to whom in former times he had accorded his protection. The coun- 

 try was now in a state of anarchy, each petty chief asserting his own inde- 

 pendence. Ram Chand and his people occupied the fortress of Lar. Eijhu* 

 or Einju (for the name is indistinctly written) seeing his opportunity 

 gathered a few followers round him, made himself master by stratagem, of 

 Lar, put Earn Chand to death and took his family prisoners. He now 

 (A. H. 725 A. D. 1324) openly assumed the sovereignty, married the 

 daughter of Eam Chand and won to his side the son of that Chief by grant- 

 ing him the government of Lar and Tibet and aj^pointing him to a high 

 command in the army. Though Buddhism was nominally the prevailing 

 religion at this time, the country was distracted by the dissensions of secta- 

 ries, whose hostile and contending claims to religious truth perplexed the 

 inquirer dissatisfied with the national religion. Such an inquirer was Eaja 

 Einju, who after much perturbation of spirits and constant prayer, was led 

 by divine inspiration — so runs the simple narrative — to watch a Moslem at 

 his devotions. He saw, admired and believed, and soon led his court and 

 people to embrace the Muhammadan faith. This monarch died in A. H. 727, 

 after a reign of a little more than two years and a half, and the ruins of a 

 once noble alms-house and a splendid mosque attest his reverence for the faith 

 of his adoption. His widow Kotahriuif married XJdayn Deo, brother of the 

 last Eaja, who continued with his consort to carry on the government till 

 the year A. H. 742, when he died. One of the Generals of the army coming 



* The Eajatarangini has the name Einchan. 

 t In the Eajatarangini Kotah Eani. 



C 



