Gulab Singh

Gulab Singh was the first maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. A member of the Dogra dynasty, he was originally a commander and noble in the Sikh Empire. He sided with the British in the First Anglo-Sikh War and briefly became prime minister of the Sikh court in 1846. In the same year he signed the treaty of Amritsar with the British, establishing the state of Jammu and Kashmir under the suzerainty of the British Raj; this treaty formalized the transfer of all lands that were ceded by the Sikhs to the British in the treaty of Lahore.