76 events in order

Excavations at Burzahom, north-east of Srinagar, found pit dwellings, bone and stone tools, and later burials, some with dogs buried alongside people. The earliest phase dates to around 3000 BCE.

In the museumBurzahom

Kalhana's chronicle says the Mauryan emperor Ashoka ruled Kashmir and founded a city called Srinagari, usually placed near Pandrethan on the edge of modern Srinagar.

In the museumPandrethan Temple

Buddhist tradition holds that a great council of monks met in Kashmir under the Kushan king Kanishka and compiled commentaries on Buddhist teaching.

In the museumHarwanKanishka

The Alchon Hun ruler Mihirakula held Kashmir in the early 6th century. Kalhana remembers him as one of the cruellest kings in the Valley's history.

Durlabhavardhana founded the Karkota dynasty, which would rule Kashmir for more than two centuries.

The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang arrived in Kashmir around 631 and spent about two years there studying Buddhist texts with local teachers. His travel account is one of the earliest outside descriptions of the Valley.

In the museumXuanzang

Lalitaditya was the most powerful Karkota king. Kalhana describes military campaigns far beyond the Valley, as well as great building projects at home.

In the museumLalitaditya MuktapidaMartand Sun TempleParihaspora

The great temple to the sun god Surya at Martand, on a plateau near present-day Anantnag, is attributed to Lalitaditya.

In the museumMartand Sun Temple

Avantivarman took the throne and began a period of relative peace and rebuilding after the last troubled years of the Karkotas.

In the museumAvantivarmanAvantipora Temples

Avantivarman's engineer Suyya cleared blockages in the Jhelum, moved where rivers met and drained marshes, opening new farmland and reducing floods. The town of Sopore, once Suyyapura, is named after him.

In the museumSuyyaThe Jhelum

Didda governed as regent for her son and grandsons from 958, then ruled in her own name from 980 until her death in 1003, one of the longest-serving rulers in the Valley's history.

In the museumDidda

The philosopher Abhinavagupta wrote the Tantraloka and major works on poetry and drama, giving Kashmir Shaivism its fullest expression.

In the museumAbhinavaguptaKashmir Shaivism

Didda chose her nephew Samgramaraja, from the Lohara family of the Poonch area, as her successor, founding the Lohara dynasty.

Mahmud of Ghazni tried to enter Kashmir in 1015 and again around 1021, but failed to take the mountain fort of Lohkot and withdrew both times.

Kalhana completed the Rajatarangini, the River of Kings, a Sanskrit verse history of Kashmir's rulers. It is the main written source for most of the Valley's early history.

In the museumKalhanaThe Rajatarangini

A raider known as Dulucha, or Zulju in Persian sources, devastated the Valley in 1320. In the chaos Rinchan, a Buddhist prince from Ladakh, took the throne and later became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir.

In the museumRinchan

Kota Rani, widow of two kings, held power until 1339, when her minister Shah Mir took the throne. She was the last Hindu ruler of Kashmir.

Shah Mir, a courtier who had served the last Hindu rulers, took the throne and founded a dynasty that ruled Kashmir for more than 200 years.

In the museumShah Mir

The mystic Lal Ded, also called Lalleshwari or Lalla Arifa, composed short spiritual verses called vakhs in Kashmiri. They are among the oldest works in the language and are still recited by Hindus and Muslims alike.

In the museumLal Ded

The Persian Sufi scholar Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani visited Kashmir with a large group of followers. He is remembered as a central figure in the spread of Islam in the Valley, and tradition credits his companions with bringing crafts such as shawl weaving.

In the museumMir Sayyid Ali HamadaniKhanqah-e-Moula

Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani, known as Nund Rishi or Sheikh ul-Alam, founded the Rishi order, a Kashmiri Sufi tradition of simple living and devotion. His Kashmiri verses, called shruks, sit alongside Lal Ded's at the root of Kashmiri literature.

In the museumNund RishiCharar-e-Sharief

Sultan Sikandar built Srinagar's Jamia Masjid. The chronicler Jonaraja also records the destruction of many temples and pressure on Brahmins during his reign.

In the museumJamia Masjid, Srinagar

Sultan Sikandar began the Jamia Masjid in 1394 and it was finished in 1402. Burned and rebuilt several times, it remains the Valley's principal mosque.

In the museumJamia Masjid, Srinagar

Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin invited back Pandits who had fled, ended the jizya tax on non-Muslims, supported translation between Sanskrit and Persian, and encouraged crafts, canals and bridges. Kashmiris still call him Budshah, the great king.

