Kashmir

Jammu & Kashmir

Kashmir is an area on the northern borders of India and Pakistan; officially known as Jammu & Kashmir.

Kashmir is famous for its natural beauty and has often been referred to as the 'Switzerland of the East'. The heart of the area is the fertile Vale of Kashmir (known as The Valley), which lies between the Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range. Here the climate is mild and the soil well watered.

Kashmir covers an area of 222,237 SqKm (85,800 SqMi). Mount Godwin Austen/K2 (8,611m/28,250 ft) and mount Nanga Parbat (8,123m/26,650 ft) lie in Northern Kashmir.

The Indus river flows through Kashmir. The river Jhelum flows through the Vale of Kashmir. The mountains have much precious forests.

About 12 million people live in Kashmir, of which around 80% are Muslims. The rest include Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists. Hindus live mostly in the south and around the city of Jammu. To the east is the Ladakh region, where the majority of the people are Buddhists and of Tibetan origin. Most of the Kashmiri people work on farms. Others are engaged in small industries making shawls, rugs and carpets. Kashmir is well known for its wool and, in particular, its shawls and carpets.

Much of the farmland is under intense cultivation, producing corn, wheat, rice and saffron amongst other crops. Fruit and nuts are also produced in quantities including pears, apples and walnuts.

Kashmir has been the key to the dispute between India and Pakistan since their independence from the British in 1947. Each country claims Kashmir as a part of its territory. As a result of a rebellion in 1947 and the subsequent wars between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, the area is separated by a Line-of-Control (LOC or cease-fire line). To the east of the LOC lies the vale of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh which are administered by India. To the west lies the area now known as 'Azad [Free] Kashmir' which is governed by its own government with strong ties with Pakistan.

The capitals of Indian-held Kashmir are Srinagar in the summer and Jammu in the winter; whilst the capital of Azad Kashmir is Muzaffarabad.

Since 1989 the controversy over Kashmir has taken a violent turn in the valley; the Kashmiri people themselves have taken up arms against the Indian occupation. India is now deploying more than 900,000 troops in the valley to crush the Freedom Movement.

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I do believe on Ghosts.

thanx online. The paragraphs are quite informative, I hope we make this section abit more lively just as we do any other sections of this forum.

Kashmir:

Dogri: कश्मीर, Poonchi/Chibhali: کشمیر; Kashmiri: कॅशीर, کٔشِیر; Ladakhi: ཀཤམིར; Shina: کشمیر; Uyghur: كھسىمڭر) is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-nineteenth century CE, the term "Kashmir" referred to the valley lying between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal range; since then, it has been used for a larger area that today includes the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir consisting of the Kashmir valley, Jammu and Ladakh; the Pakistani-administered provinces of the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir, and the Chinese-administered region Aksai Chin.

In the first half of the first millennium CE, Kashmir became an important centre of Hinduism and later of Buddhism; later still, in the ninth century CE, Kashmir Shaivism arose in the region.[1] In 1349, Shah Mirza became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir and inaugurated the line Salatin-i-Kashmir.[2] For the next five centuries Kashmir had Muslim monarchs, including the Mughals, who ruled until 1751, and thereafter, the Afghan Durranis, who ruled until 1820.[2] That year, the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh, annexed Kashmir.[2] In 1846, upon the purchase of the region from the British under the Treaty of Amritsar, the Dogras—under Gulab Singh—became the new rulers. Dogra Rule, under the paramountcy (or tutelage) of the British Crown, lasted until 1947, when the former princely state became a disputed territory, now administered by three countries: India, Pakistan, and the People's Republic of China.

The Nilamata Purana describes the Valley's origin from the waters, Ka means "water" and Shimir means "to desiccate". Hence, Kashmir stands for "a land desiccated from water". There is also a theory which takes Kashmir to be a contraction of Kashyap-mira or Kashyapmir or Kashyapmeru, the "sea or mountain of Kashyapa", the sage who is credited with having drained the waters of the primordial lake Satisar, that Kashmir was before it was reclaimed. The Nilamata Purana gives the name Kashmira to the Valley considering it to be an embodiment of Uma and it is the Kashmir that the world knows today. The Kashmiris, however, call it Kashir, which has been derived phonetically from Kashmir, as pointed out by Aurel Stein in his introduction to the Rajatarangini.
In the Rajatarangini, a history of Kashmir written by Kalhana in the 12th century, it is stated that the valley of Kashmir was formerly a lake. This was drained by the great rishi or sage, Kashyapa, son of Marichi, son of Brahma, by cutting the gap in the hills at Baramulla (Varaha-mula). When Kashmir had been drained, Kashyapa asked Brahmans to settle there. This is still the local tradition, and in the existing physical condition of the country, we may see some ground for the story which has taken this form. The name of Kashyapa is by history and tradition connected with the draining of the lake, and the chief town or collection of dwellings in the valley was called Kashyapa-pura name which has been plausibly identified with the Kao-1r6.nupos of Hecataeus (apud Stephen of Byzantium) and Kaspatyros of Herodotus (3.102, 4.44). Kashmir is the country meant also by Ptolemy's Kao-ir,~pta.

Cashmere is an archaic spelling of Kashmir.

its our sacred holyland since 4000 BC..

kashmir is holy land for hindus...Lord shiva resided on Mount kailash !!and Amarnath is again shiva temple which is covered with snow for full year..

Ma vaishno devi is another Lord durga temple............

kashmir is home to our holy rivers and its place of our lord shiva!!!

lol, as I said in other threads that time will tell... dont be impatient and paranoid.

hi thanxs for the information[/b]