1846

In 1846, after the British East India Company prevailed over the Sikh Empire in the First Anglo-Sikh War, the British sold Kashmir, then ruled by the Sikh Empire, to a Hindu Rajput dynasty, the Dogra. This was a reward for Gulab Singh, a Dogra who served as the ruler of Jammu in the Sikh Empire and had chosen to side with the British in the Anglo-Sikh war. The sale was formalized under the Treaty of Amritsar, through which the British colonizers sold Kashmir, along with its inhabitants, to Dogras for 7.5 million Nanakshahi rupees. The rule of the Dogra dynasty in Muslim-majority Kashmir effectively established the first modern Hindu state. The Kashmiri Muslims were systematically disempowered and exploited, while the minority Brahmins constituted the political elite.