dogra culture

Dogri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about two million people in India and Pakistan, chiefly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, but also in northern Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, other parts of Kashmir, and elsewhere. Dogri speakers are called Dogras, and the Dogri-speaking region is called Duggar. Dogri is a member of the Western Pahari Group of languages. The language is referred to as Pahari in Pakistan and Pakistani-administered parts of Kashmir. Unusually for an Indo-European language, Dogri is tonal, a trait it shares with other Western Pahari languages and Punjabi.

History

According to the most popular legend, Jammu city was founded by Raja Jamboolochan in 14th century BC as he found divine power here. During one of his hunting campaigns he reached near a river (Tawi) where he saw a goat and a lion drinking water at the same place. The king was impressed and decided to set up a town after his name, Jamboo. With the passage of time the name got corrupted and became "Jammu".

The city name figures in the ancient book Mahabharata. Name of Jammu city is also found in the memories of Timur.Excavation near Akhnoor provide evidences that Jammu was a part of Harappan civiliaziation. Remains of Mauryan , Kushan, and Gupta periods have also been found.

Jammu had a number of tiny principalities but kingdom of Jammu always occupied a leading place. Maldev and Ranjit Dev were among the eminent rulers. Ranjit Dev ruled this kingdom from 1723-1783. His successors were weak, which ultimately brought Sikh regime to Jammu. When Maharaja Ranjit Singh was faced with a rebellion he sent Gulab Singh, a scion of Dogra family to control it. He was a descendent of Maharaja Ranjit Dev. Displaying enviable valours, he annexed whole of Jammu region to sikh kingdom. After the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, his successors could not keep the kingdom intact and fell pray to place intrigues, hastening its downfall. When its power was completely eroded after III war, the victorous British India Govt. demended an indemnity of 1.50 crores. Since Sikh rulers were unable to pay this amount, gulab Singh pays the Rs.75 lakhs and in exchange got territory of Kashmir and certain other areas under Treaty of Amritsar on March 16, 1846. Thus Gulab Singh integrated Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions in one administrative unit, with this the Dogra rule was established in the state.

After Gulab Singh, Maharaja Ranbir Singh became the ruler in 1857 and ruled up to 1885. On his death Partap Singh became the ruler and presented introduced many reforms. His nephew Maharaja Hari Singh succeeded Maharaja Partap Singh in 1925 who signed the instrument of accession on October 26, 1947 in favour of Union of India. It was the British paramount lapsed; J and K became an integral part of India. He abdicated his responsibilities on June 20, 1949 and made his son Dr. Karan Singh a Regent who was the last monarch.