The First Anglo-Sikh War and the Treaty of Amritsar (1846)

The two treaties

Why Gulab Singh?

• The Sikh Durbar could not pay the indemnity. The British gave Kashmir to Gulab Singh, who paid the amount and who had helped them by staying neutral and acting as go-between after the Sikh defeat at Sobraon (February 1846).

Key terms of the Treaty of Amritsar

• Article 1: British give Gulab Singh and his heirs male the hill country between the Indus and the Ravi, excluding Lahul and Chamba.
• Article 3: He pays the British 75 lakh Nanakshahi rupees in instalments.
• Article 10: Gulab Singh accepts British supremacy and agrees to give each year one horse, 12 perfect shawl goats (six male, six female) and three pairs of Kashmir shawls.

The takeover

• Sheikh Imam-ud-Din, the Sikh governor, resisted (some say at the Lahore Wazir's secret urging), but with British help Gulab Singh's forces entered Srinagar in November 1846.

How it is judged

• Many Kashmiris felt the treaty sold the people with the land. This feeling is at the heart of the "Quit Kashmir" movement of 1946 (see Naya Kashmir and Quit Kashmir). The poet Allama Iqbal also criticised the sale.
• The Dogras argued that Gulab Singh paid for and defended a State he had expanded and held.

The First Anglo-Sikh War and the two treaties: more detail

• The First Anglo-Sikh War (1845 to 1846) was fought between the British and the Sikh empire, which was defeated.
• Under the Treaty of Lahore (9 March 1846): Rani Jindan and the court chose Gulab Singh as their minister to negotiate with the Company. A war indemnity of 1.5 crore rupees was put on the Lahore Darbar, and the territories between the Beas and the Sutlej were ceded to the English.
• The treaty angered Lal Singh, Gulab Singh's rival and the Prime Minister of Lahore. To deprive Gulab of his state, Lal Singh showed that the Durbar could not pay the indemnity and ceded the hill territories of Jammu and Kashmir to the English.
• Under the Treaty of Amritsar (16 March 1846), Gulab Singh was recognised as Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir and the State was given to him for 75 lakh rupees. It is called the "Sale deed of Kashmir".