Dogra dynasty in the context of "Gulab Singh"

Sir Hari Singh Bahadur GCSI GCIE GCVO (September 1895 – 26 April 1961) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir of the Dogra dynasty.

Hari Singh was the son of Amar Singh and Bhotiali Chib. In 1923, following his uncle's death, Singh became the new Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. After Indian Independence in 1947, Singh wanted Jammu and Kashmir to remain as an independent kingdom. He acceded to the Dominion of India to get the support of Indian troops against an invasion by tribal armed men and the Pakistan Army into his state. Singh remained the titular Maharaja of the state until 1952, when the monarchy was abolished by the Indian government. After spending his final days in Bombay, he died on 26 April 1961.

Reasi district is an administrative district in the Jammu division of Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in the Jammu region. The Reasi district is bordered by Udhampur district and Ramban district in the east, Jammu district in the south, Rajouri district in the west and by Kulgam district on the north. The Reasi and Rajouri tehsils formed a joint district called the "Reasi district" at the time of the princely state's accession to India in 1947. As part of the reorganisation, the two tehsils were separated and Reasi was merged with the Udhampur district. It again became a separate district in 2006.

Reasi is one of the oldest towns of the Jammu and Kashmir State. It was the seat of the erstwhile Bhimgarh State, said to have been established by Raja Bhim Dev sometime in the 8th century. It remained an independent principality till 1822, when Maharaja Gulab Singh the then Dogra Raja of Jammu hill region, under the Sikh Empire, consolidated the small states.

Poonch jagir, or Poonch district, was a former semi-autonomous region in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. The territory was divided between India and Pakistan in 1947, represented by the present-day Poonch Division of Azad Kashmir and Poonch District of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Sikh monarch, Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured the Poonch region in 1819 and gave it to the Dogra noble, Raja Dhyan Singh, as a jagir (fief). After the death of Ranjit Singh, Dhyan Singh was murdered in Sikh intrigues, and the region was transferred to Gulab Singh as part of the Treaty of Amritsar, which established Jammu and Kashmir as a princely state under British suzerainty. The jagir of Poonch continued among Dhyan Singh's descendants as a subsidiary fief of Jammu and Kashmir. In 1928, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir started encroaching into the internal administration of the Poonch Jagir and, by 1947, the status of Poonch was like a regular district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Dharmarth Trust (also spelt Dharmartha) in Jammu and Kashmir was founded by Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1846 as an endowment for religious charity, and to manage and support Hinduism. In 1884, and under Maharaja Ranbir Singh, the Ain-i-Dharmath (in Persian) or 'The Regulations for the Dharmarth Trust' were formulated and a government department for religious affairs was created. The trust helped the Dogra dynasty to consolidate and validate its control over its territory and over the functioning of Hinduism in the region.

Karan Singh has been the sole chairperson trustee since 1959. In 2009 the trust had about 100 temples under its ambit, mainly in Jammu and Kashmir, but also in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The Trust continues to be the guardians of major temples such as Shankaracharya Temple in Srinagar, Kheer Bhawani in Ganderbal and the Raghunath temple and Bawe Wali Mata shrine in Jammu.