4 Jammu Redefining
Jammu Redefining
| February 23-March 8, 2014
The State of Jammu: Origin and Expansion
Bahu Fort
By Saloni Gupta
I
N this article, I present a
brief account of the origin
of the state of Jammu
and examine the process of
its expansion, noting the
shift of its surrounding
states, from being either
subject to foreign rulers or
independent states to their
merger into the state of
Jammu. Thus, by blending
history with geography, the
objective of this article is
twofold.
First, I trace the origin of
Jammu and highlight some
significant events and facts
relating to its formation.
Second, I explain the merger of Jammu with the surrounding states and its historical expansion. We will
see that our present-day
geographical understanding
of the region holds true only
for the last two hundred
years or so, and how important a historical revelation
can be to understand and
redefine both our past and
present. The information
that I provide below, as in
the previous two articles on
Ramnagar and Chenani, is
based on local legends as
well as research conducted
on the region by J.
Hutchison and J.P. Vogel
(1933).
The original name of the
state of Jammu was
'Durgara', and from this
CMYK
name, the commonly used
terms Duggar and Dogra
are derived. Another name
for the origin of the word
Duggar is 'Dugrata' or
'Dvigarta', which means the
tract between two rivers,
the Ravi and the Chenab.
The names Duggar and
Dogra, now applied to the
region between the Ravi
and the Chenab, are of
recent origin and date from
the time when the tract
came under the supremacy
of Jammu. The ancestry
line of the royal family suggests that the state is of
ancient origin, probably the
1st century A.D. but the first
historical mention of the
state under the name of
Durgara, occurs on two
Chamba copper-plates of
the 11th century A.D.
Hence, while there are
assumptions that the state
existed as early as the 1st
century A.D., available historical evidence validates its
existence only since the
early 10th century. It may be
interesting to note that the
Dogra royal line traces its
descent from Kusha, the
eldest son of Lord Rama
and so like many other royal
families of the hills, they
belong to the Suryavanshi
clan.
While the available historical evidence provides a
more or less systematic history of the Jammu State
since the 10th century A.D,
the local legends, as well as
folktales, suggest the antiquity of the State to be at
least 3500 years old. It is
believed that in ancient
times, Agnibaran, a brother
of the King of Ayodhya, captured some villages around
Kathua and declared himself as King. It was his son,
Vayusrara (1530 to 1500
BCE), who extended his
territory up to the Jammu
Tawi. Four other kings followed in succession, and
the fifth was Agnigarbh, who
had eighteen sons, of
whom the two oldest were
Bahu Lochan and Jambu
Lochan. Bahu Lochan
founded the town and fort of
Bahu, and made it the
state's capital whereas
Jambu Lochan founded the
town of Jammu in the 14th
century BCE. The legend
tells how Jambu Lochan
went hunting, and while
crossing the river Tawi, saw
a deer and a tiger in the jungle drinking from the same
trough. Surprised at this
unusual sight, he sensed
the earth in this place had a
sacred
quality
which
removed
any
hostility
amongst t