The Shah Mir Dynasty (1339 to 1561)

Shah Mir (Shams-ud-Din, from Swat) took the throne in 1339 after he overthrew Kota Rani. His dynasty ruled Kashmir for over two centuries, and is called the Salatin-i-Kashmir (the Sultans of Kashmir).

Main rulers

• After Hasan Shah, the Sultanate fell into faction fights. Sultans such as Muhammad Shah and Fath Shah ruled several times each, put in and removed by rival nobles.
• The dynasty ended in 1561, when Ghazi Shah Chak took the throne.

Administration

• Persian gradually replaced Sanskrit as the language of the court.
• The Sultans kept much of the old Hindu revenue machinery, with Brahmin clerks, but gave important posts to Sayyids, Persian nobles and Kashmiri nobles (Dars, Magreys, Rainas, Chaks).
• Land revenue was the main income. A large share of the crop was paid to the State.

The Shah Miris ruler by ruler: more detail

The dynasty ruled Kashmir for almost 222 years (1339 to 1561).

Shams-ud-Din Shah Mir (1339 to 1342)

• Crowned under the title Shams-ud-Din. He abolished arbitrary taxes and cruel ways of collecting them, and fixed land revenue at one-sixth of the produce.
• He appointed the Chaks, who had come from Dardistan and settled in Kashmir in the time of Suhadeva, in the army, with Lanka Chak as commander-in-chief.
• He made no distinction between Hindu and Muslim subjects.

Jamshid (1342 to 1343): ruled one year, was followed by his younger brother. He built the town of Jamnagar.

Ala-ud-Din / Ali Sher (1343 to 1354): ruled 12 years, built Alauddinpura and shifted the capital there from Inderkote. He was succeeded by his eldest son Shihab-ud-Din.

Shihab-ud-Din (1354 to 1373)

• His real name was Sherashamak. He is called the "Lalitaditya of medieval Kashmir" for his conquests.
• He built Shihabuddinpura (modern Shadipura).
• His conquests, as the exam notes list them: he defeated Udabhandapura (Ohind, near Attock), besieged Peshawar and advanced as far as the Hindu Kush; in the south he crossed the Sutlej and met the ruler of Nagarkot; he invaded Firoz Shah Tughlaq of Delhi, who gave up territories between Sirhind and Kashmir, and a marriage alliance followed.
• His rule is counted among the glorious periods of Kashmir. His younger brother Hindal Khan succeeded under the name Qutb-ud-Din.

Qutb-ud-Din (Hindal Khan, 1373 to 1389)

• The Iranian saint Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani arrived in his reign.

Sikandar (1389 to 1413)

• Timur invaded India in his time. Sikandar is known for his religious policy (see Hamadani and Sikandar).
• He was followed by Ali Shah, then by his younger brother Zain-ul-Abidin.

Habib Shah

• The last ruler of the Shah Mir line. His reign led to the rise of the Chaks. He built the wooden Habba (Habak) Kadal bridge on the Jhelum in Srinagar.