69 
1899.] POSITION AND CONFIGURATION OF KAS'MlR VALLEY. 
The organization of the system was somewhat changed in Muham¬ 
madan times when the guarding of the several routes through the 
mountains was entrusted to feudal chiefs known as Maliks (Skr. margesci) . l 
These held hereditary charge of specific passes and enjoyed certain privi¬ 
leges in return for this duty. In other respects the system underwent 
scarcely any change. The fortified posts with their small garrisons 
survived on all important routes almost to our own days being known as 
rahddrl in the official Persian. 2 
It may be noted that apart from their character as military 
defences against foreign inroads the Drangas were also in another 
respect true ‘gates’ to the country. Nobody was allowed to pass 
outside them coming from the Valley without a special permit or pass. 
The system thus provided an important check on unauthorized emi¬ 
gration which was withdrawn only after the last Kasmir famine 
(1878). 3 
In order to appreciate fully the importance of these frontier watch- 
stations it should be remembered that the mountain regions immediately 
outside Kasmir were almost in every direction held by turbulent hill- 
tribes. To the hardy Dards ( Darod ) in the north and the restless 
Khakhas ( Iihasa ) in the south and west the rich Kasmir with its weak 
population has always appeared as a tempting prey. The last inroad of 
plundering Khakhas occurred not more than half a century ago and will 
not soon be forgotten. 4 At the same time it is certain that the valour 
of these hardy mountain clans on the confines of Kasmir has at all times 
contributed greatly to the natural strength of the mountain defences. 
Without this protective belt the latter themselves would scarcely have 
remained so long proof against foreign invasion. 
I A detailed and interesting account of the Maliks and the routes held by 
them is given by Baron Hugel, Kaschmir, ii., pp, 167 sqq. ; i., p. 347. 
® See J. A. 8. B , 1895, p. 385; also below, § 49, 52. 
3 For an early reference to this system of passports at the Dvaras, see Jonar. 
654. For a description of the cruel exactions often connected with ‘ Rahdari,’ 
compare Lawrence, Valley , p. 215. I have never been able to visit the sites of the 
old watch-stations at the several passes without thinking of the scenes of human 
suffering they must have witnessed for centuries. 
* Compare Rajat. i. 317 note. 
