Hindus that sealed their fate for good in the Valley.

Hindus that sealed their fate for good in the Valley.

You have missed another historical blunder of Hindus that sealed their fate for good in the Valley.

This happened when only handful of Kashmiris had been converted to Islam, 1320-1323 AD.

  Rinchen, a Bhudhist prince from Tibet, sought refuge in Kashmir with a few hundred of his soldiers , after he had been defeated by his father in a battle which resulted from the fact that Rinchen wanted to grab his father's empire. Ram Chander, who was ruling Kashmir at that time agreed to give him assylum and gave him some space to live in North Kashmir.After some time , Rinchen thought that he was now strong enough to take on Ram Chander , who had given him the shelter in the first place.Rinchen , therefore decided to attack Ram Chander. Nevertheless he was soundly beaten. But again Ram Chander was benevolent towards him. Instead of beheading him , which was the norm those days, he gave him some jagir in Lar area and told him to now live in peace.After some time Rinchen, knowing well that it would be impossible to defeat Ram Chander decided to get rid of him by ruse. He invited him over to his jagir for a meal. He ensured that Ram Chander was given a royal treatment. Once the revelry had begun, Rinchen's troops, as per plan, swooped on the King's party and killed everyone, including Ram Chandar. Therafter, he captured Kahmir.

The story does not end there. Rinchen after becoming a king dcided to convert to  Hinduism, as he felt that it would consolidate his position among the general population.Prominent Brahmins called a secret conclave to consider the King's request. Finally, thay decided that Rinchen could not become a Hindu since he belonged to a lower caste. The King felt terribly humiliated. He, therefore, wanted to create a new faith that would treat everyone equally. But, under the influence of a Persian Cleric Bulbul Shah, who had started his proseletysing in Kashmir after arriving there from Iran, Rinchen was converted to Islam. Having done that he now decided to avenge his humiliation. 

"As the first Muslim King of Kashmir, Rinchen now set on the expected course of

converting the Hindus to Islam with a missionary zeal expected of a new convert, with

 all the resources available to him as the king .In this, he was greatly helped and

 motivated by Bulbul Shah. No methods were considered too demeaning to achieve this

 aim of mass conversion. Brutal use of force saw thousands put to sword. Heavy

 taxation, forced intermarriages and discriminatory laws were liberally used to break the

will of the people.Lacs,including  Ramchandra's son Ravanchandra,  were  converted

to Islam. Bulbulshah and Rinchen were  instrumental in establishing Muslim rule in

 Kashmir. For the first time a Muslim ruling class came into being."