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gave him one of his daughters in
marriage. No reason is assigned for a proceeding so foreign to the
usual tyrannical bigotry of a Musalman. It is probable that Ali Mir,
finding it difficult to retain Ladak as a permanent province of his
kingdom, thought it more politic to secure by a display of apparent
generosity, even the lukewarm friendship of the king of Ladak, than
to encounter the active hostility of a whole people. By the
Baltistan princess, Jamya had two sons, Singge Namgyal and Norbu
Namgyal.”
The statement that Ali Sher Khan gave
his daughter in marriage to Jamyang Namgyal is far from truth. It
was Sher Ghazi, Raja of Saling, Khaplu, who gave his daughter,
Rigial Khatoon, in marriage to him. It was through the good offices
of the Khaplu ruler that the Raja of Laddakh obtained his release
from Ali Sher Khan Anchan. Hashmatullah15 relates that
the Raja of Laddakh agreed to the proposal made by Sher Ghazi of
Khaplu that the issues of Argial Khatoon would be heir to the throne
of Laddakh in preference to those of his first queen.
As recorded earlier Jamyang Namgyal
gave his daughter in marriage to Ali Sher Khan and Hashmatullah
erroneously took her for the famous queen Mindoq Gyalmo. It may be
recalled that Ali Sher Khan while at Delhi had married a Moghul
Princess called Gul Khatoon. When the queen, Gul Khatoon, reached
Skardu, her name was literally translated by the people into Balti
and she was called ‘Mindoq Rigialmo’ meaning ‘flower’ and ‘queen’
respectively. It is a fact that after conquest of Laddakh, Ali Sher
Khan agreed to marry the daughter of Jamyang Namgyal but she was
soon divorced by Ali Sher Khan. It is evident from the fold song
called ‘HILAL BAGH’ composed by the Laddakhi Princess who describes
her return journey to Laddakh which was far from royal and she
complains of this fact in the said fold lore. It also appears that
the Hilal Bagh, the royal gardens below the Mindoq Khar-Flower
Palace, had already been laid and constructed. A few stanzas of the
song ‘HILAL BAGH’ are still on the lips of people which are
reproduced below:
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