| August 6, 1892. “Happy and comfortable in Kashmir. Colonel Prideaux received me very graciously. Obviously satisfied with a catalogue I gave him. He agreed with my suggestion to present six copies of the Rajatarangini to the Congress as a courtesy of the Kashmir Government. I wrote to Professor Buhler to ask him if he attended the Congress, to accompany the gift with a few words about the purpose and execution of the work. The Maharaja also received me in his new chalet and expressed satisfaction with the acknowledgement made to him. With Raja Amar Singh who is very simpatico, I discussed the arrangements for this year’s tour. As in the previous year, five hundred rupees are given to me for excavation etc as well the power of authority for preservation of artifacts. My mention of him in the Preface seems not to have been without effect, especially as the Lahore Civil and Military Gazette took pains to mention his interest in my work. I believe I have also won a patron in Mr. Lawrence, the Settlement Commissioner for Kashmir. He and his wife invited me urgently to be their guest at Srinagar this Christmas. If there is any ice for skating and invitation like this would be very tempting”. |
The tour of 1892 began with an effort to locate the castle of Lohara that played an important part in Kashmir history as the ancestral home and strong hold of Loharan dynasty. But it was only in the course of a tour specially undertaken in August 1892 in search of this locality that Stein was able to fix its position in the valley now called Loharan belonging to the territory of Prunts (Parnotsa).
In pursuit of the castle’s site, Stein toured the well populated and fertile mountain district formed by the valleys of the streams which drain the southern slopes of Pir Pantsal Range between Tattakuti Peak and Toshamaidan Pass. By middle of August, Stein was in high mountain country that separated Kashmir from the western Punjab.
August 16, 1892. “The path into the valley of Mandi seems to be very old. In several places where it leads over steep rocks overhanging a wild mountain stream, steps are cut into the rock. Now I understand why all conquerors from Mahmud of Ghazni (971-1030) the most successful of Turkish chieftains who from Afghanistan raided deep into India to the Sikh, Ranjit Singh (1780-1839) the great Sikh leader, the Lion of Punjab, who tried to penetrate into Kashmir over the Toshamaidan Pass were brought to stand still before the fortress of Lohara. The pious legend of Loharin people attributes the Maharaja’s defeat to the miraculous intervention of the saint Sayyad Canan who lies buried near the village of Tantrvand at the Loharin proper. Mysterious noises and alarms proceeding from his Ziarat are said to have thrown the Sikh army into confusion and to have brought about its precipitous flight.
| “In reality Ranjit Singh’s retreat was due to for more natural causes. His troops had already suffered great losses by sickness and desertion on the advance to the Toshamaidan plateau. When the latter was reached by his advanced guard, the Sikhs found themselves without supplies and confronted by strongly posted force under Azim Khan, the Afghan Governor of Kashmir. After few days spent in inaction, Ranjit Singh received the news of defeat which his general, Ram Dayal sent with second column by Pir Pantsal Pass, had suffered before Shupiyan. Ranjit Singh then felt obliged to order a retreat. This developed into a complete rout when the hill men of Raja of Prunts attacked the Sikhs from the mountains about Loharin. On July 30, 1814, Ranjit Singh himself had to flee to Mandi after the complete loss of his baggage and great portion of his army”. |
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Bridge at Sopore |
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