25 Facts About Kashmir

Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent.

Accordingly, Kashmir would be derived from either kashyapa-mir or kashyapa-meru (Kashyapa's Mountain).

Kashmir is believed to be the country meant by Ptolemy's Kaspeiria.

The earliest text which directly mentions the name Kashmir is in Ashtadhyayi written by the Sanskrit grammarian Panini during the 5th century BC.

Some other early references to Kashmir can be found in Mahabharata in Sabha Parva and in puranas like Matsya Purana, Vayu Purana, Padma Purana and Vishnu Purana and Vishnudharmottara Purana.

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Kashmir is called Cachemire in French, Cachemira in Spanish, Caxemira in Portuguese, Caixmir in Catalan, Casmiria in Latin, Casmir in Romanian, and Cashmir in Occitan.

In 1819, the Kashmir Valley passed from the control of the Durrani Empire of Afghanistan to the conquering armies of the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh of the Punjab.

Kashmir had now begun to attract European visitors, several of whom wrote of the abject poverty of the vast Muslim peasantry and of the exorbitant taxes under the Sikhs.

Kashmir became the second highest revenue earner for the Sikh Empire.

Kashmir became a wealthy and influential noble in the Sikh court.

Kashmir was neither as large nor as old an independent state as Hyderabad; it had been created rather off-handedly by the British after the first defeat of the Sikhs in 1846, as a reward to a former official who had sided with the British.

Indian soldiers entered Kashmir and drove the Pakistani-sponsored irregulars from all but a small section of the state.

The largest Muslim group, situated in the Valley of Kashmir and estimated to number more than half the population of the entire region, lay in Indian-administered territory, with its former outlets via the Jhelum valley route blocked.

Eastern region of the former princely state of Kashmir is involved in a boundary dispute that began in the late 19th century and continues into the 21st.

Kashmir is traversed by three rivers namely Indus, Jehlum and Chenab.

Lower down in the Vale of Kashmir there are many freshwater lakes and large areas of swamplands which include Wular Lake, Dal Lake and Hokersar near Srinagar.

Geographical features of the Kashmir region differ considerably from one part to another.

Kashmir has a different climate for every region owing to the great variation of the level of the altitude.

Southwestern Kashmir which includes much of the Jammu province and Muzaffarabad falls within the reach of Indian monsoon.

Kashmir has a recorded forest area of 20, 230 square kilometres along with some national parks and reserves.

The Kashmir region has four well defined zones of vegetation in the tree growth, due to the difference in elevation.

Kashmir is referred as a beauty spot of the medicinal and herbaceous flora in the Himalayas.

Kashmir region is home to rare species of animals, many of which are protected by sanctuaries and reserves.

Group of Pandits, or Brahmin priests, in Kashmir, photographed by an unknown photographer in the 1890s.

Irish poet Thomas Moore's 1817 romantic poem Lalla Rookh is credited with having made Kashmir "a household term in Anglophone societies", conveying the idea that it was a kind of paradise (an old idea going back to Hindu and Buddhist texts in Sanskrit).

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