When Muslim rule in Kashmir ended in 1820, Sikh and later Hindu Dogra Rulers gained power, but the country was still largely influenced by Sunni religious orthodoxy. This book traces the impact of Sunni power on Shi'i society and how this changed during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The book identifies a distinctive Kashmiri Shi'i Islam established during this period. Hakim Sameer Hamdani argues that the Shi'i community's religious and cultural identity was fostered through practices associated with the martyrdom of Imam Husayn and his family in Karbala, as well as other rituals of Islam, in particular, the construction and furore surrounding M'arak, the historic imambada (a Shi'i house for mourning of the Imam) of Kashmir's Shi'i. The book examines its destruction, the ensuing Shi'i -Sunni riot, and the reasons for the Shi'i community's internal divisions and rifts at a time when they actually saw the strong consolidation of their identity.

This book traces the historical identity of Kashmir within the context of Islamic religious architecture between early fourteenth and mid-eighteenth century. It presents a framework of syncretism within which the understanding of this architectural tradition acquires new dimensions and possibilities in the region. In a first, the volume provides a detailed overview of the origin and development of Islamic sacred architecture while contextualizing it within the history of Islam in Kashmir. Covering the entirety of Muslim rule in the region, the book throws light on Islamic religious architecture introduced with the establishment of the Muslim Sultanate in the early fourteenth century, and focuses on both monumental and vernacular architecture. It examines the establishment of new styles in architecture, including ideas, materials and crafts introduced by non-Kashmiri missionaries in the late-fourteenth to fifteenth century. Further, it discusses how the Mughals viewed Kashmir and embellished the land with their architectural undertakings, coupled with encounters between Kashmir’s native culture, with its identity and influences introduced by Sufis arriving from the medieval Persianate world. The book also highlights the transition of the traditional architecture to a pan-Islamic image in the post-Independence period. With its rich illustrations, photographs and drawings, this book will interest students, researchers, and professionals in architecture studies, cultural and heritage studies, visual and art history, religion, Islamic studies and South Asian studies. It will also be useful to professional architecture institutes, public libraries, museums, cultural and heritage bodies as well as the general reader interested in the architectural and cultural history of South Asia.