Zain-ul-Abidin, the Great King
Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin, "Budshah", restores tolerance, welcomes back the Pandits and brings in the craftsmen who create Kashmir's famous arts.
- Kashmir (Oxford India Short Introductions) — Chitralekha Zutshi, Oxford University Press (2019)
- Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris — Christopher Snedden, Hurst (2015)
- Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir — Mridu Rai, Princeton University Press (2004)
- Srinagar: Creative City of Crafts and Folk Arts — UNESCO Creative Cities Network, UNESCO (2021)
Zain-ul-Abidin, son of the iconoclast Sikandar, ruled for half a century and is remembered as Budshah, “the great king”. He ended the persecution of his father’s reign, abolished the poll tax on Hindus, invited Pandits who had fled to come home, allowed temples to be rebuilt and employed Brahmins in his administration.
- Kashmir (Oxford India Short Introductions) — Chitralekha Zutshi, Oxford University Press (2019)
- Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris — Christopher Snedden, Hurst (2015)
He was a patron of scholarship in Sanskrit, Persian and Kashmiri: he had the Mahabharata and the Rajatarangini translated into Persian, and the chronicler Jonaraja continued Kalhana’s history at his court. He built canals, bridges and towns, and tradition credits him with bringing artisans from Samarkand and Persia who taught papier-mâché, carpet-weaving, wood-carving and bookbinding. These crafts, and the shawl industry that grew from them, made Kashmir known around the world; in 2021 UNESCO named Srinagar a Creative City of Crafts and Folk Arts.
- Kashmir (Oxford India Short Introductions) — Chitralekha Zutshi, Oxford University Press (2019)
- Srinagar: Creative City of Crafts and Folk Arts — UNESCO Creative Cities Network, UNESCO (2021)
Later Kashmiri writers on all sides turned his reign into a golden age and a lesson: that the valley flourishes when its own rulers respect all its communities.
- Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir — Mridu Rai, Princeton University Press (2004)
- Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir — Chitralekha Zutshi, Hurst (2004)
Why it matters today
Budshah is the ruler Kashmiris of all faiths hold up as their ideal: just, tolerant and devoted to learning. His name is used for streets, a bridge and a hospital in Srinagar, and he is invoked whenever people argue that Kashmir's own traditions, not outsiders, taught coexistence. The crafts he is credited with, from papier-mâché to carpets and shawls, still feed thousands of families.