In the museumZain-ul-Abidin (Budshah)Tomb of Budshah's MotherZaina Lank

Jonaraja extended Kalhana's Rajatarangini into his own time, and after his death in 1459 his pupil Shrivara carried it further. Together they are the main contemporary record of the early Sultanate.

In the museumThe Rajatarangini

Ghazi Shah Chak removed the last Shah Mir sultan and founded the Chak dynasty, rule by a Kashmiri family that had grown powerful at court.

Habba Khatoon, the poet remembered as the queen of Yusuf Shah Chak, sang of love and longing in Kashmiri. Her songs are still sung, and she is often called the Nightingale of Kashmir.

In the museumHabba Khatoon

Mughal forces sent by Akbar entered the Valley. Yusuf Shah Chak submitted and was taken into exile, while his son Yaqub Shah held out until 1589. Kashmir became a province of the Mughal Empire.

In the museumYusuf Shah Chak

Akbar travelled to Kashmir in 1589. In the 1590s he had a walled town built around Hari Parbat, known as Nagar Nagor.

In the museumHari Parbat

Emperor Jahangir laid out Shalimar Bagh on the north-eastern shore of Dal Lake, a terraced garden fed by a channel of mountain water. Shah Jahan later extended it.

In the museumShalimar BaghJahangir

Jahangir enclosed the spring at Verinag, traditionally the source of the Jhelum, in an octagonal stone tank with arched niches. Shah Jahan added the garden around it.

In the museumVerinag

The governor Ali Mardan Khan built Chashme Shahi, the royal spring, for Emperor Shah Jahan. It is the smallest of Srinagar's Mughal gardens.

In the museumChashme Shahi

Asif Khan, Nur Jahan's brother, laid out Nishat Bagh, the garden of delight, in twelve terraces rising from Dal Lake towards the Zabarwan mountains.

In the museumNishat Bagh

Prince Dara Shikoh built Pari Mahal, a terraced building above Chashme Shahi, for his Sufi teacher Mulla Shah Badakhshi. It is often described as having served as an observatory and a place of study.

In the museumPari MahalDara Shikoh

A relic venerated as a hair of the Prophet Muhammad was brought to Kashmir around 1700 and later housed at Hazratbal, on the western shore of Dal Lake, which became the Valley's most important shrine.

In the museumHazratbal Shrine

With the Mughal Empire in decline, an army sent by Ahmad Shah Durrani took Kashmir, which was then governed from Kabul for 67 years.

In the museumAhmad Shah Durrani

The Afghan governor Atta Muhammad Khan built the fort that stands on the summit of Hari Parbat today, above the older Mughal walls.

In the museumHari Parbat

In July 1819 the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh defeated the forces of the last Afghan governor near Shopian, and Kashmir became part of the Sikh Empire.

In the museumMaharaja Ranjit Singh

After defeating the Sikhs, the British East India Company transferred Kashmir to Gulab Singh, the Dogra ruler of Jammu, in return for 7.5 million rupees. The princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was born.

In the museumMaharaja Gulab Singh

Shawl weavers in Srinagar protested against crushing taxes on their trade. The protest was put down by force and a number of weavers died, many of them drowned.

In the museumThe Kashmir Shawl

Heavy rains destroyed harvests and a severe famine followed. Contemporary observers believed a large share of the Valley's population died or left.

The Sri Pratap Singh Museum opened in Srinagar, the first museum in the state, gathering sculpture, coins, manuscripts, textiles and crafts.

In the museumSri Pratap Singh Museum

Hari Singh succeeded his uncle Pratap Singh as the fourth and last Dogra Maharaja.

In the museumMaharaja Hari Singh

Police fired on a crowd gathered outside the Srinagar Central Jail during the trial of Abdul Qadeer, killing 22 people. The day became a turning point in organised political opposition to Dogra rule.

The All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference was founded with Sheikh Abdullah as its leader. In 1939 most of its leadership renamed it the National Conference and opened it to all communities.

In the museumSheikh Mohammad Abdullah

The National Conference launched the Quit Kashmir movement, demanding an end to Dogra rule. Sheikh Abdullah was arrested and jailed.

In the museumSheikh Mohammad Abdullah

British India was divided into India and Pakistan on 14 and 15 August 1947. Jammu and Kashmir, a princely state with a Muslim majority and a Hindu ruler, did not join either country at first.

On 22 October 1947 armed tribesmen from Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province entered the state. Maharaja Hari Singh signed an Instrument of Accession to India, and Indian troops were flown into Srinagar on 27 October. The first war between India and Pakistan followed.

In the museumMaharaja Hari Singh

Partition-era killings reached the state in late 1947. Large numbers of Muslims were killed in the Jammu region, and Hindus and Sikhs were killed in places such as Muzaffarabad and Mirpur.

