The Mughal dynasty passed away, and was succeeded by the Afgháns under Ahmad Sháh Duráni, who conquered Kashmír in 1752, and ruled it, he and his successors, with a harshness and rapacity which made the Mughal yoke appear light. After seventy years, the Sikhs became the masters of the country, and they in turn gave way to the Rájputs. Rájá Ghuláb Singh of Jammu, the servant and counsellor of the great Ranjít Singh, was granted the sovereignty of Kashmír and its dependencies by the English in the year 1846.
It will be remembered that Jammu was closely connected with the fortunes of the Sukarchakia family, the father of the Mahárájá having plundered this city, then belonging to Rájá Brij Lál Deo, his unfortunate ally. Jammu, in those days, had no connection with Kashmír. It had been ruled for several thousand years by a Hindu dynasty of Rájput blood, and, although tributary to the Mughal Emperors, it had shaken itself free after their decline, and regained a short-lived independence, which was overwhelmed by the rising power of the Sikhs; first by the Bhangi Sirdárs, to whom Rájá Ranjít Deo was compelled to pay tribute, and then by the Sukarchakias under Mahán Singh. Ranjít Deo is still remembered in the hill country with genuine respect. He was a just judge and a liberal administrator, and it was a misfortune for his people that he was not strong enough to resist the wild Sikh levies, flushed with the new wine of religious enthusiasm, and as keen for
