By 1529, the Magre and the Chak clans were involved in a bitter struggle, and when Abdal Magre asked for help, Mughal emperor Babar readily responded. In their first excursion, the Mughals contented themselves with ransom and tribute. Babar died in 1530, and was succeeded by Humayun. His brother Kamran, governor of Punjab, sent a punitive expedition to Kashmir in October - November 1531. In 1533 another Mughal force entered the Valley, sent by Sultan Said Khan of Kashgar, once again slicing through non existent opposition. This last campaign was led by Mirza Haidar Dughlat Gurgan, a first cousin of Babar.

By 1540, Mughal fortunes had sunk in Delhi with Sher Shah Suri routing Humayun at Kanauj on 17 March 1540 driving him into long and hurried exile. It was then that Mirza suggested that Humayun make Kashmir his operating base for the recovery of the empire.

Mirza Haidar now entered Kashmir as head of Mughal force loyal to Humayun. Taking the longer Poonch route as it was un-guarded; Mirza reached Srinagar in October 1540 and established his control. But he refrained from seizing the crown and with the help of the Magres, ran the administration for 11 years.

Sher Shah Suri despatched a strong force of 5000 cavalry, along with infantry to oust Mirza Haidar. However, inspite of being completely outnumbered, mustering only 300 horses, Mirza outflanked and surprised the Afghan force at Watanar, and in a furious battle threw them into disarray. Kashmir, therefore kept the Mughal hopes alive for years after it had been demolished in Delhi.

Humayun’s fortunes were on the upswing again by 1545, with the recovery of Kabul. But Mirza Haidar’s fatal mistake was to run the state at the expense of Kashmiriyat. A revolt by Kashmiri soldiers sparked off an uprising and an isolated Mirza Haidar was caught and killed on 19 Nov 1550.

Extent of Mughal Dynasty

The departure of the Mughals restored not merely Kashmiri rule but just about every Kashmiri voice as well. The Chaks seized control, but power slipped in and out of the hands of the weak Sultans leading to confusion about who ruled for how long. Yusuf Shah became Sultan at a young age when his father, Ali Shah died. By inclination, however, he was a poet rather than a prince, and his songs in Kashmiri and Persian had already become extremely popular. He was happiest when wandering alone through the Valleys and woods and he is credited with the discovery of perhaps the most beautiful valley of them all, Gulmarg. It was while on a solitary walk one day that Yusuf Shah heard a song in the air, a melody of sadness, loneliness and grief. An entranced Yusuf Shah was drawn irresistibly towards that voice and met Zoon.

Zoon was child of peasants, born in Chandrahar village of Pampore. She had learnt to recite Quran and knew some Persian. But as she grew into a beautiful and talented woman, her parents married her to a man who was useless. She divorced him and returned home becoming a reject in the society. For Zoon, the tragedy held a special anguish, which she expressed in songs she wrote and music she composed. When Yusuf Shah heard her, he was quite swept off his feet. He made Zoon his queen, and she became known as Habba Khatoon or the Lady of Love. But as tragedy would have it, fortunes of war carried Yusuf Shah away from her- forever.

However, Yusuf Shah’s inclination towards poetry proved to be a costly indulgence. Within months of his accession he was defeated by Saiyyid Mubarak Baihaqi. In a month and half Baihaqi was replaced by Lohar Chak. Yusuf Shah unable to reconcile to defeat, sought help of Emperor Akbar on 3 January 1580. Akbar ordered Raja Man Singh and Mirza Yusuf Khan to march to Kashmir. But, offered a deal by Lohar Chak, Yusuf Shah double crossed the Mughals and slipped away. Deal being that Yusuf Khan would be re-instated as Sultan if he returned minus the Mughals. Although, Lohar Chak turned out to be a triple crosser, but Yusuf Shah, even minus the Mughals, was superior to Lohar Chak winning at Sopore on 8 November 1580.