The Gilgit Scouts revolted against the Maharaja's governor, and the Gilgit region came under Pakistani control.

A ceasefire arranged by the United Nations ended the first war and left the former state divided along a ceasefire line. UN resolutions called for a plebiscite, a public vote on the state's future, which has never been held.

India's constitution included Article 370, which gave Jammu and Kashmir special autonomous status, allowing the state its own constitution and limiting which Indian laws applied there.

Sheikh Abdullah, then Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was dismissed and arrested. He spent most of the next two decades in detention.

In the museumSheikh Mohammad Abdullah

India and Pakistan signed a treaty, brokered by the World Bank, dividing the rivers of the Indus basin between them. The Jhelum, the Chenab and the Indus itself were allotted mainly to Pakistan, with limited use permitted upstream in Jammu and Kashmir.

In the museumThe Jhelum

China had built a road across Aksai Chin, on the eastern edge of the former state, in the 1950s. After the 1962 war between India and China, Aksai Chin stayed under Chinese control.

The relic at Hazratbal went missing in December 1963, bringing huge crowds onto the streets across the Valley. It was recovered in early January 1964 and identified as genuine by religious leaders.

In the museumHazratbal Shrine

India and Pakistan fought a second war over Kashmir. The Tashkent Declaration of January 1966 returned both sides to their earlier positions.

After the 1971 war, India and Pakistan signed the Simla Agreement. The old ceasefire line became the Line of Control, the de facto border that still divides the region.

An accord between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Abdullah brought him back to power as Chief Minister, a post he held until his death in 1982.

In the museumSheikh Mohammad Abdullah

India took control of the Siachen Glacier in the far north in 1984, beginning the highest-altitude military standoff in the world.

The 1987 state election was widely alleged to have been rigged against a coalition of opposition parties, the Muslim United Front. Many historians see it as a turning point towards armed revolt.

An armed movement against Indian rule took hold in the Valley. Decades of violence followed, with tens of thousands of people killed, among them civilians, militants and members of the security forces.

Security forces fired on protesters at the Gawkadal bridge in Srinagar, killing dozens of people. It was one of the deadliest single incidents of the early insurgency.

Amid targeted killings and threats, the large majority of the Valley's Kashmiri Pandits left their homes in early 1990. Most have not returned.

For most of the 1990s ordinary life in the Valley was shaped by the conflict. Curfews, strikes, crackdowns and searches were routine, schools and businesses closed for long stretches, weddings and funerals were cut short, and families on all sides lost people. Allegations of killings, disappearances, torture and sexual violence by security forces, and of killings and intimidation by armed groups, date from these years.

Fighting broke out on the heights above Kargil after Pakistani forces and militants occupied positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control. India regained the positions after about two months of fighting.

A powerful earthquake centred near Muzaffarabad killed more than 80,000 people, most of them in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and neighbouring areas, and destroyed whole towns.

A decision to transfer forest land to the board that runs the Amarnath pilgrimage set off large protests in the Valley. When the decision was reversed, counter-protests followed in Jammu, and the highway linking the two regions was blocked for weeks.

In the museumThe Amarnath Cave

Months of street protests spread across the Valley, met by curfew and by police and paramilitary firing. More than a hundred people were killed, many of them young, and the Valley was largely shut down from June to September.

The Jhelum burst its banks after days of heavy rain, flooding much of Srinagar and large parts of the Valley for weeks.

In the museumThe Jhelum

Security forces killed Burhan Wani, a young Hizbul Mujahideen commander who had built a large following on social media. His funeral drew very large crowds, and months of protest, curfew and shutdown followed. Around ninety people were killed, and the use of pump-action pellet shotguns on crowds left many more injured, including a number blinded.

India ended the special status given by Article 370 and split the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, which took effect on 31 October 2019. A long communications shutdown followed in the Valley.

A suicide bombing on a convoy at Lethpora in Pulwama district killed forty members of the Central Reserve Police Force. India carried out an air strike at Balakot in Pakistan twelve days later, Pakistan responded, and an Indian pilot was captured and returned within days.

Jammu and Kashmir held its first assembly election in ten years. The National Conference won the most seats and formed the government.

On 22 April 2025 gunmen killed 26 people, most of them tourists, in the Baisaran meadow near Pahalgam. In May India and Pakistan exchanged military strikes for several days before agreeing to a ceasefire on 10 May.

In the museumPahalgam

A direct rail line connected the Valley to the rest of India's railway network for the first time, crossing the Chenab Rail Bridge, the highest railway arch bridge in the world.

In the museumChenab Rail Bridge