Miniature of maharaja Gulab Singh, around 1840.
The Dogradynasty was the dynasty of maharajas in the area of Jammu and Kashmir in northern India between 1820 and 1948. The maharajas belonged to the Dogra, an ethnic group from the city of Jammu.
In 1820 the Sikhkeizer Ranjit Singh appointed the Dogra Kishore Singh, a local driver, to Raja Jammu. His son Raja Gulab Singh ruled from 1822 to 1857 and expanded their territory strongly. Gulab Singh behaved increasingly independently of Sikhkeizers over time. Between 1835 and 1840 the army led by General Zorawar Singh Ladakh and Baltistan under the authority of the Maharadja. Zorawar Singh then led a failed military expedition against Tibet, but died. The Tibetans and their Chinese allies attacked Ladakh, but in 1842 they were defeated in the Battle of Chushul. In the subsequent peace treaty, the Chushul Treaty, the border between Ladakh and Tibet was governed by the Dogras. Due to these extensions, the Dograck threatened both the raja of Kashmir and the Sikhkeizer itself.
In the First Sikh War, 1845-1846, between the sihks and the British, Gulab Singh concluded a secret covenant with the English. After the British had defeated the Sikhs, they awarded the Dogravorst by making him Mahmaraja of Jammu and Kashmir, a new British vassal state that comprised the ethnically and culturally strongly different areas of Jammu, Kashmir, Baltistan and Ladakh. The maharaja became dear to the British.
The successor to Gulab Singh, Maharaja Ranbir Singh ruled from 1857 to 1885, conquering Gilgit. Astore, Hunza, Nagar, Ponial and Chilas were made taxable to the maharaja. Maharaja Pratap Singh ruled after him from 1885 to 1925. Pratap Singh introduced a board of directors, in which also a British diplomat had a seat.
In the division of British India in 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh, who ruled from 1925 to 1948, hoped for independence. He therefore decided not to join India or Pakistan. In Gilgit, however, the muslim's existing regiment resurrected. The mothers demanded a connection with Pakistan. Pakistan then attacked Jammu and Kashmir. The maharaja responded by still choosing India and welcoming the Indian army. This meant the beginning of the First Kashmir War between India and Pakistan. At the end of the war, Jammu and Kashmir were de facto divided into an Indian and a Pakistani part. The Indian part became a state of the republic of India with its own parliament and government. Maharaja Hari Singh lost his position as head of state, but his son Karan Singh served as governor and governor of the Indian part of Jammu and Kashmir between 1965 and 1967 and became minister of the federal government of India three times.
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