Akbar's Coins

Not surprisingly, Emperor Akbar did not take too kindly to deception and turned his attention to Kashmir after returning from Kabul in 1581. He opened a political mission in the court of Yusuf Shah and then a Mughal force under command of Raja Bhagwan Das left for Kashmir on 20 December 1585. Though the winter prevented a decisive Mughal victory but Yusuf Shah had to accept Mughal sovereignty on 28 March 1586. That day marked the end of Kashmir’s independence. In Srinagar, the Khutba was read and coins issued in Akbar’s name. Kashmir provided direct access to Afghanistan and it was imperative that it came under the Mughal Empire. When Yusuf Shah’s son, Yaqub Khan announced the repudiation of treaty with Mughals, Qasim Khan left with a large Mughal Army on 28 June 1586 with specific orders to annex Kashmir. By 16 October, Srinagar had become a Mughal cantonment post defeat of Yaqub Khan. However, it was not before spring of 1587 and arrival of reinforcements under command of Mirza Yusuf Khan Rizvi that Yaqub Khan finally surrendered.

Superiority having been established, Akbar now offered the hand of peace. Mirza Yusuf Khan Rizvi in his stint as governor introduced the enormous benefits of stable and organized Mughal administration. Emperor Akbar paid his first visit as soon as Kashmir was calm, reaching on 05 June 1589. Akbar ensured better life for Kashmiri people providing growth and stability to the agricultural economy. He abolished the hated Jiziya tax on Hindus and set about restoring equality to all faiths.

Even by the time of Akbar’s first visit, the mood of the people had begun to change in favour of the Mughals. Kashmir may have lost her independence but so far, it had been a good bargain.

Perhaps no contribution that Emperor Akbar made to Kashmir was more lasting: It was he who suggested that some of the boats plying the Dal Lake could be made residential. Thus was born the houseboat. He also ordered special facilities for the production and marketing of the exquisite Kashmiri art - Kashmiri shawl industry.

Akbar’s second visit to Kashmir beginning from 7 October 1592 was of just three weeks. Diwali fell during this time and the emperor took the lead in the festivities. He also used the visit to further strengthen this through matrimonial alliances. He himself took the hand of the daughter of his old foe, Shams Chak, while daughters of Mubarak Khan Chak as well as Hussain Chak were married to his son, Salim.

During his third and last visit to the Valley in 1597, Akbar found a severe famine. Rather than merely doling out free food, Emperor Akbar created work at wages higher than existing rates. He ordered public works - roads, canals and irrigation projects. Fall in employment was supplemented by import of grains from Punjab. And by the time the emperor left Srinagar, instead of famine there was festivity in the air. And Mughal rule was never seriously to be disturbed again in Kashmir until it had fallen into fragments in Delhi. Jahangir - Emperor Akbar’s heir and Kashmir were now inextricably linked. His memoirs are full of Kashmir and he wanted to die there.

More than a century of this rising prosperity ended with the death of Aurangzeb and degeneration of Mughal rule that followed. Aurangzeb’s rule was an object lesson in dismantling of an empire. Social conflict on sectarian lines was encouraged and Kashmir in particular was to suffer the emperor’s pronounced animosity towards Shias. Worse, Aurangzeb was followed by a succession of weak kings, and when Delhi became fragile, within forty six years of the death of Aurangzeb, in 1753, a general of Ahmad Shah Abdali, Ishaq Aqqasi, had planted the Afghan standard on the ramparts of Akbar's citadel on Hari Parbat.

Kashmir saw 57 governors and deputy governors in these 46 years and three major famines in 1724, 1735 and 1746. Political instability also invited inter religious and inter clan wars. Hindus and Shias were targets of Mahtabi Khan, who was made chief theologian of Kashmir by Bahadur Shah. Hindus were forbidden to practice any of their religious rites, wear tikkas or turbans, ride horses or even wear clean clothes. By 1720, there was Hindu-Shias revolt against Mahtabi Khan; he was seized and killed on 12 September. However, even the disasters of these 46 years were to prove nothing compared to the sixty-seven years of Afghan oppression that followed as Adbali’s army scissored Kashmir out of the Mughal Empire and tucked into their own. After Abdullah Khan, Ishaq Aggasi defeated Kashmir-Mughal force under Abdul Qasim at Shopian in the 15 day battle, the Afghan wrought relentless havoc: the memory of which still haunts the Valley.